| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08167486B2 |
Imaging system and driving method thereof
When a gain correction is performed for the radiographed object image, the acquisition of the object image having a high grade quality and no artifact is realized. For that purpose, an image storing unit is provided for storing an image for correction radiographed based on conditions set with the table in a state in which no object exists to each operation modes of the plurality of operation modes; and an image processing unit is provided for performing a gain correction processing of the radiographed object image and performs the gain correction processing of the radiographed object image obtained based on the conditions set in the table of the operation mode selected by the selecting unit in a state in which the object exists using a corresponding image for correction extracted from the image storage unit based on the operation mode selected by the selecting unit. |
| US08167480B2 |
Processing unit
A device for cutting/shearing in a process vessel (1) product clusters and/or materials (3) into smaller particles and dispersing them in a liquid product bulk (4) or for mixing in the process vessel liquid products with each other that are difficult to mix. The device has an electric motor (13) arranged out-side the process vessel and, driven by the same by magneto drive, a processing unit (12) positioned inside the process vessel. The processing unit comprises a stationary inner part (14) and, rotatable about this, an outer part (15), the inner and outer parts having the shape of substantially concentric rings (16, 17) arranged with a close fit to each other and having a plurality of through slotshaped shearing recesses (18) opposing each other. The products that are to be cut/shorn and/or mixed are suppliable to the area of the common center axis (20) of the rings and are thrown out through the shearing recesses while being shorn into pieces in order to leave the processing unit through the ring of the outer part, which ring also contributes to rotating the products in the process vessel around the processing unit. |
| US08167478B2 |
Kneading screw and extruder
A kneading screw is disclosed which comprises a screw body, the screw body comprising a feed section and a kneading section, the feed section comprising screw segments for feeding a to-be-kneaded material to a downstream side and the kneading section comprising kneading segments for kneading the material. The screw body is provided within the kneading section with a multi-stage portion which gradually changes axially in rotating outside diameter. It is preferable that the multi-stage portion be constituted by kneading segments of plural kneading discs different in rotating outside diameter. With such a construction, it is possible to avoid stress concentration on an axial part of the kneading screw and thereby prevent breaking of a spline shaft and abnormal wear of kneading flights. |
| US08167475B2 |
Linear lighting apparatus and image reader using the same
Conventional methods using two optical waveguide members are disadvantageous in cost because they require two optical waveguide members and pairs of their associated components. A linear lighting apparatus includes a rod-like optical waveguide member (100) formed by a transparent material, a light source placed near an end face of the optical waveguide member (100) in the longitudinal direction, and a light exit surface (101) formed on at least part of the optical waveguide member (100) in the longitudinal direction. A cross section of the optical waveguide member in the widthwise direction has a plurality of reflecting areas (102, 103) at positions to face a light exit surface (101) and a barrier (106) at a boundary portion between the reflecting areas (102, 103). |
| US08167474B2 |
Surface light source device
A light guide plate is formed of a light introducing part positioned to face a point light source for confining light and a light guide plate body having a thickness smaller than the thickness of an end of the light introducing part on a point light source side and causing the confined light to be output from a light exit surface to outside. The light introducing part has an inclined surface, and a directivity conversion pattern formed on the inclined surface. The directivity conversion pattern is configured by arranging V grooves in parallel to each other, each having a vertical angle of 120°, and each extends in a direction approximately perpendicular to a light incidence end face of the light guide plate. The length of the inclined surface in a inclination direction where part of light incident to the light introducing part enters the inclined surface at least twice. |
| US08167469B2 |
Surface light emitting apparatus emitting laser light
A surface light emitting apparatus capable of providing uniform illumination while efficiently using a laser light. The apparatus comprises a light source section that includes at least one light source which emits laser beam; an optical element section that includes at least one diffractive optical element section that modifies a wavefront of the laser beam emitted from the light source section by diffraction action; and an optical guiding section that guides from an incidence surface of the optical guiding section the laser beam emitted from the diffraction optical section and emits the laser beam from a radiation surface of the optical guiding section. |
| US08167464B2 |
Backlight module and light emitting diode thereof
A light emitting diode contains a light emitting diode chip and a light directing structure disposed thereon. The light directing structure has a pair of connected hemi-ellipsoids and an interface interposed therebetween. Each hemi-ellipsoid comprises a bottom surface in a shape of an incomplete ellipse and an ellipsoidal surface connected to the bottom surface and the interface, wherein the largest vertical distance from the ellipsoidal surface to the bottom surface is longer than a height of the interface. The bottom surface has a major axis and a minor axis intersected to define a center, wherein the interface is connected to the minor axis. |
| US08167462B2 |
Illumination lens and illumination unit including the same
An illumination lens including a first part being free of prismatic patterns, a second part including prismatic patterns on both sides of the first part and configured to increase light distribution in the both sides of the first part, and a lens cover covering the first and second parts with the first and second parts being disposed on a substantially same plane under the lens cover. |
| US08167461B2 |
Method of manufacturing a light emitting device
A method of manufacturing a light emitting device includes separating a plurality of regions in a film with a thickness not greater than 0.5 millimeters to form a plurality of legs continuous with a body of film, folding the plurality of legs such that each leg terminates in a stack of bounding edges, disposing the stack of bounding edges proximate at least one light source such that light from the at least one light source propagates through the legs and the body by total internal reflection, and treating the film to form a plurality of light scattering features therein such that frustrated totally internally reflected light exits the light emitting device at a visible light emitting area and the light emitting area is at most barely visible when not illuminated by the at least one light source. |
| US08167459B2 |
LED lighting fixture
An LED lighting fixture compatible with existing incandescent lamp lighting fixtures. The heat produced by the LED light source is dissipated through a heat pipe into a ground hole to maintain an optimum operation temperature of the LED light source. |
| US08167457B1 |
Lighting system for use in motion picture and video production
An illumination system suitable for lighting in connection with the production of film or video includes one or more lighting modules, wherein each module contains a light engine, a heat sink to which the light engine is affixed, and a control system electrically connected to the light engine, the control system capable of adjusting both the color and intensity of light engine by means of one or more rotary concentric control knobs and pushbuttons affixed to the control system, and wherein the control systems of each module are interconnected by a wireless data network, so that all of the modules may be controlled by using the rotary control unit on any individual module. |
| US08167455B2 |
LED lamp having a larger lighting angle
An LED lamp includes a lamp shade, an optical lens mounted in the lamp shade, and an LED module mounted in the lamp shade. Thus, the optical lens has a curved surface with different curvatures to reflect and refract the light beams of the LED module in different angles and directions so that after the light beams of the LED module pass through and emerge from the optical lens, the light beams of the LED module are scattered and diverged in different angles and directions from the optical lens and are distributed on the optical lens evenly and smoothly such that the LED module has a larger lighting angle so as to enhance the lighting effect and the aesthetic quality of the LED lamp. |
| US08167454B2 |
Protective sheath for a LED band
The protective sheath has a basis for attaching the LED band and an at least partially light-transmissive covering attachable thereto, wherein the basis and the covering form an accommodation space for the LED band in the attached state. |
| US08167453B2 |
Illumination device including interchangeable sensor and decoration members
An illumination device includes an illumination lamp installed to a device housing, a sensor for use in controlling the lighting operation of the illumination lamp, and a sensor attachment unit through which the sensor is detachably attached to the device housing such that a sensing unit of the sensor is exposed to the outside. The illumination device further includes a decoration member for attachment to the sensor attachment unit when the sensor is not attached to the sensor attachment unit, the decoration member having substantially the same outward appearance as that of the sensor. The sensor and the decoration member are interchangeably attached to the sensor attachment unit. |
| US08167452B2 |
Lighting apparatus
A lighting apparatus includes a housing, a light source disposed in the housing and at least one adjustable assembly disposed at an end of the housing. The adjustable assembly includes a connection element fixed to the end of the housing, a cap capping the connection element, at least one electrical terminal and an adjusting mechanism. A part of the connection element is located in the cap. The electrical terminal is disposed at the cap and electrically connected to the light source. The adjusting mechanism includes a gear, a positioning element, a clasp and a track. The gear and the positioning element are respectively disposed at the connection element and the cap. Positions of the gear and the positioning element can be exchanged. The clasp and the track are respectively disposed at the connection element and the cap. Positions of the clasp and the track can be exchanged. |
| US08167447B2 |
Adjustable desk lamp
An adjustable desk lamp includes at least two buttons, a lamp panel, a stand, and a support arm assembly. The stand includes at least two button housings. Each of the button housings is filled with liquid and receives one of the buttons. The arm assembly is attached to the stand. The arm assembly includes at least two channels and at least two support posts. Each of the channels communicates with one of the button housings and is filled with liquid. One end of each of the posts is received in one of the channels, and another end support the lamp pane. When one of the buttons is operated, the liquid in the button hole receiving the operated button and the channel communicating with the button hole is displaced, and the post received in the channel moves downwardly or upwardly, thus the lamp panel can cast light at a different angle. |
| US08167436B2 |
Display shelf with placing tables and transmission-type screens having projecting parts and laterally-facing displays
A display shelf system includes a display shelf, which includes a plurality of placing tables which are adapted to have an article placed thereon. A plurality of transmission-type screens are arranged with the placing tables, respectively. A projector projects a projector image, and a light guide of the display shelf leads the projector image onto the rear sides of the transmission-type screens. The transmission-type screens have curved surfaces which are inclined to face toward a lateral direction with respect to a front of the display shelf, so that the transmission-type screens are easily viewable by viewers who are in the lateral directions of the display shelf. |
| US08167431B2 |
Universal stereographic trigger peripheral for electronic equipment
A peripheral device is coupled to a system bus of an apparatus via a system bus compatible cable, and transmits to an operating system a request to transmit to the output multiple image stream 3D video data and a request to access a video subsystem for monitoring a status of page flip signals. The peripheral device transmits sync signals to at least one output of the peripheral device representing the page flip signals detected in response to monitoring page flip signal status. The apparatus transmits the multiple image stream 3D video data to the output. The multiple image stream 3D video data is received at a stereographic projection apparatus input. Each stream data contains a plurality of frames. The stereographic projection apparatus comprises an alternating polarizing filter, synced with the alternately projecting images, for separately filtering images from each of the image stream 3D video data at different polarization angles. |
| US08167430B2 |
Unsupervised learning of temporal anomalies for a video surveillance system
Techniques are described for analyzing a stream of video frames to identify temporal anomalies. A video surveillance system configured to identify when agents depicted in the video stream engage in anomalous behavior, relative to the time-of-day (TOD) or day-of-week (DOW) at which the behavior occurs. A machine-learning engine may establish the normalcy of a scene by observing the scene over a specified period of time. Once the observations of the scene have matured, the actions of agents in the scene may be evaluated and classified as normal or abnormal temporal behavior, relative to the past observations. |
| US08167428B2 |
Applicator for an ophthalmologic treatment device
An applicator for an ophthalmologic treatment or diagnostic device, wherein a laser beam and an illumination beam are directed at the eye and light reflected from the eye is fed to an examining beam path. A reflective surface is provided for the reflection of the illumination beam and comprises an optical aperture for the laser beam. |
| US08167423B2 |
Ink jet apparatus
An ink jet textile printing apparatus includes a printing section having a recording head and performing printing on a recording medium by ejecting ink from the recording head, a transporting belt having an adhesive surface, and a lifting preventer disposed on an upstream side with respect to the printing section in a transporting direction in which the transporting belt is rotated. The lifting preventer includes a free roller that is provided over the recording medium adhered to and supported by the transporting belt and is movable in the transporting direction and in a direction opposite to the transporting direction. |
| US08167422B2 |
Hybrid printing method using movable pallet
A hybrid printing method using a movable pallet is provided. The movable pallet is used to apply various desired inks on the surface of fabric products and the like. A printing process, a digital printing process, a multicolor foiling process and a multi-color flocking process provides a variety of designs and colors, dissimilar to the conventional method enabling a simple design and a single color work. The method is not an integral (fixed) type and thus is carried out as a selective work for each individual process, thereby improving productivity by more 100-150% as compared to the conventional facility. The movable pallet is formed of a thin aluminum plate of 3-4 mm thickness to minimize the time required for heating and cooling and to provide for easy attachment and detachment due to its light weight. The pallet is supported on a pallet bracket to avoid bending or distortion. |
| US08167413B2 |
Inkjet printing apparatus and method for agitating ink
In order to recover unevenness in concentration of ink ejected from a print head, an agitation operation of agitating ink by causing the print head to reciprocate is carried out. This agitation operation sets a number of times of moving the print head for agitation according to a condition, such as a printing mode, for a reciprocating motion in a main scanning direction of the print head in printing. |
| US08167412B2 |
Dot position measurement method, dot position measurement apparatus, and computer readable medium
Dot positions are measured by recording dots on a recording medium in a measurement line pattern including a plurality of lines of rows of the dots respectively corresponding to a plurality of recording elements. The measurement line pattern is read where a longitudinal direction of the plurality of lines is directed to a sub-scanning direction of an image reading apparatus. A plurality of averaging regions is allocated to different positions of line blocks, the lines arranged in a main scanning direction. The image signal is averaged in the allocated averaging regions, and average profile images are created for positions in terms of the main scanning direction. Positions of both edges of each line are determined according to the average profile images. Line positions in the averaging regions are determined according to the edge positions. Line positions in the line blocks are determined according to the line positions in the averaging regions. |
| US08167410B2 |
Image forming apparatus
The present invention provides an image forming apparatus, which is able to prevent the adherence of toner on the surface of toner controlling means and around a toner passage hole, and to stably carry out toner passage ON/OFF control when forming an image using the direct recording method. This image forming apparatus includes: a toner carrier; recording medium means; toner controlling means, disposed between the toner carrier and recording medium means, and having a plurality of toner passage holes; and cloud electrode means disposed between the toner carrier and toner controlling means, a toner cloud being formed by applying an AC bias between the toner carrier and cloud electrode means. A control electrode and a common electrode are disposed in toner controlling means, and when the toner of the toner carrier is able to pass through the toner controlling means toward recording medium means, a loop-shaped line of electric force is formed between the recording medium means side and the toner controlling means common electrode, the loop-shaped line by-passing the control electrode. |
| US08167409B2 |
Liquid ejecting head unit and liquid ejecting apparatus
A liquid ejecting head unit including liquid ejecting head bodies for ejecting liquid by the drive of a pressure generating device; wiring members for feeding drive signals to the pressure generating device of the liquid ejecting head bodies; and connector members provided at an end of the wiring members, being connected by the wiring members, and having second connector sections detachable from first connectors of the liquid ejecting head bodies; wherein the connector members respectively include a base member equipped with a wiring member connector for inserting the connecting end of the wiring member for connection, and a retaining member fixed to the base member covering the wiring member connector section; wherein the wiring members inserted into the wiring member connector are retained in a folded state by the retaining members. |
| US08167408B2 |
Ink jet recording head, and method for manufacturing ink jet recording head
An ink jet recording head includes a recording element substrate; an electric wiring member including an array of leads connected to the recording element substrate at an electrical connecting portion; a supporting portion including a surface supporting the electric wiring member and a recessed bottom surface for supporting the recording element substrate; sealing material covering a part of an upper surface of the electric wiring member, the electrical connecting portion, a part of an upper surface of the recording element substrate, and the array of leads; and a projection provided between the electric wiring member and the recording element substrate at an end of the array. A level difference between upper surfaces of the projection and the recording element substrate is smaller than a level difference between the upper surfaces of the recording element substrate and the electric wiring member. |
| US08167402B2 |
Ink jet printing apparatus and ink jet printing method
In a structure in which a printing medium is subjected to a maintenance ejection in order to maintain a favorable ink ejection performance of a printing head, dots formed on the printing medium by the maintenance ejection have a reduced visibility. Specifically, an area of dots formed by landing ink droplets ejected from the printing head for the maintenance ejection onto the printing medium is smaller than an area of similar dots formed by a normal printing. Specifically, by flowing currents having different waveforms into an ejection heater of the printing head depending on the ejection for printing an image and the maintenance ejection, an area of dots formed by the maintenance ejection can be smaller than an area of dots formed by the normal ejection for printing an image. |
| US08167400B2 |
Droplet ejecting device capable of recovering ejection performance efficiently
A droplet ejecting head is formed with at least one nozzle and is configured to eject a liquid droplet through the at least one nozzle in a nozzle axis direction. A carriage supports the droplet ejecting head. A guide member extends in a predetermined direction and is configured to guide the carriage so that the carriage is movable in the predetermined direction. A moving section moves the carriage along the guide member. The droplet ejecting head is configured to eject a liquid droplet through the at least one nozzle onto an ejection object while the moving section moves the carriage. A vibration generating section vibrates the droplet ejecting head in such a manner that vibration of liquid held in the at least one nozzle includes a component in the nozzle axis direction. |
| US08167397B2 |
Recording apparatus and recording method
In the present invention, a conveying operation of a recording medium is controlled on the basis of a first correction value and a second correction value. The first correction value is used for correcting a conveying amount when the recording medium disengages from a first conveying roller, and the second correction value is used for correcting the phase of the first conveying roller and a second conveying roller when the recording medium disengages from the first conveying roller before the recording medium is nipped by the first conveying roller. |
| US08167396B2 |
Liquid discharging apparatus and control method of liquid discharging apparatus
A contraction portion of a vibration pulse includes a first contraction element which occurs subsequent to an expansion portion, a contraction maintaining element which follows the first contraction element, and a second contraction element which follows the contraction maintaining element, and when a time from a start point time of the expansion portion to an end point time of the expansion portion is set as t1, a time from the end point time of the expansion portion to a start point time of the contraction portion is set as t2, and a natural vibration period of ink in an ink flow path including a pressure chamber is set as Tc, the start point time (t1+t2) of the contraction portion is set to be in the range of any one of the following expressions (1) and (2). (t1+t2) |
| US08167394B2 |
Image recording apparatus and calculation method
An image recording apparatus, including: a platen which supports a sheet; a movable carriage disposed so as to face to the platen; a head mounted on the carriage to record an image on the sheet; an optical sensor mounted on the carriage and constituted by an emitting element which emits light and a receiving element which receives light reflected from the sheet and output an electric signal according to intensity of the reflected light; a changing mechanism which changes the optical sensor between first and second positions; and a calculation section which calculates at least one of a distance between the optical sensor and the sheet and a reflectivity of the sheet on the basis of (a) a first electric signal outputted from the receiving element with the optical sensor disposed at the first position and (b) a second electric signal outputted from the receiving element with the optical sensor disposed at the second position. |
| US08167392B2 |
Ink jet recording apparatus and control method therefor
A user-friendly ink jet recording apparatus is capable of preventing a sudden ink exhaustion and a resulting unclear print that may result from canceling a no-ink error signal without an ink tank replacement. In the ink jet recording apparatus, in a case of a no-ink error signal, a no-ink timer is activated and time information of a no-ink state is stored in a non-volatile memory, a period from such time is measured and compared, and after the lapse of predetermined time, a no-ink error signal is generated even before a threshold value for the no-ink error signal is reached, thereby issuing a request for ink tank replacement to the user. |
| US08167391B2 |
Image registration on edible substrates
A method of making edible substrates that have an image registered on them in a consistent manner. The method comprises the steps of providing an edible substrate sheet, and an image source, wherein the image source has at least one image. Further, a trigger pulse signal is provided, which relays the frequency of a process element that is communicated to an image disposal device. The image disposal device uses the trigger pulse signal to determine when to dispose an image from the image source. Then an image is disposed on the edible substrate sheet with the image disposal device to form an image-disposed edible substrate sheet. And then a portion of the edible substrate sheet that comprises an image is separated into an individual piece. |
| US08167389B2 |
Refrigerator mullion with protection unit
A refrigerator, which prevents a filler unit from being worn away or broken. The refrigerator includes a main body, storage chambers divisionally provided in the main body, a pair of doors opening and closing one of the storage chambers, a filler unit rotatably connected to at least one of the pair of doors to seal a separation space between the doors, a guide member provided on the main body to guide rotation of the filler unit, and a protection unit mounted on the filler unit to rotate the filler unit according to insertion and separation of the protection unit into and from the guide member and to prevent the breakage of the filler unit due to collision with the guide member. |
| US08167387B1 |
Collapsible storage container
A portable and collapsible storage container formed of rigid, interconnected panels which, when fully assembled, form a self-standing, integrally strong unit and, when collapsed, fold together to occupy a minimal volumetric space. Opposed side walls are hingedly connected to a front frame, and opposed end walls are hingedly connected to a rear wall panel, both to fold inwardly in interlocking fashion such that the side walls overlie the rear panel and the end walls overlie the side walls within the region bounded by the front frame. The storage container may optionally include a door or lid for closure which may be fitted with a lock if desirable. The side walls include means for supporting a removable interior panel to prevent the side walls from folding inwardly which, in turn, prevent the end walls from folding inwardly. |
| US08167385B2 |
Washing machine
Provided is a washing machine. The washing machine includes a front portion that forms the front of the washing machine and a deco panel. The deco panel is installed around the perimeter of the front portion to cover the front portion. |
| US08167380B2 |
Adjustable weighted wheel assembly
The application discloses a wheel assembly comprising a wheel comprising a main body, a substantially cylindrical wall, a front hub face comprising a central portion connecting a hub to an outer rim, wherein the front hub face comprises a socket for receiving a removable weight, wherein the socket or the weight is configured with a stop for preventing the weight from dislodging from the socket; a back face comprising a back central portion connecting the hub to the back outer rim; and the wheel assembly comprising at least one fastener for securing the weigh in the socket on the main body of the wheel. |
| US08167377B2 |
Knock-down chair with intermediate support and compound leg
An intermediate support structure provides a device whereby individual members of a furniture item can be assembled into an optimized configuration. The use of the intermediate structure allows the individual members of the furniture item to be assembled to achieve maximum structural benefit from their arrangement. |
| US08167374B2 |
Portable folding chair
A swivel chair including a swivel-mounting assembly having a lower plate, and an upper plate, and bearings for rotatably mounting the upper plate to the lower plate. The lower plate and the upper plate defining an annular gap therebetween cooperating with the interior of the swivel-mounting assembly. The improvement includes an annular gasket having a first portion that receives the bearings is positioned in-between the plates. The annular gasket further having a second portion depending from the first. The second portion includes upper and lower sections extending from the first portion and have an inside facing section being in partial surface-to-surface contact with the lower and upper plates. Thus, the annular gasket prevents foreign particles from entering into the interior of the swivel-mounting assembly. |
| US08167363B2 |
Prestressed structural members and methods of making same
Methods of prestressing a vehicle structural member include forming a support structure, applying a preformed reinforcing component to the support structure, the preformed reinforcing component having a size changing material that changes in dimension upon application of a stimulus and transforming the preformed reinforcing component from a first configuration to a second configuration. |
| US08167362B2 |
Vehicular hood hinge arrangement structure
In a vehicular hood hinge arrangement structure in which the rear end part of a front hood is pivotally supported on a vehicle body via a hood hinge attached to the top end surface of a dash side front member at the side of a cowl box adopting a hollow structure the upper side of which is open, the hood hinge is arranged on the outside in the vehicle width direction of a vertical surface extending in the vehicle longitudinal direction of a cowl side panel closing the side end of the cowl box and in front of a front surface of a side body outer panel (front pillar) erected almost vertically in the side part of a vehicle body. |
| US08167361B2 |
Motor vehicle front face with a cross member level with the main longitudinal members
A motor vehicle front face (1) can be fixed rigidly to the front ends (2) of the main longitudinal members (14) of the motor vehicle. The front face (1) includes: at least one cross member (8), at least one lock (76) for fastening the bonnet of the motor vehicle, the or each lock (76) being rigidly fixed to the cross member (8). The cross member (8) is vertically located substantially level with the front ends (2) of the main longitudinal members (4). |
| US08167356B1 |
Automated vehicle sunshade
An automated vehicle sunshade includes a compartment mountable to a roof of a vehicle, a flexible shade, a plurality of rods coupled to the flexible shade and a drive device coupled to the plurality of rods. The plurality of rods are retractable and extendable so that the sunshade repeatably alternates between an extended position and a retracted position. In the retracted position, the flexible shade, plurality of rods and drive device are enclosed within the compartment. The sunshade also includes guide wires and support wires for properly guiding and supporting the flexible shade during retracting and extending. |
| US08167350B1 |
Liner apparatus and method of making a liner
A liner for a cargo area of a vehicle, such as a car, truck, trailer, or the like, includes at least three layers, a base layer, an intermediate patterned layer, and a clear or transparent top layer so that the patterned layer may be viewed. The patterned layer may be monochromatic, where only a single color is used, or it may be polychromatic, where several colors are used. The patterned layer may be a color scape, a design or logo, a message, or any decorative item. Three embodiments of methods for making a liner are shown. The methods include the use of a female mold, a male mold, or a combination of male and female molds where the male mold is a ram applying pressure and heat to the several layers on the female mold. |
| US08167341B2 |
Swing gate latch system
In one embodiment, the present invention is a latch device having a latch and a base portion, where the latch is selectively connected to the base portion, and pivotable about the base portion along a first axis. The present invention also includes a cam mechanism for securing the latch such that the latch is secured for rotation and support of a door for a vehicle along a second axis when the door is rotated about a first axis but allows free movement of the latch when the door is actuated for rotation about a second axis. |
| US08167337B2 |
Elastic coupling for universal vacuum extension kit
A quick-release, fluid impervious elastic coupling with hook and loop strips conforms to the shape of conduit ends to join, seal and secure together conduits that can have different diameters. The elastic sheet can be a single or multiple layers and can be reinforced with strengthening ribs or cords and/or provided with gripping ridges to assist securing and sealing the conduits against leakage. |
| US08167336B2 |
Identification labels and methods of using the same
Labels and methods for removing a portion of a release liner from a label are disclosed. An example labels includes a substrate, a layer of adhesive on the substrate, a layer of release coating in contact with the layer of adhesive, and a release line in contact with the release coating. The release liner includes a first edge, a second edge, and a first line of weakness. The first line of weakness includes a tapered or curved portion and extends from the first edge of the release liner to between the first edge and the second edge of the release liner. |
| US08167334B2 |
Gas generator for an airbag module
The invention relates to a gas generator for an airbag module, comprising a housing, and a filter fastened in the housing for filtering a gas that can be generated with the gas generator. According to the invention, it is provided that a part of the gas generator is inserted into a recess of the filter for fastening the filter in the housing. |
| US08167330B2 |
Folding, support and security trailer tongue
The invention provides space saving, locking and support features for most single pole trailer tongue, having: a support leg, which has the coupler hitch on the opposite end, pivots on the tongue into a vertical position where it acts as a support for the tongue. This leg is secured vertically, using aligned brackets on both sections, by a hitch pin or locking device, so that it can be locked in place as a deterrent to theft. When in the horizontal position, the support leg is secured to the tongue by a hitch pin and may be connected to a towing vehicle. A flip-down leg, pivotally mounted on the tongue, which drops down when the securing hitch pin is removed part way, to provide temporary support for the tongue while the support leg is being moved to the vertical position. |
| US08167329B2 |
Fifth-wheel trailer with an adjustable floor and a method for its use
A fifth-wheel trailer having a forward section comprising an adjustable-height floor. The floor being capable of moving up to a raised position to provide sufficient clearance for a towing vehicle to attach to the trailer for towing. The floor also being capable of moving down to a lowered position to provide a trailer with an approximately even floor and a full-height ceiling throughout. The present adjustable-height floor does not interfere with the structural stability of the trailer's main frame including its pin box. |
| US08167327B2 |
Bicycle frame
A bicycle assembly can include a bicycle frame that can have a head tube, a top tube and a down tube. The top tube and down tube can be attached to the head tube. The head tube can include at least one ledge configured to fit inside either of the top and down tubes. The top of the top tube and/or the bottom of the down tube can be substantially flush with the top of the head tube or bottom of the head tube, respectively. |
| US08167325B2 |
Control arm of multilink suspension system for vehicle
A control arm may be formed by assembling front and rear members respectively having upper and lower flanges so as to have a tubular cross-section, and a bending portion may be formed by bending the lower flange of the front member downwardly such that a drain hole is formed by the bending portion protruded downwardly when the front and rear members are assembled. |
| US08167323B1 |
Handcart
The handcart has various embodiments, each embodiment having a pair of larger wheels at the back of the load-carrying platform and a rear axle located above the plane of at least the forward portion of the platform. Smaller caster wheels are mounted on arms extending forward and outward from the forward corners of the platform. The outward ends of the arms are displaced upwardly to place the platform bottom only very slightly higher than the bottoms of the forward casters, thus increasing stability by lowering the center of gravity of the cart and contents, and facilitating loading and unloading of the cart due to the very low platform. The cart need not be tilted rearward to lift the platform from the floor, but may be pushed over the underlying surface with the load-carrying platform remaining level and with all four wheels rolling over the underlying surface. |
| US08167320B2 |
Vehicle with carriage anti-tilting structure
A vehicle with carriage anti-tilting structure, which comprises a frame and, a carriage of a cylindrical shape, with its central axis in parallel along the length of the vehicle and is connected with the frame in a free rotation state. The rotating axis of the carriage is the central axis of the carriage, and the gravity center of the carriage is lower than the rotating axis. An electrical locking mechanism for stopping the rotation of carriage is arranged between the carriage and frame, and is connected with a vehicle tilting angle detector which installed on the frame. The locking mechanism acts as an actuator of the vehicle tilting angle detector. In the event of tilting of the vehicle, the vehicle tilting angle detector detects the tilting condition, and then output signal to the electrical locking mechanism, which releases the locking of the carriage and enables it to stay leveled. |
| US08167316B2 |
Clamping head provided with floating clamping jaws
A clamping device for fixing a machined part to a processing axis in a machine tool including the processing axis, a clamping head which is rotatable thereabout and with clamping elements floatably arranged thereon. |
| US08167311B1 |
Game machine
A game machine includes a cabinet-type main frame. A rack and a movement assembly respectively mounted in the main frame. The rack has multiple rooms defined therein for receiving prizes. An operational unit is mounted on a front panel of the main frame for user to operate the movement assembly. A drive device is mounted on the movement assembly and reciprocally moved relative to the rack. Multiple driven devices are mounted on the rack. Each driven device aligns with a corresponding one of the rooms. Each driven device has a shaft extending into the corresponding room and reciprocally moved to push a prized received in the room when the drive device is engaged to and pushes the shaft. |
| US08167309B1 |
System and method for personal wagering
A method and a system to provide a medium for personal wagering for sporting or non-sporting events. Users wager against each other, for any event. Users can make their own odds and handicaps. Users pre-select events and price-range for wagering. Alerts are automatically distributed to users informing them of available wager offers. Funds are received and distributed to the winners. |
| US08167308B2 |
Image forming apparatus and method for selecting discharge destination for sheet of image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus is composed of a main body, an image forming portion provided in the main body to form an image on a sheet, a top receiving tray provided on a top of the main body to load the sheet on which the image is formed in the image forming portion so as to be visible from the top of the main body, a side receiving tray provided at a side of the main body and under the top receiving tray to load the sheet on which the image is formed in the image forming portion with a maximum sheet loading amount more than the top receiving tray, and a control unit to control to select one of the top receiving tray and the side receiving tray as a discharge destination for the sheet according to whether or not a number of the output sheets outputted from the image forming portion exceeds a prescribed threshold value. |
| US08167305B2 |
Transporting device and transporting method
A transport device and a transporting method. The transporting device includes a transporting unit, a plurality of medium sensing units, an encoder, a paper management module, a determining unit, and a transport controller. When the determining unit determines that a transport error has occurred in a succession transport medium based on a count value for an encoder signal, the paper management module stops counting, and the transport controller controls the transporting unit such that the transporting unit continues transporting a previous transport medium. |
| US08167302B2 |
Paper inverting device
A sheet of paper is reliably held by suction at the front and rear of a turn guide on the transport path of the sheet according to paper transport conditions. |
| US08167301B2 |
Paper sheet handling device
A paper sheet processing apparatus including a housing part capable of stacking a paper sheet in a stable condition. A bill processing apparatus includes: a bill housing part capable of stacking the bill having been inserted into a bill insertion slot. The bill housing part includes a regulatory member having an opening through which a bill to be received; and a contact face which regulates a movement of the bill by contacting. The regulatory member is configured to make a coefficient of friction on the contact face contacting the bill greater than a coefficient of friction caused between stacked and housed bills. |
| US08167299B2 |
Sheet feeder and image forming apparatus provided with the sheet feeder
A sheet feeder is provided with a storing section for storing transfer sheets, a feed roller for feeding the transfer sheets stored in the storing section one by one from the uppermost one; a separation roller arranged to face the feed roller; a transport roller arranged downstream of the feed roller in a transport direction; and a transfer sheet guide for guiding the transfer sheet to the transport roller, wherein the transfer sheet guide includes a guide face formed to extend from the storing section along the transport direction of the transfer sheet on or in a vicinity of an extension of a line tangent to the feed roller and the transport roller on the side of transporting the transfer sheet, the guide face being formed in an area between the storing section and the separation roller. |
| US08167295B2 |
Printer and method for controlling the same
A printer is provided that includes a printing unit printing an image on a sheet being conveyed on a printing path, a first feeder unit configured such that a sheet placed thereon is fed to the printing path via a first feeding path, a second feeder unit configured such that a sheet placed thereon is fed to the printing path via a second feeding path even while the first feeder unit is being replenished with sheets, and a controller configured to, in response to a first requirement being satisfied while the first feeder unit is forbidden to be replenished with sheets during a continuous printing operation, switch an actually-working feeder unit that works for actual sheet feeding in the continuous printing operation, to the second feeder unit, the first requirement including a condition that one or more sheets are placed on the second feeder unit. |
| US08167293B2 |
System and method for inline cutting and stacking of sheets for formation of books
This invention provides a system and method for aligning, feeding, trimming, slitting, rotating, cross-slitting and stacking sheets, each containing one or more discrete page images thereon that allows for greater automation of the overall process so that reduced or no manual intervention is required to generate completed book stacks or “blocks” from a stream or stack of printed sheets. Sheets are fed downstream on a feed surface, trimmed at a first, upstream trimming station to remove margin edges and optionally separate the sheets relative to the discrete page images. The sheets are then rotated 90 degrees and fed to a second, downstream trimming station that trims the right-angle edges and optionally separates the sheets into a final group of full-bleed pages, removing margins and gutter strips. The sheets are feed to a stacking assembly to be tacked in page order and any rejected, defective sheets or stacks are removed from the order. Trimming stations can be automatically adjusted to accommodate different numbers and sizes of pages in sheets. The stacking assembly can include a right-angle merge assembly that can include a plurality of decks, served by divert gates to handle a large number of separated pages to-be-stacked. |
| US08167292B1 |
Vise jaw plates
Jaw plates for removably attaching to the jaws of machine vises extend above the top of the jaw to hold taller workpieces. They are made from aluminum alloy for readily machining to conform to contours of a workpiece not easily held by flat jaw faces. They are sections cut from a special extrusion for enhanced physical properties and economy of production. Through holes are drilled for fastening to the jaw face. The plate has a planar vertical face for lying flat on the vertical jaw face. A second face engages the top horizontal face of the jaw. A groove between the two plate faces ensures the second face engages the horizontal face of the jaw away from the intersection of the faces. Alternatively, material on the plate may conform to the workpiece when hot and retain shape when cool. |
| US08167284B2 |
Hook structure for spiral spring
A second spiral spring is smaller than a first spiral spring and is housed in an open space in the center of the first spiral spring. A folded portion that is formed in an inner end of the first spiral spring and a folded portion that is formed in an outer end of the second spiral spring are hooked in a latch plate, under tension, that is cut and raised from a side. A receiving space is formed between the latch plate and an initial winding portion that starts winding in a curved shape from the inner end of the first spiral spring so as to house a tip of the folded portion of the outer end of the second spiral spring that is hooked in the latch plate. |
| US08167282B2 |
Aerosol generator
A method of fabricating a glass body that includes a multiplicity of constituents, at least one of which is a dopant (e.g., a rare-earth element) having a low vapor pressure (LVP) precursor includes the steps of: (a) generating an aerosol from the LVP precursor; (b) separately generating vapors of the other constituents; (c) convecting the aerosol and vapors to deposition system including a substrate; and (d) forming at least one doped layer on a surface of the substrate. In one embodiment, the method also includes filtering the aerosol so as to remove aerosol particles outside of a particular range of sizes. Also described is a unique aerosol generator that is particularly useful in generating aerosols of rare-earth dopants. Particular embodiments directed to the fabrication of Yb-doped optical fibers are described. |
| US08167278B2 |
Angled diffuser and steam injection heater assembly
An improved configuration for an in-line direct contact diffuser-type steam injection heater provides for a diffuser whereby steam flow is controlled using an angled sonic diffuser and plug arrangement. The steam flow is controlled by means of a steam plug which selectively exposes holes through which the steam passes. In the preferred embodiment, the configuration provides for a diffuser that had been angled approximately 30° from vertical to facilitate better mixing of the steam with the fluid. The precise angle may be altered depending on the fluid characteristics. A more durable end seal is also used. The end seal is a piston ring which prevents problems associated with the use of elastomeric rings of existing art. A more uniform diameter plug with linear travel is also an improvement over the prior art. |
| US08167277B2 |
Fluid shear promotion in a carburetor booster
A carburetor booster that produces a shear factor to maintain emulsification of fluid passing through, out of, and around the booster body. The booster includes ports between a groove at a bottom portion of the booster and a plenum in the booster, the plenum being a source of a fuel mixture. |
| US08167271B2 |
Staple extractor
A staple extractor having a handle, a shank attached to the handle and having a conical pry tip, and a sliding member having a clamp head engageable with the pry tip and slidably attached to the shank so as to permit relative longitudinal movement between the shank and sliding member, wherein the clamp head has opposed wings that straddle the pry tip so as to releasably secure a staple bridge. The sliding member has a thumb knob located proximate the handle for moving the sliding member between a retracted position and a clamping position. |
| US08167269B2 |
Valve trim apparatus for use with valves
A valve trim apparatus for use with valves is described. An example valve trim apparatus includes a cage having an upper portion removably coupled to a lower portion. A closure member is disposed within the cage and has a first seating surface and a second seating surface. A seal assembly is fixed between the upper and lower portions of the cage. The first sealing surface of the closure member sealingly engages the seal assembly when the closure member is in a closed position to prevent leakage between the closure member and the cage. |
| US08167264B2 |
Self-supporting interior wall for use in concrete casting equipment used in concrete casting machines
Self-supporting intermediate walls (12) for cellular division of mould lower parts in a concrete casting machine of the kind typically used for making cast items in the form of concrete blocks for wall construction and elements, solid blocks or blocks with cavities or recesses in two or more rows. By the self-supporting design, the distance between rows of products may be reduced for better utilization of the production plate while at the same time maintaining the replaceability of wear parts. By the invention is indicated a self-supporting intermediate wall (12) consisting of two halves, an intermediate wall with lower pins (18) and an intermediate wall with upper pins (20) which, when the two halves are assembled with the pins engaging a partitioning plate (8), form a self-supporting intermediate wall (12). For moulds with core supports (28), intermediate wall parts (22 and 23) are used with a recess (25) in which the boss (29) on the core support iron (28) fits. |
| US08167255B2 |
Hinge with elastic element and tab adapted in cardboard display stands for assembly, flattening and automatic set-up systems
“HINGE WITH ELASTIC ELEMENT AND TAB ADAPTED IN CARDBOARD DISPLAY STANDS FOR ASSEMBLY, FLATTENING AND AUTOMATIC SET-UP SYSTEMS”, formed from a cardboard plate (1) with creases (2), (3) and (4) which mark the swinging segments (6), (7), (8), (9) and (10), forming a hinge (14) to be applied to display stands (such as display shelf, display-box, totem and other similar objects obtained from the central cardboard cutting and creasing design), operating through tension imposed by the elastic loop (15) anchored into the cuts (17) of a beveled tab (16) internal or posterior, positioned in the junction points of the adjacent walls (P) of the display stand (D). The hinge (14) works in clamping system, closing itself strongly tensioned during the display stand (D) flattening, for piling, transportation and delivery to the client, secured in an envelope. After delivery, the hinge (14) is opened by pulling offered by the loop (15), pushing forcefully the flattened walls (P) of the display stand (D), for its automatic opening and set-up. |
| US08167254B2 |
Trash container emptying mechanism
A trash container emptying mechanism provides an upstanding “U” shaped yoke with two horizontally spaced apart vertically extending arms each having a perpendicular base portion mounted to wheeled cart. A trash container carrier having a partially circumferentially extending rigid upper support, a vertically spaced apart bottom support and at least one vertical leg communicating between the rigid upper support and the bottom support is pivotally carried within the yoke on two offset pivot spacers and two horizontal axles extending therethrough and therebetween. A flexible length adjustable strap releasably secures the trash container to the carrier and a removable position locking pin extends through aligned axle holes defined in yoke vertical arm and carrier to positionally secure the carrier and trash container in a vertical orientation within the yoke. |
| US08167251B2 |
Air hose support clip to prevent lateral loading
Apparatus for suspending a device such as the end of a depending air brake hose from a railcar. A flexible strap of a synthetic resin such as moldable polyurethane is suspended from the railcar body, for example, by attachment to an apertured fitting on the railcar coupler. Elongated resilient wire clips are provided to attach the free end of the air hose. The wire clips are generally configured with a latching end including interlocking end portions for connection to the strap through a selected attachment aperture, a pair of flexibly resilient, elongated manually compressible elongated arms extending away from the latching end portions and a return portion joining the arms. The clip is further provided with a retainer operative when the arms are interlocked for maintaining the attachment aperture fitting within the confines of the return portion and out of position in which loading of the clip is exerted laterally of the clip arms. In a preferred embodiment, the clip is provided with a bend in its first arm operative to promote optimum point-loading of the clip, and this embodiment of the clip is particularly useful with a chain suspension strap. |
| US08167249B1 |
Controllable upper surface blown nozzle
Apparatus and methods provide for a controllable upper surface blown (USB) nozzle aperture. Aspects of the disclosure provide a powered-lift aircraft that utilizes a controllable nozzle aperture to maximize the spreading of the engine exhaust flow over the wing and USB flap surfaces to increase lift when desirable and to minimize exhaust plume contact with the wing and USB flap surfaces when minimizing drag is desirable. The controllable USB nozzle aperture includes movable upper, lower, and side duct surfaces to dynamically vary the geometry of the nozzle exit aperture to minimize the height and maximize the width of the exit aperture for maximum spreading of the exhaust plume or to maximize the height and minimize the width of the exit aperture for minimizing the spreading of the exhaust plume and minimizing the associated drag. |
| US08167247B2 |
Space-based occulter
A space-based occulter is selectively movable between stowed and deployed configurations. A base hub has a longitudinally oriented center axis. A plurality of petals are provided, each petal extending radially outward from, and spaced radially apart from, the base hub when in the deployed configuration. Each petal has a hypergaussian edge made up of a plurality of hypergaussian edge panels. Each hypergaussian edge panel defines a portion of the hypergaussian edge of the petal. Each hypergaussian edge panel is made substantially of a material having a near zero coefficient of thermal expansion. A circular central portion is located radially between the base hub and the plurality of petals. A covering skin extends laterally between the hypergaussian edges of each petal and over the circular central portion. The covering skin defines a substantially planar surface oriented substantially perpendicular to the center axis when the occulter is in the deployed configuration. |
| US08167242B2 |
Launch and recovery system for unmanned aerial vehicles
A method of launching and retrieving a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) (10). The preferred method of launch involves carrying the UAV (10) up to altitude using a parasail (8) similar to that used to carry tourists aloft. The UAV is dropped and picks up enough airspeed in the dive to perform a pull-up into level controlled flight. The preferred method of recovery is for the UAV to fly into and latch onto the parasail tow line (4) or cables hanging off the tow line and then be winched back down to the boat (2). |
| US08167238B2 |
Pylon caisson attachment on a wing, gripping a lateral panel of the caisson
An aircraft assembly including a wing element and an attachment pylon of a turboengine, including a rigid structure forming a caisson defined externally by a first longeron, a second longeron, and two lateral panels. The assembly also includes an attachment mechanism of the structure on the wing element, fitted with two front attachments, each including two first fittings solid with the associated lateral panel. For each front attachment, the two first fittings are arranged respectively on either side of their associated lateral panel. |
| US08167237B2 |
Mounting system for a gas turbine engine
A mounting system for a gas turbine engine includes a mounting linkage assembly and a tangential link positioned generally transverse to the mounting linkage assembly. The mounting linkage assembly reacts at least a thrust load. The tangential link reacts at least a vertical load, a side load, and a torque load of the gas turbine engine. |
| US08167236B2 |
Hybrid lift air vehicle
A hybrid lift air vehicle for lifting and transporting a payload to a delivery location, which comprises a helium or other lighter-than-air gas filled envelope mounted on an airframe. Variable and reversible vertical thrusters are positioned on the airframe, and at least two variable and reversible lateral thrusters are mounted on the envelope or mounted on truss arms attached and extending out from the airframe, wherein, when the vehicle is connected to the payload for transport, the helium or other lighter-than-air gas supports or substantially supports the weight of the vehicle and the vertical thrusters are then continuously engaged to support the weight of the payload and to provide lift to the payload, wherein the lateral thrusters are then engaged to effect lateral movement of the vehicle to the delivery location, whereby, once at the delivery location, the lift provided by the variable and reversible vertical thrusters is reduced or reversed so as to allow the air vehicle to descend and the payload to again engage the ground surface, and where necessary, the variable and reversible vertical thrusters may be reversed to facilitate the unloading of the payload from the vehicle, the vehicle continuing to be kept aloft, once unloaded, by the helium or other lighter than air gas. In this manner, the vehicle utilizes the helium or lighter than air gas to offset or substantially offset the weight of the vehicle, the vertical thrusters providing the power to lift the payload. |
| US08167235B2 |
Whirling wheel airborne vehicles
A sliding-arm whirling wheel thruster includes first and second whirling wheels and a housing. The first whirling wheel is disposed about a first rotational axis, and the second whirling wheel about a second rotational axis parallel to the first rotational axis. The housing comprises an arc over an enclosed space into which the first and second whirling wheels fit. The air blown outward by each of the whirling wheels is amassed inside the housing so as to make a pressure difference between inside and outside of the housing. The relative position of the first rotational axis to the second rotational axis is configured to be controlled. The airborne vehicle is lifted by buoyant force caused by the pressure difference. |
| US08167234B1 |
Insect-like micro air vehicle having perching, energy scavenging, crawling, and offensive payload capabilities
A micro air vehicle (MAV) comprises features that emulate insect-like topology and flight, including a dangling three part body (100a, 100b, 100c), wing-like dual side rotors (107, 107a) positioned to either side on rotor arms (103) providing tilt and teeter motions to vector thrust and allow crawling along improved surfaces, and elevators (101) that approximate the center of gravity and center of pressure control employed by insects via the inertial reaction and aerodynamic influence of a repositionable abdomen. Control, sensing, surveillance, and payload elements (114), (401), (402), (403), (404), (405), and (407) enable transmission of surveillance and engagement of an emerging target. Left and right perch hangers and grapples (112, 112a) allow perching on various structures, and energy storage (504) and (505) combined with power line (500) and solar (502) energy scavenging circuitry allow extended loiter and mission duration by replenishing onboard energy supplies. |
| US08167231B2 |
Shielding arrangement for lines, in particular electrical lines, in aircraft
A shielding arrangement for the lightning protection of electrical lines and components in an aircraft includes a protected installation space for receiving the lines that is arranged in the region of a floor framework, at least one delimiting surface of the installation space being provided at least in certain regions with an electrically conductive shielding, the at least one delimiting surface of the installation space being formed with at least one floor panel and a further delimiting surface of the installation space being formed with at least one ceiling panel. |
| US08167227B2 |
Foot operated lever-lift vertical reel unroller assembly
A lever lift assembly is provided for lifting a reel of cable, wire or other material off the floor. In one embodiment of the lever lift assembly, a lever assembly is actuated to retract a lifter assembly underneath the reel causing the reel to be lifted on a pair of drive wheels and a pair of flanged wheels. In one embodiment the lever lift assembly incorporates drive wheels to unroll material from the reel. |
| US08167226B2 |
Chipper knife and method of manufacturing a chipper knife
A chipper knife adapted to be mounted in chippers which have a rotatable tool, in the form of a disc, drum or frustoconical member, on which a plurality of chipper knives are mounted has at least one cutting edge which is defined between two edge-forming surface portions of the knife at an acute angle to each other. At least one of the two edge-forming surface portions extends from the cutting edge inwardly to a shoulder extending parallel to and facing away from the cutting edge and defining a step surface on the knife behind the shoulder with respect to the rest of the adjacent knife surface and chipper knife. |
| US08167224B2 |
Delivery of agents to the cutting mechanism of paper shredders
Lubrication substrates are disclosed that have been treated with or that carry a lubricant for maintaining a paper shredder. The lubrication substrate is fed through the shredding mechanism of a paper shredder. Rather than requiring disassembly of the paper shredder, maintenance and lubrication can be performed by passing the lubrication substrate through the shredding mechanism. The lubrication substrates can take any of a variety of forms, and can be substantially rigid and/or stiff. The lubrication substrates can also include scented lubricants and decomposing agents. Paper shredders are also disclosed for use with the lubrication substrates. The paper shredders can have various means for identifying when lubrication is needed and/or when the cutting mechanism of the paper shredder is lubricated by a lubrication sheet. Paper shredders having a reservoir of lubricant for delivery to the cutting mechanism of the paper shredder are also disclosed. |
| US08167221B2 |
Sprinkler housing having a side inlet to reduce stress concentrations thereat
A sprinkler housing having a side inlet with improved strength and durability is disclosed. The housing includes an inlet opening having a shape configured to position regions of peak stress concentration on the housing side walls, upon the sprinkler housing being filled with a pressurized fluid, circumferentially spaced from the upper and lower central points of the inlet opening to provide a more robust sprinkler housing. |
| US08167219B2 |
Device for improving tire traction
A tire traction device which may improve or provide tire traction for various vehicles is described. The tire traction device includes a board having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end has a curved edge and the second end has a slanted edge. The board may include more than one section. The board includes a rough top surface, and a plurality of spikes extend from the bottom surface of the board. The tire traction device may also include a flexible component attached to the board. The flexible component is designed so that it may be drawn underneath a spinning tire. |
| US08167214B2 |
Method and device for visual code transaction verification
A method and device for visual code transaction verification enables more secure electronic transactions. The method includes generating a window having a first pattern of elongated segments. A second pattern of elongated segments is then generated, wherein a dynamic visual code is produced when the window and the first pattern of elongated segments are superimposed with the second pattern of elongated segments. A transaction with a user is then verified by matching the dynamic visual code with a code string entered by the user. |
| US08167212B2 |
Radio frequency identification system and data reading method
A system and method for reading an RFID data tag comprising a plurality of diffractive elements being indicative of machine-readable data carried by the tag are provided. The diffractive elements have such shape that the dimension of the diffractive elements along one axis is substantially different than the dimension of the elements along the perpendicular axis. Each diffractive element is oriented in a direction other than the direction of its neighboring elements. The system comprises a transmitting antenna configured for emitting an RF radiation signal at a predetermined polarization towards the tag; and a receiving antenna configured for collecting re-radiated RF radiation produced by the tag in response to the RF radiation signal at a polarization orthogonal to the polarization of the transmitting antenna and generating electromagnetic signals indicative of the data carried by the tag. The system also includes an interrogator unit configured for generating the transmitted RF radiation signal and processing the electromagnetic signals produced by the receiving antenna for determining the data carried by the tag. |
| US08167211B2 |
Card carrying and pushing out device
A card carrying device may include a stacker in which a plurality of cards is stacked, a card pushing-out member for engaging with the rear edge of a card at a lowest position of the cards to push the card at the lowest position outside from the stacker, a carrying-out roller for carrying the card outside from the stacker, and a card pushing-up member for pushing up other cards stacked on the card at the lowest position in an upper direction in a period after the carrying-out roller comes in contact with the card at the lowest position and before the card at the lowest position has been carried outside from the stacker. |
| US08167209B2 |
Increasing imaging quality of a bar code reader
The exemplary system requires a 2D barcode be located on an object, a portion of which is to be captured in an image. The module size of the 2D barcode is chosen to match the smallest feature to be preserved on the output image. While the target is moving with respect to the imager the 2D bar code is also moving and the resulting image is degraded. The imager will properly decode the 2D barcode only if the bar code is stationary (or moving very slowly) and hence will provide an acceptable image in the region of the 2D bar code. |
| US08167208B2 |
Arrangement for and method of controlling monitor photodiode leakage current in lasers in electro-optical readers
In an electro-optical reader, an aiming or a scanning laser has an internal laser chip and a monitor photodiode. A controller deenergizes the chip in a deenergized state, and energizes the chip to emit a laser beam with an output power in an energized state. A positive voltage power supply forward biases and maintains the photodiode at a substantially constant positive voltage below a threshold voltage, to support a substantially constant photodiode leakage current in both states. A signal processor supports a total current comprised of a main photodiode current indicative of the output power of the laser beam in the energized state and of the leakage current which flows opposite to the main current, and removes the leakage current from the total current to output only the main current in the energized state. |
| US08167207B2 |
Integrated optical exit window
A device including a housing, an imaging engine and a transparent exit window. The imaging engine is located within the housing. The exit window is in the housing allowing light to pass from an exterior of the device to the imaging engine within the housing. The exit window has a plurality of segments. Each of the segments has a corresponding optical property. |
| US08167206B2 |
Reader for reading computer-generated lithograms
A reader for reading computer-generated individualized holograms which are written into a storage medium, having a light source for generating a light beam, a recording means for acquiring image data generated by the light beam by illuminating the individualized hologram, and display means for displaying the display data generated from the image data, wherein all the components are combined in a portable handheld unit. |
| US08167199B1 |
Systems and methods for dynamically valuating a gift card
A gift card that dynamically changes its value based on how it is used. For example, a gift card may have a different value in accordance with a merchant where the card is used, a merchant category, a product being purchased, a product manufacturer, etc. The gift card may operate within a traditional credit/debit card processing infrastructure, wherein the card processing infrastructure transmits the merchant details along with the authorization/approval request to a card processor and/or card issuer. The gift card may be authorized for a specific value for that merchant, the merchant category, product, etc. Thus, the gift card may have a value of $25 at a first store, but the same gift card may have a value of $50 at a second store in accordance with a predetermined value factors assigned to the stores. |
| US08167196B2 |
Expanded mass data sets for electronic check processing
Accommodating the data needed to process checks for payment under the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act by using expanded fields of a financial data file. The financial data file can comprise the complete, original MICR data from an original or substitute paper check. The financial data file can comprise truncated data in conventional fields F1-F7 and untruncated data in expanded fields F10-F11. The financial data file further can comprise a result from an image quality analysis performed on an electronic image of the check. The untruncated MICR data and the electronic check image can be used to correct errors in the financial data file and to present the check for payment via a substitute check or an electronic image cash letter. The truncated MICR data can be used to electronically process the check via conventional means. |
| US08167195B2 |
Cluster box mail delivery unit having security features
An apparatus and method for enhancing the security of a cluster box unit which includes a protective enclosure, internal cabinetry, door, hinge and locking system. The cluster box unit may also include outgoing mail compartment doors that are heavily constructed and rigidly reinforced, with the locks carried thereon protectively shielded, and with the extensible bolts of these locks being engaged by brackets that not only lock the outgoing mail compartment doors but also the master loading doors of the cluster box units. The cluster box unit may also include master loading doors are provided with hinges that extend the full height of the doors—hinges that are defined by pivotally interfitting elements of extrusions that very sturdily mount the master loading doors, that prevent prying or bending the doors in the vicinities of their hinges. The interfitting elements of the hinge extrusions also permit the doors to be installed on their surrounding door frames quickly and easily, and permit one or both of the master loading doors to be quickly and easily removed for service or replacement when necessary. |
| US08167192B1 |
Manufacturing method for ceramic heater
Disclosed herein is a manufacturing method for a ceramic heater. The manufacturing method includes the step of manufacturing a sintered ceramic substrate using a ceramic material and forming a conductive through hole in the ceramic substrate, the step of screen printing low temperature firing paste on the ceramic substrate, thus forming a heating wire, the step of screen printing Ag paste on the through hole, thus forming an electrode, the step of joining, using heat and pressure, a green sheet to a surface of the ceramic substrate on which the heating wire is formed, the step of firing the joined ceramic substrate and green sheet at low temperature, thus manufacturing a substrate body, and the step of brazing the lead wire to the electrode of the substrate body using filler metal while the lead wire is exposed to atmosphere. |
| US08167190B1 |
Electrically conductive polymer compositions containing metal particles and a graphene and methods for production and use thereof
Polymer compositions containing a polymer matrix, a graphene that is covalently bonded to the polymer matrix and metal particles are described herein. A combined concentration of the metal particles and the graphene in the polymer matrix exceeds an electrical percolation threshold. In general, the graphene has a carbon:oxygen ratio of at least about 20:1 so as to impart a high electrical conductivity thereto. The polymer compositions can be used as a lead-free solder material, in which case they can allow multiple rework operations to take place at a connection. Methods for making and using such electrically conductive polymer compositions are also described. |
| US08167189B2 |
Methods for rework of a solder
Methods for reworking a solder containing one or more joined members are described herein. Such methods can include applying a disintegrating agent to a solder containing a solder material, disintegrating the solder material to form a disintegrated solder material, and removing the disintegrated solder material from the solder. Such methods can also include applying a disintegrating agent containing bismuth to a solder containing a solder material, and heating the solder to liquefy the disintegrating agent. Such methods can also include applying a disintegrating agent containing a bismuth alloy to a solder having a solder material that contains metal nanoparticles, and heating the solder to liquefy the bismuth alloy. |
| US08167180B2 |
Lean support for elongate articles on a load carrier
A method and arrangement for providing a load carrying apparatus for securing an elongate article, such as a canoe of kayak, to a vehicle generally includes a plurality of load bars, a guide pivotally secured to each of the load bars, an aperture disposed along a length of each guide, and at least one retaining strap threadably received by each aperture. The at least one retaining strap is disposed about the elongate article and is secured to the load bars such that the elongate article may be secured between the retaining strap and the guide. In a preferred aspect, the retaining strap is disposed through the aperture, about the elongate article, about the load bars, and is secured to itself under a tensioning force. |
| US08167176B2 |
Device for distributing a fluid of the multi-dose type
A fluid dispenser device a body in which the direction in which an actuating element (5) moves is different from, and in particular perpendicular to, the axial direction in which the piston or the valve member of the dispensing member moves, the actuating element (5) having an end portion provided with the cam surface (6) which co-operates with the reservoir (3) or a fixing ring (8) adapted to fix the dispensing member to the reservoir (3) so that the actuating element (5) being moved substantially radially into its actuating position causes the reservoir (3) to be moved axially relative to the piston or to the valve member of the dispensing member so as to dispense a dose of fluid. |
| US08167171B2 |
Device for dispensing, by means of a pump, fluid substances contained under airtight conditions in a deformable bag housed in a rigid container
A device for dispensing, by a manually operable pump, fluid substances contained in a deformable bag housed in a rigid container. The bag includes a mouth with a projecting flange with which the pump engages in coupling to the flange, and which causes the bag to be extracted from the container when the pump is separated from the container after the bag has been emptied. |
| US08167166B2 |
Container
A container having a base with extending sidewalls therefrom and a lid hingedly connected thereto. The container may have an alignment mechanism having a lower alignment member and an upper alignment member locating surface on the base and lid, respectively, at the region where the base and the lid are hingedly connected. The container may have a plurality of locking mechanisms in which each locking mechanism includes an extending latching portion and a corresponding circular opening for engagement thereof. The locking mechanism is configured to securely lock the lid to the base wherein an appropriate amount of pulling force must be applied thereto in order to disengage the lid from the base. |
| US08167165B1 |
Thermal cover device for coffee press
A thermal cover device for a coffee press featuring an elongated panel for wrapping around the coffee press, wherein a first attachment means is disposed on the panel for securing the panel around the coffee press and a first slot disposed in the side of the panel sized to accommodate a handle of the coffee press; and a circular top panel adapted to be attached to a top of the coffee press, wherein a second slot is disposed in the circular panel for accommodating a lid handle disposed the top of the coffee press; wherein the panel and top panel are constructed from a first batting layer and a second batting layer sandwiched between outer layers, wherein an insulation layer is sandwiched between the first batting layer and the second batting layer, the insulation layer is constructed from an EagleShield™ insulation component. |
| US08167150B2 |
Drawer partition kit
A drawer partition kit is described. The drawer partition kit comprises at least one partition board and a partition rack. The partition rack, applied in a drawer having a space, has a U-shaped space for storing things. The U-shape space has a size. The partition rack has slots under the U-shaped space for positioning the partition board and for reducing the size of the U-shaped space. The partition board has a first side plate for being positioned and has a vertical plate capable of being moved to change the space of the drawer. A plurality of such partition racks may be connected with each other. The materials of the partition rack may alternatively be metals or other materials having excellent weather-resistance and supporting forces. |
| US08167146B2 |
Cable management apparatus
A cable management apparatus includes a cable support, and a connecting member. The cable support includes a first support and a second support. A rail assembly includes an outer rail and an inner rail slidably attached to the outer rail. The first support is rotationally attached to the inner rail and the second support is rotationally attached to the outer rail. The connecting member connects the first and second supports and extends a blocking portion. The first support is capable of changing position relative to the second support while the inner rail and the outer rail stay relatively static. The blocking portion is supported by the supporting member and is capable of disengaging from the supporting member. |
| US08167145B2 |
Method of making a granular media water filter
Granules comprise binder-agglomerated active particles for liquid treatment or filtration. Each granule has a center core of a material that itself has binding properties without the addition of other binders or sprays or adhesives, or, alternatively, each granule comprises a matrix of active materials stuck together with the binder. The binder structure preferably ranges from a non-uniform matrix of binder formed by heat-deformed binder particles, to a clump of binder particles generally retaining the original shape or the binder particles, to non-continuous connectors of binder between active particles. The invented two-part media has high surface area per volume of media, which, because the outer surface and inner void surfaces of the particles are preferably substantially covered with active particles, translates to high activity for the preferred treatment process. Therefore, while a mixture of active particles may be used and a mixture of binders may be use, each media granule preferably consists only of a matrix, clump, or plurality of connectors of binder coated with active particles, with preferably no support for the active component other than the binder material. |
| US08167141B2 |
Gravity flow filter
A gravity-fed carbon block water filter in one embodiment includes a filter block comprising multiple sub-blocks each comprising filter media walls surrounding and defining a cavity for receiving fluid. Each of the sub-blocks is connected to at least one other of the sub-blocks by filter media of which the filter block is made. In one approach, the filter media includes about 20-90 wt % activated carbon, and about 5-50 wt % binder. In another approach, a lead concentration in a final liter of effluent water filtered by the filter is less than about 10 μg/liter after about 151 liters (40 gallons) of source water filtration, the source water having a pH of 8.5 and containing 135-165 ppb total lead with 30-60 ppb being colloidal lead greater than 0.1 μm in diameter. A gravity-fed water filter in other embodiments has no specified shape but achieves a FRAP factor of about 350 or less. |
| US08167140B2 |
Filter apparatus capable of releasing air
A filter apparatus capable of releasing air from a filter body, comprising a filter body held by a holder. The filter body includes a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet. The filter body is disposed in the holder so as to rotate around an axis of rotation that passes through the fluid inlet. The holder includes a front panel. The front panel comprises engaging portions, for temporarily engaging the fluid outlet at either an air releasing position or at a filtering position, and a fixing means for fixing the filter body at each position. The filter apparatus further includes means for rotating the filter body. |
| US08167138B2 |
Dry washing device
A dry cleaning apparatus separates heavy objects from mixture of the heavy objects and light objects having specific gravities smaller than those of the heavy objects. The dry cleaning apparatus includes a casing having a tubular shape having a center axis, an internal cylinder provided in the casing, a recovery section for recovering the heavy objects, a loading section for loading the mixture to above the internal cylinder, a flow inlet for introducing air to between the casing and the internal cylinder, and an outlet for discharging the light objects and air from between the casing and the internal cylinder. The casing has an inner surface extending substantially in parallel to a center axis. The internal cylinder has an upper surface having a center portion projecting upwardly, and has an outer surface having a portion which extends in parallel to the inner surface of the casing and which faces the inner surface of the casing. The recovery section is located under the internal cylinder. |
| US08167136B2 |
Device for discarding trims formed during the cutting of paper logs
Device for discarding trims formed by cutting machines during the cutting of paper logs, comprising an advancing plane on which paper rolls (R) and trims (RT, RC) advance along a given direction (A), wherein the trims can fall through a discontinuity provided on said advancing plane. The said advancing plane is formed by a first extendible conveyor (1) and a second extendible conveyor (2). Each of said conveyors (1, 2) is connected with extension and retraction means. The said discontinuity on the advancing plane is realized or eliminated depending on the extended or not extended configuration of said conveyors (1, 2). |
| US08167134B2 |
Sifting screen structure
A mesh panel of the type having a plurality of spaced apart apertures includes an internal frame member substantially in the form of a perforated sheet, and having a plurality of openings therein larger than the apertures. The frame member has substantial internal rigidity. An elastomeric coating encapsulates at least a portion of said frame member. In a preferred embodiment, a bonding coating between the elastomeric coating and the frame member securely bonds to both the elastomeric coating and the frame member. The bonding coating is of the type that is liquid before application to the frame member and is curable by heat or time to a hard plastic. Preferably, the bonding coating is partially cured before the elastomeric coating is applied, after which both coatings are cured by heat. The panel is particularly well suited for use as a sorting screen. |
| US08167131B1 |
Carrying device for art and craft supplies
A carrying device for storing and organizing art and craft supplies featuring a base tray having an enclosure, a cushion component disposed on the bottom of the base tray; a plurality of removable storage boxes or pouches; a base lid pivotally attached to the base tray; a picture holding component disposed in the top of the base lid for holding a photograph; a plurality of first fasteners and second fasteners disposed on an inner surface of the base lid, the first fasteners function to hold the removable storage boxes or pouches and the second fasteners function to hold items such as pens, markers, and the like; and a generally flat inner lid pivotally attached to the base tray positioned between the enclosure of the base tray and the base lid, the inner lid provides a flat working surface. |
| US08167128B2 |
Cupcake securement device
An individual cupcake holder having prongs extending inwardly from the outside shell walls in order to secure a cupcake in place within the cupcake holder, either above the baking liner or anywhere below the lip edge of the cupcake baking liner so that the frosting of the cupcake remains unmarred during transport in lunch boxes and the like. It is also disclosed to include a plurality of prongs that secure a cupcake both above and through the baking liner. Of course, other pastries may be transported in this little container, as well as pieces of fruit and other assorted food items. |
| US08167127B2 |
Protective carrying case for a portable electronic device
A casing for a portable electronic device, such as an MP3 player, a cell phone, a smart phone, or a PDA, is formed with two or more sleeves that may be placed onto the electronic device and together form a closed encasement for the electronic device. The encasement is formed to enable operative access to the electronic device while the sleeves are connected to form the closed encasement. A back panel of the encasement is removable so that it may be exchanged for an alternative panel. That is, a first back panel may simply be a planar panel that only forms an integral backwall part of the closed encasement and a second back panel may be provided with a belt clip or belt loop, or the like. The different removable back panels may thus be exchanged to provide the device for mutually different functions of the casing. |
| US08167126B2 |
Button mechanisms for electronic device cases
A case for electronic devices having buttons may include button mechanisms that allow the case slide over an electronic device without impacting the buttons. Each button mechanism may include a sheet spring that biases the button mechanism away from the buttons. When a user presses the button mechanism, the button mechanism may transmit force from the user to one of the buttons and actuate that button. One type of button mechanism may transmit force that actuates a single push-button. A second type of button mechanism may transmit forces that actuate a rocker switch with two actuation modes such as a volume rocker with a volume up mode and a volume down mode. The button mechanisms may be configured to provide tactile feedback to the user that is similar to the tactile feedback of the electronic device's buttons when the electronic device is not mounted in the case. |
| US08167125B2 |
Transparent box and arrangement of articles of clothing therein
In one embodiment, a retail display includes a first box having walls that define a first interior compartment. The walls include a top wall that is formed of a transparent material to permit viewing of the first interior compartment. The display also includes an inner box that is open along a top thereof and is disposed within the first interior compartment. The inner box partitions the interior compartment into a first section and a second section where the inner box is disposed. The inner box has a second interior compartment. The retail display includes a first article of clothing disposed within the first section, wherein the degree of movement of the first article of clothing is limited by walls of the first box and the vertical side wall of the inner box. A second article of clothing is disposed within the second interior compartment of the inner box. An aperture is formed in the top wall of the first box and positioned so that it extends across the vertical side wall of the inner box and allows access to both the first and second interior compartments to permit contact with both the first and second articles of clothing. |
| US08167123B2 |
Barrel
A barrel has an external metal cylinder and a plastic vessel. The external metal cylinder has a cylinder body, an open top and an open bottom. The plastic vessel has an inner space with a sealed bottom as well as a through top flange. The top flange of the plastic vessel is sleeved tightly into the external metal cylinder, and embedded into the internal curling portion formed by the open top of external metal cylinder. Moreover, the sealed bottom of the plastic vessel is extended into the open bottom of the external metal cylinder, and kept with a recessed spacing to the curling flange, while the bottom of the external metal cylinder is exposed. The barrel can be applied to toilet brush assemblies in order to reduce the manufacturing cost, prevent rust and facilitate the cleaning process with better economic benefits and applicability. |
| US08167121B2 |
Belt retention guide
The invention relates to a belt retention guide for retaining the position of a belt having beads along its peripheral edge. The belt retention guide comprises a first roller, a movable portion, and a fixing portion. The first roller engages with the beads and retains the position of the beads. The movable portion supports the first roller and the fixing portion engages with the movable portion. The beads are pinched between the first roller and the fixing portion, thereby retaining the position of the belt. The movable portion is configured to be movable between a fixed position where the first roller engages with the beads to pinch them, and a released position where the first roller is separated from the beads to release them. The movable portion is secured in the fixed position by insertion of a stop member through or between the movable portion and the fixing portion. |
| US08167120B2 |
Lateral load building conveyor apparatus
A load moving apparatus is operable to move a load, such as a stack of sheet product, in a first and second direction on a staging area. The load moving apparatus includes a first conveyor, a second conveyor, and a translating device. The first conveyor defines the staging area and is configured to move a load in a first direction. The second conveyor is positioned within the staging area and is configured to move the load in a second direction different from the first direction. The translating device is configured to move vertically one of the first conveyor and the second conveyor relative to the other of the first conveyor and the second conveyor. The load moving apparatus can be used to build or break down loads entering the staging area. |
| US08167119B2 |
Low-pressure accumulation system
A low-pressure accumulation system and a conveyor belt in an accumulation conveyor for the use with the system. The belt, which is flanked on opposite sides by lines of gravity rollers, has a longitudinal lane of article-supporting belt rollers arranged in groups along the length of the conveyor belt. The groups are spaced apart from each at regular intervals. Trays sit atop the gravity rollers until they are lifted slightly higher by one of the slightly elevated groups of article-supporting belt rollers, which engage the bottom of the tray and convey it along toward a discharge end. Retractable stops selectively block the trays from advancing on the accumulation conveyor. The freely rotatable article-supporting belt rollers roll along the bottoms of any blocked and accumulated trays and provide low back pressure. The belt may also include low-friction rollers that ride on bearing surfaces below the belt to help lower friction between the belt and the conveyor structure while the belt is running. |
| US08167113B2 |
Method for grouping products of the vial type and other
The method consists in collecting products (2) that are arriving spaced and in line on a conveyor (1). This collection is carried out by means of a collector device (40), in the form of a comb, arranged transversally, forming an angle between 60 and 120° in relation to the product advancement direction (2).The collector (40) deposits and drops the collected products at a take-up station which is located on the side of said supply conveyor (1); it is capable of a loop movement that can be divided, for the collecting of said products, into a transversal movement combined with a longitudinal movement upwards of the vial queue.The installation for the implementation of the method comprises a table (3) arranged at the level of and along the conveyor (1), a collector (40) carried by an appropriate structure in order to be displaced longitudinally and transversally above said conveyor (1) and said table (3).The table (3) is comprised of two panels (31, 32) which extend on either side of the supply conveyor (1) in order to allow for the depositing and a dropping of the collected products on each side of said conveyor (1). |
| US08167112B2 |
Method and arrangement to turn print products conveyed in a flow along a conveying path
An arrangement to turn print products transported in a conveyed flow along a conveying path in a conveying direction that includes a first conveyor having a traction device guided over a reversing wheel. First clamps are attached to the traction device to clamp the respective print products. A second conveyor is arranged downstream the first conveyor includes second clamps arranged to receive the print products from the first conveyor. A curved turning section connects the first conveyor with the second conveyor along which the print products are turned upside down. The transfer device assists to transfer the print products from the first conveyor to the second conveyor and to turn the print products in the turning section prior to being clamped by the second clamps. The transfer device includes transfer tongs to turn the respective print products around an axis transverse to the conveying direction. |
| US08167111B2 |
Sort gap control
A sortation conveyor includes a method of calibrating the control system to provide a calibration value indicative of the spacial correlation between the sort induct sensor and the first shoe sensor. |
| US08167106B2 |
Clutch drive apparatus and vehicle equipped with the same
A clutch drive apparatus includes a clutch actuator and a drive force transmission mechanism that transmits the drive force of the clutch actuator to the clutch. The drive force transmission mechanism includes a case body and a case cover that is closed on the case body and supports the clutch actuator and a worm shaft. An opening is formed in the case cover to expose a marker member that determines a reference position of an auxiliary elastic body. A maintenance lid for covering the opening is mounted in a vehicle head pipe. |
| US08167103B2 |
Four-passage multifunction torque converter
A torque converter including: an impeller clutch arranged to transmit, when closed, torque from a first cover for the torque converter to a shell for an impeller; a lock-up clutch arranged to transmit, when closed, torque from a second cover for the torque converter to an output hub; a release chamber for the impeller clutch, connected to a first channel; an apply chamber for the impeller clutch, connected to a second channel; an apply chamber for the lock-up clutch, connected to a third channel; and a torus connected to a fourth channel. The second, third, and fourth channels open to a space including a longitudinal axis for the torque converter and the space is arranged to receive an input shaft for a transmission. The first channel is arranged to connect to a line in a pump housing for a transmission. |
| US08167087B2 |
Multimodal indicator safety device for ladder positioning
A safety device for measuring and indicating the level of a ladder having rungs extending between a pair of elongated ladder rails, the safety device comprising a housing dimensioned to be inserted into one of the rungs of the ladder, an electronic sensor disposed in the housing, a controller disposed in the housing, which is in electronical communication with the sensor, at least one indicator, and a power supply for supplying power to the device. The electronic sensor measures the inclination of the ladder to produce a measured inclination which the controller compares to a stored predetermined level value to produce a comparison signal. The at least one indicator receives the comparison signal and indicates to the user the comparison signal. |
| US08167086B1 |
Fast rope descent system
A system for descending a rope regardless of the tension on the working end of the rope. The system comprises a frame having first, second, third and fourth sides, the first and third sides being relatively positioned at a first angle and the second and fourth sides being relatively positioned at a second angle. In some embodiments, the sum of the first angle and the second angle equals 180 degrees. The system also includes a plurality of friction nodes associated with the first side for: (1) receiving a rope, (2) enabling the frame to selectively move up or down relative to the rope, and (3) applying a select amount of friction to the rope according to the relative position of the frame to the rope. |
| US08167081B2 |
Dual mode hydrostatic steering system
A hydrostatic steering system has a steering cylinder for coupling to steerable wheels, a gerotor pump, a steering valve and an actuator controlled mode select valve. The steering valve is mechanically and hydraulically coupled to the gerotor pump, and controls fluid communication between the gerotor pump and the steering cylinder. The steering valve has a center position wherein communication between the gerotor pump and the steering cylinder is closed. The actuator controlled mode select valve controls fluid communication between the gerotor pump and the steering cylinder independently of the steering valve. |
| US08167076B2 |
Motor vehicle
A motor vehicle has an actuator device for raising a bonnet in an accident to minimize injury to a pedestrian. The actuator device has at least two actuators for raising the bonnet. A control unit activates actuators with a time delay. Alternatively, the actuators differ in power. The time delay between activating the actuators or the differing power of the actuators reduces vibration while raising the bonnet, thereby ensuring proper raising of the bonnet and enhancing protection to the pedestrian. |
| US08167068B2 |
Motor vehicle front face
The motor vehicle front-end panel includes a structure (2) to be fixed to body elements (4, 5) of the vehicle, a cassette (6) and at least one cooling element (8) for cooling the engine which is connected to the cassette (6) and chosen from a radiator or a condenser, the structure (2) including: —an upper transverse crossmember (10), —a U-shaped element (12) fixed beneath the upper crossmember (10) and including a lower transverse beam (22) and two side struts (24) connecting the lower beam (22) to the upper crossmember (10), the U-shaped element (12) and the upper crossmember (10) forming a frame (27) to which the cassette (6) is attached. The cassette (6) is attached to the frame (27) by fitting the frame (27) around the cassette (6). |
| US08167058B2 |
Method and assembly for abrasive jet drilling
A method for supplying a jet of abrasive fluid for the purpose of providing a borehole by removing earth formation material through abrasion comprises a drill string and a drilling assembly connected to the drill string. The drilling assembly comprises a jetting device with a mixing space, a drilling fluid, a particle inlet, an abrasive fluid outlet for discharging a mixture of drilling fluid and magnetic particles, and a magnetic particle circulation system comprising a supporting surface which is exposed to a return stream along the drilling assembly. The method includes fixing a magnetic device with respect to the supporting surface, selecting a magnetic field density that which increases along the sloping supporting surface, attracting magnetic particles onto the supporting surface, and making the magnetic particles move over the sloping supporting surface (under the influence of the magnetic field of the magnetic device. |
| US08167056B2 |
Rechargeable electric tool
A rechargeable electric tool includes a housing having a lower end, to which a battery is attached, and a fastener tool configured to be attached to a lower side surface of the housing. The fastener tool includes a plate-like base portion, and an engagement portion joined to the base portion. The engagement portion protrudes rearward of the housing when the fastener tool is attached to the housing. |
| US08167054B2 |
Power tool
It is an object of the invention to provide an effective technique for a motor support structure of a power tool to reduce vibration. A representative reciprocating power tool may include a tool body, a tool bit, a grip, a motor, a tool bit side bearing, a grip side bearing, a tool bit side bearing housing, a grip and an elastic element. The tool bit side bearing housing houses the tool bit side bearing, while the grip side bearing housing houses the grip side bearing. The elastic element is disposed between the grip side bearing housing and the grip wherein the grip side bearing housing is elastically supported by the grip via the elastic element. According to the invention, because the grip is adapted to support the grip side bearing housing via the elastic element and the rigidity of the grip side bearing housing can be increased and vibration of the grip side bearing housing can be reduced. Further, the elastic element can absorb manufacturing errors caused between the tool body and the grip when the grip is mounted to the tool body. |
| US08167050B2 |
Method and apparatus for making up and breaking out threaded tubular connections
An internally gripping tong to rotate tubular segments comprising a central cam body rotatably disposed within a housing having a plurality of windows. The cam body is surrounded by a plurality of angularly distributed gripping jaws slidably received within the windows. The tong is disposed within a bore of a tubular segment, and rotation of the housing relative to the cam body deploys the gripping jaws radially outwardly within the windows to engage the interior wall of the tubular segment. The tong may be self-energizing in both the make-up and the break-out modes of operation. The tong may be deployed to grip the tubular segment using a device to frictionally couple the housing to the tubular segment that cooperates with the top drive assembly, or by an internal actuator that imparts rotation to the housing relative to the cam body. |
| US08167049B2 |
Apparatus and method for recovering fluids from a well and/or injecting fluids into a well
Methods and apparatus for diverting fluids either into or from a well are described. Some embodiments include a diverter conduit that is located in a bore of a tree. The invention relates especially but not exclusively to a diverter assembly connected to a wing branch of a tree. Some embodiments allow diversion of fluids out of a tree to a subsea processing apparatus followed by the return of at least some of these fluids to the tree for recovery. Alternative embodiments provide only one flowpath and do not include the return of any fluids to the tree. Some embodiments can be retrofitted to existing trees, which can allow the performance of a new function without having to replace the tree. Multiple diverter assembly embodiments are also described. |
| US08167048B1 |
Frac gate and well completion methods
Methods and apparatus are provided for oil and gas well completions without conventional perforations or jet cutting. One or more frac gate tool(s) are included in the production casing string or liner which is cemented in the hole. The frac gates have a sleeve that is openable by a shifting tool to allow fluids inside the casing or liner to exit through ports and breakdown and treat the adjacent formation. Casing flapper valves are placeable above a lower frac gate to isolate the treated formation from a higher producing zone during treatment of the higher zone through a higher frac gate. A single hydraulically actuated shifting tool is usable to open the frac gates and close the casing flapper valves. |
| US08167045B2 |
Methods and compositions for stabilizing formation fines and sand
Methods comprising providing a polymerizable treatment fluid that comprises furfuryl alcohol monomer dispersed in an aqueous base fluid; introducing the polymerizable treatment fluid to a portion of a subterranean formation; and allowing the polymerizable treatment fluid to polymerize in the subterranean formation. The methods may include the use of contacting the furfuryl alcohol with an initiator to begin polymerization. |
| US08167040B2 |
In situ combustion in gas over bitumen formations
The invention provides methods for natural gas and oil recovery, which include the use of air injection and in situ combustion in natural gas reservoirs to facilitate production of natural gas and heavy oil in gas over bitumen formations. |
| US08167035B2 |
Method of forming downhole apparatus, downhole apparatus and centralizer comprising the same
The present invention relates to a method of forming downhole apparatus. The method comprises disposing a plastics material (26) on a reinforcing apparatus (24) to form a body (12) having a bore extending through the body. The reinforcing apparatus (24) provides reinforcement of the plastics material (26) and the thus formed body (12) is configured to provide, when in use, standoff between downhole components, with the reinforcing apparatus being configured to at least one of contract and expand. |
| US08167032B2 |
Annulus sealing assembly
An assembly arranged in a well bore and run in conjunction with a perforated or a non perforated liner has an inflatable packer section prepared for being expanded by fluid and a valve device for opening and closing of fluid communication into the inflatable packer section. The assembly also has a fluid section connected to the inflatable packer section. The fluid section holds a fluid that is delivered into and used to inflate the inflatable packer section. An energy section in the assembly contains an energy source for delivering the fluid from the fluid section into the inflatable packer section. A triggering section includes a control for the energy source and/or the valve device. The triggering section can control the delivery of the fluid into the inflatable packer section. The triggering section also includes a communicator that signals a triggering device for initiating the expanding of the inflatable packer section. |
| US08167031B2 |
Blowout preventer with shearing blades
The disclosure provides a blowout preventer (BOP) system with a ram having a shear blade with a shear blade profile to shear a tubular member disposed in the BOP. The shear blade profile can include a stress concentrator and centering shaped surface. The stress concentrator and the centering shaped surface can be laterally offset from a centerline of ram travel and on opposite sides of the centerline. An opposing second shear blade can have a mirror image of the shear blade profile with the stress concentrator and centering shaped surface reversed to the orientation of the first shear blade. Further, the ram can include a mandrel with a mandrel profile for the tubular member to deform around during the shearing process and to reduce an overall lateral width of the sheared tubular member in the BOP through-bore to allow retrieval of the deformed sheared tubular member from the BOP. |
| US08167029B2 |
Plate heat exchanger
The invention relates to a plate heat exchanger (1) having a package of heat transfer plates (2), which are provided with through inlet ports (10) forming an inlet channel (12) through the package, and between the heat transfer plates arranged sealing means, which together with the heat transfer plates in every other plate interspace delimit a first flow passage (14) for one fluid and in each of the remaining plate interspaces delimit a second flow passage (13) for a second fluid, wherein the inlet channel (12) communicates with each first flow passage (14) by way of a first inlet passage (15), and is sealed from communication with each second flow passage by the sealing means. |
| US08167028B2 |
Heat exchanger fin with planar crests and troughs having slits
A heat exchanger has a pair of header tanks with a plurality of tubes and a plurality of fins extending between the pair of header tanks. Each fin forms a plurality of corrugations extending in a length direction between the pair of tanks. Each corrugation extends in a width direction and defines a plurality of sections which are offset from each other in the length direction of the fin. Each section is separated from an adjacent section by a slit. |
| US08167019B2 |
Shade apparatus for vehicle
A shade apparatus for a vehicle includes a guide rail mechanism adapted to be arranged along a side portion of an inner periphery of an opening formed in an interior ceiling member of the vehicle, a shade panel mechanism slidably supported by the guide rail mechanism, configured to open and close the opening of the interior ceiling member, and including first and second shade panels, an engaging member arranged at one of the first and second shade panels, and an elastic member arranged at the other of the first and second shade panels and including a fixing portion and a deformable portion. The first and second shade panels move as a unit in the moving direction after one of the first and second shade panels moves relative to the other of the first and second shade panels in the moving direction and the engaging member engages with the elastic member. |
| US08167018B2 |
Device for separating labels stacked in a feeder
A device for separating labels (4) or the like stacked in a feeder (2), includes a transport device (6) which draws the labels (4) individually from one end of a stack, and a cassette (1), which holds the extractable labels (4) and which can be removed from the feeder (2) or replaced. |
| US08167017B2 |
Multi-mode system for dispensing adhesive-backed labels
A system for dispensing adhesive-backed labels includes a housing assembly defining a first dispensing outlet, a system for conveying a supply of label material along a feed path and a peeler bar, positionable from a first position to a second position, to effect an abrupt directional change in the feed path thereof, and cause the face material to separate from the liner material. A processor is employed to control the bi-directional displacement of the conveyance system and position the peeler bar within the housing such that the label material is: (i) conveyed downstream of the peeler bar when the peeler bar is in the first position, and (ii) drawn back across the peeler bar to cause a trailing edge of the face material to separate form the liner material when the peeler bar is in the second position. |
| US08167013B2 |
Locking element for use with a knife clamping assembly
A locking component for locking a clamping component to a movable base on a wood working machine is disclosed which includes a locking component body having an externally threaded portion to engage the clamping component, a head having a shoulder to engage the machine, a through bore for receiving a threaded fastener and driving features for driving the locking component into and out of threaded engagement with the clamping component. |
| US08166999B2 |
Gas block device and gas block method
A use condition of gas equipment is monitored. An abnormality determination unit 26 determines whether or not a use flow volume obtained by detecting a flow velocity obtained by measuring a signal transfer time in a medium using a flow velocity detection unit 17 and converting the detected flow velocity into a flow volume using a flow volume calculation unit 25. When the shutoff unit 27 shuts off a fluid path 1 when it is determined that there is abnormality, a return signal is output from a return unit 28 to a shutoff unit 27 in order to use the gas again by opening the fluid path. Simultaneously, when a return time-counting unit 29 starts the time-counting operation, and then, a predetermined time period has been elapsed, the flow volume calculation unit 25 determines whether or not a predetermined flow volume of greater flows in order to identify whether or not all of the gas plugs of the gas equipment connected to the downstream of the gas shutoff apparatus 27 are closed. The leakage determination unit 30 determines that there is leakage when a predetermined flow volume or greater is detected, and a driving signal is output to the shutoff unit 27 to close the fluid path 1. |
| US08166992B2 |
Placement of fluids in ground by pulse-injection
For use when injecting remediation liquid via an injection-well into contaminated groundwater, in the ground. The injection equipment includes a pulse-generator, which has an upstream chamber and a downstream chamber, linked by a pulse-conduit and a bypass conduit. The pulse-conduit includes a pulse-port, which opens and closes cyclically. The pulse-port is formed by the interaction of two apertures, one in the motorised rotor, the other in the stator. The rotor and stator may be formed as two facing plates held slightly apart, or as two cylinders one inside the other. The pulse-generator is located at the ground surface and can be adjusted as to pulse frequency, pulse amplitude, pulse rise-time, and as the the differential pressure between the upstream-chamber and the downstream chamber. |
| US08166990B2 |
Crutch assembly
An improved crutch assembly and walking aid is provided. The crutch assembly can be retrofitted to an existing walking aid and provides spring assisted motion. The assembly includes a ball-in-socket joint and a spring operably connecting the joint to a walking aid shaft. |
| US08166989B2 |
Nordic walking pole with rubber buffer
A pole, in particular a Nordic walking pole, comprises a pole body (1), with a tip body (2) and a buffer (3) provided at its bottom end. The buffer (3) is displaceably mounted such that it can be arrested in an axial direction in relation to the pole body (1). The buffer (3) can be secured in at least two axially different positions in relation to the pole body (1) via a form-fitting connection. |
| US08166988B1 |
Medically equippable walker device
The medically equippable walker device provides numerous important features to aid a patient in ambulation and in personal medical equipment carriage. The inverted U's may provide wheels in front and feet in the rear so that a user can easily walk as desired, by tilting the walker off of the feet, and also maintain stability when stopped by allowing the feet to be firmly planted. One side of the device provides two cross rails that are ideal for the sleeves to slideably adjust for desired positioning of a ring and a basket to hold an oxygen tank securely. The second side inverted U holds like upper and lower cross rails with an adjustably positioned rail between. Any number of right angled supports are provided for the carriage of various medical equipment such as IV bags and urine bags, for example. |
| US08166984B2 |
Dispenser of washing agents for a household washing machine, in particular a dishwasher
A dispenser of washing agents for a dishwasher has a body with a reservoir configured for containing a total amount of a liquid substance sufficient for performing a number of cycles of operation of the dishwasher. The reservoir has a charging passage that can be engaged by a removable plug, and the dispenser has a system for dosage of the liquid substance contained in the reservoir. The plug is configured for co-operating with an adjustment element belonging to the dosage system when the plug itself is at least partially inserted in the charging passage, particularly in such a way that a movement of rotation manually imparted on the plug will bring about a movement of rotation of the adjustment element. |
| US08166981B2 |
Hair styling tool
A hairstyling tool has a bowl having a plurality of bowl convex portions and bowl concave portions. The bowl concave portions form air channels. A plurality of openings is disposed on a bottom of the bowl. There are more than twenty openings. A handle is connected to the bowl. The handle has a handle connection with the bowl. A base extends from the bottom of the bowl. The base extends downward around the plurality of openings disposed on the bottom of the bowl. The base forms an air capture indent for directing airflow through the plurality of openings. The handle concave portions and handle convex portions may provide the handle a wavy shape. The handle may extend from a bowl convex portion between a pair of air channels. A palm rest can be at a free end of the handle. |
| US08166977B2 |
Pelvic surgery drape
A urological drape is provided defining a vaginal aperture and a finger cot for accessing the rectum of a patient without making contact therewith. The drape includes an adhesive backing for fixing the drape relative to the patient. Preferably, a pouch is provided which is constructed and arranged to catch any fluids which might be discharged from the vagina during an examination or surgical procedure. |
| US08166974B2 |
Second-stage regulator for scuba divers
A second-stage regulator for scuba divers is disclosed that reduces considerably the inhalation effort required by the user through reduction in friction between selected components of the regulator. A flexible sleeve is sealingly connected to the regulator poppet and the baffle, and coaxially with the poppet, so as to avoid blow-by of gaseous mixture through an opening in the baffle. A tail of the poppet extends through the opening, the tail being connected to a lever of the regulator projecting into an outlet chamber thereof. The head of the poppet is or includes a ferrule with an at least partially-circular profile and abuts a selected inner portion of the inlet's intermediate chamber to allow oscillation of the poppet. The lever end of the regulator contacts a diaphragm, the diaphragm separating the outlet chamber from the external environment. The lever end has a generally arched shape with a profile such that the length of the arch between two adjacent contact points measured along the lever is generally equal to the length of the segment between the same adjacent contact points measured along the diaphragm. |
| US08166972B2 |
Antiseptic mask and method of using antiseptic mask
The invention is an antiseptic mask, comprising a canister configured to store an antiseptic agent, one or more filters adapted to receive the antiseptic agent and a housing comprising a passageway from an air intake through the one or more filters and to a nose/mouth port. Further, the present invention describes an antiseptic mask and method for treating breathable air contaminated with pathogens through a facial mask filter system using an antiseptic agent to be distributed to a filter through which the air may pass. |
| US08166967B2 |
Systems and methods for intubation
An intubation device is provided. The intubation device comprises a movable guide having a guide extension, and a guide tip; at least one trachea condition sensor to detect a trachea condition wherein the at least one trachea condition sensor is disposed on the guide; and a guide control device operatively coupled to the guide, the guide control device to move the guide in response to the trachea condition. |
| US08166966B2 |
Dish reflector concentrator structure
In a reflector dish, a small quantity of elongate mirror-surfaced reflector panels are structurally integrated with a support framework that is configured to enable convenient shipping and on-site assembly and erection of a reflector dish assembly with an effective reflecting surface that closely approximates a desired parabolic dish shape with short focal length, synthesized from combination of the reflector panels originally procured as flat rectangular sheet metal panels and formed to provide the desired dish curvature. The panels can be conveniently shipped to location along with a corresponding quantity of reinforced crescent-shaped support frames to which the panels are made to attach as structural elements, by novel attachment hardware, for erection at the operational site. |
| US08166964B2 |
Heater for use in an agricultural house
A radiant heater is configured to be positioned above a floor at a predetermined distance and to produce a generally quadrangular zone of heat within a predetermined temperature range, preferably between approximately eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit and one-hundred degrees Fahrenheit, on the floor. The heater includes an elongated burner assembly, an inner cone member, at least one emitter assembly and end plates which define a combustion chamber. The emitter assembly is configured to direct heat produced within the combustion chamber downwardly and outwardly to the floor to form the generally quadrangular zone of heat. A canopy is provided which directs heat heading upwardly and outwardly back downwardly toward the floor and toward the emitter assembly. A reflector pan is positioned below the burner and the emitter assembly and assists in directing the heat from the emitter assembly toward the floor. A blower assembly may be incorporated into the heater. |
| US08166963B2 |
Accessory platform for archery bows
An accessory platform for archery bows is provided. The accessory platform includes a substantially disk-shaped portion provided with a hole in the center thereof, a plurality of holes are provided around a periphery of the disk-shaped portion and a base cushion is provided in the hole and includes means to couple the disk-shaped portion directly or indirectly to an archery bow. The accessory platform is utilized to absorb vibration when an arrow is shot from the archery bow and to balance the weight of the archery bow. |
| US08166960B2 |
Plastic bottle launcher
A projectile launching system is provided. The system comprises: a projectile; a string for releasing the projectile; and a device for projecting a projectile. The device comprises: a base having a seat for placing the projectile; an air intake duct in fluid communication with the seat; and a pressure release element disposed between the base and the air intake duct. |
| US08166957B2 |
Exhaust treatment system for internal combustion engine
Systems and methods are provided for operating an engine exhaust system. In one example, a system comprises a first valve, and a second valve coupled to the first valve via a shaft. A first position of the shaft situates the first valve closed and the second valve open, a second position situates the second valve closed and the first valve open by a first amount, and a third position situates the second valve closed and the first valve open by a second, larger amount. |
| US08166951B2 |
Engine
An engine includes an angular velocity detecting means 10 for detecting a rotation angular velocity of a crankshaft 11 of the engine, a torque generated by the engine detecting means for detecting a variability of the angular velocity amplitude obtained by the angular velocity detecting means 10 as the variability of the torque generated by the engine. The engine compensates a fuel injection quantity by comparing the angular velocity amplitude detected by the angular velocity detecting means with the adequate angular velocity amplitude. |
| US08166947B2 |
Recoil starter
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recoil starter including: a case having a reel supporting shaft; a rope reel having: a tubular shaft portion; an engaging portion; a rope housing groove to house a recoil rope; and a spring housing portion to house a spiral spring; a ratchet axially-slidably arranged outside the tubular shaft portion; a ratchet guide attached to an end of the reel supporting shaft; and a return spring provided between the ratchet guide and the ratchet, wherein an inclined surface and a locking surface are formed on the engaging portion to be engageable with the ratchet, and wherein the inclined surface guides the ratchet toward to be engaged with the driving pulley, thereby rotating the driving pulley and starting the engine, when the rope reel is rotated. |
| US08166945B2 |
Starter and accessory drive system and method for hybrid drive vehicles
A starter and accessory drive system and method for hybrid drive vehicles is provided. The invention isolates the accessory drive system from the transfer of torque between a starter motor and the crankshaft of the engine. In one embodiment, a dedicated flexible drive member transfers torque from the starter motor to the crankshaft to re-start the engine. In another embodiment, a torque transfer control is employed to selectively apply torque from the starter motor to the accessory drive, to drive the accessories when the engine is stopped, and/or to the engine crankshaft to re-start the engine. In another embodiment of the invention, the accessory drive is isolated from the engine crankshaft and is instead driven by a drive motor on the accessory drive while the engine crankshaft is connected to a starter motor and/or generator which can be energized to re-start the engine. |
| US08166942B2 |
Start-up control of internal combustion engines
An electric power generation system (20) is disclosed, which includes an electric power generator (22) driven by a four-cycle internal combustion engine (30). The engine (30) includes a plurality of reciprocating cylinders (C1-C6) each rotatably coupled to a crankshaft (34), which drives the electric power generator (22). A controller (90) is included that is operable to control fueling to start the engine (30) as a function of engine temperature and determine initial engine start-up as a function of rotational engine speed. This controller (90) regulates engine acceleration until a target engine speed is reached from initial start-up. Once this target speed is reached, the controller (90) provides a speed governor function. |
| US08166940B2 |
Internal combustion engine with a camshaft bearing device
A bearing device for supporting a camshaft in a cylinder head is disclosed. The bearing device comprising at least one locking contour, which is connected with at least one counter-locking contour configured at a cylinder head cover, such that the cylinder head cover is clamped tightly against the cylinder head by the bearing device. |
| US08166935B2 |
Control system of internal combustion engine
A control system of an internal combustion engine changing an operating timing of a valve in an internal combustion engine where a valve drive cam (13) and a pump drive cam (150) are both provided on a valve camshaft (1) is provided. That control system has a device inhibiting the operating timing from being returned in a direction reverse to the direction of the target operating timing during change of the operating timing. Further, in the control system, the relative rotational phases of the valve drive cam and the pump drive cam are set considering utilization of the composite reaction torque of the valve operation drive reaction torque and the fuel pump drive reaction torque acting on the valve camshaft for changing the operating timing in the direction of the target operating timing. |
| US08166931B2 |
Carburetor and two-stroke engine with a carburetor
A carburetor has a carburetor housing in which an air passage and a mixture passage are disposed. A barrel valve controls the air passage and the mixture passage. The barrel valve has a mixture passage section and an air passage section formed therein. The air passage in at least one position of the barrel valve is closed off at least partially by the barrel valve. The air passage in the at least one position of the barrel valve in which the air passage is at least partially closed off by the barrel valve is connected by a connection within the barrel valve with the mixture passage. An internal combustion engine equipped with such a carburetor exhibits excellent running behavior. |
| US08166929B2 |
Variable compression ratio engine
To control the compression ratio of an internal combustion engine, the cylinder block is slidably fitted to the crankcase, projections from the crankcase extend into the cylinder head to support a control shaft bearing the cylinder head. The angular displacement of the control shaft varies the compression ratio by displacing the cylinder head relative to the crankcase. |
| US08166928B2 |
Pressurized air variable compression ratio engine system
A system for controlling a variable compression ratio in an engine is provided. The system includes a cylinder, an outer piston located inside the cylinder, the cylinder and the outer piston collectively defining a combustion chamber, an inner piston, variably positioned inside the outer piston, the outer piston and the inner piston collectively defining an auxiliary chamber, a connecting rod including an air duct in fluid communication with the auxiliary chamber, and a crankshaft including an air passage in fluid communication with the air duct of the connecting rod during at least a portion of an engine cycle. |
| US08166927B2 |
Outboard motor
An outboard motor that facilitates replacement of an impeller of a water pump includes a water pump arranged to pump coolant and a pump driving mechanism arranged to distribute power from a drive shaft to the water pump. At least a portion of the water pump in which an impeller is housed can be detached and attached from the outside of an upper case. The pump driving mechanism distributes power in a direction generally perpendicular to the axial direction of the drive shaft and transmits the power to the water pump. |
| US08166925B2 |
Method and apparatus for steam generation
A method, apparatus, and system and operation of surface equipment to generate steam while reducing the quantity of boiler blowdown and thereby increasing the amount of feedwater that is re-used or re-cycled in generating said steam. The present invention teaches that, on a sustained basis, the blowdown stream at the outlet of a once-through steam generator can be routed to the inlet of a second once-through steam generator that is in series with the first, that blowdown stream can be used to generate additional steam in the second once-through steam generator and further reduce the amount of blowdown, and that this can be accomplished without need of any treatment that reduces hardness or silica levels of the blowdown stream prior to its entering or during its entry into the inlet of the second once-through steam generator. The output of this second steam generator is a substantially dry saturated steam vapor stream and, complementarily, a blowdown stream whose mass rate has been reduced substantially from that of the blowdown stream exiting the first steam generator. |
| US08166911B2 |
Method and apparatus for electrostatic spray deposition for a solid oxide fuel cell
A method and apparatus for electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) for fabricating a thin-layer yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte on a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode substrate constructed of nickel-YSZ cermet. By reducing the thickness of the electrolyte, and thereby reducing the cell internal IR drop, an intermediate temperature SOFC (ITSOFC) can operate at 600-800° C. A collar positioned at a distance from a discharge end of a spray nozzle enhances a spray pattern of a precursor including the electrolyte material and thus provides a very thin electrolyte layer. |
| US08166908B2 |
Powder spray coating device and powder feeding device therefor
Powder spraycoating equipment and powder supply system for same. The powder supply system comprises a closed or closable powder receptacle which is fitted with a cleaning fixture to remove residual powder from a powder chamber of the powder receptacle using compressed cleaning air. |
| US08166906B2 |
Stimulus indicating device employing polymer gels
The present invention relates to a stimulus-indicating device. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for evidencing when a stimulus sensitive product has been exposed to a designated or predetermined stimulus for a certain period of time, and the invention relates to a method for manufacturing aspects of that apparatus. |
| US08166903B1 |
Deadrise-altering adjunct for marine hull bottom
As typically embodied, the present invention's add-on device includes two wedge-shaped structural components that are oppositely congruent and symmetrically connected. In profile, the device describes a pair of nearly triangular quadrilateral figures that are enantiomorphs (mirror images) with respect to the linear bisector (mirror line) at which they join. The device's V-angular upper surface defines the same V-angularity (“deadrise”) as does a V-angular hull bottom, the device thus fitting beneath the hull bottom. The device's V-angular lower surface defines a different angularity, which is imparted to the hull bottom when the device is attached thereto. According to typical inventive practice, the device alters the hull bottom's V-angularity by at least 1° and, at least, covers approximately 100% of the hull bottom's widthwise expanse along approximately 50% or more of the hull bottom's lengthwise expanse. The device modifies a marine vessel's hydrodynamics and/or hydrostatics, and may provide armor and/or wear benefits. |
| US08166901B2 |
Dock system
There is provided a dock having a pair of primary frame members and a pair of secondary frame members. A plurality of cross members extends between the pair of primary frame members. The dock includes a plurality of cross member connectors for connecting the cross members to the primary frame members. Each cross member connector includes a frame contact portion and a cross member engagement portion extending from the frame contact portion. The frame contact portion is connected to a respective one of the plurality of primary frame members. The cross member engagement portion defines a channel sized and configured to receive the alignment plate of a respective one of the plurality of cross members. A roller assembly may also be included for stabilizing the dock relative to an adjacent piling. |
| US08166900B2 |
Deceleration device of a personal watercraft
A personal watercraft configured to eject water rearward from a body thereof to generate a propulsive force, includes a pair of right and left resistive elements which are attached to the body and configured to be able to receive water resistance during travel of the watercraft. The resistive elements are configured to move between an operating position and a non-operating position, the water resistance being larger in the operating position than in the non-operating position. Each of the resistive elements includes a pressure receiving section configured to receive the water resistance in the operating position, and wherein in the operating position, at least a portion of the pressure receiving section is located outward relative to a coupling portion where the resistive element is coupled to the body, in a width direction of the body. |
| US08166898B2 |
Wind-powered personal hydrofoil watercraft
A personal wind-powered hydrofoil watercraft having a sail supported by a mast coupled to a buoyant body, where the mast is tiltable forward and backward but not side to side, in order to prevent excessive rolling of the buoyant body when it is lifted clear of the water on the hydrofoils. Additionally, the buoyant body may be in the shape of a pontoon, the watercraft may be steerable by a steering mechanism actuated by a human operator's foot or feet, and the front hydrofoil may be associated with a surface tracking means in order to stabilize the altitude of the watercraft. |
| US08166895B2 |
Variable displacement meter roller
A metering apparatus for metering a granular product is presented having a unitary meter roller comprising a plurality of meter roller sections, where each meter roller section has a plurality of radially extending ridges defining product receiving valleys having a volume such that each meter roller section dispenses a specific volume of the granular product per rotation of the unitary meter roller, whereby at least one meter roller section of the unitary meter roller has product receiving valleys of a different volume than the other meter roller sections of the unitary meter roller for reducing or increasing the overall volume of the granular product dispensed per rotation of the uniform meter roller. |
| US08166893B2 |
Table system
A table system that includes a table top having an upper surface and a surface covering which covers substantially the upper surface of the table top. The table top and the surface covering have concentric openings with substantially similar diameters. |
| US08166892B2 |
Railroad gondola car structure and mechanism therefor
A railroad gondola car has a hopper carried between two trucks. The hopper has convergent end and side slope sheets that feed a bottom discharge. The bottom discharge has a pair of longitudinal doors. The door closing mechanism is a mechanical transmission that includes a set of linkages running from the door to a reciprocating pneumatic cylinder. The linkages run generally parallel to the slope sheet. The car has a very short draft installation that includes a removable coupler carrier bar, and the main shear plate has a removable draft gear installation panel. There is a machinery space above the end section shear plate. It is overhung by the slope sheet that is substantially unobstructed by any other primary structure. The pneumatic cylinder is mounted on an angle in this unobstructed machinery space, oriented longitudinally over the draft sill beneath the main drag link of the mechanical transmission, and above the main pivot of the driving input lever of the transmission. The main lever is bifurcated, and straddles the pneumatic cylinder. The mechanism includes a primary lock in the form of an over center lever arrangement, and a compact secondary lock that acts sideways rather than lengthwise. The sidewalls of the car include vertical stiffeners and side sheets. The lower portion of the side sheets lies laterally inboard of the stiffener web, while the upper portion lies laterally outboard of the stiffener web. The side slope sheet of the hopper meets the sidewall at the transition of the sidewall sheet from the inside-the-post to the outside-the-post condition. |
| US08166890B2 |
Cab isolation for a locomotive
Provided is a cab isolation system for a locomotive is provided including a cab having a front and a rear. The cab isolation system further includes a pivot located generally near the rear of the cab and at least one spring generally located near the front of the cab. In another embodiment, dampers may further be provided and generally located near the front of the cab. In another embodiment, lateral links may further be provided and generally located near the front of the cab. This system may include any of the above elements, alone or in combination, to provide for a cab isolation system for isolating a locomotive cab from engine generated structure borne noise and vibration, while lower frequency track induced motions are not magnified. |
| US08166887B2 |
Sound systems for model railroad locomotives
On-board model railroad speaker enclosure designs are presented that isolate back and front speaker waves. In one example, a first speaker may be disposed inside of a model steam locomotive tender, and a second speaker disposed inside of the model steam locomotive. Bass sounds and mid-range sounds may be separately directed to the first and second speakers, and isolated from mixing with one another. |
| US08166885B2 |
Suspended cable amusement ride
An suspended cable amusement ride is disclosed. The cable is supported by turning beam assemblies and moved by turning beam drive assemblies. The turning beam assemblies and turning beam drive assemblies each have multiple sheave wheels supported in brackets along a turning beam. In the turning beam drive assembly the sheave wheels are driven by motors operably attached to the sheave wheels. |
| US08166880B2 |
Micro-machined or micro-engraved safety and arming device
A micro-machined or micro-engraved safety and arming device for a pyrotechnic train of a projectile to which axial spin is imparted after firing, such device comprising a substrate onto which a shutter to break the pyrotechnic train is positioned, such shutter being mobile in translation on the substrate, device in which the train-breaking shutter is held immobile by at least two locks, a first lock, or axial acceleration lock, which is released further to the application of the acceleration communicated to the projectile during firing, and a second lock, device wherein the second lock is a centrifugal lock that is released further to the projectile being made to spin. |
| US08166879B2 |
Detonator ignition protection circuit
An ignition circuit for a detonator is disclosed. The circuit includes an igniter, a transient voltage suppressor (TVS), an energy source and a switch, all electrically connected in series with each other. Current flow through the igniter sufficient to ignite the igniter is prevented until an ignition voltage is applied across the TVS that is equal to or greater than the breakdown voltage of the TVS. |
| US08166877B2 |
Printing press having a dryer device for varnished sheets
A printing press and a method of drying printed or varnished sheets in a printing press include heating printed and/or varnished sheets, before the sheets enter a dryer, to a temperature higher than the ambient temperature, through the use of a heatable impression cylinder in the last printing and/or varnishing unit upstream of the thermal dryer device. |
| US08166873B2 |
Automated juice extractor
An automatic juicer turns and pushes an upward facing juicing cone into a fruit for releasing and collecting juice. The juicer includes a base containing a motor, gear and shaft assembly which rises as a unit with the juicing cone. A fixed guide extends upward from the base and inner and outer shafts reside inside the fixed guide and are driven by the motor and gear assembly to rotate and advance the juicing cone into the fruit. The juicing cone, strainer and a bowl release and catch the juice. The outer shaft includes threads to vertically advance and retreat the outer and inner shafts when the outer shaft turns. The inner shaft rises with the outer shaft and lifts and rotates the juicing cone, thereby releasing juice from the fruit. The bowl is fixed to the base. |
| US08166872B2 |
Modified atmosphere for food preservation
An appliance system including a module removably mounted to an appliance, one or more removable gas canisters operably connected to the module, and a food retaining enclosed space operably connected to the module. The one or more gas canisters supply a modified atmosphere in the food retaining enclosed space to produce a modified atmosphere that enhances preservation of the food contained in the food retaining enclosed space. A method of modifying the atmosphere in a food storage space for food includes the steps of: providing a module capable of being removably engaged to an appliance and typically receiving power from the appliance and at least one removable gas canister; operatively connecting or otherwise engaging the module with the appliance; operatively connecting or otherwise engaging the module to a food storage area having an existing atmosphere; and removing at least a portion of the existing atmosphere from the food storage space and replacing it with a modified food storage atmosphere using at least one of the at least one removable gas canisters to supply the modified atmosphere to the food storage area. |
| US08166871B2 |
Food product steamer
A steamer for sandwich buns, bagels, croissants, cakes, vegetables, pastas, and other foods delivers fixed amounts of water onto a hot, dry platen through a vertically-oriented water conduit which is also thermally insulated from the hot platen and made from thermally insulating materials. The vertically-oriented water conduit retains water after a water supply is shut off at the beginning or end of a steam generating cycle. Orienting the conduit vertically reduces the surface area of liquid water exposed to air. Insulating the water conduit from the hot platen reduces the rate at which water standing in the conduit evaporates. Tubes used in the water conduit are insulating and easily removed from the water conduit assembly and flexible. Minerals that precipitate out of solution and become deposited onto the flexible tube are easily removed by flexing the flexible tube. |
| US08166869B2 |
Infusion assembly for beverage preparing machine
An infusion assembly, particularly for machines for preparing beverages, comprising a first shoulder and a second shoulder which face each other and are adapted to define internally a space for the movement of a piston, a dispensing assembly being arranged between the first and second shoulders, means for locking a capsule being provided, the piston being rigidly coupled to the locking means in order to move the locking means from an open position to a closed position in which the capsule is accommodated within the dispensing assembly. |
| US08166867B2 |
Liquid flow control through a beverage preparation apparatus
Apparatuses, methods and systems for liquid flow control and beverage preparation are disclosed. The apparatuses, methods and systems of the present invention include liquid flow control and beverage preparation capsules, pods, cartridges, pouches, systems, and modules for controlling and directing flow streams of liquid through a beverage preparation process. The apparatuses, methods and systems of the present invention may be used in combination with or included as an integral assembly of any apparatus, method or system for liquid dispension. |
| US08166863B2 |
Magnetic damping field armor system
A resource is protected by an armor structure comprising a magnetic field such that the magnetic field will interfere with a warhead blast to weaken the blast. In particular, magnetic field will interfere with a molten metal jet from a shaped charge to disperse the jet, allowing subsequent layers of armor to absorb the jet energy without penetration. In one embodiment, the magnetic field is produced by a layer of magnetic material magnetized with the field lines perpendicular to the primary threat direction and typically parallel to the surface of the area to be protected. The magnetic material layer may include ferromagnetic (iron or steel, or other) layers to strengthen and contain the magnetic field, protect the magnetic material and act as additional armor layers. The magnetic layer is typically used in conjunction with an inner shield armor layer to absorb the diffused jet after passing through the magnetic layer. |
| US08166859B2 |
Paper trimmer
Methods, systems and components for paper trimmers cut paper placed on a planar base using a blade that is moved transversely across the paper. A recessed cutting track containing a desired cutting pattern is inserted into the planar base and a counterpart guide track suspended thereover. A blade assembly is inserted through a channel in the guide track with the cutting blade residing in the counterpart channel in the cutting track. Material to be trimmed is placed between the recessed cutting track and the guide track. As the blade assembly is directed along the length of the counterpart channels, guides on the blade assembly interact with the channel and cause the cutting blade to rotate, cutting along the path of the channel. Desired cuts are made by selecting appropriate interchangeable cutting tracks and counterpart guide tracks. |
| US08166851B2 |
Combination driving tool for phillips and robertson fasteners
Embodiments of a driving tool are disclosed that comprise a shank portion, and a working portion, wherein the working portion is configured to drive either a Phillips head fastener or a Robertson® head fastener. |
| US08166845B2 |
Theftproof clutch handle that is detached easily and quickly
A theftproof clutch handle for a motorcycle includes a clutch connector, at least one fixed shaft mounted on the clutch connector, a handle body removably mounted on the fixed shaft, and a locking shaft movably mounted on the handle body and releasably locked onto the fixed shaft. The fixed shaft has a locking groove. The handle body has at least one shaft hole. The locking shaft has a release groove. Thus, when the locking shaft is pressed, the fixed shaft is released from the release groove of the locking shaft, and the locking shaft is released from the locking groove of the fixed shaft to unlock the fixed shaft from the locking shaft so that the handle body can be removed from the fixed shaft to provide a theftproof effect. |
| US08166842B2 |
Dual clutch transmission
A dual-clutch transmission comprising clutches with input sides coupled to an input shaft and output sides respectively coupled to two transmission input shafts. Toothed idler gearwheels are mounted to rotate on countershafts while toothed fixed gearwheels are connected to the first and the second transmission input shafts and engage with the idler gearwheels. Coupling devices are provided for connecting the idler gearwheels to the countershaft, and drive output gearwheels are fixed to the countershafts and couple an output shaft, while a shifting element couples the input shafts such that eight forward gears and at least one reverse gear can be engaged. Four wheel planes are arranged in the transmission such that at least one winding gear can be engaged by the shifting element. |
| US08166840B2 |
Twin clutch type speed change control system
In a twin clutch type speed change control system in which changeover of gear position is carried out by switching between a pair of clutches, to suppress the noises of clutch being in the disengaged condition during a normal operation with a fixed gear position. In the twin clutch type speed change control system, changeover of gear position between an odd-ordinal gear position and an even-ordinal gear position is effected by disengaging an engaged clutch and engaging a disengaged clutch. During the normal operation with a fixed gear position, the clutch being in the disengaged condition is supplied with a minute oil pressure toward the clutch engaging side, whereby the clutch is moved by a minute amount toward the clutch engaging side. |
| US08166839B2 |
Seat adjuster
A transmission device, in particular for the adjuster of a vehicle seat, is suitable for converting a linear driving motion into a rotary output motion. According to an exemplary embodiment, the device has at least one lever that extends radially relative to a driven axis and is connected thereto. The at least one lever has a free end that interacts with an inclined surface that is moveable in a substantially linear manner in the direction of a driven shaft. |
| US08166837B2 |
Transmission arrangement of an agricultural or industrial utility vehicle
The present invention relates to a transmission arrangement of an agricultural or industrial utility vehicle, in particular of an agricultural tractor. The transmission arrangement comprises a drive transmission, which can be driven by an engine of the utility vehicle, and a PTO transmission. The drive transmission has a rear-axle transmission output for driving a rear axle of the utility vehicle. The drive transmission has a front axle transmission output for driving a front axle of the utility vehicle. The PTO transmission serves to drive an implement adaptable to the utility vehicle. The PTO transmission can be driven via a PTO transmission output of the drive transmission or independently of the drive transmission via a shaft driven by the engine of the utility vehicle. The transmission arrangement according to the invention is characterized in that the PTO transmission can be coupled to the front axle transmission output of the drive transmission, in order to couple the output speed of the PTO transmission to the speed of travel of the utility vehicle. |
| US08166835B2 |
Sensor chip and inspection device
A sensor chip of an electrical signal detection type, comprises a semiconductor sensing device, the sensor chip being detachable with respect to an inspection device. |
| US08166831B2 |
Force measuring rigid load binder
The present invention provides a force measuring rigid load binder in the field of goods holding. The force measuring rigid load binder of the invention address the problems of conventional force measuring rigid load binders, such as potential damages to goods, adverse affection on goods transportation, increased difficulty in manual control, time and labor consumption and inconsistent tensioning forces of the binding belt. The force measuring rigid load binder of the invention includes a tensioning mechanism having a handle. Each of both ends of the tensioning mechanism is connected with a hook respectively. The tensioning mechanism is made of a rigid material. The distance between two hooks could be adjusted by the tensioning mechanism when the handle is pulled. A sensor is provided at a forced part of the tensioning mechanism, which could generate a signal corresponding to the size of the tensioning force when the load binder is in operation. The sensor is connected with a signal processing circuit which could receive and process said signal. A display device is connected with the signal processing circuit to display the size of the tensioning force. The force measuring rigid load binder of the invention has advantages including timely availability of the size of the tensioning force of the load binder, a high safety property, a compact structure and a low manufacturing cost. |
| US08166827B2 |
MEMS device and method for manufacturing the same
A MEMS device, including: a substrate having a first principal plane and a second principal plane opposite to the first principal plane; a through hole formed in the substrate; and a vibrating film formed over the first principal plane so as to cover the through hole. The first principal plane and the second principal plane are both a (110) crystal face; and the through hole has a substantially rhombic shape on the second principal plane. |
| US08166820B2 |
Method for detecting a sonic imprint of a three-dimensional object and related apparatus
Non invasive method used to detect a “sonic imprint” of three-dimensional objects, particularly suitable for the identification and monitoring of artworks, consisting in acquiring the vibrations caused by a source of elastic waves and using a set of detectors fixed in various predetermined points of the external surface of the object. An apparatus, cheap and simple to utilize, suitable to execute this method, is also described. |
| US08166816B2 |
Bulk acoustic wave gyroscope
Capacitive bulk acoustic wave x, y and z-axes gyroscopes implemented on (100) and (111) silicon substrates are disclosed. Exemplary gyroscopes comprise a handle substrate, a bulk acoustic wave resonator element supported by the handle substrate, and a plurality of electrodes surrounding and separated from the resonator element by very small capacitive gaps. The electrodes can excite and detect at least two degenerate bulk acoustic wave resonant modes in the resonator. Advantages include reduced size; higher Q, which improves noise and bias stability; larger bandwidth, and improved shock resistance. In addition, the high Q is maintained in atmospheric or near-atmospheric pressure which reduces the cost and complexity of the wafer-scale packaging of the gyroscope. |
| US08166815B2 |
Angular velocity sensor element
An angular velocity sensor element is provided which is capable of preventing even transmission of sudden externally-applied vibration to an element portion by absorbing the vibration. An angular velocity sensor element 2 according to the present embodiment has a fixing portion 21 in the form of a frame, an element portion 20 disposed in the frame of the fixing portion 21 and having vibrating arms 21 to 24 in a drive system and a detection system, and a connecting portion 25 formed as a fixed-fixed beam having its both ends connected to the fixing portion 21 and having its intermediate portion connected to the element portion 20. |
| US08166810B2 |
Swinging apparatus and energy harvester using the same
A swinging apparatus comprising an energy provider and a swinging mechanism disposed thereon. By means of adjusting the size and shape of the swinging mechanism and adjusting a distance between the swinging mechanism and the energy provider so as to control the ratio of the distance between the swinging mechanism and the energy provider to a characteristic value corresponding to the swing mechanism in a range between 4 and 0.25, the swinging frequency of the swinging mechanism may be adjusted automatically to comply with the variation of the motion frequency of the energy provider. The present invention further provides an energy harvester to work with the swinging apparatus and a coil to generate an induced current for power generation during the swing of the swing mechanism. In the present invention, the natural frequency of the swing mechanism may be adjusted according to the rotational velocity of the energy provider. |
| US08166805B1 |
Engine misfire detection probe
A probe and method for sensing pressure variations in the exhaust stream of an engine for detecting cylinder misfires. The probe includes a Venturi tube placed in the exhaust stream. The Venturi tube has a sensing tube with an aperture, and the sensing tube is coupled to a pressure sensor for monitoring the pressure of the exhaust stream within the Venturi tube at the point of the aperture. The pressure sensor then generates a voltage signal based on the pressure, and this voltage signal is viewed on an oscilloscope or processed by a microprocessor to generate a waveform readable by a technician. The waveform will indicate the presence of a misfiring cylinder(s), and more specifically, which cylinder(s) is misfiring. |
| US08166798B2 |
Gas analyzer having a structure including cavities and volumes
Method of making a structure, a structure and a gas analyzer comprising cavities and volumes in which a multilayer structure is made by laminating single layers on top of each other to form the multilayer structure and combining them all together, in which method before the laminating step at least one layer is processed by cutting pneumatically constrictive openings therein to form pneumatic filters comprising constrictive cavities and volumes with the surfaces of the adjoining layers. |
| US08166794B2 |
Method for judging quality of lithium nickel composite oxide and positive electrode using lithium nickel composite oxide
A positive electrode active material quality judgment method that can easily and accurately judge the quality of a positive electrode active material used in a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell without having to complete the positive electrode. The positive electrode active material quality judgment method includes: heating a positive electrode active material mainly made of a lithium nickel composite oxide to a temperature x (° C.) of 200° C. or higher and 400° C. or lower; measuring the amount of carbon dioxide gas generated from the heating; and the positive electrode active material as a suitable positive electrode active material when the positive electrode active material satisfies formulas 3 and 4: y<(1.31x−258)/1000000(200≦x<300) formula 3 y<1.20x−225/1000000(300≦x≦400) formula 4 where x is the heating temperature x (° C.) and y is the amount of carbon dioxide gas (mole/g) generated per 1 g of the positive electrode active material in the heating to the heating temperature x (° C.). |
| US08166791B2 |
Die cushion device
A die cushion pad 13 is divided into four small pads 15 and a large pad 16. With this arrangement, a load applied to an action point of each of the small pads 15 can be equalized by the large pad 16, and an overturning moment arising between the action point and a reaction force point that equates the center of the small pad 15 can be canceled, thereby preventing flexure of the small pad 15. Accordingly, since flexure of the cushion pin and the like can be prevented, there is no risk that the cushion pin is frictioned against the penetrating hole of a bolster, and the lifting operation can be smoothly performed, whereby a higher-accuracy pressing forming operation can be realized. |
| US08166788B2 |
Lip-rolling and flanging tool for bending back or widening fender-wheelwell edges
A lip-rolling and flanging tool for bending back and/or widening fender-wheelwell edges of motor vehicles, the tool having a flanging roll (46) that is attached through a telescoping tube arrangement (10) to an affixing flange (4) mountable on a wheel axle of the motor vehicle, and while generating a pressing force against the fender-wheelwell edge is pivotable together with the wheel axle, the flanging roll (46) is mounted in a forked support bracket (44) disposed at one end of the telescoping tube arrangement (10), which bracket is disposed in a rotatable and lockable manner between the clamping jaws (40, 40′) attached to the telescoping tube arrangement (10′), the clamping jaws (40, 40′) each have at least one recess or milled-out section (100,100′) that interacts with a pin (103) disposed in the flanging-roll support bracket (44) so as to restrict the pivoting range of the flanging-roll support bracket (44). |
| US08166786B2 |
Wire-forming machine
A wire-forming machine, comprising a machine frame, a wire feeder and a wire guide for transporting wire to a working area of the machine where the wire is processed by one or more tools. The tools are affixed on a tool plate on the machine frame and around a recess formed in the plate. A wire is fed through the recess to the working area of the machine. The tool plate is fitted on a second plate and is displaceable along a first direction (x) relative to the second plate, while the second plate is displaceable along a second direction (y) relative to the machine plate. Both directions (x, y) have an inclination of 45° each to the vertical normal axis of the wire-forming machine and are perpendicular to each other. |
| US08166785B2 |
Rolling mill apparatus and method of shape control of rolled strip and plate
This invention relates to a rolling mill apparatus and a method of shape control of a rolled strip which enables satisfactory shape control even in extremely thin rolling. A rolling mill apparatus of this invention has a rolling mill, which rolls a rolled strip P between upper and lower work rolls; a shape detecting portion, which detects the degree of flatness of the rolled strip in the width direction of rolled strip which has been rolled by the rolling mill; a spray portion, having a plurality of spray nozzles arranged along the length direction of the upper and lower work rolls, which sprays the upper and lower work rolls with coolant C; and, a shape control portion, which adjusts the spray amount and/or temperature of the coolant C sprayed from the spray portion based on detected information from the shape detecting portion, to control the shape of the rolled strip P. The shape control portion has two control modes, in which the relationship of the detected information of the shape detecting portion and the spray amount and/or temperature of the coolant C sprayed from the spray portion are inversely proportional, and switches between these two control modes based on the strip thickness of the rolled strip P. |
| US08166783B2 |
Anti-tampering arrangements for pin tumbler cylinder locks
A pin tumbler cylinder lock includes a shell, a plug, and at least first and second tumbler pins and first and second driver pins. At least the first driver pin extends into a corresponding plug channel when the plug is in a locked condition, such that rotation of the plug with respect to the shell is blocked. The lock is configured such that at least the first driver pin is separated from the first tumbler pin by a gap when the plug is in the locked condition. When the first and second tumbler pins are raised without the proper key and the gap between the first tumbler pin and the first driver pin is eliminated, the second tumbler pin extends across the shear line and into the corresponding shell channel. |
| US08166779B2 |
Baffle system for blank molds of a glassware forming machine
A baffle system for blank molds of a glassware forming machine, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, includes a first shaft mounted for movement in the direction of its axis and for rotation around its axis. A baffle arm is mounted to the first shaft and a manifold is suspended from the baffle arm. A plurality of baffle holders are suspended from the manifold, and rocker arms interconnect the baffle holders for equalizing forces applied by the baffle holders to the blank molds of a glassware forming machine. A second shaft is adjacent to the first shaft and a link arm extends between the second shaft and the manifold. The baffle arm, the manifold and the link arm form a linkage that moves the baffle holders between a first position overlying the blank molds and a second position spaced from the blank molds. Disposition of the rocker arms between the manifold and the baffle holders permits the manifold to be folded under the baffle arm in the second position of the baffle arm, the manifold and the baffle holders. The link arm preferably is coupled to the second shaft for longitudinal and pivotal movement on the second shaft, and a wear block preferably is carried by the baffle arm and engages the link arm adjacent to the second shaft for supporting the link arm during movement of the link arm on the second shaft. |
| US08166775B2 |
Noise attenuating device for a heating-ventilation-cooling system of a motor vehicle
A system and method for reducing noise in an automotive heating, ventilation, and cooling system is described. A noise attenuation device using radial vanes upstream of a flow discontinuity, such as a bend in the ducting, and downstream of a blower fan is used to reduce noise. |
| US08166770B2 |
Apparatus and method for cooling electrical equipment
An HV_ECU executes a program, which includes a step of receiving route information; a step of acquiring a duty command value of a battery cooling blower; a step of calculating a cooling airflow; steps for acquiring a battery temperature and an intake temperature; a step of calculating a value TB−TC; a step of calculating a cooling performance; a step of estimating a battery temperature; and a step of performing fail safe processing when in an abnormal state. |
| US08166764B2 |
Flow sleeve impingement cooling using a plenum ring
A combustor assembly for a turbine engine includes a combustor liner, a flow sleeve and a plenum ring. The flow sleeve surrounds the combustor liner to form an annulus radially between the combustor liner and the flow sleeve. The flow sleeve has a plurality of rows of cooling holes. The plenum ring radially surrounds the combustor liner in the annulus. The plenum ring has a plurality of bypass tubes for directing axial air flow and radial flow chambers for directing radial air flow. |
| US08166763B2 |
Gas turbine fuel injector with a removable pilot assembly
A fuel injector for a gas turbine engine is disclosed. The fuel injector includes an injector housing having a longitudinal axis. The injector housing includes one or more fuel inlets, one or more fuel galleries annularly disposed about the longitudinal axis, and an air inlet. The fuel injector also includes a premix barrel having a proximal end and a distal end circumferentially disposed about the longitudinal axis. The premix barrel is fluidly coupled to the fuel galleries and the air inlet at the proximal end, and configured to mechanically couple to a combustor of the gas turbine engine at the distal end. The fuel injector also includes a pilot assembly disposed radially inwards of the premix barrel. The pilot assembly may include a first end and a second end. The second end is removably coupled to the injector housing, and the first end is proximate the distal end of the premix barrel. The pilot assembly is fluidly coupled to the fuel galleries, the air inlet, and the combustor. |
| US08166756B2 |
Turbine intake pressure release structure
A turbine intake pressure release structure to control pressure release between a throttle and a first turbine boosted pressure outlet includes a pressure release valve which has a first pressure orifice, a second pressure orifice and a housing chamber, at least one controller which has a pressure detection end and a driven portion and a switch duct which has a first end opening, a second end opening and a third end opening. The first end opening is connected to a third turbine boosted pressure outlet. The second end opening leads to the atmosphere. The third end opening is connected to the second pressure orifice. The driven portion runs through the switch duct to close the second end opening through the driven portion drive a membrane to a first position or closes the first end opening through the driven portion to drive the membrane to a second position. |
| US08166755B2 |
Turbocharger system with turbine bypass valve actuated by multiple-rate fluid pressure actuator
A fluid pressure actuator for a turbocharger system's turbine bypass valve comprises a piston slidable in a cylinder so as to define a chamber containing a compression spring assembly operable to exert a spring force on the piston. The cylinder can be selectively subjected to a vacuum or pressure for exerting a fluid pressure force on the piston in a direction opposite from the spring force. The spring assembly comprises a first spring arranged to be compressed by the piston throughout a first range of motion of the piston in a compression direction, and at least a second spring arranged to be compressed by the piston throughout a second range of motion that is smaller than and co-terminal with the first range of motion but to be uncompressed during an initial part of the first range of motion of the piston in the compression direction. |
| US08166754B2 |
Exhaust manifold
In an exhaust manifold for an internal combustion engine including a central part with tow exhaust gas flow ducts extending from the central part in opposite directions for collecting exhaust gas from first and respectively second cylinder groups of the engine, the center part includes a first control valve for controlling the exhaust gas flow from the first and the second cylinder groups to first and second turbine inlet flow passages, a second control valve for controlling the exhaust gas pressure and a third control valve for controlling the exhaust gas recirculation rate. |
| US08166752B2 |
Apparatus and method for cooling an exhaust gas
An exhaust gas cooling apparatus and method for cooling an exhaust gas is provided. The exhaust cooling apparatus having a first fluid conduit having a variable nozzle opening disposed at one end of the first fluid conduit, the variable nozzle opening being defined by a shape memory alloy extending from the first fluid conduit; and a second fluid conduit having an inlet end and an outlet end, the variable nozzle opening being disposed in the second fluid conduit proximate to the inlet end of the second fluid conduit such that a fluid inlet opening is disposed about an outer periphery of the variable nozzle opening and an inner surface of the inlet end of the second fluid conduit, the shape memory alloy varying the size of the variable nozzle opening by moving toward or away from a center line of the first fluid conduit in response to a temperature of an exhaust gas flowing through the first fluid conduit. |
| US08166751B2 |
Particulate filter
A filter includes a housing including an inlet and an outlet, and the housing includes a first section and a second section. The filter also includes a plurality of parallel channels defined by a plurality of porous walls within the first and second sections of the housing. The plurality of channels extend between the inlet and the outlet. The plurality of channels in the first section of the housing includes at least one first channel including an inlet stopper and at least one second channel including an outlet stopper. The plurality of channels in the second section of the housing including at least one open channel. |
| US08166747B2 |
Gas turbine engine
A steam injection gas turbine engine having a once-through steam generator (OTSG). A condenser is provided downstream of the OTSG to capture water and is protected from hot flue gasses during startup by a bypass circuit. Optionally, heating the exhaust downstream of the condenser using coolant taken from an intercooler provides plume suppression. |
| US08166742B2 |
Uncured composite rope including a plurality of different fiber materials
An uncured, composite rope includes at least one inner tow of structural fibers of a first material and a plurality of outer tows of structural fibers disposed about the at least one inner tow, the structural fibers of at least one of the plurality of outer tows being made from a second material that is different from the first material. The uncured, composite rope further includes an uncured polymeric resin impregnated into the at least one inner tow and the plurality of outer tows. |
| US08166741B2 |
Resilient composite tire cord
Elastic metal/textile composite cord (C-1) having two layers (Ci, Ce) of 1+N construction, formed from a core or inner layer (Ci) comprising a textile core thread (10) of diameter d1 and a metal outer layer (Ce) of N wires (12) of diameter d2 wound together in a helix with a pitch p2 around the layer Ci, said cord being characterized in that it has the following characteristics (p2 in mm): As>1.0%; At>4.0%; Af>6.0%; d1>1.1d2; 4 |
| US08166738B1 |
Combine header with crop compression rollers
A header (20) for an agricultural combine (10) comprises a laterally extending frame (28) supporting a laterally extending cutter bar (54) and left and right lateral belt conveyors (32, 34) supported on the frame (28). Each of the belt conveyors (32, 34) has a feeding direction from an outer side end towards a center of the header (20). Rotationally drivable left and right crop compression rollers (74) are supported on the frame (28) above the left and right lateral belt conveyors (32, 34). The crop compression rollers (74) extend substantially over the length of the left and right lateral belt conveyors (32, 34) and have a smooth cylindrical surface. |
| US08166736B2 |
Crop-conditioning apparatus having hydraulic tension mechanism
As crop materials are severed from the field, they pass through two successive pairs of counter-rotating conditioning rolls before being returned to the ground. The front rolls are preferably ribbed, metal rolls wherein the ribs of one roll are intermeshed with those of the other roll so as to crimp the stems of the crop materials as they pass between the rolls. The hard metal ribs also aggressively feed the materials rearwardly into the second set of rolls, which are preferably compressive surface rolls made of rubber or the like and provided with wide, intermeshed bars about their periphery. The tension mechanism for the rolls includes single-acting hydraulic cylinders that squeeze the rolls together to the extent permitted by adjustable stop structure used to set gaps between the rolls. An accumulator is hydraulically connected to the hydraulic cylinders for cushioning the tension mechanism. |
| US08166735B1 |
Pull type gang mower
A gang-type lawn mower system comprises a main frame and a plurality of mower decks secured to the main frame. Mounted on the frame is a power source such as an internal combustion engine. A drive train is interconnected between the power source and each of the mower decks. Thus, each mower deck is driven by the single power source. Further, the frame structure includes a tongue that is adapted to be connected to a tractor. Therefore, in cutting grass, the frame structure is pulled over the ground and each of the mower decks, driven by the power source, cuts grass or other vegetation that passes under the mower deck. Additionally, each mower deck is pivotally connected to the frame structure about at least one pivot axis. |
| US08166731B2 |
Method and apparatus for supplying gas to an area
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to various designs and packaging methods for a gas delivery device and materials for supplying one or more predetermined gases to a target area as well as to application specific opthamological embodiments. With regard to the gas delivery device, the device may include a reservoir, a gas diffusion portion for communicating gas from the reservoir and one or more predetermined gases at concentrations greater than atmospheric contained within the reservoir, wherein the device does not generate gas and may be packaged prior to use with the one or more predetermined gases. |
| US08166730B2 |
Device for closing containers with screw caps including quick change mechanism for closing element
A device for closing containers, particularly bottles, with screw caps, having at least one rotatably drivable closing head in which a closure-specific closing element is exchangeably retained, a positive-fit quick-change mechanism for the respective closing element is embodied in the closing head, and in the release state of the quick-change mechanism the closing element can be laterally removed or inserted essentially perpendicular to the rotational axis of the closing head. |
| US08166728B1 |
Protective shield assembly and method
A method of protecting an existing surface includes providing a surface to be protected; providing at least one shield section including a plurality of protective shield assemblies, each of the protective shield assemblies including a corrugated panel and a protective shield base carried by the corrugated panel; and attaching the corrugated panel to the surface with the protective shield assembly facing away from the surface. |
| US08166727B2 |
Automated brick laying system for constructing a building from a plurality of bricks
An automated brick laying system (10) for constructing a building from a plurality of bricks (16) comprises a robot (12) provided with a brick laying and adhesive applying head (18), a measuring system (13), and a controller (14) that provides control data to the robot (12) to lay the bricks (16) at predetermined locations. The measuring system (13) measures in real time the position of the head (18) and produces position data for the controller (14). The controller (14) produces control data on the basis of a comparison between the position data and a predetermined or pre-programmed position of the head (18) to lay a brick (16) at a predetermined position for the building under construction. The controller (14) can control the robot (12) to construct the building in a course by course manner where the bricks (16) are laid sequentially at their respective predetermined positions and where a complete course of bricks for the entire building is laid prior to laying of the brick for the next course. |
| US08166726B2 |
Tile leveling process and apparatus
The process of tiling a floor is disclosed in which the leveling of the tile members being attached to a floor or counter top includes selecting and attaching a plurality of tile height spacers to each piece of tile. Each tile height spacer has a plurality of feet extending from one side thereof and an adhesive coating on the other side having a protective cover thereover. The adhesive cover is removed from the tile so that the tile height spacer can be attached to the bottom of a tile member for pressing the tile member and tile height spacers attached thereto into the tile bonding agent applied to the floor for leveling the tile. |
| US08166723B2 |
Floor panels with edge connectors
Floor covering, including hard floor panels which, at least at the edges of two opposite sides, are provided with coupling parts, cooperating which each other, substantially in the form of a tongue and a groove, wherein the coupling parts are provided with integrated mechanical locking elements which prevent the drifting apart of two coupled floor panels in a direction (R) perpendicular to the related edges and parallel to the underside of the coupled floor panels, and provide a snap-action coupling. |
| US08166708B2 |
Integrated glass run and upper reveal with film
An integrated reveal molding is provided for a motor vehicle door frame having a header section defining a window opening. The integrated reveal molding includes an upper reveal adapted to be mounted to the header section. The upper reveal includes a reveal surface disposed outboard of the header section. A reveal is secured along the reveal surface. The integrated reveal molding also includes a glass run co-extruded with the upper reveal. The glass run includes a window receiving channel for engagement with a window pane. The integrated reveal molding is formed as an extruded member from thermoplastic vulcanisate (TPV) of different durometer values to meet varying flexibility and durability requirements. |
| US08166706B2 |
Multipositional vault door
The present invention relates to a vault door mechanism that assists a user in opening or closing the door. A hold-open arm and hinge plate pivotally interconnect the door to a surrounding frame and are fixed in place by an associated locking mechanism. The locking mechanism stops the door in the partially opened position prior to being fully opened or closed, thereby assisting the user in handling the door. The details of the present invention, and the manner in which they interrelate, will be described in greater detail hereinafter. |
| US08166700B2 |
Indoor greenhouse
Described herein is an indoor greenhouse that includes a rack unit, an outer layer that surrounds the rack unit and defines a greenhouse interior, at least one light surrounded by a light enclosure, a cooling system, and a ventilation system all disposed in the greenhouse interior. The ventilation system includes a fan, a filter and at least one duct that cooperate to exhaust air out of the exhaust vent opening. The rack unit includes a top, a bottom, and an intermediate portion extending therebetween. The outer layer includes a top, a bottom, and an intermediate portion extending therebetween that correspond to the similar portions of the rack unit. The outer layer also has intake and exhaust vent and light cooling openings defined therein. The cooling system includes at least one duct that cooperates with the light enclosure to define an air path between the intake and exhaust light cooling openings. |
| US08166699B1 |
Swiveling tip for a fishing rod
A swiveling tip for a fishing rod includes a housing with a barrel positioned therein and a roller. The housing includes a first bore for receiving the barrel and a second bore for receiving a fishing rod. The barrel is capable of rotating 360° around a longitudinal axis of the second bore. The barrel has an axle mounting member at a distal end thereof and a through hole that is parallel to and offset from the second longitudinal axis for receiving a fishing line. The roller is configured to rotate about the axle and is adapted to redirect the fishing line from a first direction to a second direction. |
| US08166697B1 |
Rifle scope indicia system
A rifle scope indicia system preferably includes a mounting base, a marker turret and a plurality of marker pins. The mounting base is attached to a top of an elevation turret of a rifle scope. The marker turret includes a plurality of marker openings formed at a perimeter thereof for receiving the plurality of marker pins. The marker turret is preferably removably attachable to the mounting base. The plurality of marker pins may be illuminated with an illumination circuit. A light emitting device of the illumination circuit is retained in an internal cavity of the marker turret. An illumination conduction ring is placed below the marker turret to illuminate any translucent marker pins. A reference marker pin inserted into the marker turret may be coordinated with a marker applied to the parallax wheel or the parallax bell of a rifle scope. |
| US08166696B2 |
Rifle scope with adjustment stop
Rifle scopes with adjustment stops include a scope body, a movable optical element defining an optical axis enclosed by the scope body, and a turret having a screw operably connected to the optical element for adjusting the optical axis in response to rotation of the screw. The turret has a stop element selectably engaged to the screw. The body defines a stop surface positioned for engagement by the turret stop element to limit rotation of the screw, such that the relative position at which the stop element is secured to the screw defines a zero position of the screw and the movable optical element. The stop element is held against the stop surface by an indexing portion while the relative position at which the stop element is secured to the screw to define the zero position is determined. |
| US08166693B2 |
Systems and methods for conditional use of a product
A method performed by a weapon, includes interacting with a user of the weapon to receive a first code; determining whether the first code is consistent with a second code in a memory of the weapon to produce a result of determining; testing whether the weapon is in a zone; performing an operation of the weapon in accordance with the result and the weapon being in the zone. Interacting may include monitoring a switch that is operated by the user; and receiving may include determining the first code in accordance with a time between successive operations of the switch. The method may further include disabling performance of the operation in accordance with the weapon being not in the zone. And, after disabling, requiring a repeat performance of interacting and determining whether the first code is consistent with the second code before enabling performing a further operation of the weapon. An assembly for upgrading an electronic control device, the assembly includes an enclosure, an electrical connector, a battery, and a transceiver. The transceiver supplies to the electronic control device a current that conveys a result of testing whether the assembly is in a zone. A device detects that an electronic control device has been used. The device includes a radio receiver and a circuit. The electronic control device generates a radio signal when used. The circuit detects a plurality of properties of the received radio signal and outputs a signal in response to detecting. |
| US08166691B1 |
Ambidextrous magazine catch
An ambidextrous magazine catch mechanism for a pistol includes a button in the pistol frame. The button has a W-shaped camming surface. A magazine has a catch aperture. A catch includes two upwardly disposed legs connected to one another. A first leg has a tooth to mate with the catch aperture. The first and second legs form a spring having an equilibrium position. When the first leg is pressed toward the second leg, an outward force on the first leg biases the catch toward the equilibrium position. The first leg has a W-shaped camming surface to mate with the camming surface of the button. The button has a neutral position, and a first and second depressed position. In the neutral position, the camming surface of the button mates with the camming surface of the first leg and the tooth is engaged in the aperture to secure the magazine. In the first depressed position, a first side of the button is depressed such that the camming surface of the button moves against the camming surface of the first leg such that the first leg is urged toward the second leg to disengage the tooth from the magazine. |
| US08166690B2 |
Systems and methods for indicating properties of a unit for deployment for electronic weaponry
An electronic weapon may be used with a unit for deployment to cause skeletal muscle contractions in a human or animal target. The unit for deployment when electrically coupled to the electronic weapon, may include at least two electrodes, an indicator, and a propellant for deploying the electrodes to enable delivery, through the target, of a stimulus current to incapacitate the target by causing contractions of the skeletal muscles of the target. The indicator indicates, to the electronic weapon, indicia of a first property of the unit for deployment prior to operating the propellant, and indicia of a second property of the unit for deployment after operating the propellant. Another unit for deployment includes at least two electrodes, an indicator, and a stimulus signal generator, coupled to the electrodes to enable delivery, through the target, of a stimulus current to incapacitate the target by causing contractions of the skeletal muscles of the target. The indicator indicates, to the electronic weapon, indicia of a first property of the unit for deployment prior to operating the stimulus signal generator, and indicia of a second property of the unit for deployment after operating the stimulus signal generator. |
| US08166687B2 |
Electric fireplace with flame curtain
The invention relates to a An electric fireplace with a flame curtain comprises a housing, a light source, a flame curtain with integral structure being disposed on the electric fireplace and in front of an electric fireplace flame generator, an imaging mechanism and a charcoal bed being disposed on the flame curtain, and a number of light-holding charcoal with a plurality of transparent surfaces being disposed on the charcoal bed. The essential effect of the present invention is to solve the problems of constant charcoal flame brightness, the lacking of reality and the bad charcoal flame simulation effect in conventional electric fireplaces. Meanwhile, the problems of constant charcoal flame shape, dull appearance and poor visual effect in conventional electric fireplace are solved as well. The present invention is of simple structure and easy assembly process, while the charcoal flame structure can be arbitrarily changed, the light-spots of the flame are sparkling intermittently with bright and shade, and the flame is of light-holding effect. The visual effect and the authenticity are both perfect. |
| US08166685B2 |
Identifying animals
A identifying device for animals comprising an identifying ring comprising a laser or ink jet marker and/or an electronic transponder intended for being arranged around one of the animal's legs, characterized in that the ring comprises adjusting and latching means, comprising at least one latching stem to be engaged concurrently on the one hand, into a latching hole and on the other hand, into a retaining hole. |
| US08166684B2 |
Display boards
The present invention provides a display board comprising two flexible planar members joined together along an upper edge. The planar members are extendable between a first position for transport and storage where their lower edges are adjacent and a second position where their lower edges are spaced apart and the flexible planar members are curved. The display board can be used to display posters and other printed matter. It is lightweight and very stable even in the presence of strong winds. |
| US08166683B2 |
Card holder
A card holder includes a unitary hollow main body having with a base portion, a first side, a second side, and a top portion. The first side and the second side are angled toward one another and coupled to the top portion. The base portion is coupled to at least one of the first side and the second side. At least one of the first side, the second side, and the top portion has a plurality of grooves formed therein. Each of the grooves has a depth sufficient to hold at least one card in a substantially upright position. |
| US08166680B2 |
Steam iron
A steam iron is disclosed. The steam iron at least includes a base, a handle and a mechanical pump, in which the base has a steam generator and a water tank. The handle is connected with the base. The handle has a storage space and a shell surrounding the storage space. The mechanical pump is set in the storage space of the handle. The mechanical pump is connected with the steam generator and the water tank, and the bailing member of the mechanical pump is adjacent to the handle. The invention provides the mechanical pump having the bailing member that has short length and mounted in the handle. Because the bailing member may be hidden in the handle, user can easily press the bailing member without driving up finger to press the bailing member. So, the problem is solved that common steam iron is discommodiously used. |
| US08166679B2 |
Electric iron
The present invention discloses an electric iron comprising: at least one base unit a main body provided with a water inlet, a water outlet and a water tank connected between said inlet and said outlet; said base unit and said main body may connected or disconnected by a connecting unit; said base unit provided with a water passage which can connected with said water outlet when in assembly with said main body, a steam outlet, a chamber connected between said water passage and said steam outlet and a heating plate used for heating said chamber. Since the base unit can disconnected to the main body, user can choice different heating plates based on different clothing ironing conditions. |
| US08166677B1 |
Manual snow plow
A manual snow plow with ergonomic features comprises a snow scoop, two (2) articulating struts extending upward from the scoop and two (2) hinged rounded braces placed against a user's shoulders during use. The struts are provided with cross bracing which provide size adjustability and stability to the plow. A set of position adjustable hand grips extend from each strut in a rearward fashion to control the device during use. A pair of casters provided on a rear of the snow scoop allows the device to ride over cracks and other uneven surface variations. The snow plow becomes an extension of the user's body and thus enables the user to use the force of their entire body to move snow. |
| US08166675B2 |
Shoe tongue centralizer
The shoe tongue centralizer assembly includes a binding post and a centralizer band which, together prevent the tongue of any type of laced shoe, boot, or other footwear from significant movement either laterally or longitudinally in the footwear. |
| US08166673B2 |
Air bladder footbed
A sole system for an article of footwear comprising: an outsole layer and an insole layer, each of which include a vertically extending opening, a midsole layer disposed between the outsole and insole layers and including a bottom surface, a top surface, and an opening that extends vertically through the midsole layer to define a cavity therein, the cavity opening having a first dimension at the bottom surface substantially corresponding to the outsole layer opening and a second dimension at the top surface substantially corresponding to the insole layer opening; and a bladder element having a top and a base, wherein a portion of the bladder element is secured within the midsole cavity such that the top extends into at least a portion of the insole layer opening and the base extends into the outsole layer opening, wherein the bladder element and the midsole cavity include corresponding shapes and dimensions. |
| US08166663B2 |
Evidence preservation items
The kit described herein may include a first measurement element capable of measuring in at least the x and y planes without substantially moving the element. The kit may further include a second measurement element capable of measuring in at least the x and y planes without substantially moving the second element. In one embodiment, the measuring element is substantially rectangular, has an internal opening and it includes at least a first axis along the x-axis and a second axis along the y-axis. In another embodiment, the measuring element comprises an “L” shape having a first axis along the x-axis and a second axis along the y-axis, wherein each axis has a length of more than 150 cm. |
| US08166661B2 |
Shaving system comprising a razor handle
A shaving system comprises a bifurcated razor handle (1,90) comprising a unitary, two-shot plastics molding having a pair of hinges (4) with elastomeric springs (11) joined by a cartridge mounting portion (30,91) which receives the bottom side of a generally flat, multi-blade cartridge (60) in fixed, snap-fit relation. The cartridge is retained in a dispenser (80) beneath a resilient leaf (84) and pressed onto the mounting portion along an engagement axis E normal to the shaving plane, the leaf being received in a recess (48) between the mounting portion and the cartridge. The cartridge is then retracted from the dispenser along a retraction axis R generally parallel with the shaving plane. The mounting portion includes digit-receiving regions (40) for pressing the mounting portion onto the cartridge, an ejection element (41,141) for disengaging the cartridge from the handle, and an elastomeric skin-engaging platform (51) arranged in advance of the shaving plane. |
| US08166659B2 |
Garden shears
A garden shears has a first shear, a second shear, a separator, an engaging member and two joined pressing arms. A cutting portion of the first shear is offset from the handle portion, and central portion has a centrally positioned first pivot hole and a first eccentric pivot hole. A central portion of the second shear has a second pivot hole. A side of the second shear has a strip-shaped extending portion with an end bent towards the other side of the second shear and having an engaging gear rack, which defines an escape region. An arcuate limiting guide groove is disposed between the second pivot hole above the escape region. The engaging member has an arcuate engaging tip edge with a protrusion. The pressing arms are bi-leveled with a beveled connection and have a handle at a lower portion and a second eccentric pivot hole at an upper portion. |
| US08166657B2 |
Needle roller bearing
A steel retainer (3), which retains needle rollers (2), is formed from a steel plate containing 0.15 to 1.10% by mass of carbon. After being formed, the steel plate is subjected to induction heat treatment which includes induction hardening and induction tempering. Such heat treatment can be carried out efficiently in a short period of time, using compact treatment facilities, even in small-lot production. The retainer (3) thus formed is sufficiently resistant to wear and surface damage, and is high in fatigue strength and fracture strength as a whole. |
| US08166654B2 |
Method for component positioning during assembly of scroll-type fluid machine
A positioning system used in assembling a scroll-type fluid machine exerts a horizontal thrust on a stationary scroll in a direction opposite to a direction in which an eccentric shaft end portion formed at one end of a rotary shaft is oriented while turning the rotary shaft, and determines an orbital path of the stationary scroll by measuring horizontal displacements thereof. While exerting the horizontal thrust, the positioning system incrementally presses the stationary scroll against a guide frame until a stable orbital path of the stationary scroll is obtained. When the orbital path is judged to be stable, the positioning system determines a fixing point on which the stationary scroll should be fixedly centered with respect to the guide frame, so that a scroll wrap of the stationary scroll and a scroll wrap of an orbiting scroll are correctly intermeshed, forming a series of pockets therebetween. |
| US08166653B2 |
Method of manufacturing printed circuit board having embedded resistors
A method of manufacturing a printed circuit board (PCB) having embedded resistors, including providing a PCB on which internal layer circuit patterns, including electrode pads, are formed; layering insulating layers on the PCB; forming first via holes on the electrode pads and simultaneously forming second via holes at predetermined locations on the internal layer circuit patterns; forming contact pads for connecting the electrode pads with resistors by filling the first via holes with oxidation-resistant conductive material and flattening the oxidation-resistant conductive material; forming the resistors so that ends of each resistor are connected to two respective contact pads, which are spaced apart from each other; forming circuit patterns on the PCB, in which the second via holes are formed; and layering insulting layers on the PCB having the formed circuit patterns, and forming external layer circuit patterns. |
| US08166650B2 |
Method of manufacturing a printed circuit board
A method of manufacturing a printed circuit board (PCB) includes of disposing thermal transfer vias and electrical vias through the PCB. The method further includes filling holes of the vias with a solder mask. The thermal transfer vias are filled to about 70% of capacity while the electrical vias are completely filled. Once filled, surfaces of the PCB are coated with an organic solderability preservative. |
| US08166647B2 |
Method of manufacturing a printed circuit board
A printed circuit board and a method for manufacturing the printed circuit board are disclosed. The method can include; providing an insulated layer, in which a first metal layer is formed on one side of the insulated layer; forming a groove on the insulated layer; forming a metallic substance on an inner side of the groove and on another side of the insulated layer; and forming a first circuit pattern on at least one of one side of the insulated layer and the metallic substance formed on the groove by removing a portion of the first metal layer. The present invention provides the printed circuit board having a high efficiency of heat emission by disposing a heat sink in direct contact with a board and the method of manufacturing the printed circuit board. |
| US08166645B2 |
Method for providing near-hermetically coated, thermally protected integrated circuit assemblies
The present invention is a method for providing an integrated circuit assembly, the integrated circuit assembly including an integrated circuit and a substrate. The method includes mounting the integrated circuit to the substrate. The method further includes adding thermally conductive particles to a low processing temperature, at least near-hermetic, glass-based coating. The method further includes, during assembly of the integrated circuit assembly, applying a low processing temperature, at least near-hermetic, glass-based coating directly to at least one of the integrated circuit and the substrate. The method further includes curing the coating. |
| US08166643B2 |
Method of manufacturing the circuit apparatus, method of manufacturing the circuit board, and method of manufacturing the circuit device
A method of manufacturing a circuit apparatus includes forming a plurality of pierced holes in a metal substrate. A first wiring layer is formed on one side of the metal substrate via a first insulating layer, and a second wiring layer is formed on the other side of the metal substrate via a second insulating layer. A conductor layer is formed in at least some of the plurality of pierced holes to establish a connection between the first wiring layer and the second wiring layer. A circuit element is connected to the first wiring layer on the one side of the metal substrate. When a plurality of pierced holes are formed, protrusions are formed on a surface of the metal substrate at least along either edge of each of the pierced holes provided with the conductor layer to protrude in a convex manner from the surface of the metal substrate. |
| US08166639B2 |
Coaxial cable connector attaching tool having connector magazine
A connector attaching tool is for attaching a coaxial cable connector to a coaxial cable by longitudinal compression of the coaxial cable connector. The tool includes a tool body defining therein a connector compression chamber and a plunger receiving chamber longitudinally adjacent thereto. A plunger having a plunger head is within the plunger receiving chamber and a plunger shaft extends outwardly therefrom. A handle is carried by the tool body and is movable from a retracted position to a compressed position for advancing the plunger shaft to drive the plunger head to longitudinally compress the coaxial cable connector within the connector compression chamber to thereby attach the coaxial cable connector to the coaxial cable. The tool body defines a connector magazine chamber for storing a plurality of coaxial cable connectors. A biasing member is within the connector magazine chamber for urging the coaxial cable connectors toward the connector compression chamber. |
| US08166638B2 |
Rotary clip bonder
Multiple connector clips are bondable onto an electronic device simultaneously with a rotary clip bonder, wherein a pick head comprising a plurality of collets is positioned at a clip supply channel. A plurality of connector clips are picked up from the clip supply channel in a fixed orientation with the pick head and are conveyed to a clip bonding area where the electronic device is located. The pick head is rotated with a rotary motor about a rotational axis passing through a shaft connecting the rotary motor to the pick head in order to change the orientation of the plurality of connector clips, before the connector clips are bonded at the clip bonding area. |
| US08166637B2 |
Apparatus for mounting a flip chip on a substrate
An apparatus for mounting semiconductor chips as flip chips on a substrate includes a chip supply, a pick-and-place system with a bonding head having a chip gripper, a flipping apparatus operable to rotate the chip from a first position to a second (flipped) position through an angle with a gripper and two cameras. The first camera determines a position of the chip before the flipping apparatus receives the chip and also determines a position of the flipped chip received by the chip gripper of the bonding head once the flipping apparatus has transferred the chip to it. The apparatus also comprises an optical switch, e.g., a rotatable mirror located in the field of view of the first camera. The mirror operates to rotate with the gripper of the flipping apparatus but at half the angle. |
| US08166635B2 |
Manufacturing method of electrode, electric storage device, and intermediate laminate member
In a current collector laminating step, a current-collector laminate unit 30 composed of current-collector materials 31 and 32 and a film material 33 is formed. Resist layers 34 having a predetermined pattern are formed on both surfaces of the current-collector laminate unit 30. An etching process is performed with the resist layers 34 used as a mask, whereby through-holes 20a and 23a are formed on the respective current-collector materials 31 and 32. The resist layers 34 are removed from the current-collector laminate unit 30. Since the etching process is performed on the plural current-collector materials 31 and 32, productivity of an electrode can be enhanced. During the application of the slurry, the film material 33 prevents the leakage of the electrode slurry. Therefore, the current-collector laminate unit 30 can be conveyed in the horizontal direction, whereby the productivity of the electrode can be enhanced. |
| US08166634B2 |
Workpiece mounting device
When a lift moves up, the lift is moved by a lifting guide under an urging force of urging means in a direction opposite to a direction of movement of a hanger. Consequently, a synchronizing bar of the lift approaches the hanger and makes contact with a front surface in the direction of movement of the hanger in a sure and also soft manner, thus resulting in synchronization between the hanger and a self-propelled lifting carriage, regardless of a relative speed between the hanger and the self-propelled lifting carriage. Therefore, because no excessive impact is applied to the synchronizing bar and thereby a necessity to provide excessive strength in the synchronizing bar and the neighboring part thereof is eliminated, the self-propelled lifting carriage can be avoided from becoming large in size or being increased in weight. In addition, acceleration, deceleration, and quick stop of the self-propelled lifting carriage also become easy. |
| US08166628B2 |
Method of manufacturing coil for stators mounted in rotary electric machines
In manufacturing a stator coil for rotary electric machine having phase windings, plural conductive shaped wire members are integrated mutually to form an integrated body. Each shaped wire member has plural straight portions and plural turn portions alternately connecting adjacent straight portions at each of both ends of each straight portion. The body has plural straight superposed portions each formed by mutually superposing the plural straight portions. A wound-up body has plural straight stack portions The straight portions are fitted to respective fitting grooves of an alignment member, the fitting grooves being formed in the alignment member at intervals each corresponding to the size of a gap between adjacent straight stack portions. The integrated body is wound about a core member together with the alignment member, with the straight portions being fitted to the alignment member to form the wound-up body. |
| US08166626B2 |
Method and a jig for mounting a stack of belleville springs
A method and a jig for mounting of a stack of Belleville springs about a shaft. The individual springs of the stack are first positioned over the shaft. A jig is then placed over the shaft and the springs and has at least one axially extending pressure bar that is radially inwardly biased to urge the inner circumferences of all the springs into contact with axially aligned points on the surface of the shaft. The springs are then compressed using a compression element while they are still urged by the pressure bar against the shaft. Finally, to retain the springs on the shaft and maintain the springs in compression, a split retaining clip is pressed onto to the shaft until it engages in a groove. |
| US08166624B2 |
Linearly extendible impact anchor driving pole and anchor system
A linearly extendible impact anchor driving apparatus for positioning and setting a wedge anchor assembly in a pre-drilled hole extending inwardly through the ceiling or wall surface of a structure while at ground level and with a single tool. One embodiment of the apparatus has an extendible tubular housing with a coupling and anchor head at one end and a hemispherical end tip at the other. A slidable handle impacts a stop mounted to the body to impart linear force to the anchor. |
| US08166618B2 |
Straps and method of using straps for holding sinks in position
A strapping device used for installing, supporting, and sealing under-mount sinks comprises a series of straps looped by a series of rings and locking tightening devices. The locking tightening devices are used to tighten the straps and raise and support an under-mount sink in position. The rings and straps are anchored to hooks attached to the edge of the sink opening on the counter top underlay. A series of hooks are capable of holding a series of straps under tension to support an under mount sink in position with a located on the lip of the under-mount sink. A continuous loop of closed cell PVC is disposed atop the lip of the sink, so that when the sink is tightened through the countertop underlay, the lip of the sink encounters the underside of the countertop and the sealing material is compressed, forming a permanent, flexible, water-tight seal. |
| US08166617B2 |
Device for organizing and maintaining the patency of lines
One aspect of the invention relates to a device that efficiently folds and organizes tubing and cords while not compromising their function. In certain embodiments, the device provides dynamic length adjustment in the form to reducing line length, and the device organizes the lines in parallel, making it easier to identify their connections. |
| US08166615B2 |
Apparel accessory clamp
A wearable, item attaching, apparel clamp is disclosed. The clamp broadly includes a clamping jaw and an underlying opposed clamping jaw capable of permanently or temporarily attaching a personal item either directly or indirectly to whatever substrate or fabric edge the clamp is attached. The clamping jaw attaches to the underlying jaw via a hinge element which includes a fulcrum. An article connecting element attaches to the clamping jaw and extends toward or beyond the securing portion of the clamping jaws. The connecting element contains a resilient opening large enough to attach a second item directly or indirectly. Such other item may include a key chain, chain link, receptacle, or the like, thus enabling the item to hang below the bottom of the clamp. The underlying clamping jaw(s) distribute the weight of the attached item relative to the clamp preventing the flexible substrate to which the clamp can fasten from excessive bending. The clamp can also be used to attach the personal item to another accessory such as a purse, beach bag, backpack, etc. In addition it is conceivable that the invention could be used to attach items to upholstery, curtains, blankets, towels, or even to hang items from a clothes line, cooking pots, etc. |
| US08166607B2 |
Upright vacuum cleaner
Several embodiments of an upright surface cleaning apparatus are disclosed. The surface cleaning apparatus has a first cyclonic cleaning stage and comprises a surface cleaning head having a dirty fluid inlet. A fluid flow path extends from the dirty fluid inlet to a clean air outlet of the upright surface cleaning apparatus. A support member is mounted to the surface cleaning head. A mounting member mounted to the support member. At least one of a first cleaning stage of the upright surface cleaning apparatus and a suction motor is mounted directly or indirectly to the mounting member. A suction motor is provided in the fluid flow path. |
| US08166603B2 |
Compound water-wiper and pet hair/fur removal apparatus and method
An apparatus and method that efficiently removes water from a surface without the need for a towel and effectively removes hair or fur from a surface. The apparatus is designed to provide a comfort gripping region to a human hand to facilitate ease in use. The material that the apparatus is made from can be static electric attracting to more effectively remove charged particles such as hair or fur from a surface. The apparatus may have various flex edges, including combs, slits and bulges. |
| US08166602B2 |
Gutter cleaner apparatus, a gutter cleaner kit and a method of cleaning gutters
A cleaning arrangement for removing accumulated leaves and other debris from an overhead gutter of a building, said arrangement including: a cleaning tool having a blade of comparative cross sectional profile to the gutter to be cleaned, an elongated rod having one end adapted to be held by a user and a remote end substantially perpendicular to the said blade when blade is connected to said rod, said blade including an aperture at an upper corner of said blade for an end of the rod to be releasable fastenable therein, such that the off-centering of the rod to the corner of the blade allows the cleaning tool to be scraped along the length of a segment of guttering without the blade making contact with internal brackets or bracing supporting the gutter. |
| US08166600B2 |
Toothbrush for pet dog
A toothbrush for a pet dog is disclosed, in which a groove is longitudinally formed in a center of a head in a direction of a handle, and a cushion material is provided in a surrounding surface, a lower surface and the groove. When a pet dog bites a toothbrush with teeth during a tooth brushing, it is possible to prevent teeth from fracture while preventing a lot of pain occurring when teeth collide with a hard toothbrush. Toothbrush hairs planted in a head are shaped depending on a tooth shape of a pet dog, so it is possible to reliably brush off plague attached on the upper side of a cervical ridge of premolars and molars of a pet dog without applying over stimulation on the gum. |
| US08166599B2 |
Articulated link duster and duster support frame
In accordance with another aspect of the present development, an articulated link duster support frame includes a base and a working region connected to the base. The working region includes a plurality of links pivotally connected in series such that each link is pivotally connected to at least one adjacent link, with an inner one of said links pivotally connected to the base. Respective articulated joints pivotally connect the inner link to the base and pivotally connect each link to at least one adjacent link. Each joint includes a first side comprising at least two ears and a second side comprising at least one tab located between and slidably abutted with the at least two ears of said first side. Each joint further includes a fastener pivotally connecting the first and second joint sides. A fabric, feather, or other dusting member is connected to the working region. |
| US08166596B2 |
Construction method for girder in bridge, crane for pulling up girder, vehicle for carring girder, and girder used for the same
A construction method for a girder in a bridge in which a plurality of piers are installed in an interval in a longitudinal direction of the bridge, a plurality of copings are installed on the piers, and a plurality of girders respectively installed between the piers are installed on the copings. The method comprises the steps of: installing at least one temporary girder on a front coping of the copings and a rear coping adjacent to the rear coping of the copings; installing a crane for pulling up a girder having a girder pulling up space therein guided by the temporary girder; and providing with a girder by a pre-cast method so as to install a girder on the front coping and the rear coping. |
| US08166593B1 |
Stabilizing system
The stabilizing system has a ramp having a first end mounted within a vehicle and a second end positioned on a base surface external to the vehicle. The stabilizing system further includes a tension mechanism having a first end section, a second end section, and a tension member positioned therebetween. The first end section of the tension mechanism is releasably coupled to the vehicle and the second end section of the tension mechanism is releasably coupled to the first end of said ramp. The ramp is maintained in fixed location with respect to said vehicle and said base surface. |
| US08166590B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining laundry load size
A method and apparatus according to one embodiment for operating a laundry treating appliance includes determining a parameter representative of a rotational speed of laundry in a drum and determining a laundry load size based on the parameter. |
| US08166589B2 |
Mattress
An embodiment of the present invention discloses a mattress including an underlayer, an air chamber layer arranged above the underlayer, granular material incorporated in the air chamber layer, and adjusting devices for adjusting the amount of air in the air chamber layer between a rest position, wherein the granular material at least almost fills the whole air chamber layer, and an adjusting position wherein the air chamber layer is only partially filled with granular material. |
| US08166586B2 |
Removable pallets and patient tables for medical systems
A removable pallet configured to be mounted to a patient table. The patient table has a table surface adapted to support patients thereon during a medical procedure or imaging session. The removable pallet includes a support body having a runway configured to slidably engage a transfer board carrying a patient. The support body extends along a longitudinal axis and is configured to be mounted over the table surface of the patient table. The removable pallet also includes a coupling device that is configured to removably couple the support body and the patient table. The coupling device secures the support body over the table surface to permit the transfer board to be moved onto the patient table. |
| US08166581B2 |
Toilet device
A toilet device includes a seat (2) with a pair of side walls (14 & 16) pivotally connected thereto. The side walls are capable of three configurations with respect to the seat portion (2). In a first folded configuration they extend towards one another for compact storage of the device. In a second configuration they extend downwardly in right angles to the seat for use as a chamber pot when supplied with a suitable liner. In a third configuration the side walls extend outwardly away from one another so that the device can be placed on a conventional toilet seat and adapt that seat to the user of the device. Locking and locating means are provided for locking and/or locating the device in the three configurations. |
| US08166578B2 |
Goggle with quick release double locking lens
An apparatus for releasably locking a protective eye lens to the housing of a protective face cover is disclosed. The apparatus is configured to have an inner and outer lock. The inner lock couples the protective eye lens to the housing. The inner lock can release the protective eye lens from the housing through the use of a release unit. An activator on the release unit is guarded by the outer lock to prevent inadvertent movement of the activator and consequent unintended release of the protective eye lens from the housing. |
| US08166577B2 |
Helmet having rotatable shield
Provided is a helmet including a half helmet-shaped helmet main body including a main body through hole at each side thereof; a shield that is rotated vertically at a front side of the helmet main body and inserted into the helmet main body and has a through hole at each end thereof so as to be detachably connected to the helmet main body; and a holder having a penetrating connection shaft at its lower surface, the penetrating connection shaft capable of being inserted through the main body through hole and the shield through hole from the outside of the helmet main body and connecting the shield to the helmet main body so as to be rotated vertically. |
| US08166575B2 |
Protective headgear with a visor and ear muff
A protective headgear combination has a helmet and at least one ear defender secured on the helmet rotational position of the at least one ear defender relative to the helmet is adjustable about a first axis of rotation, wherein the first axis of rotation is positioned relative to the vertical at an angle of less than 45° for an upright head position of a user of the protective headgear combination. |
| US08166574B2 |
Protective helmet
The invention relates to a protective helmet (10), particularly for motorcyclists or the like, having an exterior casing particularly configured as an exterior shell (11), and a lining element arrangement (12), which is received in the exterior casing and lines the same at least in some regions, wherein the lining element arrangement (12) has at least two lining elements, wherein at least one lining element is configured as a cushion element (14) filled with filling bodies (21), and at least one further lining element is configured as a lining shell element (17), wherein the cushion element (14) is surrounded at least along its contour by at least one lining shell element (17), which at least partially supports a contour surface of the cushion element (14). |
| US08166573B1 |
Helmet system with interchangeable outer shells
A helmet system comprises a base shell, a set of outer shells, said each outer shell selectively and adjustably geared for placement on and over the base shell in an interchangeable mode and position thereon as desired by the wearer, a connector detachably engaging said each outer shell to the base shell, and a first guide rail slot that includes an upwardly extending portion that the outer shell lies on and in, so that the upwardly extending portion extends between the base and the outer shell to form a buffer there between. |
| US08166571B2 |
Apron with a bendable pocket-forming device
The present invention relates generally to an apron or bib, and in particular, to a pocket-forming device that bends to form a pocket in an apron for catching and holding material. The pocket-forming device comprises an elongated base with a plurality of elongated members extending away therefrom. The elongated members have ends connected to the base at different positions along the base's length, and at least one of the elongated members can be configured to be bent to cause the portion of the apron to form a pocket for catching debris. |
| US08166570B2 |
Knee protection system
The invention is related to a knee protection system having a knee pad permanently attached to a garment such as pants. The pad is made of silicone rubber. The pad may be shaped and have a number of pad areas including a patella covering part of the pad, a pair of side parts and a top part of the pad. The side parts of the pad protect the user when they roll on their knees and the top part of the pad protects the user knee when they lean forward. The silicone rubber pad is waterproof, inert, and fire resistant. The pad is permanently attached to a knee region of a pair of pants. By manufacturing the pad in a pair of pants a user can comfortably walk around with the knee protection system. |
| US08166569B1 |
Multiaxial polyethylene fabric and laminate
Provided is a multiaxial fabric comprising a first layer comprising a first layer comprising substantially parallel resin-free polyethylene yarns oriented in a first direction; a second layer comprising substantially parallel resin-free polyethylene oriented in a second direction, the first and second directions being skew with respect to each other; a layer, interposed between and in contact with each of the first and second layers, and comprising a thermoplastic or thermoset film; and a yarn interlaced transversely among each of the layers of the multiaxial fabric. |
| US6114148C1 |
High level expression of proteins
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| US08171566B2 |
Copyright protection data processing system and reproduction device
If playback devices are prohibited from playing back contents recorded in R media, there occurs a problem that it takes more time to manufacture commercial ROM media. Conversely, if playback devices are permitted to play back contents recorded in R media, there occurs a problem that copyrights might be infringed. In view of these, the aim of the present invention is to provide a content protection data processing system and a playback device capable of determine whether to permit playback of a content recorded in a recording medium, based on a medium type of the recording medium and a signature type of a signature attached to a program. This enables both the protection of the copyright of the content and the efficient manufacturing of commercial ROM media. |
| US08171564B2 |
Systems and methods for one-to-many secure video encryption
A video encryption/decryption scheme is provided allowing an originator of video content to encrypt the video content using a session key, wherein the encrypted content and an encrypted form of the session key are provided to a destination. The session key is encrypted using a long term key value, and the long term key value itself is encrypted using shared secret information that is only stored in the main memory of the originator and destination's systems. The long term key is encrypted, typically by a third party, and provided to the originator and destination systems for encrypting/decrypting the session key. The third party also provides a pass phrase file, which the originator and destination systems can use as input with shared secret information to a certain cryptographic hashing algorithm to encrypt/decrypt the long term key. |
| US08171562B2 |
System and methods for protecting against denial of service attacks
A system and methods utilizing the network layer to provide security in distributed computing systems in order to thwart denial of service attacks. The system and methods of the present invention utilize puzzles placed at the network layer level to protect against denial of service attacks. The system and methods of the present invention advantageously provide a robust and flexible solution to support puzzle issuance at arbitrary points in the network, including end hosts, firewalls, and routers and thereby a defense against denial of service attacks. |
| US08171561B2 |
Secure personal content server
A local content server system (LCS) for creating a secure environment for digital content is disclosed, which system comprises: a communications port in communication for connecting the LCS via a network to at least one Secure Electronic Content Distributor (SECD), which SECD is capable of storing a plurality of data sets, is capable of receiving a request to transfer at least one content data set, and is capable of transmitting the at least one content data set in a secured transmission; a rewritable storage medium whereby content received from outside the LCS may be stored and retrieved; a domain processor that imposes rules and procedures for content being transferred between the LCS and devices outside the LCS; and a programmable address module which can be programmed with an identification code uniquely associated with the LCS. The LCS is provided with rules and procedures for accepting and transmitting content data. Optionally, the system may further comprise: an interface to permit the LCS to communicate with one or more Satellite Units (SU) which may be connected to the system through the interface, which SUs are capable of receiving and transmitting digital content; at least one SU; and/or at least one SECD. The SECD may have a storage device for storing a plurality of data sets, as well as a transaction processor for validating the request to purchase and for processing payment for a request to retrieve one of the data sets. The SECD typically includes a security module for encrypting or otherwise securitizing data which the SECD may transmit. |
| US08171559B2 |
Detecting a phishing entity in a virtual universe
An invention for detecting a phishing virtual entity in a virtual universe is disclosed. A virtual entity may be registered as authentic and be identified with multiple physical characteristics thereof. Another virtual entity will be monitored to detect whether it includes a physical characteristic that is sufficiently similar to that of a registered virtual entity to cause confusion. A phishing virtual entity is detected based on the monitoring and phishing prevention processes may be implemented on the phishing virtual entity. |
| US08171556B2 |
Personal information protection method, personal information protection system, processing device, portable transmitter/receiver, and program
A prescribed virtual person was created for allowing a real person (user) in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person (virtual person) and act as the virtual person when acting on a network and registered in a database 12a of a financial institution 7 for enabling the user to make shopping or the like as the virtual person with an electronic certificate issued by the financial institution 7 for the virtual person when pretending to be the virtual person and acting on the network, and the address of the virtual person necessary as the destination of a purchased article was set to a nearby convenience store. When acting on the network as the virtual person, cookies are rendered easily acceptable as compared with the case of the real person. |
| US08171554B2 |
System that provides early detection, alert, and response to electronic threats
The invention is a computer system that provides early detection alert and response to electronic threats (eThreats) in large wide area networks, e.g. the network of an Internet Services Provider or a Network Services Provider. The system of the invention accomplishes this by harnessing the processing power of dedicated hardware, software residing in specialized servers, distributed personal computers connected to the network, and the human brain to provide multi-layered early detection, alarm and response. The layers comprise: a Protection Layer, which detects and eliminates from the network data stream eThreats known to the system; a Detection Layer, which detects and creates signatures for new eThreats that are unknown to the system; an Expert Analysis Layer, which comprises a group of human experts who receive information from various components of the system and analyze the information to confirm the identity of new eThreats; and a Collaborative Detection & Protection Layer, which detects potential new eThreats by processing information received from various system agents and users. A Dynamic Sandbox Protection Layer associated with the distributed personal computers connected to the network. can optionally be part of the system of the invention. |
| US08171551B2 |
Malware detection using external call characteristics
A malware scanner 2, for malware such as computer viruses, worms, Trojans and the like, utilizes the external call characteristics associated with known items of malware to identify the presence of malware within a computer file. Malware written in a high level language when compiled can take a variety of different forms as object code, but these different object code forms will usually share external call characteristics to a sufficient degree to allow the presence of such external call characteristics to properly and accurately generically identify different compiled variants of the source code malware. |
| US08171548B2 |
0-touch and 1-touch techniques for improving the availability of computer programs under protection without compromising security
Protected software, such as an application and/or DLL, is monitored by protective software to guard against attacks, while distinguishing spurious, benign events from attacks. In a 1-touch approach, the protected software is monitored in a testing environment to detect spurious, benign events caused by, e.g., incompatibility or interoperability problems. The spurious events can be remediated in different ways, such as by applying a relaxed security policy. In a production mode, or 0-touch mode, when the protected software is subject to attacks, the corresponding remediation can be applied when the spurious events are again detected. Security events which occur in production mode can also be treated as benign when they occur within a specified time window. The applications and/or DLLs can further be classified according to whether they are known to have bad properties, known to be well-behaved, or unknown. Appropriate treatment is provided based on the classification. |
| US08171546B2 |
Keyboard security status check module and method
A keyboard security status check module and method are provided. The module is provided to enable a user to easily check the operating status of a keyboard security program installed in a user terminal. The module includes a keyboard security monitor linked to the keyboard security program and configured to monitor a reception status of key input data protected by keyboard security, and a controller configured to display a dynamic keyboard security check representation on a screen of the user terminal according to the reception status of the key input data monitored by the keyboard security monitor. |
| US08171545B1 |
Process profiling for behavioral anomaly detection
An anomalous process behavior manager uses statistical information concerning running processes to detect and manage process behavioral anomalies. The anomalous process behavior manager collects per process statistical data over time, such as resource allocation statistics and user interaction statistics. Current collected statistical data is analyzed against corresponding historical statistical data to determine whether processes are behaving in expected ways relative to past performance. Appropriate corrective steps are taken when it is determined that a process is behaving anomalously. For example, the process's blocking exclusions can be revoked, the process can be uninstalled, the process and/or the computer can be scanned for malicious code, the user can be alerted and/or relevant information can be shared with other parties. |
| US08171544B2 |
Method and system for preventing, auditing and trending unauthorized traffic in network systems
A method and system for preventing, auditing and trending unauthorized traffic in a network system is provided. The unauthorized traffic is detected at the router level. An attacker transmits an attack vector to the network system. The attack vector is detected at the router and signatures are created for network system resources, wherein each signature represents the response of a network system resource to the attack vector. Signatures are created by learning how the attack is taking place within the network system. Network system resources corresponding to the signatures are then emulated, thereby protecting the network device. |
| US08171537B2 |
Method of securely controlling through one or more separate private networks an internet-connected computer having one or more hardware-based inner firewalls or access barriers
A method of securely controlling through a private network a computer protected by a hardware-based inner access barrier or firewall and configured to operate as a general purpose computer connected to the Internet, comprising: two separate network connections separated by an inner hardware-based access barrier or inner hardware-based firewall protecting a private network connection configured for connection to a private network of computers but not protecting a public network connection configured for connection to a public network configured to include the Internet, the method including the step of controlling at least one operation of the computer, the control being provided through the private network and the operation involving data and/or code transmitted through an out-only bus or channel. Another method includes the step of controlling an operation of a second or third private protected unit of the computer, the control being provided through a second or third private network, respectively. |
| US08171535B2 |
Dynamic web service policy broadcasting/enforcement for applications
A system enables a client coupled to a server via a network to exchange security policy information across the network. The client is configured to determine security policy associated with the server based on a notification returned from the server. The notification having policy information embedded therein is issued by the server in response to the server's decision to deny client's access request. Based on the policy information embedded in the notification, the client is configured to generate a new access request by either acquiring information from a client user or selecting a different credential from a library of credentials. |
| US08171533B2 |
Managing web single sign-on applications
A method of managing a web single sign-on (SSO) application with a common set of uniform resource locators (URLs) includes defining a first servlet mapping including a description of a protected URL resource pattern, defining a second servlet mapping including a description of an unprotected URL resource pattern, determining display logic support to establish if display logic of the web SSO application supports both the first servlet mapping and the second servlet mapping, configuring the display logic of the web SSO application based on the determination, defining an intercepting filter, and registering URL patterns for the common set of URLs in the intercepting filter, the URL patterns including definitions of the protected URL resource pattern and the unprotected URL resource pattern. |
| US08171530B2 |
Computer access security
A method is provided for improved computer access security, the method including protecting an access record to prevent password access to a computer via the access record, creating an alternate access record corresponding to the protected record, enabling password access to the computer via the alternate record, providing the alternate record with the access level of the protected record, and configuring the alternate record to indicate a supplemental security program to be executed once a correct password for the alternate record is provided. |
| US08171527B2 |
Method and apparatus for securing unlock password generation and distribution
A process may be utilized for securing unlock password generation and distribution. A first set of exclusive responsibilities, assigned to a trusted authority, includes random generation and encryption of an unlock password to compose a randomly generated encrypted unlock password. Further, a second set of exclusive responsibilities, assigned to a security agent, includes sending information associated with the unlock password and a digital signature of information associated with the unlock password to a communication device configured for a network in order to mate the unlock password to the communication device, and sending the randomly generated and encrypted unlock password along with mating data to a password processing center. In addition, a third set of exclusive responsibilities, assigned to a password processing center, includes decrypting the randomly generated and encrypted unlock password. |
| US08171525B1 |
Enabling users to select between secure service providers using a central trusted service manager
Systems and methods are described herein for enabling users to select from available secure service providers (each having a Trusted Service Manager (“TSM”)) for provisioning applications and services on a secure element installed on a device of the user. The device includes a service provider selector (“SPS”) module that provides a user interface for selecting the secure service provider. In one embodiment, the SPS communicates with a key escrow service that maintains cryptographic keys for the secure element and distributes the keys to the user selected secure service provider. The key escrow service also revokes the keys from deselected secure service providers. In another embodiment, the SPS communicates with a central TSM that provisions applications and service on behalf of the user selected secure service provider. The central TSM serves as a proxy between the secure service providers and the secure element. |
| US08171524B2 |
Physical access control
A system and method are disclosed for controlling physical access through a digital certificate validation process that works with standard certificate formats and that enables a certifying authority (CA) to prove the validity status of each certificate C at any time interval (e.g., every day, hour, or minute) starting with C's issue date, D1. C's time granularity may be specified within the certificate itself, unless it is the same for all certificates. For example, all certificates may have a one-day granularity with each certificate expires 365 days after issuance. Given certain initial inputs provided by the CA, a one-way hash function is utilized to compute values of a specified byte size that are included on the digital certificate and to compute other values that are kept secret and used in the validation process. |
| US08171523B2 |
Embedded email receiver authentication
The present invention relates to a method and system for providing an option when sending an email which will require the recipient of the email to provide an extra level of authentication before displaying the email contents in order to prove that he or she is indeed the correct recipient of the email. Validation is required by the recipient every time he or she opens an email. This validation occurs in the form of authentication that the user is indeed the intended recipient of the email, and can be provided in various means, including biometric identification, password phrases, and so forth. |
| US08171520B2 |
Method of sharing personal media using a digital recorder
A method and apparatus for sharing personal media using a digital recorder transfers multimedia content via email to a digital video recorder. |
| US08171519B2 |
Video broadcasting method, apparatus, and system
A video broadcasting method includes assigning channels to a video content based on a total number of channels usable for broadcasting the video contents and a playback time of the video content, calculating a broadcast start time interval of the channels assigned to the video content based on the playback time of the video content and number of the channels assigned to the video content setting broadcast start time per channel of the channels assigned to the video content, and broadcasting the video content at the broadcast start time set per the channel. |
| US08171515B2 |
Automatically generated TV favorites list
A favorite channel list for a media system is generated by observing the viewing, surfing, and recording habits of a user. The viewing habits may include the duration and frequency of viewing a channel. A user's surfing habits, including navigation habits of a guide, the method used for navigation to a channel, and information queries made during a surfing session may be used to determine which channels may be added to a favorites list. When the user has an ability to record a program and view the program later, the user's behavior in selecting programs for recording, and the behaviors of playing back and archiving recorded shows may also be used to identify favorite channels. In some embodiments, the favorites list may be customized for a user or node of a playback system, as well as time of day. |
| US08171511B2 |
Dynamic bandwidth allocation for addressable content
Systems and methods for push-based dynamic bandwidth allocation deliver addressable, advertising content in a digital network. Bandwidth is allocated on a push basis in response to receiving a cue tone from a broadcast stream. The cue tone contains data indicating an addressable break. A portion of bandwidth is then allocated to an addressable content stream based on the data of the cue tone. The addressable content stream is then streamed to a receiver during the addressable break and the receiver is tuned from the broadcast stream to the addressable content stream for the duration of the addressable break. The additional bandwidth is de-allocated at the end of the addressable break. |
| US08171508B2 |
Enhanced parental control
A parental control method, including receiving a channel selection command from a user to select from a plurality of channels for playing, each of the channels having a plurality of programming content, performing a parental control procedure prior to allowing playing of the programming content of one of the channels, during at least one specific timeslot, and allowing playing of the programming content prior to performing a parental control procedure for at least one of the following the one channel outside of the at least one specific timeslot, and another one of the channels. Related apparatus and methods are also described. |
| US08171503B2 |
Image processing system and image processing method in which a plurality of devices cooperate to perform image processing, wherein the image processing system and image processing method are capable of displaying information on operations to be performed by the devices
Image processing conditions that have been set are divided into a plurality of processes, and devices capable of executing the processes are searched for. Based on functions of devices that are found as a result of the search and the set image processing conditions, operation flows to be executed by the devices are assigned to the devices, and the assigned operation flows and the names of the corresponding devices are displayed. The operation flows are then executed. Thus, a desired output can be achieved by a plurality of devices that cooperate with each other. |
| US08171502B2 |
Methods, devices and computer program products for automatically installing device drivers from a peripheral device onto a host computer
One or more custom device drivers for a peripheral device may be installed from the peripheral device onto a host computer. Upon connecting the peripheral device to the host computer, an operating system of the host computer is exposed to a default configuration of the peripheral device that contains only a device driver class interface or interfaces for which the operating system includes preinstalled class level device drivers. The peripheral device then receives an install command from the host computer, and automatically transmits one or more custom device drivers from the peripheral device to the host computer. In response to receipt of a change command from the host computer, the configuration of the peripheral device is changed to an alternate configuration that includes interfaces for the custom device drivers. |
| US08171500B2 |
System and method for supporting multiple users
Systems and methods that support splitting a compute resource from its input/output and sharing among one or more users are provided. In one embodiment, a system that supports one or more user devices may include, for example, a compute engine, a first user device and a second user device. The compute engine may be adapted to provide virtualization. The virtualization may provide, for example, a first instance of a particular operating system and a second instance of the particular operating system. The first user device may be coupled to the compute engine and may access the first instance of the particular operating system. The second user device may be coupled to the compute engine and may access the second instance of the particular operating system. In one example, the user devices are input/output devices that do not run applications or operating systems. |
| US08171498B2 |
Adaptive service for handling notifications and synchronizing directories of a file system
Adaptive techniques for handling notifications and updating a directory of a file system in a graphical user interface of a computing environment are disclosed. The adaptive techniques include receiving a notification that at least something has been potentially changed in the node. A current time value of the notification is obtained, and a preferred time value or trigger time for responding to the notification is calculated. In a preferred embodiment, the preferred time value is calculated by adding an adjustment or incremental value to a recorded time of the last synchronization performed on the directory. The adjustment or incremental value is preferably calculated by weighting a duration of one or more synchronizations performed on the directory. The adaptive techniques then compare the current time value to the trigger time. If the current time is greater than the trigger time, the Finder and the directory are synchronized. Otherwise, a timer is set to the trigger time, and synchronization of the Finder and the directory is delayed until the trigger time. |
| US08171497B2 |
Method for efficient location of corba objects based on an unmarshaled object key in a request
Disclosed are methods and threads for responding to a request to perform an operation on a server object as may be provided in software form within an object request broker (ORB) server library or an ORB server. The specified object is identified by a marshaled object key in a conventional manner. The method improves upon prior art techniques by directly locating the object using the marshaled object key free of any unmarshaling step. The specified operation can then be invoked on the located object. The method applies to both in-process and out-of-process requests. In a preferred implementation, the marshaled object key is utilized as a hash key to directly access a pointer to the object. |
| US08171491B2 |
Object synchronization in shared object space
A system for synchronizing shared objects among multiple applications includes a shared object space in which the shared objects are stored and accessible to the multiple applications. In order to properly control access to shared objects, each shared object includes a header that is capable of storing an identification of a sole application that is the only application currently accessing the shared object or a reference into a lock table that stores lock nodes corresponding to a number of applications that are currently seeking access to the shared object. |
| US08171483B2 |
Method and system for communicating between isolation environments
A method and system for associating installation scopes within an isolation environment, where the method includes defining an isolation environment for encompassing an aggregation of installation scopes. Associations are created between a first application and a first installation scope. When the first application requires the presence of a second application within the isolation environment for proper execution, an image of the required second application is mounted onto a second installation scope and an association between the second application and the second installation scope is created. Another association is created between the first installation scope and a second installation scope, and this third association is created within a third installation scope. Each of the first, second, and third installation scopes are stored and the first application is launched into the defined isolation environment. |
| US08171482B1 |
Application environment specifications for provisioning application specific runtime environments using subsets of resources required for execution
Systems and methods of executing an application in an application specific runtime environment are disclosed. The application specific runtime environment is defined by an application environment specification to include a minimal or reduced set of software resources required for execution of the application. The application environment is generated by determining software resource dependencies and is used to provision the application specific runtime environment in real-time in response to a request to execute the application. Use of the application specific runtime environment allows the application to be executed using fewer computing resources, e.g., memory. |
| US08171481B2 |
Method and system for scheduling jobs based on resource relationships
The present invention proposes a scheduler, which is used to submit execution of jobs according to a predefined plan. Each job is defined by a corresponding descriptor. The descriptor specifies the resources to be used by the jobs (through their properties). In addition, for each resource the descriptor can also specify one or more relationships with other resources (defined by their properties as well). When the job must be submitted, the scheduler identifies the actual resources that possess the desired properties and that satisfy the desired relationships. For this purpose, the scheduler accesses a repository with stores information about the available resources and their relationships. |
| US08171475B2 |
Intelligent retry method using remote shell
Method for issuing and monitoring a remote batch job, method for processing a batch job, and system for processing a remote batch job. The method for issuing and monitoring a remote batch job includes formatting a command to be sent to a remote server to include a sequence identification composed of an issuing server identification and a time stamp, forwarding the command from the issuing server to the remote server for processing, and determining success or failure of the processing of the command at the remote server. When the failure of the processing of the command at the remote server is determined, the method further includes instructing the remote server to retry the command processing. |
| US08171473B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining a service cluster topology based on static analysis
The service assignment tool analyzes a service to determine whether the service can execute on a cluster. If the service cannot execute on a cluster, the service is assigned to a single virtual machine. The service assignment tool identifies non-cluster friendly services by performing a static analysis on the bytecode of the service. The bytecode of the service is analyzed by comparing each segment of bytecode to a list of known good and bad coding conventions. If each segment of bytecode in a service meets the good coding convention criteria, then the service is cluster friendly. If one segment of bytecode does not meet the good coding convention criteria, then the entire service is considered to be not cluster friendly. |
| US08171471B1 |
Method and system for performing initial data setup of an application
A method for initial data setup of an application that includes installing the application for execution on a computer system, submitting data to a generic edition of the application using guidance from a coach to generate application formatted data, wherein the data is submitted via a network, and storing the application formatted data on the computer system for use by the application executing on the computer system. |
| US08171470B2 |
Software installation and support
This specification describes technologies relating to software installation. In general, a method of installing software can include obtaining a first installation package distributed for installation on multiple different platforms, the first installation package including program content and package information, the package information including information stored in a platform independent format and useable in an installation sequence; converting the first installation package into a second installation package stored in a format native to a target platform, wherein the second, native installation package includes at least a portion of the program content and the information useable in the installation sequence; and initiating installation on the target platform with the second, native installation package. |
| US08171469B2 |
Package compatibility
One method embodiment includes defining a first package to be opened by a computing device. The method includes associating installation content to be installed on the computing device with the first package. The first package includes a second package that includes the installation content to be installed and the first package includes package functionality information to determine whether a particular package functionality can be utilized by the computing device. |
| US08171460B2 |
System and method for user interface automation
A system and method for language-neutral runtime user interface automation by: providing an automation script for automating use of the user interface in an application; intercepting a call from the automation script to a function simulating a user action on the application; retrieving a translated text string associated with the function call; and calling the function simulating the user action with the translated text string. This provides the advantages of not attaching any extra burden on the script developer and requiring little extra from the user (other than providing a native-language reference file). |
| US08171454B2 |
Method and apparatus for programming software components
A method and apparatus are disclosed for programming software components that treats software components as the basic unit of abstraction and computation. A software component is encapsulated and classes and other program entities, such as data fields and methods, within a given component do not exist beyond a component boundary. A component interacts with other components only by means of a defined set of input and output ports. A component can inherit and implement ports declared in a template and can declare and implement new ports. A component can only access the external environment through its output ports. An output port of one component can only be connected to a conforming input port of another component. A connect statement is an explicit plumbing operation for connecting components together. Interactions between components are loosely coupled. A related set of templates can be grouped together to form a group. Groups are useful for implementing implicit invocation and multicasting. |
| US08171451B2 |
Providing reports as web services
A report web service system comprises a web service interface, a report service manager, and a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) generator. The web service interface receives from a Client Application a request for a web service definition for a report as a web service, and transports to the client application the requested web service definition. The report service manager converts definitions of one or more objects in a report definition in a report store that corresponds to the requested report into web service definitions, and generates an object model based on the web service definitions to reflect a structure of the objects of the report. The WSDL generator generates a WSDL definition for the web service based on the object model. When a report as defined in the WSDL definition is rendered, a selector selects relevant objects from a generalized model of the rendered results based on information in the WSDL definition, and a representation formatter formats representation of the relevant objects. |
| US08171450B2 |
System and apparatus for graphically building business rule conditions
A system and apparatus are disclosed for graphically building business rule conditions. The apparatus of graphically building business rule conditions comprises an expression icon module that displays a menu of function icons for the user, and a business attribute module that displays a menu of business rule attribute icons for the user. A user interface module allows the user to freely drag and drop functions and attributes onto a staging canvas, and relate the functions and attributes to build a graphical depiction of the desired business rule condition. A source code module generates source code directly from the graphical depiction such that the user does not have to understand the specific syntax and nuances of the development environment or runtime environment for the business rule. |
| US08171444B2 |
Layout design method, apparatus and storage medium
A layout design support apparatus divides a first module obtained by dividing a semiconductor integrated circuit into a plurality of second modules in order to support a layout design for determining the disposition of each cell constituting the semiconductor integrated circuit and wiring, and makes the detailed design of a layout for determining the disposition of each cell in the second module and wiring for each second module. |
| US08171439B2 |
Warning device and warning method
A warning device checks for errors in design object data and issues a warning for detected errors by storing allowance information, which allows issuance of warning prevention, cancel information, which cancels relevant allowance information to permit issuance of warning for each error identification, and instruction identification, which identifies an edit command for editing generated design object data for error identification. When said edit command is accepted, the error identification for the instruction identification of edit command is acquired. Cancel information can be registered for error identification. Respective errors corresponding to error identifications are checked, when an operation for checking the design object data is accepted, and when a type of an error is identified, whether to issue a warning based on the allowance information and cancel information for relevant error identification is determined. |
| US08171437B2 |
Automated convergence of ternary simulation by saturation of deep gates
A method, system and computer program product for X-Saturated ternary simulation based reduction. An X-Saturated ternary simulation (XSTS) utility, which executes on a computer system, receives design information, where the design information includes a netlist. The XSTS utility initializes one or more data structures and/or variables and simulates, in a ternary fashion, the netlist at a time value by applying logical X values to all RANDOM gates of the netlist and to registers marked X_SATURATED. For each register of the netlist XSTS utility: determines whether or not the register departs from its expected prefix behavior, and if the register departs from its expected prefix behavior, the register is marked as X_SATURATED and the current state is updated with an X value upon the register. XSTS utility can store the current state in a data structure and can use the information from the data structure to simplify the design. |
| US08171435B2 |
Integrated circuit structure incorporating an inductor, an associated design method and an associated design system
Disclosed are embodiments of a circuit (e.g., an electrostatic discharge (ESD) circuit), a design methodology and a design system. In the circuit, an ESD device is wired to a first metal level (e.g., M1). An inductor is formed in a second metal level (e.g., M5) above the first metal level and is aligned over and electrically connected in parallel to the ESD device by a single vertical via stack. The inductor is configured to nullify, for a given application frequency, the capacitance value of the ESD device. The quality factor of the inductor is optimized by providing, on a third metal level (e.g., M3) between the second metal level and the first metal level, a shield to minimize inductive coupling. An opening in the shield allows the via stack to pass through, trading off Q factor reduction for size-scaling and ESD robustness improvements. |
| US08171432B2 |
Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for displaying and selecting application options
In accordance with some embodiments, a flat version of an application interface is displayed. In response to detecting a user gesture on a view options icon while the flat version of the application interface is displayed, a curled version of the application interface is displayed. The curled version of the application interface includes an image of a curled page that obscures a first portion of the flat version of the application interface, and a roll-up region in a display region formerly occupied by a second portion of the flat version of the application interface. The roll-up region includes a plurality of option icons. When a user selection gesture on one or more of the plurality of option icons is detected, the flat version of the application interface is redisplayed with information corresponding to the option icons upon which user selection gestures were detected. |
| US08171431B2 |
Handle flags
The claimed subject matter provides techniques to effectuate and facilitate efficient and flexible selection of display objects. The system can include devices and components that acquire gestures from pointing instrumentalities and thereafter ascertains velocities and proximities in relation to the displayed objects. Based at least upon these ascertained velocities and proximities falling below or within threshold levels, the system displays flags associated with the display object. |
| US08171424B1 |
Method, system, and graphical user interface for meeting-spot maps for online communications
A method, system, and graphical user interface for meeting-spot maps for online communications are disclosed. A “meeting spot” is a specific physical location where two or more people can arrange to meet face to face. One aspect of the invention involves a computer-implemented method in which a server computer sends information corresponding to a map to a client device and sends information corresponding to a plurality of icons for meeting spots to be overlaid on the map. In some embodiments, selection of an icon in the plurality of icons by a user at the client device initiates the display of information about other users that have also selected the icon. In some embodiments, selection of an icon in the plurality of icons by a user at the client device initiates online communications with one or more other users that have also selected the icon. |
| US08171422B2 |
System and method for scrolling data
In a system and method for displaying data, a processor may simultaneously scroll at different paces through a first data and through a second data in response to a single scroll instruction. |
| US08171421B2 |
Portable electronic device and method for displaying large format data files
A portable electronic device includes a rendering circuit to visualize large format data files on a narrow display. The large format data files are rendered using either a desktop display mode or a mobile display mode. The desktop display mode renders the data file using data file-specified dimensions and resolutions. The data file is viewable in its entirety by automatic scrolling achieved by moving a cursor near the edge of the display. Data file elements may be edited while in desktop display mode. The mobile display mode renders the elements of the data file as a list with minimal regard for spatial orientation. Navigation in mobile display mode is field-to-field. |
| US08171419B2 |
Method and system for remote media management on a touch screen device
The method of managing media files remotely on a portable electronic device having the touch screen display includes storing a composite media file index that lists all media files, and their attributes, whether stored on the portable electronic device or accessible at a remote computing device. The method continues by rendering a graphical user interface for a media manager application, operable to access the stored media file index, on the touch screen display. At least one activation touch event is then detected on the touch screen display, and in response to the at least one activation touch event, a group of media files having shared attributes are displayed within the graphical user interface, and at least one media file is identified for download from the remote computing device. The at least one media file is then downloaded during synchronization of the portable electronic device to the remote computing device. |
| US08171414B2 |
System and method for consolidated reporting of characteristics for a group of file systems
A system and method enables one or more storage volumes and associated devices on one or more storage appliances (filers) to be combined or consolidated into arbitrary groups so that statistical information related to performance, operational status and other usage-based parameters can be made available to interested parties associated with the group. The volumes can drawn from different storage appliances and grouped so as to allow administration and access by a common group of administrators or users. The statistical information can be compared to threshold values to generate events. The events can be e-mailed or otherwise transmitted to interested parties. The statistical information can also be organized and displayed in a variety of formats as a web page on a graphical user interface that resides on a management station and/or client display of an interested party. |
| US08171412B2 |
Context sensitive text recognition and marking from speech
A visual presentation system and method for synchronizing presentation data being viewed in a display with speech input. A system is disclosed that includes: a speech recognition system for recognizing speech input; an association system for determining a context of the speech input and matching the context with a relevant portion of the presentation data; and a visual coordination system for coordinating the display of a data item from the presentation data based on a match made by the association system. |
| US08171410B2 |
Method and system for generating and presenting mobile content summarization
This invention involves a system and method to construct a visual representation of multidimensional data that works especially well for video. The system comprises an application on a mobile device having a screen, an assignment module assigning the media segments to the screen, a rendering module rendering the assigned media segments on the screen, a playback module playing the assigned media segments, a catalog module representing media metadata about the mobile content, a summarization module stewarding the media metadata, and a remote server storing the mobile content and the media metadata. The application retrieves the mobile content from the remote server and accesses the assignment, the rendering, the playback, the catalog, and the summarization modules. The system also comprises a method to log and analyze the browsing interactions of one or more users, and present a view of the media that reflects what is interesting to the user. |
| US08171407B2 |
Rating virtual world merchandise by avatar visits
Generating popularity ratings for virtual world artifacts based on how often and in what manner avatars access the artifacts is provided. The popularity ratings for virtual world artifacts may be used to determine what virtual world artifacts are selected to have a prominent presence in a virtual world. When an event caused by an avatar accessing a virtual world artifact in a virtual world is detected, the illustrative embodiments receive information about the event, such as the event type, the avatar identifier (ID), and the time the event occurred. The illustrative embodiments generate a rating score for the virtual world artifact based on the information received about the event. The illustrative embodiments update a rendering of the virtual world artifact in the virtual world based on the rating score. |
| US08171406B1 |
Automating user interface navigation
A system processes a set of instructions, each of which indicates an action to perform on a user interface. The system does not have prior information concerning the layout of the user interface, nor does the system interact with the user interface through an automation API. For each instruction in the set, the system automatically performs the indicated action on the user interface. To do so, the system identifies the selected control on an active window, and determines whether it is the control to activate in order to perform the indicated action. If so, the system generates an input signal configured to activate the selected control, and sends the input signal to the user interface. If not, the system selects a new control and determines whether it is the desired one. The system cycles through the controls to find the desired one to activate. |
| US08171404B2 |
Methods and systems for disassembly and reassembly of examination documents
Aspects of the present invention relate to systems, methods and devices for manipulating documents. According to one aspect of the present invention, the responses, from multiple examinees, to a question on an examination may be combined to form a combined document associated with the question for grading, scoring or other analysis. According to a second aspect of the present invention, markings made by the examination grader, on the combined document, associated with an examinee may be combined with the examinee's examination document to produce a modified examination document. |
| US08171401B2 |
Resizing an editable area in a web page
Embodiments of the present invention provide for vertically and/or horizontally resizing a zone or DIV element of a Web page via a browser-based Web authoring tool, while preserving a DIV element's ability to dynamically size to its Web content. Drag and drop vertical resizing of a DIV element is accomplished by creating two hidden DIV elements that are set to the specific left/top anchor, width, and altered HTML content of the DIV element to be resized. The two hidden DIV elements provide specific top and bottom pixel height limits to determine when a line break should be appended or decremented to the original DIV element's HTML content. By utilizing line breaks to vertically resize, a DIV element maintains its capability of sizing to dynamic Web content. |
| US08171398B2 |
Content server and layout system
A server system for generating information to be delivered to a client having an RSS reader according to this invention, includes a layout unit configured to execute layout processing of content data acquired from a content server in accordance with template data, a generation unit configured to generate, when an error has occurred in the layout processing by the layout unit, syndication data including link information to data associated with the error, and an information providing unit configured to provide the syndication data generated by the generation unit to the client, and to provide, when an acquisition request of the data designated by the link information included in the syndication data is issued, that data to the request source. |
| US08171396B2 |
Method and apparatus for declarative updating of self-describing, structured documents
The present invention includes a method and device for updating a self-describing, structured document. A further aspect of the present invention is enabling client-based modification of the document. Additional aspects of the present invention are described in the claims, specification and drawings. |
| US08171394B2 |
Methods and systems for providing a customized user interface for viewing and editing meta-data
Systems and methods are disclosed for providing a user interface. The disclosed systems and methods may include receiving a request to initiate an application program configured to generate a data file. Furthermore, the disclosed systems and methods may include displaying, by the initiated application program, a property panel in response to the request. The property panel may be configured to receive meta-data to be associated with the data file generated by the application program. Also, the property panel may be configured to provide the only place to receive the meta-data by the application program. Moreover, the disclosed systems and methods may include receiving the meta-data in the property panel. |
| US08171392B2 |
Automatic forms processing systems and methods
Systems and methods analyze the physical structure of text rows in a document image, including the positions of one or more alignments of one or more character blocks in one or more text rows of the document image. The systems and methods determine one or more groups of text rows that are placed into a class based on the structures of the text rows, such as the positions of the one or more alignments of the one or more character blocks in each text row. |
| US08171391B2 |
Method of describing the structure of graphical objects
The proposed technical solution allows processing of machine-readable forms of unfixed format. It comprises a method of specifying the logical structure of a document characterized by: preliminary specification of the list and descriptions of varieties of elements which may be present in the form, specifying an algorithm of setting the search constraints for every element, description of at least the following characteristics of search for every simple or compound element—the spatial characteristics of the search area and the parametric characteristics of the element, description of the method of identification of obtained elements, testing the type of the element, testing the properties which are typical of the type, testing the completeness of composition of the parts of the element. |
| US08171389B2 |
Method of hierarchical processing of a document and system therefor
The present invention discloses a method for processing document data, wherein the document data comprises at least one page in order and the page comprising at least one layer in order, the method comprises: managing and controlling the at least one layer respectively. The technical scheme of the present invention enables process a document on layers in the docbase management system and provides more flexible document processing. |
| US08171385B1 |
Load balancing service for servers of a web farm
A system for maximizing the efficiency of a load balancing server for an asymmetric web farm utilizes a TCP stack and data packets to send and receive client service requests. An internal buffer enables each web server in the web farm to balance their loading based on the contents of the client service request. Data switching between the address portion of the user space and the address portion of the kernel space within the load balancing server is eliminated. |
| US08171377B2 |
System to improve memory reliability and associated methods
A system to improve memory reliability in computer systems that may include memory chips, and may rely on a error control encoder to send codeword symbols for storage in each of the memory chips. At least two symbols from a codeword are assigned to each memory chip and therefore failure of any of the memory chips could affect two symbols or more. The system may also include a table to record failures and partial failures of the codeword symbols for each of the memory chips so the error control encoder can correct subsequent partial failures based upon the previous partial failures. The error control coder is capable of correcting and/or detecting more errors if only a fraction of a chip is noted in the table as having a failure as opposed to a full chip noted as having a failure. |
| US08171375B2 |
Distributed processing LDPC (low density parity check) decoder
Distributed processing LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) decoder. A means is presented herein that includes an LDPC decoding architecture leveraging a distributed processing technique (e.g., daisy chain) to increase data throughput and reduce memory storage requirements. Routing congestion and critical path latency are also improved thereby. Each daisy chain includes a number of registers, and a number of localized MUXs (e.g., MUXs having merely 2 inputs each). The means presented herein also does not contain any barrel shifters, high fan-in multiplexers, or interconnection networks; therefore, the critical path is relatively short and it can also be pipelined to further increase data throughput. If desired, a communication device can include multiple configurations of such daisy chains to accommodate the decoding of various LDPC coded signals (e.g., such as for an application and/or communication device that must decoded LDPC codes using different low density parity check matrices). |
| US08171374B2 |
LDPC check matrix generation method, check matrix generator, and code retransmission method
A check matrix generation method for generating a check matrix H1 of a code H1 from a check matrix H0 of a code C0, where codes C0 and C1 are LDPC systematic codes having different encoding ratios in a rate-compatible relationship and information bit sizes of the systematic codes C0 and C1 are K, and parity bit sizes thereof are M0 and M1 (M1−M0=L) respectively. The method comprising steps of: selecting L number of rows out of the check matrix H0; separating an information bit portion and a parity bit portion constituting each of the selected rows into two respectively, such that each of the separated information bit portions includes one or more non-zero elements which are “elements different from 0”; creating a new first row by coupling one separated information bit porting and one separated parity bit portion and creating a new second row by coupling another separated information bit portion and another separated parity portion; and generating the check matrix H1 of the systematic code C1 by placing the new first and second rows in place of each of the selected L number of rows in the check matrix H0. |
| US08171373B2 |
Coding circuit for recording data on DVD disk
A coding circuit that includes a buffer manager and a coding block is provided for generating product codes for parity checks as error correction code and adding the product codes to digital data to be recorded in a record medium. |
| US08171370B2 |
Method and apparatus for applying forward error correction in 66b systems
A method and apparatus for applying Forward Error Correction (FEC) in 66b systems. For a user data, the apparatus uses a method comprising the steps of generating one or more data blocks using a 66b code format and the user data; generating one or more FEC parity blocks using the 66b code format, wherein the parity is calculated over the data blocks; and generating an FEC codeword using the data blocks and the FEC parity blocks. |
| US08171365B2 |
Communication apparatus and method thereof
This is disclosed a communication apparatus. A receiving unit receives plural data frames which are transmitted from other communication apparatus. An error detection unit checks whether each data frame is received correctly or incorrectly. A determination unit estimates a first overhead and a second overhead and determines whether or not to send a block acknowledgement frame by comparing the first and the second overheads. The determination unit estimates the first overhead being caused by sending the block acknowledgement frame and the second overhead being caused by not sending the block acknowledgement frame. The receiving unit receives the data frames which are retransmitted from the other communication apparatus after a certain period of time has passed without sending the block acknowledgement frame, the data frames retransmitted from the other communication apparatus including both data frames which are correctly received and incorrectly received. |
| US08171364B2 |
System and method for power outage and restoration notification in an advanced metering infrastructure network
A method and system are provided to transmit a meter power status. The method includes recognizing a power status change at a meter. The method includes, if the meter is scheduled to transmit first, transmitting a notification message to at least one neighboring meter towards a mesh gate, wherein the notification message includes a power status indicator and a meter identifier. The method includes, if the meter is not scheduled to transmit first, waiting a predetermined time period to receive a notification message from at least one neighboring meter. The method includes, responsive to receiving a notification message, adding a meter identifier to the received notification message before retransmitting the modified notification message to at least one neighboring meter. The method includes retransmitting the notification message. |
| US08171362B2 |
Apparatus, method and computer program product for HARQ buffer size reduction
Apparatus, methods and computer program products implement HARQ buffer size reduction by storing successfully received blocks of a multi-block signal in a code block buffer and only storing unsuccessfully received blocks of the multi-block signal in the HARQ buffer. As HARQ retransmissions of the signal occur, previous successfully received blocks are discarded. Blocks that were not successfully received in one or more previous signals but are successfully received in a HARQ retransmission are saved in the code block buffer. The process may continue until all blocks of the multi-block signal have been successfully decoded received and stored in the code block buffer. The successfully received blocks of the multi-block signal are then passed to higher layers. |
| US08171353B2 |
System and method for initializing a memory system, and memory device and processor-based system using same
Systems, controllers and methods are disclosed, such as an initialization system including a controller that receives patterns of read data coupled from a memory device through a plurality of read data lanes. The controller is operable to detect any lane-to-lane skew in the patterns of read data received through the read data lanes. The controller then adjusts the manner in which the read data received through the read data lanes during normal operation are divided into frames. The controller can also couple patterns of command/address bits to the memory device through a plurality of command/address lanes. The memory device can send the received command/address bits back to the controller through the read data lanes. The controller is operable to detect any lane-to-lane skew in the patterns of command/address bits received through the read data lanes to adjust the manner in which the command/address bits coupled through the command/address lanes during normal operation are divided into frames. |
| US08171349B2 |
Associating a monitoring manager with an executable service in a virtual machine migrated between physical machines
A virtual machine is migrated from a source physical machine to a target physical machine, where the virtual machine has an executable service and a monitoring agent for monitoring the executable service. In response to the migrating, a monitoring manager is started that issues a command to start the executable service. It is determined whether the command is for the executable service that is already running in the migrated virtual machine. In response to such determining, the started monitoring manager is associated with the already running executable service, where the monitoring manager cooperates with the monitoring agent to detect fault of the executable service. |
| US08171348B2 |
Data consistency in long-running processes
Long running computer implemented processes are dynamically adapted to improve data consistency. A range of process steps in a long running computer implemented process is specified. Additionally, each of the computer-implemented process partners that are associated with the execution of the long running process are identified within the range of specified process steps. Monitoring information is also collected with regard to at least one identified process partner. An automatic determination is made as to whether each monitored process partner is available before initiating execution of the specified range of process steps in an instance of the long running computer implemented process and a flow of the long running computer implemented process is transformed based at least in part upon the determination as to whether each monitored process partner is available. |
| US08171345B2 |
Disablement of an exception generating operation of a client system
A method and system of disablement of an exception generating operation of a client system are disclosed. In an embodiment, a method is disclosed in which a snapshot of a client system is acquired. An execution of the client system is recorded, and a system wide exception is intercepted before it causes a client system crash. The execution of the client system is replayed from the snapshot of the client system, and an operation that generates the system wide exception is disabled. |
| US08171342B2 |
Device and method for outputting BIOS POST code
A device and method for outputting BIOS POST code, applied to a computer system. The device includes a basic input output system (BIOS), a transfer module and a video graphics array (VGA) connector. The BIOS generates a power-on self-test (POST) code using a low pin count (LPC) interface format. The transfer module receives the POST code and transfers the format of the POST code to a system management bus (SMBus) format. The VGA connector receives and outputs the POST code transmitted from the transfer module. |
| US08171340B2 |
Software performance counters
A system for providing software performance counters includes an operating system that receives a first request of a first application to monitor performance of a second application, the first request identifying a type of event to monitor during the execution of the second application. The operating system determines that the event is a software event, monitors the performance of the second application with respect to the type of the software event, and updates a counter associated with the type of the software event based on the monitoring. Further, the operating system receives a second request of the first application for performance data associated with the type of the software event counter, and provides the value of the counter to the first application. |
| US08171339B2 |
Testing a virtualised storage system in response to disk exercising commands
Provided are a method, apparatus, and computer program product for testing a virtualized storage system. Data defining one or more configuration features of the virtualized storage system is received. Also received is a set of one or more predetermined rules defining interpretation of the disk exercising commands, the interpretation being dependent on one or more of the configuration features. A first disk exercising command is received. The first disk exercising command is interpreted in accordance with one of the predetermined rules to produce a second disk exercising command. The second disk exercising command is sent to the virtualized storage system. |
| US08171337B2 |
Computer architectures using shared storage
Shared storage systems and methods are provided. A particular shared storage system is a system including multiple instances of shared storage. Each of the instances of shared storage includes data and file system metadata separated from the data. The file system metadata includes location data specifying storage location information related to the data. A persistent common view is provided of local and remote files, file systems, and services in the shared storage. |
| US08171336B2 |
Method for protecting a secured real time clock module and a device having protection capabilities
A method for protecting a secured real time clock module, the method includes: locking multiple input ports of the secured real time clock module if the multiple input ports of the secured real time clock module are idle during at least a first duration; unlocking the multiple input ports of the secured real time clock module if a predefined high frequency code is received over a control input port of the secured real time clock module; and providing a secured real time clock signal when the multiple input ports of the secured real time clock module are locked and when the multiple input ports of the secured real time clock module are unlocked; wherein changes in a supply voltage results in a supply voltage induced changes of an input signal provided to an input port of the secured real time clock module; wherein a maximal frequency of the supply voltage induced changes of the input signal is lower than the high frequency of the predefined high frequency code. |
| US08171329B2 |
Method of dynamically adjusting signal delay time of circuit system
A circuit system periodically checks a system-environment monitor value, and then obtains a system-environment monitor value index corresponding to the system-environment monitor value in the environment-adjustment look-up table. Finally, the circuit system adjusts a signal delay time according to a delay adjustment value corresponding to the system-environment monitor value index. |
| US08171325B2 |
Computing component and environment mobility
Methods, services, devices, and programmable code are provided for moving computing processes without loss of service. Powered components supporting a computing infrastructure executing computing processes are monitored for thermal characteristics, each associated with at least one of the deployed components. A thermal characteristic rule set comprising a threshold is applied to the monitored characteristics, and in response to an association with a monitored characteristic correlating with the threshold, a computing process is moved from one powered component to another having a monitored thermal characteristics not correlated with the threshold, the moving in real-time and without causing an interruption of service to an end user using the moved process. |
| US08171319B2 |
Managing processor power-performance states
Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer program products for managing power states in processors of a data processing system. In one embodiment, the invention is directed to a data processing system having dynamically configurable power-performance states (“pstates”). The data processing system includes a processor configured to operate at multiple states of frequency and voltage. The data processing system also has a power manager module configured to monitor operation of the data processing system. The data processing system further includes a pstates table having a plurality of pstate definitions, wherein each pstate definition includes a voltage value, a frequency value, and at least one unique pointer that indicates a transition from a given pstate to a different pstate. The voltage value, frequency value, and unique pointer of a given pstate definition are configurable, during operation of the data processing system, by the power manager module in response to changes in the operating parameters of the data processing system. |
| US08171311B2 |
Transferring data values via a data bus or storing data values using a selectable representation
Data values being stored and transferred within a data processing system 8 have a selectable representation, such as true and complement, as indicated by an accompanying representation specifying bit. This assists in obscuring the operation and the power signature of the device in a manner that improves security. |
| US08171310B2 |
File system filter authentication
A software entity on a host device attempting to access protected content in a secure memory device must be authenticated using a challenge/response authentication mechanism before the secure file system can be accessed. A file system filter determines whether requested content is protected. If the content is protected, the file system filter provides a challenge to the software entity and generates a file system filter response using the same challenge. The software entity must then send a software entity response using the challenge to the file system filter. If the file system filter determines that the software entity response matches the file system filter response, the software entity is allowed to access the protected content through a secure file system installed on the host device for the memory device. |
| US08171308B2 |
Digital broadcasting system and method of processing data in digital broadcasting system
A digital broadcast receiver and a control method thereof are disclosed. The control method includes receiving a broadcast signal into which mobile service data and main service data are multiplexed, extracting transmission parameter channel (TPC) signaling information and fast information channel (FIC) signaling information from a data group in the received mobile service data, acquiring control data required to decrypt an encrypted service included in an ensemble by using the extracted FIC signaling information, the ensemble being a virtual channel group of the received mobile service data, and controlling such that the encrypted service is decrypted by using the acquired control data. |
| US08171305B2 |
Method for authorizing a telephone transaction and local node
The invention relates to a method for authorizing a telephone transaction and in particular an access to a database through a user in a telecommunication network, said telecommunication network comprising a user interface, an access control for the database and an authentification device, which are connected with each other over a local node in the telecommunication network, as well as to a corresponding local node.The invention is characterized in that the comparative result is output by the authentification device over the local node to the access control and the result of the comparison is communicated by the access control to the user over the local node, signals sent by the authentification device being masked. |
| US08171304B2 |
Method, system and computer program product for multiple biometric template screening
A method, system and computer program product which allows identification of an enrollment biometric template having a highest probability of matching a sample biometric template from a plurality of enrolled biometric templates without compromising or significantly compromising system security. In one embodiment of the invention, first feature set information is derived from sample and enrollment biometric templates. The first feature set information generally comprises spatially dependent information associated with a fingerprint. The first feature set information is then used to determine which enrollment biometric template has the highest probability of matching the sample biometric template. Second feature set information is then derived from the biometric sample template and the determined enrollment biometric template and used to perform a one-to-one match. The second feature set information generally comprises pattern dependent information associated with a fingerprint. |
| US08171303B2 |
Authenticating a login
Techniques for authenticating a login that avoid the imposition of memorization burdens on users of a computer system. The present techniques include determining whether an appropriate token is stored on a client system that originates the login, authenticating a login by communicating with a user via a secondary communication channel, and authenticating a login by engaging in a private question/private answer dialogue with a user. |
| US08171302B2 |
Method and system for creating a pre-shared key
There is provided a system and method for creating a pre-shared key. More specifically, in one embodiment, there is provided a method comprising accessing an identifier associated with a computer system, and performing at least one mathematical function on the identifier to create a pre-shared key for the computer system. |
| US08171299B2 |
Data communication apparatus, data communication method, data communication program, and storage medium storing the program
A data communication apparatus which is capable of preventing reception of undesired data by a destination without increasing the load on a network, etc. Data and a destination thereof are input. A sender ID related to a sender who sends the input data is input. The input data is sent to the input destination. A sender ID for data transmission to the input destination is permitted is stored as a permission ID. The input sender ID is collated with the stored permission ID. Whether to permit data transmission is determined according to the collation result. |
| US08171294B2 |
Additional-information detection processing apparatus and method, content playback processing apparatus and method, and computer program
Information capable of tracing a content distribution route, such as a user ID of a content destination, a content ID, a content provider ID, and a service provider ID, is superimposed on the content as additional information for digital watermarking or steganography before delivering the content. For example, the content ID and the user ID are detected from the delivered content. When both the content ID and the user ID are not detected from the content, it is determined that the content is illegally distributed, and the content distribution route is traced to identify the source of the illegally distributed content. In most cases, unique information, such as a user ID, still remains in copies of the content, thus effectively preventing illegal distribution of the content. |
| US08171293B2 |
Receiver non-repudiation via a secure device
Techniques for assuring a receiver's non repudiation of a communication are provided via cooperation with a secure device. A secure device operates within a local environment of a receiver and exchanges certificates with a sender via the receiver. The sender encrypts data in a communication with the receiver. Separately, the sender sends an encrypted version of a decryption key to the receiver. The receiver presents the encrypted version of the key to the secure device and the secure device supplies the decryption key for use by the receiver to decrypt the previously sent encrypted data. |
| US08171288B2 |
System and method for authenticating users in a computer network
A rule based biometric user authentication method and system in a computer network environment is provided. Multiple authentication rules can exist in the computer network. For example, there may be a default system-wide rule, and a rule associated with a particular user trying to log in. There may be other rules such as one associated with a remote computer from which the user is logging in, one associated with a group to which the user belongs, or one associated with a system resource to which the user requires access such as an application program or a database of confidential information. An order of precedence among the rules is then established which is used to authenticate the user. |
| US08171286B2 |
Computer program for securely viewing a file
A method for distributing a password protected content file without revealing the password to a recipient. An unlocking program that has access to at least one password corresponding to the password protecting the password protected content file is distributed to the recipient's computer. The password protected content file is distributed to the recipient's computer wherein upon activation of the unlocking program, the unlocking program automatically supplies the at least one password upon loading of the password protected content file. |
| US08171280B2 |
Method of running multiple operating systems on an X86-based computer system having a dedicated memory region configured as a do not use region
Two or more distinct operating systems (OSs) are loaded simultaneously and run on an x86 computer system. Each OS is booted serially and in such a way that the OS resides in a separate memory footprint than the other OSs by partitioning the memory map. The partition of the memory map includes a low memory region, dedicated memory partitions for storing each OS, and dedicated regions for storing shadows of the low memory region and the ACPI for each OS. Switching between the two or more resident OSs is performed by sleeping the current OS and then resuming the desired OS using the shadow previously stored for the desired OS. None of the resident OSs require any modification in order to run in this fashion. |
| US08171278B2 |
Booting a computer system from central storage
A filter driver that is loaded during an initial part of the boot process enable operating systems that are not capable of booting from central storage to be booted from central storage. According to this technique, an initial set of operating system files is loaded into system memory from a local storage volume. The initial set of files includes a small subset of all of the operating system files and includes a boot loader, a kernel, boot time drivers, a file system driver, and a filter driver. The filter driver takes control over the loading of the remainder of the operating system files, so that these files are loaded from central storage instead of the local storage volume. |
| US08171275B2 |
ROM BIOS based trusted encrypted operating system
There is disclosed a device, system, and method for a ROM BIOS based trusted encrypted operating system for use in a gaming environment. The gaming device includes a ROM storing a BIOS, a secure loader, an encrypted operating system, and a decryption key for decrypting the encrypted operating system. The decryption key is partitioned and scattered about the secure loader. The method includes initializing the BIOS, locating the decryption key, decrypting the encrypted operating system with the encryption key, verifying a plurality of check codes, and transferring control to the operating system. The check codes are verified responsive to decrypting the encrypted operating system. The check codes are dispersed about the operating system and are unrelated to the operating system. Control is transferred to the operating system responsive to verifying the check codes. |
| US08171270B2 |
Asynchronous control transfer
Methods and apparatus to perform asynchronous control transfer are described. In one embodiment, upon occurrence of an event (e.g., an architectural event), a service routine data block (SRDB) is accessed via a service routine base pointer (SRDS) and a service routine offset value (SRDBP) to obtain the address of a yield service routine via a service routine instruction pointer (SRIP) and a service routine code segment (SRCS). Other embodiments are also described. |
| US08171254B2 |
Memory controller and memory control method
According to one embodiment, a memory controller comprises a counter and a setting module. The counter is configured to count the number of valid pages in a block includes a page to be invalidated, when data is written in a nonvolatile memory. The setting module is configured to set the block as an object of compaction when the number of valid pages counted by the counter is smaller than a predetermined number. |
| US08171253B2 |
Virtual disk mapping
A storage area network can include a storage virtualization entity—intelligent storage application resource (iSAR)—either as a separate device in the fabric, or as an integrated module in one or more switches within the fabric. All I/O operations can be re-directed to iSAR for processing. iSAR can segment virtual storage and physical storage into units, where each unit of the virtual storage is mapped to a single unit in physical storage. Data associated with incoming I/O operation can be compressed before being stored in physical storage. iSAR includes overflow reserve storage at the block, sub-page and page level to accommodate changes in compressed data size on subsequent I/O operations. These measures can improve I/O performance and reduce fragmentation. iSAR can also employ deduplication of incoming data stored on physical storage to improve storage efficiency. |
| US08171245B2 |
Data migrating method taking end time into consideration
There is provided a data migrating method including the steps of: calculating, in a case where data stored in a volume is migrated to another volume, a required period of time for migrating the data based on a size of data to be migrated and volume configuration information on the volume in which the migrated data is stored and the volume to which the data is to be migrated; determining a start time at which the data migration starts to generate a volume migration plan; setting a priority of the generated volume migration plan; prioritizing, in a case where a periods of time during which the generated volume migration plan is executed and a period of time during which an existing volume migration plan is executed are overlapped with each other, and changing the start time of at least one of those volume migration plans having a lower priority. |
| US08171243B2 |
Data control apparatus, data control method, and data control program
A data control apparatus is connected to a central processing unit that processes data and to a main storage unit that stores therein the data, and controls output of the data. The data control apparatus includes a data storage unit that stores therein data output from the central processing unit to the main storage unit and data output from the central processing unit to other central processing unit, an information addition unit that adds information indicating an output enabled state to the data when the data stored in the data storage unit is in the output enabled state, and a data output unit that outputs the data with the information added thereto by the information addition unit from oldest stored data in order of storage in the data storage unit. |
| US08171241B2 |
Computer system, computer and method for managing performance based on I/O division ratio
Provided is a computer system including a host computer, a plurality of virtual storage systems coupled to the host computer, a storage system coupled to the plurality of virtual storage systems, and a management computer. The storage system includes storage areas provided as volumes to the host computer. Each of the virtual storage systems provides virtual volumes corresponding to the volumes to the host computer. The host computer disperses a plurality of data I/Os containing data to be written in one of the volumes to the virtual volumes of a plurality of paths reaching the one of the volumes at a determined ratio. The management computer calculates a threshold value of a performance value to be set in the virtual volume of each of the paths to determine whether to generate an alert based on the predetermined ratio. Thus, performance of the computer system is properly managed. |
| US08171239B2 |
Storage management method and system using the same
A storage management system and a storage management method are provided. The storage management system includes a host, a memory buffer, a plurality of storage blocks, and an input/output bus to perform an interface function among the host, the memory buffer, and the plurality of storage blocks, wherein each of the plurality of storage blocks is connected with the input/output bus via a corresponding channel, and the plurality of storage blocks is managed for each channel group generated by grouping at least one channel. |
| US08171236B2 |
Managing migration of a shared memory logical partition from a source system to a target system
Migration management is provided for a shared memory logical partition migrating from a source system to a target system. The management approach includes managing migration of the logical partition from the source system to the target system by: transferring a portion of logical partition state information for the migrating logical partition from the source system to the target system by copying at the source system contents of a logical page of the migrating logical partition into a state record buffer for forwarding to the target system; forwarding the state record buffer to the target system; and determining whether the migrating logical partition is suspended at the source system, and if not, copying at the target system contents of the state record buffer to paging storage of the target system, the paging storage being external to physical memory managed by a hypervisor of the target system. |
| US08171234B2 |
Multi-bank multi-port architecture
A memory system including a plurality of ports and a memory core having a plurality of memory banks. Access requests received at the ports are broadcast to the memory banks. Multiple memory banks may be concurrently accessed in response to access requests received on different ports. A memory controller provides the access requests to the memory system, and ensures that a single memory bank is not concurrently accessed by different ports. All access requests are processed with the same latency. If the memory banks include memory cells that must be periodically refreshed, then the memory controller also provides refresh requests to the memory banks. Because multiple memory banks may be concurrently accessed in response to access requests provided on different ports, the memory banks can operate at a lower frequency than the ports. |
| US08171233B2 |
Multi port semiconductor memory device with direct access function in shared structure of nonvolatile memory and multi processor system thereof
A multiport semiconductor memory device and a multiprocessor system employing the same directly accesses a shared nonvolatile memory. The multiport semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of port units coupled with respective corresponding processors. A shared memory area is accessed by both the processors through the port units. A data path control unit controls a data path between the shared memory area and the port units and data transmission/reception is performed between the processors through the shared memory area. An access authority information storage unit is positioned outside of the memory cell array and stores information for an access authority of nonvolatile memory and provides the information to the processors. Accordingly, a direct access is performed by a processor indirectly connected to nonvolatile memory. |
| US08171232B2 |
Stored value accessors in shared memory regions
Instruction sets in computing environments may execute within one of several domains, such as a natively executing domain, an interpretively executing domain, and a debugging executing domain. These domains may store values in a shared region of memory in different ways. It may be difficult to perform operations on such values, particularly if a domain that generated a particular value cannot be identified or no longer exist, which may obstruct shared accessing of values and evaluative tasks such as stack walks. Instead, accessors may be associated with a stored value that perform various operations (such as low-level assembly instructions like Load, Store, and Compare) according to the standards of the value-generating domain, and domains may be configured to operate on the value through the accessors. This configuration may promote consistent accessing of values without having to identify or consult the value-generating domain or reconfiguring the instruction sets. |
| US08171229B2 |
Wait-free parallel data cache
A system and method for managing a data cache in a central processing unit (CPU) of a database system. A method executed by a system includes the processing steps of adding an ID of a page p into a page holder queue of the data cache, executing a memory barrier store-load operation on the CPU, and looking-up page p in the data cache based on the ID of the page p in the page holder queue. The method further includes the steps of, if page p is found, accessing the page p from the data cache, and adding the ID of the page p into a least-recently-used queue. |
| US08171228B2 |
Garbage collection in a cache with reduced complexity
Garbage collection associated with a cache with reduced complexity. In an embodiment, a relative rank is computed for each cache item based on relative frequency of access and relative non-idle time of cache entry compared to other entries. Each item having a relative rank less than a threshold is considered a suitable candidate for replacement. Thus, when a new item is to be stored in a cache, an entry corresponding to an identified item is used for storing the new item. |
| US08171227B1 |
System and method for managing a flow based reply cache
A system and method determines when the entries of a reply cache, organized into microcaches each of which is allocated to a client connection, may be retired or released, thereby freeing up memory structures. A plurality of connection statistics are defined and tracked for each microcache and for the entries of the microcache. The connection statistics indicate the value of the microcache and its entries to the client. The connection statistics include a measure of the time since the last idempotent or non-idempotent request (TOLR) was received, and a count of the number of idempotent requests that have been received since the last non-idempotent request (RISLR). A microcache with a TOLR time and a RISLR count that exceed respective thresholds may be expired and removed from the reply cache. |
| US08171226B2 |
Method and apparatus for execution of a process
Techniques are provided for enabling execution of a process employing a cache Method steps can include obtaining a first probability of accessing a given artifact in a state Si, obtaining a second probability of using a predicate from a current state Sc in the state Si, determining a benefit of prefetching the given artifact using the predicate based on at least the first probability and the second probability, and whether and/or when a cache replacement should be conducted, based at least on the benefit determined. |
| US08171224B2 |
D-cache line use history based done bit based on successful prefetchable counter
A method of providing history based done logic for a D-cache includes receiving a D-cache line in an L2 cache; determining if the D-cache line is unprefetchable; aging the D-cache line without a delay if the D-cache line is prefetchable; and aging the D-cache line with a delay if the D-cache line is unprefetchable. |
| US08171223B2 |
Method and system to increase concurrency and control replication in a multi-core cache hierarchy
A directory of a private cache hierarchy is provided to maintain coherency between data stored in the cache hierarchy, where the directory is to enable concurrent cache-to-cache transfer of data to two private caches from another private cache. This directory can be implemented in a system having a multi-core processor. Other embodiments are described. |
| US08171220B2 |
Cache architecture with distributed state bits
Embodiments that that distribute replacement policy bits and operate the bits in cache memories, such as non-uniform cache access (NUCA) caches, are contemplated. An embodiment may comprise a computing device, such as a computer having multiple processors or multiple cores, which has cache memory elements coupled with the multiple processors or cores. The cache memory device may track usage of cache lines by using a number of bits. For example, a controller of the cache memory may manipulate bits as part of a pseudo least recently used (LRU) system. Some of the bits may be in a centralized area of the cache. Other bits of the pseudo LRU system may be distributed across the cache. Distributing the bits across the cache may enable the system to conserve additional power by turning off the distributed bits. |
| US08171217B2 |
Storage apparatus and data storage method using the same
A storage apparatus comprises a disk device and a disk adapter for controlling the disk device. The disk adapter controls the disk device and forms a data volume and a pool volume, creates a data block for parity data, compresses write data and the created parity data, and stores a number of compressed data blocks equal to or less than a predetermined number and stores compressed parity data that are within a predetermined size in storage areas in an actual volume, and stores the remaining compressed data blocks of a number greater than the predetermined number and compressed parity data that exceed the predetermined size in storage areas in the pool volume corresponding to a virtual volume. |
| US08171215B2 |
File server, file management system and file management method
When receiving a file access from the client, the file access program refers to the mapping table, and processes an access to files of on volumes of RAID groups. The file server analyzes the file access states, and groups the files depending on the access time period, defines the file migration pattern based on the grouping, migrates the files, and then carries out a power management operation like a spin-down/-up operation on the RAID groups based on the migration pattern. |
| US08171214B2 |
Storage subsystem, storage system, and method of controlling power supply to the storage subsystem
Provided is storage subsystem including: a storage unit containing multiple disk groups; and a control device for controlling the storage unit. The storage unit includes at least one redundant disk group composed of at least a first disk group and a second disk group for redundancy. The control device is configured to: put the first disk group into a power-on state; put the second disk group into a power-off state; read/write data stored in the first disk group; turns on power of the second disk group at a predetermined timing; write, in the second disk group, data that has been written in the first disk group while the second disk group has been in the power-off state; and put one of the first and second disk group into the power-on state and the other one of the first and second disk group into the power-off state after the writing. |
| US08171213B2 |
Information processing apparatus and method, and program
Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus, including: setting means for setting, a maximum transfer size; calculation means for subtracting a second data amount from a first data amount to calculate a third data amount; boundary determination means for determining whether this transfer will involve a page boundary being extended across; buffer boundary determination means for determining whether this transfer will involve a buffer size being exceeded; transfer size determination means for determining whether or not the third data amount is equal to or less than the maximum transfer size; and determination means for determining a data amount of data to be transferred within limits of the third data amount, based on a first determination made by the boundary determination means, a second determination made by the buffer boundary determination means, and a third determination made by the transfer size determination means. |
| US08171211B2 |
Method and system for minimizing impact of refresh operations on volatile memory performance
A memory system is provided. The system includes a volatile memory, a refresh counter configured to monitor a number of advanced refreshes performed in the volatile memory, and a controller configured to check the refresh counter to determine whether a regularly scheduled refresh can be skipped in response to detecting a request for the regularly scheduled refresh. |
| US08171208B2 |
Memory system
A memory system includes a DRAM 20 that performs writing and readout in a unit equal to or smaller than a cluster, a NAND memory 10 that performs writing and readout in a page unit, and a management table group in which management information including storage locations of data stored in the DRAM 20 and the NAND memory 10 is stored. When a readout request is received from the outside, a data managing unit 120 notifies, when an unwritten logical address area is present in a storage area of the NAND memory to which a logical address area requested to be read out is mapped, fixed data stored in the DRAM 20 to the outside in association with the logical address area. |
| US08171206B2 |
Avoidance of self eviction caused by dynamic memory allocation in a flash memory storage device
The operating firmware of a portable flash memory storage device is stored in the relatively large file storage memory, which is non executable. It is logically parsed into overlays to fit into an executable memory. The overlays can be of differing sizes to organize function calls efficiently while minimizing dead space or unnecessarily separating functions that should be within one or a group of frequently accessed overlays. For an overlay having functions that require data allocation, the data allocation can cause eviction. This self eviction is avoided altogether or after initial runtime. |
| US08171205B2 |
Wrap-around sequence numbers for recovering from power-fall in non-volatile memory
Incrementing sequence numbers in the metadata of non-volatile memory is used in the event of a resume from power fail to determine which data in the memory is current and valid, and which data is not. To reduce the amount of metadata space consumed by these sequence numbers, the numbers are permitted to be small enough to wrap around when the maximum value is reached. Two different techniques are disclosed to keep this wrap around condition from causing ambiguity in the relative values of the sequence numbers. |
| US08171203B2 |
Faster write operations to nonvolatile memory using FSInfo sector manipulation
An embodiment of the present invention includes a digital equipment system having a host for sending write commands to write files having sector information and having a controller device responsive to the commands for writing and updating FSInfo sector information. The controller controls a nonvolatile memory system organized into blocks, each block including a plurality of sector locations for storing sector information, a particular free block, designated for storing FSInfo sector information. Upon updating of the FSInfo sector, the updated FSInfo sector information is written to a next free sector of the dedicated block thereby avoiding moving the sectors of the particular block to another block, hence, improving system performance. |
| US08171198B2 |
Image forming apparatus and control method thereof
An image forming apparatus and a control method thereof. The image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image processors which process an image to be formed on a printing medium corresponding to a plurality of colors, a processor which executes an interrupt routine with respect to the plurality of image processors, and a controller which generates an interrupt signal and transmits the interrupt signal to the processor if at least two the plurality of image processors generate interrupt requests so that the processor executes the interrupt routine. |
| US08171196B2 |
Serial bus system, node device and input/output card that can be connected to the node device
There is described a node device of a serial bus system, a bus system with a node device of this type, and an input/output card. In serial bus system, in which individual node devices can have only a limited address space, and in which a number of input/output cards can be connected in order to control and/or regulate an item of external peripheral equipment, limitations arise for the individual input/output cards with regard to the available address space. Normally, the input/output cards, which are connected to the node device, are required to divide the address space of the node device among each other. In order to rectify this problem, the invention provides that a node device of a serial bus system, which has slots for input/output cards, is additionally equipped with a splitter for duplicating a received bus signal and for injecting the duplicated bus signal into another data line, the additional data line serially connecting the node device to input/output cards connected via the slots. |
| US08171192B2 |
Hardware-assisted device configuration detection
A method and apparatus for detecting the configuration of a device in a processing system are described. In one embodiment, a page size parameter associated with a memory device is identified. Further, one or more configuration parameters associated with the memory device are also identified, the page size parameter and the configuration parameters enabling access to the memory device. Finally, a request to download application data from the memory device based on the page size parameter and the one or more configuration parameters is transmitted to the memory device. |
| US08171190B2 |
Direct image formation method and apparatus
Provided are a direct image formation method and apparatus in which a predetermined image file that is transmitted from a host computer is directly received and printed or transmitted. The direct image formation method includes setting a USB class of the direct image formation apparatus to a mass storage class (MSC) and connecting the direct image formation apparatus to the host device in an MSC connection mode; transmitting the image file from the host device to the direct image formation apparatus in the MSC connection mode; and converting the image file to data in a predetermined printing format and printing the data into which the image file is converted. |
| US08171189B2 |
Semiconductor apparatus
A semiconductor apparatus includes a clock input buffer, an asynchronous data input buffer, and a synchronous data input buffer. The clock input buffer is configured to buffer an external clocks in order to generate an internal clock. The asynchronous data input buffer is configured to buffer data input through a data pad and output the buffered data. The synchronous data input buffer is configured to be synchronous with the internal clock to buffer the buffered data. The semiconductor apparatus is arranged so that the length of a line for transferring the internal clock to the synchronous data input buffer and the length of a line for transferring the buffered data to the synchronous data input buffer are substantially equal to each other. |
| US08171187B2 |
System and method for arbitrating between memory access requests
A system having memory access capabilities, the system includes: (i) a dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) controller, adapted to determine a level of a voltage supply supplied to a first memory access requester and a frequency of a clock signal provided to the first memory access requester and to generate a DVFS indication that is indicative of the determination; (ii) a hardware access request determination module, adapted to determine a priority of memory access request issued by the first memory access requester in response to the DVFS indication; and (iii) a direct memory access arbitrator, adapted to arbitrate between memory access requests issued by the first memory access requester and another memory access requester in response to priorities associated with the memory access requests. |
| US08171183B2 |
Information processing apparatus and program and method for setting identification information
An information processing apparatus communicates within a system by using identification information for identifying a device includes, a first device in which a first identifier is uniquely set, a holding part that holds a second identifier settable arbitrarily for a device in the system, an acquiring part that acquires identification information corresponding to a second device connected in the system and is different from the first device, a determining part that determines whether the second identifier to be set for the first device is used in the system as the identification information based on the identification information corresponding to the second device acquired by the acquiring part and the second identifier held in the holding part, and a setting part that sets the second identifier as the identification information of the first device based on the determination by that the second identifier is not used in the system. |
| US08171176B2 |
Method for selective replication of physical devices on a virtual self-configuring zoning expander
Disclosed is a method and a SAS controller device that abstract access from one or more virtual machines operating on a host system to SAS physical devices connected to the SAS controller without a routing table for port-to-port messaging on the SAS controller. An embodiment may create a virtual expander for each physical port of the SAS controller and further create virtual ports within the virtual expanders to provide abstracted access to SAS physical devices for the virtual machines. The SAS physical devices may be replicated/cloned within the virtual ports. Each replicated/cloned SAS physical device may be assigned a unique SAS address for the SAS controller (i.e., unique for the SAS controller such that other replicates/clones on other virtual ports have a different SAS address). If a physical expander that supports zoning is connected to a SAS controller port, an embodiment may further selectively replicate/clone the SAS physical devices for a virtual port based on whether or not a SAS physical device is included in a zoning group associated with the virtual port. An embodiment may further abstract access to SAS physical devices through a virtual function that permits access to one virtual port per virtual expander in order to permit access for the virtual machine associated with the virtual function to more than one physical port of the SAS controller. |
| US08171175B2 |
Methods and systems using data rate driven protocol accelerator for mobile devices
By controlling whether operations are offloaded to a protocol stack hardware accelerator as a function of data rate, power consumption may be reduced, for example, when data rates result in fragmented or segmented data not suitable for processing by the stack hardware accelerator. |
| US08171172B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for selective application access and synchronization
A method and apparatus for synchronizing data between a mobile communication device and a remote application operating on an external computer. A first application is operable to communicate and synchronize with a remote application operating on an external computer. A second application is operable to communicate and synchronize with the remote application. The mobile communication device receives a user's identification of a preferred application selected from one of the first and second applications, and uses the preferred application to synchronize the mobile communication device with the remote application. |
| US08171165B2 |
File conversion system assigning split pieces to a plurality of devices and method used thereby
A file conversion system is capable of transmitting via a network a file provided by a file providing end in a format supported by a file receiving end to the file receiving end. The file conversion system includes a receiving module for receiving the file provided by the file providing end; a conversion module for converting the format of the file provided by the file providing end into a format supported by the file receiving end; a database module for recording a profile of the file receiving end, with the profile including the format supported by the file receiving end; and a transmission module for transmitting the file to the file receiving end via the network. If the format of the file is not supported by the file receiving end, the conversion module may, in accordance with the profile of the file receiving end, convert the format of the file into the format supported by the file receiving end so as to allow the transmission module to transmit the file to the file receiving end. |
| US08171159B2 |
Systems and methods for adaptive communication control
Computer program products, apparatus, and methods for processing digital messages to recipients at destination domains is provided. A plurality of profiles are established, each profile for handling digital to a specific domain or set of domains. A request to process a plurality of outbound digital messages is handled by, for each given digital message, processing the given digital message by (i) determining a destination domain for digital messages, (ii) reading a profile for the determined destination domain for the digital messages and (iii) based on at least one parameter set in the profile: (a) sending the given digital message to the determined destination domain in accordance with the profile when permitted by the at least one parameter set in the profile, or (b) not sending the digital message to the determined destination domain when required by the at least one parameter set in the profile. |
| US08171157B2 |
Distributing bandwidth across communication modalities
Embodiments are configured to provide communication environments to communicating participants using a number of modality control features, but are not so limited. In an embodiment, a system includes a communications manager to manage an amount of available communication bandwidth to a number of communication modalities that include an audio modality, a video modality, an application sharing modality, and/or a file transfer modality. In one embodiment, available bandwidth can be distributed by controlling an audio state, a video state, an application sharing state, and/or a file transfer state, including using first and second distribution ratios as part of allocating available bandwidth. |
| US08171156B2 |
Method and system for determining overall content values for content elements in a web network and for optimizing internet traffic flow through the web network
Disclosed is a method for optimizing internet traffic flow through a web network including the steps of collecting content data corresponding to the content elements, determining a revenue value for each content element, calculating an overall content value for each content element based on the corresponding revenue value and revenue generated from subsequent traffic flow of a user during a visit to the web network, and modifying the web network based on the overall content value and the content data, so as to maximize the value of the web network. Also disclosed is a system for determining overall content values for a plurality of content elements including an analytic server for receiving content data corresponding to the content elements, and a processor for determining a revenue value for each content element, and to calculate an overall content value for each content element based on the corresponding revenue value and revenue generated from subsequent traffic flow of a user during a visit to the web network. |
| US08171155B2 |
Download and data transfer gaming method
A download and data transfer gaming system utilizes a hybrid peer-to-peer, segmented file distribution protocol to vastly improve the download capabilities of a gaming system by improving the upload cost burdened by the download host. The system redistributes this cost to the download clients by allowing clients on the gaming system to upload pieces of a file to each other. This system is much more redundant by eliminating the possibility of a client missing a download broadcast. The system alleviates this possibility of missing packets and bad data integrity by using SHA-1 verification of the file pieces. The benefits of the improved bandwidth capabilities enable the download of much larger files, thus enhancing the game play experience. |
| US08171154B2 |
Method and system for low-latency transfer protocol
A method and system for providing computer-generated output and in particular graphical output. The system includes a network configured to carry digital information. The system includes a server in communication with the network, the server configured to execute an application and a cloud engine module. The application provides a graphical output. The output capturing and encoding engine module is further configured to intercept the graphical output from the application on the server. The output capturing and encoding engine module is further configured to convert the graphical output into at least one of: graphical commands and video codec data. The output capturing and encoding engine module is further configured to transmit the converted output over the network. The system includes a client in communication with the server over the network, the client configured to execute a graphics and video decoding and rendering engine module. The graphics and video decoding and rendering engine module is configured to, responsive to receiving the transmitted converted output, rendering the graphical output. The graphics and video decoding and rendering engine module is configured to intercept graphics and video decoding and rendering inputs at the client. The graphics and video decoding and rendering engine module is configured to transmit the intercepted user inputs to the output capturing and encoding engine module. |
| US08171153B2 |
Adaptive variable fidelity media distribution system and method
A layered media stream comprising media information layers of different priorities may be adaptively distributed by transmitting at least one of the media information layers to a client on a time-windowed basis. A client device obtains different media information layers during various time windows, and different portions of the media stream may be rendered using different combinations of layers obtained in each time window. In various embodiments, different layers may be obtained from different hosting devices using differing distribution models. |
| US08171151B2 |
Media foundation media processor
A system and method for a media processor separates the functions of topology creation and maintenance from the functions of processing data through a topology. The system includes a control layer including a topology generating element to generate a topology describing a set of input multimedia streams, one or more sources for the input multimedia streams, a sequence of operations to perform on the multimedia data, and a set of output multimedia streams, and a media processor to govern the passing of the multimedia data as described in the topology and govern the performance of the sequence of multimedia operations on the multimedia data to create the set of output multimedia streams. The core layer includes the input media streams, the sources for the input multimedia streams, one or more transforms to operate on the multimedia data, stream sinks, and media sinks to provide the set of output multimedia streams. |
| US08171147B1 |
System, method, and/or apparatus for establishing peer-to-peer communication
Embodiments of methods, apparatuses, devices and systems associated with peer-to-peer communications are disclosed. |
| US08171146B2 |
Utilization of media capabilities in a mixed environment
An apparatus and method for negotiating media capabilities is described. The method may comprise receiving an invite to establish a connection between a caller endpoint device and one of a plurality of callee endpoint devices of a shared line and identifying an initial common media capability between the caller endpoint device and the plurality of endpoint devices. Thereafter, the method may comprise negotiating a connection between the caller endpoint device and the callee endpoint device using the common media capability and determining if the caller endpoint device and the callee endpoint device have a common enhanced media capabilities. The connection may be re-negotiated using the enhanced media capability. |
| US08171145B2 |
System and method for two way communication and controlling content in a game
A method for two way communication and control of a game may include executing, by a host device in communication with a computer network, a game application within a web browser. A communication channel is established over the computer network and between the game application and a controller application running on an endpoint device. Data is sent over the communication channel for controlling and playing the game application within the game application. A system for two way communication and control of a game is also provided. |
| US08171143B2 |
Network device configuration
A network device initially has no configuration data and is permitted only to query a known network address. From this address a server verifies the connection and authorizes another server to download to the network device the necessary configuration to carry out its purpose. This configuration may not be amended and is not retained on power loss. Any updates are carried out by a complete reload of configuration data. |
| US08171139B2 |
Hierarchical load balancing
Popular object requests are handled using a front-end cache, and hashing is applied only to the requests in the stream that were not handled by the front-end cache. A cache (e.g., a web proxy cache) is placed in front of a Level 7 switch and services the popular requests from the cache based on the content of the request (e.g., based on the portion of an HTTP request following the domain name). The remaining requests are hashed and then routed to the back-end server. Requests that make it past the cache are still routed to the back-end server. A Level 4 switch is placed in front of a plurality of web proxy caches, each of which are in turn placed in front of a respective Level 7 switch, each of which are connected to a respective server farm, so that incoming web requests are handled on a round robin basis (or other SLB technique) before being sent to the cache. |
| US08171132B2 |
Provisioning grid services to maintain service level agreements
Provisioning grid resources for a set of grid services is provided. The service performance for the set of grid services is monitored. The set of grid services has a set of service level agreements. In response to monitoring service performance, a determination is made as to whether current allocations of grid resources is sufficient to maintain performance levels for the set of grid services to meet the set of service level objectives. In response to the current allocations being insufficient to maintain the performance levels, the current allocations of the grid resources are dynamically reallocated or provisioned for the set of grid services to maintain service levels for the set of grid services. |
| US08171130B2 |
Active probing for real-time diagnosis
Improved problem diagnosis techniques for use in accordance with computing systems, e.g., distributed computing systems, are disclosed. In one aspect of the invention, a technique for diagnosing a problem associated with a computing system comprises the following steps/operations. One or more probes are executed in accordance with at least a portion of a previously selected probe schedule. When a result of one or more of the probes of the previously selected probe schedule indicates, at least, a potential problem associated with the computing system, one or more probes which optimize at least one criterion are selected in real-time. The one or more selected probes are executed so as to diagnose the potential problem. |
| US08171129B2 |
Smart endpoint and smart monitoring system having the same
A smart endpoint and a smart monitoring system having the smart endpoint are provided. The smart endpoint includes a central processing unit (CPU), an interface module, a digital signal processing unit, and a memory module. The interface module is coupled to the CPU for receiving a plurality of heterogeneous monitoring signals and an identification code. The digital signal processing unit is coupled to the CPU for integrally considering the monitoring signals and the identification code to determine an abnormal event, and generate an abnormal event data thereby. The memory module is coupled to the CPU for recording the abnormal event data. As such, the present invention is adapted to determine an occurrence of an abnormal event, by which the passive monitoring can be upgraded to an active monitoring and analyzing, and thus achieving a smart monitoring. |
| US08171128B2 |
Communicating a newsfeed of media content based on a member's interactions in a social network environment
A system and method provides dynamically selected media content to someone using an electronic device in a social network environment. Items of media content are selected for the user based on his or her relationships with one or more other users. The user's relationships with other users are reflected in the selected media content and its format. An order is assigned to the items of media content, for example, based on their anticipated importance to the user, and the items of media content are displayed to the user in the assigned order. The user may change the order of the items of media content. The user's interactions with media content available in the social network environment are monitored, and those interactions are used to select additional items of media content for the user. |
| US08171127B2 |
Systems and methods for response monitoring
Systems and methods for response monitoring are described. A method of generating a measurement for use in calculating an end-user experience metric in a server-based computing environment includes, transmitting a message from a client of the server-based computing environment to an application executing in a user space provided by an operating system of the server, receiving a graphic response for execution by the client from the application, and determining an amount of time elapsed between the transmission of the message and the conclusion of the execution of the graphic response. |
| US08171121B2 |
Method, system, and apparatus for dynamic reconfiguration of resources
A dynamic reconfiguration to include on-line addition, deletion, and replacement of individual modules of to support dynamic partitioning of a system, interconnect (link) reconfiguration, memory RAS to allow migration and mirroring without OS intervention, dynamic memory reinterleaving, CPU and socket migration, and support for global shared memory across partitions is described. To facilitate the on-line addition or deletion, the firmware is able to quiesce and de-quiesce the domain of interest so that many system resources, such as routing tables and address decoders, can be updated in what essentially appears to be an atomic operation to the software layer above the firmware. |
| US08171115B2 |
Resource equalization for inter- and intra- data center operations
An exemplary component for managing requests for resources in a data center includes a service request module for receiving requests for resources from a plurality of services and a resource module to monitor resources in a data center and to match received requests to resources. Such a component optionally includes an application programming interface (API) that provides for sending information in response to an API call made by a service. Other methods, devices and systems are also disclosed. |
| US08171114B1 |
System using specific geographic area multi-level caches for caching application data
Disclosed in some examples is a method of caching by storing data in a first cache specific to a first geographic area and accessible only by a first application in the first geographic area; storing data in a second cache specific to a second geographic area and accessible by a plurality of applications in the second geographic area including the first application and a second application, the second geographic area being larger than and encompassing at least part of the first geographic area; responsive to a miss in the first cache for data, contacting the second cache and searching for the data in the second cache; and responsive to a hit for the data in the second cache, sending the data to a first application, wherein the data was placed in the second cache by a second application. |
| US08171111B1 |
Systems and methods for non-specific address routing
The present disclosure provides a system and method for online continuity. Online continuity can include a number of Internet or intranet access points via which one or more network addresses can be advertised. A client can be provided with availability of an application (e.g., a brand image application) via at least one of the Internet or intranet access points. |
| US08171109B2 |
Mobile bookmarks
A method and apparatus for updating bookmarks is described. In one embodiment, a server has a bookmark database and a bookmark synchronizer. The bookmark synchronizer is configured to receive a communication from a web browser of a client of a user, to collect a list of bookmarks of the web browser of the client, to compare the list of bookmarks with a list of bookmarks stored in the server, and to synchronize the list of bookmarks of the web browser of the client with the list of bookmarks stored in the server. |
| US08171108B2 |
System and method for providing remote forensics capability
A system and method for performing a forensic analysis of a subject computer having a non-volatile memory with a second computer is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes executing on the subject computer a first code segment configured to provide communications via a non-proprietary communication protocol such as the Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) protocol; establishing a connection between the second computer and the subject computer via the non-proprietary communication protocol. The non-proprietary communication protocol includes one or more write operations for writing data to a non-volatile memory in response to one or more write commands and the first code segment is configured to not write data to the non-volatile memory of the subject computer in response to receipt of the one or more write commands. The method may include performing a first forensic analysis of the subject computer via the connection. In addition, the method may further comprise establishing a secure connection, such via the Internet, between the second computer and a remote computer, wherein performing the first forensic analysis is initiated by the remote computer. A pre-defined forensic instruction set may be stored on the second computer and executed to perform the first forensic analysis. |
| US08171107B2 |
Method and apparatus for editing, filtering, ranking, and approving content
The system provides a method and apparatus for editing, filtering, ranking and approving content. In one embodiment, the system provides a browsing environment for children that routes all internet requests through a central server. A request to a blocked website is automatically forwarded to one of a plurality of editors who can then access the site and determine on a page or site basis as to whether the request is suitable for the browsing environment. The system includes a workflow management system that determines which of the plurality of editors will be assigned a link to review. Approved content is categorized by the age and gender of the users of the content. The approved content is also categorized as a resource or reference to assist in accomplishing homework assignments. Parents can receive updates and can manage the content remotely. |
| US08171106B2 |
Per file system usage of networks
A method, information processing system, and computer program product access data in a system. The system includes a plurality of Network Shared Disk servers and at least one set of Network Shared Disks. Each of the Network Shared Disks are served by at least one of the Network Shared Disk servers across a multiple networks. Configuration data that includes information indicating which of the networks is associated with each of the Network Shared Disks for the one node is analyzed. A first of the Network Shared Disks to be accessed is identified. One of the networks that is associated with the first Network Shared Disk is selected based on the configuration data. The first Network Shared Disk is accessed via the one network that was selected. |
| US08171101B2 |
Smart access to a dispersed data storage network
An improved system for accessing data within a distributed data storage network (“DDSN”) is disclosed. In a system implementing the disclosed invention, traffic is routed to individual slice servers within the DDSN in accordance with objective criteria as well as user-defined policies. In accordance with one aspect of the disclosed invention, when a data segment is written to a DDSN, the segment is divided into multiple data slices, which are simultaneously transmitted to different slice servers. In accordance with another aspect of the disclosed invention, when a data segment is read from a DDSN, a list of slice servers, each containing a data slice that could be used to reconstruct the requested data segment, is assembled, and sorted in accordance with a preference rating assigned to each of the slice servers. Sufficient data slices to reconstruct the data segment are then read in accordance with the preference ranking of the slice servers. |
| US08171098B1 |
Techniques for providing storage services using networked computerized devices having direct attached storage
A method provides a storage service, and is performed on a set of computerized devices. The method includes connecting the computerized devices to a computer network. The computerized devices include direct attached storage devices (e.g., SCSI disk drives). The method further includes configuring the computerized devices to behave as hosts which individually and logically couple to an array of storage devices through a shared bus, and performing a host IO operation among the computerized devices. The host IO operation involves accessing data from a particular computerized device through the computer network to the direct attached storage devices of the computerized devices in lieu of accessing the data from the particular computerized device through an actual shared bus to an actual array of storage devices. |
| US08171096B2 |
Electronic mail communication device
An electronic mail communication device may be provided with a receiving device that receives an electronic mail, a sequence map creation device, and an output device. The sequence map creation device may create a sequence map in which correspondent objects corresponding to the correspondents of a series of electronic mails relating to the electronic mail received by the receiving device are arranged along an x direction, and transmission objects indicating from whom and to whom each of the series of electronic mails was transmitted are arranged along a y direction in order of the date and time of communication. The output device may output the sequence map created by the sequence map creation device. |
| US08171093B2 |
Web to phone contact information messaging system
A method of transmitting contact information to an approved mobile communication device includes receiving an input representative of desired contact information located on a first web page and an input representative of the identity of a desired mobile communication device. The method also includes saving information representative of the desired contact information in a contact information database. The method also includes determining whether the desired mobile communication device is an approved device and transmitting to the desired mobile communication device information representative of a notification to send the information representative of the desired contact information. The method also includes receiving an input from the desired mobile communication device information representative of an acceptance to receive the information representative of the desired contact information, and transmitting to the desired mobile communication device information representative of the desired contact information. |
| US08171086B2 |
Automated recognition of individual awards via internal e-mail
A method, system, and computer program product for automatically recognizing employee achievements via enterprise e-mails is provided. In one embodiment, an enterprise e-mail server receives an e-mail from a sender within the enterprise. The enterprise e-mail server generates a recognition link to a dynamically generated web page, wherein the web page lists recognitions/awards information for the sender. The enterprise e-mail server also generates an icon link for an icon representing recognitions/awards received by the sender and appends the recognition link and the icon link into the e-mail. The e-mail with embedded web page and icon link is then relayed to the e-mail recipient. |
| US08171082B2 |
Information processing system, information processing method and computer readable medium
An information processing system includes: a room specifying unit that specifies a room; an equipment coordinate storing unit that stores a correspondence between the room and a placing location of an information processing equipment equipped in the room; a document specifying unit that specifies a paper document on the basis of an information image recited on the paper document; a coordinate information extracting unit that extracts coordinate information from the paper document; a document information extracting unit that extracts document information regarding the stored paper document; an equipment specifying unit that specifies the stored information processing equipment on the basis of room information specified by the room specifying unit and the coordinate information extracted by the coordinate information extracting unit; and an outputting unit that outputs the document information specified by the coordinate information extracting unit to the information processing equipment specified by the equipment specifying unit. |
| US08171076B2 |
System and method for providing presence information
A method and a system for providing presence information is disclosed which can incorporate non-presence-ready terminal nodes such as sensor node terminals and combine a plurality of pieces of presence information from a plurality of nodes, thereby providing presence information with improved reliability. The method includes creating circumstance presence information associated with a user in response to a change in value of sensor data transmitted from at least one sensor node terminal. For a presence server to deliver presence information, the method also includes delivering circumstance presence information created in relation to the user either in place of the presence information or in combination with the presence information. |
| US08171075B2 |
Generating hints for more optimal processing of requests for information within an environment in which resources are abstracted using a model
An information technology (IT) environment includes IT managed resources in which the resources are abstracted using a model. In response to determining that a request for information received from a client is non-optimal in terms of processing the request, a first hint can be constructed that indicates how future requests are to be formulated by the client so that they are more optimal in terms of processing the future requests. In response to determining that the information is internally structured non-optimally in terms of processing the request, a second hint can be constructed that indicates how the information is to be internally structured more optimally in terms of processing future requests. In response to determining that processing the request will be non-optimal, a third hint can be constructed relating to a characteristic that results in non-optimal processing of the request, and logged within a hint log for offline analysis. |
| US08171073B2 |
Computer system connected to a data communications network
A computer system connected to a data communications network, wherein the computer system is reliably protected against computer viruses, unauthorized access to internal data, and loss of data in the event of infection with computer viruses. The computer system has a first computer (1) and a second computer (2) that is independent of and redundant to the first computer. The two computers match themselves by comparing their work results. The receipt of data from the data communications network (6) is limited to the first computer, and the transmission of data to the data communications network is limited to the second computer. At least the initial processing of received data is limited to the first computer, and non-verified or non-verifiable data received by the first computer are stored in the second computer only in locked form, i.e., in non-processable form. |
| US08171066B2 |
Techniques for accessing remote files
Techniques for accessing remote files are presented. A local user, via a local client, requests access to a file. A local file system determines that the file is associated with a junction. The junction is resolved and an associated remote file system is contacted by the local file system to acquire results for the request. The local file system then delivers the results to the local user via the local client. |
| US08171064B2 |
Methods and systems for concurrently reading direct and indirect data blocks
Methods and systems for concurrently reading direct and indirect data blocks of a data object stored in a network storage server system. In one embodiment, upon receiving a request to read a data object, the storage server identifies a location of an indirect data-block of the data object and a total number of direct data-blocks associated with the data object. Using this information, the storage server concurrently reads, using a single read operation, both the indirect data-block and a specific number of data blocks that are contiguous with the location of the indirect data-block. The specific number is commensurate with the total number of direct-data blocks associated with the data object. In one embodiment, the storage server verifies whether the data object is represented using a contiguous-mode layout scheme before performing the concurrent single-read operation to read the data object. |
| US08171063B1 |
System and method for efficiently locating and processing data on a deduplication storage system
A system and method for efficiently locating and processing data on a deduplication storage system are provided. A logical volume is mapped to a deduplication storage area. The logical volume includes a collection of logical block locations and the deduplication storage area includes a collection of physical block locations. The collection of logical block locations is mapped to the collection of physical block locations. A filesystem organizes the logical volume by organizing the logical block locations into a collection of files. Reverse-mapping information is generated for a logical block location that associates the logical block location with at least one file. In response to receiving a logical block address of a logical block location, at least one file is returned. |
| US08171060B2 |
Storage system and method for operating storage system
By considering a device life and time needed for data migration, data stored in a storage apparatus is securely preserved until a retention term of each of the data. Multiple disk devices 40A to 40C that store a data file generated by a service server apparatus 30 are included. A migration manager 11 of a management server apparatus 10 acquires preservation period information that indicates a preservation period of the data file from the service server apparatus 30, and calculates a preservation term of the data file based on the preservation period information. The migration manager 11 of the management server apparatus 10 also acquires data amount information of the data file from the service server apparatus 30, and calculates a necessary time needed for migrating the data file to other disk devices A40A to 40C. When the preservation term comes later than an operation guarantee term recorded in advance for each of the disk devices 40A to 40C, the migration manager 11 of the management server apparatus 10 compares the end of the migration with the operation guarantee term, and determines the necessity of the migration. |
| US08171059B2 |
Data migration management apparatus and management method
A data migration management apparatus continuously monitors and stores the utilization statuses of a migration-source storage area and a migration-destination storage area, and uses the information to set up a data migration. An information management unit collects information related to the storage configuration and information related to performance from respective storage apparatuses, and stores the information in a storage unit. In a case where a data migration plan is to be set, a performance information provision unit provides, to a user computer, variations in the utilization statuses during a predetermined period for each of a migration-source volume and a migration-destination array group. |
| US08171057B2 |
Modeling party identities in computer storage systems
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for modeling party identities in computer storage systems. A federated identity fabric models identity data and relationships between portions of indentify data in computer storage systems in accordance with a uniform schema. The federated identity fabric can federate distributed identity and identity relationship data from computer storage systems within the variety of different computing environments. Code and metadata at computing environments associated with the federated identity fabric can interoperate to facilitate uniformly storing, accessing, modifying, deleting, and securing identity and identity relationship data within the federated identify fabric. Embodiments of the invention include utilizing an identity key table entry to locate party identity information and performing key transformations between different types of identity keys. |
| US08171054B1 |
Optimized fetching for customization object attributes
An attribute of a hierarchical class-based object is received. The attribute in a database is stored both in a first location in a first table at a first level of a hierarchy of database tables which table hierarchy is based at least in part on a class hierarchy associated with the hierarchical class-based object and in a second location in a second table at a second level of the table hierarchy which second level is higher than the first level. |
| US08171051B2 |
Quantum-based oblivious transfer and private data sampling protocols and systems for performing the same
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to oblivious transfer protocols and to system for performing oblivious transfer. Embodiments of the present invention include a private data sampling protocol that is designed to balance the competing privacy interest of a database user and a database owner. Protocol embodiments enable the database user to obtain a fixed size random sample of the available data held by the database owner without the database owner learning which bits of data were accessed. |
| US08171050B2 |
Method and apparatus for access, integration, and analysis of heterogeneous data sources via the manipulation of metadata objects
A computer-based method represents a subset of a dataset table of rows and columns. The method includes selecting a set of blocking variables corresponding to blocking columns of the dataset table. For each row in the dataset table, a tuple of values for the blocking columns uniquely identifies the row within the dataset table. The method also includes selecting a set of non-blocking variables that correspond to columns of the subset. The set of non-blocking variables does not intersect the set of blocking variables. The method also includes creating a block information structure that includes both the set of non-blocking variables and, for each blocking variable in the set of blocking variables, a set of values. |
| US08171049B2 |
System and method for information seeking in a multimedia collection
An apparatus and method facilitate combined query based searching with serendipitous browsing in a multimedia collection. A user selects objects to label from a local map, which may include representations of objects retrieved from the collection as being responsive to a text or image base query. The text and image portions of the object can be independently labeled. Unlabeled objects are scored and ranked based on the applied labels of labeled objects, which may take into account cross-media pseudo-relevance and user selectable (or default) parameters, such as a forgetting factor, which tends to place greater weight on more recently labeled objects, and a modality parameter, which laces greater weight on the modality (text, image, or hybrid) currently selected by the user. The local map is modified, based on the ranking, optionally after reranking of objects to improve the diversity of the displayed objects. |
| US08171048B2 |
Ranking documents based on a location sensitivity factor
Systems and methods improve search rankings for a search query by using location data associated with queries and documents related to the search query. In one aspect, a search query is received, a location score is determined, a topical score is determined, and an ordering of documents related to the search query is determined based, at least in part, on the location score and the topical score. |
| US08171047B2 |
Query execution and optimization utilizing a combining network in a parallel computer system
An apparatus and method for a database query optimizer utilizes a combining network to optimize a portion of a query in a parallel computer system with multiple nodes. The efficiency of the parallel computer system is increased by offloading collective operations on node data to the global combining network. The global combining network performs collective operations such as minimum, maximum, sum, and logical functions such as OR and XOR. |
| US08171045B2 |
Record based code structure
The compiled code of a computer program is stored in multiple pieces within a database. Each piece is optionally stored within a separate data record. Execution of the computer program includes using database queries to retrieve pieces of the compiled code for execution. The database and associated database management logic are used to provide numerous advantages in execution and management of the computer program. For example, in some embodiments, database queries are used to help facilitate program flow logic. |
| US08171042B2 |
Method and apparatus for searching metadata
Methods and apparatuses for searching metadata are described herein. In one embodiment, an example of a process for search metadata includes, but is not limited to, in response to a search query for metadata stored in one or more of metadata stores, the search query is partitioned into multiple search query segments. Thereafter, searches corresponding to the search query segments are performed, where each search is performed independently within the one or more metadata stores. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. |
| US08171039B2 |
String pattern analysis
A method of analyzing a string-pattern includes defining a minimum length (Lmin—1) of substrings (STR_A_B) to be considered; defining a maximum length (Lmax—1) of substrings (STR_A_B) to be considered; with a computer, searching the string-pattern for substrings (STR_A_B) with a length in an interval between the minimum length (Lmin—1) and the maximum length (Lmax—1); counting an occurrence (Occ_A_B) of each substring (STR_A_B) found with a length in the interval between the minimum length (Lmin—1) and the maximum length (Lmax—1); and pruning away a number of the substrings (STR_A_B) that meet one or more criteria. The criteria are selected from the group consisting of (1) being contained inside the maximum substring (STR_A_C) in a subset (SET_A) of substrings (STR_A_B), (2) being shorter than the maximum substring (STR_A_C), (3) occurring with a same frequency as the maximum substring (STR_A_C), and combinations thereof. |
| US08171038B2 |
System and method for managing legislative information
A method for managing legislative information. in operation, legislative information, including text comprising legislative bills, is collected via an electronic search of at least one website. The text of the bills is then parsed into predefined categories. The text thus parsed is stored in a database. A search, using one of the predefined categories as search criteria, is then performed to select a subset of the bills meeting the search criteria. Information, related to the subset of the bills, is then transmitted to a requesting entity via an electronic communication. |
| US08171036B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing data records in a given order upon receiving input data from a touchscreen
A method and computing device for managing calendar data records are provided, the computing device comprising a processor interconnected with a memory enabled to maintain the data records and with a touchscreen controlled to generate a representation of a subset of at least two of the data records within a first portion of the touchscreen. The touchscreen is further controlled to generate a representation of details of a first one of the data records in the subset in a second portion of the touchscreen, different from the first portion, when input data associated with the first portion is detected by the touchscreen. The touchscreen is further controlled to generate a representation of details of a next data record in the subset, in a given order, in the second portion, each time an input event is detected at a portion of the touchscreen associated with providing next data records. |
| US08171034B2 |
Methods and apparatus for serving relevant advertisements
The relevance of advertisements to a user's interests is improved. In one implementation, the content of a web page is analyzed to determine a list of one or more topics associated with that web page. An advertisement is considered to be relevant to that web page if it is associated with keywords belonging to the list of one or more topics. One or more of these relevant advertisements may be provided for rendering in conjunction with the web page or related web pages. |
| US08171033B2 |
Methods and systems for the determination of thresholds via weighted quantile analysis
Methods and systems for determination of thresholds for time-series data. Data is transformed by reducing outliers, dividing the time series data into discrete time intervals, and taking parts of the data corresponding to the range that the thresholds will bound. If data cycles are known, they may be applied to the data and the resulting sets are weighted. Thresholds are then derived from the weighted means and variances of the sets of weighted data. |
| US08171031B2 |
Index optimization for ranking using a linear model
Technologies are described herein for providing a more efficient approach to ranking search results. An illustrative technology reduces an amount of ranking data analyzed at query time. In the technology, a term is selected, at index time, from a master index. The term corresponds to a number of documents greater than a threshold. A set of documents that includes the term is selected based on the master index. A rank is determined for each document in the set of documents that contains the term. Each document in the set of documents that contains the term is assigned to a top document list or a bottom document list based on the rank. Predefined values of at least part of the rank are stored in the top document list for documents in the top document list and are not stored in the bottom document list for documents in the bottom document list. |
| US08171026B2 |
Method and vector analysis for a document
The invention provides a document representation method and a document analysis method including extraction of important sentences from a given document and/or determination of similarity between two documents.The inventive method detects terms that occur in the input document, segments the input document into document segments, each segment being an appropriately sized chunk and generates document segment vectors, each vector including as its element values according to occurrence frequencies of the terms occurring in the document segments. The method further calculates eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a square sum matrix in which a rank of the respective document segment vector is represented by R and selects from the eigenvectors a plural (L) of eigenvectors to be used for determining the importance. Then, the method calculates a weighted sum of the squared projections of the respective document segment vectors onto the respective selected eigenvectors and selects document segments having the significant importance based on the calculated weighted sum of the squared projections of the respective document segment vectors. |
| US08171023B2 |
De-serializing data objects on demand
The invention is directed to techniques for de-serializing data from a software system, such as an enterprise software system, upon request. For example, techniques are described for converting a data description language, such as the extensible markup language (XML), representation of data from an enterprise software system to an object when requested by a software application. A computing device connected to the enterprise software system loads multidimensional data via an XML data stream. The XML data is de-serialized to create objects as the objects are requested by software applications executing on the computing device. The remaining XML data may be stored on the computing device until the corresponding objects are requested by the software applications. |