| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08176568B2 |
Tracing traitor coalitions and preventing piracy of digital content in a broadcast encryption system
A system, method, and computer program product to find coalitions of receivers who collude to produce pirated protected content, then evaluates the confidence that particular members of each identified coalition are traitors versus innocent receivers incriminated by chance. Typically, each file in a group of original files is modified to include variations of critical file segments. The group of files is then broadcast with individualized codes that enable particular authorized receivers to properly process the modified files. The modifications in a pirated version of a file can identify which traitorous receivers contributed to its piracy. Candidate coalitions of differing size are first evaluated to determine if they cover observed file variations with greater than a predetermined likelihood that an innocent coalition is falsely incriminated by chance. Individual members of satisfactory coalitions are then evaluated. Traitors may be cryptographically revoked. |
| US08176565B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and computer program
An information processing apparatus is provided. The information processing apparatus includes a cryptographic processor configured to generate encrypted data associated with a content management unit by executing encryption using a unit key associated with the content management unit, the content management unit being defined as a unit for controlling usage of content; a management-information controller configured to generate or update a unit key file storing the unit key and a usage-control-information file associated with the content management unit as management information associated with the encrypted data generated by the cryptographic processor; and a recorder configured to record the encrypted data, the unit key file, and the usage-control-information file on an information recording medium according to a predetermined data recording format. |
| US08176561B1 |
Assessing network security risk using best practices
A method and appertaining system for implementing the method are provided that utilize predefined Best Practice Templates that are rules/criteria for assessing the security of a particular network and devices on the network. A value is determined for each object and connection within a network as to whether it passes or fails one of the Best Practice criteria, and a pass ratio is determined for a particular Best Practice. Numerous Best Practice tests may be run, and an overall total value based on the collective sum of the Best Practice measurements is determined. This value can be utilized to provide a user with information that relates to the overall security of a network and can be used in compliance determinations and network architecture design. |
| US08176558B2 |
Anti-virus method, computer, and recording medium
In one computer system, causing the second virtual machine, which executes antivirus software for detecting and removing the virus, to monitor at least one first virtual machine that is created on the computer and execute one or more application program, periodically storing a state of the first virtual machine as snapshot, suspending the first virtual machine from which the virus is detected if the antivirus software executed on the second virtual machine detects the virus, and restoring the first virtual machine at a state of a point in time when the snapshot is stored by using the snapshot of the suspended first virtual machine. |
| US08176557B2 |
Remote collection of computer forensic evidence
The invention is directed to techniques for allowing a user to remotely interrogate a target computing device in order to collect and analyze computer evidence that may be stored on the target computing device. A forensic device receives input from a remote user that identifies computer evidence to acquire from the target computing device. The forensic device acquires the computer evidence from the target computing device and presents a user interface for the forensic device through which the remote user views the computer evidence acquired from the target computing device. In this manner, forensic device allows the user to interrogate the target computing device to acquire the computer evidence without seizing or otherwise “shutting down” the target device. |
| US08176553B1 |
Secure gateway with firewall and intrusion detection capabilities
A system, method and computer program product are provided. Initially, data is received from a remote source which is destined for a target. A portion of such data is discarded based on a predetermined set of rules utilizing a firewall. Further, the data is compared to a predetermined list of data associated with attacks utilizing an intrusion detection system. Based on the comparison, some of the data is marked as hostile. The data that is marked as hostile is then acted upon in order to prevent an attack. |
| US08176544B2 |
Network security system having a device profiler communicatively coupled to a traffic monitor
A system and method for providing distributed security of a network. Several device profilers are placed at different locations of a network to assess vulnerabilities from different perspectives. The device profiler identifies the hosts on the network, and characteristics such as operating system and applications running on the hosts. The device profiler traverses a vulnerability tree having nodes representative of characteristics of the hosts, each node having an associated set of potential vulnerabilities. Verification rules can verify the potential vulnerabilities. A centralized correlation server, at a centrally accessible location in the network, stores the determined vulnerabilities of the network and associates the determined vulnerabilities with attack signatures. Traffic monitors access the attack signatures and monitor network traffic for attacks against the determined vulnerabilities. |
| US08176542B2 |
Validating the origin of web content
Described herein is a technique of protecting users against certain types of Internet attacks. The technique involves obtaining certificates from visited web sites and qualifying communications with those web sites based on the content of the certificates. |
| US08176540B2 |
Resource based non-interactive entity application proxy method and system
A security method and system. The method includes retrieving configuration data associated with a non interactive entity (NIE) software application. The configuration data comprises refresh counts, refresh periods, and session IDs. A master refresh period is calculated from the refresh periods. Credentials data associated with a requestor are retrieved. The credentials data are transmitted to a resource server. A session key generated by the resource server is received by the NIE software application. The NIE software application calculates a stale time associated with the session key. The NIE software application generates a first updated refresh count. The NIE software application stores the session key, the first updated refresh count, the first refresh period, and the first specified stale time. |
| US08176536B2 |
Network systems and methods for providing guest access
The present disclosure generally pertains to routers for providing guest access to networks. An integrated router in one exemplary embodiment comprises at least one local area network (LAN) interface, memory, and routing logic. The memory is configured to store security data. The routing logic is configured to enable a first LAN and to authenticate a user for accessing the first LAN based on the security data. The routing logic is configured to enable a second LAN in response to user input and to automatically disable the second LAN upon expiration of a specified time period. The routing logic is further configured to route messages communicated between a device of the second LAN and a wide area network (WAN) and to route messages through the first LAN. |
| US08176535B2 |
Information processing system, information processing method, and computer readable medium
An information processing system includes: an organization information storage that stores organization information which defines an organization including users and groups of the users; a usage control information storage that stores usage control information which is for controlling use of control target information by each user in the organization defined by the organization information and defining a user or a group of users who or which is permitted to use the control target information and a usage range of the control target information in which the user or the group of the users is permitted to use the control target information; a judgment unit that judges whether or not an inconvenience resulting from a change of the organization occurs in the usage control information stored in the usage control information storage based on the organization information stored in the organization information storage; and a countermeasure unit that performs a countermeasure against the inconvenience in a case where the judgment unit judges that the inconvenience resulting from the change of the organization occurs. |
| US08176534B2 |
Method and apparatus for provisioning a device to access digital rights management (DRM) services in a universal plug and play (UPnP) network
A method and apparatus are provided for enabling a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) device to be automatically provisioned to access services without the need for manual interaction. In accordance with the invention, when a UPnP device needs to be provisioned, it automatically obtains pre-provisioning information from a provisioning device on the home network, and uses the pre-provisioning information to interact with the provisioning device to cause the UPnP device to be provisioned. The provisioning enables the UPnP device to access services, including digital rights management (DRM) services, over a network. |
| US08176531B2 |
System for eliminating unauthorized electronic mail
A system for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network employs an email-receiving server connected between the network and the user's email client for receiving email addressed to the user and rejecting those in which the sender address does not match any of sender addresses maintained on an “authorized senders” list (ASL list). The ASL lists are maintained by an ASL manager in an ASL database operable with a spam processor module. A redirector module rejects the email if, upon sending a request for validation to the spam processor module, the sender's address does not match any authorized sender address on the ASL list. Email rejected by the redirector module is redirected to a web-based messaging (WBM) module which sends a message to the sender to confirm that the sender is a legitimate sender of email to the intended recipient. If the sender logs on to confirm their status, the WBM module executes an interaction procedure which can only be performed by a human, in order to ensure that the confirmation procedure is not performed by a mechanical program. The ASL manager maintains the ASL lists based upon sender address data collected from various sources and analyses of various email usage factors, including sent email, received email, contact lists maintained by the user, user preference inputs, third party programs, etc. |
| US08176530B2 |
Preventing a non-head end based service provider from sending media to a media processing system
Systems and methods that prevent unauthorized access in a communications network are provided. In one embodiment, a system that prevents unauthorized access to a network device may include, for example, a network device and a headend. The headend may be coupled to a communications network. The network device may be deployed in a home environment and may be communicatively coupled to the communications network via the headend. The headend may be adapted, for example, to determine whether a request to access the network device is authorized. |
| US08176529B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling devices in one or more home networks
An apparatus for controlling devices in one or more home networks is provided. The apparatus includes an authentication unit, a control message generation unit, a control message transmission unit, a response message reception unit, and an information management unit. The authentication unit performs authentication with one or more relay devices each connected to a plurality of devices through a network. The control message generation unit generates a control message in response to a user input. The control message transmission unit transmits the generated control message to a device selected by the user from among the plurality of devices. The response message reception unit receives a response message responding to the transmitted control message. The information management unit manages information about the relay devices and the plurality of devices. |
| US08176522B2 |
Method for recovering a video-on-demand session
The present invention relates to a method for recovering a downloading section that has been interrupted, in a device comprising an interface with a network enabling access to a remote server and means for implementing a downloading session with the said server, comprising the steps for starting up a downloading session of a content from the remote server, by means of more than one signalling channel with at least the said server, detecting a premature interruption of the downloading session, verifying the availability of all the channels, as long as one of the channels is unavailable, the session is not recovered and when all the channels are again available, the session is recovered. |
| US08176520B1 |
Communication system and method for a mobile platform
A communication system is provided for use with a mobile platform. The communication system can be configured to store video data on-board to allow pseudo-live or live broadcasts to be played as the mobile platform traverses a number of broadcasts regions. The mobile platforms can be automobiles, aircraft, boats, ships, trains, or other vehicles. The communication system allows Internet access, movies, and other entertainment and business functions to be performed. |
| US08176515B2 |
Browser for use in navigating a body of information, with particular application to browsing information represented by audiovisual data
A system and method for review of news content (audio, video and/or textual news content), such that an overview of the news content can be quickly ascertained and flexibility in the manner in which it is presented are provided. News programs (e.g. television news programs) and news stories (e.g., on-line news) are acquired and the system enables the user to easily move among and randomly access the segments of news programs and quickly locate the segments of a particular subject. News stories related to the segment of news program being viewed can be identified and displayed. Flexible playback allows speeding-up the display of the news program while displaying summary of one or more program segments and accelerating playback of a paused program after resuming from the pause. The system can additionally indicate to the user which news story is currently being viewed, and which news stories have already been viewed. |
| US08176505B2 |
Method of manipulating data storage elements
A device and method for simultaneously manipulating multiple data storage cartridges or other storage elements in a storage library. The device housing includes an opening for receiving data storage cartridges. A gripping mechanism extends from the opening. The gripping mechanism is adapted to grip a data storage cartridge to be retrieved and to urge the data storage cartridge into the opening. One or more transport mechanisms are attached to one or more inner walls of the housing. The transport mechanisms are adapted such that once a data storage cartridge moves into the opening, the transport mechanisms will urge the data storage cartridge further into the opening until the data storage cartridge is held within the housing. The data storage cartridge can be moved further into the housing such that the gripping mechanism is free to collect additional cartridges. |
| US08176502B2 |
Apparatus and method for maintaining script logs across multiple frames and workflows
A computer readable storage medium includes executable instructions to provide a scripting language framework. A script is run within the scripting language framework. The script defines an application characterized by a hierarchy of frames in a user interface window. A sub-frame log for a sub-frame in the hierarchy of frames is captured. The log is stored in a top log of a top frame of the hierarchy of frames. |
| US08176499B2 |
Defining, distributing and presenting device experiences
Platforms and techniques for defining, authorizing/authenticating, distributing, and presenting dynamic device experiences using a number of hierarchically-related, declarative language data structures, such as extensible markup language (“XML”) elements or attributes. A dynamic device experience is presented when two electronic devices are in communication via a communication medium. The data structures are processed to present a graphical user interface to a user—the graphical user interface implements a dynamic device experience associated with the other electronic device. In one exemplary scenario, independent hardware vendors (“IHVs”) author XML documents that include device experience information (such as branding or advertising information, access to Web services or applications, and access to device functionality), in the form of items of data stored in the data structures. The XML documents are verified against a predetermined schema, secured using a cryptographic technique such as a digital signature, and discovered/distributed in flexible, tamper-resistant manners. |
| US08176497B2 |
Method to dynamically provision additional computer resources to handle peak database workloads
A method to handle peak database workloads is disclosed. In one form of the disclosure, the method can include requesting resources, receiving virtual-machine information in response to requesting, and allocating first and second portions of a workload according to the virtual-machine information. The method can also include processing the first portion on a virtual machine to generate a first result, processing the second portion on a cloned virtual machine to generate a second result, and aggregating the first and the second results to form a response. |
| US08176496B2 |
Partial order reduction using guarded independence relations
A system and method for conducting symbolic partial order reduction for concurrent systems includes determining a guarded independence relation which includes transitions from different threads that are independent for a set of states, when a condition or predicate holds. Partial order reduction is performed using the guarded independence relation to permit automatic pruning of redundant thread interleavings when the guarded independence condition holds. |
| US08176495B2 |
Client affinity in distributed load balancing systems
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to client affinity in distributed load balancing systems. In aspects, a request from a requester is sent to each server of a cluster. Each server determines whether it has affinity to the requester. If so, the server responds to the request. Otherwise, if the request would normally be load balanced to the server, the server queries the other servers in the cluster to determine whether any of them have affinity to the requester. If one of them does, the server drops the request and allows the other server to respond to the request; otherwise, the server responds to the request. |
| US08176494B2 |
Alleviate denial-of-service conditions on a server
A method is presented for processing data in a multithreaded application to alleviate impaired or substandard performance conditions. Work items that are pending processing by the multithreaded application are placed into a data structure. The work items are processed by a plurality of threads within the multithreaded application in accordance with a first algorithm, e.g., first-in first-out (FIFO). A thread within the multithreaded application is configured apart from the plurality of threads such that it processes work items in accordance with a second algorithm that differs from the first algorithm, thereby avoiding the impairing condition. For example, the thread may process a pending work item only if it has a particular characteristic. The thread restricts its own processing of work items by intermittently evaluating workflow conditions for the plurality of threads; if the workflow conditions improve or are unimpaired, then the thread does not process any work items. |
| US08176492B2 |
Synchronous adaption of asynchronous modules
A program disposed on a computer readable medium, having a main program with a first routine for issuing commands in an asynchronous manner and a second routine for determining whether the commands have been completed in an asynchronous manner. An auxiliary program adapts the main program to behave in a synchronous manner, by receiving control from the first routine, waiting a specified period of time with a wait routine, passing control to the second routine to determine whether any of the commands have been completed during the specified period of time, receiving control back from the second routine, and determining whether all of the commands have been completed. When all of the commands have not been completed, then the auxiliary program passes control back to the wait routine. When all of the commands have been completed, then the auxiliary program ends. |
| US08176491B1 |
Fast synchronization of simple synchronized methods
A mechanism is disclosed for implementing fast synchronization of simple synchronized methods in a virtual machine. The mechanism provides for determining, during runtime, whether a set of instructions can be fully executed in lieu of invoking a synchronized method, which requires locking of a particular object. The set of instructions provides equivalent functionality to the synchronized method but with less locking overhead. In response to a determination that the set of instructions can be fully executed, the set of instructions is fully executed to achieve equivalent functionality to the synchronized method in lieu of invoking the synchronized method. In response to a determination that the set of instructions cannot be fully executed, the synchronized method is invoked. With this mechanism, simple synchronized methods can be executed with less locking overhead. |
| US08176487B2 |
Client partition scheduling and prioritization of service partition work
A method in a data processing system is provided for processing a service request of a client partition. The method includes: obtaining by a service partition of the data processing system the service request from the client partition, wherein both the client and service partitions execute above a hypervisor of the data processing system; and processing the service request by the service partition utilizing a processor quantum assigned to the client partition and donated by the client partition to the service partition. The client partition controls scheduling of the service partition by queuing the service request at the client partition until the client partition decides to proceed with execution of the service request by the service partition. In one implementation, the service partition is a partition adjunct of the data processing system, which utilizes donated virtual address space of the client partition. |
| US08176482B1 |
Methods and systems for inserting software applications into images
A computer-implemented method may include identifying an image of a first storage device, identifying a software application, and inserting the software application into the image. The method may also include inserting a software virtualization layer into the image. The method may include inserting a software package into the image. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media for inserting software applications into images are also disclosed. |
| US08176481B2 |
Methods and apparatus for distributing software applications
Methods and apparatus for enabling execution of software programs permit: obtaining identification information that is indicative of a version of a software program; determining whether processing capabilities of a processor on which the software program is to be executed are incompatible with proper execution of the version of the software program; and at least partially modifying the version of the software program to obtain a more suitable version of the software program that will execute properly on the processor. |
| US08176477B2 |
Method, system and program product for optimizing emulation of a suspected malware
A method, system and program product for optimizing emulation of a suspected malware. The method includes identifying, using an emulation optimizer tool, whether an instruction in a suspected malware being emulated by an emulation engine in a virtual environment signifies a long loop and, if so, generating a first hash for the loop. Further, the method includes ascertaining whether the first hash generated matches any long loop entries in a storage and, if so calculating a second hash for the long loop. Furthermore, the method includes inspecting any long loop entries ascertained to find an entry having a respective second hash matching the second hash calculated. If an entry matching the second hash calculated is found, the method further includes updating one or more states of the emulation engine, such that, execution of the long loop of the suspected malware is skipped, which optimizes emulation of the suspected malware. |
| US08176476B2 |
Analyzing software usage with instrumentation data
Described is a technology by which software instrumentation data collected from user program sessions are analyzed to output an analysis report or the like via example methods and an architecture configured for efficient operation. A client component queries a service for analysis related information. To process the query, the service works with a data manager, and via a high dimensional analysis component may use information processed from the software instrumentation data, such as in the form of one or more inverted indexes and/or raw value files. The service may include a usage analysis component, a feature recognition component that locates features from command sequences, a user recognition component and/or a program reliability component. One or more counterpart components at the client may generate analysis reports or the like based on the query results. The client also may maintain user libraries and feature libraries to facilitate analyses. |
| US08176475B2 |
Method and apparatus for identifying instructions associated with execution events in a data space profiler
A system and method for profiling a software application may include means for capturing profiling information corresponding to an instruction identified as having executed coincident with the occurrence of a runtime event, and for associating the profiling information with the event in an event set. In some embodiments, the identified instruction, which may have triggered the event, may be located in the program code sequence at a predetermined position relative to the current program counter value at the time the event was detected. The predetermined relative position may be fixed dependent on the processor architecture and may also be dependent on the event type. The predetermined relative position may be zero, indicating that when the event was detected, the program counter value corresponded to an instruction associated with the event. If the identified instruction is an ambiguity-creating instruction, an indication of ambiguity may be associated with the event. |
| US08176464B2 |
Method and framework for securing a source code base
A framework for securing a source code base during the development phase of a software development lifecycle is provided. The framework includes an aspect package module and a validator package module. The aspect package module integrates security routines into the source code base. The aspect package module includes a custom interface module and a validator aspect module. The custom interface module includes a function declaration, wherein the custom interface module is implemented by at least one class of the one or more classes. The validator aspect module includes a controller code for controlling the flow of the execution, based on the context for the security validation of the at least one class, wherein one or more security routine integration points are defined in the at least one class. The validator package module validates the at least one class, based on the defined context, by using one or more validation classes. |
| US08176462B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating test patterns for use in at-speed testing
In one embodiment, the invention is a method and apparatus generating test patterns for use in at-speed testing. One embodiment of a method for use by a general purpose computing device that is configured to generate a set of test patterns with which to test an integrated circuit chip includes receiving, by an input device of the general purpose computing device, statistical timing information relating to the integrated circuit chip and a logic circuit of the integrated circuit chip and generating, by a processor of the general purpose computing device, the set of test patterns in accordance with the statistical timing information while simultaneously selecting a set of paths on which to test the set of test patterns. |
| US08176458B2 |
Increased effective flip-flop density in a structured ASIC
An H-tree is formed in a conducting layer over a base array of a structured ASIC, the H-tree being a predefined constraint imposed on ad hoc circuit designs adapted to make use of a base array and H-tree. The endpoints of an H-tree can be formed at or near sequential elements. When an H-tree is used as part of a clock structure, clock skew to sequential elements and consumption of routing resources for forming a clock structure can be minimized. When a pulse generator is coupled to an H-tree, at least one flip-flop of a plurality of flip-flops can be emulated with an individual latch, thereby increasing effective flip-flop density. |
| US08176457B2 |
Apparatus and method updating diagram of circuit based on pin swap performed in package design with respect to PLD
An FPGA-information managing unit included in a circuit-designing CAD apparatus retrieves FPGA information, such as pin-assignment information and attribute information, that is created by an FPGA-designing CAD apparatus. A library creating unit creates a symbol library by using the FPGA information. A pin-swap processing unit retrieves pin swap information from a package-designing CAD apparatus, and reflect the pin swap in the symbol library, the FPGA information, a circuit diagram, and a constrained condition. |
| US08176453B2 |
Power-aware debugging
A debugging system produces displays in response to an IC design and results of a logic simulation of IC behavior based on the IC design. The IC design includes a hardware description language (HDL) model of the IC describing the IC as comprising cell instances communicating via data signals and power sources for supplying power to the cell instances. The IC design also includes power definition markup language (PDML) model describing a power intent of the IC design. The debugging system generates displays representing HDL code that are annotated to indicate how the power intent of the IC design described by the PDML model relates to the portion of the HDL model represented by the display. The debugging system also generates signals trace displays indicating how both the logic and power intent of the IC design affect the value of a user-selected signal at a user-selected time during the logic simulation. |
| US08176452B2 |
Method and apparatus for circuit partitioning and trace assignment in circuit design
Methods and apparatuses for incremental circuit partitioning and incremental trace assignment. In one embodiment of the present invention, a cost function based on both the partitioning solution and the trace assignment solution is used for the partitioning of a circuit; in reducing the cost function, blocks of circuits are moved among partitions and the trace assignment are updated accordingly to evaluate the cost function. In one embodiment, the traces and nets are grouped according to the partitions they connect for trace assignment. In one embodiment, a flow diagram is constructed for assigning nets to traces; and, maximum flow algorithms are used. In one embodiment, a flow diagram includes feedthrough solutions, in which flow conservation is not preserved at certain nodes. In one embodiment, integer linear programming techniques are used for assigning nets to traces. In one embodiment, a distribution of nets, which defines the numbers of blocks that each net has in each partition, is computed and maintained for efficient determination of the number of nets in net groups. |
| US08176450B1 |
Method and apparatus for parameterizing hardware description language code in a system level design environment
A method for managing an electronic design automation tool includes importing a component. A graphical user interface is generated to allow a user to enter values for parameters of the component. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08176447B2 |
Formation of masks/reticles having dummy features
A method of forming a mask. The method includes providing design information of a design layer. The design layer includes M original design features and N original dummy features. The method further includes (i) creating a cluster of P representative dummy features, P being a positive integer less than N, (ii) performing OPC for the cluster of the P representative dummy features but not for the N original dummy features, resulting in P OPC-applied representative dummy features, and (iii) forming the mask including N mask dummy features. The N mask dummy features are identical. Each mask dummy feature of the N mask dummy features of the mask has an area which is a function of at least an area of an OPC-applied representative dummy feature of the P OPC-applied representative dummy features. The N mask dummy features have the same relative positions as the N original dummy features. |
| US08176445B1 |
Method and system for optimizing integrated circuit layout
We disclose a method for optimizing integrated circuit layout which comprises analyzing constraint relationship among objects in an initial layout; constructing local modifications to the constraint relationship; forming new constraint relationships by combining initial constraint relationships with their local modifications; and producing a new layout by implementing the new constraint relationships. Local modification to constraints provides a framework for bringing detailed local information into the design process in a highly automated manner, which can be applied to a wide range of situations. We disclose preferred embodiments on improving lithography printability, reducing defect susceptibility, and improving circuit performance such as reducing layout variability and leakage. |
| US08176443B2 |
Layout of printable assist features to aid transistor control
Exemplary embodiments provide a method for laying out an IC design and the IC design layout. The IC design layout can include one or more gate features placed on an active region including a first pitch (p1) between any two adjacent gate features. Additionally, the IC design layout can include a printable-gate-assist feature placed adjacent to at least one side of the active region, and placed parallel to and at a second pitch (p2) from one first gate feature of the one or more gate features. In various embodiments, a printable-gate-extension feature can be drawn in the design to extend a second gate feature to match a length with a longer neighboring gate feature of the one or more gate features. |
| US08176440B2 |
System and method of presenting search results
In a particular embodiment, a system to present search results is disclosed that includes a search system to retrieve search results from multiple data sources and to extract data from the search results. The system also includes a visualization system to generate a graphical user interface (GUI) including a visualization of data related to the search results and including multiple control options. The multiple control options include a first option and a second option related to the extracted data, where the first option is accessible to alter the visualization. |
| US08176437B1 |
Responsiveness for application launch
The technology generally relates to predictively launching applications and powering up devices. Embodiments may include a computer-implemented method that maintains a plurality of individual folders. The individual folders may include one or more applications. A command may be used to open a selected folder. In response to receiving the command, embodiments may predict which application in the selected folder will be selected for launching and load program code associated with the predicted application into active memory. A command to launch a selected application included in the selected folder is received and, in response, the selected application is launched. |
| US08176435B1 |
Pinch to adjust
Methods and systems for resizing a display area of a display device are disclosed. An example method may include receiving an on-screen pinch gesture associated with a first location and a second location, the second location being different from the first location on a multi-touch input device. The method may also include for each of a plurality of predefined content areas: adjusting a respective size of each predefined content area based on the on-screen pinch gesture, determining a respective amount of the content to display in the predefined content area based on the respective adjusted size of the predefined content area, and displaying the respective adjusted amount of content within the respective predefined content area associated with the adjusted size on the multi-touch input device. |
| US08176432B2 |
Hand held remote control device having an improved user interface
A user interface for displaying graphical operational mode information to a user of a universal remote control. The user interface displays to the user in a circular queue arrangement iconic representations of every home appliance which the universal remote control is setup to control. The user may then interact with the user interface to select an iconic representation of the one of the home appliances which the user desires to control. In response to this selection, the user interface will display the iconic representation of the home appliances such that the iconic representation of the home appliance indicated by the user is moved to a predetermined position in the circular queue arrangement relative to the remaining iconic representations and/or is given an appearance distinct from the appearance of the remaining iconic representations within the circular queue arrangement. In this manner, the user interface indicates to the user the current operational mode of the universal remote control. |
| US08176428B2 |
Portable internet access device back page cache
The present invention aims to provide a system that allows multiple users operating a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), receiving information from a server via a cellular phone, to access the Internet or the World Wide Web (WWW), view and interact with these images remotely on a display screen. The invention relates to the priority in which packets or blocks of information are transferred to and displayed on the screen of the PDA device. The invention further relates to various methods to reduce the amount of data sent to the PDA for back pages or previously viewed web pages, stored in the cache memory of the PDA and also mirrored on the server's memory. Various algorithms may be used by the server to determine what information is to be removed from the PDA's cache memory, as it approaches its full capacity. |
| US08176425B2 |
Animated screen object for annotation and selection of video sequences
A simple display of items from a list, which changes in synchrony with the corresponding video display, and permits simple navigation under user control. The display includes three control objects positioned below a video frame window on a display screen. A middle displayed object is located in a focus position and corresponds to the video segment currently being played in the video window. When play of the segment is complete, the object located to the right of the focus position moves and displaces the middle displayed object, most recently displayed within the focus position, to indicate a forward progression within the viewed video sequence. |
| US08176421B2 |
Virtual universe supervisory presence
It is understood that the terms computer-readable medium or computer useable medium comprise one or more of any type of physical embodiment of the program code. In particular, the computer-readable/useable medium can comprise program code embodied on one or more portable storage articles of manufacture (e.g., a compact disc, a magnetic disk, a tape, etc.), on one or more data storage portions of a computing device, such as the memory 316 and/or the storage system 332 (e.g., a fixed disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a cache memory, etc.). |
| US08176415B2 |
Method for communicating structured information
The method for communicating structured information, such as a report or an account, between a first user and at least one second user, includes a step of defining a document standard, which determines the general frame of the document in the form of a series of titles and/or conventional meanings and authorized values of certain conspicuous information fields. The transmitting user inputs data to be supplied incorporating a step of inputting text and/or titles as a supplement to the general frame and/or a step of selecting values on the conspicuous fields and transmitting data of the document addressed to the second user. Each recipient user selects a sorting criterion based on the titles or conspicuous fields. The document is then reorganized in accordance with the selected criterion and a step of supplying to the second user the document reorganized in accordance with the criterion. |
| US08176397B2 |
Variable redundancy reed-solomon encoder
A fixed length Reed-Solomon encoder is configured to produce a first fixed number of redundant symbols. The fixed length Reed-Solomon encoder is configured with an encoding polynomial that is fixed. A symbol preprocessor maps each input data symbol to a transformed input data symbol. A symbol postprocessor maps a second fixed number of redundant symbols output from the fixed length Reed-Solomon encoder to a set of redundant symbols. The second fixed number of redundant symbols is less than the first fixed number of redundant symbols. |
| US08176396B2 |
System and method for implementing a Reed Solomon multiplication section from exclusive-OR logic
Various methods and systems for implementing Reed Solomon multiplication sections from exclusive-OR (XOR) logic are disclosed. For example, a system includes a Reed Solomon multiplication section, which includes XOR-based logic. The XOR-based logic includes an input, an output, and one or more XOR gates. A symbol X is received at the input of the XOR-based logic. The one or more XOR gates are coupled to generate a product of a power of α and X at the output, wherein α is a root of a primitive polynomial of a Reed Solomon code. Such a Reed Solomon multiplication section, which can include one or more multipliers implemented using XOR-based logic, can be included in a Reed Solomon encoder or decoder. |
| US08176387B2 |
Error detection control system
An error detection control system for a nonvolatile memory comprises: a nonvolatile memory having data areas for a plurality of addresses each including a main data area and a redundant data area for one address; memory control means for controlling on the nonvolatile memory a batch erasing process on a data area group basis, a reading process on the data area basis, a programming process on the data area basis, and an overwriting process on a bit basis; error detecting means for executing the error detecting process based upon the corresponding redundant data; error detecting control means for controlling availability of execution of the error detecting process based upon data types to be classified depending on whether or not the data is subjected to the overwriting process or a storage state indicating whether or not the overwriting process has been executed. |
| US08176383B2 |
Method of constructing low density parity check code, method of decoding the same and transmission system for the same
The present invention relates to a method of constructing a low density Parity Check code, a method of decoding the same and a transmission system using the same. The method comprises steps of: constructing a low density Parity Check matrix of the low density Parity Check code by using a fixed pattern; blocking data sent from an information source (101), encoding the data by directly or indirectly using the constructed low density Parity Check matrix to obtain codewords of the low density Parity Check code; and outputting the codewords of the low density Parity Check code. The low density Parity Check code can be encoded by using the Parity Check matrix or a generation matrix. According to the proposed constructing method, a Parity Check matrix of a low density Parity Check code having excellent performance, a method of constructing the low density Parity Check code and a complexity-reduced decoding method can be obtained. |
| US08176382B2 |
Storage apparatus, method for accessing data and for managing memory block
A method for managing a memory block is provided. In this method, a plurality of block tables having different storing priorities is provided. In addition, the number of error correction bits in the memory block is checked. Thereby, in the present invention, data can be stored into the memory block in a block table according to the number of error correction bits in the memory block so that the sequence in which the memory block is used for storing data is determined. |
| US08176380B2 |
Algebraic construction of LDPC (low density parity check) codes with corresponding parity check matrix having CSI (cyclic shifted identity) sub-matrices
Algebraic method to construct LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) codes with parity check matrix having CSI (Cyclic Shifted Identity) sub-matrices. A novel approach is presented by which identity sub-matrices undergo cyclic shifting, thereby generating CSI sub-matrices that are arranged forming a parity check matrix of an LDPC code. The parity check matrix of the LDPC code may correspond to a regular LDPC code, or the parity check matrix of the LDPC code may undergo further modification to transform it to that of an irregular LDPC code. The parity check matrix of the LDPC code may be partitioned into 2 sub-matrices such that one of these 2 sub-matrices is transformed to be a block dual diagonal matrix; the other of these 2 sub-matrices may be modified using a variety of means, including the density evolution approach, to ensure the desired bit and check degrees of the irregular LDPC code. |
| US08176378B2 |
Method and system for a transmitting antenna selection failure recovery mode
Aspects of a method and system for a transmitting antenna selection failure recover mode are presented. Aspects of the system may include a transmitting mobile terminal that enables selection of a sequence of protocol data units (PDU), for example a sequence of sounding frames, which may be transmitted during an antenna selection procedure. During transmission of the selected PDU sequence, the transmitting mobile terminal may receive an antenna selection failure indication frame. The transmitting mobile terminal may enable retransmission of at least one previously transmitted PDU in the PDU sequence based on the failure indication. Transmission of subsequent PDUs in the PDU sequence may resume after the retransmission. Alternatively, upon receipt of the failure indication frame the transmitting mobile terminal may restart the selected frame sequence from the beginning, or may select a subsequent PDU frame sequence. |
| US08176374B2 |
Data register control of TDI/AX1 to the data register
The present disclosure describes novel methods and apparatuses for directly accessing JTAG Tap domains that exist in a scan path of many serially connected JTAG Tap domains. Direct scan access to a selected Tap domain by a JTAG controller is achieved using auxiliary digital or analog terminals associated with the Tap domain and connected to the JTAG controller. During direct scan access, the auxiliary digital or analog terminals serve as serial data input and serial data output paths between the selected Tap domain and the JTAG controller. |
| US08176372B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit
A one-hot data generating unit generates one-hot data for the maximum data bit width in which a state of one bit is exclusively inverted with respect to states of other bits while sequentially shifting a bit position to be inverted, and writes the one-hot data in an area of a memory designated by an address. A short defect between wirings connected to the memory is detected by comparing the one-hot data written in the memory with the one-hot data before being written. |
| US08176369B2 |
Count data recording device, and method and program for recording count data
The count data recording device includes: a storage unit including N memory areas; and a data restoring unit that detects a corruption in the count data pieces and restores the corruption, wherein the data writing unit records the count data piece using the memory area included in the range of the minor loop according to the predetermined order and shifts the range of the minor loop backward after recording the count data piece using a last memory area within the minor loop. |
| US08176366B2 |
Trace synchronization
A data processing apparatus having one or more trace data sources. At least one of said trace data sources includes a trace data generator responsive to activity in monitored circuitry to generate trace data representing said activity. A synchronization marker generator is coupled to the trace data generator and operates to generate a synchronization marker and insert the synchronization marker into the trace data stream. A controller is coupled to the synchronization marker generator to generate and insert a synchronization marker into the trace data stream. The controller controls initiation in dependence on behavior of the data processing apparatus downstream of the trace data generator. In this way, the downstream behavior of the data processing apparatus can be made to influence the rate and timing of insertion of synchronization markers into a trace data stream. |
| US08176364B1 |
Method and system for providing high availability to computer applications
A system and method for assigning application specific IP addresses to individual applications. The system may be operable to assign a unique IP address to an application, and alias the application IP address to a NIC IP address on the host where the application is running. In an exemplary embodiment, the system may be further operable to migrate the application IP address to a new host as part of a migration, and alias the application IP address to a NIC in the new host as part of the migration. |
| US08176361B2 |
Data processing with protection against soft errors
A processing circuit has functional units (10a-c) configured to perform operations each in response to a respective command. The functional units (10a-c) are configured to execute at least one of the operations with a selectable level of susceptibility to incurring an error during execution. Different functional units may be provided, designed to execute the same operation with different levels of susceptibility at the cost of more circuit area, power consumption or execution time in the case of less susceptibility. The less susceptible functional unit may comprise additional error correction circuits, or more pipeline stages for example. The program directs commands to execute the operation to different functional units according to the required level of susceptibility. High level programs may be provided wherein variables are declared with a specified level of reliability. These declarations may be used during compilation to select how instructions will be executed. |
| US08176357B2 |
System for handling storage system requests
A file storage system that uses a server to communicate between a client and a storage system. The server receives a file storage request pertaining to a file, generates and stores a file record for the request and forwards the request to a file storage system. The server performs either an internal retry or forwards a no-file response from the storage system to the client computer in response to receiving a no-file file status from the storage system depending on an amount of elapsed time from the time the server initially receives the file storage request. |
| US08176355B2 |
Recovery from hardware access errors
A mechanism is provided for recovering from a data scan error. A service processor determines the nature of the data scan error and, depending on the nature of the error, performs one of a plurality of data scan error recovery procedures. |
| US08176354B2 |
Wave pipeline with selectively opaque register stages
A selectively synchronous wave pipeline segment and an integrated circuit (IC) including the segment. The segment includes a normally opaque input stage and output stage and multiple internal stages that are normally transparent. A programmable local clock control circuit provides internal stage clock selection control to internal stages. The internal clock selection control determines whether each internal pipeline stage is gated opaque by a local clock. The programmable local clock control circuit is programmed to allows data items to propagate as data waves in a wave pipeline until each wave reaches a point where beyond, a race condition is likely to exist. Multiple pipeline data items pass as data waves between input and said output stage selectively unclocked. |
| US08176349B2 |
Look-ahead processor for signaling suitable non-idle performance state for main processor
A look-ahead processor identifies instructions that are at least likely to be executed by a main processor. The look-ahead processor determines a power state for the main processor that is suitable for executing the instructions. The look-ahead processor signals the main processor to enter the suitable performance state. |
| US08176348B2 |
Control device and information processing apparatus
A control device includes a main control unit that serves as a main component for device control and to which power is supplied from a first power unit; a power control unit that controls the first power unit and to which power is supplied from a second power unit; a memory control unit that accesses a memory that stores therein a computer program and data and to which power is supplied from the second power unit; and a network control unit that receives packets through a network and transfers the packets to the memory through the memory control unit and to which power is supplied from the second power unit. |
| US08176343B2 |
Method for providing information for power management of devices on a network
The present invention relates to a method for providing information for power management of devices connected to a network. The present method creates a PM (Power Management) server list which includes, for at least one PM server, a pair of friendly names including a friendly name allocated to the PM server, and displays, for the at least one PM server, the other friendly name of the pair of friendly names, i.e., a friendly name allocated to an AV media server or an AV device instead of one friendly name allocated to the PM server in the event that information included in the created PM server list is provided to a user. |
| US08176339B2 |
Method and system for managing peripheral connection wakeup in a processing system supporting multiple virtual machines
A method and system for managing peripheral connection wakeup signaling in a processing system supporting multiple virtual machines provides a mechanism by which ownership of a peripheral having system wakeup capability is transferred between virtual machines. The power management event signal is connected to a service processor input that in turn signals a hypervisor to direct the wakeup activity to a particular logical partition in which the virtual machine was last executing. The hypervisor can then determine whether or not to wake up the entire system, or portions thereof and can direct the power management event to the appropriate virtual machine. In particular the peripheral may be an Ethernet adapter supporting Wake-On-LAN capability. State initialization, which is typically ensured by system power cycling is provided instead by controlling power to the standby power source or in some instances by forcing an indication of a disconnect/reconnect of the wakeup signaling connection. |
| US08176337B2 |
Computer object code obfuscation using boot installation
In the field of computer software, obfuscation techniques for enhancing software security are applied to compiled (object) software code. The obfuscation results here in different versions (instances) of the obfuscated code being provided to different installations (recipient computing devices). The complementary code execution uses a boot loader or boot installer-type program at each installation which contains the requisite logic. Typically, the obfuscation results in a different instance of the obfuscated code for each intended installation (recipient) but each instance being semantically equivalent to the others. This is accomplished in one version by generating a random value or other parameter during the obfuscation process, and using the value to select a particular version of the obfuscating process, and then communicating the value along with boot loader or installer program software. This boot loader then selects which particular process to use for the code execution at the time of installation in accordance with the value. This results in different versions of the obfuscated code being provided to each recipient installation, which further enhances security of the code against reverse engineering by hackers. |
| US08176335B2 |
Removable computer with mass storage
The present invention provides a detachable add-on card unit to a host system that combines mass storage capability and a processor on the same card. The card can receive data from the host, process the data, and store it in processed form, as well as the reverse process of retrieving stored data, processing it, and supplying it to the host. The non-volatile mass storage memory may contain program storage as well as card system data and user data. The end user of the card can program applications into the program storage. The combination of mass storage and a processor also adds to the capabilities of the on-card processor, allowing the card to store and execute programs. The present invention is able to provide a programmable add-on card unit to a host system. A number of applications can be stored in the card's mass storage and loaded as needed by the on-card micro-controller. |
| US08176333B2 |
Method and apparatus for protecting external call references
The present invention is generally directed to a method, system, and article of manufacture that ensures the integrity of programs having variable portions. One aspect of this invention is a method for protecting software products having variant portions. This method includes identifying a reference to an external target in a software product, creating an identifier for the external target, and adding the identifier to the reference. In some embodiments, the unique identifier is a digital signature and the reference to an external target is a call to an external library. |
| US08176331B2 |
Method to secure data exchange between a multimedia processing unit and a security module
A method for protecting multimedia data exchanged between a multimedia processing device and a security module managed by a management center, the multimedia processing device receiving an encrypted multimedia data, decrypting the encrypted multimedia data and converting the decrypted multimedia data, said multimedia processing device including a personal key, the method comprising obtaining an identifier pertaining to an entity representing a group of multimedia processing devices, calculating a security key formed by a one-way function based on the personal key of the processing multimedia device and the entity identifier, transmitting this security key and the entity identifier to the security module connected to said multimedia processing device, calculating the security key using a one-way function based on the personal key of said multimedia processing device and the entity identifier, and using the calculated security key to secure the data exchanged between the multimedia processing device and the security module. |
| US08176327B2 |
Authentication protocol
A method includes sending a first authentication challenge from an authenticator to an access terminal, and receiving, at the authenticator, a first return message from the access terminal that includes an identifier of the access terminal and a response to the first challenge. A second authentication challenge is sent from the authenticator to the access terminal, in which the second authentication challenge is determined by an authentication server based in part on the identifier of the access terminal previously received along with the response to the first challenge. The authenticator receives a second return message from the access terminal that includes a response to the second authentication challenge. |
| US08176326B2 |
Method of communications and communication network intrusion protection methods and intrusion attempt detection system
A method, system and computer readable medium for protecting a communications device connected to a communications system against an unauthorized intrusion, including providing a variable identifier to the communications device and entities authorized access thereto. The variable identifier is provided to a user address book and assigned with a permanent identifier and the permanent identifier, but not the variable identifier, is available to a user. The presence or absence of the correct variable identifier is sensed during an attempt to access the communications device for granting or denying access to the communications device. A new variable identifier is periodically provided to the communications device and to the authorized entities and to the user address book and assigned with the permanent identifier, wherein the permanent identifier, but not the new variable identifier, is available to the user. |
| US08176324B1 |
Method and system for a secure virtual keyboard
Methods and systems provide a secure virtual keyboard represented as an onscreen keyboard with multiple levels of security. The secure virtual keyboard provides keys that are a combination of numerals, alphabets and special characters. Different security features provided include, but are not limited to, randomly changing the key layout, providing an option for mouse-hover input, and using a secure encrypted transmission path. |
| US08176318B2 |
Method and system for providing a customized network
The present invention comprises a method, system, and computer-readable medium for providing a secure computer network for the real time transfer of data. The data is grouped and stored as per user preferences. The data being transmitted is encrypted, decrypted, and validated by the system (assuming user identifications/passwords are verified). The present invention enables the use of customized forms for the data; these forms are driven by customizable scripts. It offers security and specialized messaging. |
| US08176317B2 |
System and method for multicasting IPSec protected communications
A system and method is provided which allows multicast communications encrypted using IPSec protocol to be received by receivers in a network. In order to allow the receivers to receive the encrypted multicast communication, the address information of the received multicast communication is modified to appear as a unicast communication being transmitted directly to the address of the receiver, such that the receiver may then decrypt the received multicast communication using IPSec decryption capabilities or may, alternatively, forward the received multicast communication in its encrypted state to other devices. The system and method further provide IPSec encryption key delivery to the receiver using an encrypted markup language file. Multiple keys may also be generated for a given IP address of a receiver with each key being generated for a particular multicasting hierarchical classification. |
| US08176308B2 |
Method for activating a computer system in a low temperature environment
A method for booting a computer system under a low temperature state is disclosed. When a trigger signal of a pressed power button on the computer system is detected, a hard disk temperature will be obtained via a temperature sensor to determine whether the hard disk temperature is less than a first predetermined temperature. If the hard disk temperature is less than the first predetermined temperature, a heater is activated to heat the hard disk and a low temperature event will be set. Next, if the hard disk temperature has reached or is greater than the second predetermined temperature, the computer system will be under activation. Then before a loading component of the computer system is activated, the low temperature event will be read. Therefore, output loading of the loading component is decreased to activate an system component of the computer system with a low loading state. |
| US08176306B2 |
Boot block
A machine including a processor, a boot block including an immutable segment and a mutable segment, one or more BIOS images stored on the mutable segment of the boot block, and a BIOS manager executed by the processor from the immutable segment of the boot block and configured to determine whether a BIOS of the machine is valid and launch a BIOS replacement process when the BIOS is invalid. |
| US08176304B2 |
Mechanism for performing function level reset in an I/O device
An I/O device having function level reset functionality includes a host interface that may include a master reset unit, a plurality of client interfaces, each corresponding to one or more functions, and a plurality of hardware resources. Each hardware resource may be associated with a respective function. In response to receiving a reset request to reset a specific function, the master reset unit may provide to each client interface, a request signal corresponding to the reset request, and a signal identifying the specific function. Each client interface having an association with the specific function may initiate a reset operation of the associated hardware resources, and also provide a client reset done signal for the specific function to the master reset unit in response to completion of the reset operations of the hardware resources. The master reset unit provides a reset done signal for the specific function to the host interface. |
| US08176301B2 |
Millicode assist instructions for millicode store access exception checking
Millicode store access checking instructions are provided via an operand access control register (OACR) including a test modifier indicator, which is communicatively coupled to an instruction unit subsystem, the instruction unit subsystem for fetching and decoding instructions. The instructions include a millicode instruction with an operand defining an address to check for a store access exception. In addition, an execution unit for executing the millicode instruction performs a method. The method includes receiving the millicode instruction from the instruction unit subsystem, testing for the store access exception at the address as if the test modifier is set absent an update to the OACR, and outputting a result of the testing for the store access exception. |
| US08176297B2 |
Adaptive fetch advance control for a low power processor
A digital signal processor (DSP) includes an instruction buffer queue (IBQ) with multiple lines, as well as a modifiable fetch advance parameter to specify a fetch advance setting for the IBQ. The DSP also has a control flow module. In response to execution of a program in the DSP, the control flow module may automatically determine whether a branch has been predicted for the program, or for a portion of the program. The control flow module may automatically reduce the fetch advance parameter in response to determining that a branch has been predicted for the program. Also, the control flow module may automatically increase the fetch advance setting in response to determining that no branch has been predicted for a portion of the program. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08176294B2 |
Reducing storage expansion of a virtual machine operating system
Storage expansion for a virtual machine operating system is reduced. In one embodiment, virtual machines are run on a host and accessed by remote clients over a network. When a guest operating system on one of the virtual machines deletes a file, a VM storage manager on the host detects a special write performed by the guest operating system that writes zeros into a logical block of the file. The VM storage manager links the logical block to a designated block, and de-allocates the disk block that is mapped to the logical block. The de-allocation allows the disk block to be reused by the virtual machines. |
| US08176287B2 |
LAN-managed storage volume initialization for LAN-free storage operation
LAN-managed storage volumes are managed by a LAN storage manager installed on a storage management server. In processing a LAN-free storage volume request, the LAN tape manager selects a LAN-managed storage volume responsive to the LAN-free storage volume allocation request wherein the LAN-managed storage volume is initialized as a candidate for a LAN-free storage operation. The LAN-managed storage volume may be initialized by the LAN storage manager as a candidate for a LAN-free storage operation prior to the LAN storage manager receiving the LAN-free storage volume allocation request or in response to the LAN storage manager receiving the LAN-free storage volume allocation request. Additionally, prior to being initialized as a candidate for a LAN-free storage operation, the LAN-managed storage volume may be a pre-existing storage volume or a scratch storage volume. |
| US08176283B1 |
Permissions of objects in hosted storage
A data object is stored in a hosted storage system and includes an access control list specifying access permissions for data object stored in the hosted storage system. The hosted storage system provides hosted storage to a plurality of clients that are coupled to the hosted storage system. A request to store a second data object is received. The request includes an indicator that the first data object stored in the hosted storage system should be used as an access control list for the second data object. The second data object is stored in the hosted storage system. The first data object is assigned as an access control list for the second data object stored in the hosted storage system. |
| US08176281B2 |
Controlling access to an embedded memory of a microcontroller
A microcontroller (30) includes a processor (32), an embedded memory (46) operatively coupled to the processor (32), and a microcontroller test interface (34) operatively connected to the processor (32) and the memory (36). The microcontroller (30) responds to a reset signal to perform a reset initiation that causes an initial disabled state of the test interface (34) to be set and execution of initiation code with the processor (32). This code execution optionally establishes a further disabled state. The microcontroller (30) provides an enabled state of the test interface for memory (46) access through the test interlace (34) during microcontroller (30) operation subsequent to the reset initiation unless the further disabled memory (46) access state is established by execution of the initiation code. |
| US08176279B2 |
Managing use of storage by multiple pageable guests of a computing environment
Management of storage used by pageable guests of a computing environment is facilitated. An enhanced suppression-on-protection facility is provided that enables the determination of which level of protection (host or guest) caused a fault condition, in response to an attempted storage access. |
| US08176274B2 |
Electronic data reproduction
A computer implemented method and system is provided for reproducing electronic data from a source storage device to a target storage device. The source storage device is connected to the target storage device via a disk interface. The electronic data on the target storage device is configured in a read write mode for electronic data transmission. The amount of electronic data to be reproduced is determined and sequentially read. The read electronic data is transmitted to the target storage device by performing a sequential write operation. The user can examine the transmitted electronic data during the transmission. If an interruption occurs, the electronic data is analyzed and the user selectively resumes the transmission. In the absence of the source storage device, the target storage device is configured in a read only mode for providing read only access to the electronic data present on the target storage device. |
| US08176273B2 |
Backing-up apparatus, backing-up method, and backing-up program
A backing-up apparatus, upon receiving an instruction to execute backing up, allocates a storage area to store a snapshot to be produced to each time point indicated by the instruction. When the original data is updated after the time point indicated by the instruction, it is checked that the original data corresponding to the place to which the updating has been executed at a time point immediately before the time point indicated by the instruction is stored in the storage area allocated as the storage area to store the latest snapshot produced for the immediately previous time point. When it has been confirmed that the original data is not stored, the original data immediately before the updating corresponding to the place to which the updating has been executed is stored in only the storage area to store the latest snapshot. |
| US08176270B2 |
Data allocation system
A method of operating a data control system to copy a volume of data from a primary storage system to a secondary storage system comprises receiving an instruction to copy the volume of data, wherein the volume of data comprises a plurality of data blocks, in response to the instruction, determining if at least a data block of the plurality of data blocks requires copying to the secondary storage system, if the data block requires copying to the secondary storage system, then reading the data block from memory in the primary storage system and transferring the data block for writing to memory in the secondary storage system, and if the data block does not require copying, then transferring a synthetic block for writing to the memory in the secondary storage system. |
| US08176265B2 |
Shared single-access memory with management of multiple parallel requests
A memory is used by concurrent threads in a multithreaded processor. Any addressable storage location is accessible by any of the concurrent threads, but only one location at a time is accessible. The memory is coupled to parallel processing engines that generate a group of parallel memory access requests, each specifying a target address that might be the same or different for different requests. Serialization logic selects one of the target addresses and determines which of the requests specify the selected target address. All such requests are allowed to proceed in parallel, while other requests are deferred. Deferred requests may be regenerated and processed through the serialization logic so that a group of requests can be satisfied by accessing each different target address in the group exactly once. |
| US08176262B2 |
Handling of memory access requests to shared memory in a data processing apparatus
A data processing apparatus and method has a plurality of processing units, at least one of which is configured to be switchable between an active power state and a dormant power state and the units share a memory, and at least one local storage unit is configured to store a local copy of a data item stored in the memory for access by an associated processing unit. A snoop control unit is monitors memory access requests and when one is issued, if the control unit has an indication that a local storage unit belonging to another dormant processing unit has a local copy of that data storage item and a cache coherency protocol required that the local copy of the requested data item associated with the other processing unit be invalidated, the control unit stores a marker indicating that that other local copy should later be invalidated. |
| US08176259B2 |
System and method for resolving transactions in a cache coherency protocol
A system comprises a first node that employs a source broadcast protocol to initiate a transaction. The first node employs a forward progress protocol to resolve the transaction if the source broadcast protocol cannot provide a deterministic resolution of the transaction. |
| US08176255B2 |
Allocating space in dedicated cache ways
A system comprises a processor core and a cache coupled to the core and comprising at least one cache way dedicated to the core, where the cache way comprises multiple cache lines. The system also comprises a cache controller coupled to the cache. Upon receiving a data request from the core, the cache controller determines whether the cache has a predetermined amount of invalid cache lines. If the cache does not have the predetermined amount of invalid cache lines, the cache controller is adapted to allocate space in the cache for new data, where the space is allocable in the at least one cache way dedicated to the core. |
| US08176250B2 |
System and method for testing a memory
A computer system comprising a processor, a memory, and a memory controller coupled to the processor and the memory is provided. The memory controller comprises a first cache and a cache control. The cache control is configured to cause a portion of the memory to be copied into the first cache. The cache control is configured to cause first information to be provided from the first cache to the processor in response to receiving a read transaction from the processor that includes an address in the portion of memory during testing of the portion. |
| US08176247B2 |
Method and system for protecting against multiple failures in a RAID system
Embodiments of methods of protecting RAID systems from multiple failures and such protected RAID systems are disclosed. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with data stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. Furthermore, one or more levels of RAID may be implemented within one or more of the data banks comprising the distributed RAID system. |
| US08176245B2 |
Dynamic disk throttling in a wide area network optimization device
A network device may operate to increase application performance over a wide area network. In one particular implementation, the network device may monitor accesses to a disk drive from entities and determine whether an entity is accessing the disk drive in a manner that causes a disproportionate amount of performance degradation. If so, the network device may throttle access to the disk drive for the entity. |
| US08176239B2 |
Semiconductor memory card access apparatus, a computer-readable recording medium, an initialization method, and a semiconductor memory card
A predetermined number of erasable blocks positioned at a start of a volume area in a semiconductor memory card are provided so as to include volume management information. A user area following the volume management information includes a plurality of clusters. A data length NOM of an area from a master boot record & partition table sector to a partition boot sector is determined so that the plurality of clusters in the user area are not arranged so as to straddle erasable block boundaries. Since cluster boundaries and erasable block boundaries in the user area are aligned, there is no need to perform wasteful processing in which two erasable blocks are erased to rewrite one cluster. |
| US08176238B2 |
Command queuing smart storage transfer manager for striping data to raw-NAND flash modules
A flash module has raw-NAND flash memory chips accessed over a physical-block address (PBA) bus by a NVM controller. The NVM controller is on the flash module or on a system board for a solid-state disk (SSD). The NVM controller converts logical block addresses (LBA) to physical block addresses (PBA). Data striping and interleaving among multiple channels of the flash modules is controlled at a high level by a smart storage transaction manager, while further interleaving and remapping within a channel may be performed by the NVM controllers. A SDRAM buffer is used by a smart storage switch to cache host data before writing to flash memory. A Q-R pointer table stores quotients and remainders of division of the host address. The remainder points to a location of the host data in the SDRAM. A command queue stores Q, R for host commands. |
| US08176236B2 |
Memory controller, memory system with memory controller, and method of controlling flash memory
Access to flash memories is controlled so that efficiency of data writing and effective utilization of storage area go together. In the access control, priority order, for physical blocks each storing effective data, is managed so that a position of a physical block in the assignment order becomes higher according as assignment of a logical block to the physical block is performed more recently. When assigning a logical block to a free physical block, a determination is made whether a position of a previous physical block is higher than a predetermined position in the priority order. The previous physical block is a physical block, then, corresponding to the same logical block as the free physical block. When the determination is negative, effective data stored in the previous physical block is transferred to the free physical block. |
| US08176229B2 |
Hypertransport/SPI-4 interface supporting configurable deskewing
A dual mode digital interface supports the HyperTransport Standard and at least one other interface standard. The dual mode digital interface includes a plurality of data line deskew/sampling blocks, a data group deskew module, and an enablement control module. The plurality of data line deskew/sampling blocks deskew and sample incoming data on respective data lines based upon a clock signal to produce deskewed data. The data group deskew module receives deskewed data from each of the plurality of data line deskew/sampling blocks and removes inter-data line skew from the deskewed data to produce received data. The plurality of data line deskew/sampling blocks and the data group deskew module can be configured in a first mode when supporting an aspect of the HyperTransport Standard and configured in a second mode when supporting the at least one other interface standard. In the alternative, a plurality of data line deskew/sampling blocks and the data group deskew module may be set based upon a training sequence received from a link partner. |
| US08176227B2 |
Method and system for high-speed detection handshake in universal serial bus based data communication system
A USB system includes a USB hub, a USB device, and a USB bus interconnecting the USB hub and the USB device. The USB hub asserts a reset signaling on the USB bus to initiate a high-speed detection handshake. The USB hub and the USB device activate corresponding dual-mode squelch detectors in a first (handshake) mode of operation. The USB device transmits a device chirp signal to the USB hub. The USB hub responds with a sequence of hub chirp signals. The USB device detects the hub chirp signals and then the USB hub and the USB device establish a communication link in a high-speed mode of communication in accordance with USB 2.0. The dual-mode squelch detectors in the USB hub and the USB device can also be activated in a second (normal) mode of operation. |
| US08176223B1 |
System and method for storing communications intended for different groups using a limited amount of space
A system and method stores wirelessly received communications for wireless retransmission, making space in a storage device, if necessary, by deleting any one or more communications corresponding to the same group as the received communication. If storage in the storage device remains insufficient, communications that have been previously retransmitted by that same device are deleted, according to one or more characteristics of such stored communications, such as age or number of times an instance of that communication has been received. If storage in the storage device remains insufficient, communications of a different group are deleted according to one or more characteristics of the stored communications. |
| US08176216B1 |
Methods for analyzing USB data traffic using a single USB host controller
A method is described for capturing USB data traffic for a monitored device by a USB analyzer using a single USB host controller. It comprises the steps of: generating and storing an address and communication speed associated with the USB analyzer; reading a USB packet; discarding selected read packets based on the stored analyzer address and communication speed; and transmitting the remaining packets to an analysis computer. |
| US08176209B2 |
Data communication system
A data communication system is provided. The data communication system includes a main processor, and at least one sub-processor or at least one peripheral device connected with the main processor according to a serial peripheral interface (SPI) method and performing an operation corresponding to a command transferred from the main processor. The connection according to the SPI method is made by one or more bus lines including a master in slave out (MISO) line and master out slave in (MOSI) line, a slave select (SS) line, an interrupt line, and a clock transfer line. |
| US08176205B2 |
Method, server and system for optimizing HTML-based content
A method, server and system for optimizing and delivering HyperText Markup Language (HTML)-based content such as HTML-based email messages to mobile communication devices is provided. In accordance with one embodiment, the method comprises: receiving an email message comprising an HTML portion comprising an HTML header and an HTML body; determining if the HTML header includes a reference to a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) document comprising one or more rules; if the HTML header includes a reference to a CSS document, replacing the reference with the CSS rules of the CSS document, and sending the transformed email message to a destination mobile communication device. |
| US08176202B2 |
Multi-host management server in storage system, program for the same and path information management method
Provided is a multi-host management server that includes: a reception section that receives failure information about paths from hosts and stores the received failure information in a failure information reception queue; an extraction section that extracts from the failure information reception queue plural pieces of failure information about a plurality of paths received from a common host; a retrieval section that retrieves failure information about one path from the extracted plural pieces of failure information about the plurality of paths; a registration section that registers information indicating a host in a host refresh queue for updating path information; a deletion section that deletes, after the registration, the plural pieces of failure information about the plurality of paths received from the common host from the failure information reception queue; and an execution section that executes update of path information for the relevant host. |
| US08176200B2 |
Distributed aggregation on an overlay network
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for distributed aggregation on an overlay network. Embodiments of the invention utilize tiers of nodes that are cascaded in a layered system. Each tier reduces the size of data by orders of magnitude through pre-aggregation. Thus, high volume streams of messages can be reduced to lower volume streams at large scales, such as, for example, the Internet. No central coordination is used; thus there is no central point of failure or bottleneck. When a node fails, other nodes in the same tier as the failing node automatically take over the responsibilities of the failed node. |
| US08176189B2 |
Peer-to-peer network computing platform
A peer-to-peer platform that may provide mechanisms through which peers may discover each other, communicate with each other, and cooperate with each other to form peer groups is described. The peer-to-peer platform may comprise several layers including a peer-to-peer platform layer, a peer-to-peer services layer, and a peer-to-peer applications layer. At the highest abstraction level, the peer-to-peer platform may be viewed as a set of protocols. Each protocol may be defined by one or more messages exchanged among participants of the protocol. In one embodiment, the peer-to-peer platform may include, but is not limited to, one or more of a peer discovery protocol, a peer resolver protocol, a peer information protocol, a peer membership protocol, a pipe binding protocol, and an endpoint routing protocol. To underpin this set of protocols, the peer-to-peer platform may define a number of concepts including peer, peer group, advertisement, message, pipe, and endpoint. |
| US08176187B2 |
Method, system, and program for enabling communication between nodes
Provided are a method, system, and program performed at a local node to communicate with a remote node. A first communication protocol is used to communicate with the remote node to establish a connection for a second communication protocol. Data structures are created to enable communication with the remote node to establish the connection with the remote node for the second communication protocol. An extension layer is invoked for the second communication protocol. The data structures are passed to the extension layer to use to communicate with the remote node using the second communication protocol. |
| US08176181B2 |
Layer-2 management entity messaging framework in a network
A communications system and method comprises the steps of performing at least one Layer 2 transaction comprising a plurality of wave cycles, each Layer 2 transaction including performing a first wave cycle, concatenating the received first responses from each of the one or more nodes, and performing a second wave cycle. The first wave cycle includes broadcasting a first request from a network coordinator to a plurality of nodes connected to a coordinated network, and receiving a first response from one or more of the nodes indicating that the nodes have opted to participate in a next subsequent wave cycle. The second wave cycle includes transmitting a subsequent request from the network coordinator to each of the one or more nodes based upon the concatenated first responses. |
| US08176174B2 |
Power meter having multiple ethernet ports
A power meter or other electrical device is provided having two independent and communicatively isolated Ethernet ports. The first Ethernet port is addressable by a first unique identifier and is configured for enabling full access to the power meter via an internal LAN. This enables a LAN operator to remotely access the power meter via the internal LAN for performing metering functions, such as full telemetry, control and programming. The second Ethernet port is addressable by a second unique identifier and is configured for being connected to the Internet. Since the second Ethernet port is communicatively isolated from the first Ethernet port, a user can access the power meter via the Internet, but cannot access the internal LAN by connecting to the power meter via the Internet. |
| US08176173B2 |
Live botmaster traceback
Embodiments locate a botmaster on a network. A honeynet host is configured to join a botnet and generate a watermarked packet flow by applying a watermark to an outgoing packet flow in response to commands from the botmaster. The watermark is applied to the outgoing packet flow by: choosing distinct packets from the outgoing packet flow; forming packet pair(s) from the distinct packets, that include a reference packet and an encoding packet; and encoding bits in the watermark to the packet pair(s) by increasing the length of the encoding packet when watermark bits have a predetermined value. The cooperating node(s) are configured to: inspect passing packet flows for the watermarked packet flow and generate tracking information related to detection of the watermarked packet flow. The path determination processor is configured to analyze the tracking information to locate a path taken by the watermarked packet flow. |
| US08176168B1 |
Detecting the health of an operating system in virtualized and non-virtualized environments
A remote management controller is provided for use in conjunction with a managed host computer. The remote management controller exposes a virtual network interface controller, such as a driverless virtual USB network interface controller, to the managed host computer. Through the in-band connection provided by the virtual network interface controller, the remote management controller can send a command to the host operating system or one or more guest operating systems executing in a virtualized environment. If no reply is received to the command, the remote management controller takes corrective action to restore the operation of the host operating system or the non-responsive guest operating systems. |
| US08176167B2 |
Methods and apparaus for requesting wireless communication device performance data and providing the data in optimal file size
Methods, systems, devices and computer program products are presented for requesting wireless device performance data and providing an optimal file size for the performance data. Present aspects provide for estimating the size of requested performance data, at the time of the request, and assessing other factors, such as requesting party preferences, to determine optimal performance data file size. In this regard, the performance data service provider is able to prepare and make accessible optimally sized performance data files, as the data becomes available as opposed to creating one comprehensive performance data file when all of the requested data is available. Additionally, some present aspects may provide for performance data requesting parties to implement Extensible Markup Language (XML) as the communication tool between the requesting device and the performance data-supplying network entity. |
| US08176166B2 |
Autonomic management of uniform resource identifiers in uniform resource identifier bookmark lists
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to URI management for bookmarks and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for autonomic management of URIs in a URI bookmark list. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for autonomically managing bookmarks in a bookmark list can be provided. The method can include parsing a list of bookmarks to test validity for network addresses within the bookmarks, and, for each of the bookmarks containing an invalid network address, inferring a correct network address. For example, inferring a correct network address can include comparing a chunk of an image of expected content for the bookmark with pre-stored chunks of content and retrieving a network address for a closely matching one of the pre-stored chunks of content. |
| US08176164B1 |
Method and system for managing network traffic
A system and method for directing network connections. The invention enables a network device to direct subsequent connections from a client to a server for accessing resources. A process extracts a persistence key from a received message, and employs the persistence key to identify the appropriate server. An interface is provided, enabling a user program to direct the process of extracting the persistence key. The invention also provides a way for multiple clients to persist to a common server. |
| US08176163B1 |
Dual cookie security system
One or more servers receive requests from clients and send responses. At least a subset of the responses including cookies produced by the one or more servers, and at least a subset of the received requests including cookies that were previously produced by the one or more servers and sent to the clients with responses to previously processed requests. Each of the cookies includes a respective user identifier. The one or more servers analyzing the received cookies to detect a first condition, which indicates that a respective plurality of clients may be using cookies that have a shared user identifier. Upon detecting the first condition, the one or more servers send at least one of the clients of the respective plurality of clients a response that includes a new cookie having a user identifier that is distinct from the shared user identifier. |
| US08176161B2 |
Method and system for content-based routing of network traffic
A method, computer program product, and system for routing computer network traffic include associating, on a routing device, a unique identifier with at least one application server running an application. Network traffic that includes the unique identifier and an intended network address may be received. In response to receiving the network traffic at least one of the application servers associated with the unique identifier may be identified. The network traffic may be forwarded to at least one of the application servers associated with the unique identifier. |
| US08176159B2 |
Habit-based authentication
A method for authentication is disclosed. During use, the observed usage of the device is compared to an expected pattern of usage of the device. Deviation between the observed and expected usage indicates that the user might not be authorized to use the device. If the deviation exceeds a threshold, a credential is required from the user to authenticate itself as the authorized user. |
| US08176158B2 |
Information technology governance and controls methods and apparatuses
Embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for automated change audit of an enterprise's IT infrastructure, including independent detection of changes, reconciliation of detected changes and independent reporting, to effectuate a triad of controls on managing changes within the IT infrastructure, preventive controls, detective controls and corrective controls. |
| US08176154B2 |
Instantaneous user initiation voice quality feedback
A system for providing a high communications quality is provided. The system comprises: (a) an input operable to receive a message from at least one of first and second network nodes 200 and 204, the first and second network nodes communicating with one another in a session and the message indicating a service problem with the session and (b) a statistic collection agent 248 operable to cause, in response to the message, at least one of the following operations: (i) reconfiguration of one or more attributes or resources in the network; (ii) variation of a sampling frequency of one or more session-related performance attributes associated with the network; (iii) alteration of the types of session-related performance attributes being collected regarding the network; and (iv) collection of session-related information from nodes other than the at least first and second network nodes. |
| US08176151B2 |
Runtime versioning of information processing systems
An information processing system includes a runtime versioning facility which allows for managing its configuration so that modifications made during runtime are propagated and take affect without restarting the system or a portion thereof. This allows the potential for 100% uptime while upgrading such systems. This also provides a system capability to process multiple configuration versions, and to be able to process such versions even while such versions are changing during operation of the information processing systems. For example, a system such as a registry server capable of transactional configuration changes is provided which manages its configuration so that modifications made during runtime are propagated and take affect without restarting the server. |
| US08176149B2 |
Ejection of storage drives in a computing network
A method for managing a storage system comprises ejecting a first drive in the storage system having a plurality of drives, in response to determining a fault associated with the first drive, wherein the ejecting takes place in response to a command issued by a management tool utilized for determining the fault associated with the plurality of drives in the storage system. |
| US08176148B2 |
Method and system for wireless network configuration
Exemplary embodiments include methods and systems for identifying information associated with a remote user system and/or a wireless system, determining the compatibility of the remote user system and a wireless system, formulating one or more configuration plans for the remote user system and/or a wireless system and automatically implementing one or more configuration plans to establish a wireless network. |
| US08176143B2 |
Web service providing apparatus
A Web service providing apparatus is disclosed for controlling a sequence of processes to cause a Web service providing apparatus to copy or print out a target document stored therein to another Web service providing apparatus in cooperation with the Web service providing apparatuses and a terminal connected to each other via a communication network. The Web service providing apparatus includes a server processing part controlling receipt of a process request from a connected requesting apparatus and transmission of a process response corresponding to the process request to the requesting apparatus in accordance with a predetermined protocol; a condition acquisition control part controlling acquisition of target information designated by the process request based on a first processable condition; and a service providing part performing the requested process and sending a result of the process to the server processing part. |
| US08176142B2 |
Shared JAVA jar files
Techniques are disclosed for sharing programmatic modules among isolated virtual machines. A master JVM process loads data from a programmatic module, storing certain elements of that data into its private memory region, and storing other elements of that data into a “read-only” area of a shareable memory region. The master JVM process copies loaded data from its private memory region into a “read/write” area of the shareable memory region. Instead of re-loading the data from the programmatic module, other JVM processes map to the read-only area and also copy the loaded data from the read/write area into their own private memory regions. The private memory areas of all of the JVM processes begin at the same virtual memory address, so references between read-only data and copied data are preserved correctly. As a result, multiple JVM processes start up faster, and memory is conserved by avoiding the redundant storage of shareable data. |
| US08176137B2 |
Remotely managing a data processing system via a communications network
A management system communicates with at least one remote data processing system, associated with a trading participant, on a technical parameter of at least one remote data processing system. A technical parameter may refer to software configuration data, hardware configuration data, operational status of a data processing system, operational status of a software component of the data processing system, operational status of a hardware component of the data processing system, or otherwise. The management system receives a report message on the technical parameter via a communications network. The management system interprets or processes the report message for a presentation on a user interface of the management system. |
| US08176136B2 |
Schedulable e-mail filters
An e-mail filter may be associated with a schedule defining a recurrent active time period. As such, some e-mail filters may be active at specific times of day and on specific days of the week and inactive the rest of the time. Before applying any filters, the current time is determined and it is determined which filters are active. The determination of which filters are active is based on the current time being within the active time period. |
| US08176134B2 |
Method and system for managing message threads in converged IP messaging service
A mechanism to enable multiple message threads management in the context of the Converged IP Messaging (CPM) service and in the context of CPM inter-working with SMS is provided. A CPM user can simply start a message-based conversation with another CPM or Short Message Service (SMS) user without explicitly establishing a session beforehand. All messages that belong to a given conversation are displayed in the corresponding conversational view (i.e. window) in the CPM user device, even if the conversation is stopped and restarted at a later time, and even if there are multiple message threads available (currently active or stored) in the CPM device. Message structures and behavior of the CPM system elements to enable the functionalities above as well as a mechanism makes the message threads management possible even between a CPM user and an SMS user are also provided. |
| US08176133B2 |
System and method for extracting and managing message addresses
A system and method is disclosed for extracting and maintaining in a virtual address book one or more electronic mail addresses from one or more of the various address fields (e.g., “From,” “To,” “Cc,” “Bcc”) of one or more e-mail messages either transmitted from or received at a predetermined network node (e.g., a client or server). Electronic mail addresses stored in the virtual address book may be made available to “auto-complete” capabilities utilized during the addressing of electronic mail messages. |
| US08176132B2 |
Messaging
A device for transmitting a message for reception by another device, comprising: a processor for adding location information to the message, before transmission, wherein the location information identifies an area within which the message is to be hosted for reception by the other device; and a transmitter for transmitting the message, with the location information. |
| US08176124B2 |
Communication hub for video game development systems having a video game development tool and video game platforms with communication libraries
A video game development system for enhancing communications between development tools and video game platforms or running games. The system includes a communications hub module running on a computer or server and communicatively linked with first and second video game platforms to allow the communications hub module to forward messages to and receive messages from the game platforms. Memory accessible by the communications hub module stores communication data sets or libraries controlling communications with the game platforms. A video game development tool is provided in the system and is communicatively linked with the communications hub module. The development tool transmits messages formatted based on a client-side communications library defining communications with the hub module. The hub module receives the transmitted messages, generates game platform messages from the received messages based on the platform communication libraries, and forwards the game platform messages to the first and second video game platforms. |
| US08176121B2 |
System, network and method for multi-platform publishing and synchronized content
A method for synchronizing content delivery to a plurality of delivery devices of a user. A communications network and a system are also provided. The delivery devices include at least one computer connected to internet and at least one mobile device. The method comprises retrieving profile data concerning the plurality of delivery devices of the user; sending an invitation to deliver content to the plurality of delivery devices of the user; receiving at least two responses to the invitation, for each response received: identifying a responding delivery device of the plurality of delivery devices from which the response is received using the profile data; retrieving a platform type of the responding delivery device accepting the invitation; and retrieving and providing a delivery version of the content in a delivery format acceptable for the platform of the responding delivery device. In one embodiment, the method further comprises tracking usage of the content by the user on each the responding delivery device. |
| US08176118B2 |
Server device, client device, information processing system, information processing method, and program
An information processing method of an information processing system including a client device functioning as a client and a server device functioning as a server which are capable of communication via a network, includes the steps of: at the server device, managing format identification information provided so as to be unique for each content data within the range of each data format, corresponding to the contents of each content; at the client device, causing execution of communication via network, for specifying a content, as to the server device; at the server device, transmitting, to the client device, format identification information correlated with a specified content in response to specification of a content via network from the client device; and at the client device, managing the received and obtained format identification information as corresponding to the specified content. |
| US08176107B2 |
Multi-standard multi-rate filter
A method is provided for decimating a digital signal by a factor of M and matching it to a desired channel bandwidth. The method applies the digital signal input samples to a (M-1) stage tapped delay line, downsamples the input samples and the output samples of each tapped delay line stage by a factor of M, and applies each of the M downsampled sample value streams to M allpass IIR filters, respectively. The M allpass IIR filtered sample streams are then summed and scaled by a factor of 1/M. The result can then be filtered by a digital channel filter. |
| US08176105B2 |
Automated file relocation
A computer-implemented method, system and computer program product for managing computer file storage is presented. In one embodiment the method includes receiving a file for storage. In response to determining that the file exceeds a pre-determined size, the file is stored in a pre-designated folder that is reserved for oversized files. |
| US08176103B2 |
File access method and system
Disclosed is a file accessing method of a file system which manages data by a block unit of a fixed size having an index and provides information associated with a file via a plurality of entries having an index and linked information of each of blocks forming the file. The file accessing method includes providing a hint information area to each of the plurality of entries so as to record an access mode or continuous allocation information for the file, allocating the plurality of blocks to record contents of the file, and recording the access mode in each of the hint information areas of entries corresponding to a first chain group of the allocated blocks and the continuous allocation information in the hint information area of at least one entry corresponding to a second chain group of the allocated blocks. |
| US08176102B2 |
Techniques for extending and controlling access to a common information model (CIM)
Systems and methods for extending and controlling access to a Common Information Model (CIM) are presented. According to an embodiment, access requests for a CIM object manager (CIMOM) pass through a CIM file system (CIMFS) where each access requested is authenticated. The CIMFS maintains and manages a hidden file system representing CIM classes and a CIM class hierarchy on a volume of storage. The structure, metadata, and values for the CIM classes, CIM object, and CIM providers are maintained in a hidden directory on the volume. This information is accessible via the CIMFS to use existing file system management operations. |
| US08176101B2 |
Collaborative rejection of media for physical establishments
A system, computer implemented method, and computer readable storage medium is provided which enables customers of an establishment to collaboratively reject a media file that is currently playing and/or pending to be played within that establishment by entering data into a personal wireless portable computing device on their person, for example a cellular telephone. Upon entering a rejection request, and where necessary an establishment identifier, a message is sent over a wireless link to a media server which performs a series of logical tests to determine if the media file is actually terminated prior to full completion of play. In this way, a plurality of separate customers may use their portable computing devices to collaboratively reject specific musical media file selections that are currently playing or currently pending for play within a particular physical establishment. |
| US08176100B2 |
System for storing and managing objects
A system of the present invention includes a storage device for distinguishably storing old objects that are objects having existed for not less than a predetermined period since being generated and new objects that are objects having existed for less than the predetermined period since being generated. Then, a new object that has existed for less than the predetermined period since being generated is selected from the storage device, and an old object having the same content as the selected new object is searched for. If such an old object is not found, the selected new object is newly stored as an old object in the storage device. If the old object is found, a reference to the selected new object is integrated with a reference to the found old object. If the old object is stored, the reference to the selected new object is changed to a reference to the stored old object. |
| US08176096B2 |
Data visualization interactivity architecture
A data visualization interactivity architecture may be provided. The architecture may allow the creation of a data visualization, such as a chart, and may expose an interactive feature on the visualization. The architecture may provide integration with multiple rendering platforms. When a user selects the exposed feature, the architecture may translate the selection into a common format and modify the data visualization according to layout rules independent of the rendering platform. |
| US08176094B2 |
System and method for efficiently building virtual appliances in a hosted environment
A system and method for efficiently building virtual appliances in a hosted environment is provided. In particular, a plurality of image archives may be stored in a build database, with each image archive including a file system having a directory structure and a plurality of files installed within the directory structure. In response to a build request containing an image description, a build engine may create a file system layout defining a directory structure for an image. The build engine may then copy the file system for one of the image archives to the file system layout for the image, wherein the copied file system may provide a subset of the file system for the image. The build engine may then build the image, which may include a file system having various files installed within various directories in accordance with the directory structure defined for the image. |
| US08176092B2 |
Consistency enforcement system for XML objects stored in an SOA-registry
A consistency enforcement system includes an XML object of an SOA-registry. The XML object includes a plurality of processing task XML elements that define a processing task to be performed the SOA. An updated XML object is received through an interface. The updated object includes at least one additional processing task XML element that defines at least one further processing task to be performed by the SOA. A validation unit is use to query the SOA-registry in order to obtain one or more predefined processing task identifiers. The validation unit matches a processing task identifier of the at least one additional processing task XML element of the updated XML object against the one or more predefined processing task identifiers obtained from the SOA-registry and approves or rejects the updated XML object (20′) depending on the result of the match. |
| US08176091B2 |
Method, a system and a computer program product for detecting a local phenomenon
A system for detecting a local phenomenon, the system includes an interface for receiving queries information from a system for retrieving art related media, and a processor, configured to: (a) create a first local popularity chart, wherein the creating of the first local popularity chart includes enumerating, for each geographic area of a group of sampled geographic areas, identical query strings of queries that are included in a group of queries; (b) create a first global popularity chart, wherein the creating of the first global popularity chart includes enumerating identical query strings of the queries that are included in the group of queries; and (c) select at least one query string in response to a scoring of the query string at the first local popularity chart and to a scoring of the query string at the first global popularity chart; wherein the group of queries includes queries which were queried during a first period of time. |
| US08176090B2 |
Information delivering apparatus, information delivering method, and computer-readable recording medium storing information delivering program
An information delivering apparatus is disclosed. The information delivering apparatus includes a condition information obtaining section which obtains delivering destination information, a conforming information extracting section which extracts new document information stored in an information database based on the delivering destination information obtained by the condition information obtaining section in a profile information generating process which determines whether the new document information stored in the information database is to be delivered to the delivering destination, an information analyzing section which analyzes contents of the newly stored document in the information database and forms characteristic information of the newly stored document, a profile storing section which stores the characteristic information by its being related to the delivering destination information, and a new information delivering section which delivers the newly stored document information which is determined to be delivered to the delivering destination. |
| US08176083B2 |
Generic data object mapping agent
This disclosure relates to computer implemented methods, systems, and software for automatically preparing data from a data object used in an enterprise software application. Updates can be received for first and second data objects, the data objects each including hierarchical data with at least one node. The data objects can be associated with a service-oriented enterprise software application. A mapping, from the first data object to a first structured data element, can be identified using a first mapping agent. A mapping, from the second data object to a second structured data element, can be identified using a first mapping agent. In some instances, data can be loaded from at least one of the first or second data objects using the first mapping agent. Loading data from the data object can be based on the mapping from the data object to the respective structured data element. |
| US08176082B2 |
Search engine and indexing techniques
A local search engine geographically indexes information for searching by identifying a geocoded web page of a web site and identifying at least one geocodable web page of the web site. The system identifies a geocode contained within content of the geocoded web page of the web site. The geocode indicates a physical location of an entity associated with the web site. The system indexes content of the geocoded web page and content of the geocodable web page. The indexing including associating the geocode contained within content of the geocoded web page to the indexed content of the geocoded web page and the geocodable web page to allow geographical searching of the content of the web pages. |
| US08176081B2 |
Forms integration of an external data model not implemented through a document object model (DOM) accessible application programming interface (API)
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to deploying XForms in an enterprise environment and provide a method, system and computer program product for forms integration of an external data model not implemented through a DOM accessible API. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for forms integration of an external data model not implemented through a DOM accessible API can include generating a data graph for an external data model for a forms based application and transforming the data graph into a DOM representation of the data graph. Value changes for fields of a form in the forms based application can be applied to nodes of the DOM representation and mutations in the nodes of the DOM representation can be synchronized to corresponding nodes in the data graph. |
| US08176074B2 |
Methods and systems for querying a tag database
Methods and systems are provided for querying a tag database. The tag database is stored in a storage. An XML document including a database query is received. The database query is written in a query language supported by an agent of the tag database. The XML document is parsed to extract the database query from the XML document. The tag database is accessed to perform at least one or a read or write operation on the tag database, based on the database query. |
| US08176070B2 |
Media plan managing
Apparatus, system and methods for a media plan managing interface are disclosed. A data hierarchy for a media plan is defined. The multilevel data hierarchy includes different levels for orders and placements. An input form is provided to receive modifications to the values in the different levels of the hierarchy. Any modifications of data are compared against the permitted inputs provided through a conditional input field. If the modifications are permitted inputs, then they are accepted and conditional input fields are set up for any subsequent data input. The data hierarchy is stored as a media plan. |
| US08176069B2 |
Systems and methods for improved web searching
Systems and methods are provided for improved web searching. In one implementation, suggested search queries are provided based on previous search queries and click data. A weighted bi-partite graph or index may be used to identify related search queries based on overlapping clicked URLs. According to a method, query-click log data of a search engine is processed to generate sets of suggested search queries, data corresponding to each suggested search query, and a set of clicked URLs related to each suggested search query. Additionally, or independently, methods may be provided for contextually correcting spelling errors within sets of suggested search queries using a contextual algorithm, and/or identifying and discarding sets of suggested search queries and URLs that lead to restricted material, such as restricted content and related URLs. |
| US08176068B2 |
Method and system for suggesting search queries on electronic devices
A method and system implementing a process for suggesting search queries on an electronic device is provided. The process involves displaying terms related to content accessed by a user for selection by the user, obtaining one or more key terms related to a user-selected term, and displaying the one or more key terms to the user as query suggestions corresponding to the selected term. Obtaining one or more key terms involves obtaining one or more key terms related to the selected term, based on local content information and/or external content information. |
| US08176057B2 |
Assessment of a user reputation and a content reliability
A method and system for assessing a user reputation and/or a content reliability on contents sharing web sites is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes defining a networked association between users based on social activity information related to the users' social activities on a contents sharing web site, the users' social activities including social activities between the users and/or social activities of the users on the contents sharing web site; obtaining a link relation for at least one of the users based on the networked association; and computing a user reputation for the at least one of the users based on the link relation. The method may further include computing a content reliability of the at least one user-created contents based on the computed user reputation. |
| US08176055B1 |
Content entity management
A first content entity and one or more associated second content entities are presented to one or more arbiters. Arbiter determinations relating to the association of at least one of the second content entities with the first content entity are received. A determination as to whether the at least one of the second content entities is to be disassociated from the first content entity based on the arbiter determinations can be made. |
| US08176053B2 |
Query system for a hybrid voxel and feature database
A hybrid database can receive a hybrid query for an object having a real world analog. A feature of a set of feature records can be determined that corresponds to the object. Feature-level attribute values of the feature can be extracted from the feature records. A volumetric envelope forming an outer boundary of the feature in a volumetric storage space of the hybrid database can be determined. A set of uniquely indexed voxels can be determined. Each voxel can be a volumetric unit of the volumetric storage space that represent the volume contained by the volumetric envelope. Voxel-level semantic values can be extracted from the set of uniquely indexed voxels from voxel records. Extracted voxel-level semantic values and extracted feature-level attribute values can be combined to generate a hybrid result. The hybrid result can be conveyed to a requestor from which the hybrid query was received. |
| US08176052B2 |
Hyperspace index
Hyperspace index data structure. A data structure indexes identifiers corresponding to parameter patterns. The presence of an identifier in the data structure indicates that the corresponding parameter pattern may be present in a set of parameter patterns, while absence of the indicator can be used to indicate that the corresponding parameter pattern is not present. The data structure includes a first field which includes binary bits or groups of small parameter pattern keyed records. Each binary bit or parameter pattern keyed record corresponds to an identifier corresponding to a parameter pattern. If the bit or record corresponding to the identifier is set or present, the identifier is included in the first field. One or more additional fields are hierarchically below the first data field. Each of the additional fields includes identifiers for a subset of information in the first field. The absence of an identifier corresponding to a parameter pattern at any level in all of the hierarchical threads indicates that the parameter pattern is not present. |
| US08176050B2 |
Method and apparatus of supporting creation of classification rules
This invention is to appropriately support creation of a classification rule for a new data item. This method includes: storing a new data item and a category of the new data item into a storage; extracting feature patterns each including a condition including a feature element of the new data item stored in the storage and a corresponding category from data stored in a correct answer data storage, which stores data items and categories of the data items, and storing the feature patterns into a feature pattern storage; and grouping the feature patterns stored in the feature pattern storage into a first set whose feature pattern matches with the category of the new data item stored in the storage and a second set whose feature pattern does not match with the category of the new data item, and storing a grouping result into a group data storage. Accordingly, the feature pattern, which is a candidate of the classification rule, is automatically generated, and furthermore, it becomes possible to select a specific feature pattern as a classification rule to be applied hereinafter from the first set. |
| US08176044B2 |
Fuzzy proximity boosting and influence kernels
A method and apparatus are provided for ranking documents according to relevancy scoring. In one implementation, a computer-implemented method is provided for receiving, from a database over a network, a document resulting from a search on a database, the document containing terms that match the search criteria. The method may calculate a standard deviation of a probability distribution function representing a distribution of the terms in the document that match the search criteria. The method may further determine relative distances between the terms in the document that match the search criteria according to the standard deviation. The method may further calculate a proximity boost value using the relative distances, and apply the proximity boost value to a base relevancy score of the document to determine a relevancy ranking. The document may then be ranked according to the relevancy ranking. |
| US08176042B2 |
System and method for automatically linking data sources for providing data related to a query
A computer-implemented method of linking a predefined set of electronic data sources comprises electronically identifying a query data item and one or more query dimensions based on a query statement, electronically determining first data sources in which at least one of one or more source fields is equivalent to the query data item, determining whether any one of the first data sources has the ability to provide the data related to the one or more query dimensions, and identifying one or more second data sources within the database corresponding to one or more of the first data sources if it is determined that the first data sources do not have the ability to provide data related to the one or more query dimensions. The one or more second data sources meet the following criteria: (1) one or more source fields of the one or more second data sources are equivalent to the one or more query dimensions not contained in the first data source; and (2) each source dimension of the one or more second data sources are either: (A) equivalent to a source field of the first source or (B) have values that are capable of being obtained from the query statement. One or more first data sources are linked with the corresponding one or more second data sources to generate one or more composite data sources to provide the necessary data in response to the query statement. |
| US08176041B1 |
Delivering search results
Delivering search results is disclosed. A search term is obtained and categories are determined. Results specific to each category are obtained and ranked based on a criterion that is specific to each category. The results are ranked based at least in part on a topic dependent score and may also be ranked in part on a topic independent score. |
| US08176038B2 |
Organizing pointers to objects
The invention may be a method and apparatus of organizing pointers. The pointers may identify addresses where objects are stored. The pointers may be stored in arrays so that at least two key entries are required from an input device for determining a byte and comparing the byte with bytes representing elements of objects in a database. The invention may be embodied as a machine designed to carry out the method, or as a memory device that is capable of causing a computer to carry out the method. |
| US08176029B2 |
Composite display method and system for search engine of same resource information based on degree of attention
A composite display method and system for a search engine of same resource information based on the degree of attention. The search engine finds all the target stations that correspond to some conditions as original results. The original results are combined to a title search result depending on the content, quality, and information of a user, etc. The title search result is displayed on the browser of the user as a search result, and can be expanded when being viewed. The system uses a statistic server and network browser, and all operations of user are converted into the degree of attention for the web pages. The grade value for the degree of attention is sent to the statistic server as the standard of arrangement for the presentation of content and quality. Another method capable of judging the status of the user automatically and providing the suitable web page is also disclosed. |
| US08176017B2 |
Live volume access
This document describes tools capable of enabling an entity requiring exclusive access to data and metadata of a volume to have that exclusive access while also permitting another entity to have access to data and metadata of that volume. The tools, for example, may permit a ChkDsk program to detect and correct data/metadata integrity errors while permitting users to maintain access to a live volume having that data and metadata. In one embodiment the tools create a copy of a logical volume, permit exclusive access to the copy while permitting access to the live volume, and, when the exclusive access is no longer needed, merge the copy and the live volume. |
| US08176012B1 |
Read-only mirroring for load sharing
A system and method that provides users of network data storage with the ability to gain advantages of a clustered storage server system, in which volumes from multiple server nodes are linked into a virtual global hierarchical namespace, without first having to migrate their data to the clustered storage server system. The system and method extends the global namespace of the clustered storage server system to allow access to one or more volumes stored on one or more remote storage servers over at least one network pathway communicably connecting the remote storage servers and the clustered storage server system. In addition, the system and method allows loads to the clustered system and to the remote storage servers to be balanced or shared by generating at least one set of mirrored volumes accessible via the extended global namespace of the clustered system. |
| US08176009B2 |
Performing a pre-update on a non volatile memory
A method of updating an original version of content to a new version of content, in a non-volatile memory storage device, the method includes: providing a non-volatile content memory storage area arranged to accommodate a full version of content; providing an auxiliary memory area; performing, while at least part of the content memory storage area is not being updated, at least one pre-update operation corresponding to at least one in-place update operation applicable, in an in-place update, on the part of the content memory storage area; storing, while at least part of the content memory storage area is not being updated, at least one result of the performed at least one pre-update operation, on the auxiliary memory area; and performing an in-place update of the at least part of the content memory storage area utilizing the at least one result stored on the auxiliary memory area. |
| US08176003B2 |
Automatic designation of XBRL taxonomy tags
The embodiments described herein generally relate to new and alternate systems and methods to associate XBRL tags with financial data. A business user creates a design template that can be used one or more times to create an instance of an XBRL document. A user can select a user interface element to have a system automatically map the XBRL taxonomy tags with portions of financial information. Upon selecting the user interface element, the system determines the best matches for the financial information and the XBRL taxonomy. The matches are recorded or stored in the design template. |
| US08176002B2 |
Method and system for user alteration of the configuration of a data warehouse
Disclosed are methods usable by non-experts for altering a configuration of a data warehouse. The initial configuration of the data warehouse is represented in terms of metadata, and that metadata configuration is presented to a user. The user can choose to alter the metadata configuration. If alterations are made to the metadata, then the underlying configuration of the data warehouse is altered accordingly. Because there may be multiple users wishing to alter aspects of the data warehouse, some embodiments of the present invention enforce approval guidelines so that proposed changes to the data warehouse configuration are only implemented after the appropriate approvals have been secured. By presenting a metadata representation of the data warehouse configuration, the present invention both allows non-experts to have a hand in converting a data warehouse and prevents user errors from corrupting the data warehouse conversion process. |
| US08176000B2 |
Methods and apparatus for discovering traffic on a network
Discovering communication traffic in a computer network is useful to administrators of computer networks. Communication packets from a communication transaction on the network are read to determine a source computing device and to determine whether the communication transaction contains a data pattern match to one of a plurality of defined data patterns. If a match is made to an exact data pattern, the source computing device is associated with an application or service corresponding to that exact data pattern. If a match is made to a statistical data pattern, the source computing device is associated with an application or service corresponding to that statistical data pattern if a threshold number of data pattern matches have occurred for that statistical data pattern for the source computing device. |
| US08175999B2 |
Optimal test ordering in cascade architectures
Methods for optimizing the cost of executing a set of tests including finding the optimal ordering of the tests for some important cases such as set of tests having series-parallel structure with no statistical dependencies, and near-optimal orderings for the rest of the cases, such that the resources required for executing the tests are minimized. |
| US08175994B2 |
Method and system for self-learning issues remediation
A system and method are disclosed for automatically performing remediation operations on a plurality of information handling system (IHS) resources. Survey information related to a user of IHS resources is collected and processed to generate survey information. IHS resources used by the user are determined and associated configuration and operational information is collected and processed to generate imported information. The survey information and the imported information are then processed to generate state analysis information, which is then compared to a plurality of health baseline information. The results of the comparison operations are used to determine individual IHS resources not conforming to predetermined health baseline parameters. If an individual IHS resource does not conform to the predetermined health baseline parameters, then a remediation operation is automatically performed on the individual IHS resource. |
| US08175993B2 |
Computer-readable storage medium having information processing program stored thereon and information processing apparatus
An instruction target object which is located outside a predetermined area of a virtual space is detected at an interval of the unit time, and a substitute icon associated with the instruction target object is displayed in a screen. Next, after it is detected that a first operation has been performed on the substitute icon from the operation data, it is detected that a second operation has also been performed. Based on the pointed position in the screen when the second operation was detected, the instruction target object associated with the substitute icon processed by the first operation is caused to perform a predetermined motion. |
| US08175992B2 |
Methods and systems for compound feature creation, processing, and identification in conjunction with a data analysis and feature recognition system wherein hit weights are summed
Methods and systems for creation, processing, and use of compound features during data analysis and feature recognition are disclosed herein. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention functions to apply a new level of data discrimination during data analysis and feature recognition events such that features are more easily discerned from the remainder of the data pool using processing techniques that are more conducive to human visualizations, perceptions, and/or interpretations of data. This is accomplished using an example tool that allows previously processed and identified features (hereafter “known features”) to be aggregated so as to aid the system in recognizing abstract data features, preferably using Boolean operators and user-assigned hit weight values across desired cluster ranges surrounding analyzed data elements. |
| US08175991B2 |
Business optimization engine that extracts process life cycle information in real time by inserting stubs into business applications
A system and method for optimizing enterprise applications driven by business processes is provided. The system includes a data repository, an extractor to perform real time extraction of process life cycle information from business solutions integrating heterogeneous independent business applications, the extractor storing the extracted information in the data repository, an analyzer to identify usage patterns in the extracted information, and an optimizer to optimize the extracted information and to create exportable output usable by external tools. The analyzer can employ user-defined algorithms and/or rules to identify the usage patterns. The optimizer can use process simulation mechanism, what-if analysis, data stored in the data repository, data stored in a rule repository, and user input data, in any combination, to optimize the extracted information. |
| US08175990B1 |
Situational decision engine and method for contextual user experience
A situational decision engine (SDE) operates within a mobile device or server to present a user with display content specifically optimized to the user's present situation. By acquiring characteristics about the user's present situation, the SDE is capable of analyzing the general state of the user and make decisions about presenting information with situational relevance. With the SDE, promoters and marketing firms may target user incentives and present the incentives based on a correlation of incentive features and the users context. After acquiring key characteristics of a user's context, the SDE analyzes and determines an optimal correlation to available incentives. By optimizing the matching of a promotion, an ad, or a survey to the user's situation, maximum benefit to both user and the promoter may be realized. By analyzing a user's context and presenting display content accordingly, the SDE is able to optimize the user's experience. |
| US08175980B2 |
Hot video prediction system based on user interests social network
A hot video prediction system is provided. A video comments database stores video comments submitted by a plurality of users. A user social network constructor establishes a user social network according to the video comments. When new comments of a new video are received, a hot video predictor uses the user social network to determine a similar theme between the new video and hot videos that have been hot for a period of time, and predicts whether the new video will become popular accordingly. A social network adaptor checks the prediction, and modifies the user social network accordingly. |
| US08175979B2 |
Method and system for anonymous electronic transactions using a mobile device
A method for conducting transactions, includes: encoding concatenated transaction information at a cash point; sending the encoded concatenated transaction information from the cash point to a mobile device; receiving verification information from the mobile device formed in response to the encoded concatenated transaction information; confirming the received verification information; completing a transaction in the event of successfully confirming the received verification information. |
| US08175977B2 |
License management for digital content
A method and apparatus for digital content license management is disclosed that provides one or more license management devices that manage licenses for playback of digital content. The license management devices create licenses having an associated cardinality that determines the number of playback devices that can be authorized by the license. The license is stored in a set of playback devices, where the number of playback devices in the set corresponds to the cardinality of the license. The license is also included in digital content that the license authorizes for playback. Playback devices that have a license that matches a license included in the digital content are authorized to play the digital content. A single license can be used to provide authorization to play digital content from multiple sources and/or multiple types of content. Playback devices can store multiple licenses, which allows playback devices to belong to multiple sets of playback devices authorized to playback various digital content. In one embodiment digital content files can contain multiple licenses to allow the content files to be shared by multiple sets of playback devices. |
| US08175976B2 |
Method for providing and obtaining content
In a data providing server 1101, whether or not specified compressed content data D51 generated by means of a specified compression coding method corresponding to terminal identification information has been stored in a content database 1113 is detected, according to content specifying data D53 transmitted from a portable dedicated terminal 1104. If the specified compressed content data D51 has been stored, the data providing server 1101 reads and transmits this to the portable dedicated terminal 1104. And if the specified compressed content data D51 has not been stored, the data providing server 1101 generates the specified compressed content data D51 by means of the specified compression coding method, and transmits this to the portable dedicated terminal 1104. Thereby, the specified compressed content data D51 generated by means of a specified decoding method can be properly provided to the portable dedicated terminal 1104, and the user can easily view a content based on the content data. |
| US08175975B2 |
IMS device operable for financial transaction authorization and ID cards display
IMS networks and methods are disclosed for authorizing financial transactions. Credit card information, debit card information, and other purchasing data may be consolidated into an IMS device for conducting financial transactions, such as the purchasing of items from a merchant. Before a financial transaction can be completed, an IMS device transmits transaction data for the financial transaction to the IMS network. The IMS network then processes predefined purchasing rules to determine whether or not the financial transaction is authorized. If the financial transaction is authorized, then the IMS network transmits a confirmation message to the IMS device indicating that the financial transaction is authorized. If the financial transaction is not authorized, then the IMS network transmits a cancel message to the IMS device indicating that the financial transaction is not authorized. |
| US08175973B2 |
Internet payment, authentication and loading system using virtual smart card
A system loads, authenticates and uses a virtual smart card for payment of goods and/or services purchased on-line over the Internet. An online purchase and load (OPAL) server includes a virtual smart card data base that has a record of information for each smart card that it represents for a user at the behest of an issuer. The server includes a smart card emulator that emulates a smart card by using the card data base and a hardware security module. The emulator interacts with a pseudo card reader module in the server that imitates a physical card reader. The server also includes a client code module that interacts with the pseudo card reader and a remote payment or load server. A pass-through client terminal presents a user interface and passes information between the OPAL server and a merchant server, and between the OPAL server and a bank server. The Internet provides the routing functionality between the client terminal and the various servers. A merchant advertises goods on a web site. A user uses the client terminal to purchase goods and/or services from the remote merchant server. The payment server processes, confirms and replies to the merchant server. The payment server is also used to authenticate the holder of a virtual card who wishes to redeem loyalty points from a merchant. To load value, the client terminal requests a load from a user account at the bank server. The load server processes, confirms and replies to the bank server. |
| US08175970B1 |
Cash to card recycling
An end-to-end currency handling and management system and method include a recycler system configured to receive currency, deposit the currency into a desired account and make the currency immediately available. The currency may, in one or more examples, belong to an employee at a business. In such instances, the recycler system may be configured to deposit the currency into an account, such as a pre-paid cash card account, designated by the employee. This allows an employee to avoid carrying large amounts of cash which may lead to loss or theft. At the same time, the deposited currency would be available for use by the business for conducting other transactions. |
| US08175965B2 |
System and method for providing prepaid services via an internet protocol network system
A system and method are disclosed for providing prepaid services via an open network architecture system having access to a network, such as the Internet via an Internet protocol. The architecture system is operated by a system operator and includes a customer profile database which stores various customer-related information, such as customer names and their respective payment and contact information, a plurality of databases each storing prepaid accounts for a particular prepaid service, such as telephony, Internet access, paging, and cellular, and web-site system hardware connected to the customer profile database and the plurality of databases and to a network, such as the Internet, for ubiquitously accessing the databases via the Internet for viewing and managing one's prepaid services, as well as purchasing additional prepaid services and/or usage rights. The architecture system further includes network hardware connected to the web-site system hardware for enabling outside system operators, e.g., wholesalers, online retailers, system developers and ISPs, to utilize the architecture system to brand their own prepaid services and offer them through the architecture system. |
| US08175964B2 |
Systems and methods for financing renewable energy systems
A method for financing renewable energy systems includes offering a home loan to a homeowner in which the interest payable by the homeowner are tax deductible. A lease is also offered to the homeowner for the installation and use of a renewable energy system. A deposit of cash proceeds from the home loan is put into a trust held by an escrow agent for the single purpose of paying lease payments for the lease as each payment becomes due. Such that the proceeds from the home loan are effectively used to defease the debt represented by the lease. |
| US08175963B2 |
Methods and systems for accepting offers via checks
In accordance with one or more embodiments, a method and system are provided for facilitating the processing of at least one check in accordance with an offer which the account holder may accept, in one example, via a check being presented by the account holder as payment for a transaction. |
| US08175959B2 |
System and method for implementing financial transaction
A method for executing a trade is provided that includes communicating financial information to a handheld device via a network, the financial information being associated with a trade that can be initiated by the handheld device. The handheld device is connected to the network via a Push to Trade™ protocol. The method also includes executing the trade on behalf of the end user. |
| US08175957B1 |
Call for quote/price system and methods for use in a wholesale financial market
An electronic trading system and associated methods that provide for anonymous pricing data while ensuring the integrity of the system by preventing it from being used for price discovery information only. Methods are included to police the dealers requesting price information and clear rules are implemented to reward the dealer offering the best price. Dealers request price information by submitting an open (not anonymous) request to a broker for a price on an amount of a security or financial instrument, referred to herein as a “Price-For-Call,” which results in an anonymous RFQ being sent to a group of other dealers. If more than one dealer in the group responds with a price, only the best price (bid or offer or both) is returned to the requesting dealer and only the dealer offering the best price is rewarded with knowledge of the price information by virtue of the fact that his price traded. |
| US08175955B2 |
User interface for an electronic trading system
A user interface for an electronic trading exchange is provided which allows a remote trader to view in real time bid orders, offer orders, and trades for an item, and optionally one or more sources of contextual data. Individual traders place orders on remote client terminals, and this information is routed to a transaction server. The transaction server receives order information from the remote terminals, matches a bid for an item to an offer for an item responsive to the bid corresponding with the offer, and communicates outstanding bid and offer information, and additional information (such as trades and contextual data) back to the client terminals. Each client terminal displays all of the outstanding bids and offers for an item, allowing the trader to view trends in orders for an item. A priority view is provided in which orders are displayed as tokens at locations corresponding to the values of the orders. The size of the tokens reflects the quantity of the orders. An alternate view positions order icons at a location which reflects the value and quantity of the order. Additionally, contextual data for the item is also displayed to allow the trader to consider as much information as possible while making transaction decisions. A pit panel view is also provided in which traders connected to the pit are represented by icons, and are displayed corresponding to an activity level of the trader. |
| US08175953B1 |
Prepaid short messaging
A prepaid messaging solution using open networking standards (e.g., TCP/IP) to support pre-payment of Internet messaging services. The disclosed prepaid architectures/methods determine if a subscriber has sufficient account balance to deliver a short message, prior to message delivery. A message may be prevented from being delivered (at the source end or destination end) if a subscriber account has insufficient funds. A prepaid tariff engine supports remote interaction with the SMSC and web chat servers to apply real-time billing for each message. A service provider may define subscriber rates and/or tariffing plans to apply real-time billing for sending/receiving messages. Message billing may be based upon, e.g., rate per message, message count, character count, Time of Day, Day of Week, message type, and/or mobile location. The prepaid short messaging service preferably supports internet access to subscriber's account balances and status maintained in the prepaid short messaging database of the prepaid messaging server. |
| US08175952B2 |
System and method for managing a group insurance policy
According to one embodiment, a method for managing a group life insurance policy with a plurality of certificates is provided. The group life insurance policy is at least partially funded by a financial account comprising one or more payments paid by a sponsor. The one or more payments are expected to fund the group life insurance policy for a multi-year period. The group life insurance policy is configured to provide life insurance coverage for a plurality of persons pursuant to the plurality of certificates. |
| US08175950B1 |
Systems and methods for determining bids for placing advertisements
Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided for determining a bid value for placing an advertisement onto advertising space available through an electronic marketplace. A method is used for calculating the option value of maintaining the advertisement in the advertising space during one or more periods of time. The option value may be based on expected profits and the estimated future value of maintaining the advertisement. The option value may then be used to calculate the bid price for placing the advertisement. |
| US08175948B2 |
Computer-based system
A computer-based system for determining insurance premium taxes (IPT) for multiple clients 18 in a plurality of countries comprises an electronic database 12 containing data identifying (a) a plurality of classes of risk in each country for which IPT is payable, (b) the tax rates for each tax type applicable to each class of risk in each country, (c) the tax-collection organization(s) in each country for each class of risk, and (d) financial data supplied by clients. Software 10 associated with the database receives financial data from each client relating to insurance transactions for which IPT is payable and stores said data in the database 12, determines from said financial data the relevant class(es) of risk for each country and the tax payable in respect thereof to each tax-collection organization in the country, and prepares a tax return for each transaction for which IPT is due. |
| US08175947B2 |
System and method for administering fixed index annuities
A system for administering an insurance account includes a processor; a memory in communication with the processor; the processor being adapted to: access data indicative of a value of an index calculated based on a formula including as factors prices of individual equity securities; access data indicative of dividend yield; access data indicative of an asset value of an insurance account having a value based on the index; determine an updated asset value of the insurance account based on change in the index and on the dividend amount paid; store the determined updated asset value in the memory; and provide an output signal indicative of the determined updated asset value. |
| US08175946B2 |
System and method for providing the execution probability of a limit order
A system, method and computer program product are described for providing the execution probability of a limit order within a given time period based on historical and current information and for adaptively and dynamically adjusting to intra-day trade data. For a given financial interest, the frequency of trade execution, the time evolution of the price, the time evolution of the trade volume, and the current state of the market, among other parameters, are captured and/or calculated. A probability function is generated based on the parameters corresponding to various time spans, and the execution probability of a limit order within a given time period is provided. Embodiments of the invention can be employed to estimate the probability of a limit order being executed within a given time period in the future, e.g., the next two minutes, based on the parameter data of a given time period in the past, e.g., the previous five minutes. |
| US08175940B2 |
Method and system for administering a variable universal life insurance product having a volatility reduction feature
A method and system of administering a financial product having a volatility reduction feature comprises providing a life insurance policy having a cash surrender value, creating at least one subaccount associated with the policy, storing a number of accumulation units associated with the subaccount, storing a plurality of accumulation unit values, calculating an average of stored accumulation unit values and using the average to determine a target unit value. The surrender value of the subaccount is periodically determined by multiplying the number of accumulation units by the target unit value. The surrender value of the subaccount is used to periodically determine the cash surrender value of the insurance policy. |
| US08175933B2 |
Interactive exploded view diagram ordering tool
The present invention provides a method and computer-readable medium for executing a method of placing an order for a sub-component (part) of a product, including generally three steps: displaying a diagram depicting sub-components of a product in an exploded view on a user screen; receiving a user selection of a sub-component to be ordered; and processing the selection of a sub-component to be ordered. Optionally, the method may allow the user to selectively view further information pertinent to displayed sub-components, such as their prices and specifications, or to selectively zoom in on and zoom out of the exploded view or to scroll the exploded view. The method thus assists the user when attempting to identify and/or order a sub-component for the product. The method may also be implemented in a stand-alone computer system. |
| US08175928B2 |
Method and system for linking eProcurement to virtual communities
An e-commerce system, comprising a master console software application executing on a first network-connected server and accessible to a plurality of external systems used by merchants, a shopping cart software application executing on a second network-connected server and coupled to the first server, and interface software executing on the second server for interacting with content associated with a first user is disclosed, wherein a merchant interacts with the master console software application to load information about a product available for promotion and sale by the first user, the master console software application makes that information available to the shopping cart software application, and the interface software provides information and code related to the specific product to the content, the code compatible with the content, and upon the code being activated in the content by a second user, the second user is connected to the shopping cart software application, and is thereby enabled to buy the product. |
| US08175927B2 |
E-commerce based method and system for manufacturer hosting of virtual dealer stores and method for providing a systemization of machine parts
An e-commerce based method for requesting information and purchasing products from a dealer through a manufacturer is disclosed. This method and system includes sending a request for detailed dealer information to a manufacturer server system using a client system and displaying real-time detailed dealer information on the client system based on the request, the real-time detailed dealer information received from the manufacturer server system, the manufacturer server system accessing the real-time detailed dealer information from a remote dealer server system via a middleware application system. |
| US08175926B1 |
Event and services inventory management system
A method and system are described for event and service inventory management. One embodiment comprises: in response to a user request for tickets to an event, searching a database for available tickets of a set of tickets purchased prior in time; displaying to a user information about booked but unused tickets; and, in response to identifying unused tickets, allowing the user to book the available event tickets, without the user having received separate authorization to obtain tickets to the event. |
| US08175923B2 |
Customer checkout accelerator
A system and method for accelerating customer sales transactions in a retail store. A customer checkout accelerator provides a customer user interface initiate a request for a preapproval amount for a sales transaction before reaching the point of sale for completion of the purchase transaction. A card reader integrated into the customer checkout accelerator reads a customer payment card number when the payment card is swiped through the reader. A customer checkout accelerator server module resident on a store controller server determines a preapproval amount for the sales action and transmits the request to an external card services system for payment approval. The customer checkout accelerator also provides the ability to purchase additional promotional items in the checkout lane with this process integrated into the payment preapproval process. Once payment approval is obtained from the external card services system, an entry is placed in a preapproval database associated with the customer checkout accelerator server module on the store controller server. The server module forwards the approval notification to the point of sales terminal where it is placed in a preapproval cache for use in completing the actual sale transaction. |
| US08175917B2 |
Method and apparatus for customer specific based food preparation prediction
A food preparation predicting system and method in one embodiment includes a detector for obtaining customer information, a memory including program instructions for obtaining customer information from the detector, associating the customer information with stored customer specific preference information, generating a pseudo-order based upon the associated preference information, generating food preparation information based upon the pseudo-order, and displaying the food preparation information, and a processor operably connected to the camera and the memory for executing the program instructions. |
| US08175916B2 |
Image forming system and image forming apparatus
An image forming system includes a sheet accommodating section, an image forming section, a term management section, a detecting section, and a display section. The sheet accommodating section has a plurality of sheet trays each accommodating therein printing sheets with advertisement. The term management section has stored therein information on a term of validity of the advertisement as advertisement term information connected with a sheet tray. The detecting section detects whether or not the advertisement is currently valid, based on the advertisement term information. Also, the detecting section determines during printing whether or not the term of validity of the advertisement on the printing sheets accommodated in a sheet tray being used in printing has expired. The display section displays information that a sheet tray other than the sheet tray being used is present which accommodates therein printing sheets each carrying an advertisement which is currently valid, if any. |
| US08175908B1 |
Systems and methods for constructing and utilizing a merchant database derived from customer purchase transactions data
The invention relates to a method and system, including a computer system for storing and manipulating transaction data including transaction purchase information, customer demographics information, and merchant information, the computer system comprising a storage device for storing the transaction data and a processor for processing the transaction data. The method may include obtaining transaction purchase information generated from a plurality of sources; generating customer profile information based on the transaction purchase information; and obtaining merchant information relating to at least one merchant. The method may further include generating merchant profile information based on the merchant information and purchase transaction information; and processing the customer profile information and the merchant profile information in combination to generate business information; wherein the business information includes at least one selected from the group consisting of merchant profit information, merchant bankruptcy information, merchant revenue, merchant profit projections, and merchant market share. |
| US08175903B2 |
Method and system for screening and evaluation of research panel members
System and method for optimizing composition of a pool from which members are selected to serve on market research panels are described. In one embodiment, the system includes a database comprising a plurality of member profiles and survey data associated with the members and a datamart for periodically scanning the database to discover events and subsequently logging each of the discovered events in an event log. The system further includes an offense module for periodically evaluating the event log to determine whether one of the discovered events comprises an offense committed by one of the members and logging the offense in an offense log and an audit module for performing an audit of the one of the members and logging results of the audit in an audit log. |
| US08175902B2 |
Semantics-based interests in computing environments and systems
An input situation can be represented by at least a first context variable. Data that includes interest values for multiple context variables can be provided and obtained. The obtained data can include a first data pertaining to the input situation and a second data pertaining to one or more other situations. It can be determined whether the first context variable is associated with a discrete range of values or a continuous range of values. At least a portion of data pertaining to the situations can be determined to be proximate data when the first context variable is associated with a continuous range of values. Based on the input situation and the proximate data, an interest value for the first input situation can be determined as a prediction of the interest in the input situation. |
| US08175900B2 |
Life insurance strategic value
The present disclosure includes devices, methods, and systems for determining the strategic value of a life insurance strategy at a future point in time. One device embodiment can include a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and program instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to perform a statistical sampling method to determine a strategic value of a life insurance strategy at a number of particular future points in time using a death benefit value of a life insurance policy, a cash surrender value of the policy, a mortality probability for an insured subject of the policy, and a projected investment return on a reinvestment of the death benefit value, at each of the number of particular future points in time. |
| US08175899B2 |
Systems and methods for processing a request to repair or replace an item covered by insurance
A method of providing insurance to a customer that comprises the steps of: (1) selling a service contract to the customer that provides protection against the mechanical breakdown or other failure of an item (and in some cases, accidental damage); and (2) in response to the customer purchasing the service contract, providing, at no cost to the customer, third-party-paid insurance coverage that protects the customer against damage to the item, which, in some cases, includes accidental damage. In one embodiment of the invention, the step of providing the third-party-paid insurance coverage is done in order to permit the provision of insurance without the use of a licensed insurance agent. |
| US08175897B2 |
Score based decisioning
The invention aids an entity operating on the Internet or on another network to selectively request additional data about a user who has made a request for an interaction with the entity. The invention helps an entity to determine when and how to request additional data so as to reduce the likelihood of causing the user to have an adverse reaction, e.g., terminate the interaction. One embodiment of the invention concerns customers requesting transactions with on-line merchants. More specifically, this embodiment aids merchants by detecting Internet credit card transactions that are likely to be fraudulent, and providing the merchants with mechanisms for managing a suspected transaction as it occurs to obtain additional information that can be useful to reducing the likelihood of fraud. |
| US08175896B2 |
Computer systems and methods for selecting subjects for clinical trials
Computers, computer program products, and methods for identifying a plurality of subjects for a clinical trial are provided. A candidate set of molecular profiles in a stored plurality of molecular profiles are identified. Each such profile has measurements for a discriminating set of cellular constituents that match the measurements of corresponding cellular constituents in a responder set of biological samples, thereby identifying the plurality of subjects for the trial from those subjects from which the candidate set of molecular profiles were derived. Each respective molecular profile in the stored plurality of profiles has measurements of a plurality of cellular constituents from a respective biological sample in a plurality of samples obtained from a first plurality of subjects. The discriminating set of cellular constituents is identified from those cellular constituents in the plurality of cellular constituents whose measurement values discriminates between the responder and nonresponder sets of biological samples. |
| US08175890B2 |
Pharmacy based method and algorithm for handling of radioactive pharmaceuticals and generating of reports therefrom
An algorithm for generating of a program, as well as an associated method for handling of radioactive pharmaceuticals by a pharmacy so that data may be maintained on the acquisition, dispensing and handling of the radioactive pharmaceuticals and the disposition thereof. The algorithm and method allow for data to be electronically introduced in generally temporal relationship to the performance of physical activities. In addition, the algorithm and the method allow for computerized generation of required governmental reports, which thereby reduces the amount of manual operator attention which would otherwise be required. In addition, the algorithm and method allows for periodic information to be sent to quality control assurance personnel for generation of reports and information by such personnel. |
| US08175886B2 |
Determination of signal-processing approach based on signal destination characteristics
A comprehensive system and method for telematics including the following features individually or in sub-combinations: vehicle user interfaces, telecommunications, speech recognition, digital commerce and vehicle parking, digital signal processing, wireless transmission of digitized voice input, navigational assistance for motorists, data communication to vehicles, mobile client-server communication, extending coverage and bandwidth of wireless communication services, and noise reduction. |
| US08175885B2 |
Controlling a set-top box via remote speech recognition
A device may receive over a network a digitized speech signal from a remote control that accepts speech. In addition, the device may convert the digitized speech signal into text, use the text to obtain command information applicable to a set-top box, and send the command information to the set-top box to control presentation of multimedia content on a television in accordance with the command information. |
| US08175882B2 |
Method and system for accent correction
A method for task execution improvement, the method includes: generating a baseline model for executing a task; recording a user executing a task; comparing the baseline model to the user's execution of the task; and providing feedback to the user based on the differences in the user's execution and the baseline model. |
| US08175878B1 |
Representing n-gram language models for compact storage and fast retrieval
Systems, methods, and apparatuses, including computer program products, are provided for representing language models. In some implementations, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes generating a compact language model including receiving a collection of n-grams from the corpus, each n-gram of the collection having a corresponding first probability of occurring in the corpus and generating a trie representing the collection of n-grams. The method also includes using the language model to identify a second probability of a particular string of words occurring. |
| US08175873B2 |
System and method for referring to entities in a discourse domain
Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media for referring to entities. The method includes receiving domain-specific training data of sentences describing a target entity in a context, extracting a speaker history and a visual context from the training data, selecting attributes of the target entity based on at least one of the speaker history, the visual context, and speaker preferences, generating a text expression referring to the target entity based on at least one of the selected attributes, the speaker history, and the context, and outputting the generated text expression. The weighted finite-state automaton can represent partial orderings of word pairs in the domain-specific training data. The weighted finite-state automaton can be speaker specific or speaker independent. The weighted finite-state automaton can include a set of weighted partial orderings of the training data for each possible realization. |
| US08175869B2 |
Method, apparatus, and medium for classifying speech signal and method, apparatus, and medium for encoding speech signal using the same
A method, apparatus, and medium for classifying a speech signal and a method, apparatus, and medium for encoding the speech signal using the same are provided. The method for classifying a speech signal includes calculating classification parameters from an input signal having block units, calculating a plurality of classification criteria from the classification parameters, and classifying the level of the input signal using the plurality of classification criteria. The classification parameters include at least one of an energy parameter of the input signal, a cross-correlation parameter between a specific block of a present frame and the input signal, and an integrated cross-correlation parameter obtained by accumulating the cross-correlation parameter. |
| US08175866B2 |
Methods and apparatus for post-processing of speech signals
A method for post-processing of speech signals includes using a pitch correction filter, a pitch weight parameter adjustor, and a first pitch enhancement filter to process the input signal into a first output signal; summing both the input signal and the first output signal as a second output signal; and using a second pitch enhancement filter to process the second output signal. Furthermore, another method for post-processing of speech signals includes using a second pitch enhancement filter to process the input signal into a second output signal; using a pitch correction filter, a pitch weight parameter adjustor, and a first pitch enhancement filter to process the second output signal into a first output signal; and summing both the second output signal and the first output signal as a final output signal. The two methods can simultaneously realize pitch emphasis and enhancement with low computation complexity. |
| US08175860B2 |
Method of inhibiting the growth of Helicobacter pylori
A method of identifying a drug candidate to a target protein for inhibiting shikimate pathway comprising (a) performing a molecular program for computing a molecule conformation and orientation relative to an active site of the target protein and selecting top-rank molecules, (b) generating protein-molecule interacting profiles and identifying conserved interactions and pharmacophore spots, (c) developing homologous pharmacophore models for identifying pharmacophore hot spots, (d) rescoring molecules selected from step (a) by their homologous pharmacophore scores, (e) selecting potential molecules having the highest homologous pharmacophore scores, and (f) acquiring corresponding real compounds of the potential molecules selected from step (c) and identifying their inhibitory activity on the target protein by bioassay. |
| US08175859B1 |
Efficient method for pressure dependent water distribution analysis
A computer software program provides an algorithm that solves for unknown demands (and junction pressures) within a modeling system that uses a generalized, unified loop-node formulation. The program can be used to calculate the available demand (i.e., the amount of water that is to be supplied) according to the nodal pressure. Both nodal heads and flows are simultaneously solved using a gradient algorithm, which allows, in accordance with the present invention, the model to simulate situations where a change in pressure affects the quantity of water used. Criticality analyses for segments of a system in such pressure dependent scenarios can also be performed using the software program of the present invention. |
| US08175858B2 |
Machining simulation apparatus
A machining simulation apparatus (1) includes a model storage (4) for storing information about machining models (11) that define mechanical elements, such as spindle heads and tables, jig models (12) that define jigs, such as chucks and holders, material models (13) that defines the shapes of workpieces, and tool models (14) that defines the shapes of tools for machining the workpieces. Each tool model comprises a machining tool model (14A) and an interference check tool model (14B). A material model is machined with the machining tool model (14A) according to an axis movement command for cutting feed so as to update the shape of the material model. Subsequently, interference of the interference check tool model with the material model, jig models, and machine models are checked for according to an axis movement command for rapid traverse. |
| US08175855B2 |
Predictive system and method for the design of mechanical resonant devices
A method and system for predicting the quality factor of a mechanical resonant (MR) device. The system and method simulates uncoupled elastic vibration of the MR device to produce simulated dilatation and collects data relating to the dilatation and maximum stored elastic vibration energy. It determines the internal heat source data of the MR device caused by dilatation based on the thermal expansion effect of the MR device material, conveying the internal heat source data along with transient heat conduction data to a simulation engine, which simulates and determines the temperature variation. Thermoelastic damping over one cycle of vibration is determined, enabling the prediction of the quality factor relating to thermoelastic damping over one cycle of vibration of the MR device, and the maximum elastic vibration energy stored over one cycle of vibration. |
| US08175850B2 |
Monitoring system with dynamically configurable non-interfering signal processing
A monitoring system with dynamically configurable non-interfering signal processing is disclosed. In one aspect, data relating to the management of the operation of a machine and data relating to the safety protection of the machine are combined in a non-interfering manner. |
| US08175848B2 |
Data processing systems and methods
An Asset Health Management system monitors and analyzes the health of a component of an asset. A sensor network, with one or more sensors operably coupled to an asset component, collects sensor data associated with operating characteristics of the asset component. A processing node (a System Health Node) includes one or more modules, i.e., software functions, and one or more configuration files. The processing node processes the sensor data with the one or more modules according to the one or more configuration files and determines health information corresponding to the asset component. The one or more modules receive and transmit input and output data, respectively, via data streams that organize the input and output data, e.g., according to time stamps and that may be cached. The health information may be displayed on user interfaces and/or may be transmitted over an information network to external systems. |
| US08175845B1 |
Space- and time-efficient management and summarization of data using intermediate summary structure and hierarchical multidimensional histogram
A method maintains a multidimensional histogram for a data array having a data array size, the method having a processing time substantially less than proportional to the data array size. The method involves (104) receiving a data update that indicates a change to data in the data array; (106) with the data update, updating an intermediate data structure having a size substantially smaller than the data array size, so that the updated intermediate data structure remains an at-least-approximate representation of the data in the data array as changed by the data update; (110) collecting a number of substantially-largest-coefficient linear combinations of then-current data, the number being small compared with the data array size; and (114) forming the multidimensional histogram as a histogram to an intermediate data array re synthesized from the collected linear combinations. Another method prepares a multidimensional histogram for a data array, the data array characterized by a data array size and including data, the method having an execution time proportional to the data array size and using an amount of storage space substantially smaller than the data array size. The method involves (802) receiving data from the data array; (802) transforming the data into linear combinations of data items, or of approximations of the linear combinations of data items; (804) collecting a moderate number of substantially-largest-coefficient linear combinations of the data; and (806) forming the multidimensional histogram as a histogram to the collected linear combinations. |
| US08175842B2 |
Method and system for measuring a component
A method for measuring the profile of a component in the region of an edge of the component comprises the following steps: determining the position of an edge point of the component; defining a center line for the component in the region of the edge; and measuring at least one dimension of the component with reference to the center line. |
| US08175841B2 |
Colour feedback with single optical sensor
A method for controlling an illumination system comprises determining first drive settings for each of a plurality of colored light sources, the first drive settings generating an ON and an OFF time of the light sources; for each of the light sources of a first color and the light sources of a second color changing the first drive settings so that the ON time of the light sources of a selected one of the first and second color does not coincide with the ON time of the light sources of the other colors for at least a period of time, and during that period, measuring the peak luminance of the light sources; and for each of the light sources of the first and second color recalculating the drive settings, based on the measured peak luminance for the light sources of that color, so as to maintain a pre-determined color point. |
| US08175838B2 |
Device for vehicle running test
In a running test, vehicle wheels are mounted on rollers. Each roller receives torque corresponding to the running resistance, which is a value corresponding to the running resistance applied to the vehicle on actual ground. The actual friction coefficient between the wheels and the rollers is calculated. The running resistance is corrected such that the actual friction coefficient becomes equal to the friction coefficient on actual ground that is calculated based on the slip ratio of the wheels with respect to the rollers. This approximates the running resistance applied to the vehicle by the rollers to the running resistance applied to the vehicle on actual ground as the torque is applied to the rollers in correspondence with the corrected running resistance. This prevents the drive force produced by the vehicle in the running test from becoming different than the drive force that is produced when running on actual ground. |
| US08175837B2 |
Method of estimating support state of an electronic apparatus housing and electronic apparatus
In a method of estimating one of mechanical supporting states of a housing for an electronic apparatus, a drive signal is supplied to an oscillation device from which first oscillation is applied to the housing. A sensor detects a second oscillation transferred through the housing in response to the first oscillation to generate an oscillation signal, and a measurement response characteristic is obtained based on the drive signal and the oscillation signal, and is compared with reference response characteristics which are correlated with the mechanical supporting states, respectively, to estimate one of the mechanical supporting states of the housing. |
| US08175834B2 |
Measurement system and method for monitoring the measurement system
In a method for monitoring a measurement system having a transmitter which determines the position of a moveable element and has a transmitter clock, and an electrical energy store which, in the event of a failure of an external electrical supply voltage for the transmitter, continues to supply electrical power to at least a part of the transmitter, including the transmitter clock. After the external electrical supply voltage has been restored, the clock time of the transmitter clock is compared with a clock time of an external clock, and an incorrectly determined position is identified on the basis of the comparison of the clock times. |
| US08175833B2 |
System and method for multi-axis simulation
A multi-axis fatigue testing device includes a multiple input, multiple output mechanical linkage driven by a plurality of actuators and a controller operating each of the plurality of actuators in real time and in synchronization to produce user-defined multiple fatigue cycle profiles. A startup method enables a sample mounted at an arbitrary multi-axis state to receive a desired simulation profile while maintaining the sample below any of the extremum values of the desired simulation profile. |
| US08175832B2 |
Automatic sensor-calibration method
Provided is an automatic sensor-calibration method in which a state change of a sensor, caused by aging characteristics or contamination of the sensor, is sensed by a sensor input unit to adjust, according to the sensed state change of the sensor, a slice level used as a criterion for a light receiving device to determine whether a medium exists, or the slice level is adjusted according to the sensed state change of the sensor and a current level of a light emitting device is adjusted when the slice level reaches a preset absolute slice level, or when contamination of the sensor is removed, the current level of the light emitting device is reduced to a minimum step, the slice level is set, and then the current level of the light emitting device is adjusted based on the set slice level, thereby preventing malfunction of the sensor. |
| US08175831B2 |
Methods and systems for creating or performing a dynamic sampling scheme for a process during which measurements are performed on wafers
Various methods and systems for creating or performing a dynamic sampling scheme for a process during which measurements are performed on wafers are provided. One method for creating a dynamic sampling scheme for a process during which measurements are performed on wafers includes performing the measurements on all of the wafers in at least one lot at all measurement spots on the wafers. The method also includes determining an optimal sampling scheme, an enhanced sampling scheme, a reduced sampling scheme, and thresholds for the dynamic sampling scheme for the process based on results of the measurements. The thresholds correspond to values of the measurements at which the optimal sampling scheme, the enhanced sampling scheme, and the reduced sampling scheme are to be used for the process. |
| US08175830B2 |
Frequency estimation of rare events by adaptive thresholding
A method and system for estimating a magnitude of extremely rare events upon receiving a complete data sample and a specific exceedance probability are described. A distribution is chosen for a complete data sample. An optimal subsample fitted to the distribution is obtained. The optimal subsample is a largest acceptable subsample. A subsample is considered as an acceptable subsample when a goodness-of-fit test on the subsample is satisfactory (i.e., higher than a predetermined threshold). In addition, if a tail measure of an acceptable subsample lies outside a confidence interval of any smaller acceptable subsample, the acceptable subsample is considered as an unacceptable. Based on the optimal subsample and an inputted exceedance probability, a quantile estimate is computed, e.g., by executing an inverse of a cumulative distribution function of generalized Pareto distribution. |
| US08175827B2 |
RF probe technique for determining plasma potential
An rf probe is placed within a plasma and an rf signal from a network analyzer for a given dc bias voltage Vp is applied The frequency applied by the network analyzer, ω, is less than the plasma frequency, ωpe, and therefore is not in the resonant absorption range (ω=ωpe) used to determine electron density in typical rf impedance probe operation. Bias voltages at the applied frequency are applied to the probe in a series of voltage steps in a range which includes the plasma potential. At each bias step, a value of Re(Zac), the real part of the plasma's complex impedance, is returned by the analyzer. A local minimum in the real part of the impedance Re(Zac) occurs where the applied bias voltage Vp equals the plasma potential φp. The plasma potential φp can be found by taking the first derivative of Re(Zac) with respect to Vp, ⅆ ( Re ( Z a c ) ⅆ V p , and finding the value of Vp at which ⅆ ( Re ( Z a c ) ⅆ V p = 0 within error tolerances. |
| US08175824B2 |
Circuit testing apparatus
A circuit testing apparatus for testing capacitance of a capacitor of a device under test is provided. The circuit testing apparatus includes a measuring module, a first converting module, a processing module and a second converting module. The measuring module provides a testing signal, and determines the capacitance of the capacitor according to a signal measuring result of the testing signal. The first converting module is coupled to the measuring module for converting the testing signal to generate a testing input signal. The processing module is coupled to the first converting module and the device under test for transmitting the testing input signal to the capacitor, and amplifies an output signal generated by the capacitor to generate an amplified signal. The second converting module is coupled to the processing module and the measuring module for converting the amplified signal to generate the signal measuring result. |
| US08175822B2 |
Method for measuring the pressure and/or molar mass of a gas in a housing, and corresponding measurement assembly
The invention relates to a method for measuring the pressure and/or molar mass of a gas in a housing, the measure being carried out via an acoustic sensor, said acoustic sensor at least one transducer (5), an electric system (8) connected to the transducer (5) and a coupling layer (6) for coupling the transducer (5) to the housing (1), said method comprising the following steps: generating using the transducer (5) an excitation acoustic signal that vibrates the housing (1) and the gas (2) in a wide frequency band; detecting with the transducer (5) a response acoustic signal characteristic of the vibrations of the housing and the gas; analysing the response electric signals from the transducer (5) using the system (8); and deriving, essentially based on the gas (2) resonance frequencies, the speed of the acoustic waves in the gas, the molar mass of the gas and the pressure thereof. The invention also relates to an assembly for implementing the method. |
| US08175819B2 |
Tire inspection device
A tire inspection device generates an analyzing wavelet for wavelet transformation correlating time, corresponding to tire surface position, and frequency, based on a frequency representing a characteristic portion of a predetermined tire surface structure. After this, the tire inspection device generates and stores an integer numeric filter from the created analyzing wavelet, detects the tire surface structure, carries out wavelet transformation on a signal obtained by the detection by using the numeric filter as the analyzing wavelet, and outputs the transformation result as the characteristic information representing the characteristic portion. |
| US08175817B2 |
Reciprocal symmetry plots as a new representation of countercurrent chromatograms
Various methods for visualization of output from a liquid-liquid chromatographic instrument are provided. One or more analytes detected by a liquid-liquid chromatographic instrument are visualized by providing a data set comprising a plurality of data points corresponding to one or more analytes detected by the instrument, wherein the data points comprise at least one parameter related to a K-value or a parameter from which a K-value can be determined. A K-value is calculated for at least a portion of the data set, and at least a portion of those K-values transformed by a reciprocal transformation to generate output data having a transformed K-value, wherein the transformed K-value is a real number for all K undergoing the transformation, thereby ensuring that all analytes detected by the instrument are plotted in a single chromatogram. The output data is provided to a user. The output data may be used for instrument performance testing, design, calibration, or for selecting suitable solvent systems to detect analytes of interest. |
| US08175816B2 |
System and method for analyzing metabolomic data
The present invention generates a visual display of metabolomic data compiled by a database and associated processor. More particularly, the present invention provides a database for automatically receiving a three-dimensional spectrometry data set for a group of samples. The present invention also provides a processor device for manipulating the data sets to produce plots that are directly comparable to a plurality of characteristic plots corresponding to a plurality of selected metabolites. Furthermore, the processor device may generate a visual display indicating the presence of the selected metabolites across the group of samples. Thus, the present invention enables a user to analyze a series of complex data sets in a visual display that may indicate the presence of the selected metabolites across the group of samples. Furthermore, the visual display generated by embodiments of the present invention also expedites the subjective analysis of the spectrometry data sets. |
| US08175815B2 |
Method for assessing absorption properties of low solubility compounds
The invention deals with a method for the assessment of the effect of excipients, pH and combinations thereof on the predicted absorption properties of low solubility compounds, comprising the step of assessing a change in a flux function for a combination of a low solubility compound and an excipient at at least one predefined pH value. The method allows a fast, accurate, and economic evaluation of an excipient being capable of optimizing the absorption of drug molecules, i.e. low solubility compounds. Furthermore, animal experiments can be excluded and use of compounds can be reduced in such evaluation. Thus, screening for future formulation efficacy (pH and excipient effects on solubility and permeability) of drug candidates can be justified, since the method is fast, compound-sparing, cost-effective, and reasonably accurate. |
| US08175813B2 |
Computational methods for synthetic gene design
The present invention is drawn to methods for designing synthetic nucleotide sequences encoding polypeptides of interest. The methods involve organizing a database of sequences as a set of N-length oligomer sequences and compiling a list of probability scores for each N-length sequence. The probability scores are used to substitute one or more higher-scoring sequences into the parent nucleotide sequence to generate an optimized sequence. The nucleotide sequence of interest may be further optimized by removing either or both of unintended open reading frames or undesired short DNA elements, and/or substituting oligomer sequences to achieve a specific G:C content. These methods may be used for optimizing expression of heterologous genes in any organism, particularly in plants. The method generates synthetic sequences with a composition similar to that of a target database. These synthetic sequences may be used, for example, for regulating pesticidal activity or herbicide resistance in organisms, particularly plants or plant cells. |
| US08175812B2 |
Method, system, and computer program product for calculating daily weighted averages of glucose measurements (or derived quantities) with time-based weights
A method and system for calculating daily weighted averages of glucose measurements (or derived quantities) with time-based weights are disclosed. The present invention computes an average daily glucose value using the time based weights based on only consecutive glucose measurements in the plurality of glucose measurements with acceptable time intervals that do not exceed a predefined maximum time interval. The invention further relates to a computer program for implementing the method for calculating daily weighted averages of spot monitoring glucose measurements (or derived quantities) with the time-based weights. |
| US08175811B2 |
Scientist domain-centric user interface and enabling “soft” Translation
The scientist domain-centric user interface system may prompt the user to supply scientist-centric information expressed utilizing terminology of a scientific domain, such as biology or analytical chemistry. A translation system then generates control parameters to control the search algorithm, thus relieving the user from having to learn how select and configure the algorithm control parameters directly. |
| US08175804B2 |
Navigation apparatus
A navigation program is prepared for a navigation apparatus so as to be used in several different destination regions. When installing a navigation program, which is stored in a portable storage medium, into a memory device of a navigation apparatus, it is determined that a destination region of a navigation program currently recorded in the memory device is different from that of the portable storage medium. In such cases, not only the navigation program but also point registration information and contents data currently recorded in the memory device are erased; the navigation program is acquired from the portable storage medium and recorded in the memory device. Furthermore, user's setting information recorded in the memory device is erased while returning setting contents of the various functions to default states. |
| US08175798B2 |
System and method for navigating a mobile device user interface with a directional sensing device
An electronic mobile device includes a display for displaying a graphical element. A tilt sensor is configured to sense first and second tilt angles of the mobile device. A processor is coupled to the display and the tilt sensor and configured to move the graphical element relative to the display in a first direction based on the first tilt angle, and to move the graphical element relative to the display in a second direction based on the second tilt angle. |
| US08175794B1 |
Switching between best views of a place
A system and method of selecting and presenting geolocated views. Views may encompass various types of visual and audio information. In one aspect, a server receives a request for information associated with a geographic location. The server identifies a feature at the location. The server uses the identified feature to determine a category of views. The server also selects a view which is associated with the determined category of views and with the geographic location of the request. |
| US08175791B2 |
Automatic vehicle start/stop control method
A method of managing the degraded modes of a system for the automatic starting/stopping of a heat engine of a vehicle, whereby the system receives information supplied by measurement and detection sensors and by a bus for the communication of vehicle operating data. The method comprises the following steps consisting in verifying the presence and validity of the information supplied by the sensors and, in the event of a negative result, defining a first degraded mode in which any stopping phase of the automatic start/stop mode is forbidden until an end-of-restriction condition has been fulfilled, and, in the even of a positive result, testing the communication with the data communication bus and, in the event of a negative result, defining a second degraded mode in which the automatic start/stop mode is inhibited until an end-of-inhibition condition has been fulfilled. |
| US08175790B2 |
Engine droop governor and method
A machine (100) has an internal combustion engine (104) operating in response to a control signal provided by an engine governor (216). The engine (104) provides a torque output to a machine system providing a machine function. An electronic controller (214) determines a current operating state of the engine (104) and a torque utilization of the machine system, and compares the current operating state of the engine (104) with the torque utilization in an engine droop function (302). A change to an engine speed (308) setting of the engine (104) is instructed in response to a change in the torque signal. Such change is to increase the engine speed (308) setting when the torque utilization is increasing, and to decrease the engine speed (308) setting when the torque utilization is decreasing. |
| US08175781B2 |
Torque converter control for variable valve lift powertrain systems
A control system for a powertrain of a vehicle includes a torque module and a damping control module. The torque module determines a first output torque and a second output torque of the engine. The second output torque is determined after the first output torque. The torque module also determines a torque difference based on the first output torque and the second output torque. The damping control module generates a damping torque in a transmission based on the torque difference. |
| US08175779B2 |
Vehicle driving force control apparatus and method
A program is executed which includes a step (S100) of calculating a base required driving force, a step (S200) of calculating a reference driving force, a step (S400) of calculating a final required driving force on which a vibration suppression filtering process has been performed when the base required driving force is greater than a reference driving force, and a step (S500) of calculating a final required driving force on which the vibration suppression filtering process has not been performed when the base required driving force is equal to or less than the reference driving force. |
| US08175778B2 |
Control apparatus and control method for automatic transmission
If a mode-detection value is switched from an automatic shift-mode to a manual shift-mode, a T-ECU changes a shift-stage to a speed lower than a speed that is obtained before the switching of the mode-detection value. The T-ECU determines that a state of the T-ECU returns to a recognizable-state, in which a mode-selection value can be recognized, from an unrecognizable-state, in which the mode-selection value cannot be recognized. The T-ECU sets the shift-stage to a hold value after the return. The T-ECU controls the shift-stage in the automatic shift-mode “D” over a standby-period after the return. The T-ECU controls the shift-stage in the automatic shift-mode “D” until the detection of the operation of the shift-lever after the standby-period passes. |
| US08175775B2 |
System and method employing short range communications for establishing performance parameters of an exemplar agricultural machine among a plurality of like-purpose agricultural machines
A system and method for enabling the communication to and establishment among a plurality of generally like and like-purpose agricultural machines designed to perform generally similar agricultural operations within a given area generally like performance parameters, especially based upon the performance parameters of a particular agricultural machine that is considered or deemed to be the expert or exemplar machine, which system and method employ short range communications systems included in or associated with the operating systems of the individual agricultural machines to effect the distribution of the exemplar performance parameters to the plurality of agricultural machines, through a peer-to-peer wireless network between and among the plurality of agricultural machines for point-to-point communications, for use by the individual agricultural machines in controlling and performing the agricultural operation. |
| US08175774B2 |
Capacitive object recognition using adjustable electrode
A system for capacitive object recognition including a pair of electrodes, one of the electrodes having an adjustable parameter, and a controller modeling current pathways formed by interaction of an object with an electric field between the pair electrodes as a network of capacitors. The controller is configured to set the adjustable parameter to a first setting and to apply a set of alternating current voltages to the pair electrodes and measure a resulting first set of current values at each of the electrodes, configured to set the adjustable parameter to a second setting and apply the set of alternating current voltages to the pair of electrodes and measure a resulting second set of current values at each of the electrodes, and configured to determine values for up to all capacitors of the network of capacitors based on the first and second sets of current values. |
| US08175768B2 |
Area health managers for aircraft systems
An aircraft system includes an aircraft subsystem generating monitor trips related to the health of the aircraft subsystem; and an area health manager coupled to the aircraft subsystem. The area health manager includes a data receiver for receiving the monitor trips from the aircraft subsystem; a fault detector for processing inputs based on the monitor trips to identify faults; and an execution sequence queue coupled to the fault detector for storing a plurality of execution entities. Each of the plurality of execution entities is associated with a specific logic operation in the fault detector that is executed when the associated execution entity is in a first predetermined state. |
| US08175764B2 |
System and method for identifying a condition of an upcoming feature in a track network
A system for identifying at least one condition of at least one upcoming feature of at least one track in a track network. The system includes a positioning system for determining an estimated train position on a track within the track network, and at least one database including track data and feature data. A computer (i) obtains the determined estimated train position on at least one track from the positioning system; and (ii) for the at least one track, identifies at least one condition for at least one upcoming feature based at least in part upon the track data and the feature data in the at least one database. The feature data is dynamically updated while the train is traversing the track in the track network. A method and apparatus for identifying a condition of an upcoming feature are also provided. |
| US08175760B2 |
Displaying method and device for an aircraft following a flight plan
A device comprises means for computing the air-craft (A) current position, means for determining at least one maximum permitted deviation (E1) around a set position of the flight path of the flight plan according to accuracy and integrity performances of said current position computation and to the restriction of a flight range authorized in a flight corridor (6A, 6B), and a display system (7) for displaying at least one a distance scale (9) on a viewing screen (8), at least one a fixed symbol (10) displaying the current position and two movable pointers (13, 14) displaying the limits of said maximum permitted deviation (E1). |
| US08175759B2 |
Systems and methods for validating predetermined events in reconfigurable control systems
Systems and methods for validating predetermined events in reconfigurable control systems are provided. One method includes receiving, by a plurality of redundant processors operating in a first mode, a notice from two of three redundant sensors that the predetermined event occurred and reconfiguring the plurality of redundant processors to operate in a second mode in response to the notice. Another method includes receiving a first notice that one or more sensors detected that a first vehicle is coupled to a second vehicle at a primary control system and a secondary control system and reconfiguring the primary control system and the secondary control system to operate in another mode at substantially the same time in response to the notice. |
| US08175757B2 |
Self-cleaning chassis
A temperature control system and methods that remove dust or debris from inside an electrical equipment chassis are provided. One or more fans are placed in or near the exterior of the chassis. The fans are operated either in reverse, forward, pulsing, or reverse pulsing modes to create turbulent air flow through the chassis. The change in air flow pattern helps dislodge dust and particles. Once airborne, the fans can exhaust the dust and particles. Further, some embodiments provide vanes or other elements to further direct air flow. The temperature control system can be used in any electrical equipment that is ventilated with fans. The temperature control system provides the advantage of a low cost and efficient method for ensuring that dust does not accumulate on components within an enclosure. |
| US08175753B2 |
Systems and methods for computer equipment management
Methods of managing computer equipment: the methods may comprise receiving data indicating a power dissipated by computer equipment in a portion of the server room and receiving data indicating an actual airflow through the portion of the server room. The methods may also comprise calculating a target airflow in the portion of the server room considering the power dissipated by computer equipment in the portion of the server room and an expected difference in temperature between at least one hot aisle and at least one cold aisle in the portion of the server room, and calculating a recommended action for reaching the target airflow. The recommended action may be selected from the group consisting of: changing a static pressure generated by at least one cooling unit servicing the portion of the server room; changing a number of perforated tiles present in the portion of the server room; and changing the type of one or more perforated tiles present in the portion of the server room. The methods may also comprise displaying the recommended action and/or implementing the recommended action. |
| US08175748B2 |
Mobile device, moving system, moving method, and moving program
A technology is provided that easily acquires the location where an article is placed and then moves to that location, even in cases where the article was originally placed in a location shielded from GPS radio wave, and subsequently moved to another location. Marks and RFID tags are affixed to a movable tray. A transfer robot includes a camera, a reader, and a sensor. The transfer robot detects the tray location from the location of a region in an image photographed by the camera that matches mark information. Furthermore, the reader in the transfer robot detects the tray location from the intensity of a radio wave whose information, when read, matches an ID retained in the RFID tag. The transfer robot moves with the camera and the reader, detecting the tray that is the target destination. |
| US08175747B2 |
Joinable robot component for robot toy, modifiable robot toy using the joinable robot components, and control method thereof
A robot component is provided as assembly units for assembling a robot toy with a great variety of configuration. The robot component has three connectors, i.e., a rotatable connector of a gear shaft, a laterally protruding connector of the gear shaft, and a receivable connector of a middle housing. These connectors are engaged with various joint members so several robot components are joined to each other to realize the complete robot toy. The robot toy has a master main-processor unit board provided in one of the robot components and joint control systems respectively provided in the other robot components. Each joint control system operates the robot component according to a predefined operation pattern when the master main-processor unit board transmits robot control signals. |
| US08175746B2 |
Weight-based dispensing system
A weight-based dispensing system is disclosed. The system includes a platform and a container, coupled to the platform, including a lid configured to move between a closed state restricting access to items in the container and an open state allowing access to the items in the container. The system also includes at least two weight sensors, wherein each of the weight sensors is coupled to the platform and is configured to determine a change in weight on the platform, and a controller configured to determine a change in the number of items in the container based on the state of the lid and the change in weight on the platform. A method for dispensing items is also disclosed. |
| US08175743B2 |
Measurement system and interferometer
A measurement system that includes an industrial machine and an interferometer can detect when abnormality has occurred in measurement targeted at a reflector attached to a movable body, for example, in a case where the movable body has moved too close to the interferometer. A judging section of the interferometer judges that there is abnormality in measurement targeted at the reflector on the basis of a received-light signal. Upon such an abnormality judgment, a stop command outputting section of the interferometer outputs a stop command to the industrial machine. A stopping section of the industrial machine stops the driving operation of a moving mechanism upon receiving an input of the stop command, thereby stopping the movement of the movable body. The measurement system makes it possible to prevent the industrial machine, which includes the movable body and the moving mechanism, from colliding with the interferometer. |
| US08175739B2 |
Multi-unit process spatial synchronization
A conversion control system is described for spatially synchronizing data gathered from a plurality of operations performed on a web. The conversion control system applies a set of fiducial marks to a web, performs a plurality of operations on the web, generates a first and a second set of digital information for first and second operations, respectively, in accordance with respective first and second coordinate systems using the set of fiducial marks such that the each of the sets of digital information includes position data for respective first and second sets of regions on the web. The conversion control system may then register the position data of the first set of regions and the position data for the second set of regions to produce aggregate data and outputting a conversion control plan. |
| US08175731B2 |
Apparatus for editing configuration data of digital mixer
A digital mixer has a custom component specified by a configuration ID. Further, the same configuration ID is provided to another custom component for ensuring compatibility of scene data which is used for operating the custom component. When a custom component of the mixer configuration is edited, the edited custom component is provided with the same configuration ID as the initial custom component before the editing. Scene data of the initial custom component can be copied to scene data of the edited custom component or vice versa provided that their configuration IDs match with each other. |
| US08175730B2 |
Device and method for analyzing an information signal
In order to analyze an information signal, a significant short-time spectrum is extracted from the information signal, the means for extracting being configured to extract such short-time spectra which come closer to a specific characteristic than other short-time spectra of the information signal. The short-time spectra extracted are then decomposed into component signals using ICA analysis, a component signal spectrum representing a profile spectrum of a tone source which generates a tone corresponding to the characteristic sought for. From a sequence of short-time spectra of the information signal and from the profile spectra determined, an amplitude envelope is eventually calculated for each profile spectrum, the amplitude envelope indicating how a profile spectrum of a tone source all in all changes over time. The profile spectra and all the amplitude envelopes associated therewith provide a description of the information signal which may be evaluated further, for example for transcription purposes in the case of a music signal. |
| US08175728B2 |
Detecting user gestures with a personal mobile communication device
System and methods for recognizing user gestures by processing audio from a microphone in a personal mobile communication device (PMCD) are disclosed. One such method includes sensing audio using a microphone in the PMCD and detecting a user gesture from audio sensed by the microphone. One such system includes a microphone, memory for storing instructions, and a processor configured by the instructions to sense audio using the microphone and detecting user gestures from audio sensed by the microphone. Also disclosed is a computer-readable medium storing a computer program for use in a personal mobile communication device. The program comprises instructions to: sense audio using a microphone in the personal mobile communication device; record the audio sensed by the microphone; process the recorded audio to extract a feature; classify the feature of the recorded audio; and identify one of a plurality of user gesture types based on the classified feature. |
| US08175727B2 |
Portable sound reproducing system and method
A portable audio device suitable for reproducing MPEG encoded data includes a plurality of inputs, one or more memory chips, a display, an audio output, one or more processors, and a battery. The plurality of inputs includes a forward input, a reverse input, and a play control input. The one or more memory chips store compressed digitized audio data. The one or more processors are responsive to selection of at least one of the plurality of inputs to reproduce select rows of compressed digitized audio data stored in the data in an audio format and to provide information to the display. |
| US08175726B2 |
Seeding in a skill scoring framework
Skill scores represent a ranking or other indication of the skill of the player based on the outcome of the game in a gaming environment. Skills scores can be used in matching compatible players on the same team and matching opposing players or teams to obtain an evenly-matched competition. An initial skill score of a player in a new gaming environment may be based in whole or in part on the skill score of that player in another game environment. The influence that the skill scores for these other game environments may have in the skill score seeding for the new game environment may be weighted based on a defined compatibility factor with the new game environment. The compatibility factor can be determined based on a game-to-game basis, compatible categories or features, game developer defined parameters, or any combination of considerations. |
| US08175720B2 |
Posture-responsive therapy control based on patient input
Patient efficacy inputs are received over a period of time during which posture-responsive therapy is delivered to the patient while the patient occupies a plurality of posture states. The patient inputs are correlated with the times at which the inputs were received, a sensed posture state of the patient, and a therapy program defining therapy delivery at each of the times the posture state was sensed. Posture-responsive therapy is adjusted based on the historical posture-responsive therapy information correlating the patient input, patient input time, sensed posture state, and therapy program. |
| US08175716B2 |
Multiple telemetry and/or charging coil configurations for an implantable medical device system
Embodiments of an improved implantable medical device system for orientation-independent telemetry to and from the device are disclosed. The system includes an external controller which produces an electromagnetic field to induce a current in a coil in the implantable medical device and vise versa. In a preferred embodiment, the external controller comprises three orthogonal coils, each of which is potentially activated to generate or receive the electromagnetic field. Algorithms are disclosed to allow for the choice of one or more of the coils best suited for telemetry based on the chosen coil's orientation with respect to the telemetry coil in the implantable medical device. Because all three of the orthogonal coils are potentially activated if necessary, the result is that at least one of the coils will be in a proper orientation with respect to the coil in the implantable medical device, thereby improving telemetry efficiency. The disclosed techniques may be used to improve induction-based powering or charging of the device as well. |
| US08175713B1 |
Electro-stimulation device to pump blood from legs
A device for providing electric stimulation for treatment of medical and non-medical conditions connected with blood circulation in legs. The device includes means for generating a shaped electrical impulse according to a pre-stored timing pattern. A means for conditioning the shaped impulse is coupled to said generating means and means for applying the conditioned shaped impulse to a user for causing a deep and painless contraction of a user's calf muscles, which in turn activate blood circulation and improve venous return from legs. |
| US08175712B2 |
Homotopic conditioning of the brain stem baroreflex of a subject
Disclosed are methods for regulating blood pressure in a subject which include administering a first induction stimulus effective to sensitize brainstem baroreflex neurons of a subject for a period of time in the range of about 10-15 hours thereby producing an enhanced baroreflex in the subject, wherein the enhanced baroreflex is characterized in that a threshold blood pressure for generating a depressor response is lower than prior to induction stimulus administration, the depressor response in the subject is larger than prior to induction stimulus administration or both the threshold blood pressure for generating a depressor response is lower than prior to induction stimulus administration and the depressor response in the subject is larger than prior to induction stimulus administration. An induction stimulus has diminished effectiveness to sensitize neurons in the nucleus tractus solitarius of the subject in the presence of an NMDA receptor antagonist. One or more additional induction stimuli are optionally administered to regulate blood pressure in the subject. |
| US08175705B2 |
System and method for sustained baroreflex stimulation
Various aspects of the present subject matter provide an implantable medical device. In various embodiments, the device comprises a baroreflex stimulator and a controller. The baroreflex stimulator is adapted to generate a stimulation signal to stimulate a baroreflex. The controller is adapted to communicate with the baroreflex stimulator and implement a baroreflex stimulation protocol to vary an intensity of the baroreflex stimulation provided by the stimulation signal to abate baroreflex adaptation. According to various embodiments, the controller is adapted to implement the baroreflex stimulation protocol to periodically modulate the baroreflex stimulation to produce an effect that mimics an effect of pulsatile pressure. Other aspects are provided herein. |
| US08175704B2 |
Techniques for delivery of stem cell and related therapies to treat cardiac conditions
An exemplary method includes acquiring cardiac electrical activity information; detecting cardiac events within the information including T waves, QRS complexes and/or P waves; and calling for delivery of matter to the heart during a period of time based on the cardiac events. The delivery may occur between a detected T wave and its immediately subsequent QRS complex. The matter being delivered may include stem cells, progenitor cells, nutrients and/or drugs. |
| US08175701B2 |
System and method for testing neural stimulation threshold
Various system embodiments comprise a neural stimulator, a premature ventricular contraction (PVC) event detector, a heart rate detector, an analyzer, and a controller. The neural stimulator is adapted to generate a stimulation signal adapted to stimulate an autonomic neural target. The analyzer is adapted to, in response to a PVC event signal from the PVC event detector, generate an autonomic balance indicator (ABI) as a function of pre-PVC heart rate data and post-PVC heart rate data. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein. |
| US08175700B2 |
Capacitor and inductor elements physically disposed in series whose lumped parameters are electrically connected in parallel to form a bandstop filter
One or more inductors and one or more capacitors are physically disposed relative to one another in series and are electrically connected to one another in parallel to form a bandstop filter. Chip inductors and chip capacitors having spaced apart conductive terminals are physically arranged in end-to-end abutting relation to minimize electrical potential between adjacent conductive terminals. The bandstop filter may be hermetically sealed within a biocompatible container for use with an implantable lead or electrode of a medical device. The values of the inductors and the capacitors are selected such that the bandstop filter is resonant at one or more selected frequencies, such as an MRI pulsed frequency. |
| US08175698B2 |
Treating bacteria with electric fields
Cells that are in the process division are vulnerable to damage by AC electric fields that have specific frequency and field strength characteristics. The selective destruction of rapidly dividing cells can therefore be accomplished by imposing an AC electric field in a target region for extended periods of time. Some of the cells that divide while the field is applied will be damaged, but the cells that do not divide will not be harmed. This selectively damages rapidly dividing cells like bacteria, but does not harm normal cells that are not dividing. Since the vulnerability of the dividing cells is strongly related to the alignment between the long axis of the dividing cells and the lines of force of the electric field, improved results can be obtained when the field is sequentially imposed in different directions. |
| US08175697B2 |
Catheter for insertion into the human body
A catheter for insertion into the human body and which includes one or more optionally scanning ultrasonic transducers (7) and a needle guide, which can be operated from the outside and used for collecting tissue samples from the human body. The catheter includes two substantially semicircular parts (2, 3), where a rod (4) is inserted between said parts and at the end is provided with an ultrasonic transducer (7), said two semicircular parts (2, 3) being kept together by means of an outer tube (5) passed over the two semicircular parts (2, 3), and where the surface of one semicircular part (2) is provided with a longitudinal groove (6) for the insertion of a flexible needle (12) for the extraction of tissue samples. The resulting catheter is very user-friendly and easy to disassemble for disinfecting and sterilizing purposes. |
| US08175692B2 |
Electrocardiogram signal-processing method and electrocardiogram signal-processing device
An electrocardiogram signal processing method and device for extracting a fetus electrocardiogram signal included in a biopotential signal detected from an electrode attached to a mother's body is provided. The electrocardiogram signal processing method for extracting an electrocardiogram signal of a fetus (1b) from a biopotential signal containing electrocardiogram signals of the mother's body (1) and a fetus (1b) inputted through an electrode (E) attached to the mother's body (1) during pregnancy, comprises a reference signal generating step 4 of generating a reference signal for separating/extracting a fetus electrocardiogram signal of a specified induction type according to a beat rate signal inputted from a sensor (S) for detecting the beat rate of the fetus (1b) and a fetus electrocardiogram signal extracting step 5 of separating/extracting the fetus electrocardiogram signal of the specified induction type from the biopotential signal inputted through an electrode (E) according to the reference signal generated at reference signal generating step 4 by a reference system independent component analyzing method. |
| US08175688B2 |
Multispectral/hyperspectral medical instrument
A medical instrument that comprises: a first-stage optic responsive to a tissue surface of a patient; a spectral separator optically responsive to the first stage optic and having a control input; an imaging sensor optically responsive to the spectral separator and having an image data output; and a diagnostic processor having an image acquisition interface with an input responsive to the imaging sensor and a filter control interface having a control output provided to the control input of the spectral separator. |
| US08175686B2 |
External condition control device based on measurement of brain functions
The present invention is helpful in improving stability of repeated measurement and can be applied with high reliability for operations of devices for measurement based on brain functions. A module 801 (a sampler) receives measurement data at each of the measuring points based on information of cerebral blood amount sent from an input unit. The information data accumulated in this sampler are processed by filtering at a secondary agent 803 and a tertiary agent 804 and are analyzed. The synthesizer 802 integrates output information of each agent by weighted linear sum and transmits the data as an output data 602 to the device and operates the device. |
| US08175684B2 |
Method for processing images and associated medical imaging system
A system and method of processing images of a region of interest of a patient is provided. The method comprises acquiring a reference image of the region of interest of the patient; during a pullback of an intravascular sensor in the region of interest, triggering simultaneously the steps of: acquiring a data collected by the sensor characteristic of the region of interest; and acquiring a succession of images of the region of interest associated with the location of the intravascular sensor when acquiring the data, respectively. The method further includes registering the succession of images; associating the location of the intravascular sensor relative to the step of acquiring the data collected by the intravascular sensor; and displaying and positioning the data collected by the intravascular sensor on the reference image in correspondence to the location of the intravascular sensor at the respective step of acquiring the data. |
| US08175683B2 |
System and method of designing and manufacturing customized instrumentation for accurate implantation of prosthesis by utilizing computed tomography data
A method and system may be used to design and control the manufacture of a surgical guide for implanting a prosthetic component. The system includes a bone surface image generator, a surgical guide image generator, and a surgical guide image converter. The bone surface image generator receives three dimensional bone anatomical data for a patient's bone and generates a bone surface image. The surgical guide image generator generates a surgical guide image from the bone surface image and an image of a prosthesis imposed on the bone surface image. The supporting structure of the generated surgical guide image conforms to the surface features of the three dimensional bone surface image. The surgical guide image is converted by surgical guide image converter into control data for operating a machine to form a surgical guide that corresponds to the surgical guide image. |
| US08175678B2 |
Multiple contrast agent injection for imaging
MRI based molecular imaging is strongly supported by the accurate quantification of contrast agents. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, contrast agent is applied on the basis of a multiple injection application scheme, during which changes in relaxation rate are determined. This may provide for an accurate determination of tumor vascularity via MRI relaxometry. |
| US08175675B2 |
Deformable marker device
A deformable marker device for adapting to a human or animal body includes a plurality of marker elements, and a connecting device that connects at least some marker elements of the plurality of marker elements to each other. The connecting device enables the at least some marker elements to be moved relative to each other so as to adapt a shape of the marker device to a course of a curved surface. |
| US08175671B2 |
Medical sensor for reducing signal artifacts and technique for using the same
A sensor may be adapted to reduce motion artifacts by mitigating the effects of the tissue moving within the sensor. A sensor is provided with an elastomeric sensor body adapted to accommodate patient motion. Further, a sensor is provided in which the sensor cable is arranged to mitigate its pressure on a patient's tissue. |
| US08175669B2 |
Apparatus and method for measuring oxygen saturation in blood
In an apparatus for measuring an oxygen saturation in blood, a plurality of light emitters irradiate a living tissue with a plurality of light beams having different wavelengths. A light receiver receives the light beams reflected from or transmitted through the living tissue to generate pulse wave signals in accordance with pulsations of the blood in the living tissue. A separator separates each of the pulse wave signals into a plurality of amplitude signals each of which is associated with one frequency, thereby generating pairs of amplitude signals each of which is associated with one of a plurality of frequencies. A first processor calculates a ratio between the amplitude signals in each of the pairs of the amplitude signals. A selector selects one of the pairs of the amplitude signals. A second processor calculates the oxygen saturation from the ratio of the selected pair of the amplitude signals. |
| US08175656B2 |
System and method of displaying incoming communication alerts at a wireless device
A method of providing an alert of an incoming communication is disclosed and includes receiving an incoming communication at a wireless device and determining whether the wireless device has access to a photograph that is associated with an identified source of the incoming communication. Further, the method includes displaying the photograph and an alert message that is associated with the incoming communication. |
| US08175650B2 |
Providing telephone services based on a subscriber voice identification
A method of providing a telephony service can include creating a database of subscriber identities and subscriber voice prints and telephony services associated with the subscriber identities and receiving a spoken utterance from a subscriber. A subscriber identity can be determined according to voice print identification of the spoken utterance and a telephony service associated with the subscriber can be activated according to the determined subscriber identity. |
| US08175648B2 |
Super economical broadcast system and method
A super economical broadcast system and method are provided. The system includes a plurality of base transceiver stations that define a plurality of respective cells, each base transceiver station includes a phased-array antenna having a plurality of sectors, each sector has a plurality of vertically-arranged antenna panels, and each antenna panel has a plurality of vertically-arranged radiators disposed in at least two staggered columns. The method includes forming a horizontally and vertically shaped beam using a plurality of vertically-arranged antenna panels, in which each antenna panel has a plurality of vertically-arranged radiators disposed in at least two staggered columns, and transmitting a power distribution that has an essentially uniform field strength over a near zone, a middle zone and at least a portion of a far zone. |
| US08175645B2 |
System and method for modifying a device profile
The present invention provides a system and method for modifying a profile of a user device prior to sending the profile to a destination server, wherein the destination server customizes content provided to the user device based on the modified profile. In general, the profile of the user device may include information identifying capabilities of the user device, user preferences, and demographic information regarding a user of the user device. At either the user device or a mediating server interconnecting the user device and the destination server, the profile of the user device is modified based upon one or more rules to provide the modified profile. The modified profile is then provided to the destination server, which customizes content provided to the user device based on the modified profile. |
| US08175642B2 |
Method and apparatus for disabling the RF functionality of a multi-function wireless communication device while maintaining access to local functionality
A method and apparatus for disabling the communication functionality (i.e., disabling the transmission and/or reception of RF signals) of an integrated device, while still providing access to the local functionality of such device. A control and select function, such as a switch that is implemented by hardware or software or a combination thereof, is provided in an integrated device to allow the end user of the device to access the local data processing functionality of the device, even while the wireless communication functionality of such device is disabled. |
| US08175641B2 |
Selective push-to-talk
A push-to-talk (PTT) switch with biasing to a first center position in which in which the PTT function of neither one of up to two audio devices is engaged, also having a first operated position to which the switch may be moved by hand operation to cause the PTT function of the first one of the two audio devices to be engaged, and further having a second operated position to which the switch may be moved by hand operation to cause the PTT function of the second one of the two audio devices to be engaged. |
| US08175633B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus, system, method, and program
A wireless communication apparatus includes a first storage unit configured to store each of a plurality of upper limit values of absolute values of additional signals that are set for a corresponding one of a plurality of first wireless communication apparatuses and are added when a plurality of modulation symbols to be transmitted to the first wireless communication apparatuses are precoded, a coding unit configured to decide each of a plurality of first values of the additional signals for a corresponding one of the first wireless communication apparatuses within ranges defined by the upper limit values, and precode the modulation symbols using the first values to obtain a plurality of transmission signals, and a first transmission unit configured to transmit, using multi-user MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output), the transmission signals to the first wireless communication apparatuses. |
| US08175631B2 |
Mobile station and method
A disclosed mobile station includes a switching unit for, when the mobile station is in a communication area of a first base station (BS), switching a reception operation to receive a signal transmitted from the first BS during a first period and not to receive the signal during a second period; an acquiring unit for acquiring from a second BS information on a transmission timing of a communication parameter if the mobile station is yet to receive neighboring BS information from the first BS; a query unit for querying the first BS as to whether there are data directed to the mobile station; and a receiving unit for receiving the communication parameter from the second BS according to the transmission timing if the acquired information indicates that the transmission timing is to occur during the first period and a result of the query indicates that there are no data. |
| US08175629B2 |
Connection-responsive push-to-talk
Apparatus and method to monitor the coupling of one or two audio devices and to augment the function of a PTT switch to causes the PTT function of one audio device to be engaged regardless of which of the two operated positions into which the switch is moved in response to there being only the one audio device coupled to the apparatus and in response to the one audio device being a radio, to cause the PTT function of either one of two audio devices to be selected to be engaged depending on which operated position to which the PTT switch is moved in response to there being only one audio device in the form of an intercom system (ICS) coupled to the apparatus with the other audio device in the form of a radio being coupled through the ICS, and to allow the PTT to be used to select the PTT function of either one of two audio devices to be engaged in response to there being two audio devices in the form of radios coupled to the apparatus. |
| US08175628B2 |
Method and apparatus for reducing push-to-talk (PTT) latency in a WCDMA network
A method and apparatus for reducing latency when setting up a Push-to-Talk (PTT) session from a User Equipment (UE) in a WCDMA radio communication network. When a user opens a PTT application or accesses the contacts page, the UE obtains a radio bearer from the network. The UE may maintain the radio bearer until the session is requested by transmitting periodic Heartbeat messages to the network. The Heartbeat messages have a length sufficient to trigger the network to place the user terminal on a Dedicated Channel (DCH), and the time period between Heartbeat messages is short enough to prevent the UE from being removed from the DCH for inactivity. When the user presses the PTT button, a SIP INVITE message is immediately sent without delay. |
| US08175619B2 |
Method and system for determining whether a terminal belongs to a target space in a communication network, related network and computer program product
The system allows determining whether at least one terminal belongs to a target space in a communications network in order to provide a set of services linked to the fact that the terminal belongs or does not belong to the above target space. The belonging is determined depending on at least one determination parameter. The services are associated with, preferably through a model, respective service specifications indicating the allowable error margin in determining whether the terminal belongs or does not belong to the target space. The determination parameters are changed depending on the above service specifications. |
| US08175615B2 |
Location identification of a mobile terminal by employing radio frequency identification
The location of a mobile terminal may be determined in response to signals received from a plurality of RFIDs. Information from a plurality of RFIDs for determining a location of a mobile terminal is received by the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal may maintain an in-range list that comprises all the RFIDs in which the mobile terminal is currently within their coverage range. The location of the mobile terminal is calculated in response to the received information for determining a location by calculating the common coverage area of the RFIDs in the in-range list. |
| US08175612B2 |
System and method for map-based radio spectrum allocation search
A map-based system displays a map of spectrum allocation information in a multi-dimensional representation. The system may provide a two-dimensional or three-dimensional area map of a geographic location of interest from an aerial perspective. In another dimension in the elevation direction, allocated spectrum segments may be stacked on the map to provide a representation of spectrum rights allocated in the selected geographical location. Time may provide an additional dimensional aspect to the map. A user may display the spectrum allocation map for a single instant in time, or view a dynamic map that displays the changing spectrum allocation over a time range. A user may also employ search criteria to filter the map display of spectrum allocation information by a specific frequency range, holder/licensee name, channel block, time window, lease or license expiration data, and other criteria. |
| US08175604B2 |
Efficient rise over thermal (RoT) control during soft handover
The invention relates to a method for communicating information relating to the scheduling of uplink data transmissions for a mobile terminal transmitting data on the uplink to a plurality of base stations during soft handover of the mobile terminal in a mobile communication system. Further at least one base station of said plurality of base stations schedules uplink data transmissions of the mobile terminal in soft handover. The different embodiments of the invention provide a communication system, a radio resource controller, a base station and mobile terminal which may perform different tasks of the method disclosed. To provide a method reducing the impact of uplink transmissions during soft handover on the rise over thermal it is suggested to provide all base stations communicating with the mobile terminal during soft handover with information on the maximum amount of resources allocated to the mobile terminal for uplink transmissions thereby allowing the base stations to schedule other terminal taking into account this information. |
| US08175601B2 |
Method of detecting incorrect cell identity in wireless communication systems
By transmitting the Measurement cell identity (MCI), in addition to the PCI PLMN cell identity (PCI), in a request to a node, an MCI to PCI mismatch is early discovered by the node and reported to the source eNode B. The handover procedure can be aborted in an earlier stage, saving time and resources. The node can then also include information in the response to the source eNode B, which makes it possible for the source eNode B to blacklist MCIs and MCI to PCI combinations. This way faulty or faked MCIs or PCIs can be discovered already in the source eNode B, saving even more time and resources. |
| US08175594B2 |
Active set management with hotspot carriers
Techniques for managing communications in a cellular network are disclosed. The cellular network can include one or more sectors in which hotspot carriers are deployed. The hotspot carriers can be available to mobile devices beyond sector boundaries defined by the signal strength of ubiquitous carriers. A mobile device can measure a signal strength of a candidate hotspot carrier and estimate a reverse link mobile device transmit power level for communicating on the hotspot carrier. The mobile device may determine whether to add, remove, or maintain the hotspot carrier in its active set based on the estimated transmit power level so as to limit interference to the reverse link of non-hotspot sectors. |
| US08175592B2 |
Wireless network search
A mobile communication device prior to establishing a communication session needs first to connect to a reachable network. To facilitate the search for the reachable network, the mobile communication device is preprogrammed intermediate parameters which lead to a plurality of reachable networks that are preselected based on a predetermined criterion. |
| US08175584B2 |
System and method to facilitate downloading data at a mobile wireless device
The invention relates to systems and method to facilitate downloading a data file. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving at a first wireless communication device a request to download a requested data file. A determination is made at the first wireless communication device whether the requested data file is stored at a second wireless communication device with which the first wireless communication device communicates via a local wireless link. If the requested data file is determined to be stored at the second wireless communication device, the first wireless communication device retrieving the requested data file from second wireless communication device via the local wireless link. |
| US08175582B2 |
System and methods for delivering event-related multimedia content to wireless devices
A system for delivering to a wireless subscriber terminal multimedia content related to a spectator event comprises an event application server, a wireless network coupled to the event application server and a wireless subscriber terminal that interacts with the network. The event application server acquires, converts, and manages content related to a spectator event. The event application server (or its adjunct) also manages preferences and priorities established by subscribers for event-related content. When such content is available, the event application server reconciles available content with subscriber preferences and priorities to determine an optimal set of content to be delivered to the subscriber terminal, and requests that the wireless network establish a connection to the subscriber terminal for such content. Multiple streams of content, of various types of media, may be delivered simultaneously to the subscriber terminal. |
| US08175574B1 |
Methods and systems for selecting one or more charging profiles for a mobile data service session
Methods and systems for selecting one or more charging profiles for a mobile data service session are disclosed. A method includes identifying one or more available sources of charging profiles that each provide a charging profile for a mobile data service user and selecting a charging profile to be used for at least a portion of the mobile data service session based on selection criteria that ranks the available sources of charging profiles. Access is provided to the selected charging profile for use in billing the mobile data service user. |
| US08175573B2 |
Apparatus and method for maintaining communications with a vehicle in the presence of jamming
Jamming is detected as occurring to communications associated with at least one electronic device disposed at a vehicle. Responsive to detecting the jamming, an indication is transmitted from the vehicle to a base station informing the base station that jamming is occurring. Communications are subsequently conducted between the base station and the vehicle on at least one predetermined and prearranged communication channel. |
| US08175571B2 |
Communication equipment and communication system
A communication system includes: sender-side communication equipment including a detection unit configured to detect information indicating the condition of a user, and a transmission unit configured to transmit information indicating the condition of the user detected through the detection unit to a communication partner; and receiver-side communication equipment including a reception unit configured to receive information indicating the condition of the user transmitted from the sender-side communication equipment, a notification unit configured to notify the condition corresponding to the condition of the user received through the reception unit, and a control unit configured to control the notification unit based on information indicating the condition of the user received through the reception unit. |
| US08175570B2 |
E911 call blocking for non-initialized wireless telephones
Calls from a phone identified as being a source of harassing or other undesirable phone calls are blocked at a mobile positioning center (MPC). Upon request by the PSAP, a call record detail can be obtained from the MPC revealing a simulated “callback phone number”. The MPC then intercepts all future incoming calls from that simulated callback phone number and routes them to a recording that advises the harasser that the phone has been identified as a harasser and is now blocked. The recording can also advise the caller how to restore service. In a preferred embodiment, the MPC sets a timer to automatically restore service after a designated length of time. |
| US08175568B2 |
Method of improving battery life
The specification and drawing figures describe and show an apparatus, system and method of extending and improving battery life that includes identifying one or more parameters that affect linearity of a receiver, assigning the one or more parameters to one or more modes, and adjusting the linearity of the receiver based on the one or more parameters. |
| US08175567B2 |
Method and apparatus for searching for signals in a wireless communication system
Techniques to search for signals while in an out-of-service state are described. In an aspect, a network entity may collect information for wireless devices within a designated area, determine at least one search parameter (e.g., a scan rate) based on the collected information, and provide the search parameter(s) to wireless devices within the designated area. The wireless devices may perform searches for signals in accordance with the search parameter(s) when they are out of service. In another aspect, a wireless device may collect information related to out-of-service events encountered by the wireless device, send the collected information to the network entity, receive the search parameter(s) from the network entity, and perform searches in accordance with the search parameter(s) when out of service. In yet another aspect, the wireless device may determine the search parameter(s) based on the collected information. |
| US08175566B2 |
Multiple multi-mode low-noise amplifier receiver with shared degenerative inductors
A device with multiple multi-mode low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), each with common operating modes and separate operating frequency bands, are coupled to shared degenerative inductors for common operating modes. Common load inductors are coupled to the multi-mode LNA outputs to reduce the number of load inductors required. The multi-mode LNAs have parallel transistor gain stages and form part of an integrated circuit (IC) for use in a wireless communication receiver. Each multi-mode LNA has the capability to switch between at least one higher linearity transistor gain stage and at least one lower linearity transistor gain stage for different operating modes. Multiple lower linearity transistor gain stages for different multi-mode LNAs may be merged into a single lower linearity transistor gain stage shared among multiple multi-mode LNAs through multiple RF switches between a set of common RF inputs and common inputs and common input matching networks. |
| US08175564B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus and method of selecting antenna thereof
In a wireless communication apparatus for communicating by using a plurality of antennas, a degree of coupling between antennas is detected before communication is initiated, a combination of antennas is selected based on the degree of coupling and communication is executed using the selected antennas. |
| US08175554B2 |
Radio frequency communication devices and methods
One embodiment relates to a radio frequency (RF) communication device. The RF communication device includes a coupler having a plurality of ports and an adjustable termination coupled to one of the plurality of ports. The adjustable termination is adjustable based on an operating condition of the RF communication device. Other methods and systems are also disclosed. |
| US08175548B2 |
Method and device for transmitting a sequence of transmission bursts
Methods and device for transmitting a sequence of transmission bursts in a wireless device. The method includes transmitting a sequence of transmission bursts according to a transmission schedule. The method is characterized by: receiving, at a radio frequency integrated circuit, prior to a transmission of at least one transmission burst of the sequence, information representative of the timing of the transmission of the at least one transmission burst; and generating timing signals, by the radio frequency integrated circuit that implement the transmission schedule. A wireless device includes a base band integrated circuit adapted to determine a transmission schedule of a sequence of transmission bursts. The wireless device is characterized by including a radio frequency integrated circuit that is adapted receive information representative of the timing schedule and to autonomously control a transmission of the sequence of transmission bursts. |
| US08175546B1 |
Receive antenna interface for an RF transceiver
The present receive antenna interface for an RF (radio frequency) transceiver includes a transmitting and receiving antenna. The receive antenna interface also includes a relay and an electrically-isolated transmit-ground connector that are configured such that the receiving antenna is not capable of being used by the transceiver unless the transmit-ground connector is connected to a ground-on-transmit connector provided by the transceiver. As a result, damage from the accidental transmission of RF signals into the receiving circuitry of the transceiver is prevented. |
| US08175545B2 |
Communication devices with integrated thermal sensing circuit and methods for use therewith
A communication device includes an integrated circuit having an on-chip thermal sensing circuit that generates a temperature signal based on a temperature of the integrated circuit. A processing module processes the temperature signal to generate temperature information that can be transmitted to a remote device or processes the temperature signal to generate control for adjusting transmit and/or receive characteristics of an RF transceiver. |
| US08175541B2 |
Radio frequency transceiver front end circuit
A front end circuit for coupling an antenna to a radio frequency (RF) transceiver for time domain duplex systems is disclosed. The front end circuit includes an antenna port, a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier, and a matching network. The output of the power amplifier and the input of the low noise amplifier are coupled to the matching network and connected in common to the antenna. The power amplifier and the low noise amplifier are activated and deactivated in sequence corresponding to the transmit and receive modes of the transceiver, and the matching network minimizes the effect that one has on the other at the designated operating frequency. |
| US08175539B2 |
System and method for management of a shared frequency band
A system, method, software and related functions are provided for managing activity in a radio frequency band that is shared, both in frequency and time, by signals of multiple types. An example of such a frequency band is an unlicensed frequency band. Radio frequency energy in the frequency band is captured at one or more devices and/or locations in a region where activity in the frequency band is happening. Signals occurring in the frequency band are detected by sampling part or the entire frequency band for time intervals. Signal pulse energy in the band is detected and is used to classify signals according to signal type. Using knowledge of the types of signals occurring in the frequency band and other spectrum activity related statistics (referred to as spectrum intelligence), actions can be taken in a device or network of devices to avoid interfering with other signals, and in general to optimize simultaneous use of the frequency band with the other signals. The spectrum intelligence may be used to suggest actions to a device user or network administrator, or to automatically invoke actions in a device or network of devices to maintain desirable performance. |
| US08175538B1 |
Calibrating a wireless communication device
In a multiple-input, multiple-output system, the frequency of transmitted signals can be partitioned into some number of frequency bins. During an exchange of sounding signals, a first station can monitor the quality of the signals to select a second station that is qualified to participate in a calibration procedure. The first station can generate a first set of channel characteristics for a particular frequency bin based on the sounding signal it receives from the second station. The first station also receives channel state information from the second station which can be used to generate a second set of channel characteristics for the particular frequency bin. Then, the selected subsets of the first and second sets can be manipulated in order to determine a set of correction values for that frequency bin as well as for other frequency bins. |
| US08175535B2 |
Active cancellation of transmitter leakage in a wireless transceiver
Active transmitter leakage cancellation techniques are disclosed, for reducing transmitter leakage in a frequency-duplexing radio transceiver. Reducing transmitter leakage to the receiver path of a duplex transceiver eases the linearity requirements for low-noise amplifier and mixer circuits, potentially reducing transceiver cost as well as complexity. In an exemplary method, a radio-frequency (RF) cancellation signal is generated from a transmitter signal, and the RF cancellation signal is combined with a received RF signal to obtain a combined RF signal comprising a residual transmitter leakage component. The residual transmitter leakage component of the combined RF signal is converted, using, e.g., a frequency mixer, to obtain a down-converted signal at baseband or at an intermediate frequency. A magnitude of the residual transmitter leakage component is detected from the down-converted signal, and used to adjust the phase or amplitude of the RF cancellation signal, or both, to reduce the residual transmitter leakage component. |
| US08175531B2 |
Information processing apparatus and information processing method having communication function
The present invention is an information processing apparatus which obtains identification information of an electronic device and makes communication with the electronic device via a network based on the identification information. When a portable telephone (11) is placed on an input display section (2) of a personal computer (1), a reader/writer built in the personal computer (1) reads a telephone number of the portable telephone (11) stored in an RF tag built in the portable telephone (11). Based on the telephone number, a telephone line is connected between the portable telephone (11) and the personal computer (1). Data is interchanged between the portable telephone (11) and the personal computer (1) via the telephone line. |
| US08175530B2 |
Personalizing entertainment experiences based on user profiles
A method and wireless device (102) dynamically adapt a physical entertainment experience for a user of an entertainment system. At least one communication device (106) associated with an entertainment device (120) is situated in close proximity to the entertainment device (120). At least one user profile (114) is wirelessly transmitted from the wireless device (102) via the at least one communication device (106) to a controller (104) associated with the entertainment device (120). The user profile (114) includes at least a set of preferences associated with at least one sensory effect available at the entertainment device (120). The controller (104) uses the set of preferences to dynamically adapt a behavior of the entertainment device (120) with respect to the at least one sensory effect for at least one user associated with the wireless device (102). |
| US08175528B2 |
Wireless mass storage flash memory
Systems and/or methods are presented that can facilitate access of a memory device by the use of wireless communication technologies. A memory module is presented which combines memory with a wireless adapter component and a memory controller component to facilitate the wireless transmission and reception of data and/or commands from and to host component that requests access to the memory and the data stored therein. The memory module can dynamically switch between one wireless communication technology to another based on signal strength, signal quality, the distance between the memory module and a host component, power usage, as well as other criteria to facilitate an optimal data transmission or throughput rate. |
| US08175527B2 |
Portable apparatus
A portable apparatus of the present invention functions as a transmitter and/or a receiver in electric field communication in which communication is performed through a human body by converting an information signal into an electric field signal; is substantially hexahedron-shaped and provided with sides and an display surface allowing information to be viewed; and includes an outer electrode for electric field communication provided on the display surface and a human-body-side electrode for electric field communication provided on at least one of the sides. |
| US08175524B2 |
Information processing apparatus having a shared antenna element
According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus includes an antenna element, a first wireless communication module including a printed circuit board and a wireless communication circuit which is provided on the printed circuit board, and a second wireless communication module. A diplexer is provided on the printed circuit board of the first wireless communication module, and includes a first terminal which is connected to the antenna element via a first antenna connector provided on the printed circuit board and a first cable, a second terminal which is connected to the wireless communication circuit via a wiring pattern on the printed circuit board, and a third terminal which is connected to a second antenna connector provided on the printed circuit board. The second wireless communication module is connected to the second antenna connector via a second cable. |
| US08175523B2 |
Compact low loss high frequency switch with improved linearity performance
A switch element includes a switch device having a drain, a source and a plurality of gates, and at least one additional interconnect located between the plurality of gates, the additional interconnect operative to establish a constant potential between the at least two gates. |
| US08175522B1 |
Sending messages from a computing device
Systems include configuring a first mobile device to enable communication between the first mobile device and one or more processing devices; receiving a message from a computing device that is directed to a second mobile device, where the message is a text message or a voice message, and where the computing device is different from the first mobile device; and routing the message to the first mobile device for transmission to the second mobile device from the first mobile device. |
| US08175521B2 |
Repeater system for strong signal environments
A repeater system combines co-located antennas, an intentional imbalance in signal amplification between downlink and uplink, stability management and an amplification indicator to create a user-installed solution to co-channel interference within cellular systems, in strong signal environments such as elevated locations or high-rise building. The invention may be particularly relevant to cellular systems, such as CDMA, that allow limited imbalance between uplink and downlink path losses, thus enabling the design of an inexpensive repeater with a weaker or non-existent uplink, and which creates moderate signal amplification for selected line-of-sight signals, defeating co-channel interference over a small area. The difference in signal amplification on the downlink and uplink is maintained at a level below the capacity of the system to support imbalance, guaranteeing reliable cellular calls. |
| US08175519B2 |
Third-party provider method and system
Methods and systems for processing negotiable economic credits through, or at the request of, a hand held device in association with a third-party provider communicative with the hand held device and/or a point of sale. At least one negotiable economic credit can be transferred from a third-party provider communicative with the hand held device to the hand held device and/or point of sale. The negotiable economic credit can be stored within a memory of the hand held device and/or point of sale for retrieval and processing at a point of sale associated with a retail establishment and/or by a hand held device. The negotiable economic credit can be associated with a security module for protecting the privacy of the negotiable economic credit. A user profile can be compiled for utilization during the retrieval of the negotiable economic credit. |
| US08175518B2 |
System for and method of receiving internet radio broadcast via satellite radio
A system for and method of receiving internet radio broadcast via satellite radio is presented. The system and method allow internet radio to be delivered to consumers on a mobile electronic device. Internet radio can be individually customized to deliver certain types of content and can also deliver on-demand content. The system and method therefore provides for the delivery of customizable on-demand content to a consumer's mobile device with the stable and wide-ranging connectivity of satellite radio. |
| US08175514B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing preauthorization for a mobile receiving device to access wireless networks
A mobile wireless system (10) includes a transmitter such as a satellite (18) that broadcasts wireless signals such as boundaries for wireless networks to a mobile receiving device (22). Mobile receiving device (22) may include an antenna (26). A locating receiver (50) is used to generate locating signals so that a determination may be made to the location of the mobile receiving device. Preauthorizations may be obtained to allow the mobile receiving device (22) to communicate back to business controller (11) to enable functions such as pay-per-view or on-demand, interactive television, gaming, and the like. The preauthorizations enable access to various wireless networks as the mobile receiving device (22) moves. |
| US08175506B2 |
Belt driving controller and image forming device
A belt driving controller includes a driving roller connected to a driving axis, a plurality of driven rollers, an endless belt provided to surround the driving roller and the driven rollers in a tensioned state, a motor connected to the driving axis via a reduction mechanism; a first detector provided near the driving axis and configured to detect a rotation angle of the driving axis, a second detector configured to detect a displacement of the endless belt, and a control unit configured to control driving of the endless belt. |
| US08175504B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier that carries an electrostatic latent image on a surface thereof, a toner carrying roller that is disposed to face the image carrier and rotates in a predetermined rotation direction with charged toner carried on a surface thereof so as to transport the toner in an opposing position for facing the image carrier, and a bias applying unit that develops the electrostatic latent image with the toner by applying an AC voltage as a developing bias to the toner carrying roller. In addition, periodical concavo-convexes that are formed of a plurality of convex portions arranged at a constant pitch in a circumferential direction and concave portions that surround the plurality of convex portions are formed on the surface of the toner carrying roller. When the arrangement pitch is denoted by P, the frequency of the developing bias is denoted by F, and the moving speed of the surface of the toner carrying roller for the circumferential direction is denoted by V, a quotient acquired from dividing V by F is a value acquired from multiplying P by a natural number or an approximately natural number. |
| US08175502B2 |
Developing device, image forming apparatus and developing roller
Described is a developing roller, which makes it possible to appropriately peel developer off the developing roller, even if the developing roller is a small-sized. The developing roller includes a non-magnetic developing sleeve and a magnetic member installed into an inner space of the developing sleeve and having plural magnetic poles including a peeling magnetic pole. When a reference position is defined as such a position that exhibits a maximum value of magnetic flux density to be generated in a normal direction by the peeling magnetic pole, a magnetic-flux density flat region within which the magnetic flux density is kept at substantially a constant value being closely approximate to the maximum value of the magnetic flux density and the reference position is included, exists while fulfilling an Equation indicated as follow: Z≧7° where numeral Z indicates an angle of the developing roller in the magnetic-flux density flat region. |
| US08175500B2 |
Toner cartridge and image forming apparatus using the same
A toner cartridge includes: a toner storing portion for storing toner; a toner discharging portion having a toner discharge port; and a screw auger having a rotary shaft and a helical blade for conveying the toner in the toner storing portion to the toner discharging portion. The helical blade includes a first helical blade portion located over the toner discharge port and a second helical blade portion located in the toner storing portion. The first toner thrust face of the first helical blade portion, located on the downstream side with respect to the toner conveying direction is formed at a first inclination angle to the axial direction of the rotary shaft. The second toner thrust face of the second helical blade portion, located on the downstream side with respect to the toner conveying direction is formed at a second inclination angle to the axial direction of the rotary shaft. The first inclination angle is formed to be smaller than the second inclination angle. |
| US08175499B2 |
Image forming apparatus with a plurality of image forming units
An image forming apparatus includes a first image forming unit for forming a color developer image using color developer; a second image forming unit for forming a transparent developer image using transparent developer; a transfer unit for transferring the transparent developer image and the color developer image to a medium; a fixing unit for fixing the transparent developer image and the color developer image; and a control unit for controlling the first image forming unit and the second image forming unit according to a gloss printing operation when the gloss printing operation is selected. |
| US08175482B2 |
Printer including a fuser assembly with backup member temperature sensor
A printer is provided comprising substrate transport apparatus for moving substrates along a substrate path through the printer; a fuser assembly comprising a heat transfer member including a belt and a heater to heat the belt, a backup member adapted to engage the belt so as to define a fusing nip with the belt, and a temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of a portion of the backup member; and a controller coupled to the temperature sensor. Based on signals generated by the temperature sensor, the controller determines whether a substrate moving along the substrate path has been contacted by the backup member portion. |
| US08175479B2 |
Transfer device and image forming apparatus having first and second transfer nips and first and second contacting members which apply transfer biases
An image forming apparatus includes an intermediate transfer belt, a photosensitive belt, a primary transfer roller, a secondary-transfer opposing roller, and a secondary transfer roller. The photosensitive belt comes into contact with a surface of the intermediate transfer belt to form a primary transfer nip. The secondary-transfer opposing roller comes into contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer belt to form a secondary transfer nip. The closest distance between a surface of the photosensitive belt and that of the primary transfer roller is greater than the thickness of the intermediate transfer belt. A toner image on the intermediate transfer belt is transferred onto a recording sheet at the secondary transfer nip while a transfer bias is applied to the secondary transfer roller. |
| US08175478B2 |
Image forming apparatus controlling the position of a convey member with respect to the toner image position based on sensed indicies
An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member; a transfer portion that transfers a toner image; a conveying member that conveys a recording material; a conveying member position index sensing member that senses a conveying member position index fixed to the conveying member in the transfer portion; a toner image position index sensing member that senses a toner image position index fixed to the image bearing member in the transfer portion; a drive member that can control a position of the conveying member in a moving direction of the conveying member and a rotating speed of the conveying member; and a control portion that controls the drive member to position the conveying member position index with respect to the toner image position index reaching the transfer portion based on the sensing results of the conveying member position index and the toner image position index. |
| US08175475B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearer for carrying a toner image, a charger for contacting a surface of the image bearer, a cleaning blade for contacting the image bearer surface to remove toner thereon after toner image transfer onto a transfer material, and a controller for controlling a voltage applied to the charger. The controller applies to the charger a first potential which includes a peak-to-peak voltage larger than a discharge starting voltage in an image forming operation, and applies to the charger a second voltage which includes a peak-to-peak voltage smaller than the discharge starting voltage, for at least one full rotation of the image bearer, after completion of image formation and before an AC voltage component applied to the charger is shut off. |
| US08175472B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes: a detected member of which a temperature is to be detected; a temperature sensor including a contact portion provided to contact the detected member, the temperature sensor being configured to detect the temperature of the detected member; and a condition determining unit. The condition determining unit is configured to control electric power supplied to the temperature sensor such that the temperature sensor self-heats during a heating time period, and determine a condition of the contact portion based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor after the temperature sensor starts self-heating. |
| US08175471B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image density control method
An image forming apparatus is disclosed that includes an image density control unit that performs control operations based on an image density control condition that is adjustably set to control an output image to have a predetermined image density, an image density control condition modifying unit that calculates a modified image density control condition based on information on an amount of toner exchanged at a developing apparatus within a predetermined period and a parameter for image density control condition calculation and sets the modified image density control condition as the image density control condition to be used by the image density control unit, and a parameter modifying unit that modifies the parameter for image density control condition calculation used by the image density control condition modifying unit based on a toner pattern detection result obtained by detecting a toner pattern formed on a belt member. |
| US08175470B2 |
Image forming apparatus having a function of predicting device deterioration based on a plurality of types of operation control information
An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes an acquiring unit that acquires a plurality of types of operation control information of the image forming apparatus that indicate deterioration of a toner in the image forming apparatus or deterioration of a component of the image forming apparatus. An index value calculating unit calculates an index value indicating a state of the image forming apparatus based on the acquired operation control information. An abnormality judging unit judges whether the image forming apparatus abnormality has occurred and predicts an occurrence of a failure that requires maintenance of the image forming apparatus due to deterioration of the toner in the image forming apparatus or deterioration of the component of the image forming apparatus based on the index value. |
| US08175469B2 |
Image forming device with variable out-of-toner and low-toner display
An image forming device includes an imaging apparatus configured to form an image according to image data and to maintain information associated with performance of the imaging apparatus, a replaceable member that is mounted in the imaging apparatus and used for forming an image, a consumed amount calculation unit configured to calculate a usage value of the replaceable member, and a notification control unit configured to control a replacement notification. Wherein the notification control unit controls a timing of the replacement notification based on the usage value calculated by the consumed amount calculation unit and the information associated with performance of the imaging apparatus. |
| US08175459B2 |
Hybrid wireless/wired RoF transponder and hybrid RoF communication system using same
A radio-over-fiber (RoF) hybrid wired/wireless transponder is disclosed that is configured to provide both wireless and wired communication between a hybrid head-end and one or more client devices. The hybrid transponder includes optical-to-electrical (O/E) and electrical-to-optical (E/O) conversion capability and is configured to frequency multiplex/demultiplex electrical “wired” signals and electrical “wireless” signals. The electrical wireless signals are wirelessly communicated to the client device(s) via a multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) antenna system within a cellular coverage area. The electrical wired signals are communicated to the client device(s) via a wireline cable that plugs into a wireline cable port on the transponder. The hybrid RoF system includes a hybrid head-end capable of transmitting and receiving wired and wireless optical signals, and an optical fiber cable that is optically coupled to the hybrid head-end and to at least one hybrid transponder. Drop-down transponder configurations that allow for easy wired and wireless connectivity between the client device(s) to the transponder(s) are also disclosed. |
| US08175458B2 |
Optical ring networks having node-to-node optical communication channels for carrying data traffic
Techniques, apparatus and systems for optical communications, including fiber ring networks with protection switching to maintain optical communications when an optical failure occurs and to automatically revert to normal operation when the optical failure is corrected, fiber ring networks that provide a circulating optical probe signal at an optical probe wavelength within the gain spectral range of optical amplifiers used in a fiber ring network to detect an optical failure, and fiber ring networks that support broadcast-and-select optical WDM signals carrying communication traffic to the optical ring nodes without regeneration at each optical ring node and one or more overlaid in-band node-to-node optical signals carrying communication traffic with regeneration at each node. |
| US08175456B2 |
Burst scheduling methods in optical burst switching system
Provided is a burst scheduling method in an Optical Burst Switching (OBS) system in which a plurality of nodes are connected through a mesh-type network. When a TDB which has used many network resources via a plurality of nodes and an SHG burst generated in a previous node, among bursts including BCPs transmitted from the previous node, compete in a current node so as to occupy a specific output channel, scheduling is performed to cause the TDB to have a higher priority than the SHG burst such that the corresponding output channel is occupied. Therefore, it is possible to minimize a burst loss in a network node, thereby enhancing the overall system performance. |
| US08175455B2 |
Optical transmission system and optical transmission control method
The present invention is intended to provide an optical transmission system which is applicable not only to a known signal but also to an unknown signal, and has a high reliability at a low cost. A branching device branches an optical transmission output of a transmitter, and transmits the branched signals through different optical transmission channels. A polarization mode dispersion monitor monitors the degree of polarization mode dispersion from the optical transmission channels at the receiving end. A switch control circuit and a switch select a signal which is less affected by a deterioration in quality due to polarization mode dispersion, and outputs the selected signal to receiver 8. In this way, the probability of a deterioration in the quality of a signal due to polarization mode dispersion can be reduced for a transmission signal. |
| US08175453B2 |
Imaging apparatus
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging sensor configured to convert a subject image passing through a photographing optical system into an electrical signal, a holding member configured to hold the imaging sensor, and a dust-proofing member configured to surround the circumference of a light reception surface of the imaging sensor. An urging portion is integrally formed with the dust-proofing member urging the holding member in a direction that the holding member is apart from the photographing optical system. |
| US08175448B2 |
Imaging apparatus
An imaging apparatus includes a shake detector to detect a shake applied to the imaging apparatus, a first calculation unit to calculate a first shake correction amount, a vector detector to detect a motion vector on an imaging surface, a first integration unit to integrate an output of the vector detector, a second calculation unit to calculate a second shake correction amount, a shake correction unit to correct an image-shake based of the first shake correction amount and the second shake correction amount; and an angle-of-view change determination unit to detect an angle-of-view changing operation of the imaging apparatus. |
| US08175447B2 |
Image pickup apparatus and control method therefor
The image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup element including first pixels for photoelectrically converting an object image formed by a light flux from an image taking optical system and second pixels for photoelectrically converting optical images formed by light fluxes divided form the light flux from the image taking optical system, and a controller performing focus detection based on a phase difference of the optical images, control of an aperture stop included in the image taking optical system and an image capturing operation for generating a captured image by using signals obtained from the first pixels. The controller increases, when an image capturing aperture size of the aperture stop is smaller than a focus detecting aperture size in a case of performing the focus detection between the image capturing operations in continuous image capturing, the aperture size to the focus detecting aperture size in the focus detection. |
| US08175443B2 |
Data recording and reproducing apparatus
The data recording and reproducing apparatus comprises a transcoding module and a recording and reproducing module. The transcoding module transcodes a video or audio signal based on one compression method to a signal based on another compression method, the video or audio signal being inputted through a tuner. The recording and reproducing module records, to a recording medium, the transcoded video or audio signal together with the inputted video or audio signal, the transcoded video or audio signal having been transcoded by the transcoding module. The recording and reproducing module records one of the video or audio signals, which are identical but based on different compression methods, with the other video or audio signal being written to the recording medium as a hidden file. |
| US08175442B2 |
Program recording completion
A program recording completion system automatically completes an incomplete program recording of a program. A recording application creates a program recording completion event corresponding to the incomplete program recording which includes program information to automatically complete the incomplete program recording. The recording application can initiate recording a re-broadcast of the program to create a complete program recording, or the recording application can record a segment of a re-broadcast of the program and combine the program segment with the incomplete program recording to create a complete program recording. |
| US08175441B2 |
Playback program
A plurality of audio object (AOB) files and a plurality of picture object (POB) files are stored. Default Playlist Information and sets of Playlist Information each show an order in which AOBs stored in the plurality of AOB files are to be reproduced. The DPLGI includes DPLI_POB_SRPs that specify at least one POB to be displayed during the playback period of AOBs indicated by the playback order given in the Default Playlist Information. The TKGI includes TKI_POB_SRPs that specify at least one POB to be displayed only during the playback period of a particular AOB out of the AOBs indicated by the playback order given in the Default Playlist Information. |
| US08175440B2 |
Broadcast receiver and broadcast receiving method
A broadcast receiver includes: an image analyzer configured to perform an analysis on a series of images; a recorder configured to record a result of the analysis and the series of images; and an image processor configured to perform image processing on a target image included in the series of images recorded in the recorder based on the result of the analysis performed for images subsequent to the target image. |
| US08175439B2 |
Curable composition for optical material and optical waveguide
A curable composition for an optical material including a specific silicon-containing polymer (A), a specific epoxy resin (B) and an energy ray-sensitive cationic polymerization initiator (C) as essential components. |
| US08175434B2 |
All-dielectric self-supporting cable having high fiber count
An all-dielectric self-supporting optical fiber cable utilizes a single layer reverse oscillated lay (ROL) design and includes a fiber count of more than 288 fibers. By arranging buffer tubes in a single layer, the ADSS cable effectively isolates the tensile and thermo strain of the cable in central and outer strength members, thus preventing strain from aerial installation from impairing or otherwise inversely impacting the performance of the optical fibers. Moreover, fibers are loosely housed in bundles to permit fiber movement and further prevent strain on the fibers. |
| US08175431B2 |
Multi-core ferrule and optical fiber connection structure
An optical fiber connection structure includes a single-core plug holding a single-core ferrule, a multi-core plug holding a multi-core ferrule, and an adaptor having a tubular sleeve. The single-core ferrule made of zirconia (ZrO2) has a cylindrical shape and is held in a holder made of stainless steel (SUS). The single-core ferrule has a convex end surface whose curvature radius R1 is at least 50 mm. The multi-core ferrule made of zirconia (ZrO2) has a cylindrical shape and is held in a holder made of stainless steel (SUS). The multi-core ferrule has a convex end surface whose curvature radius R2 is at least 18.3 mm and at most 38.7 mm. When the first and second plugs are attached to the adaptor, the singe-core ferrule and the multi-core ferrule are respectively inserted from the opposite ends into the sleeve, and both of the end surfaces of the ferrules are pressed against each other. |
| US08175425B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing an automated patch panel
An approach is provided for an automated patch panel. A command is received to change a connection state of an optic patch cord. A robotic arm is controlled to change the connection state of the optic patch cord with respect to a particular port of a plurality of ports disposed about a disk-shaped face of a docking panel. |
| US08175423B2 |
Filtered fiber optic probe
A fiber optic probe assembly which incorporate a series of graduated shaped and nestable members, e.g. cylindrical annular members which enable uniform and repetitive construction and assembly of the probes resulting in a high degree of quality control. |
| US08175422B2 |
Optical modulator
In an optical modulator, a first electrode portion having a plurality of first electrodes is provided on the upper surface of a base part having a periodically-poled structure and a second electrode portion is provided on the lower surface thereof, and voltage is applied in one direction between the first electrode portion and the second electrode portion, to thereby cause a periodic change of the refractive index in a polarization-part array direction in the periodically-poled structure and diffract light which enters the base part. This allows reduction in the voltage applied between the first electrode portion and the second electrode portion, and it is thereby possible to form a desired electric field inside the periodically-poled structure while achieving a high-density channel arrangement. By reducing the voltage, the rate of the optical modulation performed by the optical modulator can be increased. |
| US08175419B2 |
Image search apparatus, image search method, and storage medium storing a program for causing a search apparatus to execute a search method
In an image search apparatus, a data manager responds to an instruction for a first search condition issued via a user interface to manage data of a target model acquired from a database and generates an image to be displayed on a user interface. A determination processor responds to an instruction for a second search condition issued by positioning a pointer on the whole model image to compare a closed area defined by the specified position with boundary information of each part image, retrieves candidate part images, and prioritizes the candidate part images in order of increasing area calculated based on the boundary information. A parts selection processor displays the retrieved candidate part images on the user interface according to the order of increasing area in response to an instruction for a third search condition for choosing a target part image from among the candidate part images. |
| US08175418B1 |
Method of and system for enhanced data storage
A method of and system for enhanced storage allows more data to be backed up than would otherwise be possible. Instead of storing uncompressed base images and incremental images, differentials of non-current base images are compressed and stored. Furthermore, incremental images that are older than the current base image are removed. By only saving differential base images that are compressed, aside from the newest base image, and deleting older incremental images, a significant amount of space is saved. A removable drive is used as temporary storage in the process of generating a compressed differential base for previous base images. Additionally, a process ensures that previous base images are differentials of the most recent base image and not each other. |
| US08175415B2 |
Image processing device and computer-accessible recording medium containing program therefor
An image processing device changes a size of original image represented by an original image data to create size-changed image data representing a size-changed image and outputs the size-changed image data to an output device. The image processing device has an image size determination unit determines a target image size based on a ratio of a predetermined standard character size to a character size regarding character data included in the original image data and based on an image size of the original image data. An image data creating unit changes the size of the original image to create the size-changed image data based on the determined target size. An output control unit controls an output of the created size-changed image data to the output device such that the size-changed image is shown within the image formation area in the output image. |
| US08175412B2 |
Method and apparatus for matching portions of input images
A method and apparatus for finding correspondence between portions of two images that first subjects the two images to segmentation by weighted aggregation (10), then constructs directed acylic graphs (16,18) from the output of the segmentation by weighted aggregation to obtain hierarchical graphs of aggregates (20,22), and finally applies a maximally weighted subgraph isomorphism to the hierarchical graphs of aggregates to find matches between them (24). Two algorithms are described; one seeks a one-to-one matching between regions, and the other computes a soft matching, in which is an aggregate may have more than one corresponding aggregate. A method and apparatus for image segmentation based on motion cues. Motion provides a strong cue for segmentation. The method begins with local, ambiguous optical flow measurements. It uses a process of aggregation to resolve the ambiguities and reach reliable estimates of the motion. In addition, as the process of aggregation proceeds and larger aggregates are identified, it employs a progressively more complex model to describe the motion. In particular, the method proceeds by recovering translational motion at fine levels, through affine transformation at intermediate levels, to 3D motion (described by a fundamental matrix) at the coarsest levels. Finally, the method is integrated with a segmentation method that uses intensity cues. The utility of the method is demonstrated on both random dot and real motion sequences. |
| US08175410B2 |
Illumination normalizing method and apparatus
An illumination normalizing apparatus and a method are disclosed. The illumination normalizing apparatus measures a discontinuity of each pixel of an input image, the discontinuity including a spatial gradient and a local inhomogeneity, produces a weight of each pixel from the discontinuity by using a transfer function, produces an estimated illumination by repeating a convolution operation on each weight, and subtracts the estimated illumination from the input image. |
| US08175409B1 |
Coherent image selection and modification
A method includes receiving a selection input to define a selection mask with respect to digital data. The selection input is used to generate the selection mask with respect to the digital data. An icon is automatically associated with the selection mask, the icon being selectable to select the selection mask. |
| US08175407B2 |
Image processing method, image processing apparatus, and program for clustering data
A clustering unit calculates, for clusters in a descending order of the number of pixels belonging thereto, a distance from a feature vector of a processing object pixel and a representative feature vector of an object cluster, and compares the distance with a first threshold. The processing object pixel is stored in a memory or the like as a pixel belonging to an object cluster when the distance is determined to be less than or equal to the first threshold. |
| US08175405B1 |
Adaptive MPEG noise reducer
The disclosed technology provides a system and a method for adaptive MPEG noise reduction. In particular, the disclosed technology provides a system and a method for reducing blocking artifacts and mosquito noise in an MPEG video signal. An overall MPEG noise detector may be used to determine the presence of noise in one or more frames of a video signal. When a sufficient amount of noise is detected in the one or more frames of the video signal, portions of the video signal that contain noise may be located and filtered to reduce the amount of noise present in the video signal. |
| US08175404B2 |
Method and device for estimating image quality of compressed images and/or video sequences
A method for estimating quality of images compressed with a transformation based compression method. The estimation method uses estimated errors generated by quantization to obtain an image quality indicator and does not require use of a reference image. The estimation method includes calculating a probability of at least one specific quantized transformation coefficient value for at least all coefficients representing one identical two-dimensional frequency, and estimating identifying parameters of at least one probability density function of non-quantized coefficient values from the quantized coefficient value probabilities, with a type of probability density function being preset. The estimation method further includes calculating an image quality indicator from errors introduced by quantization, which are derived from probability density function parameters and quantization parameters. |
| US08175403B1 |
Iterative backward reference selection with reduced entropy for image compression
A system (and a method) are disclosed for optimizing lossless data compression in digital images systems iteratively. The system includes a backward reference module and an entropy encoder. The backward reference module comprises three sub-modules: a backward reference selection module, a backward reference statistics measurement module and a backward reference selection control module. The backward reference selection module initially selects backward references that have shorter backward distances. The statistics measurement module analyzes the backward references of input data. The backward reference selection module updates the backward references based on the statistics of previously generated backward references at subsequent selection iterations. The backward reference selection control module controls the number of selection iterations needed for optimized data compression performance. |
| US08175395B2 |
System and method for dynamically switching quality settings of a codec to maintain a target data rate
A video compression system includes a compression module to compress each of a plurality of segments of an input signal using an initial quality setting. A rate calculation module calculates, for each compressed segment, a data rate for an output signal that would result from adding a compressed segment to the output signal. A selection module automatically selects, in response to the calculated data rate deviating from a target range, a quality setting for each segment that results in a data rate this is within the target range when a segment compressed using the automatically-selected quality setting is added to the output signal. |
| US08175393B2 |
Multi-phenomenology object detection
Method and system for utilizing multiple phenomenological techniques to resolve closely spaced objects during imaging includes detecting a plurality of closely spaced objects through the imaging of a target area by an array, and spreading electromagnetic radiation received from the target area across several pixels. During the imaging, different phenomenological techniques may be applied to capture discriminating features that may affect a centroid of the electromagnetic radiation received on the array. Comparing the locations of the centroids over multiple images may be used to resolve a number of objects imaged by the array. Examples of such phenomenological discriminating techniques may include imaging the target area in multiple polarities of light or in multiple spectral bands of light. Another embodiment includes time-lapse imaging of the target area, to compare time lapse centroids for multiple movement signal characteristics over pluralities of pixels on the array. |
| US08175390B2 |
System and method for illumination invariant image segmentation
In a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an automated, computerized method is provided for processing an image. According to a feature of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of providing an image file, identifying a boundary in the image, calculating a representation of the boundary extending to segments of the image at either side of the boundary, performing feature calculations on the representation and classifying the boundary as caused by a material change, as a function of the feature calculations. |
| US08175389B2 |
Recognizing handwritten words
Recognizing handwritten words at an electronic device. A plurality of strokes is received at a common input region of an electronic device. The plurality of strokes in combination defines a word comprising a plurality of symbols, a relative geometry of a first subset of the plurality of strokes defines a first symbol and a relative geometry of a second subset of the plurality of strokes defines a second symbol such that the relative geometry of the first subset of the plurality of strokes is not related to the relative geometry of the second subset of the plurality of strokes, and at least one stroke of the first subset of the plurality of strokes is spatially superimposed over at least one stroke of the second subset of the plurality of strokes. The word is determined using a processor of the electronic device based on the plurality of strokes without requiring recognition of the plurality of symbols, wherein a word is determined based at least in part on an entry sequence of subsets of the plurality of strokes. |
| US08175382B2 |
Learning image enhancement
Image enhancement techniques are described to enhance an image in accordance with a set of training images. In an implementation, an image color tone map is generated for a facial region included in an image. The image color tone map may be normalized to a color tone map for a set of training images so that the image color tone map matches the map for the training images. The normalized color tone map may be applied to the image to enhance the in-question image. In further implementations, the procedure may be updated when the average color intensity in non-facial regions differs from an accumulated mean by a threshold amount. |
| US08175378B2 |
Method and system for noise management for spatial processing in digital image/video capture systems
A computer-implemented method for noise management in a digital image system measures noise levels of pixel data. The noise levels are adjusted with at least one of an intensity gain setting, a spatial gain setting, and a global gain setting to calculate noise adaptive thresholds for use during spatial processing of the pixel data. |
| US08175375B2 |
Method of compression of video telephony images
A method of compression of videotelephony images characterized by: creating (10) a learning base containing images; centering the learning base about zero; determining component images by principal component analysis (12); and keeping a number of significant principal components (14). |
| US08175373B2 |
Use of design information and defect image information in defect classification
Defects observed by imaging tools may be classified by automatic comparison of features observed in a defect image with design information relating to corresponding portions of the image. Defect information may be generated from a defect image from a defect imaging tool. Design information relating to one or more structures to be formed on the substrate in a vicinity of the defect may be retrieved. The defect may be classified based on a combination of the defect information from the defect image and design information relating to one or more structures to be formed on the substrate in the vicinity of the defect. |
| US08175371B2 |
Method for imaging and differential analysis of cells
Provided are methods for determining and analyzing photometric and morphogenic features of small objects, such as cells to, for example, identify different cell states. In particularly, methods are provided for identifying apoptotic cells, and for distinguishing between cells undergoing apoptosis versus necrosis. |
| US08175370B2 |
Automatic cell analyzer and automatic cell analyzing method
A sharp image showing a thin projecting part is acquired without using a complex dyeing method, and the analysis accuracy is improved. An automatic cell analyzer (1) comprises: an imaging unit (4) for capturing fluorescence emitted from a cell (S) and acquiring a cell image; an exposure changing section (5) for changing the exposure condition when the imaging unit (4) captures cell images; and a processing section (5) for analyzing the cell (S) on the basis of a plurality of cell images respectively captured under the changed exposure conditions. |
| US08175369B2 |
Multi-nucleated cell classification and micronuclei scoring
Methods and systems for counting nuclei for cells in a cell-containing sample are disclosed, such as carried out on a computer. The methods comprise: receiving a raw image of the cell-containing sample; transforming the raw image into a segmented image comprising one or more nuclei clusters. The methods further comprise: for each of the one or more nuclei clusters, obtaining a convex hull of the nuclei cluster; locating any indentations on the nuclei cluster by comparing the nuclei cluster to the convex hull of the nuclei cluster; calculating a first nuclei count based on a tally of the indentations; and assigning the nuclei cluster to a cell among the plurality of cells. The methods further comprise: calculating a second nuclei count for each cell by totaling the first nuclei counts of its constituent nuclei clusters; and presenting a result based on the second nuclei count for at least one of the plurality of cells. |
| US08175366B2 |
Method for obtaining spatial images through MRI and processing the resulting spatial images and product
A method for recording a set of MRI images of a tissue pixel by pixel that evolve with time in a specific manner described by a function; processing the recorded MRI images by aggregating the pixels thereof according to a preselected aspect of time behavior; best fitting the aggregated pixels to a predetermined pixel function to obtain the parameters of the function; and presenting the parameters visually. A computer readable medium containing executable program instructions for carrying out the method. |
| US08175363B2 |
System and method for additive spatial/intensity decomposition of medical images
A method for decomposing digital medical images includes providing a digital medical image, segmenting the image into one or more biological structures, extracting one or more segmented biological structures from the image by extracting all voxels within a spatial extent of each of the biological structures to construct one or more new component volumes of the biological structures. For each of the one or more new component volumes, generate a sequence of 2-dimensional projective views by moving a projection viewpoint around each the biological structure in the one or more new component images, and generate a 2-dimensional projective view from each viewpoint, and display a cine loop of the sequence of projective views where the biological structures appear to be rotating in the display. |
| US08175362B2 |
Display of classifier output and confidence measure in an image
Systems and methods are described for displaying classifier output and confidence measure in an image. The confidence measure advantageously provides additional information to the user indicating the accuracy of the classification result. Based on the classification accuracy, the user may accept or reject the classification result. In an exemplary embodiment, the classifier output is displayed on the image by color coding regions in the image based on their classifications. The confidence measure is displayed by adjusting the transparencies of the color coded regions according to their confidence measures. In one embodiment, only the classifications having confidence measures above a threshold are displayed. In other embodiments, the classifier output and confidence measure may be displayed separately, contour lines may be drawn through image regions having similar confidence measures, and the confidence measure may be displayed for a region under a pointer that the user can move within the image. |
| US08175360B2 |
Method and system of multivariate analysis on normalized volume-wise data in the sinogram domain for improved quality in positron emission tomography studies
A method and system are provided for improving the quality in positron emission tomography (PET) images. PET input data is masked using raw dynamic PET data (sinograms) as input for primary component analysis (PCA) that generates primary components which in turn are used to create a mask. This mask can be used to allow object pixel data to be extracted from the sinograms into masked sinograms where background pixels outside the reference object are set to zero. A volume-wise approach to PCA uses masked sinograms as input data. Pixel-wise noise pre-normalization may then be performed generating pre-normalized sinograms from the masked PET input data. PCA is then performed on the pre-normalized sinograms resulting in PCA sinograms recreated into PCA-modified sinograms by adding background pixel values of zero. These PCA-modified sinograms may optionally be scaled and may then be reconstructed into dynamic PET images with improved image quality. |
| US08175358B2 |
Apparatus and method for the processing of perfusion images
The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for the reconstruction of time-dependent cross-sectional images and may be applied for example in perfusion imaging in the vessel system (2) of a patient. According to the method, projections pij are generated from a number M of different directions di and at different times tij. Moreover, the time-dependent intensity function I(x,t) of the reconstructed volume is approximated by a predetermined model function I*(a(x),t), wherein the unknown parameter vector a(x) is estimated for each voxel x. This estimation may be done using the update functions of known reconstruction algorithms like ART for at least N projections pij in each iteration step. |
| US08175355B2 |
Factor analysis in medical imaging
A method for estimating kinetic parameters from image data includes using a processor to execute instructions for providing a model of kinetic contributions from first and second physiological regions; grouping voxels of the image data into first and second groups; determining an average value of the factors associated with the first group, the factors corresponding to blood-flow time activity curves; incorporating the average value of the factors associated with the first group into the model of kinetic contributions from the first and second physiological regions; and estimating the kinetic parameters based on the model of kinetic contributions. |
| US08175354B2 |
System and method for interactive liver lobe segmentation
Methods and systems for separating a 3D liver object are disclosed. A 3D liver object and selected associated vascular and other anatomic structures are displayed in a 3D space which is rendered on a 2D display screen. One or more 3D separating surfaces are placed in the 3D space based on anatomic structural landmarks that are segmented automatically or interactively, where each of the 3D separating surfaces intersects with the 3D liver object at a corresponding 3D pose. The 3D liver object into at least two sub-segments based on the 3D separating surfaces, which can be individually and independently adjusted directly in the 3D space, in real-time, and interactively by a user based on 3D and/or 2D information related to the 3D liver object, and the selected associated vascular and other anatomic structures. |
| US08175343B2 |
Imaging device, image processing device, control method, and program
An imaging device supports the taking of an image with a suitable composition without requiring user operation. The imaging device detects, using a face detection circuit, face regions of faces in an image input from the image input unit. When a plurality of face regions have been detected, the imaging device, using the selection unit, judges, for each of the detected face regions, whether a face region overlaps with any of the first through fourth judgment frames that are defined by two types of golden ratios. When it judges that the face region overlaps with any of the first through fourth judgment frames, the imaging device assigns to the face regions, and selects a face region corresponding to the largest weight as the main object. |
| US08175342B2 |
Two stage detection for photographic eye artifacts
The detection of red-eye defects is enhanced in digital images for embedded image acquisition and processing systems. A two-stage redeye filtering system includes a speed optimized filter that performs initial segmentation of candidate redeye regions and optionally applies a speed-optimized set of falsing/verification filters to determine a first set of confirmed redeye regions for correction. Some of the candidate regions which are rejected during the first stage are recorded and re-analyzed during a second stage by an alternative set of analysis-optimized filters to determine a second set of confirmed redeye regions. |
| US08175341B2 |
Image processing method and apparatus thereof
In case of an image region having a property of abrupt changes in luminance and tint, even when a region made up of pixels having luminance values and tint levels similar to those of one point designated by the user is extracted as a correction region with reference to the user designated point, it is difficult to extract a region to be corrected without omission. To solve this problem, a user instruction indicating a point inside or near an image region which is to undergo correction is input, and a plurality of origin pixels corresponding to start points of region expansion are set in a region which includes the input point and has a predetermined size. The region expansion is executed from each origin pixel, and a correction region is decided according to the result of the region expansion. |
| US08175339B1 |
Scoring items
A system identifies an image and determines whether the image contains inappropriate content based on first data associated with the image, second data associated with a document that contains the image or refers to the image, and/or third data associated with a group of documents with which the image is associated. |
| US08175338B2 |
Map-based aesthetic evaluation of document layouts
A method is disclosed for determining the aesthetic quality of a document page. The method partitions the document page into a plurality of regions according to a predetermined map. Each region is then evaluated to determine whether the region is of acceptable aesthetic quality according to a predetermined profile corresponding to the region and defined by the map. The profile comprises (i) one or more measures of region properties; (ii) an acceptability rule corresponding to each measure; and (iii) a region decision rule (435, 440) based on the results of one or more of the acceptability rules. The method then determines the aesthetic quality for the document page based on the aesthetic quality acceptability of each region and a predetermined page rule defined by the map. |
| US08175337B2 |
Apparatus and method of measuring distance using structured light
Provided are an apparatus and method of measuring a distance using structured light. The apparatus includes a binarization unit binarizing an image, an image identification unit identifying an image having connected pixels in the binarized image, a length ratio calculation unit obtaining the length ratio of the major axis of the image having the connected pixels to a minor axis perpendicular to the major axis, a pixel mean calculation unit obtaining the mean of pixel values of the image having the connected pixels, and an image extraction unit extracting an image formed by the light irradiated from the light source, from the images having connected pixels using the length ratio and the mean of the pixel values. |
| US08175335B2 |
Content adaptive detection of images with stand-out object
Content adaptive detection of images having stand-out objects involves block variance-based detection and determining if an object includes a stand-out object. The images with a stand-out object are further processed to isolate an object of interest. The images without a detected stand-out object are further processed with a transition map-based detection method which includes generating a transition map. If an object portrait is determined from the transition map, then the image is further processed to isolate the object of interest. |
| US08175334B2 |
Vehicle environment recognition apparatus and preceding-vehicle follow-up control system
A vehicle environment recognition apparatus includes stereo-image taking means for outputting a reference image of the surroundings of a subject vehicle, stereo matching means for correlating a parallax with each pixel block in the reference image by stereo matching, preceding-vehicle detecting means for detecting a preceding vehicle from the reference image on the basis of the parallax or the like, and smear determining means for searching a pixel column vertically extending in the reference image for brightnesses of pixels, the pixel column including a pixel block having a parallax less than or equal to a long-distance parallax threshold value corresponding to the long distance including infinity, and determining that a smear occurs when a ratio of the number of pixels having brightnesses more than or equal to a predetermined brightness to the total number of pixels in the pixel column is more than or equal to a predetermined ratio. |
| US08175333B2 |
Estimator identifier component for behavioral recognition system
An estimator/identifier component for a computer vision engine of a machine-learning based behavior-recognition system is disclosed. The estimator/identifier component may be configured to classify an object being one of two or more classification types, e.g., as being a vehicle or a person. Once classified, the estimator/identifier may evaluate the object to determine a set of kinematic data, static data, and a current pose of the object. The output of the estimator/identifier component may include the classifications assigned to a tracked object, as well as the derived information and object attributes. |
| US08175332B2 |
Upper troposphere and lower stratosphere wind direction, speed, and turbidity monitoring using digital imaging and motion tracking
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for monitoring wind direction, speed, and turbidity. The visible sky is monitored by a set of cameras for contrails produced by a high-altitude aircraft. In response to identifying a contrail, the contrail is tracked across the field of view of the camera. Contrail data generated when the contrail is identified and during the tracking of the contrail is stored. The contrail data describes characteristics of the contrail including the spread of the contrail and the movement of the contrail across the field of view of the camera. Coordinates of the high-altitude aircraft are determined and compared with the contrail data to identify wind conditions. |
| US08175331B2 |
Vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus, method, and program
A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus, method, and program capable of reducing a possibility of overlap between a detection object and a background object in a standard image when detecting objects around the vehicle from images obtained by a plurality of image sensors so as to detect the objects accurately. The vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus detects the objects existing around the vehicle (10) from the images obtained by the image sensors (2R, 2L) mounted on the vehicle (10). The vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus includes an object extraction process unit (1) which performs a process of extracting the objects for a predetermined standard image of the images obtained by the image sensors (2R, 2L), a driving environment detection process unit (1) which detects a driving environment of the vehicle (10), and a standard image selection process unit (1) which selects the standard image for use in the process of the object extraction process unit (1) anew according to the detected driving environment. |
| US08175327B2 |
System to determine in near real-time product density in a continuous dispensing product flow
A system for determining in near real-time the product density value of a zone of preferable small fungible products within an acceptable size range in a flow of products includes a sample input piping from a bin or piping of products, a sampling volume for fixing the size of a sample, a scale, a processor, an imaging table and an associated camera. The system may include a sample output pipe, and may include or be associated with a bagger/scale. Operation of these components provides for successively sampling of each zone in the bin to determine the quantity of acceptable product per unit weight and to control the flow of those products. The system therefore can compensate for variations among supplying entities where product supplies are subsequently piled atop one another. The system makes the density calculation available to the plant information system and an automated packaging system, which may be via a 16 bit scaled analoge or a serial interface, among other systems. In addition the image information is stored for future analysis, audit support, and process improvement activities. |
| US08175324B2 |
Reversible data hiding
Methods for reversible data hiding are disclosed herein. These methods may be applied to images for reversible image data hiding. In one embodiment, a method for reversible data hiding comprises identifying carrier data having a plurality of components and establishing prediction-errors for each of the components of the carrier data. A first threshold and a second threshold are established. The prediction-errors of the components are evaluated against the first threshold to identify components for possible hiding. The components identified for possible hiding are evaluated against the second threshold to identify components for hiding. To-be embedded data is embedded into the carrier data identified for hiding to create marked data. The marked data is evaluated for overflow or underflow. If overflow or underflow is detected, histogram modification is performed. Marked data is then established. |
| US08175323B2 |
Image processing method and image processing apparatus
In an image processing apparatus for creating synthetic image information by embedding sub-information in an invisible state in main image information in a visible state, attention pixels in the main image information are set, a specific pixel block is created by assigning a first specific pixel to the attention pixel of a first color and a second specific pixel to the attention pixel of a second color, first key information is selected for a first value of the sub-information constituted by binary information and second key information is selected for a second value, color difference modulation processing is performed on the selected key information based on a predetermined color difference amount, and the color-difference-modulated key information is superposed on the specific pixel block to thereby create the synthetic image information in which the sub-information in an invisible state is embedded in the main image information. |
| US08175322B2 |
Method of digital watermark and the corresponding device, and digital camera which can append watermark
A digital camera comprising a watermark-adding device, which comprises a device for obtaining the signal values of digital signals, a bits dividing device, an altered regions initializing device, an eigenvalue calculating device, an encrypting device and a watermark embedding device. The bits dividing device divides the data recording each pixel point of the digital image, on the basis of bit, into bits for calculating the eigenvalue of the image, bits for hiding the watermark and bits for locating altered regions. The altered regions initializing device can set all the data of the bits for locating altered regions to 0 or 1. The eigenvalue calculating device can calculate the eigenvalue of digital signals. The encryption device encrypts the calculated eigenvalue. The watermark embedding device embeds the eigenvalue information in the digital signals. |
| US08175319B2 |
Interchangeable magnet loudspeaker
A moving coil loudspeaker has an interchangeable magnet assembly with a plurality of interchangeable magnet segments configured to be circumferentially disposed about a voice coil within the loudspeaker. Heat sink members can be arranged in between the magnet segments to absorb excess heat generated during operation of the loud speaker. In one embodiment, the magnet assembly has at least one annular magnetic member made up of the plurality of magnet segments, a plurality of heat sink members disposed in between the magnet segments, an annular first plate adjacent a first side of the annular magnetic member, and a yoke member having a second plate adjacent a second side of the annular magnetic member and a central cylindrical portion configured to pass through a central opening in the annular magnetic member. |
| US08175315B2 |
Headphone set and method of producing the same
A headphone set has at least one speaker unit and a housing that encloses the speaker unit. The housing has an elastic protruding portion having a cavity therein. A sound-emitting portion is formed as protruding from a vibrating zone of the speaker unit. |
| US08175314B1 |
Tactical microphone support systems
A tactical microphone support system to attach a tactical microphone to a law enforcement uniform and keep it supported in place, particularly when a law enforcement officer is being physically active, such as, for example, while pursuing a suspect. Preferably, the tactical microphone support attaches to at least one button on a law enforcement shirt. The tactical microphone support provides for center, right or left handed attachment. |
| US08175313B2 |
Electronic anti-sabotage microphone grommet
A tamper detection apparatus includes a housing defining an internal cavity. A sensing device embodied as a microphone is positioned within the internal cavity of the housing, which may also be a protective grommet. A conductive element spans the internal cavity and is positioned in front of the microphone. The conductive element initiates a fault signal when a specified electrical condition is met to indicate a tampering or an attempted tampering with the microphone. |
| US08175307B2 |
Method for attenuating interfering noise and corresponding hearing device
Transient interfering sounds are to have a less disturbing effect in hearing devices. For this purpose, it is provided that an envelope curve of an input signal of a hearing device, particularly of a hearing aid, is detected. The slope and/or the height of edges of the envelope curve is continuously determined. The output signal of the hearing device is then attenuated in dependence on the slope and/or height of the respective edge determined. Transient sounds of high level are thus transmitted only in an attenuated manner by the hearing device. |
| US08175305B2 |
Hearing aid with a drop safeguard
A hearing aid with a drop safeguard has an accelerometer, an electrical circuit, and a memory. The accelerometer generates an electrical signal in dependence on an acceleration of the hearing aid. The signal is transmitted to the electrical circuit which uses this to determine a jerky acceleration of the hearing aid. The electrical circuit saves the respectively current settings of the hearing aid to the memory in the case of a jerky acceleration of the hearing aid. After the hearing aid is dropped, the settings can be reconstructed from the memory so that as a result this prevents the settings of the hearing aid from being changed. |
| US08175303B2 |
Electronic apparatus for vehicle, and method and system for optimally correcting sound field in vehicle
A sound field in a vehicle can be further readily and optimally corrected without forcing a user to do troublesome work. As an embodiment of the present invention, a measurement sound emitted through a left speaker or a right speaker at a further position in a view from a driver's listening point that was assumed on the head touching surface of the headrest of the driver's seat or the passenger seat is picked up, with a microphone provided as buried on a front panel of a head unit to be attached to the almost center position between the driver's seat and the passenger seat in the vehicle. And the frequency characteristic of the above sound is corrected, based on a tendency that the frequency characteristic of an audio sound reaching from the left speaker or the right speaker to the microphone is almost approximate to the virtual frequency characteristic of an audio sound that will reach from the left speaker or the right speaker to the driver's listening point assumed on the head touching surface. |
| US08175302B2 |
Device for and method of generating a vibration source-driving-signal
A device (100) for generating a vibration source driving signal (DS) is described, which device (100) comprises an input (101) for receiving an input signal (IS) and an output (102) for providing said driving signal (DS), generating means (103; 803) for generating a control signal (CS) which is representative of dynamic signal changes of the input signal (IS), and a processing unit (105; 201; 301; 401; 804) adapted to process a source signal (SRS; IAS) based on the control signal (CS) yielding said driving signal (DS). |
| US08175301B2 |
Loudspeaker driver
A loudspeaker driver that includes a suspended diaphragm and at least one voice coil disposed lateral to the suspended diaphragm, suspended in a magnetic field and coupled to the diaphragm. |
| US08175298B2 |
Audio output system control method and audio output system
In an audio output system including a TV, an AV amplifier, a DVD player, and the like, a simple control program decides an audio output mode setting, i.e., whether to output audio from a built-in speaker of the TV or output audio from an external speaker connected to the AV amplifier by linking operations of the respective devices. A control unit of a DVD player transmits a request signal concerning the audio output mode to a control unit of a TV. According to a request from the DVD player, the control unit of the TV instructs a control unit of an AV amplifier to be set to a mode for outputting audio from an external speaker connected to the AV amplifier or a mode for not outputting audio and sets a built-in speaker of the TV to a state opposite to the state of the external speaker. |
| US08175296B2 |
Articulated amplifier
An audio amplifier having a variably configurable housing, which may be mounted to an interior surface of a motor vehicle. The housing is formed in two complementing housing sections mutually joined by a hinge, tether, or other connector. A power supply is contained in one housing section and an audio output module is contained in the other housing section. The power supply and audio output module may be connected by flexible signal conductors to accommodate pivot of the two housing sections relative to one another. A heat sink comprising cooling fins and communications and power terminals may be disposed on the exterior of the housing sections to enable conventional connection to an associated audio system. The hinge may incorporate a fixing element which releasably holds the two housing sections at a selected degree of pivot. |
| US08175287B2 |
Sound device
A sound device includes an input terminal for electronic signal input; a line out terminal adapted to output electronic signals input on the input terminal to an external area; a delay arrangement adapted to delay electronic signals input on the input terminal for a certain time; a main output arrangement adapted to output electronic signals delayed by the delay arrangement. The delay arrangement delays signals in order to accommodate a time difference between (1) electronic signals output from an external sound device connected with the line output terminal and (2) electronic signals output from the main output arrangement. The time difference between sound that is output from the sound device and the one that is output from an external sound device that is connected with line connection terminal can be eliminated. Thus, it can prevent sound quality decrease due to time difference from happening. |
| US08175286B2 |
Recording, synthesis and reproduction of sound fields in an enclosure
The invention relates to simulation of sound fields in enclosures, for instance for application in listening tests, where test subjects assess the sound quality or other sound perception characteristics of the sound field. According to a specific embodiment, the system comprises a binaural synthesis portion which synthesizes sound for instance from a sound-reproduction equipment based on measured impulse responses of an actual room stored in a data base (31) and a binaural recording portion comprising a data base 32 for storing binaural recordings of other sound signals made in the room. Data from these databases are mixed (41) and reproduced by means of a headphone (39) provided with a head tracker (42) for tracking the movements of the listener's head. The invention furthermore comprises the use of cross-fading functions (36, 37) to enable the dynamic listening conditions, where the movements of the listener's head are taken into account during the simulation process. |
| US08175283B2 |
Sound analyzer based on a biomorphic design
A device and a method for analyzing sound based on a biomorphic design are disclosed. The device comprises a plurality of amplification/filtering stages (S1, . . . , Sn) connected in a series configuration. Each amplification/filtering stage comprises at least one nonlinear amplification module (100a, . . . , 100c), preferably a Hopf amplifier, and at least one filter module (200a′ . . . , 200c; 200a′, . . . 200c′) providing high-frequency attenuation. |
| US08175279B2 |
Integrated vehicle audio system
A loudspeaker, amplifier, media source, user interface, and mechanical interface are all contained in a single unit. The unit has a first portion configured to mount in a vehicle radio mounting location and a second portion configured to extend significantly outside the vehicle radio mounting location. |
| US08175278B2 |
Key management messages for secure broadcast
The present invention involves establishing a top-level key and optionally also a verification tag. The top-level key is used as the MDP key for encrypting a broadcast medium. Only the part of the key message that contains the encrypted top-level key is authenticated, e.g. using a signature or a Message Access Code (MAC). Any known group-key distribution protocol can be used that is based on the creation of a hierarchy of keys. Examples of such methods are the LKH and SD methods. The group-key distribution protocol output key H, traditionally used as the MDP key, or a derivative thereof is used to encrypt the top-level MDP-key. The invention, further, includes optimization of a group-key message by eliminating unnecessary message components relative a specified group or sub-group of users. The optimization can be made in dependence of contextual data such as user profile, network status, or operator policies. |
| US08175277B2 |
Intercepting a communication session in a telecommunication network
Intercepting a secure communication session includes distributing a key from a key distribution point to establish a secure communication session between a first endpoint and a second endpoint. A secure channel is established between the key distribution point and an intercepting point. The intercepting endpoint may be determined to be authorized to intercept the secure communication session. The key is provided to the intercepting endpoint only if the intercepting endpoint is authorized to intercept the secure communication session, where the key provides the intercepting endpoint with access to intercept the secure communication session. |
| US08175276B2 |
Encryption apparatus with diverse key retention schemes
An encryption apparatus (14) includes a secure processing system (12) in the form of an integrated circuit. The secure processing system (12) includes an on-chip secure memory system (30). The secure memory system (30) includes a non-volatile, read-only, permanent key register (62) in which a permanent cryptographic key (64) is stored. The secure memory system (30) also includes a non-volatile, read-write, erasable key register (56) in which an erasable cryptographic key (60) is stored. Symmetric cryptographic operations take place in an encryption engine (46) using an operating cryptographic key (68) formed by combining (96) the permanent and erasable keys (64, 60). A tamper detection circuit (70) detects tampering and erases the erasable key (60) when a tamper event is detected. |
| US08175274B2 |
Range measurement apparatus and method using chaotic UWB wireless communication
An apparatus for measuring a range based on a chaotic ultra wideband (UWB) wireless communication technology is disclosed. The Apparatus includes a chaotic signal generating/modulating unit, a transceiving unit, a detecting unit, a transform unit, a comparison unit, and a range measurement unit. The transform unit converts the analog voltage signal from the detecting unit into digital signals based on a first sampling period. The comparison unit compares the analog voltage signal from the detecting unit with a predetermined threshold value and to output a comparison signal. The range measurement unit is configured to calculate a time point corresponding to a leading edge, which is a moment when initial data of a packet payload arrive, by using the digital signals based on the threshold value and by using the comparison signal, and to perform a range measurement calculation based on the time point corresponding to the leading edge. |
| US08175268B2 |
Generating and securing archive keys
Described herein is a method and apparatus for managing archives. The archive management process receives a passphrase and an indicator of an archive to be managed. The passphrase is used to encipher or decipher an archive key dependent on whether data is to be inserted or extracted from the archive key. The passphrase can be changed by re-enciphering the archive key. |
| US08175266B2 |
System and method of performing authentication
Disclosed herein are systems, method and computer readable medium for providing authentication of an entity B by an entity A. In the method, entity A selects a value p, a range [a, b] and a granularity epsilon. Entity A sends p, [a, b], and epsilon to entity B. Entity B initializes a value yB=0 and for each x in {a, a+epsilon, . . . , b−epsilon, b} and computes z=E(x)*x. The function E(x) is an encryption scheme and the multiplication is carried out mod p. Entity B updates yB=yB+z. After processing each x, entity B sends yB to entity A. Entity A performs the same calculation and generates a yA value and compares yA with yB. If yB=yA, Entity A authenticate entity B. In one aspect, a light HMAC scheme splits an input x into n blocks with key expansion. |
| US08175265B2 |
Systems and methods for implementing block cipher algorithms on attacker-controlled systems
Systems and methods for an implementation of block cipher algorithms (e.g., AES) use lookup tables to obscure key information, increasing difficulty for those with privileged access to a system performing the AES algorithm to obtain such key information. The implementation encodes round key information into a first plurality of tables (T1), which when used for lookup operations also complete SubBytes operations, and output state in an encoded format. A Shiftrows operation is performed arithmetically on the state output from the T1 table lookups. A second plurality of tables (T2) are used to perform a polynomial multiplication portion of MixColumns to state from Shiftrows, and an XOR portion of MixColumns is performed arithmetically on the columns outputted from using the T2 tables. Encoding from the T1 tables is made to match a decoding built into the T2 tables. Subsets of the T1 tables use the same T2 tables, reducing a memory footprint for the T2 tables. Multiple AES keys can be embedded in different sets of T1 tables that encode for the same set of T2 tables. |
| US08175263B2 |
Integrated thin client and telephony device
A telephony apparatus connectable to a communication network and printed circuit board are provided. The telephony apparatus includes a package having a telephone footprint and comprising at least one connector to the communication network; a thin client device housed within the package, the thin client device connectable to a thin client display and a thin client input device; a stimulus telephony device housed within the package, the stimulus telephony device comprising a telephony display and telephony input device, the stimulus telephony device connectable to an audio input device; and the thin client device and the stimulus telephony device are further connectable to the communication network via the at least one connector. |
| US08175262B1 |
Per tone coprocessor architecture
A system for processing subscriber line data signals uses a coprocessor to receive signals in a pre-determined order from a plurality of line interface cards. The coprocessor uses the pre-determined order to sort the data signals by tone and process all received signals on the same tone at the same time. Because all signals on a tone, or those on a tone with known crosstalk issues, are processed together, the signal improvement is better than prior art methods. When not used, the coprocessor may be replaced with a loop-back circuit to reduce cost when crosstalk is not a significant issue. |
| US08175256B2 |
Call center system and method for obtaining interface invoke information
The present invention discloses a call center system and a method for obtaining interface invoke information to realize automatic analysis of the user behaviors. The method includes steps of sending a connection establishment request message to a user interface server by a call center client after a service is activated; allocating a connection identification for the activated service and sending a response message after the user interface server receives the connection request message; performing interactions between the call center client and the user interface server and recording the interaction message according to the connection identification attached in the interaction message; and decomposing the recorded interaction message and obtaining the information on the application programming interface invoked by each service according to the name of the application programming interface corresponding to the interface identification obtained from each message. |
| US08175252B2 |
Ringback tone bookmark request by calling party
A ringback tone is played to a calling party on a call to a called party. Identification information of the ringback tone is stored, upon receipt of a bookmark request from the calling party, for later access by the calling party to the ringback tone and/or information related to the ringback tone. |
| US08175251B2 |
Method and system to bypass ENUM to reach a callee via a PSTN or a PLMN
At least one telephone network element receives an attempt of a caller to place a telephone call to a callee. A telephone number for the call is registered in a telephone number mapping (ENUM) database to receive incoming telephone calls via a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network. The at least one telephone network element receives an indication of a preference of the caller to carry the telephone call via one of a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and a public land mobile network (PLMN), instead of via the VoIP network. Based on the preference, the method inhibits an ENUM query of the ENUM database for the telephone call and forwards the telephone call to a gateway to carry the telephone call to the callee via one of the PSTN and the PLMN instead of via the VoIP network. |
| US08175249B2 |
Technique for effectively collecting and analyzing data in providing information assistance services
In an information/call center where calls are received, requesting information concerning entities, goods and services, directions to a given destination, etc., data is collected in processing such calls. In accordance with the invention, the collected data is analyzed to generate dynamic data to supplement and/or improve the traditional databases, typically searched by an operator for responses to the information requests. In providing a public information assistance service, such dynamic data may concern, e.g., the most popular movies, restaurants, requested categories, etc. In providing a personalized information assistance service, such dynamic data may concern, e.g., previous telephone connections made for a subscriber, the most popular telephone connections requested by a subscriber, etc. In addition, based on the past search behavior, “fuzzy” logic is developed for correlating between search terms. When one search term is used in a search, the correlated search term may be suggested for adoption, in accordance with the fuzzy logic. |
| US08175248B2 |
Method and an apparatus to disambiguate requests
A method and an apparatus to disambiguate requests are presented. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a request for information from a user. Then data is retrieved from a back-end database in response to the request. Based on a predetermined configuration of a disambiguation system and the data retrieved, the ambiguity within the request is dynamically resolved. |
| US08175247B2 |
Call waiting priority alert
A method for delivering a priority call waiting alert service to a telephone subscriber. An embodiment of the present invention may be implemented on an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN). When a call intended the subscriber is received by a service switching point from a calling party while the telephone line is already engaged in a first communication between the subscriber and a third party, the calling party is solicited to supply a priority code. If the priority code is recognized by a service control point, a call waiting tone or a priority alert signal associated with the priority code is played to alert the subscriber that a priority call has been received. |
| US08175246B2 |
System and method for providing advanced call forwarding functionality
A system and method for providing call forwarding. Telephone information of one or more telephones assigned to a user may be stored, where the telephone information may include location coordinates (e.g., GPS coordinates). Telephone information, including location coordinates, of one or more telephones assigned to an organization of which the user is associated may be stored. The organization may be an employer of the user, for example. If call forwarding is enabled by the user, then a call to a wireless device of the user may cause a determination as to whether the wireless device is within a predetermined range of a telephone assigned to either the user or organization may be made. A distinctive ring may be generated to notify the user that a call forwarding call is being received. |
| US08175243B2 |
Systems and methods for facilitating teleconferencing without pre-reservation of conference resources
A teleconferencing system is provided comprising a telephony interface for answering telephony events routed thereto from a router or switch, and one or more signal processing mechanisms coupled to the telephony interface and locatable by the system. The system includes a characteristic of allowing a user to initiate a teleconference to occur on the system, the pending teleconference unbeknown to the system until a first telephony event representing a teleconference participant for the pending teleconference is received at the telephony interface. |
| US08175242B2 |
Voice conference historical monitor
A method includes determining information regarding a conference among a plurality of participants. The information may include a respective cumulative talk time of each of the plurality of participants. In accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention, the respective cumulative talk times of each of the plurality of participants is graphically presented to at least one of the plurality of participants. |
| US08175238B2 |
System and method of providing number identification in an intelligent telephone network
In a particular embodiment, a method of managing calls to a toll-free telephone number is disclosed. The method includes modifying a calling party identification (ID) privacy indicator associated with a received telephone call directed to a toll-free number. The calling party ID privacy indicator is modified based at least in part on a day that the telephone call is received. |
| US08175236B2 |
IMS and SMS interworking
Providing for inter-working between SMS network architectures and IMS network architectures in a mobile environment is described herein. By way of example, a next generation (NG) short message service center (SMSC) is provided that can receive SMS messages in mobile application protocol (MAP) and convert such messages to IMS protocol. In addition, the NG SMSC can also receive IMS data and convert the IMS data to an SMS MAP message. The NG SMSC can reference an IMS or an SMS location registry to determine a location of the target device, and convert from IMS to SMS MAP, and vice versa, as suitable. Accordingly, the NG SMSC can provide an efficient interface between legacy SMS and NG IMS network components while preserving legacy protocols associated with such networks. |
| US08175232B2 |
Push voicemail via “always on”
Solutions which address a growing and compelling need recognized in connection with rendering VOIP systems on laptops, or even on other mobile devices, even more versatile and user-friendly so as to even better replicate the advantages of cell phones. Broadly contemplated herein two modes of network access and two modes of user interface, which modes can be combined in any way as deemed suitable or appropriate. Preferably, a commonality between the contemplated network access and user interface modes is the use of a low-powered secondary processor, a secondary operating system, and non volatile storage applications which could be networking applications (e.g., an Always On subsystem). |
| US08175231B2 |
Toll-free directory assistance with automatic selection of an advertisement from a category
The current invention is a system for providing telephone directory assistance service in which a telephone user calls to the system and the system will, based on the requested number or type of service, hear a recorded advertisement. The advertisements are selected from a databank, which may include any number advertisements categorized within the category associated with the service, according to selection criteria. After the advertising announcement is completed, the directory assistance call is processed as usual. The selection criteria can include the use of SIC codes. |
| US08175229B2 |
Enhancing messaging services using translation gateways
In one embodiment, a translation gateway is for use between a network of a messaging service provider and a hostile data network. The gateway is to forward messages using a secure connection through the hostile network, to a customer's network. Different types of inbound messages (e.g., voice; fax) can be delivered to a single client process running on a customer machine on the customer network. In addition, the translation gateway may be used to securely forward different types of outbound messages originating from the client process to the service provider's network (where the messages are retransmitted as voice calls or facsimiles into a telephone network). Other embodiments are also described and claimed. |
| US08175228B2 |
Systems, methods and computer products for internet protocol television message waiting indication
Systems, methods and computer products for Internet Protocol Television message waiting indication. Exemplary embodiments include a method for providing messages to an Internet-Protocol-enabled device, the method including receiving a communication that a message to a recipient party has been deposited in a message infrastructure, mapping a recipient party message address to an Internet Protocol-enabled device address of the recipient party, retrieving sending party identification information and sending a message waiting indication to the Internet Protocol-enabled device address. |
| US08175225B2 |
Preventing emergency communication system notification congestion
The invention discloses a method and system for preventing emergency communication system notification congestion by automatically identifying the telecommunications site transmitting an emergency call or through reporting of an address from which the call is made. |
| US08175223B2 |
Intelligent self-healing networks and advanced troubleshooting of communication service problems
A problem detection and repair system receives a trouble indication indicating a problem with a network. The trouble indication may be the result of automated monitoring of the network, or a user of communication services contacting an operator of the network to report trouble. Communication services may include telephone service, television service, Internet service, and other services delivered via a network. The trouble indication may be paired with the user's account, and one or more status determinations may be made prior to handing the user to a support person. Based on the results of the status determinations, problems may be detected, and repairs automatically attempted. If needed, the user may be forwarded to a support person along with the results of the status determinations and any attempted repairs. |
| US08175222B2 |
Electron emitter and method of making same
One example embodiment includes an electron emitter. The electron emitter comprises a conductive member that defines a plurality of filament segments that are integral with each other. Each filament segment includes an intermediate portion and an interconnecting portion attached to an adjacent filament segment. The intermediate portions are substantially coplanar with each other and each intermediate portion includes a substantially planar electron emission surface. |
| US08175220B2 |
Method and apparatus for shortening footprint of multi-modality imaging system
A multi-modality imaging system includes a first imaging system and a second imaging system that is different from the first imaging system. The first and second imaging systems are slidingly mounted on at least one rail. A table has a movable pallet configured to extend through a scan range of the first imaging system while the first and second imaging systems are positioned proximate each other at one position along the at least one rail. The pallet is further configured to extend through a scan range of the second imaging system while the first and second imaging systems are positioned proximate each other at a different position along the at least one rail. At least a portion of the scan ranges overlap each other. |
| US08175216B2 |
Shift register circuit
A shift register circuit is provided that can decrease a power consumption caused by a clock signal and can achieve a high driving capacity. A unit shift register has a first transistor that activates an output signal when a power supply potential is provided to an output terminal. A pull-up driving circuit for driving the first transistor has a second transistor for providing a clock signal to a node connected to the gate of the first transistor and a boosting circuit for the node. When an output signal of a preceding stage is activated, the second transistor turns on. Thereafter, when the clock signal is activated, and the node is charged, the second transistor turns off. The boosting circuit increases the potential at the node when the second transistor turns off. Therefore, the first transistor can operate in non-saturation region and activate the output signal. |
| US08175215B2 |
Shift register
A shift register includes multiple cascade-connected stages. Each stage generates an output signal in response to a clock signal and a first control signal. Each stage includes a pull-up module, a pull-up driving module, a first pull-down module, a second pull-down module, and a third pull-down module. The pull-up module is used for providing the output signal based on the clock signal. The pull-up driving module turns on the pull-up module in response to a first control signal. The first pull-down module adjusts voltage level on the first node to a first supply voltage in response to a second control signal. The second pull-down module adjusts voltage level on the output end to a second supply voltage in response to the second control signal. The third pull-down module adjusts voltage level on the second node to a third supply voltage in response to a third control signal. |
| US08175213B2 |
System and method for setting counter threshold value
A system and method for configuring threshold values for fixed time delay counters of a System on a Chip (SoC) uses a reference clock signal and one or more frequency sub-range control signals corresponding to a frequency sub-range of the reference clock signal. A frequency sub-range of the reference clock signal is determined using the frequency sub-range control signals and the determined frequency sub-range is used to select a counter threshold value. The selected counter threshold value is provided to a counter and the counter then is updated at each cycle of the reference clock signal for a predetermined count based on the counter threshold value. |
| US08175210B2 |
Gamma thermometer axial apparatus and method for monitoring reactor core in nuclear power plant
A method for collecting data regarding the operating condition of a nuclear reactor core including: positioning a first linear array of gamma thermometer (GT) sensors in a first instrument housing; positioning a second linear array of GT sensors in a second instrument housing, wherein the GT sensors are arranged asymmetrically along the linear arrays and the second linear array is asymmetrical with respect to the first linear array; positioning the first instrument housing in the reactor core at a first core location and positioning the second instrument housing at a second core location symmetrical with respect to the first core location; collecting core condition data from at least one of the GT sensors in the first linear array of GT sensors, and applying the collected core condition data as data collected from the second linear array. |
| US08175207B2 |
ISI pattern-weighted early-late phase detector with jitter correction
An inter-symbol interference (ISI) pattern-weighted early-late phase detector is provided. I and Q clocks are generated. The I clock frequency is divided by n, creating a reference clock. A serial data stream is sequentially sampled with the I clock, and with Q clocks having fixed and varied phase delays from the I clock, creating digital I-bit and Q-bit values. The I-bit values and Q-bit values are segmented into n-bit digital words. I clock phase corrections are identified and a modulation factor is determined in response to comparing Q-bit values sampled by the varied delay Q clock. Also identified are bit sequence patterns associated with each I-bit value. Each I-bit value is weighted in response to the identified bit sequence pattern and the identified I clock phase correction. The modulation factor is applied to the weighted average, and I and Q clock phase error signal are generated. |
| US08175204B2 |
Receiving device, signal processing method, and program
A receiving device includes: a pilot extracting section; a first estimating section; a second estimating section; a third estimating section; a distortion correcting section; and a filter controlling section. |
| US08175198B2 |
Matched filter and receiver
A matched filter and receiver is provided to delete the tap coefficients of a matched filter used in an OFDM receiver. In the matched filter and receiver, a transmitting signal is generated by using a symmetric series (Y) obtained from C[k]=exp[j*π*M/N*(k+0.5)^2], where X=[0, C[N/2], C[N/2+1], . . . , C[N−1], 0, 0, . . . , 0, C[0], C[1], . . . , C[N/2−1]], and Y=inverse FFT (X) as a base symbol. The matched filter, which detects the signal, reduces the number of multipliers by using the coefficient symmetric property. |
| US08175196B2 |
Channel equalizer and method of processing broadcast signal in receiving system
A channel equalizer includes an overlap unit, an estimator, a calculator, a compensator, and a save unit. The overlap unit overlaps a group of data packets in a broadcast signal. The group data packets include a head, a body, and a tail, and a known data sequence is periodically included in the body. The estimator estimates a CIR of each data region the body using the known data sequence, and it further estimates CIRs of data regions in the head or tail using the CIRs obtained for the data regions in the body. The calculator calculates equalization coefficients based on the CIRs estimated by the estimator, and the compensator compensates channel distortion of the overlapped data using the equalization coefficients. The save unit saves the compensated data. |
| US08175194B2 |
Signal receiving apparatus and signal processing method
According to one embodiment, a signal receiving apparatus includes a first setting module, a calculator, a detection module, a generator, and a determination module. The first setting module is configured to set a rising or falling of an arbitrary high pulse as a starting point. The calculator is configured to calculate a sampling period based on intervals between a plurality of high pulses. The detector is configured to set a multiple of the sampling period from the starting point as reference points and to detect positions where the plurality of high pulses are generated from each of the reference points. The generator is configured to generate a histogram for the positions where the plurality of high pulses are generated. The determination module is configured to determine positions obtained by adding a value of a peak in the histogram to each of the reference points as sampling points. |
| US08175192B2 |
Method and system for determining and removing DC offset in communication signals
According to one exemplary embodiment, a method and system for determining and removing DC offset in an AC signal includes receiving an AC signal having a first-channel and a second-channel, e.g. an I-channel and a Q-channel, receiving a plurality of first-channel and second-channel samples, storing a negative first-channel sample corresponding to a first sign change in the plurality of second-channel samples, and storing a positive first-channel sample corresponding to a second sign change in the plurality of second-channel samples. The method further includes determining an average value of the negative first-channel sample and the positive first-channel sample, where the average value is the DC offset in the first-channel. The method can further include subtracting the determined DC offset from samples received in the first-channel (or the second-channel) prior to demodulation. The method and system can be implemented in, for example, a Bluetooth receiver. |
| US08175191B2 |
Combined sensing methods for cognitive radio
Embodiments of cognitive radio technology can recover and utilize under-utilized portions of statically-allocated radio-frequency spectrum. A plurality of sensing methods can be employed. Transmission power control can be responsive to adjacent channel measurements. Digital pre-distortion techniques can enhance performance. Embodiments of a high dynamic range transceiver architecture can be employed. |
| US08175190B2 |
Managing spectra of modulated signals in a communication network
Information is modulated onto frequency components of a signal. The resulting modulated signal includes at least some redundancy in frequency enabling a portion of the information modulated onto selected frequency components to be recovered from fewer than all of the selected frequency components. Controlling the spectrum of the modulated signal includes enabling the amplitude of at least some frequency components of the modulated signal to be set below a predetermined amplitude used for modulating the information. |
| US08175186B1 |
Preserving the content of a communication signal corrupted by interference during transmission
A communication signal including a plurality of bursts that individually include a plurality of data symbols is processed by both interleaving diversity and duplication diversity prior to transmission in order to preserve the content of the signal when the signal is corrupted by interference during transmission of the signal. A received communication signal having a plurality of bursts that individually include a plurality of data symbols which have been processed for transmission by interleaving diversity is processed to recover the content of the signal when the signal is corrupted by interference during transmission of the signal. Upon determining that the received communication signal may have been corrupted by interference during transmission, the received signal is processed by inserting erasure symbols into a deinterleaver prior to deinterleaving of the data symbols. The erasure symbols are necessary for recovering the content of the transmitted interleaved data symbols. |
| US08175180B2 |
Pre-encoding and pre-decoding apparatuses and methods thereof
A pre-encoding apparatus and a pre-decoding apparatus are provided. The pre-encoding apparatus adopts a cascade structure constituted by a plurality of pre-encoding units and a plurality of interleavers for pre-encoding, and the pre-decoding apparatus adopts a cascade structure constituted by a plurality of pre-decoding units and a plurality of de-interleavers for pre-decoding. Therefore, the pre-decoding apparatus is featured with a lower error rate. Also, each of the pre-decoding units can be alternatively composed of a plurality of low dimensional pre-decoders so that a computation complexity of the pre-decoding apparatus can be reduced accordingly. |
| US08175178B2 |
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communications device and method that incorporates low PAPR preamble and variable number of OFDM subcarriers
A communications device includes communications data and a training sequence corresponding to a preamble. A modulation and mapping circuit modulates the communications data and training sequence into a plurality of multiple subcarriers that are orthogonal to each other to form an OFDM communication signal having modulated subcarriers carrying the communications data forming a data payload and modulated subcarriers forming the preamble. A circuit turns OFF and ON selected subcarriers based on an encryption algorithm to increase transmit power and signal-to-noise ratio and reduce the Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI). The modulation and mapping circuit applies a quadratic modulation to the subcarriers carrying the training sequences to produce a low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) preamble with a PAPR value of approximately 2.6 decibels (dB). |
| US08175175B1 |
Method and system for rate-shaping and transmitting media streams
A method for rate-shaping media streams; the method includes: receiving multiple input media streams, transmission parameters, wired transmission limitations and wireless transmission limitations that represent a current status of a wireless medium; and rate-shaping at least one input media stream out of the multiple input media streams, in response to: (i) the transmission parameters, (ii) the wireless transmission limitations, and (iiii) input media stream parameters. A system for processing media streams; the system includes: a controller, adapted to determine rate-shaping parameters in response to: (i) the transmission parameters, (ii) the wireless transmission limitations, and (iii) input media stream parameters; and a rate-shaper, connected to the processor, adapted to receive multiple input media streams and perform rate-shaping according to the rate-shaping parameters. |
| US08175174B2 |
Communication system, communication method, transmitting apparatus and receiving apparatus
A communication system, communication method, transmitting apparatus, and receiving apparatus are disclosed herein. The communication system includes: a first clock correlating unit, adapted to correlate a clock to be transmitted with a clock of a data frame at a transmitter of a clock transparent-transmission network; and a second clock correlating unit, adapted to correlate a clock of a data frame at a receiver of a clock transparent-transmission network with a clock to be recovered. The method includes: correlating the clock to be transmitted with the clock of the data frame at the transmitter of the clock transparent-transmission network, and correlating the clock of the data frame at the receiver of the clock transparent-transmission network with the clock to be recovered. |
| US08175167B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for use in multimedia signal encoding
The present embodiments provide methods, apparatuses, systems for use in encoding and/or formatting content, such as multimedia content. Some embodiments provide methods for use in encoding content. These methods receive source content, encode the source content producing encoded content, evaluate a first encoded segment of the encoded content relative to a plurality of buffer models, determine whether the first segment of encoded content is to be re-encoded relative to one or more of the plurality of buffer models based on the evaluation; and re-encode the first segment when it is determined that the first segment is to be re encoded. |
| US08175165B2 |
Methods and apparatus for deriving an order-16 integer transform
Apparatus, systems and techniques based on an integer transform for encoding and decoding video or image signals, including an order-16 integer transform from a Microsoft Media Video order-8 integer transform with a high energy-packing ability and an improved data compression in the field of image and video coding. For example, a method and an apparatus are provided for deriving an order-16 integer transform from an order-8 integer transform in the standard transform of Microsoft Media Video. Eight additions and eight subtractions are used to assign the data elements to be transformed to an intermediate matrix; and then two fast algorithms for the computation of the order-8 transform may be applied to the first 8 vectors of the intermediate matrix, and the last 8 vectors of the intermediate matrix, respectively. The derived order-16 integer transform tends to produce small magnitude and high frequency transformed coefficients, and thus achieve high compressibility. |
| US08175161B1 |
System and method for motion estimation
A parallel processor for motion estimation including: a matrix of elementary processors configured in rows and columns, local connections between the elementary processors for transmitting partial results, and row outputs for outputting a set of best match values (for example, SAD values), one value for each pixel row of a current block of image pixels; and search area delay buffers coupled to each row inputs, for accepting pixels of the search area as input and forming a reference block row. The processor further includes current block delay buffers coupled to each row inputs, for accepting pixels of the current block as input; a sum module coupled to the row outputs for computing a final match value from the row outputs; and a sorting module for sequentially selecting a best match value from the final match values outputted from the sum module, and generating a corresponding motion vector. |
| US08175160B1 |
System, method, and computer program product for refining motion vectors
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for refining motion vectors. In operation, a plurality of motion vectors associated with a current frame and a first resolution are created. Furthermore, the motion vectors are refined utilizing information including at least one of first information describing motion vectors associated with a previous frame and second information describing motion vectors associated with the current frame and a second resolution. |
| US08175157B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling data write/read in image processing system
An apparatus and method for writing and/or reading data in an image processing system are provided. The apparatus for writing data includes: a memory formed with at least one or more banks capable of being accessed independently; and a memory control unit controlling so that a luminance component, a first chrominance component and a second chrominance component belonging to one macroblock are written based on respective structures different to each other, in the memory. The apparatus for reading data includes: a memory formed with one or more banks capable of being accessed independently in which a luminance component, a first chrominance component, and a second chrominance component belonging to one macroblock are written based on respective structures different to each other, in each bank of the memory; and a memory control unit controlling so that a luminance component, a first chrominance component, and a second chrominance component required are read from the memory. |
| US08175156B2 |
Eight pixels integer transform
A method of video coding/decoding that includes transforming to/from transform coefficients and residual pixel data in moving pictures by a set of vectors. Two alternative vector sets are disclosed both providing an optimal balance between good performance and simplified computation. |
| US08175151B2 |
Encoders and image encoding methods
An encoder. A first encoding unit discrete cosine transforms an input frame, quantizes the transformation result, and generates a first frame according to a motion vector. The first encoding unit includes a first feedback unit dequantizing the transformation result, generating a processing signal and a first reconstruction signal according to the dequantization result, and re-quantizing the processing signal to generate a requantization signal. A second encoding unit encodes according to the first reconstruction signal to generate a second frame and an encoding signal. The third encoding unit generates a third frame according to the encoding signal and the re-quantization signal. |
| US08175149B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling bitrate of scalable video stream
Provided is a method and apparatus for controlling a bit-rates in which an amount of generated bits is adjusted according to the complexity of each frame, and a bit-rate within a frame can be further effectively adjusted by applying different quantization parameter (QP) values to respective macro blocks. In the apparatus for controlling a bit-rate, a motion compensated temporal filtering (MCTP) operation is performed for each group of pictures (GOP) in an input scalable layer, and thereafter bits are allocated to respective frames in consideration of frame type and frame complexity. Furthermore, a QP is adaptively determined in the unit of a macro block on the basis of the allocated bits. |
| US08175145B2 |
Post-processing for reducing quantization noise of an encoder during decoding
The invention relates to the processing of a signal that is compression encoded (COD) according to a predetermined encoding type applying a quantification operation (Q) and then decoded (DEC) so that the quantification noise is present in the decoded signal (S*). The signal processing of the invention comprises applying a quantification noise reduction (TBQ) to the decoded signal (S), preferably in the following manner: first obtaining information (INF) on the type of compression encoding, selecting a model for the reduction of the quantification noise adapted to said information by estimating the quantification noise (BQ) that the encoding may have generated; and applying to the decoded signal (S*) a processing for reducing the quantification noise (FIL) according to the selected model. |
| US08175144B2 |
Method and apparatus for cached adaptive transforms for compressing data streams, computing similarity, and recognizing patterns
A method and apparatus for cached adaptive transforms for compressing data streams, computing similarity, and recognizing patterns have been disclosed.In one embodiment of the invention an encoder and decoder begin with a baseline transform. As data is transferred an algorithm is arranged so that the encoder and decoder adapt toward a superior basis than the baseline, with a corresponding reduction in the encoding bit rate. That is the algorithm adapts to the incoming data stream and can use a custom basis. We deliberately avoid having to send the custom basis itself (when possible), because sending the basis vectors consumes precious bandwidth and may defeat the goal of compression. The encoder and decoder can bootstrap themselves into using one or more better bases.In one embodiment of the invention there is no beginning baseline transform shared between the encoder and the decoder. |
| US08175143B1 |
Adaptive equalization using data level detection
A method, and circuitry, for choosing the correct equalization curve in adaptive equalization uses a feedback loop in which the incoming high-speed serial data are digitized and deserialized for use in the remainder of the device, and also are used by an adaptive state machine to both extract the reference levels for digitization and to control the equalization curve. Detection of the reference level and selection of the equalization curve may be performed at a different rates to avoid interfering with one another. The state machine preferably is programmable. This is useful in any device, but is particularly well-suited for a programmable device, such as a PLD or other programmable integrated circuit device, where conditions may vary according a user logic design. |
| US08175140B2 |
Systems and methods for a multicarrier transceiver with radio frequency interference reduction
A multi-carrier information transceiver that exhibits robustness against radio frequency interference (RFI) signals present in the communications channel. The transceiver includes a RFI mitigation technique that operates not only during the steady state operation of the transceiver but also during the training stage of the transceiver. That requires dynamically modifying the training signals when the presence of RFI is detected. The modification of the training signals facilitates the estimation of RFI, improving the performance of the multi-carrier transceiver. |
| US08175139B2 |
Multimode multicarrier modem system and method of communication over the same
An alternative approach to coping with the ever increasing demand for faster communications hardware is to design modems that are capable of operating its speeds at a higher data rate than a speed required for a single port of the standard communication rate for that modem. Basically, by utilizing a resource manager, that directs the data in and out of the various portions of the modem in an orderly manner, keeping track of which of the ports is being operated at any given point in time, a standard single port modem can be reconfigured, for example, at an over clocked rate, to manipulate the data input and output of a modem. |
| US08175138B2 |
Power efficient FHSS base-band hardware architecture
The present invention provides a power efficient FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spreading Spectrum) base-band hardware architecture, and more particularly to a combinational design to reduce the system jitter of a frequency hopping communication system and bring system synchronization to higher level of performance, thereby achieving better immunity to faulty access header recognition, data corruption by sending and tracking the package header of each package more precise, therefore reduces the uncertain window of access header check. With above-mentioned features, this invention has less error packets resend over wireless link, and maintain same system functionality using MCU clocked at relative lower frequency. Hence it becomes possible to reduce the area of the silicon implementation, extend standby time when used in mobile device, and save power consumption system wide. Moreover, the present invention is applicable for use in various types of base-band hardware communication architectures or similar architectures. |
| US08175136B2 |
Noise cancellation method, receiver circuit, and electronic instrument
A noise cancellation method includes: inputting an interference wave signal detected near a receiver section, and changing the phase and the amplitude of the input signal to generate a cancellation signal that cancels the input signal; performing correlation calculations on a signal obtained by adding the cancellation signal to a communication signal received by the receiver section and a code replica of a PRN code used for the communication signal, within a given correlation calculation target range that is included within a code phase range and a frequency range; and performing the correlation calculations within a non-signal range outside the correlation calculation target range, and controlling a phase shift amount and an amplitude change rate of the input signal based on the correlation calculation result. |
| US08175133B2 |
Laser-induced optical wiring apparatus
A laser-induced optical wiring apparatus is provided wherein optical wiring is realized by digital operations of a laser oscillator. The apparatus includes optical ring resonator formed of a loop-shaped optical waveguide on substrate. At least two optical gain sections are provided on the optical ring resonator. When each optical gain section is activated, a laser oscillator including the optical ring resonator and optical gain sections is enabled to oscillate. In this state, the gain of at least one of the optical gain sections is changed in accordance with an input signal, thereby changing the optical route gain of the optical ring resonator to change the oscillation state of the laser oscillator. A change in the laser oscillation state is detected by the optical gain section other than the at least one optical gain section, whereby an output signal is acquired. |
| US08175128B2 |
Semiconductor laser element and semiconductor laser device
A semiconductor laser element is provided which includes a first semiconductor layer, an active layer having a current injection region, a second semiconductor layer, a third semiconductor layer, and an electrode for injecting a current into the active layer. In the semiconductor laser element, the first semiconductor layer, the active layer, the second semiconductor layer, and the third semiconductor layer are laminated in that order on a substrate, the first semiconductor layer has a current constriction layer which constricts the current injection region of the active layer, the third semiconductor layer is formed on an upper surface of the second semiconductor layer in a region corresponding to the current injection region of the active layer, and the electrode is formed on the upper surface of the second semiconductor layer in a region other than that of the third semiconductor layer. |
| US08175125B2 |
Laser device
A laser device includes an outcoupling mirror, a laser medium, a phase-conjugate mirror based on stimulated Brillouin scattering, and an end mirror all arranged along an optical axis of the laser device. A controllable modulator is positioned between the phase-conjugate mirror and the end mirror. The outcoupling mirror and the end mirror form a start cavity. The outcoupling mirror and the phase-conjugate mirror form a main cavity. |
| US08175117B2 |
Method and system of data packet transmission timing for controlling bandwidth
A method and system for determining a wait time (tw) to be used between successive transmissions of packets of a content to achieve a selected target bandwidth BT for the transmission. The wait time between successive packets of a content being transmitted is determined as a function of the selected target bandwidth (BT) to be achieved during the transmission and the size (P) of the packets based on the algorithm t w = P B T The invention provides bandwidth control at the source (the sending device) without relying on network Quality of Service (QoS) facilities. |
| US08175112B1 |
Monitoring and control of an Ethernet link using pseudo-wire interfaces
A communication system uses an Ethernet link to provide services to a user. The services have service priorities and bandwidth allocations on the Ethernet link. A pseudo-wire interface exchanges user communications for the services over the Ethernet link and transfers performance information indicating the performance of the Ethernet link. A management system processes the performance information and the service priorities to determine if a bandwidth adjustment should be made. The management system processes the performance information, the service priorities, and any bandwidth adjustment to determine if a status message should be transferred to the Ethernet service provider and to determine a message priority for the status message. The speed of response by the Ethernet service provider to the status message is indicated by the message priority. |
| US08175110B2 |
Sending station, receiving station, and radio communication method
A transmitting station includes: an error detecting code attachment block that attaches error detecting codes respectively to a plurality of data pieces; a transmitter block that transmits the plurality of data pieces with the error detecting codes attached thereto to a receiving station by using different radio frequencies, respectively; a receiver block that receives, from the receiving station, the results of error detections that the receiving station applies respectively to the plurality of data pieces on the basis of the error detecting codes attached respectively to the plurality of data pieces; and a transmission data managing block that controls retransmission of the data to the receiving station on the basis of the received results of the error detection. |
| US08175109B2 |
Beaconless communication system
The present invention relates to an energy efficient mechanism for establishing and maintaining a communication between nodes (A . . . F) in a wireless communication system. In particular, it relates to a distributed low power medium access control (MAC) mechanism for sharing the communication means in a wireless communication system. According to the present invention a destination node (A) listens to a communication channel periodically. For requesting services from the destination node (A), a wake-up signal (WU) is transmitted from a source node (B) to the destination node (A) via the communication channel, wherein the wake-up signal (WU) is formed by a preamble (WP) and an information for controlling the communication between nodes (A . . . F). The WU signal duration and content is adapted depending on the system operation context to reduce either idle times, power consumption, latency or network blocking (collision avoidance). |
| US08175108B2 |
Wirelessly configurable memory device
A configurable memory includes an interface section, a plurality of memory modules, and an internal configuration section. The interface section includes a millimeter wave (MMW) transceiver and interfaces with one or more external components. Each the plurality of memory modules includes a memory MMW transceiver and a plurality of memory cells. The internal configuration section includes a memory management unit and a memory management MMW transceiver. The memory management unit is operable to determine configuration of at least some of the plurality of memory modules to form a memory block, identify an interface MMW transceiver to provide a wireless link to the memory block, and generate a configuration signal based on the determined configuration and the identified interface MMW transceiver. The memory management MMW transmits the MMW configuration signal to the identified interface MMW transceiver and the MMW transceivers of the memory modules. |
| US08175105B2 |
Pushing documents to wireless data devices
A system pushes documents to one or more wireless data devices. The system receives a push request from a user to push a specified document to one or more identified wireless data devices. The system then constructs a wireless gateway server request for each identified wireless data device, and the document is subsequently pushed to the devices. |
| US08175102B2 |
Neighbor discovery method and apparatus for mobile node in heterogeneous network environment
A neighbor discovery method and apparatus for performing network-transparent neighbor discovery in a heterogeneous network environment is provided. A neighbor discovery method for a multi-mode mobile node includes determining a type of a network, with which a mobile node is in communication, in response to a detection of a request for sending a neighbor solicitation message, retrieving, if the network type identifies a self-processing network, information about the network from a database, determining whether a tentative address contained in the neighbor solicitation message is already in use by another node with reference to the information about the network, and generating, when the tentative address is already in use, a neighbor advertisement message. |
| US08175096B2 |
Device for protection against illegal communications and network system thereof
A communication device, an illegal communication protection device, and network system for providing protection from illegal communications. A communication device is connected to a network, for receiving packets sent and received over networks, and transmitting packets based on the packet destination, includes a control unit, and a storage unit for storing a routing table that stores the destination information. When there is a connection request from a packet that was received, the control unit stores the transmit source address of that packet and the line number where that packet was received, into a routing table, and where there is no connection request from the received packet, the control unit refers to the routing table, acquires the line number linked to an address matching the destination address of that packet, and sends the applicable packet via the acquired line number. |
| US08175094B2 |
Method and system for personalizing a multimedia program broadcasted through IP network
A method and a system. A Medium Access Control (MAC) frame includes an embedded Internet Protocol (IP) frame and a MAC address. The IP frame includes content of a second multimedia program and a second multicast address of the second multimedia program, the MAC address having been resolved from the second multicast address. The second multicast address is determined to be linked to a first multicast address of a first multimedia program of a television channel being played at a user host. The IP frame is forwarded from the MAC frame to an IP layer where the second multicast address is ascertained to be a multicast sub group address of the first multimedia program and is replaced in the IP frame with the first multicast address, after which the IP frame is transmitted to the user host to replace or be inserted into the first multimedia program being played. |
| US08175093B2 |
Modifying a rate based on at least one performance characteristic
Network operating methods provide a first packet switch configured to send a plurality of packets from the first packet switch to a second packet switch via a network path traversing one or more intermediate packet switches, access data describing at least one performance characteristic of the network path, and based on the data, modify a rate at which the first packet switch sends the plurality of packets to the second packet switch via the path. Network management methods receive data describing at least one performance characteristic of a network path having a first endpoint on a first packet switch, a second endpoint on a second packet switch, the network path traversing one or more intermediate packet switches and, based on the received data, instruct the first packet switch to modify a rate at which the first packet switch sends packets to the second packet switch via the network path. |
| US08175090B2 |
Outer coding methods for broadcast/multicast content and related apparatus
Transmission techniques are provided that improve service continuity and reduce interruptions in delivery of content that can be caused by transitions that occur when the User Equipment (UE) moves from one cell to the other, or when the delivery of content changes from a Point-to-Point (PTP) connection to a Point-to-Multipoint (PTM) connection in the same serving cell, and vice-versa. Such transmission techniques enable seamless delivery of content across cell borders and/or between different transmission schemes such as Point-to-Multipoint (PTM) and Point-to-Point (PTP). Mechanisms for adjusting different streams and for recovering content from each data block during such transitions are also provided so that data is not lost during a transition. In addition, mechanisms for realigning data during decoding at a receiving terminal are also provided. |
| US08175086B2 |
Switching fabrics and control protocols for them
A network unit for use in a switching fabric includes multiple units collectively constituting a single network entity, each having ports for the reception and forwarding of data packets. The network unit has at least one fabric port for connection to a partner port on another one of the units by at least one link. The network unit is organized to send and receive via the at least one fabric port protocol packets which contain information on the path costs between said units in the fabric and to perform an algorithm to determine, on the basis of said information, routes for data packets within the fabric to other units of the fabric. |