| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08185968B2 |
Magnetic head inspection method and magnetic head manufacturing method
A magnetic head inspection method is provided with the step that an area smaller than a half of a scanning and measurement area of a magnetic probe in a cantilever unit of the MFM is set as a scanning and measurement area on a surface of a recording portion of the magnetic head that is scanned by the AFM, so as to greatly reduce the inspection time (tact time) of the AFM. |
| US08185965B1 |
System and method for enhanced piracy protection in a wireless personal communication device
A key-sharing scheme is used to control distribution and use of video and audio content in personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other wireless devices. A private key is split into key-shares using a Blakley-Shamir key splitting technique and the key-shares are distributed to various network entities including a finance server and security server. Key-shares are also stored in a user's subscriber identity module (SIM) and a security processor of the PDA. The key-shares from the network entities are provided to the PDA after the user requests specific video or audio content and credit verification is performed. The PDA's security processor combines the key-shares to form the decryption key for use in playing the content by the PDA's communications processor. When a service limit is reached, the PDA's security processor purges the key-shares to prevent further use of the content. |
| US08185959B2 |
Digital rights management of captured content based on capture associated locations
When captured content is detected, the captured content is analyzed to determine whether any portion of the content is subject to digital rights management protection specified for content captured, where captured content is content captured independent of distribution of the content by an owner of at least one restricted element within the captured content. In response to determining that a portion of the captured content is subject to digital rights management protection, a database is queried to select at least one digital rights management rule associated with the portion and comprising at least one location based criteria. At least one relevant location is associated with the captured content. At least one digital rights management rule is applied to restrict usage of the captured content, with the at least one location based criteria specified by the at least one relevant location. In response to determining that the captured content is not subject to digital rights management protection, a certification is applied to the captured content designating a particular system that determined no portion of the captured content is subject to digital rights management protection. |
| US08185957B2 |
Peripheral device
A method for an impaired user to control a peripheral device including receiving key-value pair input from the user, determining whether the received input is valid and executing a job generated from the valid received key-value pair input. |
| US08185955B2 |
Intrusion detection method and system, related network and computer program product therefor
Intrusions in a system under surveillance are detected by matching the events occurring during operation of the system against a knowledge base including information on events which occurred during a learning phase. The detection technique includes the steps of: recording, during the learning phase, temporal data related to the events during the learning phase; identifying, as a function of the temporal data recorded, a dynamic part of the knowledge base; discovering patterns that cover the dynamic part of the knowledge base; and using, during the analysis phase, a regular expression match at least with respect to the dynamic part of the knowledge base. |
| US08185953B2 |
Detecting anomalous network application behavior
System and Method for detecting anomalous network application behavior. Network traffic between at least one client and one or more servers may be monitored. The client and the one or more servers may communicate using one or more application protocols. The network traffic may be analyzed at the application-protocol level to determine anomalous network application behavior. Analyzing the network traffic may include determining, for one or more communications involving the client, if the client has previously stored or received an identifier corresponding to the one or more communications. If no such identifier has been observed in a previous communication, then the one or more communications involving the client may be determined to be anomalous. A network monitoring device may perform one or more of the network monitoring, the information extraction, or the information analysis. |
| US08185940B2 |
System and method for providing discriminated content to network users
The present invention provides methods and systems for providing discriminated partner system resources to the user of a host system. A host entity has a business relationship with one or more partnered entities. A user accesses the host's system and then uses the host's system to connect to a partner's system. Access from one system to the next is seamless and requires no additional user input to verify the user's access rights to subsequently accessed partners' systems. The content delivered to the user from a partner's system is discriminated from a larger pool of information to appear consistent in appearance, message, or both with the host system. The host system, the partner system or both systems may perform the discrimination functions. The user is thereby provided with seamless access to partnered systems that reflects the business partnership of the host and various partners. |
| US08185939B2 |
Login control for multiple applications
A method of controlling login requirements of a plurality of peripheral device applications includes defining one of the peripheral device applications as a master application, with all other peripheral device applications being slave applications, enabling the master application to obtain login information from an operator, and enabling at least one of the slave applications to seek login information from the master application and, if the login information is not available for the slave application, enabling the slave application to obtain login information under the control of the master application by executing a slave login process. |
| US08185938B2 |
Method and system for network single-sign-on using a public key certificate and an associated attribute certificate
A methodology is presented for a network single sign-on (SSO) authentication process using digital certificates. A user has access to protected resources, such as legacy applications, that require verification of a user's authentication data prior to providing access. The user's authentication data is encrypted using the public key of the user, and an attribute certificate containing the encrypted authentication data is generated by an attribute-certificate-issuing authority. When a user requires access to the protected resource, an SSO agent performs an initial authentication process against the user. The SSO agent then retrieves the user's attribute certificate, and for subsequent authentication requests for other protected resources, the SSO agent uses the authentication data from the attribute certificate that corresponds to the targeted protected resource. The SSO agent forwards the required authentication data to the protected resource, and the protected resource then authenticates a user based on the provided authentication data. |
| US08185937B2 |
Systems and methods for universal password control
A system and method is described for controlling the password(s) of one or more programs through a universal program. The universal control program allows access to one or more other programs and allows editing of the passwords of the other programs directly through the universal access program. |
| US08185935B2 |
Method and apparatus for dynamic home address assignment by home agent in multiple network interworking
A method and apparatus for dynamic home address assignment by a home agent in multiple network interworking. The invention provides a method and apparatus send a key authorization request from a mobile station to a network device, the request indicating that the mobile station wishes to use a foreign agent care-of address to continue to receive data. The network device assigns a temporary address to the mobile station and creates a security policy database for the mobile station. The mobile station receives agent advertisements from foreign agents that may be able to provide service. The mobile station registers with a foreign agent. The network device then modifies the security policy database to reflect the information of the foreign agent. The Home Agent then assigns a home address to the mobile station and the network device updates the security policy database to include only the mobile device's home address as a selector. |
| US08185934B2 |
Programmable data protection device, secure programming manager system and process for controlling access to an interconnect network for an integrated circuit
A data protection device for an interconnect network on chip (NoC) includes a header encoder that receives input requests for generating network packets. The encoder routes the input requests to a destination address. An access control unit controls and allows access to the destination address. The access control unit uses a memory to store access rules for controlling access to the network as a function of the destination address and of a source of the input request. |
| US08185933B1 |
Local caching of endpoint security information
In general, the principles of this invention are directed to techniques of locally caching endpoint security information. In particular, a local access module caches endpoint security information maintained by a remote server. When a user attempts to access a network resource through an endpoint device, the endpoint device sends authentication information and health information to the local access module. When the local access module receives the authentication information and the health information, the local access module controls access to the network resource based on the cached endpoint security information, the authentication information, and a security state of the endpoint device described by the health information. |
| US08185932B2 |
System and method for user-centric authorization to access user-specific information
In a network computing environment, a user-centric system and method for controlling access to user-specific information maintained in association with a web-services service. When a web-services client desires access to the user-specific information, the client sends a request. The request identifies the reasons/intentions for accessing the desired information. The request is compared to the user's existing access permissions. If there is no existing access permission, the request is compared to the user's default preferences. If the default preferences permit the requested access, an access rule is created dynamically and the client's request is filled, without interrupting the user. If the default preferences do not permit the request to be filled, a consent user interface may be invoked. The consent user interface presents the user with one or more consent options, thereby permitting the user to control whether the client will be given access to the user-specific information. |
| US08185931B1 |
Method and system for preserving privacy related to networked media consumption activities
A method and system for preserving privacy related to networked media consumption activity including: Source privacy zones are defined and associated with privacy standards. Privacy standards include frequency criteria governing the storage of datasets including information associated with networked media consumption activity collected from the source privacy zone. Transaction requests including a networking protocol address are received over a network from a client device at a target location by a networked privacy system. The source privacy zone associated with the client device is identified. Using the networking protocol address to access characteristics having characteristic value(s), a dataset can be created including associating the networked media consumption activity with the characteristic and characteristic value(s). The dataset is pre-processed to comply with the privacy standards. The networking protocol address is discarded. The pre-processed dataset can be stored in a filtered database on a physical storage device at a storage location coupled to the networked privacy system. |
| US08185929B2 |
Program viewing apparatus and method
The present invention relates to improvements in program viewing apparatus and methods, some of which are now commonly referred to as personal video recorder (PVR) and program guide features in television sets, set top boxes and other video devices. The invention provides for a user display such as a flat panel program display device, a user remote for the user to control operations and features, program data storage for storing programs and related information, removable data storage for storing programs and related information on removable storage media. Also included is a data manager which functions include response to the user's desires via the user remote to control receiving and storing programs and select received or stored programs to be displayed on the user display device. The data manager may also be responsive to receive, store and display other services such as programming guide services to provide enhanced program viewing and storage management as directed by the user. |
| US08185927B2 |
Video transmission system based on location data and methods for use therewith
A video transmission system includes a transceiver module that receives location data from a remote device and that transmits a video signal to the remote device. A network module receives a video stream from a video source and that generates the video signal based on the location data. |
| US08185924B2 |
Information processing device, information processing method, and information processing program
Request information 3 is transmitted from a transmission means 1a of a communication device 1 to a server 2. Then, related information 4a corresponding to the request information 3 and an identification code 4b are obtained and transmitted to the communication device 1 by a transmission means 2c. The related information 4a and identification code 4b are stored in a storage means 1c of the communication device 1. Thereafter, purchase request information 5a is transmitted to the server 2 by the transmission means 1a. This purchase request information 5a is added with an identification code 5b and user identification information 5c. Then, content data 6a corresponding to the purchase request information 5a and additional data 6b corresponding to the identification code 5b are transmitted to the communication device 1 by the transmission means 2c of the server 2. |
| US08185922B1 |
Method and apparatus of verifying that requested content matches content to be downloaded
A system and method for distributing requested content includes a content management system 12 and a device 14 such as a set top box that selects a selection corresponding to content in the content management system 12 and transmits a first material identification to the content management system. The content management system 12 transmits the content to the device with a second material identification associated therewith. The device 14 receives the content and the second material identification and compares the first material identification to the second material identification. When the second material identification corresponds to the content, the device continues downloading the content. When the second material identification does not correspond to the content, downloading of the file is discontinued. A content prefix may also be used alone or in combination with the material identification. The content is prevented from being transmitted if the content prefix does not correspond to the content type. |
| US08185918B2 |
Method and system for managing access to add-on data files
A method and system for managing access to add-on data files having an add-on data file attribute, which is used by a software application. The method: monitors input/output commands of the software application to an application programming interface of a code layer to determine whether an access to a data file with the add-on data file attribute is requested by the software application; checks whether an access code for the add-on data file is present in an access code list related to the software application if at least one of the monitored input/output commands request access to the add-on data file, if the access code is not present in the access control list; retrieves the access code from an external source outside of the access control list; and provides access to the add-on data file if the access code is present. |
| US08185917B2 |
Graphical user interface application comparator
A graphical user interface (GUI) application comparator helps application designers create error free graphical user interface applications (GAPs). The comparator finds differences in the GUI elements used to compose an interface between a current GAP version and a subsequent GAP version. One benefit is that a test script writer may better understand how the GAP has evolved in order to write a better test script. Another benefit is that the comparator output may be analyzed by subsequent processing systems for automated analysis of test scripts. |
| US08185916B2 |
System and method for integrating a business process management system with an enterprise service bus
A system and method are described for integrating a business process management (BPM) system with an enterprise service bus. The BPM system is used to model business processes which contain a set of activities linked by transitions. The BPM system is used to define, publish, deploy and execute the processes in a distributed computing environment. The service bus is used to manage web services and perform routing and transformation of messages between the web services. A transport is used to describe each process defined by the BPM system as a web service on the service bus and provide the ability to connect the BPM component to the enterprise service bus. This allows each of the processes to be exposed as a web service by injecting data retrieved from the process definition into the enterprise service bus. Furthermore, the processes defined in BPM can consume web services from the service bus. |
| US08185912B1 |
Rerouting messages to parallel queue instances
A method, system, and medium are provided for re-routing messages from a particular parallel queue instance that is experiencing below normal message throughput by lowering the priority setting of the particular queue instance. The messages are re-routed to the other parallel queue instances by a load balancing algorithm that transfers messages to queue instances having a higher priority setting. A series of determinations are made, prior to lowering the priority setting, to confirm that lowering the priority setting for the queue instance is the preferred response to the decreased throughput for the queue instance. |
| US08185908B2 |
Dynamic scheduling in a distributed environment
A method and system is provided for assigning programs in a workflow to one or more nodes for execution. Prior to the assignment, a priority of execution of each program is calculated in relation to its dependency upon data received and transmitted data. Based upon the calculated priority and the state of each of the nodes, the programs in the workflow are dynamically assigned to one or more nodes for execution. In addition to the node assignment based upon priority, preemptive execution of the programs in the workflow is determined so that the programs in the workflow may not preemptively be executed at a selected node in response to the determination. |
| US08185906B2 |
Method and apparatus for dynamically adjusting thread pool
Methods and apparatuses enable dynamic thread pool management. A system with a thread pool is monitored, and performance data gathered. The performance data can be combined with historical thread performance data to generate cumulative thread performance data. Based on the cumulative thread performance data, the number of threads in the thread pool can be dynamically adjusted. In one embodiment, the data is persisted in nonvolatile memory. In one embodiment, the dynamic thread pool management works in conjunction with dynamic and static system configurations. |
| US08185904B2 |
Image reconstruction system with multiple parallel reconstruction pipelines
In a method, system, computer-readable medium and watchdog module to control a number of medical technology processes that are executed in multiple computerized pipelines according to a predetermined organizational structure, a priority is associated with an incoming process, with a high priority and multiple low priorities being provided. A process with a high priority is executed in a priority pipeline among the multiple pipelines. |
| US08185903B2 |
Managing system resources
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program product for system management. The process schedules a set of application tasks to form a schedule of tasks in response to receiving the set of application tasks from a registration module. The process then performs a feasibility analysis on the schedule of tasks to identify periods of decreased system activity. Thereafter, the process schedules a set of system management tasks during the periods of decreased system activity to form a prioritized schedule of tasks. |
| US08185901B2 |
Parsing an application to find serial and parallel data segments to minimize migration overhead between serial and parallel compute nodes
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for executing an application on a parallel computer having a plurality of nodes. Executing an application on a parallel computer includes: booting up a first subset of a plurality of nodes in a serial processing mode; booting up a second subset of the plurality of nodes in a parallel processing mode; profiling, prior to application execution, an application to identify serial segments of the application, parallel segments of the application, and application data utilized by each of the serial segments and the parallel segments; and executing the application on the plurality of nodes, including migrating, in dependence upon the profile for the application upon encountering the parallel segments during execution, only specific portions of the application and the application data from the nodes booted up in the serial processing mode to the nodes booted up in the parallel processing mode. |
| US08185893B2 |
Starting up at least one virtual machine in a physical machine by a load balancer
A system has plural physical machines that contain virtual machines. A load balancer receives a request from a client. In response to the request, it is determined whether at least one additional virtual machine should be started up. In response to determining that at least one additional virtual machine should be started up, the load balancer sends at least one command to start up the at least one additional virtual machine in at least one of the physical machines. |
| US08185892B2 |
Associated graphic displays in a process environment
Graphical display support is provided within a process plant configuration, monitoring and simulation system to enable graphical displays to be created in a manner in which they are associated with one another in the runtime environment. In particular, a single graphic display editor may be used to create interrelated graphic displays that may be accessed from one another in the runtime environment to provide further information about a process entity within one of the graphic displays, to scroll through adjacent sections of a process plant or to provide different displays for different functions within the process plant, such as for an operator viewing function, a simulation function and a maintenance function. Because the same graphic editor is used to create the graphic displays, the resultant graphic displays may have the same look and feel and may be bound to the runtime environment within the plant in generally the same manner. |
| US08185890B2 |
Method and device for implementing a downloadable software delivery system
A method and device implementing a downloadable operatively connected to a plurality of gaming machines either by a direct communications link or through the use of one or more site controllers or PCs. Each gaming machine and site controller or PC contains two executable spaces, one of which typically contains the software image currently being implemented by the device. The other executable space is designated to receive from the central system a new software image that will be utilized by the device. The central system transfers a new image to be executed, via packet encrypted communications, to a networked device which stores the image in an executable space, while continuing to run the currently designated image. Upon instruction from the central system, the device switches over to the new image, allowing one or more machines to implement a software upgrade on a continuous basis. |
| US08185889B2 |
Methods and systems for porting software packages from one format to another
An RPM subsystem can be installed on a system that has its own native packaging subsystem. The RPM subsystem is initially delivered as a package wrapped in the non-RPM format of the native packaging system and installed. When an RPM package is installed, the RPM subsystem is also configured to create a stub entry in the native packaging, non-RPM system. The stub entry may contain the normal package information, such as name, version, description, as well as a list of files contained in a package. The stub may also contain uninstallation logic, which serves as a “callback” into the RPM subsystem during package removal and causes the RPM subsystem to remove the package when invoked. Removal of a RPM package via RPM tools also causes the removal of the stub entry. |
| US08185887B2 |
System and method for printer driver distribution with searchable map database
Improved techniques which enable a user of an information terminal to select a printer for printing a print job are provided. Map images are provided to the user to aid in the selection of an appropriate printer. An appropriate printer driver corresponding to the selected printer, determined from printer information retrieved from a printer information database, is downloaded if necessary, and installed on the information terminal. |
| US08185882B2 |
Java virtual machine hardware for RISC and CISC processors
A hardware Java accelerator is provided to implement portions of the Java virtual machine in hardware in order to accelerate the operation of the system on Java bytecodes. The Java hardware accelerator preferably includes Java bytecode translation into native CPU instructions. The combination of the Java hardware accelerator and a CPU provides a embedded solution which results in an inexpensive system to run Java programs for use in commercial appliances. |
| US08185880B2 |
Optimizing heap memory usage
This disclosure provides a computing system and method to profile a program for finding potential optimization in heap usage by reducing lag and drag in lifetimes of heap memory blocks. The process consists of three steps. First, an instrumentation engine analyzes a given program, and inserts additional code at interesting locations to collect needed information. Second, when the instrumented program is executed on a set of test cases, runtime data is collected. Third, since this data could be relatively large for a complex and long running program, data is processed to present it to a user in useful ways so that the programmer can improve the heap utilization in the program. |
| US08185878B2 |
Program maintenance support device, program maintenance supporting method, and program for the same
The present invention includes program storing unit 11 for storing a program, parsing/dependence-information generating unit 12 for generating dependence information and a syntax tree for a program, dependence-information storing unit 13 for storing dependence information, syntax-tree storing unit 14 for storing a syntax tree, dependence-information tracking unit 17 for extracting interface information on a program fragment according to specifying-information specifying the program fragment and extracting a part of a program fragment associated with interface information according to selection information for selecting the interface information, and information input/output unit 15 for passing specifying-information and selection information to dependence-information tracking unit 17 and outputting interface information and a part of a program fragment passed from dependence-information tracking unit 17. |
| US08185876B2 |
Method and implementation for constructing of corrected java native code
Method and system for constructing corrected Java native code are provided. Native source code that interfaces or integrates with Java code is analyzed and validated before the source code is compiled. One or more checks are performed on the native source code to verify that the native source correctly interfaces with the Java code, and the verification results from said one or more checks are reported. The method and system for constructing corrected Java native code can be implemented as a plug-in to a program development environment, wherein a developer may invoke the method and system while developing said native source code. |
| US08185872B2 |
Cross-platform software package generation
A method and apparatus for cross-platform generation of new software packages. The method may include generating a list of software packages having a first format associated with a first operating system, generating new support files for entries on the list, and generating new software packages from the new support files and code of corresponding software packages. The new software packages are generated in the format associated with a second operating system. |
| US08185868B1 |
System and method for cell-based code editing and publishing
A mechanism for the rapid prototyping of code whereby a user selects a subsection of code and runs multiple evaluations on the selected code and altered versions of the code without first saving and naming the code subsection is disclosed. The selected subsection of code, referred to as a code cell, groups multiple lines of code together and evaluates them together. Output from the analysis is displayed to a user. Algorithms may be altered and variable values may be modified in-place as required to achieve an optimal result for the user. Once a desired version of the code is established, the code may be saved and then published in multiple user-selected formats with a single command. Each code cell in the program code may be used to generate a separate publication thus creating a narrative effect when sequentially viewing a grouping of the publications in the user-selected format. |
| US08185867B2 |
Method and system for creating reusable software components through a uniform interface
A method for designing software components for integration into any system without additional coding is provided. The method includes adopting a uniform application programming interface that breaks down external objects to include the characteristics of object, attribute, and method. Ideally, the characteristics include create object, delete object, read attributes, write attributes, and invoke behavior. A software tool is provided for communication between an API and a data source, the tool including a join engine adapted to provide communication between at least one view and at least one base source associated with the data source, the join engine further adapted to update the at least one base source in response to updates to the view. Ideally, the tool is further configured to support on the at least one base source operations of create object and delete object on the at least one view. The software tool is also configured to map events in the at least one base source to the at least one view, and can be configured to create virtual attributes based on the view through operations or expressions performed on the view, including, but not limited to algebraic expressions, names, strings, and functions. |
| US08185866B2 |
User configurable language independent code assist method, system, article of manufacture, and computer program product
A code assist function which suggests candidates responsive to a parsing of a partial program instruction statement by determining a current cursor position in the partial program instruction statement; parsing the partial program instruction statement before the current cursor position; generating a list of candidates to be inserted at the current cursor position responsive to the parsing of the partial program instruction statement; applying a user-selected preference to the list of candidates to generate a suggested list of candidates; displaying the list of suggested candidates; allowing a user to select one of the list of suggested candidates; and inserting at the current cursor position the user-selected suggested candidate. User-selectable preferences may be selected such as a longer or shorter list of candidates; a longer or shorter representation keyword candidates; a full syntax or partial syntax representation of a candidate; and a character case representation of a candidate. |
| US08185854B1 |
Method and apparatus for performing parallel slack computation within a shared netlist region
A method for designing a system on a target device is disclosed. Domains and sub-domains in the system are identified. A sub-domain is divided into a plurality of chunks. Slacks for the chunks are computed in parallel. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08185851B2 |
Memory building blocks and memory design using automatic design tools
The memory building blocks can be used in conjunction with ASIC automatic design tools to generate a memory macro (e.g., a memory array) using a known ASIC design flow including, for example, register transfer level (RTL), synthesis, automatic place and route (APR) and timing analysis. |
| US08185847B2 |
Pre-bias optical proximity correction
A pre-bias optical proximity correction (OPC) method allows faster convergence during OPC iterations, providing an initial set of conditions to edge fragments of a layout based on density conditions near the edge fragments. |
| US08185842B2 |
Electronic device and user interface display method thereof
An electronic device and a user interface display method thereof are provided. The method includes the following steps. First, organize a plurality of computer programs and a web browser executable on the electronic device into a virtual book. Each page of the virtual book includes a user interface of one of the computer programs or a web page displayed by the web browser. Next, display one of the pages as a current page so that the user interface or the web page of the current page is accessible to a user of the electronic device. Next, display a stand-up view of the virtual book in response to a first operating action performed by the user. The stand-up view includes a plurality of the pages adjacent to the current page and a virtual switch attached to a side of the virtual book. |
| US08185841B2 |
Electronic text input involving a virtual keyboard and word completion functionality on a touch-sensitive display screen
A text input method for an electronic apparatus having a user interface with a touch-sensitive display screen, where a virtual keyboard is presentable on the display screen to facilitate text input for a user by pointing at different virtual keys of the virtual keyboard and where completion functionality is provided for predicting full word candidates for partial word inputs made by the user on the virtual keyboard, the method including receiving a partial word input from the user and deriving a set of full word candidates using the word completion functionality, each of the full word candidates in the set having a prefix and a suffix, where the prefix corresponds to the partial word input. The suffixes for at least a sub set of the full word candidates are presented in a predetermined area on the display screen, where each of the presented suffixes is made selectable for the user. |
| US08185839B2 |
Browsing or searching user interfaces and other aspects
User interfaces for browsing and/or searching are described. In one embodiment, a method includes displaying a first display area for display representations of documents matching a search query, the first display area configured to display content of the documents which can have a plurality of different types of content including at least one of text-based content and a folder, and displaying a second display area for selecting a selected document to be displayed in the first display area. Other embodiments are also described, and computer readable media and apparatuses are also described. |
| US08185832B2 |
Graphical deployment of a program to a device which displays the program connected to the device
A system and method for creating and using configuration diagrams for configuring distributed systems. The methods described herein may be used for various types of operations in configuring distributed systems, including creating programs, managing programs in the distributed system, deploying programs to various distributed devices, configuring remote execution or inter-operation of distributed programs, and executing distributed applications. Embodiments of the invention utilize graphical iconic-based techniques for performing the above operations. The configuration diagram may include device icons which represent devices and program icons which represent programs. Device icons and program icons may be associated with each other to accomplish various program creation and deployment operations. Device icons and program icons may also interact with graphical program nodes or icons. Context sensitive device connections and/or program connections are displayed. An asynchronous data flow node may be used to facilitate asynchronous data flow between two graphical programs. The distributed system may also support distributed graphical debugging. |
| US08185825B2 |
Hiding search box based on search provider settings
The display of a search box within a toolbar is controlled based on the search provider settings of search box native to an application or operating system, such as a search box natively provider by a web browser. The search box is maintained within the toolbar when the search provider for the native search box differs from the toolbar search provider. The search box may be removed or “hidden” from the toolbar when the search provider for the native search box is the same as the toolbar search provider. |
| US08185824B1 |
Method and apparatus providing a graphical user interface for representing and navigating hierarchical networks
A method and apparatus are provided which present hierarchical data to a user via a graphical user interface. In the interface, hierarchical data is represented by nodes, beginning with one or more top nodes and extending into lower hierarchical levels by the display of child nodes, child's child nodes, and so forth. The arrangement of nodes on the graphical user interface is such that scaling portrays the various hierarchical levels, and nodes do not spatially interfere with one another. Navigation through the hierarchical data is provided by allowing the user to select any visible node, at which point a zoom-in or zoom-out view to the selected node as a centrally located node on the interface is performed. |
| US08185823B2 |
Zoom indication for stabilizing unstable video clips
A computer-implemented method for zoom indication for stabilizing unstable video clips is described. To indicate zoom, a zoom value associated with an unstable segment of a video clip is received. The zoom value represents a value by which frames of the video clip in the unstable segment need to be zoomed to stabilize the unstable segment. An indicia is displayed representing the zoom value in a thumbnail in a user interface. The thumbnail represents the video clip. The indicia displayed over a region in the thumbnail corresponding to the unstable segment in the video clip. |
| US08185821B2 |
Table generating method, information processing apparatus, and recording medium having recorded table generating program thereon
A method of generating a table in which data having time or period information is laid out at corresponding positions along a chronological axis includes the steps of displaying a table generating screen including a table generating area; displaying the chronological axis in the table generating area; obtaining a plurality of pieces of the data according to a selecting instruction; and generating the table by laying out the plurality of pieces of the data in the table generating area along the chronological axis on the basis of the time or period information of the individual pieces of the data. |
| US08185818B2 |
Mixed techniques for HTML crosstab rendering
What is described is a method and system for rendering HTML tables and crosstabs when insufficient data is available about the structure of the tables and data elements are positioned relative to the top-left corner of the table and not their first container, which is table data (TD). |
| US08185817B2 |
Utilizing spreadsheet references with grouped aggregate views
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for utilizing spreadsheet references with grouped aggregate views. A grouped aggregate view feature enables a user to create a grouped aggregate view of data. A calculation feature enables the user to calculations for the grouped aggregate view of data that are based upon relative or absolute references to data in the grouped aggregate view. Input is received from a user to write a calculation within a first cell in a grouped aggregate view. Input is received from the user to select a second cell to reference when writing the calculation. The user is presented with available references that are relevant to data contained in the second cell. Input is received from the user to select one of the available references that are relevant for the second cell. The selected one of the available references is placed into the first cell. |
| US08185816B2 |
Combining reusable data markup language documents
Methods and systems provide a computer markup language, referred to as Reusable Data Markup Language (“RDML”), and a data viewer for retrieving, manipulating and viewing documents and files in the RDML format that may be stored locally or over a network (e.g., the Internet). Generally, RDML permits the browsing and manipulation of numbers, as opposed to text and images like in HTML, and does so by including attributes describing the meaning of the numbers to be attached to the numbers. Documents compliant with the markup language encapsulate machine-readable documentation with numbers and data, and permit the data viewer to act as a combination web browser and spreadsheet to automatically read, interpret and manipulate the numbers and data. Furthermore, the methods and systems merge or combine RDML documents that have different data formats to produce a single data set for display. |
| US08185812B2 |
Single event upset error detection within an integrated circuit
An integrated circuit 2 includes logic circuitry 10 and sequential storage elements 8. Both the logic circuit 10 and sequential storage elements 8 can be subject to particle strikes giving rise to single event upset errors. These single event upset errors can be detected by detecting a transition in the stored value stored by the sequential storage elements 8 occurring outside of a valid transition period associated with that sequential storage element 8. |
| US08185811B2 |
Robust joint erasure marking viterbi algorithm decoder
Joint erasure marking Viterbi algorithm (JEVA), decoder schemes, methods, and systems are provided which perform robust trellis decoder techniques. The provided JEVA decoding schemes are shown to be maximum likelihood decoding schemes that find the most likely transmitted code sequence with a set of symbol erasures, without knowledge of the impulsive noise probability distribution function, and can be implemented sequentially such that they are well suited for dynamically changing impulsive noise channels. In addition, the disclosed details enable various refinements and modifications according to decoder and system design considerations. For example, truncated JEVA is provided for continuous transmission and long frame applications. |
| US08185810B1 |
Low power viterbi trace back architecture
A method of obtaining a Viterbi decoded value is disclosed. A decision output is stored to one of a plurality of buffer elements, wherein at least one other buffer element in the plurality is not changing; and data is exposed in the buffer element. A plurality of stored decision outputs is obtained from the plurality of buffers elements. The obtained plurality of stored decision outputs is processed to obtain a Viterbi decoded value. |
| US08185809B2 |
Multi-output packet server with independent streams
A method of serving content to multiple clients via a network is provided. Independent sessions with each of a plurality of clients are maintained, wherein the number of clients in the plurality of clients can vary over time, and wherein the start of each session and the end of each session can be independent of the start and end of other sessions. A stream of packet payloads is received, each packet payload of the stream of packet payloads including data generated from the content, wherein each packet payload in at least a subset of the stream of packet payloads includes a different set of data. Each packet payload in the stream of packet payloads is transmitted to each client of the plurality of clients in corresponding packets, wherein the packet payload transmitted to a client at any particular time is independent of the state of the corresponding session. |
| US08185808B2 |
Transmitting/receiving system and method of processing broadcast signal in transmitting/receiving system
A receiving system and a method of processing broadcast signal are disclosed herein. The receiving system includes a signal receiving unit, a signaling decoder, a block decoder, and an RS frame decoder. When a parade change command ordering parade change from a first parade to a second parade is generated, the signal receiving unit receives a broadcast signal including data groups of the second parade starting from a generation point of the parade change command. The signaling decoder decodes signaling information included in the data groups and outputting RS frame-related information. The block decoder performs turbo-decoding in block units on data of a portion included in the data groups. And the RS frame decoder inserts null data in data positions of a portion included in non-received data group within an RS frame of the second parade, while configuring the RS frame of the second parade by collecting data of the turbo-decoded portions based upon the RS frame-related information. The RS frame decoder also performs CRC-decoding by indicating the existence of errors on CRC error flags of each row including the null data within the RS frame, and performs RS-decoding on the CRC-decoded RS frame. |
| US08185806B2 |
EDC generating circuit and EDC generating method correcting EDC generated from main data according to header
An EDC generating circuit includes a memory unit, an EDC generating module, a header generator and an EDC correcting circuit. The EDC generating module, which is coupled to the memory unit, is used for generating a first EDC according to at least one main data, and for storing the first EDC to the memory unit. The header generator, which is coupled to the memory unit, is used for generating a header according to header information. The EDC correcting circuit, which is coupled to the memory unit, is used for reading the first EDC from the memory unit and for correcting the first EDC according to the header to generate a second EDC. |
| US08185805B2 |
Network communication protocol for large scale distribution of streaming content
Forward error correction may be implemented in a network having first, second, third and fourth nodes. The second node receives streaming media message packets and one or more check packets from an upstream first node. The second node transmits the message packets and check packets to a downstream third node. The second node transmits a second set of one or more check packets to a fourth node that is downstream of the third node. |
| US08185803B2 |
Apparatus for providing error correction capability to longitudinal position data
A method and apparatus for providing error correction capability to longitudinal position data are disclosed. Initially, data are encoded via a set of even LPOS words and a set of odd LPOS words. The encoded data are then decoded by generating a set of syndrome bits for each of the LPOS words. A determination is then made as to whether or not there is an error within one of the LPOS words based on its corresponding syndrome bits. |
| US08185802B2 |
Data memory system
A data memory system includes a nonvolatile memory cell array which includes a plurality of memory cells, a page adjacently formed by the plurality of memory cells being collectively erased in the nonvolatile memory cell, at least binary pieces of digital data of “1” and “0” being stored as charges of a charge accumulation layer in the memory cell, a programming bit and an erasing bit being formed by a difference between the charges of the charge accumulation layer. And the system includes an error correcting code generation circuit, an error correcting code decoding circuit, and a code conversion circuit. |
| US08185801B2 |
System to improve error code decoding using historical information and associated methods
A system to improve error code decoding using historical information. An example system includes storage partitioned into memory ranks, and a table to record symbols having failures for each memory rank. The system generates a memory rank score for each memory rank. The system also includes an error control decoder that uses the memory rank score when each memory rank is accessed in order to determine whether an error should be corrected or not. |
| US08185799B2 |
Transmitting/receiving system and method of processing broadcast signal in transmitting/receiving system
A receiving system and a method of processing data are disclosed herein. The receiving system includes a receiving unit, an equalizer, a block decoder, and an RS frame decoder. The receiving unit receives and demodulates a broadcast signal. Herein, the broadcast signal includes at least a mobile service data and a data group including a plurality of known data sequences. The equalizer channel-equalizes the data group included in the demodulated broadcast signal by using the plurality of the known data sequences. The block decoder performs turbo-decoding in block units on data of portion allocated to the channel equalized data group. And, the RS frame decoder configures an RS frame by gathering data of the turbo decoded M number of portions, wherein M is an integer greater than 1 (M>1). And, when a number of contiguous CRC errors is equal to (a maximum number of errors that can be corrected by RS erasure decoding)+1, wherein the number of contiguous CRC errors is determined by performing CRC decoding on each row of the RS frame, the RS frame decoder sets up erasure points in all data of the rows including the CRC errors, so as to perform RS erasure decoding on all columns of the RS frame in the column direction. |
| US08185798B2 |
Techniques for reducing joint detection complexity in a channel-coded multiple-input multiple-output communication system
A technique for joint detection of channel-coded signals in a multiple-input multiple-output system includes detecting, when a decoded signal associated with a first symbol stream passes a cyclic redundancy check, channel-coded signals in the first symbol stream and a second symbol stream using minimum mean squared error with ordered successive interference cancellation (MMSE-OSIC) based detection. When the decoded signal associated with the first symbol stream fails the cyclic redundancy check, the channel-coded signals in the first and second symbol streams are detected using neighbor search algorithm (NSA) based detection. |
| US08185793B2 |
Data reproducing apparatus
A data reproducing apparatus has a nonvolatile memory in addition to a memory for data processing. When data error is uncorrected, data and error correction codes other than uncorrected data are accumulated in the memory for data processing. Corrected data is coupled and repaired, and the repaired data is stored in the nonvolatile memory. It is possible to reproduce data without retry, even if data error is uncorrected when the data of an optical disc is reproduced at the next time. |
| US08185789B2 |
Capturing response after simultaneously inputting last stimulus bit in scan path subdivisions
Scan and Scan-BIST architectures are commonly used to test digital circuitry in integrated circuits. The present disclosure improves upon low power Scan and Scan-BIST methods. The improvement allows the low power Scan and Scan-BIST architectures to achieve a delay test capability equally as effective as the delay test capabilities used in conventional scan and Scan-BIST architectures. |
| US08185787B1 |
Blind and decision directed multi-level channel estimation
A technique for blind channel estimation is disclosed herein. A read value that is read from a multi-level storage device is received, as are a set of bins having bin ranges and (for each of the bins in the set) a corresponding portion of read values which fall into that particular bin. One or more of the bin ranges is adjusted such that the received portions of read values remain substantially the same after adjustment and after assignment of the read value to one of the set of bins after adjustment. |
| US08185786B2 |
Error recovery within processing stages of an integrated circuit
An integrated circuit includes a plurality of processing stages each including processing logic, a non-delayed signal-capture element, a delayed signal-capture element and a comparator. The non-delayed signal-capture element captures an output from the processing logic at a non-delayed capture time. At a later delayed capture time, the delayed signal-capture element also captures a value from the processing logic. An error detection circuit and error correction circuit detect and correct random errors in the delayed value and supplies an error-checked delayed value to the comparator. The comparator compares the error-checked delayed value and the non-delayed value and if they are not equal this indicates that the non-delayed value was captured too soon and should be replaced by the error-checked delayed value. The non-delayed value is passed to the subsequent processing stage immediately following its capture and accordingly error recovery mechanisms are used to suppress the erroneous processing which has occurred by the subsequent processing stages, such as gating the clock and allowing the correct signal values to propagate through the subsequent processing logic before restarting the clock. The operating parameters of the integrated circuit, such as the clock frequency, the operating voltage, the body biased voltage, temperature and the like are adjusted so as to maintain a finite non-zero error rate in a manner that increases overall performance. |
| US08185784B2 |
Drive health monitoring with provisions for drive probation state and drive copy rebuild
The present disclosure is directed to a system and method for monitoring drive health.A method for monitoring drive health may comprise: a) conducting a predictive fault analysis for at least one drive of a RAID; and b) copying data from the at least one drive of the RAID to a replacement drive according to the predictive fault analysis.A system for monitoring drive health may comprise: a) means for conducting a predictive fault analysis for at least one drive of a RAID; and b) means for copying data from the at least one drive of the RAID to a replacement drive according to the predictive fault analysis. |
| US08185777B2 |
Network storage appliance with integrated server and redundant storage controllers
A network storage appliance is disclosed. The appliance includes a chassis enclosing a backplane, and a server enclosed in the chassis and coupled to the backplane. The appliance also includes storage controllers enclosed in the chassis, each coupled to the backplane, which control transfer of data between the server and storage devices coupled to the storage controllers. The storage controllers also control transfer of data between the storage devices and computers networked to the appliance and external to the appliance. The storage controllers and the server comprise a plurality of hot-replaceable blades. Any one of the plurality of blades may be replaced during operation of the appliance without loss of access to the storage devices by the computers. In one embodiment, the server executes storage application software, such as backup software for backing up data on the storage devices, such as to a tape device networked to the server. |
| US08185776B1 |
System and method for monitoring an application or service group within a cluster as a resource of another cluster
Various systems and methods for monitoring an application or service group within one cluster as a resource of another cluster are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method involves detecting an error indication generated by a first cluster (e.g., the error indication can be generated by a cluster controller or service group within the first cluster). The first cluster is implemented on a cluster resource (e.g., a virtual machine) of a second cluster. In response to detecting the error indication, restart of the cluster resource is initiated. |
| US08185774B2 |
Timer for low-power and high-resolution with low bits derived from set of phase shifted clock signals
The present invention is an electronic device comprising a counter driven by an input clock signal for counting clock cycles and providing most significant bits of a count. A clock signal generating stage provides a first set of phase shifted clock signals having m different phases. The electronic device determines n least significant bits of the count of the counter from the logic states of the first set of m phase shifted clock signals. |
| US08185769B2 |
Method for ensuring synchronous presentation of additional data with audio data
A recording medium, method and apparatus for managing data are discussed. According to an embodiment, the present invention provides a method of reproducing main data and additional data. The method includes receiving the additional data associated with the main data, the additional data being divided into a plurality of segment units; and reproducing the additional data in a synchronous manner with the main data using time information if indication information indicates a presence of the time information. The time information indicates a presentation time of the additional data with respect to the main data. The main data and the additional data are reproduced according to management data, the management data including link information for linking the main data and the additional data. |
| US08185765B2 |
Storage apparatus and its power saving control method
Provided are a storage apparatus and its power saving control method capable of performing sufficient power saving to multiple memory devices without deteriorating the response performance to a host system. If multiple logical volumes formed in disk drives configuring a parity group are in an offline status where a path group from the host computer is not set, a control processor sets the multiple disk drives of the parity group to a power saving status. |
| US08185764B2 |
Techniques for ensuring power delivery over only data-active pairs of data communications cabling
A power delivery technique which involves connecting power sourcing equipment (PSE) with a powered device (PD) through data communications cabling (e.g., an Ethernet cable). The technique further involves negotiating an acceptable power level for the PD and a data rate for the PD, and enforcing delivery of power to the PD using only wire pairs of the data communications cabling which carry data between the PSE and the PD. As a result, the PSE does not deliver any power to the PD through wire pairs which are not data-active. |
| US08185761B2 |
“Subset PHY” approach for reducing power consumption during periods of low link utilization
A system and method for reducing power consumption during periods of low link utilization. A single enhanced core can be defined that enables operation of subset of parent physical layer devices (PHYs). The subset and parent PHYs can have a fundamental relationship that enables synchronous switching between them depending on the link utilization state. |
| US08185757B2 |
Method and system for safe and efficient chip power down drawing minimal current when a device is not enabled
Certain embodiments of a method and system for safe and efficient power down and drawing minimal current when a device is not enabled may comprise receiving within a network adapter chip (NAC) a signal that indicates a reduced power mode. Based on this signal, the NAC may control an off-chip voltage source that provides reduced voltage to circuitry within the NAC. The off-chip voltage source, which may comprise a first PNP transistor and a second PNP transistor, may reduce a voltage to a first voltage and a second voltage. The NAC may also reduce current through the off-chip voltage source to approximately zero amperes and an output voltage of the off-chip voltage source to approximately zero volts. The first voltage and/or the second voltage may be fed back to control the output voltage and current of the off-chip voltage source. |
| US08185755B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus, wireless communication system, wireless communication method, and program
A wireless communication apparatus according to the present invention includes a user terminal information acquiring unit that acquires user terminal information related to user terminals, which are connected through a wireless communication network to enable communication, from the user terminals; a wireless power transmitting circuit that wirelessly supplies power to the user terminals; a control unit that determines whether or not to supply the power to the user terminals based on the user terminal information; a user terminal location acquiring unit that acquires location information of the user terminals where the power is supplied; and a transmission power direction instructing unit that controls directivity of power supply based on the location information of the user terminals. |
| US08185752B2 |
Method and system for providing data field encryption and storage
An approach is provided for securely storing and managing sensitive data. A system and method are provided that include a central device that receives an actual data value from a requester, encrypts the actual data value, obtains a replacement value for the encrypted actual data value, obtains a secondary replacement value based on the encrypted actual data value, and transmits the replacement value to the requester for storage by the requester. The system and method also includes a storage device for storing the secondary replacement value in association with the encrypted actual data value at a secure location. The requester can later use the replacement value to retrieve the actual data value from the central device. |
| US08185751B2 |
Achieving strong cryptographic correlation between higher level semantic units and lower level components in a secure data storage system
A data storage architecture for networked access by clients includes a file server capable of communication with the clients via the network, physical storage organized as a plurality of logical volumes, and an encryption device in communication with both the file server and the physical storage. The encryption device is operable in response to signaling from the file server, including an indication of a range of blocks of data, to cause encryption of the range of blocks with an encryption key that is unique within the physical storage. The encryption device includes nested tables mapping block ranges to encryption keys. Consequently, undesirable key sharing across files, file systems, and other units can be avoided down to the block level. |
| US08185749B2 |
System and method for revising boolean and arithmetic operations
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, computer readable media and special purpose processors for obfuscating code. The method includes extracting an operation within program code, selecting a formula to perform the equivalent computation as the extracted operation, and replacing the extracted operation with the selected formula. The formula can be selected randomly or deterministically. The extracted operation can be an arithmetic operation or a Boolean operation. |
| US08185748B2 |
Methods and apparatus for facilitating a secure processor functional transition
A processor and associated local memory are capable of operative connection to a main memory such that data may be read from the main memory for use in the local memory, and the processor is operable to carry out actions, including: entering a secure mode of operation where externally initiated requests to read data from or write data into the processor are not serviced but internally initiated data transfers are serviced; reading a decryption program from a storage medium into the local memory of the processor; reading an encrypted authentication program into the local memory of the processor; decrypting the encrypted authentication program using a decryption program; and transitioning functionality of the processor from the decryption program to the authentication program. |
| US08185746B2 |
Method for generating data for detection of tampering, and method and apparatus for detection of tampering
In a target apparatus which stores at least one piece of domain key information in a first area and a plurality of pieces of content key information each associated with any one of the domain key information in a second area, a method for generating data for detecting tampering of the content key information. The method comprises the steps of encrypting the content key information associated with one of the domain key information using a chain encryption technique, extracting data at predetermined positions in the encrypted content key information, concatenating the pieces of data extracted at the predetermined positions in the encrypted content key information to obtain concatenated data, performing a hash calculation with respect to the concatenated data to obtain a hash value, storing check values corresponding to the data at the predetermined positions in plain text, in the target apparatus, and storing the hash value in the target apparatus. |
| US08185740B2 |
Consumer computer health validation
Consumer computers that are not properly configured for safe access to a web service are protected from damage by controlling access to web services based on the health of the client computer. A client health web service receives health information from the client computer, determines the health status of the consumer computer, and issues a token to the consumer computer indicating its health status. The consumer computer can provide this token to other web services, which in turn may provide access to the consumer computer based on the health status indicated in the token. The client health web service may be operated as a web service specifically to determine the health of consumer computers or may have other functions, including providing access to the Internet. Also, the health information may be proxied to another device, such as a gateway device, that manages interactions with the client health web service. |
| US08185739B2 |
Method and system for detecting successful authentication of multiple ports in a time-based roving architecture
In one embodiment of the present invention, a method includes authenticating an HDCP transmitting device at a first port of an HDCP receiving device. A port of the HDCP receiving device is connected to a pipe of an HDCP architecture of the HDCP receiving device at a first time. A synchronization signal is received from the HDCP transmitting device at the port of the HDCP receiving device at a second time. A loss of synchronization between the HDCP transmitting device and the HDCP receiving device is detected when the time-span between the first time and the second time is not greater than the period of time between synchronization signals sent from the HDCP transmitting device. A re-authentication is initiated between the HDCP transmitting device and the HDCP receiving device in response to detecting the loss of synchronization. |
| US08185738B2 |
Data transmission method using an acknowledgement code comprising hidden authentication bits
A method for transmitting data between a first and a second point comprises the steps of transmitting data, from the first to the second point, together with a signature comprising bits of a first authentication code, and transmitting an acknowledgement, from the second to the first point. The length of the first authentication code is greater than the length of the signature and the first authentication code comprises hidden authentication bits. The acknowledgement is produced by using hidden authentication bits of a second authentication code presumed to be identical to the first, produced at the second point. |
| US08185730B1 |
System and method for determining if current operating system booted from an internal drive or an extern drive and further fixing the internal drive if needs to be or updating the external drive with current boot image
Software program or application can determine if the storage device it was launched from is connected to the host computer system on an internal bus or an external bus. The ability of a software application to determine from where it and the operating system was launched allows it to perform a plurality of actions based on the launch location such as limiting the functionality of an application depending on its launch location. If a software company does not want its software to be installed or executed from an external drive or executed on multiple computers then it can limit the users ability to moved the software from one computer to another on a portable drive connected through a USB or IEEE-1394 port. |
| US08185721B2 |
Dual function adder for computing a hardware prefetch address and an arithmetic operation value
A system including a dual function adder is described. In one embodiment, the system includes an adder. The adder is configured for a first instruction to determine an address for a hardware prefetch if the first instruction is a hardware prefetch instruction. The adder is further configured for the first instruction to determine a value from an arithmetic operation if the first instruction is an arithmetic operation instruction. |
| US08185719B2 |
Message routing scheme for an array having a switch with address comparing component and message routing component
Each possessor node in an array of nodes has a respective local node address, and each local node address comprises a plurality of components having an order of addressing significance from most to least significant. Each node comprises: mapping means configured to map each component of the local node address onto a respective routing direction, and a switch arranged to receive a message having a destination node address identifying a destination node. The switch comprises: means for comparing the local node address to the destination node address to identify a the most significant non-matching component; and means for routing the message to another node, on the condition that the local node address does not match the destination node address, in the direction mapped to the most significant non-matching component. |
| US08185717B2 |
Apparatus and method for profiling software performance on a processor with non-unique virtual addresses
A system includes a processor with a memory map specifying a user mode region with virtual address translation by a memory management unit and a kernel mode region with direct virtual address translation. The processor executes an application in the user mode region where virtual addresses are not unique. A probe receives trace information from the processor. A host system receives the trace information from the probe. The host system includes a data structure associating a process name, a process identification and a set of instruction counters. Each instruction counter is incremented upon the processing of a designated virtual address within the trace information. A profiling module processes information associated with the process name and set of instruction counters to identify a performance problem in the application. |
| US08185715B1 |
Method and system for managing metadata in storage virtualization environment
Method and system for managing metadata for a plurality of storage platforms that provide virtualization services is provided. The method includes requesting a memory chunk for storing metadata; wherein a data processing agent operating in a storage platform requests the memory chunk and a centralized metadata controller for the plurality of storage platforms receives the request for the memory chunk; determining the memory chunk size and allocating the memory chunk from a pool of memory chunks; and assigning the allocated memory chunk to a virtualization mapping object. |
| US08185713B2 |
Flexible sequencer design architecture for solid state memory controller
A method and apparatus for controlling access to solid state memory devices which may allow maximum parallelism on accessing solid state memory devices with minimal interventions from firmware. To reduce the waste of host time, multiple flash memory devices may be connected to each channel. A job/descriptor architecture may be used to increase parallelism by allowing each memory device to operate separately. A job may be used to represent a read, write or erase operation. When firmware wants to assign a job to a device, it may issue a descriptor, which may contain information about the target channel, the target device, the type of operation, etc. The firmware may provide descriptors without waiting for a response from a memory device, and several jobs may be issued continuously to form a job queue. After the firmware finishes programming descriptors, a sequencer may handle the remaining work so that the firmware may concentrate on other tasks. |
| US08185712B2 |
System and method for intelligent storage migration
The present invention relates to a methodology and computer program product for data storage migration that comprises monitoring a plurality of entities that comprise a storage area network for a predetermined set of information gathering cycles, constructing a resource graph that is representative of the entities that are comprised within the storage area network, and analyzing the resource graph. Further comprised are the determining of a data storage source and a data storage target for the migration of data stored at the data storage source, determining a time period and an execution point for the migration of the stored data, determining a data migration schedule, migrating the stored data according to the determined data migration schedule, and monitoring the data migration operation until the completion of the data migration operation. |
| US08185710B2 |
Hardware memory locks
Methods, systems and computer program products to implement hardware memory locks are described herein. A system to implement hardware memory locks is provided. The system comprises an off-chip memory coupled to a SOC unit that includes a controller and an on-chip memory. Upon receiving a request from a requester to access a first memory location in the off-chip memory, the controller is enabled to grant access to modify the first memory location based on an entry stored in a second memory location of the on-chip memory. In an embodiment, the on-chip memory is Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) and the off-chip memory is Random Access Memory (RAM). |
| US08185707B2 |
Storage system and path management method for multi-host environment
A storage system and a path management method, which can facilitate node replacement, are proposed. In the storage system, the host sets plural paths between the host and the volume and holds path information composed of management information on each of the paths. The management apparatus includes an integrated path management unit that collects the path information on each of the paths defined between the host and the volume from the corresponding host to manage all the collected information as integrated path information; retrieves an alternate path going through a node other than a specified node but that has the same function as the specified node, for the path going through the specified node, based on the integrated path information; and displays results of the retrieval. |
| US08185705B2 |
Information recording medium, information recording medium accessing apparatus and accessing method
An information recording medium such as a semiconductor memory card includes a first semiconductor memory having a first recording area accessed by a relatively small access unit and storing file system management information, a second semiconductor memory having a second recording area accessed by a relatively large access unit and storing file data (file entity data), and a controller for controlling the first and second semiconductor memories. The information recording medium selects either one of recording areas of the first and second semiconductor memories depending on the data type, and writes data into the selected recording area. |
| US08185704B2 |
High performance real-time read-copy update
A technique for reducing reader overhead when referencing a shared data element while facilitating realtime-safe detection of a grace period for deferring destruction of the shared data element. The grace period is determined by a condition in which all readers that are capable of referencing the shared data element have reached a quiescent state subsequent to a request for a quiescent state. Common case local quiescent state tracking may be performed using only local per-reader state information for all readers that have not blocked while in a read-side critical section in which the data element is referenced. Uncommon case non-local quiescent state tracking may be performed using non-local multi-reader state information for all readers that have blocked while in their read-side critical section. The common case local quiescent state tracking requires less processing overhead than the uncommon case non-local quiescent state tracking. |
| US08185701B2 |
System and method for an adaptive list prefetch
A method, system, and computer program product are provided for retrieving records into a main memory. A first number of gaps and a first total gap size are received for a list of records from a database subsystem. A determination is made of a first average gap size using the first number of gaps and the first total gap size. A determination is made as to whether the first average gap size is greater than a prestaging threshold value. Responsive to the first average gap size being equal to or less than the prestaging threshold value, a prestaging flag is set for the list of records. Then, the list of records is retrieved into the main memory using prestaging. |
| US08185700B2 |
Enabling speculative state information in a cache coherency protocol
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving a bus message in a first cache corresponding to a speculative access to a portion of a second cache by a second thread, and dynamically determining in the first cache if an inter-thread dependency exists between the second thread and a first thread associated with the first cache with respect to the portion. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08185698B2 |
Hardware acceleration of a write-buffering software transactional memory
A method and apparatus for accelerating a software transactional memory (STM) system is described herein. Annotation field are associated with lines of a transactional memory. An annotation field associated with a line of the transaction memory is initialized to a first value upon starting a transaction. In response to encountering a read operation in the transaction, then annotation field is checked. If the annotation field includes a first value, the read is serviced from the line of the transaction memory without having to search an additional write space. A second and third value in the annotation field potentially indicates whether a read operation missed the transactional memory or a tentative value is stored in a write space. Additionally, an additional bit in the annotation field, may be utilized to indicate whether previous read operations have been logged, allowing for subsequent redundant read logging to be reduced. |
| US08185694B2 |
Testing real page number bits in a cache directory
Testing real page number bits in a cache directory is provided. A specification of a cache to be tested is retrieved in order to test the real page number bits of the cache directory associated with the cache. A range within a real page number address of the cache directory is identified for performing page allocations using the specification of the cache. A random value x is generated that identifies a portion of the real page number bits to be tested. A first random value y is generated that identifies a first congruence class from a set of congruence classes within the portion of the cache to be tested. Responsive to the first congruence class failing to be allocated a predetermined number of times, one page size of memory for the first congruence class is allocated and a first allocation value is incremented by a value of 1. |
| US08185693B2 |
Cache-line aware collection for runtime environments
Target data is allocated into caches of a shared-memory multiprocessor system during a runtime environment. The target data includes a plurality of data items that are allocated onto separate cache lines. Each data item is allocated on a separate cache line regardless of the size of the cache line of the system. The data items become members of a wrapper types when data items are value types. The runtime environment maintains a set of wrapper types of various sizes that are of typical cache line sizes. Garbage data is inserted into the cache line in cases where data items are reference types and data is stored on a managed heap. The allocation also configures garbage collectors in the runtime environment not to slide multiple data items onto the same cache line. Other examples are included where a developer can augment the runtime environment to be aware of cache line sizes. |
| US08185685B2 |
NAND flash module replacement for DRAM module
An electronic memory module according to the invention provides non-volatile memory that can be used in place of a DRAM module without battery backup. An embodiment of the invention includes an embedded microprocessor with microcode that translates the FB-DIMM address and control signals from the system into appropriate address and control signals for NAND flash memory. Wear-leveling, bad block management, garbage collection are preferably implemented by microcode executed by the microprocessor. The microprocessor, additional logic, and embedded memory provides the functions of a flash memory controller. The microprocessor memory preferably contains address mapping tables, free page queue, and garbage collection information. |
| US08185682B2 |
USB 2.0 bi-directional bus channel with boost circuitry
A system for allowing a designer to implement Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 in topologies not anticipated by a USB 2.0 specification and with reduced channel losses, the system comprising: a bus channel having a plurality of electrical elements; and a boost circuit connected at a predetermined location on the bus channel; a plurality of USB signals transmitted through the system; wherein edges of the plurality of USB signals are boosted without impacting the bi-directional nature of the bus channel. |
| US08185678B1 |
Method and apparatus for controlling a data bus
A method and apparatus for controlling a data bus system is provided. A data bus system may use different hardware to perform transceiver and system control functions. The various embodiments of the invention increase compatibility of a data bus system with different transceiver hardware configurations by configuring the data transmission rate of the transceiver hardware at various points of operation to prevent or remedy several situations where the transceiver hardware may operate at a different data transmission rate than that used by the data bus system. |
| US08185672B2 |
Transmission of data bursts on a constant data rate channel
A system and method for transmitting asynchronous data bursts over a constant data rate channel that transmits a continuous stream of data with virtually no load on the CPU(s) of the receiving processing node is disclosed. The data channel has a defined frame structure with one or more data structures, wherein each data structure comprises a plurality of data locations. A receiver selects data from a fixed data location in each data structure as a data descriptor for each respective data structure. The receiver configures a direct memory access (DMA) function using each data descriptor. For each data structure, a block of payload data is transferred from the data channel to a memory buffer using the DMA function when the data descriptor associated with the data structure is an eligible data descriptor that indicates the block of payload data is present, otherwise a dummy DMA transfer is performed when the data descriptor is an ineligible data descriptor that indicates no payload data is present in the associated data structure. |
| US08185669B2 |
Signal output device of HDMI device and method thereof
A signal output device of an HDMI device and a method thereof, which can automatically determine a type of an HDMI cable such that a display device such as a television set can always display an optimal screen. The signal output method of a digital interface device to output a signal of a device connected to a digital interface cable includes determining the type of the digital interface cable, and comparing a resolution which can be supported by the digital interface cable with an output resolution of the device which is set and outputting whether the digital interface cable can support the output resolution. |
| US08185668B2 |
System having processor and I/O controller
A method of controlling an apparatus including a processor and an I/O controller includes storing execution information, receiving a first and a second requests successively, determining whether initiation of each execution of the first and the second requests is to be supervised by either of the processor and the I/O controller in reference to the execution information, transmitting the first request to the processor from the I/O controller, and upon completion of execution of the first request at the processor, transmitting the second request to the processor from the I/O controller when the initiations of executions of the first and second request is supervised by the I/O controller, and transmitting the first and second requests to the processor regardless of completion of execution of the first request by the processor when the initiations of executions of the first and second requests is supervised by the processor. |
| US08185655B2 |
Maximizing diversity in a subset of elements utilizing GRASP with path relinking
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for maximizing diversity in a subset of elements selected from a set of elements are provided. An algorithm that combines the GRASP and path relinking heuristics is utilized to find an approximate solution to a max-min diversity problem modeled from the set of elements. The GRASP heuristic is applied to the set of elements for a number of iterations to generate a set of feasible solutions, and a best solution is determined from the set. The path relinking heuristic is then applied between a pair of solutions in the set of feasible solutions to generate a candidate solution. If the candidate solution is better than the best solution, then the best solution is replaced with the candidate solution, and the process is repeated until the path relinking heuristic has been applied between each pair of solutions in the set of feasible solutions. |
| US08185647B2 |
Protocol adapter for transferring diagnostic signals between in-vehicle networks and a computer
A protocol adapter for simultaneously communicating with one or more remote computers over any one of a plurality of protocols. The adapter includes a motherboard having an integrated CPU, a plurality of interface modules, a plurality of device drivers and a plurality of daughter-board module slots. The protocol adapter further includes at least one daughter-board interface module mounted in one of the plurality of daughter-board slots. The at least one daughter-board modules expands the number of protocols of the adapter beyond those protocols being run by the motherboard. |
| US08185646B2 |
User authentication for social networks
Systems and methods are provided for social networks that can verify that enrolled users are not misrepresenting facts about themselves such as age and gender. Verification can be performed, for example, by reference to biometric templates stored during the user enrollment process. The biometric templates can also be used to authenticate users logging into the social network to prevent user impersonation. The ability of some users to communicate to other users of the social network can be limited to only certified users, and even to those certified users that match a criterion, such as gender or age. |
| US08185644B2 |
Method and apparatus for using SMS short code messaging to facilitate the transmission of a status update for a security system
A notification system for receiving a request for a remote status update from a remote device is disclosed. The notification system comprises a server for relaying the request for the remote status update, an access server for receiving the relayed request for the remote status update and for determining whether a remote device is registered to receive the remote status update, a host website for allowing the remote device to be registered to receive the remote status update, and a central monitoring server for generating the remote status update based upon the request. The central monitoring server is coupled to a remote security device. The security device is configured to detect an event and transmit a message to the central monitoring server in response to the detected event. The remote status update includes information regarding the detected event. |
| US08185642B1 |
Communication policy enforcement in a data network
A device is configured to receive authorization information from a first network device and to receive a request that data units sent to a destination device contain authorization information, where the request is received from a second network device. The device is configured to assemble authorized data units by associating the authorization information with content intended for a destination device, where the content can be exchanged with the destination device during authorized communication. The device is configured to provide at least one of the authorized data units to the second network device so that the second network device can establish the authorized communication between the device and the destination device. |
| US08185641B2 |
Client server system and connection method
In at least one embodiment of the disclosure, a computing device comprises a network interface that receives terminal information corresponding to a terminal connected to a network. A storage device stores profile information defining that the terminal is permitted to connect to the computing device. A central processing unit refers to the received terminal information and the stored profile information and determines that the terminal is permitted to connect to the computing device. A display displays a participant display area. The display area shows a client name that corresponds to the terminal. An input mechanism accepts a user operation selecting the client name displayed in the participant display area to designate the terminal. The terminal provides image data to the computing device. The computing device supplies the image data provided by the terminal to an image display apparatus connected to the network. |
| US08185640B2 |
Graphical user interface (GUI) for administering a voice over internet protocol (VOIP) network implementing media aggregation
A graphical user interface (GUI) is disclosed that allows a user to identify routers, communities, residents and media aggregation managers existing on a network. The user may interactively select a path that includes two media aggregation managers and at least one router. The GUI predicts scheduled bandwidth utilization along the selected path for a variety of residents wishing to communicate across the path. The GUI may be utilized for initializing all media aggregation managers on the network along with provisioning each of the routers on the selected path. The GUI provisions all of the routers and initializes all of the media aggregation managers on the selected path simultaneously in order to accomplish the predicted schedule of usage provided by the GUI to the user and force all communication packets communicated between the residents to travel along the selected path. |
| US08185637B2 |
Control of session parameter negotiation for communication connection
The invention relates to a session control entity, method and a computer program product for determining a first media type indicated for a session associated with a dialogue and determining a second media type indicated for an early media associated with the dialogue, comparing if the first media type and the second media type are the same, and transmitting to a policy control entity, parameters relating to the early media in the same session information media component than parameters relating to the session, if the first media type and the second media type are the same. |
| US08185635B2 |
Transport system for instant messaging
An exemplary method involves creating a master session over a first connection through a server; and creating a virtual channel over the connection, the virtual channel operable to communicate a feature session. The method may involve establishing a direct connection that bypasses the server, and switching communication of the feature session to the direct connection. A system for network communication includes a plurality of transport bridges, each transport bridge corresponding to an active network device configuration, and a switching module operable to choose one of the transport bridges to form a connection between two computing devices based on the active network device configuration. |
| US08185633B1 |
Method and apparatus for offloading network processes in a computer storage system
A system and method for offloading network processes from main processors of a storage system and performing them on parallel processing modules. Embodiments of the present invention improve performance of a clustered storage system by performing certain network processes in an accelerator module of a storage system node. The accelerator module receives multi-protocol protocol data units (PDUs) from a network interface, performs protocol operations on the PDUs to form file system requests and passes the file system requests to a local D-module. If a file system request is directed to a non-local D-module in the cluster, the accelerator module repackages the request for transmission to the appropriate D-module and passes it back to the network without using local D-module processing resources or passing data over the system bus. |
| US08185629B2 |
Access control for M2M devices in a mobile communication network
A method of controlling an access to a public mobile communication network by a device for transmission of data is provided. The method comprises the step of accessing the mobile communication network by the device at a predetermined time and date. For this purpose a network traffic load information is transmitted from an entity connected to the mobile communication network to the device. Subsequently the time and date of an access to the mobile communication network by the device is determined with consideration of the received network load information. A corresponding system for controlling an access of a device to a public mobile communication network for transmitting data is also provided. |
| US08185624B2 |
Efficient on-demand provisioning of servers for specific software sets
An administrator system provided according to an aspect of the present invention facilitates efficient provisioning of servers for specific software sets. In an embodiment containing clusters of servers requiring execution of corresponding set of software, an administrator system selects a server from a free server pool and installs on the selected server only those of the required set of softwares that are not already installed on the selected server. As a result, the selected server can quickly be added to a desired cluster. Such a feature is particularly useful in an environment where different application environments are provided in different cluster of systems and many servers are available in the form of free server pools for addition to the desired clusters. |
| US08185619B1 |
Analytics system and method
An agentless software data collector in a customer computer network collects metrics data from managed devices on the network to provide to a remote data center accessed via a public wide area network (WAN) interface. The software data collector collects metrics data, as well as receives real-time queries, such as from a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) initiated from a hosted web interface. |
| US08185616B2 |
Route designing method
A route designing method in which there is accepted an input of user information containing information about bandwidth of an access link serving as a link for connecting each of user sites to a relay node, and information showing the relay node connecting to the user site via the access link, topology information of a network for relaying the communications between the user sites is acquired, a communication relay port and a communication non-relay port are obtained based on the user information and the topology information, an upper limit of the communication bandwidth available for the user on the communication relay port is obtained, a route design so that the user sites are connected by a tree-shaped route is performed, and a result of the route design is outputted. |
| US08185615B1 |
Message, control and reporting interface for a distributed network access system
In a network access system including an external processor and a programmable access device, the external processor transmits a control message to the programmable access device to establish a configuration of the programmable access device. The programmable access device then communicates messages to the external processor for service processing in accordance with the configuration. For example, the control message may be a filter control message that establishes a configuration of a packet header filter in the programmable access device. The packet header filter then communicates network messages filtered from a packet flow in accordance with the configuration established by the control message. To limit the communication of network messages from the programmable access device to the external processor, the external processor can send a message setting message interface flags in the programmable access device. The external processor may also transmit a monitor control message to the programmable access device to establish a configuration of a monitor in the programmable access device. The programmable access device then communicates reporting messages to the external processor in response to the configuration of the monitor. |
| US08185614B2 |
Systems, methods, and apparatus for identifying accessible dispersed digital storage vaults utilizing a centralized registry
A centralized depository for storing information regarding a collection of servers and other hardware used to implement a plurality of virtual dispersed data storage containers is disclosed. The centralized depository describes each virtual dispersed data storage container as well as the hardware used to provide the plurality of virtual dispersed data storage containers. Computers operating on or seeking to access specific virtual dispersed data storage containers can obtain the information required for access from the centralized depository. |
| US08185613B2 |
Host accountability using unreliable identifiers
An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a directly observable identifier of host network traffic in the Internet and a host's IP address can dynamically change. Analysis of traffic (e.g., network activity or application request) logs may be performed and a host tracking graph may be generated that shows hosts and their bindings to IP addresses over time. A host tracking graph may be used to determine host accountability. To generate a host tracking graph, a host is represented. Host representations may be application-dependent. In an implementation, application-level identifiers (IDs) such as user email IDs, messenger login IDs, social network IDs, or cookies may be used. Each identifier may be associated with a human user. These unreliable IDs can be used to track the activity of the corresponding hosts. |
| US08185611B2 |
Streaming media delivery system
Streaming media, such as audio or video files, is sent via the Internet. The media are immediately played on a user's computer. Audio/video data is transmitted from the server more rapidly than it is played out by the user system. The audio/video data in the user buffer accumulates; and interruptions in playback as well as temporary modem delays are avoided. |
| US08185607B1 |
Querying wireless network offerings
A request is received at an emulation system configured to communicate over a wireless network. The request indicates content to be retrieved from over the wireless network. A content request for the content to be retrieved over the wireless network is generated at the emulation system. The content request emulates a content request from a particular wireless device. The generated content request is sent from the emulation system over the wireless network to a server that is configured to retrieve the content and return the content to the emulation system. The content is received at the emulation system from the wireless network in a first format. The content is converted from the first format to a second, different format to generate converted content. |
| US08185601B2 |
Sharing information between devices
A system configured for facilitating the sharing of information between apparatuses. An apparatus may include one or more applications that, for example, upon configuration and execution, may yield information that may also be stored in the apparatus. At some point a determination may be made that stored information is to be shared with other users. In order to enable the sharing of this information, global identification information may be assigned by, and obtained from, a remote resource. The global identification information may be used to modify identification information corresponding to the information to be shared so that other apparatuses may locate, and/or request access to, the shared information. Further, the other apparatuses may request transmission of shared information stored in the remote resource using the global identifier, or may receive shared information from the apparatus without explicitly requesting it. |
| US08185598B1 |
Systems and methods for monitoring messaging systems
Systems and methods for monitoring and/or auditing of events in an electronic messaging environment, such as Microsoft® Exchange, are described. One or more monitoring components are installed on messaging system servers to collect, in real-time, information on messaging system events. Certain embodiments are configured to audit and/or provide alerts regarding non-owner activity, such as when a user or administrator has gained access to another user's mailbox. Alerts can advantageously facilitate prompt corrective action by delivering detailed information about the access activity, such as which email message or folder was accessed, when the access occurred, from what location (e.g., IP address) when the access was initiated, and the type of access, as well as permission changes made to the mailbox or folders. The monitoring systems can also be configured to audit changes to client permissions for folders and delegate assignment and/or changes to configuration objects of the messaging system. |
| US08185597B1 |
Providing notifications to an individual in a multi-dimensional personal information network
A method for providing notifications to an individual within a multi-dimensional personal information network includes obtaining itinerary information corresponding to a first individual within a multi-dimensional personal information network. A second individual that is included in a projection of the multi-dimensional personal information network that also includes the first individual is identified. Itinerary information corresponding to the second individual is obtained. One or notifications based on the itinerary information corresponding to the first individual and the itinerary information corresponding to the second individual are provided to the first individual. |
| US08185595B2 |
Information processing apparatus and control method thereof
This invention is directed to reduce errors which may occur upon moving link data referring to another electronic data. To accomplish this, an information processing apparatus includes a designating unit which designates electronic data to be moved or copied, a data type determining unit which determines whether the designated electronic data is link data, an acquisition determining unit which, when it is determined that the designated electronic data is link data, determines whether electronic data linked to the link data can be acquired, and a file processing unit which, when it is determined that electronic data can be acquired, acquires the electronic data and moves or copies copy data of the acquired electronic data instead of the link data. |
| US08185593B2 |
System and method for freezing portions of a chat conversation in an instant messaging system
A system, method, and program product is provided that operates during an instant messaging session conducted between a first participant and a second participant. During the session, message sent to or from each participant are displayed in a first instant messaging session window. The two sets of instant messaging messages are displayed in a time-based order in the first instant messaging session window. A notification is received corresponding to one of the displayed instant messaging messages that is displayed in the first instant messaging session window. In response to receiving the notification, the selected instant messaging message is displayed in a second instant messaging session window while still including the selected instant messaging message in the first instant messaging session window. |
| US08185590B2 |
System and method for replicating offline scheduling transactions from a client to a server
A facility for replicating offline scheduling transactions directed to a server is provided. The facility is implemented as a client-side application that integrates with and utilizes components of a store-and-forward application, which is operable to execute on a client to guarantee that transactions submitted on the client are replicated and carried out on a service hosted on a remote server even in light of intermittent connectivity between the client, the server, and networks. Records describing transactions intended remote service are written to an outbox of the store-and-forward application on the client. When online, the store-and-forward application first invokes the facility, which processes the items in the outbox by iteratively retrieving the items from the outbox and, for each item, determining whether the item is a transaction intended for the scheduling application. If the item is intended for the scheduling application, the facility sends the item to the scheduling application. Otherwise, if the item is not intended for the scheduling application, the facility returns the item to the outbox for processing by other components of the store-and-forward application. |
| US08185588B2 |
System, apparatus, and method for mobile community service
A method and apparatus for a mobile community service are provided. In a method of operating a creator terminal for a mobile community service, the method includes creating a community for a community service by selecting at least one of a plurality of community types provided by a community server, downloading a task for the created at least one community service from the community server, and installing the downloaded task for the community service. Accordingly, a mobile community service can be provided to support various community activities occurring in everyday life on a real-time basis. |
| US08185582B2 |
Storage system, management server, system reconfiguration support method for a storage system, and system reconfiguration support method for a management server
In order to provide support for a system to operate in a manner appropriate for system requests desired by a user, a management server acquires functions corresponding to system requests acquired using a user interface using a second table for storing a correspondence relationship of functions provided by one or more managed storage devices and system requests occurring at the storage system, simulates whether or not implementation of the system requests is possible from the acquired functions and functions corresponding to the system requests occurring at the current storage system acquired using a third table for storing information for functions provided by the one or more storage devices, and notifies the one or more storage devices of instructions to set functions corresponding to the system requests to valid based on the simulation results of this simulation. |
| US08185580B2 |
Method for handling different versions of an application, and an automation system
A method in an automated system for handling at least two versions of an application. The system includes a controller for automation of a process with the application stored thereon in bidirectional connection with a communication server. The communication server is in bidirectional connection with at least two clients. The method improves communication between a communication server and several clients. Graphics and images can be displayed without reconfiguration when a new version of an application is used. |
| US08185578B2 |
Client server system and method for executing an application utilizing distributed objects
A client connected to a communication network performs an access request to an object. An application server performs an application by an actual object according to the client request. An object pool connected to the client and the application server pools a proxy object corresponding to the actual object and holds the actual object management information. The application server notifies the object pool of an event according to the status change of the application. The object pool automatically updates the actual object management information according to the notification of the event from the application server. |
| US08185577B2 |
Content management apparatus, web server, network system, content management method, content information management method, and program
A content management apparatus includes a content storage section configured to store a piece of content together with a content unique identifier; a content transmitter configured to transmit the piece of content together with the content unique identifier to a Web server; an intra-server management identifier receiver configured to receive an intra-server management identifier corresponding to the content unique identifier from the Web server; a management table for storing the content unique identifier and the intra-server management identifier; a content information updating message receiver configured to receive content information on the piece of content and a content information updating message containing the intra-server management identifier from the Web server; an identifier converter configured to convert the intra-server management identifier contained in the content information updating message into the content unique identifier; and a content management section configured to allow the content storage section to store the content information. |
| US08185572B2 |
Data correction circuit
A circuit and method are provided for correcting binary values in a data word having N bit positions where the circuit includes several assemblies, each for a unique data word bit position, where each assembly includes a first logic circuit connected to its unique data word bid and an adjacent data word bit to provide a first output bit and a second logic circuit connected to receive the first output bit and a different adjacent bit of the data word to provide a second output bit representing a corrected value of the unique bit. |
| US08185570B2 |
Three-term input floating-point adder-subtractor
The adder-subtractor includes a pre-processing circuit which divides three inputted terms into a mantissa having an exponent of maximum value, mantissa having an exponent of intermediate value and mantissa having an exponent of minimum magnitude and outputting a mantissa obtained by right-shifting the mantissa having the exponent of intermediate value and the mantissa having the minimum exponent of 2n+3 bits and adjusting digits and the mantissa having the maximum exponent, which reduces the mantissas from three to two terms, which carries out addition on the mantissas of the two terms, a normalization circuit which makes left shift so that the most significant bit becomes 1, a rounding circuit which uses an (n+3)th bit from the most significant bit as a new sticky bit, takes logical OR with the lower bits and performs rounding and an exponent operation unit which outputs a final exponent. |
| US08185569B2 |
Generation of test cases with range constraints for floating point add and subtract instructions
Methods, apparatus and systems are disclosed for the generation of range-constrained test cases for verification of designs of arithmetic floating point units. Given three ranges of floating point numbers Rx, Ry, Rz, a floating point operation (op), and a rounding-mode (round), three floating point numbers x, y, z are generated such that xεRx, yεRy, zεRz, and z=round ( x op y). Solutions are provided for add and subtract operations. Range constraints are imposed on the input operands and on the result operand of floating point add and subtract instructions to target corner cases when generating test cases for use in verification of floating point hardware. |
| US08185568B2 |
Method of providing space filling patterns
Methods of generating Hilbert space-filling indexes using simple bit-wise transformation are described herein. One method is based on a linear-based transformation uses bit-wise AND and XOR operations on a simple input index counter. In another method, the regular structure of the transform matrix was then used to obtain a Gray-based transform at a reduced complexity. Due to the simple and regular structure of the transformation, an efficient hardware implementation of generating indexes (addresses) along the Hilbert curve results. |
| US08185561B1 |
Scalable user clustering based on set similarity
Methods and apparatus, including systems and computer program products, to provide clustering of users in which users are each represented as a set of elements representing items, e.g., items selected by users using a system. In one aspect, a program operates to obtain a respective interest set for each of multiple users, each interest set representing items in which the respective user expressed interest; for each of the users, to determine k hash values of the respective interest set, wherein the i-th hash value is a minimum value under a corresponding i-th hash function; and to assign each of the multiple users to each of the respective k clusters established for the respective user, the i-th cluster being represented by the i-th hash value. The assignment of each of the users to k clusters is done without regard to the assignment of any of the other users to k clusters. |
| US08185559B2 |
Method and system for operating a telecommunication device using a hash table in particular for protecting such device from attacks
A method for operating a telecommunications device using a hash table, includes: storing session data concerning received data packets in the hash table by means of a first hash function; monitoring the efficiency of the hash table in performing at least a predetermined operation, and in case the efficiency is below a predetermined threshold, storing further session data concerning received data packets by means of a second hash function different from the first hash function. |
| US08185557B2 |
Positioning of non-constrained amount of data in semblance of a tree
Methods, devices and systems are described for implementing a method for positioning a non-constrained amount of data in semblance of a tree. The method includes receiving genealogical data including nodes and generating a directed graph of the nodes of the genealogical data. The directed graph is to maintain parent-child relationships among the nodes and to maintain generations. The genealogical data includes a root node. The method includes moving the nodes along the horizontal axis such that each node is in an equal spacing with respect to each node's parent node, determining a number of generations in the genealogical chart, and generating a number of quadratic curves equal to the number of generations. The apex of the quadratic curves is the position of the tree's trunk. The method includes dropping the nodes in the Y-axis along the curve of the quadratic curves. Each generation is in line with the quadratic curve. |
| US08185553B2 |
Categorization of information using natural language processing and predefined templates
A computer implemented method for generating a report that includes latent information, comprising receiving an input data stream that includes latent information, performing one of normalization, validation, and extraction of the input data stream, processing the input data stream to identify latent information within the data stream that is required for generation of a particular report, wherein said processing of the input data stream to identify latent information comprises of identifying a relevant portion of the input data stream, bounding the relevant portion of the input data stream, classifying and normalizing the bounded data, activating a relevant report template based on said identified latent information, populating said template with template-specified data, and processing the template-specified data to generate a report. |
| US08185549B1 |
Method and system for navigating within a body of data using one of a number of alternative browse graphs
A facility for navigating within a body of data using one of a number of distinct browse graphs is described. Initially, a navigation request is received. Based upon information contained in the received navigation request, the facility selects one of the plurality of browse graphs. In response to user input, the facility browses the body of data using the selected browse graph. The browse graphs may each correspond to a collection of the body of data, such as a website. |
| US08185547B1 |
Data analysis based on manipulation of large matrices on a persistent storage medium
Matrices involved in a data analysis are stored in predetermined blocks, where blocks for a first matrix contain respective rows of the first matrix, and blocks for a second matrix contain respective columns of the second matrix. Results for the data analysis are computed using the blocks of the first and second matrices. |
| US08185537B2 |
Method for monitoring abnormal state of internet information
The present application discloses a method for monitoring abnormal state of Internet information. The method includes obtaining frequency data for current date common words appearing on the current date web pages, combining with a hot words dictionary that Internet users focuses on to determine a list of current date keywords related to the Internet information, determining a weight of each current date keyword, determining an abnormal threshold of the current date keywords, and detecting an abnormal level of the current date keywords to determine current date hot Internet information. The disclose method further calculates an abnormal level of keywords by monitoring the change in the hot words frequency in the Internet information, and generates warning for the abnormal level of hot words frequency change, which allows the Internet users to respond at the first moment. |
| US08185535B2 |
Methods and systems for determining unknowns in collaborative filtering
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and systems for determining unknowns in rating matrices. In one embodiment, a method comprises forming a rating matrix, where each matrix element corresponds to a known favorable user rating associated with an item or an unknown user rating associated with an item. The method includes determining a weight matrix configured to assign a weight value to each of the unknown matrix elements, and sampling the rating matrix to generate an ensemble of training matrices. Weighted maximum-margin matrix factorization is applied to each training matrix to obtain corresponding sub-rating matrix, the weights based on the weight matrix. The sub-rating matrices are combined to obtain an approximate rating matrix that can be used to recommend items to users based on the rank ordering of the corresponding matrix elements. |
| US08185532B2 |
Method for filtering out identical or similar documents
A method for filtering out identical or similar documents includes storing multiple documents to be filtered as a pat tree (PT) data structure profile based on a pat tree data structure, searching for all string nodes with a consecutive character length reaching a lower threshold in the PT profile and all documents to which the string nodes belong, and finding documents having identical consecutive characters with a length reaching a higher threshold from the documents. Another technical solution includes searching for all string nodes with a consecutive character length reaching a lower threshold in the PT profile and all documents to which the string nodes belong, and finding documents having identical consecutive characters with such a length that a ratio of the length of the identical consecutive characters to a total character length of the original document reaches a ratio threshold from the documents, these documents are similarity. |
| US08185531B2 |
Method and apparatus for partitioning high-dimension vectors for use in a massive index tree
A method and apparatus for partitioning high-dimension vectors for use in a massive index have been disclosed. Using an initial guess on a collection of vectors, the vectors are examined. If the collection is not empty then dividing the collection until a collection contains a single vector or contains two vectors then transforming the two vectors into a majorize result and transforming the result into a graphical representation for a user. |
| US08185530B2 |
Method and system for web document clustering
Method and system for web documents clustering are provided. The method for web documents clustering includes: inputting a plurality of web documents, collecting information of the links and the directory structure of the inputted web documents, extracting, according to the collected links and directory structure, a hierarchical structure for the plurality of web documents and generating and outputting, based on the extracted hierarchical structure, one or more clusters of the plurality of web documents. |
| US08185524B2 |
Method and system for locating events in-context
Method and computer program product for locating events in-context over the Internet are disclosed. The method includes receiving a document from a user, wherein the document comprises one or more attributes, analyzing the one or more attributes of the document in accordance with a set of contextual information to generate one or more search terms, searching for events related to the one or more attributes of the document using the one or more search terms, and presenting the events to the user. |
| US08185522B2 |
Document scoring based on query analysis
A system may determine an extent to which a document is selected when the document is included in a set of search results, generate a score for the document based, at least in part, on the extent to which the document is selected when the document is included in a set of search results; and rank the document with regard to at least one other document based, at least in part, on the score. |
| US08185518B2 |
Method, system and program product for rewriting structured query language (SQL) statements
Under the present invention, a SQL statement having search criteria is received. Upon receipt, a table that lists all possible combinations of the search criteria is created. From the table, a set of patterns among the possible combinations is identified. Based on these patterns, the table is then sorted. Once sorted, the table is divided into a set of temporary tables based on the set of patterns/sorting operation. The set of temporary tables are then individually joined with the SQL statement and separate searches are conducted. A new set of temporary tables is then generated and populated with results of the separate searches. These result tables are then unioned/combined into a single result table. |
| US08185512B2 |
Prioritization of search requests using search templates
A method, a computer system, and a computer program product that prioritizes search requests to a database directory by assigning the search requests to one or more templates. Attributes of the search requests, such as an IP address, the portion of the database to which the search is constrained, one or more return attributes, the scope of the search, and/or search filters used, are compared with values of those attributes of the templates. The template whose values of the attributes match the values of the attributes in the search request is selected. This template has a template identifier that is associated with a transaction name of a work unit enclave. The search request is then associated with the work unit enclave and the operating system of the computer system will execute the search request in accordance with the performance goals and priority of the service class into which the work unit enclave is assigned. Process steps include creating a search template if none exist, and configuring a database server to assign a transaction name to search requests based on attributes and their values of the search request and then associating that transaction name with a transaction name of the work unit enclave. |
| US08185511B2 |
Clinician-driven example-based computer-aided diagnosis
Optimizing example-based computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) is accomplished by clustering volumes-of-interest (VOIs) (116) in a database (120) into respective clusters according to subjective assessment of similarity (S220). An optimal set of volume-of-interest (VOI) features is then selected for fetching examples such that objective assessment of similarity, based on the selected features, clusters, in a feature space, the database VOIs so as to conform to the subjectively-based clustering (S230). The fetched examples are displayed alongside the VOI to be diagnosed for comparison by the clinician. Preferably, the displayed example is user-selectable for further display of prognosis, therapy information, follow up information, current status, and/or clinical information retrieved from an electronic medical record (S260). |
| US08185505B1 |
Techniques for processing recovery points
Described are techniques for processing recovery points. One or more storage objects for which data protection processing is performed are determined. The data protection processing includes copying data for each of said one or more storage objects to one or more data protection storage devices. One or more recovery points corresponding to each of said one or more storage objects are determined. For each of the one or more recovery points corresponding to each of the one or more storage objects, performing processing including determining whether said each recovery point is at least one of recoverable in accordance with recoverable criteria and restartable in accordance with restartable criteria. |
| US08185504B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus including: a correspondence determination unit configured to refer to respective additional information data included in a file and another file and determine whether identical additional information data exists; a size determination unit configured to compare a combined size of the two files with a reference size when judged that identical additional data exists; a flag addition unit configured to add a flag indicating data exempt from search target to identical additional information data included in either one of the two files when judged that the combined size is smaller than the reference size; a deletion unit configured to delete identical additional information data included in either one of the two files when judged that the combined size is equal to or greater than the reference size; and a storing unit configured to store a combined file. |
| US08185488B2 |
System and method for correlating events in a pluggable correlation architecture
A system for pluggable event correlation may include an input manager that receives a plurality of events and converts the events into a format compatible with one or more of a plurality of correlation engines. The correlation engines may then evaluate the converted events using various rules and generate correlated events when the evaluated events trigger at least one of the rules. An action manager may execute remedial actions when the correlation engines generate the correlated events. Moreover, extensibility may be provided by enabling a user to define rules to be triggered when events occur in a predetermined pattern, and actions to be executed when a predetermined rule triggers a correlated event. Further, to plug a new correlation engine into the system, adapters may be deployed to handle input and output, while the user-defined rules may be validating according to semantic requirements of the new correlation engine. |
| US08185487B2 |
System, process and software arrangement for providing multidimensional recommendations/suggestions
A process, system and computer software are rovided to facilitate at least one recommendation to one or more users (420) and/or one or more applications (430) using multidimensional data (410). In particular, the multidimensional data (410) which define a multidimensional space (400) is accessed. The multidimensional space (400) can have more than two dimensions, each capable of providing variable information. Then, information from the multidimensional space is retrieved. Further, the recommendation is generated based on the retrieved information. In addition, it is possible to generate a recommendation-specific query (440). This can be performed by generating the recommendation-specific query (440) to access a multidimensional cube and retrieve data stored therein. Then, the recommendation can be issued based on the data retrieved from the multidimensional cube. |
| US08185476B2 |
Digital rights management system protecting consumer privacy
Technologies for a Consumer Privacy Digital Rights Management system based on stable partially blind signatures that enable a license server to provide licenses for delivery to users without knowing the corresponding digital contents that users access with the license. Therefore consumer privacy is protected during license acquisition. Further, if the client DRM module in the DRM system does not disclose any information about a user's digital content access, and the messages that the client DRM module sends out are in plain text enabling verification that the client DRM module is not disclosing such information, then consumer privacy is fully protected by the DRM system. |
| US08185470B2 |
Systems and methods for processing benefits
Systems and methods for processing, for example, childcare benefits include: issuing a benefit card to a childcare customer; receiving a start time for childcare service at a childcare provider, the start time recorded by using the benefit card at a terminal located at the childcare provider at the start of childcare service; receiving an end time for childcare service at the childcare provider, the end time recorded by using the benefit card at a terminal located at the childcare provider at the end of childcare service; computing the childcare benefit eligibility based on the start time, the end time and benefits available for the childcare customer; and paying the childcare provider a payment based on the computed benefit eligibility. |
| US08185468B2 |
System and method for smart hedging in an electronic trading environment
A system and associated methods are provided for smart hedging in an electronic trading environment. According to one example method, a first order for a first tradeable object and a second order for a second tradeable object are placed based on a spread strategy. Upon receiving an indication that a quantity of the first order is filled, the method involves determining if the second order can be used to offset the quantity filled of the first order by determining if a price of the second order would result in achieving a desired spread price defined for the spread strategy. If the price results in the desired price, the second order is used to offset the quantity filled for the first order in an attempt to achieve the desired spread price. Other tools are provided as well. |
| US08185467B2 |
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. |
| US08185463B1 |
Interactive systems and methods for insurance-related activities
Systems and methods for performing insurance related activities are provided. Software can be implemented to provide an application that includes an interactive interface for use by insurance professionals in managing clients, marketing insurance, and storing information. For example, a network application can be implemented that a user can access via a web browser and which is intuitive for quick comprehension and interaction by users. The application can include multiple layers directed to particular stages of the insurance-client relationship. The application can include a Workflow Wizard® to aid the user in managing and maintaining client information and tracking progress. Aggregation services can also be incorporated into the application. Interactive insurance-and-client specific display pages can be incorporated to aid in understanding a client's current insurance information and to generate presentations. “Value” calculators may be implemented to illustrate a comparison of a client's current level of protection to a client's current financial state. Interactive tools for evaluating a customer's financial condition during retirement and how life insurance affects a customer's financial condition are also provided. |
| US08185462B2 |
Stochastic control system and method for multi-period consumption
The present invention relates to dynamic optimization of system control over time. The need for dynamic optimization arises in many settings, as diverse as solar car power consumption during a multi-day race and retirement portfolio management. We disclose a reformulation of the control problem that overcomes the so-called “curse of dimensionality” and allows formulation of optimal control policies multiple period planning horizons. One optimal control policy is for power consumption by a solar car during a race, which involves many course segments, as course conditions vary through a day. Another is for risk in and consumption from a portfolio intended to support retirement. Both multi-period control policies take into account future uncertainty. Particular aspects of the present invention are described in the claims, specification and drawings. |
| US08185456B2 |
Method and system for structuring a mortgage
Methods and systems are configured to structure a collateralized loan such that a borrower's future income is factored into the determination of payment amounts due to a lender. The methods and systems disclosed herein provide benefits to both lenders and borrowers and, regarding real estate purchases, may expand the pool of buyers that qualify for certain mortgage amounts. |
| US08185455B2 |
Auditing system with interactive rule construction user interface
A system for auditing telecommunication billing data comprises a rule-construction user interface and an audit component. The rule-construction user interface comprises a plurality of rule condition parameter menus to construct an audit rule for at least one telecommunication billing attribute. In a particular embodiment, before baselining the audit rule, a user can test rule conditions against actual data, and the user can compare multiple versions of a single audit rule to determine which version successfully identifies exceptions. The audit component is to perform an audit of a telecommunication billing data set for exceptions to the audit rule constructed using the rule-construction user interface. Once identified, the exceptions can be assigned to additional tool users to assist in exception investigation and maintenance using an exception maintenance component. |
| US08185452B2 |
Document processing system and computer readable medium
A document processing system includes: an activity storage; a business process narrative storage; a risk storage; a control storage; an information extracting unit; and a document preparing and outputting unit. |
| US08185451B2 |
Turn-around time information management system, storage medium, and turn-around time information management method
An order data obtaining device displays a list of components on a Web page, and recognizes components selected on the Web page, thereby obtaining order data of a product that is formed of a plurality of components. A turnaround time display control device obtains turn-around time information of each of the components selected on the Web page, and displays on the Web page the longest turn-around time in the turn-around time information as a turn-around time of the product. An accurate turn-around time is calculated in accordance with the selection of components, and a customer is immediately notified of the accurate turn-around time of the product. Thus, loss of competitiveness in the market due to display of a turn-around time being fixed and too long because of its inclusion of leeway is prevented. In addition, since an accurate turn-around time notification is immediately provided to the customer, customer notification of the turn-around time and handling of queries over the phone regarding turn-around time can be reduced, thereby reducing management cost. |
| US08185449B2 |
System and method of providing fuel
Disclosed is a computer implemented method comprising the steps of calculating a fuel entitlement price, which is valid for a first order time period; receiving within the first order time period an order signal representing a first order by a customer for a fuel entitlement volume at the entitlement price, and accepting the first order, wherein the entitlement volume entitles the customer to take delivery from one or more of a plurality of filling stations, within a first entitlement time period, of a volume of fuel, in the aggregate, up to the entitlement volume, the first entitlement time period extending beyond the first order time period; updating a fuel entitlement balance of the customer to reflect the first order and the first entitlement time period; and updating the fuel entitlement balance of the customer in response to receipt of data indicating that the customer has taken delivery of a volume of fuel from a filling station. |
| US08185444B1 |
Interactive online reading system
An interactive online reading system for reading online digital content such as digital books including textbooks for a period of purchased time which is counted down only during a user activated reading session and wherein the countdown of the period of purchased time can be subsequently paused or stopped by the user for controlling costs over the user's reading and learning preferences. |
| US08185443B2 |
Method and apparatus for authorizing a payment via a remote device
A method of and system for authorizing a transaction remotely is disclosed. A customer uses a computer to browse for a product displayed on the internet. The customer may enter a unique number into the computer. The unique number is authorized and an authorization code is sent to the customer's communication device. The customer enters the authorization code into the computer to complete the transaction. |
| US08185440B2 |
Data processing system for pricing, costing and billing of financial transactions
The present invention provides methods and systems for pricing financial transactions by defining product rules, providing links to appropriate price tables, and calculating a price for a financial transaction. A data processing system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, creates a product rule corresponding to a financial transaction. The product rule contains mandatory attributes and optional attributes. Optional attributes may be looked up using identifiers constructed from said mandatory attributes. Optional attributes include a link to a price table which contains further attributes, including a pricing method. A price is then calculated in accordance with the pricing method. Billing is completed according to the billing method for the particular financial transaction. |
| US08185439B2 |
Patronage incentive saving system and method for retail businesses
A method of doing business in a retail environment employs a patronage incentive system incorporating a rounding up saving software program which provides a customer making a purchase at a point-of-sale terminal of participating retailers with an option to round up the price of purchase to the nearest dollar (or higher), to credit the difference between the rounded and the retail price to an account once the purchase is made, and to invest the savings into a single predetermined mutual fund. The rounding up program establishes a personal account for each customer, establishes a cumulative account with the single mutual fund, interacts with the customer, and, upon the request of customer, provides the customer with the information regarding his/her account current and/or prospective. |
| US08185437B2 |
Systems and methods to provide communication connections via partners
Methods and apparatuses to provide user interfaces dynamically customized according to partners through which the user interfaces are accessed in a customer acquisition process. One embodiment includes providing to a plurality of entities a platform, configured to assign references for embedding in listings for presentation and configured to connect people for real time communications according to the references embedded in the listings, the references to be used to request the platform to provide the connections; responsive to a request received via a first entity of the plurality of entities, presenting a user interface of the platform in a first format to identify the first entity; and responsive to a request received via a second entity of the plurality of entities, presenting the user interface of the platform in a second format to identify the second entity. |
| US08185436B2 |
Apparatus and method for advertising in digital photo frame
A novel digital photo frame is configured to display user-loaded photographs, moving pictures, and other personal data and corporate-paid advertisements which are dynamically updatable by an advertising data distribution center or another communications service provider, such as a cellular service provider. The invention also discloses a related, novel method of advertising in a digital photo frame with dynamically-updatable-ads, in which initial advertising fees for one or more dynamically-updateable ads at least partially pay for manufacturing costs of the digital photo frame for inexpensive distribution of the digital photo frame to a targeted consumer. |
| US08185434B2 |
System and method for conducting sales
Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer readable-media for conducting sales. The method embodiment comprises receiving an inquiry with at least one parameter from a user associated with a sale of an item, identifying one or more discount items that satisfy the inquiry, identifying comparable items for each discount item at nondiscount rates dynamically using real-time data, presenting one or more comparable groups to the user, each comparable group comprising one discount item and the respective comparable items, and furthering the sales process based on user input responding to the presented one or more comparable groups. Also disclosed is a method further comprising receiving a request from the user for multiple sub-items associated with the item, and engaging in a dialog with the user to enable payment for each of the multiple sub-items with one of a multiple payment types. |
| US08185430B2 |
Supplier stratification
Provided is a method and system of assigning a level of risk presented to an enterprise by a supplier of goods or services. In at least some embodiments, a tier level and/or a composite supplier risk index (CSRI) is calculated for the supplier based on answers provided to a series of multiple choice questions, wherein the questions are used to provide a measure of the risk elements presented by a supplier. In some embodiments, the risk elements comprise business continuity risk, information security risk, finance risk, operational risk, and supply chain risk. An embodiment can be implemented via a stand-alone computing system or such a system interconnected with other platforms or data stores by a network, such as a corporate intranet, a local area network, or the Internet. |
| US08185427B2 |
Method and system for presenting user tasks for the control of electronic devices
A method of representing user tasks to be performed by one or more of a plurality of electronic devices in a task orchestration system. Each device includes therein a function description specifying a function that the device can perform. The function descriptions are obtained from one or more of the devices, task descriptions that describe device functionalities required for certain tasks are obtained, and task suggestion are generated based on the obtained device function descriptions and task descriptions. Each task suggestion represents a user task as an abstraction of on or more of the obtained device descriptions and task descriptions. The tasks suggestion are displayed on a display for the user to select from, wherein the user selected task suggestion is to be performed by orchestration (automation) of one or more of the devices based on task descriptions that use device functionalities described in the device function descriptions. |
| US08185424B2 |
Soft skills job matching system and method
This invention involves a method and system for assessing the match between jobseekers and jobs by using perceptual mapping techniques to ascertain the proper fit of employee to employer. The purpose of this system is to add additional important information to the job matching process to enhance the quality and efficiency of the hiring process. This system involves a soft skills job matching system and method of using the same. The system uses vector algebra to find the closest match of employee to employer. |
| US08185418B2 |
Multi-passenger multi-route travel planning
Multiple passenger multiple route techniques are disclosed including sending independent queries to a travel planning system for each of a plurality of passenger groups and receiving lists of individual solutions appropriate for the passenger groups in response to the independent queries. The lists are combined to provide joint solutions according to joint travel requirements/preferences and if there are not a sufficient number of joint solutions, the individual queries are resent with constraints on features of the resent individual queries. |
| US08185416B1 |
Method for linking insurance policies
An insurance program that provides improved health care and longevity by emphasizing health improvement and maintenance for members of a group. After a predetermined waiting period from the time insurance is purchased by the group, during which the health status of the members is maintained or improved, the insured group may link the insurance policy with one or more other types of insurance policies, such as; disability, nursing home, etc. Throughout the life of the policy, portions of the premiums may be deposited in an account for the benefit of the group or for each member of the group, provided that the overall health of the group or the member is maintained or improved. The account may be utilized to pay or help pay for the linked insurance and may also be utilized for retirement benefits. |
| US08185414B2 |
System and method of processing a health insurance claim
A system and method of processing a health insurance claim are provided. According to the method, transaction data is received that has been transmitted from a third party computer via an open communication channel with the third party computer. The transaction data relates to a health insurance transaction and includes at least a unique identifier for a beneficiary of a health insurance plan to whom the health insurance transaction relates and details of a transaction that is being requested to be processed. The transaction is processed while the communication channel remains open to ascertain if the transaction is an allowable transaction. In response to the transaction submitted, a message is transmitted via the open communication channel to the third party computer wherein the message indicates that the transaction has been processed and that the transaction is an allowable transaction with or without patient collection or that the transaction is not an allowable transaction. The system and method allow for multiple rules to be created for unique sets of circumstances using multiple or singular inputs across multiple health insurance plans using a single system. |
| US08185411B2 |
Method, system, and apparatus for patient controlled access of medical records
A method of permitting controlled access to medical information can include establishing a storage means for containing medical information and establishing a means for accessing the medical information. The method further can include controlling the means for accessing the medical information according to a type of entity accessing the medical information, wherein access is limited according to the type of entity. |
| US08185410B2 |
System and method for verifying medical impairments
The present invention provides a method of verifying a medical impairment, comprising receiving a medical diagnosis of an injury, the numeric permanent impairment rating resulting from an evaluation of a permanent impairment, and comparing that permanent impairment rating to a statistically evaluated probable impairment rating of the injury. Depending on the results of the comparison, the assessed impairment rating may be reevaluated, in some cases by a trained impairment evaluator, and others by an expert medical staff. |
| US08185405B2 |
Method, system, and program product for information editorial controls
A method for information editorial controls includes a group of members in an online community receiving authorization a category of editorially-controlled content. A first editor of the group in the online community receives authorization to the category of editorially-controlled content. A member of the group rates published comments within a predefined range. A contributing member of the group submits additional comments. The first editor reviews the additional comments to determine suitability for incorporation into the category of editorially-controlled content and determines whether to award points to the contributing member within a predefined range. The first editor incorporates suitable additional comments into the category of editorially-controlled content and publishes an edited category of editorially-controlled content wherein the suitable additional comments improves the content of the category. Members of the group receive contribution points based in part on their awarded points and rating of their published comments. |
| US08185402B2 |
Robust voice browser system and voice activated device controller
The present invention relates to a system for acquiring information from sources on a network, such as the Internet. A voice browsing system maintains a database containing a list of information sources, such as web sites, connected to a network. Each of the information sources is assigned a rank number which is listed in the database along with the record for the information source. In response to a speech command received from a user, a network interface system accesses the information source with the highest rank number in order to retrieve information requested by the user. |
| US08185401B2 |
Automated sentence planning in a task classification system
The invention relates to a system that interacts with a user in an automated dialog system (100). The system may include a communicative goal generator (210) that generates communicative goals based on a first communication received from the user. The generated communicative goals (210) may be related to information needed to be obtained from the user. The system may further include a sentence planning unit (220) that automatically plans one or more sentences based on the communicative goals generated by the communicative goal generator (210). At least one of the planned sentences may be then output to the user (230). |
| US08185400B1 |
System and method for isolating and processing common dialog cues
A method, system and machine-readable medium are provided. Speech input is received at a speech recognition component and recognized output is produced. A common dialog cue from the received speech input or input from a second source is recognized. An action is performed corresponding to the recognized common dialog cue. The performed action includes sending a communication from the speech recognition component to the speech generation component while bypassing a dialog component. |
| US08185399B2 |
System and method of providing an automated data-collection in spoken dialog systems
The invention relates to a system and method for gathering data for use in a spoken dialog system. An aspect of the invention is generally referred to as an automated hidden human that performs data collection automatically at the beginning of a conversation with a user in a spoken dialog system. The method comprises presenting an initial prompt to a user, recognizing a received user utterance using an automatic speech recognition engine and classifying the recognized user utterance using a spoken language understanding module. If the recognized user utterance is not understood or classifiable to a predetermined acceptance threshold, then the method re-prompts the user. If the recognized user utterance is not classifiable to a predetermined rejection threshold, then the method transfers the user to a human as this may imply a task-specific utterance. The received and classified user utterance is then used for training the spoken dialog system. |
| US08185398B2 |
Reading device with shortcut read function
In some embodiments, a reading device is provided with a shortcut read mode in which a user can instruct the reading device of the type of document (e.g., invoice, package label, newspaper, etc.) that is to be read so that the device can more efficiently find and read back to the user desired (target) information from the document. |
| US08185397B2 |
Speech processing apparatus, medium, and method recognizing and responding to speech using entity information
A speech processing apparatus, medium, and method recognizing speech and responding to the speech. The speech processing apparatus may includes an entity extracting unit which extracts entity information and an upper entity corresponding to the entity information from input speech, a focus determination unit which determines a focus using the extracted entity information requiring a response, a mapping unit which maps lower entity corresponding to the focus with the extracted entity information, and a recognition unit which recognizes a result of arranging the extracted entity information according to semantic association among the lower entities as the input speech. Thus, the speech processing apparatus can accurately recognize grammatically correct speech as well as grammatically incorrect speech and then respond to the speech. |
| US08185396B2 |
Facilitating text-to-speech conversion of a domain name or a network address containing a domain name
To facilitate text-to-speech conversion of a username, a first or last name of a user associated with the username may be retrieved, and a pronunciation of the username may be determined based at least in part on whether the name forms at least part of the username. To facilitate text-to-speech conversion of a domain name having a top level domain and at least one other level domain, a pronunciation for the top level domain may be determined based at least in part upon whether the top level domain is one of a predetermined set of top level domains. Each other level domain may be searched for one or more recognized words therewithin, and a pronunciation of the other level domain may be determined based at least in part on an outcome of the search. The username and domain name may form part of a network address such as an email address, URL or URI. |
| US08185395B2 |
Information transmission device
An information transmission device which analyzes a diction of a speaker and provides an utterance in accordance with the diction of the speaker, and which has a microphone detecting a sound signal of the speaker, a feature extraction unit extracting at least one feature value of the diction of the speaker based on the sound signal detected by the microphone, a voice synthesis unit synthesizing a voice signal to be uttered so that the voice signal has the same feature value as the diction of the speaker, based on the feature value extracted by the feature extraction unit, and a voice output unit performing an utterance based on the voice signal synthesized by the voice synthesis unit. |
| US08185389B2 |
Noise suppressor for robust speech recognition
Described is noise reduction technology generally for speech input in which a noise-suppression related gain value for the frame is determined based upon a noise level associated with that frame in addition to the signal to noise ratios (SNRs). In one implementation, a noise reduction mechanism is based upon minimum mean square error, Mel-frequency cepstra noise reduction technology. A high gain value (e.g., one) is set to accomplish little or no noise suppression when the noise level is below a threshold low level, and a low gain value set or computed to accomplish large noise suppression above a threshold high noise level. A noise-power dependent function, e.g., a log-linear interpolation, is used to compute the gain between the thresholds. Smoothing may be performed by modifying the gain value based upon a prior frame's gain value. Also described is learning parameters used in noise reduction via a step-adaptive discriminative learning algorithm. |
| US08185388B2 |
Apparatus for improving packet loss, frame erasure, or jitter concealment
The invention presents a method to improve the recovering from packet loss, frame erasure or jitter concealment during signal communication, especially for VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) applications. A variable delay concept (instead of constant delay) is introduced to guarantee the continuity and periodicity of signal after recovering lost frames, adding frames or removing frames. During the recovering of lost frames or the adding of extra frames, the copy of previous signal from history buffer into missing frame(s) is based on the frame length, onset, and offset information. |
| US08185384B2 |
Signal pitch period estimation
A method and apparatus for estimating the pitch period of a signal. The method includes identifying a first candidate pitch period by performing a search only over a first range of potential pitch periods. The method further includes determining a second candidate pitch period by dividing the first candidate pitch period by an integer, wherein the second candidate pitch period is outside the first range of potential pitch periods. The method further includes selecting as the estimate of the pitch period of the signal the smaller of the candidate pitch periods that is such that portions of the signal separated by that candidate pitch period are well correlated. |
| US08185374B2 |
Multi-language communication method and system
The invention provides a multi-language communication method, comprising: providing to each of the persons access to a plurality of language options; receiving from each of one or more of the persons an indication of a respective choice of language chosen by the respective person from the language options; storing the language choices in a database; and making the language choices accessible by one or more applications so that the applications can when operated selectively provide output to each respective person in the respective language choice. |
| US08185372B2 |
Apparatus, method and computer program product for translating speech input using example
An apparatus includes a first search unit that searches a storage unit for a first example of a first language based on a sentence in the first language; a second search unit that searches for a second example of a second language corresponding to the first example, the second language containing the same meaning as the first example; a determining unit that determines whether a plurality of the second examples exist; a first acquisition unit that acquires the first example corresponding to each of the second example from the storage unit; a second acquisition unit that acquires the second example corresponding to the first example acquired from the storage unit; and a choice generating unit that generates the first example acquired associated with the least number of the second examples acquired as a choice of the first example to be output. |
| US08185368B2 |
Mixed-domain analog/RF simulation
A simulation environment is disclosed wherein both analog and RF signals are simulated in a single flow by a mixed-domain simulator. The simulator includes a simulator kernel with an analog solver and an RF solver to allow both analog- and RF-type of signals to be solved in an interrelated fashion. The simulator may also include a partitioner that divides the circuit into various RF and analog modules to be solved. User input may control the partitioning process, but the simulator may refine the partitions or generate sub-partitions to provide a higher probability of convergence. |
| US08185357B1 |
Nonlinear blind demixing of single pixel underlying radiation sources and digital spectrum local thermometer
Changes, increase or decrease, in the body fluid are passively detected by using a single pixel, non-linear blind de-mixing procedure, which can be extended to general biomedical measurement and diagnosis instruments. More specifically, the single pixel, non-linear blind de-mixing procedure in applied on the hot spots of rheumatic arthritis or breast cancer detection problem using passive two-color infrared imaging, as well as to passively detect blockages in the body fluid circulatory system that might be of importance for coronary artery bypass surgery, diabetes and deep vein thrombosis. Other applications of the mentioned algorithm include a pair of cameras for video, a pair of antennas for cell phones, and in situ data gathering or imaging using multiple mode fiber-optical sensing, as well as selective amplification hearing aids through two-ear binaural processing for de-noise echo cancellation and signal classification. |
| US08185353B2 |
Determining computer system usage from logged events
Described is a technology by which logged events such as in a security event log (e.g., within a defined timeframe) are processed to determine logon times and logoff times, which are then used to determine system usage. Logoff times may correspond to an actual logoff event, a shutdown event, or another login. In one example, logon and logoff times determine the combined times that each user of the system was logged on, e.g., a total session time for each user. Multiple users' times may be combined into a total usage time of all users. Each user's combined session time may be evaluated against the total usage time to determine whether any user is a primary user, e.g., by being logged on more than a threshold percentage of the total usage time. A primary user may be identified, or the system determined to be a shared system without a primary user. |
| US08185352B2 |
Benchmarking correlated stream processing systems
A system, method, and computer program product for benchmarking a stream processing system are disclosed. The method comprises generating a plurality of correlated test streams. A semantically related data set is embedded within each of the test streams in the plurality of correlated test streams. The plurality of correlated test streams is provided to at least one stream processing system. A summary is generated for each of the semantically related embedded data sets. A common identifier, which is transparent to the system being tested, is embedded within each stream in the plurality of correlated test streams. The common identifier is extracted from the output data set generated by the stream processing system. At least one of the stored copies of the summaries and the common identifier are compared to an output data set including a set of zero or more correlation results generated by the stream processing system. |
| US08185348B2 |
Techniques for monitoring a data stream
Systems and methods for detecting an interesting event in a data stream. More specifically, a monitoring system is configured to monitor a data stream and establish a sensitivity parameter based on sequences generated from values in a first portion of the data stream. A detector may be trained using the sensitivity parameter to detect the occurrence of an interesting event in the data stream. |
| US08185347B2 |
Outlier correction with a median method
A method and apparatus, including computer program products, for determining characteristic parameters on the basis of a series of m values, H_1, H_2, . . . , H_m, over time. The values are descriptive for a predetermined process, and the series has linear characteristics. Differences, denoted as Δ_i, between pairs of values of points of the historical time series, the points having a predetermined time distance to each other, denoted as p are computed. The median value, denoted as Δ_i_M, of the computed differences Δ_i is determined. On the basis of the determined median value Δ_i_M, a trend parameter, denoted as T, T being defined as T=Δ_1_M/p is computed. |
| US08185346B2 |
Dynamic maintenance plan for an industrial robot
A method for establishing a dynamic maintenance scheduling tool for a specific part of a machinery based on condensed prior knowledge of the part of the machinery in a population of machineries. The scheduling tool is in turn used in a method for establishing a dynamic maintenance schedule for a specific part of a specific machinery, wherein parameters related to the usage, including relevant parameters representing factors influencing the lifetime of the specific parts, are utilized as input data to the dynamic maintenance scheduling tool for the specific part of the machinery, whereupon a dynamic maintenance schedule for the specific part of the specific machinery is achieved as output data from the scheduling tool. The method is in particular dedicated to industrial robot systems. |
| US08185342B2 |
Estimating rotor angular position and velocity and verifying accuracy of position sensor outputs
Methods, system and apparatus are provided for estimating rotor angular position and angular velocity during a position sensor fault, and for verifying the accuracy or inaccuracy of a position sensor's outputs based on the estimated rotor angular position and angular velocity of the rotor following a position sensor fault. |
| US08185341B2 |
Surface temperature profile
Thermometric apparatus includes one or more temperature sensors, which are configured to provide respective temperature-dependent readings at two or more locations on a surface in a vicinity of a sub-surface heal source. A processing unit is configured to process the readings from the two or more locations so as to determine a temperature of the sub-surface heat source. |
| US08185340B2 |
Analysis apparatus and analysis method
A recording-medium-type setting unit selects a type of a recording medium to be analyzed on the basis of information input with an input unit. A threshold-value setting unit sets a threshold value on which the determination of whether the calculation result is output in a file is based for each recording medium type selected by the recording-medium-type setting unit. An amount-of-variation calculating unit calculates the reaction force for every time step, stores the reaction force in the current time step in time integration in a RAM during the calculation, and monitors the amount of variation in the reaction force between each time step and the next time step. A file-output controlling unit calculates the difference between the reaction force stored by the amount-of-variation calculating unit and the reaction force in the current time step and, if the difference is larger than the threshold value, performs file output. |
| US08185336B2 |
Test apparatus, test method, program, and recording medium reducing the influence of variations
Provided is a test apparatus that tests a device under test, including a vector expanding section that sequentially generates a plurality of test vectors; a predicting section that calculates a predicted value for each test vector by simulating an operation of the device under test, the predicted value indicating a prescribed characteristic value of the device under test to be measured while the device under test is supplied with a test signal corresponding to the test vector; a measuring section that obtains a measured value for each test vector by measuring the prescribed characteristic value of the device under test each time the device under test is supplied with a test vector; and a judging section that judges whether the device under test is defective based on a ratio between the predicted value and the measured value corresponding to each test vector. |
| US08185333B2 |
Automated load assessment device and method
A device for automatically assessing the nature of an electrical load includes electrical transducers. |
| US08185330B2 |
Automatic placement of measurement gates
A method and apparatus is provided for setting time positions of measurement gates on a signal under test. Signal transition data is calculated by a processor for multiple signal transitions. Measurement gate start and end positions are set relative to the multiple signal transitions based on the received signal transition data. |
| US08185328B2 |
Device, method, and program for measuring signal, and recording medium
Differences in outputs from multiple terminals are easily measured. There is provided a signal measuring device for receiving signals to be measured which are generated by modulating frequency-different signals different in frequency from each other, and are respectively output from different output terminals, including a combiner which combines the signals to be measured output from the output terminals, a quadrature demodulation unit which demodulates a result of the combining carried out by the combiner, an FFT unit which represents a result of the demodulation in the frequency domain, and a characteristic measuring unit, where the characteristic measuring unit measures data for respective frequencies of the result of the demodulation, acquires output-terminal-corresponding data, which correspond to the respective output terminals, based on the data, derives characteristics of the respective output terminals based on the output-terminal-corresponding data, and acquires a difference in the characteristics between the output terminals based on the derived result. |
| US08185320B2 |
Systems and methods for automated analysis of cells and tissues
Systems and methods for rapidly analyzing cell containing samples, for example to identify morphology or to localize and quantitate biomarkers are disclosed. |
| US08185318B2 |
Method of compensation of dose-response curve of an assay for sensitivity to perturbing variables
The present invention provides assays and methods of compensating for changes in an assay where such changes are due to variations in a perturbing variable. This is achieved by a two-step method, the first step of which involves measurements of the dose-response curve, and thus the individual assay parameters, at different values of the perturbing variable. In the second step, unknown samples are assayed simultaneously with a standard. During this measurement, the value of the perturbing variable is unknown and the dose-response curve is therefore also unknown. The dose-response curves from the first step are used to determine a mathematical relationship between the assay parameters and the assay signal of the standard. Assay parameters that are valid for the unknown value of the perturbing variable can be obtained by substituting the value of the assay signal from the standard into the mathematical relationship and solving for the assay parameters. |
| US08185309B2 |
Enhanced inertial system performance
An inertial system is provided. The system includes at least one inertial sensor, a processing unit and a plurality of Kalman filters implemented in the processing unit. The Kalman filters receive information from the at least one inertial sensor. At most one of the plurality of Kalman filters has processed zero velocity updates on the last cycle. |
| US08185307B2 |
System and method for sending destination locations to navigation devices
A navigation device receives a destination location to automatically calculate a route to the destination location over a wireless network. The destination location may be generated by a third party at a remote computer or wireless device. The destination location may be entered into the remote computer or wireless device, or may be automatically generated by the device. The destination location is transmitted from the remote computer or wireless device to the navigation device. Once received, the user of the navigation device may have the option of accepting or rejecting the destination location. The navigation device then uses the destination location to calculate a route which is communicated to the User with minimal to no user interaction. Multiple destinations may be sent to the navigation device, thus allowing advanced programming of an entire trip. |
| US08185306B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting position information on a digital map
The invention purposes to provide a position information transmission method for accurately transmitting a position and a shape on a digital map with a small amount of data.In a position information transmission method of the invention, the transmitting side transmits road shape information to specify the target road section on a digital map and event information to specify an event position by using a relative position in the target road section and the receiving side performs map matching based on the road shape information to identify the target road section and identifies the event position in the target road section based on the event information is characterized in that the transmitting side intermittently selects nodes included in the target road section to include the coordinate data of the nodes in the road shape information for transmission, and that the receiving side performs map matching to determine the positions of the nodes included in the road shape information and obtains the road connecting the nodes by way of a route search to identify the target road section. It is thus possible to efficiently and accurately transmit an event position on a digital map. |
| US08185304B2 |
Method, computer program and system for optimising routes provided by navigation systems
A method of controlling a navigation system is provided which builds up historical information of routes taken by a vehicle and uses this information to provide an appropriate route for the vehicle based upon deviations from suggested routes stored upon a mobile computer unit of the navigation system of the vehicle. |
| US08185299B2 |
Route search device and route search method
A route to a destination in which required travel time barely varies depending on weather is searched for without referring to weather forecast or weather information. A route search device comprises following means: a storage medium for storing traffic information including travel times by weather conditions for each link comprising a road on a map; a pointing device which sets a starting point and a destination; a weather condition-based route search module that determines the shortest travel time route from the starting point to the destination by weather conditions using the traffic information stored in the storage medium; a link series-identifying module that extracts link series which vary with weather conditions from link series comprising the shortest travel time route determined by the weather condition-based route search module, determines the required travel time by weather conditions for the each link series that vary with weather conditions by using the traffic information stored in the storage medium, and identifies a link series whose required travel time barely varies depending on weather conditions; and a link series-registering medium that registers the link series identified by the link series-identifying module as a link series comprising a guide route from the starting point to the destination. |
| US08185296B2 |
Driving assisting apparatus and driving assisting method
A driving assisting apparatus and driving assisting method for predicting the state of a traffic light at the time when a vehicle enters an intersection includes predicting vehicle speed change of a vehicle in front of an intersection. The driving assisting apparatus and driving assisting method predicts the traffic light state when the vehicle enters the intersection according to the predicted vehicle speed change, while predicting the vehicle speed change according to stored driver characteristic information concerning the past vehicle speed change in front of the intersection with running environments, or changes a predicting method depending on whether or not the vehicle is positioned in front of a predetermined area set in front of the intersection. |
| US08185290B2 |
Data acquisition system indexed by cycle segmentation
A data acquisition system for an excavation machine having a power source configured to drive a tool through a work cycle is disclosed. The data acquisition system may have a first sensor associated with the power source to generate a first signal indicative of a performance of the power source, and a second sensor associated with the tool to generate a second signal indicative of a performance of the tool. The data acquisition system may also have a controller in communication with the first and second sensors. The controller may be configured to record the first and second signals, and partition the work cycle into a plurality of segments. The controller may be further configured to link the performance of the power source and the performance of the tool together with one of the plurality of segments during which the associated first and second signals were recorded. |
| US08185288B2 |
Brake system for a vehicle and a method for operating a brake system for a vehicle
A brake system for a vehicle having a sensor device for providing a first and second sensor signal, a first and a second brake control device, which are directly connected to the sensor device and to provide a corresponding control signal for the first and/or second sensor signal, and a first and a second signal line for transmitting the control signal, the first signal line directly connecting the first brake control device to a first and second wheel actuator device and the second signal line directly connecting the second brake control device to a third and fourth wheel actuator device, the four wheel actuator devices exerting a braking torque corresponding to the control signal on the associated wheel, and the first wheel actuator device being directly connected to the second brake control device and/or the sensor device. A method for operating a brake system for a vehicle is also provided. |
| US08185286B2 |
Two-wheeled motor vehicle brake control method and brake control system
To reliably prevent re-lifting of a rear wheel immediately after landing of the rear wheel.When it is determined that output of a detection signal corresponding to detection of lifting of a rear wheel has ended (S102), brake pressure—and specifically a pressure increase gradient of a wheel cylinder pressure of a front wheel—is reduced, and the pressure increase gradient that has been reduced is maintained until it is determined that vehicle body deceleration has fallen below a predetermined value K1 (S108, S110), whereby re-lifting of the rear wheel caused by an increase in brake pressure at a high pressure increase gradient after landing of the rear wheel can be reliably prevented. |
| US08185281B2 |
Method and controller for controlling a power train of a vehicle
A method and controller are provided for controlling a power train of a vehicle having a number of modes of operation. A first controller is provided for controlling of a first function of the vehicle. At least one second controller is provided for controlling of a second function of the vehicle. The first controller and the at least one second controller are combined in a joint controller having a state observer and a number of controlling entities. The joint controller is operated by a set of formal controlling parameters assigned to the controlling entities. Actual parameters of the set of formal controlling parameters are switched according to a current mode of the number of modes of operation. |
| US08185267B2 |
On-vehicle apparatus and content providing method
The present invention is applied to, for example, a multimedia terminal having a function of navigation equipment and a function of playing back video and switches a display from a map display to a source display also with source switching operators 13P, 13R. In addition, menus of upper and lower hierarchies are simultaneously displayed to accept operations through a touch panel and a remote commander. In addition to a press-operable main rotary operator, a press-operable sub rotary operator is provided on a side surface. Among operations accepted through the main rotary operator, only a specific operation relating to content processing is accepted through the sub rotary operator. |
| US08185266B2 |
Fuel saving driving assistance apparatus
It is determined whether a vehicle enters a halting state or a slow moving state. It is detected that an accelerator opening degree of the vehicle is zero during a deceleration duration up to the time to enter the halting state or the slow moving state. Further, an accelerator zero duration is calculated which is a duration for which the vehicle is in the halting state or the slow moving state while the accelerator opening degree is zero. Furthermore, an accelerator zero travel distance is calculated which the vehicle runs during the calculated accelerator zero duration. Based on the accelerator zero travel distance, it is determined whether the fuel saving driving operation is performed in traveling during the accelerator zero travel duration. Even in the state where the travel speed of the vehicle changes more than needs during inertia travel, the fuel saving driving operation is diagnosed appropriately. |
| US08185262B2 |
Method of determining and controlling the inertial attitude of a spinning, artificial satellite and systems therefor
A method of and apparatus for determining and controlling the inertial attitude of a spinning artificial satellite without using a suite of inertial gyroscopes. The method and apparatus operate by tracking three astronomical objects near the Earth's ecliptic pole and the satellite's and/or star tracker's spin axis and processing the track information. The method and apparatus include steps and means for selecting preferably three astronomical objects using a histogram method and determining a square of a first radius (R12) of a track of a first astronomical object; determining a square of a second radius (R22) of a track of a second astronomical object; determining a square of a third radius (R32) of a track of a third astronomical object; determining the inertial attitude of the spin axis using the squares of the first, second, and third radii (R12, R22, and R32) to calculate pitch, yaw, and roll rate; determining a change in the pitch and yaw of the artificial satellite; and controlling on-board generated current flow to various orthogonally-disposed current-carrying loops to act against the Earth's magnetic field and to apply gyroscopic precession to the spinning satellite to correct and maintain its optimum inertial attitude. |
| US08185255B2 |
Robust control effector allocation
Method and apparatus is disclosed which allocates the execution of a commanded vehicle maneuver among the vehicle's control effectors capable of affecting such maneuver, with consideration given to the possible nonlinear and/or non-monotonic effects each control effector's displacement may have on the vehicle and on each other's performance. |
| US08185253B2 |
Electronic control unit for use in a vehicle
A first microcomputer in an ECU outputs a CID of the ECU in response to a request from a scan tool when the ECU has multiple microcomputers implemented therein. Each of the multiple microcomputers has an additive value stored therein for counting an update of the software. The additive values from the multiple microcomputers are added as a sum total of the ECU that is further added to a CID base value. The sum total of the ECU added to the CID base value is then output as the CID of the ECU from the first microcomputer to the scan tool. Therefore, information stored in the first microcomputer is not necessarily changed for outputting an updated CID (e.g., software product number information) from the ECU. |
| US08185252B2 |
DSM enabling of electro mechanically controlled refrigeration systems
A system for reducing the peak power consumption in an electromechanically controlled refrigerator is provided. The system comprises a cold control device including a housing and a counter spring having at least one spring tension position corresponding to a temperature set point, a bourdon tube having a first end comprising an elastomeric diaphragm operatively associated with the counter spring, and a second end, opposite the first end, located in the compartment, wherein the counter spring is capable of providing a force against the diaphragm, and a DSM switching device operatively controlled by an associated DSM module. The DSM module is configured to receive a signal indicative of at least one of a peak or non-peak demand period of an associated utility. |
| US08185249B2 |
Wind farm power production control system
A control system for an energy production facility includes a plant controller for receiving an indication of a measured power output of the energy production facility that includes power generators and produces output signals. The system also includes a processing unit operably coupled to the plant controller and responsive to executable computer instructions when executed on the processing unit cause the plant controller to: create an output signal that causes an energy storage device to discharge in the event power reserves of the power generators can not met the requested ramp down rate; and create an output signal that causes the energy storage device to charge up in the event that the power capability of the power generators can meet the requested ramp down rate. |
| US08185234B2 |
Device and method for controlling the loading and/or unloading process of an airplane
The invention relates to a device and a method for controlling the loading and/or unloading process of an aeroplane. According to the invention, a parcel introduced into the aeroplane is identified, a weight is associated with the parcel, the position of the parcel inside the airplane is monitored, and the total weight and/or center of gravity of the aeroplane is calculated from the aeroplane information provided and the weights and positions of the parcels. |
| US08185226B2 |
Method and system for scheduling a stream of products in a manufacturing environment by using process-specific WIP limits
By defining a section-related WIP limit or a throughput-related WIP limit, an efficient “look ahead” characteristic may be established to efficiently control the WIP in a complex manufacturing environment, such as a semiconductor facility. The respective critical WIP values may enable efficient reduction of priority of products moving towards an increased WIP queue, thereby reducing or substantially avoiding the release of products that are expected to run into the WIP queue. In this way, the efficiency of shared tools may be increased, since process capacity no longer required for the processing products running into WIP queues may be allocated for other operations. |
| US08185224B2 |
Method for manufacturing dental implant components
A method for making a rapid prototype of a patient's mouth to be used in the design and fabrication of a dental prosthesis. The method takes an impression of a mouth including a first installation site having a dental implant installed in the first installation site and a gingival healing abutment having at least one informational marker attached to the dental implant. A stone model is prepared based on the impression, including teeth models and model markers indicative of the at least one informational marker. The model is scanned. Scan data is generated from the scanning. The scan data is transferred to a CAD program. A three-dimensional model of the installation site is created in the CAD program. The at least one informational marker is determined to gather information for manufacturing the rapid prototype. Rapid prototype dimensional information is developed. The rapid prototype dimensional information is transferred to a rapid prototyping machine which fabricate a rapid prototype of the patient's dentition as well as a dental implant analog position. |
| US08185223B2 |
Multimedia playing method and apparatus using the same
A multimedia playing method is provided. First, N audio files selected by a user are received, wherein N>0. Then, the memory space required for playing each of the N audio files for a predetermined time is respectively detected. Next, whether total memory space required by the N audio files is not smaller than a predetermined value is determined. If the total memory space required by the N audio files is not smaller than the predetermined value, the predetermined time is reduced and the step of respectively detecting the memory space required for playing each of the N audio files for the predetermined time is executed again. If the total memory space required by the N audio files is smaller than the predetermined value, an initial part of each of the N audio files to be played for the predetermined time is stored into the memory. |
| US08185217B2 |
Robust adaptive model predictive controller with tuning to compensate for model mismatch
An MPC adaptation and tuning technique integrates feedback control performance better than methods commonly used today in MPC type controllers, resulting in an MPC adaptation/tuning technique that performs better than traditional MPC techniques in the presence of process model mismatch. The MPC controller performance is enhanced by adding a controller adaptation/tuning unit to an MPC controller, which adaptation/tuning unit implements an optimization routine to determine the best or most optimal set of controller design and/or tuning parameters to use within the MPC controller during on-line process control in the presence of a specific amount of model mismatch or a range of model mismatch. The adaptation/tuning unit determines one or more MPC controller tuning and design parameters, including for example, an MPC form, penalty factors for either or both of an MPC controller and an observer and a controller model for use in the MPC controller, based on a previously determined process model and either a known or an expected process model mismatch or process model mismatch range. A closed loop adaptation cycle may be implemented by performing an autocorrelation analysis on the prediction error or the control error to determine when significant process model mismatch exists or to determine an increase or a decrease in process model mismatch over time. |
| US08185211B2 |
Device for generating a signal and method for controlling operation of the same
The present invention relates to a device for generating a signal and method for controlling operation of the same. The present invention provides a device for generating a signal, which includes an electrode (110), if connected to an external power source (200), supplied with a voltage from the external power source (200), a signal generating unit (130) having a plurality of terminals, the signal generating unit (130) deciding whether to operate the device according to a size of a voltage applied to a first terminal among a plurality of the terminals, the signal generating unit (130) outputting a prescribed signal according to the decision, and a control circuit (120), if the electrode (110) is connected to a plurality of the terminals, controlling a voltage applied to a plurality of the terminals. Accordingly, the present invention is able to control whether to operate a signal generating device (100) using an external power source (200). |
| US08185210B2 |
Communication system and method with preamble encoding for an implantable medical device
Medical data is communicated from a transmitter of an external unit to a receiver of an implantable medical device. The transmitter generates a preamble signal having encoded configuration data that informs the receiver of configuration settings to be used in receiving the medical data. The receiver detects the preamble and validates a modulation pattern of the preamble. Configuration data is decoded from the preamble signal and the receiver configuration is adjusted to receive the medical data. |
| US08185208B2 |
Modular stimulation lead network
A medical kit and method for treating an ailment, such as chronic pain is provided. The kit comprises first and second medical leads, e.g., stimulation leads. Each lead comprises an elongated body and at least one operative element. The first medical lead comprises a coupling mechanism, such as a slot, and the second medical lead comprises a complementary mechanism, such as a rail, that slidably engages the coupling mechanism of the first medical lead. The method may comprise delivering the first medical lead into a patient's body, e.g., into the epidural space of the patient, and delivering the second medical lead into the patient's body by sliding the complementary coupling mechanism of the second medical lead along the coupling mechanism of the first medical lead. |
| US08185207B2 |
Medical device configuration based on sensed brain signals
The invention is directed to techniques and systems in which external brain monitoring is used to facilitate implantation and configuration of an implantable medical device. The techniques may create an open loop or closed loop system in which brain signals quantify the efficacy of electrical logical stimulation (or drug therapy via an implantable drug pump) at locations outside of the brain. The techniques may be used to improve placement of leads and electrodes during an implantation procedure, and/or to select or adjust stimulation parameters either during the implantation procedure or possibly following implantation of an implantable medical device. The described techniques have applications for the alleviation of pain, but may find other applications where EEG signals can quantify the efficacy of treatment via an implantable medical device. |
| US08185201B2 |
Apparatus and methods for calculating caloric expenditure using posture
Systems and methods for estimating caloric expenditure. The systems can include a physiological sensor to measure a patient's physical activity, and a posture sensor to measure the patient's posture. An estimated caloric expenditure can be calculated based on data from the physiological sensor and the posture sensor. For example, the estimated caloric expenditure can be calculated at least in part based on the posture data. For example, the estimated caloric expenditure can be validated based on the posture data. |
| US08185200B2 |
Disable for atrioventricular delay adjustment
An apparatus comprises an electrical stimulation circuit, a ventricular sensing circuit, a ventricular sensing timer, and an atrial pacing timer. The ventricular sensing circuit detects an intrinsic ventricular tachyarrhythmia depolarization. The ventricular sensing timer initiates timing of a lowest tachy rate (LTR) zone interval and also a ventricular pace interval that is calculated using a lower rate limit (LRL). The atrial pacing timer calculates an atrial pace interval to follow the intrinsic ventricular depolarization using the ventricular pace interval less a paced atrioventricular (AV) delay interval, delays generation of the atrial pace until after expiration of the LTR zone interval by decreasing the paced AV delay interval when the calculated atrial pace interval is within the LTR zone interval, and disables decreasing of the paced AV delay interval when the LRL interval less the paced AV delay interval at the LRL is less than the LTR zone interval. |
| US08185197B2 |
Identifying the usage status of a defibrillation pad assembly
The connector between the patient electrode pads and the base unit of an automatic external defibrillator (AED) system can be formed by capturing a printed circuit board (PCB) within a connector housing. The PCB can have conductive metal traces that serve as the contact points between the wires from the patient electrodes and the electronics within the AED base unit. The PCB in combination with the conductive metal traces can be shaped similar to a conventional two-prong or two-blade connector. Employing such a PCB-based connector may result in AED pads which are less complex and less costly to manufacture. The PCB can also support a configuration circuit that is positioned between the conductive metal traces and that allows the AED to read and store information about the attached pads. For example, the AED can use this data storage feature to check the expiration date of the pads. |
| US08185196B2 |
PCB blade connector system and method
The connector between the patient electrode pads and the base unit of an automatic external defibrillator (AED) system can be formed by capturing a printed circuit board (PCB) within a connector housing. The PCB can have conductive metal traces that serve as the contact points between the wires from the patient electrodes and the electronics within the AED base unit. The PCB in combination with the conductive metal traces can be shaped similar to a conventional two-prong or two-blade connector. Employing such a PCB-based connector may result in AED pads which are less complex and less costly to manufacture. The PCB can also support a configuration circuit that is positioned between the conductive metal traces and that allows the AED to read and store information about the attached pads. For example, the AED can use this data storage feature to check the expiration date of the pads. |
| US08185193B2 |
Electroencephalogram interface system and activation apparatus
An electroencephalogram interface system includes a biological signal detection section for detecting an electroencephalogram signal from a user and a control section for distinguishing a component of an event-related potential and causing a device to operate based on the distinguished event-related potential. An activation apparatus activates the control section and an output section for presenting a visual stimulation which flickers with a predetermined frequency based on a signal from the activation apparatus. The activation apparatus includes: a frequency analysis section for analyzing a frequency component of the electroencephalogram signal and detecting an intensity corresponding to the predetermined frequency; and a determination section for comparing the detected intensity of the predetermined frequency and a predetermined threshold, and if the intensity of the predetermined frequency is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, activating the control section. |
| US08185188B2 |
Method and apparatus for magnetic resonance imaging on the basis of a gradient echo sequence
In a method and apparatus for magnetic resonance imaging on the basis of a gradient echo sequence by excitation of nuclear spins and measurement of radio-frequency signals indicating the excited nuclear spins, a) the pulse frequency of the person to be examined is determined, b) the magnetization of the spins is prepared by means of an RF pulse block, c) a number of steps of the spin excitation as well as measurement of an RF response signal are implemented, with the measurement data along a trajectory established by projection gradients being acquired along a first slice established by a slice-selection gradient, d) items b) through c) are repeated multiple times for the first slice, with each repetition of the steps b) through c) ensuing within a time interval that is fixed in duration, and the interval is temporally displaced relative to the determined pulse frequency for at least one portion of the repetitions, and e) items b) through d) are repeated for various slices. |
| US08185187B2 |
Magnetic resonance lmethod and apparatus with gated shimming of the basic magnetic field
In the acquisition of magnetic resonance imaging or spectroscopic data, 2D PACE is employed to identify an acceptance or shimming window within which the magnetic resonance data are acquired, and to trigger the acquisition of the magnetic resonance data at the same position of the patient's diaphragm in each respiratory cycle. The patient is thereby allowed to freely breath during the data acquisition procedure, but the acquisition of the magnetic resonance data is always able to take place with the patient's diaphragm in the same physical position in each respiratory cycle. |
| US08185186B2 |
Systems and methods for tissue imaging
The present invention provides systems and methods for monitoring tissue regions. In particular, the present invention provides systems and methods for detecting changes in tissue regions over a period of time. In some embodiments, the systems and methods of the present invention are used to evaluate the effectiveness of a particular treatment of a tissue region. In some embodiments, the systems and methods employ functional diffusion map algorithms for imaging changes in tissue regions over time and/or in response to therapeutic interventions. |
| US08185185B2 |
System and method for assessing a patient condition using tertiles derived from capsule endoscope images of the small bowel
A system and method are disclosed, which combine image data of a patient, such as images of the patient's GI tract, with rating mucosal damage. According to some embodiments of the present invention the system and method are able to assess a patient's GI tract condition, to monitor mucosal healing in a patient's GI tract, preferably, the small bowel (SB) mucosa and/or to differentiate between different pathological conditions. The system and method of the invention can provide a value or score arrived at by assigning a grade relating to one or more predetermined parameters. |
| US08185182B1 |
Noninvasive glucose measurement
An apparatus and method for measuring the blood glucose level of a diabetic using insulin is noninvasive. The apparatus includes two plethysmographs that sense the blood in two fingers simultaneously. The electrodes in the plethysmographs are immersed in conductive liquids. One liquid has electric conductivity equal to blood. The other liquid is more conductive than blood. Signals from the fingers are compared to signals obtained earlier when glucose levels were known from conventional measurements. An alternative embodiment employs a single plethysmograph with one set of electrodes in a surrounding chamber and a second set of electrodes against the skin surface. |
| US08185177B2 |
Noninvasive living body measuring device and noninvasive living body measuring method
The present invention is to present a noninvasive living body measuring device that is capable of simplifying the structure and performing the analysis with accuracy in a short time. The noninvasive living body measuring device comprises: a light source for illuminating a living body which includes a blood vessel; an imaging part for imaging the illuminated living body to obtain a living body image; and an analyzing part for obtaining a density of a component contained in blood of the living body based on an image of the blood vessel in the living body image, and correcting the density of the component based on an image of a peripheral tissue of the blood vessel in the living body image. |
| US08185172B2 |
Swing type cover opening and closing device for mobile phone
According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a swing-type cover opening and closing device for a mobile phone, in which in which the mobile phone that is composed of a main body and a cover and where a hollow shaft formed in the cover is pivotably supported on the main body to pivot the cover in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction around the hollow shaft, includes: i) a fixation plate that is fixed to one side of the main body in correspondence with the hollow shaft, and includes a through-hole through which the hollow shaft passes and a ring-shaped protrusion integrally formed on the periphery of the through-hole; ii) a rotating body that has a disk shape with a hollow space, is pivotably joined to the ring-shaped protrusion, and is locked to the cover with the hollow shaft fitting in the hollow space; iii) a cover member that includes a support hole corresponding to the hollow space and is joined to the fixation plate while supporting the outer periphery of the rotating body through the support hole; and iv) an elastic unit of which both ends are pivotably joined to the fixation plate and the rotating body, respectively, to provide elastic force to the rotating body by rotation of the rotating body through the cover. |
| US08185170B2 |
Portable electronic apparatus
An object of the present invention is to provide a cellular telephone terminal in which intuitive operation is possible, by providing a rotary dial portion. A cellular telephone terminal 1 is provided with: a body that includes an operation unit side body 2, a display part side body 3, and a hinge mechanism 4A that connects the operation unit side body 2 and the display part side body 3 so as to be openable and closable around an opening and closing axis; a rotary dial portion 41, which is rotatable around a rotational axis Z, and which is attached to the body with a standard position; a mark 42, which is disposed at a position that can be visually confirmed externally both in the opened state and in the closed state, and which serves as an indicator for a rotation amount of the rotary dial portion 41; and a control part 74 that causes one application among a plurality of applications to enter a state in which activation thereof is possible, based on the rotation amount of the rotary dial portion 41. |
| US08185164B2 |
Mobile terminal and operation control method thereof
A method of controlling a mobile terminal and includes displaying on a display of the mobile terminal a list having a plurality of items, identifying a selected item of the plurality items of the list, and detecting movement of the mobile terminal. The method further includes displaying on the display a menu having a plurality of items that are each associated with a function which can be performed based upon information associated with the selected item, wherein the displaying of the menu is in response to the detecting of the movement of the mobile terminal. |
| US08185163B2 |
Mobile communication device and method of controlling the same
A mobile communication device, method and computer program product for generating a first signal upon manipulation of a first input key that can be manipulated in at least two directions, generating a second signal upon manipulation of a second input key which enables at least two direction inputs, and controlling a predetermined operation in response to at least one of the first and second signals. |
| US08185162B2 |
Electrically tilted antenna system with polarisation diversity
An electrically tilted antenna system with polarization diversity has a dual polarized, tilt adjustable antenna (32). The antenna (32) has dipoles (34, 36) of two orthogonal polarizations associated with independently adjustable electrical tilt angles. The tilt angles are implemented by relative delays between corporate feed input or output signals, the delays being introduced by an antenna tilt assembly (54). Two signal feeders (F21, F22) associated with different antenna polarizations connect the antenna tilt assembly (54) to a base station filter assembly (50): the base station filter assembly 50 routes transmit signals from base stations (BS21, BS22) to different antenna polarizations via respective feeders (F21, F22) and the antenna tilt assembly (54). This assembly also divides receive signals from feeders (F21, F22) between both base stations (BS21, BS22). Each antenna polarization is associated with transmit and receive signals of a respective base station (BS21 or BS22) and with a polarization diversity signal of the other base station (BS22 or BS21). The antenna system may be used with two or more base stations operating with contiguous frequencies. |
| US08185161B2 |
Method and system for controlling a direction of a receive beam produced by an antenna connected to at least two base stations
A mobile-radio base station for a telecommunications system includes vector modulator means for independently controlling the phase and/or amplitude of a plurality of component signals representative of the signal to be transmitted or received, such that when these signals pass through a plurality of antenna elements, a beam is formed in a direction according to the phase relationship of the component signals. The invention also includes interface means allowing other base stations to be coupled to the same antenna, with each base station having independent control of its beam direction. Provision is includes for phase compensation of the signals to correct for errors introduced by unequal and variable component signal path lengths between the base station and the antenna. The vector modulator means is arranged to operate at low power levels, where it can operate more efficiently. |
| US08185159B2 |
Wireless communication system
A wireless communication system including a wireless terminal, a plurality of base stations and a call processing control unit is disclosed. The wireless terminal, upon reception of the notification information from any of the base stations, judges whether the area included in the notification information is contained in the location registration area list stored in a storage unit, and in the case where the particular area is not so contained, sends a location registration request to the call processing control unit. On the other hand, the call processing control unit creates a new location registration area list based on the area included in the notification information and the neighboring areas, and sends the location registration area list to the wireless terminal thereby to execute the paging process. |
| US08185158B2 |
Method and system for mobile communications
When a network pages the temporary user mobile identifier of a mobile station, the mobile station sends a response to the network. Next, the network checks the authenticity of the user using a ciphering key, corresponding to the temporary user mobile identifier and a random number. If the temporary user mobile identifier is authenticated, a normal incoming call acceptance procedure is executed. If the mobile station is authenticated although the temporary user mobile identifier is wrong, the network reassigns a new temporary user mobile identifier to the mobile station and stops the current communication. In communication, the network and the mobile station mutually notify encipherment-onset time and negotiate about encipherment manner with each other. In addition, diversity handover is commenced upon a call attempt. Furthermore, if a branch replacement is necessary, the current branch is replaced by new branches capable of executing the diversity handover. Additionally, when a new call occurs to or from the mobile station capable of treating a plurality of calls simultaneously, the mobile station uses the same branch structure and the same communication frequency band for all of calls. Additionally, when a new call occurs to or from the mobile station capable of treating a plurality of calls simultaneously, a branch structure and a communication frequency band, which can continue all of the calls, are selected and used. Therefore, the mobile communications system is suitable for transmission of various sorts of data in accordance with the development of multimedia. |
| US08185152B1 |
Access network discovery and selection and internet protocol multimedia system service architecture
An access network discovery and selection (ANDSF) module includes a first transceiver that receives an service continuity signal from a service centralization and continuity application server (SCC AS). A first control module generates a preference and policy information signal based on the service continuity signal. The preference and policy information signal includes a list of access networks available for selection by a service request device (SRD). The first transceiver transmits the preference and policy information signal from the ANDSF module to the SRD. |
| US08185150B2 |
Methods and apparatus for line selection in a communication device
Embodiments of an apparatus and methods for selecting a communication line from two or more lines on a communication device are described herein. The communication device comprises a display module, an input module, a line selection module, and a communication module for making a call over a network to a target recipient. In one broad aspect, a determination of which of the communication lines is the communication line associated with the selected one of at least two appointment categories for an appointment is made in the selection of a communication line accessible at the communication device on which an outgoing call may be placed. |
| US08185146B2 |
Quality of service based downlink power allocation
A first wireless device associated with a first profile is communicated with using a first transmitted power. A second wireless device associated with a second profile is communicated with using a second transmitted power. A third transmitted power is determined. The third transmitted power is associated with the first wireless device receiving data using a target modulation and coding scheme. A maximum transmitted power is determined to be exceeded if the third transmitted power is used to communicate with the first wireless device. The second wireless device is communicated with using a fourth transmitted power. The fourth transmitted power allows the third transmitted power to be used to communicate with the first wireless device without exceeding the maximum transmitted power. |
| US08185141B2 |
Limited lifespan for outgoing data at a mobile device
An outgoing message may be generated, at a mobile communication device, based on a received application definition document, which indicates a lifespan for the message. In conjunction with generating a message in accordance with a format provided in the application definition document, a message expiry time may be generated. The message may be stored in a queue for transmission. Additionally, an indication of the expiry time may be stored in the queue in association with the message. The expiry time of the message may periodically be compared to the current time to determine whether the message has expired. Upon expiry, a user of the mobile communication device may be presented with the option to cancel transmission of the message or re-attempt transmission. |
| US08185138B2 |
Paging messages for power saving in a mobile WiMAX system
Certain embodiments of the present disclosure provide a paging schedule that may allow a WiMAX mobile device to return to a low power state prior to the end of a listening interval, thereby reducing power consumption. For certain embodiments, the paging schedule may be controlled by a base station using standardized paging messages, with paging messages targeting particular MSs in a group presented in an organized manner within a listening interval. An MS aware of this schedule may, thus, promptly return to a low power state prior to the end of a listening interval if it does not detect a paging message at its expected time within the listening interval. |
| US08185137B2 |
Intensity-based maps
The claimed subject matter relates to a first architecture that can create an intensity map based upon intensity scores, and to a second architecture that can provide intensity scores and can request and receive the intensity map. Intensity scores can relate to an approval or a level of satisfaction of a current location of a user and can be conveniently provided, in some cases with a single keystroke (e.g., 0-9 from a conventional cell phone keypad) by, say, mobile device users. Numerous intensity scores can be received and aggregated to produce an intensity map of a given area or region. Portions of the intensity map can be provided to requesting devices, potentially filtered based upon a variety of criteria. As a result, the intensity map can provide in substantially real-time a visual indication of locations or entities that might be interesting to explore. |
| US08185135B2 |
WiFi and GSM landmarks and neighborhoods for location based services
A system for capturing and delivering location-based information and services captures wireless landmark information sent by mobile devices to build a map of locations based on the relationship between wireless landmarks that are visible to the mobile device at the same time. A wireless landmark may be a cellular telephone base site or local network (WiFi/Bluetooth) access point. The mobile device may capture a location signature using identifiers for all wireless local area networks in range as well as one or more cellular telephone transmitters. A location service resolves the location signature into a relative location that an application service may use to record incoming information or to send location-specific information such as traveler comments, reviews, or advertisements. The distance between two mobile devices may be calculated using weighted edge values, representing a number of ‘hops’ between location signatures. |
| US08185134B2 |
Multimode GPS-enabled camera
A method and device of geographically tagging images by capturing an image, determining a position based on detection of satellite signals and a wireless network signal, and tagging the image with the determined position is provided. |
| US08185132B1 |
Systems and methods for associating communication information with a geographic location-aware contact entry
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for associating communication information with a geographic location-aware contact entry. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include identifying a geographic location. The method may also include receiving a communication including identification information and originating from the geographic location. Further, the method may include associating the identification information with a contact entry. |
| US08185130B2 |
Location blocking service from a wireless service provider
Location-blocking and identity-blocking services that can be commercially offered by a service promoter, e.g., a cellular service provider or a web advertiser. In the identity-blocking service, the service promoter may disclose the current physical location of a mobile subscriber (i.e., a cellular phone operator) to a third party (e.g., a web advertiser) subscribing to the identity-blocking service. However, the service promoter may not send any identity information for the mobile subscriber to the third party. On the other hand, in the location-blocking service, the service promoter may disclose the mobile subscriber's identity information to the third party, but not the current physical location of the mobile subscriber. Blocking of the mobile subscriber's identity or location information may be desirable for privacy reasons, to comply with a government regulation, or to implement a telecommunication service option selected by the mobile subscriber. However, in the case of the mobile subscriber requesting emergency help, the service promoter may not block identity and/or location information. Instead, the service promoter may send all such information to the emergency service provider (e.g., the police or a hospital). |
| US08185128B2 |
Method and apparatus for supporting location services with roaming
Techniques for supporting location services with roaming are described. A mobile station interacts with a home mobile positioning center (H-MPC) in a home network for location services even when roaming. The mobile station communicates with a visited network for a data session and receives a request for its location. The mobile station sends first information (e.g., SID and NID) indicative of its current network location to the H-MPC. The H-MPC determines a serving mobile positioning center (S-MPC) in the visited network based on the first information. The S-MPC determines a serving position determining entity (S-PDE) in the visited network based on the first information. Depending on the selected positioning method, the H-MPC may receive an S-PDE address or a position estimate of the mobile station from the S-MPC and may forward this information to mobile station. The mobile station may communicate with the S-PDE for positioning using the S-PDE address. |
| US08185124B2 |
Base station system performance measurement system in a GSM radio communication network
The invention relates to a system an a method for self optimizing a radio communication network comprising a plurality of radio cells, the system means for monitoring the network resource consumption and quality parameters individually for each cell, and means for distributing the network traffic dynamically between neighboring radio cells in order to maintain satisfactory quality of service in each radio cell. |
| US08185123B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing radio resources in mobile communication system
Provided is a method and apparatus for managing radio resources in a mobile communication system. The method includes periodically detecting a current radio resource availability state with in a cell, and broadcasting information about the current radio resource availability state to a mobile terminal. |
| US08185120B2 |
Cellular service with improved service availability
A cellular communication system in which overload of a base station is averted by offering users the option to communicate using a spectrum outside of the spectrum allocated for cellular communication. Incentives are offered to connect to the base station using the alternative spectrum, which may not support communications at the same rate as could be supported using the spectrum allocated to the base station for cellular communications. Users may be selected to receive an offer to receive incentives based on range to the base station, with users closer to the base station being more likely to receive such an offer. The cellular communications system may be a 3G wireless system and the alternative spectrum may be white space in the digital TV spectrum. |
| US08185117B2 |
Fast handover in mobile communications networks
A method is described for routing of data in hierarchical mobility management systems with tiered mobile anchor points. Routing of data is switched from old to new communications nodes and regulated, by a controlling mobile anchor point having both communications nodes in its domain, to occur synchronously with the expiry of a determined period following its receipt of a handover initiation signal. The main determinant of the period is the remaining time of attachment of the old communications node. |
| US08185112B2 |
Cellular wireless communication device and method for managing the receipt of a handover command
The present invention provides a cellular wireless communication system, a cellular wireless communication device and a method for managing the receipt of a handover command, where in instances that the synchronization of the target base station of a handover command has been relatively recently lost, the mobile station will not attempt to execute a handover, and will indicate a handover failure without having attempted to execute the handover. |
| US08185097B2 |
System and method for locking and branding a mobile communication device to a network
There is disclosed a system and method for locking and branding a generic mobile communication device to a carrier network. In an embodiment, the method comprises: inserting in the device a subscriber or user identification module specifying a selection of a carrier network to which the mobile communication device is to be wirelessly connected; issuing from the device a request to lock and brand the device to the selected carrier network; in response to the request, receiving a customized configuration file for the selected network containing a device locking command, and one or more branding commands to brand the device to the selected carrier network; executing the device locking command to lock the device to the selected carrier network; and executing the one or more branding commands to brand the device to the selected carrier network with one or more customized features specific to the selected carrier network. |
| US08185087B2 |
Emergency 911 data messaging
A data request is generated (e.g., text, email, SMS, multimedia messaging system (MMS), etc.) from a source device. The data request is delivered to a PSAP or other emergency monitoring service location in a useable format. Exemplary useable formats include a canned voice message, delivery to a call center that translates data to voice, text to speech, and text to instant messaging (IM). Additional information and location are staged for use by the PSAP or other monitoring service location. |
| US08185084B2 |
Wireless headset having adaptive powering
A system that includes a bus, a battery, core processing circuitry, radio frequency (RF) processing circuitry, first power regulating circuitry, second power regulating circuitry, and control circuitry is provided. The bus can be coupled to receive power from a source external to the system. The core processing circuitry and RF processing circuitry can be selectively coupled to each other via a switch. The switch can be operative to turn ON and OFF based on a signal level received on the bus. The first power regulating circuitry can be electrically coupled to the bus, the core processing circuitry, and the switch. The second power regulating circuitry can be electrically coupled to the battery, the RF processing circuitry, and the switch. The control circuitry can be operative to selectively turn ON and OFF the first power regulating circuitry and the second power regulating circuitry based on a number of monitored conditions. |
| US08185080B2 |
Harmonic rejection mixer
A harmonic rejection mixer for carrying out a frequency translation of a mixer input signal having a mixer input frequency, the mixer including an up-conversion mixer for generating an intermediate signal by multiplying the mixer input signal with a first local oscillation signal having a first local oscillation frequency, and a down-conversion mixer for generating a mixer output signal by multiplying the intermediate signal with a second local oscillation signal having a second local oscillation frequency. The first local oscillation frequency and the second local oscillation frequency are greater than the mixer input frequency. The first local oscillation signal is an l-time oversampled sine wave and the second local oscillation signal is an m-time oversampled sine wave. |
| US08185078B2 |
Dynamic spur avoidance for high speed receivers
A system and method for implementing dynamic spur avoidance in a high speed receiver environment is provided. For a plurality of radio frequency (RF) input signal ranges, a range of intermediate frequency (IF) signals and a noise floor for each IF signal is determined. An identification of spurs that will affect the noise floor is also determined from a look up table for each range of the RF inputs. A frequency plan that sets local oscillator and constituent oscillator signals is selected such that the IF signals generated from the RF input will avoid lower order spurious responses of the identified spurs within the IF signal range. |
| US08185077B2 |
Method and system for noise suppression in antenna
A system includes an antenna to receive a communications signal, an amplifier coupled to the antenna to amplify the communications signal, and a processor coupled to the amplifier to process the communications signal using high-order statistics to suppress noise in the communications signal. The processor may use a bispectrum function to remove at least a portion of the noise, and at least one of the phase of the bispectrum and the amplitude of the bispectrum to reconstruct the communications signal. |
| US08185073B2 |
Noise/signal estimation for wireless systems
A method, apparatus, and computer program product, wherein received signal components are determined for a selected group of sub-carriers based on individual noise and signal contributions of the sub-carriers. At least one of noise and a parameter relating to at least one of noise and a signal of a received signal is estimated by combining the determined received signal components depending on a sign of preamble symbols of the sub-carriers. |
| US08185071B2 |
Tuner module
A tuner module includes a filter that reduces the signal level outside the frequency band of a selected channel in an input RF signal of terrestrial television broadcasting, a local oscillation circuit that oscillates a local oscillation signal, a mixing circuit that mixes the RF signal in which the signal level outside the frequency band of the selected channel is reduced by the filter and the local oscillation signal oscillated by the local oscillation circuit to downconvert the RF signal to an intermediate frequency signal, and a control circuit that controls the local oscillation frequency of the local oscillation signal oscillated by the local oscillation circuit. The control circuit adjusts the local oscillation frequency to a value that suppresses an effect of a disturbance wave from other channels within a frequency band of the intermediate frequency signal of the selected channel. |
| US08185066B2 |
Multimode power amplifier with predistortion
A device may include an envelope detector to generate an envelope signal from the input signal, a drain bias controller to adjust a drain bias of the amplifier based on the envelope signal, a gate bias controller to adjust a gate bias of the amplifier based on the envelope signal, a predistortion controller to predistort the input signal based on the envelope signal, based on the adjusted drain bias, and based on the adjusted gate bias, and to output the predistorted signal, and an amplifier to receive the predistorted signal and to generate an amplified output signal from the predistorted signal. The device may be selectable to operate in a linear mode or a nonlinear mode. The nonlinear mode may be selected by applying a large gate offset bias. |
| US08185065B2 |
Transmitting unit that reduces PAPR using out-of-band distortion and method therefor
A transmitting unit (12) clips a communication signal (14) to form a threshold-responsive signal (36, 36′) which includes in-band distortion (40) and out-of-band distortion (38). A portion of the out-of-band distortion (38) is notched within rejection bands (48, 50) adjacent to the communication signal's bandwidth (24). But remaining portions of the out-of-band distortion (38) and portions of the in-band distortion (40) are included with the communication signal (14). The remaining portion of the out-of-band distortion (38) causes the communication signal (14) to be in violation of a spectral mask (30). The mask-violating communication signal 14 with out-of-band distortion (38) and in-band distortion (40) is amplified by an RF power amplifier (22). After amplification, a bandpass filter (92) exhibiting fast rolloff regions (110) attenuates the amplified out-of-band distortion (38) causing compliance with the spectral mask (30). |
| US08185063B2 |
Impedance matched transmitting arrangement
A transmitting arrangement includes a matching circuit, a reference circuit and a comparator. The output of the matching circuit can be coupled to an antenna and comprises an adjustable impedance. The reference circuit is connected to an input of the matching circuit and comprises a reference impedance. Inputs of the comparator are coupled to the matching circuit and the reference circuit and its output is coupled to the adjustable impedance via a control input of the matching circuit. |
| US08185061B2 |
Wireless terminal with frequency switching circuits for controlling an operating frequency
A wireless terminal includes an antenna which comprises an antenna element and at least one frequency switching circuit to control an operating frequency of the antenna element in accordance with a frequency control signal, a plurality of RF circuits to perform an RF signal processing, an antenna switch to connect the antenna to one of the plurality of RF circuits in accordance with a connection control signal, and a generation unit configured to generate the frequency control signal and the connection control signal in accordance with switching between a plurality of wireless communication systems or switching between transmission and reception. |
| US08185059B2 |
Testing of automobile mounted antennas
A method and device provides for the testing and validation of a control module for receiving wireless data and communications utilizes a transmission line coupler mounted proximate the control module generates a signal that couples to an antenna of the control module. The control module produces a signal in response to coupling of the antenna with the signal produced by the transmission line coupler. The resulting signal is utilized to check, verify and validate operation of the control module. |
| US08185056B2 |
Load testing system, load testing apparatus, load testing method, computer product, and communication device
In a load testing system, a transmission device measures a bandwidth of user data transmitted from a user terminal in real time, calculates a calculation bandwidth by subtracting the bandwidth of the user data from an evaluation bandwidth preset to evaluate the performance of a network, and transmits test data corresponding to the calculation bandwidth with the user data corresponding to the bandwidth of the user data. A reception device receives the user data and the test data transmitted with the user data, and evaluates the performance of the network based on the user data and test data. |
| US08185047B2 |
Near field communication apparatus for automated assigning of various functions
There is provided a communication apparatus including a plurality of communication units for making communication through electric field coupling or magnetic field coupling, a detecting unit for detecting an approach between a communication party capable of communication through electric field coupling or magnetic field coupling and any one of the plurality of communication units, and a controlling unit for causing a communication unit whose approach to the communication party is detected by the detecting unit to serve a function of communication assigned to the communication unit, different functions of communication being assigned to each of the plurality of communication units. |
| US08185046B2 |
Power controlled communication system between a source, repeater, and base station
The present application relates to a wireless communication system and related methods and apparatuses for transmitting a signal from a source apparatus to a destination apparatus, via at least one intermediate apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to techniques which seek to improve the throughput of data in multi-hop communication systems. |
| US08185044B2 |
Multi-hop load balancing
A base station in a wireless communications system defines a plurality of beams which each have an amount of resources for supporting communication links with terminals. A control entity determines if a direct communication link can be supported between a new terminal and a base station using a first beam. If a direct communication link cannot be supported, a relaying equipment is used to provide a multi-hop path between the base station and the terminal. The multi-hop path comprises a link between the base station and the relaying equipment using resources of a different beam. This helps to redistribute load within the cell. The direct communication link can be refused if there are insufficient resources in the first beam, or if accepting the new terminal would cause quality of communication links with existing terminals to deteriorate. |
| US08185043B2 |
Wireless communication method, relay station apparatus, and wireless transmitting apparatus
A wireless communication method and the like for improving the system throughput. The wireless communication method is used in a mobile communication system having a base station apparatus (BS), a relay station apparatus (RS) (100) and a mobile station apparatus (MS) #1. In a first transmission step, a first transport signal, which includes data addressed to MS #1, is transmitted from BS to RS (100). In a second transmission step, a second transport signal, which includes a pilot generated by BS, is transmitted from BS. Simultaneously, in the second transmission step, a relay signal, which includes the data addressed to MS #1 and also includes a pilot that is generated by RS (100) and that has a particular orthogonal relationship with the pilot generated by BS, is transmitted from RS (100) to MS #1. |
| US08185038B2 |
Curl correction device and image forming apparatus
A curl correction device that corrects curl, including: a curl correction shaft that drives to carry a sheet; a first supporting member that supports the curl correction shaft; a curl correction roll that holds the sheet between the curl correction shaft and the curl correction roll and presses the sheet against the curl correction shaft; a second supporting member that supports the curl correction roll and rotates the curl correction roll around a first end in the longitudinal direction of the curl correction roll between closed state and open state; and a cam mechanism that provides, via a cam, the curl correction shaft with driving force for pressing the curl correction roll according to a position of the cam, the cam mechanism being provided with a cam shaft, a connecting member, a first cam receiving member, and a second cam receiving member. |
| US08185023B2 |
Developer container, developing apparatus and process cartridge
A developer container for an image forming apparatus includes a developer accommodating chamber, provided with an opening, for accommodating a developer to be supplied to the opening; a feeding member, provided in the developer accommodating chamber and having an elasticity, for feeding the developer by rotation thereof; a deforming portion, provided in the developer accommodating chamber and contactable to the feeding member, for deforming the feeding member against the elasticity with the rotation of the feeding member; and a restoration portion for permitting the feeding member deformed by the deformed portion to restore elastically, thereby to throw the developer toward the opening, wherein a boundary portion between the deformed portion the restoration portion is disposed below a lower end of the opening. |
| US08185022B2 |
Image forming apparatus and process cartridge
An image forming apparatus is provided including a casing, a process cartridge, and a toner box. The process cartridge includes: a first housing which supports an electrostatic latent image carrier and which has a first opening and a first edge portion; and a second housing which supports a toner carrier, which is attached to the first housing so that the toner carrier confronts the electrostatic latent image carrier and the second housing is movable relative to the first housing and which has a second opening and a second edge portion. The process cartridge further includes an elastic element which blocks a gap between the first edge portion and the second edge portion and which permits relative movement between the first opening and the second opening, while allowing toner communication between the first opening and the second opening. |
| US08185017B2 |
Image forming apparatus and process cartridge
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus including an image bearing member which is a rotatable photoconductor containing an organic photoconductive layer on a conductive cylindrical support, a latent electrostatic image forming unit configured to charge the image bearing member to form a latent electrostatic image thereon, and a developing unit configured to develop the latent electrostatic image on the image bearing member with a developer to form a visible image, wherein the thickness of the organic photoconductive layer monotonically decreases or increases along the rotational axis from one end to the other end, wherein the developing unit includes a development sleeve for bearing and transferring the developer to a developing region, and wherein a development gap is formed between the image bearing member and the development sleeve, and becomes narrower from one end where the organic photoconductive layer is thicker to the other end where the organic photoconductive layer is thinner. |
| US08185016B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes: a main body; an image forming unit including a plurality of photosensitive drums on which electrostatic latent images are formed, respectively; a sheet storing unit detachably attached to the main body and configured to store a recording sheet, and the sheet storing unit being disposed in a first space defined in the main body when the sheet storing unit is attached to the main body; and a belt unit disposed between the plurality of photosensitive drums and the sheet storing unit and including a belt opposing the plurality of photosensitive drums. The belt unit is detachable from the main body through the first space in a state in which at least a part of the sheet storing unit is positioned outside the main body. |
| US08185014B2 |
Image forming apparatus and process cartridge
An image forming apparatus is provided. An image forming apparatus includes: a drum cartridge having a photosensitive drum; a developing cartridge configured to be movably attached to the drum cartridge, the developing cartridge having: a developing roller; a bearing member; and a developing drive input member; and a spacing member for pressing against a predetermined portion of the developing cartridge and moving the developing cartridge such that the developing roller is spaced apart from the photosensitive drum, wherein the drum cartridge has an abutment portion with which the bearing member is brought into abutment, and wherein a straight line which connects the abutment portion with a center of a rotational axis of the developing drive input member extends substantially in the same direction as a connecting or disconnecting direction of the developing roller to or from the photosensitive drum. |
| US08185010B2 |
Charging wire cleaning apparatus
Cleaning performance of a cleaning pad for cleaning a charging wire is maintained so that the charging voltage of an image carrier by a charging wire is stabilized. A charging wire cleaning apparatus is provided with a cleaning pad for cleaning a charging wire which charges an image carrier, a slider which is a supporting body for supporting the cleaning pad, and a screw shaft which is a moving mechanism for reciprocating the slider in parallel to the charging wire. When the slider is at a predetermined position of the reciprocation range, the cleaning pad and the charging wire are separated, and the cleaning pad is adapted to be shifted with respect to the charging wire in this state. |
| US08185009B2 |
Image forming apparatus and method of controlling a fusing unit thereof
An image forming apparatus and a method of controlling a fusing unit thereof are provided. The method includes: detecting a present mode of the image forming apparatus; selecting a waveform number control to control an electric power source which is supplied to the fusing unit when the present mode is a standby mode; and supplying the electric power source to one of a plurality of heat generating members depending on the waveform number control to prevent the plurality of heat generating members from being simultaneously supplied with the electric power. |
| US08185008B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus with a temperature detector
A fixing device includes a heater, first and second pressure-applying members, a belt support member, a fixing belt, a contact member and a temperature detector. The fixing belt is entrained about the heater, the first pressure-applying member and the belt support member. The second pressure-applying member opposes the first pressure-applying member through the fixing belt. The contact member, which extends in the width direction of the fixing belt, is in contact with an inner surface of the fixing belt. The temperature detector, which is disposed between the belt support member and the contact member, detects a temperature of the fixing belt through the contact member. |
| US08185007B2 |
Transfer device, image forming apparatus and control method of transfer device
A transfer device includes: a transfer section for transferring a toner image on an image carrier onto a sheet passing through a nip portion which is formed between the transfer section and the image carrier; an application section for applying a voltage to the transfer section; and a control section for controlling the application section, wherein the control section controls the application section to apply a voltage having an opposite polarity to a transfer polarity to the transfer section since a leading edge of the sheet in a conveyance direction advances into the nip portion until a predetermined non image area of the sheet has passed through the nip portion, and then switch to apply a voltage having the transfer polarity from the voltage having the opposite polarity to the transfer section while a non image area of the sheet passes through the nip portion. |
| US08185006B2 |
Magnetic material detecting device
A magnetic material detecting device, in which a concentration of magnetic material can be correctly detected, even when the magnetic material with unevenness in its density distribution flows. A magnetic field generating device is arranged in a two-component developer composed of magnetic carrier and non-magnetic toner and generates a magnetic field. A signal output device is arranged in the developer and outputs a signal depending on a magnetic permeability of the developer due to the magnetic field generated by the magnetic field generating device. An agitating unit agitates the developer and makes the developer flow between the magnetic field generating device and the signal output device. A detecting unit detects a proportion of the toner in the developer based on a result of multiple times sampling of the signal outputted from the signal output device after the agitating unit starts to operate. |
| US08185005B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus including an image carrier, a plurality of forming devices, a detecting device configured to perform a steady-deviation detection for detecting steady positional deviation and a varying-deviation detection for detecting varying positional deviation having a cycle, and a correcting device configured to perform a steady-deviation correction for correcting the steady positional deviation and a varying-deviation correction for correcting the varying positional deviation. The detecting device forms, during the steady-deviation detection, a steady-deviation detection pattern in a state where the varying deviation correction is selectively disabled. The steady-deviation detection pattern has a plurality of measuring points arranged in a longitudinal direction. The detecting device, during the steady-deviation detection, measures positional deviation amount at each measuring point, and detects the steady positional deviation based on the measurement result. |
| US08185002B2 |
Image forming apparatus including belt surface state detection
An image forming apparatus includes; an image forming unit; an annular belt that moves circularly; a detection unit that detects a state of a surface of the belt; and a tension increase unit that increases a tension of the belt, at a detection position by the detection unit, when detection is performed by the detection unit, as compared with the tension of the belt before detection at the detection position is performed by the detection unit. |
| US08185000B2 |
Electrostatic charging apparatus, and image forming assembly and image forming apparatus which employ the same
An electrostatic charging apparatus, includes: an endless-shaped electrostatic charging belt having electrical conductivity, the electrostatic charging belt being arranged in a state of having a predetermined contact zone being in contact with a moving to-be-charged body and moving in the same direction as a moving direction of the to-be-charged body; and plural electrode members including at least a first electrode member and a second electrode member, the plural electrode members being provided inside the electrostatic charging belt, and the first and second electrode members being provided on both sides of the contact zone of the electrostatic charging belt in the moving direction thereof so as to press the electrostatic charging belt against the to-be-charged body and forming gaps that permit electric discharge between the to-be-charged body and the electrostatic charging belt, the gaps being adjacent to the respective sides of the contact zone of the electrostatic charging belt. |
| US08184993B2 |
Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensation in polarization multiplexed coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems
A receiver and method are provided. The receiver includes a detector configured to receive polarization multiplexed coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing input sequences and generate estimates of unknown transmitted symbols in the input sequences for x- and y-polarization channels with respect to laser phase noise and PMD. A demapper coupled to the detector is configured to partially cancel polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in the input sequences by computing symbol probabilities for the estimates with respect to the laser phase noise, and averaging the symbol probabilities with respect to the laser phase noise. One or more low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoders coupled to the demapper are configured to receive bit probabilities derived from the averaged symbol probabilities and output code words based at least on the bit probabilities. The one or more LDPC decoders iteratively provide extrinsic soft information feedback to the demapper to compensate for the PMD. |
| US08184992B2 |
Optical field receiver and optical transmission system
An optical field receiver comprises an optical brancher that branches a received optical multilevel signal into first and second optical signals; an optical delayed detector that performs delayed detection on the first optical signal by a delayed detector with a delay time of T/2 (where T is equal to a symbol time) and a phase difference of 90 degrees; a balanced optical receiver that converts the optical signal outputted from the first delay detector to an electric signal; and an optical intensity receiver that converts the second optical signal to an electric signal; and an electric field calculating part that generates, from the output signals of the first and second optical receivers, first and second reproduced signals indicative of the phase angle and amplitude value of the received symbol represented by the complex signal in each symbol time T. |
| US08184991B2 |
Ditherless optical modulator control
A method of controlling the operating parameters of an optical modulator, without using a dither signal, is provided. Past operating parameters are compared to present operating parameters using a quality of modulation signal obtained by cross-correlating the data modulation signal used to drive the optical modulator with the modulated optical signal output from the optical modulator. The quality of modulation signal is used to optimize the operating parameters (e.g., bias point) of the optical modulator, or other operating parameters of the arrangement, such as the modulator drive level, timing alignment, etc. |
| US08184989B2 |
Communication system and timing control method
A communication system and a timing control method are proposed that optimize timing in a sender and thereby enable information to be stably transmitted at the right timing. Under instructions from a timing controller in a receiver, the timing of driving a phase modulator in a sender is shifted by one step after another, and the then amount of clock shift and result of interference are monitored at the receiver and stored in a memory. The optimum timing is determined based on the stored data. Thus, a clock for driving the phase modulator in the sender can be set at the right timing. This is equivalent to compensating for group velocity dispersion due to wavelength dispersion that occurs when an optical signal channel and a clock signal channel are transmitted by wavelength division multiplexing transmission. |
| US08184984B1 |
Optical transceiver having a modulating component
An optical transceiver device including a modulating assembly. In contrast with conventional transceivers, the optical transceiver device uses a modulating assembly rather than a laser. The modulating assembly is located within the transceiver itself and includes first and second collimating lenses, first and second mirrors, and a p-i-n diode. An optical signal that has not yet been modulated is introduced into the modulating assembly via the first collimating lens, and is redirected toward the p-i-n diode via the first mirror. Depending on the voltage state of the diode, the light signal is either transmitted through the diode or prevented from passing, which results in modulation of the signal for data transmission. The modulated signal passes through the modulating assembly and is reflected by the second mirror toward the second collimating lens, through which it passes before exiting the transceiver. |
| US08184980B2 |
Method and system for fiber-optic monitoring of spatially distributed components
A system for monitoring ancillary elements of an electric power distribution network, includes an optical fiber path associated with the ancillary elements to be monitored, respective optical branches branching from the optical fiber path, wherein each optical branch includes at least one passive optical attenuator operatively coupled to, and having an attenuation adapted to change in response to a change in operating conditions of the respective ancillary element, and an optical reflector; an optical radiation source adapted to inject optical radiation into the optical fiber path; and an optical receiver adapted to detect back-reflected optical radiation reflected by the optical reflector; the monitoring system being further adapted to recognize a position of at least one of the ancillary elements based on a characteristic of the back-reflected optical radiation. |
| US08184974B2 |
Fiber-to-the-seat (FTTS) fiber distribution system
A modular, scalable, extensible, In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) data communication system is described. In one embodiment, the system comprises a hub providing connection between one or more server/switch line replaceable unit including at least one server and a plurality of passenger video display units. A server, such as, for example, an audio server, a video server, an audio/video server, a game server, an application server, a file server, etc., provides data (e.g., entertainment programming, internet file data, etc.) to the video display unit. In one embodiment, the connection between the plurality of server/switch line replacement units, the hub and the plurality of video display units is provided by passive fiber optic links. |
| US08184972B2 |
Method and apparatus relating to secure communication
Data is encrypted onto an electromagnetic beam by providing an electromagnetic beam having a signal component having a modal state, wherein the signal component is susceptible to accumulation of a geometric phase, and a reference component, transmitted along a path over at least part of which the signal component accumulates a geometric phase by transformation of its modal state from a first to a second modal state, from the second to at least one further modal state, and then back to the first modal state; and modulating with the data the geometric phase so accumulated, by modulating the modal state transformations. Data is decrypted from a received electromagnetic beam by corresponding processing of the received electromagnetic beam and by comparing an overall phase of the signal component with an overall phase of the reference component so as to retrieve the modulation. |
| US08184971B2 |
Optimization mechanism for use with an optical control plane in a DWDM network
Methods and apparatus for efficiently utilizing an optical control plane distinct from an electronic control plane to facilitate the setup of paths in a dense wave division multiplexing network are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method includes receiving a probe arranged determine the optical feasibility of a first path, and determining a probability of success associated with the probe. The probability of success indicates a likelihood that the probe will be successfully routed on the first path to the destination, and is associated with a particular wavelength. A second path on which to route the probe is dynamically identified if the probability indicates a low likelihood of successful routing on the first path. Finally, the method includes determining if a notification associated with the probe has been received, and altering the probability of success based on the notification if the notification has been received. |
| US08184963B2 |
Nozzle-based, vapor-phase, plume delivery structure for use in production of thin-film deposition layer
A vapor deposition source including a crucible configured to hold a quantity of molten constituent material and at least one nozzle to pass vapor evaporated from the molten constituent material out of the crucible. |
| US08184962B2 |
Mobile device for heating rooms
A mobile device for heating rooms, comprising radiant elements, each provided with two heat-conductor plates associated with each other to define a central portion and connected fluid-dynamically with each other by means of connection elements. A heated heat-carrying fluid is able to flow in the central portions and, through the connection elements, from one to the other of the radiant elements in order to heat the surrounding room. Each pair of heat-conductor plates comprises lateral walls which are distanced from the corresponding central portion so as to define respective peripheral zones. The mobile device also comprises heat-insulating elements able to be applied due to having substantially the same shape so as to cover at least a part of the peripheral zones of the lateral walls. |
| US08184955B2 |
Information recording apparatus, information recording system, and information recording method
Disclosed is an information recording apparatus including: a storage portion configured to store information that is copy-protected; a recording portion configured to record, on a recording medium, the information stored in the storage portion; a first information extraction portion configured to extract, from the information stored in the storage portion, first information that indicates a feature of the information; a second information extraction portion configured to extract, from the information recorded on the recording medium, second information that indicates a feature of the information; a judgment portion configured to perform a comparison as to whether the first and second information match, and judge whether the information recorded on the recording medium can be reproduced based on the comparison; and a deletion portion configured to delete the information stored in the storage portion when the judgment portion judges that the information recorded on the recording medium is capable of being reproduced. |
| US08184951B2 |
Recording and reproducing apparatus
A recording and reproducing apparatus prevents, when a format instruction is given via an on-screen menu in an image format of one of HDTV and SDTV standards and the content item to be erased is in the other standard, erroneous erasure of a content item on a recording medium having mixed content items recorded using these standards. The recording and reproducing apparatus includes a controlling unit that instructs, upon a user instruction to format via an inputting unit, an image generating unit to generate an on-screen warning, the image generating unit that generates, following the instruction from the controlling unit, the on-screen warning, a display unit that displays the on-screen warning generated by the image generating unit, and a searching unit that searches a disc for a directory recorded using a standard other than used for recording a CONTENTS directory. |
| US08184948B2 |
Recording apparatus optical disk and computer-readable recording medium
Data management information includes: recording time zone information (REC_TM_ZONE) at a time of recording data, indicating a time difference between the world standard time (Greenwich Mean Time) and a standard time in a location where the data of the group data for managing the data management information; first data recording time information indicating a recording time of data first recorded on the data group; and second data recording time information indicating a recording time of data last recorded on the data group, and wherein the reproduction apparatus further includes a unit for specifying respective local recording times in locations where the first recorded data and the last recorded data has been recorded, respectively, while the data is reproduced, in accordance with the first and second data recording time information, the time zone information (TM_ZONE), and the recording time zone information (REC_TM_ZONE) at the data recording time. |
| US08184946B2 |
Recording editing apparatus
To realize a recording/editing apparatus that does not need to read the management information every time a BD medium is mounted or recording/editing is performed, the present invention provides a recording/editing apparatus that controls recording of an AV stream and a plurality of management information pieces onto a readable and writable recording medium, and editing of the AV stream and the management information pieces recorded on the recording medium, the management information pieces each defining items used for playback control of the AV stream, the recording/editing apparatus comprising: a recording unit operable to record definition count information onto the recording medium, the definition count information indicating, for each of the items, a count of definitions that have been already provided in the corresponding item; and a permitting unit operable to permit the recording and the editing upon a request, on a condition that none of values of the definition count information has reached a maximum count of definitions in the corresponding item recordable on the recording medium. |
| US08184942B2 |
Digital broadcast recorder and method for recording title using the same
A title record method to be used with a digital broadcast recorder including recording a received digital broadcast signal, and, substantially simultaneously, reading broadcast information contained in the digital broadcast signal, determining the presence or absence of a program title in the broadcast information, continuously reading the broadcast information of the next digital broadcast signal following the digital broadcast signal if no title is present in the broadcast information, and, substantially simultaneously, determining the presence or absence of the title in the next digital broadcast signal, and recording the title as a title of the recorded broadcast signal if the title is present in the broadcast information. |
| US08184931B2 |
Suspension board with circuit
A suspension board with circuit includes a circuit board, and an optical waveguide formed on the circuit board. The circuit board is provided with a pedestal for supporting a slider. The pedestal allows the optical waveguide to be disposed so as to overlap the slider in a thickness direction of the circuit board. |
| US08184930B2 |
Titania nanotube and method for producing same
A titania nanotube suitable as an optical sensor or gas sensor is provided. The titania nanotube has a length of 1 μm or more; preferably a diameter of 0.1 μm or less and an aspect ratio of 100 or more. |
| US08184925B1 |
System for converting a photograph into a portrait-style image
The invention relates to a method of transforming a photograph of a person into a portrait. The disclosed method involves manipulating a photograph using software in order to alter the appearance of the photograph. Following the alteration of the photograph, the image will have the appearance of a color picture painted by Norman Rockwell®. The image may also be manipulated in order to take the appearance of a black and white charcoal picture prepared by Norman Rockwell®. |
| US08184922B2 |
Digital filter configuration
A digital filter configuration for the filtration of a digital video signal, wherein the functions of a zoom filter, in the form of a low-pass filter, which is a polyphase filter, and of at least one peaking filter, in the form of a high-pass filter, are realized, wherein the functions of the two filters are realized in a combined filter (1-17) in an integrated circuit in a manner such that, for each phase of the zoom filter to be set, combined filter coefficients are calculated from filter coefficients stored for this phase of the zoom filter and from filter coefficients stored for the peaking filter, which combined filter coefficients are applied to the video data to be filtered in a filtration process, so that both filtration functions are executed with the combined filter coefficients in this filtration process. |
| US08184910B2 |
Image recognition device, image recognition method, and image scanning apparatus having image recognition device
An image recognition device has a first resolution converter 202 that lowers resolution of an input image, an area reader 203 that reads out a processing area from an output of the first resolution converter 202, a second resolution converter 204 that lowers the resolution of the processing area sliced out by the area reader to be lower than in the first resolution converter 202, and a pattern comparator 205. |
| US08184909B2 |
Method for comparing sectioned geometric data representations for selected objects
A method for comparing a plurality of geometrical data representations each representing a spatial boundary surface of a corresponding geometrical object which surface changes over a selected extent of the object bounded thereby through providing the plurality of geometrical data representations on a common format basis, including scaling so as to each to have a common selected extent, to thereby result in a plurality of standardized spatial boundary surface geometrical data representations and comparing them at a plurality of matching section locations along each of the common extents at each of which there is a section outline curve representations. Comparing selected features of the commonly scaled section outline curve representations for such representations at corresponding ones of the selected matched section locations provides a basis for determining similarity therebetween. |
| US08184908B2 |
Image processing system, image processing method, and program
An image processing system includes a computer and an image processing apparatus. A control portion of the apparatus controls so that a whole of one side and the other side of a transparent sheet are optically read, and the obtained image data of the front and rear sides is transmitted to the computer. A control portion of the computer controls so that character information for each of data area corresponding to containing ranges of the respective document on the transparent sheet is obtained by a character recognition, with respect to each front and rear side image data received, and the recognized character information of the both sides is related each other for each of the data area, based on previously associated front and rear information showing a front-and-rear position relation between one side and the other side of the document, and stored in a data storing portion. |
| US08184904B2 |
Method and apparatus for dynamic and adaptive enhancement of colors in digital video images
A method and apparatus for dynamically, adaptively and/or concurrently enhancing and diminishing of colors in digital video images is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes dynamically computing a saturation gain, adaptive to slow or fast moving image sequences, for each user chosen color of a substantially current video frame, dynamically computing a saturation dependent value gains, adaptive to slow or fast moving image sequences, for each user chosen color of the substantially current video frame, determining which of the dynamically computed saturation gain and a saturation dependent value gains associated with each user chosen color or no gain is to be applied on a per-pixel basis by comparing Hue, saturation and value (HSV) components of each pixel with predefined HSV ranges of various user chosen colors, respectively, and applying the determined saturation and/or saturation dependent value gain on the per-pixel basis, in the substantially current or next video frame. |
| US08184903B2 |
Color correction method and apparatus of RGB signal
A color correction method of an RGB signal includes the following steps. First, an original RGB-coordinate point in an RGB color space is defined according to the RGB signal, and a reference plane is obtained according to the original RGB-coordinate point. The original RGB-coordinate point locates on the reference plane, all points on the reference plane have the same value with the original RGB-coordinate point, and the reference lane is orthogonal to a value axis. Next, an intersection point of the value axis and the reference plane is defined as an origin of the reference plane. Afterwards, the hue, saturation and value of the RGB signal are independently and continuously adjusted respectively by rotating the original RGB-coordinate point around the value axis, moving the original RGB-coordinate point towards to or away from the origin and shifting the original RGB-coordinate point along the value axis to obtain a new RGB-coordinate point. |
| US08184900B2 |
Automatic detection and correction of non-red eye flash defects
A technique for detecting large and small non-red eye flash defects in an image is disclosed. The method comprises selecting pixels of the image which have a luminance above a threshold value and labeling neighboring selected pixels as luminous regions. A number of geometrical filters are applied to the luminous regions to remove false candidate luminous regions. |
| US08184897B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining an optical threshold and a resist bias
One embodiment of the present invention provides techniques and systems for determining modeling parameters for a photolithography process. During operation, the system can receive a layout. Next, the system can determine an iso-focal pattern in the layout. The system can then determine multiple aerial-image-intensity values in proximity to the iso-focal pattern by convolving the layout with multiple optical models, wherein the multiple optical models model the photolithography process's optical system under different focus conditions. Next, the system can determine a location in proximity to the iso-focal pattern where the aerial-image-intensity values are substantially insensitive to focus variations. The system can then use the location and the associated aerial-image-intensity values to determine an optical threshold and a resist bias. The optical threshold and the resist bias can then be used for modeling the photolithography process. |
| US08184896B2 |
Methods of determining quality of a light source
Methods for determining a quality of a light source applied to a photolithographic process are provided. An image sensor array is exposed to a light from a light source. Addresses and respective intensities corresponding to a plurality of locations on a pupil map representing intensity of the light from on the image sensor array. At least one of an inner curve and an outer curve of the pupil map is defined based upon the collected addresses and respective intensities. The light source is applied to a photolithographic process if the addresses have a predetermined pattern relative to the at least one of the inner curve and the outer curve. |
| US08184892B2 |
Method and apparatus for tomosynthesis projection imaging for detection of radiological signs
A method of image processing in a radiological apparatus includes reconstructing a 3D image of a body from a set of radiography projection images, locating structures presumed to be representative of 3D radiological signs within the 3D image, determining a set of 2D candidate particles corresponding to projections of the presumed 3D radiological signs, assigning, through a fuzzy logic description, to the 2D candidate particles a degree of membership in 2D membership classes of a set of membership classes, each membership class being relative to a type of radiological sign, considering a 2D fuzzy particle being formed by the set of the 2D candidate particles and by their respective degrees of membership in a class, making an aggregate of the 2D fuzzy particles to obtain 3D fuzzy particles in a digital volume, and determining a degree of confidence for each 3D radiological sign from the 3D fuzzy particles. |
| US08184891B2 |
Imaging system, imaging method and computer program for imaging a region of interest
The present invention relates to an imaging system for imaging a region of interest comprising an illumination unit and a detection unit. The imaging system further comprises a grouping unit for grouping the detection values, wherein each group comprises at least one alpha detection value and at least one beta detection value (103). At least one alpha aperture weighting value for the at least one alpha detection value of a group is determined by using at least one position of at least one ray within the aperture (104). Furthermore, at least one beta aperture weighting value for the at least one beta detection value of a group is approximately determined using the at least one alpha aperture weighting value of the group (105). The detection values are than aperture weighted using aperture weighting values (106). The region of interest is reconstructed by backprojecting the weighted detection values (107). |
| US08184889B2 |
Reconstruction support regions for improving the performance of iterative SPECT reconstruction techniques
A method for iterative reconstruction of tomographic images of an object of interest includes obtaining data corresponding to a field of view of a detector, processing the data to prepare a reconstruction support region corresponding to a region within the field of view encompassing the object, and reconstructing a tomographic image using the reconstruction support region. Preferably, the data corresponding to the field of view includes at least one of a projection image of the object, an orbit location of a detector relative to a center of rotation of the detector, or an attenuation coefficient map of the object, which data can be used to describe a reconstruction support region corresponding to the object. |
| US08184886B2 |
Deformable 2D-3D registration
A method for deformable registration including determining a vector field from a two-dimensional matching of a volume of an object of interest and a two-dimensional image of the object of interest, providing a deformation profile, and finding a volume deformation that maps to a state of the two-dimensional image, wherein the deformation is parameterized by the vector field and control points of the deformation profile to find a control point configuration of the volume deformation. |
| US08184883B2 |
Motion compensated CT reconstruction of high contrast objects
Cardiac CT imaging using gated reconstruction is currently limited in its temporal and spatial resolution. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an examination apparatus is provided in which an identification of a high contrast object is performed. This high contrast object is then followed through the phases, resulting in a motion vector field of the high contrast object, on the basis of which a motion compensated reconstruction is then performed. |
| US08184882B2 |
Full-field breast image data processing and archiving
A system, computer program product, and related methods are described for obtaining, processing, and/or and archiving full-field breast image data, such as full-field breast ultrasound (FFBU) data, in a manner that promotes ready integration with current x-ray mammogram-based breast cancer screening methodologies, and which can alternatively be used to support a full-field-only environment. Two-dimensional thick-slice images computed from a three-dimensional data volume are used to facilitate efficient archiving for a breast imaging session, the two-dimensional thick-slice images corresponding to slab-like subvolumes of the breast. Clinician data overload problems that can arise from the existence of large amounts of three-dimensional full-field breast image data are reduced. Archive space is also preserved while still providing sufficient information data for future reference purposes. Related adjunctive full-field workflow methods are also described. The described embodiments are applicable to FFBU imaging and other full-field breast imaging modalities such as MRI, CT, PET, and others. |
| US08184881B2 |
Displaying and navigating computer-aided detection results on a review workstation
Display and navigation for multiple computer-aided detection (CAD) detections is described. A medical image is displayed to a viewer, and a request is received to instantiate CAD-assisted viewing. A timewise presentation sequence for the CAD detections is automatically computed according to a predetermined sequencing criterion. For each CAD detection, an expanded presentation window is displayed for its associated location in the medical image, the expanded presentation windows being displayed according to the timewise presentation sequence. Also described is a navigational tool comprising a plot of an operating curve onto which a computed feature associated with the CAD algorithm can be mapped, the operating curve characterizing an application of the CAD algorithm to a reference database of mammographic cases having known diagnoses. The navigational tool further comprises a plurality of CAD pointer icons spatially distributed therealong according to mappings of the computed feature for the CAD detections onto the operating curve. |
| US08184880B2 |
Robust sparse image matching for robotic surgery
Systems, methods, and devices are used to match images. Points of interest from a first image are identified for matching to a second image. In response to the identified points of interest, regions and features can be identified and used to match the points of interest to a corresponding second image or second series of images. Regions can be used to match the points of interest when regions of the first image are matched to the second image with high confidence scores, for example above a threshold. Features of the first image can be matched to the second image, and these matched features may be used to match the points of interest to the second image, for example when the confidence scores for the regions are below the threshold value. Constraint can be used to evaluate the matched points of interest, for example by excluding bad points. |
| US08184879B2 |
Parallel MRI involving density weighting or acquisition weighting
In a method for magnetic resonance imaging, k-space is sampled using density weighted data acquisition or acquisition weighted data acquisition, with at least one region of k-space being intentionally undersampled with respect to the Nyquist criterion. Reconstruction of the MR image is performed using a parallel imaging method, with the influence in the reconstructed image of the missing k-space data, as a result of the undersampling, being reduced. |
| US08184878B2 |
Image diagnosis support system and image diagnosis support method
Specific information for specifying a specific study or series for which an object, which is obtained by adding at least one information of a scan condition, a scan range, and a key image position as a basis of a diagnosis in an image, is to be generated is specified. It is determined whether or not an image for references is present in the specific study or series on the basis of additional information of at least one image related to the specific study or series. When it is determined that the image for references is present, an object about the specific study or series is generated afterwards, for example, in the unit of series by using the image for references and at least one information of a scan condition, a scan range, and a key image position of the additional information. |
| US08184877B2 |
Renormalization of dual-energy images
A method is disclosed for generating a composite image from dual-energy projection radiographic image data and renormalizing the composite image such that the pixel values for the composite image have the same relationship to the detected x-ray energy as the original high- and low-energy images. The method disclosed further provides for renormalization of material specific decomposition images formed form dual energy projection radiographic image data such that the decomposition images are on a common scale with either the high-energy, low-energy or composite image. |
| US08184876B2 |
NNLS image reconstruction
In an aspect, reconstructing an image object associated with an input data set, includes for each step, in a series of iteration steps, determining an updated object from an input object based on a data model of the input object, a weighting-factor data set, and a gradient object, wherein the weighting-factor data set includes modified entries of the input data set. Reconstructing the image object further includes following a last iteration, outputting one of the updated objects as the image object. |
| US08184868B2 |
Two stage detection for photographic eye artifacts
A digital image acquisition device is for acquiring digital images including one or more preview images. A face detector analyzes the one or more preview images to ascertain information relating to candidate face regions therein. A speed-optimized filter produces a first set of candidate red-eye regions based on the candidate face region information provided by the face detector. |
| US08184867B2 |
Method and system for biometric identification or verification
The invention relates to a method for the biometric identification or verification of people. According to said method, biometric characteristics are detected by means of an imaging device and the identification or verification is carried out by means of the detected image data, especially by comparison with known data records and/or original images. The invention also relates to a system for carrying out the method. The aim of the invention is provide one such method and system which significantly improve the anti-violation security in a simple and secure manner. To this end, the retina of the eye is used as a biometric object for detecting the biometric characteristics, and movements and/or the immobility of the eye are detected and taken into account. |
| US08184866B2 |
Living body guidance control method for a biometrics authentication device, and biometrics authentication device
A biometrics authentication device identifies characteristics of the body from captured images of the body and performs individual authentication. The device guides a user, at the time of verification, to the image capture state at the time of registration of biometrics characteristic data. At the time of registration of biometrics characteristic data, body image capture state data is extracted from an image captured by an image capture unit and is registered in a storage unit, and at the time of verification the registered image capture state data is read from the storage unit and is compared with image capture state data extracted at the time of verification, and guidance of the body is provided. Alternatively, an outline of the body at the time of registration, taken from image capture state data at the time of registration, is displayed. |
| US08184862B2 |
Vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus
Provided is an apparatus capable of, even when an object is moving, measuring the position of the object at a high accuracy. A vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus (10) calculates the change rate (Rate(t)) of the size of an object region between two times separated by a specified interval (ΔT). The specified interval (ΔT) is a time interval defined so that the shapes and postures of an object in images resemble or match each other to such an extent that it is possible to identify that the object is identical. Based on the change rage (Rate(t)) of the size of the object region during the specified interval (ΔT), it is possible to measure the distance from a vehicle (1) to the object or the position at a high accuracy even when the object is moving. |
| US08184860B2 |
Image processing device for controlling a plurality of tasks
An image processing device of the present invention performs a task to execute an image processing This image processing device comprises a picture frame assigning unit that assigns an identification number to the image data to be collected by a picture collection device, an image capture requested picture of checking unit that checks whether the image data to which the identification number is assigned is identical with the image data that is requested by the task, an requested picture frame image collection notification unit that notifies the task of the image data having been collected which the task requests, if the image data to which the picture frame number is assigned is identical with the image data which the task requests, and an image capture requested picture frame receiving unit receives an image collection request from the task. |
| US08184858B2 |
System and method for linking real-world objects and object representations by pointing
A system and method are described for selecting and identifying a unique object or feature in the system user's three-dimensional (“3-D”) environment in a two-dimensional (“2-D”) virtual representation of the same object or feature in a virtual environment. The system and method may be incorporated in a mobile device that includes position and orientation sensors to determine the pointing device's position and pointing direction. The mobile device incorporating the present invention may be adapted for wireless communication with a computer-based system that represents static and dynamic objects and features that exist or are present in the system user's 3-D environment. The mobile device incorporating the present invention will also have the capability to process information regarding a system user's environment and calculating specific measures for pointing accuracy and reliability. |
| US08184857B2 |
Moving object recognizing apparatus
The moving object recognizing apparatus includes a data acquisition unit for acquiring image data obtained in time series by an imaging device, a recognition unit for recognizing a moving object by executing a plurality of image processing operations on two of the image data obtained at different times, the plurality of image processing operations including an operation of calculating correlativity of a same recognition target pattern, and a reliability calculation unit for calculating recognition reliability indicative of reliability of recognition of the moving object, based upon at least one of the results of the respective image processing operations by the recognition unit. |
| US08184852B2 |
Character recognition system and method for shipping containers
A system and method, which enables precise identification of characters contained in vehicle license plates, container I.D, chassis I.D, aircraft serial number and other such identification markings. The system can process these identified characters and operate devices, such as access control operations, traffic systems and vehicle and container tracking and management systems, and provide records of all markings together with their images. |
| US08184851B2 |
Inserting watermarks into portions of digital signals
The present invention relates generally to watermarking. In one implementation a method of pre-analyzing a digital signal for encoding digital watermarks using a digital filter comprising determining what changes in the digital signal will be affected by the digital filter is provided. In another implementation a system for pre-analyzing a digital signal for encoding at least one digital watermark using a digital filter is provided. The method includes a processor for identifying an area of the digital signal that will be affected by the digital filter; and an encoder for encoding the at least one digital watermark in the digital signal, the encoder encoding the at least one digital watermark so as to avoid the at least one area of the digital signal that will be affected by the digital filter. Other implementations are provided as well. |
| US08184850B2 |
System and/or method for image tamper detection
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to techniques for detecting tampering of digital image data. |
| US08184849B2 |
Error processing of steganographic message signals
A form of error processing is used to decode steganographic messages embedded in image and audio signals in the presence of distortion, which tends to introduce errors in steganographic data communication. Content signals with auxiliary embedded data are analyzed to detect embedded message signals. Confidence values are assigned to the message signals and used to ascertain whether a message has been accurately detected. Error processing enables accurate message extraction in the presence of “soft errors” in the embedded message signal. This error processing enables more effective recovery of the steganographic message from content signals that undergo distortion and/or loss transformations after being embedded with steganographic data. |
| US08184847B2 |
Vehicle speaker mounting system
A vehicle speaker mounting system. The vehicle speaker mounting system comprises a parcel shelf having at least one stiffener extending substantially longitudinally along the length of the parcel shelf. The system further includes at least one aperture extending through a generally planar portion of the parcel shelf. The aperture is configured to receive a speaker. |
| US08184846B1 |
Bed audio entertainment device
An audio control device for use by one or two individuals lying in bed. The device includes a flat outer housing with two display surfaces aligned in opposite directions to face the two individuals when placed between them. Located inside the outer housing are two audio control units. Each audio control unit is connected to at least one input port, and an audio output port. An earphone, pillow speaker or a speaker wing component may be attached to each output port. An external audio source may be connected to each input port. Each control unit may include an illuminated display is mounted on each display surface. A volume switch is provided that enables the user to adjust the volume of sound heard. Mounted inside the outer housing is an optional internal audio source and an optional recording/playback unit and one or more mute buttons. |
| US08184845B2 |
Electrical module comprising a MEMS microphone
An electrical module includes a base plate having an acoustic channel that opens into a first cavity at a first end and that is closed off by a microphone chip at a second end. The microphone chip borders a second cavity that opens to an exterior of the electrical module. The second cavity is separated from the acoustic channel by the microphone chip. |
| US08184844B2 |
Microphone mounter
A microphone mounter includes a first fixture attached to an upper opening of a mounting hole formed in an installation place, and a second fixture attached to a lower opening of the mounting hole. A microphone is installed in the mounting hole via the first and second fixtures. The first fixture includes a flange part having a diameter larger than a diameter of the upper opening and provided with an insertion hole, a sleeve projecting from a lower surface of the flange part, and an anchor part integrally formed at an end of the sleeve opposite to the flange part. The anchor part has an outer peripheral surface adapted to touch an inner peripheral surface of the mounting hole and an inner peripheral surface adapted to touch an outer peripheral surface of the microphone. The outer peripheral surface projects outwardly from the end of the sleeve to the mounting hole. |
| US08184842B2 |
Tool for insertion and removal of in-canal hearing devices
Methods, tools, and methods of manufacturing said tools are provided for inserting a hearing device deeply into the ear canal of a user and adjusting its medial-lateral position therein. The provided tools comprise a shaft. A distal end of the shaft can be coupled to the hearing device. The shaft is flexible to facilitate its insertion into the tortuous ear canal and minimize injurious contact with the ear canal. The length of the shaft can be adjusted to adjust the depth of insertion of the shaft into the ear canal, customizing the tool for an individual user. Medial advancement of the shaft into the ear canal is limited by a base, side extension, or mold coupled to a proximal portion of the shaft or other proximal part of the tool. |
| US08184841B2 |
Ear canal device retention means
The invention regards an ear canal device and a retainer strip, whereby the ear canal device has a distal part for extending into the ear canal and facing the tympanic membrane and a proximal part extending towards the ear canal opening, wherein the proximal part of the ear canal device comprises an opening extending transversely through the ear canal device, and where a retaining strip is arranged with a first end thereof arranged to be fastened in the opening and a second end arranged to lie resiliently against the inside of the concha for exerting a retaining force on the ear canal device. |
| US08184840B2 |
Combined set comprising a vibrator actuator and an implantable device
A combined set including a vibration actuator and an implantable device provided to be implanted in an inner ear part is disclosed. The implantable device has a surface in contact with an inner ear fluid when inserted in said inner ear part. The implantable device includes a frame having an inner wall and a slidably movable member having an outer wall which is connected to the vibration actuator. The slidably movable member is provided for transferring energy supplied by the vibration actuator from and towards the inner ear fluid by means of a translational movement. The slidably movable member is at least partially mounted inside the frame in such a manner that a gap extending between the inner wall of the frame and the outer wall of the member is less than or equal to 0.1 mm. |
| US08184831B2 |
Audio playing systems
An audio playing system is provided comprising a first processing module, a second processing module, a control module, an output module, and a displaying module. The first and second processing modules amplify an audio signal and respectively generates a first first processed signal, a first second processed signal, a second first processed signal, and a second second processed signal. The control module is coupled to the first processing module and the second processing module and generates a playing signal according to a control signal, the first first processed signal, the first second processed signal, the second first processed signal, and the second second processed signal. The output module is coupled to the control module and amplifies the playing signal to generate an output signal. The displaying module is coupled to the output module and plays the output signal. |
| US08184818B2 |
Double-talk detector with accuracy and speed of detection improved and a method therefor
A double-talk detector finds an estimated power value of near end background noise based on a residual signal by a noise estimator; the average power of a transmitter input signal by a transmitter average power calculator; the average power of a receiver input signal by a receiver average power calculator; and an estimated echo path attenuation value through a predetermined echo path attenuation value estimating process based on the estimated power value of the near end background noise, the average power of the transmitter input signal and the average power of the receiver input signal by an attenuation value estimator. The double-talk detector detects a double-talk state based on the estimated echo path attenuation value, the average power of the transmitter input signal and the average power of the receiver input signal by a double-talk determiner to control update of the coefficient of an adaptive filter. |
| US08184816B2 |
Systems and methods for detecting wind noise using multiple audio sources
A method for detecting wind noise is described. At least two audio signals are received. The at least two audio signals are filtered to reduce higher frequencies and to reduce lower frequencies to provide at least two filtered audio signals. The cross correlation of the at least two filtered audio signals is computed for multiple delays. A maximum cross correlation is determined from the cross correlations computed for the multiple delays. Wind noise is detected by comparing the maximum cross correlation with a threshold. |
| US08184814B2 |
Audio signal processing method and system
The invention makes use of impulse responses of the performance venue to process a recording or other signal so as to emulate that recording having being recorded in the performance venue. In particular, by measuring or calculating the impulse responses of a performance venue such as an auditorium between an instrument location within the venue and one or more soundfield sampling locations, it then becomes possible to process a “dry” signal, being a signal which has little or no reverberation or other artifacts introduced by the location in which it is captured (such as, for example, a close microphone studio recording) with the impulse response or responses so as to then make the signal seem as if it was produced at the instrument location in the performance venue, and captured at the soundfield sampling location. |
| US08184812B2 |
Secure computing device with monotonic counter and method therefor
A secure computing device (14) includes a secure processing section (30) having a tamper detection circuit (58) and a monotonic counter (68). The tamper detection circuit (58) detects an event which suggests that the trust associated with the secure processing section (30) may have been compromised. When such an event is detected, a security breach is declared and trusted software (38) is disabled. After a security breach is declared, the monotonic counter (68) may be reclaimed. The monotonic counter (68) provides a monotonic count value (70) that includes an LSB portion (80) and an MSB portion (82). The LSB portion (80) is obtained from a binary counter (72). The MSB portion (82) is obtained from a register (84) of independent one-time-programmable bits. The monotonic counter (68) is reclaimed by programming one of the one-time programmable bits to guarantee that future counting of the monotonic counter will be monotonic relative to all past counting. |
| US08184810B2 |
Secure device and relay terminal
An IC card includes a tamper resistant module which has one or more applications and a card control unit for controlling an operation of the IC card, a secure memory area which is accessible from only the tamper resistant module, and a contactless interface which serves to communicate with a service terminal. The card control unit generates storage instruction information, and the contactless interface transmits the storage instruction information to the service terminal. The storage instruction information contains an address of the secure memory area as a write area of data, an address of a normal memory area that indicates a save area for temporarily saving the data, an identifier of the application which executes a data movement from the normal memory area to the secure memory area, and an address of a relay terminal which relays the data. |
| US08184808B2 |
Chaotic asymmetric encryption process for data security
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for a chaotic asymmetric encryption system that is based on a mathematically proven chaotic dynamical system, the ergodic property of chaotic maps, conventional Diffie-Hellman key exchange procedure, a modified Diffie-Hellman key exchange procedure and a public key which is any number that could be chosen from the interval 0,1. |
| US08184805B2 |
Program converter, encrypting device, and encrypting method
A program converter (1) converts a program (P) which performs arithmetic addition processing to execute encryption, into a converted program (tP) which performs processing equivalent to the processing of the program (P). The program converter (1) includes: a key data extraction unit (10) which extracts key data from the program (P); an addition table generation unit (11) which generates an addition table from the extracted key data; a conversion table extraction unit (12) which extracts a conversion table from the program (P); a table merger unit (13) which generates a merger table by merging the generated addition table and the extracted conversion table; a random number generation unit (14) which generates a random number; a table randomization unit (15) which generates a randomized merger table by randomizing the merger table using the generated random number; and a converted-program generation unit (16) which generates the converted program (tP) according to the generated randomized merger table. |
| US08184804B2 |
Hash function using a piling-up process
In the computer data security field, a cryptographic hash function process embodied in a computer system and which is typically keyless, but is highly secure. The process is based on the type of randomness exhibited by well known tetromino stacking games. Computation of the hash value (digest) is the result of executing such a “piling on” (tetromino stacking game) algorithm using the message as an input (a seed) to a pseudo random number generator which generates the game pieces (shapes) from the resulting random numbers, then executing the game algorithm. |
| US08184802B1 |
Adaptive analog echo/next cancellation
An adaptive analog echo/near-end crosstalk (NEXT) cancellation system includes a bit slicer that receives a first analog receive signal and that generates a first error control signal. A digital signal processor (DSP) receives a digital receive signal and a digital transmit signal and generates second and third error control signals. A first summing module generates a fourth error control signal by summing the second and third error control signals. A selector outputs the first error control signal during a first mode and the fourth error control signal during a second mode. An echo/NEXT cancellation module communicates with the selector and generates an estimated echo/NEXT signal based on the first error control signal and an analog transmit signal during the first mode and based on the fourth error control signal and the analog transmit signal during the second mode. |
| US08184801B1 |
Acoustic echo cancellation for time-varying microphone array beamsteering systems
In a mobile terminal device having a processing unit and a memory unit, an acoustic echo cancellation and a microphone beamforming are provided. Said device includes a plurality of a microphones, a pre-processing stage has an amplifier and a signal converter for an analog-to-digital conversion. In a main signal processing stage, a pre-filter suitable for polynomial beamforming, an acoustic echo cancellation stage and a post-filter for polynomial beamforming are provided. Furthermore, a post-processing stage has an amplifier and a signal converter for a digital-to-analog conversion, and plurality of speakers. |
| US08184799B2 |
Call setup request confirmation
At least one exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a method comprising receiving a call setup request, and automatically providing an indication that the call setup request is being processed. At least one exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a method comprising providing a call setup request to a network, and receiving an indication that the call setup request is being processed. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. This abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope. |
| US08184798B2 |
Methods, systems and computer program products for accessing number portability (NP) and E.164 number (ENUM) data using a common NP/ENUM data locator structure
According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein comprises methods, systems, and computer program products for accessing number portability (NP) and E.164 number (ENUM) data in a combined NP/ENUM database. One method includes receiving a query including a telephone number (TN). A common NP/ENUM data locator structure is accessed to locate a pointer corresponding to the TN. In response to the query being a NP query, the pointer is used to locate NP data, and the NP data is returned. In response to the query being an ENUM query, the pointer is used to locate at least one URI and returning at least one uniform resource locators (URIs). |
| US08184795B2 |
Method and system for floor control in a wireless network
A method and system for establishing floor control in a communication session enables remote control of devices in a network and provides a status update concerning floor ownership. The method includes processing at a floor controller a floor request message received from a first endpoint, where the floor request message requests that floor ownership be provided to a second endpoint (step 305). A floor control announcement message is then transmitted from the floor controller to at least both the first endpoint and the second endpoint, where the floor control announcement message indicates that the second endpoint has floor ownership (step 315). |
| US08184794B1 |
Do not call registry database access system
An apparatus and method for providing users operating on Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) networks with the ability to interconnect with Advance Intelligent Networking (AIN) and, in particular, to provide database lookup for the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry, without requiring users to implement complex and expensive systems in their network. An Intelligent Call Management (ICM) structure receiving information of a dialed toll number is able to convert the information into a compatible database request to determine whether the call to the toll number is allowed to be completed based on information retrieved from the database. |
| US08184785B2 |
Elevator monitor system
In an elevator monitoring system, an operation monitoring device receives operating condition data from a group management control device, and causes a monitor to display operating conditions of a plurality of elevators. An interphone base unit is connected to the operation monitoring device such that mutual communication can be established therebetween. The operation monitoring device can cause the monitor to display communication states of interphone handset units based on information on the communication states of the interphone handset units which has been received from the interphone base unit, and can input thereto channel select information for selecting one of the interphone handset units to communicate with. The interphone base unit can transmit the communication state information to the operation monitoring device, and can make a changeover in the states of connection with the interphone handset units based on the channel select information received from the operation monitoring device. |
| US08184784B2 |
Method and device for data communication
A novel data communication device includes a switching mechanism, a detector, a storage, a measuring unit, a comparator, and a controller. In at least one embodiment, the switching mechanism is configured to connect and disconnect a facsimile device to and from a communication line used in common by the data communication device and the facsimile device. The detector is configured to detect an off-hook state of the facsimile device. The storage is configured to store a delay time. The measuring unit is configured to measure a reference time and a dialing detection time. The comparator is configured to compare the reference time and the dialing detection time. The controller is configured to enable or disable a facsimile priority function depending on whether or not the reference time and the dialing detection time are substantially equal to each other. |
| US08184780B2 |
System and method for controlling voicemail transcription from a communication device
Systems, methods and software product control voicemail transcription from a communication device. An audio mode is monitored within the communication device to determine a change in status between a sound-on mode and a sound-off mode. Automatic transcription of voicemail messages is enabled if the audio mode status transitions from sound-on to sound-off and automatic transcription of voicemail messages is disabled if the audio mode status transitions from sound-off to sound-on. |
| US08184772B2 |
Orthovoltage radiosurgery
A radiosurgery system is described that delivers a therapeutic dose of radiation to a target structure in a patient. Some embodiments provide that, among other targets, ocular structures are treated. In some embodiments, the position of an ocular structure is tracked and related to a radiosurgery system. In some embodiments, a treatment plan is utilized for a specific disease to be treated and/or structures to be avoided. In some embodiments, radiodynamic therapy is described in which radiosurgery is used in combination with other treatments and can be delivered concomitant with, prior to, or following other treatments. |
| US08184769B2 |
Method and apparatus to facilitate using multiple radiation-detection views to differentiate one material from another
At least three radiation-detection views are used to facilitate identifying material as comprises an object being assessed along a beam path relative to that object. This comprises developing a first radiation-detection view (101) as corresponds to the material along the beam path, a second radiation-detection view (102) as corresponds to the material along substantially the beam path, and at least a third radiation-detection view (103) as corresponds to the material along substantially the beam path. At least one of the source spectra and detector spectral responses used for these radiation-detection views are different from one another for each view. One then uses (104) these radiation-detection views to identify the material by, at least in part, differentiating the material from other possible materials. |
| US08184765B2 |
Radiography apparatus
A radiation source is moved, relative to a detection means, in a movement range that is calculated based on a desired slice angle with respect to a predetermined base point on a base plane that defines a range of obtaining a slice image of a subject. The radiation source is moved to a plurality of positions, and a plurality of radiographic images of the subject corresponding to the plurality of positions are obtained by irradiating the subject with radiation from the plurality of positions. Further, a slice image of the subject is reconstructed from the plurality of radiographic images. When the slice image is reconstructed, radiographic images to be used to reconstruct the slice image are selected based on a distance from the detection surface of the detection means to a slice plane on which the slice image is to be generated, and the desired slice angle. |
| US08184764B1 |
Shift register with low power consumption
A shift register comprising a plurality of shift register stages {SN}. Each shift register stage comprises a first input, a second input, a third input for receiving a first clock signal, a fourth input for receiving a second clock signal, an output for providing an output signal OUT(N), therefrom. The stages is electrically connected to each other in serial such that the first input of the shift register stage SN is electrically connected to the output of the (N−1)-th shift register stage SN−1 for receiving an output signal OUT(N−1) therefrom, the second input of the shift register stage SN is electrically connected to the output of the (N+1)-th shift register stage SN+1 for receiving an output signal OUT(N+1) therefrom, and the output of the shift register stage SN is electrically connected to the first input of the (N+1)-th shift register stage SN+1 for providing the output signal OUT(N+1) thereto. |
| US08184761B2 |
Controlling phase locked loop
A method and apparatus for controlling phase locked loop are provided. The apparatus includes a voltage controlled oscillator configured to generate an output signal with a frequency proportional to a control voltage fed into the oscillator. The apparatus also includes an analog loop filter connected to the oscillator and configured to form the control voltage for the oscillator, and a charge pump configured to generate a current pulse into the loop filter. The apparatus includes a phase-frequency detector operationally connected to the charge pump and configured to form waveforms, based on a reference signal and a feedback signal, the feedback signal being proportional to the output signal of the oscillator. The apparatus further includes a controller configured to modulate the feedback signal on the basis of the frequency or phase error of the output signal of the voltage controlled oscillator and the reference signal. |
| US08184758B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting electrical idle
A system and method for detecting electrical idle in a receiver is disclosed herein. A receiver includes a differential receiver, an analog idle detector, and a first filter. The differential receiver receives a variable rate differential signal. The analog idle detector is coupled to the differential receiver. The analog idle detector provides a first idle signal that erroneously identifies a differential signal electrical idle state. The first filter is coupled to the analog idle detector. The first filter processes the first idle signal and generates a second idle signal lacking the idle state errors of the first idle signal. The first filter provides the second idle signal to receiver control logic that controls signal reception. |
| US08184755B2 |
Symbol synchronization for communication
A communication system and method is disclosed that performs symbol boundary synchronization by generating a symbol alignment estimate from a partial signal correlation; and then refining the symbol alignment estimate via a carrier phase calculation. To generate the symbol alignment estimate, two methods are disclosed. After an estimate is determined, an embodiment provides for refining the symbol alignment estimate via a carrier phase calculation by determining a carrier phase of two adjacent carriers, determining a phase error as directly proportional to an offset from the start of a symbol, determining a phase difference contribution due to a communication channel and device hardware, and counter-rotating the determined carrier phase by an angle of a constellation point at a transmitter. |
| US08184753B2 |
Apparatus and method for OFDM channel equalization
An apparatus and method for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) channel equalization are disclosed. The apparatus includes a compensation value setting unit setting a compensation value in the form of a diagonal matrix by use of a diagonal matrix of diagonal elements extracted from a channel matrix of an OFDM receiver, and a preset divergence suppression value, an initial estimation value calculation unit calculating an initial estimate value by use of a fast Fourier transform (FFT)-processed signal of the OFDM receiver and the compensation value, an equalization unit detecting a transmission signal to be processed by use of the compensation value, the channel matrix and the diagonal matrix, and a symbol decision unit determining a symbol for an adjacent signal of a transmission signal, which is to be processed among a plurality of signals output from the equalization unit, and providing the symbol-determined adjacent signal to the equalization unit. |
| US08184751B2 |
Integrated interference cancellation system architecture with distortion correction
A system and associated method is provided for improved rejection of an interfering signal coupled from a transmission antenna into a local receive antenna in the presence of local multipath. A system of the invention includes a common feedback junction, (i.e., a single sampling point used by all parameter matching control loops), for adjusting a number of distortion matching circuits while advantageously maintaining independence of tuning and other independent circuit actions. |
| US08184750B2 |
Techniques for increasing decoding reliability in an adaptive minimum mean squared error with successive interference cancellation (MMSE/SIC) decoder
A technique for increasing decoding reliability in an adaptive minimum mean squared error with successive interference cancellation (MMSE/SIC) decoder in a channel-coded multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system. A code block selector evaluates reliability metrics and determines whether the reliability metric of the decoded symbols of a particular indexed code block of a first code word satisfies a quality threshold. Depending upon this determination, a composite second code word is formed at each indexed code block using a previously calculated MMSE-LLR output of a second code word or a SIC-LLR output using the indexed symbols of a first code word. Composite second code word is decoded with increased accuracy. |
| US08184749B2 |
Sphere decoding method applied to multi-input multi-output (MIMO) channel
A sphere decoding method applied to a MIMO channel is provided. Multiple constellation points of an nth detection layer corresponding to a MIMO channel matrix are enumerated based on an enumeration rule, and at least one nth sub-set of the nth detection layer is defined. The candidate range of the constellation points of the at least one nth sub-set is determined according to a predetermined number K of the preferred points of the at least one nth sub-set. K constellation points are obtained from the at least one nth sub-set as the preferred points according to partial Euclidean distances of the constellation points. The at least one nth sub-set includes at least K constellation points. Kn preferred points are selected from all K preferred points of the at least one nth sub-set. An optimal solution is determined according to the Kn, preferred points. |
| US08184748B2 |
Narrow band receiver
An RF receiver comprises a signal processor arranged to perform a method of decoding data contained within a signal that comprises a set of slots, at least one said slot comprising a preamble portion and a payload portion and being transmitted at a predetermined transmission frequency. The signal processor is arranged to perform a first process to derive timing data from the preamble portion and perform a second process to extract information from the payload portion, the second process being triggered from said timing data derived from the first process. The preamble portion comprises at least a first sequence of data and a second sequence of data, and the second sequence is the inverse of the first sequence. In preferred embodiments the first process comprises identifying a transition between said first and second sequences of data and deriving said timing data from the identified transition. |
| US08184746B2 |
Simplified de-rotation in digital FM demodulator architectures
The present invention relates to a digital receiver for FM signals, in particular to a new demodulator structure and demodulating method, by which according to a first aspect of the invention the usual complex de-rotation process is reduced to a simple addition/subtraction. According to a second aspect of the invention, the requirements for the sampling frequency necessary for processing the demodulator signals are reduced substantially. |
| US08184743B2 |
Overlay modulation technique for COFDM signals based on amplitude offsets
Systems and methods are presented for transmitting additional data over preexisting differential COFDM signals by changing the amplitude of the legacy data symbols. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, additional data capacity can be achieved for a COFDM signal which is completely backwards compatible with existing legacy satellite broadcast communications systems. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, additional information can be overlaid on a legacy COFDM signal by applying an amplitude offset to the legacy symbols. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, special receiver processing can be implemented to extract this additional information, which can include performing channel equalization across frequency bins to isolate the amplitude modulated overlay signal. For example, at each FFT symbol time, average power across neighboring active data bins can be used to determine the localized power at the corresponding FFT bins, and a channel inversion can then, for example, be performed on the data bins to restore, as best as possible, the original transmitted symbol amplitude. |
| US08184729B2 |
Communication processing system, OFDM signal transmitting method, OFDM transmitter, OFDM receiver, and control station
In an OFDM transmitter included in a first service area, an orthogonal-code-pattern multiplication unit multiplies pilot channel signals belonging to any subcarrier group by an orthogonal code which is different from that for one or a plurality of OFDM transmitters adjacent to the OFDM transmitter included in the first service area, or a subcarrier assignment unit assigns pilot channel signals to pilot subcarriers which are common to a plurality of OFDM transmitters and based on a pilot arrangement notified in advance by a control station to all OFDM transmitters included in the first service area. |
| US08184727B2 |
Robust integer carrier frequency offset estimator
A robust integer carrier frequency offset estimation method for OFDM systems is disclosed. Compared with conventional methods which use either two consecutive OFDM symbols or only one training symbol, the method is insensitive to the timing offset as long as the channel spread is shorter than the OFDM cyclic prefix length. Most importantly, it does not require any information on the scrambling code used in systems such as STiMi. The method improves the accuracy of integer carrier frequency offset, especially in channels with long and strong echoes. It offers the receiver more freedom in setting the FFT window since it is insensitive to the timing offset. |
| US08184722B2 |
Coding method
A picture coding apparatus (300) is a picture coding apparatus that codes a difference between picture data (Img) representing an input picture and predictive picture data (Pred) representing a predictive picture for the input picture and generates coded picture data, and includes a picture decoding unit (104) for decoding coded picture data (Img) after the picture data (Img) is coded; inter pixel filters A and B (303 and 304) for performing inter pixel filter operation for decoded picture data (Recon) obtained by the picture decoding unit (104); switches (301 and 302) for selecting one of the inter pixel filters; and an inter picture predicting unit (108) for generating the predictive picture data (Pred) for the input picture data (Img) using filtered decoded picture data (FilteredImg1), as reference picture data (Ref), obtained by the selected inter pixel filter. |
| US08184720B2 |
Optimal video adaptation for resource constrained mobile devices based on subjective utility models
The invention relates to using the properties of the mobile client terminal, preferably data processing capability and the screen size, and the capacity of the communication channel between the video streaming server and the client terminal, to determine the bit rate, frame rate and the spatial resolution that the multimedia data, preferably video, needs to be encoded with in order to provided the end user with the maximum possible subjective user satisfaction. The invention also pertains to sending the multimedia data coded with the determined parameters to the client terminal using a video transcoder and a streaming server. |
| US08184705B2 |
Method and apparatus for motion compensated filtering of video signals
A method and apparatus for filtering video data. First and second frames of the video data are stored. Motion adapted spatio-temporal filter (MASTF) pixel values of the second frame are calculated using pixel values of the first and second frames. The second frame is compared to the first frame to estimate motion vectors (MVs) for the second frame. Pixel MV error level indicators for the second frame are determined using the pixel values of the first and second frames and the MVs of pixels in the second frame. Motion compensated temporal filter (MCTF) pixel values of the second frame are calculated using the pixel values of the first and second frames and the MVs of pixels in the second frame. For each pixel in the second frame, a filtered pixel value is calculated using its MASTF and MCTF pixel values and its pixel MV error level indicator. |
| US08184703B2 |
Interpolated frame generating method and interpolated frame generating apparatus
According to one embodiment, an interpolated frame generator comprises first detector detects potential motion vector by block matching between input frame images, using first block of fixed size, second detector detects motion vector by block matching between the input frame images, using second block having fixed size larger than that of the first block, and generator generates interpolated frame by using the potential motion vector when first detector detects only one potential motion vector, and generates interpolated frame by using a potential motion vector closest to the motion vector detected by the second detector when first detector detects a plurality of motion vectors, wherein first detector includes extractor compares SAD of motion vector with SAD of motion vectors adjacent to the motion vector, and extracts potential motion vector having SAD smaller than any of the SAD of adjacent motion vectors, as a potential motion vector used in generator. |
| US08184699B2 |
Method of reducing computations in intra-prediction and mode decision processes in a digital video encoder
A method of improving the computation speed of the sum of absolute transformed distances (SATD) for different intra-prediction modes is described. Determining the SATD quicker provides the benefits of better coding performance without suffering the drawbacks of longer computation times. The method of reducing intra-prediction and mode decision processes in a video encoder, implements Hadamard transforms with improvements. Hadamard transforms are performed on an original block and predicted blocks and calculations are only performed where coefficients are non-zero thus skipping the coefficients that are zero. Using such an approach, the calculations required for the Vertical Prediction, Horizontal Prediction and DC Prediction are reduced significantly. Thus, the best intra-prediction mode is able to be determined very efficiently. |
| US08184698B2 |
Method and apparatus for decoding/encoding a video signal using inter-layer prediction
Embodiments provide a method and apparatus for decoding/encoding a video signal using inter-layer prediction. The method includes obtaining inter-layer prediction identification information and quality identification information. The method further includes obtaining prediction constraint information based on the inter-layer prediction identification information and the quality identification information. The prediction constraint information indicates whether it is constrained to use an intra-base prediction mode in predicting a current block when a corresponding block covers at least two slices of a base layer. The method further includes decoding a current block by using the intra-base prediction mode when the prediction constraint information indicates it is not constrained to use the intra-base prediction mode in predicting the current block in case that the corresponding block covers at least two slices of the base layer. |
| US08184697B2 |
Moving picture coding method and a moving picture decoding method
A moving picture coding apparatus includes a motion estimation unit (101) for performing motion estimation by fixing the one of two reference pictures as a reference picture indicated by an inputted default reference picture number DefRefNo and a variable length coding unit (107) for performing variable length coding on coded residual data ERes, a prediction type PredType, a reference picture number RefNo2 and motion vectors MV1, MV2 on a block-by-block basis, and outputting them as coded moving picture data Str. |
| US08184696B1 |
Method and apparatus for an adaptive systolic array structure
A method and apparatus for an adaptive systolic array structure is initially configured for motion estimation calculations and optionally reconfigured as the motion estimation algorithm progresses. A scheduling map of the processing element (PE) calculations for a given motion estimation algorithm is generated. A systolic array structure may then be generated from the scheduling map, whereby the size and shape of a processing element array is configured to generate the search pattern that is to be used during the search. In addition, delay elements may be implemented within the systolic array structure, so as to preserve the pixels of a current macroblock that are reused in accordance with the scheduling map. The systolic array structure may also be adapted by the motion estimation algorithm during subsequent search stages to accommodate refinements required by the search strategy. |
| US08184691B1 |
Managing telemetry bandwidth and security
An encryption and authentication technique that achieves enhanced integrity verification through assured error-propagation using a multistage sequence of pseudorandom permutations. The present invention generates intermediate data-dependent cryptographic variables at each stage, which are systematically combined into feedback loops. The encryption technique also generates an authentication tag without any further steps that is N times longer than the block size where N is the number of pseudorandom permutations used in the encipherment of each block. The authentication tag provides a unique mapping to the plaintext for any number of plaintext blocks that is less than or equal to N. In addition to being a stand alone encryption algorithm, the disclosed technique is applicable to any mode that uses pseudorandom permutations such as, key dependent lookup tables, S-Boxes, and block ciphers such as RC5, TEA, and AES. |
| US08184690B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus able to encode and decode images by a low cost, small sized circuit configuration, having a temporary storage portion for temporarily storing data, an encoding/decoding processing portion for reading and writing data successively with respect to the temporary storage portion and encoding and decoding the image data in parallel, and a storage control portion for controlling the read and write operations of the data with respect to the temporary storage portion, wherein the storage control portion controls the read and write operations with respect to the temporary storage portion by the encoding/decoding processing portion in the encoding processing and at least read and write operations to the temporary storage portion by the encoding/decoding processing portion in the decoding processing so as to be performed within one frame's worth or one field's worth of processing period in a time division manner. |
| US08184683B2 |
Digital interface and related event manager for integrated circuits
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a transceiver coupled to a baseband processor to receive digital control information that includes both event and schedule information, and which stores the digital control information in a storage of the transceiver. The transceiver may then be operated according to the event and schedule information. |
| US08184676B2 |
Method and apparatus for mitigating the effects of CW interference via post correlation processing in a GPS receiver
A positioning system receiver that mitigates the effect of continuous wave (CW) carrier interference with post correlation processing in a satellite positioning receiver, while not distorting the signal waveform or degrading receiver sensitivity and performing in low signal and dynamic interference environments. |
| US08184675B2 |
Residual frequency offset exploitation
Respective residual frequency offsets of de-spread correlated signals derived from a received communication signal are determined and used to improve receiver performance in high-velocity situations. The knowledge of the residual frequency offsets of the respective fingers can be used for adaptive AFC combining, improved velocity estimation, and adaptive residual frequency offset compensation. |
| US08184672B2 |
Frequency hopping
A cellular communications system includes a base station and a plurality of user devices, wherein each user device is operable to communicate with the base station over a communication channel having a plurality of frequency resources, wherein the base station is operable: i) to provide each user device with a respective initial allocation of the frequency resources; and ii) to provide at least one user device with a periodic communications opportunity in which the user device can communicate with the base station, wherein each user device is operable to apply a frequency shift to its initially allocated frequency resource in accordance with a frequency hopping sequence, wherein the user devices use the same frequency hopping sequence and are synchronized with each other so that, at any point in time, a common frequency shift is applied by the user devices. |
| US08184659B2 |
Network system for communicating between different IP versions with multiple translators
In a telecommunications network system in which two translators are placed for the conversion of IP version 4 (IPv4)-version 6 (IPv6)-IPv4, one translator converts an IPv4 packet to an IPv6 packet by adding a prefix obtained from a prefix management server managing prefixes to an address contained in an IPv4 packet received from an IPv4 terminal and also converts an IPx6 packet to an IPv4 packet by removing a prefix from the address contained in the IPx6 packet received from the translator. According to the conversion table, the other translator converts the IPv6 packet received from the one translator to an IPv4 packet and an IPv4 packet received from the IPv4 server to an IPv6 packet, thus enhancing the transfer efficiency in the IPv6-IPv4 conversion network. |
| US08184656B2 |
Control channel negotiated intermittent wireless communication
A dual mode communication device utilizes a control channel to exploit diversity, history, and context in advance of establishing a broadband data exchange session on a broadband but shorter range wireless data channel, maximizing productive use of such a session. Appropriate diversity for the negotiated session further enhance data transfer, including path diversity, radio technology diversity (e.g., WiMax, Wi-Fi, ultra wideband, Bluetooth), antenna diversity (e.g., MIMO), modulation diversity (e.g., rate selection for 802.11, or symbol length selection to combat multi-path fading), and frequency diversity (e.g., 2.4 GHz versus 5 GHz). Historical information about channel characteristics optimize the selection of channel parameters with respect to the diversity choices. In addition, context information such as location and speed can be used to categorize the historical information that is collected to further optimize channel parameters. |
| US08184649B2 |
Method for transmitting data available in the form of data packets
In a system in which several data links are available for the transmission while one respective sending unit is allocated to the data links to temporarily store data that is to be transmitted via the respective data link, data packets containing non-real-time critical data are subdivided into fragments of variable sizes prior to forwarding to a sending unit. Data packets containing real time-critical data are preferably forwarded to a sending unit without being fragmented. Additionally, a minimum fragment size can be predefined for the fragmentation process. |
| US08184648B2 |
Method and apparatus for implementing control of multiple physically dual homed devices
A ring control protocol is used to establish a separate control plane for a plurality of physically dual homed devices to enable collections of dual homed devices to be represented by a single pair of addresses into the attached routed Ethernet network. The gateway devices analyze the passing ring control packets to create direct mappings for data packets to the routed Ethernet network. Thus, although the dual homed devices are treated as a ring from a control perspective, the data path is implemented to be direct so that data packets continue to flow directly from the dual homed devices to each of the attached gateway devices. In one embodiment, each of the gateway devices implements a virtual switch and advertises the MAC address of the virtual switch into the routed Ethernet network rather than the MAC addresses of each of the attached Ethernet Switch Units. |
| US08184642B2 |
PCR jitter reduction in a VSB and/or EVSB multiplexer system
Program clock references in first and second MPEG data streams are re-stamped in accordance with delays introduced into the first and second MPEG data streams. Accordingly, the program clock references in the first MPEG data stream are re-stamped according to a variable delay in the first MPEG data stream, and the program clock references in the second MPEG data stream are re-stamped according to a variable delay in the second MPEG data stream. The re-stamped program clock references in the second MPEG data stream are corrected according to a fixed delay in the second MPEG data stream. The first and second MPEG data streams are multiplexed, and the multiplexed first and second MPEG data streams are transmitted and received. |
| US08184637B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for dynamic quality of service modification
A method, system and apparatus for dynamically modifying the quality of service provided to a mobile communication device. The method includes the steps of establishing a secure tunnel between the mobile communication device and a remote network through a wireless network; communicating through the secure tunnel at a first quality of service; determining that a second quality of service, higher or lower than the first quality of service, is more appropriate to the communication type, and requesting, from the wireless network, the second quality of service. |
| US08184635B2 |
Port packet queuing
A port queue includes a first memory portion having a first memory access time and a second memory portion having a second memory access time. The first memory portion includes a cache row. The cache row includes a plurality of queue entries. A packet pointer is enqueued in the port queue by writing the packet pointer in a queue entry in the cache row in the first memory. The cache row is transferred to a packet vector in the second memory. A packet pointer is dequeued from the port queue by reading a queue entry from the packet vector stored in the second memory. |
| US08184634B2 |
Packet transfer method and node apparatus
In a L2VPN, where Ethernet frames are encapsulated and transferred, when an edge node disposed at an entrance of the L2VPN encapsulates an Ethernet frame, the data type of the payload of the Ethernet frame is checked. If the payload data type includes time-to-live (TTL) information, whether to encapsulate or discard the frame is judged according to the TTL value. One material for judging whether to discard the frame is a condition that the TTL value is larger than ‘1’ and smaller than a predetermined threshold. |
| US08184633B2 |
Automated interoperability assessments based on iterative profling and emulation of SIP or T.38 fax-relay enabled devices
A system for and method of efficient interoperability assessment based on automated Behavioral Profiling and Emulation of SIP or T.38 Fax-relay Enabled Devices, for example, for profiling and emulating VoIP Phones such as SIP Phones, or T.38 Fax-relay devices such as Internet Aware Fax Terminals. The method includes a Multi-step/Multi-technology Iterative Profiling Stage that allows creating a Behavioral Profile based on the analysis of a plurality of traffic samples. Also, the method presents an efficient process of Device Emulation of an actual device to be used in interoperability assessment, including a Standard State Machine parameterized by a set of characteristics stored in the Behavioral Profile. The Emulation method can be used to duplicate one or more device behaviors exhibited either by different firmware revisions, software upgrades or by different OEM product models. |
| US08184632B1 |
System and method for accepting information from routing messages into a list
A system and method adds and manages entries on a list of entries of routing information to allow the top entry to be used for routing to a destination corresponding to the list. Costs of a wireless link may be a function of the success rate experienced on that wireless link. |
| US08184630B2 |
Method for managing multicast traffic in a data network and network equipment using said method
The invention relates to a method for managing multicast traffic in a data network, and network equipment using said method. Hosts receive from a network interface of a router traffic sent by sources in a multicast group. The hosts and the router communicate with one another by means of a multicast host-router communications protocol by means of which the hosts send to the router messages to request multicast traffic from sources in a multicast group. The router receiving one of said messages obtains in said message identifying data which identify the host that has sent said message, and said router stores in specific records for each network interface of the router, host and multicast group information about the sources the traffic of which has been requested by said host in said messages sent to the router. |
| US08184629B2 |
Reliable multicast using merged acknowledgements
Multiple multicast acknowledgements can be merged into a single multicast acknowledgement, thus reducing traffic and reducing logic complexity. An intermediate node that receives multiple multicast acknowledgements merges the multiple acknowledgements into a single acknowledgement, and then supplies the single merged acknowledgment to the multicast source. Encoding of the single merged acknowledgement conveys to the source which of the multicast targets successfully received (or which failed to receive) the multicast information. |
| US08184626B2 |
High-radix interprocessor communications system and method
A high-radix interprocessor communications system and method having a plurality of processor nodes, a plurality of first routers and a plurality of second routers. Each first router is connected to a processor node and to two or more second routers. Each first router includes input ports, output ports, row busses, columns channels and a plurality of subswitches arranged in a n x p matrix. Each row bus receives data from one of the plurality of input ports and distributes the data to two or more of the plurality of subswitches. Each column distributes data from one or more subswitches to one or more output ports. Each row bus includes a route selector, wherein the route selector includes a routing table which selects an output port for each packet and which routes the packet through one of the row busses to the selected output port. |
| US08184625B2 |
GPON management system
The present invention provides the capability to manage NEs with a large number of units of equipment and facilities, by providing functions such profiling, auto-creation, link aggregation and scoping. This makes it easier for to manage GPON data, voice and video services and to support traffic protection. A method for managing an optical network comprises automatically provisioning a unit of the optical network, automatically creating a unit of the optical network, and arranging link aggregation in a unit of the optical network. |
| US08184622B2 |
Integrated internet telephony system and signaling method thereof
A VoIP network includes an integrated Internet telephony system having an all-in-one architecture in which an application layer gateway function, a signaling processing function and a media processing function are integrated. The integrated Internet telephony system performs ALG processing on a packet bound to a first address and processes a signaling message bound to a second address so as to set up a call session between an external SIP terminal connected to a public network and an internal SIP terminal connected to a private network, and performs media processing on an RTP packet based on a third address, the RTP packet exchanged through the call session. A SIP signaling gateway function, a media gateway function and SIP-ALG function are installed in one chip, and respective functions are allocated with different IP addresses by the application of a virtual interface and aliasing IP addresses. |
| US08184621B2 |
Apparatus, system and method for short message routing control
The present disclosure provides an apparatus, system and method for short message routing control for delivering the short message when multiple paths exist. The apparatus for short message routing control includes an short message intelligent decision query unit and a Network Domain selection entity (NeDs) connected with each other; the short message intelligent decision query unit is configure to query the NeDs for a routing decision of a short message upon receiving the short message; and the NeDs is configured to determine the routing decision of the short message according to routing decision information stored in the NeDs, and return the determined routing decision to the short message intelligent decision query unit. |
| US08184619B2 |
Systems, methods and computer products for voicemail via internet protocol television
Systems, methods and computer products for voicemail via Internet Protocol Television. Exemplary embodiments include a method for providing voicemail to an Internet-Protocol-enabled device, the method including receiving a communication that a voicemail to a called party has been deposited in a voicemail infrastructure, mapping the called party number to an Internet Protocol-enabled device address of the called party, and sending the voicemail to the Internet Protocol-enabled device address corresponding to the called party number. |
| US08184615B2 |
Wireless terminal methods and apparatus for establishing connections
Methods and apparatus for establishing communication links, used to support communications sessions with one or more end nodes, e.g., mobile devices, are described. Various features are directed to a mobile node controlling the establishment of initial links to a first access node and the establishment of new links from a first access node to a second access node during a handoff operation using highly efficient messages and signal. |
| US08184614B2 |
System and method for automatic voice over IP endpoint configuration
A telecommunications system includes a packet network; a plurality of VoIP endpoints; and a plurality of VoIP feature servers. The VoIP endpoints are able to send configuration request messages to the feature servers. The feature servers respond with information indicative of supported features. The VoIP endpoints can then update the system configurations based on the response information. Further, newly added feature servers transmit feature availability messages to endpoints when initially installed. The endpoints then respond to configure themselves appropriately. |
| US08184611B2 |
Mobile station assisted timing synchronization in a CDMA communication system
In the present invention, the slave base station attains synchronization with the reference base station through messages transmitted from and received by a mobile station either in the soft handoff region between the reference base station and the slave base station or within a range which allows the mobile station to communicate with the slave base station. When the mobile station is not in communication with both the reference base station and the slave base station, then the round trip delay between the mobile station and the reference base station is measured by the reference base station. The reference base station communicates the PN code used by the mobile station over the reverse link to the slave base station. The slave base station acquires the signal from the mobile station and determines when the signal from the mobile station arrives. The slave base station then makes an estimate as to the length of the delay between transmission of a signal from the mobile station to the slave base station. Based upon these measurements and estimates, the slave base station determines the error which is present in the slave base station system time. |
| US08184609B2 |
System and method for random access in a wireless communication system
The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for random access in a wireless communication system. In one example, the method includes allocating first and second random access orthogonal frequency subbands to first and second subdivisions, respectively, in a wireless communication network. The first subband is assigned to a first position in a first subframe for use in the first subdivision during a first transmission slot, and the second subband is assigned to a second position in the first subframe for use in the second subdivision during the first transmission slot. The first subband is then assigned to a third position in a second subframe for use in the first subdivision during a second transmission slot following the first transmission slot, and the second subband is assigned to a fourth position in the second subframe for use in the second subdivision during the second transmission slot. |
| US08184606B2 |
Apparatus and method for monitoring base station signal in communication system having multiple antennas
In a signal monitoring apparatus of a base station of a communication system having multiple antennas, a transmitting/receiving unit transmits a plurality of transmit signals by using the multiple antennas or processes a plurality of receive signals received through the multiple antennas. A radio frequency calibration unit calibrates the transmit signals transmitted through the multiple antennas, and processes at least one target transmit signal among the plurality of transmit signals so as to monitor the at least one target transmit signal. A signal monitoring unit receives at least one first signal or at least one second signal, and transmits the at least one first signal or the at least one second signal to user equipment. The at least one first signal is a signal processed from at least one target receive signal among the plurality of receive signals, and the at least one second signal is a signal processed from the at least one target transmit signal by controlling the radio frequency calibration unit. |
| US08184605B2 |
Internet-orientated ad-hoc network
A hierarchical directional internet-oriented ad-hoc network, defined by a software infrastructure, is composed of gateway nodes and a plurality of wireless nodes, which may be fixed or mobile, and which may act as subscribers, routers, or both. The infrastructure hierarchy is defined by the hop count of each node (distance of that node to a fixed gateway node). The software infrastructure includes two tables associated with each node in the network: the upstream routing table which provides shortest routes to fixed gateway nodes through upstream neighbors, and the downstream routing table which provides shortest routes to subscribers through downstream neighbors. These two tables are used by routing algorithms. A peer table can also be used for alternate routes. The maintenance of the aforementioned tables is performed by autonomous algorithms operating locally on each node by receiving and processing signals from their neighbors. |
| US08184597B2 |
Technique for radio resource management
A radio resource management technique in a cellular telecommunication system is disclosed. The telecommunication system comprises at least one radio network controlling component and one or more base station components operable to implement an uplink scheduling scheme in relation to one or more user terminals. A method embodiment comprises the steps of receiving, by one of the base station components from the at least one radio network controlling component, at least one interference control parameter, of generating one or more scheduling grants taking into account the at least one interference control parameter, and of issuing the one or more scheduling grants to one or more user terminals. |
| US08184591B2 |
Handling cell reselections and state transitions for high-speed downlink packet access
A wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) is configured to operate in an high speed data packet access (HSDPA) mode in a cell and/or state and to clear HSDPA resources when moving out of the cell and/or state. The WTRU is configured to clear HSDPA resources when conditions to perform high speed downlink shared channel reception are not met. |
| US08184587B2 |
System and method for measuring round trip delay of voice packets in a telephone system
Systems and methods measure a round trip delay of voice packets through a telephone system that includes a plurality of cabinets connected through a network. Each cabinet includes a link for communicating with other cabinets through the network by passing information such as voice packets. Each link includes a field programmable gate array (FPGA) that inserts and reads information in the voice packets to measure a time delay of the network. A first cabinet link sets a transmit bit in a voice packet directed to a second cabinet and starts a timer. The second cabinet monitors the transmit bit in received voice packets to determine if the bit is set. If so, the second cabinet sets a receive bit in the next outgoing voice packet directed to the first cabinet. The first cabinet monitors the receive bit in incoming voice packets and if set, stops the timer. The resulting value in the timer reflects the network delay. |
| US08184579B2 |
ACK/NAK repetition schemes in wireless networks
ACK/NAK repetition may be necessary to provide sufficient coverage for cell edge UEs. For a coverage limited UE, a NodeB may inform the UE that ACK/NAK repetition is needed. Such information can be explicitly signaled to the UE via DL control channels or conveyed through higher layer signaling. Further, a specific resource for ACK/NAK repetition and the number of repeated transmissions of ACK/NAK are further signaled to the UE. |
| US08184578B2 |
Dynamic inter-cell channel sharing
A mechanism to share channels between cells dynamically and without simultaneous allocation of the same channel by more than one access point achieved by a method for a dynamic inter-cell channel sharing for a first access point in a radio access network, the first access point being associated with a first cell of a number of cells within the radio access network, the first access point being adapted to connecting at least one first user equipment being situated in the first cell, to a network infrastructure, comprising the steps of: receiving from the at least one first user equipment a report indicating whether a specific channel is used in a second adjacent cell of said number of cells, the report being based on a first information sent from at least one second access point, the information indicating whether a specific channel is used in the second adjacent cell. |
| US08184576B2 |
Method for state transition of mobile terminal
In a wireless mobile communications system, a state transition method of a mobile terminal is provided. The mobile terminal receives downlink data in a first state of the mobile terminal, a state of the mobile terminal keeps in the first state or transits to a second state based on a response message responding to the received downlink data, thereby minimizing an unnecessary state transition of the mobile terminal. |
| US08184573B2 |
Base station, mobile station, and synchronization channel transmission method
A base station communicating with a mobile station in a radio communication system by using OFDM for downlink is disclosed. The base station includes a sequence selecting unit configured to select multiple synchronization signal sequences; a synchronization signal generating unit configured to generate a secondary synchronization channel based on a part of the selected synchronization signal sequences and another part of the selected synchronization signal sequences; and a transmitting unit configured to transmit the secondary synchronization channel. The secondary synchronization channel is used to detect cell-specific information. |
| US08184570B2 |
Method of transmitting data in wireless communication system supporting multimedia broadcast/multicast service
A method of transmitting data in a wireless communication system supporting a multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) includes transmitting a data block for the MBMS through a main channel, and transmitting the data block through a sub-channel if an error report for the data block is received. Waste of radio resources is minimized by the use of a main channel while improving quality of the MBMS by restoring data by the use of a sub-channel. |
| US08184559B2 |
Key telephone system using a SIP and method of receiving and answering an incoming call for a representative group in the key telephone system
In a key telephone system including SIP telephones forming a representative group, a main unit transmits, upon reception of an incoming call for the representative group, a “NOTIFY” message to all of SIP telephones forming the representative group to perform a calling operation. An answering SIP telephone answers the main unit by sending a “NOTIFY” message to the main unit. The main unit transmits a “200 OK” message to the answering telephone alone and transmits a “NOTIFY” message to an unanswering SIP telephone. |
| US08184557B2 |
Apparatus and method for computer controlled call processing applications in packet switched telephone networks
A method is presented comprising transmitting, from an application computer communicably connected to a call controller which is connected to a data network, packetized messages indicative of telephone calls in progress at an endpoint of the data network, or indicative of such endpoint, and transmitting, from the call controller to the application computer, packetized messages indicative of a variety of information contained in, or relevant to, the telephone calls so as to process such information for a variety of applications. Apparatus to implement the method is also presented. |
| US08184555B1 |
SpaceWire network management
A system and method for SpaceWire network management are disclosed involving a network and a network manager (NM). The network includes a plurality of switches and a plurality of nodes. The switches and nodes do not have any preprogrammed knowledge of the network topology and/or of their unit identification (UID) code. In one or more embodiments, the network is a spacecraft communications network. In at least one embodiment, the method for managing the SpaceWire network comprises the network manager (NM) determining link connectivity of the network; verifying the switches are properly configured to allow for logical address routing; and verifying the nodes are configured to process, receive, and transmit data through the network. In some embodiments, the method further comprises determining newly added units, removed units, and/or unresponsive units in the network, and propagating this information through an active unit table. |
| US08184552B2 |
Communication terminal, control device, communication system, and program
A communication terminal providing optimal communication services between content providers comprising a property management table with an appraised value registered for each of a predetermined set of communication media properties for various types of communication media, a first user specified priority ranking list and a second priority ranking list specified by an application program provider with rankings for the set of communication media properties, whereby the desired communication medium is selected by adding weightings for priority from the first and second priority ranking lists and adding the appraised value for each item from the property management table and using the highest total to specify the optimum communication medium for use when commencement of communication is specified by a predetermined application program, and establishing communication connections between opposing devices using the selected optimum communication medium. Also disclosed are a communication system, control device and program including the communication terminal's elements. |
| US08184546B2 |
Endpoint device configured to permit user reporting of quality problems in a communication network
An IP telephone or other endpoint device in a network is configured to support a reporting mode of operation that may be entered, for example, responsive to user entry of a report command via a user interface of the endpoint device. In one aspect, the endpoint device stores call information in one or more buffers. Responsive to an instruction to enter a reporting mode, the endpoint device sends contents of the buffer(s) to a report server over the network. The endpoint device may reinitialize the buffer(s) responsive to an instruction to leave the reporting mode. |
| US08184541B2 |
Method and system for link layer scheduling in a multiple access communication system
A method and system is provided for link layer scheduling for networked applications in a coordinator-based communications system. A network-coordinating device receives a request from a networked application to establish a communications session. The request includes a set of session parameters. The network-coordinating device allocates a first transmission opportunity in response to the request. The network-coordinating device allocates successive transmission opportunities based on the set of session parameters without receiving successive requests. The set of session parameters comprises at least one of a predetermined flow control mechanism, a quality-of-service (QoS) requirement, a bandwidth requirement, and an application type. In one embodiment, the predetermined flow control mechanism is additive increase and multiplicative decrease (AIMD) of transmission control protocol (TCP). Using the novel link layer scheduling, the network-coordinating device is able to allocate and adjust successive transmission opportunities to match the upper-layer resource requirement and traffic pattern dynamically. |
| US08184536B2 |
Apparatus and method for error concealment for a digital wireless phone
When there are unused data slots available, a system allocates redundant slots in a data frame to a single mobile unit. A receiving device calculates a quality of slot (QoS) score for each slot that it receives data for. After the QoS score is calculated, the system calculates a Quality of Audio Segment (QoAS) score for each individual segment. It does so by comparing the individual audio segments that were received. Segments that are identical are assigned a positive score, while segments that differ get no score. The QoAS for each segment is added to the QoS for the slot the segment was transmitted in to generate the total score. The system then chooses the segment with the highest total score. If the total score is above a specified threshold, the system outputs the segment to the next component. Otherwise, it outputs a mute segment. |
| US08184532B2 |
Estimation of interference variation caused by the addition or deletion of a connection
A method for determining whether a connection event between a base station and a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) should be accepted or rejected, comprises measuring the interference level I0 in a candidate timeslot; measuring the path loss L between the base station and the WTRU; measuring the total transmit power P0 of the base station; determining a thermal noise level θ; determining a fading average signal-to-interference ratio (SIR); and calculating a ratio R, wherein if the ratio R is above a certain threshold the connection event will be accepted and if the call is below the threshold it will be rejected. |
| US08184528B2 |
Network backhaul systems and methods
An exemplary system includes a mobile telephone switching office (“MTSO”) subsystem having a first aggregation router and a second aggregation router, and a mobile telephone cell site router communicatively connected to the MTSO subsystem via a network backhaul connection. The cell site router is configured to establish at least one communication tunnel from the cell site router to the first aggregation router, establish at least one backup communication tunnel from the cell site router to the second aggregation router, detect at least one traffic forwarding failure associated with the communication tunnel, and redirect network backhaul traffic directed to the first aggregation router via the communication tunnel to the second aggregation router via the backup communication tunnel in response to the detected traffic forwarding failure. In certain embodiments, establishment of the backup communication tunnel includes pre-signaling the backup communication tunnel as backup to the communication tunnel. |
| US08184527B2 |
Method for conducting redundancy checks in a chain network
The present invention relates to a method for conducting redundancy checks in a chain network, wherein the two ends of the chain network are equipped with a first switch and a second switch respectively, and a port of the first or second switch used for communicating with an external network is set to be blocked, so that when an link failure happens to any switch of the chain network, the two switches close to the link failure port sends control packets to the first and second switches respectively to forward the port that is originally blocking, thus making the network to return to normal state quickly. Besides, as the first and second switches are used to connect other chain networks, external network devices or external redundant network architectures, it allows more network nodes to be included in single network architecture and provides flexibility and compatibility in use by including different redundancy mechanisms. |
| US08184525B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting and fixing faults in an inline-power capable ethernet system
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for detecting ground faults in an Ethernet system. An Ethernet switch is configured to provide inline power to a plurality of ports each having positive and negative rails. Current is injected into selected rails of a port and ground isolation is temporarily broken for the port. A detected mismatch in current levels between the positive and negative rails of the port indicates a ground fault in the port. |
| US08184522B2 |
Optical head for optical recorder/reproducer
An optical head for recording or reproducing a signal on or from an optical recording medium including a light source, an objective lens for condensing light emitted from the light source to the optical recording medium, and a light-separating device arranged between the light source and the objective lens in order to separate the light reflected from the optical recording medium from the light emitted from the light source. The light-separating device includes a first glass, a multilayer film formed on the first glass, and an adhesive layer arranged on the multilayer film in order to bond a second glass onto the multilayer film. The majority of the light emitted from the light source enters into the light-separating device through the first glass and is reflected by the multilayer film. |
| US08184519B2 |
Optical pickup apparatus
An optical pickup apparatus comprising: a diffraction grating that a laser beam enters, the diffraction grating being configured to generate a main beam that is 0th order light and sub-beams that are +1st order diffracted light and −1st order diffracted light; an objective lens configured to focus the main beam and the sub-beams onto a signal recording layer; a main-beam light-receiving portion that the main beam reflected by the signal recording layer is applied to; and sub-beam light-receiving portions that the sub-beams reflected by the signal recording layer are respectively applied to, each light-receiving area of the sub-beam light-receiving portions being smaller than a light-receiving area of the main-beam light-receiving portion. |
| US08184514B2 |
Signal quality evaluating apparatus and method, and information recording medium
A signal quality evaluating method necessary for a signal quality evaluation index and a margin design is provided for an apparatus utilizing hologram recording techniques. An evaluation index is used being obtained by dividing root sum square of standard deviations of luminance value distribution of on- and off-pixels obtained from reproduced signals, by a difference between average values. |
| US08184513B2 |
Recording/reproducing method, recording/reproducing apparatus, optical recording medium, and computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon program for the recording/reproducing method
A recording method for use by an apparatus and/or which is encoded on a computer readable medium includes selecting a defect management on mode or a defect management off mode that indicates whether defect management is to be performed or not while data is recorded in the recording medium, recording the data in the recording medium while defect management is performed on the recording medium, if the defect management on mode is selected, and recording the data in the recording medium without defect management, if the defect management off mode is selected. |
| US08184512B2 |
Optical disk drive with embedded test medium
Embodiments provide an optical disk drive that includes an embedded test medium for testing the optical performance of an optical head in the optical disk drive. |
| US08184501B2 |
Systems and methods for stretching clock cycles in the internal clock signal of a memory array macro
Systems and methods for stretching clock cycles of the internal clock signal of a memory array macro to allow more time for a data access in the macro than the period of an external clock signal. In one embodiment, a local clock buffer in the memory array macro receives a regular periodic external clock signal and generates an internal clock signal. The local clock buffer includes a first signal path that has one or more faster-than-nominal components so that the first rising edge of the internal clock cycle occurs early than it would in a clock buffer with nominal components. When the memory array macro is active for a data access, the local clock buffer stretches a clock cycle of the internal clock signal so that the first and second half-periods of the internal clock cycle are each greater than the half-periods of the external clock signal. |
| US08184500B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and method for operating the same
A semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of banks, a first bank selection driving control signal generation unit configured to generate a plurality of first bank selection driving control signals corresponding to the plurality of banks in response to an active command signal and an address signal, a second bank selection driving control signal generation unit configured to generate a plurality of second bank selection driving control signals corresponding to the plurality of banks in response to one of a read command signal and a write command signal and in response to the address signal, and an internal voltage driver configured to selectively drive a plurality of internal voltage terminals corresponding to the plurality of banks in response to the plurality of first bank selection driving control signals and the plurality of second bank selection driving control signals. |
| US08184497B2 |
Methods and systems for reducing heat flux in memory systems
The memory module includes front and back faces. Multiple devices are disposed on each of the faces. A first control line serially connects a first group of devices on both the front and back faces so that the first group of devices commonly contribute multiple bits to a data bus. A second control line serially connects a second group of devices on both the front and back faces so that the second group of devices commonly contribute multiple bits to a data bus. |
| US08184496B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for operating the same
A semiconductor device includes a sensing unit configured to sense whether a value of a programming sensing node is within a predefined range, a fuse connected to the programming sensing node, a programming voltage supplying unit configured to supply a programming voltage to the programming sensing node, and a transferring unit configured to transfer the value of the programming sensing node in response to the sensing result of the sensing unit. |
| US08184494B2 |
Cell inferiority test circuit
A cell inferiority test circuit includes a compression data generator configured to compress selected data in response to selection signals and to generate compression data including information about cell inferiority, a strobe signal delayer configured to delay a strobe signal by an amount of time set by a test signal and to generate a delayed strobe signal, and an input/output line driver configured to receive the compression data in sync with the delayed strobe signal and to drive a global input/output line. |
| US08184490B2 |
Self-calibration method of a reading circuit of a nonvolatile memory
A self-calibration circuit of a nonvolatile memory includes a trimming data storage module, a sense amplifier module, a logic judgment module, and a scanning module. The nonvolatile memory circuit includes a memory cell array and the self-calibration circuit of the reading circuit of the nonvolatile memory. Without requiring an additional fuse or differential unit, the self-calibration circuit of a nonvolatile memory solves a deadlock problem securely and reliably without increasing circuit area and test cost, and be widely applied to OTP, MTP and EEPROM of various processes or various nonvolatile memories such as Flash EEPROM, MRAM, and FeRAM. |
| US08184488B2 |
Systems and methods for controlling integrated circuit operation with below ground pin voltage
Systems and methods for controlling operation of an integrated circuit by applying below ground voltage to one or more pins of the integrated circuit, and in which the application of a below ground pin voltage may be employed as an initiator of (or condition for) a given mode of circuit operation in a manner that prevents the inadvertent initiation of the given mode of operation that may otherwise occur due to accidental application of an above ground voltage to one or more pins of the integrated circuit. |
| US08184487B2 |
Modified read operation for non-volatile memory
A method may comprise executing a read operation to access a memory array by performing a preactive command to include a row-address-write operation and a bitline precharge and column selection operation and performing an activate command including a column-address-write operation and a row-decode-selection operation. |
| US08184482B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device for preventing a source line bouncing phenomenon
A nonvolatile memory device includes a memory cell array configured to include cell strings coupled between respective bit lines and a source line, a unilateral element coupled to the source line, and a negative voltage generation unit coupled to the unilateral element and configured to generate a negative voltage. |
| US08184481B2 |
Memory devices and methods of their operation including selective compaction verify operations
Memory devices and methods of their operation, where following an erasure of a string of memory cells, a selective compaction verify operation is performed on one or more, but less than all, of the memory cells of the string, and, if the selective compaction verify operation indicates compaction is desired, a soft programming pulse is applied to one or more of the memory cells of the string. |
| US08184475B2 |
Robust local bit select circuitry to overcome timing mismatch
An integrated circuit can include an SRAM array having cells arranged in columns, each column being connected to true and complementary read local bitlines RLBLT and RLBLC. A local bit-select circuit can be connected to the cells of a column of the SRAM array, which can include first and second pull-down devices for pulling down a respective one of RLBLT and RLBLC at a timing controlled by a write control signal WRT. The circuit can include cross-coupled p-type field effect transistors (“PFETs”) including a first PFET having a gate connected to RLBLT and having a drain connected to RLBLC, and a second PFET of the pair having a gate connected to RLBLC and having a drain connected to RLBLT. A first device can control a strength of the cross-coupled PFETs. A pair of cross-coupled n-type field effect transistors (“NFETs”) can have gates connected to gates of the first and second pull-down devices. A second device can control a strength of the cross-coupled NFETs. The operation of the first and second devices can be controlled by applying first and second signals having programmed levels thereto. The levels of the first and second signals may selectively activate either the first device or the second device, so as to activate either the cross-coupled PFETs or the cross-coupled NFETs at one time. |
| US08184474B2 |
Asymmetric SRAM cell with split transistors on the strong side
An integrated circuit containing an SRAM cell array in which each SRAM cell includes an auxiliary NMOS driver or PMOS load transistor plus a bit-side passgate transistor and a bit-bar-side passgate transistor. An integrated circuit containing an SRAM cell array in which each SRAM cell includes an auxiliary PMOS driver or NMOS load transistor plus a bit-side passgate transistor and a bit-bar-side passgate transistor. A process of operating an integrated circuit containing an SRAM cell array in which each SRAM cell includes an auxiliary NMOS driver or PMOS load transistor plus a bit-side passgate transistor and a bit-bar-side passgate transistor. A process of operating an integrated circuit containing an SRAM cell array in which each SRAM cell includes an auxiliary PMOS driver or NMOS load transistor plus a bit-side passgate transistor and a bit-bar-side passgate transistor. |
| US08184473B2 |
Nanowire memory device and method of manufacturing the same
A nanowire memory device and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. A memory device includes: a substrate; a first electrode formed on the substrate; a first nanowire extending from an end of the first electrode; a second electrode formed over the first electrode to overlap the first electrode; and a second nanowire extending from an end of the second electrode corresponding to the end of the first electrode in the same direction as the first nanowire, wherein an insulating layer exists between the first and second electrodes. |
| US08184471B2 |
DRAM having stacked capacitors of different capacitances
A DRAM device having a plurality of memory blocks, including edge-located memory blocks and adjacent central memory blocks. An edge-located memory block shares a sense amplifier with an adjacent central memory block. The memory cells in the edge-located memory block include data storage capacitors having a greater capacitance value than data storage capacitors in the memory cells in the adjacent central memory block. The data storage capacitors in edge-located memory cells may have greater surface area than data storage capacitors in the central memory cells. The data storage capacitors in edge-located memory cells may be formed by connecting in parallel two data storage capacitors of the shape and size of data storage capacitors used in each of the memory cells of the adjacent central memory block. |
| US08184469B2 |
Stored multi-bit data characterized by multiple-dimensional memory states
A method for enhancing data storage may comprise storing two or more bits in a memory cell, wherein the stored bits may be characterized by two or more independent variables based, at least in part, on physical properties of the memory cell. |
| US08184463B2 |
Semiconductor apparatus
The need for mediation operation is eliminated by adoption of a connection topology in which a circuit for executing one transmission (TR—00T), and a circuit for executing a plurality of receptions (TR—10R, TR—20R, TR—30R) are connected to one penetration-electrode group (for example, TSVGL—0). In order to implement the connection topology even in the case of piling up a plurality of LSIs one after another, in particular, a programmable memory element for designating respective penetration-electrode ports for use in transmit, or for us in receive, and address allocation of the respective penetration-electrode ports is mounted in stacked LSIs. |
| US08184461B2 |
Power conditioner and solar photovoltaic power generation system
A first circuit generates a first sequence of square wave voltages having a voltage level that changes to a positive side relative to a first reference potential, which is a potential on a negative-electrode side of a direct current power source, from a direct current voltage. A second circuit generates a second sequence of square wave voltages having a voltage level lower than the voltage level of the first sequence of square wave voltages on the positive side that changes to a negative side relative to a second reference potential. The second chopper circuit further generates a third sequence of square wave voltages having a voltage level that changes to the positive and negative side in turns in the manner of sinusoidal wave relative to the first reference potential by summing the first sequence of square wave voltages and the second sequence of square wave voltages. A third circuit outputs the third sequence of square wave voltages as a charge/discharge output. The third circuit further PWM-controls the charge/discharge output so that a difference of the third sequence of square wave voltages to a sinusoidal wave voltage is corrected and thereby generates a sinusoidal wave voltage that continuously changes to the positive and negative sides relative to the first reference potential from the third sequence of square wave voltages and the PWM-controlled output, and outputs the generated sinusoidal wave voltage to a load. |
| US08184459B2 |
Switching power supply apparatus
A switching power supply apparatus employing a voltage obtained by rectifying an output from an AC power supply, as an input thereof includes a switching control circuit. The switching control circuit conducts a PFM control having a fixed ON-period of a switching device when a load is judged to be light based on a load signal indicating the load, and a PWM control when the load is judged not to be light. The switching control circuit changes the ON-period based on whether the AC power supply is a high voltage system or a low voltage system. |
| US08184456B1 |
Adaptive power converter and related circuitry
A resonant power converter circuit stage can be configured to: i) receive a rectified voltage derived from an AC input voltage; ii) convert the rectified voltage to an internal voltage based on the application of a duty cycle that varies depending on the input voltage and the output dynamic load, and iii) convert the internal voltage to a DC output voltage for driving the dynamic load based on application of a switching frequency that varies depending on a dynamic load. The efficiency of the power converter system can be increased by setting the internal DC voltage magnitude to be load adaptive. Variation of the internal DC voltage depending on the dynamic load enables the resonant converter circuit to operate at a switching frequency near its optimum resonance frequency. This method results in constant power converter system efficiency over a wide range of loading. In order to further increase the light load efficiency interleaved resonant power converters with load, adaptive internal DC voltage are used. |
| US08184454B2 |
Wireless power transmitting apparatus
A wireless power transmitting apparatus for remotely transmitting energy is implemented with a closed metal housing and a plurality of conductive plates disposed within the closed metal housing. With the aid of a high impedance between the closed metal housing and the conductive plates, a surface having the high impedance is formed on both the closed metal housing and the conductive plates for constraining electromagnetic power within the closed metal housing from dissipating and being consumed. The wireless power transmitting apparatus is not merely able to effectively and uniformly restrict electromagnetic field energy to the closed metal housing with the aid of the high impedance, but is also be able to raise a power transmitting efficiency between a power emitting device and a power receiving device. |
| US08184448B2 |
Bare chip embedded PCB
A PCB having an embedded bare chip includes an insulated substrate having a penetration hole formed therein; a filler filling up an inside of the penetration hole; a bare chip embedded in the filler such that electrode pads formed on one side thereof are exposed at the surface of the filler; and an electrode bump attached to a surface of the electrode pads and protruded to be exposed to the outside. |
| US08184444B2 |
Electrode pad for mounting electronic component and structure for mounting electronic component
Provided is an electrode pad for mounting an electronic component on a surface of a circuit board. The electrode pad includes first and second electrode parts facing each other, and third and fourth electrode parts facing each other. The third and fourth electrode parts are disposed adjacent to the first and second electrode parts for forming corners of the electrode pad together with the first and second electrode parts. At least one of the first to fourth electrode parts includes a chamfered surface formed by cutting a corner of the at least one of the first to fourth electrode parts forming the corner of the electrode pad. Therefore, when the electrode pad is used for mounting an electronic component, the width of an outer electrode of the electronic component can be sufficiently increased, and thus the shape or size of the outer electrode can be easily adjusted. |
| US08184443B2 |
SIM card retention assembly
A retention assembly for a SIM card incorporated in a portable electronic device having a main body, includes a receiving portion, a limiting sheet and a resilient pressing member. The receiving portion is defined in the main body to receive the SIM card. The receiving portion defines an entrance end. The limiting sheet extends from a side of the receiving portion to an opposite side of the receiving portion to resist the SIM card. The resilient pressing member includes a fixing portion fixed to the main body, a limiting portion resisting an end of the SIM card adjacent to the entrance end of the receiving portion, and a resilient portion interconnecting with the fixing portion and the limiting portion to press against the SIM card. |
| US08184442B2 |
Case of an electronic device
A case for an electronic device includes a printed circuit board; a frame capable of storing the printed circuit board; a back board equipped on a back side of the frame, and including a connector for connecting the printed circuit board; rail holders equipped in predetermined positions of the frame and extending from a front side of the case to the back board; and guide rails engaged with the rail holders respectively and including engagement parts capable of engaging with the rail holders respectively, and holding parts for holding both ends of the frame, and extending in accordance with the rail holders, respectively. |
| US08184441B2 |
Flash memory device with telescopic connector port and a casing of the flash memory device
A flash memory device includes a cover, an electrical module, a slider and a rotatable member for driving the slider. The cover defines a receiving chamber and an opening communicating with the receiving chamber. The electrical module is slideably received in the receiving chamber and includes a circuit board and a connector port electrically connected with the circuit board. The rotatable member has a fixed axis around which the rotatable member revolves. The rotatable member includes a protrusion slideably received in a slot defined in the slider. The connector port is driven to telescopically extend through the opening by the slider which is further driven by the protrusion. |
| US08184439B2 |
Semiconductor module
A semiconductor module includes a semiconductor package generating thermal energy, a heat collecting member transferring thermal energy from the semiconductor package to a heat collection area in the heat collecting member, a heat radiating member transferring thermal energy received from the heat collecting member and package to the outside, and a thermoelectric device transferring thermal energy through the heat collection area to the heat radiating member via the thermoelectric effect. The heat collecting member and heat radiating member may be otherwise insulated so thermal energy is transferred and controlled by the thermoelectric device. The package may be a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), microprocessor, central processing unit (CPU), graphic processing unit (GPU), or flash memory. The heat radiating member may be an external case of a solid state disk (SSD), and the thermoelectric device may be a Peltier cooler controlled through a power line. |
| US08184438B2 |
Control device
A modular control device comprises a control board, a sub-module and a housing cover, with a microcomputer mounted on the control board. The sub-module has a sub-module case provided with a wiring layer that is mounted into a wall of the sub-module case. Electronic parts are mounted in the sub-module case to electrically connect to the control board through the wiring layer. A housing cover accommodates the control board and the sub-module. A housing base is joined with the housing cover. The accommodation portion has a shape corresponding to a shape of each of the electronic parts is arranged in the housing cover. The sub-module is mounted to the housing cover with a heat radiation adhesive between the accommodation portion and each of the electronic parts. |
| US08184437B2 |
Modular test systems for severe environments
A modular equipment testing apparatus is suitable for use in severe environments. The testing apparatus comprises a base computing unit, an interchangeable test instrument board, and an interchangeable equipment interface pod. The base computing unit and the interchangeable test instrument board are sealed within a computing case. A bottom panel of the computing case is formed of a heat conducting material and acts as a heat sink for removing heat from inside the computing case. The computing case and the equipment interface pod interface to form a hermetically sealed case, which can withstand a drop of 1 meter to a solid surface and immersion to a depth of 0.5 meters in water without damage to components located within the sealed case. |
| US08184433B2 |
Switch and electronic device having a pivotable cover
An electronic device having a pivotable cover includes a cover body, a device body connected pivotably to the cover body, and a switch unit disposed on pivot connecting portions of the cover body and the device body. When the cover body is pivoted relative to the device body, the switch unit switches a power supply status of the electronic device. Thus, the convenience of operating the electronic device is enhanced. |
| US08184428B2 |
Dielectric ceramic and capacitor
A dielectric ceramic comprising a barium titanate as a main component and a capacitor comprising the dielectric ceramic are disclosed. The dielectric ceramic has a high dielectric constant that is stable over temperature, and has a small spontaneous polarization. The capacitor can reduce audible noise caused by an electrically induced strain in a power supply circuit. |
| US08184425B2 |
Multilayer capacitor
There is provided a multilayer capacitor including: a capacitor body where a plurality of dielectric layers are laminated, the capacitor body including first and second surfaces opposing each other in a laminated direction, wherein the first surface provides a mounting surface; a plurality of first and second inner electrodes; an inner connecting conductor; and a plurality of first and second outer electrodes formed on an outer surface of the body, wherein a corresponding one of the outer electrodes having identical polarity to the inner connecting conductor includes at least one outer terminal formed on the first surface of the body to connect to the inner connecting conductor, and at least one outer connecting conductor formed on the second surface of the body to connect a corresponding one of the inner electrodes of identical polarity to the inner connecting conductor. |
| US08184424B2 |
Multilayer electronic component including a counter diffusion layer
A multilayer electronic component includes a laminate including insulating layers that are laminated to each other and internal electrodes provided along interfaces between the insulating layers, edges of the internal electrodes being exposed at a predetermined surface of the laminate and an external electrode provided on the predetermined surface. The external electrode includes a plated film which is directly provided on the predetermined surface of the laminate so as to electrically connect edges of the internal electrodes exposed at the predetermined surface of the laminate, and at a boundary portion between each of the internal electrodes and the plated film, a counter diffusion layer is provided, in which a metal component in the plated film and a metal component in the internal electrodes are both detectable, and extend to both sides of the internal electrodes and the plated film, and, at a side of the internal electrodes. |
| US08184423B2 |
Electronic device with automatic mode switching
An automatic hold switch is disclosed. The automatic hold switch provides a means for automatically switching a hold feature on and off. When the hold feature is on, one or more input devices of a portable electronic device are disabled or prevented from providing input signals. When the hold feature is off, one or more input devices of a portable electronic device are enabled or allowed to provide input signals. Because the user no longer has to manually control the hold feature, the number of actions that need to be taken by the user is reduced. In one example, the automatic hold switch is embodied with light sensors that detect when the device is in a dark environment and when the device is in a light environment. A dark environment indicates to the portable electronic device that the user wishes not to input and therefore the hold feature is turned on. A lighted environment indicates to the portable electronic device that the user wishes to input and therefore the hold feature is turned off. |