| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08200148B2 |
Communication control apparatus, communication apparatus and communication system
An EV-DO terminal module is made up of hardware and software for implementing the function as an EV-DO terminal. A W-LAN terminal module is made up of hardware and software for implementing the function as an AP of W-LAN. An information exchange terminal module has a function equal to that of the W-LAN terminal module. A control module has a dialup function and a function based on PPP protocol and is a hardware and software module for controlling the EV-DO terminal module, the information exchange terminal module, and the W-LAN terminal module. |
| US08200147B2 |
Wireless communication system for controlling communication area by jamming
A wireless communication system for geographically controlling a communication area includes an access point for communicating with a terminal in a first area, and a jammer for generating noise for intercepting communication between the access point and a terminal in a second area. A jamming boundary for dividing an area in which the terminal can communicate with the access point and an area in which the terminal cannot communicate with the access point in an area in which the first area and the second area are overlapped is formed, and the jamming boundary is formed by a ratio between power of a signal transmitted to the terminal by the access point and power of a signal of the noise. |
| US08200146B2 |
Book spread identification arrangement for a board book
A book spread identification arrangement for a board book is provided, the arrangement comprising a plurality of conductive paths, contact means disposed adjacent at least part of at least one of the conductive paths and processing means connected to the conductive paths and configured for processing signals associated with the conductive paths. One selection end of each path is disposed adjacent the spine surface of the book. The contact means comprise one or more conductive surfaces and are arranged, upon opening of the book to a spread, to contact one of a plurality of combinations of one or more of the conductive paths. Each of the plurality of combinations is in a predetermined unique association with a respective single spread of the book. From the processed signals, the processing means are able to determine the particular combination of conductive paths contacted by the contact means and identify to which spread the book is open. |
| US08200145B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a housing; a sheet discharging tray; a discharge unit, provided within the housing, the discharge unit configured to discharge a sheet into the sheet discharging tray; a pressing member, provided at a position downstream of the discharge unit in a conveying direction of the sheet, the pressing member configured to apply a pressing force to a surface of the sheet at a pressing position; and a pressing force changing unit which is configured to change the pressing force of the pressing member against the surface of the sheet. |
| US08200139B2 |
Apparatus for scanning duplex document and method of scanning duplex document using the same
A method and apparatus for efficiently scanning a duplex document in which a scan unit sequentially scans both sides of a sheet of a duplex document by moving the sheet across a reader, and a reverse output unit to output the sheet after turning over the sheet. Therefore, since the sheet of a document can be fed and scanned while the second side of the previous sheet of the document is scanned, scanning time can be reduced. Particularly, the reduction in scanning time is very useful when multiple sheets of a duplex document need to be scanned. |
| US08200136B2 |
Image transfer roller (ITR) utilizing an elastomer crown
Disclosed is an image transfer roller (ITR) utilizing an elastomer crown, imaging devices and imaging apparatus using the disclosed ITR. According to one exemplary embodiment, an ITR includes a cylindrically shaped conductive shaft and an elastomer material covering all or a portion of the conductive shaft. The profile of the outer surface of the elastomer material includes a substantially quadratic crown profile. |
| US08200130B2 |
Development device and image forming apparatus using the same
In a hybrid development method using a plurality of toner carriers, a development device and image forming apparatus are provided, wherein high image quality in which toner density is not reduced even in the case of high speed printing and the occurrence of development hysteresis (ghost) is controlled is ensured by accelerating the collection of the post-development residual toner on the toner carrier. The counter-charge having occurred in the developer remains in the developer without decreasing to disappear until the developer moves to the second toner carrier on the downstream-side, wherein this counter-charge is caused by supplying toner to the first toner carrier upstream in the rotating direction of the developer carrier. |
| US08200127B2 |
Developer storing container and image forming apparatus
A developer storing container includes outer and inner cases. The outer case includes first and second hollow portions. The first hollow portion includes a surrounding wall so shaped as to surround a center axis. The surrounding wall has both ends in a cross-section perpendicular to the center axis, and has an ejection opening. The second hollow portion includes first and second outer walls extending from both ends of the surrounding wall and a third outer wall disposed therebetween. The inner case is rotatably disposed in the first hollow portion, and has an opening corresponding to the ejection opening. The surrounding wall extends from one of both ends to the other of both ends at an angle greater than or equal to 180 degrees with respect to the center axis. An entire outer surface of the surrounding wall constitutes a part of an outer surface of the outer case. |
| US08200126B2 |
Toner cartridges for an image forming device
A toner cartridge for use with image forming devices according to one example embodiment includes an interior to contain toner that is transferred to the image forming device and used during image formation and includes one or more engagement features that interact with the image forming device during insertion. The engagement features may include one or more alignment features that align the cartridge during insertion into the image forming device. The engagement features may also include one or more functional features that allow the cartridge to effectively transfer the toner to the image forming device. |
| US08200124B2 |
Belt unit and image forming device
A belt unit includes an endless belt, a drive roller, a follow roller, and a braking member. The drive roller drives the endless belt to move circularly. The follow roller rotates about a rotational shaft thereof following the circular movement of the endless belt. The rotational shaft extends in an axial direction and having two axial ends. The endless belt is wound around the drive roller and the follow roller. The braking member is disposed on one of the two axial ends and is rotatable about the rotational shaft and applies a rotational friction force to the endless belt when the endless belt is in frictional contact with the braking member. |
| US08200120B2 |
Image forming apparatus having an intermediate transfer belt disposed above a plurality of photoconductors
In an image forming apparatus, a support frame is configured to support a plurality of photoconductors arranged in the apparatus, the support frame being allowed to be pulled out from a casing of the apparatus, and an intermediate transfer belt is disposed above the plurality of photoconductors and configured to be movable between a contact position in which the intermediate transfer belt is in contact with each of the plurality of photoconductors and a separate position in which the intermediate transfer belt is separate from the each of the plurality of photoconductors. A predetermined amount of upward movement of the support frame made when the intermediate transfer belt is or comes in the separate position renders the support frame operable to be pulled out in a direction of arrangement of the plurality of photoconductors. |
| US08200118B2 |
Image-forming device and cover member therefor
An image-forming device includes: a casing; an image-forming section including a plurality of image-forming units; a paper supply unit; and a discharge unit. The plurality of image-forming units are arranged substantially vertically within the casing when the casing is disposed in an orientation in which it is intended to be used, each image-forming unit forming an image in a corresponding color. The paper supply unit is disposed above the image-forming units when the casing is disposed in the orientation in which it is intended to be used. The paper supply unit is configured to accommodate a recording medium substantially in a vertical orientation and to supply the recording medium to the image-forming section. The discharge unit is disposed above the image-forming units when the casing is disposed in the orientation in which it is intended to be used. The discharge unit is configured to receive the recording medium discharged from the image-forming section substantially in a vertical orientation. |
| US08200117B2 |
Image forming apparatus having pivotable upper body
An image forming apparatus including: a first body including a developing unit to perform an image forming operation on a print medium, and a second body provided above the first body to pivot between a closed position and an open position in relation to the first body, the second body including a light emitting unit, wherein the light emitting unit is directly above the developing unit when the second body is in the closed position, and the developing unit is exposed to an outside of the image forming apparatus when the second body is in the closed position. A user can place the image forming apparatus on a desktop, which increases convenience in using the apparatus. Additionally, a specialized image forming apparatus can be provided to a user who mainly wants to print and copy in small quantities. |
| US08200116B2 |
Cleaning device for rotary member, charging device and image forming apparatus including the same
A cleaning element for an image forming apparatus, such as a printer. The cleaning element may include a brush, which may include a support structure and brush filaments extending therefrom. Each of the brush filaments has a tip at the distal end from the support structure and may be configured to contact a surface of a member to be cleaned. An inorganic microparticle may be bonded at or proximate to the tip by a discharge product as an adhesive. Thus, it is possible to provide a cleaning element capable of removing material adhering to the surface of the member to be cleaned. The cleaning element is capable of providing long-term effective cleaning of a member of an image forming apparatus during extended use. |
| US08200111B2 |
Prevention of deformation of fixing unit in image-forming apparatus
An image-forming apparatus capable of satisfactorily maintaining the durability of a separating mechanism while preventing deformation of rubber layers of parts of a fixing unit and at the same time achieving a power saving effect. The image-forming apparatus is shifted into a power saving state without a fixing part and a pressurizing part of the fixing unit being separated. The fixing part and the pressurizing part are separated, if a return condition from the power saving state is not satisfied even after elapse of a predetermined time period from when the apparatus has been shifted into the power saving state. |
| US08200108B2 |
Dynamic donor loading control for development system
A method and apparatus transfer a material from first roller within a container to at least one second roller, and transfer the material from the second roller to at least one third roller. The second roller and the third roller form a loading nip at a location where the second roller is closest to the third roller. The method and apparatus transfer the material from the third roller to at least one recipient device, and measure current flow between the second roller and the third roller using a measurement device. Then, the method alters the relative rotation rate difference between the first roller and the second roller based on the current flow to maintain a predetermined density of the material at the loading nip using a controller. |
| US08200101B2 |
Condition determining system, method of detecting abnormality of condition determining system, and image forming apparatus
A system abnormality determining method comprises the steps of transmitting fake abnormal information representing an abnormal condition of the target instrument from the target instrument to a condition determination device via a network during a test operation of the target instrument instead of condition information, determining if the condition determination device can determine the target instrument as being abnormal based on the fake abnormal information, and operating the target instrument in a normal operation condition when the condition determination device can determine the target instrument as being abnormal. |
| US08200078B2 |
Camera control system and associated pan/tilt head
An apparatus for controlling one or more cameras is provided. The apparatus includes: a mounting sled, a tilt drive motor, a tilt drive train, a pan drive motor, and a pan drive train. The mounting sled includes a camera platform between two sled runners. A lower surface of each sled runner is formed by a circular arc. The tilt drive train includes a tilt drive shaft having an axis perpendicular to the camera platform. The pan drive train includes a pan drive shaft extending along the axis of the tilt drive shaft such that it receives the tilt drive shaft and turns independently and concentrically about the tilt drive shaft. The camera platform receives a camera such that the center of gravity of the camera is aligned with the diameter of the circular arc of the sled runners and the vertical axis of the tilt and pan drive shafts. |
| US08200076B2 |
Estimating gender or age of a photographer
A method of estimating the gender or approximate age of a photographer, includes: determining a steadiness signal related to movement of a camera held by a photographer while capturing an image or video, wherein the steadiness signal identifies the motion of the camera in at least two dimensions as a function of time. Then using a processor for determining a demographic classification for the photographer based on an analysis of the steadiness signal, wherein the demographic classification includes the approximate age or the gender of the photographer. |
| US08200074B1 |
Apparatus for murky water camera inspection of under-water construction features
An underwater camera apparatus for use in obtaining photograph images of underwater structures is disclosed. The apparatus is comprised of a sealed box having a defined interior space with a transparent front face. A lens adaptor is mounted in an opening on the rear face of the box and a camera having a lens is mounted onto the lens adaptor. The box is provided with a removable cap plate allowable sealable access to the interior space of the box. The removable cap plate is used to fill the box with clear water to assist in making the apparatus buoyant neutral in an underwater environment. |
| US08200073B1 |
Dental treatment observation system
A dental treatment observation system includes a photographing unit supported with a first auxiliary arm at a front end of a support arm extending from a stand and a stereoscopic display unit supported with a second auxiliary arm at the front end of the support arm. The stand allows the photographing unit and stereoscopic display unit together to be widely moved and the first and second auxiliary arms allow the units to be separately moved in optional directions. The system is appropriate for dental treatment and is capable of reducing fatigue of a dentist during treatment. |
| US08200072B2 |
Temperature limited heaters for heating subsurface formations or wellbores
Systems and methods are described for heating a subsurface formation. Alternating electrical current may be applied to one or more electrical conductors. The electrical conductors may be located in a subsurface formation. The electrical conductors may provide an electrically resistive heat output upon application of the alternating electrical current. At least one of the electrical conductors may include an electrically resistive ferromagnetic material. The electrical conductor may provide a reduced amount of heat above or near a selected temperature. Heat may be allowed to transfer from the electrical conductor to a part of the subsurface formation. |
| US08200071B1 |
Digital recorder with trick play operation
A record and replay apparatus comprises a transducing unit for reproducing a digital signal from a medium. A control unit controls a reproduction mode of the apparatus. A decoding is coupled to the transducing unit for decoding the digital signal and deriving therefrom a signal indicative of a specific picture type. The reproduction mode has a first period of reproduction at a normal play speed and a second period of reproduction at a speed greater than the play speed. The first and second periods alternating with the first period initiated responsive to the signal indicative of a specific picture type. In a further arrangement a first transducing unit records an MPEG signal. A control unit generates a signal, indicating an intra coded frame occurrence in the MPEG bit stream, which is recorded by a second transducing unit together with a servo reference signal. |
| US08200070B2 |
Recording medium, playback apparatus, recording method, program, and playback method
On a BD-ROM, an AVClip and a plurality of playback section information (PlayItems) are recorded. The AVClip includes a video stream multiplexed with a plurality of elementary streams. The playback section information Playable_PID_entries showing the playback start point and the playback end point in the video stream correlated with the filtering specification of each elementary stream. The filtering specification specifies whether each of the plurality of elementary streams are able to be played back or not. |
| US08200069B2 |
Data indicating method, reproducing device, recording device
A BD media with different formats such as BDMV and BDAV having been recorded. In a data indicating method of list-indicating data recorded on a recording medium, the data includes a first data group and a second data group, the first data group is recorded onto the recording medium according to a first recording format, the second data group is recorded according to a second recording format different from the first recording format, the first recording data group includes first list indication data for a first list indicating method, the second group includes second list for a second list indicating method different from the first method, the first list indication data indicates the first data group, the second list indication data indicates the second data group, and the first group and the second data group are collectively list-indicated. |
| US08200067B2 |
Processing of scalable compressed video data formats for nonlinear video editing systems
If motion video data is stored in a scalable format, such as motion JPEG 2000, in computer files on disk drives, then access to only the lower bandwidth data requires skipping around within a data file to locate only the desired data for a specified progression dimension for each image. This skipping around causes seek and rotational latency to occur for each image, and increases access time per image and lowering the available bandwidth for reading motion video from the storage system. Such increases in access time significantly degrade performance of local and shared storage systems, particularly for video editing and other video playback systems used in production, post-production and broadcast operations. To improve the performance of such systems, motion video data stored in a scalable format is processed so as to copy the lower bandwidth data into a separate file. These separate files can be accessed by video editing systems, media management systems and other devices or computer programs that use the lower bandwidth data. |
| US08200066B2 |
Recording medium, reproducing apparatus and method using personal identification number
The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus and a reproducing method. A code number is inputted. First control information is reproduced in an info file for controlling reproduction of all of a plurality of playlists recorded on a recording medium. Second control information is reproduced in a playlist for controlling reproduction of the playlist. The reproduction of data is permitted, even when the first control information and the second control information are both active, if the inputted code number is consistent with a personal identification number (PIN) which is recorded in the info file, without requiring another input of the code number. Display of information in a playlist is controlled and the display of the information in the playlist is prohibited when the first control information or the second control information is active. |
| US08200064B2 |
High-resolution optical disk for recording stereoscopic video, optical disk reproducing device, and optical disk recording device
An optical disk for recording stereoscopic videos and high-quality video signals and a system for reproducing the videos and signals from the optical disk are made compatible with the conventional video reproducing system. A reproducing device which is used for reproducing stereoscopic videos and high-quality videos obtains stereoscopic video or high-quality videos by reproducing both first and second interleaved blocks on the optical disk in which first and second video signals are alternately recorded on the left and right sides by dividing the first and second video signals into frame groups of one GOP or more and a reproducing device which is not used for reproducing the stereoscopic videos and high-quality videos obtains ordinary videos by only reproducing either the first or second interleaved block by jumping tracks. |
| US08200058B2 |
Light guide and light guide structure
An optical waveguide structure has excellent heat resistance and a low water absorbing property and can be manufactured with a low material cost. Such an optical waveguide structure includes: an optical waveguide having two surfaces, a core layer including core portions and cladding portions each having a refractive index lower than that of each of the core portions, the core layer having two surfaces, and cladding layers provided so as to make contact with the two surfaces of the core layer and having a refractive index lower than that of each of the core portions; and conductor layers provided on the two surfaces of the optical waveguide. In the optical waveguide structure, each of the cladding layers is formed of a norbornene-based polymer as a major component thereof. Further, it is preferred that the norbornene-based polymer is composed of molecules each represented by the following formula 1 as a major component thereof: wherein R is an alkyl group having a carbon number of 1 to 10, “a” is an integer of 0 to 3, “b” is an integer of 1 to 3, and “p”/“q” is 20 or less. |
| US08200053B2 |
Optical switch
An optical apparatus including input ports receiving WDM light, an output port, a first wavelength dividing unit that divides the lights input from the input ports into divided lights with different wavelengths, an optical signal processing unit that reflects the divided lights respectively to the first wavelength dividing unit, thereby light from one of the input ports is directed to the output port, for respective wavelength of the divided lights, a light source outputting a monitor light, a first coupler branching the monitor light to the monitor lights to the input ports, a second coupler branching the monitor lights output from the output port and outputs branched output monitor light, a second wavelength dividing unit that divides the branched monitoring lights into divided lights with different wavelengths, and a monitoring unit monitoring the divided lights from the second wavelength dividing unit. |
| US08200049B2 |
Optical sensor for detecting and localizing events
A system and method for a structure monitoring and locating a disturbance event is disclosed. The system includes a compact transceiver chip sending optical signals in three optical fibers that encompass the monitored structure appropriately. The system contains a sequence of loops, wherein the first and the second fiber forming the loop clockwise, while the third fiber is winded along the same loop counterclockwise. A set of two detectors registers the returning signals, and a time delay between those signals is calculated, which is indicative of the disturbance event location. The event location is determined with different sensitivity in different parts of the monitored structure depending on the density of fibers in these parts. |
| US08200047B1 |
True time delay photonic circuit
Described are systems and methods that provide tunable true time delay of a signal using a compact photonic circuit. The photonic circuit comprises a plurality of waveguides, in which each waveguide corresponds to a different time delay. A particular one of the waveguides corresponding to a desired time delay is selected by tuning the wavelength of a tunable laser. Additional photonic circuits can be used to provide additional selectable time delays. |
| US08200046B2 |
Method and system for enhancing short wave infrared images using super resolution (SR) and local area processing (LAP) techniques
A high resolution image of a scene or object is generated by collecting a plurality of images, enhancing the plurality of images to produce a sequence of enhanced images, registering the sequence of enhanced images, accumulating the intensities of the registered sequence of enhanced images to produce a composite image, and enhancing the composite image. |
| US08200045B2 |
Image processing method
The invention relates to an image processing method to generate, from a source image, an image of reduced size whose ratio between the width and the height is equal to a predetermined value, called reduced ratio. It comprises the following steps: selecting one rectangular image part in the source image, and extracting the rectangular image part to generate the reduced image. According to an essential characteristic of the method, if the ratio between the width and height of the rectangular image part, called first ratio, is not equal to the reduced ratio, the width or the height of the rectangular image part is modified before the extraction step according to values of perceptual interest associated with each pixel of the source image in such a manner that the ratio between the width and the height of the modified rectangular image part, called second ratio, is equal to the reduced ratio. |
| US08200042B2 |
Endoscope apparatus and program
An endoscope apparatus includes an electronic endoscope that picks up a measurement object and produces a picked-up-image signal; an image-processing unit that produces a image signal based on the picked-up-image signal; and an measurement processing unit that undertakes measurement processing to the measurement object based on the image signal. The measurement processing unit includes: a reference point-designating unit that designates two reference points on the measurement object; an approximate-outline—calculating unit that calculates an approximate outline by approximating the outline of the measurement object based on the reference points; and a loss-composing points-calculating unit that calculates loss-composing points that constitute a loss outline formed on the measurement object based on the reference points and the approximate outline. This enables loss size measurement upon designating two reference points, thereby reducing complex operations and improving operability. |
| US08200041B2 |
Hardware accelerated silhouette detection
Disclosed herein are approaches for detecting and/or generating silhouettes, in graphics processing applications, of objects (e.g., convex objects such as polyhedrons). |
| US08200017B2 |
Face alignment via component-based discriminative search
Described is a technology in which face alignment data is obtained by processing an image using a component-based discriminative search algorithm. For each facial component, the search is guided by an associated directional classifier that determines how to move the facial component (if at all) to achieve better alignment relative to its corresponding facial component in the image. Also described is training of the classifiers. |
| US08200016B2 |
Method and apparatus for character string recognition
A method for character string recognition may include processing image data into black-and-white binary image data, calculating vertical projection data of the binary image data in a vertical direction perpendicular to a direction of the character string while shifting the binary image data, detecting positions exceeding a prescribed border judgment threshold value in the vertical projection data, judging validity of the border judgment threshold value, and deciding whether to segment characters out of the character string based on whether the border judgment threshold value is valid. |
| US08200015B2 |
Method for interactively segmenting structures in image data records and image processing unit for carrying out the method
In the method according to at least one embodiment of the invention, an image data record having a structure to be segmented is first of all displayed by display equipment. Using an input apparatus, a segmentation algorithm to be used is selected from a group of different segmentation algorithms, including a contour-based segmentation algorithm, a region-based segmentation algorithm and manual segmentation, based on the local image contrast in a region to be segmented in the image data record. A region to be segmented in the image data record is marked, and the structure to be segmented in the marked region is segmented using the selected segmentation algorithm, and a segmentation result of the segmentation is displayed. This procedure (selecting a segmentation algorithm/marking a region/segmenting the region/displaying) is repeated until the structure to be segmented is completely segmented in the displayed image data record and a boundary line of the structure is produced as the final segmentation result. Lastly, the final segmentation result is saved and/or displayed. Furthermore, an image processing unit is disclosed for carrying out the method of at least one embodiment. |
| US08200014B2 |
Live coherent image selection
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, featuring receiving user input defining a sample of pixels from an image, the image being defined by a raster of pixels. While receiving the user input, the following actions are performed one or more times: pixels are coherently classified in the raster of pixels as being foreground or background based on the sample of pixels; and a rendering of the image is updated on a display to depict classified foreground pixels and background pixels as the sample is being defined. |
| US08200013B2 |
Method and device for segmenting a digital cell image
A method and a device for segmenting a digital image of biological cells, a method and a device for analyzing the dynamic behavior of biological cells and a method and a device for visualizing the dynamic behavior of biological cells. To provide a segmentation method that has minimal technical requirements, does not necessitate any special preparation or manipulation of the cells to be observed and which requires as few assumptions as possible to be made about the properties of the cells, it is proposed that the method comprises the following steps: determining a maximum gradient for each pixel of the image as the maximum difference between a pixel value of the pixel and the respective pixel values of all or selected neighboring pixels, determining a segmentation threshold value using the maximum gradients, classifying the images into an object class and an environment class using the segmentation threshold value and forming a segmentation zone of the digital image using a class merging method, in particular a region growing method. |
| US08200012B2 |
Image determination apparatus, image search apparatus and computer readable recording medium storing an image search program
A preprocessing section binarizes input image data and calculates a total black pixel ratio. A feature extracting section detects connected components contained in the binarized image data and detects circumscribing bounding boxes that circumscribe these connected components, respectively. Based on sizes of the circumscribing bounding boxes detected and numbers of black pixels contained therein, predetermined connected components are removed. A determining section generates an edge map by using the residual connected components, and performs two-dimensional fast Fourier transform thereon to generate spectral data. The determining section performs two-dimensional fast Fourier transform on template images to generate spectral data. The determining section determines, based on these pieces of spectral data, whether or not a circular shape is contained in the input image data. |
| US08200009B2 |
Control of optical character recognition (OCR) processes to generate user controllable final output documents
An optical character recognition (OCR) system that includes a user-input function for receiving a user input sample for executing said OCR system for optically recognizing a document to generate an output file using the user input sample as a reference. |
| US08200007B2 |
Illuminant estimation
A method of estimating, illuminant comprises minimizing a Minkowski norm with illuminant constraints. The norm is preferably between 3 and 7 and most preferably between 4 and 6. The method is used to remove the color of an illuminant from an image. |
| US08199997B2 |
Feature dependent extended depth of focusing on semi-transparent biological specimens
A method and system for constructing a digital image of a three-dimensional biological specimen that displays diagnostically important information—substantially to the exclusion of unimportant information. The system de-enhances features in a cellular specimen which are not diagnostically important and enhances those which are. The system selects the sharpest pixel for each pixel location from among a stack of image slices and copies them into a composite image. |
| US08199995B2 |
Sensitometric response mapping for radiological images
A method for mapping radiological image data from a source imaging system to a target imaging system obtains sensitometric response data for both the source and the target imaging systems and identifies an anchor point that relates a specified source signal value to a specified target signal value. A transform is applied to map a range of source signal values to a corresponding range of target signal values, wherein the transform is defined according to the sensitometric response data obtained for both the source and the target imaging systems and according to the identified anchor point. |
| US08199992B2 |
Method for correction of distortion in image data records recorded by means of a magnetic resonance scanner, as well as a computer program, image processing unit and magnetic resonance scanner for carrying out the method
A method is disclosed for correction of distortion, which is created by way of discrepancies in a basic magnetic field of a magnetic resonance scanner, in image data records which are recorded via the magnetic resonance scanner. In at least one embodiment, the method includes loading a first image data record, recorded via the magnetic resonance scanner with a first frequency coding gradient, of an examination region; loading a second image data record, recorded via the magnetic resonance scanner but using a second frequency coding gradient, of the same examination region, with the first and the second frequency coding gradient being different; receiving a transformation shift field as final result of a registration process of the first and the second image data record; calculating a correction shift field for the first and/or the second image data record on the basis of the calculated transformation shift field; correcting the distortion of the first and/or second image data record on the basis of the calculated correction shift field; and displaying and/or storing the corrected image data record or the corrected image data records. A computer program, an image processing unit and a magnetic resonance scanner for carrying out the method are also disclosed. |
| US08199991B2 |
Method to automatically decode microarray images
A method of automatically identifying the microarray chip corners and probes, even if there are no probes at the corners, in a high density and high resolution microarray scanned image having an image space, wherein the method minimizes the error distortions in the image arising in the scanning process by applying to the image a multipass corner finding algorithm comprising: (a) applying a Radon transform to an input microarray image to project the image into an angle and distance space where it is possible to find the orientation of the straight lines; (b) applying a fast Fourier transform to the projected image of (a) to find the optimal tilting angle of the projected image; (c) determining the optimal first and last local maxima for the optimal tilting angle; (d) back projecting the determined first and last local maxima to the image space to find the first approximation of the first and last column lines of the image; (e) rotating the image and repeating steps (a) through (d) to find the first approximation of the top and bottom row lines of the image; (f) determining the first approximation of the four corners of the image from the intersection of the column and row lines; (g) applying a heuristic for determining if the first approximation of step (f) is sufficient; and (h) optionally trimming the scanned image around the first approximation of the four corners and repeating steps (a) through (f). |
| US08199989B2 |
Automatic fly through review mechanism
A novel and useful mechanism for generating a fly-through review for digital images such as tissue sample scans. A fly-through path based on the sample image is determined and one or more fly-through curves are generated. Two-dimensional image manipulations are applied to the sample image in accordance with the one or more fly-through curves and any user preferences to generate a sequence of frame images to be displayed. |
| US08199981B2 |
Methods and systems for segmentation using boundary reparameterization
Representations of a segmented, contoured organ or lesion are obtained from two-dimensional or three-dimensional images. A contour within the image of the lesion or organ of interest is used to identify a region around the initial contour and transform it into a boundary image comprising sampling lines that contain points identifying the organ boundary. |
| US08199977B2 |
System and method for extraction of features from a 3-D point cloud
A method of extracting a feature from a point cloud comprises receiving a three-dimensional (3-D) point cloud representing objects in a scene, the 3-D point cloud containing a plurality of data points; generating a plurality of hypothetical features based on data points in the 3-D point cloud, wherein the data points corresponding to each hypothetical feature are inlier data points for the respective hypothetical feature; and selecting the hypothetical feature having the most inlier data points as representative of an object in the scene. |
| US08199971B2 |
Object detection system with improved object detection accuracy
In a system for detecting a target object, a similarity determining unit sets a block in a picked-up image, and compares a part of the picked-up image contained in the block with a pattern image data while changes a location of the block in the picked-up image to determine a similarity of each part of the picked-up image contained in a corresponding one of the different-located blocks with respect to the pattern image data. A specifying unit extracts some different-located blocks from all of the different-located blocks. The determined similarity of the part of the picked-up image contained in each of some different-located blocks is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold similarity. The specifying unit specifies, in the picked-up image, a target area based on a frequency distribution of some different-located blocks therein. |
| US08199967B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium
An image processing apparatus includes an analyzing unit configured to analyze an incomplete portion of input image data; and an obtaining unit configured to identify a storage location of original data corresponding to the input image data from the input image data, and to obtain the original data from the storage location. The original data obtained by the obtaining unit is corrected on the basis of a result of analysis by the analyzing unit to generate a complete image, and the complete image is output. |
| US08199960B2 |
Integrated speaker and display
An integrated speaker and display that includes a display and a speaker assembly. The display is substantially integrated within the speaker assembly. The display is embedded between a coil of the speaker assembly and/or magnets of the speaker assembly. The speaker assembly may include a diaphragm located either on a side of the display facing a viewer of the display or opposite a side of the display facing a viewer of the display. The electronic device may be any type of device, for example, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), an electronic game, a computer, an audio player, a video player, a television, or a display device. The display may be any type of display, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a digital light processing (DLP) display, a light-emitting diode display (LED), or a plasma display. |
| US08199957B2 |
Speaker unit and audio output robot device
A speaker unit includes: a speaker that contains a magnet for vibrating a diaphragm to output sound; a speaker housing unit that houses the speaker so that the front of the diaphragm is exposed outside; an opening-and-closing unit that is attached to the speaker housing unit so that the opening-and-closing unit can both open, with respect to the speaker housing unit, to expose the front of the diaphragm outside and close to cover the front of the diaphragm; and a metallic component that is, when the opening-and-closing unit is closed with respect to the speaker housing unit, attracted to the magnet of the speaker to pull the opening-and-closing unit in a closing direction. |
| US08199950B2 |
Earphone and a method for providing an improved sound experience
The present invention provides an earphone comprising an electro-active polymer that is adapted such that the outer circumference of a resilient member of the earphone is responsive to an electric voltage, enabling providing essentially sealing the ear canal when the resilient member of the earphone at least partly is inserted in an ear canal of a wearer. The electro-active polymer also enables an improved game and sound experience by providing by synchronizing the outer circumference of the resilient member with the electric signal provided to the earphone. |
| US08199948B2 |
Entrainment avoidance with pole stabilization
A system of signal processing an input signal in a hearing assistance device to avoid entrainment wherein the hearing assistance device including a receiver and a microphone, the method comprising using an adaptive filter to estimate an acoustic feedback path from the receiver to the microphone, generating one or more estimated future pole positions of a transfer function of the adaptive filter, analyzing stability of the one or more estimated pole positions for an indication of entrainment and adjusting the adaptation of the adaptive filter based on the stability. |
| US08199943B2 |
Hearing apparatus with automatic switch-off and corresponding method
The aim is to be able to at least partially switch off a hearing apparatus and in particular a hearing device in a simple manner. To this end, provision is made to generate a predetermined acoustic signal through the hearing apparatus. The acoustic signal is received by a receiving device, after it has passed through an acoustic path. This acoustic path changes depending on whether the hearing apparatus is being worn or not. The hearing apparatus is at least partially switched off as a function of the received, acoustic signal. A hearing device thus automatically switches off for instance when it is not being worn. |
| US08199940B2 |
Audio reproduction system and speaker apparatus
An audio reproduction system includes: a first speaker arranged near a listener and behind a head of the listener with a speaker unit being held by first holding means to make it possible to mix sounds emitted from front and rear of a vibration plate of the speaker; second and third speakers held by second holding means and arranged near the listener and on left and right of the first speaker; separating means for separating and obtaining low-frequency components and medium- and high-frequency components for left and right channels from an input audio signal; means for supplying the low-frequency components separated by the separating means to the first speaker; and means for supplying the medium- and high-frequency components for the left and right channels separated by the separating means to the second and third speakers. |
| US08199937B2 |
Contents reproduction apparatus and method thereof
A contents reproduction apparatus that reproduces contents suitable for a user's environment includes a position detecting unit detecting a user's position, an operation detecting unit detecting a movement of a user's body, a contents generating unit generating contents based on the user's position and the movement of the user's body, and a contents reproducing unit reproducing the generated contents. |
| US08199933B2 |
Calculating and adjusting the perceived loudness and/or the perceived spectral balance of an audio signal
Audio signal processing relating to the measurement and control of the perceived sound loudness and/or the perceived spectral balance of an audio signal is useful, for example, in one or more of: loudness-compensating volume control, automatic gain control, dynamic range control (including, for example, limiters, compressors, expanders, etc.), dynamic equalization, and compensating for background noise interference in an audio playback environment. In various embodiments, modification parameters are derived for modifying the audio signal in order to reduce the difference between its specific loudness and a target specific loudness. |
| US08199924B2 |
System for active noise control with an infinite impulse response filter
An active noise control (ANC) system includes at least one infinite impulse response filter (IIR). The IIR filter generates an output signal based on an input signal representative of an undesired sound. The ANC system generates an anti-noise signal based on the output signal of the IIR filter. The anti-noise signal is used to drive a speaker to generate sound waves to destructively interfere with the undesired sound. The ANC system includes an update system to generate update coefficients. The update system determines the stability of the update coefficients. Coefficients of the IIR filter are replaced with the update coefficients. The update system generates a set of update coefficients for each sample of the input signal. |
| US08199922B2 |
Ethernet isolator for microphonics security and method thereof
A system and method for providing microphonic isolation on a transmission line. The transmission line has a first part and a second part. The first part of transmission line carries a data signal and a microphonic signal. The microphonic signal has frequencies that include those in a range of substantially 20 Hz to substantially 20 kHz. The system includes an isolation apparatus. The isolation apparatus has an input in electrical communication with a first part of the transmission line, an output in electrical communication with the second part of the transmission line, and a filter in electrical communication with the input and the output. The filter is arranged to substantially remove the microphonic signal received at the input from first part of transmission line and pass the data signal to the output. |
| US08199915B2 |
Wireless system for activation by wireless
A wireless system realizes a WOL by including layers for switching security systems with a security level enhanced. The wireless system for activating a terminal through a radio base station from a remote area includes: a monitor device for monitoring the status of power supply of the terminal; and a security switch device for switching the security system of the terminal based on the status by switching to a fixed key security system when the status is changed to power-off and switching to a dynamic key security system when the status is changed to power-on. |
| US08199912B2 |
Security storage of electronic keys within volatile memories
It is described a method for providing an electronic key within an integrated circuit (100) including both a volatile memory (102) and a non-volatile memory (104). The described comprises starting up the integrated circuit (100), reading the logical state of predetermined data storage cells (102a) assigned to the volatile memory (102), which data storage cells (102a) are characterized that with a plurality of start up procedures they respectively adopt the same logical state, and generating an electronic key by using the logical state of the predetermined data storage cells (102a). Preferably, the predetermined data storage cells (102a) are randomly distributed within the volatile memory (102). It is further described an integrated circuit (100) for providing an electronic key. The integrated circuit (100) comprises a volatile memory (102) comprising predetermined data storage cells (102a), which are characterized that with a plurality of start up procedures they respectively adopt the same logical state, and a non-volatile memory (104) having information stored upon regarding the predetermined data storage cells (102a). Thereby, the electronic key is defined by the corresponding logical states of the predetermined data storage cells (102a). |
| US08199911B1 |
Secure encryption algorithm for data deduplication on untrusted storage
Various methods and systems for performing data deduplication when encrypting data for storage on an untrusted storage system are disclosed. One method involves generating an encryption key for use in encrypting data and generating an identifier for the data. Generation of the encryption key is based upon a hash of the data to be encrypted. Similarly, generation of the identifier is based upon the hash of the data to be generated. For example, the identifier can be generated by hashing the encryption key. The method then involves detecting whether an encrypted copy of the data is already stored by a storage system, based upon the identifier, and selectively encrypting the data, based upon whether the encrypted copy of the data is already stored by the storage system. |
| US08199909B2 |
Method and device for carrying out a cryptographic calculation
A cryptographic calculation is carried out in an electronic component according to a specific cryptographic algorithm including at least one specified non-linear operation on blocks of data of k bits, k being a whole number of more than 2. Several blocks of masked intermediate data of j bits are generated from an initial block of data of k bits, j being a whole number that is smaller than k. Then a non-linear operation S is applied to at least one of the masked intermediate data blocks of j bits with the aid of a substitution table with 2 inputs producing a modified data block of j bits. The modified data block of j bits and at least some of the masked intermediate data blocks of j bits are combined to form a result block of k bits corresponding to the initial data block of k bits by means of a transformation including the specified non linear operation. |
| US08199905B1 |
Systems and methods for identifying subscriber lines
The present disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods for identifying subscriber lines coupled to transceivers of interest. In one exemplary embodiment, an end of a subscriber line is coupled to and terminated by a transceiver of interest. The other end of the subscriber line is coupled to a speaker. The transceiver is then selectively activated and deactivated causing it to transmit its normal frequency spectrum in a predefined pattern. The frequency spectrum includes frequencies audible to humans. Thus, the speaker produces sound capable of being heard by a human, and the sound exhibits periods of noise followed by periods of silence. Indeed, the periods of noise and silence are in a pattern according to the activation/deactivation pattern of the transceiver. Thus, a user can identify the subscriber line that is coupled to the transceiver by identifying which of the lines is coupled to the speaker when the speaker emits noise and silence according to the predefined pattern. |
| US08199901B2 |
Method and apparatus for customer retention
Method and apparatus that facilitates customer retention, churn reduction, and customer satisfaction by predicting customer churn and taking an appropriate action to retain a customer is described. In an example, a customer retention method acquires information indicative of customer service usage by customers. The customer retention method then provides an analysis of the acquired information. The analysis predicts the likelihood of churn for each customer. The customer retention method then identifies affected customers based on the analysis. The customer retention method then automatically selects customer support executives to initiate an action for each of the affected customers. The customer retention method selects the customer support executives based on skill in handling the affected customers, among other factors. |
| US08199898B2 |
System and method for routing calls across call managers using a route plan
A call manager includes a first device process that controls a first telephony device and that receives a call request from the first telephony device. The call request includes a telephone number associated with a second telephony device. The call manager also includes a call control module that receives the call request from the first device process, and the call manager further includes a route list control process that is associated with the telephone number and that receives the call request from the call control module. The route list process accesses a route list to determine a port of a gateway device that can transmit the call request to the second telephony device. The route list process communicates the call request to a second call manager that is coupled to the packet-based network and that controls the gateway device included in the route list. |
| US08199893B2 |
System and methods for disclosing call destination characteristic
A system is provided for use by a caller placing a call with a calling device over a communications network linking a plurality of call destinations. The system includes a call-destination information source containing one or more call-destination characteristics associated one or more call destinations. The system further includes a processing unit communicatively linked to the call-destination information source. The processing unit generates one or more call-destination character indicators based on the one or more call-destination characteristics. A call-destination character indicator is generated in response to the system receiving call-destination identifier that identifies a particular call destination. |
| US08199890B2 |
Camp on location
In one embodiment, a method includes obtaining a request for a notification regarding an event associated with a first party and a first location. The request is received or otherwise obtained from a second party. The method also includes determining whether the second party is permitted to receive the notification, determining whether the event has occurred, sending the notification if the event has occurred and the second party is permitted to receive the notification. Sending the notification regarding the event includes sending the notification to the second party. |
| US08199889B2 |
Visual voicemail unavailability solution
A solution for notifying a user of alternate means of accessing voicemail data utilize a timer that can be set on a user device upon receipt of a message waiting indicator. When the timer expires, if no data communications connection has been established between the user device and a voicemail server, the user device can present alternate voicemail access instructions to the user. These instructions may be obtained from the message waiting indicator or may be stored on the user device. In another embodiment, a voicemail server sets a timer after sending a message waiting indicator to a user device. The voicemail server sends a message containing alternate voicemail access instructions if no connection has been established between the voicemail server and the user device upon expiration of the timer. |
| US08199888B2 |
System and method for automatically transcribing voicemail
Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable media for automatically transcribing voicemail. The method includes receiving a plurality of voicemail messages from callers, identifying for each voicemail message in the plurality of voicemail messages a first frequency with which the respective caller leaves voicemails, identifying for each voicemail message in the plurality of voicemail messages a second frequency with which a user requests transcription of each voicemail, assigning a priority ranking to each voicemail message in the plurality of voicemail messages based on the respective first frequency and the respective second frequency, and transcribing untranscribed voicemail messages with a highest priority ranking. The method can include establishing a priority ranking threshold and repeatedly transcribing a next highest ranking untranscribed voicemail message until no further untranscribed voicemail messages remain above the priority ranking threshold. |
| US08199884B2 |
Slit mechanism apparatus and X-ray computed tomography apparatus
According to one embodiment, a slit mechanism apparatus includes, two slit plates configured to adjust a thickness of X-rays, two slit link bars which are pivotally supported on two ends of each of the two slit plates to interlock the two slit plates, two shafts on which the two slit link bars are respectively mounted to rotate the two slit link bars, two shutter plates configured to block/pass the X-rays, and two shutter link bars which are pivotally supported on two ends of each of the two shutter plates to interlock the two shutter plates and are mounted on the two shafts together with the two slit link bars. |
| US08199881B2 |
Discretely addressable large-area X-ray system
A discretely addressable large-area X-ray system is provided. The large-area X-ray system can output a uniform flux of X-rays over a large area using discrete addressing operation of transistors connected to cathodes of electron emitters. Thus, when applied to a medical device, the system can minimize damage inflicted upon the human body because it enables effective imaging of only a desired specific portion of the body. Furthermore, the large-area X-ray system can be simply implemented by current switching using transistors. Thus, the system can be very easily applied to other applications. |
| US08199879B2 |
Methods of scatter correction of x-ray projection data 1
A system and method for forming an adjusted estimate of scattered radiation in a radiographic projection of a target object, which incorporates scattered radiation from objects adjacent to the target object, such as a patient table. A piercing point equalization method is disclosed, and a refinement of analytical kernel methods which utilizes hybrid kernels is also disclosed. |
| US08199876B2 |
Imaging system and method for preparing x-ray images and optical images
In an imaging system and method for preparing x-ray images and optical images, at least two x-ray images of an examination subject are acquired by emitting x-rays from at least two different x-ray image acquisition points in space. At least two optical exposures are acquired from the examination subject at respective optical exposure origination points that respectively optically correspond to the x-ray image acquisition points. The optical exposures and the x-ray images are superimposed so that each optical image is superimposed with the x-ray image that originated from an x-ray image origination point corresponding to the optical exposure origination point of that optical exposure. |
| US08199871B2 |
Electronic system with shift register
An electronic system including a shift register is disclosed. The shift register includes a first transistor, a first trigger circuit, a second transistor, and a second trigger circuit. The first transistor receives a first input signal. The first trigger circuit is serially connected to the first transistor between a first level and a second level and is connected with the first transistor in a first node. The second transistor receives a second input signal inverted to the first input signal. The second trigger circuit receives the level of the first node, is serially connected to the second transistor between a third level and the second level, and is connected with the second transistor in a second node. |
| US08199870B2 |
Shift register unit and gate drive device for liquid crystal display
An embodiment of the present invention discloses a shift register unit and a gate drive device for a liquid crystal display. The shift register unit, on the basis of a structure of 12 transistors and 1 capacitor in the prior art, enables both the drain of the seventh thin film transistor and the gate and the drain of the ninth thin film transistor being connected to the second clock signal input terminal, such that a leakage current would not be generated among the seventh thin film transistor, the eighth thin film transistor, the ninth thin film transistor and the tenth thin film transistor when a high level signal is outputted from the shift register unit, thus power consumption of the shift register unit may be reduced. |
| US08199869B2 |
Communication apparatus
A communication apparatus including a first unit which performs sampling of a synchronization pattern included in a signal with multiple clocks having different phases and identifies clocks where a predetermined synchronization pattern could be correctly sampled, from among the multiple clocks; a second unit which identifies, from among the multiple clocks, a first and second clock having a first clock edge which is nearest to the time point at which the data of the synchronization pattern changes and a second clock edge which is second nearest to the time point next to the first clock edge, respectively, the first and second clock edges being where the sampling of the synchronization pattern is performed; and a judgment section which judges one of clocks other than the first and second clocks, among the clocks with which the predetermined synchronization pattern was correctly sampled, to be used for sampling of the signal. |
| US08199862B2 |
Arrangements for interference mitigation utilizing estimation
A method is disclosed for interference mitigation which can include receiving a signal having a data component, an interfering component and a time period and creating a first plurality of digitized data that represents at least a portion of the interfering component. The method can also include generating a polynomial equation that is related to the at least a portion of the interfering component and generating a second plurality of digital data that represents a data vector of the received signal. The method can further subtract the polynomial equation from the received signal to cancel at least a portion of the interfering component to provide an interference mitigated signal representing the data component. |
| US08199859B2 |
Integrating receiver with precharge circuitry
An integrated circuit device includes a sense amplifier with an input to receive a present signal representing a present bit. The sense amplifier is to produce a decision regarding a logic level of the present bit. The integrated circuit device also includes a circuit to precharge the input of the sense amplifier by applying to the input of the sense amplifier a portion of a previous signal representing a previous bit. The integrated circuit device further includes a latch, coupled to the sense amplifier, to output the logic level. |
| US08199853B2 |
Method for feedback and method for configuring a codebook in multi-antenna system
A feedback method for a multi-antenna system is disclosed. The feedback method for use in the multi-antenna system can reduce an amount of transmission (Tx) feedback information associated with a precoding matrix (i.e., a codebook). For example, a single codebook may include precoding matrixes associated with several ranks. A basic matrix constructing the precoding matrix is extended to a frequency axis, such that it can be used as a Cyclic Delay Diversity (CDD) structure. |
| US08199851B1 |
Systems and methods for increasing communications bandwidth using non-orthogonal polarizations
Systems and methods for increasing communications bandwidth using non-orthogonal polarizations are provided herein. Under one aspect, a method of transmitting M independent signals, where M is at least 3, includes receiving the M signals from respective sources; at a transmitter polarization module, obtaining first and second linear combinations of the M signals; providing the first and second linear combinations to first and second input ports of a transmitter antenna; and transmitting with the transmitter antenna the first linear combination at a first polarization and the second linear combination at a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization. The method may further include receiving at a receiver antenna the first linear combination at the first polarization, and the second linear combination at the second polarization; obtaining at receiver circuitry the M signals based on the received first and second linear combinations; and outputting the M signals on respective output ports. |
| US08199848B2 |
Precoding device and method in wireless communication system
The present invention relates to a precoder and a precoding method in a multi-user multi-antenna communication System. When a transmission part (100) having a plurality of antennas transmits a plurality of signals to a receiving part (200) having an antenna, the precoder and the precoding method using the same prevents System performance degradation caused by interference signals and efficiently reduces transmission power while changing the constellation rotary angle. When the power is controlled by using the precoder, the System performance is enhanced while not damaging the structural gain of the existing multi-user multi-antenna precoder. |
| US08199847B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing higher order modulation that is backwards compatible with quaternary phase shift keying(QPSK) or offset quaternary phase shift keying (OQPSK)
A method and apparatus for providing an asymmetrical backwards compatible communications signal that is capable of being decoded by QPSK and OQPSK receivers as well as PSK and QAM receivers is provided. The invention comprises a timing error accumulator coupled to a first bit stream. The first bit stream includes content that is common to the QPSK/OQPSK receiver and to the PSK/QAM receiver. A phase error accumulator is coupled to a second bit stream and adjusts the phase of symbols in the second bit stream. A phase and timing error compensator is coupled to the phase error accumulator and the timing error accumulator and adjusts the first and second bit streams received from the phase error accumulator and the timing error accumulator in order to reduce timing and phase errors. A higher order modulator coupled to the phase- and timing error compensator is also provided. The higher order modulator processes the first and second bit streams to provide the asymmetrical backwards compatible signal. |
| US08199844B2 |
Apparatus and method for canceling inter-antenna interference of orthogonally coded signals
An apparatus and a method for canceling inter-antenna interference are provided. The apparatus to cancel inter-antenna interference includes a reception unit to receive, from a transmitter, first data and second data orthogonally coded with the first data, and to generate a received vector including the first data and the second data, a channel estimation unit to generate a channel state matrix with respect to a radio channel from a plurality of transmission antennas of the transmitter to the reception unit, a detection unit to detect the first data based on the channel state matrix and the received vector, a pseudo interference signal-generation unit to generate pseudo interference signals based on the channel state matrix and the detected first data, and an interference signal-canceling unit to cancel the pseudo interference signals from the received vector. |
| US08199843B2 |
Wireless communication system using pilot subcarrier allocation
A wireless communication system using pilot subcarrier allocation and a method of allocating the pilot subcarriers for use in downlink and uplink communication in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna system using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation are disclosed. The method includes providing a frame structure comprising OFDM symbols in time domain and subcarriers in frequency domain and alternately allocating first pilot subcarriers for a first antenna and second pilot subcarriers for a second antenna in the time and frequency domains, wherein each of the alternating first pilot subcarriers and the second pilot subcarriers is separated by a multiple of 9 subcarriers in the frequency domain and further allocated in two contiguous OFDM symbols. |
| US08199842B2 |
Time-domain transmit and receive processing with channel EIGEN-mode decomposition for MIMO systems
Techniques for processing a data transmission at the transmitter and receiver. In an aspect, a time-domain implementation is provided which uses frequency-domain singular value decomposition and “water-pouring” results to derive time-domain pulse-shaping and beam-steering solutions at the transmitter and receiver. The singular value decomposition is performed at the transmitter to determine eigen-modes (i.e., spatial subchannels) of the MIMO channel and to derive a first set of steering vectors used to “precondition” modulation symbols. The singular value decomposition is also performed at the receiver to derive a second set of steering vectors used to precondition the received signals such that orthogonal symbol streams are recovered at the receiver, which can simplify the receiver processing. Water-pouring analysis is used to more optimally allocate the total available transmit power to the eigen-modes, which then determines the data rate and the coding and modulation scheme to be used for each eigen-mode. |
| US08199840B2 |
Multiple-input, multiple-output communication system with reduced feedback
In MIMO systems, two or more transmit signals are transmitted from different antenna clusters having one or more transmit antennas each. A precoding circuit weight the transmit signals transmitted from each transmit antenna using a common set of frequency independent antenna weights for all antenna clusters. The antenna weights are computed based on correlations between transmit antennas in the same antenna cluster. |
| US08199838B2 |
Transmission apparatus and a reception apparatus in a multicarrier transmission system and a transmission method and a reception method using the multicarrier transmission system
Inter-carrier interference caused by frequency fluctuations, amplitude fluctuations, phase fluctuations, or the like is reduced without reducing a transmission efficiency. A receiving end has a canceling filter section that alleviates the inter-carrier interference caused by the frequency fluctuations, the amplitude fluctuations, the phase fluctuations, or the like through filtering processing. A transmitting end has a precoding section that facilitates determination of demodulation data in a vector demodulation section on the receiving end through precoding processing. Or, the receiving end has a trellis decoding section that decodes the demodulation data through trellis decoding processing. |
| US08199837B2 |
Systems/methods of sequential modulation of a single carrier frequency by a plurality of elements of a waveform
Systems and/or methods are disclosed for generating a waveform that comprises a plurality of elements by using a Fourier transform and/or an inverse Fourier transform. The waveform that comprises the plurality of elements may be transmitted by transmitting, sequentially in time, the plurality of elements. In some embodiments, the Fourier transform and/or inverse Fourier transform comprises a Fast Fourier Transform and/or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform and the waveform that comprises the plurality of elements may be transmitted by using, sequentially in time, the plurality of elements to modulate a single carrier frequency. |
| US08199836B2 |
Multi-resolution precoding codebook
Systems and methods are for generating a codebook by: generating a multi-resolution codebook by selecting a common precoder index from a low resolution codebook for a group of adjacent resource blocks (RB)s and for each RB within the group, selecting a high-resolution codebook to fine-tune each RB precoder; and generating feedback for the multi-resolution codebook by quantizing channel state variations. |
| US08199829B2 |
Decoding system and method
Decoding systems and methods are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, a video decoder system includes a first decoding path and a second decoding path configured to decode at a slower average rate than the first decoding path. The video decoder system includes a dynamic switch configured to provide a first portion of the encoded video signal to the first decoding path or to the second decoding path. The dynamic switch is further configured to provide a subsequent portion of the encoded video signal to the first decoding path or to the second decoding path in response to a value of a decoding metric associated with decode processing of the first portion. |
| US08199827B2 |
Method of processing a signal and apparatus for processing a signal
A method and apparatus for processing a signal compressed in accordance with a specific alternative coding scheme are disclosed. In detail, a coding method for signal compression and signal restoration using a specific alternative coding scheme, and an apparatus therefor are disclosed. Data coding and entropy coding according to the present invention are executed under the condition in which they have a co-relation with each other. Grouping is executed for an enhancement in coding efficiency. The method for signal processing includes obtaining data coding identification information from a signal, and data-decoding data in accordance with a data coding scheme indicated by the data coding identification information. The data coding scheme includes at least a pilot coding scheme. The pilot coding scheme includes decoding the data using a pilot reference value corresponding to a plurality of data and a pilot difference value. The pilot difference value is generated using the data and the pilot reference value. |
| US08199821B2 |
Method for modeling coding information of video signal for compressing/decompressing coding information
A method for context-modeling coding information of a video signal for compressing or decompressing the coding information is provided. An initial value of a function for probability coding of coding information of a video signal of an enhanced layer is determined based on coding information of a video signal of a base layer. |
| US08199820B2 |
Intermediate compression of reference frames for transcoding
A system (and a method) for compressing reference frames in a video transcoder. A transcoder receives a compressed input stream in a first compressed format and output a compressed output stream in a second compressed format. A decoder and an encoder in the transcoder use compressed reference frames. The reference frames are compressed by transforming a block of pixels from a spatial domain to a frequency domain to generate a coefficient array. The coefficient array is quantized and encoded to compress the size of the coefficients array to the size of a fixed bucket. The values of the entropy coded and quantized array are stored in a memory for use in decoding and/or encoding. |
| US08199818B2 |
Intra prediction system of video encoder and video decoder
There is provided an intra prediction system having high prediction performance and satisfactory encoding efficiency in a pattern image in which pixel value is periodically changed and a pattern image in which pixel value has a constant change tendency like gradation effect. A frequency component extraction unit allows a pixel value of an encoded MB to be made one-dimensional for one-dimensional orthogonal conversion. A frequency component-considering prediction value calculation unit receives, as inputs, a pixel value of an encoded adjacent MB and an alternating current frequency component output to create an orthogonal conversion coefficient. The orthogonal conversion coefficient then is subjected inverted orthogonal conversion (IDCT) to generate a prediction value p(i). A prediction direction determination unit selects and outputs a prediction value p′(i) in a prediction direction having the highest encoding efficiency among a conventional prediction value calculation unit and a prediction value calculation unit according to the present invention. |
| US08199817B2 |
Method for error concealment in decoding of moving picture and decoding apparatus using the same
A method and apparatus for error concealment in decoding of a moving picture. The method includes the steps of determining an erroneous macro block in a present frame when the moving picture is decoded, finding a first macro block having a highest similarity to the erroneous macro block and a second macro block having a next highest similarity to the erroneous block in a previous frame by comparing adjacent pixels of respective blocks in the previous frame with adjacent pixels of the erroneous block in the present frame; and replacing the erroneous block by using an average between the found macro blocks having the highest similarity and the second highest similarity to thereby conceal the erroneous macro block. The apparatus includes a parser, an entropy decoder, an inverse quantizer, an inverse converter, and a concealment unit that uses motion compensation from a previous frame to correct a macro block in a current frame. |
| US08199814B2 |
Estimation of I frame average rate quantization parameter (QP) in a group of pictures (GOP)
Rate-QP estimation for an I picture is disclosed which involves the steps of: providing an input group of pictures (GOP); selecting an input I picture within the GOP; and outputting, to a computer readable medium, a bit rate corrected Rate-QP, R(QP), for the input I picture. The outputting step may involve calculating intra luma and chroma Rate-QP estimates from corresponding intra luma and chroma histograms; offsetting the intra chroma Rate-QP estimate to form an offset intra chroma estimate; and setting a bit rate corrected Rate-QP for the input I picture to a corrected sum of the previous estimates. The histograms are formed with estimates of intra prediction coefficients, where an intra/non-intra mode is selected that results in a lowest SATD for each macroblock in the GOP. The methods may be implemented into a computer program, possibly resident in an advanced video encoder. |
| US08199809B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing prediction mode fine granularity scalability
In an encoding process, video data are represented as a bitstream of a quantized base layer and at least two enhancement layers, with each picture in each layer identified by a start code. The base layer, plus a number of enhancement layers capable of being transmitted by the communication channel's bandwidth, are transmitted on the communication channel. |
| US08199807B2 |
Contents providing apparatus and contents providing method
A contents providing apparatus includes storage which records contents with plural types of formats, output ports which respectively output contents read from the storage, decoders which are connected to the output ports and respectively correspond to the formats, channels which respectively provide contents decoded by the decoders, a switcher which selectively derives one of outputs of the decoders to a specified one of the channels, a table which expresses the output ports connected to the decoders corresponding to the plural types of formats and status conditions of the decoders, CPU which assigns an available one of the output ports which corresponds to the format of the specified contents based on the table. |
| US08199805B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
Described herein is an image processing apparatus for calculating a motion vector between two screen images including a target screen image and a reference screen image, including: a base face motion vector calculation section; a high-accuracy base face motion vector calculation section; a reduction face motion vector calculation section; a high-accuracy reduction face motion vector calculation section; first and second base face search range determination sections; and a selection section configured to select a calculation section to be used from among the base face motion vector calculation section, high-accuracy base face motion vector calculation section, reduction face motion vector calculation section and high-accuracy reduction face motion vector calculation section and select whether the first or second base face search range determination section should be used and then select, where use of any of the determination sections is determined, a determination section to be used from between the determination sections. |
| US08199801B2 |
DTV receiver and method of processing broadcast signal in DTV receiver
A DTV receiver includes a tuner, a demodulator, a known sequence detector, and a frequency domain equalizer. The tuner initially receives a broadcast signal including valid data in which a known data sequence is periodically repeated. The demodulator demodulates the broadcast signal, and the known sequence detector detects the known data sequence from the demodulated signal. The frequency domain equalizer compensates channel distortion of the demodulated broadcast signal in a frequency domain using the detected known data sequence. In addition, the DTV receiver may further include a time domain equalizer which compensates channel distortion of the time domain signal, or a noise canceller which removes a predicted noise from the time domain signal. |
| US08199796B2 |
Physical layer aware video encoding for mobile TV applications
A system and method of transmitting video in a time division multiplexing (TDM) system, wherein the method comprises identifying a video reference frame from a series of video frames; encoding a difference between the video reference frame and a video non-reference frame; placing the video reference frame at a beginning of a data burst; transmitting the series of video frames and the data burst from a transmitter to a mobile TV receiver; and the mobile TV receiver immediately locating the video reference frame upon receipt of the data burst. The method may further comprise the mobile TV receiver decoding the series of video frames. Additionally, the placing process results in a substantially non-existent channel switching delay in the mobile TV receiver. Moreover, the method may further comprise placing exactly one video reference frame at the beginning of the data burst. Preferably, the TDM system comprises a mobile TV system. |
| US08199794B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for channel estimation in two-way relaying networks
An apparatus for estimating a wireless radio channel between a first terminal and a relay station, the apparatus including a receiver for receiving a signal including a superposition of previously transmitted first information from the first terminal and second information from a second terminal, the second terminal also communicating with the relay station, a storage for storing the previously transmitted first information, and a channel calculator for calculating the wireless radio channel using the received signal and the stored first information as pilot information for the received signal. |
| US08199786B2 |
Laser diode structure with reduced interference signals
A laser diode structure for generating a collimated or divergent laser beam, preferably for application in gas detection, with a laser diode arranged in a closed housing, with the housing comprising a housing bottom, an exit window, electrical connections, a temperature control device for the laser diode, and an optical element for influencing the laser beam. The temperature control device carrying the laser diode is arranged on the housing bottom and the optical element is positioned at a distance from the laser diode. The invention proposes an electrically controllable power device for the cyclic alteration of the position and/or alignment of the optical element in relation to the laser diode so that the optical path length for the laser beam in the housing changes periodically. The oscillating motion of the optical element has the effect of time-averaging the etalon and/or self-mixing effects caused by the back-reflections of the laser beam in the housing, thereby reducing the optical noise of the laser diode structure. |
| US08199783B2 |
Method and device for transmitting signal between devices
The transmission side device 10 is provided with a memory MT for holding a plurality of transmission signals transmitted last time and the reception side device 20 is provided with a memory MR for holding a plurality of reception signals received last time, thereby checking existence/non-existence of a change of a transmission signal to be transmitted this time by a comparator C. The transmission unit 103 transmits the changed part signal SL for discriminating a changed signal and the change end signal SE. The reception side device 20 equivalently receives a transmission signal as of this time by detecting and changing a changed signal among signals held in the memory MR based on the changed part signal SL. The clock generation unit 30 changes the circuit operation clock CLKC to advance the transmission circuit 101 and the reception circuit 201 by one cycle by receiving the change end signal SE. This enables data transmission/reception between devices to be sped up, as well as enabling high-speed operation of the entire system. |
| US08199778B2 |
Radio communication system, base station and random access channel transmission method thereof
A random access channel transmission method in which a user terminal selects a preamble pattern from among a plurality of known preamble patterns and transmits that preamble pattern to a base station, where that transmission method comprises: a step of dividing a cell into a plurality of areas, and setting one or more preamble patterns and the number of repetitions for transmitting the preamble pattern for each area; and a step wherein a user terminal that exists in an are close to the base station transmits a specified preamble pattern one time, and a user terminal that exists in an area far from the base station transmits another specified preamble pattern a plurality of times. |
| US08199762B2 |
Method of sizing packets for routing over a communication network for VoIP calls on a per call basis
A method for reducing latency of VoIP communications while efficiently using network resources and maintaining voice quality. This is achieved by managing packet size on a per-call basis, using factors such as distance between gateways, current backbone network status, service requested or access mechanism for a given call is disclosed. Packet size is selected on a per-call basis based on the distance between endpoints in the call. If the endpoints are far apart, the selected packet size is small. If the endpoints are close together, the selected packet size is large. |
| US08199760B2 |
Peer to peer SVC-based DSL service
Policy-based routing of packets over a peer-to-peer, quality of service connection includes sending a connection setup request, over a control connection to a connection establishing device, to dynamically establish the peer-to-peer, quality of service connection between a source peer implemented on at least one device and a destination peer implemented on at least one device. Packets originating from an application requiring a specified level of service are transmitted, from the source peer implemented on at least one device, over the peer-to-peer, quality of service connection. Packets originating from an application that does not require the specified level of service are transmitted, from the source peer implemented on at least one device, over a best effort connection. |
| US08199758B2 |
Variable abort timer
Depending on channel conditions, a variable abort timer can be set in relation to wireless communication of data packets. Additionally, available buffer size can be evaluated and used to set a length of the variable abort timer. When a packet sequence is sent, packets can become lost in communication. When a lost packet is recognized, the timer can be initiated and a request for re-transmission of the lost packet can is sent. If the lost packet does not arrive during running of the variable abort timer, then the packet sequence can be processed without the missing packet. |
| US08199756B2 |
Forwarding apparatus, forwarding method, and computer product
An apparatus for forwarding a frame according to a transfer condition includes a transfer-condition storage unit, a deleted-area data storage unit, and a transfer-condition searching unit. The transfer-condition storage unit stores therein, destination data that is likely to be included in the frame, area data indicating an area of destination indicated by the destination data, and the transfer condition in such a way that the area data and the transfer condition are associated with the destination data. The deleted-area data storage unit stores therein as deleted area data, the area data assigned to data to be deleted from the transfer-condition storage unit. The transfer-condition searching unit removes, from a search target, an area to which the deleted area data stored in the deleted-area data storage unit is assigned, to search, from the transfer-condition storage unit, for the transfer condition corresponding to the destination data included in the frame. |
| US08199755B2 |
Method and apparatus establishing forwarding state using path state advertisements
Paths may be advertised on a network implementing a link state routing protocol by using path state advertisement that are distributed in the same manner as link state advertisements. The path state advertisements contain path entries, each of which includes a globally unique path ID and path information such as a series of nodes or links that defines the path through the network. When a path state advertisement is received by a network element, the network element will evaluate the path entries in the path state advertisement to determine if the path state advertisement is relevant and, if necessary, install forwarding state for the relevant path entries. Path state advertisements not relevant to a network element are not used to affect forwarding state on the network element. Label based forwarding may then be used by the network elements to forward data along the path, in which the globally unique path ID is used as the label for the data. |
| US08199754B2 |
Intrusion prevention system edge controller
A system and method for extending the implementation of one or more Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPSs) such that each user can be placed in the IPS traffic path to create secure containment areas at a granular level, port types and port counts are increased, and higher network connection speeds are supported. In different embodiments of the invention, traffic load is balanced across two or more IPSs, enabling enhanced availability during system failures, replacements or updates. IPS performance is improved by enhancing traffic management of “trusted” (e.g., pass-through) and “known bad” (e.g., discarded) traffic flows and decreasing configuration task workloads. Other embodiments of the invention include, but are not limited to, extending the implementation of proxy devices, virtual private networks (VPNs), session border controllers (SBCs), firewalls, protocol gateways and other bump-in-the-wire systems. |
| US08199745B2 |
Method and apparatus for generalized third-party call control in session initiation protocol networks
In one embodiment, the present invention is a method and apparatus for generalized third party call control in session initiation protocol networks. In one embodiment, a method for controlling a media negotiation with one or more endpoints in a network includes determining, for each endpoint, a current state of a corresponding port on a third-party controller and transitioning the corresponding port to a new state in accordance with a finite state machine that tracks the state of the media negotiation. |
| US08199743B1 |
Enhanced services for a pots line
The present invention provides enhanced services from a packet network in association with incoming or outgoing POTS calls. These enhanced services may be provided without requiring control over any portion of the PSTN, which supports the POTS line over which the incoming or outgoing POTS calls are provided. A terminal adaptor is used to effectively connect a POTS line, a POTS-based telephone terminal, and the packet network. The terminal adaptor is configured to intercept POTS signaling associated with the incoming or outgoing calls, and send any resultant POTS signaling information to a service node or multimedia client associated with the telephone terminal to initiate the enhanced services via the packet network. |
| US08199742B1 |
Method and apparatus for enabling a retailer to send a promotional announcement to customers
A method and apparatus for enabling a retailer to track shoppers by a customer's phone number are disclosed. When the customer reaches a purchase target, e.g., a predefined amount of money spent at the retailer, the present invention enables a trigger to place an outbound call to the customer to present a promotional announcement, e.g., inviting the customer to come into the store of the retailer and to receive a discount at the point of sale. |
| US08199741B2 |
Synchronization scheduling method
The present invention discloses a synchronization scheduling method. The method includes that: sending a plurality of data bursts of a specified service by an upper network element to specified network elements belonging to the upper network element, wherein data packets of the data bursts include time stamp information so that the specified network elements send the data bursts according to the time stamp information; and setting difference between the time stamp information of every two adjacent data bursts by the upper network element to be an integer multiple of the TDM period of the specified service, wherein length of the TDM period is one of exactly divided parts of a system frame number period of a radio interface. |
| US08199740B2 |
Method and apparatus for efficient and deterministic group alerting
A system and method are provided for reliable, wireless group alerting in a system having a database, switch, wireless network, and a plurality of intelligent mobile receivers, and preferably employing a modified two-way paging based on ReFLEX™ protocol information service (IS) messages and a novel ALOHA command for multicast acknowledgement from mobile receivers. An encrypted message is broadcast to a group address and received by a selected number of the mobile receivers. The network replies to the sender with detailed information about the individual members in the alert group. Each of the mobile receivers in the group then acknowledges the common message back to the system, decrypts the message, displays it to the user, and allows the user to respond. The system employs centralized management to simplify the roles of the mobile users and administrators, minimizing configuration and operational human errors that would otherwise result in confusion or lost messages. |
| US08199739B2 |
Return link time adjustments in FDD OFDMA or SC-FDM systems
A method for adjusting timing in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) system, including receiving a request to perform a timing correction, generating a time domain FDM symbol, and controlling the timing correction in the time domain FDM symbol by at least one of adjusting a length of a cyclic prefix, overlapping a portion of adjacent FDM symbols, adjusting a symbol windowing length, or utilizing a return link (RL) silence interval. |
| US08199735B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for the control of transmit diversity
A method, apparatus and system for modifying a transmit diversity signal comprising receiving at least one input parameter, calculating at least one virtual parameter based on the at least one input parameter, converting the at least one virtual parameter into an actual parameter, and modifying a transmit diversity signal based on the actual parameter. Variations of the invention are possible, including mapping the input parameter to an actual parameter by various methods, for example, quantization, hysteresis and other methods. Embodiments of the invention may include an apparatus adapted to modify a transmit diversity signal comprising a processor to calculate at least one virtual parameter based on at least one input parameter, convert said at least one virtual parameter to an actual parameter, and modify said transmit diversity signal based on said actual parameter. |
| US08199733B2 |
Method and apparatus for geographic-based communications service
A geographic-based communications service system has a mobile unit for transmitting/receiving information, and access points connected to a network. The access points are arranged in a known geographic locations and transmit and receive information from the mobile unit. When one of the access points detects the presence of the mobile unit, it sends a signal to the network indicating the location of the mobile unit and the information requested by the mobile unit. Based on the signal received from the access point, the network communicates with information providers connected to the network and provides data to the mobile unit through the access point corresponding to the location of the mobile unit. |
| US08199732B2 |
Efficient multicast control processing for a wireless network
According to one embodiment of the invention, a method comprises an exchange of messages between an access point and a wireless network switch. One message, a PROXY IGMP JOIN message, is transmitted to the access point for propagation to a multicast router. This is performed so that multicast data associated with the multicast group identified by the PROXY IGMP JOIN message is routed to the access point without any unnecessary involvement by the wireless network switch. |
| US08199729B2 |
Media access control apparatus and method for guaranteeing quality of service in wireless LAN
A media access control (MAC) apparatus and corresponding methods for guaranteeing quality-of-service in a wireless local area network (LAN) are presented. The MAC method includes the steps of extracting, performing, determining, a first transmitting step, and a second transmitting step. The extracting step includes extracting a user priority from a frame received from an upper layer and separately storing a voice frame and a non-voice frame according to an access category (AC). The performing step includes independently performing backoff operations for the voice frame and the non-voice frame. The determining step includes determining whether the backoff operations for the voice frame and the non-voice frame have simultaneously ended. The first transmitting step includes transmitting the voice frame having a higher priority first and performing the backoff operation for the non-voice frame if the backoff operations have simultaneously ended. The second transmitting step includes transmitting a frame whose backoff operation ends if the backoff operations have not simultaneously ended. |
| US08199725B2 |
Rank indicator transmission during discontinuous reception
A user equipment (UE) is disclosed. The UE includes a processor configured to transmit a rank indicator (RI) using one of an assigned periodic RI reporting resource that precisely aligns with the start on an on-duration of a discontinuous reception (DRX) operation mode of the UE and a first assigned periodic RI reporting resource after the start of the on-duration. |
| US08199721B2 |
Method and system for selecting relay station in a communication system
A method and system for selecting an RS in an MS in a communication system are provided, in which the MS measures channel qualities between the MS and at least two RSs, and selects an RS for relaying signals between the MS and a BS from among the at least two RSs according to the channel quality measurements. |
| US08199719B2 |
Methods and apparatus for performing handover between a long term evolution (LTE) network and another type of radio access network
A method for performing handover by wireless User Equipment (UE) is provided. The UE includes a Long Term Evolution-Mobile Extreme Convergence (LTE-MXC) application processor, a LTE processor and a Digital Signal Processor (DSP). The UE buffers a set of IP packets when a Radio Access Technology (RAT) indicator is less than a pre-defined threshold and sends the set of IP packets to the LTE processor and the DSP. The LTE processor transmits the set of IP packets to the LTE network and sends acknowledgement signals to the LTE-MXC application processor and the DSP. When the handover is complete, the LTE processor sends the transmission status of the set of IP packets to the DSP. The UE also includes multimode Radio Resource Control (RRC) and Non-Access Stratum (NAS) modules. |
| US08199695B2 |
Clock signal synchronization among computers in a network
Methods, apparatus, and computer program products are disclosed for clock signal synchronization among computers in a network, including designating, as a primary clock signal for all the computers in a network, a clock signal from one of the computers in the network; providing the primary clock signal, simultaneously and in parallel, from the computer whose clock signal is designated as the primary clock signal to all the other computers in the network; and providing the primary clock signal, simultaneously and in parallel, from each computer in the network to all computers in the network through multiplexers and phase locked loops, with the primary clock signal locked in phase across all the computers by a phase locked loop on each computer. |
| US08199693B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling power in a decode-and-forward relay system
A method and apparatus for controlling power in a decode-and-forward (DF) relay system is provided. The method of controlling power in a DF relay system includes: acquiring first channel information of a first link between a source node and a destination node, second channel information of a second link between the source node and a relay node, and third channel information of a third link between the relay node and the destination node, by using a pilot signal; determining a power level of the source node from the acquired first through third channel information; and feeding back the determined power level to the source node and the relay node. |
| US08199692B2 |
Method and device for efficient dissemination of information in a satellite navigation system
A system and method for the efficient dissemination of information in a satellite navigation system is provided. The system includes a satellite system comprising a plurality of satellites, a network of observation stations for observing the signals of the satellites, one or more redundant central processing center(s) for evaluating the observations of the observation stations and for generating information, based on the observations, for the dissemination to utilization systems, and a communication network for transmitting the observations from the observation stations to the one or more redundant central processing center(s). The one or more redundant central processing center(s) send(s) the information to the selected satellites, and upon receiving the information, each of the selected satellites sends this information to the neighboring satellites. |
| US08199688B2 |
Signaling and management of broadcast-multicast waveform embedded in a unicast waveform
Embodiments describe overlaying a broadcast multicast channel on top of a unicast network. Messages can be generated by protocols in a broadcast/multicast (BCMC) stack and tunneled through an IRTP of a serving access node. These messages can be transmitted on a BCMC channel and/or a unicast channel. Other messages can be generated by protocols in a unicast stack and tunneled to a B-IRTP of a BCMC Access node and transmitted on a BCMC channel to an access terminal. |
| US08199686B1 |
Wireless local area network infrastructure mode for reducing power consumption
A client station that communicates with an access point (AP) in a wireless local area network (LAN) includes a media access control (MAC) device that controls transitions between an active mode and a low power mode. A radio frequency (RF) transceiver communicates with the MAC device. After the MAC device transitions the client station to the active mode, the RF transceiver transmits data to the AP when at least one of the AP finishes transmitting directed data to the RF transceiver and the AP transmits a null data frame to the RF transceiver. The MAC device transitions the client station to the low power mode when the RF transceiver finishes transmitting data to the AP. The AP uses at least one of a random order and a rotating order to access the client station. The client station and the AP are implemented in a console gaming system. |
| US08199684B2 |
Broadband local area full-service backbone network
A point-to-multipoint broadband local area network (BLAN) system comprising a local area modem controller (LAMC) and plurality of local area modems (LAMs) is capable of voice, video and data communications. The medium is capable of reliably supporting multiple downstream and upstream channels to meet the need of high-capacity and QoS of digital entertainment. Media-access-control (MAC) functions in the LAMC and the LAMs coordinate packet stream transmissions. The shared medium can be a tree-branch coaxial cable; the LAMs can be legacy DOCSIS or EuroDOCSIS cable modems or enhanced cable modems with multiple channels; the MAC can be a DOCSIS MAC or an enhanced multi-channel full-service MAC (fsMAC). The physical layer of each channel can be that of DOCSIS, wideband, or other technologies. Residential gateway and wide-area broadband modem functions can also be incorporated into the LAMC. Cable TV programming channels and the BLAN can shared the same cable spectrum. |
| US08199683B2 |
Full-duplex wireless communication using a single transmitter
A system for fall-duplex communication using a single transmitter is presented. The system comprises a base station with a signal and data processor, peripheral detectors each placed at a distance from the transmitting antenna, and a mobile device having at least a dipole antenna having a switch and a loop antenna having a switch, wherein the sending device modulates the shorting state, i.e., the electromagnetic configuration, of the wire and coil antennas using the switches, the modulating resulting in alteration in load at the base station. This alteration can be calculated based on input from the transmitting antenna and the detectors, each input having time coding. The input from the transmitting antenna can be magnitude of propagated signal and the input from each detector can comprise a quantified signal level and the quantified signal level time-delayed by propagation time. The detectors can be peripheral signal level detecting antennas. |
| US08199681B2 |
Software radio frequency canceller
A full-duplex RF communication system and corresponding methods use digital adaptive filters for interference cancellation. As provided, the techniques allow full-duplex radio frequency communication without frequency-, time-, or code-division multiplexing and without the use of hardware RF cancellers. Such techniques may be useful for wireless communication, such a cellular communication, radio communication, broadcasting, short-range point-to-point communication, wireless sensor networks, and wireless computer networks. |
| US08199679B2 |
Enterprise virtual private LAN services
Example embodiments are directed to methods of configuring a virtual private local area network service for an enterprise. At least one method includes assigning a virtual private local area network instance to a first node within a network. A first node attempts to establish a label distribution protocol session between the first node and at least one other node within the network based on an interior gateway protocol map. The interior gateway protocol map identifies the at least one other node and nodes connected to the at least one other node. The virtual private local area network service is established based on the label distribution protocol sessions that are established. |
| US08199678B2 |
Graphical arrangement of IT network components
A method executed by a computer is provided of graphically arranging components of an IT network into a layered representation for visualization purposes. The IT network has network components of different types, and links connecting network components. The method includes: regarding at least one network component as a source component and assigning a corresponding hierarchy level to it; assigning hierarchy levels to the other network components, based on a distance measure that represents the number of links, or the sum of weights of links, which have to be traversed to get from the network component considered to a source component, and displaying the network components in a layered representation according to the hierarchy level assigned to each component. |
| US08199672B1 |
Method and apparatus for power reduction in network
Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for reducing power consumption in a network switch. The method includes detecting a traffic load on a network link system coupled to the network switch. The network switch can include a first power consumption configuration providing a first link capacity for the network link system, and a second power consumption configuration, which is lower than the first power consumption configuration, providing a second link capacity that is lower than the first link capacity. The method further includes determining whether the traffic load on the network link is lower than a first boundary threshold, and reconfiguring the network switch from the first power consumption configuration into the second power consumption configuration if the traffic load is lower than the first boundary threshold. |
| US08199664B2 |
Communication terminal and communication network
Routing schemes are provided for a communication network. In one scheme, destination terminals and associated neighboring terminals are listed in a routing control cache at each communication terminal in the network, and packets are routed toward the destination terminal through the associated neighboring terminals. In another scheme, a single path from a source terminal to a destination terminal is automatically expanded into multiple paths. In yet another scheme, packets are routed as long as this does not increase the number of hops to the destination terminal. These schemes enable multiple paths to be established by a simple procedure not requiring complex distance calculations. In still another scheme, routing is restricted to the shortest path and paths up to a given number of hops longer than the shortest path, permitting paths to diverge in multiple directions from the source and destination terminals. |
| US08199662B2 |
Method for capacity evaluation in OFDM networks
A fast and simple method evaluates the capacity of OFDM-based radio networks using adaptive modulation and coding. From a mapping of SINR values to achievable data throughput, constant coefficients defining a linear function for the required channel activity of a single user are determined. Subsequently, linear equations for total uplink and downlink channel activity are obtained which allow fast numerical solutions. |
| US08199661B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing supplemental and non supplemental assignments
A method and apparatus for processing supplemental and non supplement assignments in a wireless communication system are described. A forward link assignment block (FLAB) is received from a shared signaling medium access control (SS MAC) protocol. It is determined if a medium access control identity (MAC ID) of the FLAB is equal to the MAC ID of an access terminal and it is determined if a supplemental field of a FLAB is equal to ‘1’. |
| US08199660B2 |
Method of controlling radio resources, and radio system
There is provided a radio system, comprising: a receiver for receiving uplink channel traffic; a measuring unit for measuring periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic; and a control unit for controlling discontinuous uplink operation on the basis of the measured periodicity of the received uplink channel traffic. |
| US08199658B2 |
OAM tools for meshed tunnels in a computer network
In one embodiment, a tunnel mesh probe, initiated for a computer network having a tunnel mesh, may be received at a first tail-end node of a probed tunnel. In response, the first tail-end node processes the probe, and forwards the probe to another tail-end node of a non-probed tunnel selected from a plurality of tunnels of the tunnel mesh for which the first tail-end node is a head-end node. Illustratively, once the probe is received at its initiating node, and in response to determining that the initiating node is a head-end node for only probed tunnels, the tunnel mesh probe is completed, having probed all tunnels of the tunnel mesh. |
| US08199651B1 |
Method and system for modifying communication flows at a port level
A flow management system for modifying a communication flow from a port at a source IP address to a port at a destination IP address, the modifying being independent of communication flows at other ports at the source IP address and communication flows at other ports at the destination IP address. The system monitors a communication flow between a source port at a source IP address to a destination port at a destination IP address and determines whether a source IP address and destination IP address are participating in a media provider service. The system analyzes the communication flow content and modifies the communication flow from a specific source port to a specific destination port based on the content and whether the source and destination IP addresses are part of a media provider service. |
| US08199643B2 |
Optimization strategies for resource management and course of action analysis
A method for allocating resources includes receiving one or more parameters associated with an object of interest. At least one of the parameters corresponds to a probability that the object of interest is participating in a predetermined situation of interest. The method also includes calculating a plurality of values, based at least in part on the parameters, and selecting, based at least in part on the calculated values, one or more operations to be performed involving the object of interest. In addition the method includes generating an instruction based at least in part on the operation to be performed transmitting the instruction to an operational resource. |
| US08199642B2 |
Dynamically and efficiently forming hierarchical tunnels
In one embodiment, a node (e.g., a grooming node) determines a set of attribute groups (AGs) of existing child tunnels through the network, where an AG is a group of one or more compatible attributes among child tunnels, e.g., excluding bandwidth. The grooming node also determines a set of corresponding child tunnels that belong to a particular AG and that follow a shared path segment through the network, and may establish an hierarchical tunnel that encapsulates the set of corresponding child tunnels along the shared path segment. In another embodiment, a node requests that the one or more intermediate nodes of the hierarchical tunnel each remove the state of a child tunnel without sending any error messages, and sends refresh messages encapsulated within the hierarchical tunnel in a manner that allows a tail-end node to continue any necessary propagation of refresh messages along the child tunnel. |
| US08199639B2 |
Path protection method and layer-2 switch
A method of providing path protection includes setting a working path and a protection path by identifying, as a single path, a set of a control-purpose virtual network identifier and at least one virtual network identifier that are assigned to one or more users at a section defined as a point-to-point connection in a virtual network, and switching between the working path and the protection path. |
| US08199636B1 |
Bridged network system with traffic resiliency upon link failure
A bridged network system (10, 10′) is described comprising a plurality of nodes (N1-N7). Each node in the plurality of nodes is coupled to communicate with at least one other node in the plurality of nodes. The plurality of nodes comprise a bridge network between external nodes located externally from the plurality of nodes. Each node of the plurality of nodes is operable to perform the steps of receiving a packet (20, 20′), wherein the packet comprises a route indicator field, and responsive to the packet being received prior to a time of failure along a communication link between two of the plurality of nodes, transmitting the packet along a first route in the system to another node in the plurality of nodes. Conversely, each node of the plurality of nodes is also operable to perform the step of, responsive to the packet being received after a time of failure along a communication link between two of the plurality of nodes and in response to the route indicator field, transmitting the packet along a second route in the system to another node in the plurality of nodes, wherein the second route differs from the first route and is identified prior to the time of failure. |
| US08199632B2 |
Systems and method for orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexing
Systems and methods for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing are provided. In one embodiment, a multi-carrier modem comprises: a receiver configured to receive a waveform comprising a plurality of spectrally overlapping carrier signals from at least two of a plurality of remote units, wherein the plurality of spectrally overlapping carrier signals are modulated using an inverse Fourier transform algorithm; a transmitter; a processor coupled to the transmitter, wherein the processor outputs data for transmission to the transmitter, wherein the processor applies an inverse Fourier transform algorithm to the data provided to the transmitter; and a controller programmed to analyze a training signal received from a first remote unit and adjust receiver equalizer parameters based on the training signal. |
| US08199631B2 |
Method and device for processing a channel and communication system comprising such device
A method and a device for processing a channel are disclosed. The channel is represented by a MIMO (multiple-input-multiple-output) system having first coefficients associated with transmission lines and second coefficients in particular associated with crosstalk. The method includes (i) clustering of the coefficients of the second coefficients; and (ii) processing of the clustered coefficients. |
| US08199630B2 |
Information storage medium, and recording/reproducing apparatus and recording/reproducing method
An information storage medium and a recording/reproducing apparatus and method are provided with the ability to extend at least one middle area of an information storage medium comprising two or more recording layers so as to ensure optimal data recording/reproduction. The information storage medium comprises a plurality of recording layers, each including a user data area for recording user data and at least one middle area used by a recording/reproducing apparatus that records/reproduces data on the information storage medium to move among two recording layers, wherein the at least one middle area is extended when the information storage medium is finalized. As a result, when an information storage medium that contains an OPC area for obtaining optimum recording conditions (such as recording power) in an outer circumference thereof is finalized, and if a middle area of the disk is not large enough, the middle area can flexibly be extended. |
| US08199629B2 |
Objective lens for optical pickup device, and optical pickup device
There are provided an objective lens for an optical pickup device which can record and/or reproduce information on/from an optical disk with high density with the use of a light flux with a short wavelength while keeping a temperature characteristic to be satisfactory in spite of having a plastic objective lens, and the optical pickup device. The objective lens suppresses generation of a spherical aberration even if a temperature change arises, by sacrificing wavelength characteristics and by enhancing temperature characteristics. Such satisfactory temperature characteristics can be acquired by the ring-shaped structure formed as a turning structure on an optical surface of the objective lens, in which the ring-shaped structure includes ring-shaped zones whose number is 3 or more and 30 or less and the ring-shaped structure is formed such that adjoining ring-shaped zones cause a predetermined optical path difference for an incident light flux. |
| US08199628B2 |
Multilayer coaxial holographic storage system
An apparatus for reading from a multilayer holographic storage medium with a coaxial arrangement of a reference beam and a reconstructed object beam is described. The apparatus has an objective lens for focusing the reference beam into the multilayer holographic storage medium such that the reference beam has a focal point behind or in front of a reflective layer of the multilayer holographic storage medium, wherein a distance between the objective lens and the multilayer holographic storage medium is set in accordance with an addressed layer of the multilayer holographic storage medium, and an imaging system with a fixed lens of focal length f and a movable lens of focal length f for re-collimating a reconstructed object beam, wherein for a specific position of the movable lens the imaging system assumes a 4f configuration. For re-collimating the reconstructed object beam the apparatus is adapted to shift the movable lens of the 4f imaging system by substantially twice the shift of the objective lens necessary for addressing a specific layer of the multilayer holographic storage medium. |
| US08199624B2 |
Optical disc, optical disc unit and method of controlling the optical disc unit
When a laser light focal point, driven by an objective lens, passes through each of a plurality of recording layers of an optical disc, data recorded on the recording layers through which the focal point passes may be deteriorated due to a difference in optical sensitivity for each recording layer or the like. In a focal point position movement in which switching of recording layers is made by a focus error signal, when the focal point position moves from a recording layer on which a laser light is focused to another recording layer which is not adjacent, light intensity or light density at the focal point is reduced in accordance with the recording layer to be passed through, thus deterioration of the data on the optical disc being prevented. |
| US08199620B2 |
Method for performing servo defect compensating operation by compensating servo-related signal derived from reading optical medium and related optical disc drive system with DSP
A method for performing a servo defect compensating operation by compensating a servo-related signal in an optical disc drive and a related optical disc drive system with a DSP is provided. The method comprises: reading an optical medium by an optical pick-up unit; detecting whether a defect exists by monitoring a side beam signal; when the defect on the optical medium is detected, determining a new compensation value based on a servo error signal; and compensating the servo-related signal with the new compensation value during defect crossing to adjust servo control when the optical pick-up unit passes the defect. |
| US08199619B2 |
Method and system for tuning write strategy parameters utilizing data-to-clock edge deviations
A method for tuning a plurality of write strategy parameters of an optical storage device includes detecting a plurality of patterns. Each pattern corresponds to a pit or a land on a phase-changed type optical storage medium accessed by the optical storage device. The method further includes performing calculations corresponding to a plurality of data types and generating a plurality of data-to-clock edge deviations respectively corresponding to the data types. Each pattern belongs to a data type. The data-to-clock edge deviations are utilized for tuning the write strategy parameters corresponding to the data types respectively. |
| US08199618B2 |
Buffer control system for reducing buffer delay time between the playback of tracks and method thereof
A buffer control system for generating a buffered signal having reduced buffer delay time between playback of tracks includes a controller module for providing an end target and for selection of a servo data signal corresponding to a desired track; a compare circuit coupled to the servo data signal for comparing a timestamp of the servo data signal to the end target, and asserting an end match signal when the timestamp of the servo data signal matches the end target; and a data buffering unit for storing the servo data signal as stored data to fill a capacity of an internal memory, and streaming out the buffered signal from the stored data in the internal memory when the capacity has reached a predetermined level; wherein the controller module is for updating selection of the servo data signal according to a next desired track upon assertion of the end match signal. |
| US08199610B2 |
Measuring and modifying directionality of seismic interferometry data
Methods and apparatuses are disclosed for replacing the individual receivers used with a seismic interferometry process with an array of seismic receivers and then manipulating the array data in order to measure and modify the typical non-uniform directionality function of the background seismic energy. The non-uniform directionality function is a significant cause of noise with seismic interferometry. Furthermore, the array of receivers may be used to significantly enhance the preferred reflection energy and damp undesirable near surface energy. The directionality function may be modified by using an array of receivers for the virtual source location of seismic interferometry to measure the non-uniform directionality function, generating multiplication factors, and applying the multiplication factors to convert the measured directionality function into a desired directionality function. |
| US08199608B2 |
System and method for adjusting sensitivity of an acoustic sensor
A method of adjusting a sensitivity of an acoustic detector. The acoustic detector receives a signal from a remote device. The signal embodies an operating instruction for the acoustic detector. The signal is decoded into an operating instruction for the acoustic detector. The sensitivity of the acoustic detector is adjusted according to the operating instruction. The acoustic detector can increase or decrease the sensitivity. After the sensitivity is adjusted, the acoustic detector sends a confirmation of the adjustment to the user. |
| US08199605B2 |
Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
A semiconductor memory integrated circuit having an X-row controller which includes a high-speed-operation control circuit by which when receiving a bank active signal, a period for stopping a latch circuit from receiving the X address is produced after a predetermined time has elapsed, and in the other periods, the latch circuit receives and holds the X address; a low-current-operation control circuit by which when receiving no bank active signal, the latch circuit stops receiving the X address, and when receiving the bank active signal, the latch circuit holds the X address after a predetermined time has elapsed; a circuit for selecting whether the bank active signal is output to the high-speed-operation control circuit or the low-current-operation control circuit; and a circuit for selecting whether the latch-circuit control signal from the high-speed-operation control circuit or the latch-circuit control signal from the low-current-operation control circuit is output to the latch circuit. |
| US08199601B2 |
System and method of selectively varying supply voltage without level shifting data signals
An electronic system implements a plurality of voltage domains, at least one of which has a selectively variable supply voltage, without requiring the use of a large number of level shifters (e.g., for each data and/or address line). The supply voltage for a first domain is set equal or nearly equal to that of a second domain for a first duration, when the two domains are connected for data transfer across a system bus. When the first domain is isolated from the bus, its supply voltage is set differently from that of the second domain for a second duration. In the second duration, the first domain may have a higher supply voltage, e.g., to perform high-performance computational tasks. Alternatively, it may have a lower supply voltage, to conserve power, if its computational task is less demanding. |
| US08199600B2 |
Voltage generator for peripheral circuit
A voltage generator for a peripheral circuit, the voltage generator includes: a voltage supplier supplying a peripheral circuit voltage having a voltage level maintained at a reference voltage level, the peripheral circuit voltage outputted in response to a driving signal; and a voltage level compensator increasing the voltage level of the peripheral circuit voltage in response to a column path command. |
| US08199599B2 |
Variable memory refresh devices and methods
Memory devices and methods are described such as those that monitor and adjust characteristics for various different portions of a given memory device. Examples of different portions include tiles, or arrays, or dies. One memory device and method described includes monitoring and adjusting characteristics of different portions of a 3D stack of memory dies. One characteristic that can be adjusted at multiple selected portions includes refresh rate. |
| US08199598B2 |
Memory with output control
An apparatus, system, and method for controlling data transfer to an output port of a serial data link interface in a semiconductor memory is disclosed. In one example, a flash memory device may have multiple serial data links, multiple memory banks and control input ports that enable the memory device to transfer the serial data to a serial data output port of the memory device. In another example, a flash memory device may have a single serial data link, a single memory bank, a serial data input port, a control input port for receiving output enable signals. The flash memory devices may be cascaded in a daisy-chain configuration using echo signal lines to serially communicate between memory devices. |
| US08199597B2 |
Semiconductor memory device including a plurality of memory cell arrays
First and second memory cell arrays are adjacent in a first direction. First and second areas are positioned adjacent to one and the other side of the first memory array in a second direction. Third and fourth areas are positioned adjacent to one and the other side of the second memory array in a second direction. A sense amplifier is arranged in the first area and a current sink is arranged in the fourth area. The sense amplifier compares a read current which flows into the current sink via a memory cell in the first memory cell array and the second area from the sense amplifier with a reference current which flows into the current sink via the third area and a reference memory cell in the second memory cell array from the sense amplifier. |
| US08199596B2 |
Semiconductor memory device having a plurality of sense amplifier circuits
A sense amplifier is constructed to reduce the occurrence of malfunctions in a memory read operation, and thus degraded chip yield, due to increased offset of the sense amplifier with further sealing down. The sense amplifier circuit is constructed with a plurality of pull-down circuits and a pull-up circuit, and a transistor in one of the plurality of pull-down circuits has a constant such as a channel length or a channel width larger than that of a transistor in another pull-down circuit. The pull-down circuit with a larger constant of a transistor is first activated, and then, the other pull-down circuit and the pull-up circuit are activated to perform the read operation. |
| US08199595B2 |
Techniques for sensing a semiconductor memory device
Techniques for sensing a semiconductor memory device are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as an apparatus including a memory cell array comprising a plurality of memory cells. The apparatus may also include a first data sense amplifier circuitry including an amplifier transistor having a first region coupled to at least one of the plurality of memory cells via a bit line. The apparatus may further include a data sense amplifier latch circuitry including a first input node coupled to the data sense amplifier circuitry via a second region of the amplifier transistor. |
| US08199594B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
The SRAM cell is formed by an inverter circuit (P1, N1) using a storage node V2 as an input and a storage node V1 as an output, a load transistor P2 connected between a power source VDD and the storage node V2 using the storage node V1 as an input and the storage node V2 as an output, an access transistor N3 connected between a read bit line RBL and the storage node V1, and an access transistor N4 connected between a write bit line WBL and the storage node V2. When the access transistor N4 is controlled by a write word line WWL, the access transistor N4 can be used as holding control means and writing means for the memory cell, making it possible to obtain a semiconductor device capable of operating at a high speed with a small number of elements. |
| US08199593B2 |
Circuit and method for controlling standby leakage current in random access memory devices
A method for controlling standby current coming from bit line leakage in random access memory devices comprises the steps of: continuously deactivating a pre-charge equalization circuit providing a pre-charge voltage to a pair of complementary bit lines of a memory cell if the memory cell is in a self-refresh mode, a standby mode or an active mode; temporarily activating the pre-charge equalization circuit before the memory cell is refreshed if the memory cell is in a self-refresh mode or a standby mode; and temporarily activating the pre-charge equalization circuit before the memory cell is refreshed or accessed if the memory cell is in an active mode. |
| US08199592B2 |
Semiconductor memory devices with mismatch cells
A semiconductor memory device having the mismatch cell makes a capacitance difference between a bit line pair relatively large during a read operation using at least one dummy memory cell as a mismatch cell selected together with a corresponding memory cell. Therefore, data of a semiconductor memory device may be detected more easily. |
| US08199590B1 |
Multiple time programmable non-volatile memory element
A multiple time programmable non-volatile memory element and associated programming methods that allow for integration of non-volatile memory with other CMOS integrated circuitry utilizing standard CMOS processing. The multiple time programmable non-volatile memory element includes a capacitor, an access transistor that is electrically coupled to the capacitor at a connection node, and a plurality of one time programmable non-volatile memory cells. Each of the plurality of one time programmable non-volatile memory cells is electrically coupled to the connection node and includes a select transistor that is electrically coupled to an antifuse element. The antifuse element is configured to have changed resistivity in response to one or more voltage pulses received at the connection node, the change in resistivity representing a change in logic state. |
| US08199588B2 |
Semiconductor memory device with a data output circuit configured to output stored data during a first type of read operation and configured to output at least one data pattern during a second type of read operation and methods thereof
According to example embodiments, a semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array, a multi-purpose register, a data output circuit, and a mode register. The memory cell array is configured to store data. The multi-purpose register is configured to store a data pattern. The data output circuit is configured to output the stored data during a first output mode and output the stored data pattern during a second output mode. The mode register is configured to set the first or second output mode according to a logic level of a portion of a content of the mode register. |
| US08199585B2 |
Dynamic soft program trims
Systems and methods are disclosed for modifying soft-programming trims of a non-volatile memory device, such as a flash memory device. The soft-programming trims may be modified based on a count of erase pulses applied to memory cells of the memory device. The number of erase pulses used to erase memory cells may be indicative of accumulated charge in the memory cell. The start voltage, step size, pulse width, number of pulses, pulse ramp, ramp rate, or any other trim of the soft-programming operation may be modified in response to the number of erase pulses. |
| US08199583B2 |
Method of performing read operation in flash memory device
A method of performing a read operation in a flash memory device is disclosed. The flash memory has a memory cell array including at least one block, the block having a plurality of pages. The method comprises receiving a read command to read data from a selected page in the block; determining whether or not the block has any page that has not been programmed; performing a dummy data program operation on at least one page that is determined not to have been programmed; and executing the read command to read the data of the selected page after the dummy data program operation is completed. |
| US08199581B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device, driving method thereof, and memory system having the same
A nonvolatile memory device (NVM), memory system and apparatus include control logic configured to perform a method of applying negative voltage on a selected wordline of the NVM. During a first time a first high voltage level is applied to the channel of a transistor of a address decoder and a ground voltage is applied to the well of the transistor. And, during a second time a second high voltage level is applied to the channel of the transistor, and within the second time interval a first negative voltage is applied to the well of the transistor. The first high voltage level is higher than the second high voltage level, and a voltage applied on the selected wordline is negative within the second time interval. |
| US08199580B2 |
Memory device that selectively stores holes
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a memory device having a memory cell to selectively store holes by photon and bias voltage induction as a representation of binary values. |
| US08199577B2 |
Ripple programming of memory cells in a nonvolatile memory
An electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) with a ripple programming mode. Memory cells in an the EEPROM array include floating-gate transistors with control gates coupled to corresponding word lines, and drain electrodes coupled to corresponding bit lines. A memory cell is programmed by applying a high programming voltage to its control gate along with applying a high programming voltage to its drain. Multiple memory cells within a row can be programmed by applying the programming voltage to the word line of that row, during which multiple bit lines receive their programming voltage, without removing the word line programming voltage when changing the programming from one bit line to another. |
| US08199575B2 |
Memory cell array of memory
A memory cell array of a memory comprises a main memory cell array, including local bit lines, word lines and memory cells, and a selected array, including a global bit line, a bit line transistor (BLT) control line, a transistor and a fixed value memory cell. The local bit lines comprise first and second local bit lines. Each memory cell for storing data corresponds and is connected to one local bit line and one word line. The transistor is coupled to the global bit line, first local bit line and BLT control line, and selectively turns on to connect the global bit line to the first local bit line. The fixed value memory cell coupled to the global bit line, second local bit line, and BLT control line is programmed to a fixed value so that a threshold voltage thereof is greater than a threshold voltage of the transistor. |
| US08199573B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprises: a bit line; a source line; a memory string having a plurality of electrically data-rewritable memory transistors connected in series; a first select transistor provided between one end of the memory string and the bit line; a second select transistor provided between the other end of the memory string and the source line; and a control circuit configured to control a read operation. A plurality of the memory strings connected to one bit line via a plurality of the first select transistors. During reading of data from a selected one of the memory strings, the control circuit renders conductive the first select transistor connected to an unselected one of the memory strings and renders non-conductive the second select transistor connected to unselected one of the memory strings. |
| US08199572B2 |
Non-volatile memory with both single and multiple level cells
Memory arrays and methods of operating such memory arrays are described as having a memory cell operated as a single level cell interposed between and coupled to a select gate and a memory cell operated as a multiple level memory cell. In some embodiments, a memory array is described as including a number of select gates coupled in series to a number of memory cells operated as single level memory cells and a number of memory cells operated as multiple level memory cells, where a first select gate is directly coupled to a first memory cell operated as a single level memory cell interposed between and coupled to the first select gate and a continuous number of memory cells operated as multiple level memory cells. |
| US08199571B2 |
Read operation for non-volatile storage with compensation for coupling
Shifts in the apparent charge stored on a floating gate (or other charge storing element) of a non-volatile memory cell can occur because of the coupling of an electric field based on the charge stored in adjacent floating gates (or other adjacent charge storing elements). The problem occurs most pronouncedly between sets of adjacent memory cells that have been programmed at different times. To account for this coupling, the read process for a particular memory cell will provide compensation to an adjacent memory cell in order to reduce the coupling effect that the adjacent memory cell has on the particular memory cell. |
| US08199567B2 |
Multiple level cell phase-change memory devices having pre-reading operation resistance drift recovery, memory systems employing such devices and methods of reading memory devices
A memory device comprises a plurality of memory cells, each memory cell comprising a memory cell material that has an initial resistance that is determined in response to an applied programming current in a programming operation, the resistance of the memory cell varying from the initial resistance over a time period following the programming operation, and each memory cell being connected to a conduction line of the memory device that is used to apply the programming current to program the resistance of the corresponding memory cell in the programming operation and that is used to apply a read current to read the resistance of the corresponding memory cell in a read operation. A modification circuit modifies the resistance of a memory cell of the plurality of memory cells selected for a read operation to return its resistance to near the initial resistance prior to a read operation of the memory cell. |
| US08199566B1 |
Write performance of phase change memory using set-pulse shaping
Subject matter disclosed herein relates to a memory device, and more particularly to write performance of a phase change memory. |
| US08199565B2 |
Magnetic random access memory with dual spin torque reference layers
A magnetic data storage cell, applicable to spin-torque random access memory (ST-RAM), is disclosed. A magnetic cell includes first and second fixed magnetic layers and a free magnetic layer positioned between the fixed magnetic layers. The magnetic cell also includes terminals configured for providing a spin-polarized current through the magnetic layers. The first fixed magnetic layer has a magnetization direction that is substantially parallel to the easy axis of the free magnetic layer, and the second fixed magnetic layer has a magnetization direction that is substantially orthogonal to the easy axis of the free magnetic layer. The dual fixed magnetic layers provide enhanced spin torque in writing to the free magnetic layer, thereby reducing the required current and reducing the feature size of magnetic data storage cells, and increasing the data storage density of magnetic spin torque data storage. |
| US08199557B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and method of resetting the same
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes: a plurality of memory cell arrays stacked on a semiconductor substrate and including a plurality of first wires, a plurality of second wires and memory cells disposed at intersections of the first wires and the second wires and having a rectifier element and a variable resistive element are connected in series; and a control circuit configured to selectively drive the first wires and the second wires. The control circuit executes a resetting operation to change a state of the variable resistive element from a low resistance state to a high resistance state. At a time of executing the resetting operation, the control circuit increases a pulse voltage to be applied to the variable resistive element to a first voltage, and then decreases the pulse voltage to a second voltage lower than the first voltage and higher than the ground voltage. |
| US08199554B2 |
Ferro-electric random access memory apparatus
A ferro-electric random access memory apparatus has a memory cell array in which a plurality of memory cells each formed of a ferro-electric capacitor and a transistor are arranged, word lines are disposed to select a memory cell, plate lines are disposed to apply a voltage to a first end of the ferro-electric capacitor in a memory cell, and bit lines are disposed to read cell data from a second end of the ferro-electric capacitor in the memory cell. The ferro-electric random access memory apparatus has a sense amplifier which senses and amplifies a signal read from the ferro-electric capacitor onto the bit line. The ferro-electric random access memory apparatus has a bit line potential control circuit which exercises control to pull down a voltage on an adjacent bit line adjacent to the selected bit line onto which the signal is read, before operation of the sense amplifier at time of data readout. |
| US08199551B2 |
Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device including a memory cell is provided. The memory cell comprises a transistor and a capacitor, and one of a resistor and a diode. A gate of the transistor is electrically connected to a word line, and one of a source and a drain of the transistor is electrically connected to a bit line. One terminal of the capacitor is electrically connected to the other of the source and the drain of the transistor, and the other terminal of the capacitor is electrically connected to a wiring. One terminal of one of the resistor and the diode is electrically connected to the other of the source and the drain of the transistor, and the other terminal of one of the resistor and the diode is electrically connected to the wiring. |
| US08199547B2 |
Error detection in a content addressable memory (CAM)
A content addressable memory and method of operation uses a memory array having a plurality of rows of stored content addressable memory data and compare circuitry for comparing received comparand data with the stored content addressable memory data. A hit signal and one or more parity bits is provided for each row. Erroneous hit detection circuitry coupled to the memory array for each row generates a row error indicator in response to a comparison between parity of the comparand data and parity of a row that is correlated to the hit signal as qualified by assertion of a hit signal of that row. The erroneous hit detection circuitry uses the row error indicator for each row to provide an output which indicates whether at least one asserted hit signal corresponds to an erroneous hit. |
| US08199544B2 |
Zero-voltage switching power converter
The zero-voltage converter is able to perform at extremely high power levels and bares significant benefits to all levels; system, inverter and circuitry level. Power losses are avoided by using a new developed resonant topology. EMI problems are reduced by power module integrated capacitors as well as smart selection of the terminal technology and under full utilization of the analog components and their potentials. The power module developed for this specific application is designed under a maxim of gaining highest power density as well as lowest stray inductances. High switching frequencies enable even special electro motors with extremely low leakage inductance to perform well. This is in particular beneficial for ultra high speed drives or motors with a high pole pair number. The mechanical concept of the inverter can specifically be adopted to the referring vehicle and to its available installation space. Thus, also (hybrid) electrical vehicles can be designed based on such highly innovative conception. |
| US08199542B2 |
Method and device for creating a direct voltage or a direct current
A device, which functions to generate a DC voltage or a DC current, has at least one rectifier element (D) and at least one transformer (T) that has at least one primary winding (W1) connected through leads (PL1, PL2) of a power supply lead (PL) to an AC voltage source (Q) and has at least one secondary winding (W2) connected to a load (Z), the windings being disposed on an associated magnet frame (JK) that functions to carry a magnetic flux Φ. According to the invention, the primary winding (W1) is connected through the rectifier element (D) to the AC voltage source (Q) such that for each AC half-wave of corresponding polarity a current I1 is able to be carried through the rectifier element (D) and through the primary winding (W1), the current driving the magnetic flux Φ always in the same direction through the magnet frame (JK). |
| US08199540B2 |
High voltage gain power converter
A high voltage gain power converter includes: a main switch element; an assistant switch element; a first inductive element, a first switch element, and a first capacitive element; and a second inductive element, a second switch element, and a second capacitive element. The first inductive element is connected between an input node and first switch element. The first capacitive element, connected between the first switch element and ground, provides a first boost output voltage. The second inductive element is connected between the main switch element and first capacitive element. The second switch element is connected to a common node of the second inductive element and main switch element. The second capacitive element, connecting the second switch element to a first node, provides a second boost output voltage. The assistant switch element is connected between the first inductive element and common node of the second inductive element and main switch element. |
| US08199538B2 |
Switched mode power supply with improved current sensing
We describe a switch mode power supply (SMPS) current regulation system comprising: a current sense signal input sensing a primary current of the SMPS; a voltage sense input to receive a voltage sense signal from a primary or auxiliary winding; a switch drive signal input to receive a drive signal; a timing signal generator coupled to said voltage sense input and to said drive signal input to generate a timing signal T0 indicating a duration of a period for which current is flowing through said primary winding and a timing signal T1 indicating a duration of a period for which current is flowing through said secondary winding; and a regulator to provide an output current regulation signal responsive to an average of the current sense signal multiplied by a ratio of T1 to T0, and wherein T0 and/or T1 are generated responsive to the voltage or current sense signal. |
| US08199537B2 |
Detecting light load conditions and improving light load efficiency in a switching power converter
A switching power converter detects low load conditions based on the ratio of a first peak current value for peak current switching in constant voltage regulation mode to a second peak current value for peak current switching in constant current regulation mode. The power supply load is considered to have a low load if the ratio is lower than a predetermined threshold. Once a low load condition is detected, the switching frequency of the switching power converter is reduced to a level that minimizes switching loss in the power converter. In addition, the switching power converter also adjusts the switching frequency according to the sensed input line voltage. An offset is added to the switching period to reduce the switching frequency of the switching power converter, as the input line voltage is increased. |
| US08199535B2 |
Switching power source apparatus
A switching power source apparatus has a controller generating a drive signal that controls an ON/OFF period of a switching element 3. The controller includes a load tester for testing the switching power source apparatus when detecting an edge of the drive signal after the switching element is switched from ON to OFF, a bottom detector of the switching element during an OFF period thereof, a bottom skip state tester, and a bottom skip operation tester carrying out a pseudo resonant operation that turns on the switching element at a first minimum voltage point if the apparatus is in a heavy load state, and if the apparatus is in the light load state and if the bottom skip state has continued for a first predetermined time, shift the pseudo resonant operation to a bottom skip operation. |
| US08199529B2 |
Inductorless isolated power converters with zero voltage and zero current switching
A method of controlling an isolated switching power converter that includes a transformer with a primary side and a secondary side, at least one primary switch coupled to the primary side of the transformer and at least one synchronous rectifier coupled to the secondary side of the transformer is disclosed. The method includes turning on the synchronous rectifier a first fixed time after turning on the primary switch and turning off the synchronous rectifier a second fixed time after turning off the primary switch. Power converters for operation according to this method are also disclosed, including power converters without an output inductor. |
| US08199526B2 |
Wireless communication device for electronic apparatus
An exemplary electronic apparatus includes a housing, a wireless communication device disposed on the housing, and a motherboard received in the housing. The wireless communication device includes a circuit board and a wireless communication module disposed on the circuit board. The circuit board is connected the motherboard by electrical wires. The wireless communication module is located at an outside of the housing. |
| US08199524B2 |
Electronic device and metal plate member
An electronic device includes: a metal housing with an opening; a metal lid that is attached to the housing so as to cover the opening; a first substrate fixed in the housing and spread facing and parallel to the opening; two connectors that are fixed in the housing at a position facing and closer to the opening than the first substrate and are spread facing and parallel to the opening, the two connectors extending parallel to each other such that there is a predetermined space between the two connectors, the two connectors each being capable of receiving a second substrate that is inserted therein toward the space; and a metal plate member disposed in the space so that the metal plate member is fastened to the housing and resiliently contacts a surface of the first substrate, thereby electrically connecting a ground of the first substrate to the housing. |
| US08199523B2 |
Server-based network appliance
Communication apparatus includes a case including a front panel and having a rear side opposite the front panel. A computer motherboard includes a processor and a bus having bus slots, and is mounted in the case so that the bus slots are located adjacent to the rear side of the case. One or more communication adapter cards, each of which includes a bus connector compatible with the bus and one or more ports for receiving a communication cable, are mounted in the case so that the ports are accessible at the front panel. Bus extension circuitry is connected inside the case between the bus slots on the motherboard and the one or more communication adapter cards, and includes a backplane including at least one backplane slot, for receiving the bus connector of the one or more communication adapter cards. |
| US08199521B2 |
Memory module and method for operating a memory module
A memory module includes an electronic printed circuit board with at least one contact strip, a plurality of integrated memory components, at least one first and one second buffer component, and a number of conductor tracks, which proceed from the contact strip and which are arranged on or in the printed circuit board. The conductor tracks include data lines, control lines and address lines. The conductor tracks lead from the contact strip to the buffer components or to one of the buffer components. The printed circuit board has conductor tracks that are interposed between the first buffer component and the second buffer component and that lead from the first buffer component to the second buffer component. |
| US08199517B2 |
Flexible printed circuit board, method of fabricating the flexible printed circuit board, and display device having the flexible printed circuit board
Provided are a flexible printed circuit board (PCB), which can contribute to the reduction of damage to wiring layers and wiring defects regardless of a decrease in the width of wiring layers and can thus contribute to the miniaturization of various products, a method of fabricating the flexible PCB, and a display device having the flexible PCB. The flexible PCB includes a base film, one or more first pad patterns formed on the base film, one or more second pad patterns formed on the base film and connected to the one or more first pad patterns, a cover film formed on the one or more first pad patterns and the base film and exposing the one or more second patterns, and a plurality of expanded portions corresponding to the boundaries between the one or more first pad patterns and the one or more second pad patterns and having a greater width than the one or more first pad patterns and the one or more second pad patterns. |
| US08199515B2 |
DIMM riser card with an angled DIMM socket and a straddled mount DIMM socket
A DIMM riser card that includes a PCB having a first edge, a second edge, and one or more faces. The first edge of the PCB is configured for insertion into a main board DIMM socket. The first edge includes electrical traces that electrically couple to a memory bus. The DIMM riser card includes an angled DIMM socket mounted on one face of the PCB, where the angled DIMM socket is configured to accept a DIMM at an angle not perpendicular to the PCB and electrically couple the DIMM to the memory bus. The DIMM riser card includes a straddle mount DIMM socket mounted on the second edge of the PCB. The straddle mount DIMM socket is configured to accept a DIMM and electrically couple the DIMM to the memory bus through the electrical traces on the first edge of the PCB. |
| US08199514B2 |
Container unit for electrical device
An electrical device storage unit includes a separation wall having a convex portion and a concave portion; a control unit having a printed circuit board whose front surface and back surface are mounted with an electronic component; an adhesive for joining the convex portion and the printed circuit board; and an electrical device that is electrically connected with the control unit by a conductor and arranged opposite the control unit with the separation wall disposed therebetween, wherein the conductor is provided passing through the separation wall and the printed circuit board, and an end of the conductor is soldered to the printed circuit board. |
| US08199509B2 |
Electronic equipment
An electronic equipment includes: an attachment plate; attachments disposed on the attachment plate and each provided with a female screw; a printed circuit board placed on the attachments; electronic parts mounted on the surface of the printed circuit board opposite to the attachments, and whose surfaces opposite to the surface of the printed circuit board serves as heat release surfaces; and a heat sink having a thermal-conduction surface and screw insertion holes. The thermal-conduction surface is abutted in common against the heat release surfaces with a heat release grease between them, male screws inserted into the screw insertion holes are penetrated through the printed circuit board, and meshed with the female screws threaded in the attachments, the heat sink is attached together with the printed circuit board to the attachments, and at least one of the attachments can be displaced in the thickness direction of the printed circuit board. |
| US08199507B2 |
Telephony and digital media services device
An electronic device includes a housing, a printed circuit board, a first heat sink and a second heat sink. The printed circuit board is disposed internal to the housing and supports at least one integrated circuit (IC) chip. The first heat sink is also disposed internal to the housing and is thermally connected to the at least one IC chip. The second heat sink is connected to the housing such that at least a portion thereof is externally disposed to the housing. The second heat sink is thermally connected to the first heat sink via an aperture in the housing. |
| US08199505B2 |
Jet impingement heat exchanger apparatuses and power electronics modules
A jet impingement heat exchanger includes an inlet jet, a target layer, a second layer, a transition channel, and a fluid outlet. The target layer includes an impingement region and a plurality of target layer microchannels that radially extend from the impingement region. The jet of coolant fluid impinges the target layer at the impingement region and flows through the radially-extending target layer microchannels toward a perimeter of the target layer. The second layer includes a plurality of radially-extending second layer microchannels. The transition channel is positioned between the target layer and the second layer to fluidly couple the second layer to the target layer. The coolant fluid flows through the transition channel and the plurality of radially-extending second layer microchannels. The fluid outlet fluidly is coupled to the second layer. Jet impingement exchangers may be incorporated into a power electronics module having a power electronics device. |
| US08199503B2 |
Electronic device
According to one embodiment, an electronic device includes a housing, a circuit board, a thermally radiative section, a first heat generator, a second heat generator, a first heat receiving block, a second heat receiving block, at least one heat pipe including a first end and a second end, a second heat pipe including a third end, a fourth end, and an intermediate portion, and a cutout section provided on the first heat receiving block. The second heat generator is mounted on the circuit board at a position farther from the thermally radiative section than the first heat generator is. The first heat receiving block is provided with a cutout section and is thermally connected to the first heat generator. The second heat receiving block is thermally connected to the second heat generator. The intermediate portion of the second heat pipe passes through the cutout section. |
| US08199502B2 |
Heat dissipating device
A heat dissipating device includes a heat sink and a fan. The heat sink includes a base configured to contact a heat generating element, and a plurality of fins extending from the base. The base defines an axis. Each fin includes an end portion extending about the axis of the base in one of a clockwise direction and an anti-clockwise direction. The fan is placed on the heat sink. The fan defines a first opening and a second opening adjacent to the base. The fan is operating and pivoted about the axis of the base in the other one of a clockwise direction and an anti-clockwise direction. |
| US08199500B2 |
Heat radiation mechanism of electronic apparatus and electronic apparatus
In a heat radiation mechanism of an electronic apparatus, an opening allowing flow of air between a first duct side and a second duct side is formed on a portion mounted with a heating device of a circuit board in an air flow route constituted by a first duct and a second duct, and heat generated from the heating device is radiated from a first vent hole or a second vent hole through the air flow route. |
| US08199498B2 |
Information handling system support member
A support member includes a coupling piece that defines a support piece aperture extending through the coupling piece and that includes a coupling arm that extends from a location on the coupling piece that is spaced apart from the support piece aperture. The support member also includes a support piece that defines a coupling arm aperture, wherein the coupling arm is located in the coupling arm aperture. A support surface engagement member extends from the support piece and through the support piece aperture, wherein the support surface engagement member comprises an engagement surface and a stop member that extends from a surface on the support surface engagement member that is opposite from the engagement surface. |
| US08199495B2 |
Fixing structure and electronic device using the same
A fixing module and an electronic device using the same are provided. The fixing module includes a male housing and a female housing. The male housing disposed in a bottom cover includes a groove, cylinder and a first magnet. The cylinder is slidingly connected to the groove, and the first magnet is disposed in the cylinder. The female housing is disposed in a top cover, including a cavity and a second magnet. The cavity is disposed in correspondence to the cylinder, and the second magnet is fixed in the cavity. |
| US08199490B2 |
Electronic device support system
The support system of the present invention provides an enhanced mounting system for electronic devices which makes portable use of the electronic devices simpler and more efficient. One exemplary application for which this system is very useful is photography. The system preferably, but not necessarily, includes a support platform that may be secured to a tripod, rolling stand, quick release plate, or to any other suitable support structure. |
| US08199487B2 |
Extendible apparatus
An apparatus including: a display portion having a display edge portion; a housing having a housing edge portion; first mechanism configured to enable constrained relative motion between at least the display edge portion and the housing edge portion in at least the first direction to change a configuration of the apparatus from a first compact configuration in which the display edge portion and housing edge portion have at least a partial overlap in a second direction to a second less compact configuration in which the display edge portion and housing edge portion are offset in the first direction removing said at least partial overlap in the second direction; second mechanism configured to enable constrained relative motion between the display portion and the housing in at least the second direction different to the first direction to change the configuration of the apparatus from the second configuration to a third extended configuration in which the display edge portion and the housing edge portion are offset, compared to the second configuration, in at least the second direction. |
| US08199486B2 |
Server cabinet
A server cabinet includes a rack and an air baffle plate. The rack defines an interior space configured for accommodating a plurality of servers therein. The rack includes a top wall, an opposite bottom wall and two sidewalls respectively connected between left sides of the top and the bottom walls and right sides of the top and the bottom walls. The servers are arranged along a bottom-to-top direction. Each of the servers is fixed between the two sidewalls. A space is defined between a topmost server and the top wall. The air baffle plate is positioned in the space for blocking an airflow on a rear side of the servers from flowing back to a front side of the servers via the space. |
| US08199481B2 |
System and apparatus for removably mounting hard disk drives
A system and apparatus are described for removably mounting one or more hard disk drives within a computer system. According to one embodiment, the system includes a disk drive carrier cage configured to receive a disk drive backplane and up to eight pair of disk drive carrier rails. The disk drive carrier cage is sized for insertion into a drive bay having the dimensions of two optical mass storage devices compatible with a 5.25 inch form factor. The system also includes a disk drive backplane for receiving up to eight hard disk drives, disk drive carriers for holding the hard disk drives, and disk drive carrier rails mountable within the disk drive carrier cage for slidably receiving the disk drive carriers. The disk drive carriers and disk drive carrier rails are translucent thereby permitting light emanating from the backplane to be viewed at the front of the cage. |
| US08199472B2 |
Flat panel display with support providing pivoting
An exemplary flat panel display includes a seat, a connection member, and a display module. The seat includes a supporting member having a first engaging portion at a top end thereof, and the first engaging portion includes two pins and two fixing holes. The connection member includes two fixing components. The display module is mounted on the supporting member, and includes a second engaging portion having two positioning slots. The pins of the first engaging portion are received in the second engaging portion, the fixing components are fixed in the fixing holes via the positioning slots, and the positioning slots provide paths for the fixing components when the display module is rotated about the pins. |
| US08199468B2 |
Computer housing
A multipart computer housing is described. The multipart computer housing includes at least a clutch barrel. The clutch barrel encloses a connector assembly, the connector assembly providing support for a lid. The clutch barrel is configured such that a junction formed by the clutch barrel and a top layer of the lid is not visible to a user when the computer housing is on a horizontal surface. |
| US08199466B2 |
Housing assembly for a portable electronic device
A housing assembly for a portable electronic device includes a shell including a supporting portion, a frame, and a latching member. The latching member includes a body portion, at least one positioning portion and at least one bent portion. The body portion is disposed on the shell. The positioning portion is secured in the shell. The bent portion engages the frame. The supporting portion of the shell resists the positioning portion of the latching member. |
| US08199464B2 |
Cover mechanism and electronic device using same
A cover mechanism is for an electronic device, and the cover mechanism includes a base member and a cover member. The base member defines a hole and a receiving groove. The cover member is received in the receiving groove. The cover member includes a connecting portion to allow the cover member to be elastically bent to cover the hole. |
| US08199463B2 |
Output architecture of power supply
An output architecture of a power supply is disclosed, wherein the power supply includes an input portion to obtain input power and a conversion circuit board connecting to the input portion to convert the input power into output power of different voltage potential. The conversion circuit board includes plural power output areas with different preset output voltages, and after selecting the output standard, the power output areas connect to at least one power extension board via plural electrical conductive elements, so as to provide the power extension board the output power, and the power extension board has plural output wires connected to a load. Through the architecture described above, the corresponding output wires can be selected after the output standard is selected for connecting to the power extension board, and then, the power extension board is connected to the conversion circuit board. |
| US08199462B2 |
Solid electrolytic capacitor for embedding into a circuit board
An electrolytic capacitor that is configured to be embedded into a circuit board is provided. The electrolytic capacitor contains a capacitor element, anode and cathode terminations, and a case that encapsulates the capacitor element and leaves at least a portion of the anode and cathode terminations exposed that extend outwardly from opposite ends of the case. Each of the terminations possesses an upper surface that faces toward the capacitor element and a lower surface that faces away from the capacitor element. In contrast to conventional surface-mounted electrolytic capacitors, the upper surfaces of these exposed anode and cathode termination portions are mounted to the circuit board. In this manner, the capacitor may essentially be mounted “upside down” so that some or all of its thickness becomes embedded within the board itself, thereby minimizing the height profile of the capacitor on the board. |
| US08199450B2 |
ESD protection utilizing radiated thermal relief
An ESD device with a protection structure utilizing radiated heat dissipation to prevent or reduce thermal failures. The device includes a voltage switchable polymer 10 between electrodes 11 and 12, which is configured to provide a heat radiating surface 40 for radiating heat when an ESD condition occurs. A radiation transmission material 19 is disposed between the heat radiating surface and the environment for radiating heat 20 when an ESD event occurs. One embodiment adds a spacer 50 for accurately spacing electrodes. A method for fabricating the device is further illustrated. |
| US08199448B2 |
Method and apparatus for protecting against reverse current flow
A system for protecting against reverse current flow in an output module of an Industrial Process Control System includes a transistor that is driven by a control signal and a current monitor arranged to monitor a current through the transistor. The system includes a processor that is arranged to receive the monitored current and to generate the control signal in dependence upon the monitored current. The processor is configured to turn off the transistor if a reverse current is detected in the transistor. Extension of the system provides a power feed combiner that is protected against reverse current flow. |
| US08199445B2 |
Gas insulated circuit breaker system and gas insulated circuit breaker monitoring method
A gas insulated circuit breaker system has: a container that encapsulates insulating gas; a main contact in the container that opens/closes the main circuit; a resistor contact in the container, connected in parallel to the main contact, to be opened after elapse of a predetermined time after the main contact is opened and to be closed at a predetermined time before the main contact is closed; a resistor in the container, serially connected to the resistor contact and connected in parallel to the main contact together with the resistor contact; a temperature sensor that measures temperature of surrounding of the resistor; and a temperature estimation section that estimates a temperature of the resistor based on a timing of opening/closing operation of the main contact, a current flowing through the main circuit and the measured temperature. |
| US08199444B2 |
Shunt for magnetoresistive transducer heads for electrostatic discharge protection
A magnetoresistive transducer head assembly includes a reader element, a writer element and a high impedance shunt electrically connecting the reader element and the writer element. The high impedance shunt provides a high impedance conductive path for maintaining electrostatic charge equipotential between the reader element and the writer element. |
| US08199443B2 |
Magneto-resistance effect element, magnetic head, magnetic recording device and magnetic memory
A magneto-resistance effect element includes: a first magnetic layer of which a first magnetization is fixed in one direction; a second magnetic layer of which a second magnetization is fixed in one direction; a spacer layer located between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer and made of at least one selected from the group consisting of an oxide, a nitride, an oxynitride and a metal; and a current bias generating portion, which is located adjacent to the spacer layer, for applying a bias magnetic field to the spacer layer. |
| US08199441B2 |
Head suspension
A head suspension 31 has a piezoelectric element 13 that deforms in response to a voltage applied thereto, a base plate 33 having an opening 43 into which the piezoelectric element 13 is fitted, and a load beam 35 that is fixed to the base plate 33 so that a front end of the load beam 35 moves in a sway direction according to the deformation of the piezoelectric element 13. The head suspension 31 includes an electric insulating layer 51 formed at the opening 43 by vapor-depositing and polymerizing electrically insulative high polymer materials at the opening 43. The piezoelectric element 13 is fitted into the opening 43 through at least the electric insulating layer 51. The head suspension 31 satisfies a miniaturization requirement. |
| US08199440B2 |
Transducer positioning apparatus with magnetically preloaded linear guide
A transducer positioning apparatus is provided that supports a read/write head on a data storage machine and biases the head against rotation. The transducer positioning apparatus may comprise a base that includes a linear drive motor and a support frame to which the read/write head is secured. The support frame is reciprocally driven by the linear drive motor relative to the base. A magnetic coupling is provided between the base and the support frame that resists movement of the frame other than the reciprocal movement of the support frame relative to the base. A method is also disclosed for magnetically biasing a movable head of a transducer against rotation. |
| US08199439B2 |
Apparatus of a slider limiter for protecting read-write head from non-operational shock in a hard disk drive
This application discloses a hard disk drive comprising a landing ramp mounted to a disk base including a slider limiter for at least one slider in the hard disk drive to limit movement of the sliders during a non-operational shock event while parked on the loading ramp. Each of the slider limiters includes a clearance zone configured so that when the slider contacts the slider limiter during the non-operational event, the read-write head remains out of contact with the slider limiter. The clearance zone may include a recess and/or a cutout. The clearance zone may include a recess and/or a cutout. The recess may take any shape, for example the recess may be a polygon and/or curved in cross section. The polygon may have at least two sides. The clearance zone may further include a radial bulge to further protect the read-write head during non-operational shock events. |
| US08199435B2 |
Apparatus for retaining lubricant on the deposited end of a slider in a hard disk drive
This application discloses a hard disk drive, a head stack assembly, a head gimbal assembly, each including a slider with a deposited end including at least one means for retaining lubricant that tends to accumulate on the deposited end. |
| US08199433B2 |
Using an RFID reader to write messages to a tape cartridge memory
A tape cartridge includes a housing and a length of magnetic tape disposed within the housing. Additionally, the tape cartridge includes at least one cartridge memory chip disposed within the housing and at least one RFID reader operably connected to at least one of the cartridge memory chips and configured to write at least one message to the cartridge memory chip based on a received RFID signal. |
| US08199430B2 |
Tape device having a tape cleaning structure
A cleaning structure for removing dust is constituted of a guiding member having a sliding surface for guiding run of a tape, and a vacuum pressure supply source for making a vacuum pressure effect on a suction space provided inside the guiding member and so on. At the sliding surface of the guiding member, a suction port for making the suction space communicate with an external space is formed, and the opening edge of the suction port on the downstream side in the tape running direction is served as a first dust removal portion for removing dust on the tape surface. The guiding member has a guiding wall having a contact surface which guides at least one tape edge of a tape, and the contact surface is served as a second dust removal portion for removing dust adhering to the tape edge. |
| US08199421B2 |
Auto-focusing lens driving device
This invention provides an auto-focusing lens driving device having a movable member, the movable member comprising: a cylinder-shaped lens carrier whose exterior is wound with a coil and whose interior defines a hollow portion for receiving an optical system; and two separate conductive elastic pieces which are each disposed at one side of the cylinder-shaped lens carrier along an optical axis; wherein each one of the two ends of the coil is micro-welded and joined to a corresponding one of the two conductive elastic pieces by thermal pressing technique, and a thermal pressing region having an area of less than 1 mm2 is formed at the end of the coil. |
| US08199419B2 |
Projection variable focusing lens and projection display device
A projection variable focusing lens and a projection display device that has a reduction side which is telecentric, a high magnifying power, a small size, a light weight, and a low manufacturing cost and is capable of correcting all aberrations occurring when power varies with good balance. A projection variable focusing lens that moves only one lens group when power varies includes a first negative lens group G1, a second positive lens group G2, a third lens group G3, and a fourth positive lens group G4 arranged in this order from a magnification side. When a focal length varies, only the second lens group G2 is moved along an optical axis X. During focusing, the third lens group G3 is moved along the optical axis X. A reduction side is substantially telecentric. |
| US08199418B2 |
Photographing optical lens assembly
This invention provides a photographing optical lens assembly, from an object side to an image side in order, comprising a first lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface, a second lens element with negative refractive power having a concave image-side surface, a third lens element with positive refractive power, a fourth lens element with negative refractive power having a concave image-side surface, both the two surfaces of the fourth lens thereof being aspheric. And an aperture stop is positioned between the first element and the second lens element. There are four lens elements with refractive power in the lens assembly. |
| US08199410B2 |
Polymer lens
The invention relates to an optical element having adjustable focal length, and a method for producing an optical element. The optical element comprising a first transparent layer and a transparent soft polymer having a chosen refractive index situated thereon, said layer being made from a material having a chosen flexibility, e.g. a thin glass layer, the optical element also being provided with an actuator for applying a force upon said flexible layer, said force being essentially symmetric relative to said axis thus bending the layer providing a lens surface and providing a curved refractive surface. |
| US08199405B2 |
Tactical radiating device for directed energy
A tactical radiating device for directed energy includes at least two generators of high energy directed beams. At least one beam combining system combines high energy directed beams emitted by the generators into a combined high energy beam. A focusing device focuses the combined high energy beam. |
| US08199403B2 |
Light polarization control using serial combination of surface-segmented half wavelength plates
A light polarization control apparatus includes a linear polarized light generation device for generating a linearly polarized light ray; and a pair of first and second four-division type half-wave plate located at front and back positions of a light axis, each said half-wave plate having a surface divided into four regions by a couple of boundary lines crossing together at right angles, wherein the linearly polarized light ray is guided to pass through said pair of first and second four-division type half-wave plate to thereby divide this light ray into eight areas each having its polarization state as converted to any one of a azimuthally polarized state and a radially polarized state. |
| US08199399B1 |
Optical gain fiber having segments of differing core sizes and associated method
Apparatus and method for amplifying laser signals using segments of fibers of differing core diameters and/or differing cladding diameters to suppress amplified spontaneous emission and non-linear effects such as four-wave mixing (FWM), self-phase modulation, and stimulated Brillouin and/or Raman scattering (SBS/SRS). In some embodiments, different core sizes have different sideband spacings (spacing between the desired signal and wavelength-shifted lobes). Changing core sizes and providing phase mismatches prevent buildup of non-linear effects. Some embodiments further include a bandpass filter to remove signal other than the desired signal wavelength and/or a time gate to remove signal at times other than during the desired signal pulse. Some embodiments include photonic-crystal structures to define the core for the signal and/or the inner cladding for the pump. Some embodiments include an inner glass cladding to confine the signal in the core and an outer glass cladding to confine pump light in the inner cladding. |
| US08199392B2 |
Light-scanning device and image-forming apparatus
A light-scanning device includes a polygon scanner having a rotatable polygon mirror which deflects a laser beam emitted from a light source, an optical image-forming element which images the deflected laser beam on a predetermined position, and an optical housing which supports the light source, the polygon scanner and the optical image-forming element, a non-rotational cylindrical shielding member for covering an upper part of the polygon scanner. |
| US08199391B2 |
Optical scanning apparatus having an air path for airflow generated by a rotating mirror
At least one exemplary embodiment is directed to a first airflow guide device covering an upper portion of a polygon mirror and having respective opening portions in an upper surface and a lower surface. The lower surface opening portion can have an annular wall opened in the direction all around the perimeter of the polygon mirror, facilitating an airflow path capable of circulating an airflow between the upper surface opening portion and the lower surface opening portion. Thus, airflow generated in a vertical direction in association with the rotation of the polygon motor, is guided, and variations in pressure applied to the polygon motor are reduced, thus facilitating an increase in the rotation accuracy of the polygon motor. |
| US08199390B2 |
Method for structuring a device layer of a substrate
Method for structuring a device layer of a substrate, wherein the substrate includes a carrier layer, the device layer and an intermediate layer disposed between the carrier layer and the device layer. Thereby, the intermediate layer is structured for exposing, at least in one portion, a first surface of the carrier layer facing the device layer. Starting from a second surface of the carrier layer opposing the first surface, the thickness of the device layer is reduced to a predetermined thickness at those positions where the intermediate layer is removed. |
| US08199386B2 |
Medium for preventing forgery
A medium for preventing forgery having a hologram layer and at least one patterned optically anisotropic layer, wherein the patterned optically anisotropic layer has two or more regions comprising different birefringence property, and wherein all the regions are formed of the same composition. |
| US08199383B2 |
Auto document feeding device and image scanning device
The lengths of an OUT path and an IN path are made longer than the length of a document of a main size in a traveling direction. The document of the main size stands by for conveyance in a direction of a READ document glass in a state where the entire document is contained in the OUT path or the IN path. The entrance speed of the document into the OUT path or the IN path is equal to the read speed of a scanner. The leading edge of a subsequent document is overlapped on the trailing edge of a preceding document, and the document is conveyed to the READ document glass. |
| US08199381B2 |
Pasting apparatus and image forming apparatus
A pasting apparatus includes a pasting member operative to paste a non-transparent medium onto an image-formed surface of a transparent medium; and a conveying member that conveys the non-transparent medium to the pasting member by electrostatic adsorption. |
| US08199378B2 |
Device to transfer film image into digital data
A kind of device to transfer film image into digital data includes a body, a frame, a bottom brace and a bottom cover wherein the frame body is assembled to the upper portion of the bottom brace and the while the body is housed in the body then the bottom cover is assembled and sealed below. A camera lens is set above the frame. A back light mechanism is set inside the bottom brace. One long groove each is set to two sides of the body and a film plate clamp is inserted from one side. This film plate clamp can fix the film plate inside and position to the top of the back light mechanism. The camera lens is utilized to access the images of the film and transfer the images into digital data to be sent to another computer for storage. The objects of rapid transfer the images on the film into the digital data for easy modification and permanent storage are thus achieved. |
| US08199376B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method
An image forming apparatus includes a VCSEL that includes a plurality of light sources emitting light beams, an image processing unit, and write control units that send a sub-scanning start reference signal indicating a reference for starting image formation in a sub-scanning direction and start a control of driving the light sources for each of a plurality of colors when receiving image data from the image processing unit. The write control units perform a control of outputting the sub-scanning start reference signal at timing of any of a plurality of areas divided by the number of lines scanned simultaneously in a scan cycle in a main-scanning direction. |
| US08199375B2 |
Image forming system and image reading apparatus
An image forming system including: an image reading portion which reads an image of an original; an image forming portion which forms the image on a sheet based on image information read by the image reading portion; and a storing device which stores the original before the image is read, the original after the image is read, and the sheet on which the image has been formed based on the image information, wherein the storing device is detachable from the image forming system. |
| US08199374B2 |
Apparatus and method for retaining a document during imaging
Disclosed are apparatuses and methods for holding a document sheet in place against a scanning surface of an image capture system. One such apparatus is a document cover comprising: a body that is oriented parallel to the scanning surface when the document cover is in the closed position; a compliant and elastic document backing that is partially attached to the body and configured to reflect light originating from the image capture system; and a backing constraint configured to secure a central region of the document backing to the body and further configured to constrain movement of the central region in a first direction that is normal to the scanning surface while allowing movement in the same direction of outer regions that are lateral to the central region. The document backing generates a downward spring force which biases the outer regions toward the platen. |
| US08199372B2 |
White balance processing apparatus and processing method thereof
Disclosed herein is a white balance processing apparatus comprising white balance processing means for effecting white balance processing on an image to be taken, color histogram processing means for effecting histogram processing by color components in accordance with the image to be taken processed of white balance by the white balance processing means, and display means for displaying histograms by color components obtained by the color histogram processing means. |
| US08199371B2 |
Image reader and image formation apparatus
An image reader feeds a document to read document information at a still position from below a glass platen. The image reader is configured to include a document feeder unit feeding a document in a predetermined direction, a glass platen provided below the document feeder unit, an illumination unit provided on or above the glass platen and including a surface light source which is long in a direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction and illuminates the document, and a document reader unit reading document information at a still position from below the glass platen. Such an image reader can illuminate documents efficiently with less electric power and achieve thinning of the illumination unit. |
| US08199369B2 |
Optical device having fixture structure and used in image reading device and image forming device
A fixture structure is disclosed that is able to reduce the workload when adjusting a relative position of constituent components. The fixture structure includes a first member and a second member fixed with the first member by a screw. The first member has a first contacting surface, the second member has a second contacting surface in contact with the first contacting surface, the first member and the second member are fixed by the screw passing through the first contacting surface and the second contacting surface, a first notch is formed at an end of the first contacting surface, a second notch is formed at an end of the second contacting surface, and an inner end of the second notch of the second member is inside an inner end of the first notch of the first member. |
| US08199357B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method detecting and storing areas within band images and cutting out an image from the resulting stored partial image
An image obtained by reading an original using a reading device is input in units of band images, the input band image is analyzed, and an area corresponding to the original within the band image is detected. A partial image containing the detected area within the band image is stored in a memory, and an image corresponding to the original is cut out from the stored partial image. |
| US08199355B2 |
Document management software, print control device, and document management method of print control device
A document management software is executed in print control device connectable via a network to an information processing device that sends an instruction and document thereto. The software includes: a step of determining if a non-native document is selected, wherein the non-native document is stored in a detachable memory connected to the print control device; a step of sending to the information processing device the selected non-native document so as to convert the non-native document into a native document; and a step of receiving the converted native document from the information processing device for printing, wherein the native document is printable document. |
| US08199353B2 |
Displaying status icons of remaining consumables for plural image forming apparatuses
An image forming system includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses and an information processing apparatus connected to a network. Each image forming apparatus includes a remaining-toner sensor for detecting remaining amounts of toner in cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) toner cartridges. The information processing apparatus includes (i) a storage device for storing various types of information obtained from the image forming apparatuses, including apparatus status information such as the remaining amounts of toner, and (ii) a display device for displaying icons representing the remaining amounts of C/M/Y/K toners in a line on a respective apparatus basis, and displaying the icons representing the remaining amounts of C/M/Y/K toners for all of the plurality of image forming apparatuses in lines on a respective color basis so that said lines are perpendicular to said line in which the icons representing the remaining amounts of toner are displayed. |
| US08199352B2 |
Image forming apparatus and control method therefor
An image forming apparatus that permits alteration of print data during execution of a print job for the print data stored in an external apparatus. Upon generation of an interruption job during execution of the print job for the print data, an MFP suspends the print job. If free space in a memory is less than the capacity required for execution of the interruption job, the MFP erases the print data in the memory and carries out the interruption job. When the interruption job is completed, the MFP transmits to another MFP a request for transmission of copy data of the print data and restarts the print job for the copy data of the print data transmitted from the other MFP in response to the transmission request. |
| US08199340B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming system, recording medium, and method for controlling image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes image carriers on which latent images are respectively formed, development sections for respectively developing the formed latent images using development agents, a transfer section for superimposing and transferring the development agents developing the latent images formed on the image carriers on a sheet, an input section into which the image data are input, an analysis section for analyzing whether the image data input into the input section is monochrome image data, an identification information storage section for storing identification information capable of identifying the image data when the analysis section analyzes that the image data is monochrome image data, and a control section for prohibiting at least the operation of the development sections corresponding to some colors when the identification information of the image data input into the input section corresponds to the identification information stored in the identification information storage section. |
| US08199333B2 |
Optical scattering disk, use thereof, and wavefront measuring apparatus
Optical scattering disk, use and wavefront measuring apparatus. The optical scattering disk includes a transparent substrate (1) and a light scattering layer (2) adjoining a surface of the substrate and having light-scattering-active particles (3). The light scattering layer has an embedding medium (4) which is optically denser than air and directly adjoins the facing surface of the substrate without intervening air gaps and by which the light-scattering-active particles are surrounded. Such optical scattering disks may be used, e.g., in apparatuses for wavefront measurement of high-aperture microlithography projection objectives employing lateral shearing interferometry. |
| US08199330B2 |
Tracking-type laser interferometer
A tracking-type laser interferometer in which a pattern emission control unit controls a changing mechanism such that light is emitted along a predetermined pattern when judged by a first judgment unit that at least one of received-light amounts at first and second light reception units is not greater than a first threshold value. A tracking control unit causes the changing mechanism to keep track of a retro reflector when judged by a second judgment unit that both of the received-light amounts at the first and second light reception units are greater than second threshold values during a time period in which the pattern emission control unit controls the changing mechanism for the emission of light along the pattern. The interferometer emits light along the pattern to search for the retro reflector upon losing sight thereof. Upon detection, the interferometer can keep track of the reflector again and resume measurement. |
| US08199329B2 |
Apparatus for measurement of the axial length of an eye
An apparatus for measuring the axial length of a human eye, the apparatus comprising a low coherence light source; a beam splitter; a fast displacement module for rapidly varying the path length within a reference arm of an interferometer; a laser directing a laser beam that is co-propagating with light from the low coherence light source into the displacement module. |
| US08199327B2 |
System for optical coherence tomography
The invention relates to a system for optical coherence tomography having an interferometer (20), a detector (30) with a first number of detector elements for collecting light, and an optical fiber (29) with a second number of individual fibers for transmitting light from the interferometer (20) to the detector (30).In order to increase the compactness of the system with at the same time high image quality provision is made such that the detector elements have a first center-center distance and the individual fibers have a second center-center distance, the first center-center distance between the detector elements being greater than the second center-center distance between the individual fibers. |
| US08199325B2 |
Apparatus for detecting biomaterials and method for detecting biomaterials by using the apparatus
Provided are an apparatus and method for detecting biomaterials. The apparatus for detecting the biomaterials includes a light source unit, a biomaterial reacting unit, and a detection unit detecting. The light source unit provides incident light. The biomaterial reacting unit includes a substrate and metal nanoparticles spaced from the substrate. The surface plasmon resonance phenomenon is induced on surfaces of the metal nanoparticles by the incident light. First detecting molecules specifically binding to target molecules are immobilized to the surfaces of the metal nanoparticles. The detection unit detects a resonance wavelength of emission light emitted from the metal nanoparticles by the surface plasmon resonance phenomenon. |
| US08199323B2 |
Method of characterizing the anisotropy of a scattering medium and device for implementing such a method
The invention relates to a method of characterizing a scattering medium. According to the invention, the processing on the electromagnetic radiation scattered by the scattering medium is carried out for an unpolarized signal. In this way, only the anisotrophic incoherent transport of radiation induced by the scattering medium is obtained in the characterization according to the invention. According to the invention, the data representative of the angular variation of the first image representing the unpolarized scattered radiation is representative of the purely isotrophic part of the scattering. Having obtained this purely isotrophic part, it is then possible, according to the invention, to calculate a second image representative of the non-isotrophic part of the scattering. This non-isotrophic part represents the anisotrophic transport of radiation induced by the medium at the moment of scattering. |
| US08199320B2 |
Mounting test method
A method for testing a part mounting status on a substrate, the method comprises preparing the part including a retroreflection portion for occurring reflect light by retroreflection; irradiating light onto the retroreflection portion; receiving the reflect light from the retroreflection portion; and determining whether the part exist by the use of the reflect light from the retroreflection portion. |
| US08199318B2 |
Methods and devices for testing an optical fiber
Methods are provided including the steps of transmitting a beam of light through a length of the optical fiber, reflecting a transmitted beam of light at a second end of an optical fiber such that a highly reflective event reflects the light beam, and identifying the second end of the optical fiber by monitoring at least the reflected light beam. In further examples, devices are provided for removable mounting with respect to an end of an optical connector. Each device comprises a reflective surface configured to provide a highly reflective event to reflect a beam of light back through an optical fiber supported by the optical connector. In further examples, optical assemblies are provided that include an optical connector with an optical fiber and a device with a reflective surface configured to provide a highly reflective event. |
| US08199317B2 |
Reinforcement element with sensor fiber, monitoring system, and monitoring method
A reinforcement element, comprises at least one sensor fiber adapted for strain measurements based on stimulated Brillouin scattering within said sensor fiber. Furthermore, a system for monitoring strain within a structure comprises a reinforcement element comprising at least one sensor fiber adapted for strain measurements based on stimulated Brillouin scattering within said sensor fiber, a pump laser for coupling in laser radiation of a pump frequency into said at least one sensor fiber, a Stokes laser for coupling in laser radiation of a Stokes laser radiation into said at least one sensor fiber, wherein the pump frequency and the Stokes frequency are different from one another and wherein the frequency difference between the pump and Stokes frequencies is within the range of acoustical phonons within said sensor fiber, a sensor adapted to obtain a stimulated Brillouin backscattering signal, and a network analyzer adapted for determining the complex transfer function of the sensor fiber to determine a spatially resolved strain measurement. |
| US08199316B2 |
Device and method for tracking the movement of a tool of a handling unit
A description is given of a device (1) for tracking the movement of a tool of a handling unit (2), having at least one directional radiator (5) that can be aligned with the tool and be tracked, and a signal evaluation unit (4) for determining the movement.The directional radiators (5) have actuators for aligning the directional beam (6) at adjustable angles with reference to a fixed spatial plane, and angle sensors for determining the current directional beam angle with reference to the spatial plane, the angle sensors being connected to the signal evaluation unit (4). Directional beam sensors (7) for detecting the directional beam (6) are arranged with a fixed reference to the tool and movably therewith, the directional beam sensors (7) being connected to the signal evaluation unit (4). The signal evaluation unit (4) is set up for tracking the directional beams (6) of the at least one directional radiator (5) onto an assigned, moving directional beam sensor (7), and for determining the arbitrary movement of the tool in three-dimensional space as a function of the directional beam angles. |
| US08199315B2 |
Projection objective for semiconductor lithography
Objectives, such as projection objectives for semiconductor lithography, are disclosed. An objective generally has an optical axis and optical elements mounted in an objective housing. Projection exposure apparatuses having an objective are also disclosed. In addition, guides and adjusting systems for an optical element in an objective are disclosed. Further, related components and methods are disclosed. |
| US08199314B2 |
System and method for improving immersion scanner overlay performance
System and method for improving immersion scanner overlay performance are described. One embodiment is a method of improving overlay performance of an photolithography immersion scanner including a wafer table having lens cooling water (“LCW”) disposed in a water channel therein, the wafer table having an input for receiving the LCW into the water channel and an output for expelling the LCW from the water channel. The method includes providing a water tank that connects to at least one of the wafer table input and the wafer table output; monitoring a pressure of water in the water tank; and maintaining the pressure of the water in the water tank at a predetermined level. |
| US08199313B2 |
Temperature regulating apparatus, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method
A temperature regulating apparatus includes a heat exchanger and regulates a temperature of a first medium by performing heat exchange between the first medium and a second medium via the heat exchanger. A regulating operation unit generates a flow rate regulating signal so that the temperature of the first medium flowing out from a primary side outlet of the heat exchanger becomes equal to a target temperature. A control valve regulates a flow rate of the second medium based on the flow rate regulating signal. A correcting operation unit (a) calculates, based on temperatures detected by first, second, third and fourth temperature sensors, a heat exchange amount of the heat exchanger, a logarithmic mean temperature difference or an average temperature in the heat exchanger, and the flow rate of the second medium, (b) calculates an overall heat transfer coefficient of the heat exchanger based on the calculated heat exchange amount and the calculated logarithmic mean temperature difference or the calculated average temperature, and the flow rate of the second medium, (c) obtains a ratio (ΔG) of a change (Q2-Q′2) in the heat exchange amount to a change (ΔF2) in the flow rate of the second medium based on the calculated flow rate (F2) of the second medium and the calculated overall heat transfer coefficient (K), and (d) corrects a gain of the regulating operation unit based on the obtained ratio. |
| US08199304B2 |
Horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display and manufacturing method thereof
The embodiments of the present invention relate to a horizontal electric field type LCD and a manufacturing method thereof. The horizontal electric field type LCD comprises a first substrate, a second substrate, a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a spacer disposed between the first and the second substrates. Said first substrate comprises a thin film transistor, and a gate line and a data line for driving the thin film transistor. Said second substrate comprises a pixel electrode and a common electrode corresponding to and forming a horizontal electric field with the pixel electrode. Said spacer is a conductive spacer electrically connecting each pixel electrode on the second substrate to the corresponding thin film transistor on the first substrate. |
| US08199302B2 |
In plane switching mode liquid crystal display device and fabrication method thereof
An IPS mode LCD includes first and second substrates. A thin film transistor and a color filter layer are formed on the first substrate. A common electrode and a pixel electrode are arranged in a zigzag configuration on the first substrate. A liquid crystal layer is disposed between the first and second substrates. |
| US08199301B2 |
Horizontal electric field switching liquid crystal display device
A horizontal electric field switching liquid crystal display device includes a gate line, a common line parallel to the gate line and provided at an area adjacent to the gate line, a data line crossing the gate line with a gate insulating film therebetween to define a pixel area, a thin film transistor provided adjacent to a crossing of the gate line and the data line, a common electrode provided in the pixel area and connected to the common line, a pixel electrode connected to the thin film transistor and provided in such a manner to form a horizontal electric field along with the common electrode in the pixel area on the same plane as the common electrode, a storage capacitor electrode overlapping the common electrode to provide a storage capacitor, and a contact electrode contacting the pixel electrode, the thin film transistor and the storage electrode at their side surfaces. |
| US08199297B2 |
Display panel and method for manufacturing the same
A display panel includes; a lower gate line, a lower data line disposed substantially perpendicular to the lower gate line, a thin film transistor (“TFT”) connected to the lower gate line and the lower data line, an insulating layer disposed on the lower gate line, the lower data line, and the TFT and having a plurality of trenches exposing the lower gate line and the lower data line, an upper gate line disposed in the trench on the lower gate line, an upper data line disposed in the trench on the lower data line, and a pixel electrode connected to the TFT. |
| US08199296B2 |
Antiglare film
An embodiment of the present invention is an antiglare film which includes an antiglare layer having particles A, particles B, and a binder matrix on a transparent substrate. A difference in refractive index between the particles A and the binder matrix (|nA−nM|) is 0.060 or less. A difference in refractive index between the particles B and the binder matrix (|nB−nM|) is in the 0.080-0.300 range. An average diameter (unit: μm) of the particles B (rB) is in the 0.5-5.0 μm range. The product value |nB−nM|wBH, which is obtained by multiplying a difference in refractive index between said particles B and said binder matrix (|nB−nM|) by a content (part by weight) of said particles B as against 100 parts by weight of said binder matrix (wB) and an average thickness (unit: μm) of said antiglare layer (H) is in the 10.0-15.0 range. |
| US08199293B2 |
Method of manufacturing liquid crystal display
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display includes; disposing a thin film transistor having an output terminal on a first substrate, disposing a pixel electrode in connection with the output terminal, disposing an inorganic layer on the pixel electrode, and converting the inorganic layer to a first alignment layer by disposing a mask on the inorganic layer and radiating an ion beam in a plurality of directions. |
| US08199290B2 |
Display device and method of manufacturing the same
A display device includes a display panel, a backlight assembly providing a light to the display panel, a receiving container receiving the backlight assembly and a heat sink member disposed between the backlight assembly and the receiving container. The display panel includes a first substrate including a pixel electrode formed on a pixel region and electrically connected to a switching device, a first alignment layer formed on the pixel electrode, a second substrate including a common electrode layer facing the first substrate, a second alignment layer formed on the common electrode layer, and a liquid crystal layer including a liquid crystal composition having a nematic-to-isotropic transition temperature higher than about 80° C. Thus, black bruising of liquid crystal may be prevented and/or reduced, thereby enhancing a display quality. |
| US08199288B2 |
Liquid crystal device, projection apparatus, and electronic apparatus
A projection display includes a light source, a liquid crystal panel encapsulating a vertical alignment mode liquid crystal between a first substrate and a second substrate which are opposite to each other, the liquid crystal panel modulating light emitted from the light source, a longer axis of a molecule of the vertical alignment mode liquid crystal tilted from the normal direction of the first substrate, a projection lens projecting light modulated by the liquid crystal panel, a first polarization plate placed on an optical path from the light source to the liquid crystal panel, a second polarization plate placed on an optical path from the liquid crystal panel to the projection lens, an optical-compensation plate placed between the liquid crystal panel and the second polarization plate, and the optical-compensation plate including a plate-like base and a retardation plate formed on a surface of the plate-like base. |
| US08199286B2 |
Polymer stabilized electrically controlled birefringence transflective LCD
A transreflective display in which the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is the same for both transmissive and reflective modes. The transmissive and reflective pixels are stabilized in two different liquid crystal configurations with different birefringences. The light retardation effect of one path in the transmissive pixels is close to or equals the retardation effect of two paths in the reflective pixels, resulting in synchronization of the two modes. |
| US08199285B2 |
Display device
A light-blocking film is formed by a resin, is formed on a surface of a first substrate that is closer to a second substrate continuously without being interrupted along a side edge of the first substrate, and is formed extending from an outer edge of a display region to the side edge of the first substrate. The first substrate is formed to be thinner than the second substrate. A region having a uniform surface height is formed on the surface of the first substrate that is closer to the second substrate along the side edge of the first substrate. |
| US08199284B2 |
Ink composition for a color filter, a color filter substrate manufactured using the ink composition and method of manufacturing a color filter substrate using the ink composition
An ink composition for a color filter includes about 100 parts by weight of a pigment dispersion, about 7 parts by weight to about 65 parts by weight of a thermosetting resin having hydroxyl group at a side chain of the thermosetting resin, about 0.015 part by weight to about 1.5 parts by weight of a thermal initiator, about 0.8 part by weight to about 15 parts by weight of an epoxy-based resin containing fluorine, and about 15 parts by weight to about 165 parts by weight of a solvent. A color filter substrate is manufactured using the ink composition for color filter. The ink composition for the color filter improves straightness of ink jetting through an ink-jetting nozzle and prevents the ink composition from spreading to neighboring pixels. |
| US08199281B2 |
Backlight of liquid crystal display device
In a backlight of a liquid crystal display device, the screen of a liquid crystal panel is divided into a plurality of rectangular regions, an edge-light type light guide plate is provided corresponding to each of the rectangular regions, and a plurality of LEDs are provided on the end face of each edge-light type light guide plate. The brightness of the image displayed on each of the rectangular regions is obtained based on an image signal, and, based on the brightness, the brightness of the plurality of LEDs corresponding to each of the rectangular regions is controlled. Accordingly, the power consumption can be reduced as compared with the case where the entire liquid crystal panel is illuminated with uniform brightness. Furthermore, the edge-light type light guide plate is used to allow a decrease in number of the LEDs and the wiring arrangements. |
| US08199279B2 |
Light guide plate and backlight assembly using the same
Disclosed herein are a light guide plate and a backlight assembly using the same, which may improve the uniformity of light using prism patterns having a trapezoidal shape. The light guide plate includes a body, a plurality of first projections, and a plurality of second projections. The body includes an incident surface to which light is incident and an emitting surface from which the incident light is emitted. The plurality of first projections is disposed on the emitting surface of the body and has a trapezoidal shape in a section perpendicular to the incident surface. The plurality of second projections is disposed on the emitting surface of the body and has a shape symmetrical to a shape of the first projections. |
| US08199278B2 |
Surface light source device
Surface light source device includes: point light sources (13); light guide plate (1) having (i) two end parts in length direction, one of which serves as incident surface (2), and (ii) two end parts in thickness direction which serve as exit surface (7) and back surface (8), light guide plate (1) directing light, emitted from point light sources (13), incident on incident surface (2), so as to cause light to exit from substantially entire area of exit surface (7); and reflector (14) which reflects, toward incident surface (2), part of light which is emitted from point light sources (13) and is then reflected from incident surface (2). Incident surface (2) has elliptic arc (10) which is concave part having surface shape along elliptic arc identical to elliptic arc which is part of ellipse (31) having two focal points corresponding to point light sources (13) and reflector (14). Point light sources (13) and reflector (14) are provided on ellipse focal point lines (11 and 12) obtained by moving two focal points in width direction of light guide plate (1). |
| US08199277B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method thereof
The liquid crystal display device includes a middle frame fixing a liquid crystal display panel, a lower frame having a first plate portion, and a lower cover having a second plate portion and a housing together with the upper cover. A pitch of first through holes formed in the lower frame and a pitch of second through holes formed in the lower cover differ from each other. By selecting a combination of the first through hole and the second through hole, by aligning the selected first through hole and second through hole, and by inserting an insert into the aligned first through hole and the second through hole, a relative positional relationship between the first through hole and the second through hole is fixed. |
| US08199266B2 |
Pixel structure, driving method thereof, pixel array structure, and liquid crystal display panel
A pixel structure electrically connected to a data line and a scan line, and including a first and a second active device, a first and a second pixel electrode, and a first and a second capacitance electrode is provided. The first pixel electrode electrically connected to the first active device includes a first and a second electrode block electrically connected to each other. The second pixel electrode electrically connected to the second active device is electrically insulated from the first pixel electrode and separates the first and the second electrode block. The first pixel electrode respectively forms a first and a second capacitor with the first and the second capacitance electrode. The second pixel electrode respectively forms a third and a fourth capacitor with the first and the second capacitance electrode. The first and the second capacitor have different capacitances. The third and the fourth capacitor have different capacitances. |
| US08199264B2 |
Ruggedized switchable glazing comprising a liquid crystal inclusive layer and a multi-layer low-E ultraviolet blocking coating
Certain example embodiments of this invention relate to ruggedized switchable glazings, and/or methods of making the same. The PDLC stack of certain example embodiments includes an outer substrate, a low-E UV blocking coating deposited on an inner surface of the outer substrate, a first PVB or EVA laminate, a first PET layer, a first TCO layer, the PDLC layer, a second TCO layer, a second PET layer, a second PVB or EVA laminate, and an inner substrate. The substrates may be glass substrates. The low-E UV blocking coating may include at least two layers of or including silver and/or may include one or more IR layers. Thus, certain example embodiments may advantageously reduce one or more problems associated with residual haze, color change, flicker, structural changes in the polymer and/or the LC, degradations in state-switching response times, delamination, etc. The PDLC stack of certain example embodiments may be used in connection with any form of coated article, such as, for example, windows, windshields, IG units, etc. |
| US08199257B2 |
Video filter and video processor and processing method using the same
A video processor includes a video filter and a calculation circuit. The video filter performs a low-pass filtering operation on first frame data to obtain brightness distribution data. The calculation circuit obtains difference data between the brightness distribution data and second frame data. The calculation circuit multiplies the difference data and a weighting parameter together to obtain a product, and then summates the product and the second frame data together to generate processed frame data. |
| US08199254B2 |
Device for separating synchronous signal and method thereof
In a device for separating a synchronous signal in a video signal, a capacitor receives the video signal to obtain a coupling signal, a level determining circuit receives the coupling signal and compares a voltage level of the coupling signal with a number of reference voltages. The reference voltages define several reference voltage ranges, one of which is a predetermined reference voltage range. The level determining circuit outputs an adjusting signal according to a reference voltage range corresponding to a minimum voltage level of the coupling signal within a predetermined time period. A level adjusting circuit has several current sources for receiving the adjusting signal and thus controls the current sources to adjust a DC level of the coupling signal. A synchronous signal separating circuit separates the synchronous signal from the coupling signal when the minimum voltage level of the coupling signal is substantially within the predetermined reference voltage range. |
| US08199252B2 |
Image-processing method and device
The present invention relates to an image-processing method and an image-processing device. The device includes a motion estimation module, an intra-field operation module, an inter-field operation module, a weighing value generator and a blending unit. The method includes: receiving a block of an inter-frame-estimated frame and acquiring a motion vector of the block; performing a first verifying operation of the block to obtain a first verified result which indicates an adaptive level of the motion vector to the block; determining whether the block is to be divided into a plurality of sub-blocks according to the first verified result; performing a second verifying operation of the sub-block to determining an adaptive level of the motion vector to the sub-block so as to acquire a weighing value of the sub-block; and performing a de-interlacing operation of the sub-block according to the weighing value. |
| US08199251B2 |
Camera housing with integrated expansion module
A camera housing includes an integrated expansion module for providing expanded functionality to a camera (e.g., a display screen). Different embodiments of the housing include different expansion modules for adding a variety of features to the camera when the camera is placed in the housing. Thus, a user may modify features of a camera by swapping the housing. Furthermore, a user may add a feature to an existing camera without needing to purchase a new camera. |
| US08199248B2 |
Two-dimensional polynomial model for depth estimation based on two-picture matching
Apparatus and method for electronically estimating focusing distance between a camera (still and/or video camera) and a subject. Images at different focal positions of a calibration target are collected with distances between subject positions. In one aspect, histogram matching is performed to reduce noise error. A focus matching model is then generated in response to detected blur differences between successive images of the calibration target. The focus matching model is preferably converted to a polynomial equation of a desired order to smooth out image collection noise. The focus matching model is stored for access during operation. In use, the distance to subject is estimated in response to capturing images, detecting blur differences between the images and entering the blur difference information into the matching model. |
| US08199246B2 |
Image capturing apparatus, image capturing method, and computer readable media
Provided is an image capturing apparatus, including: an optical system causing a light receiving section to receive, in substantially the same spread, light from positions within a predetermined range of positional relation, and has different optical transfer functions for light from different positions lying within the predetermined range; a storage storing each process parameter for correcting the effect of an optical transfer function on the captured image, in association with a condition regarding a positional relation between a subject and the optical system to be satisfied in performing correction using the process parameter; an obtaining section obtaining positional information indicating a positional relation between a subject and the optical system; and a selecting section selecting a process parameter stored in the process parameter storage in association with a condition that the positional relation indicated by the positional information obtained by the positional information obtaining section satisfies. |
| US08199243B2 |
Imaging device and camera body
A digital camera comprises an interchangeable lens unit and a camera body. The interchangeable lens unit is provided to form an optical image of a subject. A flash memory is configured to hold a correction coefficient table used to electrically correct distortion produced by the optical system. The camera body has a CCD image sensor, a correction coefficient acquisition part, an operation part, and a correction processor. The correction coefficient acquisition part is configured to acquire the correction coefficient table held in the flash memory. The operation part is configured to produce correction data by performing an interpolation operation or an extrapolation operation on the information obtained from the correction coefficient table. The correction processor is configured to correct distortion in the image data on the basis of information produced by the operation part. |
| US08199242B2 |
Camera and image processing program
To insert an inserting-image at an appropriate position of image data by providing an imaging unit imaging an image of an object and generating the image data, a recognizing unit performing face recognition processing on the image data and generating distribution information which represents a distribution of a main object in an image of the image data, and a decision unit determining an inserting position to insert the inserting-image into the image data based on at least one of the distribution information and contrast information of the object. |
| US08199230B2 |
Signal processing apparatus, image pickup apparatus and computer readable medium
A signal processing apparatus includes a synchronization processing unit for processing image pickup signals including three kinds of signals and luminance signals output from an image pickup device. The synchronization processing unit is used to interpolate other color signals than the above-mentioned respective color signals at pixel positions where the three kinds of signals respectively exist. This processing includes a luminance use estimating processing which estimates color signals to be interpolated at the above-mentioned pixel positions using not only the same kinds of color signals as the above-mentioned color signals to be interpolated but also the above-mentioned luminance signals respectively existing around the above-mentioned pixel positions. |
| US08199229B2 |
Color filter, image processing apparatus, image processing method, image-capture apparatus, image-capture method, program and recording medium
A color filter allows a light signal to pass through by each pixel and be incident on an imaging device. The light signal is inputted through a lens and including one of plural different spectral components. The plural different spectral components include a first spectral component which has a widest frequency bandwidth among the plural different spectral components, a second spectral component corresponding to a predetermined frequency band close to a frequency that causes no chromatic aberration of the lens, and a third spectral component expressed in terms of a linear sum of a value resulting from multiplying the first spectral component by a first weighting factor and a value resulting from multiplying the second spectral component by a second weighting factor. |
| US08199228B2 |
Method of and apparatus for correcting contour of grayscale image
A grayscale image with corrected contours, which is suitably applicable to the art of recognition of objects, is obtained using a grayscale image and a distance image of a subject. The contour of the grayscale image where a grayscale contour image extracted from the grayscale image and a distance contour image extracted from the distance image agree with each other in contour, is corrected to generate the grayscale image with corrected contours. It is possible to highlight or emphasize the boundary of the subject, and a contour correcting process, which is different from the ordinary contour correcting process, can be carried out on a boundary of the subject. |
| US08199222B2 |
Low-light video frame enhancement
A method of combining image data from multiple frames to enhance one or more parameters of video image quality includes acquiring a first image at a first exposure duration, as well as acquiring a second image at a second exposure duration shorter than the first exposure duration and at a time just before, just after or overlapping in time with acquiring the first image, such that the first and second images include approximately a same first scene. In this way, the second image is relatively sharp and under-exposed, while the first image is relatively well-exposed and less sharp than the second image. Brightness and/or color information are extracted from the first image and applied to the second image to generate an enhanced version of the second image. |
| US08199221B2 |
Image recording apparatus, image recording method, image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program
An image recording apparatus includes an imaging unit to obtain captured image data; an image configuration determining unit to determine an appropriate image configuration; an image configuration acquisition control unit to execute image configuration acquisition control to obtain captured image data of image content having the appropriate image configuration; a capturing/recording unit to record the captured image data when the captured image data of the image content having the appropriate image configuration is obtained; a capturing history information holding unit to hold capturing history information; an image configuration exhaustion determining unit to determine whether the captured image data of the image content having the appropriate image configuration has been recorded a predetermined number of times; and a recording setting unit to prevent recording of captured image data of image content having the appropriate image configuration determined to have been recorded the predetermined number of times. |
| US08199215B2 |
Image filtering
Pixels of an image (200) are coded as color vectors specified by RGB values. The image (200) is filtered by calculating new color vectors for the pixels on a pixel by pixel basis. A new color vector for a subject pixel (201) is calculated from the average of neighbor pixels (203) in a window (202) around the subject pixel (201). A first threshold is calculated from the standard deviation of the color vectors of the neighbor pixels (203) in the window (202). A second threshold is calculated from the median maximum difference between the values defining the color vectors of the respective neighbor pixels (203) in the window (202) and the standard deviation of the values. Only neighbor pixels (203) having a color vector that differs from the color vector of the subject pixel (201) by less than or the same as the first and second thresholds are used in calculation of the new color vector for the subject pixel (201). |
| US08199209B2 |
Image capturing apparatus with correction of optical transfer function, image capturing method and computer readable medium storing thereon a program for use with the image capturing apparatus
An image capturing apparatus includes an optical system that focuses light from a subject, a light receiving section that includes a plurality of light receiving elements for receiving the light from the subject that is focused by the optical system, a correcting section that corrects, in accordance with an optical transfer function of the optical system, a plurality of pixel values that are linearly related to amounts of the light received by the plurality of light receiving elements, and a non-linear processing section that converts the plurality of pixel values that have been corrected by the correcting section into a plurality of pixel values that are non-linearly related to the amounts of the light received by the plurality of light receiving elements. |
| US08199208B2 |
Operation input apparatus, operation input method, and computer readable medium for determining a priority between detected images
An operation input apparatus includes a body portion detection unit for receiving image data and detecting a certain body portion of a subject in an image of the image data, a state determination unit for determining a certain state corresponding to a priority-level setting condition for each body portion, a priority-level setting unit for setting priority levels to the individual body portions in accordance with results of the determination, an operation determination unit for determining whether the body portions performed a predetermined motion corresponding to a certain operation in accordance with determination allowance degrees of the body portions serving as determination subjects which are set in accordance with the priority levels, and a control unit for controlling the operation input apparatus so that the operation input apparatus performs a predetermined operation in accordance with the determination that the certain motion corresponding to the certain operation has been performed. |
| US08199207B2 |
Image recording apparatus, image tilt correction method, and recording medium storing image tilt correction program
An image recording device includes an obtaining module configured to obtain tilt information indicating a tilt direction and a tilt angle of an image with respect to a horizontal direction for a processing unit including frames, a rotational processing module configured to perform, in accordance with the tilt direction and the tilt angle indicated by the tilt information, a rotational process having a same rotational direction and a same rotational amount for correction of tilting with respect to images of the frames, and a storing module configured to store the images of the frames subjected to the rotational process. |
| US08199201B2 |
Printing system, printing apparatus, image sensing apparatus, and control method
In a printing system in which a printer and digital camera are connected and image data transmitted by the digital camera is received and printed by the printer, the printer transmits information about image correction functions supported by the printer to the digital camera, the digital camera sets image correction parameters based on the transmitted information and stores them in a memory of the digital camera, and before printing the image data, the printer reads out the image correction parameters stored in the memory and corrects the image data to be printed, using the read-out image correction parameters. |
| US08199194B2 |
Method and system involving controlling a video camera to track a movable target object
Methods are described for controlling orientation of an aim point axis of a video camera having an instrument coordinate system to track a point of interest on a movable target object and calculating positions of the point of interest in a local coordinate system in which the target object is moving. The methods include measuring pan and tilt angles of the aim point axis and distance substantially along the aim point axis and calculating a calibration matrix which transforms a position defined in the instrument coordinate system to a position defined in the local coordinate system. A system is described including an instrument and at least one computer, wherein the instrument includes a video camera and a range finder, and wherein the video camera includes an aim point axis having an adjustable orientation. In one example, the target object is adapted to move on and inspect an airplane surface. |
| US08199192B2 |
Observation unit
It is an object of the present invention to provide an observation unit which efficiently cools apparatus members in a reaction chamber of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in a high-temperature atmosphere and reduces overexposure. An observation unit comprising: an imaging apparatus for imaging the inside of a reaction chamber of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in an atmosphere of a high temperature; a housing case which houses the imaging apparatus and is attached with a translucent member which guides an optical image of the inside of the reaction chamber to the imaging apparatus; and a cooling medium supplying apparatus for supplying a cooling medium to the inside of the housing case, wherein the translucent member is a silica glass plate having a gold film on both sides or one side. |
| US08199188B2 |
Video imaging system with a camera control unit
A video imaging system that allows a user to save select image data to a detachable storage device, the image data presented on a display for the user, where the user is provided with various control interfaces for saving and appending information to the saved image data. The detachable storage device also including user settings data that is used to adjust the settings of the camera control unit according to the user preferences. |
| US08199187B2 |
Adapter for use with digital imaging medical device
An adapter that allows digital imaging devices to be used with existing analog consoles. In one embodiment of the invention, an adaptor is provided that receives a digital video image signal from a medical device and converts the digital signal into an analog signal that can be displayed by an analog console. In another embodiment, the invention provides a method for converting a digital video signal received from a medical imaging device into a standardized analog video format. |
| US08199183B2 |
Laser printing system and laser printing method
A laser printing system comprising a conveyor for conveying a group of containers, a container group packaging device for packaging a group of containers by a base material at the conveyor, if a conveyance speed when the group of containers packaged by the base material reaches a first region is smaller than a conveyance speed a predetermined time before the packaged group of containers packaged by the base material reaches the first region, the conveyor conveying the packaged group of containers by the conveyance speed when reaching the first region, and a laser printing device for laser printing the base material of the packaged group of containers when the packaged group of containers reaches a second region positioned downstream from the first region at the conveyor. Due to this, the identical base material is prevented from being printed on a plurality of times. Further, this may also include an end signal emitter for emitting a printing end signal after the base material is printed on. |
| US08199182B2 |
Exposing device and image forming apparatus
An exposing device which radiates light on a photoconductor drum which rotates, thereby executing exposure, includes a light-emitting element unit including light-emitting element having an emission area which emits light that is generated, the emission area having a rectangular shape with a long side along a direction perpendicular to a rotational direction of the photoconductor drum, and a short side along the rotational direction, a lens unit which focuses the light, which is emitted from the emission area, on a peripheral surface of the photoconductor drum, thereby executing exposure, and forming on the peripheral surface a beam spot, and a driving circuit which causes the light-emitting element to emit light, thereby making a width of the shape of the beam spot in a direction along the rotational direction close to a width of the beam spot in a direction perpendicular to the rotational direction. |
| US08199178B1 |
Linear array of two dimensional dense-packed spatial light modulator
A linear dense-packed spatial light modulator (LDSLM) and method of modulating light using the same are provided. In one embodiment, the LDSLM comprises a plurality of two dimensional (2D) modulators grouped proximal to one another on a surface of a substrate to form a densely-packed, linear array having a plurality of pixels along a longitudinal axis of the array. Each pixel includes a number of 2D modulators electrically coupled to receive a common drive signal and to modulate light reflected therefrom in response to the drive signal. Preferably, each pixel includes at least two 2D modulators grouped along a transverse axis of the array. More preferably, the number of 2D modulators along the transverse axis in each pixel is selected to provide a desired power density while avoiding an undesired thermal gradient across the LDSLM. The LDSLM and method are particularly useful in printing applications. Other embodiments are also disclosed. |
| US08199173B2 |
Liquid crystal display apparatus, portable device, and drive method for liquid crystal display apparatus
In a liquid crystal display apparatus, one display pixel has a total of six sub pixels, namely, a red sub pixel for a left eye, a green sub pixel for the left eye, a blue sub pixel for the left eye, a red sub pixel for a right eye, a green sub pixel for the right eye, and a blue sub pixel for the right eye. Those sub pixels are arranged in a square area, two in a horizontal direction along which gate lines extend, three in a vertical direction along which data lines extend. The polarity of the data lines with respect to a potential of a common electrode is inverted every time three gate lines are scanned and every frame. |
| US08199169B2 |
Document information managing apparatus and computer readable medium
A document information managing apparatus includes: a storage storing document information and a first reference image in correspondence with each other, the first reference image being formed by changing a size of an output image of the document information based upon first magnification; a producing unit producing a second reference image having a size changed based upon second magnification smaller than the first magnification in relation to the document information when the size of the output image is larger than a predetermined size; a display displaying the first reference image when the size of the output image is smaller than the predetermined size, and displaying the second reference image when the size of the output image is larger than the predetermined size; and a display determining unit, when the second reference image is selected, controlling the display to display the first reference image relating to the selected second reference image. |
| US08199167B2 |
Diagnostic support device and diagnostic support system
A diagnostic support device supports a diagnosis of a display state of a composite image displayed on a display device that is arranged to display a composite image obtained by combining a plurality of composite target images corresponding to pieces of information supplied from respective devices mounted on a vehicle, the plurality of composite target images being combined with reference to layout information, the diagnostic support device including a layout information obtaining section arranged to obtain the layout information, a layout information output section arranged to output to an image combining apparatus, the layout information, per composite target image, the image combining apparatus combining the plurality of composite target images, and the layout information being obtained by the layout information obtaining section. |
| US08199163B2 |
Signal processing device, method of correction data using the same, and display apparatus having the same
A signal processing device includes a memory in which a color correction data is stored. The memory stores a first color correction data having the same number of bits as an input image data and a second color correction data having fewer number of bits than the input image data. The number of color correction data corresponding to a low gray-scale range increases and the number of color correction data corresponding to a high gray-scale range decreases by the same amount that the number of the color correction data corresponding to the low gray-scale range increased. Thus, a color characteristic corresponding to the low gray-scale range may be improved without changing the total number of color correction data. |
| US08199159B2 |
Data processing unit with multi-graphic controller and method for processing data using the same
A data processing apparatus including a first graphic controller configured to process a first image, the first image being one of a first still, moving and three dimensional (3D) image; a second graphic controller configured to process a second image, the second image being one of a second still, moving and three dimensional (3D) image, the first and second graphic controllers being integrated into one chip; and a controller operatively connected to the first and second graphic controllers and configured to determine whether to enable the second graphic controller, and change the second graphic controller from an inactive state to an enabled state. Further, though the second graphic controller is changed from the inactive state to the enabled state, the first graphic controller is maintained in an enabled state. |
| US08199158B2 |
Performance allocation method and apparatus
In accordance with some embodiments, a graphics process frame generation frame rate may be monitored in combination with a utilization or work load metric for the graphics process in order to allocate performance resources to the graphics process and in some cases, between the graphics process and a central processing unit. |
| US08199156B2 |
Collaborative environments in a graphical information system
Collaborative environments in a geographic information system (GIS) are disclosed. Collaboration between multiple processors can be provided within the GIS. A first processor can stream a scenario describing geo-spatial analysis of the image conducted by the first processor. The scenario can include a set of parameters executed by the first processor for review by a user of a second processor. The user of the second processor can transmit a response back to the first processor. The response can include an addition to the scenario, an edit to the scenario, a comment, or acceptance of the scenario. The server can stream the scenario, and/or the images as well as the response between the first and second processors. The image can include three dimensional data and streaming of data can occur across networks such as the Internet. |
| US08199155B2 |
System, method, and computer program product for saving power in a multi-graphics processor environment
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for enabling or disabling a graphics processor during runtime. In use, a command is received to disable or enable a graphics processor. Such graphics processor is enabled or disabled during runtime, in response to the command. |
| US08199152B2 |
Combining multiple session content for animation libraries
A computer-implemented method includes comparing content captured during one session and content captured during another session. A surface feature of an object represented in the content of one session corresponds to a surface feature of an object represented in the content of the other session. The method also includes substantially aligning the surface features of the sessions and combining the aligned content. |
| US08199149B2 |
Automatic generation of frequency domain mask
Automatic generation of a frequency domain mask is achieved by drawing a reduced waveform representing frequency domain data for an input signal as a pixel map. The reduced waveform is blurred by applying a user selected frequency offset, and from the blurred waveform data points are selected to generate upper and lower limits. The selected upper limit data points form an upper limit mask and the lower limit data points form a lower limit mask. When the upper and lower limit data masks are combined and translated back to frequency/amplitude units from the pixel map, they form an envelope mask. |
| US08199148B2 |
System and method for surfacing of particle systems
A method and system for surfacing of particle systems is proposed to achieve high surface resolutions and low execution times, comprising partitioning particles into sub-blocks, each sub-block associated linear data arrays, sequentially accessing each array to composite the particles into a respective sub-volume using estimates of grid stencils derived from particle kernels, performing random-access into the sub-volumes, processing each linear array, and lexicographically pushing the corresponding sub-volume into a DT-Grid to convert the sub-volume to a narrow band level set. Further steps to improve the temporal coherence of resulting surface, to reduce artifacts from sparsely sampled regions of space, to enhance artistic expression, and for flexible post processing can be performed. |
| US08199143B2 |
Display apparatus, driving method for display apparatus and electronic apparatus
The present invention provides a display apparatus, includes: a pixel array section; and a driving section; the pixel array section including a plurality of scanning lines extending along the direction of a row, a plurality of signal lines extending along the direction of a column, and a plurality of pixels disposed in rows and columns at places at which the scanning lines and the signal lines intersect with each other. The driving section including a write scanner and a signal selector. |
| US08199140B2 |
Display device
A display device has a display panel having a first substrate in which a plurality of first electrodes are disposed in parallel, a second substrate in which a plurality of second electrodes crossing the first electrodes are disposed in parallel, and a material layer which is disposed between the first and second substrates and reflects, transmits or absorbs light with a predetermined wavelength according to a write state;first and second drive circuits which drive the first and second electrodes respectively; and a drive control circuit which performs drive control for the first and second drive circuits. When refreshing a display image, the first or second drive circuit, while applying a reset pulse to a plurality of adjacent electrode group of first or second electrodes, scans the electrode group so as to reset the pixels, and the drive control circuit controls to change the direction of scanning. |
| US08199139B2 |
Viewing angle control device and display provided with the same
There are provided a viewing angle control device that can provide a pure black display without coloring and have a significantly improved shielding ability in the narrow viewing angle state, and a display using the viewing angle control device. To adjust the VT (voltage-transmittance) characteristics of a viewing angle control liquid crystal panel (2) that switches a viewing angle between a wide viewing angle state and a narrow viewing angle state by using birefringence of liquid crystal, translucent electrode films (205r, 205g, 206b), to which alternating-current voltages with different frequencies are applied, are provided on a portion of at least one of a pair of translucent substrates (201, 202) sandwiching the liquid crystal, the portion corresponding to at least one color of a picture element of a display liquid crystal panel (1), so that the voltage-transmittance characteristics of the liquid crystal are adjusted. |
| US08199134B2 |
Input device
A thin input device can be made small and thin, and prevent an excessive force from acting on a connecting part with a substrate when an operating part is operated to detect deformation of an actuating member. An actuating member is received in a recess of a lower case, and a lid is fixed. The actuating member includes fixed parts provided at four corners and deformable parts thinner than the fixed parts. The fixed parts are fixedly sandwiched between a bottom surface of the recess of the lower case and the lid. The deformable parts, to which strain detecting elements are attached, are provided in four directions around the operating part. When the operating knob is operated to deform a deformable part, the force acts only on the case, and an excessive force does not act on connecting parts between the connecting terminals, and a substrate. |
| US08199130B2 |
Fixing structure, pen clipping set, and electronic device
The fixing structure of the invention capable of connecting to a pen with a slot comprises a main body, a slide piece, and a push module. The main body comprises a slide slot and an opening. The slide piece can slide into the slide slot. The slide piece comprises a first slide unit and a second slide unit. The first slide unit comprises a first pressing element. The push module comprises a second pressing element, and the push module has a loose state and a tight state. When the push module is in the loose state, at least a portion of the first pressing element is in the opening; when the push module is in the tight state, the second pressing element connects to the second slide unit, and the first pressing element connects to the slot of the pen. |
| US08199129B2 |
Touch sensitive display device and method of determining touch
In a method for determining a contact of a display device according to an exemplary embodiment, a covariance matrix is used to extract a unique vector and a unique value and to obtain the main component through the unique vector and the unique value. The value of the main component is analyzed to determine the contact existence. The unique vector and the unique value are used to extract the main component, and then the contact existence is determined such that the touch existence and the position thereof may be correctly determined without errors. |
| US08199124B2 |
User interface system
A user interface system of one embodiment includes a layer defining a surface; a substrate supporting the layer and at least partially defining a cavity; a displacement coupled to the cavity that expands the cavity, thereby deforming a particular region of the surface; and a touch sensor coupled to the substrate and adapted to sense a user touch proximate the particular region of the surface. The layer and the substrate are connected at an attachment point, and the location of the attachment point relative to the layer, substrate, and cavity at least partially defines the shape of the deformed particular region of the surface. |
| US08199122B2 |
Pressure sensitive conductive sheet, method of manufacturing the same, and touch panel using the same
A pressure sensitive conductive sheet is provided by having a plurality of ferromagnetic conductive particles dispersed in a transparent elastic member joined together and linearly aligned with the thickness direction thereby forming a linear aggregate and then having the linear aggregate segmented into a plurality conductive elements, held linearly aligned with the thickness direction, with predetermined gaps formed therebetween. Further, a touch panel having good transparency and allowing stabilized operation is provided by interposing the pressure sensitive conductive sheet between an upper conductive layer on the lower face of an upper substrate and a lower conductive layer on the upper face of a lower substrate. |
| US08199117B2 |
Archive for physical and digital objects
Existing tools for organizing family memories offer few possibilities for easily integrating both physical and digital materials in order to produce a single archive for a family (or other group of users). This also applies to archiving of physical objects and digital media in general (even for applications outside the field of family use). An archiving system is described which incorporates at least one image capture device, a display, a sensing apparatus arranged to detect user input associated with the display, a processor and memory, and a receptacle for holding digital media storage devices such as mobile telephones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants and the like. The image capture device is operable to capture digital images of physical objects for archiving. The receptacle comprises a data transmission apparatus for automatically transferring data with the digital media storage devices and optionally also a power charging apparatus. |
| US08199112B2 |
Character input device
When a search character string is input via a key input section and a handwriting input section, if a spelling is input, a character is input directly by a key input operation or a recognized character is input by a handwriting input operation. If pinyin is input to input a Chinese character, not only are alphabetic characters input by a key input operation, but also the four tones area input by touching a four-tone input screen displayed on the handwriting input section. Accordingly, not only can ordinary characters be input as usual, of course, but also Chinese-specific four tones can be input easily by a touch operation at the handwriting input section even when a pinyin character is input. |
| US08199109B2 |
Control system for a remote vehicle
A system for controlling a remote vehicle, the system comprising: a hand-held controller having a plurality of buttons; a display including a graphical user interface having soft buttons; and a processor in communication with the hand-held controller and the display. Buttons of the hand-held controller are mapped to soft buttons of the graphical user interface to allow actuation of soft buttons of the graphical user interface, and the hand-held controller is capable of switching between two or more button function modes, wherein each button function mode assigns different functions to one or more of the buttons of the hand-held controller. |
| US08199108B2 |
Interactive directed light/sound system
An interactive directed beam system is provided. In one implementation, the system includes a projector, a computer and a camera. The camera is configured to view and capture information in an interactive area. The captured information may take various forms, such as, an image and/or audio data. The captured information is based on actions taken by an object, such as, a person within the interactive area. Such actions include, for example, natural movements of the person and interactions between the person and an image projected by the projector. The captured information from the camera is then sent to the computer for processing. The computer performs one or more processes to extract certain information, such as, the relative location of the person within the interactive area for use in controlling the projector. Based on the results generated by the processes, the computer directs the projector to adjust the projected image accordingly. The projected image can move anywhere within the confines of the interactive area. |
| US08199106B2 |
Systems and methods of camera-based fingertip tracking
Systems and methods for camera-based fingertip tracking are disclosed. One such method includes identifying at least one location of a fingertip in at least one of the video frames, and mapping the location to a user input based on the location of the fingertip relative to a virtual user input device. |
| US08199105B2 |
System and method for controlling cursor movement
A system and method are provided for controlling the movement of a cursor relative to an image displayed in a video screen display by way of an operating element that is rotatable about its longitudinal axis, while being moveable is at least two additional degrees of freedom transverse to the longitudinal axis thereof from an initial position. The cursor can be moved in two mutually perpendicular directions, and, in the case of an additional rotation of the operating element, during the transverse movement of the cursor, the cursor can be moved in a direction diagonal thereto. |
| US08199104B2 |
Character input device using bio radar unit and tilt sensor
Disclosed herein is a character input device for a mobile device or a wearable terminal. A bio radar unit senses the positions of the fingers of a user. A tilt sensor senses the tilt of the hands of the user. A microprocessor calculates the final input information of the user by processing signals received from the bio radar unit and the tilt sensor. A wireless communication module transmits the final input information to the mobile device or the wearable terminal of the user. A speaker device outputs a feedback sound corresponding to the final input information of the user. The character input device is wearable on a wrist of the user. The bio radar unit transmits a signal, measures the distance between the character input device and a finger by measuring the strength of a reflected wave reflected from the finger with which the signal collides, and measures the angle of the finger related to activation. |
| US08199103B2 |
System and method of controlling switching display which embodies transmitting/transflective/reflective mode
A system and method of controlling a switching display is provided. The system for controlling a switching display which embodies a transmitting/transflective/reflective mode, the system including: a display mode setting unit to set a display mode of a switching display according to a condition of an external light; and a twist ball control unit to control an electric signal of a transparent electrode of the switching display according to the set display mode, and to control a plurality of twist balls included in the switching display. |
| US08199100B1 |
Display arrangement and approaches therefor
Desirable control of displays is facilitated. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, a light arrangement provides light to form an image using a plurality of light sources (e.g., light generating or producing elements), a control arrangement and an attenuation arrangement. Each light source provides light for a portion of the image and the control arrangement independently controls the amount of light generated by each source according to a brightness of the portion of the image for which each source is providing light and, for certain embodiments, facilitating desirable power savings and/or contrast. The attenuation arrangement selectively passes light from the light sources to form the image. |
| US08199099B2 |
Apparatus and method for driving liquid crystal display device
An apparatus and method for driving a liquid crystal display device are disclosed. The apparatus includes a liquid crystal panel with pixels defined by data and gate lines. A gate driver provides different gate pulses to the odd-column pixels than to the even-column pixels. The gate pulses have different voltages and/or widths. Data drivers provide data voltages having a positive or negative polarity to the data lines. A timing controller controls the gate and data drivers and supplies gate clock pulses that have different voltages and/or widths to the gate driver. |
| US08199087B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device includes a scanning line and a signal line that are disposed to intersect each other, a pixel that is disposed in correspondence with an intersection of the scanning line and the signal line and includes a liquid crystal and a pixel electrode, a common electrode, and a storage capacitor that apply a voltage to the liquid crystal, a storage capacitor line that is used for forming the storage capacitor, and a plurality of storage capacitor line driving circuits that is used for driving the storage capacitor line. The plurality of storage capacitor line driving circuits is disposed in one end and the other end of the storage capacitor line, and the electric potential of the storage capacitor line is configured to be fixed to a designated electric potential based on a reset signal that is input to the plurality of storage capacitor line driving circuits. |
| US08199085B2 |
Display apparatus
A display apparatus and a driving method thereof, in which the display apparatus includes a temperature sensor detecting a temperature, a first memory, a timing controller that receives an (n−1)th image signal and an nth image signal of consecutive frames, corrects the nth image signal and outputs the nth image signal, wherein the timing controller generates a clock signal whose phase varies according to the detected temperature, writes the nth image signal in the first memory in synchronization with the clock signal, reads the (n−1)th image signal from the first memory, and compares the nth image signal and the (n−1)th image signal with each other to then correct the nth image signal based on the comparison result, a data driver that provides an image-data voltage corresponding to the corrected signal of the nth image signal, and a liquid crystal panel that displays an image corresponding to the image-data voltage. |
| US08199077B2 |
Display apparatus, driving method for display apparatus and electronic apparatus
Disclosed herein is a display apparatus, including a pixel array section; and a driving section; the pixel array section including a plurality of scanning lines extending along the direction of a row, a plurality of signal lines extending along the direction of a column, a plurality of pixels disposed in rows and columns at places at which the scanning lines and the signal lines intersect with each other, and a plurality of feed lines disposed in parallel to the scanning lines, the driving section including a signal selector for supplying a driving signal having a signal potential to the signal lines, a write scanner for successively supplying a control signal to the scanning lines, and a drive scanner for supplying a power supply, which changes over between a high potential and a low potential, to the feed lines. |
| US08199075B2 |
Method for driving, and a circuit of an element of an illuminated display
In illuminated displays with lighting elements which are driven by means of a control voltage, the voltage drop on a supply line, which supplies two or more lighting elements, is compensated for. The currents for all of the light elements, which are connected to a supply line, and the known resistances are used to calculate the potential profile of the supply line for this purpose. The control voltages for the light elements are changed such that the actual potential on the supply line for each element is taken into account. Fluctuations in the brightness of the illuminated display resulting from potential differences are avoided. One element of an illuminated display has a current control means, a signal retaining means, a light emitting means and means for interrupting the current flow through the light emitting means. The control voltage is adjusted with the current flow interrupted, so that no potential differences exist on the supply line. The signal retaining means hold the control voltage relative to the potential on the line at the respective position of the lighting element. An illuminated display has adjustable voltages for the supply lines. The voltages are chosen to be sufficiently high that the minimum required voltage for setting the desired currents through the lighting elements is achieved. |
| US08199074B2 |
System and method for reducing mura defects
A representative system for displaying images comprises a pixel array, a conversion circuit, a memory device, and a compensation circuit. The pixel array has a plurality of pixels, each having at least one organic light emitting element equipped with a sensing unit which retrieves display information when the organic light emitting element retrieves a test signal. The conversion circuit determines a display parameter of each organic light emitting element according to the test signal and the display information of each organic light emitting element. The memory device stores the display parameter of each organic light emitting element. The compensation circuit modifies a video signal in accordance with the display parameters stored in the memory device. |
| US08199072B2 |
Plasma display device and method of driving the same
A scan electrode driving circuit applies a rising ramp waveform voltage to scan electrodes (SCN1 to SCNn) to generate a first setup discharge in a first period within a setup period, applies a dropping ramp waveform voltage to the scan electrodes (SCN1 to SCNn) to generate a second setup discharge in a second period following the first period within the setup period, and applies a first positive rectangular waveform voltage (Vs), a negative rectangular waveform voltage (Va), a second positive rectangular waveform voltage (Vs) and a dropping ramp waveform voltage to the scan electrodes (SCN1 to SCNn) in a third period following the second period within the setup period. A data electrode driving circuit applies a positive rectangular waveform voltage (Vd) to data electrodes (D1 to Dm) in a period after application of the first positive rectangular waveform voltage (Vs) to the scan electrodes (SCN1 to SCNn) and before application of the negative rectangular waveform voltage (Va) to the scan electrodes (SCN1 to SCNn) in the third period. |
| US08199068B2 |
Single plane spanning mode across independently driven displays
A multi-layer display device having a first display screen having a first resolution and adapted to present a first visual image thereon, a second display screen having a second resolution and adapted to present a second visual image thereon, and a logic device configured to communicate with the first display screen and the second display screen and configured to receive a combined single plane visual image for display on the first and second display screen, the combined visual image having a first portion corresponding to the first visual image to be displayed on the first display screen and a second portion corresponding to the second visual image to be displayed on the second display screen, wherein the logic device is configured to transmit the first visual image to the first display screen and the second visual image to the second display screen. |
| US08199066B2 |
Magnetic antenna and antenna device
There is provided a magnetic antenna and an antenna device that increase the packaging density of a portion where the magnetic antenna is mounted in an electronic apparatus, and suppresses degradation of antenna performance. A flexible substrate has first and second substantially spiral-shaped coil conductors formed thereon. Conductor-opening-side through holes are formed in the respective conductor openings of the coil conductors, and non-coil-conductor-forming-area through holes are formed in areas in which the coil conductors are not formed. First and second magnetic cores are arranged so as to extend through the respective conductor-opening-side through holes from a first main surface of the flexible substrate and to extend through the respective non-coil-conductor-forming-area through holes in a direction from a second main surface side to the first main surface of the flexible substrate. |
| US08199064B2 |
Omni directional broadband coplanar antenna element
The present invention provides an omni-directional antenna element configuration having a compensated radiation pattern. Broadband antenna elements are coplanarly disposed on a suitable planar dielectric material. A single element omni-directional antenna comprises a pair of balanced fed radiating microstrip elements symmetrically disposed about the centerline of a balanced signal feed network. Additionally, a pair of pattern augmentation rods are positioned on each side of and proximate to the planar dielectric material running longitudinally to the centerline axis of a balanced feed network. Disposed proximate to each radiating element are partially coplanar, frequency bandwidth expanding microstrip lines. The combination of radiating elements together with pattern augmentation rods provides a broad bandwidth omni-directional radiating element suitable for use in multi-element antenna arrays. |
| US08199061B2 |
Thermal compensating subreflector tracking assembly and method of use
A thermal compensating subreflector tracking assembly for a reflector antenna and methods of use. The subreflector tracking assembly provided with a base, an intermediate support and a subreflector mount. The intermediate support coupled to the base, movable normal to the base and the subreflector mount coupled to the intermediate support, movable orthogonal to the intermediate support. The movement in the Z, Y and or Z-axis enabling electrical performance optimizing reflector antenna beam alignment and/or focus adjustments resulting from asymmetric thermal distortion of the reflector antenna. |
| US08199058B2 |
Antenna system with PIFA-fed conductor
A high efficiency antenna for the 824-960 MHz and/or 1710-2170 MHz frequency ranges including world cellular and ISM bands, for use primarily on wireless communications devices such as handsets. An antenna system may be integrated within a handset as a “pull-out” whip or as an internal antenna. The antenna uses an oriented PIFA-fed resonator working in conjunction with a ground plane conductor, which can be realized as the ground traces of the PCB printed circuit board and/or an extension of the ground plane of a wireless communication device. The antenna system when installed on a handset as a pull-out whip, requires approximately one-half the extended length of current pull-out antennas, thus improving the device's aesthetic and mechanical durability. |
| US08199054B2 |
Method for estimating distance between transmitter and receiver, and transmitter and receiver implementing same
A method for estimating the distance between a transmitter and at least one receiver. The transmitter has radio transmission circuitry, at least part of which is operable in a first operation mode for transmitting a first signal type within a first bandwidth and in a second operation mode for transmitting a second signal type including at least a ranging component which occupies a second bandwidth which encompasses and exceeds the first bandwidth. The method includes the steps of: (i) operating part of the radio transmission circuitry in a second operation mode, (ii) transmitting a signal of a second signal type, (iii) receiving a signal on one receiver and (iv) estimating the distance between the transmitter and a receiver from the ranging component in each received signal. A suitable transmitter and receiver for implementing the method are described. |
| US08199053B2 |
Three dimensional RF search system
An RF signal detection process by incorporating direction detection of the RF signal along with energy detection to arrive at a signal of interest (SOI). The SOI is identified by matching direction detections and energy detections. Low-level and noise-like signals can be reevaluated for unresolved direction detections or energy detections. The RF signal detections can be filtered based on valid direction detections very early on in the processing chain to reduce the amount down-stream processing required. |
| US08199045B1 |
Nickel nanostrand ESD/conductive coating or composite
A polymer-based coating includes nickel nanostrands dispersed within a polymer, and a pigment that is conductive or semi-conductive dispersed in the polymer. |
| US08199043B2 |
Comparator based asynchronous binary search A/D converter
An analog-to-digital converter that uses a comparator based asynchronous binary search is described. The architecture includes a self-clocked (asynchronous) hierarchical binary tree of comparators, each arranged for being provided with a predetermined threshold. The input signal is applied in parallel to all comparators as is the case with flash converters, but the clock is applied to (at least) one comparator only, for example to the first or root comparator. The at least one comparator is further arranged for controlling at least one other comparator of the plurality of comparators. |
| US08199041B2 |
Analog-to-digital converter
An analog-to-digital converter includes a higher-order analog-to-digital converter that outputs a higher-order digital value, a first lower-order converter that converts a first residual signal into a first lower-order digital value, a second lower-order converter that converts a second residual signal into a second lower-order digital value, a calibrator that outputs first and second offset adjustment signals for respectively designating offset adjustment amounts in reversed polarity based on a difference between the first and second lower-order digital values, wherein the first and second lower-order converters set a conversion calibration value based on the first and second offset adjustment signals and calibrate the first and second lower-order digital values based on the conversion calibration value. |
| US08199039B2 |
Delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter, radio receiver, communication apparatus, method, and computer program
A delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is disclosed. The ADC comprises a forward path structure; a feedback structure; and a first subtraction element arranged to receive an input signal to the delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter and a feedback signal from the feedback structure and output a difference signal, which is a difference between the input signal and the feedback signal, to the forward path structure, wherein the forward path structure comprises a quantizer arranged to convert an analog input signal to a digital representation; a forward path filter arranged to input the difference signal and provide an output signal to the quantizer, and the feedback structure comprises a first and a second branch, wherein the first branch comprises a first digital-to-analog converter arranged to provide output signals to the subtraction element; and a first feedback filter having a gain to frequency characteristic such that frequencies that are desired in the analog-to-digital conversion, compared to undesired frequencies, are attenuated in the feedback structure, and the second branch comprises a second digital-to-analog converter, wherein the first and second branches are fed by the digital representation and the outputs of the first and second branches are merged in a second subtraction element arranged to output a signal, which is a difference between the signals from the first and second branches, to the first subtraction element. A radio receiver, communication apparatus, method for analog-to-digital conversion, and computer program for implementing the method are also disclosed. |
| US08199038B2 |
Active resistance-capacitor integrator and continuous-time sigma-delta modulator with gain control function
Provided are an active resistance-capacitance (RC) integrator and a continuous-time sigma-delta modulator, which have a gain control function. The active RC integrator includes an amplifier, a first base resistor connected between a first input node and a positive input port of the amplifier, a second base resistor connected between a second input node and a negative input port of the amplifier, a first resistor unit connected between the second input node and the positive input port of the amplifier, and a second resistor unit connected between the first input node and the negative input port of the amplifier. A resistor network including resistors and switches is configured to vary an input resistance, so that an active RC integrator may have a gain control function. |
| US08199037B2 |
ADC channel selection and conversion
A microcontroller includes a microcontroller core and an analog-to-digital converter (“ADC”) coupled to said microcontroller core. The ADC has multiple input channel multiplexers that are configured to receive multiple analog input channels. The microcontroller further includes a selection register and a data structure. The data structure comprises a plurality of associated field sets. Each bit position in the selection register indexes to one of the associated field sets in the data structure, and the value contained in each such bit position indicates whether or not to select the corresponding associated field set for selection of an analog input channel. Each associated field set comprises one or more values collectively specifying an analog input channel to select for conversion to digital form. |
| US08199034B2 |
Method and apparatus for soft symbol determination
A method for wireless communication is disclosed that includes selecting a plurality of probabilities for a symbol based on a bit-to-symbol mapping; calculating a conditional mean of the symbol based on the plurality of probabilities; and, generating a signal representative of the symbol based on the conditional mean of the symbol. An apparatus for performing the method is also disclosed. |
| US08199031B2 |
Input apparatus, control apparatus, control system, control method, and program therefor
An input apparatus includes a first acceleration sensor, a second acceleration sensor, a first angular velocity sensor, a second angular velocity sensor, and velocity information output means. The first acceleration sensor detects a first acceleration value in a first direction. The second acceleration sensor detects a second acceleration value in a second direction different from the first direction. The first angular velocity sensor detects a first angular velocity value about a first axis in the first direction. The second angular velocity sensor detects a second angular velocity value about a second axis in the second direction. The velocity information output means calculates, based on the first and second acceleration values and the first and second angular velocity values, a first velocity value in the first direction and a second velocity value in the second direction, and outputs information on the first velocity value and the second velocity value. |
| US08199030B2 |
Stranded aircraft alerts module
An alerts module having a memory storing aircraft data, the aircraft data including identities of aircraft that are grounded and a processor comparing the aircraft data to predetermined rules for determining whether an aircraft is stranded and generating an alert for each of the aircraft that are determined to be stranded, wherein the alert includes the identify of the aircraft that is stranded. |
| US08199027B1 |
Systems and methods for utility meter reading
The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for utility meter reading. The present disclosure provides inexpensive, easy to install, devices that can collect and report utility usage data from a remote location automatically, or on-demand. The disclosed systems may be used to monitor up to sixty-four meters per system, wherein each of the sixty-four meters is monitored at least once per second. Methods for using the disclosed systems also are disclosed. |
| US08199025B2 |
Ball-rolling type orientation sensor
A ball-rolling type orientation sensor includes a housing, a light emitter, two light receivers, and a rolling ball. The housing has a ring-shaped tunnel and a first opening connecting to the tunnel and two second openings respectively located on two sides of the first opening. The light emitter is arranged at the first opening and emitting light into the tunnel through the first opening. The light receivers are respectively arranged at the second openings and receiving light from the tunnel through the second openings. The rolling ball is arranged in the tunnel, whereby while the ball-rolling type orientation sensor is tilting, the rolling ball rolls toward the direction of gravity force, a portion of light emitted from the light emitter is reflected to one of the light receivers by the rolling ball, the light receivers respectively receive light with predetermined intensities and correspondingly output electric signals with predetermined strengths. |
| US08199020B1 |
Thermal cutoff fuse for arbitrary temperatures
A temperature-sensitive thermal cutoff fuse RFID tag is provided with a bimorph element and thin conductive bridges positioned on an RFID tag substrate that can react to all changes in storage temperature conditions. The bimorph element is configured and positioned so that when it bends in response to one or more predetermined temperatures, the bimorph element will break one of the conductive bridges and cause an open circuit that can be detected when the RFID tag is interrogated by a sensor. The temperature-sensitive thermal cutoff fuse RFID tag can provide high and low temperature information about numerous stored objects such as food, medicine, chemicals, batteries, explosives and munitions. Multiple temperature conductive bridge cutoff fuse RFID tag arrangements and methods for notifying the user when a required storage temperature has been reached with a passive temperature-sensitive thermal cutoff fuse RFID tag. |
| US08199019B2 |
Field retrofittable refrigerator lock with temperature monitoring, temperature based access control and alarming
Disclosed are apparatus and methodology subject matters for temperature monitoring and controlled access to refrigerated medications. An electronically controlled lock is installed on a refrigerator used for storage of temperature sensitive medications. Lock access is given to individuals having differing levels of access authorization so that user level authorization holders may have access to stored medications. Supervisor level authorization holders may have access to stored medications and may also effect changes in lock settings including setting alarm levels. Alarm levels may be adjusted to monitor temperatures within the refrigerated storage area so that in the case that temperature fall outside preset limits, access to the stored medicines may be had only by those individuals having supervisory access authorization. |
| US08199015B2 |
Thermally controlled duty cycle regulation in an RFID module
A system and methods for measuring the temperature of an RFID reader module and inserting a delay in the RFID reader's duty cycle to prevent the RFID reader from initiating a thermal shutdown. The system and methods are self-adaptable, therefore incurring the benefit regardless of the design of the RFID reader host and its associated heat sink. The system and methods also provide for archiving the collected data and analyzing the data providing the ability to improve the design of the RFID reader host. |
| US08199010B2 |
Method and apparatus for configuring a wireless sensor
A wireless sensor for a load control system is adapted to be releasably mounted to a surface, such as a drop ceiling panel, to allow the optimum location of the sensor to be determined. A releasable mounting means of the sensor comprises two posts extending perpendicularly from a rear surface of the sensor. Each post has a small diameter and is rigid enough to pierce the panel without creating a large aesthetically-displeasing hole. The sensor may be permanently affixed to the panel by bending the posts at a rear surface of the panel without the use of a tool, such that the panel is captured between the mounting plate and the deformed posts. The sensor further comprises multiple test buttons provided on an outwardly-facing surface of the sensor for separately testing the communications of the load control system and the operation of the sensor. Alternatively, the releasable mounting means may comprise one or more magnets for magnetically coupling the sensor to a grid structure of the ceiling. |
| US08199008B2 |
Personal alarm system
A personal alarm system can help a user to wake up in a preset time. A sensor can sense operations of the personal alarm system and output sense signals. A control unit can calculate a sum of the sense signals to obtain a number of operations of the personal alarm system, and stop an alarm from sounding in response to the sum of the sense signals meeting the condition to stop the alarm from sounding. |
| US08199005B2 |
System and methods for using a wireless sensor in conjunction with a host controller
Systems and methods for using a wireless sensor in conjunction with a host controller are described. An illustrative system can include a host controller, a wireless sensor device, and a decoder in communication with the wireless sensor device and the host controller. The host controller may include a remote sensor input that normally would be connected to a wired remote sensor having an expected sensor characteristic. The decoder may receive a wireless signal from the wireless sensor device, and may provide an output signal to the remote sensor input of the host controller that replicate or mimic signals that would be provided by a wired remote sensor having the expected sensor characteristic. |
| US08199001B2 |
Dynamic reporting scheme for location based services
A dynamic position reporting and/or logging scheme is described herein. Position reporting and/or logging for a mobile device may be dynamically determined based on one or more reporting and/or logging constraints. The constraints may be based on time, distance, events, operating parameters, operating conditions, or some combination thereof. The constraints that dynamically trigger position reporting may be the same as, overlap, or be distinct from the constraints used to trigger position logging. The reporting and logging constraints can be selected to provide a more accurate indication of a track or route traveled by the mobile device. |
| US08198999B2 |
Power line communication system and method of operating the same
A system for operating a power line communications system is provided. One embodiment is comprised of a plurality of network elements, which may take the form of repeaters, bypass devices, backhaul devices, wireless backhaul devices, enhanced bypass device, communication interface devices and others. In one embodiment, two groups of network elements in the same electrical distribution system are isolated except selected communication link. The network elements respond to requests for data and send out of limit notifications to a remote computer. |
| US08198997B2 |
Fire gas detector-coding
A detector comprises a detector base and a sensor, first and second resistors connected in series, a DC voltage source (Vref) connected to the resistors, and means for monitoring the voltage at the midpoint of a potential divider constituted by the series-connected resistors. The first and second resistors are rated so that the midpoint voltage is indicative of the date of manufacture of the sensor. |
| US08198990B2 |
Touch-sensitive front panel for a touch screen
The invention relates to a touch-sensitive front panel for a touch screen with a touch-insensitive front-panel area (107) and a touch-sensitive front-panel area (103) that can be distinguished haptically from the touch-insensitive front-panel area (107) or from an additional touch-sensitive front-panel area (105). |
| US08198989B2 |
Method and apparatus for informing a user of the position of an information source relative to the user position
In a process for informing a user regarding the position of an information source relative to the user's position, the position of an information source is first determined relative to the user. Thereafter, a tactile or electrical stimulus is generated, for directly affecting the user in a location that corresponds to the determined position of the information source. In one embodiment of the invention, tactile or electrical actuators are disposed at locations within a garment, such as a pilot's uniform at locations which correspond to possible locations of the information source. |
| US08198987B2 |
Radio tag reading device and radio tag recognition method using the device
A radio tag reading device has a target tag storage unit, a non-target storage unit, and an antenna. The target tag storage unit stores the tag data of any radio tag held in a section from which to read data. The non-target storage unit stores at least the identification data of any radio tag existing outside sections and sections that surround the section. The target tag storage unit stores all tag data read from radio tags via the antenna, except the tag data containing the identification data stored in the non-target tag storage unit. |
| US08198984B2 |
Method, RFID reader, RFID tag and RFID system for secure communication
In an RFID system a method for communication between a reader (1) and a tag (2) comprises: at the reader (1), switching on an electromagnetic signal (SS) for energizing the RFID tag (2) and/or transmitting an instruction (INST, RNREQ) or first data (D1) to the tag (2); at the tag (2), generating a random number (RN), converting said random number (RN) into a random time period (tx) and transmitting a response to the reader (1) after a delay time that corresponds to the random time period (tx); at the reader (1), measuring the random time period between transmitting the instruction (INST, RNREQ) or first data (D1) to the tag (2), receiving the response (RESP) from the tag (2), reconverting the measured random time period (tx) into the random number (RN), encrypting second data (D2) with the random number (RN) and transmitting said encrypted data (ED) to the tag (2); at the tag (2), decrypting the encrypted data (ED) by the use of the random number (RN). |
| US08198983B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit and non-contact electronic device using the same
Depending on the power supplied to the non-contact electronic device, the voltage suppression characteristic of the regulator function mounted in a power supply circuit is changed. When the power supplied to the non-contact electronic device is small, the voltage change amount of the voltage between antenna terminals for the current flowing in the antenna is increased, and when the power supplied to the non-contact electronic device is large, the voltage change amount of the voltage between the antenna terminals for the current flowing in the antenna is decreased. By this means, the current change of the entire consumption current for the current change of the load modulator (transmitting circuit) at the time of the long distance communication is increased. |
| US08198977B2 |
Resistor with temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) compensation
A current sense resistor and a method of manufacturing a current sensing resistor with temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) compensation is disclosed. The resistor has a resistive strip disposed between two conductive strips. A pair of main terminals and a pair of voltage sense terminals are formed in the conductive strips. A pair of rough TCR calibration slots are located between the main terminals and the voltage sense terminals, each of the rough TCR calibration slots have a depth selected to obtain a negative starting TCR value observed at the voltage sense terminals. A fine TCR calibration slot is formed between the pair of voltage sense terminals. The fine TCR calibration slot has a depth selected to obtain a TCR value observed at the voltage sense terminals that approaches zero. The resistor can also have a resistance calibration slot located between the pair of main terminals. The resistance calibration slot has a depth selected to calibrate a resistance value of the resistor. |
| US08198974B2 |
Flexible electrostatic actuator
An electrostatic actuator having a base including a first electrode and a flexible membrane including at least two material layers of different materials in contact with each other. At least one of the material layers includes a second electrode electrically isolated from the first electrode. The flexible membrane includes a fixed end connected to the base and a free end opposite the fixed end and spaced apart from the base. The second electrode has at least first and second portions separated by a third portion and in combination defining a first and second step provided in a vicinity of the fixed end. |
| US08198972B2 |
Electronic component
An electronic component includes a coil whose inductance changes in accordance with the magnitude of a current and in which abrupt reduction in the inductance due to magnetic saturation is suppressed. A stack formed by a plurality of stacked first magnetic layers includes a coil formed by coil electrodes connected to one another in the stack. A first nonmagnetic layer is arranged in such a manner as to cut across the coil. When viewed in a stacking direction, a second nonmagnetic layer is formed in a region outside of a region in which the coil is formed. The structure of the second nonmagnetic layer on the upper side of the first nonmagnetic layer in the stacking direction is different from a structure of the second magnetic layer on the lower side of the first nonmagnetic layer in the stacking direction. |
| US08198970B2 |
Transformers, balanced-unbalanced transformers (baluns) and integrated circuits including the same
A transformer of fully symmetric structure includes a primary coil assembly and a secondary coil assembly. The primary coil assembly includes a plurality of primary coils formed in a plurality of metal layers, and a first interlayer connection unit for connecting the primary coils. The secondary coil assembly includes a plurality of secondary coils formed in the plurality of metal layers, and a second interlayer connection unit for connecting the secondary coils. The primary and secondary coils formed in the same metal layer are concentric and axisymmetric with respect to a diameter line passing through a planar center point. A balanced-unbalanced transformer (balun) is a type of transformer that may be used to convert an unbalanced signal to a balanced one or vice versa. An integrated circuit may include a semiconductor substrate and a transformer. Electrical elements such as transistors may be formed on the semiconductor substrate. |
| US08198964B2 |
Sealed contact device
A sealed contact device has a plate-like yoke having a center hole therein, a closed-ended cylinder having an opening edge portion that is integrated with a lower-surface edge portion of the center hole of the plate-like yoke to form a sealed space, an annular flange having an outer peripheral edge portion that is integrally welded to an upper surface of the plate-like yoke, a ceramic case having a lower end surface that is brazed to an upper surface of the annular flange, an electromagnetic unit disposed in an outer periphery of the closed-ended cylinder, a movable iron core that reciprocates in the closed-ended cylinder based on excitation and demagnetization of the electromagnetic unit, a movable shaft having a first end fixed to the movable iron core, a movable contact of a movable touch piece fixed to a second end of the movable shaft, a fixed contact disposed in the ceramic case, and an annular rib projected in the upper surface of the annular flange such that the brazed portion provided in the lower end surface of the ceramic case is covered from an inside with the annular rib. The movable contact is brought into contact with and separated from the fixed contact by reciprocating the movable shaft. |
| US08198956B2 |
Compact planar microwave blocking filters
A compact planar microwave blocking filter includes a dielectric substrate and a plurality of filter unit elements disposed on the substrate. The filter unit elements are interconnected in a symmetrical series cascade with filter unit elements being organized in the series based on physical size. In the filter, a first filter unit element of the plurality of filter unit elements includes a low impedance open-ended line configured to reduce the shunt capacitance of the filter. |
| US08198954B2 |
Impedance matched circuit board
An impedance matched circuit board utilizes a series of vias, one signal via that is surrounded by four ground vias in order to effect impedance matching with a coaxial signal transmission line. The vias are plated and extend through the thickness of the circuit board. Both opposing surfaces of the circuit board are provided with a conductive ground layer and each such ground layer has an opening formed there that encompasses one or more of the vias. On the top surface the opening surrounds the signal and ground via and on the bottom surface the opening only partially surrounds the signal via and the opening includes a convex portion formed therein. |
| US08198952B2 |
High frequency limiter
In order to provide a high-frequency limiter capable of absorbing variation in characteristic parameters of a PIN diode to acquire a desired limiting characteristic, an external re-entrant coaxial cavity is constituted by an external pedestal 15 and a cavity 34 inside a lower conductor part 13 and an upper conductor part 14, and an internal re-entrant coaxial cavity is constituted by an inner wall of the external pedestal 15 and by an internal pedestal 16 and a post 17. A PIN diode 18 is joined between the post 17 and the internal pedestal 16. Resonance windows 11 and 12 are provided between the resonator part and a waveguide connected thereto. A projected amount x of the external pedestal 15 with respect to the cavity 34 and an insertion amount y of the post 17 into the external pedestal 15 are adjustable independently. Further, a partition 30 is provided between each of the resonance parts 10 and 20 to form a coupling hole 60, and electromagnetic fields of the adjacent resonance parts 10 and 20 are made to be an even mode coupling, and thereby, the coupling hole 60 has a low-pass characteristic. Thus, generation of unnecessary resonance mode can be suppressed and a band expansion of a cutoff characteristic can be realized. |
| US08198950B2 |
Power amplifier
A power amplifier that amplifies an RF modulation signal containing an amplitude modulation component and a phase modulation component, including a polar modulator that outputs an amplitude component signal that is the amplitude modulation component of the RF modulation signal, a direct current power supply that outputs a direct current voltage, a pulse modulator that pulse-modulates the amplitude component signal, a pulse amplification circuit that amplifies a pulse modulation signal, a combining circuit that adds a direct current voltage that is outputted from the direct current power supply to an output signal of the pulse amplification circuit, a low pass filter that smoothens an output signal of the combining circuit, and an RF amplifier that not only amplifies the RF modulation signal, but also amplitude-modulates the amplified signal with an output signal of the low pass filter and outputs the resultant signal. |
| US08198949B2 |
Digital modulator
The present application relates to a digital modulator comprising an output stage comprising a number of unit cell arrays, and a sampling stage. The present application relates also to a communication device comprising said digital modulator, a method for digitally modulating and a computer program product. More particularly, the digital modulator comprises an output stage comprising a number of unit cell arrays, wherein the output stage comprises at least one carrier frequency signal input terminal configured to receive a carrier frequency signal. The digital modulator comprises a sampling stage connectable to the output stage, wherein the sampling stage is configured to oversample at least one data input signal. The digital modulator comprises at least one sampling clock generating device configured to generate at least one sampling clock signal depending on the number of arranged unit cell arrays and the carrier frequency signal. |
| US08198946B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit and radio communication apparatus
A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a ring oscillator and a noise canceller. The ring oscillator includes first and second signal generators. The first signal generator is configured to generate a first output signal having a first phase based on an input signal. The second signal generator is configured to generate a second output signal having a second phase different from the first phase based on the input signal. The noise canceller includes first and second amplifiers and an arithmetic module. The first amplifier is configured to amplify the first output signal generated by the first signal generator using a first amplification factor. The second amplifier is configured to amplify the second output signal generated by the second signal generator using a second amplification factor. The arithmetic module is configured to combine the first output signal amplified by the first amplifier with the second output signal amplified by the second amplifier. |
| US08198942B1 |
Integrated thermoelectric protection circuit for depletion mode power amplifiers
An amplifier having a depletion mode output transistor and a bias circuit coupled to a negative voltage supply. A thermopile is provided to bias the output transistor to an “off” condition in the event of failure of the negative supply voltage. |
| US08198933B2 |
Mixer circuit
A double balanced mixer circuit comprising a differential pair of first amplifier elements responsive to an RF differential input signal, double differential pairs of second amplifier elements responsive to an LO differential input signal, and differential output terminals connected with the second amplifier paths. Coupling elements provide first and second parallel DC connections between DC voltage supply rails for the first and the double second amplifier paths respectively and a series RF connection of the first and second amplifier paths between the supply rails so as to produce a mixed differential amplified signal at the differential output terminals. The coupling elements include respective transmission lines in the first amplifier paths connected between one of the DC voltage supply rails and respective ones of the first amplifier elements and a common transmission line connected between the other of the DC voltage supply rails and both the first amplifier elements. |
| US08198932B2 |
Voltage generating circuit for an attenuator
A circuit includes a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), coupled to a power supply, that provides a first current at a first output terminal of the DAC and a second current at a second output terminal of the DAC, the first current being differential to the second current; a first circuit, coupled to the first output terminal of the DAC and to the second output terminal of the DAC, that generates a first voltage and a second voltage, the first voltage being non-linear with respect to the first current and the second voltage being non-linear with respect to the second current; and an attenuator coupled to the first circuit, and responsive to the first voltage and the second voltage to attenuate an input signal of the attenuator and to generate linear attenuation characteristics in decibels with respect to the first current and the second current. |
| US08198931B2 |
Fine grain timing
A dual rail delay chain having cross-coupled inverters that interconnect the two rails. Delay chain embodiments include cross-coupled inverters that are part of a feed forward signal path between the two rails and are of a larger size than inverters associated with the two rails. The large size feed forward cross-coupled inverters contribute to an enhanced resolution of the delay chain. |
| US08198930B2 |
Reducing power-supply-induced jitter in a clock-distribution circuit
A system for compensating for power-supply-induced jitter (PSIJ) in a chain of clock buffers within an integrated circuit is described. During operation, the system couples a first supply voltage from a first voltage source to a supply node of each clock buffer in a first chain of clock buffers. Note that a change in the first supply voltage causes a change in a first propagation delay associated with the first chain of the clock buffers. The system also couples a second chain of clock buffers in series with the first chain of clock buffers. The system then couples the first voltage source to each clock buffer in the second chain of clock buffers through coupling circuitry. Next, the system adjusts the coupling circuitry so that the change in the first supply voltage from the first voltage source causes a change in a second propagation delay associated with the second chain of the clock buffers, wherein the change in the first propagation delay and the change in the second propagation delay are complementary. |
| US08198927B2 |
High speed charge pump
In an embodiment, a primary charge pump and replica charge pump may be coupled to matching control mechanisms and loads. In an embodiment, the replica charge pump may produce an error current originating from charge pump timing mismatches in a steady locked loop state. The error current produced by the replica charge pump may be measured by a difference amplifier to adjust at least one current source to compensate for the error current originating from the timing mismatches. To adjust the current sources, the amplifier may cause the current source to produce an equal but opposite current to cancel the effects of the error current, resulting in a constant output voltage. |
| US08198921B2 |
Dynamic comparator with background offset calibration
A dynamic comparator with background offset calibration is provided. The dynamic comparator includes at least one input differential pair, a first back-to-back inverter, a second back-to-back inverter, and an integrator. The input differential pair includes two current branches, wherein one of the current branches has an input referred offset. The first back-to-back inverter determines which one of the two current branches has the input referred offset in response to a first clock signal and generates two control signals accordingly. The integrator generates two calibration voltages for the input differential pair in response to the two control signals, so as to calibrate the input referred offset. The second back-to-back inverter determines a difference between two input signals received by the input differential pair after the input referred offset is calibrated in response to a second clock signal and outputs two comparison signals accordingly. |
| US08198919B1 |
Spin transfer torque triad for non-volatile logic gates
A non-volatile logic gate, including a magnetic material having a shape induced magnetic anisotropy, wherein a shape of the magnetic material has a first vertex, a second vertex, and a third vertex and supports a single magnetic domain; regions of the magnetic material including a first input region adjacent the first vertex, a second input region adjacent the second vertex, and an output region adjacent a third vertex; the first input region for receiving a first logic input to the logic gate, the second input region for receiving a second logic input to the logic gate, and the output region for outputting at least one logic output of the logic gate; and the shape induced magnetic anisotropy determining at least part of a truth table for the logic gate, so that the logic gate produces the at least one logic output from the logic inputs using the shape. |
| US08198914B2 |
Apparatus and methods for adjusting performance of programmable logic devices
A programmable logic device (PLD) includes at least two regions. Each region includes electrical circuitry that has a set of transistors. Each of the two regions has a corresponding fixed transistor threshold voltage, a corresponding fixed transistor body bias, and a corresponding fixed supply voltage. |
| US08198912B1 |
Driver circuit correction arm decoupling resistance in steady state mode
A voltage-mode driver circuit supporting pre-emphasis is implemented to include a driver arm and a correction arm. The driver arm receives an input signal, and is operable, in pre-emphasis intervals as well as steady-state intervals, to connect a first impedance between an output terminal of the driver circuit and a constant reference potential. The correction arm is operable to connect a correction impedance in parallel with the first impedance in pre-emphasis intervals, and to decouple the correction impedance from the first impedance in steady-state intervals. The parallel connection of the first impedance and the correction impedance in pre-emphasis intervals increases the voltage level of the output signal of the driver circuit in pre-emphasis intervals. The use of the correction arm compensates for the effect of parasitic capacitance at one or more nodes of the driver circuit, thereby reducing the settling time of the output signal and enabling high-speed operation. |
| US08198910B2 |
Transmitter apparatus, systems, and methods
Apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed that operate to drive an output with a data signal and to boost a potential of the output in response to a boost signal. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed. |
| US08198907B2 |
Pin connector and chip test fixture having the same
A chip test fixture for assisting in examining a test chip on a printed circuit board includes a switching module, a pin cord and a magnetic unit. The switching module includes a standard chip and a switch element configured to turn on either the standard chip or the test chip. The pin cord is connected with the switch module at one end and is formed with a contacting head at the other end. The contacting head has a set of contact pins corresponding to that of the test chip. The magnetic unit is configured to draw the contacting head of the pin cord and the test chip together in such a way that the contact pins of the contacting head are in contact with that of the test chip once the contacting head approaches the test chip. |
| US08198905B2 |
Envelope moistening detector
A mailing system includes a mailing machine having an envelope feed path, a sealing system configured to apply a liquid to an envelope in the envelope feed path, a capacitive sensor located in the envelope feed path downstream from the sealing system, and a controller connected to the capacitive sensor. The sealing system may include a liquid reservoir and a liquid applicator. The capacitive sensor is configured to measure a quantity of liquid on a portion of the envelope applied by the sealing system and to generate a signal based on the measured quantity. The controller is configured to perform an operation based on the measured quantity signal from the capacitive sensor. |
| US08198904B2 |
Synchrophasor measuring device and inter-bus-line phase angle difference measurement unit using the same
Voltage instantaneous value time-series estimation data and a present-time voltage estimation value are calculated by using an actually-measured frequency and voltage instantaneous value time-series data according to a least square method. A present-time voltage effective value is determined by using the calculated voltage instantaneous value time-series estimation data, and a present-time synchrophasor, a voltage distortion degree and an inter-bus-line synchrophasor phase angle difference are determined by using the present-time voltage effective value and the present-time voltage estimation value. |
| US08198899B2 |
Method and system for calibrating streamer electrodes in a marine electromagnetic survey system
A marine electromagnetic sensor system includes a sensor cable having at least one electromagnetic sensor thereon. A first calibration electrode is disposed on the cable on one side of the sensor. A second calibration electrode is disposed on the cable on an opposite side of the sensor. A calibration power supply is coupled to the first and second calibration electrodes. A measuring circuit is coupled to the sensor. A method for calibrating marine electromagnetic survey electrodes includes imparting electric current between calibration electrodes disposed at spaced apart locations on a cable deployed in the water. Voltages impressed across a pair of electrodes disposed on the cable between the calibration electrodes are detected in response to the current. A change in sensitivity of the at least one pair of electrodes is determined using the detected voltages. |
| US08198893B2 |
Method to design a gradient coil, method to manufacture a gradient coil, gradient coil, magnetic resonance apparatus and combined PET-MR system
In a method for designing a gradient coil composed of multiple sub-coils, parameters representing the structure of the gradient coil are varied, and the variation that produces an optimized electrical field generated by the gradient coil is determined. The final design of the gradient coil embodies those parameters that produced the optimal electrical field. In a method for manufacturing a gradient coil, the gradient coil is manufactured according to the final design. A gradient coil manufactured according to the invention has a gradient conductor configuration that optimizes the electrical field generated by the gradient coil. A magnetic resonance apparatus, and a combined positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance apparatus, embodies such a gradient coil. |
| US08198892B2 |
Steady-state-free-precession (SSFP) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and method
An MRI includes imaging coils. The MRI includes receiving coils. The MRI includes a controller causing the imaging coils to produce RF pulses at every repetition time so different parts of a patient are receiving excitation by RF pulses at different rates and k space data are acquired at each repetition time by the receiving coils to form images of the patient with the k space data. A method for an MRI includes the steps of causing with a controller imaging coils to produce RF pulses at every repetition time so different parts of a patient are receiving excitation by RF pulses at different rates. There is the step of acquiring k space data at each repetition time by receiving coils. There is the step of forming images of the patient with the k space data using approaches such as Fourier transformation or filtered back projection. |
| US08198890B2 |
Method for determination of a parameter set which describes electrical parameters of a track section of a magnetic levitation railroad
In a method for determining a parameter set describing electric parameters of a route section of a magnetic suspension railway, the route section contains a stator section forming a drive section of the magnetic suspension railway and a route cable connecting the stator section to an associated converter device. In the method, the current and voltage values are measured at the electric connecting point between the route cable and the converter device. The parameters of the parameter set are determined using the measurement values, thus forming the parameter set. Accordingly, the current and voltage values are additionally measured at the electrical connecting point between the route cable and the stator section and the current values at the neutral point side of the stator section, if the stator section is electrically connected to the route cable. The additional measurement values are also considered when determining the parameters. |
| US08198887B2 |
Inspection of installed/manufactured material
An apparatus and a method for inspecting use a sensor for detecting taggant particles in a material after installation. The sensor is positioned adjacent a finished surface of the installed material and is connected to a control device for displaying an indication of a distribution of the taggant particles below the surface. The control device also generates a profile of the taggant particles versus a distance from the surface. |
| US08198886B2 |
Magnetic detecting device and method for manufacturing the same
A magnetic detecting device includes a first and a second magnetoresistive element, and a first and a second fixed resistor connected in series to the first and the second magnetoresistive element, respectively. The first and the second magnetoresistive element each include a pinned magnetic layer and a free magnetic layer with a nonmagnetic conductive layer in between. The first and the second magnetoresistive element have the same layer structure except that the nonmagnetic conductive layers have different thicknesses. The thicknesses of the nonmagnetic conductive layers are set so that a positive interlayer coupling magnetic field acts between the free magnetic layer and the pinned magnetic layer of the first magnetoresistive element and a negative interlayer coupling magnetic field acts between the free magnetic layer and the pinned magnetic layer of the second magnetoresistive element. The first and the second fixed resistor have the same layer structure. |
| US08198884B2 |
Mini-measurement display for digital multimeter
A digital multimeter displays a miniature version of a live actual reading of the multimeter. The miniature version typically appears after a larger version of the live actual reading is displaced by other display elements. The miniature version of the live actual reading may be accompanied by a warning icon or other graphical symbol to alert a user of a potentially hazardous electrical condition. |
| US08198883B2 |
Semiconductor device, internal circuit control signal measurement circuit, and delay time measurement method
In a semiconductor device manufactured in a semiconductor chip, an internal circuit generates first and second internal circuit control signals which are produced as a delay time measurement start signal and a delay time measurement stop signal, respectively, which are sent to a delay time measurement circuit. The delay time measurement circuit measures a delay time between the start and the stop signals and outputs the delay time. |
| US08198880B2 |
Constant on-time converter and the method of operation
The present invention discloses a control circuit for constant on-time converter and a control method thereof. The proposed constant on-time DC/DC converter stabilizes the system and improves the performance of the load transient response without large equivalent series resistance of the output capacitor. |
| US08198879B2 |
Booster circuit and PWM signal generator
A PWM signal generator used for a booster circuit including a voltage-boosting coil that is connected to a main power supply, and a driving transistor that drives the voltage-boosting coil to generate boosted voltage, the PWM signal generator including a first amplifier that generates intermediate voltage based on a voltage value of the boosted voltage, a triangular wave generator that generates a triangular wave signal, a comparator that compares a voltage level of the intermediate voltage with a voltage level of the triangle wave signal to generate an intermediate PWM signal, a driver that generates a PWM signal supplied to the driving transistor based on the intermediate PWM signal, and a second amplifier that generates a driver power supply supplied to the driver based on magnitude of a voltage value of the intermediate voltage. |
| US08198878B2 |
Workload balancing among power switching components in a multiphase switching power supply
Methods and apparatus for workload balancing among power switching components in a multiphase switching power supply, the power supply including one set of power switching components for each switching phase, where workload balancing includes: dropping one or more switching phases when output current demand on the power supply drops below a predetermined threshold, leaving at least one active switching phase; and rotating the at least one active switching phase among all sets of power switching components. |
| US08198876B2 |
Power factor compensating method compensating power factors of electronic devices connected to a common power source
An approach is provided for a power factor compensating method to compensate other electronic devices that use a common power source in order to improve power factor from the perspective of a power company. The other electronic device is a type of a non-linear load, and the method enables a compensator to receive a supply voltage from the power source commonly connected to the traditional electronic devices and disables a load of the compensator for a period. The period corresponds to a range that makes an overall supply current more proportional to the supply voltage. |
| US08198872B2 |
Starter-generator with improved excitation
An electrical power system may comprise a main generator with a rotor having field windings and at least one embedded permanent magnet. A generator control unit (GCU) may be connected to receive excitation current produced by the main generator with flux from the at least one permanent magnet. An exciter generator may be connected to be provided with excitation from the GCU. The exciter generator may provide excitation current to the field windings of the main generator. The main generator may produce output current from flux from the field windings and the at least one permanent magnet. |
| US08198871B2 |
Time lag reduction circuit for alternating current generator and electric drive machine using same
A field current control circuit for an alternating current generator includes a first voltage source and a time lag reduction circuit, which further includes a generator field that is in selective electrical communication with an energy storage component that is in electrical communication with a time lag reduction voltage source. The time lag reduction circuit may include an electronic controller and be a part of an electric drive machine that receives an operator acceleration command and thereby controls the electrical communication between the energy storage component and the generator field of the time lag reduction circuit. When the energy storage component and generator field are in electrical communication, the current passing through the generator field increases from a starting current to a target current with a reduced time lag compared to predecessor generators. |
| US08198868B2 |
Power management unit for a wireless device
A method and apparatus is disclosed to restore or recharge one or more cells of a battery. A switching module sources an element charging current from a first input voltage to the battery when a charging control signal is at a first logical level or sinks an element discharging current from the battery to a second input voltage when the charging control signal is at a second logical level. A controller module provides the charging control signal based upon a comparison of a reference voltage and a control voltage pulse, the control voltage pulse being generated by the controller module in response to a replica current, the replica current being proportional to the element charging current. A feedback module compares a voltage of the battery to a reference voltage to provide a charging error signal. A reference voltage generator module provides the reference voltage in response to the charging error signal, the reference voltage being proportional to a constant current and a duty-cycle of the switching charger when the charging error signal indicates a first mode of operation or a scaled representation of the constant current when the charging error signal indicates a second mode of operation. |
| US08198863B1 |
Model-based battery fuel gauges and methods
Model-based battery fuel gauges that connect across a rechargeable battery and track the per-cent state of charge of the battery. The model based fuel gauges provide a measure of the open terminal voltage of a battery, even when the battery is powering a load, to provide the state of charge information. Analog and digital implementations of the battery model fuel gauges may be used, and incorporated into a battery powered device in various ways, including constantly powered implementations and implementations that are turned on and off with the battery powered device. Various exemplary embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08198861B2 |
Electronic device and connector fitting method
An electronic device (30) of the this invention includes an external device connecting connector (33) to be connected to a power supplying connector (40) of an external device (41) having a power supplying function, an electronic circuit (31) which performs predetermined operation upon reception of power supplied from the external device through the external device connecting connector, and an electromagnet (32) which is provided to the external device connecting connector and electrically connected between the external device connecting connector and the electronic circuit. The electromagnet generates a magnetic force when a power supply current supplied from the external device flows through it, and attracts a predetermined portion formed of a magnetic body of the power supplying connector, to maintain a fitting state between the external device connecting connector and the power supplying connector. Thus, the fitting state becomes reliable. When supply of the power supply current from the external device is stopped, the fitting state is canceled. Thus, the power supplying connector can be pulled out from the external device connecting connector readily, so that any damages can be prevented. |
| US08198856B2 |
Electronic apparatus, charging method therefor, and battery
An electronic apparatus is disclosed. The electronic apparatus includes a battery, a main body, a charging section, an obtaining section, and a controlling section. The battery has first information with which charging of the battery is controlled. The main body operates with the battery as a power supply. The charging section charges the battery. The obtaining section obtains the first information from the battery. The controlling section controls the charging section based on the obtained first information and causes the charging section to perform a charging according to another battery. |
| US08198849B2 |
Method and device for protection against jamming in a motor-driven locking system
The present invention relates to a method for protection against jamming in a motor-driven locking system and a device for the execution of the method. |
| US08198847B2 |
Brushless motor system
A brushless motor system which can suppress adverse influences of electromagnetic noise without increasing the size and enhancing the performance of a filter circuit. In a brushless motor system comprising a brushless motor, an inverter, and a direct current power source, a noise return line for returning a noise current is connected between the brushless motor and the inverter. The noise current is generated in the inverter and reaches the brushless motor. With the provision of the noise return line, a common mode current leaking from the brushless motor to a ground can be reduced. |
| US08198846B2 |
Motor control device
A motor control device that controls the driving of a motor having a permanent magnet provided at a rotor has: an angle detector that detects the angle of the rotor by use of an angle sensor; a current detector that detects, as a detected current, the outflow current from or inflow current to a direct-current power source serving as the source for driving the motor; and an angle corrector that corrects the detected angle based on the detected current. The driving of the motor is controlled by use of a corrected angle obtained through the correction by the angle corrector. |
| US08198843B2 |
Motor control apparatus and motor control method
A first duty ratio of a drive command signal is computed by comparing a level of the drive command signal with a first threshold value at a motor controller of a blower motor apparatus. A second duty ratio of the drive command signal is computed by comparing the level of the drive command signal with a second threshold value at the motor controller. A control signal is generated based on the first duty ratio and the second duty ratio in the motor controller and is used to drive a blower motor of the blower motor apparatus. |
| US08198842B2 |
Actuating drive and method for operating an actuating drive
The invention relates to a method for operating an actuating drive having an electrically commutated motor 1 for adjusting an actuating member, having a position sensor 6 for detecting the rotary angle position of the rotor of the motor or of an element which can be driven in a rotatable manner by said motor. A motor control unit 9 serves to commutate the motor 1 and to regulate the position of the actuating member, it being possible to supply position signals, which correspond to the position values detected by the position sensor 6, to the motor control unit 9. After the actuating drive is started, uncompensated measured values are detected by the position sensor 6 over at least one full revolution of the rotor or of the element which can be driven in a rotatable manner; corresponding correction values for compensating angle errors are formed in a compensation unit 11. The correction values are fed to a memory unit 14 for storage purposes, and the errors in the position values, which are detected during further operation, are compensated with the correction values and are fed to a commutation unit 12 and to a position regulation unit 13 of the motor control unit 9. |
| US08198839B2 |
Electric power tool
An electric power tool “A” operates a working part 5 by repeating rotation of a motor 4 in a normal direction and in a reverse direction one or more times. The motor 4 includes a brushless motor. Sensors H for detecting a position of a rotor 15 are provided on the motor 4 so as to be advanced by an electrical angle of 30°±θ° from an intermediate position between respective stator teeth 16 in a direction of the normal rotation of the rotor 15. A control part 20 for controlling the rotation of the motor 4 controls a driving signal of the motor 4 based on the results of detection by the sensors H. Moreover, the control part 20 selects a detection signal of the sensors H so that relation between the rotor 15 and the detection signal of the sensors H is equivalent in either of the normal rotation and the reverse rotation of the rotor 15. |
| US08198836B2 |
Hybrid vehicle and method of controlling hybrid vehicle
A hybrid vehicle includes a power generator that generates electric power using power from an internal combustion engine; a motor that outputs power for travel of the hybrid vehicle; a first inverter connected to an electric power storage device and the motor to drive the motor; a second inverter connected to the electric power storage device; and a large drive power determination portion that determines whether the hybrid vehicle is in a large-drive-power required state in which drive power equal to or larger than a predetermined value is required for the travel of the hybrid vehicle. When it is determined that the hybrid vehicle is not in the large-drive-force required state, the second inverter is connected to the power generator. When it is determined that the hybrid vehicle is in the large-drive-force required state, the second inverter is connected to the motor. |
| US08198835B2 |
Cordless power tool and battery device used for same
A power tool, having attached thereto a battery device including one or a plurality of cell assemblies, includes a motor which is supplied with a DC current from the battery device, a switching element which controls a drive and a stop of the motor, means which detects a number of cell assemblies, and control means which controls the switching element in such a way as to stop the drive of the motor when the number of cell assemblies is smaller than a prescribed value. |
| US08198834B2 |
LED drive circuit
An LED drive circuit that drives an LED is provided with: a rectifying circuit that converts an alternating voltage into a pulsating current; a constant current circuit; and an over-temperature protection portion that limits an output of the constant current circuit, wherein the LED and the constant current circuit are connected in series on an output side of the rectifying circuit. |
| US08198829B2 |
Intensity balance for multiple lamps
A compensation system includes first and second sensors to determine the intensities of first and second fluorescent lamps, a compensator to control the intensity of the first lamp, and a controller to adjust the intensity of the first lamp to about the same intensity as the second lamp. The lamps may be coupled in series, and the compensator may be arranged to divert current around or away from one of the lamps. |
| US08198827B2 |
Dimmer switch with adjustable high-end trim
A dimmer switch has a user adjustable high-end trim. The dimmer switch includes a bidirectional semiconductor switch, such as a triac, for controlling the amount of power delivered from a source of alternating current power to a lighting load, such as an electric lamp. A user-adjustable timing circuit controls the conduction time of the triac from a minimum time to a maximum time. The maximum possible conduction time of the triac is the high-end trim. The minimum possible conduction time of the triac is the low-end trim. The timing circuit includes a user-accessible switch that allows a user to reduce the high-end trim from a first nominal level to a second reduced level, lower than the first level, without substantially affecting the low-end trim. The switch allows a user to switch a transient voltage suppressor into and out of parallel connection with a resistor that is part of an RC timing circuit for the triac. The dimmer switch advantageously uses less energy and the lifetime of the lamp is extended when the second reduced level of the high-end trim is selected. |
| US08198822B2 |
Light source driving apparatus and light source apparatus having the same
A light source driving apparatus includes; a boosting part which boosts an input voltage received from an input part and generates a driving voltage, a boosting transistor which controls an operation of the boosting part, a rectification part connected between the boosting part and an output part and which transmits the driving voltage to the output part, an integrated circuit which generates a gate signal which controls the boosting transistor, and a protection circuit which generates a protection signal which controls a voltage level of the gate signal according to an output current of the boosting transistor. |
| US08198821B2 |
Solar simulator
To provide the solar simulator that facilitates making the flash light emitted from the lamp into the desirable irradiance waveform. In the solar simulator 1, the controller 12, according to the control pattern preset to maintain the flash light F emitted from the xenon lamp 14 at the target irradiance for a certain period of time, controls the electric current, which is discharged from the condenser assembly 26 and flowing through the xenon lamp 14, by performing the switching drive on the power switching element 20. |
| US08198814B2 |
High pressure sodium lamp with a shielding member between two arc tubes
The present invention relates to a high pressure sodium lamp comprising an evacuated cover including a base part, an arc tube comprising a first and a second electrode each being connected to the base part via conductor members. At least one conductor member is arranged isolated by a shielding member for preventing, during operation of the high pressure sodium lamp, the photo electronic stream from the at least one conductor member to the arc tube. The lamp comprises a second arc tube. |
| US08198813B2 |
Plasma display panel
A plasma display panel including a front panel including a front glass substrate, a display electrode formed on the substrate, a dielectric layer formed to cover the display electrode, and a protective layer formed on the dielectric layer; and a rear panel facing the front panel so that discharge space is formed and including an address electrode formed in a direction intersecting the display electrode, and a barrier rib for partitioning the discharge space. The protective layer includes a base film on the dielectric layer and aggregated particles of a plurality of aggregated metal-oxide crystal particles attached to the base film so that they are distributed over an entire surface. The aggregated particles are attached so that the number of aggregated particles per 10000 μm2 is not less than 45 and not more than 350. |
| US08198809B2 |
Organic electroluminescence device and electronic device having the same
An organic electroluminescence device including a substrate, an organic emitting device layer, a circuit board, a sealant and an electrical bonding layer is provided. The organic emitting device layer is on the substrate and has a first electrode layer, an emitting layer and a second electrode layer. The first electrode layer is disposed on the substrate, the emitting layer is disposed on the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer is disposed on the emitting layer. The circuit board is disposed over the substrate and covers the organic emitting device layer. The sealant is disposed between the substrate and the circuit board to seal the circuit board on the substrate. The electrical bonding layer is disposed between the substrate and the circuit board to electrically connect the circuit board and the first electrode layer of the organic emitting device layer. |
| US08198807B2 |
Hermetically-sealed packages for electronic components having reduced unused areas
Hermetically-sealed packages for electronic components, e.g., OLEDs, are provided. The packages have a first glass substrate (12), a second glass substrate (16), and a wall (14) that separates the first and second substrates (12,16) and hermetically seals the electronic component (18) between the substrates (12,16). The package has a reduced outer unused area characterized by distances Dfirst (32a) and Dsecond (32b) at least one of which, and, in certain embodiments, both of which are less than 200 microns, e.g., one or both of Dfirst (32a) and Dsecond (32b) is approximately 100 microns. The reduction in unused area can be used to increase viewing area, improve electrical lead design, and/or increase package strength through the use of a wider sintered frit wall (14). |
| US08198806B2 |
EL display device and manufacturing method thereof
Reducing the manufacturing cost of an EL display device and an electronic device furnished with the EL display device is taken as an objective. A textured structure in which projecting portions are formed on the surface of a cathode is used. External stray light is diffusely (irregularly) reflected by the action of the projecting portions when reflected by the surface of the cathode, and therefore a defect in which the face of an observer or the surrounding scenery is reflected in the surface of the cathode can be prevented. This can be completed without using a conventionally necessary high price circular polarizing film, and therefore it is possible to reduce the cost of manufacturing the EL display device. |
| US08198804B2 |
Display device
A display device includes a plurality of pixels placed in a matrix form in which each pixel has a light emitting device. The light emitting device includes a light emissive layer; a reflective electrode disposed on a rear surface side of the light emissive layer; a transparent electrode disposed on a front surface side of the light emissive layer; a dividing wall, disposed between the reflective electrode and the light emissive layer at a periphery part of a region where the reflective electrode is formed; a protective layer on a front surface side of the transparent electrode; and a transparent substrate disposed above the protective layer. The protective layer and the transparent substrate are spaced from one another so as to delimit a space where a gas is sealed. |
| US08198803B2 |
Color-temperature-tunable device
A color-temperature-tunable device comprises a first light emitting diode (LED) chip group comprising at least one first blue LED chip that emits a first light having a first peak wavelength, a second LED chip group comprising at least one second blue LED chip that emits a second light having a second peak wavelength different from the first peak wavelength, and a wavelength converting layer above at least a portion of the first LED chip group and a portion of the second LED chip group. The first LED chip group and the second LED chip group are driven by a first driving current and a second driving current, respectively. |
| US08198802B2 |
Organic light emitting diode display for suppressing reflection of external light
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display is disclosed. In one embodiment, the OLED display includes i) an OLED comprising i) a first electrode, ii) an organic emission layer formed on the first electrode, and iii) a second electrode formed on the organic emission layer, ii) a dual brightness enhancement film (DBEF) formed over the second electrode of the OLED, iii) a first polarizing plate formed on the DBEF, iv) a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer formed on the first polarizing plate, v) a phase delay plate that is a ¼ wavelength plate formed on the CLC layer and vi) a second polarizing plate formed on the phase delay plate. |
| US08198801B2 |
Materials for injecting or transporting holes and organic electroluminescence devices using the same
The present invention relates to a novel compound that can significantly improve the lifespan, efficiency and thermal stability of an organic light emitting device, and to an organic electroluminescence device or light emitting device comprising the compound in an organic compound layer is also disclosed. |
| US08198797B2 |
Method of controlling electron beam focusing of pierce-type electron gun and control apparatus therefor
[Object] In the control of electron beam focusing of a pierce-type electron gun, any influences from the space charge effect and space charge neutralizing action within the electron gun are eliminated to attain complete control of an electron beam.[Solving Means] Feedback control of the pressure within the electron gun is performed by directly measuring temperature at an internal of the pierce-type electron gun. It is desirable that locations where the direct measurement of the temperature at the internal of the electron gun is performed are an anode (39) and a flow register (43). Further, the direct measurement can be performed at any one of a ring, an aperture and an exhaust pipe provided at an outlet or an inlet of any one of a cathode chamber (31), an intermediate chamber, and a scanning chamber (33). Accordingly, all of stabilization of beam producing area (optimized design of electron gun itself), stabilization of beam transporting portion and stabilization of beam using portion have become appropriate. |
| US08198795B2 |
Bulb structure of assembling-type car lamp
A bulb structure of assembling-type car lamp includes a lamp housing and a bulb unit. The bulb unit includes a mounting base, a bulb holder, and a bulb. The mounting base includes electric pins, a forward raised seat, and a rearward protruded annular ring portion. The annular ring portion is externally provided with anti-slip ribs to facilitate easy turning and assembling of the bulb unit to the lamp housing. The bulb holder includes a holding seat and an adjusting seat connected to the mounting base and the bulb, respectively; and the bulb is electrically connected to the electric pins. By adjusting the adjusting seat relative to the holding seat, the bulb can be adjusted in position and focal length. A cover plate is closed to a rear open end of the annular ring portion to isolate joints of the bulb and the electric pins from external air, dust and water. |
| US08198793B2 |
Cathode discharge apparatus
A cathode discharge device is provided. The cathode discharge apparatus includes an anode, a cathode and plural cathode chambers. The cathode is located inside the anode, where the cathode has plural flow channels and at least one flow channel hole, and the plural flow channels are connected to one another through the flow channel hole. The plural cathode chambers are located inside the cathode, wherein each of the cathode chambers has a chamber outlet and a chamber inlet connected with at least one of the flow channels. |
| US08198790B2 |
Plasma jet ignition plug
A plasma jet ignition plug having high ignition performance and high durability. The plasma jet ignition plug comprises a center electrode wherein at least a front end portion including a front end surface of the center electrode contains an oxide of at least one of the rare earth elements in a total amount of 0.5% by mass to 10% by mass inclusive and tungsten (W) in an amount of 90% by mass or greater, or contains iridium (Ir) in an amount of 0.3% by mass to 3% by mass inclusive and W in an amount of 97% by mass or greater. |
| US08198788B2 |
Self-contained U or V shaped piezoelectric device for generating voltage
A piezoelectric device for generating a voltage, comprising a vibratory blade with a first end secured to a fixed substrate and a second, free end which can be moved by applying a mechanical pulse thereon. At least one separate piezoelectric element is provided on one side of blade in such a way that it is deformed by the oscillation of the blade following the application of said mechanical pulse, and thereby generates a voltage. The device is characterized in that the blade is generally U shaped and has two substantially planar arms joined together via a curved intermediate portion. A first arm is secured to the substrate and a second arm has the free end. |
| US08198785B2 |
MEMS switch
A Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) switch includes a substrate, a fixed signal line formed on the substrate, a movable signal line spaced apart from one of an upper surface and a lower surface of the fixed signal line, and at least one piezoelectric actuator connected to a first end of the movable signal line so as to bring or separate the movable signal line in contact with or from the fixed signal line. The piezoelectric actuator includes a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer formed on the first electrode, a second electrode formed on the piezoelectric layer, and a connecting layer formed on the second electrode and connected with the movable signal line. |
| US08198779B2 |
Stator of electric rotating machine and winding method thereof
In a stator of an electric rotating machine such as a motor, there is provided with laminated 24 yoke pieces that form a yoke of circular shape when assembled and the yoke pieces are made rotatable relative to each other. Similarly laminated 24 teeth are each connected to each of the yoke pieces and a winding is wound on the teeth. In the stator, the teeth radially protrude inward in the yoke when the yoke pieces are assembled as the yoke such that some gap between adjacent teeth can be widened than others. Specifically, each of the yoke pieces has a first plate bored with a hole and a second plate formed with a projection and the plurality of the yoke pieces are rotatably connected through the holes and the projections to enable some gaps to be widened than others |
| US08198775B2 |
Permanent magnet electric rotating machine and electromotive vehicle using permanent magnet electric rotating machine
A magnetic gap is provided between a permanent magnet of a rotor and an auxiliary magnet pole portion which is arranged adjacent to the permanent magnet in a peripheral direction. A gradual change in a magnetic flux density distribution of a surface of the rotor is obtained and a cogging torque and a torque pulsation are restrained. By obtaining a reluctance torque according to the auxiliary magnetic pole, a permanent magnet electric rotating machine in which the cogging torque and the torque pulsation are restrained can be obtained and further an electromotive vehicle having the permanent magnet electric rotating machine can be provided. |
| US08198773B2 |
Increased efficiency counter-rotating electric motor for propelling a boat
An enhanced counter-rotating electric motor and an associate propulsion system for use with a water-vehicle includes a motor housing, a stator within the housing that rotates about a central axis in one direction, an armature within the stator that rotates about the central axis in an opposite direction from the stator, a first axle that is secured to the stator and extends out from the housing, a second axle that is secured to the armature and extends out from the housing, water-tight rotational seals about each of the two axles, a centrifugal-force-balancing electrical connection mechanism that supplies functioning electrical communication between the motor and external electrical circuitry while operating the motor, and a propeller secured to each said axle. |
| US08198771B2 |
Motor and driving device for recording disk
A motor includes a sleeve supporting a shaft such that an upper end of the shaft protrudes upwardly along an axial direction, a sleeve housing in which an outer diameter portion of the sleeve is inserted and supported, an oil sealing cap covering the sleeve at an opposite side of the sleeve housing, and having a sealing protrusion protruding from a top surface thereof to form a capillary seal of oil between the shaft and the sleeve, and a hub base pressure-fitted and fixed on the upper end of the shaft, and having a hub-base outer diameter portion facing the sealing protrusion and forming a first oil sealing part with the sealing protrusion. |
| US08198769B2 |
Horizontal linear vibrator
The present invention provides a horizontal linear vibrator which can increase vibration strength while at the same time guaranteeing a sufficiently long lifetime and satisfactory responsivity. The horizontal linear vibrator includes a casing, a bracket, a vibration unit and springs. The bracket and the casing form the internal space therein. A coil is provided above the bracket such that the center axis thereof is oriented in a horizontal direction. The vibration unit is disposed through the coil and comprises a magnetic field generating unit and a weight. The magnetic field generating unit includes a magnet assembly and a yoke. The magnet assembly has magnets which are provided on opposite sides of a magnetic body core such that the similar magnetic poles of the magnets face each other. The weight is mounted to the magnetic field generating unit. The springs are coupled to the casing or the bracket and elastically support the vibration unit. |
| US08198762B2 |
Winding end turn cooling in an electric machine
Winding end turns in an electric machine are cooled by a coolant. Cooling is improved by redirecting the coolant generally tangentially through the winding end turns to improve heat transfer between coolant and windings. |
| US08198756B2 |
Voltage-boosting stage
The invention relates to a voltage-boosting stage (100) comprising a first capacitive voltage circuit (S1, S2, S3, S4, C0, Cb) coupled to a power supply (Vs) and providing an output voltage at an output terminal. The voltage-boosting stage further comprises a second capacitive voltage circuit (S5, S6, S7, S8, C1, Cb) coupled to a power supply (Vs) and providing another output voltage at another output terminal the output terminal and the other terminals being coupled together and further coupled to a supply terminal of a power stage (S9, S10) for implementing a two-level boosted power stage. |
| US08198755B2 |
Contactless energy and data transmission device and method
The present invention relates to a device for the contactless energy and data transmission, having a primary unit provided with a primary inductor, and a secondary unit provided with a secondary inductor. The primary and secondary units are at least temporarily so relatively positioned that between the primary inductor and the secondary inductor a transformer coupling distance is formed. Furthermore, the primary unit is set up for the contactless transmission of energy to the secondary unit and the secondary unit is designed for supplying terminals connected thereto. The device is further developed in that the primary unit has means for interrupting the energy transmission across the transformer coupling distance in energy transmission intervals and the secondary unit has means for detecting the energy transmission intervals. Further, the secondary unit has means for transmitting data in the energy transmission intervals and/or the primary unit has means for transmitting data to the secondary unit. The invention also relates to a method for the contactless energy and data transmission. |
| US08198747B2 |
Blade for windmill, windmill and wind power generator
A blade for a windmill disposed around a rotation center (M) in a vertical direction so as to receive wind force, comprising a front surface (26) including; a front nose surface (26F) being disposed at front of a traveling direction, also having a greatest average curvature a low speed airflow passing surface (26L) disposed on a closer side to the rotation center, and formed continuously from the front nose surface to rearward of the traveling direction, and a high speed airflow passing surface (26H) disposed a distant side from the rotation center, formed continuously from the front nose surface to rearward of the traveling direction with a curved surface swollen greater than the low speed airflow passing surface, and having length as viewed from the vertical direction greater than the low speed airflow passing surface. |
| US08198746B2 |
Chimney turbine
The present invention is a ring generator with a rotor internal diameter equal to the turbine outside diameter, and having the turbine mounted on the inside of the rotor. |
| US08198745B2 |
Tuned rolling wave energy extractor
An apparatus for extracting wave energy may include a watercraft, a pendulum and an energy converter. The watercraft may be configured to roll in response to wave action and may have roll characteristics that are tunable to characteristics of the wave action. The pendulum may be supported by the watercraft to enable the pendulum to swing in response to the wave action. An energy converter may be configured to convert the relative movement of the pendulum and watercraft into electrical energy. The pendulum may also be tunable to characteristics of the wave action. |
| US08198742B2 |
Variable speed wind turbine with a doubly-fed induction generator and rotor and grid inverters that use scalar controls
The present invention relates to an improved wind turbine, of the type which employs doubly fed induction generators (DFIG), and a wind park including the same, which permits the use of lighter weight turbines, with the ability to have greater energy capture, more precise control of asymmetrical phases and enhanced maintenance and support of the grid during fault conditions. |
| US08198737B2 |
Method of forming wire bonds in semiconductor devices
A method of forming a wire bond in a semiconductor device includes forming a first bump of a first composition proximate to a probe mark on a bond pad. A second bump of the first composition is formed adjacent to the first bump such that the first and second bumps are formed away from the probe mark. A wire of a second composition that is harder than the first composition is attached on top of the first and second bumps to form an interconnection. |
| US08198733B2 |
Semiconductor device with deviation compensation and method for fabricating the same
A semiconductor device includes a conductive pattern formed on a substrate, a conductive land formed to come into contact with at least part of the top surface of the conductive pattern, and a conductive section formed on the conductive land. The conductive section is electrically connected through the conductive land to the conductive pattern. |
| US08198732B2 |
Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device of the present invention includes an insulating film made of a low dielectric constant material having a smaller specific dielectric constant than SiO2, a wiring trench formed in the insulating film, a first barrier film made of SiO2 or SiCO formed at least on the side surface of the wiring trench, Cu wiring mainly composed of Cu embedded in the wiring trench, and a second barrier film made of a compound containing Si, O and a predetermined metallic element covering the surface of the Cu wiring opposed to the wiring trench. |
| US08198729B2 |
Connection between a semiconductor chip and a circuit component with a large contact area
A semiconductor chip or wafer includes a passivation layer, a pad and a bump. The pad is exposed by an opening in the passivation layer. The bump is connected to the pad, wherein the area of the connection between the pad and the bump is larger than 30,000 μm2. |
| US08198725B2 |
Heat sink and integrated circuit assembly using the same
An integrated circuit assembly includes a heat sink and a substrate coupled to the heat sink. The heat sink includes a base and a plurality of fins disposed on the base, the base has an intermediate portion and two side portions connected to the intermediate portion, the intermediate portion has a first width and the side portions has a second width larger than the first width, and the fins are disposed on the side portions of the base. The substrate is made of ceramic material and has an upper surface with an opening and a lower surface with a groove, the groove matches the intermediate portion of the heat sink, and the opening is configured to expose a portion of the intermediate portion to receive an integrated circuit package. |
| US08198723B1 |
Low inductance power distribution system for an integrated circuit chip
A low impedance electrical pathway from decoupling capacitance located on a circuit board to an integrated circuit chip. The integrated circuit includes multiple power and ground C4 bumps and is positioned on a first side of an integrated circuit carrier which is positioned on a first side of a circuit board. The integrated circuit carrier includes lateral conductors such as voltage and ground power planes. Power and ground carrier vias extend from the voltage and ground power planes, respectively, to the first side of the carrier, and power and ground subgroups of carrier vias extend from the voltage and ground power planes, respectively, to power and ground solder balls on a second side of the carrier. The circuit board includes power and ground plated through holes extending from contact pads on the first side of the circuit board to contact pads on a second side of the circuit board. Decoupling capacitors are positioned on the second side of the circuit board. The decoupling capacitors have positive and negative electrodes are electrically coupled to the power and ground plated through holes respectively. The C4 power and ground bumps, the power and ground carrier vias, the power and ground carrier via subgroups, the power and ground solder balls, the contact pads, the power and ground plated through holes, and the positive and negative electrodes are arranged in anti-parallel tessellations to reduce the inductance of a loop circuit from the decoupling capacitors to the integrated chip circuit. |
| US08198717B1 |
Signal shifting to allow independent control of identical stacked memory modules
A memory device having die-stacking modules that are interchangeable within a Package-on-Package (PoP) and provide separate Chip Enable (CE) signals for all memory die in the die-stacking modules. |
| US08198709B2 |
Potted integrated circuit device with aluminum case
An integrated circuit device includes a die, a lead, and an electrically-conductive structure that is arranged to facilitate electrical communication between the die and the lead. The device also includes a potting material, in which the electrically conductive structure, the die, and at least part of the lead are embedded. An electrically-conductive housing encases the potting material and forms exterior packaging of the device. During manufacturing, the electrically-conductive structure, the die, and at least part of the lead may be arranged within the electrically-conductive housing either before or after the potting material is disposed in the housing. When the integrated circuit device is operating, heat is removable from the die via a thermal conduction path formed by the electrically-conductive structure, the potting material, and the electrically-conductive housing. |
| US08198706B2 |
Multi-level nanowire structure and method of making the same
A method for making a multi-level nanowire structure includes establishing a first plurality of nanowires on a substrate surface, wherein at least some of the nanowires are i) aligned at a predetermined crystallographically defined angle with respect to the substrate surface, ii) aligned substantially perpendicular with respect to the substrate surface, or iii) combinations of i and ii. An insulating layer is established between the nanowires of the first plurality such that one of two opposed ends of at least some of the nanowires positioned i) at the predetermined crystallographically defined angle, ii) substantially perpendicular with respect to the substrate surface, or iii) combinations of i and ii is exposed. Regions are grown from each of the exposed ends, and such regions coalesce to form a substantially continuous layer on the insulating layer. A second plurality of nanowires is established on the substantially continuous layer. |
| US08198699B1 |
Integrated circuit package with non-solder mask defined like pads
Provided is an IC package. In one implementation, the IC package includes a metal pad having a first metal pad surface and a second metal pad surface substantially parallel to the first metal pad surface; a first dielectric layer having a first surface, a second surface, and a third surface, where the first dielectric layer covers a first end portion of the second metal pad surface, and the third surface of the first dielectric layer is substantially parallel to the first and second surfaces of the first dielectric layer; a second dielectric layer having a first surface, a second surface, and a third surface, where the second dielectric layer covers a second end portion of the second metal pad surface, and the third surface of the second dielectric layer is substantially parallel to the first and second surfaces of the second dielectric layer; and a metal structure covering a middle portion of the second metal pad surface, a first end portion of the third surface of the first dielectric layer, and a first end portion of the third surface of the second dielectric layer. |
| US08198697B2 |
Semiconductor device
An IGBT is disclosed which separated into two groups (first and second IGBT portions). First and second Zener diodes each composed of series-connected Zener diode parts are disposed so as to correspond to the groups respectively. Each of the first and second Zener diodes has an anode side connected to a corresponding one of first and second polysilicon gate wirings, and a cathode side connected to an emitter electrode. Temperature dependence of a forward voltage drop of each of first and second Zener diodes is used for reducing a gate voltage of a group rising in temperature to throttle a current flowing in the group and reduce the temperature of the group to thereby attain equalization of the temperature distribution in a surface of a chip. In this manner, it is possible to provide an MOS type semiconductor device in which equalization of the temperature distribution in a surface of a chip or among chips can be attained. |
| US08198696B2 |
Substrate structures for integrated series connected photovoltaic arrays and process of manufacture of such arrays
This invention comprises manufacture of photovoltaic cells by deposition of thin film photovoltaic junctions on metal foil substrates. The photovoltaic junctions may be heat treated if appropriate following deposition in a continuous fashion without deterioration of the metal support structure. In a separate operation, an interconnection substrate structure is provided, optionally in a continuous fashion. Multiple photovoltaic cells are then laminated to the interconnection substrate structure and conductive joining methods are employed to complete the array. In this way the interconnection substrate structure can be uniquely formulated from polymer-based materials employing optimal processing unique to polymeric materials. Furthermore, the photovoltaic junction and its metal foil support can be produced in bulk without the need to use the expensive and intricate material removal operations currently taught in the art to achieve series interconnections. |
| US08198694B2 |
Back-illuminated type solid-state imaging device
A back-illuminated type solid-state imaging device including (a) a semiconductor layer on a front surface side of a semiconductor substrate with an insulation film between them; (b) a photoelectric conversion element that constitutes a pixel in the semiconductor substrate; (c) at least part of transistors that constitute the pixel in the semiconductor film; and (d) a rear surface electrode to which a voltage is applied on the rear surface side of the semiconductor substrate, wherein, (1) a semiconductor layer of an opposite conduction type to a charge accumulation portion of the photoelectric conversion element is formed in the semiconductor substrate under the insulation film, and (2) the same voltage as the voltage applied to the rear surface electrode is applied to the semiconductor layer. |
| US08198692B2 |
Spin torque magnetic integrated circuits and devices therefor
Spin torque magnetic integrated circuits and devices therefor are described. In an example, a spin torque magnetic device for a logic circuit includes a majority gate structure. An output is coupled to the majority gate structure. Three inputs are also coupled to the majority gate structure. |
| US08198689B2 |
Package structure having micro-electromechanical element and fabrication method thereof
Proposed is a package structure having a micro-electromechanical (MEMS) element, including a chip having a plurality of electrical connecting pads and a MEMS element formed thereon; a lid disposed on the chip for covering the MEMS element; a stud bump disposed on each of the electrical connecting pads; an encapsulant formed on the chip with part of the stud bumps being exposed from the encapsulant; and a metal conductive layer formed on the encapsulant and connected to the stud bumps. The invention is characterized by completing the packaging process on the wafer directly to enable thinner and cheaper package structures to be fabricated within less time. This invention further provides a method for fabricating the package structure as described above. |
| US08198688B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device with MOSFET limiter circuit
Latchup is prevented from occurring accompanying increasingly finer geometries of a chip. NchMOSFET N1 and PchMOSFET P1 form a CMOS circuit including: NchMOSFET N2 whose gate, drain and back gate are connected to back gate of N1 and PchMOSFET P2 whose gate, drain and back gate are connected to back gate of P1. Source of N2 is connected to source of N1. Source of P2 is connected to source of P1. N2 is always connected between the grounded source of N1 and the back gate of N1, while P2 is connected between source of P1 connected to a power supply and the back gate of P1. Each of N2 and P2 functions as a voltage limiting element (a limiter circuit). |
| US08198684B2 |
Semiconductor device with drain voltage protection for ESD
A power semiconductor device with drain voltage protection includes a semiconductor substrate, at least a trench gate transistor device and at least a trench ESD protection device. An upper surface of the semiconductor substrate has a first trench and a second trench. The trench gate transistor device is disposed in the first trench and the semiconductor substrate. The trench ESD protection device is disposed in the second trench, and includes a first doped region, a second doped region and a third doped region. The first doped region and the third doped region are respectively electrically connected to a drain and a gate of the trench gate transistor device. |
| US08198683B2 |
Semiconductor device including transistors with silicided impurity regions
A TFT formed on an insulating substrate source, drain and channel regions, a gate insulating film formed on at least the channel region and a gate electrode formed on the gate insulating film. Between the channel region and the drain region, a region having a higher resistivity is provided in order to reduce an Ioff current. A method for forming this structure comprises the steps of anodizing the gate electrode to form a porous anodic oxide film on the side of the gate electrode; removing a portion of the gate insulating using the porous anodic oxide film as a mask so that the gate insulating film extends beyond the gate electrode but does not completely cover the source and drain regions. Thereafter, an ion doping of one conductivity element is performed. The high resistivity region is defined under the gate insulating film. |
| US08198681B2 |
Semiconductor component with stress-absorbing semiconductor layer
The invention relates to a semiconductor component with stress-absorbing semiconductor layer (SA) and an associated fabrication method, a crystalline stress generator layer (SG) for generating a mechanical stress being formed on a carrier material (1). An insulating stress transmission layer (2), which transmits the mechanical stress which has been generated to a stress-absorbing semiconductor layer (SA), is formed at the surface of the stress generator layer (SG), with the result that in addition to improved charge carrier mobility, improved electrical properties of the semiconductor component are also obtained. |
| US08198678B2 |
Semiconductor device with improved on-resistance
A semiconductor device includes a source, a drain, and a gate configured to selectively enable a current to pass between the source and the drain. The semiconductor device includes a drift zone between the source and the drain and a first field plate adjacent the drift zone. The semiconductor device includes a dielectric layer electrically isolating the first field plate from the drift zone and charges within the dielectric layer close to an interface of the dielectric layer adjacent the drift zone. |
| US08198674B2 |
Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
To provide a semiconductor device including a first silicon pillar, an interlayer dielectric film provided on an upper surface of the first silicon pillar and having a through-hole filled with a conductive material, and a first-diffusion-layer contact plug provided on an upper-side opening of the through-hole. An area of a lower-side opening of the through-hole is equal to an area of the upper surface of the first silicon pillar, and an area of the upper-side opening of the through-hole is larger than the area of the lower-side opening of the through-hole. With this configuration, an area of a contact surface between the conductive material within the through-hole and the first-diffusion-layer contact plug is larger than the area of the upper surface of the first silicon pillar. |
| US08198667B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and method for manufacturing same
A laminated body is formed by alternately laminating a plurality of dielectric films and electrode films on a silicon substrate. Next, a through hole extending in the lamination direction is formed in the laminated body. Next, a selective nitridation process is performed to selectively form a charge layer made of silicon nitride in a region of an inner surface of the through hole corresponding to the electrode film. Next, a high-pressure oxidation process is performed to form a block layer made of silicon oxide between the charge layer and the electrode film. Next, a tunnel layer made of silicon oxide is formed on an inner side surface of the through hole. Thus, a flash memory can be manufactured in which the charge layer is split for each electrode film. |
| US08198666B2 |
Semiconductor device including a nonvolatile memory element having first, second and third insulating films
A nonvolatile memory element which is provided with a floating gate electrode and a high withstand voltage transistor which is provided with a thick gate insulating film are formed over one substrate without increase in a driving voltage of the nonvolatile memory element. A stacked film of a first insulating film and a second insulating film is formed between an island-like semiconductor region and a floating gate electrode of the nonvolatile memory element and between an island-like semiconductor region and a gate electrode of the transistor. The first insulating film overlapping with the floating gate electrode is removed, and the insulating film between the island-like semiconductor region and the floating gate electrode is formed thinner than the gate insulating film of the transistor. The transistor includes a conductive film which is formed in the same layer as the floating gate electrode and a conductive film which is formed in the same layer as a control gate electrode, and these two conductive films are electrically connected to each other and function as the gate electrodes of the transistor. |
| US08198665B2 |
Semiconductor storage device and manufacturing method thereof
A semiconductor storage device includes: a substrate having a semiconductor layer at least on a surface thereof; and a plurality of quantum dot elements forming a charge storage layer formed above the semiconductor layer via a first insulating film that becomes a tunnel insulating film in such a manner that the quantum dot elements are connected with a bit line in series, wherein each quantum dot element forms a single electron memory. |
| US08198664B2 |
Semiconductor memory device having cylinder-type capacitor lower electrode and associated methods
A semiconductor memory device including a plurality of supports extending parallel to each other in a first direction on a semiconductor substrate, and capacitor lower electrode rows including a plurality of capacitor lower electrodes arranged in a line along the first direction between two adjacent supports from among the plurality of supports, each capacitor lower electrode including outside walls, wherein each of the capacitor lower electrodes includes two support contact surfaces on the outside walls of the capacitor lower electrode, the support contact surfaces respectively contacting the two adjacent supports from among the plurality of supports. |
| US08198661B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of forming semiconductor device
A semiconductor device include a semiconductor substrate comprising a substrate body, a base over the substrate body and a pillar over a first region of the base; a buried line adjacent to a side surface of the base; a first diffusion layer over a second region of the base; a second diffusion layer over the pillar, the second diffusion layer being higher in level than the first diffusion layer; and a third diffusion layer disposed between the buried line and the semiconductor substrate. The third diffusion layer is different in level from the first diffusion layer. The top level of the third diffusion layer is lower than the top level of the first diffusion layer. |
| US08198660B2 |
Multi-bit STRAM memory cells
A multi-bit spin torque magnetic element that has a ferromagnetic pinned layer having a pinned magnetization orientation, a non-magnetic layer, and a ferromagnetic free layer having a magnetization orientation switchable among at least four directions, the at least four directions being defined by a physical shape of the free layer. The magnetic element has at least four distinct resistance states. Magnetic elements with at least eight magnetization directions are also provided. |
| US08198658B2 |
Device and method for detecting biomolecules using adsorptive medium and field effect transistor
A device for detecting biomolecules includes: a semiconductor substrate; a source region and a drain region separately provided at the substrate; a chamber formed at the substrate including a region between the source region and the drain region, the chamber configured to contain a sample including the biomolecules; and an electrode which applies a voltage to the sample in the chamber. The biomolecules are mobile with respect to the electrode and sample. Methods for detecting biomolecules are also disclosed. |
| US08198656B2 |
Integrated circuit including gate electrode level region including at least four linear-shaped conductive structures of equal length having aligned ends and positioned at equal pitch and forming multiple gate electrodes of transistors of different type
A cell of a semiconductor device is disclosed to include a diffusion level including a plurality of diffusion regions separated by inactive regions. The cell also includes a gate electrode level including a number of conductive features defined to extend in only a first parallel direction. Each of the conductive features within the gate electrode level is fabricated from a respective originating rectangular-shaped layout feature. The gate electrode level includes conductive features defined along at least four different virtual lines of extent in the first parallel direction. A width size of the conductive features within a five wavelength photolithographic interaction radius within the gate electrode level is less than a wavelength of light of 193 nanometers. The cell also includes a number of interconnect levels formed above the gate electrode level. |
| US08198653B2 |
Compound semiconductor device and manufacturing method of the same
An i-GaN layer (electron transit layer), an n-GaN layer (compound semiconductor layer) formed over the i-GaN layer (electron transit layer), and a source electrode, a drain electrode and a gate electrode formed over the n-GaN layer (compound semiconductor layer) are provided. A recess portion is formed inside an area between the source electrode and the drain electrode of the n-GaN layer (compound semiconductor layer) and at a portion separating from the gate electrode. |
| US08198652B2 |
Field effect transistor with reduced gate leakage current
Disclosed is an HJFET 110 which comprises: a channel layer 12 composed of InyGa1-yN (0≦y≦1); a carrier supply layer 13 composed of AlxGa1-xN (0≦x≦1), the carrier supply layer 13 being provided over the channel layer 12 and including at least one p-type layer; and a source electrode 15S, a drain electrode 15D and a gate electrode 17 which are disposed facing the channel layer 12 through the p-type layer, and provided over the carrier supply layer 13. The following relational expression is satisfied: 5.6×1011x |
| US08198650B2 |
Semiconductor devices and systems
A semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor device comprises, a first region of a first conductivity type, a second region of a second conductivity type disposed adjacent to the first region to form a p-n junction structure, a resistance modification region of the second conductivity type, and a field response modification region of the second conductivity type disposed between the resistance modification region and the second region, wherein the field response modification region comprises a varying dopant concentration distribution along a thickness direction of the field response modification region. |
| US08198647B2 |
Light emitting apparatus
A light emitting apparatus, includes: a substrate; a semiconductor device including a semiconductor layer formed integrally on a major surface of the substrate; and a light emitting device formed separately from the substrate. The light emitting device is mounted on the major surface of the substrate, electrically connected to the semiconductor device, and thermally connected to the substrate. |
| US08198644B2 |
Multichip on-board LED illumination device
An LED-based illumination device can use an array of four LEDs to produce high intensity light over a broad color spectrum and a broad range of color temperature. A high quality white light can be produced by using two green LEDs with a single red and a single blue LED. |
| US08198634B2 |
Thin film transistor, method of fabricating the same, and organic light emitting diode display device having the thin film transistor
A thin film transistor (TFT), a method of fabricating the same, and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device including the TFT. The TFT includes a substrate having a pixel region and a non-pixel region, a semiconductor layer, a gate insulating layer, a gate electrode, and source and drain electrodes disposed on the pixel region, at least one gettering site disposed on the non-pixel region, and at least one connection portion to connect the at least one gettering site and the semiconductor layer The method of fabricating the TFT includes patterning a polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) layer to form a plurality of semiconductor layers, connection portions, and at least one gettering site, the semiconductor layers being connected to the at least one gettering site via the connection portions, and annealing the substrate to getter the plurality of semiconductor layers. |
| US08198633B2 |
Stress transfer enhancement in transistors by a late gate re-crystallization
A gate electrode structure of a transistor may be formed so as to exhibit a high crystalline quality at the interface formed with a gate dielectric material, while upper portions of the gate electrode may have an inferior crystalline quality. In a later manufacturing stage after implementing one or more strain-inducing mechanisms, the gate electrode may be re-crystallized, thereby providing increased stress transfer efficiency, which in turn results in an enhanced transistor performance. |
| US08198630B2 |
Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
A TFT is manufactured using at least five photomasks in a conventional liquid crystal display device, and therefore the manufacturing cost is high. By performing the formation of the pixel electrode, the source region and the drain region by using three photomasks in three photolithography steps, a liquid crystal display device prepared with a pixel TFT portion, having a reverse stagger type n-channel TFT, and a storage capacitor can be realized, FIG. 2. |