Document Document Title
US08200695B2 Database for uploading, storing, and retrieving similar documents
Provided is a system of retrieving a document. The system includes a DB storing a document, a document feature writing unit, a query input unit, a keyword extraction unit, a weighting unit, a document retrieving unit, and an output unit. The document feature writing unit extracts attribute information of the document stored in the document DB and writes an index for the document based on the attribute information. The query input unit receives a query input by a user. The keyword extraction unit extracts a keyword from the query. The weighting unit assigns a weight to the extracted keyword using the index. The document retrieving unit retrieves a similar document using the keyword with the assigned weight. The output unit displays the similar document retrieved by the document retrieving unit to a user.
US08200693B2 Decision logic comparison and review
Techniques are described for logically comparing strategies. In one aspect the strategies can be compared by receiving a request to compare a first strategy to a second strategy, the first strategy graphically represented by a first set of linked nodes, the second strategy graphically represented by a second set of linked nodes, each set of linked nodes linking a root node to at least one action node; identifying a subset of linked nodes from at least one of the first set of linked nodes and the second set of linked nodes based on an equivalence of a first subset of the first set of linked nodes to a second subset of the second set of linked nodes; and, providing a visual depiction of the identified subset of the linked nodes to a user, the visual depiction corresponding to the equivalence of the first subset to the second subset.
US08200691B2 Action prediction based on interactive history and context between sender and recipient
Techniques for action prediction based on interactive history and context between a sender and a recipient are described herein. In one embodiment, a process includes, but is not limited to, in response to a message to be received by a recipient from a sender over a network, determining one or more previous transactions associated with the sender and the recipient, the one or more previous transactions being recorded during course of operations performed within an entity associated with the recipient, and generating a list of one or more action candidates based on the determined one or more previous transactions, wherein the one or more action candidates are optional actions recommended to the recipient, in addition to one or more actions required to be taken in response to the message. Key word identification out of voice applications as well as guided actions has also been applied to generate action prediction candidates interactive history links Other methods and apparatuses are also described.
US08200689B2 Apparatus, method and computer program for content recommendation and recording medium
A base/inversion component extractor calculates an occupancy rate of each component of a vector of user preference information obtained from information stored on a user preference database, and extracts a base component from the user preference information in accordance with the calculated occupancy rate of the base component. The base/inversion component extractor extracts a similar base component from item preference information obtained from information stored on an item metadatabase. A recommendation engine calculates a similarity between a base vector of the user preference information and a base vector of the item preference information, and identifies, as candidate items, items of the predetermined number in the order of from high to low similarity. The recommendation engine further calculates a similarity between an inversion vector of the user preference information and an inversion vector of the item preference information, and identifies an item candidate having a low similarity.
US08200687B2 System to generate related search queries
System and methods are described to provide new recommendations to a search interface to assist users in navigating toward new searches that are likely to generate results aligned with the user's searching intentions. An algorithm analyzes previous search sessions to determine additional locations for the user to go. In an example of a commerce system, new information placement may be added to the top of search and listings pages to show links to new searches that can be run by the user. On a periodic basis, the search recommendations may be updated, for example based on the most current changes in user behavior.
US08200685B2 Aspect-level news browsing service system and method for mitigating effects of media bias
The present invention relates to an aspect-level news browsing service system and method for mitigating effects of media bias, which group news articles having different aspects on the same event on the basis of aspects, and simultaneously provide grouped news articles to users. The aspect-level news browsing service system may include a user terminal for accessing a news service server over an Internet and receiving aspect-level news article information from the news service server. A news provision server may transmit news article information to the news service server over the Internet. The news service server may extract aspects from the received news article information, classify the news article information based on the extracted aspects, and may transmit the aspect-level news article information to the user terminal depending on the aspects to enable the news article information to be displayed. The Internet may be configured to connect the user terminal to the news service server.
US08200683B2 Determining relevancy and desirability of terms
A system and method to sort search results based upon a desirability value is illustrated. This desirability value may be based upon the difference between a demand value and a supply value. Demand may be based upon user activity such as click-throughs, purchases, price, or location. Supply may be based upon a supply of keywords that may be the number of times a word is used in search or item title. The system and method may include receiving a search query, associating a first numerical value with a keyword that is a part of the search query, tracking user activity associated with the keyword, associating a second numerical value with the keyword based upon the user activity, finding a difference value between the first and second numerical values, associating this difference value with the keyword, sorting keywords based upon the difference values, and returning the search results of the sorting.
US08200674B2 Personalized media recommendation
Systems and methods for personalized media recommendation are provided. One example system may include a media server including a media database containing a plurality of media tracks and a database schema defining multiple media styles. The media server may further include a media delivery engine configured to transmit media tracks to each of a plurality of media clients. The system may further include a feedback module configured to receive history data from each of the media clients. Further still, the system may include a recommendation engine configured to compute a plurality of user-specific style weights, and to select one or more recommended media tracks for each user, The recommendation engine may be further configured to send a recommendation message to the media client including media links to the recommended media tracks on the media server, to cause the media client to display the media links to a user.
US08200671B2 Generating a dictionary and determining a co-occurrence context for an automated ontology
According to one embodiment, generating a dictionary and determining a co-occurrence context includes accessing a domain corpus comprising articles. Each article corresponds to a particular topic and comprises one or more terms that link to one or more other articles corresponding to one or more other topics. Each topic is designated as a term to yield a dictionary. A co-occurrence context is defined for the domain corpus. At least two terms appearing in the co-occurrence context are considered co-occurring. Co-occurrences among the terms are calculated according to the co-occurrence context.
US08200665B2 Method, apparatus, and program for capturing data changes utilizing data-space tracking
A method, apparatus, and program for reorganizing a database while concurrently providing access to the database for updates. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, an on-line reorganization facility (ORF) uses index data-spaces that point to other data-spaces, referred to as data data-spaces, to efficiently track and coordinate information about the data-elements in an original data-space operated upon by a reorganization process. A relative base address of a data-element in an index data-space can be derived from a relative base address of a data-element in an original data-space, and vice versa. An index data-space data-element contains a location of a data-element in a data data-space that tracks change information related to a corresponding data-element in the original data-space. Tracked changes are later applied to the newly reorganized data-space to assure consistency and integrity of the data. Tracked changes include the location in the original data-space where the change occurred and a flag indicting the type of change.
US08200659B2 Method of incorporating DBMS wizards with analytical models for DBMS servers performance optimization
Disclosed is an improved method and system for implementing DBMS server performance optimization. According to some approaches, the method and system incorporates DBMS wizards recommendations with analytical queuing network models for purpose of evaluating different alternatives and selecting the optimum performance management solution with a set of expectations, enhancing autonomic computing by generating periodic control measures which include recommendation to add or remove indexes and materialized views, change the level of concurrency, workloads priorities, improving the balance of the resource utilization, which provides a framework for a continuous process of the workload management by means of measuring the difference between the actual results and expected, understanding the cause of the difference, finding a new corrective solution and setting new expectations.
US08200658B2 System and method for providing highly available database performance
A system and method for enabling a second database instance to more quickly process a request to execute a database statement that has previously been executed by a first database instance is described. In one embodiment, the method involves sending the database statement from the first database instance to the second database instance, and generating by the second database instance one or more structures needed to prepare the statement for execution, such as a parse tree and an execution plan for the statement. If at some point in the future, the second database instance receives a request to execute the same statement, the above structures can be used for execution, thereby eliminating the need for one or more potentially time-consuming operations, such as generation of a parse tree or execution plan for the statement.
US08200655B2 Query-based generation of data records
A method and apparatus for generating at least one data record in respect to a database query comprising a fetch command. A database may be updated according to the at least one data record. In an exemplary embodiment, a database management system may be tested by performing the database query against the database. In another exemplary embodiment, a data record that satisfies the database query is generated in order to increase coverage when testing a database management system.
US08200650B2 Replay device
From when any one of several DMSs 2 is selected, until contents are downloaded from that DMS 2, a DMP 1 stores the search information which has been specified for that DMS 2. And if some other DMS 2 is selected before contents have been downloaded from the DMS 2 which was first selected, then the DMP 1 specifies this search information which is stored to that other DMS 2. Accordingly, it is possible greatly to enhance the ease of use when it is not known upon which DMS 2 the desired contents is stored.
US08200646B2 Efficient retrieval of variable-length character string data
Prefixes are registered on a first list as index elements for respective registration patterns. Each prefix is selected as the longest of different-length prefixes that are extractable from a registration pattern in accordance with an extraction rule. Suffixes, which are the remaining parts of the registration patterns excluding the respective prefixes, are registered on a second list. Using different-length prefixes that are extracted from a retrieval key in accordance with the extraction rule, a prefix retriever searches the first list to retrieve a registration pattern whose prefix matches any of the prefixes of the retrieval key. A suffix checker carries out a check on the suffix of the registration pattern retrieved by the prefix retriever, among the suffixes on the second list, as to whether the suffix of the registration pattern matches the suffix of the retrieval key.
US08200642B2 System and method for managing electronic documents in a litigation context
A system and method for production of analyzing electronic documents includes document acquisition software; a database, comprising a document table; a document parser; a categorization schema; and a document processor operatively in communication with the database and the categorization schema. Document acquisition software operatively resident in a first computer acquires an electronic document which is then parsed by a document parser operatively resident in a second computer to create a set of parsed data related to the acquired document. A predetermined set of data describing the parsed document, comprising the created parsed data, are stored into a document table of a database accessible to the second computer. A non-neural network process is used to process the created parsed data in a document processor operatively resident in a third computer according to a categorization schema to create an association between the acquired document and the categorization schema.
US08200641B2 Dictionary for data deduplication
Mechanisms are provided for efficiently improving a dictionary used for data deduplication. Dictionaries are used to hold hash key and location pairs for deduplicated data. Strong hash keys prevent collisions but weak hash keys are more computation and storage efficient. Mechanisms are provided to use both a weak hash key and a strong hash key. Weak hash keys and corresponding location pairs are stored in an improved dictionary while strong hash keys are maintained with the deduplicated data itself. The need for having uniqueness from a strong hash function is balanced with the deduplication dictionary space savings from a weak hash function.
US08200636B2 Database instance decommissioning system and method
A system, method and program product for decommissioning database instances. A computer system is disclosed that includes an agent processing system that deactivates agents associated with a database instance; an access processing system that restricts further access to the database instance; and a mailer processing system that deactivates mailing transactions associated with the database instance.
US08200634B2 Zero downtime maintenance using a mirror approach
The subject matter disclosed herein provides methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for providing software updates. In one aspect there is provided a method. The method may include copying an application to a shadow system, the application used to upgrade the shadow system rather than a production system; copying data from the production system to the shadow system; selecting whether to lock changes to data in the production system or record changes to the data in the production system; recording one or more changes to data in the production system, the changes recorded in a container, when record changes has been selected; migrating recorded data in the container to the shadow system, so that the shadow system and production system are in a similar data state; and using the shadow system, upgraded with the application and at least one of data copied from the production system and recorded data from the container, for production rather than the production system. Related systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles are also described.
US08200633B2 Database backup and restore with integrated index reorganization
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for reorganizing a source index tree of a database table resulting in a target index tree of the database table is provided. A backup process reads source leaf pages of the source index tree in a logical order defined by a sequence of index keys. The logical order can be different from a physical order of the source leaf pages defined by a sequence of respective storage locations. The backup process constructs target leaf pages of the target index tree maintaining the logical order. A restore process constructs target non-leaf pages of the target index tree based on the distribution of the index keys among the constructed leaf pages and stores the target leaf and non-leaf pages.
US08200628B2 Multi-tenancy data storage and access method and apparatus
A method, apparatus, and a computer program product for storing and accessing multi-tenancy data. The method includes the steps of: creating a plurality of table sets in one or more databases, wherein each table set is used to store data of a group of tenants selected from a plurality of tenants; accessing data of a tenant in a table set in response to receiving a data access request from the tenant; and recording relationships between the tenants and the table sets in a multi-tenancy metadata repository, wherein the step of accessing the data of the tenant comprises the steps of finding the table set by querying the metadata repository and accessing the data of the tenant in the table set based on the result received from the query of the metadata repository.
US08200617B2 Automatic mapping of a location identifier pattern of an object to a semantic type using object metadata
Systems and methods for automatic mapping of a location identifier pattern of an object to a semantic type using object metadata are disclosed. In one aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure include a method, which may be implemented on a system, of identifying a set of tags associated with a website that is hosted by a web server. The method further includes, detecting a web page in the website in which a tag of the set of tags is identified, extracting a pattern from a Universal Resource Locator (URL) of the web page, and/or storing the pattern in a database embodied in a machine-readable storage medium as being mapped to the semantic type. The tag corresponds to a semantic type with which the content embodied in the web page has a semantic relationship and the pattern corresponds to the semantic type with which the content embodied in the web page has a semantic relationship.
US08200616B2 Method, apparatus, and computer program product for polynomial-based data transformation and utilization
An apparatus for polynomial based data transformation may include a processor. The processor may be configured to identify data that is relevant to a set of one or more queries and generate an information source vector that indicates information sources associated with the data. The processor may also be configured to generate a cyclotomic polynomial based on the information source vector and factor the cyclotomic polynomial to generate a plurality of orthogonal data signatures. Associated methods and computer program products may also be provided.
US08200612B2 Efficient SQL access to multidimensional data
In processing a query on multidimensional data in a multidimensional schema, a multidimensional database server performs various processes to limit the amount of data that is extracted from the database and presented to a relational database server in response to the request. A subset of data is identified to extract from the multidimensional data, based on the query. In various embodiments, cell-filtering, measure-filtering, and column-filtering criteria identified from the query are used to filter the subset of data, in order to return a minimized set of multidimensional data values from the subset of data. Therefore, computational resources are conserved with respect to further processing by the relational database server in response to the query.
US08200610B1 System and method for supporting the utilization of machine learning
A system and method is disclosed which integrates a machine learning solution into a large scale, distributed transaction processing system using a supporting architecture comprising a combination of computer hardware and software. Methods of using a system comprising such supporting architecture provide application designers access to the functionality included in a machine learning solution, but might also provide additional functionality not supported by the machine learning solution itself.
US08200605B2 Decision making unit for autonomous platform
A decision making unit suitable for an autonomous platform. The decision making unit includes a receiving module configured to receive at least one ability request and a preconditioning module configured to precondition the received ability request. A filter is configured to filter the preconditioned ability request. A first generator is configured to generate a set of behavior instructions associated with the filtered ability request. A priority processor is configured to priority process the filtered ability request. A second generator is configured to generate at least one control signal depending upon the priority processing of the filtered ability request, wherein the control signal includes information about the generated set of behavior instructions.
US08200601B2 Boosting to determine indicative features from a training set
Determining indicative features may be provided. First, a first set of features may be determined using a document frequency process. Then a second set of features may be determined using a boosting process. Using the boosting process may comprise using an approximation for a one-dimensional optimization. The approximation may include an upper bound. Next, the first set of features and the second set of features may be combined into a combined set of features. The combined set of features may comprise a union of the first set of features and the second set of features. At least one document may then be classified based on the combined set of features.
US08200599B2 100Gbps security and search architecture using programmable intelligent search memory
Memory architecture provides capabilities for high performance content search. The architecture creates an innovative memory that can be programmed with content search rules which are used by the memory to evaluate presented content for matching with the programmed rules. When the content being searched matches any of the rules programmed in the Programmable Intelligent Search Memory (PRISM) action(s) associated with the matched rule(s) are taken. Content search rules comprise of regular expressions which are converted to finite state automata (FSA) and then programmed in PRISM for evaluating content with the search rules. PRISM architecture comprises of a plurality of programmable PRISM Memory clusters (PMC) which comprise of a plurality of programmable PRISM Search Engines (PSE). Groups of PMCs can be programmed with the same rules and used in parallel to apply these rules to multiple data streams simultaneously to achieve increased performance. PMC groups provide 10 Gbps performance with 10 PMC groups enabling 100 Gbps content search and security performance.
US08200598B1 Video demultiplexing based on meaningful modes extraction
Methods and systems for grouping video frames. The video frames may be from a multiplexed stream of video frames from a plurality of video sources. In some embodiments video frames are grouped by determining if the video frames share meaningful modes for values representative of features of the video frames.
US08200588B2 Information processing device, method and program for selecting expression candidates
An information processing device includes: a candidate generating unit employing a user evaluation matrix of evaluation values indicating evaluations as to multiple contents for multiple users to generate multiple estimated expression candidates which are candidates of an estimated expression employed for estimating an evaluation as to a content of a user; an estimation results computing unit computing the user evaluation matrix by the respective estimated expression candidates to generate an estimation result configured of a predictive evaluation value which is the estimation value of an evaluation value; and an estimated expression selecting unit, in a case where several estimation results are employed, and several estimated expression candidates are employed as estimated expressions, obtaining linear combination coefficients employed for obtaining a final estimation result, and selecting an estimated expression candidate and linear combination coefficient having the highest evaluation as the estimated expression and linear combination coefficient of the next generation.
US08200586B2 Method for dynamic usage billing
A computer-implemented method of calculating a bill for resource usage in an application hosting environment. Resource information is gathered on each computer system resource from a set of resources which are memory resources, SAN resources, CPU resources, hard disk resources, network resources, and middleware resources. A cost per unit of resource is determined for each resource. Usage information is gathered on all resources utilized by at least one computer application during a billing period. A usage sum is determined for each resource utilized which includes a sum of all resource units utilized for each resource. A total usage cost is determined for each resource utilized. The total usage cost is a product of the cost per unit and the usage sum. A dynamic usage bill is created based on a total charge which is a sum of the total usage costs for all resources utilized during the billing period.
US08200583B1 Method and system for leasing or purchasing domain names
Methods and systems are described that enable a domain name owner (i.e., a “lessor”) to grant a third party (i.e., a “lessee”) a lease to any domain name the lessor owns. More specifically, a lessor may use a domain name service to allow a third party (i.e., a “lessee”) to lease a domain name for use or to purchase the domain name outright. More specifically, the lessor may lease a domain name to a lessee so that any user who accesses the leased domain name is directed to a network resource identified by the lessee. The lessee may also be provided the option to purchase the domain name outright from the lessor, rather than lease it. In addition, a valuation of the domain name may be generated.
US08200582B1 Mobile device password system
A mobile payment system password restriction system is provided. The system comprises a portable electronic device, an electronic wallet application, and an access restriction application that, when executed on the portable electronic device, monitors the network connection status of the portable electronic device. The system also disables password access to the electronic wallet application after a first predetermined number of consecutive failed password access attempts to the electronic wallet application when the network connection status is not connected. The system also re-enables password access to the electronic wallet application in response to receiving a key code entered into portable electronic device, wherein the key code is different from the password.
US08200579B2 Using payment mode rankings responsive to item attributes
A system may include obtaining first and second mode ranking based on categorical attributes of a first item and on payment mode use constraints and transmitting an indication of a first payment mode responsive to the first or the second mode ranking. The obtaining may include associating a common control with a payment indication of the first item to a first payee by the first payment mode and with a payment indication of a second item to a second payee by a second payment mode, displaying the common control in a grid cell indicating an association between the first payment mode and the first item, displaying an indication of the first item, the second item, the first payment mode, the second payment mode, and the first mode ranking via a common image, transmitting an authorization to use the first payment mode, and detecting an actuation of the common control.
US08200578B2 Methods and systems for account management and virtual agent design and implementation
Aspects of the present invention comprise systems and methods for design and use of web-based applications for account management. Some embodiments may comprise a virtual agent or avatar as part of an account collection or management web application. Some embodiments may comprise applications, utilities and tools for account-related web resource design.
US08200573B2 Multi-variable transaction system and method
A system for optimization of variables is provided. The system includes a buyer finance system for receiving asset data and buyer finance data. A seller variable system receives the asset data and the buyer finance data and applies a seller variable distribution to generate seller transaction state data. A finance variable system receives the asset data and the buyer finance data and applies a finance variable distribution to generate finance transaction state data. A variable optimization system receives the seller transaction state data and the finance transaction state data and generates transaction approval data.
US08200570B2 Electronic trading system having increased liquidity provision
An anonymous trading system includes a prime broker facility that allows a third party to trade on behalf of an institution. A deal is executed between the third party and a counter-party and a further deal is then executed between the third party and the party on whose behalf it has traded. The second deal may be for the same amount as the first deal or may be altered to include the third party's fee for conducting the first deal. Clients of the third party have prices available to them for trades made via the third party which are displayed at their trader terminals. The client sees that a better price is available though the third party than by dealing direct and selects to conduct a deal through the third party.
US08200568B2 System and method for managing trading orders received from market makers
According to one embodiment, a method of managing trading is provided. A first offer for a particular instrument in a particular market is received from a first market maker at a first offer price. A first bid for the same particular instrument in the same particular market is received from a second market maker at a first bid price, the first bid price being higher than or equal to the first offer price. As a result of the first bid price being higher than or equal to the first offer price, the first offer price is automatically increased to a price higher than the first bid price such that a trade is not executed between the first offer and the first bid. In some embodiments, such method may be used to protect market makers from unwanted trades caused by inherent latency in the market makers' pricing engines and/or networks.
US08200566B2 Fair value model based system, method, and computer program product for valuing foreign-based securities in a mutual fund
A system and method for determining fair value prices of financial securities of international markets includes steps of selecting a universe of securities of a particular international market, computing overnight returns of each security in the selected universe over a predetermined past period of time, selecting at least one return factor of a domestic financial market from a plurality of return factors, computing, for each selected return factor, the return factor's daily return over said predetermined past period of time, calculating, for each selected return factor, a return factor coefficient for each security in the selected universe by performing a time series regression to obtain the contribution of each return factor's return to the security's overnight return, and storing each calculated return factor coefficient in a data file.
US08200564B2 Method and system for creating an equity exchange fund for public and private entities
A method and system for creating an equity exchange fund for public and private entities are provided. The method includes the steps of receiving an application to participate in the fund from at least one investor, the investor having a position in at least one commercial entity; evaluating the entity based on at least one predetermined criteria; if the entity is acceptable, performing a valuation of the position in the entity; and determining a number of shares of the fund to be exchanged for the position in the entity. The determining the number of shares step includes determining a future value of the position at a scheduled date of liquidation of the fund; dividing the future value of the position by a total current fund value plus the future value of the position to determine a ratio; and multiplying a number of shares of the fund by the ratio.
US08200562B2 System and method for generating a transactionable multimedia financial planning statement
A system and method for providing a secure electronic transactionable multimedia financial planning statement to a financial plan holder, in which financial goals are obtained, financial holdings of the plan holder are analyzed, and the financial statement is provided to the plan holder. The financial statement includes a summary of financial information with an analysis of the financial holdings, an identification of weaknesses in the financial holdings, and suggestions to the financial plan holder to remedy the weaknesses in the financial holdings. Moreover, a transaction option is provided in the electronic financial statement, which enables the plan holder to execute one or more transactions. A multi-media interpretation is provided within the statement to provide the financial plan holder with training, guidance, and to answer questions submitted by the plan holder.
US08200560B1 Object oriented financial analysis tool
A financial analysis program includes an object oriented architecture having a number of abstract classes associated with performing financial calculations. The abstract classes include an instruments class that defines a number of financial instruments in a hierarchical manner. The abstract classes also include a models class that defines a number of objects or functions used to perform financial calculations. The program also includes an interface to allow a user to pass instrument parameters to the objects or functions and execute the object or function using the instrument parameters.
US08200559B1 Object oriented financial analysis tool
A financial analysis program includes an object oriented architecture having a number of abstract classes associated with performing financial calculations. The abstract classes include an instruments class that defines a number of financial instruments in a hierarchical manner. The abstract classes also include a models class that defines a number of objects or functions used to perform financial calculations. The program also includes an interface to allow a user to pass instrument parameters to the objects or functions and execute the object or function using the instrument parameters.
US08200548B2 Recipe engine system and method
Disclosed is a system and method for providing electronic meal information to a user. At least one database stores recipe information, recipe attribute information process information and time information for recipes. A web site linked to the Internet includes a prompt for a user to submit at least one characteristic of a meal and another prompt for available ingredient information. Recipe information is generated by a selection of at least some of the stored electronic recipe information that corresponds to the characteristic of the meal and the available ingredients. An electronic list of ingredients is generated that includes the difference between ingredients for the meal, and the at least one ingredient that the user has available for the meal.
US08200547B2 Real time electronic commerce telecommunication system and method
An auction system and method, which identifies at least one lot to be auctioned, having a plurality of units within the lot and associated auction parameters; transmits a remaining quantity of units within the lot from a central server to a plurality of remote locations; receives bid identifications for remaining units within the lot at the contemporaneous offering price from the plurality of remote locations; and decrements the offering price over time. The decrement may be adaptive to a bid activity pattern, and the bid activity pattern may be stored in a database. A local server may be provided to communicate between the central server and remote locations while changing the format of the information communicated. The packets preferably include compressed information, and preferably include quantity remaining information for a plurality of auction lots.
US08200546B2 System and method for distributing media content
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a registration system having a controller to register a purchase of media content housed in a physical medium with one or more media sources to authorize a consumer of the purchased media content to electronically access from the one or more media sources at least a portion of media content that is similar to or a replica of the purchased media content. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US08200542B2 Wireless communication device and method for use therewith
An image of at least one object (14) is captured. An object class selection is received from a menu (70) of a plurality of object classes. At least one task menu specific to the object class selection is provided. A task selection is received from the at least one task menu. A task associated with the at least one object (14) is facilitated based on the image and the task selection.
US08200541B2 Wireless communication device and method for use therewith
An image of at least one object (14) is captured. An object class selection is received from a menu (70) of a plurality of object classes. At least one task menu specific to the object class selection is provided. A task selection is received from the at least one task menu. A task associated with the at least one object (14) is facilitated based on the image and the task selection.
US08200538B2 Method and system for facilitating tasks using images and selections from object class and task menus
An image of at least one object (14) is captured. An object class selection is received from a menu (70) of a plurality of object classes. At least one task menu specific to the object class selection is provided. A task selection is received from the at least one task menu. A task associated with the at least one object (14) is facilitated based on the image and the task selection.
US08200533B2 Apparatus and method for recycling mobile phones
A recycling kiosk for recycling and financial remuneration for submission of a mobile telephone is disclosed herein. The recycling kiosk includes an inspection area with a plurality of white walls in order to perform a visual analysis of the mobile telephone for determination of a value of the mobile telephone. The visual analysis inspects the LCD screen of the mobile phone to determine if the LCD screen is damaged. The recycling kiosk also includes a processor, a display and a user interface.
US08200531B2 Determining complementary product content from primary product document information and providing such complementary product content in association with the primary product document, in an online environment
When purchasing a product or service from an online merchant (“first merchant”), e-commerce consumers might want to purchase a complementary product and/or service not offered by the first merchant. Such consumers are provided with an opportunity to purchase or otherwise learn about such complementary products and/or services, and secondary merchants are provided with the opportunity to sell or market such complimentary products and/or services in a way that would not jeopardize the first merchant's sale, and indeed, in a way that might provide a benefit to the first merchant.
US08200528B2 Factor analysis system and analysis method thereof
A factor analysis system and method thereof is disclosed. The factor analysis system comprises a data receiving module for receiving a plurality of factors having influence on a target total value, a plurality of base values corresponding to the factors, and a target improvement percentage; a first computing unit for computing a reference target total value and a plurality of upgraded target total values; a second computing unit using the upgraded target total values and the reference target total value to compute the sensitivity of each of the factors; and a processing module for multiplying a factor improvement of each factor in percentage point by the factor sensitivity of each factor to obtain the level of contribution of each factor to the target total value. Through the factor analysis, a decision maker can decide the optimal combination of different factor improvements for achieving the planned target total value.
US08200527B1 Method for prioritizing and presenting recommendations regarding organizaion's customer care capabilities
Enhancements to customer care capabilities can be prioritized and presented using a repeatable methodology which allows information to be collected, processed, and utilized in a uniform fashion across engagements. Such a methodology can be designed so as to be flexible enough for any customization which is required in particular circumstances. Various tools which can be used in such a methodology include computerized surveys, evaluation formulae, prioritization graphs, and weighing scales.
US08200525B2 Process and system for integrating information from disparate databases for purposes of predicting consumer behavior
A process and system for integrating information stored in at least two disparate databases. The stored information includes consumer transactional information. According to the process and system, at least one qualitative variable which is common to each database is identified, and then transformed into one or more quantitative variables. The consumer transactional information in each database is then converted into converted information in terms of the quantitative variables. Thereafter, an integrated database is formed for predicting consumer behavior by combining the converted information from the disparate databases.
US08200524B2 System and method for automated contact qualification
Contact lead quality is determined and presented to guide selection of contact leads for a predetermined activity, such as sales of a product, service or solution. A lead generation engine interfaces with a lead qualification module, an enterprise historical database and a lead confirmation tool to selectively analyze the lead information and qualification information to develop an ordered contact list for multiple contact leads, the ordered list ranking contact lead quality in multiple quality categories. A contact lead qualification graphical user interface presents multiple lead quality category ratings and values for a contact lead with each lead quality category indicative of a contact lead characteristic. These leads are then deemed relevant to sales and can be input in an organization's customer relationship management tool.
US08200522B2 Repeatable and standardized approach for deployment of a portable SOA infrastructure within a client environment
The present invention discloses a repeatable and standardized approach for deploying a SOA infrastructure to client environments. The approach is designed to accelerate a deployment by leveraging existing integration assets and utilizing a phased approach when executing the deployment. It is preferred to perform the integration with significant client participation, which speeds the deployment process while ensuring knowledge of a resulting SOA solution is transferred to a client's IT team. Stages of the phased approach can include a transition enablement stage, an environment preparation stage, a sandbox delivery stage, and an integration and skills transfer stage.
US08200520B2 Methods, systems, and apparatuses for automated confirmations of meetings
Methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer program products for confirming attendance of prospective attendees to a meeting or events via time management or event scheduling applications, such as calendar applications, are disclosed. Various embodiments comprise scheduling the meeting, waiting for a period of time, and automatically sending confirmation requests to one or more prospective attendees of the meeting. Some embodiments also comprise sending invitations to and receiving acceptances by one or more prospective attendees. Some embodiments further comprise receiving one or more responses to the confirmation requests from the prospective attendees. Some embodiments may reschedule the meeting, or events of the meeting, based upon responses to the confirmation requests. Various embodiments may send or receive the confirmation requests and responses via instant messaging (IM) messages, e-mail messages, and short message service (SMS) messages.
US08200516B2 Support system, server, translation method and program
A management computer (21) is placed in a home country, and an instructor terminal (31) and a driver terminal (32) are placed in a delivery area overseas. The management computer (21) generates screen information, displayed in a domestic language and including a delivery instruction for a package, and transmits the screen information toward the instructor terminal (31) and the driver terminal (32). The instructor terminal (31) or the like, specifies a language, to be used in an area to which a delivery destination belongs, from the address of the delivery destination included in the delivery instruction in the received screen information, and translates the screen information in the specified language, then displays it. When a display language is designated, the instructor terminal (31) or the like translates the screen information in the designated language and displays it.
US08200512B1 Methods for administering loan premiums in a pension insurance program
A pension insurance plan method governs the establishing and administering of a loan premium towards a plan loan secured by participant's plan assets, eliminating adverse tax consequences to the plan beneficiary in the event of the death or disability of the borrower-participant and ensures that the full plan account balance passes intact to beneficiary in such event.
US08200508B2 Image-display device and an image-display system
From a database for reports, storage-location information paired with the characteristics information of this patient's medical image is searched. Then, the medical image stored in a storage location corresponding to the searched storage-location information is acquired, and this acquired medical image is simultaneously displayed with a patient's medical image. In this database, established-disease-name information that includes those with “no findings” or post-surgery-image-identifying information is stored by corresponding to the storage-location information, and the database is searched based on the established-disease-name information that indicates no findings or post-surgery-image-identifying information, and then corresponding medical images are acquired and simultaneously displayed with the patient's medical image.
US08200504B2 Facilitating and encouraging caregroup communications via a closed communication service and hardcopy-based email appliances
Methods and systems are provided for promoting and managing communications among members of a caregroup. Potential recipients of digital gifts are limited to targets of caregroups in which the members participate. An indication of a digital gift to be delivered in hardcopy form to a hardcopy-based email appliance of the target is received. The email appliance is operable to receive digital gifts and produce hardcopy output of the digital gifts. For each content-containing component of the digital gift, default content items are selected based upon one or more of biographical information previously supplied information regarding communications history with the target, ascertained preferences of the target, and the digital gift type. The member of the caregroup is allowed to initiate delivery of the digital gift with the selected default content items or is allowed to personalize the digital gift prior to delivery within a digital gift editor.
US08200500B2 Cue-based audio coding/decoding
Generic and specific C-to-E binaural cue coding (BCC) schemes are described, including those in which one or more of the input channels are transmitted as unmodified channels that are not downmixed at the BCC encoder and not upmixed at the BCC decoder. The specific BCC schemes described include 5-to-2, 6-to-5, 7-to-5, 6.1-to-5.1, 7.1-to-5.1, and 6.2-to-5.1, where “0.1” indicates a single low-frequency effects (LFE) channel and “0.2” indicates two LFE channels.
US08200497B2 Synthesizing/decoding speech samples corresponding to a voicing state
Synthesizing a set of digital speech samples corresponding to a selected voicing state includes dividing speech model parameters into frames, with a frame of speech model parameters including pitch information, voicing information determining the voicing state in one or more frequency regions, and spectral information. First and second digital filters are computed using, respectively, first and second frames of speech model parameters, with the frequency responses of the digital filters corresponding to the spectral information in frequency regions for which the voicing state equals the selected voicing state. A set of pulse locations are determined, and sets of first and second signal samples are produced using the pulse locations and, respectively, the first and second digital filters. Finally, the sets of first and second signal samples are combined to produce a set of digital speech samples corresponding to the selected voicing state.
US08200495B2 Methods and systems for considering information about an expected response when performing speech recognition
A speech recognition system receives and analyzes speech input from a user in order to recognize and accept a response from the user. Under certain conditions, information about the response expected from the user may be available. In these situations, the available information about the expected response is used to modify the behavior of the speech recognition system by taking this information into account. The modified behavior of the speech recognition system according to the invention has several embodiments including: comparing the observed speech features to the models of the expected response separately from the usual hypothesis search in order to speed up the recognition system; modifying the usual hypothesis search to emphasize the expected response; updating and adapting the models when the recognized speech matches the expected response to improve the accuracy of the recognition system.
US08200491B2 Method and system for automatically detecting morphemes in a task classification system using lattices
In an embodiment, a lattice of phone strings in an input communication of a user may be recognized, wherein the lattice may represent a distribution over the phone strings. Morphemes in the input communication of the user may be detected using the recognized lattice. Task-type classification decisions may be made based on the detected morphemes in the input communication of the user.
US08200490B2 Method and apparatus for searching multimedia data using speech recognition in mobile device
A method of searching music using speech recognition in a mobile device, the method including: recognizing a speech signal uttered by a user as a phoneme sequence; and searching music information by performing partial symbol matching between the recognized phoneme sequence and a standard pronunciation sequence.
US08200488B2 Method for processing speech using absolute loudness
The invention provides a method for processing speech comprising the steps of receiving a speech input (SI) of a speaker, generating speech parameters (SP) from said speech input (SI), determining parameters describing an absolute loudness (L) of said speech input (SI), and evaluating (EV) said speech input (SI) and/or said speech parameters (SP) using said parameters describing the absolute loudness (L). In particular, the step of evaluation (EV) comprises a step of emotion recognition and/or speaker identification. Further, a microphone array comprising a plurality of microphones is used for determining said parameters describing the absolute loudness. With a microphone array the distance of the speaker from the microphone array can be determined and the loudness can be normalized by the distance. Thus, the absolute loudness becomes independent from the distance of the speaker to the microphone, and absolute loudness can now be used as an input parameter for emotion recognition and/or speaker identification.
US08200483B2 Adaptive sound source vector quantization device, adaptive sound source vector inverse quantization device, and method thereof
Disclosed is an adaptive excitation vector quantization device capable of improving quantization accuracy of adaptive excitation vector quantization while suppressing increase of the calculation amount in CELP encoding which performs encoding in sub-frame units. An adaptive excitation vector generator cuts out an adaptive excitation vector of a frame length (n) from an adaptive excitation codebook. An impulse response matrix former forms a n×n impulse response matrix using impulse response matrixes of sub-frames inputted from a synthesis filter. A target vector generator adds a linear prediction residual vector of each sub-frame to form a target vector of frame length (n). An evaluation measure calculator calculates an evaluation measure of the adaptive excitation vector quantization by using the adaptive excitation vector, the impulse response matrix, and the target vector.
US08200482B2 Systems, methods and apparatus for transmitting data over a voice channel of a telephone network using linear predictive coding based modulation
The various embodiments described herein generally provide apparatus, systems and methods which facilitate the transmission of data between a client device and a remote device over a voice channel of a telephone network. More particularly, data from a client device is modulated into an audio signal using linear predictive coding (LPC) synthesis and transmitted to the remote device during a phone call. The remote device receives the audio signal and performs linear predictive coding (LPC) analysis to extract the transmitted data.
US08200481B2 Method and device for performing frame erasure concealment to higher-band signal
The present invention discloses a method for performing a frame erasure concealment to a higher-band signal, including: calculating a periodic intensity of a higher-band signal with respect to a lower-band signal; judging whether the periodic intensity of the higher-band signal is higher than or equal to a preconfigured threshold; if the periodic intensity of the higher-band signal is higher than or equal to the preconfigured threshold, using a pitch period repetition method to perform the frame erasure concealment to the higher-band signal of a current lost frame; and if the periodic intensity of the higher-band signal is lower than the preconfigured threshold, using a previous frame data repetition method to perform the frame erasure concealment to the higher-band signal of the current lost frame. The present invention further discloses a device for performing a frame erasure concealment to a higher-band signal and a speech decoder. The problem that the quality of the voice signal is lowered is avoided.
US08200477B2 Method and system for extracting opinions from text documents
A method and system for extracting opinions about a subject of interest from a text document in which each sentence is analyzed individually to identify the opinions. The most relevant feature terms related to the subject are extracted from the document based on their relevancy scores. Candidate feature terms are definite noun phrases at the beginning of the sentences. For each sentence that refers to the subject or a feature term, the invention determines whether the sentence includes an opinion polarity about the subject or the feature term. The opinion polarity is detected by identifying opinion terms in the sentence using an opinion dictionary or an opinion rule base, parsing the sentence with an English parser to identify grammatical components in the sentence and their relationships, and finding a matching entry in the dictionary or the rule base.
US08200473B1 Emulation of multiple MDIO manageable devices
Method and system for processing a management operation command received from a management entity is provided. The management operation command is received by an emulation module for a switch element operationally coupled to the management entity. The switch element includes a plurality of ports, each port having a plurality of components designated as managements devices. The emulation module determines if identification information for a management device in the command matches with identification information stored by the switch element to emulate the management device. If the information matches, then the management operation identified in the management operation command is performed by the emulation module interfacing with a switch element processor.
US08200472B1 Method and apparatus for providing protected intellectual property
Various techniques permit more thorough development of digital systems and devices by designers while protecting the proprietary interests of the owners of the intellectual property incorporated in such systems and devices. More specifically, the present invention provides to an end customer IP hardware which is suitable for prototype testing, but unusable for production purposes. One method limits the physical or electrical mode of operation of a hardware platform used for prototype testing of intellectual property (such as limiting the number of electrical contacts between the hardware and an external electrical device or limiting the data format(s) usable in the hardware during prototype testing). Another method limits the temporal operation of a hardware platform using an internal counter within the software provided by the intellectual property owner. Once a clock count limit is reached, the software disables the hardware in one or more prescribed ways, such as a reset of one or more registers, a global tri-state of the hardware IO, or a random failure of some type. Suitable hardware fabrication and/or augmentation also may be used to differentiate between the prototype and production manners of operation.
US08200471B2 Apparatus and methods for modeling power characteristics of electronic circuitry
Apparatus and methods for calculating power consumption of circuitry within integrated circuits (ICs), such as programmable logic devices (PLDs) are disclosed and described. A method of estimating power consumption of a circuit in an IC includes decomposing the IC into a plurality of overlapping blocks. Each block in the plurality of blocks includes a portion of the circuitry in the IC. The method further includes estimating power consumption of each block in the plurality of blocks, and estimating power consumption of the IC based on the power consumption of the plurality of blocks.
US08200468B2 Methods and system for lithography process window simulation
A method of efficient simulating imaging performance of a lithographic process utilized to image a target design having a plurality of features. The method includes the steps of determining a function for generating a simulated image, where the function accounts for process variations associated with the lithographic process; and generating the simulated image utilizing the function, where the simulated image represents the imaging result of the target design for the lithographic process. In one given embodiment, the function for simulating the aerial images with focus and dose (exposure) variation is defined as: I(x,f,1+ε)=I0(x)+└ε·I0(x)+(1+ε)·a(x)·(f−f0)+(1+ε)·b(x)·(f−f0)2┘ where IO represents image intensity at nominal focus and exposure, fO represents nominal focus, f and ε represent an actual focus-exposure level at which the simulated image is calculated, and parameters “a” and “b” represent first order and second order derivative images with respect to focus change.
US08200467B1 Adaptive solver for cyclic behavior of a circuit
A method of determining values for a circuit over a cycle includes: specifying first-cycle values for the circuit in a first cycle, the first-cycle values including voltage or current values for the circuit and providing reference cyclic values for characterizing a cyclic behavior of the circuit in the first cycle with a reference cyclic dimension; determining, from the first-cycle values, path-following values for the circuit in a second cycle, wherein the path-following values include transient values for characterizing a transient behavior of the circuit and cyclic-correction values for characterizing the cyclic behavior of the circuit relative to the reference cyclic values from the first cycle, wherein a cyclic-correction dimension of the cyclic-correction values is less than the reference cyclic dimension; and saving at least some values based on the path-following values in the second cycle.
US08200465B2 Heterogeneous earth models for a reservoir field
A method for creating a heterogeneous earth model (HEM) of a reservoir field includes generating a group of wellsite models for a group of wellsites of the reservoir field based at least on cluster analysis and cluster tagging performed on log data of the group of wellsites, generating a reference model from the group of wellsite models, where cluster tagging errors of the group of wellsite models is minimized to obtain the reference model, constructing a contour plot of the cluster tagging errors on a cluster by cluster basis in the reservoir field, identifying at least one well location and associated core depth interval based on the contour plot for obtaining additional sampling results, and updating the reference model based on the additional sampling results to create the HEM.
US08200464B2 Explosion simulation in finite element analysis
Systems and methods of simulating an explosion in time-marching finite element analysis are disclosed in the present invention. A method is configured for increasing user (e.g., engineer or scientist) productivity by reducing computation time of simulating fluid-structure interaction due to an explosion. The method comprises a creation of a finite element analysis model that includes structure, surrounding fluid, a blast source of the explosion and a single layer of ambient elements each having a segment representing a boundary of the fluid facing the blast source. Each ambient element is associated with a particular finite element representing the fluid at the boundary. The ambient elements are configured to be situated between the blast source and the structure such that the simulation can be carried on a set of boundary conditions specified thereon. The boundary conditions comprise a set of nodal velocities that are determined from the empirical formula (e.g., Friedlander equation).
US08200459B2 Methods and systems for generating suitable meshes for hybrid RANS/LES modelling
A method of generating a mesh of an object (11) that moves through a fluid medium which is used in the design or analysis of the object (11) in connection with a hybrid method combining RANS and LES comprising the following steps: a) creating an inner “C” topology (21) around the object (11) for a boundary layer description; b) creating an outer “C” topology (23) covering a space region including the separation region; c) locating the separation region and adapting to it the inner and outer “C's” topologies (21, 23) so that the outer “C” topology (23) is adapted to the size of the separated region and the inner “C” topology (21) is adapted to the size of the boundary layer; d) refining the mesh in the separation region according to the specifications of the RANS/LES method. The invention also provides a system for carrying out the method.
US08200456B2 System for multidimensional data-driven utility baselining
A system for utility base lining records historic values of utility loads for regions within a facility. The system also records historic values of independent variables such as outside temperature, time, date, workday versus non-workday, and occupancy. A similar data selector seeks out similar times in the past and submits the data from those times to a base line estimator which produces a baseline estimate. Differences between the current load and the estimated load can trigger alarms or investigations to determine why the utility load has changed. False alarms can occur when the utility load drifts over time. Detecting drift can help reduce false alarms or help in the investigation of alarms. A graphical user interface (GUI) can present an easily understood representation of the regions, load estimation errors, alarms, and detected drift.
US08200455B2 Diagnosis function detection apparatus of vehicle and detection method thereof
A diagnosis function detecting apparatus of a vehicle is configured to detect a diagnosis function for diagnosing a malfunction of the vehicle, and a detecting method thereof. A method for detecting a malfunction diagnosis function of a vehicle may include detecting the operation condition of the engine of a vehicle, determining whether the accumulated operation time of the engine or the accumulated fuel consumption amount exceeds a predetermined value, determining whether the malfunction diagnosis function is in a normal condition when the accumulated operation time or the accumulated fuel consumption amount exceeds the predetermined value, and restricting the output torque of the engine or lighting a warning lamp when the malfunction diagnosis function is in an abnormal condition, or sustaining the normal driving condition when the malfunction diagnosis function is in a normal condition.
US08200454B2 Method, data processing program and computer program product for time series analysis
Method, apparatus, and system, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for time series analysis, wherein the time series exhibit trend and/or seasonality. Model parameters of the time series data are determined by selecting and/or suggesting a most appropriate combination of trend and seasonality of the time series data based on analysis of variances of transformed time series data.
US08200451B2 Method and system for detecting the risk of icing on aerodynamic surfaces
The invention relates to a method and a system for detecting the risk of icing on aerodynamic surfaces lapped by a fluid flow (F), in particular on load-bearing surfaces of fluid machines, of the type comprising a temperature sensor (20). The system is characterized in that the temperature sensor (20) is located close to the aerodynamic surface (5S) to be monitored for detecting the temperature of the surface (5S), and that the system comprises a rain sensor (30) located close to the surface (5S) for detecting the presence of water on that surface (5S). The system can thus detect the risk of icing on aerodynamic surfaces.
US08200449B2 Testing linearity of methods of chemical analysis with various statistical tests
A method for testing the linearity or non-linearity of an actual analyte concentration and a test result, where the actual concentration of the analyte and a test result are determined so that a computation based upon an algorithm may be performed, which allows computation of various variables so that regression may be performed and the linear significance may be determined.
US08200448B2 Optical monitor for rugate filter deposition
This invention describes a means to monitor the deposition of a rugate filter such that the deposited filter will have the specified bandwidth, angular shift properties, and the correct wavelength of the reflectance peak.
US08200447B2 Measuring apparatus
Measuring apparatus for monitoring the position of the center of mass of a semiconductor wafer is disclosed. The apparatus includes a wafer support (14) with a ledge for supporting an edge of a wafer (2) when it is lifted at a detection point by a probe (16). The probe (16) is connected to a force sensor (18) which senses a force due to a moment of the wafer about a fulcrum (4) on the wafer support (14). Moment measurements are taken at a plurality of detection points and a processing unit calculates the position of the center of mass from the moment measurements. Changes in wafer mass distribution (e.g. due to faulty treatment steps) which cause movement of the center of mass can be detected.
US08200445B2 Power supply noise analysis method, system and program for electronic circuit board
Disclosed is a method of analyzing power supply noise including: extracting power supply and ground information as well as a capacitor and an LSI chip connected to a power supply and ground from electronic circuit design information; creating an analytical model of power supply noise by connecting respective models of the impedance characteristics of the capacitor and LSI chip to mounting positions of a board model; calculating reflected voltage at the LSI chip based on an impedance characteristic between the power supply of the LSI chip and ground; calculating power supply noise from the LSI chip to the electronic circuit board; based on the reflected voltage at the LSI chip.
US08200443B2 Adjustment device of rotary machine, adjustment method of rotary machine, and manufacturing method of rotary machine
An adjustment device of a rotary machine including a movable base formed rotatable around an axis, vibration sensors formed so that the sensors can measure amplitudes of longitudinal vibration and transverse vibration of the rotary machine, an adjustment weight to be arranged on the movable base, and a PC including a control section for calculating a position and weight of the adjustment weight, a storage section, and an amplifier are provided, an approximate expression is obtained by the PC from an amplitude measured by the vibration sensor, and a predetermined function, an optimum change amount x and position θ of the adjustment weight are calculated from the approximate expression, whereby the adjustment weight is arranged.
US08200442B2 Usage monitor reliability factor using an advanced fatigue reliability assessment model
According to one non-limiting embodiment, a method includes accessing flight regime rates of occurrence distributions associated with one or more flight regimes for a fleet of aircraft. Using the accessed flight regime distributions, a factor for at least one of the flight regimes is determined that provides a predetermined amount of reliability for a component on each aircraft on the fleet of aircraft known to be affected through at least fatigue damage by the at least one flight regime.
US08200441B2 Method for identifying nucleotide sequence, method for acquiring secondary structure of nucleic acid molecule, apparatus for identifying nucleotide sequence, apparatus for acquiring secondary structure of nucleic acid molecule, program for identifying nucleotide sequence, and program for acquiring secondary structure of nucleic acid molecule
The object of the present invention is to provide a method for identifying a nucleotide sequence necessary for expressing affinity for a target substance with respect to a nucleotide sequence of a nucleic acid molecule such as an aptamer having such affinity for the target substance, based on similarity between nucleotide sequences and an evaluated value of the affinity of the nucleotide sequence, and a method for predicting a secondary structure of the nucleic acid molecule including the identified nucleotide sequence. The method of present invention includes the steps of extracting a single-stranded region by excluding based capable of forming a stem structure from the nucleotide sequence of the nucleic acid molecule; and searching a motif sequence from the single-stranded region, based on an evaluated value of the affinity.
US08200439B2 Computer aided ligand-based and receptor-based drug design utilizing molecular shape and electrostatic complementarity
Methods related to the generation of shape signatures representing molecular shape, and using shape signatures in both ligand-based and receptor-based molecular design. Ray-tracing is used to explore the volume interior to a ligand, or the space exterior to a receptor site. Shape signatures are then probability distributions derived from the ray-traces. Shape signatures provide condensed descriptors of shape properties readily compared to each other to test for shape similarity or complementarity.
US08200437B2 Method for borehole correction, formation dip and azimuth determination and resistivity determination using multiaxial induction measurements
A method for determining electromagnetic induction properties of subsurface rock formations includes determining an eccentering angle of a well logging instrument disposed in a wellbore. The instrument includes at least one triaxial induction transmitter and at least one triaxial induction receiver. The eccentering angle is determined from symmetric cross component measurement differences. The triaxial induction measurements made from the at least one receiver are rotated to an apparent eccentering angle of zero. At least one electromagnetic induction property is determined from the rotated triaxial induction measurements.
US08200434B2 Tsunami detection method and system
A method of detecting a tsunami by using the global positioning system (GPS) is provided. The method includes distributing multiple GPS receivers over a sea surface in a target area, receiving signals from GPS satellites by the GPS receivers, and transmitting the signals and coordinates of the GPS receivers to a computer. The signals are then processed to acquire real-time monitoring data including the distribution of electrons in the ionosphere above the target area, and the occurrence of a tsunami is then determined based on the distribution of electrons.
US08200426B2 Mobile navigation system
A client navigation system establishes a wireless connection to a navigation server on a computer network. The client requests a route by uploading start and stop specifications. The server calculates an optimal route based on real-time data available on the network. A generic natural language description is used to specify the optimal route downloaded to the client. The natural language description is independent from the local mapping database software on the client and includes a plain text description for each link using pre-defined generic terms. The client interprets the route, interfaces with the local mapping database and reconstructs the optimal route using a mapping reconstruction algorithm. The route is displayed on the client navigation system using whatever mapping database is present. An enhanced user-interface data-entry feature is provided that anticipates data being entered by users to minimize the data-entry process. The current time zone is derived from the current GPS position and is used to set the clock on the navigation system in the client. Maps are automatically scrolled on a display screen so that a representation of the automobile is always pointing to the right or to the left to allow for additional look-ahead space on certain display systems. A telephone coupled with the navigation system automatically displays the current local time for a called party upon dialing out. The dialed number is used to query a local database for providing local time information.
US08200424B2 Navigation device
A navigation device calculates the distance difference between the position of a vehicle which is map-matched onto a road link, and the position acquired by perpendicular-mapping the actual position of the vehicle at a branch point onto the above-mentioned road link from the lane width K of a road lane along which the vehicle had been traveling before making a turn at the branch point, the lane width N of a road lane along which the vehicle has been traveling after making the turn, and the lane number B of the road lane before the branch point, the lane number A of the road lane after branch point, and the turning angle Θ of the vehicle at the branch point, so as to correct the vehicle position in such a way that the vehicle position is the above-mentioned perpendicular-mapped position.
US08200423B2 Mobile autonomous updating of GIS maps
An apparatus for mobile autonomous updating of GIS maps is provided, comprising an autonomous mobile data collecting platform with a map identifying one or more GIS features. The platform has at least one data collecting sensor for collecting data for at least one of the GIS features and patrols at least a portion of a region included in the map while updating its GIS position as it patrols. The autonomous mobile data collecting platform applies the at least one data collecting sensor during patrolling to collect data for at least one of the GIS features and updates the GIS map to reflect differential data collected for at least one GIS feature.
US08200412B2 Controller for internal combustion engine
When a coolant temperature is abnormal and alcohol concentration of a main fuel detected by an alcohol concentration sensor is in a high concentration region, an auxiliary fuel supply is conducted. Thus, when the actual coolant temperature is in a low temperature region and an alcohol concentration of the main fuel is in a high concentration region, that is, when a volatility of the main fuel is not sufficient, the auxiliary fuel supply is certainly conducted. Furthermore, when the coolant temperature sensor is abnormal, the pseudo coolant temperature is set lower than the standard coolant temperature. A warming increase coefficient is computed by use of the pseudo coolant temperature. Thereby, the main fuel injection quantity is increased sufficiently when the actual coolant temperature is in a low temperature region and the alcohol concentration of the main fuel is in high concentration region.
US08200410B2 Active pattern factor control for gas turbine engines
A method of actively controlling pattern factor in a gas turbine engine includes the steps of issuing fuel into a combustion chamber of a gas turbine engine through one or more circumferentially disposed fuel injectors, determining an initial circumferential pattern factor in the combustion chamber, and adjusting fuel flow through one or more selected fuel injectors based on the initial circumferential pattern factor, to yield a modified circumferential pattern factor in the combustion chamber. The step of determining the circumferential pattern factor can include the steps of detecting a chemiluminescent signature within the combustor, correlating the chemiluminescent signature to an equivalence ratio, and computing the initial circumferential pattern factor based on the equivalence ratio. Alternatively, the step of determining the circumferential pattern factor can include the steps of measuring temperatures at a plurality of circumferential positions at the combustor exit and computing the initial circumferential pattern factor based on the measured temperatures.
US08200404B2 Controlling wheel hop in a vehicle driveline
A method for controlling wheel-hop in a vehicle driveline includes detecting that a wheel-hop condition occurs upon determining an amplitude and frequency of speed oscillations of a component that transmits power to wheels of the driveline, engaging a transmission friction clutch that transmits torque in the driveline between an engine and the wheels, and modulating requested engine torque.
US08200400B2 Method for operating a working machine and a working machine with an improved ability to meet transient loads
A working machine and a method for operating a working machine are provided. The working machine includes a power source and a plurality of driving wheels; a working hydraulic system including at least one hydraulic pump powered by the power source for moving an implement on the working machine and/or for steering the working machine; a transmission line arranged between the power source and the driving wheels for transmitting torque from the power source to the driving wheels. The method includes detecting at least one operational parameter indicative of a load exerted on the working hydraulic system, determining if torque needs to be added, in addition to a torque delivered by the power source, on the basis of a magnitude of the detected operational parameter in order to reduce the a load on the power source, and adding torque in case additional torque is determined to be needed.
US08200396B2 Apparatus for controlling lighting angle of headlights of vehicle
An apparatus is provided to control a lighting angle of headlights installed in a vehicle. In the apparatus, a curve of the road is calculated and the radius of the curve is obtained, based on the current position and the road information. The curve is located ahead of the vehicle. A distance from the current position to a starting point of the curve is calculated based on the current position and the road information. Determination is made as to whether or not the curve is an S-shaped curve based on the road information, and line-shape information showing a line shape of the S-curve is set in response to the determination results of the curve. A lighting angle of the headlights is calculated based on the radius of the curve, the distance and the line-shape information, and the lighting angle of the headlights is controlled based on the calculated lighting angle.
US08200394B2 System and method for adjustment of a steer angle of a wheel of a motor vehicle
A system for adjusting a wheel lock angle of a wheel of a motor vehicle, in particular of a rear wheel, wherein at least one wheel guide member, by means of which a wheel carrier of the wheel is connected to a vehicle body, wherein the wheel carrier can pivot about a rotational axis which runs substantially parallel to the plane of the wheel and the wheel guide member is coupled to the wheel carrier at a distance from the rotational axis, and wherein the length of the wheel guide member can be adjusted by an actuator, wherein at least one actuator is driven by a motor and at least one control unit, and the control unit includes a computer unit with a memory and a communication interface, and the control unit transmits and receives data via the communication interface by means of at least one communication bus.
US08200393B2 Vehicle steering apparatus
A vehicle steering apparatus 1 includes a variable gear ratio actuator 7, an IFS ECU 8, which controls the actuator 7, an EPS actuator 17, and an EPS ECU 18, which controls the EPS actuator 17. The variable gear ratio actuator 7 varies the transmission ratio between a steering wheel and steered wheels. The EPS actuator 17 applies an assist force that assists a steering operation. A microcomputer 43 of the EPS actuator 17 increases an inertia compensation current command Iti* (Iti**), which is a compensation component based on the differential value of a steering torque, during actuation of the variable gear ratio actuator 7, that is, when an ACT angle θta is changed.
US08200390B2 Securable cover for vehicle lights
A cover for use in connection with one or more vehicle lights is provided. A lens of the cover contains an electrically activatable material that prevents the transmission of visible light from entering into and reflecting out from one or more of the vehicle lights when the electrically activatable material is set to a light inhibiting state. The cover may be configured to be releasably installed over one or more of the vehicle lights such as military combat vehicle lights. A coupling device electrically couples the electrically activatable material to an electrical power source. An actuator is adapted to set the electrically activatable material of the lens to the light inhibiting state in response to user operation such that the lens prevents the transmission of visible light from entering into and reflecting out from the one or more vehicle lights to reduce the observability of the one or more vehicle lights.
US08200387B2 Device and method for controlling a drive unit
In a method for controlling the operation of an internal combustion engine, a target torque to be produced is determined in several steps: In a first step a torque requested by a user is determined and modified in subsequent steps by different functions, which reproduce the influences of at least one continuously determined working and/or operating parameter of the engine on the torque that is actually produced, in such a way that at the end of the steps the target torque required during the engine operation is defined and the engine operation and the determination of the working and/or operating parameter are monitored for errors. If errors occur, diagnostic values that describe or indicate the errors are generated and used to modify, in particular limit the target torque. The diagnostic values are individually assigned to the individual steps to modify the determination or modification of the torque performed in each step.
US08200385B2 Power output apparatus, control method thereof, and vehicle
A power output apparatus includes a control unit that controls an internal combustion engine, a generator, and an electric motor such that a required driving force is output to a drive shaft. The control unit learns an idle control amount, which is a control amount obtained during an idle operation of the internal combustion engine, in accordance with establishment of a predetermined learning condition when a rotation variation amount of the drive shaft is within a predetermined range including a value of zero, and does not learn the idle control amount when the rotation variation amount of the drive shaft is not within the predetermined range.
US08200384B2 Electric apparatus and method of controlling the same
An input/output control unit receives two temperature values from first and second temperature sensors, respectively, and calculates a temperature difference that is an absolute value of a difference between the two temperature values. The input/output control unit stores a map determining a relationship between temperature values and target values of input powers (or output powers) of the first and second batteries required for keeping the temperature difference. Based on this map and the two temperature values received from the first and second temperature sensors, respectively, the input/output control unit determines the target values of the respective input powers (output powers) of the first and second batteries. A hybrid control unit controls an inverter unit and a booster converter such that the values of the powers input/output to or from the first and second batteries attain the target values, respectively.
US08200381B2 Component vehicle
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for determining whether first and second components of a vehicle are physically coupled together, the method comprising: transmitting a first signal from the first component of the vehicle; receiving a second signal from the second component of the vehicle; processing the second signal to determine whether the first and second components of the vehicle are coupled.
US08200380B2 Method and apparatus for hybrid train control device
A method and an apparatus for an on-board train control device are provided, and are based on converting speed codes received from wayside cab-signaling devices into movement authority limits. The device determines the train location independent of the wayside train detection system, and generates and enforces stopping profiles based on said movement authority limits.
US08200379B2 Smart recovery system
This invention relates to an intelligence system on board an aircraft that detects an emergency, assesses the situation, and then acts on the situation in a pre-determined manner.
US08200378B1 System, module, and method for presenting NOTAM information on an aircraft display unit
A present novel and non-trivial system, module, and method for presenting NOTAM information are disclosed. A plurality of sources may be used for providing navigation data, terrain data, NOTAM data, and object data. After receiving this data, a NOTAM display generating processor may generate a NOTAM image data set as a function of the navigation data, terrain data, NOTAM data, and object data. The NOTAM image data set may be representative of NOTAM information presented in a three-dimensional perspective of a scene outside an aircraft, where NOTAM information may comprise non-textual NOTAM information, textual NOTAM information, or both. After being generated, the NOTAM image data set may be provided to a presentation system where NOTAM information may be presented on at least one tactical display unit such as a head-down display unit and/or a head-up display unit.
US08200376B2 Vehicle performance monitoring system with multi-level caching
A system and method for monitoring vehicle performance including multi-level caching. The system includes a vehicle portion with sensors, a vehicle caching data server, and a wireless transceiver and a monitoring station portion with monitoring workstations, a monitoring caching data server, and a wireless transceiver. The monitoring caching data server receives and aggregates requests for vehicle performance data from the monitoring workstations based on request priority and available bandwidth. The vehicle caching data server stores vehicle performance data from the sensors and selectively transmits a subset of the vehicle performance data to the monitoring caching data server in response to aggregate requests.
US08200375B2 Radio controlled aircraft, remote controller and methods for use therewith
A radio controlled (RC) aircraft includes a receiver that is coupled to receive an RF signal from a remote control device, the RF signal containing command data in accordance with a first coordinate system, wherein the first coordinate system is from a perspective of the remote control device. A motion sensing module generates motion data based on the motion of the RC aircraft. A processing module transforms the command data into control data in accordance with a second coordinate system, wherein the second coordinate system is from a perspective of the RC aircraft. A plurality of control devices control the motion of the RC aircraft based on the control data. In an embodiment, a remote control device commands the RC helicopter to substantially a hovering state when no force is applied to each of a plurality of spring-loaded interface devices.
US08200373B2 Energy production and consumption matching system
A system for balancing energy being consumed by a first device against the available energy being produced by a second separate device. One application for the invention is monitoring the amount of energy being produced by a photovoltaic array and using that information to control a load so that the load consumes substantially the same amount of energy as is then being produced by the array.
US08200372B2 Methods and processes for managing distributed resources in electricity power generation and distribution networks
According to an aspect of the invention a method is provided comprising: providing a model for a predetermined location within an electrical power system having therein distributed resources (DR), the model based on known system conditions, the model indicative of first sensed characteristics of the electrical power system at the predetermined location; sensing at the predetermined location characteristics of the electrical power system corresponding to at least some of the first sensed characteristics; determining a status of the electrical power system network indicative of an islanding event in dependence upon sensing and other than in dependence upon other sensed data sensed remotely from the predetermined location; and, controlling a distributed resource in dependence upon the status.
US08200370B2 Energy reduction
A power reduction system includes a central server and a plurality of power reduction devices. The central server of the power reduction aggregation system includes: a network interface configured to transmit and receive information to and from a communication network; a power grid status module coupled to the network interface and configured to transmit a power status message to the network, via the network interface, toward at least two power reduction devices connected to the network; and a power savings compensation module configured to determine an aggregate compensation earned for providing an aggregate energy reduction induced by the at least two power reduction devices in response to receiving the power status message, and further configured to determine individual portions of the aggregate compensation associated with each of the at least two power reduction devices.
US08200366B2 Method and system for determining a volume-based fill pattern of a multi-dose medicament container
A system and method for determining and communicating a volume-based fill pattern for a multi-dose medicament container is disclosed. Pill information corresponding to one or more pills for a patient to be packaged together may be obtained, and non-volume fill factors may be obtained. The volume-based fill pattern may be selected and indicated to be a cuboid volume or a packing parameter fill pattern. Pill and multi-dose medicament container data may be obtained and used to determine a fill pattern that is communicated to a filling entity for execution. The present disclosure may operate in accordance with multi-dose blister packs, and systems and methods of filling said blister packs.
US08200365B2 Method for committing material to a module of an inserting system
A method for maximizing the overall efficiency of an insertion system by running the system with the optimal balance between system throughput and potential for system stoppages. In other words, the system is capable of running at less than maximum throughput if running at such throughput is causing excessive amounts of system stoppages and thus, negatively impacting overall system efficiency. The foregoing is accomplished by an algorithm that controls the flow of material being processed by a particular section of the machine, or “module”. This algorithm is capable of reducing the flow rate of material to, or within, that module if a problem arises downstream that may lead to a paper jam.
US08200360B2 Machining parameter optimizing apparatus, method for optimizing machining parameter and program therefor
It is an object of the present invention to provide a machining parameter optimizing apparatus deciding a tool axis attitude and a machining zone and deciding a tooling having high stiffness for any profile of a finished workpiece. A tool axis attitude deciding member 21 decides one or plural tool axis attitude. An interference dangerous zone deciding member 23 decides as an interference dangerous zone a zone possible to interfere between a tool or a tool holder and a workpiece during machining by the decided tool axis attitude. A machining simulation member 25 executes a machining simulation based on the interference dangerous zone by the decided tool axis attitude and generates the virtual tool holder in which there is no any interference, and also decides a machining zone in a way of avoiding the interference dangerous zone. A non-interference tooling deciding member 27 deciding the tooling included in a range of a profile of the virtual tool holder, the tooling is a combination of the tool and the tool holder having the highest stiffness.
US08200357B2 Embroidery data creation apparatus and computer-readable recording medium storing embroidery data creation program
An embroidery data creation apparatus including an angle information calculation device that calculates an angle characteristic and an angle characteristic intensity for each of the pixels constituting image data, an angle information storage device that stores the angle characteristic and the angle characteristic intensity as angle information, a region specification device that specifies a change region in which the angle information is to be changed, an angle characteristic specification device that specifies a post-change angle characteristic, an angle characteristic change device that changes the respective angle characteristics of pixels included in the change region based on the post-change angle characteristic, a line segment data creation device that creates line segment data, a color data creation device that creates color data, and an embroidery data creation device that creates the embroidery data based on the line segment data and the color data.
US08200355B2 Method for manufacturing artificial implants
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing artificial implants, comprising 1) acquiring the pre-operation three dimensional volume image and the post-operation three dimensional volume image of the operation portion, thereby respectively producing the pre-operation target image and the post-operation target image including the target; 2) aligning the pre-operation target image with the post-operation target image so as to generate the aligned image; 3) acquiring the difference image of the incised part in the target based on the aligned image; 4) building the three dimensional model of mold points of the incised part based on the difference image; and 5) manufacturing the artificial implant having the same shape with the incised part based on such three dimensional model of mold points.
US08200352B2 Method of setting an equalizer in an apparatus to reproduce a media file and apparatus thereof
A method and apparatus to reproduce a media file including reading mapping information from a predetermined position of the media file, searching for a sound field effect file of the media file by referring to the mapping information, and setting an equalizer of the audio data on the basis of the sound field effect file. A user can reproduce a media file by using an optimized equalizer of each media file even though the user himself does not set the equalizer. Also, since an equalizer setting of the reproducing apparatus can be applied to another reproducing apparatus, a user can enjoy listening to a media file in the other reproducing apparatus under the same reproducing conditions as those of the reproducing apparatus.
US08200351B2 Low power downmix energy equalization in parametric stereo encoders
A method and audio device are presented that preserve mono energy during downmixing of a hybrid coding process of an audio signal. The method includes calculating a stereo scaling factor in a group level that is definable within a stereo band. The method may also include updating the stereo scaling factor using an update rate and synchronizing the update rate of a spatial parameter during a fast changing transient portion of the signal. A number of groups in a first stereo band may be greater than a number of groups in a second stereo band, and the first stereo band may be a lower frequency band than the second band or may be perceptually more important than the second band.
US08200350B2 Content reproducing apparatus, list correcting apparatus, content reproducing method, and list correcting method
A content reproducing apparatus includes: a recording unit that records content impression values obtained by digitizing impressions of plural contents, respectively, and a list for registering the plural contents corresponding to the plural content impression values in a selection area with a reference impression value set as a reference and causing a user to use the contents; a reproducing unit that reproduces the contents; an evaluation-value detecting unit that detects evaluation values of the plural contents registered in the list according to reproduction of the contents by the reproducing unit; a selection-area changing unit that changes the selection area on the basis of the evaluation values detected by the evaluation-value detecting unit; and a list correcting unit that corrects the list according to the selection area changed by the selection-area changing unit and the plural content impression values.
US08200349B2 Integrated audio video signal processing system using centralized processing of signals
Integrated processing of audio/video signals can eliminate unnecessary signal processors and converters without losing the functionality of typical home entertainment system components. The integrated system includes a main player that captures and processes signals digitally, a dummy display, and a dummy speaker. The dummy display may only have a display panel and a panel driver. The dummy speaker may only have a driving unit and no crossover logic. The main player may have a PC architecture and process all signals digitally for outputting signals tailored for the display device and the individual driving units of the dummy speaker. The integrated system may also provide dynamic signal adjustments based on the surrounding environment. The main player may include a storage device and can process media content stored therein to produce supplemental information to provide an optimal audiovisual experience. This supplemental information can be shared among users over a network connection.
US08200345B2 Extremum seeking control with actuator saturation control
An extremum seeking control method optimizes a control process for a plant such as an air handling unit. The method improves the performance of an extremum seeking control strategy by limiting, removing or preventing the effects of an actuator saturation condition, particularly as the extremum seeking control strategy relates to HVAC applications.
US08200344B2 Extremum seeking control with reset control
An extremum seeking control method optimizes a control process for a plant such as an air handling unit. The method compensates for abrupt changes in the operation of the plant by resetting the extremum seeking control strategy in response to a detection of the abrupt change.
US08200342B2 Methodology and apparatus to terminate abandoned active implantable medical device leads
An energy management system facilitates the transfer of high frequency energy coupled into an implanted abandoned lead at a selected RF frequency or frequency band, to an energy dissipating surface. This is accomplished by conductively coupling the implanted abandoned lead to the energy dissipating surface of an abandoned lead cap through an energy diversion circuit including one or more passive electronic network components whose impedance characteristics are at least partially tuned to the implanted abandoned lead's impedance characteristics.
US08200341B2 Sensing vector selection in a cardiac stimulus device with postural assessment
Methods, implantable medical devices and systems configured to perform analysis of captured signals from implanted electrodes to identify cardiac arrhythmias. In an illustrative embodiment, signals captured from two or more sensing vectors are analyzed, where the signals are captured with a patient in at least first and second body positions. Analysis is performed to identify primary or default sensing vectors and/or templates for event detection.
US08200340B2 Guided programming for posture-state responsive therapy
The disclosure describes guided programming for posture state-responsive therapy. The guided programming may include receiving therapy adjustment information that includes therapy adjustments made by a patient to at least one parameter of one or more stimulation therapy programs for one or more patient posture states, generating one or more suggested therapy parameters for one or more of the stimulation therapy programs based on the therapy adjustment information, presenting the suggested therapy parameters to a user.
US08200339B2 Implantable microphone for an implantable hearing prothesis
An implantable microphone for a hearing prosthesis. The microphone comprises: a housing having a diaphragm chamber formed therein, and an aperture extending from the exterior surface of the housing to the chamber; a diaphragm disposed on the exterior of the housing so as to seal the aperture, and configured to vibrate in response to sound signals; a sensor positioned adjacent an end of the chamber opposing the diaphragm, and configured to detect vibration of the diaphragm, and to generate electrical signals based thereon; and a stiffening material substantially filling the regions of the housing external to the sensor and the diaphragm such that that air gaps within the filled regions of the housing are substantially eliminated, wherein the stiffening material has an elastic modulus that enables the housing to substantially resist deformation there of in response to body-noise.
US08200337B2 Method of selecting specific skeletal muscle highly sensitive to human psychological state, device for selecting specific skeletal muscle, method of evaluating stress during work, and system for evaluating stress during work
The selecting method and apparatus for selecting a specific skeletal muscle affected by a psychological state of a person from skeletal muscles of the person apply at least a first stimulus to the person to bring the person into an uncomfortable state, acquire muscle activity information of each of the skeletal muscles when the first stimulus is applied to the person and select the specific skeletal muscle based on the muscle activity information of each of the skeletal muscles by the first stimulus. The stress evaluating method and system acquire the muscle activity information of the person during an operation for the selected specific skeletal muscle selected by the selecting method and apparatus, and evaluate a degree of stress placed on the person during the operation based on the acquired muscle activity information.
US08200331B2 System and method for filtering neural stimulation
Various aspects of the present subject matter provide a filter module. In various embodiments, the filter module comprises an input, an output, a signal path from the input to the output, a filter and a switch. The filter has a transfer response to attenuate a frequency of a neural stimulation signal. The switch is adapted to place the filter in the signal path when the neural stimulation signal is applied and to remove the filter from the signal path when the neural stimulation signal is not applied. Other aspects are provided herein.
US08200330B2 Responding to partial lead failure in an implantable cardioverter defibrillator
An implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) delivers an electrical therapy signal to the heart of a patient. When ventricular fibrillation or another condition of the heart requiring high voltage therapy is sensed, the therapy signal is delivered to the heart. When a partial short-circuit or other low impedance condition occurs, an over-current protection circuit will stop delivery of a shocking pulse. The ICD will then reduce the voltage of the shocking pulse and try again to deliver electrical therapy. This process is repeated until a voltage level is found that is able to deliver the electrical therapy without causing an over-voltage condition. Alternate lead configurations may also be tried in an attempt to find a signal path that is not affected by the low impedance or short-circuit condition.
US08200328B2 Tank filters placed in series with the lead wires or circuits of active medical devices to enhance MRI compatibility
A TANK filter is provided for a lead wire of an active medical device (AMD). The TANK filter includes a capacitor in parallel with an inductor. The parallel capacitor and inductor are placed in series with the lead wire of the AMD, wherein values of capacitance and inductance are selected such that the TANK filter is resonant at a selected frequency. The Q of the inductor may be relatively maximized and the Q of the capacitor may be relatively minimized to reduce the overall Q of the TANK filter to attenuate current flow through the lead wire along a range of selected frequencies. In a preferred form, the TANK filter is integrated into a TIP and/or RING electrode for an active implantable medical device.
US08200327B2 Device for transdermal electrotransport delivery of fentanyl and sufentanil
The invention provides an improved electrotransport drug delivery system for analgesic drugs, namely fentanyl and sufentanil. The fentanyl/sufentanil is provided as a water soluble salt (e.g., fentanyl hydrochloride), preferably in a hydrogel formulation, for use in an electrotransport device. In accordance with the present invention, a transdermal electrotransport delivered dose of fentanyl/sufentanil is provided which is sufficient to induce analgesia in (e.g., adult) human patients suffering from moderate-to-severe pain associated with major surgical procedures.
US08200324B2 Implantable medical device diagnostic data acquisition and storage
A method carried out by a therapeutic implantable medical device includes detecting a plurality of physiologic episodes and recording a set of diagnostic data associated with the plurality of physiological episodes. The plurality of physiologic episodes are prioritized based on episode types associated with the physiologic episodes. The diagnostic data is analyzed based on a minimum and maximum number associated with each episode type relating to a minimum and maximum number of sets of diagnostic data to be recorded for the associated episode type. The recorded set of diagnostic data is deleted only if a later recorded set of diagnostic data is associated with a detected physiologic episode having an episode type of a higher priority, and deletion of the set of diagnostic data would not result in fewer sets of diagnostic data than the minimum number specified for the episode type associated with the set of diagnostic data.
US08200318B2 Electrocardiogram reconstruction from implanted device electrograms
A method of reconstruction of the standard 12-lead surface EKG given values of the electrical potential from an implanted medical device is described. This implanted device can be oriented in an arbitrary fashion and reconstruction technique is obtained through physical measurement of the orientation of the implanted device or correlation with a standard 12-lead EKG obtained from the patient.
US08200317B2 Method and apparatus for amplifying multiple signals using a single multiplexed amplifier channel with software controlled AC response
A device for amplifying multiple signals includes a plurality of sensors, where a plurality of lead signals are derived from the plurality of sensors, a plurality of low-pass filter and buffer amplifiers for filtering and buffering the plurality of lead signals, one or more multiplexers, where outputs from the plurality of low-pass filter and buffer amplifiers are input to one of the one or more multiplexers, a single amplifier channel, where the outputs of the one or more multiplexers are input to the single amplifier channel and a microcontroller which controls the one or more multiplexers, wherein the microcontroller stores software which selects, in sequence, one at a time, one out of each of the lead signals to be connected to inputs of the single amplifier channel, wherein the single amplifier channel amplifies all of the lead signals. The single amplifier channel has a software programmable AC response.
US08200314B2 Surgical navigation
Methods and apparatus are provided for locating the position, preferably in three dimensions, of a sensor by generating magnetic fields which are detected at the sensor. The magnetic fields are generated from a plurality of locations and, in one embodiment of the invention, enable both the orientation and location of a single coil sensor to be determined. The present invention thus finds application in many areas where the use of prior art sensors comprising two or more mutually perpendicular coils is inappropriate.
US08200309B2 Apparatus and method for magnetic resonance measurement and mapping of electrical impedance, complex permittivity and complex conductivity as applied to detection and evaluation of sample pathology
A method of measurement of or mapping the distribution of complex permittivity, complex conductivity, complex impedance, or electric loss angle during magnetic resonance imaging or analysis. The method includes applying a time-varying electric field of a Faraday shield to a sample and cross-correlating the line spectrum signal so produced with the voltage applied to the Faraday shield in a detection circuit. The method permits non-contrast magnetic resonance screening for breast cancer in vivo and/or continuous measurement of electrical characteristics of materials at variable frequencies in vitro. A system of detecting and evaluating sample pathology includes a Faraday shield device that includes parallel electrodes oriented orthogonal to the static magnetic field of a MRI device to produce a time varying electric field. A detector is coupled to the MRI device to detect at least one of a complex permittivity, a complex conductivity, and an electrical impedance of the sample.
US08200306B2 Correlation of profile templates and acquired data sets
A non-invasive imaging and analysis system suitable for measuring attributes of a target, such as the blood glucose concentration of tissue, includes an optical processing system which provides a probe and reference beam. It also includes a means that applies the probe beam to the target to be analyzed, combines the probe and reference beams interferometrically and detects concurrent interferometric signals. The invention includes fitting multiple sets of concurrently acquired data to a profile template and calculating a variance between the profile template and the acquired data sets. It further includes refining the profile template to minimize the variance between at least some of the concurrently acquired data sets to generate a refined profile, correlating the refined profile with data from a data bank stored in memory and processing resulting correlation data to determine an attribute of the target.
US08200304B2 Josephson junction and Josephson device
A novel Josephson junction and a novel Josephson junction device are provided which eliminates the need to form an insulating barrier layer. The Josephson junction (1) comprises a superconductor layer (2) and a ferromagnetic layer (3) formed on a middle part (2C) of the superconductor layer (2). The ferromagnetic layer (3) may consist of an electrically conductive or insulating ferromagnetic layer, and may be an electrically conductive ferromagnetic layer formed via an insulating layer. With the superconductor layer (2) formed of a high temperature superconductor, a Josephson junction (1) is provided having large IcRN product. The Josephson junction (1) can be used as a junction for a variety of Josephson devices.
US08200303B2 Portable terminal antenna arrangement to suppress deterioration of antenna sensitivity
Provided is a portable terminal which is provided with a first case, a second case, and a connecting section which connects together the first case and the second case, and has less deterioration of antenna sensitivity. The portable terminal has the first case (2), the second case (3), the connecting section (4), a first circuit section (32) disposed in the first case (2), a first conductive section (31) disposed in the first case (2), a second conductive section (33) disposed in the second case (3), a third conductive section (34) disposed in the connecting section (4), and a first electronic component (61) disposed adjacent to the first conductive section (31) in the length direction of the first case (2) in the first case (2). The first length (X1), which is obtained from the sum of the path length of the signals in the band of a first frequency (f1) in the first conductive section (31) and the path length of the signals in the band of the first frequency (f1) in the first electronic component (61), is substantially the same as the second length (X2), which is obtained from the sum of the path length of the signals in the band of the first frequency (f1) in the second conductive section (33) and the path length of the signals in the band of the first frequency (f1) in the third conducive section (34).
US08200298B2 Keypad housing configuration for a mobile computing device
A mobile computing device includes a housing, a keypad assembly, and a housing lip. The keypad assembly provides a plurality of keys on a façade of the housing. The keypad and the plurality of keys are dimensioned to be operable with one or both of a user's thumbs. A housing lip that protrudes from the façade of the housing so as to at least partially circumvent the plurality of keys.
US08200296B2 Foldable mobile equipment
Foldable mobile equipment is provided with a first housing 3 including a liquid crystal display part (display part) at the front face thereof, a second housing 5 including an operation part at the front face thereof, and a hinge portion 6 connecting the first housing 3 and the second housing 5 to each other foldably about an open/close axis X and supporting the first housing 3 so that the first housing 3 can be flipped over about a vertical axis Y vertical to the open/close axis X. The liquid crystal display part is supported on the first housing 3 by means of a cam mechanism 10 (a support mechanism) so as to be switchable between a portrait orientation and a landscape orientation.
US08200294B2 Mobile terminal apparatus
A mobile terminal apparatus includes a first housing provided with a display, a second housing provided with a keyboard, and a slide holding mechanism including a rail unit provided in the first housing and including rail parts extending in a sliding direction, arm members, rotation-slide connection members which include rotation shafts separated from each other in the sliding direction and which connect one end portions of the arm members to the rail parts, and rotation connection members which include rotation shafts separated from each other in the sliding direction and which connect the other end portions of the arm members to the second housing. The slide holding mechanism holds the housings such that the housings are slidable between a closed state in which the housings substantially entirely overlap and an open state in which the display unit and the keyboard are positioned on substantially the same plane.
US08200291B2 Vehicle safety device for reducing driver distractions
A safety device for automotive vehicles (cars, buses and trucks) or rail locomotives. The device inhibits use of cellular telephones and other communication devices that run the risk of distracting a driver/operator while the vehicle is in motion. Several techniques for inhibiting use are described which can be used individually or in a complementary combinations. In one technique, a rapidly varying signal level is created local to the communication device. The variations exceed the operational limits of the system, thereby inhibiting communications. In another technique, the safety device emits radiation that interferes with the reception of signals by the communication device only within the interior of the vehicle and will not interfere with cell phones or wireless devises outside the automotive vehicle or rail locomotive. As another alternative, masking signals also may be generated to prevent signals sent by the communication device within the vehicle from being intelligible at receiving stations outside the vehicle.
US08200290B2 Mobile phone and method for displaying measurement unit conversion tool thereof
A mobile phone and a method for displaying measurement unit conversion tool thereof are provided. The method for displaying measurement unit conversion tool of the mobile phone includes the following steps. Firstly, a global positioning system (GPS) signal is captured. Next, a classification of measurement unit is obtained by analyzing the GPS signal. Then, at least a particular measurement unit is obtained according to the classification of measurement unit. Lastly, the particular measurement unit is displayed on the unit conversion tool.
US08200288B2 Communication terminal and displaying method thereof
A communication terminal, computer program product and method thereof by which an image set for a phone number can be provided using a plurality of partial images in inputting a phone number to which a call signal will be transmitted. Also, a display for displaying information, a user input unit for inputting a plurality of digits configuring a phone number, and a controller for controlling the display to complete an image including at least one or more partial images by sequentially displaying the at least one or more partial images, when a plurality of the digits are inputted via the user input unit.
US08200286B2 Base station and method for improving coverage in a wireless communication system using antenna beam-jitter and CQI correction
A base station and method are described herein that improves the coverage in a fixed-beam wireless communication system by using antenna beam-jitter and Channel Quality Information (CQI) correction. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of: (a) modifying a beam by introducing a beam-jitter in a beam-forming pattern; (b) receiving an estimated channel quality information, CQI, from a user terminal; (c) accounting for effects of the beam-jitter on the estimated CQI to obtain a jitter-adjusted CQI estimate; (d) and using the jitter-adjusted CQI estimate during user scheduling for a future transmission to the user terminal.
US08200285B2 Initial eNode-B configuration over-the-air
A method, apparatus, system, and computer program embodied on a computer readable medium is provided to define new messages to be transmitted over a broadcast channel to better support uncoordinated base station deployment in a local area environment. In this context, uncoordinated local base station deployment refers to cases where new base stations are placed, and activated, without any detailed a priori network planning and considerations for placement of already active base stations in the area.
US08200284B2 Communication device and method for managing multimedia files
A communication device and method for managing multimedia files include creating a multimedia file, and establishing communication between the communication device and a server through a base station, the server providing a region name of a region corresponding to each base station. The communication device and method further include searching the server for a region name of a region corresponding to the base station, creating a folder and naming the folder with the searched region name, and storing the created multimedia file into the folder.
US08200282B2 Portable electronic device with chip card ejecting mechanism
A portable electronic device comprises a housing and a chip card ejecting mechanism. The housing has a mounting portion defined therein. The ejecting mechanism includes a holder and a controlling module. The holder is slidably accommodated in the mounting portion of the housing. The controlling module includes a button and an ejecting element. The button releasably secures with the holder in the mounting portion. The ejecting element resistes against the holder to provide an elastic force for driving the holder slid. When the button is pressed, the holder is released and the ejecting element ejects the holder outwardly from the mounted portion of the housing.
US08200281B2 Secure removable card and a mobile wireless communication device
A removable card for use with a mobile wireless communication device has a processor and a non-volatile memory, connected to the processor. The removable card has electrical connections for connecting to a mobile wireless communicating device for use by a user to access a common carrier network to access a network of interconnected computer networks (“Internet”). The card comprises a processor and a non-volatile memory connected to the processor. The non-volatile memory has two portions: a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is accessible by the provider of the common carrier network with the processor restricting access thereto by the user. The second portion is accessible by the provider of the common carrier network and with the processor granting access thereto to the user for storing user data therein. Finally, the removable card has logic circuit for encoding the user data to produce encrypted user data, for storing in the second portion.
US08200278B2 Adding SMS as a transport type for an enterprise service bus
The enterprise service bus system communicates enterprise system bus messages across a cellular phone transport network. This system segments enterprise system bus messages into data segments according to the protocol used to transport the message. Furthermore, the system encapsulates each of the data segments and transmits the encapsulated data segments. In addition, the system receives the encapsulated data segments, decapsulates these segments and assembles the enterprise service bus message.
US08200276B2 Communication method
A method for communication over a telecommunications network includes selecting a public telecommunication station located in the vicinity of a mobile telephone. The public telecommunication station is used by the mobile telephone as an access point to the telecommunications network.
US08200274B2 Method of controlling power of access uplink using relay station and system thereof
Provided are a method of controlling power of an access uplink using a relay station (RS) and a system thereof. When a base station (BS) decides that the subject of power control of the access uplink is itself, the BS generates a message for power control of the access uplink based on channel quality measurement information reported from the RS and transmits the power control message to a subscriber station (SS), and when the BS decides that the subject of power control of the access uplink is the RS, the RS generates a message for power control of the access uplink based on channel quality measurement information and transmits the power control message to the SS. Thus, fast power control of the access uplink can be performed.
US08200272B2 Apparatus and method for transmission power control of home base transceiver station (BTS)
An apparatus and method for controlling an output power of a home Base Transceiver Station (BTS) are provided. The method includes, when receiving a location registration message, determining a type of a user that sends the location registration message, determining a maintain power when the user type is a home user and increasing an output power value to be applied to the home BTS by a difference of the powers between the maintain power and a latest avoid interference power when the maintain power is less than or equal to the latest avoid interference power.
US08200268B2 Home intercom / push-to-talk interface
An apparatus in one example has: an intercom system; a wireless push-to-talk system; and an integrated intercom/push-to-talk system operatively coupled to the intercom system and the wireless push-to-talk system, the integrated intercom/push-to-talk system functioning as a wireless terminal that communicates with the wireless push-to-talk system, and functioning as an intercom unit in the intercom system. Embodiments support an integration of, for example, a home intercom system with, for example, a commercially available wireless push-to-talk service.
US08200264B2 Cyclic delay diversity based transmission with delay hopping
A method of providing delay information in a multi-antenna transmission system is provided. A time delay value is selected from a set of time delay values. A mobile station is informed of information related to the selected time delay value. The same data is transmitted from a first antenna and from a second antenna. The data is transmitted from the second antenna after the data is transmitted from the first antenna according to the selected time delay value. The time delay value is selected based on a deterministic method or a random method.
US08200259B2 Network-specific transcoding of MMS content
A method may include receiving a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message from a sending device, the MMS message being addressed to a terminating device. A notification may be sent to the terminating device that the MMS message is available. A user agent profile may be received from the terminating device, the user agent profile including a network indicator to indicate the type of network currently servicing the terminating device. It may then be determined if transcoding of the MMS message is required based on the type of network indicated in the user agent profile and attributes of the MMS message.
US08200258B2 System and methods for communication between instant message users and short message service users
A routing system receives an instant message (IM) from a user via an IM service. The IM contains a source address associated with the IM user and a destination address associated with a contact in the IM user's “buddy” list. A temporary mobile device number is allocated to the IM user. The IM is converted to a text message suitable for delivery to the selected contact's mobile device via a short message service, whereby the temporary mobile device number allocated to the IM user is the source address of the text message. Upon receipt of the text message, the contact may compose and send a reply text message to the IM user via the temporary mobile device number. The reply text message is routed to the IM user via an IM service based on the temporary mobile device number allocated to the IM user.
US08200257B2 Customizable mobile message services
In one embodiment, a method includes: receiving, at a mobile device, a first service command and a second service command; sending the first service command from the mobile device to a server; sending the second service command from the mobile device to a server; receiving, at the mobile device, first service results corresponding to the first service command; receiving, at the mobile device, second service results corresponding to the second service command; combining the first service results with the second service results; and displaying the combined service results on the mobile device.
US08200255B2 Allocation of radio resources in a CDMA2000 cellular system
A CDMA data transmission system and method for periodically allocating channels to subscriber units, wherein prior to the beginning of any period all active subscriber units are identified that are in communication with the transmitter and for which there are data, exceeding a given minimal quantity, stored in a buffer. For each active subscriber unit one or more priority factors are calculated as a function of associated power levels; and on the basis of the priority factors, at least one channel is allocated to a corresponding active subscriber unit. The channel allocation is repeated in respect of any active subscriber units to which no channels have yet been allocated, subject to an availability of unallocated channels and subject to a limitation of maximum transmitter power.
US08200254B2 Method for improving paging success ratio in broad bandwith wireless communication system
A method for increasing paging success ratio in a broadband wireless communication system, comprises: when a terminal determines that it has moved into an overlapping area of a plurality of paging groups including an original paging group, the terminal initiates a location updating flow to a current serving BS; an anchor paging controller updates location information of the terminal and includes the current serving BS and its adjacent cell BSs in a paging scope; after the location updating initiated in the overlapping area succeeds and before location updating for moving across paging groups succeeds, the terminal monitors a paging message according to paging parameters of the original paging group; and when the anchor paging controller is required to page the terminal, it initiates paging to a plurality of BSs including the current serving BS and its adjacent cell BSs according to the paging parameters of the original paging group.
US08200251B2 Determining a location of a mobile device using a location database
Methods, program products, and systems for determining a location of a mobile device using a location database are described. The mobile device can host the location database, which can store locations associated with access points. The locations can be distributed in a group of cells of a geographic grid. When the mobile device moves and connects to an access point associated with a location that is outside the group of cells, the mobile device can request an update of the location database. The mobile device can calculate a current location of the mobile device using current access points that are within a communication range of the mobile device by performing a lookup in the location database using identifiers of the current access points. The mobile device can calculate the current location using the locations corresponding to the current access points in the location database.
US08200246B2 Data synchronization for devices supporting direction-based services
With the addition of directional information and gesture based input in a location based services environment, a variety of service(s) can be provided on top of user identification or interaction with specific object(s) of interest. For instance, a device can interact with various endpoints of a direction-based location service and any of the content or other information exchanged between clients and services can be synchronized for efficient exchange of information and efficient utilization of network bandwidth and resources. For example, change input is received by a device that alters, deletes or augments dynamically updateable information associated with a point of interest and the changes resulting from the change input are synchronized from the mobile device to a location based network service. Optionally, the synchronization can be according to a knowledge exchange to identify what should be synchronized prior to transmitting the updates.
US08200241B2 Terminal random access method for cellular radio communications system and method for generating group identifier
A terminal random access method for a cellular radio communications system and a method for generating a group identifier are provided. In the terminal random access method for a cellular radio communications system, random access preamble message is transmitted by a terminal to a base station in a random access time slot in a radio frame; location information of the random access time slot in the radio frame and that in the frequency domain are combined to generate a group identifier and sending a random access response message to the terminal after adding the group identifier and an individual identifier that corresponds to the random access preamble message to the random access response message by the base station; it is judged whether the random access response message that corresponds to the sent random access preamble message is received, by judging whether the group identifier and the individual identifier within the received random access response message are all expected values.
US08200239B2 Femto-cell location by proxy methods
Location of small, consumer deployed femto-cells cannot be determined by the usual site survey methods. Location of attached mobiles allows for a proxy location of the femto-cell that can then be used for wireless network planning including the provisioning of a calculated default emergency services location for the femto-cell.
US08200238B2 System having doppler-based control of a mobile device
Embodiments of the present invention recite a system having Doppler-based control of a mobile device. In one embodiment, at least one measured Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Doppler frequency shift measurement corresponding to a GNSS signal measured at a mobile electronic device is received. The speed of the remote device is then determined based at least in part upon the GNSS Doppler frequency shift measurement. An operation of the remote device is then controlled from the base station when the speed of the remote device exceeds a speed threshold.
US08200236B2 Method and apparatus for triggering a state change for a communication device
The invention aims to reduce the delay associated with setting up a session for a user terminal in a mobile communication network. A control unit for use in a wireless communication network for controlling a user terminal's ability to communicate with the network, comprising—at least one input for receiving event information about at least one trigger event indicating that the user terminal is likely to wish to communicate with the network within a predetermined period of time—decision logic for deciding whether the state of the terminal should be changed to enable it to communicate and—output means for triggering the a state change for the terminal to a state in which the terminal is able to communicate with the network, if the decision logic decides that this should be done.
US08200232B2 Apparatus and method of cell reselection in wireless communication system
A method and apparatus of selecting a cell in a wireless communication system is provided. A user equipment receives an Intra Frequency Reselection indicator (IFRI) from a barred cell. The user equipment starts an Intra Frequency Reselection (IFR) timer when the IFRI indicates not to allow reselection of a neighboring cell in a frequency of the barred cell, and searches neighboring cells in the frequency of the barred cell while the IFR timer is running.
US08200229B2 Apparatus, method and computer program providing enhanced fractional dedicated physical channel downlink power control during soft handover
A method includes establishing a first radio link with a serving network entity and a second radio link with a target network entity, commencing a soft handover from the serving network entity to the target network entity, receiving a quality target from a network comprising the serving and target network entities, and applying the quality target only to the first radio link to generate a power control command.
US08200228B2 Reading neighboring cell system information
A base station indicates to mobile stations as to whether specific offsets apply for use when measuring a signal strength of base stations in neighboring cells. Additionally, if the neighboring cells do use offsets, the present invention may indicate as to whether the neighboring cell offsets are the same as the current serving cell offset.
US08200225B2 Methods for integrating cell measurement procedures of a communication apparatus and communication apparatuses utilizing the same
A communication apparatus has at least one radio transceiver module, a first subscriber identity card and a second subscriber identity card, where the first subscriber identity card corresponds to a first public land mobile network (PLMN), and the second subscriber identity card corresponds to a second PLMN. The communication apparatus includes processor logic determining whether the first PLMN and the second PLMN are the same, and for suspending a measurement procedure and a cell reselection procedure of one of the first subscriber identity card and the second subscriber identity card to reduce battery power consumption. Processor logic further triggers an unsuspended measurement procedure to tune the radio transceiver module to a plurality of corresponding channel frequency/frequencies of the neighbor cells.
US08200222B2 Method of transmitting data for handover in broadband wireless access system
A data transmission method in a mobile communication system is disclosed. The present invention is suitable for retaining continuity of a data service in case that a mobile subscriber station carries out handover. The present invention includes the steps of receiving a message information (S41) indicating a handover completion of a mobile subscriber station from the second base station, releasing a radio resource of the first base station for the mobile subscriber station according to the message, and after releasing the radio resource, transmitting data (S42) to be transmitted to the mobile subscriber station to the first base station to the second base station.
US08200219B2 Method and device for identifying a mobile terminal in a digital cellular mobile radio network
The invention relates to a method and a simulator (1) for identifying and/or tapping a mobile terminal (7) in a digital cellular mobile radio network, in which data is transmitted according to a code multiplex method. The aim of the invention is to enable a terminal (7) to be identified in a mobile radio network, in which data is transmitted according to a code multiplex method and if required to enable the tapping of conversations that are conducted via the mobile telephone. To achieve this: a simulator (1) is positioned in close proximity to the terminal (7) to be identified; the parameters that are relevant to the data transmission of base stations (6) in the mobile radio network that are in close proximity to the simulator (1) are determined by a measuring system (3; 11) and are transferred to the simulator (1); the simulator (1) is operated as a new base station (2), taking into consideration the determined parameters, but having another location area code; the terminal to be identified (7) recognizes the simulator (1) as a new base station (2) and logs on to said station using its identification parameters; the terminal (7) is identified by means of the transmitted identification parameters; after identification, the terminal (7) is redirected to a GSM mobile radio network.
US08200216B2 Method for conditional location retrieval
The invention discloses a method for obtaining a location of mobile station connected in a mobile network where a request for the location contains a condition specifying if a location stored in the mobile network can be used. The condition comprises an expression regarding an accuracy threshold for the location. When the stored location does not meet the condition the mobile network actively determines the location of the mobile station. The location is reported back. The method can be applied in a Home Location Register in the network, in a Visiting Mobile Service Center or in both. The HLR contains location information for registered mobiles and the VMSC for connected mobiles.
US08200215B2 Codec rate adaptation for radio channel rate change
Speech signals to be sent between a first node and a second node via a wireless communication system are Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) encoded. A need to change the first node's first data transmission rate over a radio interface to a second different data transmission rate is determined. A new AMR source bit rate is then determined for both nodes. Information is sent to the second node, in advance of changing the data transmission rate over the radio interface, requesting the second node to change towards the new AMR source bit rate. After a predetermined time period sufficient for the second node to change from the current AMR source bit rate to the new AMR source bit rate expires or after the second node indicates a change to the new AMR source bit rate, the first node starts transmitting at the second data transmission rate over the radio interface.
US08200208B1 Method and system for automatic measurement of capacity of cellular network
A method for measuring a call capacity of a cellular network which includes a plurality of sectors including a test sector and neighboring sectors defined by a number of base stations. A plurality of voice communication generators and a plurality of best effort generators are located both in the test sector and the neighboring sectors. Interference level from activated test units located within the neighboring sectors and the test sector represents total radio resources of the test sector. Throughput of best effort generators is measured while activating a predetermined number of voice communication generators within the test sector. An approximate relationship between the throughput of best effort generators and the number of activated voice communication generators is obtained. The call capacity within the test sector is determined from the approximate relationship between the throughput of best effort generators and the number of the activated voice communication generators. The call capacity within the test sector is adjusted to a real commercial communication environment based on real interference levels from the neighboring sectors.
US08200203B1 Broadcast response method and system
A system and method for broadcast response generally employing RDS, DARC, or similar technology is provided, including a method for responding to a broadcast comprising extracting an event identifier from a broadcast signal; detecting a response by a user to the broadcast signal; polling a communications device to determine a user identifier; and communicating the event identifier and the user identifier when the user response is detected.
US08200200B1 Localized mobile digital TV
Systems and methods are disclosed describing the transmission of multimedia data to a mobile device. A system describing some of the disclosed embodiments comprises a mobile digital television transmitter transmitting a primary data stream, a transceiver transmitting a secondary data stream, and a mobile device. In some embodiments the mobile device comprises a mobile display, a mobile transceiver, and a mobile processor and receives at least the primary data stream and the secondary data. The mobile device displays data from either the primary data stream or the secondary data stream, and transmits a mobile data stream to the transceiver. The mobile data stream may comprise information relating to the status of both the primary data stream and the secondary data stream. This system may also include a server in communication with the transceiver, wherein the server is capable of determining the signal conditions of the mobile device based upon the mobile data stream and alter the secondary data stream based upon the mobile data stream.
US08200195B2 Intelligent remote device
An intelligent remote device equipped with a security token operatively coupled thereto is processing communications with a security token enabled computer system over a wireless private network. The intelligent remote device is adapted to emulate a local security device peripheral connected to the computer system. Multiple computer systems may be authenticated to using the intelligent remote device. Additionally, various secure communications connections mechanisms are described which are intended to augment existing security protocols available using wireless network equipment. Authentication of a user supplied critical security parameter is performed by the security token. The critical security parameter may be provided locally via the intelligent remote device or received from the wireless network and routed to the security token. Aural, visual or vibratory feedback may be provided to the user to signal a successful authentication transaction.
US08200193B2 Detection of anomalies in traffic transmitted by a mobile terminal within a radiocommunication network
To detect an anomaly in traffic sent by at least one mobile terminal (TM) in a radiocommunication network, a device capable of communicating with a radiocommunication network (RR) location register (HLR) comprises an evaluation module (ME) to increase, for a predetermined time interval, an authentication account (CA) assigned to the mobile terminal when security data (DS) are transmitted to a network unit to authenticate the mobile terminal, to detect an anomaly in the traffic sent by the mobile terminal if the authentication account exceeds a predefined upper limit value upon expiration of the predetermined time interval, and to transmit a message concerning such traffic anomaly to a unit in the network in charge of taking the necessary measures to eliminate the said anomaly.
US08200192B2 Methods for performing pin verification by mobile station with subscriber identity cards and systems utilizing the same
A method for performing personal identification number verification by a mobile station with a first subscriber identity card and a second subscriber identity card, executed by a processor of the mobile station, is provided. A single input code is received. The first subscriber identity card and the second subscriber identity card are verified according to the input code. A result indicating that the first subscriber identity card and the second subscriber identity card have been successfully verified is stored when the input code is correct.
US08200190B2 Call security system
A method and apparatus for reducing the vulnerability of the telecommunications system to unauthorized use that is easy to implement and that can reduce the instances of unauthorized access even during periods when telecommunications personnel are not able to give attention to the traffic on the system. The telecommunications system collects statistics of each user's pattern of telecommunications usage. Typically, these statistics will be in the form of, say, the average number of calls per day or the average number of calls per day on given days of the week. It may also include the mean busy hour for the given days of the week. Moreover, daily averages may be taken not only for all calls but also for all calls of a particular type, e.g., of all international calls. These statistics are taken for a reference period, such as the preceding thirty days, and the corresponding quantity for the current day is also computed. If the current statistics are not excessive as compared with the reference statistics, then access to a communications resource—e.g., an outgoing trunk line—is granted to the call without any supplemental access restrictions. But if a predetermined deviation is detected between the current statistics and the reference statistics, then a supplemental restriction is placed upon the call.
US08200189B2 Voice portal to voice portal VoIP transfer
A method includes receiving at a voice portal a telephone call from a caller and acquiring from the caller a billing telephone number. The method also includes determining, based on the billing telephone number, that the telephone call should be transferred to a specific call center; identifying an exchange number for the specific call center; assembling a refer message based on the billing telephone number and the exchange number of the specific call center; and sending the refer message to a network device.
US08200186B2 Emergency control in a multi-dimensional space
A geographical zone, which can be multi-dimensional, such as in three dimensions, can be utilized to regulate the location of a movable user within the geographical zone. A mobile device associated with a user located in a specific area of a geographical zone is in communication at least one node, which is, in turn, in communication with at least one control center. Detailed local information from the location nodes is downloaded. The nodes communicate with each other wirelessly via radio frequency (RF) using Bluetooth™ protocol. Mobile devices interact with location nodes that are in communication range. A messaging system is used to send emergency and security communications to users associated with mobile devices in particular locations.
US08200184B2 Evacuation route obtaining system, mobile terminal apparatus, evacuation directive apparatus, evacuation route obtaining method, evacuation route sending method, computer-readable storage medium, and electronic conference system
In an evacuation route obtaining system according to the present invention, a mobile terminal apparatus and a plurality of display apparatuses are connected to each other via a wireless network. The plurality of display apparatuses are connected to corresponding storage apparatuses respectively. The mobile terminal apparatus includes: an arithmetic section for calculating a positional relationship between the mobile terminal apparatus and each of the plurality of display apparatuses; a destination selecting section for selecting a particular display apparatus from among the plurality of display apparatuses based on a result of the calculation carried out by the arithmetic section; a communication section for sending request data to the particular display apparatus selected by the destination selecting section, and receiving evacuation route information that has been read out of the storage apparatus corresponding to the particular display apparatus and customized in accordance with an installation site of the particular display apparatus; and a display section for displaying the evacuation route information received by the communication section. This realizes a system which (i) provides a user with easy operation procedures, (ii) provides the user with an evacuation route suitable for a real-time situation, and (iii) evacuates the user safely and successfully while making the user feel secure.
US08200183B2 Determining wireless system availability using emergency alert system messaging
A method and information processing system transmit emergency alert system messages to wireless devices. An EAS alert message (302) is transmitted to at least one wireless device (106) using one or more access channels (306) associated with a coverage area. An acknowledgement message (200) is received from the wireless device (106). The acknowledgement message (200) includes at least one of a location associated with the wireless device (106) and an identifier associated with each access channel over which the wireless device (106) received the EAS alert message (302). At least one of a first set of information indicating locations within the coverage area that have successfully received the EAS alert message (302) and a second set of information indicating which access channels have successfully transmitted the EAS alert message (302) to the wireless devices (106) within the coverage area are stored based on receiving the acknowledgement message.
US08200181B1 Noise reduction in a dual radio frequency receiver
The present invention relates to a dual radio frequency (RF) receiver circuit that includes a first RF mixer and a second RF mixer. The first and second RF mixers may be fed from a common local oscillator or from two separate local oscillators. When fed from two separate local oscillators and when the first and second RF mixers are receiving the same or nearly the same RF channel, the frequency of the RF channel is less than the frequency of one local oscillator and is greater than the frequency of the other local oscillator. This arrangement separates the frequencies of the local oscillators, thereby reducing noise, instability, or both, which may otherwise de-sensitize the dual RF receiver circuit.
US08200174B2 Systems and methods for controlling a transmitter
A power detection circuit is described that provides for a wide dynamic range power detection. In one embodiment, a system comprises a transmitter, a diplexer, an antenna, a detector module, a signal converter and a microprocessor. The transmitter may be configured to transmit an output signal. The diplexer electrically may be coupled to the transmitter and may be configured to provide the output signal. The antenna may be electrically coupled to the diplexer and may be configured to transmit the output signal from the diplexer. The detector module may be electrically coupled to the diplexer and the antenna. The detector module may be configured to detect a power level of the output signal. The signal converter may be electrically coupled to the detector module. The signal converter may be configured to convert the output signal to a digital signal. The microprocessor may be electrically coupled to the signal converter. The microprocessor may be configured to control an input into the transmitter based on the digital signal.
US08200173B2 Gated RF control channel demodulation methods and apparatuses
Methods and apparatuses are provided for use in devices that are enabled to receive control channel information over a link having a plurality of interlaced slots. The methods and apparatuses may be implemented to selectively disable/enable one or more circuits within a receiver path at selected times.
US08200172B2 Look-up table for control of power output from FM transmitters
A system and method for optimizing the performance of RF devices having a transmitter and an antenna that function at multiple frequencies. Due to regulatory limits on radiation output, and because antenna gain varies with frequency, transmitter power has been constrained by the highest efficiency point of the antenna. According to the present invention, the optimal power setting is empirically determined for each frequency, and stored in a data table. When an operational frequency is selected for the RF device, the data table is consulted to determine the appropriate power setting for the transmitter.
US08200170B2 Cancellation of oscillator remodulation
A wireless transmitter (100) comprises a signal generator (10) for generating a signal, an amplifier (50) for amplifying the signal, and a phase shifting circuit (20) coupled between the signal generator (10) and the amplifier (50) and arranged to shift the phase of the signal to cancel remodulation of the signal generator (10) by the amplified signal.
US08200169B2 Transmitter apparatus, mobile communication system, base station and communication enable signal transmitter apparatus
The present invention has an object of providing a transmitter apparatus, a mobile communication system, a base station and a communication enable signal transmitter unit, which can prioritize communications of a mobile station in a priority communication system over communications of a mobile station in a non-priority communication system, in a network where the priority communication system and the non-priority communication system coexist in the same communication area.The non-priority communication transmitter apparatuses 10B and 30B comprise signal transmitter units 16 and 17 configured to be enabled to transmit, to the non-priority communication receiver apparatuses 10B and 30B, a signal by using a frequency channel of a second frequency band, when the non-priority communication transmitter apparatuses 10B and 30B receive a communication enable signal from a priority communication system or when the non-priority communication transmitter apparatuses 10B and 30B detect that the non-priority communication transmitter apparatuses 10B and 30B has received the communication enable signal.
US08200166B2 Data transmission
The transmitter receives information on a computing architecture of a receiver. A controller in the transmitter forms and transmits receiver-specific instructions based on data to be delivered and the information on the computing architecture. The controller in the receiver controls processing of the data on the basis of the instructions.
US08200159B2 Radioelectric transmission and reception module mainly intended for broad-band radio-communications
The invention relates to a wireless transmitting and receiving module including a radiofrequency module filtering and amplifying the wireless signals received, a high intermediate frequency module transposing the wireless signals received to a high intermediate frequency, the transpositions being carried out by mixing of the wireless signals with signals of known frequency generated by local oscillator modules, and a low intermediate frequency module transposing the wireless signals received to a low intermediate frequency. In particular, the invention applies to the radiocommunication software modules that can receive and/or transmit on the broad band, that is to say in a frequency range from 30 MHz to 3 GHz.
US08200158B2 System, method and apparatus for communicating with vehicle occupants
An application for a two-way communication system for communicating with a person who is within a closed vehicle includes a short-range radio transmission to transmit audio to a radio within the vehicle. Communication from the person is done by reflecting a light beam on a window of the vehicle and receiving the light beam, which is modulated by vibration of the window caused by the person's voice. The received light beam is then processed to reproduce the sound of the person's voice.
US08200157B2 Allowed spectrum information distribution system
A system for determining allowed channels for operating in unlicensed bandwidth. Initially, an apparatus may determine whether valid allowed channel information corresponding to the current position of the apparatus already exists in the apparatus. If the allowed channel information corresponding to the current position of the apparatus does not exist in the apparatus or is invalid, the apparatus may then determine if the allowed channel information can be provided by another apparatus. If the allowed channel information is available from another apparatus, this information may be requested from the other apparatus. Otherwise, the allowed channel information may be requested from a database.
US08200152B2 Semiconductor integrated circuit and contactless electronic device using the same
There is provided a semiconductor integrated circuit provided with a charge pump circuit of low power consumption, capable of maintaining an output voltage thereof at a predetermined voltage level without causing current consumption to undergo intermittent variation, and a contactless electronic device using the semiconductor integrated circuit. With respective charge pump circuit unit cells (charge/discharge circuits) making up the charge pump circuit, charge current/discharge current flowing to or from the capacitor, respectively, is controlled according to the output voltage of the charge pump circuit. Accordingly, the charge pump circuit can maintain the output voltage thereof at the predetermined voltage level without undergoing an intermittent action. The charge current and discharge current are supplied from power supply terminals of a power supply circuit, current control is executed by a transistor, and a voltage outputted according to the output voltage of the charge pump circuit is supplied to the gate of the transistor.
US08200151B2 Method and apparatus for enhancing signal carrier performance in wireless networks
A wireless communications system can include a charged particle generator configured to generate plural energized particles and a charge transformer configured to receive the plural energized particles that include charged particles from the charged particle generator and to output energized particles that include particles having substantially zero charge. The charged particle generator can be configured to direct the plural energized particles through the charge transformer to propagate through free space until received by a broadband signal receiver that can demodulate a data signal to complete the data communication.
US08200150B2 Automatic satellite acquisition system for a portable satellite terminal
A system for accurate automatic satellite acquisition by a portable satellite terminal. The system includes a software program that coordinates inputs from several measurement aids to control antenna position. These aids include a GPS receiver, antenna azimuth, elevation and polarization angle sensors, and the terminal's modem, DVB receiver and spectrum analyzer, which contains a beacon detector also serving as Receive Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI). For satellite recognition, the spectral analysis and RSSI function are complemented by the lock/unlock indications provided by the modem and the DVB receiver. Under the control of the software program, the modem, DVB receiver and spectrum analyzer, in conjunction with an extensive database of satellites and their signal characteristics, provide the means for reliable validation of final alignment.
US08200141B2 Conveying unit for image forming apparatus
An interlock switch is switched according to the movement of a relay reversal unit rather than the movement of a front cover. The relay reversal unit is connected to a driver substrate by a drawer connector. The change-over of the interlock switch according to the movement of the relay reversal unit is turned off when margin time elapses after a cover detection switch is turned off.
US08200140B2 Modular printing system having a module with a bypass path
Disclosed are embodiments of a modular printing system with one or more modules having one or more bypass paths and comprise a modular printing system with a module (e.g., a stacker or feeder module) having a main compartment and at least one additional compartment. Contained within the main compartment is a main sheet transport path and a functional component (e.g., a sheet stacking device or a sheet feeding device) connected to the main sheet transport path. Contained with the additional compartment is a bypass path. The bypass path allows sheets to be routed through the module in the event of a print media sheet jam in the main sheet transport path. Because the bypass path is contained within a separate compartment, the jam can be cleared from the main compartment without cycling down the printing system, thereby allowing for continued productivity.
US08200138B2 Presser member, fixing device and image forming apparatus
A first pad has a first nip forming surface which extends in a direction X. An angle formed between an end portion of the first nip forming surface and an XZ plane is smaller than an angle formed between a central portion of the first nip forming surface and the XZ plane, where the XZ plane is formed on a downstream side of the first nip forming surface. Thereby, a fixing device is provided which suppresses generation of wrinkles on a recording material when the fixing device fixes toner on the recording material and conveys it.
US08200132B2 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes an image supporting member; a developing belt for supporting and transporting developer to develop a static latent image formed on the image supporting member; a developer supply member disposed to abut against the developing belt to form a specific nip portion for supplying the developer to the developing belt; a first voltage applying member for applying a first voltage to the developing belt at a first position; a second voltage applying member for applying a second voltage to the developing belt at a second position; and a third voltage applying member for applying a third voltage to the developer supply member. It is configured such that the developer supply member abuts against the developing belt between the first position and the second position.
US08200128B2 Powder material agitator and cartridge
A powder material cartridge includes a shaft and a sheet-holding member. The shaft extends in a longitudinal direction and is rotatable about a longitudinal axis. The sheet-holding member is formed on the rotatable shaft and holds one end of the sheet member. The sheet-holding member includes a first portion that extends substantially parallel to the shaft and a second portion that extends at an angle with the shaft such that the second portion extends in a direction away from the shaft so that the sheet member includes a third portion that extends substantially parallel to the shaft and a fourth portion that extends at an angle with the shaft.
US08200125B2 Apparatus and method for imaging forming using modified contact pressure
A developing device using a liquid developer removes developer using the contact-rotation between rollers such as a developing roller and thin layer forming roller when an image is not formed, and includes a contact pressure modification section that modifies the contact pressure in the contact region between rollers rotating in contact with one another. When operation is performed to remove the developer using the contact-rotation between rollers with the supply of liquid developer being suspended, modifications are made to ensure that the contact pressure in the contact region is smaller than that during image formation.
US08200123B2 Image forming apparatus and image forming unit
An image forming apparatus is provided with an image bearing member for bearing a toner image while rotating, a toner image forming device for forming the toner image on the image bearing member, a neutralizer for neutralizing electric charges on the image bearing member by irradiating light to the charged image bearing member after the toner image formed on the rotating image bearing member is transferred to a transfer material, and a frame for supporting the neutralizer. A first clearance is present between the neutralizer and the frame.
US08200121B2 Image forming apparatus having a plurality of cartridges and a single writing unit
An image forming apparatus including a plurality of cartridges, each including a drum, a single writing unit which is an only writing unit of the image forming apparatus. There is a structural member disposed between the plurality of cartridges and the single writing unit which extends in the direction in which the cartridges are stacked. There is a first side wall, a second side wall facing the first side wall, a top wall, and a bottom wall. The structural member is affixed to the first side wall, the second side wall, the top wall, and the bottom wall.
US08200115B2 Image forming apparatus with external air circulation chamber
An image forming apparatus capable of minimizing a temperature rise of a cover is disclosed. The image forming apparatus includes a main body, a fusing unit mounted in the main body to fuse an image to paper, a cover mounted to the main body to expose the fusing unit, a heat shielding member mounted proximate to an inner side of the cover to block heat transferred from the fusing unit, an external air circulation chamber formed between the heat shielding member and the cover, in which external air circulates by convection, and at least one external air flow hole, through which the air flows into/out of the external air circulation chamber.
US08200112B2 Fuser assembly heater setpoint control
A fuser assembly and a method of controlling a temperature in a fuser assembly are provided. The fuser assembly comprises a heat transfer member, a heater to heat the heat transfer member, and a backup member. The heat transfer member and the backup member define a fusing nip. A first temperature setpoint corresponding to a first thermal load for the heat transfer member is defined. A second temperature setpoint corresponding to a second thermal load for the heat transfer member is defined. The heater is maintained at or near the first temperature setpoint during at least a substantial portion of the time when the heat transfer member is operating at the first thermal load. The heater is maintained at or near the second temperature setpoint during at least a substantial portion of the time when the heat transfer member is operating at the second thermal load.
US08200106B2 Image forming apparatus with image forming condition control feature based on difference in patch densities
An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member; a charging device for electrically charging the photosensitive member; an exposure device for exposing to light the photosensitive member electrically charged by the charging device to form an electrostatic image; a developing device for developing the electrostatic image with toner to form a first patch and a second patch; a detecting device for detecting a density of the first and second patches formed by the developing device; and a control device for controlling an image forming condition on the basis of a difference in density between the first patch formed on the photosensitive member at a portion where a surface potential of the photosensitive member is zero volts and the second patch formed at a portion electrically charged by applying a predetermined charging bias to the charging device.
US08200104B2 Image forming apparatus including image bearing member surface abrassion control feature
An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member for bearing an electrostatic latent image; a charger for electrically charging the image bearing member by contact of electroconductive magnetic particles carried on a magnetic particle carrying member with the image bearing member; a developing device for developing the electrostatic latent image into a toner image by supplying toner to the electrostatic latent image; a layer thickness detecting device for detecting a thickness of a surface layer of the image bearing member; a supplying device for supplying the magnetic particles to the magnetic particle carrying member with predetermined timing; and a control device for controlling a supply amount of the magnetic particles so that the supply amount of the magnetic particles supplied by the supplying device increases with an increase of an amount of change in thickness, in terms of an absolute value, of the surface layer obtained from a detection result of the layer thickness detecting device.
US08200103B2 Image forming system
An image forming system executes image forming with pages kept continuous by controlling supplying of sheets corresponding to pages for which sheets have not fed in consideration of pages for which sheets have already been fed, even if image forming processing is temporally suspended.
US08200102B2 Image forming apparatus having a detachable unit including a first rotary member and a second rotary member
An image forming apparatus includes a unit, which is detachably attachable to a main body of the apparatus and has a portion to be detected, and a detecting device which detects the portion to be detected in the unit. It is determined that the unit is in an unused state since both of a first state in which the portion to be detected is detected by the detecting device and a second state in which the portion to be detected is not detected by the detecting device are confirmed, and thereafter, the first state or the second state is maintained. Furthermore, there is provided a restricting member which inhibits the first state or the second state from being maintained.
US08200100B2 Systems and methods for diagnostic monitoring of optical modulation amplitude at an optical receiver using automatic gain control
Optical receivers and a method for providing a diagnostic measurement of optical modulation amplitude at other than a signal output of an optical receiver are invented and disclosed. The method includes the steps of applying a representation of an output of an optical detector to a circuit that determines a difference between a first signal level and a second signal level that is different from the first signal level and buffering the difference between the first signal level and the second signal level received from the circuit. The optical receivers include an optical detector, a transimpedance amplifier that applies automatic gain control, a circuit that determines a difference between two signal values and a limiting post amplifier. The receivers provide a diagnostic measure that can be compared to certain thresholds relating to known bit error rates or applied in a calculation to generate an absolute optical modulation amplitude value.
US08200095B2 Multi-level memory access in an optical transceiver
A mechanism that enables an optical transceiver to grant access to its memory on a per-segment basis. The optical transceiver includes a processor, system memory and a memory access table. The memory access table is comprised of access entries, each of which defines the access condition for a corresponding segment of memory. The processor reads the access entries for a particular segment of the memory. The processor or other optical transceiver component then determines whether or not to grant access to the memory segment based on the access entry read by the processor. Different levels of access control may be accommodated.
US08200094B1 System and method for free space optical connector alignment
A method and system are provided for aligning the optic port of a device having a Free Space Optics (FSO) connector. In a link device with an FSO connector, a controller determines that an optic port alignment procedure is required. A lens is set to an initial wide beam dispersion mode, and a mirror is set to an initial position angle. Note: the lens and mirror may be the FSO connector receive path or transmit path. An optical signal is communicated at a first low baud rate, and the first baud rate communications are optimized by iteratively adjusting the mirror and narrowing the lens focus. Then, an optical signal is communicated at a second baud rate, faster than the first baud rate, and the second baud rate communications are optimized by iteratively adjusting the mirror and narrowing the lens focus.
US08200090B2 Optical transmission apparatus, optical transmission method, and optical transceiver
An aspect of the embodiments utilizes an optical transmission apparatus which includes a rough adjustment execution portion that monitors a bit error rate of an optical signal for set values of a dispersion compensator where the set values have been set less closely to each other within a dispersion compensation control range than when a wavelength dispersion value set in the dispersion compensator is determined, and carries out a rough adjustment to determine a comparison threshold value used to set the wavelength dispersion value based on the monitored bit error rate, and a fine adjustment execution portion that monitors the bit error rate for the dispersion compensator the set values have been set more closely to each other, and carries out an adjustment to determine a wavelength dispersion value corresponding to the midpoint between the two acquired bit error rates as the wavelength dispersion value of the dispersion compensator.
US08200088B2 Optical communication system, and optical communication method and communication unit therefor
A communication unit inhibits delay and jitter during network communication, improving the communication quality. For this purpose, the communication unit includes: a first terminator that terminates a communication channel in the first optical communication scheme established between the communication unit and another communication unit; a second terminator that terminates a signal in the second optical communication scheme; and a path setting switch that switches between a first signal path setting and a second signal path setting.
US08200087B2 Method and device for stabilizing the state of polarization of a polarization multiplexed optical radiation
A device and method for stabilizing the state of polarization of polarization multiplexed optical radiation including an identified channel is disclosed. The device and method comprise providing to the polarization multiplexed optical radiation a first controllable polarization transformation to generate a first transformed optical radiation; detecting a first state of polarization of a first polarized portion with respect to a first polarization parameter; controlling the first controllable polarization transformation so that the first polarization parameter has a predetermined value independent of a polarization state of the polarization multiplexed optical radiation; providing to the first transformed optical radiation a second controllable polarization transformation to generate a second transformed optical radiation; detecting a second state of polarization of a second polarized portion; and controlling the second controllable polarization transformation so that the second state of polarization has a predefined value.
US08200086B2 Storage area network extension over passive optical networks using parallel signal detection
A storage area network extension, network and method include a storage terminal coupled to a remote node. The remote node is connected to a passive optical network (PON) for transferring data signals in the PON and storage signals to/from the storage terminal by employing subcarrier channels in the PON to enable concurrent bidirectional transfer of the data and the storage signals. A storage area network is coupled to the storage terminal and configured to store and retrieve the storage signals for transfer over the PON.
US08200084B2 Encoding for information needed for routing and wavelength assignment in wavelength switched optical networks
A network component comprising at least one control plane controller configured to implement a method comprising transmitting a message to at least one adjacent control plane controller, wherein the message comprises a Type-Length-Value (TLV) indicating Routing and Wavelength Assignment (RWA) information. Included is a method comprising communicating a message comprising a TLV to a control plane controller, wherein the TLV indicates RWA information. Also included is an apparatus comprising a control plane controller configured to communicate a TLV to at least one adjacent control plane controller, wherein the TLV indicates RWA information.
US08200083B2 Burst power measurements using averaged power measurement
An apparatus comprising an individual optical power level calculation (IOPLC) module and a transceiver coupled to the IOPLC module and configured to communicate with a plurality of optical network units (ONUs). Also disclosed is an apparatus comprising a control and management (CM) module, an average power level measurement (APLM) module coupled to the CM module, a first transceiver coupled to the CM module and configured to communicate with an optical line terminal (OLT), and a second transceiver coupled to the CM module and the APLM module, and configured to communicate with a plurality of ONUs.
US08200080B2 Image sensing apparatus and exposure control method
An image sensing apparatus has focus state detection areas, photometry areas, a defocus amount obtaining unit that obtains a defocus amount of each focus state detection area, a photometry unit that obtains a photometric value of each photometry area, and a determination unit that determines a weighting coefficient for each photometry area. The photometry areas includes a first photometry area, corresponding to any of the focus state detection areas, for which the weighting coefficient is determined using a defocus amount of the corresponding focus state detection area, and a second photometry area for which the weighting coefficient is determined using the weighting coefficient for the first photometry area or the defocus amount of the focus state detection area corresponding to the first photometry area. The second photometry area includes one or more photometry areas, and, in a field area, the number of photometry areas below a first area for obtaining a photometric value in the first photometry area is greater than that above the first area.
US08200077B2 Image blur correction device and imaging apparatus equipped therewith
An image blur correction device includes: a movable frame which is equipped with a lens or an imaging element and has a guide part; a fixed frame having a guide supporting part which movably supports the movable frame by coming into contact with the guide part; and a drive mechanism which drives the movable frame for correcting image blur by moving the movable frame relative to the fixed frame. The fixed frame has magnetic bodies, and the movable frame has urging magnets at positions corresponding to the magnetic bodies. Specifically, the urging magnets use attractive force between the magnets and the magnetic bodies, so as to urge the movable frame in a direction in which the guide part and the guide supporting part come into contact with each other.
US08200075B1 Camera-based mobile communication device and method for controlling flashlight thereof
A camera-based mobile communication device includes a light sensor, a camera module, a flashlight, and a micro-processing unit (MPU). The light sensor is operable to detect a brightness value of an external light source. The camera module is operable to photograph an image. The flashlight is operable to generate a flash. The MPU is electrically connected to the light sensor, the camera module, and the flashlight. The MPU includes a comparison module, a face recognizing module, and a flashlight control module. The comparison module is operable to compare the brightness value with a threshold brightness value. The face recognizing module is operable to determine whether there exists a facial feature in the image. The flashlight control module is operable to turn on the flashlight when the detected brightness value is greater than the threshold brightness value and the facial feature is recognized from the image.
US08200068B2 Digital television
When recording image data inputted from a plurality of data ports and a clock port, for a data port at which the data value has not changed over a predetermined time period, the data value at that data port and a data item which indicates that this data value has continued unchanged are recorded. Furthermore, time instant information is recorded for such a data port at which the data value has ceased to change. Moreover, the value of the transfer rate of the clock signal is recorded. By doing this, the transfer rate is substantially enhanced, and it is possible to anticipate effective utilization of the storage capacity due to elimination of the recording of useless image data.
US08200065B2 Integrated circuit or use in playback apparatus
An integrated circuit includes a storage that stores a module that has a function of a virtual machine for executing an application recorded on a recording medium. The integrated circuit also includes a central processing unit that executes the module to cause the virtual machine to function and a decoder, that is distinct from the central processing unit, that decodes a video stream and an audio stream that are included in digital streams stored on a recording media. When the central processing unit executes the module, a package manager manages status information of the digital streams. If at least one of the digital streams is in an enable status, the decoder decodes the digital stream. When the decoder decodes the digital stream, the package manager changes the status information of another digital stream to an enable status or a disable status according to a request from the application.
US08200060B2 Brightness enhancement sheet
A brightness enhancement sheet including a light transmissive substrate, a plurality of strip prisms, and a plurality of protruding structures is provided. The light transmissive substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The strip prisms are disposed on the first surface. Each of the strip prisms has two prism surfaces, and a junction of the two prism surfaces forms a crest line, and a valley line is formed between each of the two adjacent strip prisms. Each of the protruding structures has two wing portions. The two wing portions are respectively disposed on two prism surfaces of the corresponding strip prism. A junction of the two wing portions forms a protruding end. The protruding end protrudes from the crest line of the corresponding strip prism. Each of the wing portions extends from the protruding end to the valley line.
US08200057B2 Single-mode fiber and production method thereof
A single mode fiber having a core, an inner cladding, a depressed cladding, and an outer cladding composed of pure silica glass. The core is surrounded in sequence with the inner cladding and the depressed cladding. The core has silica glass doped with germanium and fluorine, with a diameter (a) of 8.0-8.8 μm, a relative refractive index difference (Δ1) of 0.35-0.38%, and the contribution of fluoride (ΔF) is −0.09±0.02%. The inner cladding has silica glass doped with germanium and fluorine, with a diameter (b) of 18-21 μm and a relative refractive index difference (Δ2) of 0±0.02%. The depressed cladding has silica glass doped with fluorine, with a diameter (c) of 26-36 μm and a relative refractive index difference (Δ32) at the external interface thereof is between −0.22 and −0.35%, and a relative refractive index difference (Δ31) at the internal interface thereof is between −0.20 and −0.35%, and Δ32≦Δ31. The fiber has a good bending resistance, good mechanical properties, and extended service lifetime, and prevents the additional stresses generated by bending from passing on to the core, thereby reducing attenuation.
US08200056B2 Multi-fiber interface to photonic subassembly
A multiple piecepart alignment and attachment configuration for mating a fiber array (or even a single fiber) with a silicon photonic subassembly utilizes ever-tightening alignment tolerances to align the fiber array with a similar array of waveguides (or other devices) formed within the photonic subassembly. A box-shaped fiber holder is formed to include a plurality of grooves within its bottom interior surface to initially support the fiber array. A separate piecepart in the form of a lid is mated to, and aligned with, the silicon photonic subassembly. The lid is formed to include registration features on its underside that fit into alignment detents formed in the top surface of the silicon photonic subassembly upon attachment. The lid also includes a number of grooves formed on its underside that will capture the top surface of the fibers as the fiber holder is slide into place over the lid. The grooves within the lid function to tighten the pitch of the fiber array and ultimately control the lateral and vertical alignment between the fiber array and the subassembly. The subassembly is also formed to include etched channels along the endface (the channels aligned with optical waveguides/devices in the substrate) to mate with the fiber holder, where the optical fibers are ultimately positioned within the channels so as to be in alignment with the optical waveguides/devices.
US08200055B2 Two-dimensional surface normal slow-light photonic crystal waveguide optical phased array
Methods and devices for optical beam steering are disclosed including coupling a laser light into an apparatus comprising a first substrate; an array of air core photonic crystal waveguides; columnar members etched around each air core waveguide; a pair of metal electrodes around the columnar members; a trench around the pair of metal electrodes surrounding each air core photonic crystal waveguide; a second substrate coupled to the first substrate comprising electrical interconnection lines; and a holographic fanout array comprising a third substrate; a photopolymer film coated on the third substrate; a hologram written in the photopolymer film configured to couple the laser light into the third substrate; and an array of holograms recorded in the photopolymer film configured to couple a portion of the laser light into the waveguides; and passing a current through the electrodes to induce a refractive index change in the first substrate to control the phase of the portion of the laser light that passes through each waveguide. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08200054B1 High efficiency grating coupling for light delivery in EAMR
A magnetic head comprising a waveguide coupler for coupling incident electromagnetic (EM) radiation into a waveguide is disclosed. The waveguide coupler includes a bottom clad layer and a waveguide core layer formed above the bottom clad layer. An interface between the bottom clad layer and the waveguide core layer includes a first grating having a first period and a first etch depth, which are configured to couple a first portion of the incident EM radiation into the waveguide core layer. The waveguide coupler can further comprise a top clad layer formed above the waveguide core layer. An interface between the waveguide core layer and the top clad layer includes a second grating having a second period and a second etch depth. The second period and the second etch depth are configured to couple a second portion of the incident EM radiation into the waveguide core layer.
US08200044B2 Image analyser and adaptive image scaling circuit and methods
An image analyser analyses regions of an image. An image scaler may then scale the image adaptively, in dependence on the nature of region of the image being scaled. In one embodiment, adjacent pixels are analysed to determine their frequency content. This frequency analysis provides an indication of whether the pixels likely contain hard edges, discontinuities or variations typical of computer generated graphics. As a result of the analysis, the type of scaling suited for scaling the image portion containing the pixels may be assessed. Adjacent pixels having high frequency components may be scaled by a scaling circuit that introduces limited ringing. Adjacent pixels having lower frequency components may be scaled using a higher-order multi-tap scaler. Resulting scaled pixels may be formed as a blended combination of the two different scaling techniques.
US08200043B2 Page orientation detection based on selective character recognition
A system and method for character recognition with document orientation determination is shown. The method is a detection of simple page orientation based on a limited version of character recognition. The method includes binairizing an input image which has a plurality of alphanumeric characters with a first orientation. The method continues with extracting the connected components and determining a second orientation where the second orientation is based on a 90° turn clockwise or counterclockwise or, in the alternative, no turn from the first orientation. The second orientation will result in a 180° variance from the proper orientation or it will be the proper orientation. The method continues with implementing a limited version of optical character recognition for an analysis of a character and determining if that second orientation is upside down, based at least in part on the analysis. This method generally uses the character “i” for analysis. However, for documents that have a limited number of “i”s, e.g. such as Russian documents or documents with all capital letters, the “T” may also be used.
US08200040B2 Image system for retaining contrast when merging image data
The invention relates to a method for the joint of registering, archiving, contrast-retaining merging, and visualizing of 2D x-ray images and reconstructed 2D projections or 3D views of generated image data in minimally invasive medical interventions or operations performed under x-ray control on internal organs, areas of tissue, lesions, or pathological structures in a patient's body. A first image and the image data of a second image being mixed over the first image are mutually linked, co-registered, and merged using an alpha-channel-based mixing technique, whereby the color values or gray-scale values of the individual pixels of the first image are prior to being mixed-over with the segmented foreground of the second image brightened through the application of a color-value or gray-scale-value for compensating or lessening the reduction in contrast that occurs during mix-over in the first image before being displayed graphically on a monitor terminal.
US08200038B2 Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus and an image processing method. The image processing apparatus includes a first convolution unit, a weight generator, a second convolution unit, an arithmetic unit and an outputting unit. The first convolution unit performs a convolution to output edge strength according to an original image signal and a high pass filter mask. The weight generator chooses a weight coefficient according to the edge strength. The second convolution unit performs a convolution to output an unsharp image signal according to the original image signal and a low pass filter mask. The arithmetic unit outputs a first sharpening signal according to the original image signal, the unsharp image signal and the weight coefficient. The outputting unit outputs a processed image signal according to the original image signal and the first sharpening signal.
US08200037B2 Importance guided image transformation
Importance guided image transformation. A subject image is accessed, an importance is assigned respective features of the subject image and a scaling scheme is determined for the subject image based on the importance assigned the respective features of the subject image. A transformed image is generated based on the determined scaling scheme and the transformed image is provided to an image presentation system for display.
US08200035B2 Method and apparatus for correcting quantized coefficients in decoder
Provided are a method and apparatus for correcting quantized coefficients. In the method, statistical values of coefficients and quantized coefficients are extracted from a received video data stream, coefficient correction values for each pixel position in blocks are determined by using the statistical distribution of the coefficients depending on the statistical values, and then the coefficients are corrected by respectively adding the coefficient correction values to corresponding coefficients of respective pixel positions.
US08200033B2 Encoding method and apparatus applying coefficient reordering
In a method of encoding and encoder a method step is performed in which the scan order of a set of image region modeling coefficients is established on the basis of information of set of image region modeling coefficients preceding said set of image region modeling coefficients, and said set of image region modeling coefficients subsequently undergoes a scan ordering.
US08200032B2 Image processing method and related apparatus for performing image processing operation according to image blocks in horizontal direction
An image processing method includes generating a block matching result by performing a block matching operation according to a plurality of image blocks in the horizontal direction without referring to an image block in the vertical or other directions and performing an image processing operation according to the block matching result of the block matching operation.
US08200031B2 Multisampling with reduced bit samples
A relatively non-complex signal processor supporting an active pixel sensor imaging system is disclosed. The signal processor only requires the first sample from a group of samples in a multiple sample to be transmitted to the signal processor at full resolution. The subsequent samples in that group can be transmitted using only a subset of least significant bits. The minimum number of required LSBs is based upon the level of noise in the system. In one embodiment, the number of LSBs transmitted is k+2 per sample, where k indicates the number bits corresponding to peak noise. In an alternative embodiment, each subsequent sample is transmitted using only k+1 bits.
US08200030B2 Method and apparatus for converting bit-plane image, and method and apparatus for inverse-converting bit-plane image
Provided are methods and apparatuses for converting a lower bit-plane image, and methods and apparatuses for inverse-converting the lower bit-plane image, which increase the correlation of the lower bit-plane image. According to the method of converting a lower bit-plane image, pixels of the lower bit-plane image are sequentially added or subtracted so as to generate a converted lower bit-plane image. Accordingly, the lower bit-plane image has higher regularity, and thus the efficiency of image processing using the lower bit-plane image is improved.
US08200029B2 Gray code encoding and decoding method applied to holographic storage devices
A gray code encoding and decoding method applied to holographic storage devices is proposed. The encoding method uses gray levels of a 2D detector to encode a certain amount of original bits of the original data, and then sends them to a spatial light modulator (SLM) for encryption. The decoding method corrects the received gray levels to the original gray levels, and then compares the maximum gray level with the original gray levels to decode the original gray level into binary data. The proposed encoding and decoding method can better make use of storage locations of the 2D detector and get a code rate close to 1.
US08200028B2 System and method for detecting edges in a video signal
A system and method for processing a digital video signal corresponding to an image are provided. A plurality of independent edge detecting processes or edge detector modules detect a set of edges and at least one additional edge that is not included in the set of edges. An edge map includes data regarding all edges identified by any edge detecting process or module, and a visually perceptible artifact of the image is altered based at least in part on an evaluation of the edge map. The system and method detects and filters block artifacts and ringing or other noise from digital images, resulting in reduced image distortion.
US08200023B2 Method and system for processing photo product templates
A system and method for processing digital photo product templates to enhance a personalized photo product and to enable greater flexibility when selecting options for the photo product template. One or more photo product templates can be defined as a series of objects, some of which are capable of being colorized by a user. Color sets applicable to the photo product template can be displayed based on a predefined set of colors and/or a user-defined “seed color”. The selected color sets can be automatically applied to the photo product template utilizing a predefined rank. The color sets can be ranked and complementary color set suggestions provided based on the evaluation of the colors in an image.
US08200022B2 Method and system for edge detection
A method executed by a computer system for detecting edges comprises receiving an image comprising a plurality of pixels, determining a phase congruency value for a pixel, where the phase congruency value comprises a plurality of phase congruency components, and determining if the phase congruency value satisfies a phase congruency criteria. If the phase congruency value satisfies the phase congruency criteria, the computer system categorizes the pixel as an edge pixel. If the phase congruency value does not satisfy the phase congruency criteria, the computer system compares a first phase congruency component of the plurality of phase congruency components to a phase congruency component criteria. If the first phase congruency component satisfies the phase congruency component criteria, the computer system categorizes the pixel as an edge pixel, and if the first phase congruency component does not satisfy the phase congruency component criteria, categorizes the pixel as a non-edge pixel.
US08200021B2 Image signature matching device
An image signature to be used for matching is generated by the following generation method. First, region features are extracted from respective sub-regions of a plurality of pairs of sub-regions in an image, and for each of the pairs of sub-regions, a difference value between the region features of two sub-regions forming a pair is quantized. Then, a collection of elements which are quantization values calculated for the respective pairs of sub-regions is used as an image signature to be used for discriminating the image. The image signature matching device specifies, from an image signature of a first image and an image signature of a second image generated by the above generating method, a margin region of each of the images. The image signature matching device matches the image signature of the first image and the image signature of the second image in such a manner that a weight of an element, in which at least one of two sub-regions forming a pair is included in the specified margin region, is reduced.
US08200020B1 Robust image alignment using block sums
A computing device may select a source tile from a source image. From the source tile, the computing device may select a first rectangular feature and a second rectangular feature. Based on the first and second rectangular features, the computing device may calculate a source feature vector. The computing device may also select a search area of a target image, and a target tile within the within the search area. Based on the target tile, the computing device may calculate a target feature vector. The computing device may determine that a difference between the source feature vector and the target feature vector is below an error threshold, and based on this determination, further determine a mapping between the source image and the target image. The computing device may then apply the mapping to the source image to produce a transformed source image.
US08200010B1 Image segmentation by clustering web images
An image segmentation system selects candidate images from an image collection. Image analysis on individual images proceeds by first detecting salient features on each image. Patches are centered on points of interest located on the salient features of the image. Each patch is gridded into blocks. The block feature vectors are merged to generate a patch feature vector. A fingerprint for each image is obtained by merging patch feature vectors across the image. Images with similar fingerprints are identified and geometric matching is performed to further select images with similar objects. Common regions are tabulated and merged into single regions to segment out coherent objects.
US08200002B2 Photo-mask and wafer image reconstruction
A system receives a mask pattern and a first image of at least a portion of a photo-mask corresponding to the mask pattern. The system determines a second image of at least the portion of the photo-mask based on the first image and the mask pattern. This second image is characterized by additional spatial frequencies than the first image.
US08200000B2 Microbead automatic recognition method and microbead
A microbead automatic recognition method includes the steps of: acquiring an image of a circular surface of a cylindrical microbead having a recognition pattern created on the circular surface and a plurality of reference points also created on the circular surface; and acquiring information on the rear/front and/or orientation of the cylindrical microbead from the acquired image on the basis of the positions of the reference points.
US08199998B2 Module for detecting poorly differentiated cancers and pathological image diagnosis support apparatus, program and recording medium including the same
The detection accuracy of poorly differentiated cancers in adenocarcinoma is improved by restricting false detection. Cell nucleus detection means 1 receives a digitized pathological image as an input and extracts the region of a cell nucleus therefrom. Gland duct detection means 2 detects a gland duct structure in the image. Poorly differentiated cancer detection means 4 detects poorly differentiated cancers only in the region other than the gland duct region. False detection rejection means 7 compares the detection density of poorly differentiated cancer in the vicinity of a detection point with a threshold that is predetermined depending on gland duct density in the vicinity of the detection point, at each detection point detected by poorly differentiated cancer detection means 4 and rejects the detection point as a false detection if the detection density of a poorly differentiated cancer is smaller than the threshold.
US08199993B2 Method for defining an individual coordination system for a breast of a female patient
A method is provided for determining a position of an object within a breast of a female patient in a simple manner from a three-dimensional image taken of the breast. A simplified model is made of an internal structure of a breast having glandular bodies leading via lactiferous ducts to an outlet at a nipple. A particularly advantageous model is a tree-type structure in which branches correspond to lactiferous ducts and leaves correspond to glandular bodies. Furthermore, a determination is made of whether the object has contact with an element of the tree-type structure. Alternatively, a distance to an element of the tree-type structure is established. By correlating tree-type structures derived from various images taken on the same breast, the location of the object can be unequivocally established.
US08199990B2 Reducing variation in radiation therapy treatment planning
A method and apparatus are disclosed that reduces variation in radiation therapy treatment planning among plurality of users within the same or different geographic locations. The system includes a method and an apparatus that provide users with the knowledge information and utilizing the knowledge information to contour target volumes for radiation treatment planning. The mode of operation includes utilizing a stand-alone workstation or a server computer connected to the plurality of thin client workstations.
US08199988B2 Method and apparatus for combining 3D dental scans with other 3D data sets
By matching a first data set including digital, three-dimensional, dental models with a second data set including digital, cranio-facial 3D medical scan records, missing or inaccurate portions of the cranio-facial 3D medical scan record can be improved. Example methods for matching the data sets include automatically positioning the dental model with respect to the 3D medical scan record and automatically eliminating common (i.e., overlapping) portions from one of the data sets. Two-dimensional images can be mapped onto images generated from either of the first and second data sets to enhance accuracy and/or photo-realism.
US08199986B2 Vertebra center detection apparatus using spinal-cord region detection, method and recording medium storing a program
A plurality of medical images showing transverse cross-sections of vertebrae that have been imaged in advance are obtained. A spinal-cord region in at least one of the plurality of medical images is detected. A spinal-cord center-line based on a center point in the detected spinal-cord region is generated. A longitudinal cross-sectional image of the vertebrae is generated. Further, a center-line of the vertebrae is obtained based on a positional relationship between the spinal-cord center-line and the vertebrae.
US08199983B2 System and method for counting follicular units
A system and method for counting follicular units using an automated system comprises acquiring an image of a body surface having skin and follicular units, filtering the image to remove skin components in the image, processing the resulted image to segment it, and filtering noise to eliminate all elements other than hair follicles of interest so that hair follicles in an area of interest can be counted. The system may comprise an image acquisition device and an image processor for performing the method. In another aspect, the system and method also classifies the follicular units based on the number of hairs in the follicular unit.
US08199980B2 Digital image search system and method
A method and system for matching an unknown facial image of an individual with an image of an unknown twin using facial recognition techniques and human perception is disclosed herein. The invention provides a internet hosted system to find, compare, contrast and identify similar characteristics among two or more individuals using a digital camera, cellular telephone camera, wireless device for the purpose of returning information regarding similar faces to the user The system features classification of unknown facial images from a variety of internet accessible sources, including mobile phones, wireless camera-enabled devices, images obtained from digital cameras or scanners that are uploaded from PCs, third-party applications and databases. The method and system uses human perception techniques to weight the feature vectors.
US08199978B2 Method for image auto-selection and computer system thereof
A method for image auto-selection and a computer system thereof are provided. In the method, a characteristic value of each of the images is compared with the predetermined characteristic value stored in a characteristic value database, and the images with less difference between the characteristic value and the predefined characteristic values are selected automatically. As a result, the image selection can become more objectively, and the efficiency of image selection can be improved due to the reduction of the manual selection time.
US08199976B2 Image-processing camera system and image-processing camera control method
An image pickup device that acquires images is controlled by an image pickup device controller that accepts image acquisition requests from multiple application programs, and an application scheduler selects application programs to be executed. Information indicative of the image data volumes and image data acquisition rates required for each of the multiple application programs is stored and used to select multiple concurrently executable application programs on the basis of the image data volumes and image data acquisition rates. An image acquisition scheduler determines the timing and intervals at which the multiple executable application programs repeat receiving image data from the image pickup device, without overlapping in terms of time. In addition, an operations section, which explicitly presents concurrently executable application programs to a user and commands the startup of these programs, is displayed on a navigation screen menu.
US08199973B2 Image recognition method, image recognition device, and image recognition program
For object recognition based on nearest neighbor search of local descriptors such as SIFT, it is important to keep the nearest neighbor search efficient to deal with a huge number of descriptors. The present invention provides methods of efficient recognition. In one embodiment, the method is based on the observation that the level of accuracy of nearest neighbor search for correct recognition depends on images to be recognized. The method is characterized by the mechanism that multiple recognizers with approximate nearest neighbor search are cascaded in the order of the level of approximation so as to improve the efficiency by adaptively controlling the level to be applied depending on images. In another embodiment the method is characterized by excluding local descriptors with low discriminability when a plenty of local descriptors are present in the vicinity and a plenty of distance calculation are required.
US08199972B2 Methods and systems for fast scan location identification
An unknown named territory encloses a known physical target location that is specified by a target longitude and a target latitude. An operation is performed to identify a number of rectangular-shaped terrestrial areas that each enclose both the target longitude and the target latitude. Each of the identified rectangular-shaped terrestrial areas respectively encloses a polygonal-shaped named territory. Each polygonal-shaped named territory is defined by a respective circumscribing set of contiguously positioned vectors. An operation is performed to evaluate the circumscribing sets of contiguously positioned vectors of the polygonal-shaped named territories to determine if a given polygonal-shaped named territory includes both the target longitude and the target latitude. When both the target longitude and the target latitude are found to reside within a given polygonal-shaped named territory, the identity of the given polygonal-shaped named territory is conveyed.
US08199969B2 Out of phase digital watermarking in two chrominance directions
The present invention relate generally to digital watermarking. One claim recites an apparatus comprising: electronic memory for buffering a color video signal comprising a first frame and a second frame; and one or more electronic processors programmed for: transforming a first color channel and a second color channel of the first frame by hiding a digital watermark in the first color channel such that the first digital watermark includes a first signal polarity, and hiding the digital watermark in the second color channel such that the digital watermark includes a second signal polarity that is inversely related to the first signal polarity; transforming a first color channel and a second color channel of the second frame by hiding a digital watermark in the first color channel such that the first digital watermark includes the second signal polarity, and hiding the digital watermark in the second color channel such that the digital watermark includes the first signal polarity. Of course, different combinations and claims are provided too.
US08199968B2 Method for printing a printing substrate
A method for printing a printing substrate is disclosed. The printing substrate is printed by a printing-plate-based printing method, in particular by an offset printing method, with a printed image that is the same for printed copies of a print job and therefore with a static printed image as well as, in addition to the printing-plate-based printing method, by a non-printing-plate-based printing method, in particular an inkjet printing method, with a printed image that is variable for the printed copies of the print job and therefore with a dynamic printed image. After the static and dynamic printing of the printing substrate, each printed copy is detected using measuring techniques and recorded at least in sections in such a manner that each printed copy is verifiable with respect to its authenticity.
US08199965B1 System, method, and computer program product for preventing image-related data loss
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for preventing data loss associated with an image. In use, an image is identified, and it is determined whether the image includes predetermined data. In addition, an action is performed based on the determination, for preventing data loss.
US08199963B2 Microphone arrangement and method for production thereof
A microphone arrangement comprises a stack arrangement (1) which comprises a first semiconductor body (10) having a microphone structure (13) and a second semiconductor body (80). The second semiconductor body (80) comprises a first main face (81) on which an integrated circuit (83) is arranged and a second main face (82) which faces the first semiconductor body (10).
US08199962B2 Loudspeaker diaphragm and loudspeaker using the same
A loudspeaker diaphragm having a small overall height dimension, in which a dome portion has a sufficient rigidity and which is capable of realizing a stable loudspeaker operation, wherein the loudspeaker diaphragm can realize a desirable sound reproduction without noise, or the like, with a frequency response that is flat over a wide range. In the loudspeaker diaphragm of the present invention, the dome portion includes a concave dome portion formed at a center thereof, a convex dome portion along an outer periphery of the concave dome portion, a plurality of depressed ribs each extending in a radial direction across a boundary between the concave dome portion and the convex dome portion, a voice coil attachment portion along an outer periphery of the convex dome portion, and a plurality of protruding ribs extending in the radial direction across a boundary between the convex dome portion and the voice coil attachment portion, wherein each protruding rib is spaced apart in a circumferential direction from two adjacent depressed ribs.
US08199959B2 Card-type device and method for manufacturing same
In a display panel (1) performing sound generation/sound pickup through vibration, total thickness of a pair of transparent substrates (104, 105) constituting its base is set suitably for a predetermined sound quality required as an acoustic device. Consequently, a card-type device for generating sound and/or picking up sound by vibrating the display panel itself and ensuring a desired sound quality without sacrificing the setup as a display is realized.
US08199956B2 Acoustic in-ear detection for earpiece
An apparatus comprising at least one earpiece suitable to be applied at an auditory opening of a user's ear and a signal processor is disclosed. The earpiece comprises a speaker enabled to be supplied with an audio signal for rendering, and a microphone arranged in vicinity of the speaker arranged to acquire a sound signal. The signal processor is arranged to determine whether the earpiece is applied at the user's ear by analysis of the acquired sound signal, wherein the analysis is based on the acoustic coupling of the audio signal to the microphone. A method and a computer program are also disclosed.
US08199954B2 Image capturing apparatus
The use of sound signals from sounds collected by four non-directional sound collectors facilitates calculation for generating surround sound signals, for example, when multi-channel surround sound signals are generated, and prevents the size of the entire apparatus from increasing. Surround sound signals are generated from sound signals of sounds collected by a microphone unit composed of a first sound collector, a second sound collector disposed posterior to the first sound collector, a third sound collector, and a fourth sound collector.
US08199945B2 Hearing instrument with source separation and corresponding method
The selection of a plurality of sound sources for the purposes of preferential presentation should be structured to be more convenient for hearing instrument wearers. For this purpose, provision is made to separate the signals of the plurality of sources picked up and present them one after another with the aid of a corresponding control unit. On the basis of the presentation, the user can, likewise by means of the control units, select one of the plurality of signals for the purposes of further processing. The selection is preferably effected by pressing a button or by looking in the direction of the desired source plus pressing a button by way of acknowledgment.
US08199939B2 Microphone package
In one exemplary embodiment, an apparatus includes: a first substrate having an aperture adapted to receive an acoustic signal; a microphone comprising a plate connected to the first substrate and a movable member connected to the first substrate, where the microphone is adapted to transduce the received acoustic signal into an electrical signal; a second substrate connected to the first substrate; at least one wall connected to the first substrate and the second substrate such that the at least one wall, the first substrate, the second substrate and the microphone define an interior cavity; and an electrical component on the second substrate and electrically coupled to the microphone, where the electrical component is configured to generate an output based on the electrical signal.
US08199938B2 Method of causing the thermoacoustic effect
The present disclosure relates to a method of producing sound waves. In the method, a carbon nanotube structure is provided. A signal is applied to the carbon nanotube structure and cause the carbon nanotube structure to produce heat. The heat is transferred to a medium in contact with the carbon nanotube structure to cause a thermoacoustic effect for producing sound waves.
US08199935B2 Method, a system and an apparatus for delivering media layers
A system for facilitating access to multiple layer media items over communication network. The system comprises a media database which is used for storing multiple layer media items as independently accessible channels. The system further comprises plurality of subscriber applications which are connecting via a communication network, e.g. The Internet, to the media database. Users can use the subscriber application to access to each channel of the multiple layer media items independently.
US08199932B2 Multi-channel, multi-band audio equalization
A signal processing apparatus includes a plurality of equalizers configured to input an audio signal of a corresponding channel among audio signals of a plurality of channels and configured to perform at least gain adjustment on the basis of a set parameter, each of the equalizers being provided in such a manner as to correspond to an audio signal of one of the plurality of channels; a plurality of output sections configured to output each audio signal for each of the plurality of channels, the audio signal being processed by the equalizer; a measurement section configured to measure frequency-amplitude characteristics of the audio signal output from the output section; and a computation section configured to perform a computation process for correcting frequency-amplitude characteristics of an audio signal of each channel on the basis of the measurement result by the measurement section.
US08199931B1 Parametric loudspeaker with improved phase characteristics
A method is disclosed for increasing a parametric output of a parametric loudspeaker system. The method can include the operation of providing multiple ultrasonic frequency emission zones that output signals in a frequency band. The phase relationships of the ultrasonic frequency emission zones can be correlated and controlled to increase phase coherence between each ultrasonic frequency emission zone to maximize parametric output. Correlating and controlling the phase relationships can include offsetting a frequency of a carrier signal applied to each emission zone from a resonant frequency of each emission zone in view of a rate of change of phase of each emission zone in a vicinity of each resonant frequency. Ultrasonic energy from the ultrasonic frequency emission zones can be generated, using the correlated phase relationship to increase the parametric output.
US08199929B2 Anti-pop circuit
An anti-pop circuit is coupled with a sound outputting device to prevent a “pop” sound form being mixed into a sound signal. The anti-pop circuit includes a control signal generator and a fist diode. The control signal generator generates a control signal with a high level state and a low level state. The first diode couples with the sound outputting device. The sound signal is transferred to the first diode when said first diode is in a forward bias state, and the sound signal is outputted from an output end of the sound outputting device when the first diode is in a reverse bias state.
US08199926B2 Attachment structure for a sound generating apparatus
An object is to enhance workability in attachment in a sound generating apparatus that generates sound by vibrating a vibration plate with a vibrator while ensuring acoustic performance as good as that achieved by fastening with fine screw threads. Workability in attaching operation is improved while ensuring acoustic performance as good as that provided by fastening with fine screw threads, by providing first fixing portion that brings engagement portions into screw engagement with each other by rotation by a predetermined angle that can be attained by a user without taking his/her hand that holds a coupler off it and second fixing portion for fixing the coupler to a bracket so as to prevent the coupler from rotating relative to said bracket in a direction to loosen the engagement achieved by said first fixing portion.
US08199921B2 Sound field controlling device
A sound field controlling device for supplying audio signals to a plurality of speakers provided in a space to form a sound field in the space, includes a measuring unit which measures levels of indirect sounds, which are outputted from the speakers, reflected from a wall surface of the space, and reach a listening position respectively, a reverberation applying unit which generates a reverberation simulation signal for reinforcing the indirect sounds on the basis of the audio signals, and a reverberation balance adjusting unit which controls the level of the reverberation simulation signal and supplies the controlled reverberation simulation signal to the corresponding speakers on the basis of the levels of the indirect sounds outputted from the speakers so that respective synthesized levels of the indirect sounds and the reverberation simulation signal are balanced between the speakers.
US08199916B2 Selectively loading security enforcement points with security association information
A method, network element, and computer storage program product, are provided for selectively loading a communication network security enforcement point (“SEP”) with security association (“SA”) information for inspection of encrypted data in a secure, end-to-end communications path. At least one encrypted data packet is received. It is determined that SA information for decrypting the at least one encrypted data packet fails to exist locally at the SEP. A request is sent to a communication network key server for SA information associated with the at least one encrypted data packet. The SA information associated with the at least one encrypted data packet is received from the communication network key server.
US08199914B2 Detection of a change of the data of a dataset
An undesired change of encrypted data words of a stored encrypted dataset may be concluded from the fact that redundancy information is associated with the data words of a dataset prior to encryption, wherein the redundancy information is also encrypted and stored at least partially together with the encrypted data words of the encrypted dataset as an encrypted redundancy data word. The change of the stored encrypted data words may be concluded from the fact that the decrypted data words resulting from decrypting the encrypted data words are used to form a new redundancy data word which is encrypted into a new encrypted redundancy data word. A comparison of the new encrypted redundancy data word to the encrypted redundancy data word enables to examine whether the encrypted data was changed.
US08199913B2 Object authentication using embossed hidden images
An authenticatable object comprises a surface having a latent hidden image embossed therein. The latent image is an encoded version of an authentication image and comprises a plurality of elements applied to the surface with a predetermined frequency. The latent hidden image is configured for optical decoding by a decoder having a decoder frequency corresponding to the predetermined frequency.
US08199908B2 Magnet cap
One or more method(s), system(s), and/or device(s) produces an assembly for securing a product to a dissimilar material, such as a magnet to plastic. A magnet assembly may include a plastic cap having one or more wings extending laterally from a side surface of the plastic cap. A plastic holder defines a product cavity and has one or more grooves formed to integrally fit with the one or more wings of the plastic cap. A magnet is positioned within the product cavity. The plastic cap is joined to the plastic holder, such as through staking or welding, to capture the magnet within the product cavity.
US08199906B2 Implementation of a communication link in powered device for layer 2 support
A system and method for enabling communication between power source equipment and a powered device chip. In one embodiment, communication between the power source equipment and the powered device chip is enabled through a communication link established between the powered device chip and a host device on the powered device.
US08199904B2 Method and device for creating a media signal
Embodiments relate to a method for rendering a media signal in a communication terminal, comprising the steps of, under control of a control unit in the communication terminal: receiving a transmission over a network, selecting media files stored in the communication terminal in a first order forming a media signal, and rendering the selected media files in the first order over an output arrangement of the communication terminal.
US08199897B2 Communication network system and call pickup method thereof
The invention discloses a call pickup method for a communication network system comprising a first terminal and a second terminal. The method comprise the steps of: (a) setting a common group extension in each of the first terminal and the second terminal; (b) transmitting a pickup request message via the common group extension from the second terminal while the first terminal is receiving an incoming call from a third terminal; (c) receiving the pickup request message from the second terminal via the common group extension at the first terminal; (d) transmitting a transfer message related to the pickup request message from the first terminal to the third terminal; (e) transmitting an invitation message from the third terminal to the second terminal; and (f) establishing the incoming call between the second terminal and the third terminal.
US08199894B2 Advanced call forwarding
The present invention advantageously provides a method and system that combines arming and disarming of a security system with activation and deactivation of call forwarding, enabling a single input by an authorized user to alter the state of the security system and to activate or deactivate call forwarding. Further, when changing the state of the security system, a user authorization component determines whether call forwarding should be activated. Hence, forwarding of calls is based on both user criteria and the state of the system. Additionally, the state of call forwarding can be changed by an authorized user via the security system.
US08199892B2 Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing a call attempt triggered messaging service in a communications network
Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing a call attempt triggered messaging service in a communications network comprises intercepting a call signaling message including a calling party subscriber identifier and a called party subscriber identifier. A call attempt triggered message generation (CATMG) database using the called party subscriber identifier is queried. In the event the called party subscriber identifier exists in the CATMG database, a messaging service message is generated. The messaging service message is then transmitted to a contact address.
US08199887B2 Phone call management
A method of operating a phone is provided and includes receiving input to set a phone in a do-not disturb mode and to set a time period during which the do-not-disturb mode is activated and setting the phone accordingly, upon reception of an incoming call from a caller during the time period, activating a caller ID function of the phone, detecting a caller ID of the caller and searching for the caller ID in black- and white-lists. In an event the caller ID of the caller is stored in the blacklist, the voicemail function is activated or the incoming call is ended. In an event the caller ID of the caller is stored in the whitelist, an input of the password associated with the caller ID is requested, and, in an event the caller inputs the password, the ringing function is activated.
US08199886B2 Call control recording
Included are embodiments for recording communications. At least one embodiment of a method includes receiving an invite message relating to a communication between a first communications device and a second communications device, extracting information associated with the communication, and tagging the extracted information from a header, the extracted information being associated with the communication.
US08199883B2 X-ray flux management device
The invention is directed to an x-ray flux management device that adaptively attenuates an x-ray beam to limit the incident flux reaching a subject and radiographic detectors in potentially high-flux areas while not affecting the incident flux and detector measurements in low-flux regions. While the invention is particularly well-suited for CT, the invention is also applicable with other x-ray imaging systems. In addition to reducing the required detector system dynamic range, the present invention provides an added advantage of reducing radiation dose.
US08199882B2 Integrated collimator
A radiation detector with an integrated collimator. The collimator may be deposited on an anode or cathode face of the radiation detector. An insulating material may be deposited between the collimator and the radiation detector if the collimator is deposited on the anode side. The collimator may be comprised of a single layer or of multiple layers. Patterning and etching may be used to create an aperture in the collimator to allow x-rays to impinge on a full charge collection region of the radiation detector intrinsic region.
US08199878B2 Methods and systems for performing differential radiography
The present invention relates to a characterization system (100) for characterizing an object (104) comprising a basic material and additional structural features. The system (100) comprises at least one irradiation source (102) for generating an irradiation beam for irradiating the object (104) to be characterized and at least one detector (106) for detecting said irradiation beam transmitted through the object (104). The system (100) furthermore comprises a control means (108) for obtaining at least two different basic datasets of the object (104) for different configurations of the irradiation beam, the object (104) and the detector (106). The latter may be obtained by shifting and/or rotating components and/or by selecting different components used for acquisition of the datasets. The system furthermore comprises an image processing means (112) for combining said at least two different basic datasets as to obtain a differential image indicating the additional structural features of the object (104) but substantially filtering out the basic material. The invention also relates to a corresponding method for characterizing objects and to an image processing means for processing acquired images accordingly.
US08199877B2 Therapy facility
A therapy system has a therapeutic system that produces x-ray radiation and is directed to a treatment area, and an image-producing imaging system that produces x-ray radiation and is directed to the treatment area. The therapeutic system has a first accelerator for electrons of a first energy that produces respective x-ray radiation, and the imaging system has a second accelerator for electrons of a second energy. A supply system is connected to and operates the first and the second accelerators, and the first and second supply systems have at least one component.
US08199875B2 System and method of acquiring multi-energy CT imaging data
A CT system includes a rotatable gantry having an opening for receiving an object to be scanned, and a controller configured to apply a first kVp for a first time period, apply a second kVp for a second time period, wherein the second time period is different from the first time period, acquire a first asymmetric view dataset during at least a portion of the first time period, acquire a second asymmetric view dataset during at least a portion of the second time period, and generate an image using the acquired first and second asymmetric view datasets.
US08199874B2 System and method of mitigating low signal data for dual energy CT
A CT system includes a rotatable gantry having an opening for receiving an object to be scanned, and a controller configured to obtain kVp projection data at a first kVp, obtain kVp projection data at a second kVp, extract data from the kVp projection data obtained at the second kVp, add the extracted data to the kVp projection data obtained at the first kVp to generate mitigated projection data at the first kVp, and generate an image using the mitigated projection data at the first kVp and using the projection data obtained at the second kVp.
US08199873B2 Methods of scatter correction of x-ray projection data 2
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.
US08199867B2 Interference suppression in bit-serial data streams
Described is an apparatus for suppressing spurious spectral lines in a frame based bit-serial data stream, in which frames include payload data and frame markers. The apparatus includes means (16) for randomizing first frame marker elements (START) in a first position within each frame and means (18) for correlating second frame marker elements (STOP) in a second position within each frame with the randomized first frame marker element.
US08199864B1 Quadrature phase shift keying demodulator of digital broadcast reception system and demodulation method thereof
A demodulator for demodulating a digital broadcast signal and a demodulation method thereof. A QPSK demodulator of a digital broadcast reception system includes an in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) detector. The I/Q detector generates a baseband I signal and a baseband Q signal by multiplying a modulated QPSK signal by an I/Q carrier signal. A bandwidth adjustable first filter receives the baseband I signal and the baseband Q signal generated by the I/Q detector and rejects imaginary noise included in the received signals. A data restoration unit restores original data before the signals output from the first filter are QPSK modulated.
US08199863B2 Multiple-antenna space multiplexing system using enhancement signal detection and method thereof
The multiple-antenna space multiplexing system using enhancement signal detection comprising: a code modulation module for coding and modulating bit information; a signal transmission module for transmitting the modulated signals; a signal reception module for receiving the signals; a signal form transform module for transforming form of a channel matrix H and the received signal vector r; a signal detection module for detecting the received signals; a signal reconstruction module for reconstructing the detection results of in the signal detection module, and obtaining a detected signal; a demodulation decoding module for demodulating and decoding the output of the signal reconstruction module, and outputting bit information. Compared with the conventional detection methods, the system performance is improved in considering the realization complexity.
US08199854B2 Modulating apparatus, mobile communication system, modulating method, and communication method
An encoder encodes sound data and the like to generate a binary signal. A mapper converts the binary signal into a four-level symbol and outputs the four-level symbol. A base band filter includes a root raised cosine filter and a sinc filter. The base band filter blocks a predetermined frequency component of a symbol to shape the symbol into a waveform signal and outputs the waveform signal shaped. An FM modulator transmits a signal subjected to FM modulation according to a magnitude of an amplitude of a waveform signal to a receiving unit. When a symbol of ±3 is outputted from the mapper, a frequency shift of a signal transmitted from the FM modulator has a predetermined value in a range of ±0.822[kHz] to ±0.952[kHz]. This makes it possible to provide a modulating apparatus, a mobile communication system, a modulating method, and a communication method that use a modulating method that can conform to the FCC rule to be enforced in 2005 without using a linear power amplifier.
US08199850B2 Transmitter for communication systems employing an enhanced modulation scheme
A transmitter is configured to transmit a transmit signal modulated according to a first modulation scheme, the first modulation scheme being associated with a set of first constellation points. The transmitter transmits at least a part of the transmit signal based on a subset of the first constellation points, wherein the subset of first constellation points approximates second constellation points of a set of second constellation points associated with a second modulation scheme. The first and second modulation schemes are different from one another.
US08199841B1 Channel tracking in a wireless multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system
An equalizer to be applied to signals received via at least one multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) channel is computed using a matrix equalizer computational device. The computed equalizer is applied to a received signal to recover an equalized representation of encoded data sent in a transmission. Errors are removed from the equalized representation of the encoded data to generate an error-corrected estimation of the encoded data sent in the transmission, and the equalized representation of the encoded data is compared to the error-corrected estimation of the encoded data. An updated equalizer is then computed to be applied to a subsequent signal based on the comparison.
US08199839B2 Digital broadcast transmitting/receiving system having an improved receiving performance and signal processing method thereof
A digital broadcast transmitting/receiving system and a signal processing method thereof that can improve the receiving performance of the system. A digital broadcast transmitter has a randomizer to randomize an input data stream which has null bytes being inserted at a specified position, a multiplexer to output a data stream formed by inserting specified known data into the position of the null bytes of the randomized data stream, an encoder to encode the data stream outputted from the multiplexer, and a modulator/RF-converter to modulate the encoded data, RF-convert the modulated data and transmit the RF-converted data. The receiving performance of the digital broadcast transmitting/receiving system can be improved even in a multi-path channel by detecting the known data from the received signal and using the known data in synchronization and equalization in a digital broadcast receiver.
US08199835B2 Systems and methods for adaptive signal sampling and sample quantization for resource-constrained stream processing
Systems and methods for adaptive signal sampling and sample quantization for resource-constrained stream processing. Exemplary embodiments include a signal sampling and signal quantization method for a data stream from a ECG sensor into a pervasive device, the method including adaptively sampling the data stream, compressing data samples from the data stream, reducing the number of samples via quantization, defining a utility function for signal reconstruction, and formulating optimization on the reconstructed signal that is jointly sampled and quantized.
US08199834B2 Frame decimation through frame simplification
System and method of providing improved signal compression using frame decimation through frame simplification and generating an encoded bitstream of video frames therefrom are disclosed. The encoding method comprises zeroing a difference frame generated by an encoder by using a feedback loop that injects a reconstructed frame, generated by the encoder of the difference frame, as a next frame of the video frames to be processed by the encoder. The encoding system comprises an input configured to provide a stream of video frames; a first process configured to generate a difference frame, and a second process configured to generate a reconstructed frame. A feedback loop of the system is configured to inject a generated reconstructed frame from the second process of a generated difference frame from the first process as a next frame of the video frames in the stream to be processed into the encoded bitstream by the encoding system.
US08199831B2 Method and device for coding video levels in a plasma display panel
The invention relates to a method and a device for coding video levels of pixels of a color component of a picture to be displayed on a display device into code words. The invention is more particularly applicable to Plasma Display Panels (PDP) to improve the picture quality (grayscale enhancement, dynamic false contour reduction). The main idea of the invention is to automatically change the floor and ceiling levels used classically for dithering each pixel value depending on the neighboring pixels of the same color component. The size of the window determining the neighboring pixels is dependent on the definition of the wanted flat field size.
US08199825B2 Reducing the resolution of media data
Input data at a first resolution are received from a source. The input data are compressed. The input data can be downsampled to generate compressed downsampled data at a reduced resolution. The compressed downsampled data can be used to generate a frame at the reduced resolution. When the frame is needed as a reference for another frame, the compressed downsampled data can be decoded to generate decompressed downsampled data at the reduced resolution. Motion compensation is performed on the decompressed downsampled data at the second resolution to generate motion compensated decompressed downsampled data used as a reference for a second frame. Thus, by performing motion compensation on downsampled data directly, data processing operations such as transcoding can be accomplished quickly and effectively while saving computing resources.
US08199822B2 Method and apparatus for accomplishing multiple description coding for video
A method and apparatus for utilizing temporal prediction and motion compensated prediction to accomplish multiple description video coding is disclosed. An encoder receives a sequence of video frames and divides each frame into non-overlapping macromacroblocks. Each macromacroblock is then encoded using either an intraframe mode (I-mode) or a prediction mode (P-mode) technique. Both the I-mode and the P-mode encoding techniques produce an output for each of n channels used to transmit the encoded video data to a decoder.
US08199819B2 Apparatus and method for encoding and decoding moving picture using adaptive scanning
Provided is an apparatus and method for encoding/decoding moving pictures based on adaptive scanning. The moving picture apparatus and method can increase a compression rate based on adaptive scanning by performing intra prediction onto blocks of a predetermined size, and scanning coefficients acquired from Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) of a residue signal and quantization differently according to the intra prediction mode. The moving picture encoding apparatus includes: a mode selector for selecting and outputting a prediction mode; a predictor for predicting pixel values of pixels to be encoded of an input video based on the prediction mode to thereby output a residue signal block; a transform/quantization unit for performing DCT onto the residue signal block and quantizing the transformed residue signal block; and an encoder for adaptively scanning and encoding the quantized residue signal block based on the prediction mode.
US08199812B2 Adaptive upsampling for scalable video coding
This disclosure describes techniques for coding information in a scalable video coding (SVC) scheme that supports spatial scalability. In one example, a method for coding video data with spatial scalability comprises upsampling base layer residual video data to a spatial resolution of enhancement layer residual video data, and coding the enhancement layer residual video data based on the upsampled base layer residual video data. In accordance with this disclosure, upsampling base layer residual video data includes interpolating values for one or more pixel locations of the upsampled base layer residual video data that correspond to locations between different base layer residual video data blocks.
US08199811B2 Digital broadcast system and data processing method
A digital broadcast system and a data processing method are disclosed. A data processing method of a digital broadcast transmission system includes delaying a reference time of a program clock reference (PCR) based on a size of mobile service data, when processing a broadcasting signal including main service data and the mobile service data, verifying a transport stream system target decoder (T-STD) model based on the PCR of the delayed reference time, and storing a packet of the main service data in an auxiliary buffer, when overflow of a buffer in the T-STD model is estimated as the verification result of the T-STD model.
US08199808B2 Decoding method and decoder with rounding means
The present invention relates to a video decoder for decoding a bit stream corresponding to pictures of a video signal. The invention is such that, motion vectors having values coded at a nominal resolution in the bit stream, said video decoder includes a rounding unit for rounding decoded nominal motion vectors to a resolution different from the nominal resolution in a way that minimizes the error accumulation along prediction path by assigning to rounded successive motion vectors along the prediction path, successive values such that their average value is equal to the value of the nominal motion vector.
US08199803B2 Receiver structure and method for the demodulation of a quadrature-modulated signal
A receiver is provided for a quadrature-modulated signal, which can be divided into an inphase signal and a quadrature signal. The inphase signal is fed to first and third equalizers, and the quadrature signal is fed to second and fourth equalizers, wherein the first and second equalizers each perform a first equalization of the respective signal. An output of the first equalizer is connected to a second input of the fourth equalizer, which, by means of a second equalization of the quadrature signal, transmits an equalized quadrature signal as a function of the previously fed equalized inphase signal of the first equalizer. An output of the second equalizer is connected to the second input of the third equalizer, which, through a second equalization of the inphase signal, transmits an equalized inphase signal as a function of the previously fed equalized quadrature signal of the second equalizer.
US08199802B2 8K mode interleaver with odd interleaving only and per OFDM symbol permutation code change in a digital video broadcasting (DVB) standard
A data processing apparatus maps input symbols to be communicated onto a predetermined number of sub-carrier signals of an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) symbol. The data processor includes an interleaver memory which reads-in the predetermined number of data symbols for mapping onto the OFDM sub-carrier signals. The interleaver memory reads-out the data symbols on to the OFDM sub-carriers to effect the mapping, the read-out being in a different order than the read-in, the order being determined from a set of addresses, with the effect that the data symbols are interleaved on to the sub-carrier signals. The set of addresses are generated from an address generator which comprises a linear feedback shift register and a permutation circuit.
US08199799B2 Method of monitoring circuit quality and circuit therefor
In a digital wireless communication device having an error correction function, the circuit quality is quickly detected with maintained accuracy. The circuit quality to such an extent that a bit error rate (BER) is slightly degraded (10−10 to 10−12) is quickly detected with maintained accuracy by monitoring the circuit quality based on a C/N error pulse into which C/N information scaling a carrier-to-noise power ratio (C/N) of a received signal has been converted.
US08199797B2 Transceiving apparatus and transceiving system of low turn-around voltage
A transceiving apparatus includes a transmitter module and receiver module. The transmitter module has a transmitting circuit and an auxiliary circuit. The transmitting circuit generates a first differential input signal pair when the transceiving apparatus operates in a transmitter mode (TX mode). The auxiliary circuit is coupled to the transmitting circuit, for generating a differential output signal pair according to the first differential input signal pair when the transceiving apparatus operates in the TX mode. The receiver module is coupled to the auxiliary circuit, for receiving a second differential input signal pair according to a common mode voltage when the transceiving apparatus operates in a receiver mode (RX mode). Herein the auxiliary circuit generates the common mode voltage when the transceiving apparatus operates in the RX mode.
US08199795B2 Communication device and data transmission method between at least two communication devices
A data transmission method between at least two mobile communication devices is provided, a communication device comprising a first and a second transceiver. The first transceiver communicates with a transceiver of another device with a data rate higher than that of the second transceiver, and the second transceiver communicates with a transceiver of another device with power consumption level lower than that of the first transceiver. The device is configured to communicate with another communication device using the first transceiver when data is to be transmitted between devices; stop using the first transceiver when data transmission ceases, and communicate with another communication device using the second transceiver to set up the use of first transceiver when a need to send data arises.
US08199793B2 Determination of active spreading codes and their powers
The present invention relates to a method and a device for detecting active spreading codes for a signal in a communication system and estimating power of the active spreading codes. Further, the present invention ensures efficient interference cancellation. Multiple correlations are performed at a single level of a spreading code tree, the produced output samples are then observed at this level during a defined period, and a decision for the activity and power is met for all existing codes via extracting and processing information from these samples. At the correlation step, unitary fast Walsh Hadamard transformation is performed at practically the highest spreading factor in the system.
US08199792B2 Radio communication apparatus and response signal spreading method
A wireless communication apparatus capable of minimizing the degradation in separation characteristic of a code multiplexed response signal. In this apparatus, a control part (209) controls both a AC sequence to be used in a primary spreading in a spreading part (214) and a Walsh sequence to be used in a secondary spreading in a spreading part (217) so as to allow a very small circular shift interval of the ZC sequence to absorb the interference components remaining in the response signal; the spreading part (214) uses the ZC sequence set by the control part (209) to primary spread the response signal; and the spreading part (217) uses the Walsh sequence set by the control part (209) to secondary spread the response signal to which PC has been added.
US08199791B2 Mixed voice and spread spectrum data signaling with enhanced concealment of data
Systems, methods, and devices for mixed voice and spread spectrum data signaling with enhanced concealment of data are disclosed. Audible artifacts may be reduced or suppressed in order to improve the audible quality of the sound. The distortion to the audio may be kept just below perceptibility, yet the data contained within the modulated signal is recoverable on the receiving side. The recovery of the data is robust to the impairments imposed by the communication channel. The disclosed systems, methods, and devices may be implemented in audio conferencing or video conferencing. Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a data and voice mixer, which includes an improved spread spectrum data hiding transmitter. The transmitter may comprise a spreading encoder, a Phase Shift Keying (PSK) modulator, and a notch filter. A pseudo random switching pattern may be applied to a plurality of chip sequence generators in order to reduce or suppress an undesirable audible artifact. The transmitter may further comprise a phase randomizer operable to rotate the phase of the output of the spreading encoder by a pseudo random increment of approximately 45 degrees.
US08199789B2 Arrangement for RF power delivery to a gas discharge laser with cascaded transmission line sections
RF power is transmitted to a CO2 gas discharge laser form a source of RF power via a series combination of transmission line sections. The lengths and characteristic impedances of the transmission line sections are selected to transform the impedance of the RF power source to the operating impedance of the laser.
US08199788B2 Surface-emission laser diode and fabrication process thereof
A surface-emission laser diode comprises a cavity region over a semiconductor substrate and includes an active layer containing at least one quantum well active layer producing a laser light and a barrier layer, a spacer layer is provided in the vicinity of the active layer and formed of at least one material, an upper and lower reflectors are provided at a top part and a bottom part of the cavity region, the cavity region and the upper and lower reflectors form a mesa structure over the semiconductor substrate, the upper and lower reflectors being formed of a semiconductor distributed Bragg reflector having a periodic change of refractive index and reflecting incident light by interference of optical waves, at least a part of the semiconductor distributed Bragg reflector is formed of a layer of small refractive index of AlxGa1-xAs (0
US08199785B2 Thermal chirp compensation in a chirp managed laser
Thermal chirp compensation in a chirp managed laser. In one example embodiment, a method for thermal chirp compensation in a chirp managed laser (CML) includes several acts. First, a first bias condition and temperature is selected. Next, a first thermal chirp compensation signal is generated. Then, the laser is driven by biasing a first input drive signal with the first thermal chirp compensation signal. Next, a second bias condition and temperature is selected. Then, a second thermal chirp compensation signal is generated. Finally, the laser is driven by biasing a second input drive signal with the second thermal chirp compensation signal.
US08199784B2 Laser light source and method of operating the same
A laser light source comprises a semiconductor laser adapted for pulsed operation, a partially transmitting wavelength selective light reflector. The semiconductor laser comprises a front facet and a back facet. The front facet and the back facet define an internal laser cavity. The internal laser cavity comprises a laser active medium. The partially transmitting wavelength selective light reflector has a peak reflectivity within a gain bandwidth of said laser active medium. The wavelength selective light reflector and the back facet define an external laser cavity. A roundtrip time of light in the external laser cavity is about 20 nanoseconds or less. A full width half maximum bandwidth of the wavelength selective light reflector is adapted to accommodate at least 12 longitudinal modes of the internal laser cavity and at least 250 longitudinal modes of the external laser cavity.
US08199781B2 Device and method for demultiplexing received transport stream in digital broadcasting receiver
Disclosed herein is a device and method for demultiplexing in a digital broadcasting receiver for processing packet data configured by a packet header and a payload. A buffer buffers input packet data. Processors are parallel connected to the buffer. A packet header processor checks a packet header, identifies the presence of adaptation information, and generates a control signal according to the presence of the adaptation information. An adaptation information processor processes the adaptation information of buffered payload data under control of the packet header processor. A Packetized Elementary Stream (PES) header processor processes a PES header of the buffered payload data under the control of the packet header processor. A data processor generates an audio or video Elementary Stream (ES) from audio or video data of the buffered payload data under control of the PES header processor, and outputs the generated audio or video ES to an associated decoder.
US08199780B2 Multimedia apparatus and synchronization method thereof
A multimedia apparatus and a synchronization method thereof are provided. The multimedia apparatus includes a video output unit which outputs a video, and a control unit which transmits an audio signal to the external device through the communication module and operates the video output unit to display a video corresponding to the audio signal by delaying the video based on delay information received from the external device through the communication module.
US08199779B2 Synchronizing clocks across a communication link
Apparatus, system and method for synchronizing one or more clocks across a communication link. A slave clock may be synchronized to a master clock by means of a synchronization signal sent from the master to the slave clock side of the link. The synchronization signal may be an expected signal pattern sent at intervals expected by the slave side. The slave clock may correlate received signals with a representation of the expected synchronization signal to produce a correlation sample sequence at a first sample rate which is related as n times the slave clock rate. The synchronization signal receipt time indicated by the correlation sample sequence may be refined by interpolating the correlation sample sequence around a best correlation sample to locate a best interpolation at an interpolation resolution smaller than the sample resolution. The best interpolation may in turn be further refined by estimating between interpolator outputs adjacent to the best interpolation output. The synchronization signal receipt time thus determined is compared to the expected time based upon the slave clock, which is adjusted until the times match. After initialization, all slave clock errors are preferably accumulated to prevent long-term slip between the slave and master clocks. Formerly independent master and slave clocks synchronized across the communication link constitute a noncommon clock which may be compared on each side of the link to secondary independent clocks, and the secondary independent clocks may then be separately synchronized by adjusting one to have the same difference from its local noncommon clock as the secondary clock on the other side of the link has from its local noncommon clock.
US08199777B2 Radio communication apparatus
A radio receiving apparatus for receiving the variable-length RLC PDU data in an RLC layer includes the buffer memory sectioned into a plurality of areas having a predetermined maximum data length of the RLC PDU data. By referring to a sequence number SN included in each received RLC PDU data, the radio receiving apparatus stores the RLC PDU data having an identical sequence number SN into an identical area, and assembles an RLC SDU data on a basis of the RLC PDU data stored in each area.
US08199775B2 Optical transmission device and optical transmission method
An output control unit outputs data of bit rate A to a first header-attaching unit and data of bit rate B to a second header-attaching unit. An instructing unit instructs the first or the second header-attaching unit to attach a header of bit rate being the least bit rate to the data of bit rate A or B. The first header-attaching unit creates a header of bit rate A, including an ID of a destination ONU of the data of bit rate A and information concerning the data length, and attaches the header of bit rate A to the data of bit rate A. The second header-attaching unit creates a header of bit rate A, including an ID of the destination ONU of the data of bit rate B and information concerning the data length, and attaches the header of bit rate A to the data of bit rate B.
US08199774B2 Method and apparatus for receiving variable sized packets in a communication system
A method and apparatus is disclosed that receives variable sized packets in a communication system. When a packet is received with a certain burst size, an LLR of the received packet is compared with a preset threshold and the burst size is changed. The received packet is combined with a stored packet. The stored packet is updated with the combined packet. The changed burst size is reported to the transmitter. The communication system can transmit variable sized packets according to a channel environment, and can reduce the probability of the occurrence of a decoding error and prevent waste of resources used due to re-transmission.
US08199772B2 Systems and methods for synchronous generic framing protocol mapping
The present invention provides systems and methods for mapping synchronous input signals, such as synchronous Ethernet, into Generic Framing Protocol (GFP) frames for using GFP directly on Optical Transport Network (OTN) while preserving the synchronous timing of the input signals. The present invention defines a mapping technique for GFP-based encapsulation that preserves timing information of an incoming client signal. The mapping technique makes use of the concept that a timing signal can be fractionally multiplied in frequency using factors that are ratios of integers without creating significant timing impairments.
US08199771B2 Apparatus and method for transmitting data using transmit antenna diversity in a packet service communication system
An apparatus and method for transmitting packet data through at least two transmit antennas in a packet data communication system using transmit antenna diversity. In the packet transmitting apparatus, a feedback information interpreter interprets feedback information including CQIs and antenna weights received from a plurality of UEs requesting a packet data service. A weight generator classifies the antenna weights and selects UEs having orthogonal weights. A transmitter applies the selected weights to packet data destined for the selected UEs and transmits the packet data to the selected UEs simultaneously.
US08199770B2 Method and system for asymmetric operation in a network node in an energy efficient ethernet network
An Ethernet network comprises multi-rate link partners that may be operable to communicate symmetrically and/or asymmetrically via any of a plurality of channels. The multi-rate link partners may monitor one or more factors that may affect their power consumption and/or energy efficiency. During operation, an uplink and/or downlink communication rate may be configured, based on the monitoring, to enable asymmetrical data rate operation. The monitored factors may comprise prior or current data rates, bit error rate, packet error rate, latency, queued data and/or tasks, for example. The multi-rate link partners may comprise a twisted pair PHY, an optical PHY or a backplane PHY. In order to reduce power consumption and/or improve energy efficiency, one or more of the uplink communication rate and/or the downlink communication rate may be lowered. The power consumption may be reduced for a multi-rate PHY, a host computer and/or a MAC controller.
US08199769B2 Timeslot scheduling in digital audio and hybrid audio radio systems
Systems and methods of decoding data streams and conserving power are described. In some embodiments, a stream of data containing audio and other data is divided into a plurality of timeslots. A first timeslot of the plurality of timeslots is allocated to a first service. A grant location message which indicates a location of the first timeslot allocated to the first service is generated. The grant allocation message and the plurality of timeslots are transmitted to a receiver.The receiver may receive and decode the grant allocation message to identify OFDM symbols that carry information regarding the first service. The receiver may also receive the plurality of timeslots. The receiver may set a power mode of a component during OFDM symbols that indicate a status of the first service.
US08199767B2 Method and apparatus for adaptive time division multiplexing on a multi-channel wireline medium with colocated transceivers
A wireline communications circuit using transceivers compatible with a wireless communications protocol is disclosed using access points and stations in an adaptive Time Division Multiple Access scheme for a multi-channel medium with colocated transceivers. Methods of operating an access point and a station, their implementations as chips and the implementation of a chip for either the access point or station are further disclosed.
US08199764B2 Scalable approach to large scale queuing through dynamic resource allocation
Methods and devices are provided for the efficient allocation and deletion of virtual output queues. According to some implementations, incoming packets are classified according to a queue in which the packet (or classification information for the packet) will be stored, e.g., according to a “Q” value. For example, a Q value may be a Q number defined as {Egress port number∥Priority number∥Ingress port number}. Only a single physical queue is allocated for each classification. When a physical queue is empty, the physical queue is preferably de-allocated and added to a “free list” of available physical queues. Accordingly, the total number of allocated physical queues preferably does not exceed the total number of classified packets. Because the input buffering requirements of Fiber Channel (“FC”) and other protocols place limitations on the number of incoming packets, the dynamic allocation methods of the present invention result in a sparse allocation of physical queues.
US08199759B2 Method and apparatus for enabling ID based streams over PCI express
A method and apparatus for enabling ID based streams over Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) is herein described. In this regard an apparatus is introduced including a memory ordering logic to order packets to be transmitted over a serial point-to-point interconnect, the memory ordering logic to bypass a stalled first packet with a second packet that arrived after the first packet if the second packet includes an attribute flag set to indicate that the second packet is order independent and if the second packet includes an ID that is different from an ID associated with the first packet. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US08199752B2 Enhanced anycast for edge server selection
Systems and methods for gathering distributed information to improve routing that uses Anycast for assigning deliveries between a number of geographically-distant points of presence (POPs) are disclosed. The POPs share the same Internet protocol (IP) address. According to Anycast resolution, the Internet aids in assigning a content request initially to a POP. Delivery statistics are gathered from deliveries a the number of POPs and possibly other sources. Where it is determined that Anycast found the wrong POP, the content request is reassigned to another POP.
US08199750B1 Communicating with a control plane using a forwarding information format and control plane processing of packets devoid of a virtual switch identifier
Packet switch operating methods and packet switches receive a plurality of packets using a forwarding plane of the packet switch. Each packet of the plurality conforms to a different one of a plurality of forwarding information formats. The methods and packet switches modify each packet of the plurality to conform to a common forwarding information format instead of a respective one of the plurality of forwarding information formats and forward the modified packets of the plurality to a control plane of the packet switch.
US08199748B2 Automated configuration of a digital cross connect
A request is received to establish a requested connection in a digital cross connect between a first port and a second port. It is determined whether each of the first port and the second port are on a list of ports that are available for the connection. A command is issued to the digital cross connect to establish the requested connection.
US08199747B2 System and method for instant VoIP messaging
There is provided an instant voice messaging system (and method) for delivering instant messages over a packet-switched network, the system comprising: a client connected to the network, the client selecting one or more recipients, generating an instant voice message therefor, and transmitting the selected recipients and the instant voice message therefor over the network; and a server connected to the network, the server receiving the selected recipients and the instant voice message therefor, and delivering the instant voice message to the selected recipients over the network, the selected recipients being enabled to audibly play the instant voice message.
US08199744B2 Method and apparatus for automated calendar selections
A method and apparatus for reserving an appointment in a communications network is described. In one embodiment, a request is received from a caller to schedule an appointment with an enterprise customer, wherein the request is processed in accordance with a media server in the communications network. A scheduling calendar is then accessed. Afterwards, the appointment is reserved with one of a plurality available appointment time slots.
US08199738B2 Apparatus and method for processing ranging channel of communication system
Disclosed herein is a base station that extracts a ranging channel signal from a received signal partially correlates each of a plurality of ranging channel signals and each of ranging codes according to ranging modes, and selects a ranging channel signal greater than a first threshold value, the plurality of ranging channel signals being signals according to plurality of time delays of a ranging channel signal. In addition, the base station correlates each of the selected ranging channel signal and each of corresponding ranging code, selects a ranging channel signal having the maximum correlation value, and estimates receiving power by using a time delay corresponding to the selected ranging channel signal.
US08199737B2 Radio communication system, radio communication apparatus, radio communication method, and computer program
An autonomously dispersed type wireless network is suitably formed with communication stations avoiding collision of beacons transmitted one to another. In the event that the range of reach of airwaves change and a receivable state is created and beacons collide, a communication station changes the beacon transmission position of itself in response to receiving a beacon from another station at a timing immediately prior to transmission to its own beacon. Also, in the event that beacon collision is exposed due to emergence of a new communication which can perform reception from two systems out of airwave range of each other, the newly-participating station requests one of the communication stations of which the beacons are colliding to change the beacon transmission timing.
US08199736B2 Data transmission in mobile communication system
An apparatus, comprising a data processing entity for processing a signal for communication in a first subchannel, in which first subchannel communication occurs simultaneously with one or more second subchannels using the same radio resource.
US08199731B2 Method and apparatus for facilitating switched packet data services on multiple networks
A method and apparatus for establishing data connections between multiple networks is provided. A portable, electronic device 300, such as a mobile telephone, includes a communication module 303 configured to initiate the data connection by transmitting an initiation request. The device 300 establishes the data connection, which may be a packet data protocol-context data connection in a general packet radio service environment, by transmitting an initiation request that includes a network identifier such as access point name to obtain an Internet protocol address. Upon determining available network channels suitable for establishment of the network connection, a processing module 304 selects a corresponding network identifier from a look-up table 305 of network identifiers and corresponding networks. The communication module 303 then transmits the data connection initiation request having the selected network identifier so as to establish a switched packet data connection with the selected network.
US08199730B2 Method and apparatus for handling uplink grant
A method for handling an uplink grant received on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in a user equipment (UE) of a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method includes steps of setting a Temporary Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (Temporary C-RNTI) of the UE to a value assigned in a Random Access Response message, monitoring a contention resolution message, receiving an uplink grant on PDCCH addressed to the Temporary C-RNTI, and not using the uplink grant to transmit data if the uplink grant corresponds to a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) Process different from an HARQ Process used for transmission of a MediumAccess Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) in a Message 3 buffer.
US08199727B1 Call delivery in a CDMA legacy MS domain for SIP call origination
A system and a method in a wireless network utilizing session initiation protocol (SIP) for call control. The SIP payload (SDP) contains a list of available transcoders (codecs) to coordinate transcoder selection to allow for the minimization of transcoders. An additional aspect of the embodiment of the present invention includes a serving MSCe that is operable to determine whether to initiate ringback to the calling party. If ring back is to be initiated, ringback can be initiated from the serving MSCe or from a network element supporting the calling party. The call negotiation process according to the described embodiment of the invention eliminates the requirement for any transcoding in specific situations to result in the number of transcoders used in the voice bearer path to be reduced to 0 (TrFO, Transcoder Free Operation) or to 1 (RTO, remote transmitter operation).
US08199726B2 Channel quality measurements for downlink resource allocation
In a wireless digital communication system which may employ CDMA technology, a method and system for obtaining channel quality (CQ) measurements for downlink resource allocation wherein a User Equipment (UE) continuously measures received signal code power (RSCP) based on a communication on a reference channel provided by the network. The UE measures timeslot interference signal code power (ISCP) either continuously, by configuration or by rotation and reports downlink CQ. The UE may report the RSCP once and the ISCP per timeslot, or may report some function of the RSCP/ISCP ratio such as modulation parameters or combined coding of all timeslots.
US08199723B2 Parallel wireless communication apparatus, method, and system
An access point in a wireless network communicates with multiple mobile stations simultaneously using spatial-division multiple access. The access point transmits to the mobile stations frames that end at different times within a predefined window of time. When the predefined window in time is a short interframe space (SIFS) in an IEEE 802.11 compatible network, the access point will be done transmitting the frames in time to receive acknowledgements from the multiple mobile stations.
US08199713B2 Fractional frequency reuse in a communication system
An apparatus and method for fractional frequency reuse in a communication system. The method includes a first step 400 of partitioning a sub-frame into resource partitions, wherein at least one resource partition has frequency reuse of one and all other resource partitions have frequency reuse greater than one. A next step 408 includes scheduling resources for a mobile station in a sector in each resource partition used by that sector.
US08199711B2 Radio communication system
In a radio communication system having a data channel for the transmission of data packets from a primary station to a secondary station, a plurality of downlink control channels are used to signal information relating to packet transmission. A problem with this scheme is that with a fixed control channel allocation system throughput (T) for a given offered load (O) can be significantly reduced in a worst case scenario (for example two secondary stations using the same control channel). One solution uses an indicator signal to inform a secondary station of the control channel it should receive, but this adds significant complexity to the system. The present invention provides a simpler scheme having similar benefits by shuffling the allocation of control channels to secondary stations, according to a defined sequence for each secondary station, thereby avoiding the worst case scenario.
US08199708B2 Allocation of uplink reference signals in a mobile communication system
A mobile communication system network node (NN) that serves user equipments (UEs) has fewer orthogonal reference signals (RSs) than a maximum number of UE antenna ports (APs) that can be served by the NN. A channel quality of a channel between the AP and the network node is ascertained for each of the APs. Whenever a number of APs of UEs served by the NN exceeds the number of RSs, all RSs are allocated to a subset of all of the APs by means of an allocation process such that: each RS is allocated to only one of the APs; each AP has no more than one RS allocated to it; and allocation decisions are a function of the channel qualities of the respective APs such that the higher the channel quality, the higher priority the corresponding AP is given as a candidate for receiving an RS allocation.
US08199707B2 Inter-cell discovery and communication using time division multiple access coexistence beaconing protocol
A self-coexistence window reservation protocol for a plurality of Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN) cells operating in a WRAN over a plurality of channels includes a sequence of self-coexistence windows that uniquely identifies a transmission period for each WRAN cell. A self-coexistence window reservation protocol is included within the first packet of a Coexistence Beaconing Protocol period identifying when each WRAN cell associated with a particular channel will transmit. When not actively transmitting, a WRAN cells remains in a passive, receiving mode to accept data. As the transmissions of each WRAN cell operating on a particular channel are scheduled, contention for a transmission period is eliminated.
US08199705B2 System and method for providing a wireless access point (WAP) having multiple integrated transceivers for use in a hybrid wired/wireless network
The method may include determining a protocol associated with a communication signal for an access point. A compatible processor may be allocated and selected from a pool of available processors and subsequently utilized to process the communication signal. In one aspect of the invention, a processor may be made compatible by updating it with compatible protocol code that may be used for processing the communication signal. The compatible protocol code may be downloaded to the processor from a memory. The processor may associate a particular protocol code with a particular portion of the memory. Accordingly, the protocol code may be retrieved from the memory based on the association. The processor may be a digital signal processor (DSP), which may be adapted to process 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and Bluetooth protocols, for example.
US08199704B2 Method of encoded channel acquisition
A method of scanning for an encoded signal, such as a GSM encoded signal, in a frequency band is disclosed herein. The disclosed method provides either more rapid acquisition of a signal, or increased battery life for mobile devices in regions without service. A corresponding mobile device that performs the method is also disclosed.
US08199703B2 Method and system for efficient connection setup procedure for mobile terminated (MT) calls
The invention relates to telecommunication systems and in particular to a method and system for efficient connection setup procedure for mobile terminated calls. A method of connection setup for mobile terminated calls is proposed in which a page message originating from the access network contains one access sequence along with access terminal identity or unicast access terminal identifier (UATI) of the paged access terminal. When more than one access terminal uses the same access sequence for sending their access probe at the same time a collision may occur. Access network selects access sequences from a reserved pool to direct the paged access terminal for performing access attempt to avoid collisions during access attempts. With this resource pooling, there is no need to send bind request and hence connection setup time reduces.
US08199702B2 Baseband recovery in wireless networks, base transceiver stations, and wireless networking devices
Baseband recovery in wireless networks, base transceiver stations, and wireless networking devices may be implemented to minimize the number of timing symbols while at the same time enabling wireless devices to use a relatively low per-symbol sampling rate, so that minimal processing is required to implement the timing recovery. In one embodiment, a relatively low number of samples is taken per expected symbol interval during the training sequence. A subset of the samples is selected and processed to determine error signals for each of the samples. The error signals are multiplied by the expected symbol and summed to form an error signal. The error signal is used to adjust the set of samples that will be used and processed in connection with subsequent symbols. The error signal is also used to interpolate between available samples to infinitesimally approach the point of maximum eye opening.
US08199699B2 Legacy support for Wi-Fi protected setup
Techniques and systems for automatically configuring devices to interact with “legacy” wireless access points (“WAPs”) are disclosed. According to one technique, a user programs a WPS-enabled WAP with the configuration information of a “legacy” WAP. This makes the WPS-enabled WAP “aware” of the “legacy” WAP. When any other user brings his device within discovery range of the WPS-enabled WAP, the WPS-enabled WAP sends, to that device, a list of the WAPs of which the WPS-enabled WAP is aware. The device's user selects one of the WAPs (e.g., a “legacy” WAP) from the list. The WPS-enabled WAP receives the user's selection and sends, to the device, the configuration information for the selected WAP. The user's device configures itself, using the configuration information, to interact with the selected WAP. Thereafter, the user's device can access a network through the selected WAP, even if the selected WAP is a “legacy” WAP.
US08199698B2 Method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving control message related to packet call service in an IP multimedia subsystem
Apparatus and Method for transmitting control message related to a packet call service in an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) that transmits/receives an IMS control message using a control plane to reduce a delay caused by setting of a user plane in a packet call setup process. A user equipment (UE) determines whether an IMS service is registered in response to a radio resource control (RRC) connection request. The UE sets an SRB_IMS request parameter requiring that the IMS control message be processed through a signaling radio bearer (SRB) depending on whether the IMS service is registered. The UE transmits an RRC connection request message including the SRB_IMS request parameter to a radio network controller (RNC). The UE configures an SRB_IMS entity.
US08199696B2 Method and apparatus for power control in a wireless communication system
Method and apparatus for power control in a packet-data switched communication system by adapting a transmission energy setpoint to transmission quality and adjusting the retransmission energy setpoint accordingly. In one embodiment, the retransmission energy setpoint is adjusted as a function of retransmission quality.
US08199680B2 Correlating calls after a referral
In one embodiment, a network device attaches a header including an identifier for an original call to an outgoing refer message and may also modify a table entry for a consultative call to include the identifier. The network device then monitors incoming invite messages for a header containing the identifier and observes that an incoming invite message containing the header correlates to the original call. When a header is not included, the network device extracts information from the incoming invite messages and compares the extracted information to the modified table entry to correlate one of the incoming invite messages to the original call.
US08199677B1 Distance vector routing via multi-point relays
The present invention is a method and system for propagating routing information in a wireless network. In an exemplary embodiment, the method includes defining a set of artery nodes to propagate distance vector routing information throughout the wireless network. The set of artery nodes may broadcast distance vector routing information to neighboring network nodes. The method may also include receiving distance vector routing information by the neighboring nodes to modify distance vector routing tables defined within each of the neighboring nodes. The set of artery nodes may then re-broadcast distance vector routing information in order to propagate distance vector routing information throughout the wireless network.
US08199670B2 Telecommunications service management
A method of processing service information relating to a plurality of user services available in a telecommunications system is disclosed. The method includes storing entities defining service components in a service information database, where each service component entity represents a distinct aspect of service functionality which can be provided by the telecommunications system. Entities defining implementation technologies are also stored, each implementation technology entity being associated with a service component entity and representing a technology that can be used for implementing the aspect of service functionality represented by the service component entity. The method further stores entities defining user services available to users of the telecommunications system, each user service entity being associated with one or more service component entities defining service functionality aspects of the user service. The method can be applied to the management of service information databases or product catalogues for a range of telecommunications services and networks which provide complex services, for example Next Generation Networks (NGNs).
US08199668B2 Method for attaching to a partitioned queue spread across a plurality of messaging servers
There is disclosed a method, apparatus and computer program for an application instance to request attachment to a queue partition on a messaging server within a plurality of messaging servers, each messaging server holding at least one queue partition, the set of queue partitions together forming a single queue. An application instance requests attachment to a queue partition, the request requesting exclusivity with regard to other application instances having a common identifier. Responsive to an indicating that the request has been successful, the application instance interacts with the queue partition.
US08199667B2 Voice and data exchange over a packet based network
A signal processing system which discriminates between voice signals and data signals modulated by a voiceband carrier. The signal processing system includes a voice exchange, a data exchange and a call discriminator. The voice exchange is capable of exchanging voice signals between a switched circuit network and a packet based network. The signal processing system also includes a data exchange capable of exchanging data signals modulated by a voiceband carrier on the switched circuit network with unmodulated data signal packets on the packet based network. The data exchange is performed by demodulating data signals from the switched circuit network for transmission on the packet based network, and modulating data signal packets from the packet based network for transmission on the switched circuit network. The call discriminator is used to selectively enable the voice exchange and data exchange.
US08199666B2 Transmission of acknowledge/not-acknowledge with repetition
In ACK/NAK responses with repetition, the ACK/NAK response from the user equipment to a Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) transmission is repeated in consecutive frames a predetermined number of frames following receipt. This repeat ACK/NAK causes a problem when a PSCCH transmission directed to the same user equipment occurs in consecutive subframes. In a first embodiment, the first ACK/NAK response repeats preempting any ACK/NAK response to the later PDSCH transmission. In a second embodiment, the first ACK/NAK response does not repeat and the ACK/NAK response to the later PDSCH transmission occurs.
US08199665B2 Apparatus and method for scheduling service based on network delay
An apparatus and method for determining a network delay and scheduling a service based on the delay are provided. The method includes determining information about a first time at which data is transmitted, determining information about a second time at which the data is received, determining a time delay using the first time and the second time, and scheduling a service based on the time delay. Because scheduling of service is based on a determined time delay, radio resources are more efficiently used.
US08199655B2 Optimized layer-2 network switching systems and methods
An exemplary method includes monitoring a performance of at least one of a plurality of layer-2 network paths connecting a layer-2 network switch device to another layer-2 network switch device and selecting an optimal one of the plurality of layer-2 network paths over which to forward data traffic based on a path selection heuristic and the monitored performance of the at least one of the plurality of layer-2 network paths. At least a portion of the exemplary method may be performed by a layer-2 network switching system. In certain embodiments, the selecting of the optimal one of the plurality of layer-2 network paths over which to forward the data traffic is based on at least one of a latency parameter, a congestion parameter, and a cost parameter associated with the at least one of the plurality of layer-2 network paths. Corresponding systems and methods are also disclosed.
US08199649B2 Method and apparatus for rerouting a connection in a data communication network based on a user connection monitoring function
A method and apparatus for rerouting connections in a data communication network based on detection of faults or other undesirable characteristics using a user connection monitoring function is presented. After a connection is established that is managed by a control plane, the status of characteristics of the connection is monitored using a user connection monitoring function. In one embodiment, the user connection monitoring function includes the use of operation and management (OAM) cells. When the status of one or more of the selected characteristics being monitored is determined to be unacceptable, control plane rerouting of the connection is initiated. Selected characteristics that may be monitored using the user connection monitoring function include, for example, continuity, data corruption, data loss, latency, and misinsertion of data. The reroute initiated in response to the unacceptable characteristic may be a hard reroute or a soft reroute.
US08199647B2 Data transmission in a packet-oriented communication network
According to the present invention, a large scale traffic distribution is carried out in a packet-oriented communication network. The distribution results, in a simple, practical and inexpensive way, for all the services and applications which reliably and efficiently preserve their specific quality of service requirements, in a highly balanced quality of service with best effort character. Preferably, there is in the traffic at least a priority class traffic whereof the traffic concerned is transmitted in distributed manner and in packets with strict priority in the communication network. The observance of specific quality of service requirements is monitored at least for the priority traffic. Classification in the priority class traffic enables to provide an adequate quality of service, even for real-time services and applications.
US08199646B1 System, device, and method for distributing link state information in a communication network
A system, device, and method for distributing link state information in a communication network combines a link state routing protocol with a sliding window mechanism in order to efficiently distribute link state information. The sliding window mechanism permits a predetermined number of unacknowledged link state advertisement protocol messages to be outstanding at any given time. Unacknowledged link state advertisement protocol messages are retransmitted after a predetermined timeout period.
US08199645B2 Systems and methods for intelligent discard in a communication network
Systems and methods for optimizing system performance of capacity and spectrum constrained, multiple-access communication systems by selectively discarding packets are provided. The systems and methods provided herein can drive changes in the communication system using control responses. One such control responses includes the optimal discard (also referred to herein as “intelligent discard”) of network packets under capacity constrained conditions. Some embodiments provide an interactive response by selectively discarding packets to enhance perceived and actual system throughput, other embodiments provide a reactive response by selectively discarding data packets based on their relative impact to service quality to mitigate oversubscription, others provide a proactive response by discarding packets based on predicted oversubscription, and others provide a combination thereof.
US08199644B2 Systems and methods for processing access control lists (ACLS) in network switches using regular expression matching logic
A network node, such as an Ethernet switch, is configured to monitor packet traffic using regular expressions corresponding to Access Control List (ACL) rules. In one embodiment, the regular expressions are expressed in the form of a state machine. In one embodiment, as packets are passed through the network node, an access control module accesses the packets and traverses the state machine according to certain qualification content of the packets in order to determine if respective packets should be permitted to pass through the network switch.
US08199640B2 Path-based adaptive prioritization and latency management
An improved solution for managing messages through a request response protocol network utilizing a path-based adaptive prioritization and latency management is provided. In an embodiment of the invention, a method of managing a message being conveyed through a request response protocol network via a path includes: receiving the message; determining for the message at least one of: an incoming portion of the path or an outgoing portion of the path; and adjusting a priority of the message based on a latency target for the determined portion of the path.
US08199635B2 Method and system for network setup and maintenance and medium access control for a wireless sensor network
A sensor network having a first command center and a first access node, comprising a wireless transceiver, coupled to the command center. The sensor network may also include a plurality of nodes individually comprising a wireless transceiver and a directional antenna, wherein each of the plurality of nodes is successively located in a downlink direction relative to the first access node, and is configured to wirelessly communicate via the directional antenna with at least one node of a first neighbor group in a first direction and at least one node of a second neighbor group in a second direction. In addition, a sensor device is individually coupled to at least one of the nodes, and is configured to provide sensor data for the first command center.
US08199634B2 Signaling method in an OFDM multiple access system
A method for reducing the peak-to-average ratio in an OFDM communication signal is provided. The method includes defining a constellation having a plurality of symbols, defining a symbol duration for the OFDM communication signal, and defining a plurality of time instants in the symbol duration. A plurality of tones are allocated to a particular communication device, and a discrete signal is constructed in the time domain by mapping symbols from the constellation to the time instants. A continuous signal is generated by applying an interpolation function to the discrete signal such that the continuous signal only includes sinusoids having frequencies which are equal to the allocated tones.
US08199633B2 Base station and wireless communication method
A base station is provided. The base station conducts wireless communication with one or more terminal devices using an OFDMA system, and has: a channel assigning unit that assigns PRU an extra channel used for data communication and an anchor channel including a map indicating the position of PRU to which the extra channel is assigned, wherein the channel assigning unit assigns the anchor channel to PRU of a predetermined frequency domain and assigns the extra channel to PRU of a domain other than the predetermined frequency domain.
US08199627B2 Multi-layer data storage medium having eccentric recording layers and recording layer identification method based on eccentricity
A multi-layer data storage medium includes a plurality of recording layers in which a guide groove, where data is stored, is formed in a spiral manner, and each center of the plurality of the recording layers is eccentric to a center of the multi-layer data storage medium in a different direction. A method of identifying a recording layer of the multi-layer data storage medium is also described.
US08199625B2 Laser driving device and method with control signal patterns, reference pulses, and changing pulses
A laser driving system and method using a write strategy technique where a write strategy signal is generated based on a set of pulses that include timing information and power level information. The set of pulses originate from a set of transmission signals that embody spaces and marks for both starting and changing the set of pulses.
US08199623B2 Optical pickup
An optical pickup includes a semiconductor laser, a beam splitter, a collimating lens, an objective lens, an aperture and a front monitor. The beam splitter splits a light beam emitted by the semiconductor laser into transmitted light and reflected light. The front monitor detects luminous energy of the transmitted light. The front monitor is disposed near an optical axis of the transmitted light so that the following is satisfied: 1≦(S×L)/(s×f)≦6.8. S is an area of an entrance pupil of the objective lens, f is an optical distance from an emission portion of the semiconductor laser to the collimating lens, s is an effective receiving area of the front monitor, and L is an optical distance from the emission portion of the semiconductor laser to the front monitor.
US08199621B2 Write-once information recording medium, information recording apparatus, information recording method, information reproducing apparatus and information reproducing method
According to the present invention, multiple space bitmaps (SBMs #0 and #1 30) are provided for the user data area of each recording layer. A disc management structure update unit including one of those space bitmaps and a disc definition structure (TDDS 32) and having a size of one block is written on a management information area (TDMA 17). As a result, data including the disc definition structure (TDDS 32) can always be arranged in the first block at the top of the management information area (TDMA 17).
US08199614B2 Aberration correction element for use in reading and writing data on multiple types of optical recording media
An aberration correction element including a diffraction plane that corrects a spherical aberration caused by the difference among a first optical recording medium, a second optical recording medium, and a third recording medium by transmitting first beams of light having a wavelength of λ1 emitted from a first light source to read and write data on the first recording medium, and diffracting second beams of light having a wavelength of λ2 emitted from a second light source to read and write data on the second recording medium, and third beams of light having a wavelength of λ3 emitted from a third light source to read and write data on the third recording medium; and a phase shifter plane generating a spherical aberration −ΔSA having a reverse direction to a spherical aberration ΔSA generated at an objective lens optimized for the first optical recording medium according to a temperature change.
US08199612B2 Timepiece with variable hour circle
Timepiece including indicator members actuated or not actuated by the movement. These indicator members are composed of movable hour marks represented by the faces of the studs (30, 40) mounted on staffs having planet wheels (34) driven by a rack (50). The faces of the studs carry stones of various colors. When the movement operates the rack, it determines the change of the hour marks. When operation by the movement is disengaged, manual control elements allow the hour marks appearing on the dial to be changed.
US08199606B2 Semiconductor memory apparatus and method of controlling the same
A semiconductor memory apparatus includes: an address buffer configured to buffer an input address and generate a buffered address; a command buffer configured to buffer a chip selection command and generate a buffered command; a latch control unit configured to receive an internal clock and the buffered command and generate a latch control signal; and an address latch unit configured to latch the buffered address based on the latch control signal.
US08199604B2 Flash memory device and erase method using the same
A flash memory device includes a plurality of memory blocks and a plurality of block selection circuits corresponding to the plurality of memory blocks. All of the block selection circuits are sequentially operated in response to block control signals, or two or more of the block selection circuits are operated in response to the block control signals.
US08199602B2 Systems and methods for dynamic power savings in electronic memory operation
Reduction of line delay is accomplished in an electronic memory by segmenting portions of the memory and only enabling certain memory portions depending upon where the memory is to be accessed. In one embodiment, the bit lines are segmented using latch repeaters to control the bit line length for address selection. The latch repeaters are, in one embodiment, allowed to remain in their operated/non-operated state at the completion of a memory read/write cycle. This then avoids successive enabling pulses when the same segment is accessed on successive cycles.
US08199589B2 Shift register providing glitch free operation in power saving mode
Disclosed is a shift register including a plurality of flip-flops configured in series to shift input data in response to an applied clock, and a drive operation controller. The drive operation controller includes; a first logic gate configured to receive and logically combine selected outputs from selected ones of the plurality of flip-flops to generate a gate output signal, a drive operation controller flip-flop configured to receive the gate output signal and retime the gate output signal in response to a first clock applied to a clock terminal of a first flip-flop in the plurality of flip-flops to generate a clock enable signal, an inverter configured to receive the clock enable signal and generate an inverted clock enable signal, and a second logic gate configured to receive and logically combine the first clock and the inverted clock enable signal to generate a second clock, wherein the second clock signal is applied to a clock terminal of at least one later stage flip-flop following the first flip-flop in the plurality of flip-flops.
US08199587B2 Memory devices and their operation with different sets of logical erase blocks
Methods of operating memory devices include storing data of a first type in a first set of logical erase blocks and storing data of a second type in a second set of logical erase blocks. The logical erase blocks of the first set of logical erase blocks each have a first size the logical erase blocks of the second set of logical erase blocks each have a second size different than the first size.
US08199586B2 Programming and selectively erasing non-volatile storage
A non-volatile storage system performs programming for a plurality of non-volatile storage elements and selectively performs re-erasing of at least a subset of the non-volatile storage elements that were supposed to remain erased, without intentionally erasing programmed data.
US08199584B2 Nonvolatile memory device for preventing program disturbance and method of programming the nonvolatile memory device
A nonvolatile memory device for preventing program disturbances includes a memory cell array block, a word line driver, and a well bias control unit. The memory cell array block includes at least one cell string having a plurality of memory cells serially connected to a bit line and alternately connected to even word lines and odd word lines. After a program verification, the word line driver drives the even word lines with a first voltage and then the odd word lines with the first voltage to drop the even word line to a voltage lower than the first voltage. The well bias control unit floats a bias of a p-well formed by high voltage NMOS transistors that apply corresponding driving voltages to the even word lines and the odd word lines according to an operation mode of a program operation, a read operation, and an erase operation.
US08199582B2 NAND-type flash memory and NAND-type flash memory controlling method
A method of controlling a NAND-type flash memory provided with a latch circuit in which data is temporarily stored has measuring a first consumption current of the latch circuit in a first state in which the latch circuit is caused to retain first logic; measuring a second consumption current of the latch circuit in a second state in which the latch circuit is caused to retain second logic obtained by inverting the first logic; and comparing the first consumption current and the second consumption current to cause the latch circuit to retain logic corresponding to the state corresponding to a smaller one of the first consumption current and the second consumption current.
US08199579B2 Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a control circuit configured to control a soft program operation of setting nonvolatile memory cells to a first threshold voltage distribution state of the nonvolatile memory cells. When a characteristic of the nonvolatile memory cells is in a first state, the control circuit executes the soft program operation by applying a first voltage for setting the nonvolatile memory cells to the first threshold voltage distribution state to first word lines, and applying a second voltage higher than the first voltage to a second word line. When the characteristic of the nonvolatile memory cells is in a second state, the control circuit executes the soft program operation by applying a third voltage equal to or lower than the first voltage to the first word lines and applying a fourth voltage lower than the second voltage to the second word line.
US08199569B2 Diode assisted switching spin-transfer torque memory unit
A memory array includes a cross-point array of bit and source lines. A memory is disposed at cross-points of the cross-point array. The memory unit includes a magnetic tunnel junction data cell electrically coupled to a bit line and a source line. The magnetic tunnel junction data cell is configured to switch between a high resistance state and a low resistance state by passing a polarized write current through the magnetic tunnel junction data cell. A transistor is electrically between the magnetic tunnel junction data cell and the bit line or source line and a diode is in thermal or electrical contact with the magnetic tunnel junction data cell to assist in resistance state switching.
US08199564B2 Thermally assisted multi-bit MRAM
Methods of writing to a multi-bit MRAM memory unit are described. The method includes to self-detected writing to a multi-bit (i.e., multilevel) thermally assisted MRAM. The self-detected writing increases a reading margin between data state levels and decreases reading margin variability due to cell resistance variation.
US08199563B2 Transmission gate-based spin-transfer torque memory unit
A transmission gate-based spin-transfer torque memory unit is described. The memory unit includes a magnetic tunnel junction data cell electrically coupled to a bit line and a source line. A NMOS transistor is in parallel electrical connection with a PMOS transistor and they are electrically connected with the source line and the magnetic tunnel junction data cell. The magnetic tunnel junction data cell is configured to switch between a high resistance state and a low resistance state by passing a polarized write current through the magnetic tunnel junction data cell. The PMOS transistor and the NMOS transistor are separately addressable so that a first write current in a first direction flows through the PMOS transistor and a second write current in a second direction flows through the NMOS transistor.
US08199561B2 Phase change memory
A phase change memory with an operating current that can be gradually increased or gradually decreased. The phase change memory has a phase change storage element, a transistor, and a control circuit. The transistor is operable to adjust the operating current flowing through the phase change storage element. The transistor has a first terminal coupled to a voltage source, a second terminal coupled to the phase change storage element, and a control terminal receiving a control signal from the control circuit. The control circuit is specially designed to limit the transistor in a linear region.
US08199560B2 Memory device comprising select gate including carbon allotrope
One or more embodiments relate to a memory device, comprising: a substrate; a gate stack disposed over the substrate, the gate stack comprising a control gate disposed over a charge storage layer; and a spacer select gate disposed over the substrate and laterally disposed from the gate stack, the select gate comprising a carbon allotrope.
US08199556B2 Methods of reading and using memory cells
Some embodiments include methods of reading memory cells. The memory cells have a write operation that occurs only if a voltage of sufficient absolute value is applied for a sufficient duration of time; and the reading is conducted with a pulse that is of too short of a time duration to be sufficient for the write operation. In some embodiments, the pulse utilized for the reading may have an absolute value of voltage that is greater than or equal to the voltage utilized for the write operation. In some embodiments, the memory cells may comprise non-ohmic devices; such as memristors and diodes.
US08199555B2 Nonvolatile logic circuit and a method for operating the same as an exclusive-OR (XOR) circuit
A non-volatile logic circuit includes a control electrode, a ferroelectric layer disposed on the control electrode, a semiconductor layer disposed on the ferroelectric layer, a power electrode and an output electrode disposed on the semiconductor layer, and first to fourth input electrodes disposed on the semiconductor layer. The first and second input electrodes receive first and second inputs, respectively. The third and fourth input electrodes receive inversion signals of the second and first input signal, respectively. A resistance value of the semiconductor layer between the power electrode and the output electrode varies according to the first input signal and the second input signal so that an exclusive-OR signal of the first and second input signals is output from the output electrode.
US08199552B2 Unit cell of nonvolatile memory device and nonvolatile memory device having the same
A One-Time Programmable (OTP) unit cell and a nonvolatile memory device having the same are disclosed. A unit cell of a nonvolatile memory device includes: an anti-fuse connected between an output terminal and a ground voltage terminal; a first switching unit connected to the output terminal to transfer a write voltage to the output terminal; and a second switching unit connected to the output terminal to transfer a read voltage to the output terminal.
US08199550B2 Magnetic memory device
The present invention provides a magnetic memory device capable of providing high-speed access without increasing an array area. Gate word lines are respectively linearly disposed between source impurity regions and drain impurity regions within a memory cell array area. Gate word line protrusions are respectively provided at boundary regions of memory cell forming regions. Contacts relative to the gate word line protrusions are respectively provided at boundary regions of memory cells at adjacent columns. The drain impurity regions are respectively disposed with being shifted from the centers of the memory cell forming regions in such a manner that spaces between the drain impurity regions become large in the regions in which the protrusions are disposed.
US08199549B2 Semiconductor device
The present invention provides a sense circuit for DRAM memory cell to cover the events that a sense time becomes remarkably longer when a power source voltage is lowered, a sense time under the low voltage condition becomes shorter when temperature rises and a sense time changes to a large extent for fluctuation of processes. The present invention provides the following typical effects. A switch means is provided between the bit line BL and local bit line LBL connected to the memory cells for isolation and coupling of these bit lines. The bit line BL is precharged to the voltage of VDL/2, while the local bit line LBL is precharged to the voltage of VDL. The VDL is the maximum amplitude voltage of the bit line BL. A sense amplifier SA comprises a first circuit including a differential MOS pair having the gate connected to the bit line BL and a second circuit connected to the local bit line LBL for full amplitude amplification and for holding the data. When the bit line BL and local bit line LBL are capacitance-coupled via a capacitor, it is recommended to use a latch type sense amplifier SA connected to the local bit line LBL.
US08199546B2 Semiconductor memory device, method of controlling read preamble signal thereof, and data transmission system
A semiconductor memory device and a data transmission system that operate in synchronization with a high speed system clock without using a synchronizing circuit such as a DLL or PLL. A semiconductor memory device that operates in synchronization with a system clock provided from outside, outputs a data strobe signal from a data strobe terminal when a read command is executed, and outputs read data in synchronization with the data strobe signal, is provided with a read preamble register that specifies the length of a read preamble outputted prior to output of the read data. A memory controller gives consideration to system clock frequency and internal delay time of the semiconductor memory device, and by optimally setting the read preamble length, can perform data transmission at high speed and without missing head data even if read data output start timing of the semiconductor memory device varies.
US08199541B2 High efficiency bridgeless PFC power converter
A bridgeless PFC power converter comprises a first inductor and a second inductor coupled from a first input-terminal and a second input-terminal to a first transistor and a second transistor. A first diode and a second diode are coupled from the first transistor and the second transistor to an output capacitor. A first capacitor and a second capacitor are coupled from the input-terminals to the ground terminal through a third transistor and a fourth transistor. A control circuit generates a first-switching signal and a second-switching signal to control the first transistor and the second transistor. The second-switching signal will turn on the second transistor when the first-switching signal switches the first transistor. The first-switching signal will turn on the first transistor when the second-switching signal switches the second transistor. The control circuit turns off the third transistor and the fourth transistor during the light-load of the PFC power converter.
US08199539B2 Adaptive control for transition between multiple modulation modes in a switching power converter
In a switching power converter, PWM mode and PFM mode are separated into two independent control sections with the control voltage range in each control section determined independently. Each of the PWM and PFM modulation modes cannot operate continuously beyond its boundaries, thereby forming a control gap between the two control sections within which no continuous operation is allowed. In order to supply a load condition within the control gap, the power supply operates at the two boundaries of the control gap. Transition between PWM and PFM modes occurs fast, with low output voltage ripple. No limitation needs to be imposed on the control voltage range in each of the PWM and PFM control sections, because the control parameters in the PWM and PFM control sections need not be matched to one another, due to separation of the PWM and PFM modes by the control gap.
US08199536B2 Method and device for sensing a current flowing through an output inductor of a PWM driven converter
A device generates a signal representative of a current flowing through a load inductor of a converter, the converter having a first transformer including a primary winding driven with a pulse width modulated (PWM) voltage signal. The device may include a sense inductor magnetically coupled to the load inductor, and an integrator configured to integrate a voltage drop on the sense inductor and to generate a first signal representative of the current flowing through the load inductor with an offset. The device may further include a second transformer to be magnetically coupled to the primary winding of the first transformer and generating a second signal representative of a current flowing through the primary winding, and a peak detector configured to sample and hold a peak value of the second signal at every cycle of the PWM voltage signal. The device may also include an adder configured to generate the signal representative of the current flowing through the load inductor as a sum of the first signal and the peak value of the second signal.
US08199534B2 Load current detection in electrical power converters
A resonant converter comprises switching circuitry (1) for supplying pulses, at a controllable frequency, to a resonant circuit so as to power the primary circuit (3, 12) of a transformer (4). The secondary winding (5a, 5b) of the transformer (4) delivers an AC signal which is rectified and then produces a load current. On the primary side, the converter has a resistor (13) for deriving a first electrical signal representative of the current in the primary circuit (3, 12), and an auxiliary winding (14) which is closely coupled to the secondary winding (5a, 5b) and across which an auxiliary voltage is induced as a consequence of the close coupling of the winding (14) to the secondary winding (5a, 5b). A resistor/capacitor combination (16, 17) integrates the auxiliary voltage with respect to time to derive a second electrical signal. Computational circuitry (19) combines the first and second signals so as effectively to subtract the second signal from the first signal to derive a difference signal which is representative of the load current reflected onto the primary side of the transformer (4) and is accordingly representative of the actual load current.
US08199533B2 Switching power supply device
A switching power supply device includes: a transformer that has a primary winding and a secondary winding; a switching element connected to the primary winding of the transformer; a control circuit that controls the switching element to be turned on/off in a case where a voltage is inputted to the primary winding of the transformer, and thereby induces a voltage in the secondary winding of the transformer; and a rectifying/smoothing circuit that rectifies and smoothes the voltage induced in the secondary winding of the transformer, and outputs the rectified and smoothed voltage to a load. The control circuit has: a current control unit that controls the switching element to prevent a current flowing through the switching element from being lowered to a fixed value or less in a case where the load is light; and an intermittent control unit that, in the case where the load is light, controls the switching element to perform an intermittent oscillation operation based on a feedback signal corresponding to an output voltage to the load.
US08199532B2 Isolated voltage converter with feedback on the primary winding, and corresponding method for controlling the output voltage
An embodiment of a voltage converter, designed to convert an input voltage into a regulated output voltage, having: a voltage transformer having a primary winding receiving the input voltage, a secondary winding supplying the output voltage (Vout), and an auxiliary winding supplying a feedback signal correlated to the output voltage; a control switch, connected to the primary winding; and a control circuit, connected to a control terminal of the control switch for controlling switching thereof as a function of the feedback signal. The control circuit is provided with a sampling stage that samples the feedback signal and supplies a sampled signal. An averager stage is connected to the output of the sampling stage and implements a low-pass filtering of the sampled signal so as to reduce undesirable oscillations due to sampling.
US08199531B2 Isolated voltage converter with feedback on the primary winding, and corresponding method for controlling the output voltage
An embodiment of a voltage converter includes: voltage-transformer means having a primary side, designed to receive an input voltage, and a secondary side, designed to supply an output voltage; control-switch means coupled to said primary side; and a control circuit, coupled to a control terminal of said control-switch means and designed to control switching thereof as a function of a first signal correlated to said output voltage; said control circuit being provided with an error-amplifier stage, designed to process a difference between said first signal and a reference signal, wherein said error-amplifier stage is configured so as to have a transconductance characteristic with a linear-operation region, having a given slope, and at least one first clamped region, which has a slope lower than said given slope and is contiguous to said linear-operation region.
US08199530B2 Power supply unit, hard disk drive and method of switching the power supply unit
Zero volt switching during a light load is performed in such a manner that through an ON/OFF control of switches provided for a full bridge circuit and the synchronous rectifier switches in a rectifier and smoothing circuit, a resonant peak voltage necessary for the zero voltage switching determined by the output current flowing to output terminals, a resonant inductor and a resonant capacitor capacitance is ensured so that an energy accumulated in the rectifier and smoothing circuit is returned to the full bridge circuit so as to act as equivalent as when the output current is increased and to increase the current flowing through the full bridge circuit.
US08199527B2 Electronic component and manufacturing method therefor
When manufacturing an electronic component having a flip chip or a surface mount component mounted on a sheet substrate and being covered with a shield cover, the above shield cover is dipped into cream solder and placed on the above sheet substrate after the above cream solder is attached to the peripheral edge sides of the above shield cover, and then the shield cover is fixed to the sheet substrate by reflow process. With such manufacturing, it becomes possible to efficiently fix the shield cover to the sheet substrate. Also, the shield cover can securely be fixed against the bend of the sheet substrate produced during the reflow.
US08199525B2 Transport housing for an electronic flat module
A transport housing for receiving an electronic flat assembly, the electronic assembly having at least one controllable electronic component in the form of a DIP switch and a connecting line, has two housing halves receiving the flat assembly, wherein the one housing half is inserted at least partially into the other housing half, and wherein the two housing halves have a plurality of molded elements that are disposed in a staggered arrangement, for creating a molded lock having two detent positions successively disposed in the locking direction.
US08199522B2 Printed circuit board
A printed circuit board includes a first signal layer, a first reference layer, a second reference layer, and a second signal layer. An integrated circuit mounted on the first signal layer includes a power supply terminal connected to a first power supply via. The second signal layer includes a filter and a power supply wire. The filter includes a power terminal connected to the first power supply via, and a ground terminal connected to the second reference layer. The first power supply via is connected to the first reference layer through the power supply wire and a second power supply via. A void defined in the second reference layer is at least partially vertically overlapping with the power supply wire, and enables the first reference layer to function as a reference plane for the power supply wire, to increase impedance of the power supply wire.
US08199518B1 Top feature package and method
An electronic component package includes a substrate and an electronic component mounted to the substrate, the electronic component including a bond pad. A first antenna terminal is electrically connected to the bond pad, the first antenna terminal being electrically connected to a second antenna terminal of the substrate. A package body encloses the electronic component, the package body having a principal surface. An antenna is formed on the principal surface by applying an electrically conductive coating. An embedded interconnect extends through the package body between the substrate and the principal surface and electrically connects the second antenna terminal to the antenna. Applying an electrically conductive coating to form the antenna is relatively simple thus minimizing the overall package manufacturing cost. Further, the antenna is relatively thin thus minimizing the overall package size.
US08199516B2 Electronic component mounting board, method for manufacturing the same and electronic circuit unit
An electronic component mounting board, including: a substrate base made of a flat-plate-like elastic body, the substrate base having a plurality of through-holes in a manner spaced a predetermined distance apart from each other; conductive members, each of which has a main unit portion filled in the through-hole, the main unit portion having a first protrusion portion and a second protrusion portion respectively on a first end and a second end thereof, with the first protrusion portion arranged so as to protrude from a first surface of the substrate base and the second protrusion portion arranged so as to protrude from a second surface of the substrate base; a flexible substrate that is arranged on the first surface of the substrate base and that has first opening portions for penetration of the first protrusion portions; and a plurality of oval electrodes arranged on the substrate, each of which has a second opening portion for penetration of the first protrusion portion, in which the electrodes are arranged in a manner spaced apart from each other, and each of the second opening portions is formed on a first end side of each of the electrodes.
US08199512B2 Memory card connector
A memory card connector, which is mounted on a printed circuit board, includes a radio-communication module, and a card slot arranged with input/output terminals that are connected to the printed circuit board. In the memory card connector, input/output terminals of the radio-communication module are arranged to join the input/output terminals of the card slot, such that the radio-communication module enables the printed circuit board to access an external device via radio communication in a manner equivalent to a manner when the printed circuit board accesses a memory card attached to the card slot.
US08199511B2 Hot swappable computer card carrier
Embodiments are described including a device comprising a carrier frame. The device includes a first connector on a first side of the carrier frame, and the first connector connects to a host system when the carrier frame is inserted into the host system. The device includes a second connector on a second side of the carrier frame, where the second side of the carrier frame is perpendicular to the first side. The second connector electrically couples to the first connector and connects to an input/output (I/O) adapter card inserted into a third side of the carrier frame, where the third side perpendicular to the first side. Consequently, the device has a flat structure that receives an adapter card and reorients the electrical connection of the adapter card. The device includes external visual status indicators and a switch for hot-swapping of the adapter card carrier in a running host system.
US08199508B2 Heat dissipation device
A heat dissipation device dissipates heat generated by a heat-generating electronic element mounted on a top surface printed circuit board. The printed circuit board defines a plurality of first through holes. The heat dissipation device comprises a heat spreader located at a top side of the printed circuit board. The heat spreader defines a plurality of second through holes corresponding to the first through holes, respectively. A first heat sink is located over the heat spreader, and a plurality of second heat sinks is located at a bottom side of the printed circuit board. A plurality of heat pipes extending through the second through holes of the heat spreader and the first through holes of the printed circuit board to thermally connect the first and second heat sinks to the heat spreader.
US08199497B2 Electronic device enclosure and electronic device
An electronic device enclosure comprising a chassis, the chassis comprises a chassis bottom wall and a chassis rear wall connected to the chassis bottom wall. The chassis bottom wall is capable of mounting a motherboard with a module. An elastic flange is located on the chassis rear wall. The elastic flange is engaged with the module of the motherboard, and the motherboard is located between the flange and the motherboard. The invention further offers an electronic device.
US08199492B2 Accessory strap fixing structure
An accessory strap fixing structure is positioned on a portable electronic device to assemble an accessory strap. The accessory strap fixing structure includes an assembling space and a rotary element. The assembling space defined in the portable electronic device. The rotary element is rotatably assembled within the assembling space. The rotary element forms a projection for attaching an end of the accessory strap to allow the accessory strap to pass through the assembling space. The invention also discloses a portable electronic device having the accessory strap fixing structure.
US08199488B2 Display housing
A display housing includes a protective lens, a peripheral housing; and a strengthening member. The protective lens defines a latching slit along its perimeter. The strengthening member includes a base portion and a bent portion. One of the peripheral housing and the base portion has a plurality of latches protruding therefrom and the other a plurality of latching holes. The latches are received in the latching holes, the strengthening member is secured in the peripheral housing, and the bent portion is received in the latching slits.
US08199485B2 Computer server system and fan module thereof
A fan module for dissipating heat from a computer server includes a mounting bracket and a fan mounted on the mounting bracket. The mounting bracket is mounted to an outside of the computer server. The mounting bracket is hollow and forms an air passage in an interior of the mounting bracket. The air passage is communicated with an interior of the computer server. An airflow generated by the fan flows into the interior of the computer server through the air passage to take heat away from the interior of the computer server.
US08199483B2 Optical disc drive retention assembly and electronic device utilizing the same
A retention assembly for securing a optical disc drive (ODD) to a main frame of an electronic device includes a bracket and a connector. The bracket is fixed to the ODD. One of the main frame and the bracket defines a guide groove, and the other includes a slide rail movably received in the guide groove. The connector is fixed to the main frame and adjacent to the guide groove or the slide rail. The ODD is aligned to electrically connect to the connector by the at least one guide groove or the at least one slide rail.
US08199482B2 Peripheral device carrying apparatus and systems
A peripheral device assembly is disclosed wherein the assembly includes a device bay for receiving a peripheral device carrier. An interior side surface of the device bay defines at least one extrusion portion surrounding a hole for receiving a first end of a lever arm of the peripheral device carrier, and the extrusion portion comprises edges protruding from the interior side surface of the device bay toward an exterior side surface of the device bay.
US08199477B2 Portable computers with spring-mounted displays
An electronic device housing may contain a display module. The display module may contain layers of material such as a color filter layer and a thin-film transistor layer. These layers of material may be mounted in a display module chassis. A cover glass may cover the display module. The housing may have springs that mate with corresponding holes in the chassis of the display module to hold the display module in place within the housing. The springs may flex about a flex axis that is perpendicular to a planar rear housing surface and the planar layers of the display module. A disassembly tool may be inserted into a gap between the cover glass and housing sidewalls. When the disassembly tool is rotated, a fin on the tool may press against an engagement structure in the spring and may release the spring from the display module.
US08199476B2 Notebook computer
Disclosed is a notebook computer including a display unit and a mainframe unit. The display unit includes: a display screen; a first frame, the display screen is mounted in the first frame; a first circuit module configured to connect with the display screen electrically, wherein the first circuit module is mounted in the first frame; M first connection mechanisms mounted on a side of the first frame. The mainframe unit includes: a second circuit module for processing data interchanged between the display unit and the mainframe unit; a second frame, wherein the second circuit module is mounted in the second frame; M second connection mechanisms mounted on a side of the second frame; wherein the M second connection mechanisms are configured to connect with the M first connection mechanisms in inserting way, and to detach from the M first connection mechanisms in pulling way. The display unit and the mainframe unit according to the present invention can be removed from each other, so that the portability of the notebook computer is enhanced.
US08199474B2 Bracket for holding portable device
A bracket is for holding a portable hard disk on a display of a computer. The bracket includes a base fixed to the portable hard disk and a pair of arms pivotably attached to the base. The base includes a plate secured to the portable hard disk, a pair of sidewalls extending from the plate and pair of post extending from the plate between the two sidewalls. Each arm includes a tab pivotably mounted on the post via a screw, and a flange extending from the tab. The arms could be pivoted with respect to the base to sandwich the display of the computer between the flanges and the sidewalls of the bracket.
US08199469B2 Battery
By being embedded in a portable computing device, a battery pack is made essentially inaccessible to unauthorized users, thereby allowing for a battery pack that can be made smaller and of lighter construction material, thereby facilitating greater component density within the portable computing device, lower cost to manufacture, and more environmentally secure. In another embodiment, the battery pack can take the form of a battery assembly formed of a single piece housing having a cantilever portion to provide additional stiffness.
US08199467B2 Battery ejector and electronic device using the same
An electronic device includes a housing, an ejecting piece, a shaft and a circuit board. The housing has a front surface, an opposite rear surface, and a battery chamber defined in the front surface for receiving a battery therein. The ejecting piece is rotatably hinged to the housing and configured to support a portion of the battery and eject the battery from the battery chamber. The ejecting piece has an ejecting portion and an operating portion connecting with the ejecting portion, the ejecting portion is for assembly under the battery. The shaft is configured for hinging the ejecting piece to the housing. The circuit board is mounted on the rear surface of the housing for electrically connecting with the battery.
US08199465B2 Hinge and collapsible device utilizing the same
A collapsible device includes a cover, a base, and a hinge. The cover includes a display on a top of the cover. The base defines a groove extending through a front and a rear sides of the base. The groove defines a keyboard region adjacent to the front side, and a fixing slot adjacent to the rear side. The hinge is connected to a bottom of the cover and the fixing slot. The cover is rotatably received in the groove, and the cover is operable of rotating relative to the display around the hinge, to cover or expose the keyboard region.
US08199461B2 Refractory metal paste for solid electrolytic capacitors
A solid electrolytic capacitor that contains a capacitor element that includes an anode body, dielectric layer, and solid electrolyte is provided. The capacitor also contains an anode lead that is electrically connected to the anode body. Contrary to conventional capacitors in which the lead is welded or connected using a layer of seed particles, a refractory metal paste (e.g., tantalum paste) is employed in the present invention to electrically connect the anode lead to the anode body. The use of such a refractory metal paste allows the anode lead to be sinter bonded to a surface of the anode body after it is pressed. In this manner, a strong and reliable connection may be achieved without substantially decreasing the surface area of the lead that is available for connection to a termination. The paste of the present invention generally contains particles of a relatively small size. Due to in part to the relatively small size of the particles, the paste may have a relatively low viscosity, allowing it to be readily handled and applied to an anode lead and/or anode body during manufacture of the capacitor. Further, the thickness of the applied paste may also be relatively thin and still achieve the desired binding of the lead to the anode body.
US08199459B2 Energy device with a first and second separator material
An energy storage device includes a first conductor having a first surface and a second surface. The energy storage device also includes a second conductor and a separator assembly that encloses the first conductor and that is disposed between the first and second conductors. The separator assembly also includes a first portion that covers the first surface and a second portion that covers the second surface. The first and second portions are attached to one another, and at least one of the first and second portions includes a first sheet and a second sheet that are attached to one another. The first sheet includes a first material, and the second sheet includes a second material that is different from the first material.
US08199456B2 Capacitor and manufacturing method thereof
A capacitor and a method of manufacturing the capacitor are disclosed. The capacitor may include a board, a polymer layer formed on one side of the board, a circuit pattern selectively formed over the polymer layer, and a titania nanosheet corresponding with the circuit pattern. Embodiments of the invention can provide flatness in the board, and allows the copper of the board to maintain its functionality as an electrode while increasing the adhesion to the titania nanosheet. The titania nanosheet may thus be implemented on a patterned board in a desired shape, number of layers, and thickness.
US08199452B2 Disconnection arrangement and method for operation of a disconnection arrangement
A surge arrester is connected in an output current path from an electrical power supply system. A cut-off arrangement is also provided in the output current path and has a first electrode and a second electrode. The second electrode has a recess in which at least part of a gas generator is arranged. The recess is covered by a cover. When the cut-off arrangement responds, an additional volume for accommodation of expanded gas is provided upon demand, in addition to an arcing area provided in the interior of the cut-off arrangement.
US08199451B2 ESD protection device and composite electronic component of the same
An object of the present invention is to provide an ESD protection device and the like which offer a reduced discharge starting voltage and improved durability against repeated use. The present invention provides an ESD protection device including a base 2 having an insulating surface 2a, electrodes 3a and 3b disposed on the insulating surface 2a and facing but spaced apart from each other, and a functional layer 4 disposed on at least between the electrodes 3a and 3b, wherein the gap distance ΔG between the electrodes 3a and 3b ranges from 0.5 μm to 10 μm, and the thickness ΔT of each of the electrodes 3a and 3b meets a relationship of ΔG/ΔT=1 to 30.
US08199449B2 Method and a device for monitoring high-voltage connections of a hybrid vehicle
A monitoring device for protecting against contact or access to a hybrid vehicle having a plurality of high-voltage components and an electronic control unit connected to a low-voltage vehicle electrical system battery. Power actuators for actuating at least one electric machine are connected to a high-voltage battery by way of a power switch. The high-voltage components are monitored by way of a looped circuit and deactivated if the looped circuit is broken. A sensor that is sensitive to magnetic field changes is disposed in or at a removable contact connection of the electric machine or the electronic control unit. The sensor is connected to the looped circuit. A control component of the electronic control unit activates a discharge unit for discharging an energy storage device upon receiving a sensor signal generated by the sensor when the contact connection is broken.
US08199447B2 Monolithic multi-channel ESD protection device
A semiconductor device is described that includes one or more electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuits. Each circuit comprises reverse-biased steering diodes connected in series between power rail and signal ground, a bypass Zener diode and a substrate Zener diode. The Zener diodes provide ESD protection and the steering diode cooperate with the substrate Zener diode to provide a bypass function that is substantially symmetric about the signal ground. Noise in the circuit can be shunted using internal and/or external capacitances that can be implemented as Zener diodes.
US08199446B2 Circuit interrupting system with remote test and reset activation
The present disclosure relates to a circuit interrupting device and system capable of being tested and reset from remote locations, and in particular to circuit interrupting devices and system capable of being tested and reset from remote locations. A remote monitoring device can also be included which can be used to control an actuation device which is capable of controlling a circuit interrupting device. Alternatively the remote monitoring or control device can be used to control the device directly.
US08199442B2 Electrical connecting structure for piezoelectric element, piezoelectric actuator, head suspension, and electrical connecting structure for conductive part
A piezoelectric element 13 has a common electrode 19 that receives electricity from a terminal 57. The terminal 57 has a through hole 67 and an electric insulating layer 61. The piezoelectric element 13 is arranged so that the common electrode 19 faces the electric insulating layer 61 of the terminal 57. A liquid stopper 69 is formed around the through hole 67 so as to come between the common electrode 19 and the terminal 57 when the common electrode 19 and terminal 57 are set to face each other. A liquid conductive adhesive 71 is injected into the through hole 67 to fill a gap defined by the liquid stopper 69 between the terminal 57 and the common electrode 19 and secure electric connection between the terminal 57 and the common electrode 19. This configuration improves the reliability of wiring to the piezoelectric element and prevents the piezoelectric element from being damaged.
US08199434B2 High areal density tape format and head
A magnetic recording tape according to one embodiment includes a plurality of servo tracks, each servo track comprising a series of magnetically defined bars, wherein an average height of the bars is less than about 50 microns, wherein about eight to about twenty six data bands are present on the tape. A magnetic recording tape according to another embodiment includes a plurality of servo tracks, each servo track comprising a series of magnetically defined bars, wherein an angle between at least some of the bars is greater than about 10 degrees, wherein an average height of the bars is less than about 50 microns. A magnetic recording tape according to another embodiment includes at least about eight data bands, the data bands being defined between servo tracks, wherein about eight to about twenty six data bands are present on the tape.
US08199431B2 Magnetic head including sensor
A magnetic head disposed in a slider, that is arranged at an interval from a magnetic disk includes a sensor disposed in a position that is opposed to the magnetic disk, a heat conductive film that is positioned on an air bearing surface opposed to the magnetic disk, and that is formed so as to overlap the sensor, of which a height in a direction perpendicular to the air bearing surface is more than a height of the sensor, and that transfers a temperature change of the air bearing surface to the sensor, and a pair of lead films electrically connected to the sensor and not electrically connected to the heat conductive film.
US08199426B2 Method and system for providing hard disk shrouds with aerodynamic fences for suppressing flow induced disk excitation
A system and method for stabilizing air flow in a shroud to disk region in a hard disk drive are disclosed. One embodiment provides a hard disk drive having a shroud with machined aerodynamic annulus insertions thereon for stabilizing the Ekman layer of air flow at the peripheral ends of the hard disks and the shroud. The aerodynamic annulus insertions are positioned in between disk pairs at approximately 1 mm from the peripheral ends of each disk to stabilize the air flow as the disk rotate and to ensure that the air flow leaves the hard disk drive at a fixed location.
US08199425B1 Method to replace gas in a disk drive
A method to at least temporarily replace air with an alternative gas in a first disk drive having a breather filter port is disclosed. A first disk drive is placed in a chamber, which is then evacuated to establish a sub-ambient chamber air pressure. Air bleeds out of the first disk drive through its breather filter port during a first period, until an internal pressure within the first disk drive reaches a reduced internal air pressure that is less than one third the first disk drive's initial internal air pressure. The chamber is then filled with the alternative gas. The alternative gas bleeds into the first disk drive through the breather filter port during a second period, until the internal pressure within the first disk drive reaches a restored internal gas pressure that is in the range 0.5 to 1.25 times the initial internal air pressure.
US08199416B2 Imaging lens and imaging apparatus
Disclosed is an imaging lens having a small F-number, high resolution, a sufficiently wide angle of view, and a small size.An imaging lens includes: a first lens with a meniscus shape having a concave surface facing an object side; a second positive lens; a third negative lens with a meniscus shape having a convex surface facing an image side; and a fourth lens having a convex surface facing the object side. The first to fourth lenses are arranged in this order from the object side. The imaging lens satisfies the following conditional expression: 0.25
US08199413B2 Compact zoom optical system
A zoom optical system including a first lens group including a plastic aspherical lens and having a negative refractive power, a second lens group having a positive refractive power, and a third lens group having a positive refractive power, wherein the first lens group, the second lens group and the third lens group are arrange sequentially from an object side to an image side, and wherein the plastic aspherical lens satisfies the following Inequality: 0≦(R21−R22)2≦0.04, where R21 denotes the radius of curvature of the plastic aspherical lens corresponding to the object side, and R22 denotes the radius of curvature of the plastic aspherical lens corresponding to the image side.
US08199412B2 Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus equipped with same
A zoom lens includes, in order from the object side, an object side lens group having a negative refracting power at the wide angle end and including at least one negative lens unit, and an image side lens group having a positive refracting power at the wide angle end and including at least one positive lens unit including a cemented doublet lens component. The distance between the two lens groups is smaller at the telephoto end than at the wide angle end. The cemented doublet lens component includes, in order from the object side, a negative object side lens having a concave surface facing the image side, and positive image side lens having a meniscus shape with a concave surface facing the image side. The cemented doublet lens component is located closest to the image side in the positive lens unit. The zoom lens satisfies specific conditions.
US08199411B2 Imaging lens, optical apparatus equipped therewith and method for manufacturing the imaging lens
An imaging lens SL installed in an SLR camera includes a front group disposed to the most object side and having negative power, and a rear group disposed to an image side of the front group and having negative power. At least a portion of the rear group is movable perpendicularly to an optical axis. The rear group includes a first negative component having negative power, a second negative component having negative power, and a positive component having positive power. The second negative component is disposed between the first negative component and the positive component. The second negative component side surface of the first negative component faces the second negative component, and the second negative component having a negative meniscus shape with a concave surface facing the first negative component. Thereby providing an imaging lens having excellent optical performance, an optical apparatus equipped therewith, and a method for manufacturing thereof.
US08199409B2 Electrowetting elements and optical display devices
The present invention relates to reducing backflow in an electrowetting element for modifying a radiation beam characteristic. The electrowetting element comprises a first and a second fluid which are immiscible with each other and are switchable between a first configuration and a second configuration by application of a voltage across at least one of the first and second fluids. There is a tendency for backflow of the second fluid from the first configuration to the second configuration when the second fluid is switched to be provided in the first configuration. The electrowetting element comprises a backflow reducer arranged for reducing the backflow of the second fluid from the first configuration to the second configuration when the second fluid is switched to be provided in the first configuration.
US08199407B2 Immersion objective, apparatus for forming an immersion film and method
An immersion objective for microscopic investigation of a specimen is provided wherein an outer lens is disposed in an objective body. A delivery device including a cap that is disposed over the objective body so as to form a space adapted to receive an immersion liquid is also provided. The cap is open in a region of the outer lens so as to form a gap with the outer lens. The cap includes at least one connector configured to provide a continuous supply of the immersion liquid to the space so that the immersion liquid emerges through the gap to a region between the outer lens and at least one of the specimen and a specimen slide.
US08199398B2 High power parallel fiber arrays
High power parallel fiber arrays for the amplification of high peak power pulses are described. Fiber arrays based on individual fiber amplifiers as well as fiber arrays based on multi-core fibers can be implemented. The optical phase between the individual fiber amplifier elements of the fiber array is measured and controlled using a variety of phase detection and compensation techniques. High power fiber array amplifiers can be used for EUV and X-ray generation as well as pumping of parametric amplifiers.
US08199396B2 Laser light source, and image display apparatus and processing apparatus using the same
A laser light source includes a semiconductor laser, a wavelength converting element made of a non-linear optical crystal for converting excitation light from the semiconductor laser into wavelength converted light having a wavelength different from the wavelength of the excitation light, a photodiode for measuring a part of the wavelength converted light to be emitted from the wavelength converting element as output light, a photodiode for measuring the excitation light to be emitted from the wavelength converting element, and a control circuit, wherein the control circuit simultaneously performs an output constant control of making the intensity of the wavelength converted light constant, using a current driving circuit, and a temperature control of adjusting the temperature of the wavelength converting element, using a heater.
US08199394B2 Mircromirror device having a vertical hinge
A mirror device comprises: a plurality of electrodes disposed on a substrate; a hinge connected to at least one of the electrodes; a mirror connected to the hinge and corresponding to at least one of the electrodes, wherein a barrier layer is comprised between the hinge and mirror, and/or between the hinge and electrode. Also noted is a mirror device production method for producing such-configured mirror device. Further noted is a projection apparatus comprising such-configured mirror device.
US08199393B2 Scanner motor
Disclosed herein is a scanner motor. The motor includes a base plate supporting the scanner motor, with a circuit board mounted on the base plate. A rotating shaft supports the scanner motor vertically in such a way that the scanner motor is rotatable. A bearing is rotatably fitted over the rotating shaft. A bearing holder holds the bearing. A stator is mounted to an outer circumference of the bearing holder to generate electricity. A rotor case is rotatably fitted over the rotating shaft so as to mount a polygon mirror. Three semicircular protrusions protrude from an upper portion of the rotor case at regular intervals to stably support the polygon minor. A concave part is formed between the protrusions to absorb external stress.
US08199389B2 Vibration elements
A vibration unit including a frame, a vibration element including a substrate configured to vibrate, and a beam configured to connect the vibration element to the frame. The vibration unit is produced by applying an etching process to at least two surfaces of a substrate. A meeting position of the two surfaces of the substrate is located where a first etching process, which takes place on a first surface of the substrate and a second etching process, which takes place on a second surface of the substrate meet, and is located at a position other than a center position in a width direction of the beam.
US08199384B2 Method of compensating the color tone differences between two images of the same scene
The color tone compensation method provides a simple and efficient method to compensate the color tone differences between two different sources of images. A first image sample, such as a still image, from a first image capturing source and a second image sample, such as a video frame, from a second image capturing source are aligned, and a tone-mapping estimation routine is applied to the two aligned images. The tone-mapping estimation routine uses the pixel intensity value histograms associated with the two aligned images and generates a tone mapping table. The tone mapping table includes a conversion intensity value for each intensity value in the second image. The conversion intensity value is a statistical measure, such as the mean, calculated according to the data in the corresponding pixel intensity value histogram. The tone-mapping table is applied to any image generated by the second image capturing source, thereby generating a new image with similar color tone as the first image generated by the first image capturing source.
US08199379B2 Optical detection apparatus, and sheet processing apparatus having the optical detection apparatus
An optical detection apparatus includes a detector configured to detect image data in a predetermined reading area on a conveying path to convey the sheet, a first illuminator configured to intermittently emit an excitation light to a first illumination area including the reading area of the detector, a second illuminator configured to continuously emit an excitation light to a second illumination area which is continued with the first illumination area on the upstream of the first illumination area on the conveying path and which does not include the reading area of the detector, and a control unit configured to control the detector to detect image data of the sheet according to the emitting operation of the first illuminator.
US08199368B2 Image data correcting apparatus, computer-readable image data correcting program storage medium, image data correcting method and printing system
An image data correcting apparatus includes: an image data obtaining section that obtains print image data representing a print image; an area designation receiving section that receives a designating operation to designate an area in the print image represented by the print image data; a density adjusting section that has an adjustment value designated through an operation for the printing density; a change estimating section that estimates a change in a print color in the printing system that is caused by the adjustment of the printing density with the use of the adjustment value; and a data correcting section that corrects the print image data to cancel the change estimated by the change estimating section in the area other than the designated region in the print image.
US08199367B2 Printing control device, printing system and printing control program
A color difference ΔE between a target color value expressed by color measurement data MD obtained by measuring colors of a target TG under plural light sources and an estimation color value obtained when a printer performs printing on the basis of an ink amount set φ is calculated for each of the light sources. When the color difference can be calculated for each of the light sources, an evaluation value E (φ) obtained by linear combination of the color differences is calculated. In addition, the ink amount set φ is calculated as an optimum solution for minimizing the evaluation value E (φ).
US08199366B2 Image reading apparatus and image process method
Disclosed is an image reading apparatus which reads images in a front side and a back side of a document by passing the document through the image reading apparatus once including a first reading section to read the front side of the document, a second reading section to read the back side of the document and an image process section to calculate a first standard value for carrying out a first shading correction to the first reading section and a second standard value for carrying out a second shading correction to the second reading section, respectively, and to carry out the first shading correction to a first image data read by the first reading section based on the calculated first standard value and to carry out the second shading correction to a second image data read by the second reading section based on the calculated second standard value.
US08199365B2 Image forming apparatus and image forming method
An image forming apparatus which forms a halftone image on a print medium (200) using multipass processing of scanning a single area on the print medium (200) by a printhead (220) N times and forming dots every scan operation includes a pass division table (410) used to set the print density ratio of each scan operation, a print data generation unit (370) which generates print data of each scan operation, a printer engine (180) which prints a halftone image on the print medium (200) on the basis of the generated print data, and a sensor (340) which detects the state of printing on the print medium (200) by the printer engine (180). The print data generation unit (370) corrects print data in synchronism with printing by the printer engine (180) on the basis of the set print density ratio and the detected printing state.
US08199364B2 Image processing apparatus, and image forming apparatus
When a second detector determines that a character image has a halftone (YES in #1) and a third detector (48) determines that a font size of the character image is equal to or greater than a threshold value β and equal to or smaller than a threshold value α (YES in step #4), a fourth detector determines whether a presently focused pixel constitutes a particular portion of a character (step #5). When the fourth detector determines that the pixel data of the presently focused pixel constitutes the particular portion of the character (YES in step #5), the image processing section sets the pixel data to be subjected to a second screen processing which is performed at a higher gradation level (step #6).
US08199363B2 Image processing using hybrid lookup table
An image processing method and an image processing apparatus converts a binary image into a grayscale image by increasing the size and information quantity of the binary image. The image processing method includes generating a plurality of lookup tables having multiple gray level values assigned to a predetermined pattern of the binary image such that the gray level is retrieved from the plurality of lookup tables depending on the context of the block being processed. The binary image may be converted into the grayscale image by applying the gray value of one of the plurality of lookup tables that corresponds to the context, such as the frequency components of the binary image. With this configuration, since the size and information quantity of an image can be reduced for transmission, it is possible to prevent deterioration of image quality when the image is restored, while also printing at a higher speed.
US08199362B2 Color conversion table creating device
A color conversion table creating device includes a gray data creating unit, light and dark area data creating unit, first grid point correspondence relationship determining unit, second grid point correspondence relationship determining unit including gray-dark auxiliary line setting unit, intersecting point setting and signal determining units, interpolation coefficient determining unit, and second grid point interpolation unit, and color conversion table creating unit. The device sets a gray-dark auxiliary line gray and dark intersecting points, The device determines, based on gray data and dark area data, output color signals corresponding to the gray-dark auxiliary line gray and dark intersecting points determines light interpolation coefficient reflecting characteristic of light area data, and determines a relationship for the second grid point between an input color signal and an output color signal by performing interpolation between the output color signals corresponding to the gray-dark auxiliary line gray and dark intersecting points by using the light interpolation coefficient.
US08199361B2 Image processing apparatus that performs color calibration
An image processing apparatus that determines, when performing color calibration, whether or not a calibration chart is usable. A scanning unit acquires image data by optically scanning an original document. A usability determining unit determines, in accordance with conditions for colors indicated by standard image data acquired by scanning the original document, whether or not the original document is usable as the calibration chart. A calibration unit performs, only when the determination is made that the original document is usable as the calibration chart, color calibration by using an image value at a predetermined position indicated by the standard image data.
US08199359B2 System and method for reducing visibility of registration errors in an image to be printed using a digital color printer by convolution with a laplacian kernel
A system and method for trapping in electrophotographic color printing and related technologies for printing or display in which the final image is an overlay of multiple components subject to alignment errors. Trapping is based on the cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (K) planes. There are four steps as follows: detect object edges on each of the four color planes; detect coincident and opposing edge transitions on each pair of planes (CM, CK, and KM); determine which plane to trap, i.e., to extend object across edge; and generate trap on that plane using a simple trap generation rule and a single trap generation rule.
US08199358B2 Digital slide image analysis
A system and method and non-transitory computer readable medium for processing and analyzing virtual microscopy digital images (“digital slides”) is provided. The non-transitory computer readable medium includes instructions that implement an algorithm server that maintains or has access to a plurality of image processing and analysis routines and digital slides. The algorithm server executes a selected routine on an identified digital slide and provides the resulting data.
US08199351B2 Information processing system, information processing method, and computer-readable recording medium
A client apparatus is coupled to a server apparatus via a network in an information processing system. In the server apparatus, installing of a plug-in file in a first storage apparatus is detected, binary image data of the detected plug-in file are written to a first storage area, and the binary image data of the plug-in file is copied to the client apparatus. In the client apparatus, copying of the binary image data of the plug-in file in a second storage area is detected, the binary image data of the plug-in file stored in the second storage area is written in an executable state within a second storage apparatus, and the plug-in file in the second storage apparatus is read as a program.
US08199350B2 Variable data printing method using variable text color depending on background
An improved variable data printing (VDP) method is disclosed. A VDP database contains variable data and form data. The variable data includes a plurality of entries each having a plurality attributes. The form data includes images. Each printed piece of a VDP production includes variable data and form data selected based on the variable data attributes. When the printed pieces include a background image and foreground text to be printed over the background image, and when different pieces in the VDP production have different background image, the method automatically selects a text color to print the foreground text over the background image on each piece to enhance visibility and/or aesthetic appearance. In addition, the foreground text color for each piece may be selected based on additional attributes of the variable data.
US08199349B2 Facsimile communication device and system for transmitting a transmission image with an embedded code data and information
A facsimile communication device has a multicast function capable of sequentially transmitting a transmission image to a plurality of receiving devices. The facsimile communication device includes an origination information data generation unit for generating origination information data related to the facsimile communication device; a multicast destination information data generation unit for generating multicast destination information data related to a multicast destination to which the facsimile communication device transmits the transmission image; and a transmission image data generation unit for adding the origination information data generated with the origination information data generation unit and the multicast destination information data generated with the multicast destination information data generation unit to the transmission image.
US08199348B2 Methods and systems for handling files for MFPS utilizing external services
An exemplary embodiment of a system and method provides a determination of when a file/document format native to a device such as a multifunction peripheral (MFP) device should be handled natively by the MFP (default behavior) or preprocessed by an external service.
US08199346B2 System and method for controlling printing of a print job in a printing system
A system for controlling printing of a print job in a printing system is provided. In practice, a first value corresponding with a first proposed number of prints to be produced with the printing system is stored in a memory communicating with the controller. When the first value exceeds a number for which copyright clearance is available, a controller changes the first value corresponding with the first proposed number of prints to be produced to a second value corresponding with a second proposed number of prints to be produced. Additionally, when a selected condition is met the controller uses the second value corresponding with the second proposed number of prints to be produced to control the number of prints produced by the printing system.
US08199345B2 Method for controlling printing apparatus and method for controlling image processing apparatus connected to printing apparatus
A method for controlling an information processing apparatus connected to a printing apparatus including a storage device includes acquiring a status of the printing apparatus; generating a first print file from image data in accordance with the status of the printing apparatus; transmitting the first print file to the printing apparatus; generating and transmitting an instruction to the printing apparatus to perform printing using the first print file; generating a second print file from the image data in accordance with a status that is different from the status of the printing apparatus; transmitting the second print file to the printing apparatus; and generating and transmitting an instruction to the printing apparatus to store the first and second print files in the storage device thereof.
US08199343B2 Partial electrical discharge system and method
Methods and systems are presented for detecting partial electrical discharges in a printing machine and for determining the source of the discharge events by detecting radio frequency signals using an antenna located near high voltage components of the printing system and determining whether a partial electrical discharge has occurred based on the detected signals. One or more of the high voltage components are then selectively enabled alone or in groups to isolate the source of the partial electrical discharge to expedite identification of suspect components and facilitate repair and system maintenance.
US08199339B2 Printing system and method for securely producing self-authenticating documents
There is provided a printing system including a reading unit that reads paper identification information of a paper sheet, a first controller that implements control for, when instructed to print document data, causing the reading unit to read the paper identification information of the paper sheet used for printing and transmitting a request for a document containing the read paper identification information, and a second controller that implements control for, when printing document data containing the paper identification information received in response to the request for the document on the paper sheet, causing the reading unit to read the paper identification information of the paper sheet used for printing and, if the read paper identification information and the received paper identification information contained in the document data do not match, inhibiting printing of the document data.
US08199336B2 Optical measurement apparatus, spectroscopic ellipsometer, recording medium, and measurement method
An optical measurement apparatus includes: a storage processing part storing into a storage part a plurality of main reference positions where measurement is to be performed and at least one movement value relative to each main reference position; a main measuring part moving a measurement position to one of the main reference positions stored in the storage part, then irradiating light, and then measuring a change in a state of reflected light; an auxiliary measuring part moving the measurement position to an auxiliary reference position based on the movement value relative to one of the main reference positions stored in the storage part, then irradiating light, and then measuring a change in a state of reflected light; a main calculating part performing analysis and calculating a film thickness or an optical constant; and an auxiliary calculating part performing analysis and calculating a film thickness or an optical constant.
US08199335B2 Three-dimensional shape measuring apparatus, three-dimensional shape measuring method, three-dimensional shape measuring program, and recording medium
An apparatus for measuring a three-dimensional shape of a target object by analyzing an optical pattern projected onto the target object has an optical pattern projecting device that projects the optical pattern onto a portion of a measurement surface on which the target object is placed, the optical pattern having brightness changing periodically according to a position, a first line sensor that images an optical pattern-emitted region onto which the optical pattern is projected, a second line sensor that images an optical pattern-non-emitted region onto which the optical pattern is not projected, and a processing device that calculates a phase of the optical pattern at a pixel included in an image obtained by removing background information from images taken by the first and second line sensors based on a brightness value of the pixel and a neighboring pixel in the image, and calculates height information based on the calculated phase.
US08199328B2 Polarimeter employing a fizeau interferometer
A polarimeter based on a modified Fizeau interferometer and a method for measuring the optical rotation of a polarized light beam by an optically active substance using the polarimeter, are provided.
US08199322B2 Apparatus and method for determining analyte concentrations
An apparatus and method for determining an analyte concentration of a sample, such as a tissue sample. The apparatus may comprise an emitter, close proximity detectors laterally located less than about 2 mm away from the emitter, and far away detectors laterally located greater than about 0.5 cm away from the emitter. A plurality of wavelengths may be sent from the emitter to the sample, reflected off of the sample, and received by the detectors. The reflectance value measured by the close proximity detectors may be used to calculate one or more scattering coefficients. The reflectance value measured by the far away detectors may be compared with a reflectance value calculated using the scattering coefficients in a numerical inversion of a diffusion model to determine the analyte concentration of the sample.
US08199321B2 Laser ablation apparatus and method
Provided is a laser ablation spectroscopy apparatus and method. A pulse laser is focused on the sample site to generate a plasma plume during a laser ablation process. The plasma plume is detected with a spectrometer and an intensified charge coupled device. A sample of material is coupled to a stage movable in the x, y and z directions using an array of x-y-z motors. A change in the height of the sample is detected using a triangulation sensor. The apparatus includes a system computer for synchronizing the movement of the stage in the x, y and z direction during the laser ablation process. The method includes a protocol of generating one or more laser ablations per sample site. The spectral data of the total number of laser ablations for each sample site are averaged together. The protocol includes laser ablating additional sample sites and averaging the spectral data of the total number of sample sites.
US08199319B2 Fiber property measurement
A fiber instrument for measuring properties of a fiber sample, the fiber instrument having a surface for receiving the fiber sample, a hand for pressing the fiber sample against the surface, an illumination source for selectively illuminating the fiber sample with more than one peak wavelength, where each of the peak wavelengths is independently controllable as to an applied intensity of the peak wavelength, a sensor for capturing images of the fiber sample while it is illuminated, and a controller for controlling at least the sensor and the illumination source. By providing multiple peak wavelengths of illumination that are each independently controllable as to illumination intensity, the fiber instrument as described herein is better able to detect both foreign material within the fiber sample, and color gradations of the fiber sample.
US08199311B2 Layout of liquid crystal display panels and size of mother substrate
A layout of LCD panels and a size of the mother substrate are disclosed, to improve the efficiency in arrangement of the LCD panels, and to maximize the substrate efficiency, the layout comprising a mother substrate; a dummy region of 15 mm or less in a periphery of the mother substrate; and six LCD panels of the 26-inch model in a matrix of 2×3 on the mother substrate excluding the dummy region with a margin corresponding to 2˜4% of a length of the LCD panel.
US08199310B2 Liquid crystal display panel with a sealant having modified patterns and the fabrication method thereof
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display panel and a method for fabricating the same, wherein the liquid crystal display panel of the present invention comprises a first substrate, a second substrate, and a sealant having a plurality of modifying patterns. In addition, the method of the present invention comprises steps of providing a liquid crystal display panel having a first substrate, a second substrate and a sealant having a plurality of modifying patterns, and then cutting off a part of the modifying patterns. Thereby, the present invention can eliminate the gravity flow and reduce the gravity mura, so that a liquid crystal display panel having few mura defects is provided.
US08199307B2 Liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display includes: a liquid crystal panel assembly including pixels, gate lines, data lines and a first gate driver; and a driving chip disposed on the liquid crystal panel assembly. A shape of the liquid crystal panel assembly is rectangular and the liquid crystal panel assembly includes a long edge and short edge. The gate lines extend in a same direction as the short edge, and the data lines extend in a same direction as the long edge. The pixels are disposed in pixel rows and are connected to the gate lines and the data lines. The first gate driver is disposed on a peripheral area of the long edge, and the driving chip is connected to the data lines.
US08199305B2 Pixel well electrodes
A pixel well includes first and second electrodes below a floor.
US08199300B2 Liquid crystal device utilizing electric field parallel to substrate
A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate, a second substrate opposed to the first substrate with a gap therebetween, a thin film transistor formed over the first substrate, an interlayer insulating film formed over the thin film transistor, a pixel electrode electrically connected to the thin film transistor, at least one common electrode formed over the interlayer insulating film such that an electric field in parallel with the first substrate is produced by the common electrode and the pixel electrode, and a liquid crystal layer between the first substrate and the second substrate.
US08199299B2 Liquid crystal panel, liquid crystal display device, and display method of liquid crystal panel
A liquid crystal panel (10) includes a liquid crystal layer formed with a p-type liquid crystal. The liquid crystal layer exhibits homogeneous orientation while no voltage is applied. Further, an electric field is applied to the liquid crystal layer in a direction same as dipole moments (μ) of liquid crystal molecules (3a) to which no voltage is applied. With these arrangements, it is possible to provide a liquid crystal panel and a liquid crystal display device, each of which adopts a new display mode that can achieve a wide viewing angle equivalent to an IPS mode, can achieve a high-speed response like an OCB mode or exceeding the OCB mode, and does not require an initial operation for orientation conversion to the bend orientation.
US08199291B2 Liquid crystal display device having polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal layer and transparent films
A liquid crystal display device has at least a pair of transparent substrates, polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal layer disposed therebetween, and a transparent film having an absolute value |Re| of in-plane retardation Re of 10 nm or smaller in the visible light region, having an absolute value |Rth| of thickness-wise retardation Rth of 30 nm or smaller in the visible light region, having an absolute value |Re(400)−Re(700)| of difference between values of in-plane retardation Re at 400 nm and 700 nm of 10 nm or smaller, and having an absolute value |Rth(400)−Rth(700)| of difference between values of thickness-wise retardation Rth at 400 nm and 700 nm of 35 nm or smaller.
US08199287B2 Pixel structure of a transflective liquid crystal display panel and method of making the same
A pixel structure of a transflective liquid crystal display panel. The pixel structure has single cell gap design, but a coupling capacitor and a modulating capacitor are properly connected to the reflection electrode so as to modulate the voltage of the reflection electrode. Consequently, the transmission region and reflection region of the pixel structure have substantially consistent gamma curves.
US08199282B2 Wire grid polarized and liquid crystal display device using the same
A wire grid polarizer includes fine metal wires arranged parallel to one another and thus transmitting TM-polarized light. A light absorbing layer for absorbing TE-polarized light is provided on at least one of the surfaces of the wire grid polarizer.
US08199280B2 Backlight assembly and display device having the same
A backlight assembly includes; a plurality of light guide blocks disposed substantially in parallel with each other along a first direction, each of the plurality of light guide blocks including; a light guide plate (“LGP”) having a wedge-shape decreasing in thickness from a first side thereof to a second side thereof, and a light source unit disposed facing a side surface of the LGP, and a light source driving unit which individually controls the light source units of the plurality of light guide blocks to emit light via a local dimming method.
US08199276B2 Liquid crystal display and method thereof
A liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal panel displaying images, a light source supplying light to the liquid crystal panel, a circuit board including at least one of a brightness sensor and a temperature sensor, a frame including a plurality of sidewalls each including an inner surface, an outer surface and a top surface, the frame including a recess into which the circuit board is inserted downwardly, and the top surface including an open area through which the recess is accessible, and a blocking member covering the open area of the top surface where the frame recess is opened.
US08199275B2 Electro-optical device comprising a prismatic portion formed in a surface of a first substrate and covered by a functional layer that does not protrude into an electro-optical layer
An electro-optical device includes a first substrate; a second substrate; an electro-optical material, the electro-optical material being disposed between the first and second substrates; prismatic portions that collect light incident on the first substrate, each prismatic portion being in the form of a groove having an opening, disposed in the first substrate, and being adjacent to the electro-optical material; a functional layer that drives the electro-optical material, the functional layer being disposed on a side of the first substrate, the side being adjacent to the electro-optical material, and the functional layer extending over the openings; and first light-shielding portions disposed on the second substrate, each light-shielding portion overlapping a corresponding one of the prismatic portions when viewed in plan.