| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08239800B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining a robustness metric for a circuit design
Some embodiments provide techniques and systems for determining a change indicator for an endpoint, a pathgroup, a design, and/or a flow. The system can determine base critical path delays and base slacks for the endpoints in a base implementation of the circuit design. The system can then determine the new critical path delays and new slacks for the endpoints in a new implementation of the circuit design. Next, the system determines slack differences for the endpoints using the new slacks and the base slacks. Finally, for each endpoint, the system can determine an endpoint change indicator using the associated slack difference, the base critical path delay, and the new critical path delay. A pathgroup change indicator can be determined using endpoint change indicators. A design change indicator can be determined using pathgroup change indicators or scenario change indicators. A design flow change indicator can be determined using design change indicators. |
| US08239796B2 |
Method and system for synthesizing relative timing constraints on an integrated circuit design to facilitate timing verification
A method for synthesizing relative timing (RT) constraints on an integrated circuit design is disclosed. Initially, multiple trace status tables are received, and each of the trace status tables contains a trace error identified by a formal verification engine that was utilized to perform a relative timing (RT) verification on an integrated circuit design. An error causing signal is then recognized for each of the trace errors. For each of error causing signals, two associating signals are identified, and the two associating signals are then utilized to locate a common point of convergence (POC). The POC is further utilized to locate a common point of divergence (POD), and an RT constraint can be generated based on the identified POC and POD. All the generated RT constraints are applied to constrain the integrated circuit design such that the integrated circuit design is able to pass RT verifications in the future without any timing violations. |
| US08239795B2 |
Timing analyzing system for clock delay
A timing analyzing system includes an RC extracting section configured to generate an SPEF (Standard Parasitic Exchange Format) file which contains resistance and capacitance components of wirings; a delay calculating section configured to generate an SDF (Standard Delay Format) file based on the SPEF file; and a clock mesh calculating section configured to generate a corrected circuit model by simplifying a netlist on a clock path to pass through a clock mesh structure from an input stage. A timing analysis section is configured to perform timing analysis of a semiconductor integrated circuit of an analysis target based on the corrected circuit model. |
| US08239794B2 |
System and method for estimating leakage current of an electronic circuit
Disclosed are embodiments of a system and of an associated method for estimating the leakage current of an electronic circuit. The embodiments analyze a layout of an electronic circuit in order to identify all driven and non-driven nets within the electronic circuit, to identify all of the driven net-bounded partitions within the electronic circuit (based on the driven and non-driven nets), and to identify, for each driven net-bounded partition, all possible states of the electronic circuit that can leak. Then, using this information, the embodiments estimate the leakage current of the electronic circuit. This is accomplished by first determining, for each state of each driven net-bounded partition, a leakage current of the driven net-bounded partition and a probability that the state will occur in the driven net-bounded partition during operation of the electronic circuit. Then, for each state of each driven net-bounded partition, the leakage current of the driven net-bounded partition and the state probability are multiplied together. The results are then aggregated. |
| US08239789B2 |
System and method of predicting problematic areas for lithography in a circuit design
A system and method is provided which predicts problematic areas for lithography in a circuit design, and more specifically, which uses modeling data from a modeling tool to accurately predict problematic lithographic areas. The method includes identifying surface heights of plurality of tiles of a modeled wafer, and mathematically mimicking a lithographic tool to determine best planes of focus for exposure for the plurality of tiles. |
| US08239787B2 |
Method of generating original plate data by repeatedly calculating approximate aerial image
Method for generating data for an original plate used during processing for illuminating the original plate and projecting an image of a pattern onto the original plate onto a substrate via a projection optical system. A two-dimensional transmission cross coefficient is calculated based on a function indicating a distribution of an intensity of light formed on a pupil plane of the projection optical system. An approximate aerial image is calculated based on the calculated two-dimensional transmission cross coefficient and a first pattern on an object plane of the projection optical system. A second pattern is generated having the first pattern on the object place and auxiliary patterns based on the approximate aerial image. The original plate data is generated by repeatedly calculating the approximate aerial image and generating a second pattern that is used as the first pattern on the object plane. |
| US08239785B2 |
Edge gestures
Techniques involving gestures and other functionality are described. In one or more implementations, the techniques describe gestures that are usable to provide inputs to a computing device. A variety of different gestures are contemplated, including bimodal gestures (e.g., using more than one type of input) and single modal gestures. Additionally, the gesture techniques may be configured to leverage these different input types to increase the amount of gestures that are made available to initiate operations of a computing device. |
| US08239782B2 |
Data processing system and method of data entry
A data processing system includes telecommunication means for providing a data entry form to a client device and for receiving user data that has been entered into the data entry form from the client device, database means for storage of the user data, and program means for extracting application specific data from the database means. |
| US08239781B2 |
Drag and drop of an application component to desktop
The present disclosure involves systems, software, and computer implemented methods for dragging and dropping a component of an application onto a virtual desktop. One process includes operations for receiving a request to copy a selected component of an application from a plurality of components of the application onto the virtual desktop. A display window for displaying the selected component of the application is executed and the unselected components of the application are filtered by visually concealing the unselected components. The process can further include presenting the selected component of the application in the display window. |
| US08239779B2 |
Methods and apparatus for controlling a plurality of applications
Methods and apparatus are provided to control a plurality of applications on a computer having a graphical user interface using a control application installed in addition to an operating system of the computer. An object, representing the control application and having a first sensitive area, is displayed within the graphical user interface. A first user input is received at the first sensitive area on the object. A window slides from the object and includes a plurality of icons corresponding to the plurality of applications while the first sensitive area continues to be displayed. A second user input is received in the window corresponding to at least one of the plurality of icons. At least one of the applications is then controlled based on the second user input. |
| US08239776B2 |
Behavior detection and alert in virtual worlds based on spatial and temporal criteria
Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for protecting a user from being followed by an avatar within an immersive virtual environment. To detect a following avatar, any avatars within a specified range of the user may be identified. Historical data may then be examined to determine if any of the identified avatars has been in the same recent virtual locations as the user. In order to rule out coincidental movements, the likelihood of both avatars being in the same places at the same time may be evaluated. Further, the following avatar may be tested by transporting the user to another location, and then monitoring to determine whether the following avatar also transports to the same location. Upon confirming that the following avatar is actually following the user, avoidance actions may be performed in order to avoid the following avatar. |
| US08239770B2 |
Content display system
A content display system may be provided with a communication device and an information display device. The information display device may display contents by utilizing a browser. The communication device may store location information of summarized content information, acquire the summarized content information based on the location information of the summarized content information, display titles included in the summarized content information, allow a user to select at least one title from the titles, specify first location information of a first content corresponding to a first title selected by the user, and send a command for displaying the first content corresponding to the first location information. The information display device may receive the command, and activate the browser in accordance with a first type of command in a specific case where the browser has been closed which had been activated in accordance with an other first type of command having been sent from the communication device before receiving the first type of command. |
| US08239768B2 |
System and method of adjusting audiovisual content to improve hearing
A system for adjusting audiovisual content having a server including a receiver for receiving a first content from a media source, a first circuitry configured to generate a second content based on the first content, the second content having multiple audio channels, a first transceiver for sending the second content to one or more clients, each client including a second transceiver for receiving the second content, and a second circuitry configured to generate a third content based on the second content and provide the third content to an audio device, wherein the second circuitry is configured to provide a graphical user interface to a user, the graphical user interface having a plurality of icons representing the user and the multiple audio channels, wherein movement of any of the plurality of icons will alter the second content. |
| US08239763B1 |
Method and apparatus for using active word fonts
A method of defining and displaying letters of words on a computer platform is provided, so that words of text can be more quickly and accurately read by a person. A plurality of subfonts are used to define character sets to be displayed on a monitor screen, in which the subfonts make words more legible and faster to read. A font designer may design a variety of different subfonts for various characters of a font set, and can define which subfonts are to be used to display individual characters of words, depending upon the position of characters within a word, and depending upon the number of characters of that word. The font designer can select, from a plurality of subfonts, individual styles for letters of various words that are all defined within a same font set, which itself can comprise many different styles of existing or new font types. |
| US08239762B2 |
Method and system for automatic generation of adapted content to facilitate reading skill development for language learners
Systems and methods are provided for adapting a text, for example, for generating a text appropriate for the proficiency level of a language learner, are described. An original text is received and at least one portion of the original text to adapt is identified, where the adapted text will facilitate reader comprehension. An adaptation to be applied to the at least one portion of the original text is determined. The at least one portion of the original text is analyzed based on the adaptation, the adaptation is applied to the at least one portion of the original text, and the adapted text is provided. |
| US08239760B2 |
Multi-user document editing system and method
A multi-user document editing system and method. Embodiments of the invention utilize a model-view-controller design pattern to successfully control changes in parallel to underlying backend database information presentation related information. Granularity of protection and check in/check out on family, spread, presentation layer and presentation object. In addition, enables automatic update of changes to all users editing or viewing the information. Changes to the backend database may also include changes to the family hierarchy with real-time update of publication WYSIWYG pages for example. Enables rollback of changes. Instead of waiting constantly for other users to finish editing information before other edits can be made, the typical serial editing methodology is transformed by embodiments of the invention into a parallel methodology that greatly increases throughput and lowers the costs associated with large publications. |
| US08239753B2 |
Information sharing support system providing corraborative annotation, information processing device, computer readable recording medium, and computer controlling method providing the same
An information sharing support system is provided. The system includes a first information processing device connected to a projector device for projecting an image on a projection area, and to an image pick-up device for picking up an image of the projection area; an inputting unit that inputs an event in a first layer, inputs a second annotation image as a part of a first annotation image associated with the event to a second layer, inputs a third annotation image as the remaining part of the first annotation image to a third layer, and inputs a document to a fourth layer; a transmitting unit that transmits the second annotation image; and a second information processing device that allocates the picked-up image to the second layer, and includes a display that displays the third annotation image and the document in an overlapping fashion. |
| US08239748B1 |
Media stream synchronization using device and host clocks
A synchronization manager synchronizes multiple media streams. The synchronization manager queries a media stream output device associated with each media stream to synchronize, and in response receives the current device clock time of each device, each device's next available media stream output time, and each device's delta between available media stream output times. The synchronization manager uses this timing information to determine an earliest available media stream output time common to each media stream output device, and synchronizes the output of the media streams by providing each stream to its associated output device at the earliest available common output time. |
| US08239743B2 |
Managing common uplink resources in a cellular radio communications system
The technology in this application provides for efficient use of a common uplink radio resource, like the common E-DCH resource. A UE lacking a valid radio network identifier, e.g., a UE in an idle mode, receives a data unit and adds error detection bits to generate a new data unit. The new data unit is divided into segments at a lower protocol layer which are provided for transmission to the network via the common uplink radio resource. A network node detects lower protocol layer data unit segments received on the common uplink radio resource and assembles them into an assembled data unit at a higher protocol layer. Error detection bits included with the assembled data unit are used to determine if the assembled data unit includes correctly received data unit segments, e.g., data unit segments from the same UE. |
| US08239742B2 |
Coding apparatus, coding method and coding program for combing two different code words
Disclosed herein is an encoding apparatus which combines an RLL code word and an error correction code word, with an interleaving technique when encoding, including: an error correction encoding section; an interleaving section; and an RLL encoding section, wherein, if an address i (i is an integer satisfying relations 0≦i |
| US08239740B2 |
Circuit and technique for reducing parity bit-widths for check bit and syndrome generation for data blocks through the use of additional check bits to increase the number of minimum weighted codes in the hamming code H-matrix
A circuit and technique for reducing parity bit-widths for check bit and syndrome generation is implemented through the use of additional check bits to increase the number of minimum weighted codes in the Hamming Code H-Matrix. The circuit and technique of the present invention may be implemented while adding no additional correction/detection capability, in order to reduce the number of data bits that are used for each check bit/syndrome generation and to reduce the width of the parity generating circuitry. |
| US08239737B2 |
Data line storage and transmission utilizing both error correcting code and synchronization information
Methods and apparatuses for including synchronization data to be used for parallel processing in a block of data having error correcting code symbols. The block of data is encoded using an error correcting code. The resulting encoding includes three check symbols per 32 data symbols. At least one synchronization symbol corresponding to the data symbols is generated. The data symbols, the check symbols and the at least one synchronization symbol are combined. The combined data symbols, the check symbols and the at least one synchronization symbol are transmitted. |
| US08239735B2 |
Memory Device with adaptive capacity
A method for data storage in a memory (28) that includes a plurality of analog memory cells (32) includes estimating respective achievable storage capacities of the analog memory cells. The memory cells are assigned respective storage configurations defining quantities of data to be stored in the memory cells based on the estimated achievable capacities. The data is stored in the memory cells in accordance with the respective assigned storage configurations. The achievable storage capacities of the analog memory cells are re-estimated after the memory has been installed in a host system and used for storing the data in the host system. The storage configurations are modified responsively to the re-estimated achievable capacities. |
| US08239733B2 |
Memory device with protection capability and method of accessing data therein
The present invention is directed to a memory device with protection capability and a method of accessing data therein. A spreader encrypts input user data according to an entered password, and the encrypted data is then stored in a storage area. A despreader performs reverse process of the spreader on the stored data according to the entered password. |
| US08239732B2 |
Error correction coding in flash memory devices
Systems and/or methods that facilitate error correction of data are presented. An error correction code (ECC) control component facilitates enabling or disabling error correction of data being written to or read from memory, such as flash memory, based on ECC indicator data associated with a piece of data. The ECC control component can analyze data, parity code, and/or indicator data associated with the incoming data and/or data stored in the memory location where the incoming data is to be written to determine whether parity code can be written for the incoming data and/or whether error correction can be enabled with respect to the incoming data. Error correction can be enabled when an indicator bit associated with the data is unprogrammed (e.g., bit set to ‘1’ state) and can be disabled by programming the indicator bit (e.g., bit set to a ‘0’ state). |
| US08239730B2 |
Non-volatile semiconductor memory device
A non-volatile semiconductor memory device comprises a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells arrayed capable of storing information of N bits (N≧2) in accordance with variations in threshold voltage. A parity data adder circuit adds parity data for error correction to every certain data bits to be stored in the memory cell array. A frame converter circuit uniformly divides frame data containing the data bits and the parity data into N pieces of subframe data. A programming circuit stores the subframe data divided into N pieces in respective N sub-pages formed corresponding to the information of N bits. |
| US08239721B2 |
HARQ process utilization in multiple carrier wireless communications
Methods and apparatus utilize hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmissions and retransmissions that are usable on multiple carriers, i.e. joint HARQ processes. For example, a downlink (DL) shared channel transmission of a joint HARQ process is received on one of the carriers. A first part of an identity of the joint HARQ process is determined by using HARQ process identity data received on a shared control channel. A second part of the joint HARQ process identity is determined using additional information. The joint HARQ process identity is then determined by combining the first part and the second part. A WTRU is provided that is configured to receive the DL shared channel and to make the aforementioned determinations. A variety of other methods and apparatus configurations are disclosed for utilizing joint HARQ processes, in particular in the context of DC-HSDPA. |
| US08239715B2 |
Method and apparatus for a robust embedded interface
A method is provided for operating an interface between a first unit and a second unit supplying its data. The method includes switching control between LSSD_B and LSSD_C clocks and system clock (CLK) to provide a test mode of operation and a functional mode of operation to optimize setup and hold times depending on conditions under which the unit is operating. In the test mode, data is launched by the LSSD_C clock. In the functional mode, the data is launched by the system clock (CLK) to RAM. A method is also provided to determine which memory inputs should use a circuit that provides adequate setup and hold margins. |
| US08239714B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for bad block remapping
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for bad block remapping. A bad block identifier module identifies one or more data blocks on a solid-state storage element as bad blocks. A log update module writes at least a location of each bad block identified by the bad block identifier module into each of two or more redundant bad block logs. A bad block mapping module accesses at least one bad block log during a start-up operation to create in memory a bad block map. The bad block map includes a mapping between the bad block locations in the bad block log and a corresponding location of a replacement block for each bad block location. Data is stored in each replacement block instead of the corresponding bad block. The bad block mapping module creates the bad block map using one of a replacement block location and a bad block mapping algorithm. |
| US08239713B2 |
Data storage device with bad block scan command
A data storage device includes an interface that is configured to interface with a host, a command bus, multiple memory devices that are operably coupled to the command bus and a controller that is operably coupled to the interface and to the command bus. The controller is configured to receive a bad block scan command for a specified one of the memory devices from the host using the interface, scan the specified memory device for bad blocks, generate a map of the bad blocks and communicate the map to the host using the interface. |
| US08239710B2 |
Communication methods and systems having permutation schemes
A wireless communication method implemented in a communication system may include receiving a data sequence to be permuted, and obtaining information associated with the data sequence to be permuted, the information containing at least a length of the data sequence and a sampling spacing for permuting the data sequence. The method may also include identifying a first portion of the data sequence having a first number of adjacent data items, and a second portion of the data sequence having a second number of adjacent data items. The method may also include accessing the first number of data items from the first portion at the sampling spacing, and placing the accessed first number of data items into a predetermined number of sub-blocks included within a permuted data sequence to be generated based on the received data sequence. The method may further include inserting each of the second number of data items into an end position of one of the sub-blocks within the permuted data sequence, and outputting the permuted data sequence. |
| US08239707B2 |
Replicated state machine
A replicated state machine includes multiple state machine replicas. In response to a request from a client, the state machine replicas can execute a service for the request in parallel. Each of the state machine replicas is provided with a request manager instance. The request manager instance includes a distributed consensus means and a selection means. The distributed consensus means commits a stimulus sequence of requests to be processed by each of the state machine replicas. The selection means selects requests to be committed to the stimulus sequence. The selection is based on an estimated service time of the request from the client. The estimated service time of the request from the client is based on a history of service times from the client provided by a feedback from the state machine replicas. As such, requests from multiple clients are serviced fairly. |
| US08239705B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing communication services for user endpoint devices
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an edge device having a controller to receive a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message from a user endpoint device (UE) requesting communication services, forward the SIP message to a network element of a Server Office, receive from the network element a first error message indicating communication services at the Server Office are unavailable, replace the first error message with a second error message, the second error message indicating a temporary unavailability of communication services, and transmit the second error message to the UE. Additional embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08239702B2 |
One global precise time and one maximum transmission time
Method of controlling a wind power system including a plurality of system elements, the wind power system including a plurality of data processors distributed in the system elements, the method including the steps of: synchronizing at least a part of the data processors to at least one reference signal distributed to the data processors from a time synchronization arrangement, associating the data processors with local clock generation circuitries, wherein the local clock generation circuitries associated with data processors of a first subset of the data processors have a peak-to-peak tracking jitter higher than or equal to a predetermined threshold value and wherein a second subset of the data processors have a peak-to-peak tracking jitter less than the predetermined threshold value, controlling at least one of the system elements at least partly by means of a data processor from the first or second subset of data processors. |
| US08239700B2 |
Systems and methods for power dissipation control in a semiconductor device
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for governing power dissipation in a semiconductor device. For example, various embodiments of the present invention provide semiconductor devices that include a first function circuit, a second function circuit, and a power state change control circuit. The power state change control circuit is operable to determine a combination of power states of the first function circuit and the second function circuit that provides an overall power dissipation within a power dissipation level. |
| US08239698B2 |
System and method for maintaining connectivity to remote application servers
A system and method for maintaining connectivity between a host system running an Always-On-Always-Connected (AOAC) application and an associated remote application server. The system further includes circuitry configured to establish a communication link between the host system and the remote application server. The circuitry is configured periodically transmit keep-alive messages to the remote application server after the host system transitions to and remains in a low-power state. The keep-alive messages are configured to maintain connectivity and presence of the AOAC application with the remote application server while the host system is in the low-power state. |
| US08239690B2 |
Storage device and storage method, and information-processing device and information-processing method
A storage device that can be attached and/or detached to and/or from an information-processing device is provided. The storage device includes a storage unit including a first area provided to store an encryption key used to encode first information and first authentication information used to perform authentication, and a second area storing second information encoded by the information-processing device by using the encryption key, an authentication unit configured to authenticate a user based on second authentication information generated by the information-processing device based on third information input by the user and the first authentication information, a transmission unit configured to transmit the encryption key to the information-processing device when validity of the user is confirmed through the authentication, and a control unit configured to have control over writing and/or reading the encoded second information into and/or from the second area. |
| US08239686B1 |
Method and system for protecting against the execution of unauthorized software
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a client device is protected against the execution of unauthorized software. The client includes a code authentication process that verifies the integrity of executable code, by generating and comparing a first hash value of the executable code with a known hash value of the original code. Furthermore, during boot-up, the client initializes a CPU exception vector table with one or more vector table entries. One or more, or all, of the vector table entries direct the CPU to execute the code authentication process prior to executing an event handler when an exception event occurs. Consequently, the code authentication process is virtually guaranteed to execute, thereby protecting against the execution of unauthorized code. |
| US08239684B2 |
Software IC card system, management server, terminal, service providing server, service providing method, and program
A management server calculates a hash value of software for providing a service, generates a first software area from software which is provided a second electronic signature, provides a third electronic signature to user information provided with a first electronic signature transmitted from a terminal, to the hash value, and to user management information, encrypts a second software area generated from the third electronic signature, user information, from hash value, and from user management information using a common key of the management server and service providing server, combines the first software area and encrypted second software area to create a software IC card, encrypts the software IC card using a public key of the terminal, and transmits the encrypted software IC card to the terminal. |
| US08239679B2 |
Authentication method, client, server and system
An authentication method, which includes: a server sends a challenge to a client; the client obtains a first key performs a transformation on the first key utilizing a local hash function to obtain a third key, encrypts the first key and the challenge utilizing the third key to obtain a ciphertext, and sends the ciphertext to the server; the server decrypts the ciphertext utilizing a second key stored locally, obtains a decrypted first key and a decrypted challenge if the second key is the same as the third key, performs a transformation on the decrypted first key utilizing a local hash function to obtain a fourth key, the client passes the authentication if the decrypted challenge and the fourth key are respectively the same as the challenge sent by the server and the second key stored locally by the server. |
| US08239675B2 |
System and method of mobile lightweight cryptographic directory access
A system for handling an LDAP service request to an LDAP server for an LDAP service comprises a client program executable on a client system and a handler program executable on a handler system. The client program is operable to generate LDAP service request data corresponding to the LDAP service and provide the LDAP service request data for transmission from the client system, and further operable to receive LDAP service reply data in response to the LDAP service request data. The handler program is operable to receive the LDAP service request data transmitted from the client system and execute the LDAP service request to the LDAP server, receive LDAP service reply data from the LDAP server during one or more passes, and upon completion of the LDAP service, provide the LDAP service reply data for transmission to the client system in a single pass. |
| US08239673B2 |
Methods, apparatus and systems with loadable kernel architecture for processors
A device (200, 2200) for improved security includes a processor (200) and a secure writeable memory (2245) coupled to said processor (200) and including code (2240) to download a loadable security kernel to the processor (200), authenticate the loadable security kernel, and transfer the kernel so that the kernel begins at a predetermined address inside the secure writeable memory (2245) only if the authentication is successful. A process (2400) of manufacturing a target communication device (2310) having a memory space having a secure writable portion (2245) of the memory space, the manufacturing process (2400) using a host machine (2330). The manufacturing process (2400) includes downloading (2540) the loadable security kernel from the host machine (2330) to the memory space at the target (2310). The loadable security kernel has a flashing entry point. The process also includes authenticating (2590) the downloaded loadable security kernel received at the target (2310), moving (2640) the loadable security kernel in the memory space provided the authenticating is successful (2610), wherein after the moving (2640) the loadable security kernel is in the secure writable portion (2245) of the memory space; and jumping (2650) to a predetermined location in the secure writable portion of the memory space, the predetermined location coinciding with the flashing entry point of the security kernel as moved. |
| US08239671B2 |
Channel binding mechanism based on parameter binding in key derivation
This document describes a channel binding mechanism based on parameter binding in the key derivation procedure. The method cryptographically binds access network parameters to a key without need to carry those parameters in EAP methods. |
| US08239669B2 |
Reach-back communications terminal with selectable networking options
A reach back secure communications terminal that offers immediate and secure voice, data and video connectivity to multiple telecommunications networks, high availability and reliable connectivity, total access to vital resources, and secure extension to the home office. Integrated components simplify access to varied networks allowing deployed users to select and connect quickly to a network that best supports their present mission. Commercial or optional NSA Type 1 encryption may be implemented. Networking options include any of PSTN, PBX, GSM (or CDMA or other cell telephone standard), SAT, IP and WiFi. During secure call setup, the reach-back communications terminal exchanges public keys with a remote terminal using FNBDT signaling. Traffic encryption is performed using the NIST approved Advanced Encryption System (AES) standard (Rijndael) and a 128-bit random key (2^128 possible keys). |
| US08239668B1 |
Computer security threat data collection and aggregation with user privacy protection
An endpoint computer in an enterprise network is configured to detect computer security threat events, such as presence of a computer virus. Upon detection of a threat event, the endpoint computer generates computer security threat data for the threat event. The threat data may include user identifiable data that can be used to identify a user in the enterprise network. The endpoint computer encrypts the user identifiable data prior to sending the threat data to a smart protection network or to an enterprise server where threat data from various enterprise networks are collected for analysis. The endpoint computer may also encrypt an identifier for the threat data and provide the encrypted identifier to the smart protection network and to an enterprise server in the enterprise network. The enterprise server may use the encrypted identifier to retrieve the threat data from the smart protection network to generate user-specific reports. |
| US08239665B2 |
Methods, systems and media for configuring boot options
Implementations described herein generally provide methods of configuring boot options. One method may generally include receiving on a remote management information handling system (IHS), boot information relating to a remotely configured HIS, using the boot information on the remote management IHS to create boot options and sending the boot options from the remote management IHS to the remotely configured IHS. |
| US08239660B2 |
Processor with automatic scheduling of operations
A high speed processor. The processor includes terminals that each execute a subset of the instruction set. In at least one of the terminals, the instructions are executed in an order determined by data flow. Instructions are loaded into the terminal in pages. A notation is made when an operand for an instruction is generated by another instruction. When operands for an instruction are available, that instruction is a “ready” instruction. A ready instruction is selected in each cycle and executed. To allow data to be transmitted between terminals, each terminal is provided with a receive station, such that data generated in one terminal may be transmitted to another terminal for use as an operand in that terminal. In one embodiment, one terminal is an arithmetic terminal, executing arithmetic operations such as addition, multiplication and division. The processor has a second terminal, which contains functional logic to execute all other instructions in the instruction set. The invention is useful for arithmetic intensive applications, such as graphic processors. |
| US08239656B2 |
System and method for identifying TLB entries associated with a physical address of a specified range
A system and method for identifying a TLB entry having a physical address that is within a specified range are disclosed. The method includes obtaining a tentative TLB entry from a page table entry and accessing a physical address associated with the tentative TLB entry. The method further includes comparing the physical address of the tentative TLB entry with a predetermined range of addresses. If the physical address is within the finite range of addresses, an exception is invoked. In response to the exception, the physical address and/or an attribute of the tentative TLB entry can be modified. The tentative TLB entry can then be stored in a TLB. |
| US08239655B2 |
Virtual target addressing during direct data access via VF of IO storage adapter
A method of virtual machine (VM) access to physical storage through a direct path to a virtual function (VF) of a storage adapter, the method for use in a system that includes a host computing machine configured to implement a virtualization intermediary and the virtual machine (VM) and that includes the storage adapter the method, comprising: sending virtual SCSI IO request from the VM to the physical storage that identifies a virtual disk address; mapping within the VF the identified virtual address to at least one physical region of the physical storage; creating within the VF a physical SCSI IO request that identifies a physical address for the mapped-to physical region; sending the physical SCSI IO request from the VF to the physical storage. |
| US08239646B2 |
Online virtual machine disk migration
A method for migrating a virtual machine disk (VM disk) from first physical storage to second physical storage while the virtual machine (VM) is running, the method comprising: (a) taking a snapshot of the VM disk as represented by a first parent VM disk stored on the first physical storage, whereby a first child VM disk is created on one of the first or second physical storage; (b) copying the first parent VM disk to the second physical storage as a second parent VM disk; (c) re-parenting the first VM child disk to the second parent VM disk; and (d) consolidating the first child VM disk and the second parent VM disk. |
| US08239641B2 |
Choosing location or manner of storing data
Data may be stored in a location or manner that takes various considerations into account. Examples of such considerations are the availability, speed and cost of storage resources, and commercial and regulatory expectations concerning the reliability, security, and/or availability of the stored data. When a piece of data is to be stored, a storage choice component may take the above-considerations into account in order to determine where the data is to be stored, how many copies of the data are to be made, whether the data is to be encrypted, and/or other issues. Additionally, a migration engine may re-evaluate data that has already been stored in order to determine whether the data may be migrated to other storage resources, and/or whether changes may be made with regard to issues such as the encryption level and/or the number of stored copies of the data. |
| US08239637B2 |
Byte mask command for memories
A system is presented that facilitates masking data in write data bound for a memory device. The system contains a memory controller and a memory array communicatively coupled to the memory controller. The memory controller sends a write command and write data to the memory array and the memory array updates data contained therein based upon the write command and write data. If the write operation requires a byte mask, the controller sends a byte mask command via a command bus linking the controller and the memory array. Accordingly, separate and dedicated byte mask pins or bus is not necessary to convey byte mask information. |
| US08239635B2 |
System and method for performing visible and semi-visible read operations in a software transactional memory
The software transactional memory system described herein may implement a revocable mechanism for managing read ownership in a shared memory. In this system, write ownership may be revoked by readers or writers at any time other than when a writer transaction is in a commit state, wherein its write ownership is irrevocable. An ownership record associated with one or more locations in the shared memory may include an indication of whether the memory locations are owned for writing, and an identifier of the latest writer. A read ownership array may record data indicating which, if any, threads currently own the memory locations for reading. The system may provide an efficient read-validation operation, in which a full read-set validation is avoided unless a change in a global read-write conflict counter value indicates a potential conflict. The system may support a wide range of contention management policies, and may provide implicit privatization. |
| US08239634B2 |
Input/output control based on information specifying input/output issuing source and input/output priority
An input/output control system of an information processing apparatus that includes a first storage area and a second storage area and carries out an input/output processing using a part or whole of the first storage area as a cache. The input/output control system includes: a cache managing unit 110 storing data, which is inputted from or outputted to the second storage area, in a third storage area used as a cache of the first storage area; an input/output specification information storage unit 111 correlating a data area, which is an area of the data stored in the third storage area, and information with regard to the input/output to store them; a write-back unit 120 generating an output request of the data from the data area in the third storage area to the second storage area; and an input/output specifying unit 100 specifying the information with regard to the input/output correlated to the data area of the data which is a target for the generated output request, by referring to the input/output specification information storage unit. |
| US08239633B2 |
Non-broadcast signature-based transactional memory
A coherence controller in hardware of an apparatus in an example detects conflicts on coherence requests through direct, non-broadcast employment of signatures that: summarize read-sets and write-sets of memory transactions; and provide false positives but no false negatives for the conflicts on the coherence requests. The signatures comprise fixed-size representations of a substantially arbitrary set of addresses for the read-sets and the write-sets of the memory transactions. |
| US08239626B2 |
Storage system that executes performance optimization that maintains redundancy
One storage area is selected from two or more storage areas of a high load physical storage device, a physical storage device with a lower load than that of the physical storage device is selected, and it is judged whether the redundancy according to the RAID level corresponding to the logical volume decreases when the data elements stored in the selected storage area are transferred to the selected low load physical storage device. If the result of this judgment is that the redundancy does not decrease, the data elements stored in the selected storage area are transferred to a buffer area of the selected low load physical storage device and the logical address space of the logical volume that corresponds to the selected storage area is associated with the buffer area. |
| US08239625B2 |
Parity generator for redundant array of independent discs type memory
In a Redundant Array of Independent Discs (RAID) type memory, dual parities P and Q are generated by a dual XOR engine that performs a plain XOR operation for parity P and a weighted XOR operation for parity Q. The plain and weighted XOR operations may be performed in a single pass. |
| US08239624B2 |
Method and system for data migration in a distributed RAID implementation
Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with a volume stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. Migration of this volume, or a portion thereof, from one configuration to another configuration may be accomplished such that the volume, or the portion thereof, and corresponding redundancy data may be stored according to this second configuration. |
| US08239623B2 |
Scheduling read operations during drive reconstruction in an array of redundant disk drives
Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that schedules read operations for disk drives in a set of disk drives. During operation, the system monitors a write rate for write operations to a given disk drive in the set of disk drives, wherein vibrations generated by the read operations directed to disk drives in the set of disk drives are transmitted to the given disk drive. Then, the read operations for disk drives in the set of disk drives are scheduled based on the write rate for the given disk drive, thereby limiting interference between the write operations and the vibrations generated by the read operations. |
| US08239619B2 |
Method and apparatus for high-speed byte-access in block-based flash memory
Techniques utilizing an erase-once, program-many progressive indexing structure manage data in a flash memory device which avoids the need to perform sector erase operations each time data stored in the flash memory device is updated. As a result, a large number of write operations can be performed before a sector erase operation is needed. Consequently, block-based flash memory can be used for high-speed byte access. |
| US08239618B2 |
System and method for emulating preconditioning of solid-state device
Systems and methods for reducing problems and disadvantages associated with traditional approaches to preconditioning solid-state devices are provided. A method may include storing at least one preconditioning status parameter indicative of at least one variable associated with preconditioning emulation of a solid state device (SSD) including a flash memory. The method may also include modifying a mapping table based on the at least one preconditioning status parameter to emulate preconditioning of the SSD, the mapping table including information for translating virtual logical block addresses (LBAs) of the SSD as seen by the processor into physical LBAs of the flash memory. |
| US08239615B2 |
Memory controller, flash memory system with memory controller, and method of controlling flash memory
The memory controller forms temporary virtual blocks each composed of a plurality of physical blocks, whose physical addresses are the same value, each of which is included in each of flash memories, extracts temporary virtual block to which at least one defective block belongs from the temporary virtual blocks, generates a second temporary virtual block to which a defective block does not belong by replacing a defective block belonging to one temporary virtual block with a normal block belonging to another temporary virtual block among temporary virtual blocks extracted, and allocates temporary virtual blocks not extracted and second temporary virtual blocks generated to available virtual blocks. |
| US08239614B2 |
Memory super block allocation
The present disclosure includes methods and devices for memory block selection. In one or more embodiments, a memory controller includes control circuitry coupled to one or more memory devices having multiple Groups of planes associated therewith, each Group including at least two planes of physical blocks organized into Super Blocks, with each Super Block including a physical block from each of the at least two planes. The control circuitry is configured to receive a first unassigned logical block address (LBA) associated with a write operation and determine a particular free Super Block within a selected one of the multiple Groups to receive data associated with the write operation. |
| US08239613B2 |
Hybrid memory device
A method is provided. The method includes receiving data and classifying received data in one of several tiers of data. The method also includes storing each tier of data on a different non-volatile memory device. |
| US08239612B2 |
Memory controller, flash memory system with memory controller, and control method of flash memory
The memory controller updates a count number based on a new assignment of a logical block to a physical block, and writes count information in the physical block to which the logical block is newly assigned. The count information is defined by the count number. The memory controller decides, based on the count number and the count information stored in each physical block, whether or not to transfer stored data in a physical block to another physical block. |
| US08239607B2 |
System and method for an asynchronous data buffer having buffer write and read pointers
A system and method for facilitating the adjustment of timing parameters between a memory controller operating in a first clock domain and a memory device operating in a second clock domain. A write pointer and a read pointer are monitored to provide a write-read pointer offset representing the timing between when read data is made available by the memory device and when the read data is retrieved by the memory controller. Based on the write-read pointer offset, adjustment to different timing parameters can be made. |
| US08239603B2 |
Serialized secondary bus architecture
A system including a serialized secondary bus architecture. The system may include an LPC bus, an I/O controller, a serialized secondary bus, and at least one slave device. The LPC bus may be connected to the I/O controller, and the at least one slave device may be connected to the I/O controller via the serialized secondary bus. The serialized secondary bus has a reduced pin count relative to the LPC bus. The I/O controller may receive bus transactions from the LPC bus. The I/O controller may translate and forward LPC bus transactions to the at least one device over the secondary bus. The I/O controller may include a processing unit. The processing unit may initiate bus transactions intended for the at least one slave device. The I/O controller may also include a bus arbitration unit. The bus arbitration unit may arbitrate ownership of the secondary bus between the processing unit and the LPC bus. |
| US08239601B2 |
Integrated data accessing system having control apparatus for multi-directional data transmission
An integrated data accessing system having control apparatus for multi-directional data transmission is described. The integrated data accessing system includes a control apparatus, a plurality of communication interface engines. The control apparatus includes a plurality of bi-directional transmission modules, a control unit, a multi-directional transferring engine, and a memory unit. The control unit detects a source storage and a target storage. The multi-directional transferring engine selectively transfers the data content among storage units. The multi-directional transferring engine includes a first switch module, a second switch module, and a data buffer. The first switch module switches to the first bi-directional transmission module to select the source storage. The second switch module switches to the second bi-directional transmission module to select the target storage. The data buffer stores the data content transmitted from the source storage and the target storage. The multi-directional transferring engine transfers the data content in the source storage via the first bi-directional transmission module to the target storage via the second bi-directional transmission module when the control unit triggers the first switch module and the switch second module. |
| US08239597B2 |
Device-to-device communication bus for distributed power management
A Device-to-Device Communication Bus protocol may facilitate transmission of a two to four byte packet by any device sharing the bus. All devices on the bus may monitor the bus, receiving all packets transmitted by other devices and recognizing when they may initiate transmission. The first byte of the packet may be an Address byte uniquely identifying the sender and allowing hardware arbitration to uniquely select one of any number of senders who may wish to transmit and begin transmission simultaneously. Arbitration may take place during transmission of the Address byte, with the transmitting device monitoring a bus bit value as it is transmitting the Address byte. If the data value observed by the transmitting device doesn't match the transmitting device's desired transmit value, the transmitting device may recognize loss of arbitration and suspend transmission to retry once the packet is complete. The receive function in every device may accept the packet as a normal received packet. The arbitration scheme may also include a fairness mechanism to insure one or several devices cannot monopolize the bus. |
| US08239595B2 |
Communication between a media player and an accessory with an extended interface mode
An interface and protocol allow a media player to communicate with external accessories over a transport link. The protocol includes a core protocol functionality and a number of accessory lingoes. Examples of accessory lingoes include a microphone lingo, a simple remote lingo, a display remote lingo, an RF transmitter lingo, and an extended interface lingo. |
| US08239594B2 |
Modular card issuance system and method of operation
A modular card issuance system comprises a plurality of sequentially ordered modules configured such that each module is in electrical communication with its adjacent modules. This system also comprises a main controller that is in electrical communication with each of the modules. Upon power-up of the system and without assistance from the main controller, each module determines its own identity, its relative position among the plurality of modules and the total number of modules in the system. This information is then reported to the main controller upon request from the main controller. |
| US08239589B1 |
Balancing latency and throughput for shared resources
Input and output (I/O) operations performed by a data storage device are managed dynamically to balance aspects such as throughput and latency. Sequential read and write requests are sent to a data storage device whereby the corresponding operations are performed without time delay due to extra disk revolutions. In order to minimize latency, particularly for read operations, random read and write requests are held in a queue upstream of an I/O controller of the data storage device until the buffer of the data storage device is empty. The queued requests can be reordered when a higher priority request is received, improving the overall latency for specific requests. An I/O scheduler of a data server is still able to use any appropriate algorithm to order I/O requests, such as by prioritizing reads over writes as long as the writes do not back up in the I/O queue beyond a certain threshold. |
| US08239588B2 |
System and method for improved I/O node control in computer system
A computer system is provided with a file system storing data; a plurality of I/O nodes which are adapted to access the file system; a compute node adapted to execute a job and to issue an I/O request when requiring an I/O operation; and a job server for job scheduling which dynamically allocates an I/O resource of the I/O nodes to a job without stopping execution of the job. The job server includes an I/O node scheduler adapted to, when being not able to fully secure an desired amount of the I/O resource of the I/O nodes required by the job in starting the job, secure a part of the required amount of the I/O resource of the I/O nodes, and to allocate the secured part of the I/O resource to the job. |
| US08239584B1 |
Techniques for automated storage management
Described are techniques for performing automated data storage configuration. A plurality of I/O operations are received on a data path. The I/O operations are analyzed and analysis information is determined. In accordance with the analysis information, an application which issued the plurality of I/O operations is determined. One or more configuration options are determined which are customized in accordance with the application. A portion of data storage in a data storage system is configured for use by the application in accordance with the one or more configuration options. |
| US08239577B2 |
Image forming system, image transmitting apparatus, and image transmitting system including a speed priority operation mode and a quality priority operation mode
An image forming system includes a host device and a terminal device connected to the host device. The host device includes a compressing unit, a code-stream transmitting unit, a control-signal receiving unit and a first controller. The code-stream transmitting unit transmits a code stream generated by the compressing unit. The control-signal receiving unit receives a control signal transmitted by the terminal device. The first controller controls the code-stream transmitting unit according to the received control signal. The terminal device includes a code-stream receiving unit, a decompressing unit, a reproduction-image outputting unit, a second controller and a control signal transmitting unit. The decompressing unit generates reproduction image data from the received code stream. The second controller restricts receiving operation of the code-stream receiving unit according to a predetermined condition. The control-signal transmitting unit transmits the control signal when the second controller restricts the receiving operation of the code-stream receiving unit. |
| US08239566B2 |
Non-saturating fairness protocol and method for NACKing systems
Processing transaction requests in a shared memory multi-processor computer network is described. A transaction request is received at a servicing agent from a requesting agent. The transaction request includes a request priority associated with a transaction urgency generated by the requesting agent. The servicing agent provides an assigned priority to the transaction request based on the request priority, and then compares the assigned priority to an existing service level at the servicing agent to determine whether to complete or reject the transaction request. A reply message from the servicing agent to the requesting agent is generated to indicate whether the transaction request was completed or rejected, and to provide reply fairness state data for rejected transaction requests. |
| US08239563B2 |
Method and apparatus for using multiple links at a handheld device
A network is disclosed. The network includes a server computer, a first wireless communications link communicatively coupled to the server computer, a second wireless communications link communicatively coupled to the server computer, and a handheld device communicatively coupled to the first and second wireless communications links. The handheld device concurrently receives an object from the server computer via the first and second wireless communications links. |
| US08239562B2 |
Envelope attachment for message context
A system for aggregating context information for messages includes a context container that associates names with context values and metadata for context entries. The system further includes a network protocol component configured to read messages from a network transport, an encoder component configured translate messages from a raw format into a canonical message format. The canonical message format is an enveloped message containing an application payload and message metadata. The context container is associated with a message in the canonical format. The system further includes an extraction component configured to retrieve context from a native network transport protocol and insert the context values and metadata into the context container, a plurality of additional protocol components configured to add, remove, or modify entries in the context container, and one or more higher level application components configured to operate on the canonical message using the context entries. |
| US08239559B2 |
Provisioning and streaming media to wireless speakers from fixed and mobile media sources and clients
Embodiments include system architectures and processes for handling the provisioning, management and control of media renderers. A plurality of media renderers are organized into a plurality of zones. Provisioning is performed dynamically as mobile media sources move between zones. Media renderers are dynamically detected, resources are allocated, and the system is configured for playback without noticeable interruption of the streaming and rendering of the media. |
| US08239556B2 |
Policy-based cross-domain access control for SSL VPN
A method may include generating a request that includes a host domain associated with a multiple-domain-to-one domain mapping, capturing the request before transmission of the request, rewriting the host domain, and transmitting the request. |
| US08239553B2 |
Providing services for multiple business consumers
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for providing services to business organization clients involve receiving a request for a particular service, identifying configuration data relating to the request, sending a service request to a service provider of the service, and providing the service to a service consumer in accordance with data returned in response to the service request. The service consumer is identified from the request for a particular service. Configuration data corresponding to the service consumer is identified. The service provider for the service and resource data corresponding to the service are identified from the configuration data. A service request is sent to the service provider and data relating to the service is returned from the service provider. The service is provided to the service consumer in a shared runtime environment based at least in part on the received data relating to the service. |
| US08239546B1 |
Global access control for segmented streaming delivery
Various arrangements for controlling access to streaming media assets are presented. Transmission of segments of a media asset to a first user device may be commenced. During transmission of the media asset to the first user device, beaconing data from the first user device may be received and stored as session information. The first user device may no longer be permitted to receive the media asset at least partially due to the first user device no longer being authenticated. Transmission of a remainder of the plurality of media segments to the first user device may be ceased such that the first user device does not receive the media asset in its entirety. |
| US08239545B2 |
Method for asynchronous multimedia retrieval
The present invention relates to a method for asynchronous multimedia content retrieval, which can be applied to TV-Anytime standard or MPEG standard. In summary, an asynchronous multimedia retrieval method is provided as including: a client establishing the first session as requesting to the server; transmitting to the server the retrieval inquiry message for contents that the server needs; terminating the first session after the retrieval inquiry; establishing the second session and requesting to the server the result for the retrieval inquiry at a certain point in time that the previously set time has passed; and receiving the retrieval result from the server and terminating the second session. |
| US08239543B1 |
Method and an apparatus to provide access to operational data in a storage server via multiple data management protocols
A method and an apparatus to manage data in a networked storage server have been disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a single logical layer between a number of logical subsystems in a storage server and a number of data management agents in the storage server, wherein the data management agents are operable to service requests from a number of client machines following different data management protocols, and exporting a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) from the single logical layer to interface with the data management agents. |
| US08239541B2 |
Bidirectional connection setup between endpoints behind network address translators (NATs)
A first information processor transmits a bubble packet to a port assigned after assignment of specified port from reference port in a second communication control unit, a server detects the position of the bubble packet transmitting port in a first communication control unit used in transmission of this bubble packet, and a second information processor transmits a reply packet to the detected bubble port transmitting port. In this configuration, the invention presents a communication system capable of establishing more securely communication between plural information processors for communicating by way of communication control unit (NAT). In this configuration, the invention presents a communication system capable of establishing more securely communication between plural information processors for communicating by way of communication control unit (NAT). |
| US08239539B2 |
Management processors cooperating to control partition resources
Systems, methods and computing components are provided for allocating a plurality of computing components among one or more logical partitions. Each of the plurality of computing components may have a management processor that is configured to assume a role among management processors of a partition. Each management processor may then cooperate with other management processors of the partition to control resources of the partition. |
| US08239537B2 |
Method of throttling unwanted network traffic on a server
The invention provides a method and device for limiting unwanted network traffic, including unwanted emails. The method proceeds by assigning at least one network address to a category of network addresses based on a level of trust of the network address. Connection resources are allocated to the category. When a connection is received from a network address to which the category has been assigned, a portion of the allocated resources in the category are provided to the network address. |
| US08239532B1 |
System and method of reducing latency using adaptive DNS resolution
A system and method is provided whereby a client device adaptively optimizes the selection of a network device from a plurality of network devices hosting information desired by the client device. Each of the network devices hosting information desired by the client device is associated with a common host name and a different IP address, and the client selects an optimal network device based on a rank assigned to the one or more network devices. A rank assigned to the optimal network device indicates the greatest desirability, from the client device's perspective, of the optimal network device relative to the other network devices. Furthermore, the ranks assigned to the one or more network devices are adaptively determined based upon a determination of an estimated latency, determined from the client device's perspective, between the client device and the one or more network devices. |
| US08239531B1 |
Method and apparatus for connection to virtual private networks for secure transactions
A system and method are provided for use in establishing secure end-to-end communication links over a VPN gateway via a network interface unit. Illustrative embodiments include establishing and providing secure communication relationships between users (customers) and companies for e-commerce and other business purposes. Each company's data and linkage to users remaining private and secure from the other participating companies as well as from the general public over the Internet. Login by user with network interface units, addressing, authentication, and other configuration operations achieved using a web page-based GUI are applied in establishing tunnels from LAN clients to desired VPN destinations. Required authentication exchanges and required encryption key exchanges facilitate the secure communications. Financial arrangements regarding the provisioning and use of network interface units are also disclosed. |
| US08239528B2 |
Performance monitoring of network applications
Network performance is monitored using timing information retrieved from a client device, server in communication with the client, or both. Client side timing information is retrieved using performance monitoring code provided by the server. The code may be provided to the client as part of a content response. Once content in the provided content response is loaded, the code sends the timing information to the server. The server may then process the timing information to calculate response time and other time information metrics. |
| US08239525B2 |
Server apparatus and communication system
A client apparatus requests a server apparatus to transmit information. The server apparatus receives the request from the client apparatus, and determines whether a state of an information source satisfies a predetermined condition. The server apparatus, as a result of the determination, if the state of the information source does not satisfy the predetermined condition, suspends a response to the client apparatus, while, if the state of the information source satisfies the predetermined condition, acquires information corresponding to the request from the information source as a response to the client apparatus, and transmits the acquired information to the client apparatus. |
| US08239523B1 |
Secure remote access
A remote maintenance board (RMB) that interfaces a monitored system with a communications network is either functionally connected to the monitored system or to the communications network, but never to both at the same time, thereby isolating the monitored system from unauthorized access via the communications network. |
| US08239522B1 |
Dynamic variables for tracking wireless device website usage
Tools and techniques are provided to assist in gathering web analytics data from wireless devices and in other configurations where passing data to an analytics server in a web-beacon query string has been difficult due to lack of an embedded scripting language and/or inaccessibility of desired data values. A dynamic variable specification is built on the web-reading device, including variables with associated data sources, operators, and literal values. The dynamic variable specification is sent to an analytics server, where an interpreter gathers data values and assigns them to variables. |
| US08239516B2 |
Methods, systems and computer program products for proactively offering a network turbo boost service to end users
Methods for proactively offering a network turbo boost service to consumers including receiving a set of one or more turbo boost triggering criteria associated with a user. A network is monitored for a task that meets at least one of the turbo boost triggering criteria. If the monitoring results in locating a task that meets at least one of the turbo boost triggering criteria, then the network turbo boost service is invoked for the task. |
| US08239515B2 |
Parallel data transfer over multiple channels with data order prioritization
A parallel download system is described to download data from a plurality of source servers in parallel. The system may include a source scheduler, a prioritization scheduler, and an I/O dispatcher. The source scheduler generates a download schedule to control which source servers will be downloaded from at a current point in time. The prioritization scheduler tracks the latency and throughput of all channels to the source servers and dynamically adjusts the download schedule to control download performance. The I/O dispatcher produces an output stream to present the downloaded data to one or more external applications or a user. |
| US08239507B2 |
System and method for providing service
A system comprises a service anchor apparatus having a unit configured to hold an original of an application program for providing a service; an end-user accommodation apparatus having a unit configured to connect with a terminal of an end user; and a relay apparatus located on a route between the service anchor apparatus and the end-user accommodation apparatus. The system creates, via the relay apparatus, a copy of the application program in the end-user accommodation apparatus, the original of the application program being held by the service anchor apparatus, and the end-user accommodation apparatus runs the copy of the application program, thereby providing the service to the terminal of the end user. |
| US08239497B2 |
Methods and systems for use in customizing displayed content associated with a portable storage medium
The present embodiments provide methods and systems to playback and customize the playback of content relative to the portable storage medium. Some of these methods identify content to be rendered, through a playback device, in association with a first portable storage medium; identify one or more customizable display parameters to be applied in displaying the identified content; receive a first definition, following the identification of the customizable display parameters, for at least a first customizable display parameter of the one or more customizable display parameters; and cause the first definition for the first customizable display parameter to be stored on the playback device in association with the first customizable display parameter such that the first definition is to be applied by the playback device in rendering the content relative to the first customizable display parameter. |
| US08239494B2 |
Method and system for processing published content on the internet
The invention is a method for processing content published on-line so as to identify each item in a unique manner. The invention includes software that receives and reads an RSS feed from a publisher. The software then identifies each item of content in the feed and creates a unique identifier for each item. Each item then has third party content or advertisements associated with the item based on the unique identifier. The entire feed is then stored and, when appropriate, updated. The publisher then receives the augmented feed which contains permanent associations between the third party advertising content and the items in the feed so that as the feed is modified or extended, the permanent relationships between the third party content and previously existing feed items are retained and readers of the publisher's feed do not receive a false indication of new content each time the third party advertising content is rotated on an item. |
| US08239489B1 |
Web page experiments with fragmented section variations
In one general aspect, a page identifier of a test display environment having code defining a content section, the content section comprising a plurality of content section fragments, is received. A content item group is selected from a collection of content item groups, each content item group defining an association of content items with content section fragments of the content section. Each identified content item in the selected content item group is transmitted for placement on the test display environment in the associated content section fragment. |
| US08239487B1 |
Method and apparatus for promoting desired on-line activities using on-line games
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer and network software, and more particularly it relates to a computer system and method for promoting on-line activities on desired sites via a virtual entertainment system that provides games, interactions or activities that take place either partially or fully on the partner's website or within the virtual space associated with the partner's website. According to one aspect, the invention drives on-line traffic to partner sites using Virtual Collectibles and other prizes rewarded for participation in Internet-based games. The games are designed to promote users to visit and/or perform other activities on the partner sites, and can include give-aways, special offers, treasure hunts, combo puzzles, among many other types of games. According to other aspects, the games can be played by users in the course of or with very little effort in addition to casually surfing the web. According to other aspects, the invention provides on-line advertisers and/or partners having Internet sites with means to configure promotions that are tied to the games hosted by the system. According to some additional aspects of the invention, the system can provide superior on-line advertising revenue opportunities as compared to traditional banner ads and click-through advertising through the appeal of Virtual Collectibles. In addition, the present invention allows the system to be configured to allow advertiser and partner websites to configure the Virtual Collectibles and other prizes rewarded to users for desired effects. |
| US08239486B2 |
Direct network file system
A computer-implemented method of implementing a network file system may include steps of providing a host, the host including an Operating System (OS) that includes a kernel and a first client implementing the Network File System (NFS) protocol in the kernel, and a database server process. A second NFS client may be provided in the database server process. A NFS server may be provided, coupled to the host. A device implementing the Network Attached Storage (NAS) protocol may also be provided, coupled to the NFS server. NFS requests to access data stored in the NAS server may then be generated and sent from the second NFS client in the database server process directly to the NFS server, bypassing the first NFS client in the OS kernel of the host. NFS File handles obtained by one database process may be shared with other database processes through a shared memory area. |
| US08239485B2 |
System, sharing node, server, and method for content distribution
A system for distribution of a content item in a network, particularly a peer-to-peer network. A requesting node sends a request for the content item. An access requirement value for the content item is compared to a counter value for the requesting node to determine if the requesting node may download the content item from a sharing node. The counter value is advantageously linked to the requesting node's habit of sharing content items. The access requirement value, which preferably is not only linked to the size of the content item, is modified for at least one content item in the network, either following a time rule or when the content is downloaded. In this way it can be ensured that initial downloaders are likely to share the content item and that the content then gets more accessible to other nodes. |
| US08239483B2 |
System and method for generic application of location determination for network attached devices
A system and method for determining the location of a target device. A location request may be received for a target device, and a plurality of parameters determined that identify the target device. A most likely path may be selected from a plurality of paths to produce a location of the target device, each path having one or more of the plural determined parameters as an input and one or more measurement results as an output. Measurement information may be collected on the most likely path as a function of one or more of the determined parameters to provide the one or more measurement results. Location information may then be derived for the target device as a function of the one or more measurement results, the derivation utilizing a location determination function that evaluates ones of the plural paths. An estimated location of the target device may then be determined as a function of the respective location information for the selected path. |
| US08239480B2 |
Methods of searching using captured portions of digital audio content and additional information separate therefrom and related systems and computer program products
A method of conducting a search using a mobile electronic device may include playing digital audio content at the mobile electronic device, and accepting user input at the mobile electronic device to capture a portion of the digital audio content. Search criteria may be provided wherein the search criteria is based on the captured portion of the digital audio content and on information separate from the captured portion of the digital audio content. A search may be conducted using the search criteria based on the captured portion of the digital audio content and on the information separate from the captured portion of the digital audio content. A result of the search may be provided at the mobile electronic device, and the result of the search may be displayed at the mobile electronic device. |
| US08239477B2 |
Apparatus and methods for controlling a data tapping session in a storage area network
Disclosed is a session modification mechanism for altering a data tapping process in a storage area network (SAN). In general, a data tapping mechanism is set up so that an appliance receives SAN data that is tapped from a particular SAN session. That is, the data tapping mechanism provides to a particular appliance a copy of the SAN data that is being written from a particular host to a particular storage device. The session modification mechanism allows the appliance to alter various aspects of the SAN session that is to be (or is being) tapped. Examples of various modification features includes (i) redirecting READ commands initiated by the host to the appliance and not sending such command to the storage device, (ii) redirecting both READ and WRITE commands initiated by the host to the appliance and not sending such commands to the storage device, (iii) halting redirection and thereby causing READ commands initiated by the host to be sent to the storage device and WRITE commands initiated by the host to be mirrored to both the storage device and appliance, (iv) quiescing and unquiescing all data I/O's for the particular storage device and appliance, and (v) stopping and starting the data tapping mechanism. |
| US08239476B2 |
Network alarm message processing systems and methods
Exemplary network alarm message processing systems and methods are disclosed. In an exemplary method, a network alarm message processing system receives a network alarm message provided by a network element of a wide area network, the network alarm message being in a first message format, converts the network alarm message in the first message format to a new network alarm message in a network universal message format, and provided the new network alarm message for use in conducting surveillance of the wide area network. In certain embodiments, the conversion may be based on a mapping data file and a translation rules data file associated with the first message format Corresponding systems and methods are also disclosed. |
| US08239473B2 |
Security classification of e-mail in a web e-mail access client
Web based e-mail classification is disclosed. A popup dialog adds the ability to classify message such as web e-mail, calendar items and meeting appointments based on specific properties such as security classification, information type, document type, document retention, document caveats, and the like associated with the message. The popup dialog through dropdown selections allows users to select the appropriate classification and properties based upon the content of the message. Administrators can predefine all the classification selections that are available to the user. E-mail classification properties are generated that are associated with the message by metadata insertion and by inserting visual markings that allow users to quickly identify the security, sensitivity, intended distribution or retention of the e-mail or calendar item. By utilizing the classification popup dialog a user can classify an e-mail by one or more classification levels and be ensured that the message is delivered and processed in the appropriate manner. |
| US08239469B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting abusive email based on number of hops
A classifier is implemented to determine the number of message transfer agents (MTAs) through which an email message has traveled. If the number of MTAs through which the email message has traveled is below a predetermined threshold and the email message is not otherwise authenticated, the classifier will designate the email message as abusive. |
| US08239467B2 |
Extending business processes to mobile devices
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for intercepting an e-mail from a backend system and converting the e-mail into a message which can be used by a mobile device to graphically represent a business process. The mobile device can interact with the graphic representation, or invoke a business method from a local graphic representation, in order to send a response message to the backend system for further communications. |
| US08239453B2 |
System and method for providing one class of users of an application a view of what another class of users of the application is visually experiencing
A technique for providing one class of users of an application a view of what a typical user in another class of users of the same application is visually experiencing. A client application that is interacting with the application provides a user an option of having a PIP view of what a typical user in one of the other classes of users supported by the application is visually experiencing. When the user requests to display a PIP view that represents what a typical user in a specified one of the other classes of users of the same application is seeing, a PIP view window is automatically rendered on the user's display screen. The PIP view window represents what a typical user in the specified one of the other classes of users is seeing, but is not an “active” interface through which the user can interact with the application. |
| US08239450B2 |
Application executing method, application changing apparatus, and application changing program
In order to provide a user with an application customized according to a situation of a task, there is provided a computer system including: an application server for processing the task requested from a client; and a customization executing server for changing an application provided by the application server. The customization executing server is configured to: manage user status information including operation information of the application; record the operation information of the application in the user status information based on a request message transmitted from the client; change a response message transmitted by the application server based on the user status information to newly generate a response message; and transmit the newly-generated response message to the client. |
| US08239449B2 |
Transmission protocol for a gaming system
Systems and methods use a reliable connection oriented protocol to send and receive messages (i.e. datagrams) between gaming applications and gaming services. In one aspect, the protocol is the SCTP protocol. |
| US08239447B2 |
Retrieving data using an asynchronous buffer
A mechanism for retrieving data over a network using an asynchronous buffer is described herein. According to one embodiment, an exemplary process includes, in response to a request for first data from a client via a first thread, determining whether a local circular buffer contains the requested first data, the local circular buffer having a head region and a tail region for identifying a head and a tail of the local circular buffer respectively, and the local circular buffer containing a portion of a data file maintained by a server over a network, generating a second thread to the server over the network to request the first data, if the local circular buffer does not contain the requested first data, and returning the first thread to the client while waiting for a result of the second thread from the server. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. |
| US08239444B1 |
System, method, and computer readable media for confirmation and verification of shipping address data associated with a transaction
A system, method, and computer readable medium for confirmation and verification of address data associated with a data communication. The invention provides a method of obtaining at least one of the first address information and the second address information, converting by a processor one of the first address information and the second address information to a format compatible for comparison with the other of the first address information and the second address information, performing a field-by-field comparison of the converted one of the first address information and the second address information to the other of the first address information and the second address information, and quantifying a difference between the converted one of the first address information and the second address information and the other of the first address information and the second address information. |
| US08239441B2 |
Leading zero estimation modification for unfused rounding catastrophic cancellation
Modifying a leading zero estimation during an unfused multiply add operation of (A*B)+C. A plurality of terms x and y may be received, and each may be based on truncated terms s and t (e.g., in performing the unfused multiply add operation) and the shifted C term. A first leading zero estimation may be calculated based on the terms x and y. It may be determined if near total catastrophic cancellation has occurred. A carry in from a right most number of bits of the terms s and t and the most significant truncated bits of s and t may be used to generate a second leading zero estimation based on the first leading zero estimation if the near total catastrophic cancellation has occurred. |
| US08239437B2 |
Correlation device
A correlation device is provided that includes an adder for adding an input signal sequence and an auxiliary signal sequence to obtain an addition signal sequence, and a delay element for delaying the addition signal sequence to obtain the auxiliary signal sequence, whereby the delay element has a plurality of coefficient outputs for providing addition signal sequence coefficients. The correlation device comprises further a linking element for the coefficient-wise linking of an addition signal sequence coefficient with a linking coefficient to obtain a correlation result. |
| US08239435B2 |
Thresholding of image diffences maps using first and second two-dimenstional array wherein respective euler number is determined
Computer-readable media having corresponding apparatus embodies instructions executable by a computer to perform a method comprising: receiving a first array; generating a plurality of second arrays based on the first array, wherein each of the second arrays is generated using a different threshold number, and wherein each entry of the second arrays indicates whether a corresponding entry in the first array exceeds the respective threshold number; generating a first vector, wherein each entry in the first vector represents a number of connected components for a respective one of the second arrays; generating a second vector based on the first vector, wherein each entry of the second vector represents a variance of a plurality of entries, including a corresponding entry, of the first vector; generating a third vector, comprising filtering the second vector; and selecting, based on the third vector, one of the threshold numbers, of the second arrays or both. |
| US08239434B2 |
System, method, and apparatus for distortion analysis
A system, method, and apparatus for distortion analysis is provided. A method in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure may include receiving a clock frequency at a direct digital synthesizer (DDS) and generating at least one stream of phase numbers via said DDS. The method may further include generating a digital sine wave using, at least in part, said clock frequency and said at least one stream of phase numbers. Of course, additional implementations are also within the scope of the present disclosure. |
| US08239433B2 |
Direct digital synthesizer and nuclear magnetic resonance instrument using the same
A DDS (direct digital synthesizer) remarkably increased in the number of frequencies which can be output while maintaining the phase coherency, and an NMR instrument using such a DDS are provided. A DDS including phase accumulators and a phase-to-amplitude modulator is provided with a plurality of phase accumulators operating with fixed phase implements which are equal to powers of 2, a controller for outputting each bit of a frequency tuning word as control data, a plurality of switches for outputting an output of an associated one of the phase accumulators when an associated one of the control data supplied from the controller is 1 and outputting 0 when the associated one of the control data is 0, and an adder for adding up outputs of the switches. |
| US08239432B2 |
Incorporating noise and/or jitter into waveform generation
One or more embodiments are disclosed that involve computer implementable techniques for generating simulate-able waveforms without the need for repeatedly including and simulating a full channel model or testing the waveforms on a physical channel. Techniques according to such embodiments the invention comprise simulating the sending of a waveform across a channel and recording deviations from a simulated received waveform, which comprise differences between the ideal waveform as sent and the simulated received waveform. These deviations are then used to create simulate-able waveforms, which include the effects of noise and jitter, without the need for additional channel simulation. As an alternative to using channel simulation, deviations may also be collected from sending a waveform across a physical channel. Thus, a received signal sent across the physical channel may be sampled at sample points to record deviations, which are then used to create simulate-able waveforms without sending additional signals across the physical channel. Other embodiments include deriving and recording signal deviations from a simulated or measured system pulse response, and tabulating the deviations in the system pulse response when it occurs within a set of pre-determined bit patterns. |
| US08239429B2 |
Output buffer receiving first and second input signals and outputting an output signal, and corresponding electronic circuit
An output buffer is provided, to which first and second input signals are applied and that delivers an output signal. The output buffer includes a second offset switching stage installed in cascade downstream from a first switching stage. The second offset switching stage generates control points shifted in time with respect to memory points. |
| US08239428B2 |
Method for copying data from source hard drive to target hard drive
A method for copying data from a source hard drive to a target hard drive is implemented in an electronic device. The source hard drive stores a master boot record (MBR) recording a SYSTEM partition and at least one other partition. The electronic device copies information related to the SYSTEM partition to a file to store in the source hard drive and modifies the MBR to be a modified MBR by erasing the SYSTEM partition. The electronic device then creates a diagnostic sub-partition for system diagnostics in one of the at least one other partition, copies the file to the diagnostic sub-partition, and copies the modified MBR in the target hard drive. When the system diagnostics is implemented for the target hard drive, the electronic device restores the SYSTEM partition in the target hard drive based on the file. |
| US08239427B2 |
Disk layout method for object-based storage devices
A disk layout method for object-based storage devices is disclosed. A disk is initialized and a root object is added while a set of blocks of the disk are configured to store attributes of the root object, a free block index table, and a partition object index table. When a partition object is added, a set of blocks of the disk are configured to store attributes of the partition object, a collection object index table, and a user object index table, wherein the partition object indexes the location of a collection object according to the collection object index table and the location of a user object according to the user object index table. When a collection or user object is added, necessary blocks of the disk are configured to store individual data. |
| US08239426B2 |
Data management system providing a data thesaurus for mapping between multiple data schemas or between multiple domains within a data schema
In one embodiment, a system is provided for managing a centrally managed master repository for core enterprise reference data associated with an enterprise. A centralized master repository contains the reference data, the reference data being associated with multiple schemas, each schema including one or more data models for reference data, each data model including one or more fields. A data management services framework coupled to the repository provides services for managing the reference data in the repository. The services framework supports a master schema including a union of multiple models and associated fields in the multiple schemas. The services framework also supports a thesaurus including, for each field in the master schema, a set of synonyms each representing a mapping between the field in the master schema and a corresponding field in a particular one of the multiple schemas. The master schema and thesaurus facilitate centralized management of the reference data in the repository across multiple heterogeneous external operational systems that have different associated data models and are provided indirect access to the reference data in the repository for operational use of the reference data according to associated business workflows. |
| US08239425B1 |
Isolating desired content, metadata, or both from social media
Desired content, metadata, or both can be isolated from the full content of social media websites having content-rich pages. Achieving this can include obtaining from the content-rich pages a language-independent representation having a hierarchical structure of nodes and then generating a node representation for each node. Feature vectors for the nodes are generated and a label is assigned to each node representation according to a schema. Assignment can occur by executing a trained classification algorithm on the feature vectors. The schema has schema elements and each schema element corresponds to a label. For each schema element, all node representations having matching labels are gathered and then one node representation is elected from among those with matching labels to be assigned to a schema element field in a template. The template can be applied to extract desired content, metadata, or both according to the schema from all the content-rich pages. |
| US08239423B2 |
System and method for semantic exposure of data stored in a dynamic schema
A system and method for providing semantic access of data in a master data management system. Data stored in a dynamic repository schema is exposed in a semantically accurate format. The schema is determined from information received from the master data management system describing the schema. A set of database views is generated based on said schema. A query from an external application in a standard query language is received and the query is performed using at least one database view. The database views are updated when a schema change is detected. |
| US08239414B2 |
Re-ranking search results from an enterprise system
A flexible and extensible architecture allows for secure searching across an enterprise. Such an architecture can provide a simple Internet-like search experience to users searching secure content inside (and outside) the enterprise. The architecture allows for the crawling and searching of a variety of sources across an enterprise, regardless of whether any of these sources conform to a conventional user role model. The architecture further allows for security, recency, or other attributes to be submitted at query time, for example, in order to re-rank query results from enterprise resources. The user query also can be transformed to provide for dynamic querying that provides for a more current result list than can be obtained for static queries. |
| US08239413B2 |
System with user directed enrichment
A system for enriching document content using enrichment themes includes a directed search service and an import-export service. The directed search service allows users to author documents while querying information providers using the directed searches that are inserted as part of the authored documents. The import-export service enables meta-document exchanges between systems that provide document enrichment by binding imported meta-documents to identical or similar information providers. |
| US08239412B2 |
Recommending a media item by using audio content from a seed media item
A method and a system are provided for recommending a media item (e.g., movie and/or television program). In one example, the system receives a seed media item (e.g., seed movie and/or seed television program). A seed media item is an audio-visual recording that is identified as being of interest to a user. The system recognizes one or more recognized audio tracks (e.g., audio tracks and/or songs) from the seed media item. A recognized audio track is an audio recording that is contained in the seed media item. The system retrieves audio track metadata associated with at least one of the recognized audio tracks from the seed media item. Audio track metadata are data that describes an audio recording. The system recommends one or more recommended media items based on the audio track metadata. A recommended media item is an audio-visual recording (e.g., movie and/or television program). |
| US08239410B2 |
System and method for adaptive media playback based on destination
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer readable-media for adaptive media playback based on destination. The method for adaptive media playback comprises determining one or more destinations, collecting media content that is relevant to or describes the one or more destinations, assembling the media content into a program, and outputting the program. In various embodiments, media content may be advertising, consumer-generated, based on real-time events, based on a schedule, or assembled to fit within an estimated available time. Media content may be assembled using an adaptation engine that selects a plurality of media segments that fit in the estimated available time, orders the plurality of media segments, alters at least one of the plurality of media segments to fit the estimated available time, if necessary, and creates a playlist of selected media content containing the plurality of media segments. |
| US08239409B2 |
Providing a modified non-communication application interface for presenting a message
A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to: determining which of a plurality of end users are to be presented with a message, the plurality of end users having access to one or more non-communication applications through one or more non-communication application interfaces; and providing a modified non-communication application interface for accessing at least one of the one or more non-communication applications to one or more end users who have been determined to be presented with the message, the modified non-communication application interface including at least a channel to access the message. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure. |
| US08239407B2 |
Apparatus and method for recovering cursor position
Provided are an apparatus and method for recovering a cursor position without degrading performance of a display apparatus. The apparatus includes: a cursor information storage unit that stores cursor information, which includes position information of a first cursor, in response to a cursor information storage message; and a cursor position recovery unit that recovers a position of a second cursor, which corresponds to the first cursor, by using the stored cursor information in response to a cursor information recovery message. |
| US08239402B1 |
Standard file system access to data that is initially stored and accessed via a proprietary interface
Various methods and systems can be used to provide standard file system access to data that is originally accessed only by a proprietary interface. One such method involves querying an application (e.g., a database management system) for information identifying a location of each of several data objects within several volumes. The application provides a proprietary interface to the data objects stored on the volumes. The method then creates metadata, which associates each of several files within a new file system with the location of a respective one of the data objects within the volumes. The metadata can be created by an in-place conversion module implemented on a computing device. The method then provides the application with access to the files within the new file system, subsequent to creating the metadata. |
| US08239401B2 |
System for sharing network accessible data sets
A Sales-Chip Associator process permits a creator of a Sales-Chip to share the Sales-Chip with a receiving party. The process utilizes a Sales-Chip Database and a Sales-Chip Subscriber Database to facilitate chip sharing. A handler is used in the Associator process and determines if an association exists between the Sales-Chip and the receiving party. The handler also facilitates recalling an association after being established by the receiving party. |
| US08239395B2 |
Storage device presenting to hosts only files compatible with a defined host capability
A method includes defining a host capability; creating for a storage device a second directory tree from a first directory tree of the storage device that is included in a file system within the storage device; and, for a data file that is stored in the storage device and is selectable for consumption by a host through the first directory tree that is included in the storage device's file system, determining whether the data file requires for consumption a host having the defined host capability. If the data file requires a host having the defined host capability, an entry is created in the second directory tree in which the data file is not selectable for consumption by the host. Otherwise, an entry is created in the second directory tree in which the data file is selectable for consumption by the host. |
| US08239394B1 |
Bloom filters for query simulation
A method of restricting a database access operation is disclosed. A plurality of Bloom filters corresponding to a plurality of fields in a database are applied to two or more terms in a record to produce a first plurality of outputs. The record may correspond to a query. Extraneous terms may be removed from the record. The access operation to the database is enabled if the first plurality of outputs correspond to a positive result. |
| US08239391B2 |
Hierarchical merging for optimized index
Methods, systems, and media are provided for an optimized search engine index. The optimized index is formed by merging small lower level indexes of fresh documents together into a hierarchical cluster of multiple higher level indexes. The optimized index of fresh documents is formed via a single threaded process, while a fresh index serving platform concurrently serves fresh queries. The hierarchy of higher level indexes is formed by merging lower and/or higher level indexes with similar expiration times together. Therefore, as some indexes expire, the remaining un-expired indexes can be re-used and merged with new incoming indexes. The single threaded process provides fast serving of fresh documents, while also providing time to integrate the fresh indexes into a long term primary search engine index, prior to expiring. |
| US08239390B2 |
Filtered remote journal
An operating system on a source computer system includes a filtered remote journal mechanism that generates a target map of a remote journal to specify where in the remote journal entries will be stored, then generates a vector array that represents the data of interest in the database journal based on specified selection criteria and the target map. The vector array and location information from the target map is then sent to a communication manager, which sends the data indicated in the vector array to the target computer system. On the target computer system, the communication manager reads the data sent from the source computer system and writes the data to the remote journal. The filtered remote journal mechanism may operate on an existing database journal, or may operate iteratively as journal entries are written on the source computer system. |
| US08239389B2 |
Persisting external index data in a database
Systems, methods, and computer program products to persist external index data in a database are disclosed. In an embodiment, a method includes maintaining a database including a first data table that is configured to store data in a database format and a second data table that is configured to store index data. The index data represents an index of a first portion of the first data table, and the index maintained externally to the database by an index manager. The method also includes generating a data update representing a modification to the first data table and communicating the data update to the index manager. The method further includes receiving index update data from the index manager representing a modification to the index as a result of the data update and applying the index update data to the second data table. |
| US08239387B2 |
Structural clustering and template identification for electronic documents
Subject matter disclosed herein may relate to clustering electronic documents, such as, for example, web pages, and may also relate to template identification for electronic documents. |
| US08239386B2 |
Integrated media content server system and method for customization of metadata that is associated therewith
A system and method for the customization of media content metadata that is transmitted to any one of a plurality of end user devices of differing types. The system is adapted to modify individual records or even individual fields from the entire gamut of available metadata into a metadata feed which is optimally suited for display upon the type of end user device. Additionally, the system is also able to modify the records or individual fields from a list of all metadata instances according to pre-recorded user preferences. The result is a system that optimally utilizes the current connection path in order to reduce congestion thereon, or to alleviate any user potential frustration caused by sporadic performance of the overloaded interconnection path. |
| US08239385B2 |
Method of writing and reproducing multimedia service by using tag and apparatus therefor
Provided are method and apparatus for writing and reproducing a multimedia service using a tag in order to provide an intuitive interface for a user using a multimedia service. The method includes selecting a multimedia service to be written; generating tag information identifying the selected multimedia service; and writing the generated tag information to a tag. Accordingly, multimedia service information and content information can be stored in a tag by being written to tag information using a common format, and thus the user can later execute a service operation by easily writing information of a desired service operation to a tag and then simply connecting the tag to a tag reading device. |
| US08239384B2 |
Apparatus for automatically searching information and method thereof
An apparatus for automatically searching information includes an extraction unit extracting a packet data from a broadcasting signal; an input unit for inputting searching conditions from a user; a receiving unit receiving the searching conditions; a server connection unit connecting a computer to an Internet server under the searching conditions and receiving and transmitting data of an Internet site; an interpreter judging whether the data received and extracted by the server connection unit and the extraction unit meets the searching conditions: a memory storing a content of the Internet site, its address, and time point information of when the site was previously searched by the user in a file form; an output unit transmitting the time point information and the data of the Internet site to the memory; and a microprocessor controlling operations of each element, with which various information desired by a user is searched based on pre-set searching conditions, and desired information out of various information of an Internet site or additional data on a television channel are stored in a memory according to the searching result. |
| US08239383B2 |
System and method for managing execution of queries against database samples
A method, system and article of manufacture for query execution management and, more particularly, for managing execution of queries against database samples. One embodiment provides a computer-implemented method for managing execution of a query against a database having a multiplicity of data records. The method comprises receiving, from a requesting entity, a query against the database, and performing an automated execution process, comprising: (i) iteratively executing the query against samples of the database, each sample including a subset of the multiplicity of data records, (ii) after each iterative execution of the query, determining whether a query result obtained for the iterative execution satisfies a predefined condition, and (iii) if the predefined condition is not satisfied, performing a predefined action. |
| US08239382B2 |
Method and apparatus for creating an index of network data for a set of messages
A method for creating an index of network data for a set of message data, the index being arranged for searching the set of message data. A method in accordance with an embodiment of the invention includes: creating a set of dialogue records, where each the dialogue record is the set of messages corresponding to a dialogue between a sender and recipient pair in a message corpus; —logging each of the set of messages in each corresponding dialogue record; and creating an index of terms from the set of messages, the index being arranged to index each term to each dialogue record in which the message comprising the respective term is logged. |
| US08239379B2 |
Semi-supervised visual clustering
A clustering system includes a visual mapping sub-system configured to display an N-dimensional to two- or three-dimensional mapping of items to be clustered, where N is greater than three, the mapping having mapping parameters for the N-dimensions. A user interface sub-system is configured to receive user inputted values for the mapping parameters, user inputted values selecting whether selected mapping parameters are fixed or adjustable, and user inputted values associating selected items with selected groups. An adjustment sub-system is configured to adjust the adjustable mapping parameters, without adjusting any fixed mapping parameters, to improve a measure of distinctness of one or more groups of items in the two- or three-dimensional mapping. |
| US08239377B2 |
Systems and methods for enhancing search query results
Embodiments of the present invention leverage search query result page thumbnails and search query result link content evaluations to provide user-dependent enhanced search query results. This provides a simplified means to inform a user of the relevancy of search query results based on the user's preferences, environment, and profile, etc. The present invention allows a user to more adequately determine the value of the search query result via search query result indicators within the thumbnail and in the proximity of a displayed result link. In one embodiment of the present invention, a thumbnail of a query result link is automatically displayed when the link is selected. This provides a tool to view an entire search result page, eliminating the necessity of scrolling through each page to find relevant search terms. In another embodiment of the present invention, indicators are utilized to inform a user of the content of a search result link. |
| US08239376B2 |
Subsequent tailoring of a sign-up page based on a search engine query
The invention provides a method of processing data including, receiving a URL at a server computer system, utilizing the URL at the server computer system to extract a plurality of server search results from a data store, and transmitting the server search results from the server computer system to the user computer system. |
| US08239374B2 |
Collection of performance information for search queries executed in a tiered architecture
An execute request is sent to a search component. The execute request specifies a search query. Subsequently, an execute response is received from the search component. The execute response comprising latency data and one or more properties of query results. The latency data specifies an amount of time consumed by the search component to process the execute request. The query results are content items that satisfy the search query. A record object model latency request is sent to the search component. The record object model latency request specifies search performance information based on the latency data. A record interface latency request is sent to the search component. The record interface latency request specifies interface performance information based on an amount of time consumed by the first component to process the search request. |
| US08239373B2 |
Efficient way to evaluate uncorrelated path-based row sources with XML storage
The approaches described herein provide an efficient way to process certain kinds of queries that retrieve XML data stored in an object-relational database. A technique determines whether a query comprises a plurality of iteration expressions that exhibit a particular relationship to one another, and if so, re-writes the query and produces an optimized query execution plan. The query execution plan specifies an XPath-based row source with caching enabled. A very small cache structure is used, and reference locators are stored in the cache that point into binary-encoded data rather than copying XMLType data into the cache. Row data may be cached on the first use of the path-based row source and re-used in subsequent requests for rows. Once there is a subsequent request for rows from the optimized path-based row source, the cache may be reorganized to efficiently produce the rows of the row source. |
| US08239367B1 |
Bookmarks
A system receives a search query from a user and searches a repository of documents based on the search query to obtain search results. The system provides the search results to the user and automatically bookmarks one or more of the search results without the user explicitly requesting that the one or more search results be bookmarked. |
| US08239365B2 |
Flexible request and response communications interfaces
Methods and systems for database storage allowing subscriber entities to create specialized interfaces for storing different classes of information based on subscribed-defined categories and parameters, allowing for efficient search and retrieval of the information by users using the subscriber-defined categories and parameters. The present technology allows users, such as suppliers, administrators, and others, to add inventory to a database through an interface, search for inventory via an interface, and view results of inventory searches. Inventory requests may be processed using local and remote data stores. |
| US08239364B2 |
Search and retrieval of objects in a social networking system
A social networking system receives a query associated with a user and, in response, provides a combined result set comprising objects stored by a social networking system that match the query. The combined result set comprises multiple result sets obtained from different search algorithms. The various objects stored by the social networking system may be of different types representing different concepts, such as user objects, application objects, event objects, location objects, group objects, and hub/page objects, any of which may be included in the result set. The objects of the result set may be further filtered, ordered, and/or grouped based at least in part on known relationships of the user with the objects, such as geographic distances between locations associated with the user and the objects.In one embodiment, one of the search algorithms identifies second-order connections of the user by referring to a connection index that stores a list of the connections of the users. The search algorithm may also identify a number of mutual connections that the user shares with the second-order connections. |
| US08239363B2 |
Query context selection using graphical properties
Maintaining a plurality of search contexts and selecting one of the search contexts based on graphical properties of a user interface. Each of the search contexts is provided by and corresponds to one of a plurality of executing application programs. Responsive to an event, one of the search contexts is selected. In some embodiments, the search context provided by the application program having a window displayed in the foreground of the user interface is selected. Search results based on the selected search context are obtained and provided to the user. |
| US08239362B1 |
Using metadata fragments as authoritative manufacturing work instructions
Systems and methods are described for authoritative manufacturing work instructions. Where work instructions, engineering definition and engineering specification standards are integrated as a single set of authoritative work instructions with embedded engineering definition and standards data. This method describes a work instruction authoring system that re-uses engineering product and process specification definition and authority then combines manufacturing work instructions to produce enhanced manufacturing work instruction operations that contain authoritative specification data as reusable dynamic elements of the engineering definition and process specifications. Work instructions can be created using the authority obtained from the engineering product and specification standards, the work instructions can deliver the authoritative engineering definition and process specification standards data as an integrated element of standardized work instructions. The intent is to have an integrated seamless process specification and work instruction library of managed standards through a single system or enterprise library. |
| US08239359B2 |
System and method for visual search in a video media player
There is provided a system and method for visual search in a video media player. There is provided a computing device for performing a visual search in video files comprising a display, a memory, a video media player application in the memory, and a processor configured to store into the memory search terms by allowing a user to visually select objects as search terms using a user interface on the display, initiate a search using the search terms, obtain search results comprising time offsets and play durations within the video files, each play duration containing at least one frame corresponding to the search terms, and display navigational controls in the user interface for presenting the search results, including selectable graphical thumbnail images or preview videos. A user can select objects via outlined, highlighted, or otherwise visually identified objects in a video frame, the selecting enabled by associated search metadata. |
| US08239358B1 |
System, method, and user interface for a search engine based on multi-document summarization
A method for searching multiple documents on a computer system includes steps for sending a query to a system core where the query is passed to a search component for searching the documents. The system core in turn receives results from the search component indicating related documents to the query and passes to a summarization component a specified number of the results. The summarization component processes related documents corresponding to the specified number of results to produce a multi-document summary. The system core receives the summary from the summarization component. The multi-document summary is received from the system core. |
| US08239357B1 |
Method and system for extracting information from electronic data sources
A system and method of extracting information from electronic data sources that includes generating a list of file names containing the information to be extracted. Each file name in the list is read into memory, the file that corresponds to the file name is read into memory, and the information is extracted from the file by executing a series of programming instructions. The information is saved to an extracted file, and one or more file names in the list is identified to correspond to an extracted file. |
| US08239356B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for data protection
Methods and apparatuses for data protection against corrupted write operations. In one embodiment, a technique of crash protection uses an atomically updated global transaction indicator to switch a set of data structures from one set of versions to another set. In one embodiment, the storage space for multiple versions of a data structure is allocated at the time the data structure is created on the storage device so that the multiple versions of the data structure can be kept close by. Between two consistent points, some data structures are modified to create new versions without changing the corresponding previous versions; and unmodified data structures are not copied. At a consistent point, the global transaction indicator is updated to indicate a set of consistent versions of the data structures, such as metadata of a file system. |
| US08239354B2 |
System and method for managing small-size files in an aggregated file system
In an aggregated file system, a method of processing a user file retrieves user file metadata and user data from a metadata server and applies operations to the user data in accordance with a file open request from a client. At the end of the process, the method stores the processed user data at a location in accordance with a predefined rule and updates the metadata in the metadata server to reference the processed user data at the location. In some embodiments, the predefined rule is to choose a location between the metadata server and a separate storage server in accordance with the size of the processed user data. If the size is still smaller than a predetermined threshold, the user data is stored in the metadata server. Otherwise, the user data is stored in the storage server. |
| US08239353B2 |
Transmission system and method, transmission apparatus and method, reception apparatus and method, and recording medium
A transmission system includes a transmission apparatus transmitting metadata relating to content via a network and a reception apparatus receiving the metadata. The transmission apparatus includes storing metadata including fragment updating management information in units of fragments; generating a delivery unit including a document which includes the metadata contained in fragments excluding the fragment updating management information; compressing the metadata in the delivery unit; adding document updating management information to the compressed metadata; and delivering the delivery unit. The reception apparatus includes receiving the compressed metadata; decompressing the compressed metadata; storing the decompressed metadata; and copy the document updating management information contained in the delivery unit and assign the document updating management information to the fragments as fragment updating management information. |
| US08239347B2 |
System and method for customizing the storage and management of device data in a networked environment
A system and method for customizing the storage of data according to data attributes are provided. A user is provided with a graphical user interface for generating data archive profiles. The data archive profiles can include information regarding the attributes of the device data, specifications regarding the storage of the data, specifications regarding the retrieval of the archived data, and management of the archived data during storage. The execution of the data archive profiles facilitates the individual processing of specific data types or individual pieces of identifiable data. |
| US08239345B2 |
Asynchronous replication
Contents of a copy of a server file may be saved to a down load file, a base file, and a working file. An indication may be received from an application that the application has edited the working file and a copy of the edited working file may be saved to an upload file. A server computer may be queried to determine if the server file on the server computer has been changed. If the server file on the server computer has not been changed, the server file on the server computer may be updated with contents of the upload file. If the server file on the server computer has been changed, a three-way merge of the upload file, the base file, and the changed server file on the server computer may be performed. Then the server file on the server computer may be updated with the three-way merge results. |
| US08239344B2 |
Data replication among storage systems
A first storage system stores information relating to the updating of data stored in that system as a journal. More specifically, the journal is composed of a copy of data that was used for updating and update information such as a write command used during updating. Furthermore, the second storage system acquires the journal via a communication line between the first storage system and the second storage system. The second storage system holds a duplicate of the data held by the first storage system and updates the data corresponding to the data of the first storage system in the data update order of the first storage system by using the journal. |
| US08239342B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing on-demand ontology creation and extension
A computer system and method providing on-demand extension of ontology in an ontology use process. A support module responds to a creation event in the ontology use process. The support module defines ontology specification for a newly created item, in the creation event, in a manner substantially free of disruption or interruption to the ontology use process. An ontology manager incorporates the defined ontology specification into the ontology during the ontology use process such that an on-demand extension of the ontology results. One example ontology use process is semantic modeling of situations, organizations, or objects of interest. Modeling and ontology specification take place hand in hand, and the ontology is extended on an as-needed and on-demand fashion during the course of modeling. |
| US08239341B2 |
Method and apparatus for pattern matching
A method of pattern matching applicable to a transmission flow which is divided into multiple segments is provided, including: determining whether there is flow status information corresponding to a current pattern for a transmission flow to which a current segment belongs; creating the flow status information corresponding to the current pattern for the transmission flow if there is no flow status information corresponding to the current pattern for the transmission flow to which the current segment belongs; performing pattern matching for the current segment by taking the flow status information as assistant information of the pattern matching. An apparatus of pattern matching applicable to a transmission flow which is divided into multiple segments is also provided, including a flow status information configuration module and a pattern matching processing module. The solution of the present invention can avoid the defects caused by flow-reassembly. |
| US08239338B1 |
Measuring perspective of a factor in a decision
An apparatus includes an analytic network process (ANP) storage memory that stores an ANP weighted supermatrix representing an ANP model; and a processor in communication with the ANP storage memory. The processor is configured to facilitate measuring how alternatives synthesize with respect to a fixed node in the stored ANP weighted supermatrix to determine a perspective metric vector for the fixed node. Also, the processor maintains a same proportionality in the stored ANP weighted supermatrix for the measuring of the perspective metric vector for the fixed node. |
| US08239335B2 |
Data classification using machine learning techniques
A system and article of manufacture enabling adapting to a shift in document content according to one embodiment of the present invention includes instructions for: receiving at least one labeled seed document; receiving unlabeled documents; receiving at least one predetermined cost factor; training a transductive classifier using the at least one predetermined cost factor, the at least one seed document, and the unlabeled documents; classifying the unlabeled documents having a confidence level above a predefined threshold into a plurality of categories using the classifier; reclassifying at least some of the categorized documents into the categories using the classifier; and outputting identifiers of the categorized documents to at least one of a user, another system, and another process. Systems and articles of manufacture for separating documents are also presented. Systems and articles of manufacture for document searching are also presented. |
| US08239331B2 |
Auction verification
An auction verification subsystem provides verification, without revealing actual bid values, that bid values remained sealed prior to a closing time for the auction and that an announced winning bidder for the auction provided a highest bid. The verification subsystem receives encrypted bids from bidders and generates commitment data based on the bids and provides the commitment data to each of the bidders. In response to receiving the commitment data, the bidders provide decryption keys for the encrypted bids. In turn, the bids are decrypted and an auction is performed using the decrypted bids. The results of the auction can be verified based on bid representations that do not reveal the actual values of bids, thereby maintaining the secrecy of bids. Providing access to an exchange between bidders and the verification subsystem facilitates verification that the auction is performed as a sealed bid auction. |
| US08239329B2 |
Data storage medium, software installation method and copyright protection module
A data storage medium includes a first storage unit and a second storage unit. The first storage unit is used to store a target electronic device ID, the second storage unit stores software installation data. The software installation data includes a copyright protection module, a software installation program, and a software data. When the software installation data is invoked to install the software data, the copyright protection module is invoked and automatically runs. The copyright protection module accesses the first storage unit and reads the target electronic device ID. The software data can be installed in the target electronic device only if the first storage unit contained the target electronic device ID or the first storage unit is writable and the target electronic device ID is stored in the first storage unit successfully. |
| US08239328B2 |
Information processing apparatus, print control apparatus, printed control system
An information processing apparatus, which encrypts print data (PDL), receives a personal identification code (PIN) input by a user, generates a random number (rnd), encrypts the generated random number by using the personal identification code or an encryption key generated based on the personal identification code, converts the personal identification code by using a predetermined function, and encrypts print data by using the random number as an encryption key, thereby maintaining security in the printing. |
| US08239327B2 |
System and method for user logging of audio and video broadcast content
A system and method for a user to log broadcast content at the time of the broadcast by selecting the content source on a device, the device having been configured to send the user's selection, date and timestamp, and a unique identification to a content server. The content server obtains a playlist of broadcast content from the content source, and uses the information from the user device to identify on the playlist the specific content selected by the user. The content server delivers the specific content to the user, by electronic mail or via a web page, together with associated content. |
| US08239311B1 |
Single premium immediate annuity with adjustable payment
A method of providing a financial product includes providing a computer processor, determining, using the computer processor, a fluctuating interest rate using a sum of a securities-based interest rate and an additional interest rate, and generating, using the computer processor, a periodic payment product using the fluctuating interest rate, wherein the periodic payment product is characterized by a payment schedule. The method also includes generating, using the computer processor, a plurality of fluctuating periodic payments using the fluctuating interest rate and obtaining an indication to fix the fluctuating interest rate at a fixed interest rate. The method further includes thereafter, determining, using the computer processor, the fixed interest rate and generating a fixed periodic payment using the fixed interest rate. |
| US08239310B2 |
System and method for generating transaction based recommendations
A system for generating recommendation data includes an assessment unit and an evaluation unit. The assessment unit is configured to receive transaction data for a plurality of transactions and to assess each transaction and generate assessment data based thereon. The evaluation unit is coupled with the assessment unit and configured to receive an evaluation request including a proposed transaction, and generate recommendation data including a certainty indicator which indicates a level of certainty that the proposed transaction will be successful according to predetermined criteria. |
| US08239308B2 |
Clearing system that determines margin requirements for financial portfolios
Methods, systems and apparatuses are described for calculating a performance bond amount for a portfolio including interest rate swaps. A risk calculation module (or risk processor) may assist in the calculation. In some examples, values, such as swap (DV01) dollar values and volatility values, and adjustments/factors, such as calendar charge adjustments and liquidity charge minimums, may be used to enhance the margin calculation. These values may be maintained and updated in various ways, including but not limited to, lookup tables, matrices, and other structures. The margin calculations may be used by an exchange or clearinghouse to request a portfolio holder to deposit additional funds towards a performance bond associated with the portfolio. |
| US08239304B1 |
Method and system for providing pre-approved targeted products
According to one embodiment, the present invention relates to a method and a system for offering a consumer an opportunity to purchase one or more targeted products and/or services with a pre-approved credit instrument where the selection of one or more products is based on consumer related profile information, which may include previous spending habits, previous transactions and/or other information. Some or all aspects of an offer for the targeted product or service, which may include product type, offer delivery, pricing and payment terms, may be determined by various factors, such as the consumer's credit-worthiness, profile information and/or other information. |
| US08239303B2 |
Match-off of order flow in electronic market system
A market system that includes an internal execution process is described. The system includes an order execution process that receives orders and matches orders against quotes posted in the system on a time priority basis and an order match-off process that checks if a market participant identification associated with a received order matches a market participant identification representing a quote in the system that is at the best bid or best offer price in the system. |
| US08239301B2 |
System and method for chart pattern recognition and analysis in an electronic trading environment
A system and method are provided for chart pattern recognition and analysis. In one embodiment, a graphical interface is provided to enable a trader to select a portion of a chart to be used in the chart pattern analysis. The pattern of the selected portion of the chart could then be used to find one or more similar chart patterns in a user-defined timeframe, such as any future time period or a time period in the past. When a reoccurring chart pattern is found in any future time period, an alert signal can be generated to alert a user of a possibility of the chart pattern reoccurrence. Alternatively, chart pattern matches can be found in a time period in the past, and a set of studies can be applied to the found matches to generate a set of reoccurring indicator values. The reoccurring indicator values can be used in combination with the chart pattern to detect any similar chart patterns in the future. |
| US08239299B2 |
Type-driven rules for financial intellegence
Financial intelligence architecture that employs financial types that are combined with rules to build financial behavior into the product. Types have behaviors such that types can be assigned that lead to the physical creation of underlying code which embodies the behaviors. Extensibility is provided at least by type parameterization and new type creation. Because types are a design time experience, types are two-way and can be modified, even after instantiation. This allows for mixing and matching of types and underlying behavior giving the system more flexibility at design time while providing a huge simplification of all the details that actually go into such financial applications. The type library is a set of rules that produce metadata, which metadata is later processed by a separate engine to produce the physical schema. The type library defines the basic interactions, data types, and behaviors for predefined dimensions in the system. |
| US08239298B1 |
Method and apparatus for managing financial accounts
Method, system, and computer-readable medium are provided for optimizing an allocation of money to assets and liabilities. A method includes providing at least one asset comprising a value and a projected return rate at which the value is expected to appreciate over a period, providing at least one liability including a liability amount and an interest rate at which the liability amount is expected to depreciate over said period, and optimizing an allocation of money to the at least one asset and the at least one liability based on the expected appreciation of the at least one asset and the expected depreciation of the at least one liability. |
| US08239297B2 |
System, managing computer program product and method for managing documents
A system, method and computer program product for managing documents are disclosed. The system includes a document manger configured to receive job information from a remote user via a network, the job information being related to a job performed on a document. The document manager can generate billing information based on the job information; and transmit the billing information to an application service provider (ASP) providing a service on the document. The document manager can also transmit the information to the ASP. The document manager can receive login information from the user, and verify the login information. The document manager can generate a job profile based on the login information, and transmit the job profile to the user. The image processing apparatus used in this system, and the method performed by such an image processing apparatus, are also disclosed. |
| US08239296B2 |
System and method of assisting goods collection and recording medium
An exchange assisting system is provided in an exchange center. Each maker who trades in used goods, such as copying machines, for new ones from a business entity brings goods produced by other makers into the exchange center. The system manages the inventory information of goods delivered from each maker and stored in the exchange center. The system prepares inventory information on goods maker by maker every given period and sends the information to each maker on-line. Each maker prepares list data of goods the maker wants to collect based on the inventory information and sends the list data to the exchange assisting system on-line. The exchange assisting system prepares delivering-out information for delivering goods out of the exchange center based on the desired goods-to-ship data and outputs the information as one needed to ship associated goods to each maker. |
| US08239294B2 |
Method of generating multiple recommendations for multi-objective available-to-sell (ATS) optimization problem
Methods, systems and apparatus for providing a variety of end product build plans based on multiple business scenarios for exhausting excess inventory. Raw financial data and variable scaling factors are input into a scenario engine component along with a business objective that contains logic. The scaling factor may be embedded within the logic of the business objective, or it may be selected by a user to indicate the user's preferences. The scenario engine then applies the financial data and variable scaling factor inputs to the business objective logic to generate modified financial data. The logic of the business objective may also be manipulated to provide modified logic. The modified financial data, and optionally the modified logic, are then input into an optimizer component for determining multiple portfolios for end products that, if built, would consume excess inventory. |
| US08239293B2 |
Computer system and method for bulk auditing, archiving, and selling personal property of a customer
The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can facilitate auditing of a customer's possessions in a comprehensive manner. The architecture can facilitate the creation of a media archive of a customer's property, as well as an associated property list extracted based upon, e.g., examination of the archive. The property list can include an entry associated with an item of property and can be transmitted to subsidizing entities to offset the expenses associated with the creation of the archive and the property list. |
| US08239289B2 |
Inter-gallery trading system for artworks
A clearinghouse system for inter-gallery trading of artworks is described. A central database stores digital images and metadata about artworks owned by all member galleries. The data is duplicated and stored in local databases at each member gallery. Customers at a first gallery can view images and information about artworks owned by other galleries using display devices installed at the first gallery. If the customer is interested in an artwork owned by a second gallery, a price request is transmitted from the display device to a remote clearinghouse management server. The clearinghouse management server transmits the price to the first gallery via an information receiver other than the display device. The first gallery may then quote a price to the customer by adding a markup to the price received from the clearinghouse management server. A purchase request can also be generated from the display device. |
| US08239287B1 |
System for detecting probabilistic associations between items
A computer system for detecting associations between items may include a probabilistic analysis component that accesses user data having information about item selections by a plurality of users. The probabilistic analysis component may programmatically generate associations between certain items by determining a first number of users who selected the items and by estimating a probability that a second number of users would have selected the items due to random chance. The probabilistic analysis component may estimate this probability based at least partly on a number of item selections made by one or more of the users. |
| US08239285B1 |
Method and systems for providing specialty product information
Methods for providing specialty product information to consumers. |
| US08239284B2 |
Automated quoting of CNC machined custom parts
A customer sends a CAD file for the part to be manufactured to the system. The system assesses the CAD file to determine various pieces of manufacturing information. One or more acceptability criteria are applied to the part, such as whether the part can be machined in two opposing orientations in a 3 axis CNC machine. If not, the system sends a file to the customer graphically indicating which portions of the part need modification to be manufacturable. The system provides the customer with a quotation form, that allows the customer to select several parameters, such as number of cavities or parts per workpiece block, surface finish and material, which are independent of the shape of the part. The quotation module then provides the customer with the cost to manufacture the mold or a number of parts, which may include both molded parts and total profiled machined parts. Budget-driven quotation is possible, wherein proposed modifications in the molding process are controlled by the budget of the customer. Interactivity is also achieved, with the customer being able to modify the quotation interactively by modifying one or more of the initially selected parameters, including selecting a different budgeted amount. |
| US08239274B2 |
Purchasing of individual features of a software product
In various embodiments, a user may, via a processing device, indicate a desire to purchase a feature of an installed software product. A purchase request may be sent to an e-commerce server, or other server. The purchase request may be validated and information concerning the software product, the feature of the software product, and the processing device may be stored. Enabling information may be sent to the processing device to enable the feature of the software product. In some embodiments, the user may request a trial of a feature of a software product before purchasing the feature. In other embodiments, the user may deactivate a purchased feature of a software product on one processing device and may activate the purchased feature of the software product on a different processing device. |
| US08239268B2 |
Self-checkout terminal
An article code reading device optically reads a code symbol on to an article and specifies the article, and decodes and outputs an article code. An image pickup image part picks up an image of an area of an article, the code symbol of which is read by the article code reading device, and outputs pickup image data. An article registration is executed by searching an article data file for a corresponding price for the article, and an extraction process extracts an exterior characteristic of an article from a the pickup image data outputted by the pickup image part. A consistency is determined between a first data obtained based on the extraction process and a second data obtained based on an output from the article code reading device, and an alarm is generated when it there is not a consistency between the first data and the second data. |
| US08239267B2 |
Media play optimization
Systems, methods, and a user interface for automatically scheduling a media play is disclosed. The user can specify criteria for play of the media play, including times, stations, and/or external criteria such as a weather condition or the occurrence of an event. Information relevant to the entered criteria is received and assessed against the criteria to determine if the criteria are met. Responsive to the received information meeting the criteria for play of the media play, an accessor accesses the media play inventory and inserts the media play into a media feed. |
| US08239265B2 |
Providing contextual advertisements for electronic books
Systems and methods for providing contextual advertisements to present to a user in association with electronic books are provided. Advertising entities may submit information to include in the contextual e-book advertisement. An advertisement manager identifies the e-book and content associated with each page therein. A target page to receive the advertisement is identified. The contextual e-book advertisement is generated using content associated with the target page as well as content associated with each page preceding the target page. Content associated with pages subsequent to the target page is analyzed to determine if the advertisement is appropriate for the target page. Additional sequential information and user profile information may be used to generate the contextual e-book advertisement. Based on the content of the e-book and the parameters of the information submitted by the advertising entity, a contextual e-book advertisement is generated for the target page and presented to a user. |
| US08239264B2 |
Method and stored program for sending descriptive profile data, for accumulation along with source information, for use in targeting third-party advertisements
A descriptive-profile mercantile method, for use at a juncture in a data-communications topology having associated therewith a maintained databank of partial profiles, is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: from a user, receiving a transaction having therein a first partial profile; using the first partial profile, searching a databank having a plurality of second partial profiles, wherein is included in said databank at least one null profile so that said searching will always yield at least one proximate second partial profile to the first partial profile; and between the user and the databank, contracting: (I) for the databank to own or represent a right to a first mutually agreed portion of the first partial profile, and substantially thereafter said databank incorporating the agreed portion of the first profile into at least one second partial profile; or (II) for the user to own or represent a right to a second mutually agreed portion of at least one said proximate second partial profile, and substantially thereafter the databank transmitting to the user the second mutually agreed portion of the second profile. The present invention operates best on a brokerage representation model; and thereby provides a means for making viable the economic commerce in information attributes. |
| US08239263B2 |
Identifying and/or blocking ads such as document-specific competitive ads
A content owner partner (e.g., a Website/Web page publisher) can easily block entire broad or narrow categories of ads, and can specify objectionable ad content or targeting. Concepts may be associated with a property and ads related to those concepts may be blocked for the given property. Further, terms may be associated with a property and ads including any of the terms may be blocked for the given property. |
| US08239260B2 |
System and method for providing a discount
In particular, systems and methods are provided for delivering a discount using a virtual currency. Inventive systems and methods offer a high perceived savings value to an end-user while maintaining the perception of product value. Further, systems and methods for providing a discount are described which impose little or no cost on the service or product provider. An embodiment of an inventive method includes presenting a display of a price paid by a consumer without access to the virtual currency along with a display of an amount payable by the end-user in actual currency in combination with an amount payable in virtual currency by an end-user of an inventive system. The end-user perceives a benefit to using the virtual currency since the price paid in actual currency is less than the displayed price to be paid by a consumer without access to the virtual currency. |
| US08239257B2 |
Displaying online advertisements
Disclosed is a method for displaying an advertisement. The method displays a present advertisement, determines whether the present advertisement has been displayed completely, and adds an identifier of the present advertisement to a priority advertisement list if the present advertisement has not been displayed completely. The method sends the priority advertisement list to the advertisement engine when requesting the advertisement engine for displaying a next advertisement. Using the priority advertisement list, the advertisement engine may give priority to the present advertisement in next advertisement assignment. Using an optimized advertisement display strategy, the disclosed method may increase coverage rates of advertisement contents to audiences, thereby improving advertisement effectiveness for advertisers and increasing cash flow return for website owners. |
| US08239254B2 |
Advertisement distribution system and advertisement distribution method
A home storage (a first storage device) installed in each home is provided with an area for a user to store data (user area) and an area for storing ads (ad area). The first storage device checks interest and favorite information for the user in the user area, and transmits the interest and favorite information at the same time backup is performed in a second storage device at a remote site. The second storage device selects a suitable ad based on the interest and favorite information from the first storage device and transmits the selected ad to the first storage device. The user views the transmitted ad when viewing content in the first storage device. The user's viewing record for the ads is kept as statistical data, and the second storage device compiles the record, charges a sponsor an ad charge, thereby subsidizing the usage charge for the first storage device regardless of online or offline connection. |
| US08239251B2 |
Fleet management system
A system comprises a materials handling vehicle, an information linking device and a wireless transceiver. The materials handling vehicle comprises a controller area network (CAN) bus and at least one native control module coupled to the CAN bus that generates and sends the vehicle-related data over the CAN bus. The information linking device comprises a CAN-bus interface coupled to the CAN bus of the materials handling vehicle, which extracts the vehicle-related data off of the CAN bus, a memory device coupled to the CAN-bus interface, which stores the vehicle-related data extracted off of the CAN bus and an output interface coupled to the memory device. The wireless transceiver is coupled to the output interface of the information linking device. The wireless transceiver wirelessly sends and receives across a wireless network environment. |
| US08239250B2 |
Industry size of wallet
Consumer spend by industry is modeled based on the industry sizes of wallet of consumers having a high share of wallet with a financial institution. A size of wallet is calculated for each consumer in a plurality of consumers. A share of wallet for each consumer is also calculated. A subset of the plurality of consumers whose share of wallet is above a given percentage of their size of wallet is then determined. For each consumer in the subset, an industry size of wallet is determined. A correlation between the industry size of wallet of a given consumer and one or more characteristics of the given consumer is then derived using the industry size of wallet for the consumers in the subset. |
| US08239249B1 |
Work allocation tool
Methods and systems are disclosed for automatically allocating work projects to personnel based on work complexity level and level of knowledge and experience of the personnel. In one implementation, the methods and systems provide a work allocation tool that allows a user to input the level of complexity of the work projects according to one or more predefined criteria. The work allocation tool then automatically determines which of the available personnel has the required level of knowledge and experience to complete the work projects. Personnel who have already exceeded a target number or percentage of work projects in a given time period may be automatically excluded from the allocation. The work allocation tool thereafter randomly selects one of the available personnel and automatically allocates the work projects. An administrator interface allows a manager to define each person's target numbers or percentages and to stop further allocations if needed. |
| US08239242B2 |
Mobile device marketing and advertising platforms, methods, and systems
A mobile marketing campaign platform and method including: a planning module including: a definition module for setting budget and objectives; and a design module for designing the campaign utilizing a plurality of templates; an execution module including: design tools for designing an executable campaign from the campaign design made from the templates; and operating tools for causing the executable campaign to execute over multiple mobile services; and a reporting module including: tracking means for tracking at least one of a campaign activity, the campaign performance objectives; and the brand performance objectives. |
| US08239237B2 |
Adaptive product configuration model
The adaptive product conditioning is a computer-implemented method for identifying product configurations that can be provided to customers in reaction to supply imbalances. The methodology uses data mining techniques to collect and analyze business level meta data to coordinate supply and sales goals in terms of optimizing profits or managing product and technology transitions. |
| US08239235B2 |
Semi-automated reciprocal scheduling
Schedules which include reciprocal events, such as schedules for youth hockey leagues, can be created using a system in which users can invite one another to schedule games based on information selected through an interface and reciprocal dates which are automatically identified by a suitably programmed computer. Information related to games and schedules can be stored in a database which can be accessed and modified by different users depending on their roles and the permissions associated with those roles. |
| US08239233B1 |
Work flow systems and processes for outsourced financial services
A status and workflow management system is provided, including a tax return preparation intake mechanism and computer systems for use by responsible persons responsible for respective parts of processing of a given individual tax return preparation project. A computer screen providing mechanism generates for each responsible person a work flow and status screen, so that a given responsible person is provided a work flow and status screen comprising information pertaining to the given responsible person and according to the given responsible person's personnel type. A task display generator displays to the given responsible person on his or her screen tasks to which he or she has been assigned. A task update mechanism updates tasks on the screen of the given responsible person in accordance with a sequence of workflow steps, to indicate when a given task is satisfied and to update tasks on the screen of a next assigned responsible person in the work flow to indicate a new unsatisfied task in accordance with a next workflow step. |
| US08239232B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for providing commitments information relative to a turf
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media provide for providing commitments information relative to a turf. According to embodiments, a method for providing commitments information relative to a turf is provided. According to the method, a time frame for each of a plurality of turfs is determined. The time frame indicates when a work order of a given category is to be completed. A numeric indicator indicating the time frame in which the work order of the given category is to be completed is displayed. |
| US08239229B1 |
Parallel computer network and method for real time financial resource management, inventory control, and online purchasing
A method for simulating the entire superset of potential valid keyword regular expression requests constructed during an Internet browser search and converting the result sets into Environmental summary report to enable efficient and accurate searching without requiring Browser Engine supercomputer cluster searching capabilities. |
| US08239227B2 |
Executive reporting
Providing for generating an executive report of business or personal activity is described herein. By way of example, such executive report can identify a change and related cause with respect to a prior report. As a particular example, an inference engine can receive an activity report and reference prior reports to identify the change and related cause. A set of results containing such information can be provided to a synthesis component that can include and highlight such information in the executive report. In addition, additional sources of data can be referenced in order to include and/or customize the report to a particular individual, organization, culture, or the like. As described, aspects of the subject innovation can provide an executive report highlighting important aspects of data and tailoring those aspects to interests of one or more users. |
| US08239220B2 |
Method and apparatus for obtaining photogrammetric data to estimate impact severity
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a computer-implemented method to collect information to determine damage to a vehicle involved in a collision using photogrammetric techniques. When determined, this vehicle damage information, which may be in the form of crush measurement information such as a crush damage profile, can be displayed in a computer-generated view of the subject vehicle with a crush damage profile and used to estimate the impact severity. In some embodiments, based on the photogrammetric information derived, a direction of any shifting of the vehicle's components may be obtained and used along with other information to estimate a principal direction of force (PDOF) for one or more vehicles involved in the collision. Still further embodiments may be used to generate and/or audit repair estimates based at least in part on the photogrammetric information. |
| US08239217B2 |
Prescription management system
An imaging and workflow method, system, computer readable medium and user interface for processing information efficiently for the processing of medical prescription orders. The system includes support for document scanning, automated rules-based order processing, statistical reporting, document generation and document storage and retrieval. The present invention takes advantage of imaging technology to assist the user in scanning information into the system and software modules to improve the processing of orders. The present invention also includes database tables that identify to application processing logic the types and sequences of actions to be implemented for orders. |
| US08239213B1 |
Systems and methods for simulating a change to a prescription drug plan
Systems and methods for simulating a change to a prescription drug plan may be provided. In response to receiving a request to simulate the change to the prescription drug plan, a prescription drug spend and/or trend application may retrieve data related to the prescription drug plan from a database. A model that includes a plurality of calculations to simulate the change may be applied to the retrieved data A user computing device may be provided with an indication of an impact on the prescription drug plan responsive to the at least one change based at least in part on the application of the model to the retrieved data. The modeling of the change may be related, for example, to an option to reduce spend and/or trend as determined by the spend and/or trend application. |
| US08239207B2 |
Speech-enabled language translation system and method enabling interactive user supervision of translation and speech recognition accuracy
A system and method for a highly interactive style of speech-to-speech translation is provided. The method includes receiving a first and a second language selection and receiving an expression in the first language. The method includes presenting the expression in the first language for verification and translating the verified expression into an expression in the second language. The method further includes confirming the meaning of terms within the verified expression in the first language and back-translating the expression in the second language to a back-translated expression in the first language. The back-translated expression is verified in the first language. |
| US08239203B2 |
Adaptive confidence thresholds for speech recognition
Adjusting confidence score thresholds is described for a speech recognition engine. The speech recognition engine is implemented in multiple computer processes functioning in a computer processor, and is characterized by an associated receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. A results confirmation process interprets user confirmation of speech recognition results within a given confidence score threshold to create a confirmed portion of the ROC curve for the speech recognition engine. A curve extension process extends the confirmed portion of the ROC curve by extrapolation of unconfirmed speech recognition results beyond the confidence score threshold to generate an extended ROC curve. A threshold adjustment process adjusts the confidence score threshold based on the extended ROC curve to meet target operating constraints for operating the speech recognition engine to perform automatic speech recognition of user speech inputs. |
| US08239200B1 |
Delta language model
Among other disclosed subject matter, a computer-implemented method for generating a language model includes generating a language model based on a data set, the data set including at least training data and test data. The test data is to be used in testing the language model. The method includes identifying the test data in the data set. The method includes generating a delta language model based on at least the test data, the delta language model configured for evaluating the test data. |
| US08239196B1 |
System and method for multi-channel multi-feature speech/noise classification for noise suppression
An architecture and framework for speech/noise classification of an audio signal using multiple features with multiple input channels (e.g., microphones) are provided. The architecture may be implemented with noise suppression in a multi-channel environment where noise suppression is based on an estimation of the noise spectrum. The noise spectrum is estimated using a model that classifies each time/frame and frequency component of a signal as speech or noise by applying a speech/noise probability function. The speech/noise probability function estimates a speech/noise probability for each frequency and time bin. A speech/noise classification estimate is obtained by fusing (e.g., combining) data across different input channels using a layered network model. Individual feature data acquired at each channel and/or from a beam-formed signal is mapped to a speech probability, which is combined through layers of the model into a final speech/noise classification for use in noise estimation and filtering processes for noise suppression. |
| US08239194B1 |
System and method for multi-channel multi-feature speech/noise classification for noise suppression
An architecture and framework for speech/noise classification of an audio signal using multiple features with multiple input channels (e.g., microphones) are provided. The architecture may be implemented with noise suppression in a multi-channel environment where noise suppression is based on an estimation of the noise spectrum. The noise spectrum is estimated using a model that classifies each time/frame and frequency component of a signal as speech or noise by applying a speech/noise probability function. The speech/noise probability function estimates a speech/noise probability for each frequency and time bin. A speech/noise classification estimate is obtained by fusing (e.g., combining) data across different input channels using a layered network model. Individual feature data acquired at each channel and/or from a beam-formed signal is mapped to a speech probability, which is combined through layers of the model into a final speech/noise classification for use in noise estimation and filtering processes for noise suppression. |
| US08239193B2 |
Method, apparatus, and medium for bandwidth extension encoding and decoding
Provided are a method, apparatus, and medium for encoding/decoding a high frequency band signal by using a low frequency band signal corresponding to an audio signal or a speech signal. Accordingly, since the high frequency band signal is encoded and decoded by using the low frequency band signal, encoding and decoding can be carried out with a small data size while avoiding deterioration of sound quality. |
| US08239189B2 |
Method and system for estimating a sentiment for an entity
A method for estimating a sentiment conveyed by the content of information sources towards an entity is presented. The sentiment is obtained with respect to a query context that may be specified, e. g. by specific terms or expressions, like a product or service name. A sentiment dictionary having a plurality of sentiment terms is provided, wherein each sentiment term has assigned a sentiment value, and at least one of said sentiment terms is associated to a group context. Text documents are screened for occurrences of sentiment terms that are associated to a group context corresponding to the query context. Calculating a sentiment score value is performed as a function of the occurrences of sentiment terms having a similar or same group context as the query context. The method may be carried out automatically without manual analysis of the actual semantic content of the text documents under consideration. |
| US08239188B2 |
Example based translation apparatus, translation method, and translation program
A translation apparatus is provided that includes a bilingual example sentence dictionary that stores plural example sentences in a first language and plural example sentences in a second language being translation of the plural example sentences, an input unit that inputs an input sentence in the first language, a first search unit that searches whether the input sentence matches any of the plural example sentences in the first language, a second search unit that searches for at least one example sentence candidate that is similar to the input sentence from the plural example sentences in the first language, when a matching example sentence is not found in the first search unit, and an output unit that outputs an example sentence in the second language that is translation of an example sentence searched in the first search unit or the example sentence candidate searched in the second search unit. |
| US08239183B2 |
Method and system for universal translating information
One embodiment pertains to a method of transferring information. The method includes receiving a request for displayed information on a first device and forming a meta-language message based on the displayed information. The method also includes transferring the meta-language message to a handheld device and converting the meta-language message to a native language message of a user of the handheld device. |
| US08239180B2 |
Numerical structural analysis system based on the load-transfer-path method
The purpose of this invention is to reduce the calculation time in the numerical structure analysis system based on load-transfer-path method.The parameters are set in the condition that the supporting point B in the objective structure is fixed and the load is applied to the specific loading point A. The FEM calculation means 2 calculates the deformation of the objective structure according to the structural stiffness matrix in the stiffness matrix holding means 1 to find the basic data such as the displacement of each point and so on. The FEM calculation means calculates each deformation to find the displacement under the condition that the specific loading point A and the supporting point B are fixed and three inspection loadings are applied to the variable loading point C. The partial stiffness matrix calculation means 3 solves the multidimensional simultaneous linear equation based upon the internal stiffness matrix of the objective structure, the load value and the displacement to find the partial stiffness matrix KAC. The stiffness parameter calculation means 8 calculates the value of the stiffness parameter U* according to the partial stiffness matrix KAC and the displacement in the basic data and so on. The value of U* of each point is calculated with changing the variable loading point C as to follow sequentially all the necessary points in the objective structure. |
| US08239177B2 |
Simulation of a motion system including a mechanical modeler with interpolation
Simulating a mechanical system controlled by a motion controller. First position data may be received. The first position data may be provided by a motion controller at a first rate. The first position data received at the first rate may be interpolated to provide second position data at a second rate. Operation of the mechanical system may be simulated or modeled using the second position data at the second rate. Interpolating the first position data and modeling the operation of the mechanical system may be performed without simulating drives and motors necessary to drive the mechanical system. |
| US08239175B2 |
Geospatial modeling system providing poisson-based geospatial data set merging and related methods
A geospatial modeling system may include a geospatial model data storage device, and a processor cooperating with the geospatial model data storage device for merging first and second geospatial data sets for corresponding first and second geospatial regions. The processor may be for generating seam-smoothed geospatial data for a corresponding selected geospatial region between adjacent portions of the first and second geospatial regions by applying Poisson's equation to data from at least one of the first and second geospatial data sets for the selected geospatial region using boundary conditions based upon data along corresponding interfaces between the selected geospatial region and adjacent portions of the first and second geospatial regions. |
| US08239168B2 |
Systems and methods for fault detection of air handling units
A system is disclosed for detecting faults in an environmental control system for a building zone. The system includes a circuit configured to determine that a fault exists based on a comparison of the current value for the climate condition in a heating state and the estimate of the climate condition at which a transmission from the heating state to the no heating state is expected to be caused by a finite state machine of the system. |
| US08239163B2 |
Apparatus for and a method of determining surface characteristics
A coherence scanning interferometer carries out: a coherence scanning measurement operation on a surface area using a low numeric aperture objective so that the pitch of the surface structure elements is less that the spread of the point spread function at the surface to obtain structure surface intensity data; and a coherence scanning measurement operation on a non-structure surface area to obtain non-structure surface intensity data. A frequency transform ratio determiner determines a frequency transform ratio related to the ratio between the structure surface intensity data and the non-structure surface intensity data. A structure provider sets that frequency transform ratio equal to an expression representing the electric field at the image plane of the interferometer in terms of surface structure element size (height or depth) and width-to-pitch ratio and derives the surface structure element size and width-to-pitch ratio using the frequency transform ratio. |
| US08239150B2 |
System, device, and method for detecting electrical discharges on a structure
A lightning detection and damage estimation system for a structure is disclosed herein. The system includes a lightning receptor coupled to a lightning conductor configured to receive multiple lightning strikes and induce lightning current in a pick-up coil coupled to the lightning conductor. An integrated circuit coupled to the lightning conductor via the pick-up coil includes a non-volatile memory for successively storing one or more samples of the lightning induced current for the multiple lightning strikes. A damage estimation unit is configured to estimate a condition of the structure based on analyzing a history of stored samples of the lightning induced current of the multiple lightning strikes from the non-volatile memory. |
| US08239145B2 |
Method, device and program for presenting inner force sense and program
A force feedback method for presenting a force sense to an operator by jetting gas or liquid from a nozzle of jetting means according to a position or an orientation of a receiver is disclosed. In the force feedback method, the receiver is provided with an inclined side surface unit shaped to be inclined, outward from a center part of the receiver, with respect to an axis line of the receiver, and the force feedback method provides a force, to the receiver, including a component perpendicular to a jet direction of the gas or the liquid, by jetting the gas or the liquid to the inclined side surface unit. |
| US08239144B2 |
Universal refractometer apparatus and method
A portable liquid design system includes a portable information handling system (IHS) that employs a liquid design application capable of operating in different modes to design different liquids such as corn syrup, espresso, coffee, soda pop and others. The portable liquid design system may include a refractometer to measure the refractive index and temperature of a liquid under test. The liquid design application may apply the measured refractive index and temperature to a 3 dimensional representation of the correlation of refractive index, temperature and concentration (% total dissolved solids) to determine a particular concentration corresponding to the measured refractive index and temperature. A single 3 dimensional scale may apply to virtually all values of interest of refractive index, temperature and concentration for a particular liquid under test. |
| US08239142B2 |
System, method, device, and computer program product for extraction, gathering, manipulation, and analysis of peak data from an automated sequencer
A system, method, device, and computer program product to extract and gather peak information from an automated sequencer of bioinformatics into a peak database, and to manipulate and analyze the peak information within the database. |
| US08239141B2 |
Method for changing a target array, a method for analyzing a structure, and an apparatus, a storage medium and a transmission medium therefor
The objective of the present invention is the efficient analyzation of the structure of an array.By performing the prev(S) calculation for a character string S, if in the character string S a like variable is present upstream of a second variable, the second variable is changed to a numerical value that indicates the distance to the upstream like variable. But if in the character string S a like variable is not present upstream of a variable, that variable is changed to “0” to obtain a character string S1. Further, by performing the compl(S) calculation for the a character string S, if in the character string S a complementary variable is present upstream of a second variable, the second variable is changed to a numerical value that indicates the distance to the complementary variable. But if in the character string S a complementary variable is not present upstream of a variable, that variable is changed to “0” to obtain a character string S2 (102). A single suffix tree (structure suffix tree) is generated by regarding the character strings S1 and S2 as a pair of corresponding character strings (104 to 114), and the obtained structure suffix tree is employed to analyze the structure of the array that is represented by the character string S. |
| US08239140B2 |
System, method and computer program product for DNA sequence alignment using symmetric phase only matched filters
Methods, systems and computer program products of DNA sequence alignment using a symmetric phase only matched filter (SPOMF) are described herein. SPOMF is useful for both global alignment and local alignment. Also described herein is a prime-length cross correlation algorithm for enhancing the robustness of the SPOMF. |
| US08239139B2 |
Multimodal spectroscopic systems and methods for classifying biological tissue
Multimodal optical spectroscopy systems and methods produce a spectroscopic event to obtain spectroscopic response data from biological tissue and compare the response data with preset criteria configured to correlate the measured response data and the most probable attributes of the tissue, thus facilitating classification of the tissue based on those attributes for subsequent biopsy or remedial measures as necessary. |
| US08239138B2 |
Scaling factor for an output of an electrochemical cell
A scaling factor for scaling an output of a first electrochemical cell, is determined in order to compensate for the effect on the output caused by an variation in value of a property of a working electrode of the first cell from a reference value of that property. A measured value for the property is obtained from a portion of material formed so as to have substantially the same value of the property as does the working electrode and the measured value is processed to generate the scaling factor. |
| US08239136B2 |
Method, computer system and computer-readable medium for determining a probability of colorectal cancer in a test subject
In one aspect the invention is a method of testing for one or more colorectal pathologies or one or more subtypes of colorectal pathology (in one embodiment colorectal cancer) in a test individual by providing data corresponding to a level of products of selected biomarkers and applying the data to a formula to provide an indication of whether the test individual has one or more colorectal pathologies or one or more subtypes of colorectal pathology. In some aspects the method is computer based and a computer applies the data to the formula. In other aspects a computer system is configured with instructions that cause the processor to provide a user with the indication of whether the test individual has colorectal pathology. Also encompassed are kits for measuring data corresponding to the products of selected biomarkers which in some embodiments include a computer readable medium. Also encompassed are kits and methods of monitoring therapeutic efficacy of treatments for one or more colorectal pathologies. |
| US08239127B2 |
Car navigation system
A car navigation system solves the problem that the emission test cycle fuel consumption rate indicates the energy consumption per unit distance covered following a prescribed emission test cycle procedure, and therefore, cannot produce a highly accurate prediction value reflecting the landform and the traffics along a route. So, the test cycle characteristic values independent of the vehicle model for vehicle energy consumption in a specified running condition are calculated, and the vehicle energy consumption parameter of the engine or the motor is estimated from the basic vehicle specifications such as the vehicle weight, the power supply type, the emission test cycle fuel consumption rate, the test cycle characteristic values in the emission test cycle and the vehicle characteristics. Using the basic vehicle specifications and the energy consumption parameter, the energy consumption is predicted taking the landform and traffics into consideration. |
| US08239122B2 |
Vehicle surge and spark timing control
A method is described for operating an engine of a vehicle, the engine having a combustion chamber. The method may include controlling a stability of the vehicle in response to a vehicle acceleration; and adjusting spark timing in the combustion chamber of the engine in response to a knock indication, and further adjusting spark timing in response to the vehicle acceleration to reduce surge. |
| US08239116B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating injection signals for an injection system of an internal combustion engine
In a method and an apparatus which more accurately reach a predefined setpoint value of a combustion characteristic variable for an internal combustion engine (1) with an injection system (30), a first injection signal which triggers an injection of fuel into a combustion chamber (53) of the internal combustion engine (1) is generated using at least one injection signal parameter. A combustion signal which represents a combustion of the injected fuel is generated by a detector (40). The combustion characteristic variable is determined using the combustion signal. The injection signal parameter is corrected using a deviation of the combustion characteristic variable from a setpoint value, in such a way that the deviation of a second injection signal which is generated using the corrected injection parameter is reduced for an injection which is to be performed later. |
| US08239112B2 |
Pressure, tire force and friction estimation during antilock control
A method for estimating a brake pressure, a longitudinal tire force and a tire-road μ during periods of antilock control that measures deceleration of a wheel during a period of constant brake pressure, reduces a brake pressure to cause slip on the wheel to begin reducing, measures reacceleration of the wheel after a point in time in which the change in brake pressure is completed, calculates a change in acceleration based on the measured reacceleration and the measured deceleration, estimates a change in brake pressure from a proportional relationship between the change in acceleration and a brake pressure value, estimates a brake pressure from the relationship between a time for valve activation during a change in acceleration and the change in brake pressure. The method also estimates a longitudinal tire force from a mathematical relationship between the change in acceleration, a tire radius, and the estimated brake pressure. The method also estimates tire-road μ by dividing a normal tire force by the estimated longitudinal tire force. |
| US08239107B2 |
Method for starting control unit of a motor vehicle
In order to achieve a comfortable starting process with low wear, a braking torque, set by the driver by way of a brake pedal, an acceleration torque, requested by the driver via the accelerator pedal, and a holding torque, required for holding a motor vehicle on a gradient, are determined, and the engagement of the starting clutch, as well as the release of the service brake, are coordinated such that during the release of the service brake, the sum of the clutch torque and braking torque corresponds to the holding torque, and the clutch torque of the starting clutch is increased by the acceleration torque only when the service brake has been largely released. |
| US08239106B2 |
Adaptive shift learn control for automatic transmissions
A control system includes first and second clutches of a transmission and a control module. Each of the first and second clutches includes an on state and an off state. The control module cycles the first clutch between the on state and the off state using a stepped command signal while the second clutch is maintained in the on state. The control module monitors an output parameter of the transmission that is based on the stepped command signal. The control module controls the transmission based on the output parameter. |
| US08239104B2 |
Drive control system for a vehicle and method
A method of altering a drive parameter of a machine having a drive system that is configured to operate a left side of the machine independently of the right side of the machine. The method includes entering, by a user, a drive parameter alteration mode by actuating a first input, and actuating a second input to alter one or more parameters associated with a controller of the machine. |
| US08239102B2 |
Vehicle safety system and method with automatic accident reporting
A vehicle safety system includes a motion detecting device, a control module, a positioning module, and a wireless transmitting module. The motion detecting device is configured for sensing the motion of a vehicle and recording corresponding motion data. The control module is configured for analyzing the motion data and judging whether an accident has occurred to the vehicle based upon the analysis. The positioning module is configured for obtaining position coordinates of the vehicle. The wireless transmitting module is configured for automatically making contact with and reporting the position coordinates of the vehicle to a remote service station when an accident has occurred to the vehicle. |
| US08239100B2 |
Electric braking apparatus and vehicle having thereof
An electric braking apparatus which first moves a piston in a detaching direction or passes a current to move the piston in the detaching direction in order to detect a pad contacting position. Furthermore, while the piston moves in the detaching direction, pad non-contact judgment is performed. After a pad non-contact state is confirmed, the piston is moved in a pressing direction to detect the pad contacting position. When the piston does not move in the detaching direction, it is judged that a parking brake has an ON-state, and it is waited until a host system instructs parking brake release. |
| US08239099B2 |
Lane deviation prevention controller
A deviation controller to prevent deviation of a vehicle from a lane of travel includes a displacement estimator configured to estimate a future lateral displacement of the vehicle with respect to the lane of travel, a detecting device configured to detect a tendency of the vehicle to deviate from the lane of travel, a prevention controller configured to apply a yaw moment to correct a travel path of the vehicle when the tendency of the vehicle to deviate from the lane of travel is detected, a correction canceling device configured to cancel the yaw moment of the prevention controller when a steering angle exceeds a canceling threshold, and a threshold adjusting device configured to adjust the canceling threshold in response to the estimated future lateral displacement. |
| US08239097B2 |
Steering control apparatus for a vehicle
A steering control apparatus for a vehicle having a power source for generating power, and drive shafts for transferring the power to driving wheels of the vehicle, and a traction control device for controlling braking torque applied to the wheels. The apparatus comprises a detection device for detecting the braking torque applied to the wheels, a calculation device for calculating a driving force difference between the wheels, on the basis of the detected braking torque, a power source state detection device for detecting an actuating state of the power source, and a control device for controlling steering torque created by the steering wheel, and applying torque steer reducing torque to the steering wheel. A desired value of the torque steer reducing torque is determined, based on the driving force difference and the actuating state of the power source. And, the torque steer reducing torque is applied to the steering wheel, according to the desired value of the torque steer reducing torque, to reduce the torque steer. |
| US08239094B2 |
Test requirement list for diagnostic tests
A diagnostic system for a vehicle, including a memory receiving and storing vehicle specific information, and storing diagnostic test requirements of a plurality of diagnostic sequences, and a processor identifying the test requirements for a selected diagnostic sequence according to the vehicle specific information in advance of executing the diagnostic sequence. |
| US08239092B2 |
Distributed vehicle event recorder systems having a portable memory data transfer system
Data transfer systems for vehicle event recorders are provided as: a vehicle event recorder, a vehicle event recorder resident memory, and upload module in conjunction with, a communication port suitable for coupling with, a portable memory device, a server computer datastore, a server download module in conjunction with, a similar cooperating communications port. The portable memory device is arranged to operably couple with the communications ports of both the vehicle event recorder and the server computer and to be repeatedly moved between the two. The upload/download modules are arranged to transfer data to/from the portable memory in an orderly fashion in which no files are removed from the vehicle event recorder resident memory without first having been successfully transferred to the server computer datastore. |
| US08239090B2 |
Method for controlling the operating condition of a vehicle based on an onboard diagnostic strategy defining different types of failures
A method for controlling an operating condition of a vehicle including executing, at each of operating cycles, at least one diagnostic phase applied to at least one computer controlling an operating condition of the vehicle, during which the computer produces and consumes data, at least one of the data capable of taking a particular predetermined value resulting from detection of an operating failure by the computer, so as to indicate a diagnostic result associated with the failure. The method stores, at the end of each cycle, the particular value for the failure concerned and initializes the diagnostic phase at the beginning of the next operating cycle with the stored particular data so as to reproduce, for the failure concerned, the diagnostic result supplied by the diagnostic phase when it was last executed. |
| US08239088B2 |
Method for identifying a defective control device
In a method for identifying a defective control device in an internal combustion engine, especially a control element of an intake manifold with a variable length, a swirl flap, or a tumble flap, or generally a control element in the air path of the internal combustion engine, instead of using a return message acknowledging the position of the control device, a regulating signal is detected following the successful switching of the control device, in order to use any deviations of said regulating signal above a defined threshold value to identify a defective control device. |
| US08239078B2 |
Control of throttle and braking actions at individual distributed power locomotives in a railroad train
A method for controlling first (14/12A) and second (12B) locomotives of a railroad train (8), the first (14/12A) and the second (12B) locomotives separated by at least one railcar (20). The method comprises determining a location of the first locomotive (14/12A) and a location of the second locomotive (12B), determining an operating condition of the first locomotive (14/12A) and an operating condition of the second locomotive (12B), determining a first control aspect of the first locomotive (14/12A) responsive to the operating condition and the location of the first locomotive (14/12A), determining a second control aspect of the second locomotive (12B) responsive to the operating condition and the location of the second locomotive (12B), and controlling the first (14/12A) and the second (12B) locomotives according to the first control aspect and the second control aspect, respectively. |
| US08239077B2 |
Method and device for detecting noise on a guide signal of LOC type received by an aircraft
A method and a device for an aircraft for detecting noise in a signal of LOC type. A first step includes estimating a first lateral speed of the aircraft according to a first set of parameters. Concurrently, at least one second lateral speed of the aircraft is estimated according to at least one second set of parameters, among which at least one parameter is of different nature from each parameter of the first set of parameters. A second step includes comparing the first lateral speed and the at least one second lateral speed according to a threshold. If the difference between the first lateral speed and the at least one second lateral speed is greater than the threshold, the presence of noise in the signal of LOC type is detected. |
| US08239075B2 |
Detection of errors in data relating to the actuation of a vehicle member
The invention relates to a method for the transmission of data relating to the actuation of a member used to operate a vehicle, in which code words are transmitted along the length of a given channel, each of said code words resulting from the channel coding of a block of information symbols that is representative of the aforementioned data. According to the invention, at least two such successive blocks of information symbols are coded using two different codes. The invention also relates to a data transmission system that is used to implement said method. |
| US08239074B2 |
Generating a nonlinear function for fan control
System and method for controlling a fan. A value may be received for controlling the fan. The value may include a first number of bits and may correspond to a linear function of temperature. A first value may be determined using a first number of bits of the value. A modification to the first value may be determined based on a second number of bits of the value. A new output value may be generated based on the first value and the modification to the first value. The new output value may correspond to a first nonlinear function of temperature. The new output value may be provided for controlling the fan. |
| US08239073B2 |
Systems and methods for controlling energy consumption
In particular embodiments, an energy gateway is described that is configured to receive power usage information from one or more power meters, transmit the power usage information to an energy management server, receive control signals from the energy management server, transmit the control signals to the one or more power switches and execute localized pre-programmed rules. |
| US08239072B2 |
Wind power plant, wind power plant controller and method of controlling a wind power plant
A wind power plant, a wind power plant controller and a method of controlling a wind power plant are provided. The method includes a) preparing a telegram comprising wind turbine controlling data for one of the plurality of wind turbines of the wind power plant; b) sending the telegram to the wind turbine upon completion of the telegram; and c) successively repeating steps a) and b) for each of the remaining wind turbines. An initial response time of the wind power plant is shortened; thus, initial response time requirements of the wind power plant specified by grid codes may be fulfilled more easily. |
| US08239071B2 |
Method for controlling at least one adjustment mechanism of a wind turbine, a wind turbine and a wind park
Method for controlling at least one adjustment mechanism of a wind turbine, said method comprising the steps of: establishing at least one load or operational value of the wind turbine, choosing a combination of at least two control strategies from a set of different control strategies based on the established at least one load or operational value, and applying the chosen combination of control strategies to control said at least one adjustment mechanism. The invention also relates to a wind turbine and a wind park. |
| US08239069B2 |
Auto-tuning electro-hydraulic valve
A flow control valve includes a housing that includes a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet, a first work port and a second work port. The housing defines a spool bore and a pilot spool bore. A main stage spool is disposed in the spool bore. A pilot stage spool is disposed in the pilot spool bore. The pilot stage spool is in selective fluid communication with the main stage spool. A microprocessor includes a controller having a restricted structured controller and a compensation controller. Outputs of the restricted structured controller and the compensation controller are summed to form an electrical signal that is communicated to the pilot stage spool. |
| US08239068B1 |
Method and system for cooperative powering of unitary air conditioners
A method and system provide for the cooperative powering of unitary air conditioners. The method and system includes coordinating powering of unitary air conditioners in a multiunit building or other low level of aggregation in a power grid. Multiple unitary air conditioners can use a power line communication (PLC) communication module for communicating with other air conditioners that are within the same multiunit building. According to one aspect of the method and system, by using power line communications, multiple unitary air conditioners within a single building can form self-contained local area networks. The LAN can also support a token ring network. According to this token ring network, a predetermined number of tokens can be assigned within the token ring network. |
| US08239067B2 |
Controller interface with separate schedule review mode
The controller may be equipped with a user interface that allows the user to monitor and adjust various parameters of the controller. With more modern designs, the user interface typically comprises a liquid crystal display (LCD) or light emitting diode (LED) display inset within a controller housing that contains a microprocessor or the like, an I/O interface, and other components of the controller. The user interface may include a menu-driven interface that allows the user to scroll through one or more menus or screens to adjust the different settings on the controller. In some cases, a routine programmed within the controller prompts the user at each menu or screen to input various commands into the interface to adjust the controller settings. |
| US08239063B2 |
Servo motor monitoring and hood/deck exchange to enhance the interior coating process
A method and system for handling a swing metal panel using a robot's drive axis servo motor feedback to eliminate the need for the sensors and breakaway devices is provided. Using the servo motor feedback for this function reduces cost and improves reliability. The method also applies the servo motor feedback to hold a panel in position and exchange the panel between robots during the painting or coating process. |
| US08239061B2 |
Specific gravity monitoring and sorting system
Objects are sorted according to specific gravity by illuminating the objects with near-infrared light with different wavelengths. Measurement of the light absorbed by each object at the different wavelengths permits a dry matter content of the object to be determined. Specific gravity can then be determined using a predetermined correlation between dry matter content and specific gravity. A sorting mechanism responsive to determination of specific gravity by the controller separates the food objects into at least two different groups corresponding to different specific gravity. |
| US08239054B2 |
Manufacturing resource planning using a component management system
Order information is received for an order executable using a computer system to assemble a product from a plurality of components at a manufacturing location. A real-time record associated with the manufacturing location and being kept updated substantially in real time with order changes is updated with the order information, the real-time record associating the order with the plurality of components. For each of the plurality of components, it is determined whether a component change due to the order information meets a component-specific change criterion associated with the component. A static record is updated with the component change for any of the plurality of components required for the order where the component-specific change criterion is met. After the static record is updated, a management process configured to manage supply of at least one of the plurality of components according to the static record is initiated for the manufacturing location. |
| US08239053B2 |
Method and system for setting rates and targets in a range management system
A method and apparatus includes determining a number of planned starts of a product during a predetermined time period for future processing, averaging the number of planned starts for the predetermined time period, and setting a production rate for a first range based on the average number of planned starts. |
| US08239049B2 |
Playing state presentation system, playing state presentation device, playing state presentation method, and playing state presentation program
A playing state presentation system has a contents server for supplying consecutive contents data, and a contents playing device for obtaining and playing the contents data. The contents playing device includes: a reception unit for receiving the contents data from the contents server by wireless communication; a supplying unit for supplying the contents data to a playing unit which successively plays the contents data received by the reception unit, with the contents data being supplied at a supply speed unique to the contents data; a playing state prediction unit for predicting whether or not the contents data can be continuously played at the playing unit, as a playing state; and a presentation unit for presenting the predicted playing state. |
| US08239045B2 |
Device and method for retaining a medical device within a vessel
A method and apparatus for retaining a medical device within a blood vessel are described. A medical device (e.g. a pulse generator or a lead) is positioned within a blood vessel. An expandable the retention sleeve is passed into the vessel adjacent to the medical device and expanded to an expanded position to engage the medical device between an exterior surface of the retention sleeve and a surface of the vessel. |
| US08239042B2 |
Operating room lead connector
An operating room connector is used in conjunction with a multiple electrode SCS system which can easily detach and connect to an external trial stimulator (ETS). By connecting the electrode SCS system to a stylet handle, and then locking the stylet handle within a slot of the connector platform, a user is able to minimize the required steps in connecting the ETS to the implanted SCS lead system. The ETS can then be used to readjust the position of the electrode array(s) previously implanted to deliver an optimal stimulation therapy. |
| US08239041B2 |
Multilayer helical wave filter for medical therapeutic or diagnostic applications
A multilayer helical wave filter having a primary resonance at a selected RF diagnostic or therapeutic frequency or frequency range, includes an elongated conductor forming at least a portion of an implantable medical lead. The elongated conductor includes a first helically wound segment having at least one planar surface, a first end and a second end, which forms a first inductive component, and a second helically wound segment having at least one planar surface, a first end and a second end, which forms a second inductive element. The first and second helically wound segments are wound in the same longitudinal direction and share a common longitudinal axis. Planar surfaces of the helically wound segments face one another, and a dielectric material is disposed between the facing planar surfaces of the helically wound segments and between adjacent coils of the helically wound segments, thereby forming a capacitance. |
| US08239036B2 |
Method of improving electrode tissue interface
A critical element of a retinal prosthesis is the stimulating electrode array, which is placed in close proximity to the retina. It is via this interface that a retinal prosthesis electrically stimulates nerve cells to produce the perception of light. The impedance load seen by the current driver consists of the tissue resistance and the complex electrode impedance. The results show that the tissue resistance of the retina is significantly greater than that of the vitreous humor in the eye. Circuit models of the electrode-retina interface are used to parameterize the different contributors to the overall impedance. |
| US08239034B2 |
Visual prosthesis
A method to provide visual current feedback of a retinal stimulation system. The method comprising: providing a retinal stimulation system configured to stimulate neural tissue in a subject's eye, the retinal stimulation system comprising: an electronics package; and at least a first and a second electrode, each associated with the electronics package and configured to apply current to a subject's retina; wherein current to be applied by the first electrode and the second electrode is configured to be higher for the first electrode when the first electrode has an impedance lower than a second electrode's impedance; and providing a visual interface configured to show impedance of at least one of the electrodes. |
| US08239032B2 |
Audiotactile vision substitution system
One embodiment a vision substitution system for communicating audio and tactile representations of features within visual representations includes selecting (1) activity-related parameters; obtaining (2) images or other visual representations according to the activity-related parameters; acquiring (3) features including shapes and corners related to the visual representations according to the activity-related parameters; and outputting (4) effects related to the features on audio and/or tactile displays according to the activity-related parameters. The corners of shapes and other lineal features are emphasized via special audio and tactile effects while apparently-moving effects trace out perimeters and/or shapes. Coded impulse effects communicate categorical visual information. Special speech and braille codes can communicate encoded categorical properties and the arrangements of properties. |
| US08239028B2 |
Use of cardiac parameters in methods and systems for treating a chronic medical condition
Disclosed herein are methods, systems, and apparatus for treating a chronic medical condition in a patient. A time of beat sequence of the patient's heart is determined. A regulatory system parameter is determined based on the time of beat sequence. The parameter is indicative of a stress level of the patient's regulatory adaptation systems. The determined regulatory system parameter is compared with a threshold regulatory system parameter value. An electrical signal is applied to a neural structure of the patient to treat the chronic medical condition if the determined regulatory system parameter exceeds the threshold regulatory system parameter value. |
| US08239020B2 |
Implantable medical device sensing wireless ECG as substitute for intracardiac electrogram
A cardiac rhythm management (CRM) system includes an implantable medical device that senses a wireless electrocardiogram (ECG), which is a signal sensed with implantable electrodes and approximating a surface ECG. In one embodiment, the wireless ECG is sensed as a substitute signal for the intracardiac electrogram when the sensing of the intracardiac electrogram becomes unreliable. |
| US08239017B2 |
Device for treatment of barrier membranes
The present invention features a device having a barrier membrane contacting surface, the device containing: a power source; a first conductive electrode; a second conductive electrode; and a carrier; wherein the power source is in electric communication with the first conductive electrode and the second conductive electrode, wherein the first conductive electrode and the second conductive electrode are in ionic communication with the carrier, and wherein the carrier is in communication with the barrier membrane contacting surface. |
| US08239014B2 |
Sequential low energy neurofeedback treatment
The dominant brain wave frequencies of a patient are measured by an electroencephalogram (EEG) with a plurality of leads over the head and scalp. In a process for low energy neuro-feedback, the therapeutically beneficial low power RF field is sequentially applied via the same at a different frequency, which is generally offset from the dominant frequency by 5 to 20 Hz. The order of applying these low power stimuli to the different leads is optimized based on the activity observed at each lead and its variation over time. Leads positions having a greater Coefficient of Variation are treated first. |
| US08239001B2 |
Method and apparatus for surgical navigation
A surgical navigation system for navigating a region of a patient that may include a non-invasive dynamic reference frame and/or fiducial marker, sensor tipped instruments, and isolator circuits. The dynamic reference frame may be placed on the patient in a precise location for guiding the instruments. The dynamic reference frames may be fixedly placed on the patient. Also the dynamic reference frames may be placed to allow generally natural movements of soft tissue relative to the dynamic reference frames. Also methods are provided to determine positions of the dynamic reference frames. Anatomical landmarks may be determined intra-operatively and without access to the anatomical structure. |
| US08239000B1 |
Dimensional approach to identifying emotional responses using functional brain imaging
The present invention concerns methods for evaluating the emotional response to stimuli, such as marketing communications. The present invention includes a method for correlating an emotional response to brain imaging data, a method identifying an emotional response to a stimulus, and a system for identifying an emotional response to a stimulus. The present invention can incorporate a psychological non-verbal measure, such as AdSAM®, and a neural-physiological measure, functional brain imaging, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), or other functional brain imaging modality. For example, in marketing communication research, the emotional response data can be determined for such things as product concepts, advertising (concept and/or finished ads), product attributes, product benefits, brands, logos, tag lines, packaging, music, etc. The method of the invention can also be used to assess emotional response to different purchase options (e.g., retail vs. online), lifestyle issues, product usage situations, and other scenarios. In personnel management studies, the method of the invention can be used to measure employee satisfaction or employee morale. |
| US08238999B2 |
Method for display of at least one medical finding
In a method for display of at least one medical finding, at least one part of a body of a patient is shown on a display medium in a body view. A localization in the body of the patient is associated with each finding, and the localizations are marked at a point in the body view corresponding to the localization. The display medium is interactively operable, and a data set associated with the corresponding finding is displayed on the display medium by interaction with a marked localization. |
| US08238994B2 |
Adjusting parameters used in pulse oximetry analysis
Adjusting a pulse qualification criterion includes receiving a signal representing a plurality of pulses, where the signal is generated in response to detecting light scattered from blood perfused tissue. A characteristic is determined. A pulse qualification criterion used for qualifying a pulse is adjusted in accordance with the characteristic. The pulses are evaluated according to the pulse qualification criterion. |
| US08238992B2 |
Arrangement for current limiting
An arrangement is specified for current limiting having a superconducting cable (SK) which is arranged in a cryostat (KR) which has an outer wall which comprises two metallic tubes (1, 2) which are arranged concentrically with respect to one another and between which vacuum insulation (3) is incorporated. The cryostat (KR) surrounds a free space (FR) for a coolant to pass through, in which free space (FR) the superconducting cable (SK) is arranged. It also has an inner wall (IW) which surrounds a cylindrical cavity (HR) and likewise comprises two metallic tubes (4, 5) which are arranged concentrically with respect to one another, between which vacuum insulation (6) is incorporated, and which is located within the outer wall (AW) and is separated therefrom by the free space (FR). The superconducting cable (SK) which has a superconducting conductor, a dielectric surrounding the same and a superconducting screen which is arranged above the same, is wound in a helical shape around the inner wall (IW). An iron core (7) is arranged in the cylindrical cavity (HR). |
| US08238989B2 |
RF component with a superconducting area having higher current density than a non-superconducting area
A Radio Frequency (RF) component comprising a non-superconducting material, and a superconducting material, wherein the superconducting material is disposed in one or more areas of the RF component such that the areas with superconducting material conduct greater current density than do areas with the non-superconducting material. |
| US08238988B2 |
Apparatus and method for cooling a superconducting magnetic assembly
A superconducting magnet assembly and method of cooling a superconducting magnet assembly. An embodiment of the method of manufacturing a superconducting magnet assembly includes: providing a housing configured about a vacuum reservoir; forming a coil former; surrounding the coil former with a thermal shield; locating the thermal shield in the vacuum reservoir; positioning a superconducting magnet about the coil former, wherein the superconducting magnet is configured about a central core to receive an object; providing a second vacuum reservoir having a cryogen reservoir therein; providing two two-phase heat transfer devices wherein each comprises tubing having an evaporator region and a condenser region; thermally connecting the evaporator region of one of the heat transfer devices with the coil former and/or the superconducting magnet and the evaporator region of the other two-phase heat transfer device with the thermal shield; and thermally connecting a cryocooler to the cryogen reservoir and to the condensing region of both heat transfer devices. |
| US08238987B2 |
Retractable antenna structure for use in telecommunications device
The invention relates to a retractable antenna structure for use in a telecommunications device. The antenna structure comprising a slide portion adapted for movably mounting the antenna structure in a cavity of a telecommunications device, such that the antenna structure is retractable into the cavity for storage and extensible from the cavity for operation, and an antenna portion carrying a flat radiation element for establishing at least one wireless network connection. The antenna portion comprises a first wing carrying a first part of the radiation element and a second wing carrying a second part of the radiation element. The wings are pivotally connected to each other between a storage position in which the wings lie on top of each other and an operational position in which the wings are spaced apart. The antenna portion further comprises at least one resilient member acting on at least one of the wings for spacing the wings apart. The invention further relates to a telecommunications device equipped with the antenna structure, such as a PCMCIA telecommunications card or a laptop computer. |
| US08238986B2 |
Tilt-type sliding module for mobile phone and terminal holder using the same
Provided are a tilt-type sliding module for a mobile phone and a terminal holder using the tilt-type sliding module, which enable a display unit of the mobile phone to perform a planar sliding motion and at the same time, to perform a tilt motion for inclining upwardly, thereby providing optimal convenience according to a user's purpose. The tilt-type sliding module allows a stable tilt motion of the display unit of the mobile phone by means of: a control bracket for controlling a rotation motion of a tilt rotation portion formed on each of both ends of a frame and a rotation motion and a lock motion of the tilt rotation portion by being fixedly coupled to an intermediate member of the mobile phone; a stopper shaft; and a spring ball. |
| US08238985B2 |
Information processing apparatus
An information processing apparatus includes: a first casing; a second casing; a detecting portion that detects whether the first and the second casings are in a closed state or in a turnover open state; a volatile storage medium that stores a first number and a second number indicating the number of times of the closed state and the turnover open state respectively; and an accumulating portion that controls a nonvolatile storage medium to store the first number and the second number updated when the first number is dividable by a first predetermined number or when the second number is dividable by a second predetermined number. |
| US08238983B2 |
Multiple network wake-up
In a mobile communication device, a method for determining the existence of one or more pending messages, the method including exiting from a power-save mode of operation, in which the mobile communication device does not receive messages; selecting for communication, one of a plurality of communication paths, the selecting based on at least one of a plurality of conditions associated with the one of the plurality of communication paths; and attempting to communicate over the one of the plurality of communication paths to check for pending messages. The plurality of communication paths includes at least a first and a second communication path. The attempting to communicate over the one of the plurality of communication paths includes attempting to communicate over the first communication path to check for the pending messages by communicating with a message server over the first communication path. |
| US08238982B2 |
System and method for facilitating short-range wireless communications between a mobile wireless device and an auxiliary system
The present invention relates to a system and method for facilitating short-range wireless communications between a mobile wireless device and an auxiliary device. The wireless device includes a short-range transceiver for communicating with an auxiliary device; a signal module for providing a mode control signal; and, a control module for controllably shifting a short-range transceiver between a power saver mode and a search mode based on the mode control signal received from the signal module. When in the search mode, the short-range transceiver is operable to search for the auxiliary device to communicate therewith. When in a power saver mode, the short-range transceiver is not operable to search for the auxiliary device. |
| US08238981B2 |
Managing power supply transients
In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a voltage regulator, an amplifier, and control logic. The regulator may receive a supply voltage and output a regulated voltage to an intermediate node. In turn, the amplifier is to be powered by the regulated voltage, while the control logic is coupled to the voltage regulator to cause a change in the regulated voltage to a safe voltage before one or more gain stages of the amplifier is to be coupled to or decoupled from an output signal path. |
| US08238972B2 |
Device, system, and method for providing wireless data access, digital TV access, radio, and storage capability
A portable memory device dimensioned and configured as any of a removable flash memory card, a USB flash drive, and a jump drive and a method of wireless communication, wherein the portable memory device comprises a single housing component; a data storage component within the single housing component; and a wireless receiver operatively connected to the data storage component and within the single housing component, wherein the wireless receiver is adapted to receive wireless signals comprising radio signals, satellite signals, TV signals, and Bluetooth™ specification signals, and wherein the wireless receiver is adapted to wirelessly communicate with a LAN. The portable memory device may further comprise an interface component adapted to connect to a host computing device. Preferably, the TV signals comprise mobile TV signals. |
| US08238967B1 |
Controlling a wireless device with a wireless headset
A wireless communication apparatus that comprises a wireless device and a wireless headset is described. Additionally, a method for controlling the operations of a wireless communications apparatus is also described. The wireless device is configured to communicate with at least one remote base station using at least one communication standard. The wireless device is configured to perform at least one local application by locally processing computer instructions. The wireless headset is communicatively coupled to the wireless device and comprises a headset communications module, a headset selection means, and a headset display. The headset wireless communications module is configured to wirelessly communicate with the wireless device. The headset scrolling wheel is configured to control the local application on the wireless device from the headset. The headset display is configured to present a synchronized output that is synchronized with the local application that is executed on the wireless device. |
| US08238964B2 |
Access network selection method
An access network selection method in a communications network having access networks is disclosed that includes notifying devices in calling-side and called-side networks of the identifiers of currently available access networks and user preferences; making a list of candidates for an access network to be assigned to the called-side terminal, and transmitting the list to the device in the calling-side network; determining an access network to be assigned to the calling-side terminal in response to reception of the list, and notifying the calling-side terminal of the determined access network; notifying the device in the called-side network of the type of the access network assigned to the calling-side terminal; and determining the access network to be assigned to the called-side terminal in response to reception of the signal of the type of the access network assigned to the calling-side terminal, and notifying the called-side terminal of the determined access network. |
| US08238961B2 |
Low radiation wireless communicator
A wireless communicator, including a modem operable to transmit and receive voice communication phone calls, a power amplifier coupled with the modem operable to dynamically apply a variable gain factor to voice communications transmitted by the modem, to produce an appropriate power output, and a controller coupled with the modem including a radiation monitor operable to monitor the power output of the power amplifier, the controller being operable to restrict operation of the modem, based on data provided by the radiation monitor, when the cumulative power output produced by the power amplifier exceeds a pre-designated daily cumulative power limit. |
| US08238958B2 |
Method, apparatus, and system for uplink modulation and coding scheme selection
The subject matter disclosed herein provides methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for selecting a modulation and coding scheme. In one aspect, there is provided a method. The method may receive information representative of a first normalized channel characteristic power associated with a downlink and receiving information representative of a second normalized channel characteristic power associated with an uplink. A predicted normalized channel characteristic power of the uplink may be determined based on the first normalized channel characteristic power and the second normalized channel characteristic power. Related systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles are also described. |
| US08238955B2 |
Radio communication method and radio communication device
The radio communication method for transmitting a burst signal including a synchronization identification signal and a data signal according to the present invention comprises a step for comparing the error tolerances of the synchronization identification signal and the data signal and a step for varying transmission power(s) of one or both of the synchronization identification signal and the data signal in accordance with the error tolerances compared (FIG. 3). |
| US08238952B1 |
Facilitating a text message conversation using tele-links
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for facilitating a text message conversation using tele-links. During operation, the system receives a text message from a service at a mobile device, wherein the text message includes a tele-link, wherein the tele-link is comprised of a phone number. Next, the system receives a selection of the tele-link from a user at the mobile device. In response to the selection, the system then automatically initiates a call from the mobile device to a number indicated by the tele-link, wherein the act of calling the number results in the service sending a second text message to the mobile device. Finally, the system receives the second text message from the service at the mobile device. |
| US08238951B2 |
System and method for providing mobile device services using SMS communications
An enhanced services platform said platform includes an interface for receiving a communication from a user requesting a desired data. A response module parses the communication and retries the desired data. The platform arranges the desired data into a response message that is sent to the user. A user identifier database module stores information about the users in a user profile that including at least a preferences field and a preference value field identifying relative values of user preferences stored in the preference field, wherein when a preference having a higher ranking in the preference value field is non available, a second preference having a lower ranking in the preference value field is utilized. |
| US08238942B2 |
Wireless station location detection
A technique for locating a device uses connectivity to find a distance between an access point (AP) and a device. The AP transmits a frame to a device and receives an acknowledgement frame from the device. The amount of time for a signal to pass between the AP and the device is estimated and multiplied by the speed of light to find the distance between the AP and the device. |
| US08238936B2 |
Method and system for tracking and determining a location of a wireless transmission
An apparatus for detecting and timing a transmitting device is disclosed. The device includes a receiving system receiving a signal containing at least a preamble code of a known length and at least one pulse within a receive window after the preamble code, a circuit receiving the at least one pulse comprising a zero-crossing circuit for indicting a zero-voltage crossing of the at least one pulse and a trigger device for latching the indication of zero-voltage crossing, and a ripple circuit counter, receiving the latched indication of said zero-voltage crossing and associating a time to the receipt of the latched indication. A system for detecting and locating a transmitting device is further disclosed. The system includes a plurality of sensor apparatus each determining a reception time of a signal and a processor for determining a location based on groups of the reception times. |
| US08238934B2 |
Wireless remote location system and method
A wireless subscriber unit for a tracking and locating system and method is disclosed. The locating system provides positional information of remote locator devices in the form of images viewable by subscribers over a network. |
| US08238933B2 |
Selecting receiver parameters based upon transmitting device identification via transmission characteristics
A wireless device includes at least one antenna, an RF interface, and processing circuitry coupled to the RF interface and indirectly to the at least one antenna. The wireless device identifies other wireless devices that service based upon transmission characteristics of wireless signals received from other wireless devices and/or relative positions of the other wireless devices with respect to itself. In a first operational period, the wireless device determines transmission characteristics of the other wireless devices. Then, during a second operational period, without further interaction with the other wireless devices, the wireless device determines communication link characteristics based simply upon transmission characteristics of the other wireless devices. |
| US08238925B2 |
Hybrid QoS access method for power save stations
A hybrid QoS access method for a wireless station, such as a power-save VoIP station, where a first method, such as “reverse polling” is used on a lightly loaded channel and a second method, e.g. unscheduled polled access, is used to mitigate contention when the channel is becomes more heavily loaded. |
| US08238921B2 |
User zone information transmission management
A detecting base station transmits user zone information to wireless communication device when the presence of a wireless communication device is detected. A detecting base station receives a detection signal, such as an uplink signal, transmitted from the wireless communication device to determine the presence of the wireless communication device. The detecting base station notifies the core network the detection by transmitting a device proximity message and, after receiving authorization from the network, transmits the user zone information within the broadcast channel used by the originating base station communicating to the wireless communication device. |
| US08238919B2 |
3G/GSM and WLAN integration of telephony
A Dual mode mobile terminal (MT2) comprising a WLAN interface (WLAN_NIC) and a cellular radio interface (GSM_NIC) has been described wherein when receiving a Page Request message over the cellular radio interface (GSM_NIC), indicating an incoming voice call over the cellular radio interface, or upon receiving an indication from the user of the dual mode terminal to perform an outgoing voice call, performing a determination as to whether a WLAN coverage is possible from an AP providing WLAN telephony calls, and if so responding, by issuing a WLAN call message to a WLAN AP over the WLAN interface to an interworking node (IWFN). There is moreover provided an Inter-working node (IWFN) comprising a cellular control unit (CTRL_SIP), a cellular unit (GSM_U), a voice over IP unit (VO_IP) and a router (R), which upon receiving a WLAN call from a dual mode terminal via a WLAN AP, is establishing a connection against a serving mobile switching center (S_MSC/VLR), is performing a call initiation procedure, a assign traffic channel procedure and a call confirmation and call accepted procedure between the dual mode terminal (MT2) and the serving switching mode center (S_MSC/VLR), is initiating duplex GSM/IP translation and is routing the cellular call between the AP and the serving mobile switching center (S_MSC). |
| US08238915B2 |
Systems and methods for locating communication terminals in cellular networks
Methods and systems in a wireless communication network for determining respective distances between a given base transceiver station and one or more other base transceiver stations. An effective location of the given base transceiver station may be calculated that is different from its physical location. The effective location may be use to report an estimated location of a communication terminal communicating with the given base transceiver station. The estimated location may be provided in networks that support both a hard handover or soft handover of the communication terminal between the given base transceiver station and the one or more other base transceiver stations. |
| US08238908B2 |
Method and system for network logout for a mobile station in idle mode
A method for network logout for a mobile station (MS) in IDLE mode. The method includes performing network logout upon the MS by a network side, releasing the resources associated with the MS and deleting the context of the MS. A system for network logout for a mobile station in IDLE mode. MS location update procedures, conducted by the network side, in various situations enables the paging controller or other network entity to delete the context of the MS and also provides network logout processing in the scenarios when the network resources are in congestion, the location update of the network side times out and the network side varies with the service policy. |
| US08238904B2 |
Method for allowing access to services offered by an intelligent mobile communications network
A method of making network services available to a subscriber of a first mobile communications network when the subscriber roams in a second mobile communications network. The method includes: intercepting a signaling message issued by a service switching function of the second mobile communications network as a consequence to a service request by the subscriber; checking the intercepted signaling message; and based on the check, updating the intercepted signaling message so as to include service addressing data adapted to invoke a service in the first mobile communications network. |
| US08238903B2 |
Methods for optimizing the performance, cost and constellation design of satellites for full and partial earth coverage
A system and method for highly efficient constellations of satellites which give single, double, . . . k-fold redundant full earth imaging coverage, or k-fold coverage for latitudes greater than any selected latitude is given for remote sensing instruments in short periods of time, i.e., continuous coverage, as a function of the parameters of the satellite and the remote sensing instrument for many different types of orbits. A high data rate satellite communication system and method for use with small, mobile cell phone receiving and transmitting stations is also provided. Satellite instrument performance models, full and partial satellite constellation models, and satellite cost models are disclosed and used to optimize the design of satellite systems with vastly improved performance and lower cost over current major satellite systems. |
| US08238902B2 |
Wireless DECT phone adaptor
An embodiment of a method for initiating an outgoing call from a cellular handset to a fixed network using a DECT base station includes receiving an outgoing call request from a cellular handset by an adaptor module in communication with the cellular handset. The outgoing call request includes a request to establish a call session with a communication device over a fixed network. The method further includes sending a call set-up message to a DECT base station in response to receiving the outgoing call request. The DECT base station is configured to initiate an outgoing call to the communication device over the fixed network in response receiving the call set-up message. The method further includes receiving a call connect message from the DECT base station, and establishing a call session between the cellular handset and the communication device. |
| US08238900B2 |
Management of anticipated data outages in a Push-to-X communication system
A mobile station (129) will have the capability to detect an impending cell change and Routing Area Update (RAU) and will send a “Request Deny” message to the network via the serving cell prior to handing over. The PTT server (131) will use the Request Deny message as an indication that an inter-SGSN RAU may be occurring. The PTT server (131) will wait for the mobile station to reappear, after handover, on a new cell. If the mobile does not reappear, an inter-SGSN RAU may be assumed and the PTT server (131) will release the floor and deny the floor to all mobile stations. This action forces all mobile stations back into idle mode and prevents them from seizing the floor. The PTT server (131) will then wait for the mobile station (129) performing the RAU to reappear on a new cell before opening the floor to all mobile stations. |
| US08238897B2 |
Voice fallback origination for vehicle cellular communication with a call center
A system and method for making vehicle originated calls to a telematics service provider or other call center. The method includes identifying a call type associated with a desired wireless communication of speech or data to the call center, and then carrying out one of a number of different call connection processes depending on the call type. For voice channel cellular connections, an in-band modem cellular connection is preferably established in most instances using a connection retry strategy that includes primary, secondary, and possibly tertiary connection attempts each of which utilize at least one of a number of different voice and data call origination processes. The system and method can be carried out in connection with various cellular system technologies, but is especially suited for use with GSM systems. |
| US08238895B2 |
Method and system for distributing multimedia contents through a wireless communications network, particularly a mobile telephony network
In a wireless communications network having a base station subsystem controlling at least one network cell, and in which the base station subsystem communicates with mobile stations in the cell through radio blocks, a method of distributing information contents received in data packets at the base station subsystem to the mobile stations, includes obtaining, starting from the data packets, radio blocks to be transmitted through the network cell, labeling the radio blocks with a first radio link identifier, identifying a logic connection between a mobile station and the base station subsystem, communicating the first radio link identifier to a first mobile station in the network cell, and in case at least one second mobile station in the network cell, asks to receive the information contents, communicating thereto the first radio link identifier. The method further includes having the first mobile station and the at least one second mobile station assigned respective second radio link identifiers to be included in the radio blocks. |
| US08238890B2 |
Communication connection device
Provided is a communication connection device that, if receiving an incoming call in which a representative telephone number that represents a group of mobile telephones is dialed, ensures that one of users of the mobile telephones answers the incoming call for sure. The communication connection device (i) establishes communication between a call originator and a mobile telephone when receiving a signal from the call originator, (ii) reads first information pieces from a storage device when receiving the signal that contains second information each first information piece being identification information that identifies a different one of a plurality of mobile telephones, the second information being identification information that collectively identifies the mobile telephones as a group, and the storage device having pre-stored therein, in correspondence, the first information pieces and the second information, and (iii) in a predetermined order, calls the mobile telephones identified by the read first information pieces. |
| US08238888B2 |
Methods and systems for mobile coupon placement
In embodiments, the present invention provides for a computer-implemented method for mobile coupon placement on a mobile communication facility including the steps of (a) receiving a navigation request from the mobile communication facility operated by a user, wherein the navigation request comprises an action by the user with the mobile communication facility; (b) receiving information corresponding to a rendering capability of the mobile communication facility; (c) selecting a sponsored mobile coupon based at least in part on a relevance between the navigation request, the rendering capability of the mobile communication facility, and a mobile subscriber characteristic, or usage history characteristic, or geographic datum; and (d) transmitting the sponsored mobile coupon to the mobile communication facility for display thereon. |
| US08238886B2 |
System and method for providing interactive services using a mobile device
A method of providing interactive services to a mobile device, comprising transmitting programming on-air to a first mobile device by a first facility in communication with a service provider and receiving by a second facility in communication with the service provider information based on the programming, wherein the first information comprises information relayed from the first device to the second facility after being processed by a second mobile device, is provided. |
| US08238882B2 |
System and method for storage of electronic mail
A method of storage of an e-mail includes either receiving the e-mail at a portable electronic device or sending the e-mail from the portable electronic device. The e-mail is marked for saving at the portable electronic device and transmitted by radio communication for receipt by a server and for storage of the e-mail in a backup database. |
| US08238880B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing authentication of mobile terminal
The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for processing an authentication of a mobile terminal, wherein the method includes: a network side receiving an image identity message from a mobile terminal, wherein the image identity message carries current image feature information and a user identifier of the mobile terminal; and searching image feature information which is saved previously in a database by the user identifier of the mobile terminal, performing a corresponding algorithm match between the current image feature information and the image feature information according to a preset security level, and performing an authentication on the mobile terminal based on the result of the match. By means of the technical solution of the present invention applying, the image information collected by photo shooting is used as an identity identification password, therefore, the identity authentications of different security levels can be provided, and the security and the expansibility of the identity authentication of the mobile terminal is increased greatly. |
| US08238878B2 |
Image security method and display method of portable terminal
An image security method and display method of a portable terminal are provided. The image security method includes photographing an image through a camera, storing the image, and storing Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) information of the portable terminal in EXchangeable Image File (EXIF) information of the image. The image display play method includes executing an image view, comparing Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) information of the portable terminal with SIM information within EXchangeable Image File (EXIF) information of an image stored in the portable terminal, and displaying an image depending on the comparison result. |
| US08238877B2 |
Access technology independent identifier generation
A network system for communicating with mobile nodes has multiple gateways that can operate with each using a different access technology. In an IPv6 system, the access gateways each provide an interface identifier to the mobile nodes using the same one or more keys and hash so that different the same interface identifier regardless of the access technology used. The access gateways can have multiple options for using keys and/or hashes to provide an interface identifier such that the method for determining the interface identifier is configurable. |
| US08238876B2 |
Notifications
Notification techniques are described. In an implementation, an unlock screen is displayed by a mobile communications device that indicates that one or more keys of the mobile communications device are locked. If an input is detected at the mobile communications device to remove the lock, an animation is displayed that gives an appearance that the unlock screen is a page that is being turned and removing the lock of the one or more keys. |
| US08238869B2 |
Lifesaver personal alert and notification device
Systems and methods of alert and notification transmission are contemplated in which a low-range transceiver provides an alert/notification to a plurality of users having a wearable transceiver. Most typically, the low-range transceiver (a) is located in a wide area notification zone and a trigger device provides a signal from a wide area notification device to the low-range transceiver and (b) is used to also provide non-emergency notifications to the wearable transceivers. It should be appreciated that transmission of the emergency signal using the low-range transceiver is automatic, while transmission of the non-emergency notifications requires manual user input. |
| US08238868B2 |
Dynamic voltage scaling for packet-based data communication systems
A dynamic voltage scaling system for a packet-based data communication transceiver includes a constant voltage supply, a variable voltage supply, and a voltage control unit. The constant voltage supply is configured to supply a constant voltage to at least one parameter-independent function of the transceiver, and the variable voltage supply is configured to supply a variable voltage in accordance with a control signal to at least one parameter-dependent function of the transceiver. Parameter-independent transceiver functions perform operations independent of a predetermined parameter and parameter-dependent transceiver functions perform operations dependent on the predetermined parameter The voltage control unit is configured to generate the control signal based on information provided by at least one parameter-independent transceiver function about the predetermined parameter. |
| US08238865B2 |
Image calibration and correction for low-IF receivers
Embodiments of a system for calibrating the image rejection of a receiver include an image-rejection correction circuit that modifies the gain and phase of a first channel of a baseband image signal. The image-rejection correction circuit may include a summing circuit and first and second variable-gain elements. In one implementation, a filter receives a corrected first channel from the image-rejection correction circuit and an unmodified second channel of the image signal, while a controller analyzes power measured at the output of the filter, and adjusts the variable-gain elements to reduce the power of the image signal. |
| US08238862B2 |
Layout techniques for frequency translated filters
Embodiments of a SAW-less RF receiver front-end that includes a frequency translated notch filter (FTNF) are presented. An FTNF includes a passive mixer and a baseband impedance. The baseband impedance includes capacitors that form a low-Q band-stop filter. The passive mixer is configured to translate the baseband impedance to a higher frequency. The translated baseband impedance forms a high-Q notch filter and is presented at the input of the FTNF. In an embodiment, the capacitors are implemented using MOS capacitors. In another embodiment, the capacitors are partially formed from MOS capacitors and fringe capacitors. The FTNF can be fully integrated in CMOS IC technology (or others, e.g., Bipolar, BiCMOS, and SiGe) and applied in wireless receiver systems including EDGE/GSM, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Bluetooth, and wireless LANs (e.g., IEEE 802.11). |
| US08238860B2 |
Tuning a second order intercept point of a mixer in a receiver
An IP2 tuning circuit (404, 1004, 1104 and 1404) for tuning the IP2 of a mixer (414 and 415) to minimize second order intermodulation distortion (IMD2) in a receiver (402, 1002, 1102 and 1402) of a transceiver (401, 1001, 1101 and 1401). An operating characteristic of the mixer related to IMD2 is changeable by changing a value of a setting of the mixer. Two tones outside a bandpass of the receiver are injected into the mixer and a calibration tone within the bandpass is produced as a result of IMD2. Alternatively, a DSSS signal is injected into the mixer and the calibration tone is produced at a chip rate of the DSSS signal. The power of the calibration tone is measured at a plurality of values of the settings. Alternatively, a four-level PN DSSS signal of known content is injected into the mixer, and a two-level PN DSSS signal of known content produced therefrom is correlated with a two-level PN DSSS signal of known content produced by a squaring circuit (1468). |
| US08238858B2 |
Communication device, multi-band receiver, and receiver
In a direct-conversion type orthogonal demodulator used in a multi-band receiver, influence to signal-receiving characteristics of the receiver, caused by DC offset drift produced when a band is switched to another, is reduced. In a multi-band receiver including a plurality of orthogonal demodulators each carrying out orthogonal demodulation for each of a plurality of band inputs, a switch which selects one of outputs transmitted from the orthogonal demodulators in accordance with a band-switching control signal, and a high pass filter receiving an output transmitted from the switch, a cut-off frequency of the high pass filter is raised when a band is switched to another, to thereby shorten a convergent time of DC offset drift included in an output signal. |
| US08238856B2 |
Wireless communicating apparatus, receiving method selecting method, and receiving method selecting program
A wireless communicating apparatus is provided which includes two receiving methods, and can determine a favorable receiving method. The wireless communicating apparatus executes, which is provided with the two receiving methods of a first receiving method which is used in a propagation path environment in which it is necessary to reduce the multi-path interference, and a second receiving method which is used in the propagation path environment in which it is not necessary to reduce the multi-path interference, a first determination (step S1) for determining whether or not the fluctuation in time for the path is less than a predetermined threshold, and a second determination (step S2) for determining whether or not the number of the paths is less than a predetermined threshold, and determines (step S3, 4) to use which receiving method of the first receiving method or the second receiving method to communicate via wireless according to a first determination result and a second determination result. |
| US08238853B2 |
Amplitude error de-glitching circuit and method of operating
A power amplifier controller circuit controls a power amplifier based upon an amplitude correction signal indicating the amplitude difference between the amplitude of the input signal and an attenuated amplitude of the output signal. The power amplifier controller circuit comprises an amplitude control loop and a phase control loop. The amplitude control loop adjusts the supply voltage to the power amplifier based upon the amplitude correction signal. The RF power amplifier system may reduce the corrective action of the amplitude loop during periods of relatively rapid changes in amplitude, and thus distortion can be further reduced. |
| US08238849B2 |
Method and system of adaptive predistortion of a wireless transmitter
A method of adaptive predistortion of a power amplifier, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of: storing values of a plurality of corresponding first and second coefficients; selecting one of the stored first coefficients; processing a first signal with the first coefficient to produce an input signal for the power amplifier; amplifying the input signal in the power amplifier to produce an output signal; calculating an error value from the output signal and a previously selected first coefficient; selecting a stored second coefficient corresponding with the previously selected first coefficient; updating the previously selected first coefficient with a value calculated from the error value and the second coefficient; updating the second coefficient; and replacing the previously selected first coefficient and corresponding second coefficient with the updated first and second coefficients respectively. |
| US08238848B2 |
Feed forward noise reduction in a transmitter
A circuit (200, 400, 500, 600, 700) for use in a transmitter in a base station in a wireless cellular access system, comprising a main line with a first filter (210) arranged in the main line with an input side (220) and an output side (230) in the main line. The circuit additionally comprises a feed forward cancellation loop with a second filter (240), the cancellation loop also having an input point (250) and an output point (260). The cancellation loop is connected to the main line with the output point (260) of the cancelation loop being connected to the main line on the output side (230) of the first filter (210). Suitably, the first filter (210) i.e. the main line filter, is a bandpass filter. |
| US08238845B2 |
Radio frequency circuit
A digital-to-analog conversion circuit operates by selectively discharging members of a plurality of capacitors. Charging of the capacitors occurs during a reset period while digital-to-analog conversion occurs as the capacitors are discharged. Those capacitors that are discharged are selected from the plurality of capacitors based on a digital input. The analog output includes the charge discharged from the capacitors. The capacitors are optionally divided into separate capacitor banks. |
| US08238844B2 |
Radio transmitter and radio receiver with channel condition assessment
FM radio transmitter is being widely used in portable devices as a convenient way to output audio contents to ubiquitously available FM radio receivers in cars or homes. However, the signal from the FM radio transmitter may be interfering with the signal being broadcast by an FM radio station. A scan system is incorporated into the FM radio transmitter to quickly and reliably identify a vacant channel for the FM radio transmitter to use. The scan system measures on-channel and out-of-channel signal quality and selects a best channel for transmission based on the measured on-channel and out-of-channel signal quality. The scan system is also incorporated into an FM radio receiver to quickly and reliably tune to a valid channel. The scan system selects the valid channel based on the measured on-channel and out-of-channel signal quality. |
| US08238841B2 |
Wireless transceiver chip and calibration method thereof
A wireless transceiver chip and calibration method thereof are disclosed. The wireless transceiver chip comprises at least one receiver, at least one transmitter, and at least one switch. The switch is connected to the receiver and the transmitter respectively for being applied to switch between the receiver and the transmitter. Practically, the switch is provided within the wireless transceiver chip, such that the pin count of the wireless transceiver chip can be reduced. |
| US08238838B2 |
Calibration of transmit signals in FDD-transceivers
By the present invention a calibration and/or correction of transmit signals in a communication system using Frequency Division Duplex has been disclosed, in particular a method of calibration of a transmit signal to be transmitted in a device simultaneously receiving and transmitting signals in the communication system, wherein the transmit signal and the receive signal are separated by a predetermined frequency band gap. A down-conversion of the transmit signal received in the receiving path to an intermediate frequency is performed, whereby the intermediate frequency corresponds to the frequency band gap reduced by the intermediate frequency of the receive signal. A correction signal is derived from the intermediate received transmit signal and used to calibrate the transmit signal such that non-linearity effects caused by power amplifiers in the transmit path are effectively reduced. The present invention provides the advantages of an improved and simplified architecture and simultaneously of a clearly improved quality of transmit signals. |
| US08238837B2 |
System and method for uplink timing synchronization in conjunction with discontinuous reception
Systems and methods for controlling sounding reference signal transmission are provided; a user equipment starts transmitting the sounding reference signal in anticipation of uplink data transmission, and then discontinues transmitting the sounding reference signal after completion of uplink data transmission. |
| US08238836B2 |
Methods for sending small packets in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network
An improved mechanism is provided that facilitates transmission of small packets within an ad hoc peer-to-peer network. A small packet is identified to a receiver within a control channel so that its lower power can be considered in an interference management protocol implemented among local peer devices. In a traffic slot, a transmitter voluntarily backs down on the transmitter power as a smaller packet will require much lower signal-to-noise ratio. This will improve the signal energy per bit per noise power density for the transmission as well as minimize the interference caused to other wireless communications happening in the same spectrum. |
| US08238833B1 |
System and method for automating network device operability testing
Network device operability testing is performed by defining a universe of possible device states as a combination of network coverages, available network services and possible subscriber features. In one embodiment, each individual combination of network coverage, for a particular service and feature collectively defines a particular device state for operability testing purposes. In one embodiment, test point data may be generated, where each test point corresponds to the device's operability for a particular device state. In another embodiment, state transitions and test point data may be represented as a node-based device state tree, which may navigated for pinpointing the nature and cause of device operability failures. |
| US08238832B1 |
Antenna optimum beam forming for multiple protocol coexistence on a wireless device
In a method for forming beam patterns for a wireless device, the device determines angles of arrival for data signals corresponding to different wireless network protocols, such as Bluetooth signals and wireless local area network signals. The wireless device has multiple antenna array and a beamform controller to selectively transmit and receive data signals along a communication path corresponding to the angle of arrival of the particular protocol data. Data signal transmissions along angles of arrival corresponding to other protocol channels are suppressed to avoid interference between data signals and to allow the wireless device to receive data signals for different protocols simultaneously. |
| US08238831B2 |
Wireless interference mitigation
Mitigating interference in a mobile wireless communication device by using an estimation of the performance impact of interfering signals generated by a wireless cellular transmitter and received by a co-located Bluetooth receiver. Bluetooth frequency channels are marked suitable or unsuitable for transmission based on the performance impact estimation and the state of the wireless cellular and Bluetooth connections. The estimation accounts for properties of the wireless cellular transmitter and Bluetooth receiver as well as operational characteristics of the wireless cellular and Bluetooth connections. |
| US08238823B2 |
Method for ensuring a secure NFC functionality of a wireless mobile communication device and wireless mobile communication device having a secure NFC functionality
The invention provides a method for ensuring a secure NFC functionality of a wireless mobile communication device comprising the steps of detecting the charge state of a first energy source (1) which supplies the voltage for operating the wireless mobile communication device (S1); switching off the first energy source and switching on a second energy source (2), if the detected charge state of the first energy source (1) falls below a threshold (S2); detecting the charge state of the second energy source (2), if an external NFC signal is received (S3); charging of the second energy source via voltage induced by a received NFC signal to allow at least one secure NFC transaction, if the detected charge state of the second energy source (2) is below a threshold (S4). Furthermore the invention provides a wireless mobile communication device having a secure NFC functionality, which is always ready for operation of at least the secure NFC functionality. |
| US08238819B2 |
Systems and methods for inter-system sharing of satellite communications frequencies within a common footprint
Two satellite communications systems can use the same frequency or frequencies in geographically overlapping footprints, without creating undue interference in a given system that is caused by the same frequency signal(s) that is/are used by the other system. In particular, an aggregate Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) of the radioterminals and/or ancillary terrestrial components of a second satellite communications system in the common footprint is sufficiently low, and/or the receive antenna gain of a first satellite communications system is sufficiently low compared to the receive antenna gain of the second satellite communications system, so as to increase an aggregate receiver noise that is seen by the first satellite system receivers by an amount that does not substantially change a Quality of Service (QoS) of the first satellite communications system. |
| US08238818B2 |
Satellite communications systems and methods using radiotelephone location-based beamforming
A processor for use in a satellite communications system includes a selector that is configured to select a subset of a plurality of spatially diverse satellite signals based upon a location of a radioterminal. The processor further includes a signal processor that is configured to detect a return-link transmission from the radioterminal responsive to the selected subset of the spatially diverse satellite signals. The respective spatially diverse satellite signals may include respective signals corresponding to respective antenna elements of a satellite. The selector and the signal processor may be ground based. |
| US08238816B2 |
Satellites and signal distribution methods and off-set pattern for sending signals
The invention relates to methods, systems, and satellites that employ an off-set pattern of spot-beams to transmit signals or television signals over a desired area of the earth. In one example, a heavily populated metropolitan area in the continental United States is covered by at least two patterns of spot-beams, where the patterns are off-set to one another by a lateral or translational displacement, rotation, or both. The off-set patterns can be used in conjunction with existing satellites and systems and incorporated into new satellites and systems. The methods reduce problems associated with the straddling of subscriber areas caused by local-into-local requirements, and advantageously allow increased spot-beam capacity, and the reduction in earth uplink stations. |
| US08238813B1 |
Computationally efficient design for broadcast satellite single wire and/or direct demod interface
A broadcast satellite single wire interface. Such an interface comprises a low noise block amplifier module having multiple outputs, a plurality of filter banks, each filter bank coupled to each of the outputs of the low noise block amplifier module in a respective fashion and comprising a plurality of filters, and a plurality of analog-to-digital (A/D) converters, each A/D converter coupled to a filter in the plurality of filters in the plurality of filter banks in a respective fashion, wherein the A/D converters directly sample incoming downconverted broadcast satellite signals and the sampled incoming downconverted broadcast signals are output on a single wire in a stacked output. |
| US08238812B2 |
Apparatus and method for collaborative hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) in broadband wireless communication using relay station
A collaborative Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) in a broadband wireless communication system using a relay station is provided. A transmitting end includes a distance estimator for estimating a distance to a relay station; a controller for determining whether to execute a collaborative HARQ using the estimated distance to the relay station; and a transmitter for, when the execution of the collaborative HARQ is determined and a retransmission request is received from a receiving end, sending a retransmission packet according to a multiple antenna signal processing scheme by constituting a virtual multiple antenna group with the relay station. |
| US08238809B2 |
Image forming system, image forming apparatus, and control method thereof
An image forming system is provided that alleviates throughput reductions and enables reductions in power consumption and lower noise. The image forming system includes an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording material and a plurality of sheet-conveying devices that convey the recording material. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus includes a storage unit configured to store connecting orders of the plurality of sheet-conveying devices and a determination unit configured to determine which of the sheet-conveying devices should be given notification by an operation start request or an operation end request according to designation information that designates the sheet-conveying device to which the recording material is conveyed and the connecting orders for the plurality of sheet-conveying devices. Further still, the image forming apparatus includes a transmitting unit configured to transmit an operation start request or an operation end request to each determined sheet-conveying device. |
| US08238808B2 |
Method of ensuring a correct lateral registration setting and printing machine suitable therefor
The invention relates to a method of ensuring a correct lateral registration setting, in a digital multi-color electrographic sheet-printing machine, which the sheets adhere to a support, preferably a transport belt, are transported past printing units. |
| US08238804B2 |
Image forming apparatus including forming portion configured to form image on object, light receiving portion configured to receive light from detection area, and determining portion configured to determine position of mark in relative movement direction of object based on comparison
A light receiving portion is configured to receive light that varies with time while a mark formed on an object moves across a detection area. The position of the mark on the object is determined based on comparison of a time-varying level of the light with at least one threshold during movement of the mark on the object across the detection area. The determined position of the mark is corrected by a correction value into a corrected mark position. The correction value is set to a higher value, if the time-varying light level exceeds the threshold or falls below the threshold with a smaller slope while the mark moves across the detection area. An image forming position is adjusted based on the corrected mark position. |
| US08238799B2 |
Cartridge alignment member for aligning with a developer unit in an electrophotographic image forming device
An alignment member is externally disposed on a toner cartridge for alignment with a developer unit in an electrophotographic image forming device. In one embodiment of the invention, the alignment member includes a first portion to properly align the developer unit relative to the toner cartridge and a second portion to maintain the proper alignment of the developer unit. The alignment ensures proper installation of the toner cartridge into the image forming device and prevents undesirable spill of toner. |
| US08238793B2 |
Belt device and image forming apparatus having a belt correcting unit and an adjusting unit
A belt member is supported by a plurality of rollers and moves in a predetermined moving direction. A detecting unit detects a displacement of the belt member in its width direction. A correcting unit moves a second end of a first roller from among the rollers in either one of a forward direction and a backward direction while fixing its first end based on a result of detecting the displacement of the belt member such that a tilt of a rotating shaft of the first roller is changed to correct a meandering of the belt member. An adjusting unit adjusts a fixing position of the first end. |
| US08238792B2 |
Charge eliminator and image forming apparatus having the same
Disclosed are a charge eliminator and an image forming apparatus having the same. The charge eliminator includes a light source array and a light guide member. The light source array includes a plurality of point light sources. The light guide member includes an incidence face through which light generated from the point light sources is introduced. The light guide member guides the light introduced through the incidence face to the photoconductor. A diffusion pattern is provided at the incidence face of the light guide member to diffuse the light introduced through the incidence face. |
| US08238786B2 |
Electrophotographic image forming apparatus with openings for cartridge insertion and removal
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a cartridge supporting member movable between an inside position in the main assembly of the apparatus and an outside position outside the main assembly. The apparatus further includes a first opening through which the cartridge supporting member passes between the inside position and the outside position and a first openable member for openably closing the first opening. A second opening is provided continuing from the first opening and provided above the first opening, with the second opening being effective to permit the cartridge to be removed from the cartridge supporting member in the state that the cartridge supporting member takes the outside position and being effective to permit the supporting member to support the cartridge. The apparatus also includes a second openable member for openably closing the second opening. |
| US08238784B2 |
Process cartridge remanufacturing method
A remanufacturing method includes dismounting, from one end of a drum frame, a supporting member while rotatably supporting one end of a drum and a developing device frame; separating the two frames; dismounting the drum; mounting one end of a fresh drum to the other end of the drum frame; a refilling developer into a developer accommodating portion of the separated developing device frame; and swingably connecting the developing device frame and the drum frame by mounting the supporting member to one end of the drum frame, while rotatably supporting, by the supporting member, the one end of the drum of the drum frame to which the fresh drum has been mounted and swingably supporting the one end of the developing device frame to the developer accommodating portion of which the developer has been refilled, by the drum frame. |
| US08238783B2 |
Multi-function printer
A multi-function printer includes an image forming unit and a scanner unit. The image forming unit includes a body casing, a developing unit having a developing roller extending in a lateral direction, a developer cartridge provided on one side of the axis of the developing roller and detachably attached to the body casing, a discharge tray, a side cover, a support unit for supporting the developer cartridge such that the developer cartridge is detachably attached to a front side of the body casing, a sheet feeding tray detachably attachable to the front side of the body casing, and a discharge unit provided on the front side of the body casing and discharging sheet on which an image is formed to the rear side of the body casing. The scanner unit is provided above the image forming unit having a predetermined space opened on the one side therebetween. |
| US08238780B2 |
Wiping assembly in an image forming device
The invention provides a wiping assembly in an image forming device, to clean at least one sensor lens in the image forming device. The wiping assembly includes a bracket to move between a first position and a second position across the sensor lens. Further, the wiping assembly includes a wiper to clean the sensor lens. The wiper is located between the bracket and a sensor housing, which supports the sensor lens. The wiping assembly includes a spring to actuate the movement of the bracket between the first position and the second position. The movement of the bracket is actuated by the movement of a print media tray and/or the movement of a toner cartridge. |
| US08238770B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus
A fixing device includes a fixing roller, a pressure roller and a soaking roller. Temperature of the soaking roller, which contacts with the pressure roller, is measured by a temperature measurement section. This makes it possible to precisely estimate the temperature distribution of the fixing roller and the pressure roller including a non-paper feed area of paper sheets. Based on the temperature of the soaking roller, fixing operation is controlled by a fixing operation control section. Thereby, optimal control can be implemented to suppress the temperature rise in the non-paper feed area according to the estimated temperature distribution of the fixing roller and the pressure roller. |
| US08238769B2 |
Electrostatic disturbance used in a timing routine for HVPS switching in a pressure transfer system involving BTB or BTR
This disclosure is directed to systems and methods for calibrating, to a higher level of precision, the timing of operation of a bias transfer element in an image forming device. Specifically, the systems and methods are directed to calibrating the timing of forward and reverse biasing in a document processing apparatus to account for myriad mechanical and environmental disturbances. |
| US08238762B2 |
Method and arrangements for improving signal quality
The invention relates to a bandpass filter (OFI) which is mounted downstream of an optical amplifier (OV) and allows noise to be largely reduced. In order for said bandpass filter to be able to optimally receive burst signals (BS1, BS2, . . . , BSN) transmitted by several user devices (ONT1, ONT2, . . . , ONTN) also in a central node (OLT), the bandpass filter is set to the respective received carrier frequencies (TF1to TFN). Because of time constraints, this is possible only if the carrier frequencies (TF1, . . . ) or associated filter setting values (FE1, . . . ) have already been stored and the bandpass filter is preset. |
| US08238755B2 |
Dual wiring system
A dual wiring system with improved function expandability is provided. A base unit is mounted in a wall surface of a structure, and connected to both of an electric power line and an information line previously installed in the structure. Each of function units has at least one of functions for providing electric power from the electric power line, outputting information from the information line and inputting information into the information line when connected with the base unit. The base unit is detachably connected with one of the function units by use of a joining member, so that electric power is supplied from the base unit to the function unit through a power transmission means, and a signal transmission between the base unit and the function unit is obtained through a signal transmission means. |
| US08238753B2 |
Optical line terminal
An optical line terminal receives an optical signal transmitted by time division multiple access from plural optical network units among which are an optical network unit performing communications at a first bit rate and an optical network unit performing communications at a second bit rate. The optical line terminal includes a branching unit, a first receiving unit, and a second receiving unit. The branching unit branches the optical signal into branches, at an asymmetrical branching ratio. The first receiving unit receives a branch having the first bit rate, among the branches of a greater branched proportion. The second receiving unit receives a branch having the second bit rate, among the branches of a lesser branched proportion. |
| US08238749B2 |
Distributing wavelength compatible with signaling protocols
An apparatus, comprising a first node configured to communicate with a second node to generate a wavelength assignment, wherein the first node is configured to send a wavelength availability information to the second node. Included is a network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method, comprising receiving a wavelength availability information, and updating the wavelength availability information using a local wavelength availability information. Also included is a method, comprising acquiring a local wavelength assignment information, calculating a local wavelength availability information, and transmitting the local wavelength availability information to a subsequent network element on a lightpath. |
| US08238748B2 |
Method for wavelength assignment in a WDM network
In accordance with the present disclosure, a method of configuring a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) network is presented. The WDM network includes circuits that carry optical signals, with each signal corresponding to a wavelength. The WDM network includes nodes, with links connecting the nodes to one another. Each circuit includes at least one link and at least one node. The method comprises assigning each of the circuits to an optical signal, based on first and second criteria, and configuring the nodes based on the assignment. |
| US08238742B2 |
Apparatus and method for removably mounting filters to a photographic lens
A coupling system and method for removably mounting filters to a photographic camera lens. The coupling system includes a lens coupling element and filter coupling element. The lens coupling element and filter coupling element have magnetically attractive and telescopically aligning portions. The forward end of the filter coupling element operably supports a filter material. |
| US08238735B2 |
Driving mechanism and optical equipment
To provide a driving mechanism with which a reduction in size is possible. A driving mechanism comprising: an optical component that is provided to be movable; a first driving member that is movable in a first direction; a second driving member that is movable in the first direction independently of the first driving member; and an abutting portion that is provided at the optical component and abuts against the first driving member and the second driving member, wherein, the optical component is moved by driving force of the first driving member and the second driving member abutting against the abutting portion. |
| US08238734B2 |
Image capturing unit and electronic device having same
An exemplary image capturing unit includes a housing, a moveable support, and a driving assembly. The moveable support is moveably mounted in the housing. The moveable support includes a rotating axis and is configured for receiving a camera module. The driving assembly includes a first magnetic member and a second magnetic member. The first magnetic member is positioned on the housing. The second magnetic member is positioned on the moveable support and faces the first magnetic member. The driving assembly is configured for driving the moveable support to rotate about the rotating axis relative to the housing through magnetical interaction between the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member. |
| US08238732B2 |
Oven with light emitting diode and/or laser diode as heating devices
The present invention provides an oven that utilizes light emitting diode (LED) and or laser diode (LD) as heating devices. Such heating devices will enable a wide variety of heating modalities. |
| US08238729B2 |
Fan controlling circuit
A fan controlling circuit is provided. The fan controlling circuit includes an integral unit, an operational amplifier, and an output unit. The integral unit transforms pulse width modulation signals to voltages, and then the output unit outputs one of the pulse width modulation signals having a higher operation frequency according to the comparison result between the voltages. As the fan controlling circuit may be constituted with discrete elements and use a same voltage source as fans, the design cost and complexity are reduced. |
| US08238726B2 |
Audio-video data synchronization method, video output device, audio output device, and audio-video output system
To provide an audio-video data synchronization method whereby an increase in the amount of control message transmission can be suppressed and the video output can be prevented from being interrupted. The audio-video data synchronization method includes: obtaining, by the audio output device, a first latency that is a period of time taken for the video output device to output the video, by receiving the display identification data that includes information indicating the first latency from the video output device when the indication of the connection validity status information changes from Invalid to Valid; adjusting, by the audio output device, timing of outputting the audio according to the first latency; obtaining, by the video output device, a second latency which is a period of time taken to output the video in the outputting; notifying the audio output device of the second latency by sending a control message from the video output device when the connection validity status information indicates Valid, the control message including information that indicates the second latency obtained in the obtaining of a second latency; and adjusting, by the audio output device, timing of outputting the audio according to the second latency. |
| US08238725B2 |
System and method for providing personal video recording trick modes
Systems and methods that provide personal video recording trick modes are provided. In one example, a method that provides a trick mode in a personal video recording system may include the steps of receiving a transport stream; storing data from the transport stream in a data storage; generating index table using the data from the transport stream; receiving a trick mode command; and accessing, based on the trick mode command, particular data in the data storage using the index table. |
| US08238723B2 |
Optical disk recording device
A disk recording device includes an encoding unit, a control unit, and a structure which encodes a video signal in analog format and records it upon a DVD. Furthermore, the control unit includes a bit rate control unit which controls the bit rate during encoding by the encoding unit to any one of a plurality of video recording modes whose bit rates are different, a bit rate changeover control unit which selects one or more of these video recording modes and controls the timing of the changeover between them, and a ROM in which control data for the video recording mode is recorded in the format of a data table. The bit rate changeover control unit inputs the appointed time period for video recording the video signal, and the capacity which can be recorded upon the disk, and calculates the timing for the changeover between video recording modes. |
| US08238722B2 |
Variable rate video playback with synchronized audio
The invention enables the apparent display rate of an audiovisual display to be varied. The invention can modify an original set of audio data in accordance with a target display rate, then modify a related original set of video data to conform to the modifications made to the audio data set, such that the modified audio and video data sets are synchronized. When the modified audio and video data sets so produced are used to generate an audiovisual display, the audiovisual display has an apparent display rate that approximates the target display rate. The target display rate can be faster or slower than a normal display rate at which an audiovisual display system generates an audiovisual display from the original sets of audio and video data. The target display rate can be established solely by a user instruction, by analysis of the audiovisual data, or by modification of a user-specified nominal target display rate based upon analysis of the audiovisual data. Preferably, the method for modifying the original audio data set is one that produces a modified audio data set that can be used to generate an audio display having little or no distortion. |
| US08238716B2 |
Reproducing device
Arrangements for playing back data from a recording medium, including: first playback circuits for reading first stream data which includes first video data, first audio data, and first sub-picture data, from a first recording medium; second playback circuits for reading second stream data which includes at least one of second video data, second audio data, and second sub-picture data, from a second recording medium; and selection circuits for conducting at least one of: switching from the first video data to the second video data, switching from the first audio data to the second audio data, and switching from the first sub-picture data to the second sub-picture data; wherein data newly switched by the selection circuits and the data which is not switched by the selection circuits are synchronously superimposed and outputted. |
| US08238712B2 |
Recording and reproducing apparatus and recording and reproducing method
A recording and reproducing apparatus which records and reproduces data with respect to a plurality of recording media includes a display unit for simultaneously displaying, on a display screen having a display area for each recording medium, data recorded onto recording media in corresponding display areas, a selection unit for selecting specific data from the data displayed on the display screen, and a designation unit for designating a moving destination of the selected data. If a display area other than a recording medium as a recording source of the selected data exists in the moving destination designated by the designation unit, the selected data is duplicated or moved to a recording medium corresponding to the display area. |
| US08238710B2 |
Reproduction control of reproduction apparatus base on remaining power of battery
A reproduction apparatus includes a reproduction unit that reproduces digital data selected by a user; a prediction unit that predicts a reproducible time based on remaining power of a battery and a determination unit that determines whether the digital data selected by the user can be reproduced to the end or not based on the reproducible time, wherein when the determination unit determines that the selected digital data can be reproduced to the end, the reproduction apparatus causes the reproduction unit to reproduce the selected digital data and when the determination unit determines that the selected digital data cannot be reproduced to the end, the reproduction apparatus warns that the digital data cannot be reproduced to the end. |
| US08238702B2 |
Hybrid dielectric/surface plasmon polariton waveguide with grating coupling
The present invention provides a hybrid dielectric/SPP waveguide that can form either a single mode, single polarization waveguide, or a multi-mode waveguide. When multi-mode, this invention effectively transfers energy back and forth between the dielectric waveguide and metal surface. This improves on standard SPP modes, yielding longer range propagation along with high intensity near the metal surface at decisive locations. When single-mode, this hybrid waveguide allows for control of propagation and confinement for applications such as telecommunications optics integrated on silicon microchips. Gratings may be patterned in the metal for coupling light into and out of the modes or for use as mirrors in the mode. For areas where very long ranges are required, a metal grating may be used to couple light into the mode, but then the metal may be removed in other regions and make the range of the mode virtually infinite (limited by surface roughness). |
| US08238700B2 |
Multilayer printed circuit board
A multilayer printed circuit board including insulating layers, conductor circuits formed between the insulating layers, and optical circuits formed between the insulating layers and including a first optical circuit. The first optical circuit is positioned on a first outermost insulating layer of the insulating layers, and the insulating layers, conductor circuits and optical circuits are layered to form a multilayer structure having a first surface and a second surface on an opposite side of the first surface such that the multilayer structure is structured to mount optical elements on the first surface and second surface of the multilayer structure, respectively. |
| US08238699B2 |
Semiconductor-based optical transceiver
A semiconductor-based optical transceiver. The optical transceiver includes a post-amplifier that may communicate with an optoelectronic transducer, an electro-optic transducer driver that may communicate with an electro-optic transducer, and a control module that controls the operation of the post-amplifier and electro-optic transducer driver. The control module, the post-amplifier, and the electro-optic transducer driver are integrated in a single integrated circuit (IC) that does not require a printed circuit board for interconnecting these components of the optical transceiver. |
| US08238694B2 |
Alignment of sharp and blurred images based on blur kernel sparseness
The alignment of a sharp image of a subject and a blurred image of the same subject is disclosed. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a method of determining a series of trial images. The method comprises applying a corresponding series of coordinate transforms to the sharp image, the series of coordinate transforms differing with respect to one or more of a rotational operation and a scaling operation. The method further comprises computing a series blur kernels corresponding to the series of trial images, each blur kernel mapping a trial image from the series of trial images to the blurred image. The method further includes locating a sparsest blur kernel in the series of blur kernels, and identifying one or more of the rotational operation and the scaling operation of the coordinate transform mapping the trial image corresponding to the sparsest blur kernel to the blurred image. |
| US08238689B2 |
Development server, development client, development system, and development method
A development server for more easily creating an image having a quality of image matching the desire and preference of the user from image data such as RAW data from which the user cannot develop. A development server (120) comprises a RAW receiving section (122) for receiving undeveloped image data, a temporarily-developed image creating section (124) for creating temporarily-developed images by simply developing undeveloped image data by applying correction parameters corresponding to respective mutually different qualities of image, a temporarily-developed image transmitting section (125) for combining temporarily-developed images with corresponding correction parameters applied to the respective temporarily-developed images and transmitting them to a development client (110), a correction parameter receiving section (126) for receiving a correction parameter applied to one of the temporarily-developed images from the development client (110) as an instruction to develop undeveloped image data, and a digital picture developing section (127) for creating developed image data by developing the undeveloped image data by applying the correction parameter specified by the development instruction. |
| US08238686B2 |
Image processing apparatus, method and recording medium
An image processing apparatus specifies an evaluation-target area that tends to produce distortion in an object contained in an image, and calculates amount of distortion produced in vectorization of the object by comparing the shape of the object and the shape of a vectorized object obtained by vectorizing the object in the specified evaluation-target area. The apparatus further revises the shape of the vectorized object in the evaluation-target area so as to approach the shape of the object when the amount of distortion is larger than a predetermined reference value. |
| US08238684B2 |
Signal processing apparatus and method, and program
A signal processing apparatus for performing a filtering process on an input image using a plurality of filters to generate an output image includes the following elements. A region variance value calculating unit calculates a region variance value for a region around a predetermined pixel used as a pixel of interest on the input image. A filter processing unit applies a filtering process to a pixel value of the pixel of interest using the filters. A reflection amount determining unit determines a reflection amount based on the region variance value. A combining unit calculates a pixel value of a pixel of the output image corresponding to the pixel of interest on the basis of respective filter output values obtained by filtering processes applied by a plurality of filter processing units, respective reflection amounts determined with respect to the filter output values, and the pixel value of the pixel of interest. |
| US08238680B2 |
Image compression method with variable quantization parameters and variable coding parameters
An image compression method is used for processing a plurality of pixels of an image. The image compression method includes the steps of receiving N pixels; analyzing the N pixels and generating a content type corresponding to the N pixels; obtaining a quantization parameter and a coding parameter corresponding to the N pixels according to the content type and a currently available buffer space value; obtaining N quantized differences corresponding to the N pixels through a prediction and quantization way according to values of the N pixels and the quantization parameter; and encoding the N quantized differences according to the N quantized differences and the coding parameter. |
| US08238679B1 |
Lossless video data compressor with very high data rate
Lossless video data compression is performed in real time at the data rate of incoming real time video data in a process employing a minimum number of computational steps for each video pixel. A first step is to convert each pixel 8-bit byte to a difference byte representing the difference between the pixel and its immediate predecessor in a serialized stream of the pixel bytes. Thus, each 8-bit pixel byte is subtracted from its predecessor. This step reduces the dynamic range of the data. A next step is to discard any carry bits generated in the subtraction process of two's complement arithmetic. This reduces the data by a factor of two. Finally, the 8-bit difference pixel bytes thus produced are subject to a maximum entropy encoding process. Such a maximum entropy encoding process may be referred to as a minimum length encoding process. One example is Huffman encoding. In such an encoding process, a code table for the entire video frame is constructed, in which a set of minimum length symbols are correlated to the set of difference pixel bytes comprising the video frame, the more frequently occurring bytes being assigned to the shorter minimum length symbols. This code table is then employed to convert the all of the difference pixel bytes of the entire video frame to minimum length symbols. |
| US08238675B2 |
Spectral information recovery for compressed image restoration with nonlinear partial differential equation regularization
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to image restoration for compressed images. In aspects, image restoration is accomplished by recovering spectral information from data corresponding to a compressed image. The spectral information is recovered using an algorithm to search through a solution space of possible solutions while constraints are imposed on the solution space to trim undesirable solutions from the space. An algorithm described herein may be iteratively applied to improve the quality of the recovered image. |
| US08238674B2 |
Method for encoding and decoding images
A method for encoding an image includes identifying first and second sets of pixels from multiple pixels in a current row of the image, where the first set of pixels includes one or more pixels that are equal to one or more corresponding pixels in a reference row, and the second set of pixels are not equal to one or more corresponding pixels in the reference row. A third set of pixels that includes at least one of a first group of pixels selected from the first set of pixels and a second group of pixels selected from at least one of the first set and the second set of pixels is identified and encoded in an encoded data set. |
| US08238667B2 |
Moving image creating apparatus, moving image creating method, and program
A moving image creating apparatus includes a memory that stores a plurality of template files each of which holds a plurality of component templates each for accommodating an image. An input device that selects any one of the template files stored in the memory. A processing unit analyzes metadata about each of a plurality of images. The processing unit analyzes metadata about each of the component templates in the selected template file. Further, the processing unit places the images into the component templates of the selected template file in accordance with the analyzed metadata about the images and the analyzed metadata about the component templates and places one of the images into one of the component templates of the selected template file, in response to a determination that none of the metadata about each of the images matches the analyzed metadata about the one of the component templates. |
| US08238664B2 |
Image processing apparatus, control method therefor, and recording medium
Even if an image processing apparatus which can recognize a certain character string is available on the network, processing results of an OCR process are determined by character recognition ability of an image processing apparatus which has happened to perform the OCR process. Thus, after an MFP performs a character recognition process based on image data contained in a character region of an image, if it is determined that processing results of the character recognition process are highly likely to contain recognition errors, the processing results are output to another MFP together with first information which indicates a high likelihood of the processing results containing recognition errors. Upon acquiring the processing results, the other MFP with higher character recognition capabilities performs a character recognition process on the image data contained in the character region if the first information is attached. |
| US08238658B2 |
Boundary extraction method
A computer-implemented method for creating an ordered set of shoreline boundary points by transforming data from remotely sensed imagery of shorelines is provided. A water data set and an edge data set are transformed into a set of 3-point boundary segments having a specific head and tail point and the segments are ordered from tail to head in a clockwise or counterclockwise manner relative to the water. Once the 3-point segments are created they are easily linked together into larger segments. These large multi-point segments in turn are linked together to create the shorelines for rivers or coastal areas. |
| US08238657B2 |
System and method for detecting obstacle
A computer readable storage medium storing instructions of a computer program which when executed by a computer results in performance of steps including inputting a first image and a second image from two cameras of three or more cameras, respectively, transforming the first image to a transformed image, obtaining a degree of similarity D indicating a similarity between an image in a processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the first image, obtaining a degree of similarity P indicating a similarity between an image in the processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the transformed image, detecting the obstacle based on the degree of similarity D and the degree of similarity P on a reference plane region, and selecting and outputting either a result of detection of a plurality of the obstacles or a position of an obstacle detected as being the closest to the three or more cameras. |
| US08238652B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method, and program
An image processing apparatus includes a feature extracting unit configured to extract a feature in each local area from an image including a plurality of colors in bands of visible radiation and non-visible radiation, the feature having elements representing ratios between a reference color and individual colors; and a discriminating unit configured to discriminate an object in each local area by using the feature extracted for the local area by the feature extracting unit. |
| US08238647B2 |
Method and system for defect detection
A system, method and computer program product for defect detection, the method includes: (i) retrieving a second pixel of a second image that corresponds to a tested pixel of a first image of the object; wherein the first and second images were obtained using different acquisition methods; (ii) searching a third pixel of the second image such that a neighborhood of the second pixel is similar to a neighborhood of the third pixel; (iii) retrieving a fourth pixel of the first image that corresponds to the third pixel; and (iv) comparing between the tested pixel and the fourth pixel. |
| US08238640B2 |
Display testing apparatus and method
A display testing method applied on an apparatus is provided, the apparatus being connected with an image capturing device. The method includes: controlling the image capturing device to capture and store images of displays to be tested; determining a first vertex of a test area on the captured image, determining a test area according to the determined first vertex; and testing parameters of the display according to the test area. |
| US08238639B2 |
Method and system for dynamic feature detection
Disclosed are methods and systems for dynamic feature detection of physical features of objects in the field of view of a sensor. Dynamic feature detection substantially reduces the effects of accidental alignment of physical features with the pixel grid of a digital image by using the relative motion of objects or material in and/or through the field of view to capture and process a plurality of images that correspond to a plurality of alignments. Estimates of the position, weight, and other attributes of a feature are based on an analysis of the appearance of the feature as it moves in the field of view and appears at a plurality of pixel grid alignments. The resulting reliability and accuracy is superior to prior art static feature detection systems and methods. |
| US08238637B2 |
Computer-aided diagnosis of malignancies of suspect regions and false positives in images
A method for diagnosing malignancy of suspect regions in a 2D imaging projection of a body organ of a subject comprising the steps of: normalizing the image projection to map regions thereof onto a standard shape; extracting location of regions mapped on the standard shape and using normalized position of a suspect region to assess likelihood that it is malignant. |
| US08238635B2 |
Method and system for identifying defects in radiographic image data corresponding to a scanned object
A method for identifying defects in radiographic image data corresponding to a scanned object is provided. The method includes acquiring radiographic image data corresponding to a scanned object. In one embodiment, the radiographic image data includes an inspection test image and a reference image corresponding to the scanned object. The method includes identifying one or more regions of interest in the reference image and aligning the inspection test image with the regions of interest identified in the reference image, to obtain a residual image. The method further includes identifying one or more defects in the inspection test image based upon the residual image and one or more defect probability values computed for one or more pixels in the residual image. |
| US08238634B1 |
Efficient off-resonance correction method and system for spiral imaging with improved accuracy
Automatic off-resonance correction for spiral MR imaging is performed in two stages. In the first stage, we acquire a low resolution map using two single shot spirals instead of estimating it using an automatic method. In the second stage, we developed a modified version of automatic off-resonance correction with a frequency constraint from the first stage map. |
| US08238631B2 |
System and method for automatic registration between an image and a subject
A patient defines a patient space in which an instrument can be tracked and navigated. An image space is defined by image data that can be registered to the patient space. A tracking device can be connected to a member in a known manner that includes imageable portions that generate image points in the image data. The tracking device can be tracked to register patient space to image space. |
| US08238630B2 |
Image processing apparatus and program for the same
Improving diagnosis performance by matching the appearances of images while maintaining difference arising from the difference in tissue structure without being influenced by a non-interest region. Two medical images are divided into a plurality of tissue regions, each with each tissue imaged therein, and a similarity level is calculated for each corresponding pair of the plurality of tissue regions between the two medical images based on the form of each tissue region. An interest level is set for each corresponding pair and a weigh is obtained for each corresponding pair according to the similarity level and interest level. An image processing condition is set such that the matching level of an image characteristic of each corresponding pair is varied according to the weight, and image processing is performed on at least either one of the two medical images according to the set image processing condition. |
| US08238619B2 |
Method of extracting ridge line and valley line from three-dimensional point data
Disclosed is a method of extracting ridge and valley lines from three-dimensional point data, the method including the steps of: receiving undefined point data obtained from a three-dimensional scanning system; estimating a normal vector by principal component analysis so as to calculate a normal vector with regard to each received point; and on the basis of such information, creating a moving least squares (MLS) surface of points approximation with regard to each received point. Then, Delaunay edge is created by a Voronoi diagram with regard to each point from the created MLS surface of points; and ridge (or valley) points are extracted by measuring zero-crossing on each Delaunay edge. Ridges and valleys as lines are created by connecting the extracted ridge points in a principal curvature direction. The extraction of ridge and valley lines is used as a pre-processing step for creating three-dimensional points into mesh data, and is advantageous for identifying general model features. |
| US08238618B2 |
Image-capturing apparatus and method, facial expression evaluation apparatus, and program
An image-capturing apparatus for capturing an image by using a solid-state image-capturing device may include a face detector configured to detect a face of a human being on the basis of an image signal in a period until an image signal obtained by image capturing is recorded on a recording medium; an expression evaluation section configured to evaluate the expression of the detected face and to compute an expression evaluation value indicating the degree to which the detected face is close to a specific expression in relation to expressions other than the specific expression; and a notification section configured to notify notification information corresponding to the computed expression evaluation value to an image-captured person. |
| US08238616B2 |
Biometric authentication system and biometric authentication method
There is provided a biometric authentication system including a plurality of information processing devices divided to a first group for performing a primary authentication based on feature quantity information unique to a biological pattern of a user associated with biological information, and specifying an identification number assigned to the user, and a second group for performing a secondary authentication on the biological information that succeeded in the primary authentication based on the identification number and registered biological information registered in advance. The input biological information is transmitted to all information processing devices belonging to the first group, the biological information that succeeded in the primary authentication is added as queuing information to a queue, and each of the information processing devices belonging to the second group acquires the queuing information positioned at a head of the queue when the secondary authentication process being executed in the own device is terminated. |
| US08238614B2 |
Image data output processing apparatus and image data output processing method excelling in similarity determination of duplex document
In an image data output processing apparatus of the present invention, a storage process section, when a reference document is duplex, stores, at the time of storage, a DocID indicative of the reference document, to correspond to an ID indicative of respective document images on front and back sides of the reference document, and in matching when a matching document is duplex, extracts an ID similar to that of the reference document and a corresponding DocID for each of the document images on the front and back sides of the matching document, to create candidate lists for the front and back sides of the matching document. If first candidates in the candidate lists correspond to an identical DocID, the images are similar to each other, and if first candidates do not correspond to the identical DocID, a determination result is corrected to a reference document corresponding to the identical DocID. |
| US08238613B2 |
Technique for bit-accurate film grain simulation
The simulation of film grain in an image makes use of parameters contained in a Supplemental Enhancement Information (SEI) message that accompanies the image upon transmission. The SEI message specifies film grain simulation parameters such as the film simulation model, the blending mode, and color space. |
| US08238609B2 |
Synthetic image and video generation from ground truth data
A system and a method are disclosed for generating video. Object information is received. A path of motion of the object relative to a reference point is generated. A series of images and ground for a reference frame are generated from the ground truth and the generated path. A system and a method are disclosed for generating an image. Object information is received. Image data and ground truth may be generated using position, the image description, the camera characteristics, and image distortion parameters. A positional relationship between the document and a reference point is determined. An image of the document and ground truth are generated from the object information and the positional relationship and in response to user specified environment of the document. |
| US08238608B2 |
Tracking workflow in manipulating media items
A computer-implemented method is described including receiving input specifying an image frame from among a series of image frames, and automatically detecting one or more points in the specified image frame that would be suitable for tracking a point in the series of image frames. In addition, a computer-implemented method is described including choosing a first position of a point on a first image frame of a plurality of image frames, and displaying in a bounded region on the first image frame content relating to a second image frame of the plurality of image frames, wherein the content displayed in the bounded region includes a second position of the point at a different time than the first position of the point. |
| US08238605B2 |
Digital video target moving object segmentation method and system
A digital video target moving object segmentation method and system is designed for processing a digital video stream for segmentation of every target moving object that appears in the video content. The proposed method and system is characterized by the operations of a multiple background imagery extraction process and a background imagery updating process for extracting characteristic background imagery whose content includes the motional background objects in addition to the static background scenes; and wherein the multiple background imagery extraction process is based on a background difference threshold comparison method, while the background imagery updating process is based on a background-matching and weight-counting method. This feature allows an object mask to be defined based on the characteristic background imagery, which can mask both the motional background objects as well as the static background scenes. |
| US08238603B1 |
Systems and methods for multi-pass adaptive people counting
People are counted in a segment of video with a video processing system that is configured with a first set of parameters. This produces a first output. Based on this first output, a second set of parameters is chosen. People are then counted in the segment of video using the second set of parameters. This produces a second output. People are counted with a video played forward. People are counted with a video played backwards. The results of these two counts are reconciled to produce a more accurate people count. |
| US08238596B2 |
In-ear headphones
An earphone is disclosed that is used in connection with reproducing audio sounds that are supplied from an audio-frequency source. The earphone includes a housing that includes a boot assembly positioned in the housing. A first audio driver is positioned in the boot assembly such that a first output of the first audio driver is in acoustic communication with a mixing chamber. A second audio driver is also positioned in the boot assembly such that a second output of the second audio driver is in acoustic communication with a chamber in the boot assembly. A tubular needle is positioned in the boot assembly having a first end in acoustic communication with the chamber and a second end in acoustic communication with the mixing chamber. |
| US08238595B2 |
Speaker component for a portable electronic device
A speaker component for a portable electronic device which accepts a receiver and redirects the sound emitted from the receiver toward the speaker hole in the device housing is disclosed. The receiver may be oriented such that sound is directed away from the speaker hole to reduce the footprint of the receiver within the device housing. A channel of the speaker component may redirect or port the sound to the speaker hole. Accordingly, embodiments provide more flexibility for positioning of the speaker hole and the receiver with respect to the device housing. The speaker component may also have a self-contained back volume chamber adjoining the receiver which does not include portions of the device housing or other components of the portable electronic device, thereby improving the sound quality of the sound emitted from the receiver and providing more flexibility as to the size and shape of the back volume chamber. |
| US08238591B2 |
Method for determining a time constant of the hearing and method for adjusting a hearing apparatus
A method for adjusting a signal processing facility of a hearing apparatus is provided. An acoustic signal is presented and processing using a signal-processing facility, which has a first-time value to form a first-processed-acoustic signal. The first-processed-acoustic signal is assigned to a first loudness via the user. A renewed presentation of the acoustic signal is processed by the signal-processing facility, which has a second-time value to form a second-processed-acoustic signal as well as an assignment of the second-processed-acoustic signal to form a second loudness by the user. In one aspect the second-time value is less than the first-time value and the steps are repeated until the second loudness equates to the first loudness, with the first-time value being shortened with each repetition. In another aspect the second-time value is greater than the first-time value and the steps are repeated until the second loudness differs from the first loudness, with the first-time value being lengthen with each repetition. |
| US08238589B2 |
Objective quantification of auditory source width of a loudspeakers-room system
A source width estimation system may estimate an auditory source width of a sound. The system detects a first frequency modulated noise signal and a second frequency modulated noise signal. The detected noise signals may be processed to obtain an average value of a lateral width of a binaural activity over time and a plurality of sub-bands. The auditory source width of the noise signals may be determined from the average value of the lateral width of the binaural activity. |
| US08238588B2 |
Loudspeaker system and method for producing synthesized directional sound beam
A loudspeaker system has a plurality of relatively small transducer elements configured in a closely spaced transducer array such that their acoustic outputs combine to produce a focused beam of sound in front of the array that is substantially uniform about the beams radiation axis. The transducer array lies in a plane and has a perimeter that approximates a circle, and will have fill-factor with respect to a circle circumscribing the array of at least approximately 70%. In one variation of the loudspeaker system, the transducer array is constructed in smaller transducer array modules that are operatively fitted together to produce a larger array. |
| US08238586B2 |
Thermoacoustic device
A thermoacoustic device includes a sound wave generator, a number of first electrodes and a number of second electrodes. The sound wave generator includes a carbon nanotube structure. The second electrodes and the first electrodes are separately connected to the sound wave generator. The second electrodes and the first electrodes are parallel to each other and are alternately arranged at uniform intervals. A working voltage applied to the first and second electrodes is less than or equal to about 50 volts. The sound wave generator and the first and second electrodes satisfy a formula of 1 Ω ≤ R 1 ( n - 1 ) 2 ≤ 125 Ω . Wherein R1 represents a resistance of the sound wave generator in the direction from the first electrodes to the second electrodes, and n represents a sum of the total number of the first electrodes and the second electrodes. |
| US08238582B2 |
Sound playback and editing through physical interaction
The disclosure relates to sound playback and editing apparatus. The editing apparatus uses user interaction to allow the user to instinctively modify recorded sound. This can be achieved by converting a quality of the user's physical interactions with the editing apparatus into instructions for processing the sound. For example, in one embodiment the user can mix sound files by ‘mixing’, i.e. shaking, physical representations of those sound files (such as the recording medium on which the files are stored) alone or together. |
| US08238581B2 |
Powered subwoofer/speaker remote turn-on function
The present invention provides a powered speaker, such as a subwoofer that may be turned on and off remotely by energizing the auxiliary AC power supply provided with an audio device or other source unit. The main power of the powered subwoofer is provided via a wall outlet or suitable power supply that may adequately supply the necessary power. |
| US08238579B2 |
Information processing apparatus
According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus includes a volume operation module, a first volume controller and a second volume controller. The volume operation module includes a rotary encoder module of detecting a degree of movement of a control member thereof and a potentiometer module of detecting an absolute position of the control member. The first volume controller controls the volume of the audio signal based on the detected degree of movement of the control member. The second volume controller controls the volume of the audio signal based on the detected absolute position of the control member. The volume control by the first volume controller is rendered effective when the information processing apparatus is in a power-on state. The volume control by the second volume controller is rendered effective when the information processing apparatus is in a power-off state. |
| US08238578B2 |
Electroacoustical transducing with low frequency augmenting devices
A method for clipping and post-clipping processing an audio signal, includes clipping an audio signal to provide a clipped audio signal; filtering, by a first filter, the audio signal to provide a filtered unclipped audio signal; and filtering, by a second filter, the clipped audio signal to provide a filtered clipped audio signal. The method further includes differentially combining the filtered clipped audio signal and the clipped audio signal to provide a differentially combined audio signal; and combining the filtered unclipped audio signal and the differentially combined audio signal to provide an output signal. |
| US08238568B2 |
Acoustic signal compensator and acoustic signal compensation method
According to one embodiment, an acoustic signal compensator includes an acoustic signal receiving module, a compensator, and an output module. The acoustic signal receiving module receives an acoustic signal. The compensator performs compensation on the acoustic signal, as compensation of acoustic characteristics of an ear including an ear canal having a first-order resonance characteristic and a second-order resonance characteristic, to suppress a first-order frequency of ear resonance and a second-order frequency lower than double of the first-order frequency. The output module outputs the acoustic signal compensated by the compensator. |
| US08238566B2 |
Apparatus for providing sound effects according to an image and method thereof
An apparatus for providing sound effects according to an input image and a method thereof capable of conveying details of the input image lively and effectively by recognizing the shape of the image and outputting a sound suitable for the recognized shape of the image. The apparatus for providing the sound effects according to the image includes an image input unit for receiving an input of an image, a sound effect providing unit for recognizing the image inputted through the image input unit and providing the sound effects according to the input image, and an image output unit for outputting the image inputted through the image input unit and the sound provided from the sound effect providing unit. |
| US08238564B2 |
Sound reproduction method and apparatus for assessing real-world performance of hearing and hearing aids
A sound recording and reproduction system for testing hearing and hearing aids is disclosed. Recordings of sound are made in a real word acoustic environment, for example, which are stored as audio signals. In a testing environment, a plurality of loudspeakers is located about a listening position where a test subject is placed during a testing procedure. The plurality of loudspeakers receive at least a portion of the plurality of the stored audio signals, and convert those audio signals received into a combination of sounds that produce, at the listening position, acoustic elements of the real world acoustic environment where the recordings were made. The system enables, in a clinical or other test setting, the evaluation of hearing and/or hearing aid performance as if in a real world environment. |
| US08238560B2 |
Dialogue enhancements techniques
A plural-channel audio signal (e.g., a stereo audio) is processed to modify a gain (e.g., a volume level or loudness) of an estimated dialogue signal (e.g., dialogue spoken by actors in a movie) relative to other signals (e.g., reflected or reverberated sound). In some aspects, a classifier is used to classify component signals in the plural-channel audio signal or the estimated dialogue signal. In some aspects, a desired volume level for the dialogue signal is maintained relative to the plural-channel audio signal or other component signals. |
| US08238558B2 |
Key agreement and re-keying over a bidirectional communication path
A key agreement method is carried out by a first system in conjunction with a second system over a bidirectional communication path, including generating a first key pair having a first public key and a first private key, sending the first public key to the second system, receiving a second public key generated by the second system, and calculating a master key based upon the first private key, the second public key, a long-term private key, and a long-term public key. The long-term private key was generated by the first system during a previous key-agreement method as part of a long-term key pair. The long-term public key was generated by the second system and received during the previous key-agreement method. The previous key-agreement method required a secret to be known to the first system and the second system, thus conferring authentication based on the secret to the long-term public key. |
| US08238557B2 |
Method and apparatus for key expansion to encode data
An encoder according to the present invention embodiments employs a key expansion module to expand an encryption key by using logic and available clock cycles of an encryption process or loop. The key expansion module generates control signals to enable key expansion data to be injected at appropriate times into the encryption loop (e.g., during available clock cycles of the encryption loop) to perform the key expansion, thereby utilizing the resources of the encryption loop for key expansion. The key expansion module dynamically accounts for varying key lengths, and enables the encryption loop to combine the data being encrypted with proper portions of the expanded key. The use of encryption logic and available clock cycles of the encryption loop for the key expansion reduces the area needed by the encoder on a chip and enhances encoder throughput. |
| US08238556B2 |
Quantum communication system
A quantum communication system comprising a sending unit and a receiving unit, said sending unit comprising a photon source assembly configured to output a stream of pulses of light having at least two different intensities and a memory configured to store information for determining which pulses should be reference pulses and which pulses should be data pulses, the average intensity of reference pulses being different to the average intensity of data pulses, the receiving unit comprising a memory for storing information for identifying the position of reference pulses within the stream of pulses and a processor for determining the calibration of the quantum communication system from the reference pulses. |
| US08238552B2 |
Password key derivation system and method
A password-based key derivation function includes a sub-function that gets executed multiple times based on an iteration count. A key derivation module computes the iteration count dynamically with each entered password. The iteration count is computed as a function of the password strength. Specifically, the weaker the password, the higher the iteration count; but the stronger the password, the smaller the interaction count. This helps strengthen weaker passwords without penalizing stronger passwords. |
| US08238548B2 |
Controlling echo during double-talk in a voice conference
An echo canceller apparatus comprises a receive side attenuator coupled in a receive side signal path that is configured to couple from a conference call bridge to a caller; a convolution processor coupled to the receive side signal path at a convolution processor pick-off point; a double-talk detector coupled to the receive side signal path and to a sending side signal path that is configured to couple from the caller to the conference call bridge; and logic coupled to the receive side attenuator which when executed is responsive to a double-talk condition detected by the double-talk detector and operable to determine a level of echo canceled by the convolution processor, to determine an additional amount of attenuation to introduce, and to activate the receive side attenuator to introduce the additional attenuation. |
| US08238543B2 |
System and methods for predicting future agent readiness for handling an interaction in a call center
A system for making outbound calls includes a first node connected to a network for placing outbound telephone calls, a second node connected to the network and accessible to the first node for reporting agent status relative to busy, ready, and time to ready, a number of agent appliances connected to the network and accessible to the second node, and a number of agent activity applications installed one per on the agent appliances. In a preferred embodiment outbound calls are predicted based on the number of agents reported ready to accept a call plus the number of agents predicted to be ready to accept a call within a specified time window. |
| US08238540B1 |
Methods and systems for processing and managing telephonic communications using ring pools
An online and offline communication processing and tracking using data processing and data/voice networks is described. A phone address from a phone address number pool is automatically assigned to a first entity. A call quality rating is determined and recorded. A call from a caller directed to the phone address is received at a call bridging system coupled to at least one network, wherein the call is associated with call signaling information. Based at least in part on the call quality associated with the caller call, the caller call is assigned to a first location in a call queue. An outbound call is generated from the call bridging system and the inbound and the outbound calls are bridged. One or more parameters of the bridged call are compared to the call quality rating. An indication is recorded regarding the successful bridging of the calls in association with an entity identifier. |
| US08238539B2 |
Communication system
A method of transmitting a communication event from a calling entity to a called entity located in a communication network comprising a first network and a second network, said method comprising determining a first identity associated with the called entity, wherein the first identity is recognizable in the first network; allocating a calling identity to the called entity, wherein the allocated identity is recognizable in the second network; associating at a first node located in the first network the first identity with the calling identity; providing the calling identity to the calling entity; establishing a connection with a second network node located in the second network; wherein the connection with the second network node is established using the calling identity, querying the first node with the calling identity associated with the called entity to determine the first identity associated with the called entity; transmitting the communication event to the called entity using the first identity associated with the called entity; and disassociating the calling identity from the called entity after querying the first node to determine the first identity associated with the called entity. |
| US08238538B2 |
Stateful home phone service
This application describes a system and associated method for routing messages, such as phone calls. The destination of incoming calls may be determined based on a variety of factors, such as the state of the callee's security system, the date and time, the identity of the caller, and the number of recent call attempts by the caller. Potential destinations include all or a subset of the phones associated with a subscriber and outside phones, such as cellular phones operated by third parties. The rules used to route calls may be defined or modified via a web interface. |
| US08238536B1 |
Call redirect via centralized bridges
A system, method, and computer readable medium for redirecting a call via centralized bridges comprises a first conferencing platform based in the United States, a second conferencing platform based in a second country, and a third conferencing platform based in a third country, wherein the first conferencing platform dials the second conferencing platform and the third conferencing platform to provide a conference call between the second conferencing platform and the third conferencing platform. |
| US08238531B2 |
Computing device with remote contact lists
In one implementation a computer-implemented method includes generating a group of telephone contacts for a first user, wherein the generating includes identifying a second user as a contact of the first user based upon a determination that the second user has at least a threshold email-based association with the first user; and adding the identified second user to the group of telephone contacts for the first user. The method further includes receiving a first request to connect a first telephone device associated with the first user to a second telephone device associated with the second user. The method also includes identifying a contact identifier of the second telephone device using the generated group of telephone contacts for the first user, and initiating a connection between the first telephone device and the second telephone device using the identified contact identifier. |
| US08238525B2 |
Voice recognition server, telephone equipment, voice recognition system, and voice recognition method
A voice recognition server 200 has a voice reception unit 202 which receives a voice from a telephone equipment 100, a model storage unit 208 which stores at least one acoustic model and at least one language model used for converting the voice received by the voice reception unit 202, to character data, a number decision unit 204 which decides a current calling number and a second number of the telephone equipment 100, a model selection unit 206 which selects an acoustic model stored in the model storage unit 208, based on the current calling number and the second number, and which selects a language model stored in the model storage unit 208, based on the current calling number, and a voice recognition unit 210 which converts the voice received by the voice reception unit 202, to character data, based on the acoustic model and the language model selected by the model selection unit 206. |
| US08238520B2 |
Treatment plan optimization method for radiotherapy
Systems and methods for providing radiosurgery treatment to a patient by combining methods from both traditional radiosurgery and radiotherapy are disclosed. A dose sufficient to kill tissue is applied to a target area while a steep drop off, or gradient, is provided at the border between the target area and adjacent areas so that other portions of the brain or nearby structures or organs are not damaged. The treatment plan is optimized by using both measures known in the art along with a new gradient index or curve that indicates the amount of the drop off at the border between the target area and the surrounding tissues. |
| US08238519B2 |
Rotational radiation treatment of moving targets
Some aspects include a system, apparatus, and method for determining that a motion of a patient area of a patient due to breathing is substantially periodic according to a treatment plan, moving a radiotherapy gantry towards a first treatment gantry angle, moving a radiotherapy beam shaping device towards a first treatment shape corresponding to the first treatment gantry angle, determining when a next treatment window is to begin based on a predictive model derived from the motion of the patient area, where the treatment window is a period of time designated for delivery of treatment radiation to the patient area according to the treatment plan, adjusting the moving of the radiotherapy gantry such that the radiotherapy gantry will reach the first treatment angle during the determined next treatment window, and delivering a treatment radiation beam to the patient area during the determined next treatment window. |
| US08238518B2 |
Radiotherapy system
A radiotherapy system is disclosed, comprising a support for supporting a patient undergoing radiotherapy treatment, a gantry that is rotatable about an axis, a source of radiation mounted on the gantry and producing a beam of radiation directed towards a target region of the patient, a collimator coupled to said radiation source for collimating said radiation beam, the collimator comprising a plurality of beam-limiting elements, each movable to collectively define a shaped aperture through which the radiation beam passes, a portal imager mounted on the gantry opposite the radiation source for detecting the radiation after it has passed through the patient and generating corresponding images, and associated circuitry for controlling at least the gantry, the source, the collimator, and the portal imager, collating detected data comprising a plurality of images acquired from the imager including images at a plurality of angles of rotation of said gantry and images at a plurality of collimator shapes, and generating a three-dimensional image of the target region based thereon. |
| US08238515B2 |
Well plate
The present invention includes an apparatus for preparing samples for measurement by x-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The apparatus comprises a plate having one or more holes passing through the plate. The holes are covered by a film on one side of the plate. The holes are less than 500 micrometers across in one dimension where the film covers the holes. The film is translucent to x-rays. The present invention also includes an apparatus for preparing samples for measurement by x-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The apparatus comprises a plate having one or more holes passing through the plate. The holes are covered on one side of the plate by a detachable cover forming a water-tight seal against the plate. The cover is substantially free of the elements osmium, yttrium, iridium, phosphorus, zirconium, platinum, gold, niobium, mercury, thallium, molybdenum, sulfur, lead, bismuth, technetium, ruthenium, chlorine, rhodium, palladium, argon, silver, and thorium. The holes are less than about 500 micrometers across in one dimension where the cover covers the holes. The present invention also includes a method for preparing samples for measurement by x-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The method comprises providing a solution of with less than 10 micromolar solute and a volume of between about 2 microliters and about 2 milliliters. The solution is concentrated and analyzed using x-ray fluorescence spectrometry. |
| US08238514B2 |
Ultra-short pulsed X-ray imaging
Technologies are generally described for employing ultra-short pulsed X-rays in X-ray computer tomography. Timing parameters of binary modulation applied to the X-rays at the source may be adjusted based on detector characteristics, industry standards, and/or user input. The timing for minimum X-ray intensity during each pulse may be selected to minimize afterglow effect. The timing for the maximum X-ray intensity may then be determined based on one or more of the minimum X-ray intensity timing, desired X-ray dosage, and/or other similar parameters. |
| US08238513B2 |
Imaging system and method utilizing primary radiation
An imaging system and method for producing an image based on primary radiation. A separate image based solely on scattered radiation may also be obtained and may be of practical interests. The separation of primary and scattered radiation is achieved by utilizing a small beam exposure and a cone beam exposure, then the primary and scatter images are reconstructed based on a pencil beam model or from a Monte Carlo method. Other embodiments disclosed include two-layer detector arrays or volumetric detector arrays that measure the relationship between the dose and the position, from which the primary and scattered radiation can be extracted. In addition, by limiting a readout time of a detector, primary radiation component may be read because of a delay in the scattered radiation. |
| US08238512B2 |
Dual shift register
Disclosed is a dual shift register that includes a first shift register configured to include a plurality of stages which sequentially output scan pulses using at least two clock signals with sequential and circular phases, and a second shift register configured to a plurality of stages which form pair with the respective stages of the first shift register and sequentially output the scan pulses using at least two clock signals. Each stage includes: a scan direction controller configured to respond to the scan pulses from previous and next stages and to selectively output forward and reverse direction voltages with opposite electric potentials to each other; and an output portion configured to respond to the output signal of the scan direction controller, to generate two sequential scan pulses using two of the at least two clock signals, and to distribute the sequential scan pulses to the previous and next stages. |
| US08238511B2 |
Nuclear fuel assembly protective bottom grid
A protector bottom grid for a nuclear fuel assembly that includes three laterally staggered and horizontally oriented protrusions that extend into the fuel rod cell of a support grid below a vertically oriented spring. The three staggered protrusions extend into the cell a distance that maintains a space between the protrusions and the fuel rod. The vertically oriented spring biases the fuel rod against a dimple extending from the opposite cell wall that is at an elevation just above the spring. The protrusions below the spring trap incoming debris in the area of the fuel rod end cap and protect the fuel rod cladding from fretting. |
| US08238496B1 |
Multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) channel estimation for multicarrier communications
Provided are a system and method of estimating channels for a plurality of multicarrier signals in a wireless receiver. A receiver accepts a plurality of multicarrier signals, transmitted simultaneously from a plurality of transmitters, with overlapping carrier frequencies and nominally orthogonal reference signals. For each multicarrier signal, a reference signal is recovered including a plurality of adjacent subcarrier frequencies carrying predetermined symbols. A channel estimate is found across the plurality of adjacent subcarrier frequencies, for each multicarrier signal channel, by compensating for a loss of orthogonality between reference signals, in response to assuming a linear phase rotation for each channel across the plurality of adjacent reference signal subcarriers, and a constant amplitude for each channel across the plurality of adjacent reference signal subcarriers. More explicitly, the assumption of linear phase rotation and constant amplitude permits a Direction of Arrival (DoA) algorithm to be used. |
| US08238495B2 |
Method and apparatus for reducing the interferences between a wideband device and a narrowband interferer
A method includes a main interference reduction mode for reducing the interference generated by a wideband device toward a narrowband device. The main interference reduction mode is performed within the wideband device and includes at least one of detecting an emission from and a reception performed by the narrowband device. A group of at least one sub-carrier having frequencies interfering with frequencies used by the narrowband device is determined from the detection step. The bits of the punctured stream that correspond to the information carried by the interfering sub-carriers of the group are determined and processed so that the processed bits are mapped into a reference symbol having an amplitude within a threshold of zero. |
| US08238488B1 |
Multi-stream maximum-likelihood demodulation based on bitwise constellation partitioning
A method of decoding a signal includes receiving multiple data symbols corresponding to multiple transmitted data symbols. The method further includes selecting one candidate data symbol from multiple candidate data symbols corresponding to the multiple transmitted data symbols. The method further includes determining a global optimum candidate value for the selected one candidate data symbol. The method further includes grouping all possible values of the selected one candidate data symbol into two or more bit groups. The method further includes selecting a bit group from the two or more bit groups that does not include the global optimum value. The method further includes determining a local optimum candidate value from values in the selected bit group. The method further includes calculating a likelihood value for a bit in the selected one candidate data symbol based at least in part on the determined global and local optimum candidate values. |
| US08238484B2 |
Digital transmission and reception devices for transmitting and receiving streams, and processing methods thereof
A transmission system to transmit a transport stream (TS) having normal data and additional data, the transmission system including: a stream constructor to generate a TS, and a multiplexer (MUX) to insert information representing the characteristics of additional data in the TS. Therefore, it is possible for a reception system to use the additional data efficiently. |
| US08238477B2 |
Data slicer with multi-mode threshold generator
In an embodiment, set forth by way of example and not limitation, a data slicer includes a signal input node, a comparator having a first input of a first polarity, a second input of a second polarity which is the opposite of the first polarity, and an output coupled to a data out node, the first input of the comparator being coupled to the signal input node, and a multi-mode threshold generator including a first threshold generator and second threshold generator, whereby the first threshold generator is selected firstly and the second threshold generator is selected secondly. |
| US08238476B2 |
Semiconductor device and driving method thereof
The invention provides a semiconductor device with high yield by reducing an effect of variations in characteristics of a semiconductor element. Further, by reducing an effect of variations in characteristics of a semiconductor element to improve productivity, an inexpensive semiconductor device can be provided. Further, an inexpensive semiconductor device can be provided by forming a semiconductor device in a large amount over a large substrate such as a glass substrate and a flexible substrate. A semiconductor device of the invention includes a demodulation signal generating circuit and an antenna or a wire for connecting the antenna. The demodulation signal generating circuit includes a demodulation circuit and a correction circuit. The correction circuit corrects a first demodulation signal generated from the demodulation circuit and generates a second demodulation signal. |
| US08238474B2 |
Trellis modulation protocols for a VDSL system
A new protocol is proposed for transmission of data through lines such as telephone lines. The tones of a signal are grouped, and Trellis encoding is performed only of the members of a group. The computational cost of coding and decoding the data is reduced (compared to treating all the tones of a given direction equivalently), and the invention makes it possible to significantly reduce the computational and memory requirements of the encoder and decoder. Furthermore, Trellis decoding errors are not propagated between the groups. |
| US08238471B2 |
Apparatus and method for interference cancellation in multi-antenna system
An apparatus and a method for interference cancellation in a transmitting end of a multi-antenna system are provided. A precode is generated which maximizes a diversity gain of one or more receive antennas using channel information of the receive antennas to be serviced. Transmit powers of the receive antennas are updated by taking into account a power loss and a shaping loss according to a dirty paper coding. Transmit signals are precoded by updating the precode according to the updated transmit powers. The dirty paper coding is performed on the precoded transmit signals to be transmitted to the receive antennas. |
| US08238469B2 |
Calibration in a radio frequency transmission module
A radio frequency transmission module is adapted to generate a first signal to be transmitted and to convert the signal to a radio frequency carrier for its radio transmission, in an operational phase, and is adapted to generate a second signal and to convert the second signal to the radio frequency carrier, in a calibration phase. The module includes a calibration unit having a subsampler adapted to subsample the second converted signal and a calculation unit adapted to calculate Fourier Transform coefficients representative of the signal delivered by the subsampler, for the purposes of processing the first signal to be transmitted, in the operational phase, as a function of at least some of the Fourier coefficients calculated in the calibration phase. |
| US08238468B2 |
Radio transmission device and radio reception device
There is disclosed a radio transmission device capable of improving the throughput. The radio transmission device (100) transmits a first signal and a second signal which are different from each other. In the radio transmission device (100), an FFT unit (103) subjects first data to an FFT process. A sub-carrier allocation unit (106) maps the first data which has been subjected to the FFT process and the second data into different frequencies. An IFFT unit (107) subjects the mapped signal to the IFFT transform. A transmission radio processing unit (109) transmits the signal which has been subjected to the IFFT processing, with a single carrier. |
| US08238465B2 |
Sphere decoding method applied to multi-input multi-output (MIMO) channel
A sphere decoding method applied to a MIMO channel is provided. Multiple constellation points of an nth detection layer corresponding to a MIMO channel matrix are enumerated based on an enumeration rule, and at least one nth sub-set of the nth detection layer is defined. K constellation points are obtained from each of the at least one nth sub-set as preferred points, and Kn preferred points are selected from all the K preferred points of the at least one nth sub-set. K1 preferred points are transferred to a second detection layer from a first detection layer. K(T−1) preferred points are transferred to a Tth detection layer from a (T−1)th detection layer. An optimal solution is determined according to Kn preferred points of the nth detection layer. K and at least one of K1 to KT are determined by the The characteristic of the MIMO channel matrix. |
| US08238464B2 |
Method and apparatus for decomposing channel in closed-loop multiple input multiple output communication system
An apparatus for decomposing a channel in a closed-loop Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) communication system is provided. The channel decomposition apparatus includes a transmitter for preceding input symbols using a first matrix which is a product of a unitary matrix V, a diagonal matrix Φ and a blockwise Uniform Channel Decomposition (UCD) matrix PBL, before outputting the input symbols. |
| US08238462B2 |
Resource allocation method for MIMO-OFDM of multi-user access systems
A resource allocation method for MIMO (multi-input multi-output-OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplex) of multi-user access systems includes A) for each sub-carrier or group of sub-carriers of OFDM, grouping signature vectors of users at a time period according to correlations of the signature vectors; B) from the grouping results, selecting the signature vectors according to a scheduling rule; assigning the sub-carrier frequency and time resource to users of which simultaneously the selected signature vectors have low correlations; and assigning spatial resource to the users corresponding to the selected signature vectors. By minimizing the spatial co-channel interference to an acceptable low level, the complexity significantly in the joint multi-user optimization is reduced. |
| US08238459B2 |
Decoding device and method, receiving device and method, and program
A decoding device that decodes demodulated data obtained by demodulating a quadrature modulated signal arising from digital modulation of a carrier and detects synchronization, the decoding device includes, a decoder configured to decode first demodulated data that is the demodulated data obtained by demodulating the quadrature modulated signal and is composed of in-phase axis data and quadrature axis data. The decoding device decodes second demodulated data obtained by interchanging the in-phase axis data and the quadrature axis data of the first demodulated data. A synchronization detector is configured to detect a boundary between predetermined information symbol sequences from first decoded data obtained by decoding the first demodulated data and detect the boundary from second decoded data obtained by decoding the second demodulated data. The synchronization detector selects and outputs one of the first decoded data and the second decoded data based on a result of the detection of the boundary. |
| US08238458B2 |
IQ impairment estimation in an OFDM signal
System and method for evaluating a transmitter by estimating IQ impairments in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal generated by the transmitter. The OFDM signal may be received. The OFDM signal may represent a stream of symbols, each comprising a plurality of subcarriers. At least a subset of the subcarriers may be pilot subcarriers. The pilot subcarriers may be grouped into one or more groups of pilot subcarriers based on one or more conditions: a pilot subcarrier which satisfies a condition in its relation to a mirror subcarrier may be grouped with other pilot subcarriers which also satisfy the condition in relation to mirror subcarriers. An estimate of one or more of gain imbalance or quadrature skew of the OFDM signal may be calculated based on the one or more groups of pilot subcarriers and the one or more conditions. The estimate may be used to evaluate the transmitter. |
| US08238456B2 |
Techniques to time vary pilot locations in wireless networks
An embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, comprising a receiver capable of selecting optimal pilot locations and providing feedback of the pilot locations to a transmitter in communication with the receiver. The optimal pilot locations may be selected by locations that avoid strong interference or platform noise at the receiver, by locations that avoid deep fading, by locations that maximize the spacing between pilot tones at the two ends of a wireless frequency band or by locations that equalize the interspacing between any two adjacent pilots. |
| US08238453B1 |
Adaptive channel bandwidth selection for MIMO wireless systems
A wireless communications device for a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless communications system. The wireless communication device includes a radio frequency (RF) transceiver including at least two antennae. A medium access control (MAC) device to dynamically adjust a bandwidth of the wireless communications device by adjusting a number of channels associated with at least two antennae. The adjusting of the number of channels associated with at least two antennae is based at least on a transmission error rate or a correlation measurement. |
| US08238452B1 |
Circuit for synchronizing serial communication channels
Circuits are provided for synchronizing serial communication channels having respective receivers, of which one is a master receiver. Each receiver includes a FIFO buffer and a synchronizing element. The FIFO buffer is written periodically with characters received from the serial communication channel of the receiver, and the FIFO buffer is read periodically, except between the start and end of synchronization of the receiver. The start of synchronization of the master receiver is generated from the timing of reading a channel bonding character from the FIFO buffer of the master receiver. The start of synchronization of each receiver other than the master receiver is generated after the start of the master receiver and in response to reading a channel bonding character from the FIFO buffer of the receiver. The end of synchronization of the receivers is generated a time interval after the start of the master receiver. |
| US08238450B2 |
Dynamic transmitter noise level adjustment for digital subscriber line systems
An apparatus comprising an artificial noise (AN) controller coupled to a digital subscriber line (DSL) transmitter and configured to adjust an AN level for a signal transmitted by the DSL transmitter, wherein the AN level is adjusted based on an actual signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the signal from the receiver to achieve a desired SNR for the signal. Also disclosed is a method comprising maintaining a data rate in a line at about a desired level by adjusting an AN level in a transmitted signal based on a SNR of a received signal. |
| US08238448B2 |
Apparatus for performing loop-filtering on sets of four successive pixels of an image
In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a decoder configured to obtain quantization information of a first block, obtain a block type of the first block, and compare the quantization information and a threshold value. Loop-filtering is performed by the decoder on a first set of four successive pixels by using at least three successive pixels in a horizontal direction firstly if the quantization information is greater than the threshold value and the type of the first block is intra-coded block type, and loop-filtering is performed by the decoder on a second set of four successive pixels by using at least three successive pixels in a vertical direction secondly if the quantization information is greater than the threshold value and the type of the first block is intra-coded block type. |
| US08238445B2 |
Video and audio synchronization method and related apparatus for a multimedia interface
A video and audio data synchronization method for a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) having a plurality of channels for outputting video and audio data includes determining a boundary between a control period and a data/video period in each of the plurality of channels, adjusting timing sequences of the plurality of channels respectively according to the boundaries, and simultaneously outputting video and audio data of the plurality of channels according to the timing sequences of the plurality of channels. This method can prevent loss of synchronization between channels due to layout and process variation. |
| US08238444B2 |
Perceptual-based video coding method
A perceptual-based video coding method provides a perceptual-based rate-distortion (R-D) curve as a predictive R-D curve. The Lagrange multiplier for a current frame is then determined by deciding a slope, with sign reversed, of a tangent to the predictive R-D curve at a current point that is on the predictive R-D curve and closest to a previous R-D point of a previous encoded frame. The current frame is then encoded according to the determined Lagrange multiplier. |
| US08238438B2 |
Image data transmitting apparatus and method and image data reproducing apparatus and method
An image data transmitting apparatus and an image data transmitting method are provided which can distribute streaming moving images at a transfer rate in accordance with a transmission band with degradation in image quality being mitigated even at the time of congestion. A priority determining section 43 reads encoded data stored in the buffer 42 in units of VOP, and then calculates a priority for each VP in terms of VOP based on the amount of encoded data of VP and the number of MBs. A transmission control section 44 determines VPs starting from a VP of the highest priority that have a data amount up to the amount of transmittable encoded data. This determination is made based on the current state of congestion on a network 6 managed by a congestion state managing section 46 and the priorities calculated by the priority determining section 43. A VP transmitting section 45 stores the determined VPs in transmission packets for sequential transmission to a client 5. |
| US08238437B2 |
Image encoding apparatus, image decoding apparatus, and control method therefor
This invention scans a block using a window having a size of p×q pixels, and encodes p×q sub-block data each formed from pixel data at relatively identical positions in windows. A blocking unit receives a 16×16-pixel block image. A sub-block division unit scans the received block for each 2×2-pixel window, and generates 2×2 sub-block data each having a size of 8×8 pixels. Each sub-block is formed from pixel data at relatively identical positions in windows. A variable length coding unit encodes each sub-block data. When the sum of encoded sub-block data exceeds an allowable encoded data amount, a sub-block elimination unit eliminates encoded sub-block data until the sum becomes equal to or smaller than the allowable encoded data amount. The sub-block elimination unit outputs the remaining encoded sub-block data as encoded data of a block of interest. |
| US08238435B2 |
Modifying bitstreams
The bitstream includes digital codes representing an information signal. At least one digital code is selected. The code occupies a part of the bitstream which is to contain at least one watermark code which represents a watermark perceptible in the information signal. The selected digital code(s) are removed from the said part of the bitstream. The watermark code(s) are put in the said part of the bitstream in place of the selected code(s). The number of bits of the selected code(s) removed from the said part of the bitstream is greater than or equal to the number of bits of the said watermark code(s) put in the said part. The removed selected code(s) are appended to an end of the bitstream and/or placed in watermark user data fields created in the bitstream. |
| US08238433B2 |
Method to transcode H.264/AVC video frames into MPEG-2 and device
A method and device to transcode H.264/AVC video frames into MPEG-2 can include converting the H.264/AVC interframe coding modes into modes allowed by MPEG-2 and converting H.264/AVC motion information into corresponding MPEG-2 semantics, and determining a most suitable motion vector for each MPEG-2 macro-block, on the basis of motion vectors of reference frames and sub-blocks of a H.264/AVC macro-block corresponding to the MPEG-2 macro-block. |
| US08238430B2 |
Apparatus for removing a blocking phenomenon in a block based on prioritized factors
In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a decoder configured to obtain a coded block pattern of first and second blocks. The coded block pattern is one of a plurality of coded block patterns, the plurality of coded block patterns include an intra-coded block, and the second block is adjacent to the first block. The decoder is configured to obtain a motion vector difference between a motion vector for the first block and a motion vector for the second block, and determine a non-zero filter strength value based on the obtained coded block pattern of the first and second block as first priority and the obtained motion vector difference as second priority. The blocking phenomenon is removed by the decoder according to the filter strength value. |
| US08238428B2 |
Pixel-by-pixel weighting for intra-frame coding
Techniques for improving the accuracy of prediction in intra-frame coding. A prediction mode can specify a pixel along a direction independently of other pixels along the same direction. In an embodiment, an encoder selects a prediction mode to best represent the image block. In an alternative embodiment, a decoder reconstructs each pixel in the image block by weighting neighboring pixels according to a weight matrix specified by the prediction mode. |
| US08238425B2 |
Decoding apparatus, decoding method, and program of same
An encoding apparatus for encoding progressive image data and interlace image data corresponding to this progressive image data, having a first encoding unit configured to encode picture data composing the interlace image data to generate first encoded data and decoding and recomposing the first encoded data to generate recomposed image data, an up sample processing unit configured to up sample the generated recomposed image data to generate image data having the same resolution as that of the progressive image data, and a second encoding unit configured to encode the picture data composing the progressive image data to generate second encoded data using the generated image data as predictive image data. |
| US08238423B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method
To predict a target code amount from a code amount calculated on a single quantizer scale. The present invention stores relationship information on a plurality of pieces of quantized data for prediction having different MB generated code amounts on a fixed quantizer scale (QI) as prediction curves, the relationship information indicating a relationship between a plurality of quantizer scales (Q) representing a plurality of quantizer steps and MB generated code amounts. The present invention quantizes image data on a macroblock-by-macroblock basis on the single fixed quantizer scale (QI) out of the predetermined plurality of quantizer scales (Q), thereby generating temporary quantized data, and calculates the MB generated code amount of each macroblock unit of this temporary quantized data. The present invention then selects a piece of quantized data for prediction from the plurality of prediction curves based on the MB generated code amount of the temporary quantized data and the fixed quantizer scale (QI), and predicts the MB generated code amounts for situations when the image data is quantized on quantizer scales (Q) not selected by a quantization selection section, based on the selected piece of quantized data for prediction. |
| US08238420B1 |
Video content transcoding for mobile devices
The present disclosure includes, among other things, systems, methods and program products for video transcoding. A request is received for first video content for a playback system where the first video content is encoded with a first number of i-frames, where first video content frames are a first frame size. A second number of i-frames is determined for the first video content based on one or more playback capabilities of the playback system, where the second number of i-frames is greater than the first number of i-frames. A second frame size is determined for the first video content based on the playback capabilities of the playback system, where the second frame size is smaller than the first frame size. The first video content is transcoded to second video content where the second video content has the second number of i-frames and frames of the second frame size. |
| US08238416B2 |
Apparatuses and methods for transmitting and receiving uncompressed AV data
Apparatuses and methods are provided for transmitting and receiving uncompressed audio or video (AV) data by applying a different coding rate to each bit or each group of bits included in the uncompressed AV data according to significance of each bit or each group of bits. The apparatus for transmitting the uncompressed AV data includes a grouping unit which classifies bits of each pixel included in the uncompressed AV data into at least two groups of bits according to a significance of the bits; an encoding unit which performs error correction encoding on each of the at least two groups using a different coding rate; and a radio frequency (RF) processing unit which transmits the encoded, uncompressed AV data, which includes the pixels on which the error-correction encoding was performed, using a communication channel. |
| US08238413B2 |
Adaptive equalizer for high-speed serial data
An adaptive equalizer for high-speed serial data comprises a programmable equalizer for equalizing an input serial data signal to generate an equalized serial data signal, wherein the equalization is based on an optimal equalization mode; a signal quality meter for computing an eye width indication based on the equalized serial data signal, wherein the eye width indication is an indicative of the quality of the equalized serial data signal; and a decision unit for determining the optimal equalization mode based on the eye width indication. |
| US08238412B2 |
Multicarrier modulation messaging for power level per subchannel information
Upon detection of a trigger, such as the exceeding of an error threshold or the direction of a user, a diagnostic link system enters a diagnostic information transmission mode. This diagnostic information transmission mode allows for two modems to exchange diagnostic and/or test information that may not otherwise be exchangeable during normal communication. The diagnostic information transmission mode is initiated by transmitting an initiate diagnostic link mode message to a receiving modem accompanied by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). The receiving modem determines, based on the CRC, if a robust communications channel is present. If a robust communications channel is present, the two modems can initiate exchange of the diagnostic and/or test information. Otherwise, the transmission power of the transmitting modem is increased and the initiate diagnostic link mode message re-transmitted to the receiving modem until the CRC is determined to be correct. |
| US08238411B2 |
Acquisition of a code modulated signal
The invention relates to the acquisition of a code modulated signal, wherein a first set of correlation results for correlations between the code modulated signal and a first replica code with different code phases and a second set of correlation results for correlations between the code modulated signal and a second replica code with different code phases are available. In order to achieve a high sensitivity, results from both sets of correlation results are combined, wherein correlation results used in the combination are selected based on information on a relative difference between a correct code phase for both replica codes. Then, it is determined based on the combination whether at least one of the sets of correlation results comprises a correlation result representing the correct code phase for the first replica code or the second replica code, respectively. |
| US08238403B2 |
Base station apparatus and radio communication method
Provided is a radio communication device which can make Acknowledgement (ACK) reception quality and Negative Acknowledgement (NACK) reception quality to be equal to each other. The device includes: a scrambling unit (214) which multiplies a response signal after modulated, by a scrambling code “1” or “e−j(π/2)” so as to rotate a constellation for each of response signals on a cyclic shift axis; a spread unit (215) which performs a primary spread of the response signal by using a Zero Auto Correlation (ZAC) sequence set by a control unit (209); and a spread unit (218) which performs a secondary spread of the response signal after subjected to the primary spread, by using a block-wise spread code sequence set by the control unit (209). |
| US08238402B2 |
Systems and methods for PCO based UWB impulse radio with localized synchronization detection and retention
The present invention provides a communications system, node and method of operation for forming a wireless network from independently operating nodes that have the ability to self-synchronize with each other, independently determine master and slave modes of operation to cooperate as a network, and independently vary those functions to adjust to changes in the network. |
| US08238401B2 |
Silicon-based lens support structure for diode laser
An apparatus that includes a first diode laser and a silicon-based support structure is provided. The first diode laser is configured to emit a first laser beam when powered. The support structure includes a silicon-based support plate, a silicon-based first fin structure, and a silicon-based second fin structure. The support plate has a first primary surface and a second primary surface opposite the first primary surface. The first fin structure has a first primary surface, a second primary surface opposite the first primary surface, and a plurality of edges between the first and the second primary surfaces including a first edge and a second edge opposite the first edge. The first fin structure is physically coupled to the support plate with the first edge of the first fin structure attached to the first primary surface of the support plate. The second fin structure has a first primary surface, a second primary surface opposite the first primary surface, and a plurality of edges between the first and the second primary surfaces including a first edge and a second edge opposite the first edge. The second fin structure is physically coupled to the support plate with the first edge of the second fin structure attached to the first primary surface of the support plate. The first diode laser is physically coupled between the first and the second fin structures to emit the first laser beam in a direction away from the support plate. |
| US08238398B2 |
Diode laser, integral diode laser, and an integral semiconductor optical amplifier
Invention relates to three types of laser light sources: diode laser, integral diode laser (in form of integrally connected diode lasers) and integral semiconductor optical amplifier (in form of integrally connected driving laser diode and semiconductor amplifier element), which amplifier consists of original optical resonator of diode laser and original laser radiation coupling. Two reflectors in optical resonator of diode laser, which falls into three types of above-mentioned laser radiation sources, have greatest possible reflection factor on both sides thereof and radiation coupling from active layer is carried out, by-passing active layer, through broadband semiconductor layers of the modified heterostructure of diode laser with practically fully antireflective (less than 0.01%) optical face. Invention makes it possible to design superpower, high-performance, high-speed and reliable three types of sources of single-frequency, single-mode and multi-mode high quality laser radiation in broad wavelength band, to simplify the production and cut in production costs thereof. |
| US08238397B2 |
Semiconductor laser device
A semiconductor laser device can suppress electrode-to-electrode resonance of laser light emitted from an active layer, increasing electrical conversion efficiency. The semiconductor laser device has a substrate and an active layer. The energy of the laser light emitted from the active layer is smaller than the band gap energy of the substrate, and the carrier concentration of the substrate is at least 2.2×1018 cm−3. |
| US08238396B2 |
Gas laser oscillator having function for judging discharge initiation
A gas laser oscillator capable of initiating discharge, without applying excess voltage to a discharge tube, and correctly and rapidly judging the initiation of discharge. The oscillator has a laser power commanding part adapted to generate a laser power command including a pulse superimposed on a forefront of each step, a voltage applying part adapted to apply a voltage to a discharge tube based on the laser power command, a discharge tube voltage detecting part adapted to detect the discharge tube voltage, a discharge tube voltage monitoring part adapted to monitor the discharge tube voltage, and a discharge initiation judging part adapted to judge that the discharge is initiated when the difference, between a change rate of the monitored voltage and a change rate of the discharge tube voltage predetermined based on data obtained while the discharge is normally carried out, is smaller than a predetermined threshold. |
| US08238395B2 |
Automatic power control (APC) loop for adjusting the bias current of a laser diode
A automatic power control loop comprises a photo diode used for sensing a light intensity of a laser diode to generate a feedback current, a switch selector used for selecting one among a plurality of predetermined currents according to a control signal generated by a controller, a transducer used for transferring a current different between the feedback current and the selected predetermined current into a load voltage, a comparator used for comparing the load voltage with a reference voltage to generate a comparison signal, a counter used for counting a count value according to the comparison signal and the control signal, and a laser diode driver used for generating a corresponding bias current in response to the count value to drive the laser diode. Thereby, the bias current will be adjusted within an allowable range, so that the light source of the laser diode can maintain a constant light intensity. |
| US08238394B2 |
Low power consumption pump driving circuit
The present patent application provides a low power consumption pump driving circuit including a laser cooling chip, a PMOS transistor, a NMOS transistor, a LC filter circuit, a laser, and a voltage sampling circuit. The pulse width modulating signal generated by the laser cooling chip and the control terminal of the PMOS transistor are connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor. The source of the PMOS transistor is connected to a power supply. The drain of the PMOS transistor is connected to the LC filter circuit. The other terminal of the LC filter circuit is connected to the anode of the laser. The cathode of the laser is connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor. The source of the NMOS transistor is connected to the ground. One terminal of the voltage sampling circuit is connected to the laser. The other terminal of the voltage sampling circuit is connected to the laser cooling chip. The circuit according to the present patent application has only two modes: the saturation active mode and the cutoff mode. When the PMOS and the NMOS are in the saturation active mode, the power consumed by the transistors is negligible. The laser is driven by a DC signal converted through the LC filter circuit, which ensures no power is wasted on the whole serial loop and achieves the requirement of low power consumption. |
| US08238385B2 |
Data processing circuit and data processing method
A data processing circuit comprising: a first circuit configured to time-division-multiplex a first digital signal synchronous with a clock signal input from an external controller and a second digital signal asynchronous with the clock signal; and a second circuit configured to output a digital signal time-division-multiplexed by the first circuit to the controller. |
| US08238379B2 |
Automation device
The invention relates to an automation device, with which a multiplicity of physically distributed functional units communicate with each other by means of a common transmission protocol. The device has a microcontroller (110), which is assigned at least one clock generator (120) and one memory unit (150), and which is connected at least to one data source (140), which is designed to output a data bit-stream to be transmitted. A sequential sequence of equidistant samples of a trapezoidal time profile is stored in the memory unit (150), such that it can be called up, in such a manner that the samples can be output either using the clock of the first clock generator or using the clock of the second clock generator, depending on the data bit-stream. |
| US08238378B2 |
Emergency call handling in contention-based wireless local area networks
An apparatus and methods for handling emergency message frames (e.g., “911” call frames, etc.) sent by a station in a wireless local-area network are disclosed. The illustrative embodiment increases the probability with which an emergency message frame is accorded the singularly highest quality-of-service by modifying one or more IEEE 802.11e parameters (e.g., back-off contention window length, Arbitration Inter-Frame Space [AIFS], etc.) for a station or access point that transmits an emergency message frame. |
| US08238373B2 |
Method and device for mapping ethernet code blocks to OTN for transmission
A method and a device for mapping Ethernet code blocks to an optical transport network (OTN) for transmission are provided. According to a preset mapping manner, 40 Gigabit (40 G) Ethernet code blocks are mapped to a payload area of a general frame provision (GFP) frame, or a plurality of 40 G Ethernet code blocks is interleaved into a payload area of an OTN frame, or 40 G Ethernet code blocks are mapped to an OTN frame according to an asynchronous bit-stream mapping manner. Thus, specific solutions for mapping 40 G Ethernet code blocks having an encoding rate lower than a minimum payload bandwidth of the OPU3 to the OTN for transmission is provided. |
| US08238371B2 |
Method for operating enhanced RLC entity and RNC entity for WCDMA and system thereof
A method for operating an RLC entity and a MAC entity in a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), the European IMT-2000 system. A format of a MAC-hs PDU is optimized in a MAC-hs entity, so that a large number of users can be supported with using less resources when a VoIP service is provided in one cell. |
| US08238369B2 |
Coexistence of data streams
A system for transmitting data from two or more data streams on a communication channel between two or more devices. Roughly described, the data from each data stream is transmitted on the channel in the form of data packets, at least one data packet of one or more of the data streams being transmitted in between the data packets of the other data streams. The system is characterized in that the system comprises means to generate or process data packets for at least one of the data streams for transmission, the generated or processed data packets having a size below a certain value. Collisions between data packets of different data streams are thereby reduced. |
| US08238366B2 |
Wireless communication rate allocation on a Gaussian interference channel
The invention provides a sequential rate allocation process which assigns excess rates to variable-rate users in a sequential fashion according to specified priorities and yields a strongly pare-to-optimal rate allocation. The invention also provides two parallel rate allocation techniques for where all variable-rate users have the same priority. The first is a parallel symmetric rate and the second is an iterative rate allocation. |
| US08238365B2 |
Method and device for supporting optical transmission network service dispatch in optical synchronization network
A method and device for supporting optical transmission network service dispatch in an optical synchronization network, said device comprises service cards (401, 407), backplane interface (404) and a plurality of dispatch units (405, 406), wherein, the service cards (401, 407) process the service signals and distribute them to the backplane structure frame according to the bandwith of the service signals, and connect with the corresponding dispatch units (405, 406) through the backplane structure frame, and then the dispatch units (405, 406) execute the service dispatch. Said dispatch units (405, 406) can work independently from each other, and the dispatch units can be added linearly according to the bandwidth of the signal. The present invention can compatibly implement the uniform dispatch of the ODU and SDH service on the basis of the existing optical synchronization device without changing the backplane frame structure or increasing the backplane speed. |
| US08238362B2 |
Burst processing modem and related methods
A burst processing modem and related methods. Implementations of a first method of demodulating bursts from a plurality of channels may include receiving a plurality of channels from a received beam and separating the plurality of channels and storing a plurality of frames in a random access memory (RAM) array with a channelizer where each frame of the plurality of frames includes one or more bursts. The method may include serially reading, using a demodulator in response to receiving a timing signal, a desired burst from a frame stored in the RAM array wherein a burst time plan identifying the desired burst is used by a receive frame state machine to generate the timing signal. The method may include demodulating and decoding the desired burst using a demodulator and a decoder to produce a quantity of packet data, and sending the quantity of packet data to a specified destination. |
| US08238361B2 |
Scheduling and queue management with adaptive queue latency
The invention relates to a scheduler for a TCP/IP based data communication system and a method for the scheduler. The communication system comprises a TCP/IP transmitter and a receiving unit (UE). The scheduler is associated with a Node comprising a rate measuring device for measuring a TCP/IP data rate from the TCP/IP transmitter and a queue buffer device for buffering data segments from the TCP/IP transmitter. The scheduler is arranged to receive information from the rate measuring device regarding the TCP/IP data rate and is arranged to adapt the permitted queue latency to a minimum value when the TCP/IP transmitter is in a slow start mode and to increase the permitted queue latency when the TCP/IP rate has reached a threshold value. |
| US08238359B2 |
Communication module and communication apparatus
A communication module mounted on a communication apparatus includes a communication apparatus main body including a plurality of slots, and being insertable into or removable from the slots, a plurality of apparatus side signal processing circuits for processing a communication signal which is transmitted to or received from the communication module, and a switch LSI for changing a destination of the communication signal. The communication module includes a switching portion for performing dividing the communication signal transmitted or received at a communication speed of the communication module, and combining the communication signals transmitted or received at a communication speed of an external apparatus, a connector including a plurality of input-output ports, each of the plurality of the input-output ports being connected to the external apparatus respectively, and a plurality of connecting terminals being connected to the communication apparatus main body when the communication module is inserted into the slots. |
| US08238356B2 |
Communication system and access gateway apparatus
A communication system comprising a home server, an access gateway, and a policy server, wherein the policy server transmits, to the first access gateway, a link creation request for associating a communication path of the first terminal and a communication path of the second terminal; and the access gateway sets a fifth communication path which connects the first communication path and the third communication path upon receiving the link creation request, records information on the set fifth communication path in the communication path management information, and transmits the data from the first terminal via the first communication path to the second terminal via the fifth communication path and the third communication path based on the communication path management information. |
| US08238354B2 |
Wide area communication networking
A communications network is disclosed and includes a broadband communication line having a first derived voice channel and a second derived voice channel, wherein the first and second derived voice channels are established as a function of an available bandwidth associated with the broadband communication line. The communication network further includes a residential gateway in communication with the broadband communication line. The residential gateway includes a switch, a network interface device in communication with the switch, and wherein the switch is configured to select at least one of the first or second derived voice channels for voice communication over the broadband communication line as a function of the available bandwidth. |
| US08238350B2 |
Message batching with checkpoints systems and methods
Systems and methods are provided for passing control of message dependencies and ordering to one or more network nodes participating in a transaction. Thus, messages can be sent to the participating nodes and the participating nodes can handle the messages according to their respective dependencies without first sending a response or waiting for the next message to arrive. In one embodiment, at least one message is flagged with a checkpoint to indicate that messages sent before the checkpoint are to be handled by the participating nodes before messages after the checkpoint. Messages may also be flagged with error-handling information. For example, a message may be marked to indicate that if the message fails, no further messages are to be sent to the node had the failure. Responses to a group of messages can be collected in a single operation. |
| US08238349B2 |
Method of accessing stored information in multi-framed data transmissions
The present invention discloses a method of accessing stored information in multi-framed data transmissions, comprising at least one control interface and at least one elastic store, wherein the control interface accesses the elastic store through a mailbox communications method. The control interface accesses the elastic store via the mailbox communications method, which comprises: (a) setting a address for a data location within said elastic store; (b) setting a request to read from, or write to, said data location within said elastic store; (c) issuing a “GO_” signal to retrieve data information from said data location within said elastic store, by writing said “GO_” signal to said microprocessor, which causes a circuit to read from said requested data location within said elastic store; (d) waiting for a possible, but not to be expected, de-assertion of a busy signal to be issued from said data location within said elastic store, and then; and then (e) reading back the value of said data information to said control interface. Where a busy signal occurs, the microprocessor must wait and issue a subsequent “GO_” signal to retrieve the data information from the data location; where a busy signal does not occur the “GO_” signal causes the circuit to read from the requested data location and send the data information back to the microprocessor, where the data information is stored in a user-accessible register. |
| US08238348B2 |
Frame transmitting apparatus and frame receiving apparatus
A frame transmitting apparatus that transmits a frame via a synchronous digital hierarch network or a synchronous optical network, includes a data-amount detecting unit that detects an amount of data received from other apparatus; and a frame transmitting unit that transmits, when the amount of data detected by the data-amount detecting unit exceeds a predetermined threshold value, a frame in which information pertaining to a frame control is stored in a fixed stuff of a virtual container frame or a synchronous-transport-signal frame. |
| US08238347B2 |
Fibre channel over ethernet
A Data Center Ethernet (“DCE”) network and related methods and device are provided. A DCE network simplifies the connectivity of data centers and provides a high bandwidth, low latency network for carrying Ethernet, storage and other traffic. A Fiber Channel (“FC”) frame, including FC addressing information, is encapsulated in an Ethernet frame for transmission on a Data Center Ethernet (“DCE”) network. The Ethernet address fields may indicate that the frame includes an FC frame, e.g., by the use of a predetermined Organization Unique Identifier (“OUI”) code in the D_MAC field, but also include Ethernet addressing information. Accordingly, the encapsulated frames can be forwarded properly by switches in the DCE network whether or not these switches are configured for operation according to the FC protocol. Accordingly, only a subset of Ethernet switches in the DCE network needs to be FC-enabled. Only switches so configured will require an FC Domain_ID. |
| US08238345B2 |
Packet transmission control device, and packet transmission control method
A disclosed packet transmission control apparatus controls packet transmission to plural radio terminals. A priority determination portion determines a packet assignment priority in accordance with at least one of presence/absence of retransmission data and the number of data transmissions. A radio terminal selection portion that selects a radio terminal to be a communications party in accordance with the priority. |
| US08238344B1 |
Multicast load balancing
A method may include receiving a packet; identifying the packet as a multicast packet for sending to a plurality of destination nodes; selecting a first forwarding table or a second forwarding table for sending the packet to each of the plurality of destination nodes, wherein the first forwarding table includes first port information associated with a first destination and second port information associated with a second destination, and wherein the second forwarding table includes third port information associated with the second destination; sending the packet to the first destination using the first port; and sending the packet to the second destination using the second port when the first forwarding table is selected and sending the packet to the second destination using the third port when the second forwarding table is selected. |