| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08256099B2 |
Manufacturing method for a thermal head
The manufacturing method for a thermal head includes: forming a hollow concave portion and a marking concave portion having a depth larger than a depth of the hollow concave portion on one surface of a thin plate glass; a bonding step of bonding a supporting plate onto the one surface of the thin plate glass, in which the hollow concave portion and the marking concave portion are formed in the concave portion forming step; a thinning step of thinning the thin plate glass onto which the supporting plate is bonded in the bonding step until the marking concave portion extends through the substrate from a side of a back surface opposite to the one surface; and a heating resistor forming step of forming a heating resistor on the back surface of the thin plate glass thinned in the thinning step so as to be opposed to the hollow concave portion. |
| US08256096B2 |
Method of using xenon ion beams to improve track width definition
Using a beam of xenon ions together with a suitable mask, a stack is ion milled until a part of it, no more than about 0.1 microns thick, has been removed so that a pedestal having sidewalls, including a vertical section and a shortened taper portion, has been formed. This is followed by formation of conductive lead layers as needed. Using xenon as the sputtering gas enables the point at which milling is terminated to be more precisely controlled. |
| US08256095B2 |
Method for manufacturing a magneto-resistance effect element
An example method for manufacturing a magneto-resistance effect element includes forming a free magnetization layer and forming a spacer layer. The spacer layer is formed, for example, by forming a non-magnetic first metallic layer and forming a second metallic layer on a surface of the non-magnetic first metallic layer. A first irradiating process includes irradiating, onto the second metallic layer, first ions or plasma including at least one of oxygen and nitrogen and at least one selected from the group consisting of Ar, Xe, He, Ne, Kr, so as to convert the second metallic layer into an insulating layer and to form a non-magnetic metallic path penetrating through the insulating layer and containing elements of the non-magnetic first metallic layer. A second irradiating process includes irradiating second ions or plasma onto the insulating layer. A non-magnetic third metallic layer is formed on the non-magnetic metallic path. |
| US08256094B2 |
Method for shaping electric wire for stator coil of electric rotating machine
A method is provided for shaping an electric wire for a stator coil of an electric rotating machine. The electric wire to be shaped includes a plurality of straight portions and a plurality of turn portions. Each of the turn portions includes a specific part and all of the specific parts of the turn portions are identical to each other. The method includes clamping the specific part of one of the turn portions of the electric wire in a width-wise direction thereof, holding two different sections of the specific part in a thickness-wise direction thereof, and moving one of the first and second holders relative to the other in the thickness-wise direction of the specific part, thereby shaping the specific part to form a crank-shaped portion therein. |
| US08256085B2 |
System and method for classifying wire
A quantity of wire is associated with a number of interruptions that occurred during the production and/or subsequent processing of the wire. The number of interruptions is used to classify the wire as being of a particular quality and/or suitable for a particular task. |
| US08256080B2 |
System and method for manufacturing a medical instrument
A system for manufacturing a forceps is disclosed. The system includes a forceps having first and second opposing jaw members. A compression mechanism is coupled to the pair of opposing jaw members and configured to provide and maintain a compression force between the opposing jaw members. The system also includes a load cell configured to measure an initial compression force between the opposing jaw members and a controller coupled to the load cell and configured to adjust the compression force based on a comparison between the initial compression force and a predetermined range. |
| US08256073B2 |
Harness fastener system for child carrier device
A harness fastener system for a child carrier device comprises a first plug, and a buckle including a front surface and a release button. The first plug is movable along a first direction substantially parallel with the front surface for engaging with the buckle, and the release button is movable along a second direction substantially parallel with the front surface for pushing the first plug out of the buckle. |
| US08256065B2 |
Hinge mechanism for display device
A hinge mechanism for a display device is arranged such that a cylindrical holder 14 which encloses the outer peripheral portion of a shaft 13 projecting laterally from a display 3 has a protrusion 19 provided on the internal surface thereof, and also the shaft 13 has provided on the outer peripheral surface thereof a plurality of flat faces 20, 21, and 22 for engaging with the protrusion 19. |
| US08256063B2 |
Strap with rigid barbs
An embodiment of the invention includes a device having a first barb proximate a first end of a strap and a second barb proximate a second end of the strap. A first sheath is proximate a portion of the first barb and the first end of the strap, wherein the first sheath has a length less than the length of the first barb. A second sheath is proximate a portion of the second barb and the second end of the strap, wherein the second sheath has a length less than the length of the second barb. The device further includes container having a first aperture and a second aperture. The strap is positioned within the first and second apertures such that the first barb engages the container at the first aperture and the second barb engages the container at the second aperture. |
| US08256062B2 |
Device comprising a guide, rail system and transport mechanism for use in such a device
A device comprising a guide having a first pair of substantially parallel running surfaces, which are placed along a first track at a lateral distance apart, and a second pair of substantially parallel running surfaces, which are placed along a second track at a lateral distance apart. The second pair of running surfaces extends, at a crossing or junction, transversely to the first pair of running surfaces. A carrier is displaceable over at least the running surfaces and has a bearing axle, extending transversely to the running surfaces, for fastening of a load, which bearing axle extends between the running surfaces. The device, close to the crossing/junction, has a transport mechanism. The transport mechanism is movable between a take-up position in the first track, for load-bearing engagement with the carrier, and a delivery position in the second track, for release of the carrier. The invention further relates to a rail system and a transport mechanism. |
| US08256053B2 |
Ramp bottom transition foot
An apparatus for wheeling a vehicle onto a truck or trailer includes a ramp. The apparatus includes a mounting portion attached to the ramp that mounts to the truck or trailer. The apparatus includes a transition piece the pivotally attaches to the ramp and contacts ground when the mounting portion is mounted to the truck or trailer. A method for placing a vehicle onto a truck or trailer includes the steps of attaching a mounting portion of a ramp to the truck or trailer. There is the step of moving a transition piece attached to the ramp so the transition piece contacts ground. There is the step of wheeling the vehicle across the transition piece, up the ramp and onto the truck or trailer. |
| US08256051B2 |
Random tumbling washing machine wash chamber for improving cleaning while minimizing mechanical damage to clothes
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention provide for improved cleaning while minimizing mechanical damage to clothes in automatic washer cycles using time-varying wash chamber oscillations. An automatic washer has a wash chamber with a central axis and is rotatable about the central axis. Items are loaded into the wash chamber. Wash liquid is supplied into the wash chamber. The wash chamber is oscillated about the central axis by time-varying oscillations. |
| US08256050B2 |
Surgical table extension
A surgical table extension features a patient support structure, a large area base, and a support leg. A first joint having at least two degrees of freedom is located between the patient support structure and the support leg. A second joint also having at least two degrees of freedom is located between the base and the support leg. There is a stop limiting the range of motion of the support leg such that a portion of the base area is constrained to be below the first joint irrespective of the position of the base. |
| US08256048B2 |
Bed lift mechanism
A bed with a leg assembly coupled to a support link assembly by a joint, the joint comprising a slot having at least two paths. A support link assembly defining a length that automatically varies as the support link assembly moves relative to the leg assembly. |
| US08256043B2 |
Support element for a cushion cover for seating and lying areas
A support element for a cushion cover for seating and lying areas includes a baseplate that can be fixed to a base, and at least one spring element formed by a plurality of spring arms and extending upward from the baseplate in the direction of the cushion cover. |
| US08256036B2 |
Lockable assembly for urinal flush valves
A lockable assembly for a urinal valve is provided. The lockable assembly includes a shaft assembly configured to engage portions of the urinal valve and a housing body configured to connect to the urinal valve and further configured to support the shaft assembly for axial movement. The lockable assembly is configured to allow selective operation of the urinal valve between a flushable state and a locked non-flushable state, wherein in a locked non-flushable state, the shaft assembly is prevented from moving in the axial direction and in a flushable state, axial movement of the shaft assembly urges the shaft assembly into contact with portions of the urinal valve. |
| US08256033B2 |
Open face helmet
An open face helmet includes an outer shell and a shock-absorbing liner, as well as a fixing member on the front side of the inner surface of the right side of the outer shell for the attachment of a removable cheek pad. The cheek pad includes a shock-absorbing member and a cushioning member stacked thereon, as well as an engaging body to be removably engaged with the fixing member. The fixing member is opposed to the front edge of the shock-absorbing liner, having a slit to be engaged with or disengaged from the engaging body in a front-back direction. The cheek pad is supported on the inner surface of the right side of the helmet shell by an engagement of the engaging body with the slit and a face-to-face contact of the back edge of the cheek pad with the front edge of the shock-absorbing liner. |
| US08256029B2 |
Glove
A glove having a fiber glove coated and impregnated with a polyurethane resin that is superior in wearing/removing efficiency and grip property between the glove and thumb and fingers and also in strength and flexibility. The glove is superior in workability, strength, durability, and flexibility, as well as in waterproofness. The glove hasa fiber glove coated and impregnated with a polyurethane resin such that resin films or resin regions having an uneven surface like a knit or weave pattern of the yarn are formed on a partial or entire surface in the impregnated resin regions on the inside surface by the resin impregnated from the outside surface to the inside surface, and the dynamic friction coefficient of the inside surface of the glove having the resin films or resin regions is 0.8 to 1.8. |
| US08256028B1 |
Matched pair of protective baseball batting gloves for right handed and left handed batters to protect the side of the hand and the wrist facing a pitcher with protective shock absorbing members on the exterior of the glove
The present invention is a novel protective batting glove which is used specifically for protecting the most vulnerable parts of a batter's hands and wrists when the batter is standing at home plate and is gripping the end of a baseball bat and awaiting the arrival of a baseball which is thrown by the pitcher. The invention comprises a unique protective system of a design of a matched pair of batting gloves with one matched pair designed for a right handed batter and one matched pair designed for a left handed batter. For each matched pair of batting gloves, impact and shock absorbing material is incorporated onto selected portions of the exterior of the glove where the grip on the bat causes the hand to be most exposed to a pitch thrown at the batter. |
| US08256025B2 |
Vapor permeable retroreflective garment
A vapor permeable retroreflective material for use on protective garments. The material may be formed in a non-continuous pattern that provides a high-level of retroreflective brightness, yet also provides adequate permeability to prevent exposure to trapped thermal energy and heated moisture. The non-continuous retroreflective pattern may include retroreflective regions and non-retroreflective regions arranged such that thermal decay through the protective garment is not substantially decreased in the regions corresponding to the retroreflective material. Rather, vapor permeation and thermal decay through the garment may be substantially the same as if the retroreflective material was not present. |
| US08256024B2 |
Cold weather garment
Described herein are various embodiments of a cold-weather garment. In one exemplary embodiment, a long-sleeve upper-body cold-weather garment includes a torso portion and two sleeve portions that are attached to and extend from opposite edges of the torso portion. The torso portion is made from a first material and the sleeve portions are each made from a second material. The first material is lighter per unit area and more breathable than the second material. The second material is heavier per unit area than the first material, but is more resistant to cold-weather environmental conditions. For example, the second material is water resistant, flame resistant and comprises an outer surface having a camouflage pattern. In some implementations, the second material is made up of at least approximately 50% hydrophobic fibers, includes a coating having water-repellant characteristics, and/or includes a multi-layer composite fabric that includes a water-resistant membrane made from either polyurethane or polytetrafluoroethylene. |
| US08256023B2 |
Coverall convenient to act
A coverall is convenient for a worker to act, and can be easily distinguished at night, with a convenience for a worker in doing a job. The coverall includes an upper clothes part, waist part and lower clothes part. The coverall has a shape wrapping an upper body of worker, and the upper and lower clothes parts are united through the waist part. The upper clothes part includes a wear fastener part, front-face protective cover, back fold part formed folded on the right and left both sides of the back surface, and a luminous band. The waist part has a waist band with elasticity. The lower clothes part is coupled to the upper clothes part in a united type with the waist part, and includes a lower clothes opening part openable along a hip part of worker on a rear face, a dual pocket, and a luminous band. The lower clothes opening part is formed in a “∪” or “∩” shape. |
| US08261368B2 |
Nanomanufacturing devices and methods
Devices for performing nanofabrication are provided which provide small volume reaction space and high reaction versatility. A device may include a reaction chamber adapted for nanoscale modification of a substrate and vacuum conditions; a scanning probe tip assembly enclosed within the reaction chamber; a first port coupled to the reaction chamber for delivering a gas; a second port coupled to the reaction chamber for applying a vacuum; and a substrate assembly insertedly mounted to the reaction chamber. The reaction chamber may include a body having one or more flexible walls and one or more supports to prevent the reaction chamber from collapsing under a vacuum. The device may further include an electrical conduit for coupling the tips of the scanning probe tip assembly to electrical components outside the reaction chamber. Also provided are apparatuses incorporating the devices and methods of using the devices and apparatuses. |
| US08261364B2 |
Network system for accessing the storage units based on log-in request having password granted by administration server
An administration server determines whether a request from a first client terminal is for authentication of a specific user who is in a log-in state via a second client terminal. When the request is for the specific user, the administration server performs a first or a second control, the first control including creating a new password; replacing an old password that is for the specific user to log-in to a network via the second client terminal with the new password; and sending the new password to the first client terminal, and the second control including determining that the request is disapproval; and sending a result of disapproval to the first client terminal. A double-log in by the same user and crush of an individual storage unit caused by a double-log in with the same user ID can be prevented. |
| US08261360B2 |
Content distributing system with dynamic encryption keys
A content distributing system for distributing content disclosed herein is an encrypting apparatus for encrypting each of objects constituting content using a different encryption key, a content offering apparatus for offering the encrypted content to a content reproducing apparatus; a license information offering apparatus for offering license information including information necessary for decrypting the encrypted content, and a content reproducing apparatus for acquiring the encrypted content from the content offering apparatus in order to decrypt and reproduce the acquired content using the license information acquired from the license offering apparatus. |
| US08261358B2 |
System and method of secure garbage collection on a mobile device
A method and system for performing garbage collection involving sensitive information on a mobile device. Secure information is received at a mobile device over a wireless network. The sensitive information is extracted from the secure information. A software program operating on the mobile device uses an object to access the sensitive information. Secure garbage collection is performed upon the object after the object becomes unreachable. |
| US08261357B2 |
Systems and methods for license entitlement key distribution
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for the distribution of license entitlement keys utilizing a small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver. An SFP transceiver may be utilized in connection with a communication device that transmits data according to a variety of communication protocols. In various embodiments, the license entitlement keys may be generated using an SFP configuration value stored in machine-readable storage medium in the SFP transceiver. The SFP configuration value may be an input, together with other values associated with the SFP transceiver and a secret key in order to generate a license entitlement key. The secret key may be stored in the communication device, and may be stored in such a manner so to not be externally readable. In certain embodiments, configuration settings may be tied to the license entitlement key. |
| US08261355B2 |
Topology-aware attack mitigation
Techniques are disclosed for preventing malicious attacks or other exploits on a computer server. A network manager may be configured to determine a topology of a plurality of network devices and deploy an intrusion prevention system in one or more of the network devices to mitigate attacks against the vulnerable servers. The one or more network devices may be identified based on the topology and one or more constraints for optimizing the deployment of the intrusion prevention systems. |
| US08261354B2 |
System, method and program product for dynamically performing an audit and security compliance validation in an operating environment
A system, method and program product for dynamically performing an audit and security compliance validation. The method includes providing a tool for performing a compliance check of installed computer applications running on a system, the tool including a first set and a second set of plug-ins. Further, the method includes scanning the system, using plug-ins selected from the first set to obtain a current inventory of applications currently installed on the system and selecting plug-ins from the second set to be run on the system in response to the current inventory of applications obtained, and automatically running the plug-ins selected from the second set for performing the compliance check on the system in response to a scheduling criteria identified for the system, where the second set of plug-ins perform the compliance check for only the applications currently installed on the system. |
| US08261353B2 |
Method, apparatus, and program product for autonomic patch deployment based on autonomic patch risk assessment and policies
An automatic patch deployment system is provided that deploys a patch according to an assessed risk and a policy. The policy may specify actions to be taken to deploy the patch for different categories of risk. The automatic patch deployment system receives a patch notification, an assessment of the risk, and the policy and deploys the patch accordingly. For example, installation of a patch may be indefinitely delayed for high risk patches, rescheduled for medium risk patches, or installed immediately for low risk patches. |
| US08261352B2 |
Hybrid representation for deterministic finite automata
A method includes receiving a data unit, determining whether a current state, associated with a deterministic finite automata (DFA) that includes a portion of states in a bitmap and a remaining portion of states in a DFA table, is a bitmap state or not, and determining whether a value corresponding to the data unit is greater than a threshold value, when it is determined that the current state is not a bitmap state. The method further includes determining whether the current state is insensitive, when it is determined that the value corresponding to the data unit is greater than the threshold value, where insensitive means that each next state is a same state for the current state, and selecting a default state, as a next state for the current, when it is determined that the current state is insensitive. |
| US08261350B2 |
System and method for protecting communication devices from denial of service attacks
A system for preventing successful denial of service attacks comprises a first communication device, a second communication device, and a network. The first and second communication devices establish a communication session via the network. Based on various information, such as a pre-shared secret, one of the communication devices determines a network access filter value and compares this value to at least one data frame in order to authenticate such data frame without committing significant computing resource and any memory space. By updating the network access filter over time, an unauthorized user who discovers the outdated network access filter values is prevented from successfully launching a denial of service attack. |
| US08261345B2 |
Rule-based application access management
A container that manages access to protected resources using rules to intelligently manage them includes an environment having a set of software and configurations that are to be managed. A rule engine, which executes the rules, may be called reactively when software accesses protected resources. The engine uses a combination of embedded and configurable rules. It may be desirable to assign and manage rules per process, per resource (e.g. file, registry, etc.), and per user. Access rules may be altitude-specific access rules. |
| US08261339B2 |
Dynamic network tunnel endpoint selection
Dynamically selecting an endpoint for a tunnel into an enterprise computing infrastructure. A client dynamically selects a gateway (which may alternatively be referred to as a boundary device or server) as a tunnel endpoint for connecting over a public network (or, more generally, an untrusted network) into an enterprise computing infrastructure. The selection is made, in preferred embodiments, according to least-cost routing metrics pertaining to paths through the enterprise network from the selected gateway to a destination host. The least-cost routing metrics may be computed using factors such as the proximity of selectable tunnel endpoints to the destination host; stability or redundancy of network resources for this gateway; monetary costs of transmitting data over a path between the selectable tunnel endpoints and destination host; congestion on that path; hop count for that path; and/or latency or transmit time for data on that path. |
| US08261330B2 |
Federated identity brokering
A method, system and apparatus for federated identity brokering. In accordance with the present invention, a credential processing gateway can be disposed between one or more logical services and one or more service requesting clients in a computer communications network. Acting as a proxy and a trusted authority to the logical services, the credential processing gateway can map the credentials of the service requesting clients to the certification requirements of the logical services. In this way, the credential processing gateway can act as a federated identity broker in providing identity certification services for a multitude of different service requesting clients without requiring the logical services to include a pre-configuration for specifically processing the credentials of particular service requesting clients. |
| US08261326B2 |
Network intrusion blocking security overlay
A database security overlay that identifies each network and local access gateway to a database, and monitors each access path from the identified gateways to analyze each connection to the database and block any connections determined to transport unauthorized or undesirable content. Access gateways that establish connections are identifiable by interprocess communication (IPC) mechanisms employed in accessing the database. An evaluator monitors access attempts, while a tapping mechanism on IPC mechanisms that provide the connections captures access attempts from the access gateways. The tapping mechanism intercepts and forwards access attempts to the evaluator to centralize and focus DB paths amid multiple local and external connections on the DB server. A lightweight check for each local access quickly determines if the access attempt warrants further scrutiny. |
| US08261317B2 |
Moving security for virtual machines
A method of maintaining multiple firewalls on multiple host nodes. Each host node runs one or more virtual machines. For at least a first host node, the method maintains multiple sets of policies for multiple virtual machines that run on the first host node. The method, upon detecting that a particular virtual machine has been moved from the first host node to a second host node, removes a set of policies associated with the particular virtual machine from the first host node and supplies the set of policies to the second host node. |
| US08261314B2 |
Apparatus and method for managing media content presentation
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a gateway including a controller adapted to transmit media content to a group of set top boxes that are associated with a premises and that each have a presentation device connected thereto where the presentation devices are in proximity to each other, receive a plurality of streams of the media content from a media server where the streams are of the same media content, and apply a delay compensation to delivery of the plurality of streams to one or more set top boxes of the group of set top boxes to synchronize presentation of the media content at each of the presentation devices, where the delay compensation is based on a transmission delay and a receipt delay, where the transmission delay is between each of the group of set top boxes and the gateway, and where the receipt delay is between the gateway and the media server. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08261311B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmitting video data from a mobile communication terminal
An apparatus and method for transmitting video data to a receiving terminal is disclosed. The apparatus comprises an event processing unit for outputting a signal to store a selected portion of the video data that is currently being reproduced, a video data reproduction unit for receiving the signal from the event processing unit and storing the selected portion of the video data that is currently being reproduced in response to the outputted signal while reproducing the video data. A message transmission unit is further provided for attaching the stored selected portion of the video data that is currently being reproduced to a message and transmitting the message to the receiving terminal. A data storage unit stores the video data and the selected portion of the video data. |
| US08261310B2 |
Cross table analysis display
A method, system and computer program for providing a cross table analysis display in a digital broadcast environment, are discussed. The method includes providing at least two metadata tables of a broadcast stream, performing a cross table analysis on the metadata tables to determine consistency between the metadata tables, and displaying the result of the cross table analysis of the metadata tables using a graphical user interface. |
| US08261309B2 |
Mobile entertainment system with retrieval of audio and video media content from a remote library
A mobile entertainment system includes a video system in combination with a media source. The video system and media source are housed within a housing secured within an automobile. The media source includes a storage medium upon which audio and video media content is stored for display upon the video system as desired by a user. A wireless global communication network access point is mounted within the automobile, wherein the media source includes wireless communication capabilities permitting communication with the wireless global communication network access point for retrieval of audio and video media content for display upon the video monitor. A remote library of audio and video media content is in wireless communication with the media source via the wireless access point. The remote library includes storage space for uploading of media content from a personal collection of audio and video media content from a user for subsequent transmission to the media source upon synchronization of the remote library with the media source thereby providing the user with access to a personal collection of audio and video content media. An access approval code is associated with the media source instructing the remote library to synchronize the audio and video media content with the media source as desired by the user. |
| US08261303B2 |
Digital television and channel editing method thereof
A display device and method for displaying images are discussed. According to an embodiment, the display device includes at least one first tuner configured to tune to a plurality of different broadcast channels; a display screen configured to display a multi-window including a plurality of sub-windows, each of the plurality of sub-windows configured to display images from a different one of the plurality of broadcast channels; an input unit configured to receive a user's input for editing a channel list including the plurality of broadcast channels; and a controller configured to control the at least one first tuner, the input unit and the display screen. |
| US08261298B2 |
Disk loading device of slot-in optical disk drive
A disk loading device of a slot-in optical disk drive comprises two loading levers to load and eject a disk, wherein the two loading levers are connected to a pivot pin; and a guide slot having a right recess and a left recess, wherein the pivot pin is moveable along the guide slot. |
| US08261297B2 |
Method and arrangement for re-loading a class
The method is for deploying an input class in a computer readable memory. A state class is created that has at least one field and at least one proxy method and a behavior class version that includes at least one method on the basis of the input class. At least one method call of the state class is redirected to the behavior class version. Also, an arrangement and a computer-software are disclosed. |
| US08261286B1 |
Fast sequential message store
A broker may be used as an intermediary to exchange messages between producers and consumers. The broker may store and dispatch messages from a physical queue stored in a persistent memory. More specifically, the broker may enqueue messages to the physical queue that are received from producers and may dispatch messages from the physical queue to interested consumers. The broker may further utilize one or more logical queues stored in transient memory to track the status of the messages stored in persistent memory. As messages are dispatched to and acknowledged by interested consumers, the broker deletes acknowledged messages from the physical queue. The messages deleted are those preceding a physical ACKlevel pointer that specifies the first non-acknowledged message in the physical queue. The physical ACKlevel pointer is advanced in the physical queue based on the relative position of corresponding logical ACKlevel pointers maintained by the logical queues. |
| US08261285B2 |
Processor packing in an SMP server to conserve energy
A data processing system includes a power supply, a plurality of processors wherein each processor is separately powerable by the power supply under operating system control. The operating system determines periodically a measure of system utilization and controls the switches to alter the number of active (powered) processors where the number of active processors reflects the measured system utilization and a set of utilization threshold values. System utilization may be based on the number of active tasks. The utilization thresholds preferably include a maximum threshold and a minimum threshold. A measured utilization exceeding the maximum threshold causes an increase in the number of active processors while utilization less than the minimum threshold causes a decrease in the number of active processors. The utilization thresholds may be determined from threshold factors that reflect time and date information, quality of service information, or a weighted average of historical utilization values. |
| US08261284B2 |
Fast context switching using virtual cpus
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed that provide fast context switching. One embodiment provides a method for a context switch comprising preloading a host virtual machine context in a first portion of a processor, operating a guest virtual machine in a second portion of the processor, writing parameters of the host virtual machine context to a memory location shared by the host virtual machine and the guest virtual machine, and operating the host virtual machine in the processor. In this manner, a fast context switch may be accomplished by preloading the new context in a virtual processor, thus reducing the delay to switch to the new context. |
| US08261283B2 |
System and method for backfilling with system-generated predictions rather than user runtime estimates
A system and method for performing backfilling on an incoming flow of incoming parallel programs provided by a population of clients to a facility, the system comprising a computer-controlled prediction functionality operative to generate a current run-time prediction for at least some of the incoming parallel programs, a backfiller performing backfilling on the incoming flow of incoming parallel programs based at least partly on at least some of the run-time predictions; and a prediction updater operative, if the current run-time of an incoming parallel program currently in process exceeds the current run-time prediction, to generate an updated run-time prediction to exceed the current run-time, to re-define the current run time to equal the updated run-time prediction, thereby to allow the backfiller to continue performing backfilling based on the updated run-time prediction. |
| US08261282B1 |
System and method for virtual machine host load protection
Techniques introduced here allow restoration of a virtual machine container using resources of a host least likely to suffer a performance impact from additional loading associated with the restoration of the virtual container. In particular, a protection manager controls the restoration process. Restoration of virtual machine containers is accomplished without overloading any one hosting system where multiple such hosting systems are executing a plurality of virtual machines. |
| US08261281B2 |
Optimizing allocation of resources on partitions of a data processing system
A method, system and computer program product for optimizing allocation of resources to partitions of a data processing system are disclosed. The method includes creating a first virtual central processing unit and a second virtual central processing unit, wherein at least one of the set of the first virtual processing unit and the second virtual processing spans across a first physical processing unit and a second physical processing unit. One or more resources from the first and second virtual central processing units are allocated to a first partition and a second partition. Whether one or more processes running on the first partition can utilize additional resources is determined. One or more resources from the first virtual central processing unit and resources from the second virtual central processing unit are reallocated to the first partition, wherein at least one of the resources was previously allocated to the second partition. |
| US08261278B2 |
Automatic baselining of resource consumption for transactions
An application monitoring system determines the health of one or more resources used to process a transaction, business application, or other computer process. Performance data is generated in response to monitoring application execution and processed to determine and an actual and baseline value for resource usage data. Resource usage baseline data may be determined from previous resource usage data associated with a resource and particular transaction (a resource-transaction pair). The baseline values are compared to actual values to determine a deviation for the actual value. Deviation information for the time series data can be reported through an interface or some other manner. |
| US08261276B2 |
Power-efficient thread priority enablement
A mechanism for controlling instruction fetch and dispatch thread priority settings in a thread switch control register for reducing the occurrence of balance flushes and dispatch flushes for increased power performance of a simultaneous multi-threading data processing system. To achieve a target power efficiency mode of a processor, the illustrative embodiments receive an instruction or command from a higher-level system control to set a current power consumption of the processor. The illustrative embodiments determine a target power efficiency mode for the processor. Once the target power mode is determined, the illustrative embodiments update thread priority settings in a thread switch control register for an executing thread to control balance flush speculation and dispatch flush speculation to achieve the target power efficiency mode. |
| US08261273B2 |
Assigning threads and data of computer program within processor having hardware locality groups
A computer program having threads and data is assigned to a processor having a processor cores and memory organized over hardware locality groups. The computer program is profiled to generate a data thread interaction graph (DTIG) representing the computer program. The threads and the data of the computer program are organized over clusters using the DTIG and based on one or more constraints. The DTIG is displayed to a user, and the user is permitted to modify the constraints such that the threads and the data of the computer program are reorganized over the clusters. Each cluster is mapped onto one of the hardware locality groups. The computer program is regenerated based on the mappings of clusters to hardware locality groups. At run-time, optimizations are performed to improve execution performance, while the computer program is executed. |
| US08261271B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing jobs on an enterprise-wide computer system
A method and apparatus for processing jobs on an enterprise-wide computer system. The computer system uses a portal architecture to allow a user to view a wide variety of content retrieved from a variety of different computer systems. The computer system is configured such that a plurality of users can access the system at the same time through a computer network such as the Internet. The computer system may also be connected to one or more back-end databases that correspond to the different computer systems within the enterprise. The computer system is configured to run predefined jobs to process data. These jobs can perform a variety of tasks such as retrieving data from a back-end database, preparing a report based upon retrieved data, processing data already resident within the portal system, or notifying a user when a particular condition occurs within the portal system. |
| US08261270B2 |
Systems and methods for generating reference results using a parallel-processing computer system
A runtime system implemented in accordance with the present invention provides an application platform for parallel-processing computer systems. Such a runtime system enables users to leverage the computational power of parallel-processing computer systems to accelerate/optimize numeric and array-intensive computations in their application programs. This enables greatly increased performance of high-performance computing (HPC) applications. |
| US08261268B1 |
System and method for dynamic allocation of virtual machines in a virtual server environment
A system and method for dynamically producing virtual machines (VMs) across a plurality of servers in the virtual server environment is provided. A single VM request queue is produced comprising VM requests for producing the plurality of VMs. A processing thread is produced and assigned for each server and retrieves VM requests from the VM request queue and produces VMs only on the assigned server according to the retrieved VM requests. Each processing thread may be configured for retrieving VM requests and producing VMs without any programmed delays, whereby the rate at which a processing thread produces VMs on its assigned server is a function of the performance capabilities of the assigned server. This dynamic allocation of VMs based on such a “natural selection” technique may provide an appropriately balanced allocation of VMs based on the performance capabilities of each server in the virtual server environment. |
| US08261264B2 |
Accessing a network
An information handling system (IHS) includes a hypervisor and a plurality of virtual machines (VMs). The hypervisor includes hypervisor network information. Each of the VMs includes a virtual processor and a virtual memory that is coupled to the virtual processor. The virtual memory includes VM network information and computer readable instructions to synchronize the VM network information with the hypervisor network information. |
| US08261256B1 |
System and method for automatically updating the software of a networked personal audiovisual device
A method for automatically updating software executed by an electronic device is disclosed herein. The method includes receiving, at the electronic device, an update indication from a server that updated software is available for the electronic device. The method further includes modifying, in response to the update indication, a boot state of the electronic device and initiating operation of the electronic device in an update mode. The updated software is received, at the electronic device, during operation in the update mode. The method further includes initiating, upon determining the updated software has been correctly received, operation of the electronic device in a normal mode. |
| US08261254B2 |
Dynamic insertion and removal of virtual software sub-layers
The disclosure is directed to dynamic insertion and removal of virtual software sub-layers. In one example, a virtual layer associated with a software application is virtually installed and activated in a computing device. A virtual sub-layer associated with a component of the software application is dynamically inserted in the virtual layer. The virtual layer remains active during the dynamic insertion of the virtual sub-layer. In certain embodiments, a process is executed from the virtual layer, a determination is made as to whether the process launched before or after the insertion of the virtual sub-layer, and the inserted virtual sub-layer is selectively made visible or invisible to the process based on the determination. |
| US08261249B2 |
Distributed schemes for deploying an application in a large parallel system
Embodiments of the invention provide a method for deploying and running an application on a massively parallel computer system, while minimizing the costs associated with latency, bandwidth, and limited memory resources. The executable code of a program may be divided into multiple code fragments and distributed to different compute nodes of a parallel computing system. During program execution, one compute node may fetch code fragments from other compute nodes as necessary. |
| US08261245B2 |
Method and system for associating profiler data with a reference clock
A computer implemented method, apparatus and program product for analyzing performance data particular to an algorithm using a profiler algorithm, and automatically associates the performance data with a reference clock time. The performance data may be automatically associated with a tag, also associated with the reference clock time. Using the tag, the performance data may be associated with a portion of the algorithm. For instance, the tag may be associated with a corresponding tag associated with the algorithm. User input may be received that designates both the tag and an additional tag associated with the program code. Aspects may identify tags in the performance data that correspond to both the tag and additional tag of program code. The portion of the performance data bounded by the identified tags in the performance data may be retrieved and displayed to a user. In this manner, the performance data may be automatically associated with a portion of algorithm. |
| US08261244B2 |
Arbitrary runtime function call tracing
A target function is identified during runtime. Instrumentation is applied to the target function during runtime that includes determining target function information associated with the target function, wherein the target function information includes a call signature of the target function. The target function is executed. |
| US08261241B2 |
Converting format strings to regular expressions
In one embodiment, a method for correlating log entries in a log file to the line numbers of formatted-string output functions in source code, where the formatted-string output functions contain instructions to generate the log entries in the log file. The method includes locating the formatted-string output functions in the source code, where each formatted-string output function contains a format string. Each format string is processed to generate a corresponding regular expression to match log entries outputted by the corresponding formatted-string output function. Each regular expression is associated with the line number of the corresponding formatted-string output function. The resultant list of regular expressions and corresponding line numbers is processed with the log file, where log entries in the log file are modified to indicate the line numbers associated with matching regular expressions. |
| US08261239B2 |
Locating a testable object in a functional testing tool
A method, system and apparatus for locating a testable object in a functional testing tool is provided. The method can include comparing object properties for a mapped testable object to object properties for each of a set of candidate testable objects organized in a hierarchy, computing an anchor object in the hierarchy, and determining a best matching candidate testable object for the mapped testable object without requiring an exact match of the object properties while constraining the comparing and determining steps with respect to the anchor object. |
| US08261236B2 |
Detecting plug-in and fragment issues with software products
The present invention comprises utility capable of detecting various issues with plug-ins and fragments in Eclipse and Eclipse-based products. In order to find issues, the utility first seeks information about the sites available in the given product. Once the sites have been located, the utility seeks information about the plug-ins and fragments in each site that are expected to resolve in the product. Once the utility has determined what particular plug-ins and fragments are expected to resolve in each site, it parses both the text and XML manifest of each candidate plug-in and fragments in order to gather the following information: Once the above information of each candidate plug-in and fragment has been gathered, the utility analyzes the particular information in details and performs a series of tests to find whether the candidate plug-ins and fragments have issues. For each issue that the utility finds, a detailed explanation regarding the particular issue, cause and details leading to resolution of the issue is provided in an interactive HTML based report which is given to the user at the end of the investigation. |
| US08261231B1 |
Systems and methods for a mobile application development and development platform
Systems and methods for developing, customizing, and deploying mobile device applications are provided through a mobile application development and deployment platform. Preferably, these systems and methods are implemented in an Internet based environment that allows non-technical users to build sophisticated, highly-customizable cross-platform mobile applications. The platform allows users to select, input, create, customize, and combine various content, design characteristics, and application components, such as modules, some of which utilize features and functionality associated with various mobile devices and mobile operating systems. In certain embodiments, the platform allows users to compile, and generate a configuration file for, the mobile application that can be distributed to end users for execution on various mobile devices and mobile operating systems. When the mobile application is installed on, or executed by the mobile device, the configuration file may enable the retrieval of various data associated with the mobile application. |
| US08261226B1 |
Network flow based module bottom surface metal pin assignment
A scaled network flow graph is constructed, including a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges. The plurality of nodes correspond to: (i) a pseudo device pin node for each pair of corresponding paired device pins; (ii) a pseudo bottom surface metal node for each pair of bottom surface metal pins on each of multiple routing layers; (iii) a source node connected to each of the pseudo device pin nodes; (iv) a sub-sink node for each pair of the paired bottom surface metal pins (each of the sub-sink nodes is connected to corresponding ones of the pseudo bottom surface metal nodes for each of the pairs of bottom surface metal pins on each of the multiple routing layers); and (v) a sink node connected to the sub-sink nodes. A capacity and a cost are assigned to each of the edges of the scaled network flow graph. A min-cost-max-flow technique is applied to the scaled network flow graph with the assigned capacities and costs to obtain an optimal flow solution. The paired bottom surface metal pins are assigned to the corresponding paired device pins, and routing connections there-between are assigned, in accordance with the optimal flow solution. A technique for use in the absence of pairing constraints is also provided, as is a pin-pairing technique. |
| US08261225B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit, standard cell, standard cell library, semiconductor integrated circuit designing method, and semiconductor integrated circuit designing equipment
A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a first transistor which is formed of a first gate extending in a first direction and a first diffusion region and which is capable of being active, a second transistor which is formed of a second gate extending in the first direction and a second diffusion region and which is arranged adjacent to the first transistor in a second direction intersected at a right angle with the first direction, and a third gate which extends in the first direction and which is arranged adjacent in the second direction to the first transistor on an opposite side to the second transistor. A space between the first gate and the second gate is larger than a space between the first gate and the third gate. |
| US08261223B2 |
Hierarchy-based analytical placement method capable of macro rotation within an integrated circuit
A placer produces a global placement plan specifying positions of cell instances and orientations of macros within an integrated circuit (IC) by initially clusterizing cell instances and macros to form a pyramidal hierarchy of blocks. Then the placer iteratively repeats the declusterization and routability improvement process from the highest level to the lowest level of the hierarchy. An objective function is provided in Cartesian coordinate for representing the position of each movable instance and in polar coordinate for representing the orientation of a macro relative to its the center. For each movable instance and each rotatable macro, its position or orientation is determined by conjugate gradient method to minimize total wire length. Finally, the placer uses a look-ahead legalization technique to rotate rotatable macros to legal orientations and move cell instances to legal positions in the end of global placement. |
| US08261221B2 |
Comparing timing constraints of circuits
Timing behaviors associated with constraints of circuits are compared to identify mismatches between circuit configurations. Aggregate sets of timing constraints associated with timing nodes are determined for timing paths between start points and end points. Precedence rules are applied to aggregate sets of timing constraints by applying precedence rules to interacting timing constraints. Aggregate sets of constraints for corresponding timing nodes are matched to determine if timing constraint mismatches exist between circuits. If aggregate timing constraints associated with start point, end point pairs are found to match, reconvergent points between the start point and end points are analyzed to see if aggregate constraints of timing nodes connected to reconvergent/divergent points match if timing exception matches are involved. Graph traversal algorithms allow efficient computation of aggregate timing constraints for timing nodes. |
| US08261217B2 |
Pattern forming method and pattern verifying method
A pattern forming method including modifying design data subjected to a first design rule check in design data of a pattern to be formed in a semiconductor substrate, performing the first design rule check to the modified design data again, outputting the modified design data which does not violate the first design rule as pattern forming design data used in actual pattern formation, and performing a second design rule check having an allowable range wider than that of the first design rule to the modified design data which violates the first design rule, and outputting the modified design data which does not violate the second design rule as the pattern forming design data, and redesigning the pattern to satisfy the second design rule or adjusting the modification guideline such that the modified design data which violates the second design rule satisfies the second design rule. |
| US08261216B2 |
Automated planning in physical synthesis
A method, system, and computer usable program product for automated planning in physical synthesis are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A state of an integrated circuit design is identified where the state is a representation of a particular configuration of circuit components having a particular electrical characteristic. A first operation applicable to the first state is selected and applied to reach a second state of the design. A consequence of reaching the second state is analyzed. If the consequence indicates an improvement in the design, a solution is presented to achieve the improvement. The solution includes manipulations of design components using a set of operations to reach the second state from the first state. |
| US08261213B2 |
Brush, carbon-copy, and fill 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. |
| US08261210B2 |
TV widget animation with audio
An example television Widget movement method involves receiving a dedicated command from a remote controller that activates the plurality of Widget programs, when in Display mode, display Widget representations on a display; receiving a command that establishes one of the plurality of displayed Widget programs as the Widget program that is currently in focus; and receiving a command that places the Widget program currently in focus in Move Mode. The Widget can be moved about the display while in Move Mode, where when the Widget is in Move Mode, the Widget representation is responsive to navigation commands to move about the display. Such movement is animated using a 3 dimensional graphics engine and accompanied by an audio sound effect. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract. |
| US08261199B2 |
Breakpoint identification and presentation in virtual worlds
One embodiment of the invention provides a method to allow a user to navigate through a virtual environment using breakpoints. Each breakpoint may store a context of a virtual location within the virtual world, recorded for the moment in time when the breakpoint was created. Further, in a persistent virtual world, the user's avatar may be restored to a given breakpoint location, as well as restoring elements of the virtual world, based on what was present within the virtual world when the breakpoint was created. |
| US08261193B1 |
Method and system for capturing mashup data for collective intelligence and user-generated knowledge
A computer system includes a display interface, a user input device interface, and a processor cooperatively operable with the display interface and the user input device interface. The processor is configured to facilitate displaying, via the display interface, a mashup or service; interacting with the user to input, via the user input device interface, an indication to take a snapshot of the mashup or service being currently displayed via the display interface; and storing a snapshot artifact of live data from the mashup or service at the instant the snapshot is taken. |
| US08261188B2 |
Method of associating properties or fields of graphical objects with each other for efficient composition of documents
A computer-implemented method is provided for preparing a document for editing. The document includes a first graphical object and at least one variable field or property in a second graphical object that is associated with a property of the first graphical object. The first graphical object has a plurality of properties. A user interface display screen is provided that allows a user to design a document that includes a plurality of graphical objects. Then, a document is created on the user interface display screen. A first graphical object and a second graphical object are added to the document. At least one variable field or property in the second graphical object is identified. The identified field or property in the second graphical object is associated with a property of the first graphical object. In this manner, a document is prepared for editing. |
| US08261183B2 |
Method and apparatus for dynamic management of distributed context
The invention provides embodiments of a method an apparatus for dynamic management of distributed context. Each of a plurality of sticky notes can be associated with contextual information corresponding to a first context in which the virtual sticky note was posted. A request to access at least one of the virtual sticky notes can be received. A second context in which the request was generated can be identified. At least one of the virtual sticky notes that is associated with contextual information that corresponds to the second context can be identified. The identified virtual sticky note(s) can be communicated for presentation to a user. |
| US08261182B1 |
Dynamic annotations for electronic documents
Techniques for annotating an electronic document in an electronic document application are described. A request to add an annotation to an electronic document application is received. An annotation template for the requested annotation is retrieved. The annotation template is external to the electronic document application and the electronic document and includes fixed content, associated instructions defining variable content, and layout information for the fixed and variable content. The associated instructions are executed to define the variable content for an instance of the requested annotation. The instance of the annotation is applied to the electronic document. The annotation instance has an appearance defined by the variable content, the fixed content and the layout information. |
| US08261181B2 |
Multidimensional metrics-based annotation
Persistent annotations are created on a scorecard that combines multi-dimensional as well as fixed value data. The annotations uniquely defined by the scorecard view definition and by the retrieved scorecard data, are independent of the data's dimensionality enabling persistence of the annotations with the data and definition even when the scorecard is reconfigured. The annotations may include a “bubble-up” feature, where a hierarchical structure of the scorecard is inherited by the annotations. Threaded discussions and updated document lists are enabled around the annotations with appropriate permissions and/or credentials. |
| US08261177B2 |
Generating media presentations
A presentation application provides for authoring and playback of a presentation. A presentation is an interactive collection of activities. An activity may include one or more frames, wherein each frame includes one or more modules. A module may consist of media content such as video, text, images or other content. A user may provide input during playback of the presentation. In response to the input, the module or frame receiving the input may call an action on a presentation activity, frame or module, thereby allowing the user to navigate through the presentation and accomplish objectives. When authoring a presentation, a user may associate a user initiated event or internally generated event with a module action. Authoring may be performed through an authoring interface provided by an authoring tool. The authoring tool may save a presentation as a package which can be distributed. |
| US08261172B1 |
Viterbi decoder method and apparatus with RI detector in servo channel
Apparatus and methods are disclosed for decoding data stored on a data storage medium. A disclosed decoding method and decoder include a radial incoherence (RI) detector that increases the probability of detecting RI and improves the decoding performance in terms of the bit error rate of the decoded signal. RI is detected by comparing an input signal to the decoder against a RI threshold value and generating a RI-type signal. The RI detector may include a filter for filtering out noise and error in the RI-type signal, an adaptive threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon the RI-type signal, a transition-based threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon each transition in the input signal, or a path-based threshold unit that adjusts the RI threshold value based upon a best surviving path corresponding to the input signal, in combination or alone. |
| US08261169B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus and wireless communication method
The invention is embodied for solving a problem of occurrence of degradation of the reception characteristic caused by the interference signal component if a symbol making a determination error is contained or if an error factor caused by a propagation channel estimation error or a hardware error (carrier frequency error, sampling frequency error) is contained at the interference canceling time in a wireless communication apparatus for iteratively decoding and receiving a spatial multiplex signal. A wireless communication apparatus 100 according to the invention has an error estimator 13 for estimating an error of a replica signal at the interference canceling time and a weighter 14 for weighting likelihood information for a spatial multiplex signal separated and combined after interference is canceled based on output of the error estimator 13, whereby if an error of the replica signal at the interference canceling time is contained, a good reception characteristic can be provided. |
| US08261165B2 |
Multi-syndrome error correction circuit
In a particular embodiment, a forward error correction (FEC) decoder is disclosed that includes an input responsive to a communication channel to receive sampled bits from a continuous bit stream. The circuit device further includes a logic circuit to alternately provide sets of the received sampled bits from the continuous bit stream to one of a first syndrome generator and a second syndrome generator to correct errors in the sets of sampled bits to produce a decoded output related to the continuous bit stream. |
| US08261164B2 |
Packet error rate correlation minimization
The subject matter disclosed herein provides an outer coding framework for reducing the correlation between packet errors in a wireless network. In one aspect, there is provided a method. The method may include receiving a packet including information. The received packet may be encoded using a forward error correction code to provide at least one, but no more than two, codewords. At least a portion of each codeword may be inserted into a transport packet for transmission to a client station, wherein the transport packet comprises information from at least one, but no more than two, of the codewords. The transport packet may be sent. Related systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles are also described. |
| US08261163B2 |
Soft output decoder, iterative decoder, and soft decision value calculating method
A soft output decoder that receives code words corresponding to information words is provided. The soft output decoder calculates soft decision decoding results of the information words from likelihood values corresponding to candidate values adopted by the information words. The soft output decoder includes a hard decision decoder that decides one of the candidate values as an estimated value. The soft output decoder further includes a likelihood calculator that bans calculation of a likelihood value corresponding to the estimated value and that calculates other likelihood values corresponding to other candidate values in the likelihood values. |
| US08261158B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for using multi-level cell solid-state storage as single level cell solid-state storage
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for storing information in a storage device that includes multi-level memory cells. The method involves storing data that is written to the storage device in the LSBs of the multi-level memory cells, and storing audit data in the MSBs of the multi-level memory cells. The audit data can be read separately from the data and used to determine whether or not there has been any unintended drift between states in the multi-level cells. The audit data may be used to correct data when the errors in the data are too numerous to be corrected using error correction code (ECC). The audit data may also be used to monitor the general health of the storage device. The monitoring process may run as a background process on the storage device. The storage device may transition the multi-level memory cells to operate as single-level memory cells. |
| US08261156B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for correcting errors in data streams
Methods and apparatuses for correcting an error in a data stream that is coded with a line code and an error detection scheme. Information relating to the line code is used to locate at least one possible error character. At least one possible correct character to replace one or more of the at least one possible error character is then identified. Subsequently, the error detection scheme is applied to the data stream updated with one of the at least one possible correct character. If none of the at least one possible correct character results in a valid data stream, an error that is observable by a user is generated. |
| US08261155B2 |
Methods and apparatus for encoding and decoding low density parity check (LDPC) codes
A novel apparatus and method for encoding data using a low density parity check (LDPC) code capable of representation by a bipartite graph are provided. To encode the data, an accumulate chain of a plurality of low degree variable nodes may be generated. The accumulate chain may then be closed to form a loop twice, once using a low degree variable nodes and once using a higher degree variable which is higher than the low degree variable node, where the higher degree variable node comprises a non-loop-closing edge. In one embodiment, the plurality of low degree variable nodes may have the same permutation on each edge. |
| US08261153B2 |
Systematic with serial concatenated parity code with varying inner or outer codes
Systems and techniques for transmitting an Irregular Systematic with Serially Concatenated Parity (Ir-S-SCP) are described. The techniques include generating an outer code comprising a plurality of bits using systematic bits as input, repeating the plurality of bits of the outer code a pre-determined number of times to generate at least a first set of repeated bits and a second set of repeated bits, serializing the generated sets of repeated bits, wherein each generated set is serialized in parallel with another generated set, interleaving the generated sets of repeated bits, generating an inner code, the inner code generated in part based on the interleaved sets, puncturing the inner code to output parity bits, wherein the puncturing is non-uniform and the puncturing is based at least in part on an incremental redundancy scheme, and transmitting the parity bits, wherein the transmitted parity bits and the systematic bits comprise the Ir-S-SCP code. |
| US08261152B2 |
Apparatus and method for channel encoding/decoding in communication system using variable-length LDPC codes
A method and apparatus for generating Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes of various block lengths from a structured LDPC code in a communication system is provided. To support various block lengths, predefined rules are applied to a parity check matrix of an LDPC code, and then shortening is selectively applied to the parity check matrix. Subsequently, if information data bits are input, the input data information bits are encoded into an LDPC codeword by using the parity check matrix according to a preset encoding scheme, and then the encoded LDPC codeword is transmitted after puncturing is selectively applied. |
| US08261151B2 |
Dynamic interference avoidance with asynchronous HARQ
In a wireless communications network, a wireless device may examine the received signal to determine the strength of the received signal, and also determine the level of interference and noise. If a retransmission is needed due to a message being incorrectly received, these factors may then be processed to estimate whether the probable cause of poor reception is interference from a neighboring network. If such interference is the likely cause, the retransmission may be changed to a different time and/or to different frequencies in a subsequent frame, so that the interference from the neighboring network is less likely to reoccur. |
| US08261149B2 |
Configurable impulse noise protection system and method based on impulse noise statistics
Impulse noise from nearby or intense electrical sources can disrupt communications over digital subscriber lines. There are many methods to deal with errors produced by impulse noise sources. Forward error correction (FEC) codes such as Reed Solomon coding along with scrambling and interleaving are used to correct small errors. However, for larger errors, retransmission is favored. Retransmission can be applied at the Discrete Multi-tone symbol level thus eliminating the need to insert sequence identification into data transmission units, furthermore retransmission can also be employed to exploit the error correcting capabilities of the FEC codes. Finally, an impulse noise protection system can exploit impulse noise statistics to configure the redundancy in the FEC codes and to enable the use of blanking. Exemplary embodiments of systems described can cooperatively use impulse noise statistics to utilize retransmission, FEC and blanking to mitigate the effects of impulse noise. |
| US08261145B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmitting/receiving signal in communication system
An apparatus and method for transmitting/receiving a signal in a communication system are provided. The method includes inputting an information word during initial transmission and transmitting a first code word created by encoding the inputted information word based on a first coding ratio, and transmitting a portion of a second code word created by encoding the first code word based on a second coding ratio at a retransmission request. Accordingly, the apparatus and method provide for transmitting/receiving signals in a communication system in such a manner that the complexity of the communication system is reduced. |
| US08261144B2 |
Operating scan paths sequentially and capturing simultaneously
A Scan-BIST architecture is adapted into a low power Scan-BIST architecture. A generator 102, compactor 106, and controller 110 remain the same as in the known art. The changes between the known art Scan-BIST architecture and the low power Scan-BIST architecture involve modification of the known scan path into scan path 502, to insert scan paths A 506, B 508 and C 510, and the insertion of an adaptor circuit 504 in the control path 114 between controller 110 and scan path 502. |
| US08261142B2 |
Generating test sets for diagnosing scan chain failures
Embodiments of the disclosed technology comprise software-based techniques that can be used to improve scan chain test pattern generation and scan chain failure diagnosis resolution. For example, certain embodiments can be used to generate high quality chain diagnosis test patterns that are able to isolate a scan chain defect to a single scan cell. Such embodiments can be used to generate a “complete” test set—that is, a set of chain diagnosis test patterns that is able to isolate any scan chain defect in a faulty scan chain to a single scan cell. |
| US08261140B2 |
Uninitialized memory detection using error correction codes and built-in self test
An apparatus having a memory module and an initialization module is disclosed. The initialization module may be configured to (i) mark a particular location in the memory module as an uninitialized location by writing a predetermined word into the particular location in response to an occurrence of an event, (ii) read a read word from an address in the memory module in response to a read cycle and (iii) generate an interrupt signal by analyzing the read word, the interrupt signal being asserted where the read word indicates that the address is the uninitialized location in the memory module. |
| US08261138B2 |
Test structure for characterizing multi-port static random access memory and register file arrays
A test structure for characterizing a production static random access memory (SRAM) array. The test structure includes a characterization circuit having multiple memory cell columns connected in series to form a ring configuration. The characterization circuit is fabricated on a wafer substrate in common with and proximate to a production SRAM array. The characterization circuit preferably includes SRAM cells having a circuit topology substantially identical to the circuit topology of memory cells within the production SRAM array. In one embodiment, the test structure is utilized for characterizing a multi-port memory array and includes multiple memory cell columns connected in series to form a ring oscillator characterization circuit. Each cell column in the characterization circuit includes multiple SRAM cells each having a latching node and multiple data path access nodes. Selection control circuitry selectively enables the multiple data path access nodes for the SRAM cells within the characterization circuit. |
| US08261132B2 |
Method for error tree analysis
A technical system is broken down into a plurality of subsystems, each of which is allocated a time-dependent distribution function which describes the probability of failure of the respective subsystem. The distribution functions are linked to one another to form a time-dependent system distribution function which describes the probability of failure of the technical system. |
| US08261126B2 |
Bare metal machine recovery from the cloud
Provided herein are systems and methodologies for bare metal machine restoration of a client computing environment over a network-based backup system. System recovery can be performed by performing a network boot from a predetermined server or set of servers on the Internet and/or an associated local network, followed by retrieving information relating to an operating system and/or environment of a system being recovered, such as incremental or full operating system images. Upon retrieval of information, the information can be used to conduct a full restore of the operating environment of the computing device. Additionally, a user can restore personal or other system data following rebuilding of the system operating environment. A cloud-based structure is provided herein as well as a hybrid peer-to-peer/cloud-based structure, wherein information used in a restore can be obtained from a global network location (e.g., cloud server(s)) and/or from one or more local peers. |
| US08261125B2 |
Global write-log device for managing write logs of nodes of a cluster storage system
A cluster system comprises a plurality of nodes that provides data-access service to a shared storage, each node having at least one failover partner node for taking over services of a node if the node fails. Each node may produce write logs for the shared storage and periodically send write logs at predetermined time intervals to a global device which stores write logs from each node. The global device may detect failure of a node by monitoring time intervals of when write logs are received from each node. Upon detection of a node failure, the global device may provide the write logs of the failed node to one or more partner nodes for performing the write logs on the shared storage. Write logs may be transmitted only between nodes and the global device to reduce data exchanges between nodes and conserving I/O resources of the nodes. |
| US08261122B1 |
Estimation of recovery time, validation of recoverability, and decision support using recovery metrics, targets, and objectives
In some embodiments, a method is provided and a computer accessible medium comprising instructions which, when executed, implement the method is also provided. A recovery time for recovery of at least one asset is estimated responsive to at least one metric represented in metric data. The metric data is accumulated prior to the estimation. In various embodiments, data protection operations may include one or more of asset copy operations, recovery operations, etc. The estimated recovery time may be reported to a user. In other embodiments, metric data may be used to validate recoverability. In still other embodiments, recovery metrics may be calculated and displayed to the user along with corresponding recovery targets and objectives. |
| US08261121B2 |
Command latency reduction and command bandwidth maintenance in a memory circuit
A method includes operating an arbitration logic of a memory controller at a core clock frequency lower than that of a memory clock frequency. The memory controller is configured to generate a command sequence including a number of commands in accordance with a number of external requests to access the memory. The method also includes parallelizing the number of commands in the command sequence based on a timing requirement for a non-first command in the command sequence defined by a memory-access protocol being satisfied at a rising edge or a falling edge of the core clock relative to a previous command in the command sequence. Further, the method includes ensuring, through the parallelizing, availability of the number of commands in the command sequence to a memory interface operating at the memory clock frequency at a command rate equal to the memory clock frequency. |
| US08261120B2 |
Clock integrated circuit
The clock circuit of an integrated circuit operates with variations such as temperature, ground noise, and power noise. Various aspects of an improved clock integrated circuit address one or more of the variations in temperature, ground noise, and power noise. |
| US08261119B2 |
Test apparatus for testing device has synchronization module which synchronizes analog test module to digital test module based on synchronization signal received from digital test module
There is provided a test apparatus for testing a device under test, including a plurality of test modules that test the device under test, and a synchronization module that is connected to each of the plurality of test modules, where the synchronization module synchronizes together the plurality of test modules. Here, based on a synchronization signal received from a digital module, the synchronization module synchronizes an analog module to the digital module, and the digital module is one of the plurality of test modules that exchanges a digital signal with the device under test, and the analog module is one of the plurality of test modules that performs an analog test on the device under test. |
| US08261118B2 |
Energy-efficient server location determination
A heat potential value for each of a set of available server locations is calculated via a data center controller based upon at least one active server in a data center. A minimal calculated heat potential value for the set of available server locations is identified. An available server location associated with the identified minimal calculated heat potential value is selected from the set of available server locations. |
| US08261114B2 |
System and method for dynamic energy efficient ethernet control policy based on user or device profiles and usage parameters
A system and method for dynamic energy efficient Ethernet (EEE) control policy based on user or device profiles and usage parameters. The analysis by an EEE control policy can consider user or device related EEE profile information that is either network propagated or retrieved from a network database. This EEE profile information can be used in combination with static settings established by an IT manager and the properties of the traffic on the link itself. |
| US08261113B2 |
Data processing apparatus communicating with a computer terminal over a network
When a packet received in a deep sleep mode matches a packet stored in a WOL-pattern storage region, a network portion performs reply processing suited for the matched packet after returning a power supply mode of a power supply unit from the deep sleep mode to a normal mode. When the packet received in the deep sleep mode matches a packet stored in a proxy-response-pattern storage region, the network portion performs reply processing suited for the matched packet while maintaining the power supply mode of the power supply unit at the deep sleep mode. |
| US08261110B2 |
Data processing apparatus
A data processing apparatus 100, to reduce power consumption for processing and wirelessly transmitting continuous data to a data reproducing apparatus 200, comprises a first signal processing unit 120 processing data stored in a data storage unit 110, a first wireless communication unit 140 wirelessly transmitting the processed data to the data reproducing apparatus, a signal processing control unit 150 controlling the first signal processing unit 120 so as to work intermittently by processing at a speed faster than real-time processing, a clock/power control unit 160 controlling supplies of clock and power to the first signal processing unit 120 and the signal processing control unit 150 during a non-operating period of the intermittent operation, and a start-up control unit 180 requesting a release of restrictions to the clock/power control unit 160 and a transfer to an operating time period of the intermittent operation to the signal processing control unit 150 based on the amount of data stored in a received data storage unit 230. |
| US08261103B2 |
Systems and methods for controlling power delivery to system components
Systems and methods for controlling power delivery to system components are disclosed. A Centralized Integrated Power Management Controller is disclosed which includes a controller and a power stage communicatively coupled to the controller through a control bus and a power telemetry bus. The Centralized Integrated Power Management Controller includes an intelligence control unit in the controller corresponding to the power stage. The intelligence control unit drives the power stage through the control bus. |
| US08261097B2 |
Data recorder having data encryption function and data reproducing device
A data recording apparatus and a data reproducing apparatus which ensure security of a portable recording medium, such as an optical disk. The apparatus has a security mode and a normal mode as operation modes. In the security mode, a system controller of the apparatus records a security identification signal in an area other than a user data area of the optical disk. At the time of copying of the optical disk, the security identification signal disappears, and a limitation is imposed on reproduction, thereby preventing copying operation. In the security mode, the system controller records the security identification signal in the area other than the user data area of the optical disk, as well as recording user data by means of converting an address through use of a password. At the time of reproduction of data, absence or presence of the security identification signal is ascertained. When the security identification signal is present, the address is inversely converted, thereby reproducing data. |
| US08261096B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information recording medium, information processing method, and computer program
An information processing apparatus, an information recording medium, an information processing method, and a computer program are provided.In an information recording medium storing many pieces of content, a configuration that allows use management on segmented content basis is provided. A plurality of content management units corresponding to title, index and other information are set by partitioning stored content in an information recording medium. Different unit keys that are encryption keys are allocated to different content management units. At least the content real data included in each content management unit is encrypted by use of the unit key and the encrypted data is stored. In content reproduction, units are identified and decryption is executed by use of a unit key corresponding to each unit for reproduction. In an information recording medium storing many pieces of content for example, each of segmented pieces of content may be managed. |
| US08261085B1 |
Methods, apparatus and systems to improve security in computer systems
According to some implementations methods, apparatus and systems are provided involving the use of processors having at least one core with a security component, the security component adapted to read and verify data within data blocks stored in a L1 instruction cache memory and to allow the execution of data block instructions in the core only upon the instructions being verified by the use of a cryptographic algorithm. |
| US08261083B2 |
Navigation apparatus and information distribution system
A CPU of a navigation apparatus stores public keys to which priorities are set and which are published by an information distribution center in a public key storage section. The CPU of the navigation apparatus extracts an electronic signature of distribution data which is distributed from the information distribution center and verifies the electronic signature by using only ‘valid’ public keys among the public keys in order of the priorities. The CPU of the navigation apparatus determines that the distribution data is valid information which is distributed from the information distribution center when the electronic signature passes verification. |
| US08261082B1 |
Self-signing electronic documents
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implement techniques for performing digital signature operations on electronic content. An electronic document includes a digital signature module. The electronic document is accessed using a user application. The digital signature module is used to perform one or more digital signature operations on the electronic document in the user application. |
| US08261078B2 |
Access to services in a telecommunications network
A method and arrangement is disclosed for providing a user, not previously having an individual subscription with a network operator, with credentials for secure access to network services. The arrangement includes a gateway, associated with a subscription for network services, having means for generating and exporting to a user entity personalized user security data derived from security data related to the subscription. In particular, the derivation of credentials is based on a function that is shared between network and gateway and further conveniently makes use of bootstrapping on keying material from the subscription authentication. Pre-registered user identities are assigned trusted users who, thereafter, can download credentials and authenticate for service access. The invention may be implemented at a public place for providing temporary visitors network access whereby trust may exemplary be established by presenting a credit card. |
| US08261076B2 |
Method and device for agreeing shared key between first communication device and second communication device
Based on security parameters previously agreed upon by first and second communication devices, a first security value is determined by the second communication device and transmitted to the first communication device. The first communication device determines second and third security values based on the security parameters and the first security value and transmits the second and third security values to the second communication device. The second communication device determines a fourth security value based on the security parameters and, if the second security value matches the fourth security value, authenticates the first communication device. Upon successful authentication of the first communication device, a shared key is determined by both communication devices based on the third security value and the security parameters. |
| US08261066B2 |
System and method for secure storage, transfer and retrieval of content addressable information
An algorithm (such as the MD5 hash function) is applied to a file to produce an intrinsic unique identifier (IUI) for the file (or message digest). The file is encrypted using its IUI as the key for the encryption algorithm. An algorithm is then applied to the encrypted file to produce an IUI for the encrypted file. The encrypted file is safely stored or transferred within a network and is uniquely identifiable by its IUI. The encrypted file is decrypted using the IUI of the plaintext file as the key. The IUI serves as both a key to decrypt the file and also as verification that the integrity of the plaintext file has not been compromised. IUIs for any number of such encrypted files may be assembled into a descriptor file that includes meta data for each file, the IUI of the plaintext file and the IUI of the encrypted file. An algorithm is applied to the descriptor file to produce an IUI for the descriptor file. The plaintext descriptor file is then encrypted using the descriptor file IUI as a key for the encryption algorithm. An algorithm is applied to the encrypted descriptor file to produce an IUI for the encrypted descriptor file. The IUI of the encrypted descriptor file is a location-independent identifier to locate the encrypted descriptor file. A flattened descriptor file includes the IUIs of encrypted data files and the IUI of the encrypted descriptor file. An algorithm is applied to the flattened descriptor file to produce its own IUI. |
| US08261064B2 |
Integrated secure and non-secure display for a handheld communications device
A handheld communications device is created with a touch sensitive display, a secure computing component, and a non-secure computing component. The secure component may comprise a secure CPU executing a secure operating system. The non-secure component may comprise a separate non-secure CPU executing a separate non-secure operating system. The touch sensitive display on the handheld communications device is divided into a secure portion and a non-secure portion such that information displayed in the secure portion is provided by the secure operating system, and information displayed in the non-secure portion is provided by the non-secure operating system. Similarly, data entered through the secure portion of the display is provided to the secure operating system, and data entered through the non-secure portion of the display is provided to the non-secure operating system. |
| US08261063B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing a hierarchy of nodes
Processing apparatus, such as a trusted platform, is provided with an access-control arrangement for handling a tree-structured hierarchy such as a key hierarchy. The access-control arrangement only permits access to a particular node of the hierarchy upon receiving a reliable indication that a mechanism expected to resist subversion will attempt to enforce appropriate access restrictions on that node. Such a mechanism is, for example, a protected process executing in a benign environment in the apparatus. The indication that the mechanism is in place is provided by a trusted source, such as a hardware root of trust responsible for initiating the mechanism. Access to the particular node opens the way to revealing that node, and any descendants, to the protected process. |
| US08261060B2 |
Content transmitting apparatus, content transmitting method, and content transmitting program
A content transmitting apparatus, includes: an acquisition device configured to acquire content data distributed in streaming mode; a temporary storage device configured to store temporarily the content data acquired by the acquisition device; a data control device configured to read the content data from the temporary storage device on a first-in first-out basis; an encryption device configured to encrypt in units of a predetermined amount the content data read out by the data control device; and a transmission device configured to transmit the content data encrypted by the encryption device to a predetermined receiving apparatus via a network. If the remaining capacity of the temporary storage device becomes smaller than a predetermined threshold value depending on status of the network, then the data control device discards the content data read from the temporary storage device. |
| US08261059B2 |
Secure file transfer and secure file transfer protocol
An encrypted file transfer system allows for the platform independent transfer of files and encrypting/decrypting in an integrated solution. Furthermore, the exchange of encryption keys can be handled through, for example, a secure socket connection between the client and a server thus removing the requirement of the user manually decrypting the transferred file(s). |
| US08261058B2 |
System, method and apparatus for electronically protecting data and digital content
A system, method and apparatus are disclosed for protecting sensitive data by extracting the sensitive data from a data storage on a client, sending the extracted data to a server for storage, receiving a pointer indicating where the extracted data has been stored and replacing the sensitive data on the data storage on the client with the pointer. The pointer may include random data that is of a same data type as the sensitive data. Furthermore, the pointer is subsequently used to access the sensitive data after proper authentication. |
| US08261055B2 |
Information processing apparatus and system and data communication method pertaining to the information processing system
A first information processing apparatus encrypts data that it receives from a second information processing apparatus, and transmits the data thus encrypted to an external device. The second information processing apparatus transmits the data to the first information processing apparatus according to a data size that results after a data size being necessary for communication of the encrypted data is subtracted from a specified data size. |
| US08261054B2 |
Method and apparatus for virtualization of a multi-context hardware trusted platform module (TPM)
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving a request for a trusted platform module (TPM) operation from a virtual machine, determining whether the request is for a modification of a TPM version, and associating part of a multi-context hardware TPM with a virtual TPM (vTPM) to enable the modification. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08261048B2 |
Optional function multi-function instruction in an emulated computing environment
A method, system and program product for executing a multi-function instruction in an emulated computer system by specifying, via the multi-function instruction, either a capability query or execution of a selected function of one or more optional functions, wherein the selected function is an installed optional function, wherein the capability query determines which optional functions of the one or more optional functions are installed on the computer system. |
| US08261045B2 |
Processing device
A processing device which can execute a plurality of threads includes: an execution unit which executes a command; a supply unit which supplies a command to the execution unit; a buffer unit which holds the command supplied from the supply unit; and a control unit which manages the buffer unit. The buffer unit has a set of buffer elements. Each of the buffer elements has a data unit for storing a command and a pointer unit for defining a connection relationship between the buffer elements. The control unit has a thread allocation unit which allocates a sequence of buffer elements whose connection relationship has been defined by the pointer unit for respective threads executed by the processing device. |
| US08261044B2 |
Bus bandwidth sharing physically remote distributed processing functional nodes coupled to passive cooling interface assembly with minimal thermal path
The distributed data handling and processing resources system of the present invention includes a) a number of data handling and processing resource nodes that collectively perform a desired data handling and processing function, each data handling and processing resource node for providing a data handling/processing subfunction; and, b) a low latency, shared bandwidth databus for interconnecting the data handling and processing resource nodes. In the least, among the data handling and processing resource nodes, is a processing unit (PU) node for providing a control and data handling/processing subfunction; and, an input/output (I/O) node for providing a data handling/processing subfunction for data collection/distribution to an external environment. The present invention preferably uses the IEEE-1394b databus due to its unique and specialized low latency, shared bandwidth characteristics. |
| US08261043B2 |
SIMD merge-sort and duplicate removal operations for data arrays
A method and apparatus are provided to perform efficient merging operations of two or more streams of data by using SIMD instruction. Streams of data are merged together in parallel and with mitigated or removed conditional branching. The merge operations of the streams of data include Merge AND and Merge OR operations. |
| US08261041B2 |
Memory management device for accessing cache memory or main memory
An example of a device comprises a first MMU converting a logical address into a physical address for a cache, a controller accessing the cache based on the physical address for the cache, a first storage storing history data showing an access state to a main memory outside a processor, a second storage storing relation data showing a relationship between a logical address and a physical address in the main memory, and a second MMU converting a logical address into a physical address for the main memory based on the history and relation data and accessing the main memory based on the physical address for the main memory. The first and second MMU, controller, first storage, second storage are included in the processor. |
| US08261040B2 |
Data storage device and system having improved write speed
A data storage device is provided, including a first data storage device electrically storing write data, a second data storage device magnetically storing write data, and a controller partitioning write data into first and second write data portions. The first write data portion is programmed to the first data storage device and the second write data portion if magnetically written to the second data storage device at the same time. |
| US08261039B2 |
Memory controllers, methods, and systems supporting multiple memory modes
A memory system includes a memory controller with a plurality N of memory-controller blocks, each of which conveys independent transaction requests over external request ports. The request ports are coupled, via point-to-point connections, to from one to N memory devices, each of which includes N independently addressable memory blocks. All of the external request ports are connected to respective external request ports on the memory device or devices used in a given configuration. The number of request ports per memory device and the data width of each memory device changes with the number of memory devices such that the ratio of the request-access granularity to the data granularity remains constant irrespective of the number of memory devices. |
| US08261038B2 |
Method and system for allocating storage space
A method is provided method for allocating storage space. The method includes obtaining performance parameters for a storage pool, wherein the performance parameters comprise a size of the storage pool and a type of the storage pool. Proposed back end logical units (BELUs) to match the performance parameters are determined. Current disk groups for the proposed BELUs are identified, and if none exists, a plurality of storage arrays is analyzed to locate free disks that can be formed into a proposed disk group to support the creation of the proposed BELUs. A proposal is created showing the changes that would be made to a storage system to create the storage pool. |
| US08261033B1 |
Time optimized secure traceable migration of massive quantities of data in a distributed storage system
A method and system for migrating massive amounts of data in a secure and traceable fashion using a distributed storage system is described. Data shuttle storage devices moves large quantities of content from one source location to one or more target locations by first acting in local communication with the source location, then being physically moved to a location where a shuttle storage device may be in local communication with the target location. This migration does not compromise data accessibility, reliability, or security. Dynamic configurable policy-driven data placement specifies the number and location of multiple copies of each digital data object. Each digital data object replica remains traceable even as the hardware onto which it is stored is being relocated. The content remains accessible at any time. |
| US08261024B1 |
Address level synchronization of shared data
From among a plurality of threads accessing a shared data object, one thread acquires a “master” status to arbitrate among the requests of competing threads during a given session of data access to the shared data object. During the session, the master thread resolves any conflicts resulting from attempts to access or modify the shared data object by other threads, and only the master thread may apply modifications to the shared data object during the session. Meanwhile, during the session, non-master threads may perform non-blocking read operations on the shared data object. During a subsequent session, a different thread may acquire master status. |
| US08261023B2 |
Data processor
A data processor includes a cache memory control section which includes: a hit/miss determination section which is supplied with a request for data processing to determine whether data to be processed is present in a cache memory and outputs a cache hit/miss determination result and, if having determined that the data is not present in the cache memory, feeds a read command to make an upper memory control section read the data from the upper memory; a FIFO storage which stores the cache hit/miss determination result and the in-block read position information according to a FIFO system; and a cache memory read/write section which reads the hit/miss determination result and the in-block read position information from the FIFO storage and reads the data from the cache memory, or writes the data from the upper memory control section into the cache memory and outputs the data. |
| US08261022B2 |
Method and apparatus for adaptive cache frame locking and unlocking
A method and apparatus are disclosed for locking the most recently accessed frames in a cache memory. The most recently accessed frames in a cache memory are likely to be accessed by a task again in the near future. The most recently used frames may be locked at the beginning of a task switch or interrupt to improve the performance of the cache. The list of most recently used frames is updated as a task executes and may be embodied, for example, as a list of frames addresses or a flag associated with each frame. The list of most recently used frames may be separately maintained for each task if multiple tasks may interrupt each other. An adaptive frame unlocking mechanism is also disclosed that automatically unlocks frames that may cause a significant performance degradation for a task. The adaptive frame unlocking mechanism monitors a number of times a task experiences a frame miss and unlocks a given frame if the number of frame misses exceeds a predefined threshold. |
| US08261019B2 |
Conveying critical data in a multiprocessor system
A system for conveying critical and non-critical words of multiple cache lines includes a first node interface of a first processing node receiving, from a first processor, a first request identifying a critical word of a first cache line and a second request identifying a critical word of a second cache line. The first node interface conveys requests corresponding to the first and second requests to a second node interface of a second processing node. The second node interface receives the corresponding requests and conveys the critical words of the first and second cache lines to the first processing node before conveying non-critical words of the first and second cache lines. |
| US08261016B1 |
Method and system for balancing reconstruction load in a storage array using a scalable parity declustered layout
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system, in a network storage system, for producing a balanced reconstruction load across storage devices (disks) in a storage array (array) using a scalable declustered layout. A scalable declustered layout is a logical configuration of parity groups across storage units (disk segments) which spread the chunk load and total share load of parity groups across disks in the array. Creation of a scalable declustered layout is achieved by sequentially selecting and allocating each chunk of a new (prospective) parity group according to the then-current load on each disk. The scalable declustered layout is then implemented on the disks to produce a balanced reconstruction load across disks when recovering from a disk failure. |
| US08261011B2 |
One-time programmable memory device and methods thereof
A portion of a programmable memory device is configured as a one-time programmable (OTP) memory, where in response to a write access to the memory device, a memory controller determines whether the write access is associated with a memory location designated as an OTP memory location. If so, the memory controller performs a read of the memory location, and allows the write access only if each memory cell of the memory location is in an un-programmed state. Thus, only a single write access to an OTP memory location is permitted, and subsequent write attempts are disallowed. Further, to enhance detection of programmed cells, the read of the OTP memory location is performed with a lower read voltage than a read voltage associated with a write access to a non-OTP memory location, thereby improving detection of programmed memory cells in the OTP memory location. |
| US08261010B2 |
Methods for distributing log block associativity for real-time system and flash memory devices performing the same
A method for distributing log block associativity in log buffer-based flash translation layer (FTL) includes, if write request on page p is generated, checking whether log block associated with corresponding data block that write request is generated exists or not by checking log block mapping table storing mapping information between data blocks and log blocks, wherein the associativity of each log block to data block is set to equal to or less than predetermined value K in advance, and K is a natural number, if log block associated with corresponding data block that write request is generated exists, checking whether associated log block is random log block or sequential log block, and if associated log block is random log block, writing data that write request is generated in first free page of random log block. |
| US08261006B2 |
Efficient memory hierarchy in solid state drive design
Systems and methods for improving the performance and reliability of flash memory solid state drive devices are described herein. A flash memory array component stores data. A memory hierarchy component transfers data between the host and the flash memory array component. The memory hierarchy component includes a level one (“L1”) cache coupled to a merge buffer, the flash memory array component, and the host. The merge buffer is coupled to the flash memory array component. The L1 cache and merge buffer include volatile memory, and the host is coupled to the merge buffer and flash memory array component. The memory hierarchy component includes a write component and a read component. The write component writes data to at least one of the L1 cache, merge buffer, or flash memory array component. The read component reads data from at least one of the L1 cache, merge buffer, or flash memory array component. |
| US08260996B2 |
Interrupt optimization for multiprocessors
Technologies are described herein for allocating interrupts within a multiprocessor computing system. Information communicated to an interrupt controller module can support allocating interrupt response resources so as to maintain processor affinity for interrupt service routines. This affinity can support caching efficiency by executing a specific interrupt handler on a processor that previously executed that interrupt handler. The caching efficiency may be balanced against the benefits of assigning execution of the interrupt hander to another processor that is currently idle or currently processing a lower priority task. |
| US08260993B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing arbitration
An apparatus for performing arbitration increases the fairness of arbitrations, decreases system latency, increases system throughput, and is suitable for use in more complex systems. According to an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus includes a generator for generating a plurality of arbitration numbers corresponding to a plurality of agents, and circuitry for selecting one of the agents to access a resource shared by the agents based on the arbitration numbers. At least one of the arbitration numbers includes a plurality of fields corresponding to a plurality of parameters. |
| US08260992B2 |
Reducing simultaneous switching outputs using data bus inversion signaling
An apparatus includes a plurality of data lines defining a data bus for communicating data. A controller is operable to communicate a plurality of data transfers over the data bus using a plurality of data time slots, wherein for at least a subset of the data time slots the controller is operable to communicate an associated data bus inversion indicator indicating that bits communicated during the associated data time slot are inverted, the data bus inversion indicators for the subset of the data transfers are grouped into a data bus inversion vector, and the controller is operable to communicate a global data bus inversion indicator indicating an inversion of the data bus inversion vector. |
| US08260991B2 |
Data processing apparatus and method for measuring a value of a predetermined property of transactions
A data processing apparatus and method for measuring a value of a predetermined property of transactions are provided. The data processing apparatus has initiator circuitry for initiating transactions, recipient circuitry for handling each transaction initiator by the initiator circuitry, and a communication path interconnecting the initiator circuitry and the recipient circuitry via which the transactions are propagated between the initiator circuitry and the recipient circuitry. Measurement circuitry is coupled to the communication path for measuring a value of a predetermined property of the transactions, such as the latency of those transactions. The measurement circuitry has active transaction count circuitry for maintaining an indication of the number of transactions in progress, and accumulator circuitry for maintaining an accumulator value which is increased dependent on the number of transactions in progress. Further, a value register is provided for maintaining an estimate of the value of the predetermined property. Each time a transaction in progress reaches a predetermined point, for example a transaction end point, the accumulator value is decreased dependent on the estimate currently stored in the value register, and further the estimate stored in the value register is updated dependent on the accumulator value. Via this feedback mechanism, the estimate stored in the value register quickly settles to the actual value of the predetermined property being measured, and accordingly such measurement circuitry provides a simple, low cost and flexible mechanism for measuring the value of a predetermined property of transactions. |
| US08260990B2 |
Selective preclusion of a bus access request
A system and method for selective preclusion of bus access requests are disclosed. In an embodiment, a method includes determining a bus unit access setting at a logic circuit of a processor. The method also includes selectively precluding a bus unit access request based on the bus unit access setting. |
| US08260989B2 |
Method and system for low-powered data transmission
One embodiment of the present invention is a sensor comprising one or more sensing devices, data-transmission components that transmit sensor data to a receiving component, and a processing component. The processing component executes routines to record sensing-device output as data for transmission to the receiving entity and to control the data-transmission components to transmit the data to the receiving entity. The processing component executes one or more compressing routines to compress data prior to transmission, when data compression is estimated to result in a lower power cost than transmitting uncompressed data, and controlling the data-transmission components to transmit data without compressing the data when data compression is estimated to result in a higher power cost than transmitting uncompressed data. |
| US08260985B2 |
Universal serial bus assistance engine
A method to interact with a local USB device is disclosed. A message is received from the local USB device. Predetermined information is extracted from a proper subset of the message. The extracted information is transmitted to a local process. |
| US08260984B2 |
Serial communication device with MAC that conforms to serial media independent interface (SMII) in order to reduce power consumption
A serial communication device has: a MAC (Media Access Control), a mask circuit and a buffer. The MAC conforms to Serial Media Independent Interface specification and outputs an identical segment data for plural times within a unit period. The mask circuit is configured to mask a predetermined segment data out of the plurality of identical segment data and to output the other segment data out of the plurality of identical segment data. The buffer is configured to receive the segment data output from the mask circuit and to output the received segment data to a physical layer device in synchronization with a clock signal. |
| US08260983B2 |
Recording and/or reproducing apparatus
A recording and/or reproducing apparatus includes a plurality of devices in which a first device has a connecting unit connected with a host device to perform a data transfer with the host device, a second device shares a temporarily recording area with the first device to perform the data transfer between the first and second devices via the temporarily recording area, and the data transfer is performed by using the temporarily recording area shared with the first device and using the connecting unit of the first device when the second device performs the data transfer with the host device, in this way, a power consumption is reduced. |
| US08260982B2 |
Method for reducing latency
Disclosed is a method for reducing latency between two clock domains in a digital electronic device. The time between a write to a queue position and a corresponding read of the queue position is reduced by up to one clock cycle by including a delay in the time before first writing data to a First In First Out (FIFO) queue used to buffer and synchronize data between two clock domains. The two clock domains have the same frequency, but may be out of phase. Reducing the latency between the write and the corresponding read reduces the required size of the FIFO queue and also results in more efficient system operation. |
| US08260981B2 |
Direct access memory controller with multiple sources, corresponding method and computer program
A direct memory access controller including: a transfer module that transfers data from several data sources to at least one addressee for these data, through several buffer memories each including a predetermined number of successive elementary memory locations; a read management module that reads data stored in the buffer memories and that transfers them in sequence to the addressee; and a storage module that stores read pointers associated respectively with each buffer memory, each read pointer indicating an elementary location of the buffer memory with which it is associated and in which data can be read, wherein the buffer memories are associated respectively with each data source, and for each buffer memory, the controller includes means for executing a firmware that reads data and updates a read pointer associated with this buffer memory, and for synchronising execution of the firmwares as a function of a predetermined order of data originating from buffer memories required in a data sequence to be transferred to the addressee. |
| US08260979B2 |
Method and apparatus for simultaneous bidirectional signaling in a bus topology
A method and apparatus for providing bidirectional signaling in a bus topology is provided. The bus topology allows more than two electrical circuits or devices to be coupled together along one or more common electrical conductors. For each device on the bus, a transmit buffer is preferably provided for every other device on the bus with which it will communicate. One or more logic circuits, for example, a scheduler, is provided to coordinate exchange transactions between pairs of devices. Time delays are preferably provided between exchange transactions of different device pairs so as to prevent interference. Coherency checking is preferably implemented to avoid discrepancies introduced by information being held in a buffer pending an exchange transaction. |
| US08260977B2 |
CEC communications device, audio and visual device using thereof, and CEC communications method
The present invention provides a CEC communications device which eliminates a troublesome process to solve the CEC-related communication malfunction when the CEC communications device detects a CEC-related communication malfunction caused by a software malfunction and improves serviceability of the CEC communications by automatically resetting the CEC to execute a CEC communication recovery. In the CEC communications device, when a CEC communications line monitoring unit detects a CEC-related communication malfunction caused by a software malfunction, a CEC control unit determines a reset order of a CEC appliance found on a CEC network, and notifies the CEC resetting unit of a CEC resetting request. The CEC resetting unit resets the CEC of a CEC appliance found on the CEC network via an HDMI line (DDC in FIG. 1) other than the CEC to recover the CEC communications. |
| US08260972B2 |
System and method for ordering haptic effects
A signal associated with multiple haptic effects is received, each haptic effect from the multiple haptic effects being associated with a time slot from multiple time slots. Each haptic effect from the multiple haptic effects is associated with an effect slot from multiple effect slots at least partially based on the time slot associated with that haptic effect. An output signal is sent for each effect slot from the multiple effect slots, when the associated haptic effect is scheduled for its time slot. |
| US08260967B2 |
Billing system for communications services involving telephony and instant communications
Systems, methods and program products are disclosed for determining billable usage of a communications system where services are provided involving telephony and instant communications. In some exemplary embodiments, the present invention provides for authorizing the fulfillment of service requests based upon information pertaining to a billable account. |
| US08260966B2 |
System and method for detecting and processing stale messages
A system and method for handling stale messages is presented. A first message is transmitted to a peer entity. The first message includes a first timestamp. A second message is received from the peer entity. The second message is related to the first message and includes a second timestamp. A third message is received from the peer entity. The third message includes a third timestamp. A staleness of the third message is determined using the first timestamp, second timestamp, and third timestamp. When the third message is stale, the third message is at least one of ignored and discarded. When the third message is not stale, the third message may be processed. |
| US08260964B2 |
Dynamic content conversion
A method of display modification in a client server web system, comprising, intercepting, by a web intermediary, a response to a client request, sent by a server in response to the request, the response including client side active content adapted to execute at a browsing software on a client computer; replacing at least one display-related code section in said response by a wrapper section that includes code for modification of at least one display element and code for executing the original display-related code section; and executing said wrapper section as client side active content at said client to generate a display, modified from a display that would have been generated by executing the response. |
| US08260961B1 |
Logical / physical address state lifecycle management
A system and method for managing logical and physical address state lifecycles. A state of unknown can be assigned to an address when the state has not been assigned. The state of the address is changed when communication is targeted to the address. The state can be changed to unfulfilled when the communication includes an address resolution protocol request sent to a device having the address when a time limit for a response to the address resolution protocol request has not expired. The state can be changed to virtual when the communication is received at the address when the state of the address is unfulfilled, and a time limit for responding to the communication expires before a response is sent. The state can be changed to unknown when the state of the address is not unknown, and the address does not participate in the communication within a time limit. |
| US08260956B2 |
Data transmission queuing using fault prediction
In a distributed computer system, data to be communicated is assigned to one of a plurality of virtual queues. The plurality of virtual queues includes a first representative virtual queue associated with a first fault group and a second representative virtual queue associated with a second fault group. The data to be communicated is assigned to one of the plurality of virtual queues prior to transmission based on fault group information associated with the data. |
| US08260953B2 |
Method and system for determining overall content values for content elements in a web network and for optimizing internet traffic flow through the web network
A method for optimizing traffic flow through a web network including collecting data corresponding to the content elements, determining a revenue value for each content element, calculating an overall content value for each content element based on the corresponding revenue value and revenue generated from subsequent flow of a user during a visit to the network, and modifying the network based on the overall content value and the content data, so as to maximize the value of the network. Also disclosed is a system for determining overall content values for a plurality of content elements including an analytic server for receiving content data corresponding to the content elements, and a processor determining a revenue value for each element and calculating an overall content value for each content element based on the corresponding revenue value and revenue generated from subsequent traffic flow of a user during a visit to the network. |
| US08260945B2 |
System and method for wirelessly broadcasting content from a core for receipt by a mobile client
A system and method for providing content over a network. In particular, the system and method is capable of providing content, such as broadband streaming multimedia and Internet Protocol (IP) data, to network devices, including mobile devices, with interactive functionality. The network employs at least one core and a plurality of clients. The core and clients each comprise a plurality of modules that cooperatively communicate with each other to monitor and control the delivery of content and to allow for interactive functionality by a user. |
| US08260943B2 |
Applying a transfer function to a signal for determining compliance to a specification
An apparatus and a method for implementing transmitter compliance transfer functions in software are disclosed. As per the present invention, a transfer function model is provided to modify the real time signal received from a device, such as a transmitter, to be analyzed. The real-time signal is modified according to a relative s-parameter(s) or transfer function, and is provided to a display device, such as an oscilloscope, in order to analyze the modified signal. In one embodiment, the invention may be software integrated within an oscilloscope or in a computer system. |
| US08260941B2 |
System and method for detecting and reporting cable modems with duplicate media access control addresses
The detection of devices with duplicate media access controller (MAC) addresses in a cable network may be accomplished by reference to a value indicative of a DOCSIS version supported by the device or by reference to a having a MAC address/giaddr pair. Where a version value is used, the detection of devices having duplicate MAC addresses looks for changes in the reported version value from a higher version to a lower version. Where MAC address/giaddr pairs are used, a centralized storage of historical cable modem MAC address/giaddr pair data is used to identify cable modems (CM's) that report duplicate MAC addresses. If duplication is detected, an appropriate remedial response is taken. |
| US08260940B1 |
Service request management
A computer-implemented system and method for managing service requests are disclosed. The system includes a service provider, having a number of server devices, that provides a service response in response to a client service request. The service response includes a service instance ID associated with a server and a connection lease. A communication processing component routes a first client service request to one of the servers. Subsequent client service requests and responses are transmitted directly between the client device and the server device associated with service instance ID included in the first service response for the duration of the connection lease. |
| US08260938B2 |
Predicting user requests to reduce network connection latency
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including medium-encoded computer program products, for decreasing latency perceived by a user in retrieving data from a data server. A user-initiated interaction with a user interface can be detected and a user-generated request to retrieve data automatically predicted, based at least in part on the user-initiated interaction. Resolution of a domain name into a network address can be initiated, based on the predicted user-generated request to retrieve data, prior to receiving a user-initiated submission of the user-generated request to retrieve data. In certain instances, a network communication synchronization sequence with a data server associated with the predicted user-generated request to retrieve data can be initiated prior to receiving a user-initiated submission of the user-generated request to retrieve data. |
| US08260934B2 |
Multiplex transport
A remoting client and a remoting server are described. In one embodiment, the remoting client has a client remote access application comprising an application programming interface (API), and a client invoker coupled to the client remote access application, the socket invoker comprising a multiplex invoker. The multiplex invoker is to form a socket on the remoting client, to bind the socket to a port of the remoting client, to couple the socket to a socket of a remoting server, to form a plurality of virtual sockets on the remoting client, and to associate the plurality of virtual sockets with the socket of the remoting client. The plurality of virtual sockets share the socket and the port of the remoting client. |
| US08260930B2 |
Systems, methods and computer readable media for reporting availability status of resources associated with a network
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for reporting an availability status of resources associated with a server in a network in a network are described. According to one aspect, a computer-implemented method of reporting an availability status of resources associated with a server in a network includes determining the availability status of resources associated with the server. The availability status of resources is then inserted into a resource availability status header of a message. The message including the availability status of resources associated with the server is then sent. |
| US08260928B2 |
Methods to optimally allocating the computer server load based on the suitability of environmental conditions
A method includes generating a space information value for each of a plurality of spaces based on at least one environmental condition measurement for the corresponding space. Each space includes one or more computing devices. The space information value includes information regarding the relative suitability of a corresponding space for accepting computing load. The method also includes determining an allocation of additional computing load based on the space information values. |
| US08260927B2 |
Management of a reserve forever device
A host reserves a device controlled by a controller that is coupled to the host. The controller starts a first timer, in response to a completion of input/output (I/O) operations on the device by the host, wherein the host continues to reserve the device after the completion of the I/O operations. The controller sends a notification to the host after an expiry of the first timer, wherein the notification requests the host to determine whether the device should continue to be reserved by the host. The controller starts a second timer, in response to receiving an acknowledgement from the host that the notification has been received by the host, wherein reservation status of the device reserved by the host is determined by the controller on or prior to an expiry of the second timer. |
| US08260925B2 |
Finding workable virtual I/O mappings for HMC mobile partitions
In one embodiment, a data structure stores information about the number of client virtual I/O adapters, the number of possible destination VIOS hosts and the number of available slots on those hosts. The information is used to iteratively assign adapters to available slots of the VIOS hosts of the destination server to which a client partition is to be migrated. A method comprises testing the data structure to determine whether conditions exist that make allocation of the adapter to a VIOS host unquestionable. |
| US08260924B2 |
User load balancing systems and methods thereof
A method, computer readable medium and system for user load balancing includes identifying when an overall load in at least one of two or more servers exceeds one or more thresholds that are related to one or more user loads. One or more of the user loads in the identified overall load in one of the servers are transferred to one or more of the other servers when the one or more thresholds is exceeded. |
| US08260919B2 |
Method of controlling download load of secure micro client in downloadable conditional access system
A method of controlling a download load of a Secure Micro (SM) client in a Downloadable Conditional Access System (DCAS) is provided. The method of controlling a download load of an SM client including: analyzing version information of SMs and version information of SM clients to control the download load generated in the DCAS, the version information of the SMs and the version information of the SM clients being provided from an Authentication Proxy (AP) server, and the SM clients being installed in the SMs; determining a download policy associated with a download time of a target SM client for the SMs based on a result of the analysis; and providing the AP server with the determined download policy. |
| US08260914B1 |
Detecting DNS fast-flux anomalies
A method for detecting automatically generated malicious domain names in a network. The method includes identifying a plurality of domain name service (DNS) queries in the network, wherein the plurality of DNS queries share a common attribute, analyzing, using a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer, the plurality of DNS queries to identify a plurality of alphanumeric elements embedded in a set of domain names associated with the plurality of DNS queries, analyzing, using the CPU, the plurality of alphanumeric elements to determine a distribution metric of the set of domain names, and generating an alert based on the distribution metric according to a pre-determined criterion. |
| US08260913B2 |
Reading a file from a cloud storage solution
Systems and methods of the present invention provide for a user requesting a file or a plurality of file chunks stored in a file storage system, and a customized metadata stored in data storage. One or more tracker servers may determine file locations in the file system, and the location of the customized metadata in the data storage. These locations may be returned to an application, possibly an API, which may determine one or more URLs for the file locations and perform an HTTP request to read the file or file chunks from the locations or URLs in the file system. The file or file chunks, along with the customized metadata, may then be returned and displayed to the user that requested them. |
| US08260909B2 |
Method and apparatus for monitoring a data stream
A system that determines whether a data element exists within a set of data elements observed from a stream of data. During operation, the system receives a query which seeks to determine whether the data element exists within a set of data elements observed from a stream of data. In response to the query, the system performs a lookup in an enhanced Bloom filter to determine whether the pattern of data elements was observed in the stream of data, wherein the enhanced Bloom filter includes multiple instances of a Bloom filter, and wherein each instance of the Bloom filter is associated with a different time interval. If so, the system generates a notification that the data element was observed. |
| US08260908B2 |
Techniques for sequencing system log messages
Techniques for system (syslog) messages are provided. As syslog messages are generated a dual sequence number is maintained for each syslog message. The first sequence number is consistent for each syslog message and represents a total number of syslog messages received. The second sequence number is maintained as a total message count for a specific session for which a syslog message is assigned. |
| US08260906B1 |
System and method for heuristic determination of network protocols
A system, method and computer program product are provided for heuristically identifying protocols during network analysis utilizing a network analyzer. First provided is a sequencing and reassembly (SAR) engine module for sequencing and/or re-assembling network communications. Coupled to the engine module is a plurality of protocol interpreter modules for interpreting protocols associated with the network communications. At least one of the protocol interpreter modules is adapted for heuristically identifying protocols associated with the network communications. |
| US08260905B2 |
System and method for managing registration of services for an electronic device
The present disclosure described herein relates to a device and method for managing access to a server. The method comprises: receiving information regarding a current capability of the wireless electronic device from the electronic wireless device; analyzing the information with operating parameters of the servers to identify a second set of servers in the network that are compatible with the current capability; generating and sending access requests to the second set of servers; monitoring for responses from the second set of servers to the access requests; and generating and sending a response to the wireless electronic device providing information relating to the second responses from the second set of servers. |
| US08260900B2 |
Network operation management
Systems and methods are provided to monitor and control peripheral devices at a remote operational site. A management platform configures a site controller deployed at the operational site, wherein configuration specifies collection of data from the peripheral devices connected to the site controller. Conditions that monitor device status and specify device alarms triggers also can be configured. Commands, which can be part of a script, remotely control peripheral devices functionally coupled to the site controller. Collected data is conveyed through a wired or wireless link to management component, which stores the data for analysis and report generation, and can supply the data to an authorized terminal. Data and reports can be conveyed to one or more systems and mass storage functionally connected to the management component. Analysis includes data trend generation. Reports include features of observed and predicted data, and alarm summaries. |
| US08260899B2 |
Network attached storage SNMP single system image
A method, system, and apparatus for a management station to manage a node cluster in a computer network. Regardless which node in the node cluster receives a management command from the management station to the master node, the management command is sent to the master node. The master node prepares a command response and sends the response back to the original node that received the management command. The original node, in turn, forwards the command response to the management station. The invention utilizes management agents executing on a master node and servant nodes to create and process the command response. |
| US08260898B2 |
Mobile terminal mail system, mobile terminal mail control method, and mobile terminal mail control program
The mobile terminal mail system includes a plurality of wireless communication networks having different communication speeds, a multi-access terminal including electronic mailer, and an electronic mailer activation server which is adapted to, when the multi-access terminal has connected to one of the wireless communication networks whose communication speed is equal to or greater than a fixed communication speed, activate an electronic mailer through the wireless communication network. |
| US08260897B2 |
System and method for automatically managing IT-resources in a heterogeneous environment
The present invention provides a system and method for automatically managing IT-resources in a heterogeneous environment on each level of resource abstraction and resource hierarchy by using the concept of the resource-reference object. The resource-reference object represents the link to a referenced resource on a lower level in the hierarchy and may include a priority value assigned by the respective level of hierarchy as well as all information to build a remote request to that referenced resource which may be a single resource or a resource group. Concurrently each resource-reference object itself is accessible from the higher level of hierarchy as an own resource by additional providing a name and a desired state which can differ from desired state of the referenced resource as well as making it externally visible. Resource-reference objects can be grouped to resource groups on the higher level of hierarchy, wherein those resource groups are addressable as own resource-reference object from the next higher level of hierarchy.By using the inventive concept of the resource-reference object conflicts between different levels of hierarchies in the system management are resolved by a conflict resolution method using the priority assigned to the resource reference object by the respective level of hierarchy. |
| US08260893B1 |
Method and system for automated management of information technology
The present invention provides a method and system for automated management of information technology. A computer-implemented method according to the present invention includes detecting a condition in an infrastructure, automatically determining an action to be taken and automatically performing the action. The automatically determining is performed in response to the detecting, and the action is in response to the condition. |
| US08260892B2 |
Dynamic http load balancing
The invention is a method and apparatus for facilitating facilitates load balancing in a server farm. In accordance with various aspects of the invention, all of the information about each server necessary for a load balancing program to define and execute a load balancing algorithm is stored at a predetermined URL for each server. The load balancer can query the predefined URL, which returns the necessary information. The load balancer then dynamically configures the load balancing algorithm in accordance with the returned information. |
| US08260888B2 |
Address configuration method, apparatus and system
An address configuration method, apparatus, and system are disclosed. The method includes: after receiving a neighbor solicitation message sent by a terminal and inclusive of a Link-Local Address (LLA), comparing the LLA with addresses in an Internet Protocol (IP) address cache, and judging whether any address in the IP address cache matches with the LLA; and sending a proxy neighbor advertisement message to the terminal if an address in the IP address cache matches with the LLA, where the message indicates that the LLA is a duplicate address. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, after a neighbor solicitation message is received, duplicate addresses are detected for the LLA; after the Duplicate Address Detection (DAD), an IPv6 address is generated and delivered. In this way, IPv6 stateless address auto-configuration is realized on the terminal. |
| US08260887B2 |
Method for automatic configuration of an access router compatible with the DHCP protocol, for specific automatic processing of IP flows from a client terminal
Method and device for automatic configuration of an access router 2, compatible with the DHCP protocol, for controlling resources for a client terminal 1, as a function of a profile associated with the terminal client line and an ID identifier of the terminal client line, in a computer network, starting from the configuration phase of the terminal by a DHCP 3 server in the network; the router routing the DHCP traffic of the terminal with the server. The ID identifier, inserted 5 in the DHCPREQUEST message 4 broadcast by the terminal, is used 9 to query 10 a profiles server 11 that transmits 12 the corresponding profile in response; Extraction 14 of the parameters of the transmitted profile 13 configures 15 the router so that it can be able to process terminal flows. |
| US08260885B2 |
Method and system for bootstrap of a device
Bootstrapping an electronic communication device in a communications network by receiving a detection message from a detection source that a new device/subscriber combination is detected by the communications network and sending a notification message with basic device management parameters and subscriber identification to an operator's business system, notifying the operator's business system that a new device/subscriber combination has been detected, and to send—in response to the notification message—an order message to a smartcard management system to update a smartcard of the device with the basic device management parameters. |
| US08260882B2 |
Sharing of multimedia and relevance measure based on hop distance in a social network
A method, system, and apparatus are directed to sharing information over a network. A request to share a multimedia object may be received. A relevance measure may be retrieved based on an identity of the multimedia object. Sharing the network of the multimedia object between an originating sharing member and a plurality of members of a social network may be enabled. A combination of the relevance measure and a hop distance for the shared multimedia object may be provided. |
| US08260881B1 |
Remote download of content
A system and method for delivering content is disclosed. A content download service initially registers client computing devices to receive content. Therefore, when the content download service receives a request from a requesting client computing device to download content to a receiving client computing device, the content or download instructions are sent to the receiving client computing device. Downloading is controlled by the content download service and a software agent installed on the receiving client computing devices when they are registered. Content request and content download occur over a computer network, such as the Internet. The content may be stored by the content download service and supplied to the receiving client computing device by the download service, or stored by a content supply service and supplied to the receiving client computing device either directly or via the content download service. |
| US08260877B2 |
Variant streams for real-time or near real-time streaming to provide failover protection
Methods and apparatuses provide real-time or near real-time streaming of content using transfer protocols such as an HTTP compliant protocol. In one embodiment, a method includes providing multiple redundant locations that provide media content to client devices using alternative streams. To implement failover protection, a first server device or first content distribution service creates a stream, or multiple alternate bandwidth streams and generates playlist file(s). A second server device or second content distribution service creates a parallel stream, or set of streams. A client attempts to download the playlist file(s) from a first uniform resource locator (URL) using a first stream associated with the first server device or the first content distribution service. If a client is unable to download the playlist file(s) from the first URL, the client attempts to switch to an alternate stream associated with another URL. |
| US08260875B2 |
Entertainment device, entertainment system and method for reproducing media items
A method for reproducing media items using a first entertainment device is provided. The first entertainment device communicates with a portable entertainment device via a wireless link. The method includes reproducing a first media item using media reproduction means; generating a media list of one or more media items for reproduction by the first entertainment device; collating the media list at the first entertainment device; designating a second media item as the next media item to be reproduced by the media reproduction means after completion of the reproduction of the first media item; and detecting whether the second media item is stored on the first removable storage medium. If the second media item is not stored thereon, the method includes storing media data relating to the first media item on a local storage medium for reproduction in dependence upon the media data stored in the local storage medium. |
| US08260873B1 |
Method and system for grouping user devices based on dual proximity
A method and system for grouping user devices based on dual proximity. Avatars in a virtual environment are determined to be in virtual world proximity of one another. User devices associated with the avatars are determined to be in communications proximity of one another, and the user devices are grouped into a client cluster. One of the user devices is designated as a master client and the other user devices are designated as slave clients. Communications between the user devices in the client cluster and a server are handled by the master client. Lag and jitter are reduced or eliminated and network utilization is decreased. |
| US08260871B2 |
Intelligent collection of diagnostic data for communication to diagnosis site
Techniques for intelligently identifying diagnostic data to be communicated from a product or system site (e.g., a customer site) to a diagnosis site (e.g., a vendor site). An appropriate amount of diagnostic data is identified to facilitate efficient and quick diagnosis and error resolution. Techniques are also provided that enable a customer to review the data identified for transmission to the diagnosis site prior to the transmission. |
| US08260870B2 |
Method and system for message pacing
A system for managing message volume and timing, which permits messages from multiple sources to be spaced apart over time, with the pacing controlled in part by the type or priority of the message. The system permits the volume of messages to be reduced by aggregating messages according to a set of rules and by discarding or delaying messages that are sufficiently similar and sent too close together. In addition, the system allows message sources to be notified when a recipient has not received a message within a designated time period. The system can be implemented as a centralized pacing system or through use of a data storage system accessible by the message sources. |
| US08260866B2 |
Image transmission system for transmitting image data to registered users
Upon accepting, from a user B, a new registration of a configuration showing that the user B wishes to receive data via a FAX, a server sets a notification flag to an address book of a user A which includes an address of the user B. Upon accepting a login of the user A, an MFP displays a message to notify the user A of the new registration by the user B, based on the notification flag. The user A, who has notified of the new registration, can transmit the data to the user B with use of the new registration configured by the user B, namely via a FAX. Accordingly, the user B can receive the data via a FAX as the user B wishes. |
| US08260864B2 |
Push mechanism for efficiently sending aggregated data items to client
A server push model for client/server communications. The push architecture operates on top of a non-push (e.g., request/response) protocol (e.g., HTTP) to combine notifications from multiple data sources (e.g., email, text messaging, etc.). The server can be a middle-tier server (or proxy) to which a single web client registers interest in one or more notification types from one or more data sources. The mid-tier server aggregates the notifications from the various data sources and delivers the notifications to the requesting client via a single “push” pipe. The web client then distributes each notification to the appropriate parts of the client user interface. A producer/consumer locking mechanism eliminates blocking threads waiting on a mutual exclusion lock. A notification throttling mechanism distinguishes different types of notifications in order to guarantee that the client is not overloaded with too much information. |
| US08260857B2 |
One to many data projection system and method
The system and method of information or presentation projection allows a user to present information to single or multiple screens without need of additional cables. Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is used to advertise, find, and control the display devices. A reverse Terminal Service (TS) session is used to connect the display to the user's machine. Attendance at and receipt of the presentation is addressed from both a presenter side and from an attendee side through a subscription model. This subscription model is facilitated and security of the presentation is addressed through the use meeting invitations. These invitations are generated by the presenter, and may be requested by the attendees. |
| US08260855B2 |
Train communication system, communication device and relay device
Relay devices 1 and vehicle monitoring control devices 2 include communication cycle management sections 111 and 211 for managing communication cycles in accordance with cycle information that divides the communication cycle to communication enabled periods which include a period of enabling only communication of a message to be communicated periodically and correspond to a communication period of a message; and carry out communication in the communication cycles managed by the communication cycle management sections 111 and 211. |
| US08260854B2 |
Method and device for dynamic streaming archiving configuration
The present invention provides a system and a method allowing users to record/stream a video conference by dialing a Content Server from any endpoint using a personal alias or aliases, or by dialing an endpoint from a content server using a personal alias or aliases. The alias(es) will define their preferred streaming/archiving template(s) and call configuration(s), allow them to set specific viewing rules for the conference and identify them as the owner of the conferences created through this alias. The alias owner can also assign default meta data (title, description, etc.) and an access list for determining who can view the recorded and/or streamed conference. By allowing this, each user can easily stream/record a conference with their preferred settings without having to check or change the settings each time a new call is made, and without changing the settings for other users. |
| US08260852B1 |
Methods and apparatuses for polls
Methods and apparatuses to set up a poll and presenting poll results through electronic communication media. In one embodiment, a user can specify a poll subject, a set of user-defined choices, and a set of poll invitees. The poll invitees are contacted to vote and/or to provide their comments. The invitees' responses are collected and presented. The user may set up the poll at a web site, using an email application, or a special-purpose application. A tool to compose the poll may be integrated with tools for managing personal contact information, such as address book, social network, etc. to simplify the process of specify poll invitees. Content sensitive advertisements can be inserted into the result of the poll. The advertisements can be selected based on the content of the poll subject, user defined choices, invitees' comments, etc. |
| US08260846B2 |
Method and system for providing targeted content to a surfer
A system and method for providing targeted content to a surfer is disclosed. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention seek to provide novel solutions for determining which content object, taken from a group of content objects, will be best suited for presentation in association with a link on a web page that has been requested by a certain surfer. Exemplary types of content objects may comprise the text, topic, font, color or other attribute of an external advertisement or internal advertisement. Still other content objects may comprise the specific design of the object, an image, the design of the page in which the object is presented, etc. The decision process for selecting a content object can be based on predictive information that is associated with the request, such as a common HTTP request, or historical information about the surfer. Exemplary associated predictive information may include the day and time of receipt of the request for the web page, the IP address and\or domain from which the request was sent, the type and the version of the browser application that is used for requesting the web page, or the URL used by a surfer for requesting the web page with the parameters that are attached to the URL. |
| US08260841B1 |
Executing an out-of-band agent in an in-band process of a host system
Technologies are described herein for executing an out-of-band agent in an in-band process of a host system. An out-of-band connection is created between a service processor located on a host computer and a remote management device. The service processor receives an agent program from the remote management device over the out-of-band connection and stores the agent program in a storage area. The agent program is made available to an in-band process of the host system operating on the host computer through a standard storage device interface. The agent program is then executed out-of-band by the service processor or in-band by the process of the host system. |
| US08260839B2 |
Messenger based system and method to access a service from a backend system
What is described is a system and method for accessing a backend service. The method includes receiving a message at a client; parsing the message into parts of the message using a natural language processor; interpreting the parts of the message; identifying a service and a backend system based on the interpreted parts of the message; and invoking the service from the backend system. |
| US08260836B2 |
Method and device for generating a filter coefficient in real time
The present invention provides a method and device for generating a filter coefficient in real time. The method includes: looking up a converted window function value in a converted window function table based on a current coefficient index; generating a current cut-off angular frequency; generating a look-up table address based on the current coefficient index, the filter order and the current cut-off angular frequency and looking up a sine value in a sine table based on the look-up table address; and multiplying the converted window function value by the sine value to obtain the filter coefficient. The device includes a first memory, a second memory, a look-up table address generation module and a first multiplier. The present invention is easily implemented with low hardware resource consumption and high flexibility, and is particularly applicable for the hardware implementation of high-order finite impulse response filters. |
| US08260825B2 |
Functionally-dependent analysis objects
A system may include a database of physical data tables, a logical database schema of logical entities associated with the physical data tables, and an abstraction layer comprising a plurality of dimension objects mapped to the logical entities, at least one of the plurality of dimension objects comprising one or more properties associating the at least one of the plurality of dimension objects to one or more others of the plurality of dimension objects. |
| US08260823B2 |
Dissemination, acquisition, discovery and use of people-oriented folksonomies
In a method of and system for discovering people with attributes, users tag people in their respective contact lists with attribute tags. The method aggregates in a folksonomy database the people tagged in the contact lists. A user may request a list of people tagged with an attribute. In response to a user request, the method searches the folksonomy database for people tagged with the attribute tag. The method returns to the requesting user a list of people tagged with the attribute tag. |
| US08260822B1 |
Systems and methods for storing and querying slowly changing dimensions
A system and method for processing both Type 1 and Type 2 effective dated slowly changing dimension (SCD) date attributes. Two sets of date fields may be provided, an effective from/effective to set for dimensions with effective date logic; and an effective start date/effective end date for all dimensions. A current indicator is used to indicate a currently valid dimension. By processing and setting the date fields, both Type 1 and Type 2 dimensions can be processed and queried similarly. This enables generating an accurate and consistent report of information representing information in a data warehouse as it is now, or as it was at any point in time. The methods also enable for reporting and analysis of historical and trends, as well as future forecasting. |
| US08260809B2 |
Voice-based search processing
Architecture for completing search queries by using artificial intelligence based schemes to infer search intentions of users. Partial queries are completed dynamically in real time. Additionally, search aliasing can also be employed. Custom tuning can be performed based on at least query inputs in the form of text, graffiti, images, handwriting, voice, audio, and video signals. Natural language processing occurs, along with handwriting recognition and slang recognition. The system includes a classifier that receives a partial query as input, accesses a query database based on contents of the query input, and infers an intended search goal from query information stored on the query database. A query formulation engine receives search information associated with the intended search goal and generates a completed formal query for execution. |
| US08260804B2 |
Data management system and method to host applications and manage storage, finding and retrieval of typed items with support for tagging, connections, and situated queries
A data management method to host applications and manage storage, finding and retrieval of typed items with support for tagging, connections, and situated queries is provided. |
| US08260803B2 |
System and method for data stream processing
A method and system for processing a data stream are described. The method executes, until the occurrence of a cut condition, a map function from a set of query processing steps to generate map results for a first portion of the data stream, executes a reduce function from the set of query processing steps to generate history-sensitive data from the map results, and rewinds the set of query processing steps, without termination of processing. The history-sensitive data is maintained for a second execution of the map function and reduce function on a second portion of the data stream. |
| US08260802B2 |
System using content generator for dynamically regenerating one or more fragments of web page based on notification of content change
Disclosed herein are embodiments of a system and method for the provisioning of dynamically generated content. One embodiment can interface a content delivery system and a content management system at the fragment level. Depending upon how a page is organized, a fragment may refer to a block within the page, a portion of the page, or a content item presented on the page. When a content item is updated and published onto the content management system, one embodiment of the invention can operate to track dependencies of managed pages and invalidate/validate fragment(s) affected by the change(s) accordingly. The updated fragment(s) may then be dynamically assembled on-the-fly or on-demand. The updated fragment(s) may or may not be cached. In this way, changes made to a piece of content can be reflected in all pages which utilize this content almost simultaneously with the changes to the content itself. |
| US08260799B2 |
Method and apparatus for creating pattern matching state machine and identifying pattern
The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for creating a pattern matching state machine and identifying a pattern, and relates to pattern matching technologies. The method includes: obtaining a sub-keyword field after division; generating a state transition (goto) function according to the sub-keyword field; generating a failure function of each state node according to the goto function; generating a next-hop goto function δ of each state node according to the goto function and the failure function; in the process of converting the failure chain, the entry with a failure transition to the initial state is not generated. Therefore, the storage content does not increase massively, the storage structure of the AC algorithm is optimized, and the processing speed of the AC algorithm is improved. |
| US08260796B2 |
System and method for merging remote and local data in a single user interface
The system comprises a local database; a user interface; a remote access engine, communicatively coupled to a network, the user interface, and the local database; and a rendering engine, communicatively coupled to the remote access engine. The user interface receives a data search request. The remote access engine searches for and retrieves, from a remote database communicatively coupled to the network and the local database, data corresponding to the received search request. The rendering engine displays the received data from the remote database and the local database. |
| US08260795B2 |
Method for providing multimedia to provide content related to keywords, and multimedia apparatus applying the same
A method for providing multimedia and a multimedia apparatus applying the same. The method for providing multimedia includes searching for content related to keywords and generating channels to provide the content found as a result of searching. Therefore, it is possible for a user to more conveniently use Internet multimedia content using a TV. |
| US08260790B2 |
System and method for using indexes to parse static XML documents
A method, executed on a computing device, and a corresponding system, allow software applications to easily access data contained in a static XML document by parsing the static XML document. For each node in the XML document, a Node Offset value is determined. The Node Offset value is then stored and serves as an index offset value, where the index offset value is used by the software applications to retrieve the data contained in the static XML document. |
| US08260789B2 |
System and method for authority value obtained by defining ranking functions related to weight and confidence value
Concepts and technologies are described herein for authority ranking for real time and social search. An authority index configured to store data relating to sources is generated. Data relating to the sources, including an authority value, are generated and stored at the authority index. The authority value may be defined as a function of source, topic, and point of view (“POV”), as well as other data, if desired, and may be determined based upon one or more ranking functions. The ranking functions are determined, and data corresponding to the ranking functions is obtained. Each of the ranking functions may be weighted according to a weighting function, a confidence value or interval, one or more time functions, and/or other methods. The obtained authority value may be used for affecting ranking of search results or for other purposes. |
| US08260788B2 |
Document importance calculation apparatus and method
A computer readable storage medium stores a program that allows a computer to execute a process comprising: acquiring information related to N documents; determining elements of an N×N square matrix D based on the acquired information, in order that D, a positive real number e, and a column vector u having N elements satisfy e u=D u according to the Perron-Frobenius theorem, each of the elements of D being a positive real number; initializing a column vector v having N elements, each of the elements of v corresponding to each of the elements of u; calculating a column vector w=(D v)/|D v|; updating v in the memory to w; iterating the calculating and the updating, until the v satisfies a predetermined condition; and assigning each of elements of the v to the importance of the document. |
| US08260787B2 |
Recommendation system with multiple integrated recommenders
A recommendations system is provided in various embodiments for selecting items to recommend to a user. The system includes a recommendation engine with a plurality of recommenders, and each recommender identifies a different type of reason for recommending items. In one embodiment, each recommender retrieves item preference data and generates candidate recommendations responsive to a subset of that data. The recommenders also score the candidate recommendations. In certain embodiments, a normalization engine normalizes the scores of the candidate recommendations provided by each recommender. A candidate selector selects at least a portion of the candidate recommendations based on the normalized scores to provide as recommendations to the user. The candidate selector also outputs the recommendations with associated reasons for recommending the items. |
| US08260783B2 |
Storage of multiple, related time-series data streams
A method and system may receive time-series data of each of a plurality of real-time data streams from one or more sensors and create an electronic file based on the plurality of real-time data streams. The plurality of real-time data streams comprises a primary data stream, a low limit data stream, a high limit data stream, and a target value data stream. The electronic file includes a data portion and a metadata portion. The metadata portion of the electronic file comprises, for each of the plurality of data streams, one or more data stream identifiers, a time range, a source type, and a data type, and the data portion comprises the time-series data of each of the plurality of real-time data streams. |
| US08260782B2 |
Data element categorization in a service-oriented architecture
A method and system for specifying categories of data elements during a service specification phase of a service-oriented architecture (SOA) life cycle defined in a service modeling methodology like Service-Oriented Modeling and Architecture (SOMA). A Unified Modeling Language based SOA modeling tool for SOMA methodology includes a middleware based integration plug-in that categorizes retrieved service-specific data elements as transaction elements, optional controller elements, glue elements, optional extension patterns, extension elements and core Common Information Model entities, and associates the categorized data elements with corresponding operations of the service being modeled. A user interface provided by the plug-in enables input of the data elements into the categories and input of the associations between the categorized data elements and corresponding operations of the service being modeled. Furthermore, the plug-in generates and initiates storing of a service specification based on the categorization of the data elements. |
| US08260777B1 |
Server system and methods for matching listings to web pages and users
A listing creation application provides functionality for a listing provider to create a listing to be displayed on web pages, and to associate this listing with a content descriptor that specifies the type of content to which the listing is to be matched. The content descriptor may, for example, be a topic selected from a hierarchy of topics, a keyword, or a keyword phrase. Upon selecting a particular content descriptor, the listing provider is presented with a corresponding list of user classes with which the listing may be associated. A real time matching engine uses a listing's associations with specific content descriptors and user classes to match the listing to web page requests, such that the listings selected for presentation to a user are dependent upon both the profile of the user and the type of content being requested. |
| US08260771B1 |
Predictive selection of item attributes likely to be useful in refining a search
Computer-implemented methods are described for identifying item attributes that are likely to be useful to users in refining searches for items. In one embodiment, when a user submits a search query to search for items, all or a portion of the search query is used to look-up a previously-generated list of item attributes (and optionally associated attribute values) that, based on a programmatic analysis that includes an analysis of user activity of a population of users, are associated with the search query and are useful for refining the search. These item attributes, and any associated attribute values, are then presented to the user in a selectable form such that the user can interactively narrow the search. |
| US08260764B1 |
System and method to search and generate reports from semi-structured data
Embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method for searching and reporting on semistructured data that can include dynamic metadata. One embodiment can comprise providing a user interface to a user based on an object type definition for an object type that allows the user to specify search criteria associated with a set of metadata, mapping the user search criteria to a query that comprises at least one structured query constraint and at least one unstructured query constraint, processing the query to search a set of data objects containing semistructured data associated with the object type according to the query and returning a set of results to the user. The search results can be returned to a user based on user-specified reporting parameters. Additionally, the reporting definition can be saved as an object for future execution. |
| US08260757B1 |
Data access layer
An improved data access layer (DAL) architecture enables database connection pooling or multiplexing across machine boundaries. Drivers installed at web servers communicate with servers in a DAL. The DAL servers present a virtual database to the web servers, and the DAL servers in turn open connections to a set of physical databases. DAL servers are able to recycle connections that are no longer needed, or to move available connections from one DAL server to another, so as to provide improved efficiency in connection management, burst management, and peak load management. Scalability is thereby improved, and more efficient use of system resources is facilitated. |
| US08260756B2 |
Comprehensive coordinated electronic document system
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for providing a comprehensive coordinated electronic document functionality by storing and providing access to at least one non-personalized electronic document and at least one personalized document, enabling at least one action with regard to the non-personalized document and the personalized document, and creating a record of the at least one action taken. The invention can be implemented via a stand-alone computing system or such a system interconnected with other platforms or data stores by a network, such as a corporate intranet, a local area network, or the internet. |
| US08260749B2 |
Traversing data in a repeatable manner
Data is processed by receiving a list of one or more file system elements in a level of a file system or a portion thereof. The list is sorted based at least in part on whether a file system element is a file or a directory. A sorted list is obtained. The file system elements in the level are backed up according to the order of the sorted list. |
| US08260747B2 |
System, method, and computer program product for allowing access to backup data
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for allowing access to backup data resulting from performance of one or more recovery point backup operations and one or more full backup operations. This is accomplished by associating recovery point backup operations with full backup operations and allowing access to backup data resulting from performance of the recovery point backup operations and the full backup operations. In this way, logs corresponding to the backup operations may be associated with a backup path, such that the logs may be accessed during a restore operation. Furthermore, the recovery point operations may be configured to provide a user defined granularity for data recovery. To this end, in various embodiments, backup data may be stored at a granularity defined by a user and recovered based on a user selection of a recovery point. |
| US08260741B2 |
System and method for utilizing a modular operating system (OS) resident agent allowing an out-of-band server management
A pluggable, extensible, lightweight framework is described that allows an out-of-band server management connection to interact with a plurality of operating system (OS) resident agents. |
| US08260736B1 |
Intelligent system manager system and method
An intelligent system manager system and method for managing and controlling a platform may comprise a management component providing intelligent decision support and managing platform functions responsive to data representative of the platform and equipment thereof; an execution and monitor component for causing execution of commands controlling the platform and equipment thereof, and monitoring the execution of the commands and the status of platform sensors and platform equipment; a display component providing information representative of the current state of the platform and receiving input; and a common services component providing processing services to the management component, to the execution and monitor component and to the display component. |
| US08260735B2 |
Method for assessing a rupture risk of an aneurysm of a patient and associated system
A method for assessing a rupture risk of at least one aneurysm of a patient, with the rupture risk being assessed by a computing device as a function of at least one personal factor specific to the patient and at least one anatomy-linked factor relevant to the anatomy of the and/or in the area of the at least one aneurysm and at least one simulation-linked factor determined with reference to at least one simulation carried out by means of the computing device and/or a further computing device and based on anatomical data for the at least one aneurysm. |
| US08260730B2 |
Method of, and system for, classification count adjustment
A classification count adjustment system for adjusting a count estimate of items in a dataset D classified into a class is disclosed. The system includes a count estimate produced by a classifier of the number of items in the dataset D classified into the class. The system further comprises one or more measures of behavior of the classifier, indicating the ability of the classifier to classify items into the class. The system further comprises a processor for computing an adjusted estimate based on the count estimate by the classifier and the one or more measures of behavior. |
| US08260729B2 |
Soliciting data indicating at least one subjective user state in response to acquisition of data indicating at least one objective occurrence
Systems and articles of manufacture for implementing a method that includes, but is not limited to: acquiring objective occurrence data including data indicating occurrence of at least one objective occurrence; soliciting, in response to the acquisition of the objective occurrence data, subjective user state data including data indicating occurrence of at least one subjective user state associated with a user; acquiring the subjective user state data and correlating the subjective user state data with the objective occurrence data. In some implementations, the soliciting of the subjective user state data may involve soliciting the data from the user by requesting a selection of a subjective user state from a plurality of indicated alternative subjective user states. In the same or different implementations, the correlating of the subjective user state data with the objective occurrence data may involve determining at least one sequential pattern associated with occurrence of the at least one subjective user state and occurrence of the at least one objective occurrence. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure. |
| US08260727B2 |
Method and apparatus for estimating a factor/defect affecting quality/reliability wherein the priority of user input data is determined
A factor estimation apparatus which can appropriately estimate a factor without increase in the cost, the factor estimation apparatus includes a characteristic quantity determination unit which determines the characteristic quantity; a user input unit which accepts an input from a user as data for the characteristic quantity determined by the characteristic quantity determination unit; an apparatus-data input unit to which data is inputted from a data obtaining device as the data for the characteristic quantity determined by the characteristic quantity determination unit; an input source defining unit which previously determines that the data for the characteristic quantity is inputted from which one of the user input unit and the apparatus-data input unit; and an estimation unit which estimates the factor using the data inputted from the input unit determined by the input source defining unit. |
| US08260726B2 |
Transport scheduling for low microbial bulk products
Transport scheduling and transport processes for low microbial (“LM”) bulk products are described. The transport scheduling and processes facilitate low microbial activity in a LM bulk product during the transport of the LM bulk product. |
| US08260724B2 |
Online pricing and buyback
A seller may sell advertisements, such as banner ads, to a buyer pursuant to a request made by the buyer to the seller. Each request has a value. The seller may accept the request from the buyer to provide a banner ad for the buyer at a later time. A request, once accepted, may be revoked at a cost which may be a fixed fraction of the request value. The cost may be referred to as a buyback cost. The buyback cost represents the cost of revoking a request that had been accepted. Additionally, matroid set systems and knapsack systems may use buyback techniques. |
| US08260723B2 |
Transactional security over a network
A system and method facilitating purchase transactions over a computer network, including the purchase of electronically storable items. The embodiments herein encrypt “customer identifier string” in an encryption stream and cause the encryption stream to be transferred from the customer to a merchant in the purchase transaction. A verification entity receives the encryption stream which is sent by the merchant for identity verification and payment authorization. Then, the verification entity verifies the identifiers contained in the encryption stream and transfers an identity verification and payment authorization from the verification entity to the merchant. |
| US08260722B2 |
System and method for generating an unpredictable number using a seeded algorithm
A random number generating algorithm is seeded with an unpredictable number. The seed value is computed by subjecting variable data to a Secure Hashing Algorithm, and truncating the right most, or left most, 16 bytes from the message digest generated. The algorithm generates the unpredictable number by using the seed value as a counter value in the random number generator, and performing a data encryption standard operation. In one exemplary embodiment, the unpredictable number is modified to a predetermined maximum unpredictable number value as determined by the sender and receiver of the unpredictable number. |
| US08260721B2 |
Network resource access control methods and systems using transactional artifacts
Methods and systems are provided for use with digital data processing systems to control or otherwise limit access to networked resources based, at least in part, on transactional artifacts and/or derived artifacts. |
| US08260719B2 |
Transactional security over a network
A system and method facilitates purchase transactions over a computer network, including the purchase of electronically storable items. The embodiments herein encrypt “customer information” in an encryption stream and cause the encryption stream to be transferred from the customer to a merchant in the purchase transaction. A verification entity receives the encryption stream which is sent by the merchant for identity verification and payment authorization. Then, the verification entity verifies the identifiers contained in the encryption stream and transfers an identity verification and payment authorization from the verification entity to the merchant. The encryption stream or unique transaction identifier can be added, by the merchant, to a purchased electronic item to create a personalized electronic item. |
| US08260718B2 |
System and method for authenticating an end user
A method for authenticating an end user. The method begins by generating a login field in response to receiving an authentication request from an end user. The login field comprises a plurality of colored nodes containing a first subset of nodes matching both color and location to a second subset of nodes residing in a transparent credit card being controlled by the end user. Next the method determines the authenticity status of the end user by comparing data received from the end user with the first subset of nodes. The end user having generated the data by overlaying the transparent credit card on top of the login field and selecting at least one colored node. Each node being selected according to a function utilizing both static and dynamic variables. Finally, the method sends the determined authenticity status to the end user via an output device. |
| US08260710B2 |
Method and system for securely distributing content
A system for securely distributing content is provided. A distribution system includes a content server that distributes content to content clients via a communications link or a tangible medium. The distribution system uses passwords to encrypt and decrypt content and to control access to sensitive information stored on the content clients. The distribution system initially receives various passwords from a user and encrypts each password. Some of the encrypted passwords are “identification passwords” and others are “encryption passwords.” The identification passwords are used to control access to sensitive information stored on the content clients, and the encryption passwords are used to encrypt and decrypt content that is distributed to the content clients. The distribution system configures each content client to contain the identification passwords and encryption passwords in a secure folder. |
| US08260707B2 |
Automated teller machine transaction queue
Methods and a system for performing an automated teller machine (ATM) transaction using a queue are disclosed. A user may first initiate an ATM transaction from a networked device to create a pending ATM transaction. The pending ATM transaction is then stored into a queue until it is accessed by the ATM. When a user is ready to complete the pending ATM transaction, the pending ATM transaction is retrieved from the queue and is completed by, for example, the ATM. |
| US08260704B1 |
Methods and systems for managing consumer transactional accounts
Computer-implemented methods and systems for managing consumer transactional accounts provides a temporary line of credit with an installment option that a consumer can use for specific occasions or life events. The account remains open for only a limited period of time during which interest does not accrue. Thereafter, the account automatically expires, interest begins to accrue on the amount charged on the account, and an invoice is sent to the consumer with a number of payment options. |
| US08260703B2 |
Payroll management method and apparatus
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for costing a roster. The method includes preparing a roster in a roster preparing means of the apparatus, said roster comprising a work schedule or list of duties for one or more work periods, each work period being populated by one or more workers, providing award information in a database of the apparatus for calculating a payroll for each of said workers in said roster, and calculating a roster wage cost in a processing means of the apparatus that would result from implementation of said roster, based on said roster and said award information. A respective pay-rate for a respective worker in the database of award information may depend on the work period populated by said respective worker, and a respective worker may be rostered in more than one of said work periods. |
| US08260698B2 |
System and method for processing data related to an annuity using an index-based amount to credit to a contract value
A computer system having a processor and a data storage device for processing data related to an annuity product, the annuity product having a contract value and an interest rate. The processor is configured to determine an amount of interest for crediting to the contract value based on the contract value and the value of the interest rate; determine a difference between the current value of an index independent of the value of any financial instrument and the prior period value of the index; based on the determined difference between the current value of the index and the prior period value of the index, determine a value of an additional amount for crediting to the contract value; and, based on the contract value, the amount of interest for crediting and the value of the additional amount for crediting, determine an updated contract value. |
| US08260695B1 |
Secondary power meter for quarter-cycle power measurement and invoicing method
The disclosed technology comprises a device and a method for accurately determining the amount of electrical energy utilized in a circuit with a quarter-cycle transformer and transducers operating off quarter-cycle power. The method allows for a primary power meter associated with an entity which provides a power source to remain in operation, without modification, and for a second power meter to be utilized which accurately measures consumption of quarter-cycle power usage. An adjustment to an invoice can then be made, based on the difference. |
| US08260692B1 |
Online safety deposit box inventory system
Embodiments of the invention provide systems, methods, and computer program products for an online safety deposit box inventory management system. A customer may securely log into the customer's bank accounts and add or delete safety deposit boxes to a list of safety deposit boxes that the customer owns. The customer may select a box to view and add or delete items that the customer has in the selected box. The customer may also edit the description, type, date, etc. of items that the customer already has listed in the box. In keeping a list of the items that the customer has in each safety deposit box the customer may keep an up-to-date record of the contents of each box for the customer's estate in case the customer passes away or simply in order to have a back up copy in case something happens to a paper copy. |
| US08260685B2 |
Providing time-sensitive information for purchase determinations
A method, system, and medium are provided that are directed to providing a user with time-sensitive information that is usable to determine when to purchase a product. In accordance with embodiments of the technology, exemplary steps include using historical product information to generate time-sensitive information. Moreover, in response to receiving from a user a request to receive information describing a given product, time-sensitive information is caused to be presented. For example, time-sensitive information might be usable by the user to determine when to purchase the given product and an alternative product. |
| US08260683B2 |
Method and system for executing electronic commerce transactions
A method for completing an electronic commerce transaction, involving receiving security information associated with a real identity of a buyer, receiving virtual security labels corresponding to security information associated with the real identity of a buyer, storing the security information and the virtual security labels in an isolated entity of a dedicated payment system, transferring the virtual security labels to a virtual world entity of the dedicated payment system, wherein the virtual world entity is operatively connected to a first network using which the buyer connects to the dedicated payment system, and executing the electronic commerce transaction via the first network using the virtual security labels and the security information associated with the real identity of the buyer, wherein the isolated entity is communicatively disjoined from the virtual world entity and the first network, and wherein security information associated with the real identity of the buyer is not transmitted via the first network during execution of the electronic commerce transaction. |
| US08260681B2 |
Method and system to detect outlying behavior in a network-based marketplace
A system to detect outlying behavior in a network-based marketplace automatically collects attribute information for a first plurality of sellers that includes a first seller, and stores the attribute information in a storage device. The system computes peer information associated with a second plurality of sellers using a computer system, wherein the first plurality of sellers includes the second plurality of sellers, and wherein the peer information is automatically computed from the attribute information for the second plurality of sellers. The system compares the peer information associated with the second plurality of sellers with attribute information for the first seller for the purpose of automatically detecting outlying behavior by the first seller. |
| US08260680B2 |
System and method for a data driven meta-auction mechanism for sponsored search
Apparatuses, methods, and systems directed to deriving optimal parameters of a learning algorithm to maximize an objective function of online keyword auctions for bidded terms. Some embodiments of the invention simulate online keyword auctions based on historical data for the bidded terms, wherein the parameters of the simulated auctions such as market reserve prices of the bidded terms are determined by an adaptive learning algorithm. The values of the parameters of the learning algorithm are optimized by a stochastic optimization method to maximize an objective function for the auctions of the bidded terms. |
| US08260676B2 |
Control spending based on time period
A system and method for processing user programming request are described. A request entered by a user is detected. An entry for a time period based user spending limit is provided, in respond to the entered user request. The time period based user spending limit entry is received by the system and system tracks the user spending during the time period. In another embodiment, more than one spending limit, corresponding to different time periods, may be entered. |
| US08260674B2 |
Interactive image activation and distribution system and associate methods
A method for distributing a digital image of a customer includes receiving a request from a customer to a human representative (i.e., a “roving” photographer) for an image to be taken of the customer at a site. An image of the customer is captured by the “roving” photographer at the site in response to the received request. The image is transmitted to a remote processor. An electronic request is received from the customer to view the transmitted image, and the image is transmitted from the remote processor to the customer's communication device. If the customer decides to purchase the image, a transaction is finalized by receiving payment data from the customer, and the final image is provided to the customer. A commission is then paid to the photographer for the transaction. In another embodiment, the cost is at least partially subsidized by advertisement pushed to the customer's communication device. |
| US08260673B2 |
Method, system and computer program product for selective data disclosure and contract negotiation in an E-marketplace based on predetermined preferences
Parties involved in a transaction in an E-marketplace identify characteristics of a transaction that they are willing to accept and/or that they can provide. To do this, an attribute certificate is created for each party that contains the attributes of a buyer, seller, or third-party participant who will be transacting business in the particular E-marketplace. The attributes pertain to specifics of the transaction. The party submitting the attribute also identifies alternative conditions which, if they exist would be acceptable for conducting the transaction. Once these criteria, in the form of the attribute certificates, are received by the E-marketplace, the E-marketplace verifies the attributes. A server in the E-marketplace is configured to determine various combinations of participants that can match the deal criteria. In this manner, the E-marketplace “choreographs” the transaction to meet the needs of all. |
| US08260668B2 |
Extensible framework for supporting different modes of payments
A method and system for providing an extensible framework for a POS application is provided. A POS application may be extended using a payment format add-in, a workflow add-in, a financial services provider add-in, or a combination of add-ins. A payment format add-in provides support for a payment format not included in the payment formats built into the POS application. A workflow add-in provides a configurable workflow that can be used to extend a built-in payment format or a payment format add-in. A financial services provider add-in provides support for interacting with a financial services provider for which the POS application does not provide built-in support. Each add-in can implement, for example, logic for processing a payment transaction, a portion of a payment transaction, and configuring steps for processing a payment transaction. |
| US08260665B2 |
System and method of providing targeted advertisements from subscribers of directory services
Disclosed are systems, computer-readable medium and a method for delivering advertisements to user devices. The method includes storing first data associated with online and physical activity of plurality of customers, storing second data associated with current status of plurality of advertisers, matching a customer with an advertiser based on analysis of the first data and the second data and delivering an advertisement to a device associated with the matched customers online and physical activity. The on-line and physical activity is captured by a plurality of devices including a mobile device via a plurality of sensors. |
| US08260662B2 |
System and method for managing promotional offers using a communications platform
A system and method for managing, distributing, and processing promotional offers is provided. The system includes at least one consumer interface that enables communication between the promotional offer processing system and a plurality of consumers; a consumer information database for storing consumer data for a plurality of consumer profiles; an offer catalog having a plurality of offers; a product catalog having product codes corresponding to products associated with each of the accepted offers; and an offer management module. The offer management module is configured to identify one or more of the plurality of offers to be provided to a consumer; cause the identified offers to be transmitted to the consumer; receive an indication from the consumer that the first consumer has accepted at least one of the provided offers; identify product codes corresponding to products associated with each of the accepted offers; provide the identified product codes to a transaction management system; receive information identifying whether any of the identified product codes were contained in consumer purchase transactions; and process each accepted offer for which the consumer has met the terms for the offer. |
| US08260660B2 |
System and method for un-issuing voting credits
The present invention is directed to a system and method for un-issuing a voting credit that has been erroneously issued to a voter in an election. The system includes an electronic poll book that is used to check-in a voter by locating the appropriate voter record and analyzing the voter record to determine whether a voting credit has been issued to the voter in the election. If a voting credit has been issued to the voter, the electronic poll book displays an indication that the voter has already voted in the election. If it is determined that the voting credit was erroneously issued to the voter, a poll worker enters an un-issue code into the poll book. The poll book verifies the validity of the un-issue code and updates the voter record so as to un-issue the voting credit. As such, the voter may vote a regular ballot in the election. |
| US08260656B1 |
Mining of user-generated playlists for data regarding relationships between digital works
A computer-implemented service recommends works to a user based on works currently or previously played or downloaded by the user on a player device or based on playlists stored on the player device. The works may be, for example, music files, video files, electronic books, or other digital content for playing by users. A user may thus obtain personalized recommendations that are based on works obtained from sources (web sites, physical CDs, etc.) that are independent of the recommendations system. In one embodiment, the service identifies pairs of works that are related to each other by virtue of the relatively high frequency with which they co-occur on playlists or within play histories of users. The resulting mappings of works to related works are in-turn used to select works to recommend to users. |
| US08260655B2 |
Price optimization with robust learning constraint
A valuation optimization method includes generating offeree decision information (buyer decision information, by way of illustrative example) by presenting a sequence of mechanisms to a sequence of offerees wherein the mechanisms comprise menus of transaction offers (sale offer menus, by way of illustrative example). Actual transactions (sale transactions, by way of illustrative example) are conducted responsive to acceptances of transaction offers by buyers. At a selected time in the generating, an offeree valuation distribution belief and the current mechanism are updated optimize an offeree's utility. The offeree's utility comprises an offeree's utility function constrained by a robust learning constraint computed based on a local differential of an earlier offeree's utility function with respect to the earlier offeree's valuation. |
| US08260654B2 |
Operational risk assessment and control
System and method for operational risk assessment and control. The present invention, in disclosed, example embodiments provides systems and methods to facilitate risk assessment, prioritization, mitigation and control activities. Various modules work together to accomplish risk assessment, prioritization, mitigation and stability tracking. The modules can be implemented by a computer system or systems, software and networks, or by other means, such as paper-based means. In some embodiments, operational risk management and control begins with an assessment for one or more functions of the organization involved. This assessment includes identifying failure modes, causes and effects, which are permuted to define risk items. A risk prioritization report is produced which prioritizes the risk items based at least in part on the ratings associated with the causes and effects, and a mitigation plan can be put in place. |
| US08260653B1 |
Computer-implemented change risk assessment
A change risk assessment system is disclosed. A question-and-answer approach is used to generate a risk assessment that can be broken down by various business categories. Scoring in example embodiments generates a risk level for each identified that takes into account high severity and low detectability characteristics of specific risks associated with a change or new project. The highest average risk priority number (RPN) from any category can be used to facilitate cross-project comparison of risk and reward balance. A risk level can be calculated for both an inherent risk, and a residual risk. The residual risk is calculated taking a mitigation plan into account. A color indication can be displayed for each identified risk, where the color indication is indicative of the risk level. The scoring for an identified risk can also be made to programmatically prompt escalation of the identified issue. |
| US08260648B2 |
Process scheduling optimization method
The design and process scheduling optimization method is a technique that circumvents problems encountered in previous optimization techniques. The method performs comparison against multiple possible outcomes rather than a single-valued benchmark. Pattern Recognition (PR) techniques are utilized to classify the work planned at specified cut-off dates during the planning stage. Classification is used to monitor and evaluate the progress during the construction stage. The PR technique generalizes a virtual benchmark to represent the whole project based on multiple possible outcomes generated at a given cut-off date. The generalization feature offers a potential tool to overcome the problem of variation in the quality of data collected. Patterns are constructed to encode work of the project at different cut-off dates. The present invention utilizes a robust pattern recognition method applied to Critical Path Method (CPM) procedures to monitor and evaluate progress of construction projects. |
| US08260645B2 |
Transaction recurrence engine
Embodiments of the present invention relate apparatuses and methods that allow a financial institution to monitor, group, and store customer transaction data and determine market information therefrom according to recurrence patterns. For example, in one embodiment a financial institution uses a computerized apparatus to monitor recurrences in financial transactions across a plurality of financial accounts maintained by the financial institution for a plurality of different customers, where the computerized apparatus is configured to automatically track recurrences in transaction data. |
| US08260643B2 |
Generalized parametric optimization architecture and framework
A computer implemented method, data processing system, and computer program product for providing an optimization solution comprising an open, generalized and reusable parametric optimization framework and architecture which enables rapid deployment of optimization solutions to any tool or program that builds on an integrated development environment platform. In the optimization framework, a core optimization plugin is provided which comprises an internal optimization model and a set of optimization tools. The optimization framework also comprises pluggable and customizable component providers and descriptors external to the core optimization plugin. The core optimization plugin receives configuration information from a user. The information enables the core optimization plugin to interact with a user data model in a plurality of different user data models. The information also enables the core optimization plugin to interact with providers selected from the plurality of providers and descriptors based on a format of the user data model. |
| US08260642B2 |
Method and system for scoring and ranking a plurality of relationships in components of socio-technical system
A method and system for scoring and ranking a plurality of component links in a social technical system having a plurality of components representing people and objects are provided. In one aspect, a degree of consistency relative to two or more people working on one or more objects and dependencies between the objects is determined to derive scores for the component links. The method and system identifies gaps in the link and determines the impact of filling the gaps. In another aspect, component links may be ranked and scores aggregated to provide system level quantifications. |
| US08260641B2 |
System and method for leisure and entertainment merchandising by attraction providers
An attraction provider, such as an attraction operator or attraction agency, is using a system for merchandising commercial attractions to a community of subscribers. The system includes an attraction provider server and an encounter generator server, both cooperating to merchandise the commercial attractions to subscribers, by presenting commercial attractions to subscriber terminals, picking ensembles of subscribers for encounters, assigning an attraction to each ensemble, and booking for the picked ensembles their assigned attractions. |
| US08260633B2 |
Medical decision auditing method and system
A method for monitoring a medical related decision made by a medical professional includes providing access to a plurality of databases. Each of the plurality of databases contains medical related information and rules governing medical care. The method also includes receiving medical analysis information from the medical professional. The medical analysis information may be used by the medical professional to make the medical related decision. The method may further include applying at least one of the rules to the medical analysis information received from the medical professional, and auditing the medical related decision made by the medical professional for compliance with the rules. The method may further include providing an indication to the medical professional of compliance or non-compliance of the medical related decision with the rules. |
| US08260631B2 |
Visual filtering to create logical associations in timeline based metaphors
Various embodiments of the presently described invention provide a method for visually representing associations among data and/or events presented on one or more timelines. A user is provided with the ability to select a filter that can be used to determine a plurality of data/events that are associated or related to one another according to the rule(s) defined by the filter. Once the associated data/events are determined, the association among the data/events is graphically presented to the user. |
| US08260629B2 |
System and method for providing an advertisement to a recipeint of a physical mail object
A system and method is provided for transmitting data (e.g., an advertisement, etc.) over a wide area network, such as the Internet, in response to receiving and authenticating at least a portion of mail data. In one embodiment of the present invention, a mail verification application is adapted to store mail data in memory. The mail data is then affixed to a mail object. The mail object is then manually delivered to a recipient. The mail data is then provided to a reception device. The reception device, which communicates with the mail ID device over a wide area network, transmits the mail data to the mail verification application operating on a mail device. The mail verification application then compares the received data with the data stored in memory. If the received mail data is authenticated, data (e.g., an advertisement, etc.) is sent to the reception device. |
| US08260628B2 |
Automated pricing and/or “green” indicating method and system
The present invention comprises a rapid and automated creation of a price schedule and/or a “green” schedule comprising steps and an implementation for providing a set of construction (or other) plans created with an architectural, civil, industrial or other software design tool, such as CAD, and optionally a palette of 2-dimensional and/or 3-dimensional architectural parametric symbols that correspond to respective construction plan elements, such as windows, doors, acrylic glass blocks and/or sky lights. At least one parametric symbol corresponding to a construction plan element is preferably inserted into the construction plans. A cost value and a statement indicating whether or not a parametric symbol is “green” for each of the inserted parametric symbols is calculated and/or determined corresponding to respective plan elements. A price schedule, a “green” schedule or both are then created, which can include the total cost for all of the inserted parametric symbols corresponding to respective plan elements, and a statement for each of the inserted symbols indicating whether or not they are certified as being energy efficient or rated “green.” |
| US08260627B2 |
System and method for creating, managing, evaluating, optimizing creating business partnership standards and creating reuseable knowledge and business intelligence for business partnerships and alliances
A system and method for determining business partner value by creating weighted metrics for identifying, evaluating and selecting a business partner for a company; creating a business agreement and weighted metrics for evaluating the agreement; creating weighted metrics for ongoing management of the partner; and managing the partner by ongoing periodic evaluation of the weighted metrics for partner selection, agreement, and management. Both company and partners may participate in the evaluation on an ongoing basis (e.g., once per month or once per quarter) rather than an annual review. In one embodiment, weighted metrics of partner selection, agreement, and management are reported, charted and graphed providing for visual evaluation and side-by-side comparison of the perceptions of company and partner for optimization of the business relationship and prediction of future performance. |
| US08260626B2 |
Detecting deviation from compliant execution of a template
A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to: detecting deviation from a compliant execution of a template by an end user, the template designed to facilitate the end user to achieve one or more target outcomes when one or more emulatable aspects included in the template are emulated, the one or more emulatable aspects being based on one or more relevant reported aspects of one or more source users that are relevant to achieving the one or more target outcomes; and executing one or more actions in response to the detecting of the deviation In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure. |
| US08260625B2 |
Target outcome based provision of one or more templates
A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to: receiving one or more requests indicating at least one or more target outcomes of one or more particular templates, the one or more particular templates designed to facilitate one or more end users to achieve the one or more target outcomes when one or more emulatable aspects included in the one or more particular templates are emulated; and providing from a plurality of templates the one or more particular templates, the providing being based at least on the one or more particular templates' association with the one or more target outcomes, the one or more particular templates developed based on one or more reported aspects of one or more source users In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure. |
| US08260624B2 |
Personalized plan development based on outcome identification
A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to: receiving a request for one or more personalized plans designed to facilitate an end user to achieve one or more target outcomes when one or more emulatable aspects indicated by the one or more personalized plans are emulated, the request identifying the one or more target outcomes; seeking one or more reported aspects that are relevant to achieving the one or more target outcomes in response to receiving the request; and developing the one or more personalized plans based, at least in part, on the seeking. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure. |
| US08260617B2 |
Automating input when testing voice-enabled applications
A method for automating an input process during a testing of a voice-enabled application so that a tester is not required to manually respond to each prompt of the voice-enabled application. The method including the step of identifying a session input store that includes input data associated with voice-enabled application prompts and the step of executing the voice-enabled application. The voice-enabled application can prompt for user input that is to be used when performing a speech processing task. Input data from the session input store can be automatically extracted responsive to the prompting and used in place of manually entered input. The speech processing service can perform the speech processing task based upon the extracted data. |
| US08260615B1 |
Cross-lingual initialization of language models
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for initializing language models for automatic speech recognition. In one aspect, a method includes receiving logged speech recognition results from an existing corpus that is specific to a given language and a target context, generating a target corpus by machine-translating the logged speech recognition results from the given language to a different, target language, and estimating a language model that is specific to the different, target language and the same, target context, using the target corpus. |
| US08260613B2 |
Double talk detector
A double talk detector for controlling the echo path estimation in a telecommunication system by indicating when a received coded speech signal is dominated by a non-echo signal; i.e., that so-called double talk exists. This is determined by extracting LSPs from a coded speech frame of the received coded speech signal when the signal power exceeds a first threshold value, converting each of said extracted LSPs into LSFs, and calculating the distance between each two adjacent LSFs. For each distance that is smaller than a second threshold, a spectral peak is located between the two LSFs, and it is determined whether said spectral peak is an echo or not. When a predetermined number of non-echo spectral peaks are located in the received speech signal, double talk will be indicated, and the echo path estimation may be disabled. |
| US08260608B2 |
Dropout concealment for a multi-channel arrangement
A method conceals dropouts in one or more audio channels of a multi-channel arrangement. The method maps transmitted signals into a frequency domain during an error-free signal transmission of two or more channels. A magnitude spectra and spectral filter coefficients are derived. The spectral filter coefficients relate the magnitude spectrum of the audio channel to the magnitude spectrum of at least one other channel. When a dropout occurs, a replacement signal is generated through the filter coefficients and a substitution signal. The filter coefficients may be generated prior to the detection of the dropout. |
| US08260607B2 |
Audio signal encoding or decoding
Encoding an audio signal is provided wherein the audio signal includes a first audio channel and a second audio channel, the encoding comprising subband filtering each of the first audio channel and the second audio channel in a complex modulated filterbank to provide a first plurality of subband signals for the first audio channel and a second plurality of subband signals for the second audio channel, downsampling each of the subband signals to provide a first plurality of downsampled subband signals and a second plurality of downsampled subband signals, further subband filtering at least one of the downsampled subband signals in a further filterbank in order to provide a plurality of sub-subband signals, deriving spatial parameters from the sub-subband signals and from those downsampled subband signals that are not further subband filtered, and deriving a single channel audio signal comprising derived subband signals derived from the first plurality of downsampled subband signals and the second plurality of downsampled subband signals. Further, decoding is provided wherein an encoded audio signal comprising an encoded single channel audio signal and a set of spatial parameters is decoded by decoding the encoded single channel audio channel to obtain a plurality of downsampled subband signals, further subband filtering at least one of the downsampled subband signals in a further filterbank in order to provide a plurality of sub-subband signals, and deriving two audio channels from the spatial parameters, the sub-subband signals and those downsampled subband signals that are not further subband filtered. |
| US08260604B2 |
System and method for translating timed text in web video
This invention relates to translating timed text in web video. In a first embodiment, a method automatically translates timed text for web video. The method includes receiving a request identifying a web video from a client. In response to the request, a timed text track for the web video is retrieved from a timed text database. Each timed text track in the timed text database specifies text to display at particular times in a video. Text from the timed text track is automatically translated to a target language. Finally, the translated text is sent to the client to display with the web video. |
| US08260597B1 |
Accessing time driven environment data stores from a state driven environment
A method, apparatus and system for accessing data that exists within a first environment, such as a time driven environment, from within a second environment such as a state driven environment. Access to this data is accomplished using an interface element in communication with both environments. To allow access to data in the first environment, the second environment is parsed to locate references to any data to be shared located outside of the second environment. Once these data references are located, resolution of these references outside of the second environment is accomplished such that the data to be shared is shared between the first and second environments. |
| US08260596B2 |
Method and composition for crystallizing G protein-coupled receptors
Certain embodiments provide a method for crystallizing a GPCR. The method may employ a fusion protein comprising: a) a first portion of a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR), where the first portion comprises the TM1, TM2, TM3, TM4 and TM5 regions of the GPCR; b) a stable, folded protein insertion; and c) a second portion of the GPCR, where the second portion comprises the TM6 and TM7 regions of the GPCR. |
| US08260590B2 |
Method and system for modeling three-dimensional smoke propagation animation
A method and system for modeling a three-dimensional smoke propagation animation system. The animation system can be configured to include a particle system manager, a compartment manager, a state variable manager, a three-dimensional space outline rendering module, and a three-dimensional smoke animation rendering module. The particle system manager creates and updates an existing particle system based on an input script and data from the state variable manager. The state variable manager loads smoke propagation data and provides smoke information to the particle system manager to create and update the particle system and space outline. The compartment manager creates a three-dimensional outline with respect to each compartment space from a compartment data and updates the status of the existing three-dimensional outlines based on information from the state variable manager. A final three-dimensional smoke propagation animation can then be rendered by the three-dimensional smoke animation rendering module. |
| US08260589B1 |
Methods and systems for modeling a physical object
Methods and systems for modeling a porous physical object for layered manufacturing are provided. A model of an object includes geometric and material porosity models, each of which are divided into two-dimensional layer representations. Each two-dimensional layer represents a cross-section of the geometric model and material porosity model of the object, respectfully. The material porosity layer representations specify a material porosity variation for the layer. Geometric and material porosity contours of the model are created by iso-Z surface extraction for each layer. Using the contours, a boundary constrained line representation of each two-dimensional layer representation is generated using continuous space-filling fractal curves to characterize the material porosity variation for each two-dimensional layer. |
| US08260587B2 |
Method and system for simulating complex systems by integrating system dynamics models
A method for simulating complex systems over time using a system dynamics approach is provided including defining a first model of a complex system, the first model having a first model variable; defining a second model of the complex system, the second model having a second model variable; executing the first model by modifying the first model variable to obtain a first model output; executing the second model by passing the first model output to the second model and modifying the second model variable based the first model output to obtain a second model output; defining a simulation result based on the first and second model outputs; and outputting the simulation result. Furthermore, the first model is either a non-subscripted system dynamics model or a subscripted system dynamics model, and the second model is either a non-scripted system dynamics model or a scripted system dynamics model. |
| US08260580B2 |
Data acquisition apparatus and method
The disclosure concerns a data acquisition apparatus and method. According to the disclosure, a first means providing a series of first digital sampled data (X) at an imperfect sampling frequency (FE) provided by a local clock (2) comprises sigma-delta modulation means (3) arranged to produce said series of first digital sigma-delta modulated data (X), a second gauging means (50) for measuring the frequency error of the local clock (2) in view of a reference clock (6), a third means for correcting the first data based at least on the measured frequency error, which comprises at least an interpolation means (4) to produce second digital data (Y) based on at least an interpolation of said first series (X) and compensating the measured frequency error (FD), and at least a decimation filter (7) for producing third digital data (A) based on said second digital data (Y), are provided. |
| US08260579B2 |
Automatic identification of multiple power grids using data synchronization
A method of automatically identifying whether intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) in a power monitoring system are in multiple electrical grids. A controller sends an instruction to each IED in a predetermined time sequence such that each IED receives the instruction at a different time, commanding each IED to begin logging frequency variation data in a current/voltage signal monitored by the IED and to send the data to the controller and an associated cycle count. The controller receives the variation data and associated cycle count and determines a peak correlation using a data alignment algorithm on IED pair combinations. If the IEDs are on the same electrical grid, the peak correlations should occur at cycle count offsets that match the order that the IEDs received the instruction. Any discrepancies in the expected order of peak correlations are flagged, and the corresponding IEDs are determined to be on different grids. |
| US08260578B2 |
Method of determining the dynamic location of a protection
The method uses a location device and a timing element to determine the location of a protection device at various periods of time. During these periods of time, the human may be participating in a variety of activities and positions. |
| US08260574B1 |
Diagnostic device for material handling system and method of diagnosing
A technique is provided for diagnosing deficiencies in a material handling system having a track and a material support member adapted to travel on the track. A diagnostic device travels with the material support member and includes one or more sensors that measure one or more parameters of the material support member. Such parameters may include an amount of force exerted laterally against one or more restraining members or the accelerations of the material support member. The material handling system may include a plurality of slats connected in an endless web that defines a conveying surface upon which articles are transported. |
| US08260573B2 |
Dynamic calculation of allocation factors for a producer well
To monitor performance of wells, allocation factors are dynamically calculated for a particular producer well with respect to plural respective well patterns each including at least one corresponding injector well. The allocation factors represent a production characteristic of the particular producer well in the respective well patterns. |
| US08260569B2 |
Determining a dimension of a regular pattern of elements
A method for determining a dimension of a regular pattern of elements, wherein the elements in the regular pattern are arranged along an arrangement direction with a first spatial frequency includes providing a sensor for sampling the regular pattern; providing a plurality of data sample sets, wherein each data sample set includes data samples provided by the sensor while sampling over a portion of the regular pattern, and each data sample set consists of a different number of data samples; analyzing each data sample set to determine a corresponding spatial frequency; determining a plurality of quantified values, each quantified value being associated with a different one of the determined spatial frequencies; selecting a first quantified value from the plurality of quantified values; and determining the dimension based at least on the selected first quantified value. |
| US08260566B2 |
Apparatus and method for radioactive waste screening
An apparatus and method relating to screening radioactive waste are disclosed for ensuring that at least one calculated parameter for the measurement data of a sample falls within a range between an upper limit and a lower limit prior to the sample being packaged for disposal. The apparatus includes a radiation detector configured for detecting radioactivity and radionuclide content of the of the sample of radioactive waste and generating measurement data in response thereto, and a collimator including at least one aperture to direct a field of view of the radiation detector. The method includes measuring a radioactive content of a sample, and calculating one or more parameters from the radioactive content of the sample. |
| US08260564B2 |
Apparatus for calculating state of charge, method of calculating state of charge, and electric system
When the sum of a first state of charge of a first battery stack and a second state of charge of a second battery stack is large, a higher state of charge is selected as a priority state of charge. When the sum of first state of charge of the first battery stack and the second state of charge of the second battery stack is small, a lower state of charge is selected as the priority state of charge. A first coefficient and a second coefficient are set in accordance with the priority state of charge. The second coefficient is set so as to be lower than the first coefficient. The product of the first coefficient and the priority state of charge is added to the product of the second coefficient and the other state of charge, to thereby calculate a state of charge of a power storage system. |
| US08260558B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing data processing and control in a medical communication system
Methods and apparatus for providing data processing and control for use in a medical communication system are provided. |
| US08260552B2 |
Systems and methods for determining location information using dual filters
System and methods of increasing reliability of determined location information by using two integration filters are provided. An exemplary embodiment integrates inertial navigation system information and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) information in a real time Kalman filter; determines a real time location of the aircraft with the real time Kalman filter based upon the INS information and the GNSS information; delays the GNSS information by an interval; integrates the INS information and the delayed GNSS information in a delay Kalman filter; determines a predictive location of the aircraft with the delay Kalman filter based upon the INS information, the delayed GNSS information, and the interval; and in response to an inaccuracy of the real time location determined from the real time Kalman filter, selects the predictive location determined from the delay Kalman filter as a new real time location of the aircraft. |
| US08260551B2 |
System and method for refining a position estimate of a low earth orbiting satellite
In a method for refining a position estimate of a low earth orbiting (LEO) satellite a first position estimate of a LEO satellite is obtained with a GNSS receiver on-board the LEO satellite. The first position estimate is communicated to a Virtual Reference Station (VRS) processor. VRS corrections are received at the LEO satellite, the VRS corrections having been calculated for the first position estimate by the VRS processor. The VRS corrections are processed on-board the LEO satellite such that a VRS corrected LEO satellite position estimate of the LEO satellite is generated for the first position estimate. |
| US08260546B2 |
Systems and methods for providing geographical information to a mobile communications device
A system for providing a tailored route to a mobile communications device over a wireless communications network. The system includes a map server including a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to make the map server operable to prepare a basic route from a route origin to a route destination and obtain information regarding characteristics of the wireless communications network along the basic route. The processor is further made operable to prepare the tailored route using the basic route and the network characteristics information and provide the tailored route to the mobile communications device over the wireless communications network. |
| US08260545B1 |
Methods and apparatus for generating a navigation chart
A method is described for generating a navigation chart. The navigation chart includes a plurality of allocated areas corresponding to symbols for a plurality of chart features. The method includes identifying an unallocated area of the navigation chart proximate to a symbol for one chart feature of the plurality of chart features. A first label and a second label are determined for the one chart feature. The first label includes a plurality of feature attribute indicators, and the second label includes a subset of the plurality of feature attribute indicators. A label is selected from among the first label and the second label based on dimensions of the unallocated area. At least a portion of the unallocated area is allocated to the selected label, and the navigation chart is displayed. |
| US08260544B2 |
Mobile body navigation system, navigation apparatus and server apparatus
A mobile-body navigation system comprises; a navigation apparatus that is disposed in a mobile body and includes a position detection portion for detecting a position of the mobile body, a transmitter-receiver portion, a processing portion, a display portion, and a storage medium; a radio communication apparatus for carrying out interactive radio communication with the transmitter-receiver portion; and a server apparatus that includes a map information database; wherein the server apparatus repeats extraction of high-priority map information for map display from the map information database based on a mobile-body position that is detected by the position detection portion and received via the transmitter-receiver portion and via the radio communication apparatus, and repeats transmission of the extracted map information to the transmitter-receiver portion via the radio communication apparatus, the processing portion receives the map information via the transmitter-receiver portion, makes the storage medium store the received map information, and makes the display portion display a map based on the stored map information and on the mobile-body position detected by the position detection portion. |
| US08260540B2 |
Systems and methods of communication in an assisted navigation system
Provided herein are methods and systems for efficient communication between a server and a client in an assisted navigation system. In one or more embodiments, the client, e.g., a GPS receiver, receives a set of parameters for a satellite from the server via a wireless or wired connection. The set of parameters includes a force parameter, initial condition parameters and time correction coefficients for the satellite. The receiver uses the received parameters in a numerical integration to compute the position of the satellite at a desired time. The set of parameters needed for the integration is small compared to current methods which require sending more data to the client. Thus these parameters require less communication resources to transmit. To further reduce the amount of data that needs to be transmitted, reference parameters may be subtracted from the original parameters before transmission from the server. The receiver is able to reconstruct the original parameters from the received parameters and the identically computed reference parameters. The parameters may be further compressed using data compression techniques. |
| US08260534B2 |
Vehicle occupant information system for determining obtainable travel distances
A vehicle occupant information controller includes a fuel volume determining section, a fuel economy determining section, a first distance determining section, a traveled distance determining section and a second distance determining section. The first distance determining section determines a first obtainable travel distance based on a remaining fuel volume from the fuel volume determining section and a fuel consumption rate from the fuel economy determining section. The traveled distance determining section determines a vehicle traveled distance between two locations. The second distance determining section determines a second obtainable travel distance based on a difference between a previous obtainable travel distance value and an adjusted vehicle traveled distance value, with the adjusted vehicle traveled distance value being equal to a product of the vehicle traveled distance and a distance adjustment factor that is selectively adjusted based on a ratio of the second obtainable travel distance to the first obtainable travel distance. |
| US08260533B2 |
Traffic monitoring system
The invention relates to traffic flow monitoring devices. The system includes stationary traffic monitoring points that includes reading devices to receive data from electronic tag located on a vehicle, and is connected to a remote server that includes a database of vehicles and associated electronic tags, and their owners. The stationary traffic monitoring points are in the form of autonomous small-sized computer devices with a cellular communication module, and includes automatic devices for photo-video-radar recording and for processing information about vehicles and traffic situation, and with automatic software tools for determining the parameters of the vehicles, traffic laws and for comparing them with the permissible parameters for the particular road section. Software tools can automatically qualify the violations of the traffic safety rules and contingency events and make decisions with respect thereto, and can automatically transmit information via a mobile communication network from stationary traffic monitors to transmitter/receiver of a nearest mobile communication operator and from there to the remote server via the Internet. |
| US08260532B2 |
Traffic probe in-vehicle map-based process to reduce data communications and improve accuracy
A system and method for combining sequential map segments to aggregate, analyze, and display traffic data collected from one or more probe vehicles located on one or more segments of road are provided. Vehicle travel data generation and storage are provided by a data processing center, partitioning a road into a plurality of connected segments, and calculating an estimate of the time required for a probe vehicle to traverse a particular segment. The calculations are performed by a processor that may be on-board the probe vehicle, and the resulting data are transmitted to the processing center, at which they are aggregated and optionally transmitted to one or more subscriber vehicles. |
| US08260531B2 |
Abnormality detection device for in-cylinder pressure sensor, abnormality detection method for in-cylinder pressure sensor and control apparatus for internal combustion engine
An object of the present invention is to provide an abnormality detection device for an in-cylinder pressure sensor and an abnormality detection method for an in-cylinder pressure sensor that is able to detect preload loss abnormality of an in-cylinder pressure sensor.An in-cylinder pressure sensor has a strain gauge element to which preload was given. Under an operating state of an internal-combustion engine, it is judged whether Pim/Pex that is a ratio of intake pressure Pim to exhaust gas pressure Pex is 1. Reset of temperature drift is performed when Pim/Pex is 1. If an output voltage which serves as a base of calculation of Pim after the reset of a temperature drift is equal to a circuit limit value, existence of preload loss abnormality is determined. |
| US08260528B2 |
Control system for a motorcycle
A control system for a vehicle includes a CPU, a throttle sensor, a brake sensor, and fuel injectors. When the CPU detects a control failure of the throttle valve with a value detected by the throttle sensor, the CPU adjusts the output of the engine by controlling the fuel injectors such that the motorcycle runs with a previously set negative target acceleration. Also, when the CPU detects a brake operation by the driver with the brake sensor after the occurrence of the control failure, the CPU corrects the target acceleration such that the deceleration of the motorcycle becomes larger. Then, the CPU adjusts the output of the engine such that the motorcycle runs with the corrected target acceleration. |
| US08260527B2 |
Control system for a motorcycle
A control system for a vehicle includes a CPU, a throttle sensor, a shift actuator, and fuel injectors. When the CPU detects a control failure of the throttle valve with a value detected by the throttle sensor, the CPU adjusts the output of the engine by controlling the fuel injectors such that the motorcycle runs with a previously set negative target acceleration. Also, the CPU controls the shift actuator such that the transmission is shifted down in steps as the speed of the motorcycle decreases. |
| US08260522B2 |
Aircraft electrical power system
An aircraft electric power supply system (10) for supplying electric power to onboard electric devices (20) during flight. To reduce the devices' power draw, the electric power is supplied via modulation at an increment-percentage that is determined by present conditions. An optimum portfolio can be established for the electrical devices (20) collectively, this portfolio being selected in accordance with an energy-management criterion or other aircraft objectives. |
| US08260521B2 |
Vehicle drive force control system
When a vertical acceleration is applied to a vehicle, the foot of a vehicle operator placed on the accelerator pedal may apply an unintended force to the accelerator pedal owing to the shock of such accelerations and vibrations and/or the inertia force of the vehicle operator's foot applied to the accelerator pedal, and this may cause an inadvertent depressing or releasing of the accelerator pedal. To overcome this problem, an engine control unit corrects the output signal of an accelerator pedal that governs the output of the engine according to the detected vertical acceleration of the vehicle so that the unintended change in the output of the engine which is caused by an external force applied to the accelerator pedal and may cause an unintended acceleration or deceleration of the engine can be canceled. |
| US08260520B2 |
Heavy vehicle trailer ABS module
A heavy vehicle trailer antilock braking system module includes a module control port receiving a pressure signal, a module exhaust port fluidly communicating with atmosphere, a first switching valve, a second switching valve, a relay valve, and control logic. The first switching valve includes an input port and an output port. The first switching valve input port fluidly communicates with the module control port. The second switching valve includes an input port and an output port. The second switching valve output port fluidly communicates with the module exhaust port. A relay valve includes a supply port, a delivery port, an exhaust port, and a control port. The relay valve control port fluidly communicates with the first switching valve output port and the second switching valve input port. The delivery port fluidly communicates with the supply port and the exhaust port as a function of a pressure signal at the relay valve control port. Control logic causes the second switching valve input port to fluidly communicate with the second switching valve output port for a predetermined time after electrical power is no longer supplied to a vehicle service brake stop lamp. |
| US08260519B2 |
Retractable wheel covers
Disclosed herein are embodiments of wheel covers and vehicles having at least one wheel cover. One embodiment of a vehicle having at least one wheel mounted for rotation about an axle comprises a body structure having a portion of which is adjacent to the wheel, a mounting structure fixed to the portion of the body structure that is adjacent to the wheel and a wheel cover attached to the body structure via the mounting structure. The mounting structure is configured to permit movement of the wheel cover between an extended position in which the wheel cover overlays at least a first portion of the wheel and a retracted position in which the wheel cover does not overlay the first portion of the wheel. Also disclosed are methods of selectively covering a vehicle wheel. |
| US08260510B2 |
Control apparatus and control method for transmission
When there is a shift command for the transmission (3) during or immediately after clutch touch point learning, a shift operation value for the transmission (3) is reduced compared to what it normally is (steps ST11 and ST12). Reducing the shift operation value in this way enables the change in the rotation speed of an input rotating body at the time of a gear shift operation to be gradual if that gear shift operation is during or immediately after clutch touch point learning. As a result, inertia torque, and thus shift shock, can be suppressed. |
| US08260508B2 |
Methods and systems for controlling and cancelling the engine speed of agricultural vehicles
An engine speed control system for an agricultural vehicle includes a variable throttle controller, a mode selector, and a control device. The variable throttle control permits an operator to select a variably adjustable engine speed and the mode selector permits the operator to select between a plurality of pre-set engine speeds. The control device receives output signals from the throttle controller, generates engine speed commands, and delivers the commands to an engine controller for controlling the speed of the agricultural vehicle's engine. The control device is operable to generate a first engine speed command associated with one of the pre-set engine speeds when an operator activates the mode selector and to temporarily or permanently override the first engine speed command with a second engine speed command associated with the throttle controller when the operator activates the throttle controller. |
| US08260505B2 |
Apparatus and method for determining roll angle of a motorcycle
An apparatus for determining roll angle of a motorcycle (1) as when taking a curve or bend in a road. The apparatus includes a first gyro sensor (11) that provides a roll rate signal, a second gyro sensor (12) that provides a yaw rate signal, and a velocity sensor (36). The apparatus is configured to integrate the roll rate signal to obtain a first intermediate roll angle value and to determine a second intermediate roll angle value from the yaw rate and the vehicle velocity. The apparatus combines the two intermediate roll angle values into an output value for the roll angle that can be used by a servo (50) to adjust the orientation of the headlamp so that the beam pattern remains leveled with the horizon when the motorcycle (1) rolls when taking a curve. |
| US08260503B2 |
Method and device for actuating an active and/or passive safety system in a motor vehicle
A method and device for actuating an active and/or passive motor vehicle safety system in a driving situation in which the vehicle executes a rotary movement about the vertical axis of the vehicle. A variable describing the rotary motion is measured, and this variable is processed by a mathematical model, which determines information therefrom about the future rotary motion of the vehicle. This information in turn may be used to control the vehicle safety systems as a function of the situation and prepare them for a possibly imminent collision. |
| US08260496B2 |
Adaptive active suspension and aware vehicle network system and method
An aware vehicle network system and method for one or more vehicles each having adaptive active suspensions includes at least one vehicle having a vehicle position detector for determining a vehicle position and a road condition detector for determining road condition information for any given position determined by the vehicle position detector. A transmitter sends the road condition information and the vehicle position over a vehicle communication network. A central network device receives the road condition information and the vehicle position and calculates ideal active suspension parameters based thereon. The network device sends ideal active suspension parameters over the vehicle communication network to at least another vehicle having an adaptive active suspension. The adaptive active suspension is adjusted based on the ideal suspension parameters received from the network device. |
| US08260494B2 |
Method and apparatus to optimize energy efficiency of air compressor in vehicle air brake application
In a pneumatic brake system for a motor vehicle, a variable speed electric motor is connected to a high voltage direct current power supply for variable energization, thus varying the operating rate of a compressor and the rate of pressurization of the brake system storage tanks. The operating rate of the compressor is varied responsive to pressure readings taken from the storage tanks during pressurization to minimize energy consumption. |
| US08260493B2 |
Health prognosis for complex system using fault modeling
A system and method for providing component and sub-system state of health prognosis in a complex system using fault models and component aging models. The method includes determining a current state of health value for a sub-system using fault signature test results and determining current state of health values for a plurality of components in the sub-system using the fault signature test results. The method also determines current state of health values for components in the system that cannot use fault signature test results using a first probability model and the current state of health values for the plurality of components. The method determines predicted future state of health values for the components in the sub-system using component aging models and determines a predicted future state of health value for the sub-system using a second probability model and the future state of health values of the components. |
| US08260491B2 |
Road vehicle driver behaviour analysis method
A road vehicle (1) driver behavior analysis method, the analysis method including the steps of determining and memorizing the instantaneous position of the vehicle (1) expressed in geographic coordinates; determining and memorizing at least one dynamic characteristic characterizing motion of the vehicle (1); classifying a current road section just travelled by the vehicle (1); determining the space-dependent pattern of the dynamic characteristic along the current road section; determining a deviation between the space-dependent pattern of the dynamic characteristic along the current road section, and a space-dependent mean pattern or statistical distribution of the dynamic characteristic along the same or a similar road section and determined in previous runs of the vehicle (1); and identifying anomalous driver behavior if the absolute value of the deviation is above a given threshold. |
| US08260490B2 |
Method for improving diagnosis of a possible breakdown in a vehicle
A method for diagnosing a possible breakdown of a vehicle component. The method stores a first distance covered by the vehicle at a time when an event related to the breakdown occurs, and stores at least another covered distance, and then makes the diagnosis based on the stored covered distances. |
| US08260488B2 |
Abnormality analysis system for vehicle and abnormality analysis method for vehicle
When an abnormality of a vehicle is detected based on a vehicle state value that indicates the vehicle state, an abnormality analysis system for the vehicle estimates a cause of the abnormality. The abnormality analysis system includes: a factor identifying information extraction unit that extracts factor identifying information which is used to identify a factor of the abnormality based on the vehicle state value; a database that contains data groups which correspond to respective categories of the factor identifying information and which store causes of abnormalities and vehicle state values at the time of occurrence of the abnormalities; and an abnormality cause estimation unit that executes a process for estimating the cause of the abnormality of the vehicle with the use of the data group that corresponds to the category of the factor identifying information extracted by the factor identifying information extraction unit. |
| US08260487B2 |
Methods and systems for vital bus architecture
Methods and systems for a vital bus system for communicating data in a control system are provided. The system includes a plurality of data communication buses configured in a multiple redundant orientation and at least one safety supervisor module including a database including a plurality of logic rules. The logic rules are programmed to receive data from the plurality of data communication buses and to determine the validity of the received data from each bus using one or more of the plurality of the logic rules. If the received data is invalid, the logic rules are programmed to restore the validity of the data using one or more of the plurality of the logic rules. If the data can not be restored the logic rules are programmed to transmit an alert to the control system. Otherwise, the logic rules are programmed to transmit the validated data to an intended destination. |
| US08260486B2 |
Method and apparatus for diagnosis of sensors faults using adaptive fuzzy logic
A method for monitoring the sensors in a vehicle control system. The method includes identifying a plurality of potential faults, identifying a plurality of measured values, and identifying a plurality of estimated values based on models in the control system. The method further includes identifying a plurality of residual error values as the difference between the estimated values and the measured values. The method also defines a plurality of fuzzy logic membership functions for each residual error value. The fuzzy logic membership functions are adaptive in that they change depending on the vehicle operating region, i.e., the non-linearity level of the vehicle, and the vehicle operating conditions, i.e., steady state verses transients. A degree of membership value is determined for each residual error value based on the membership functions. The degree of membership values are then analyzed in a fuzzy logic reasoning system to determine whether a potential fault exists. |
| US08260484B2 |
Data update processing method and vehicle operation control device
To perform updating of maximum values and minimum values of measurement data with a simple procedure without incurring an increase in the computational load of an arithmetic processing element such as a microcomputer. When processing is started, a most recent maximum value stored in a nonvolatile storage element is written to a maximum value-use variable Xmax and a positive maximum value is written to a minimum value-use variable Xmin. Each time temperature data is acquired, a value of acquired data Xk and a most recent minimum value Xmin are compared and the smaller value is set as a new minimum value Xmin. Each time updating of this minimum value is repeated a predetermined number of times of processing Ns, the minimum value Xmin at that point in time and the maximum value Xmax are compared and the larger value is set as a new maximum value Xmax. |
| US08260481B2 |
Method of managing power flow in a vehicle
A vehicle includes a powertrain system and a traffic sensing system. Power flow in the vehicle is managed by determining a present location and a trajectory of the vehicle, and determining traffic level information based on the present location and trajectory. A speed profile for the vehicle is predicted based upon the traffic level information of the vehicle and the powertrain is operated to manage power flow in the vehicle based upon on the predicted speed profile. |
| US08260478B1 |
Rotation rate tracking system using GPS harmonic signals
A spin rate tracking system comprising a guidance system suitable for adjusting a flight path of a vehicle based on a spin rate of the vehicle, a signal reception system configured for receiving signal information from a global navigation system wherein a spin rate of the vehicle is derived from a substantially harmonic pattern produced amongst a global navigation signal. |
| US08260477B2 |
Method and apparatus for tracking center of gravity of air vehicle
The method and apparatus for tracking a center of gravity (COG) of an air vehicle provides a precise calculation and updating of the COG by disposing a plurality of acceleration measuring devices on a circumference of one or more rings in a manner that establishes redundancy in acceleration measurement. A multivariable time-space adaptive technique is provided within a high speed digital signal processor (DSP) to calculate and update the position of the COG. The system provides the capability of executing a procedure that reduces dispersion in estimating angular velocities and lateral accelerations of a moving vehicle and corrects the vehicle's estimated angular velocities and lateral accelerations. In addition, a consistency check of the measured values from the acceleration measuring devices is performed to assist in fault detection and isolation of a faulty accelerometer in the system. |
| US08260476B2 |
Supervisory control and data acquisition system for energy extracting vessel navigation
A Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system guides navigation of a vessel enabled to extract energy from wind and/or water currents primarily in offshore marine environments. An exemplary SCADA system could embody server and client software applications running on microprocessor systems at a remote control central service logging and energy distribution facility, and the vessel itself. The remote control service facility runs Human Machine Interface (HMI) software in the form of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) allowing choices to maximize system performance. The central server accesses information to control vessel position based on transmitted Global Position Satellite (GPS) data from the vessel, and weather information from the Geographic Information System (GIS) provided by multiple spatial temporal data sources. A server-side optimization algorithm fed the parameters delivered from vessel aerodynamic/hydrodynamic performance simulation software models, the vessel onboard sensor data, and integrated real-time weather and environmental data determines an optimal navigation through weather systems and presents choices to the HMI. |
| US08260472B2 |
Cooling system for power transformer
A system for cooling a power transformer which generates heat, when driving a load, includes cooling devices, such as fans and pumps, located about the transformer, which are powered for circulating a coolant about the transformer. Each cooling device has a motor which is energized in response to given temperature (heat) conditions. In systems embodying the invention, the currents flowing through the motors of cooling devices are sensed and monitored to determine whether the cooling devices are functioning correctly and to substitute functional cooling devices for those which are malfunctioning. Sensing the currents in the motors enables the early detection of fault conditions in the cooling system. It also enables the monitoring of operating conditions and running time of the cooling devices to aid in the maintenance and operation of the cooling system. |
| US08260470B2 |
System and method for selective disconnection of electrical service to end customers
A system and method for selective disconnection of electrical service to a customer via commands transmitted on a communications network between a server in communication with an electric utility and a client device at a customer service point. A customer profile is generated including at least connection information for a plurality of controllable devices within the service point. A request is received from the electric utility to generate a selective disconnect event at the service point based on the customer profile. The selective disconnect event is communicated to the client device at the service point. The selective disconnect event is sent to at least one controllable device at the service point. |
| US08260468B2 |
Aggregator, monitor, and manager of distributed demand response
The invention broadly encompasses a system including a database to store demand response data, the demand response data including demand response agreement parameters, demand response load and energy demand characteristics of one or more demand response customers, the demand response load characteristics including power consumption capacity of each of one or more demand response loads, an aggregator to aggregate the demand response loads based on the demand response data and forecast data into a demand response portfolio, a monitor to monitor power demand of one or more demand response customers and one or more power grids, and a dispatcher to notify the one or more demand response customers of the demand response portfolio and to notify a utility of a response from the one or more demand response customers whether to control the demand response load to return the power consumption capacity of the demand response load back to the one or more power grids. |
| US08260467B2 |
Method and system for determining the compatibility of control software with a wind energy installation
A method and a system are for determining of the compatibility of control software, which is designed for standard parameters, with a wind energy installation which is operated using operating parameters. The method is an automatic method in which the operating parameters of the wind energy installation and the standard parameters of the control software are first transmitted to a computation unit. The computation unit determines discrepancies between the operating parameters and the standard parameters. A decision on compatibility is made on the basis of the discrepancies. The system includes a logic module which is designed to make the decision. This method makes it easier to automatically update the control software for a wind energy installation. There is no longer any need to manually check the compatibility of the new version of the control software before the new version of the control software can be installed. |
| US08260465B2 |
Data communication in a multi-wire irrigation control system
An irrigation control device having a modulator that modulates data onto an alternating power signal by distorting amplitude of a first leading portion of selected cycles of the alternating power signal, and permit effectively a full amplitude of the alternating power signal on a following portion of the selected cycles, wherein the first leading portion and the following portion are either both on a high side of a cycle or both on a low side of a cycle of the alternating power signal. The irrigation control device further includes an interface configured to couple the modulator to a multi-wire interface coupled to a plurality of irrigation devices to permit the alternating power signal to be applied to the multi-wire interface. |
| US08260463B2 |
Robot system
A robot control section (7) has an object information calculation section (21) for calculating, based on image information from an image processing section (8), the size and shape of an object to he held; a holding method determination section (22) for determining, based on the object information calculated, a method for holding the object; a holding execution section (23) for executing lifting of the object by the holding method determined; a sensor information processing section (24) for processing pieces of sensor information and controlling holding force, the pieces of sensor information being those obtained at the time of the execution, the processing of the pieces of sensor information being made for each combination of one or more of the pieces of information; and a holding method correction section (25) for correcting, based on the result of the processing, the pieces of sensor information, the method of holding the object. |
| US08260461B2 |
Method and system for robot calibrations with a camera
Described herein is a method and system for performing calibrations on robotic components. In one embodiment, a method for performing robotic calibrations includes manually calibrating a center of a robot blade aligned with respect to a target. The method further includes recording a first positional value of the center of the robot blade aligned with respect to a camera. The method further includes automatically determining a second positional value of the center of the robot blade aligned with respect to the camera. The method further includes automatically recalibrating the robot blade based on an offset between the second positional value and the first positional value exceeding a tolerance offset from the first positional value. |
| US08260460B2 |
Interactive robot control system and method of use
A robotic system includes a robot having joints, actuators, and sensors, and a distributed controller. The controller includes command-level controller, embedded joint-level controllers each controlling a respective joint, and a joint coordination-level controller coordinating motion of the joints. A central data library (CDL) centralizes all control and feedback data, and a user interface displays a status of each joint, actuator, and sensor using the CDL. A parameterized action sequence has a hierarchy of linked events, and allows the control data to be modified in real time. A method of controlling the robot includes transmitting control data through the various levels of the controller, routing all control and feedback data to the CDL, and displaying status and operation of the robot using the CDL. The parameterized action sequences are generated for execution by the robot, and a hierarchy of linked events is created within the sequence. |
| US08260454B2 |
Automated storage system
An automated storage system comprises a plurality of storage locations, at least one access location, a plurality of storage containers provided on the storage locations, a control system and at least one user interface, the control system further comprising a retrieval mode and a storage mode, and a delivery system for delivering a storage container from a storage location to an access location during the retrieval mode, and for returning the storage container to a storage location during the storage mode. User instructions at the control interface initiate the retrieval mode and the storage mode, and a user is provided access to the retrieved storage container while it is located at the access location. |
| US08260447B2 |
Method of providing an identifiable powder amount and method of manufacturing an object
In a method of providing a material amount for a generative manufacturing method, a three-dimensional object (2) is formed by selectively solidifying layers of a material at locations corresponding to the cross-section of the object (2) in the respective layers. The quality of the manufactured objects is reproducibly recorded, thus, improving the method. At least one first material amount of a powder is provided, which is characterized by at least one feature. Data is detected, which relates to the at least one feature of the first material. Then, the data is stored, which relates to the at least one feature of the first material. Thus, the method can provide an identifiable powder amount used in manufacturing each layer of the object. |
| US08260443B2 |
Method for the optimized movement co-ordination of measuring machines or machine tools with redundant axles having a translatory action
A method for the optimized movement co-ordination of measuring machines or machine tools having redundant axles having at translatory action, wherein the longer partial axles in each case permit a relatively slowly accelerated partial movement over a relatively large measuring or processing space and the shorter partial axles in each case essentially carry out the movement components of a total movement at a substantially altogether constant measuring or processing speed, which require an acceleration beyond a maximum set or stipulated for the respective longer partial axles, wherein, when approaching positions that in an undivided movement would otherwise not be attainable, the base axles correspondingly decelerate and can even come to a complete standstill, wherein by simultaneous displacement of the neutral starting point of the additional axles, the respective movement component of the base axles missing from the total movement is compensated. |
| US08260440B2 |
Adaptive control based on retrospective cost optimization
A discrete-time adaptive control law for stabilization, command following, and disturbance rejection that is effective for systems that are unstable, MIMO, and/or nonminimum phase. The adaptive control algorithm includes guidelines concerning the modeling information needed for implementation. This information includes the relative degree, the first nonzero Markov parameter, and the nonminimum-phase zeros. Except when the plant has nonminimum-phase zeros whose absolute value is less than the plant's spectral radius, the required zero information can be approximated by a sufficient number of Markov parameters. No additional information about the poles or zeros need be known. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the algorithm's effectiveness in handling systems with errors in the required modeling data, unknown latency, sensor noise, and saturation. |
| US08260436B2 |
Implantable stimulation lead with fixation mechanism
An implantable electrical stimulation lead includes an integrated fixation mechanism that expands upon implantation of the lead to fix the lead relative to a target tissue site, such as tissue within the epidural region proximate the spine or the sacral foramen. The fixation mechanism may include one or more expandable wire-like elements, which may be configured in a substantial helical shape. The wire-like elements may be formed from an elastic or super-elastic material, and expand radially outward when a restraint mechanism is removed following implantation of the lead. |
| US08260432B2 |
Moldable charger with shape-sensing means for an implantable pulse generator
Electrical energy is transcutaneously transmitted from an external charger to an implanted medical device. The external charger includes a charging head that is selectively shapeable to conform to the surface of a patient to enhance charge efficiency and patient comfort. An alternating current charging coil is housed in the charging head and configured for transcutaneously transmitting electrical energy to the implanted medical device. The shape of the coil is changeable as the charging head is shaped, and at least one sensor determines changes in the shape of the charging coil and causes the charge of the coil to be adjusted based on the coil shape. |
| US08260422B2 |
Implantable medical device with selectively configurable exposure operating mode programming options
An IMD is selectively configurable to support a plurality of programming options for enabling and disabling an exposure operating mode of the device. In one example, the IMD may support at least two of a manual exposure mode programming option in which the exposure operating mode is manually enabled and manually disabled, an automatic exposure mode programming option in which the exposure operating mode is automatically enabled and automatically disabled, or a semi-automatic exposure mode programming option in which the exposure operating mode is either automatically enabled and manually disabled or manually enabled and automatically disabled. In this manner, the IMD may support more than one way for enabling and disabling the exposure operating mode to provide flexibility in the clinical workflows associated with programming the IMD into an exposure operating mode for a medical procedure, such as an MRI scan. |
| US08260420B2 |
Method and device for processing cardiac signals
An electromedical implant having a far-field electrocardiogram detection unit connected or connectable to at least two implantable electrodes, at least one electrode of which is to be placed in the right atrium or right ventricle and is designed to record a far-field electrocardiogram via the terminal for the electrode to be placed in the right atrium or the right ventricle and one other electrode. The far-field electrocardiogram detection unit is connected to a far-field electrocardiogram evaluation unit, which is configured to detect signal features of the far-field electrocardiogram associated with an excitation or contraction of the left atrium and/or the left ventricle of the heart in a far-field electrocardiogram recorded by the far-field electrocardiogram detection unit. |
| US08260417B2 |
Safety pacing in multi-site CRM devices
Safety pacing in multi-site cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices is provided. According to various method embodiments, a first cardiac signal from a first cardiac region and a second cardiac signal from a second cardiac region are sensed. The first cardiac region is paced to maintain at least a minimum cardiac rate, and the second cardiac region is paced to maintain at least the minimum cardiac rate when a pace in the first cardiac region is inhibited. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein. |
| US08260416B2 |
Electrical muscle controller
A method of modifying the force of contraction of at least a portion of a heart chamber, including providing a subject having a heart, comprising at least a portion having an activation, and applying a non-excitatory electric field having a given duration, at a delay after the activation, to the portion, which causes the force of contraction to be increased by a least 5%. |
| US08260413B2 |
Resuscitation and life support system, method and apparatus
A method of applying electrotherapy to the heart of a patient includes positioning electrodes in communication with the heart of the patient; monitoring the patient's heart to determine if its fibrillating; and providing a first signal with a current generator to the heart through the electrodes in response to an indication that the heart is fibrillating. The first stimulus signal reduces the amount of fibrillation. |
| US08260404B1 |
Systems and methods for employing multiple filters to detect T-wave oversensing and to improve tachyarrhythmia detection within an implantable medical device
Techniques for detecting tachyarrhythmia and also for preventing T-wave oversensing use signals filtered by a narrowband bradycardia filter in combination with signals filtered by a narrowband tachycardia filter. A separate wideband filter may also be used. |
| US08260402B2 |
Noninvasive measurement of carotenoids in biological tissue
A method and apparatus are provided for the determination of carotenoid antioxidants and similar chemical compounds in biological tissue such as living skin. The method and apparatus provide a noninvasive, rapid, accurate, and safe determination of carotenoid levels which in turn can provide diagnostic information of the antioxidant status of tissue. Reflection spectroscopy is used to measure the concentrations of carotenoids and similar substances in tissue. White light is directed upon the area of tissue that is of interest. A small fraction of diffusively scattered light is collected and measured. The tissue is pressured to temporarily squeeze blood out of the measured tissue volume while the reflection spectrum is continuously monitored, displayed, and analyzed in near real time. After an optimal time period of typically 15 seconds, the influence of the dominating hemoglobin and oxyhemoglobin tissue absorptions on the reflection spectra are minimized. |
| US08260400B2 |
Model-based correction of position measurements
Visualization of a probe when impedance-based measurement technology is being used is improved by stabilizing a displayed image of the probe or catheter. Using a model of reasonable probe shapes and a matching algorithm, an erroneous probe image is adjusted so that it assumes a realistic shape on a display. A range of positional variations is also incorporated in the model. When an apparent probe position exceeds a permissible range of motion, the probe image is constrained to a realistic position. |
| US08260399B2 |
Active MRI intramyocardial injection catheter with deflectable distal section
A deflectable tip catheter that is safe and effective for use in a magnetic resonance imaging environment. The deflectable tip catheter is configured such that it includes a built-in antenna, such as a loopless antenna or a loop antenna. The built-in antenna permits the deflectable tip catheter to be actively tracked and/or visualized. Depending upon the specific configuration of the deflectable tip catheter, the catheter may be tracked and/or visualized as a single unit, it may be tracked and/or visualized separate and independent of other components or instruments associated with the catheter, such as pull wires, injection needles, surgical instruments, and the like. The catheters described herein include injection type catheters and/or guidance type catheters. |
| US08260393B2 |
Systems and methods for replacing signal data artifacts in a glucose sensor data stream
Systems and methods for detecting noise episodes and processing analyte sensor data responsive thereto. In some embodiments, processing analyte sensor data includes filtering the sensor data to reduce or eliminate the effects of the noise episode on the signal. |
| US08260390B2 |
Systems and methods for analysis and treatment of an occluded body lumen
Systems and methods are provided for probing an occluded body lumen, including a flexible conduit insertable into the body lumen, at least one delivery waveguide and at least one collection waveguide integrated with the flexible conduit and arranged to deliver and collect radiation about a distal end of said flexible conduit, at least one radiation source connected to a transmission input of the at least one delivery waveguide, at least one optical detector connected to a transmission output of at least one collection waveguide, a spectrometer connected with the at least one optical detector, and constructed and arranged to scan radiation and perform spectroscopy, and a controller programmed to process data from said spectrometer and provide information for directing said flexible conduit through obstacles within the occluded body lumen. |
| US08260385B2 |
Mobile terminal and an antenna for a mobile terminal
A mobile terminal includes a body having a display unit for displaying at least visual information or a user input unit for inputting a control command on one surface of the display unit. The mobile terminal also includes an antenna pattern positioned near the display unit or the user input unit. The antenna pattern transmits or receives a wireless signal. The display unit or the user input unit is configured to transmit light therethrough from one surface of the body to an opposite surface of the body. The antenna pattern is formed at an end or side surface of the body that is transverse to the surface on which the display unit or user input unit is positioned and is positioned away from the display unit or the user input unit. |
| US08260384B2 |
Wearable mobile computing system
A system having a mobile device and a wearable mount configured to couple to the mobile device, the coupling making the mobile device wearable at a worn location, wherein a set of functionalities of the mobile device corresponds to the worn location. The wearable mount having a coupler configured to couples to a mount coupling of a mobile device and a fastener that fastens the wearable mount to a location, the location, a set of functionalities of the mobile device being based on the location. |
| US08260378B2 |
Mobile phone
A mobile phone includes a body defining a display panel, and a touch panel. The body further includes a communicating system received therein. The touch panel is disposed on a surface of the display panel. The touch panel includes at least a carbon nanotube layer. The carbon nanotube layer includes a carbon nanotube film. |
| US08260377B2 |
Gasket for a mobile device having a touch sensitive display
A mobile device is disclosed that includes a housing, a touch sensitive display subassembly, and a gasket. The touch sensitive display subassembly is received in the housing and is movable relative to the housing. The touch sensitive display subassembly includes a lens overlaying a display. The gasket is attached to only one of the housing and the touch sensitive display subassembly. This gasket inhibits passage of debris between the housing and the touch screen display subassembly. |
| US08260376B2 |
Information processing apparatus
An information processing apparatus includes an external fit frame having a concave part for battery pack storage, a card storage slot provided on a plane surface formed from one side wall of the external fit frame in an external direction for inserting and removing an IC card, and a wing shaped locking member supported on a back side of the plane surface for IC card locking, in which while the battery pack is mounted to the storage concave part, one end part of a wing part of the locking member abuts to be engaged in one end edge of the battery pack via a first opening part provided on the one side wall, and a locking protrusion formed at another end part of the locking member protrudes from a second opening part provided to the plane surface in a periphery of the one side wall to lock the IC card. |
| US08260373B2 |
Mobile terminal with variable display control
A mobile terminal with display control is disclosed. A method of controlling a display screen in the mobile terminal includes recognizing an operation mode of the mobile terminal, wherein the operation mode is associated with displaying information on a display at a first display state with a display control expiration period, displaying display control status information on a portion of the display prior to the display control expiration period, and adjusting the display control expiration period in response to recognizing an external user input. |
| US08260371B2 |
Battery pack and information processing apparatus
A battery pack is provided which includes an antenna coil for generating a magnetic field, a battery cell and a positive pole terminal and a negative pole terminal electrically connected with the battery cell, wherein a resultant of superimposing current from the battery cell or current to the battery cell and a signal from the antenna coil or a signal to the battery is sent from the positive pole terminal or the negative pole terminal, or received from the positive pole terminal or the negative pole terminal. |
| US08260370B2 |
Method and apparatus for powering a wireless peripheral
An apparatus for powering a wireless peripheral includes a controller and a power management circuit. The controller is configured to determine the strength of wireless signals received by the peripheral. The power management circuit selectively powers the peripheral with either an external power source or a combination of the external power source and an internal power source included in the wireless peripheral. If the wireless signal strength is weak, the power management circuit uses both the internal an external sources to power the peripheral. This allows the wireless peripheral to boost its transmit power, even though its power requirement may exceed that available from the external source. If the wireless signal strength is strong, the power management circuit uses only the external source to power the peripheral. When this occurs the internal power source may also be simultaneously charged by the external power source. |
| US08260367B2 |
Motion driven follow-up alerts for mobile electronic device
A motion driven event alert system and method synchronize output of follow-up event alerts on a mobile electronic device to changes in the state of motion of the device. Generally, the device outputs an initial alert in response to receipt of a new event from a wireless network. If a user fails to take action on the device after the device outputs the initial alert, the device determines a state of motion of the device and monitors for a change in the state of motion. When a change is detected, the device outputs a follow-up alert. If the user fails to take action on the device after the device outputs the follow-up alert, the device repeats the steps of motion state determination, motion state change monitoring, motion state change detection and output of another follow-up alert. |
| US08260360B2 |
Transceiver with selective beamforming antenna array
A multiple mode RF transmitter a baseband section, a transmitter section, and a configurable antenna circuit. The transmitter section is couple to convert a first outbound symbol stream into first outbound RF beamforming signals in accordance with a first beamforming setting and convert a second outbound symbol stream into second outbound RF beamforming signals in accordance with a second beamforming setting. The configurable antenna circuit is coupled to provide a first antenna assembly for transmitting the first outbound RF beamforming signals and provide a second antenna assembly for transmitting the second outbound RF beamforming signals. |
| US08260359B2 |
Variable delay transmit diversity
A system for transmitting a signal via diversity antennas includes at least one delay element for generating at least one delayed replica of the signal subject to a given delay, the signal and the at least one delayed replica being adapted to be transmitted via the diversity antennas, and a control unit for the at least one delay element for varying the given delay, whereby the signal and the at least one delayed replica, transmitted via the diversity antennas, give rise to alternate constructive and destructive combinations therebetween. |
| US08260354B2 |
Operating device and method for universal IC card
A device and method for operating a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) are provided. The method includes selecting a first data type based application by a mobile terminal, and transceiving data by converting data transceived between the first data type based application and a first application module into data of a second data type set in the UICC, while the mobile terminal communicates with the UICC storing the first application module for supporting the first data type based. |
| US08260346B2 |
Multi-mode mobile terminal and communication method for manual network selection
A multimode mobile terminal and communication method thereof are discussed, by which communication is enabled using various networks. The method according to an embodiment includes a display unit configured to display a plurality of currently available networks detected by the terminal, each network being a different network type, a user input unit configured to generate a selection signal for a specific network of the plurality of currently available networks in response to a user input, a controller operatively connected to the display unit and user input unit and configured to control communication carried out via the specific network selected via the user input unit, and a wireless communication unit operatively connected to the controller and configured to carry out the communication via the specific network. |
| US08260341B2 |
Power control for combined dynamically and persistently scheduled PUSCH in E-UTRA
A power control scheme for an enhanced Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is disclosed. In a first embodiment, when an uplink grant is configured for accumulation commands, the wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) combines the accumulation commands received in both the scheduling grant and the transmit power control physical downlink control channel. In a second embodiment, when an uplink grant is configured for absolute commands, the WTRU resets the accumulation control function immediately after receiving each absolute transmit power control command and then combines the absolute power control with the accumulation power control. |
| US08260340B2 |
Methods of reverse link power control
Methods of reverse link power control are provided. A first example method includes first measuring a first type of interference, second measuring a second type of interference, determining a ratio between the first and second measurements and broadcasting the determined ratio to a plurality of mobile units. A second example method includes receiving a broadcasted ratio indicating a ratio between two different types of interference and calculating a power level for reverse link transmissions based on the received broadcasted ratio. A third example method includes first adjusting OFDMA transmission power based on first feedback signals during an OFDMA transmission and second adjusting OFDMA transmission power based on second feedback signals during periods between OFDMA transmissions. A fourth example method includes receiving a plurality of interference indicating signals from different base stations and determining whether to adjust a maximum transmit power threshold based on the plurality of interference indicating signals, the maximum transmit power threshold indicating the maximum permitted transmission power level below which transmissions are constrained. |
| US08260333B2 |
Consolidating international short message service messages destined to multiple recipients
Two or more received SMS messages can be aggregated into a single consolidated SMS message. The consolidated SMS message can be conveyed across a boundary in accordance with SMS protocols. A fee per SMS message can be incurred for conveying SMS messages across the boundary. The fee can be minimized by use of the consolidated SMS message in lieu of having to convey multiple SMS messages. Once the consolidated SMS message have been conveyed across the boundary, the consolidated SMS message can be parsed or decomposed into its constituent SMS messages, each of which can be conveyed to an intended recipient. |
| US08260326B2 |
System and method for providing short message service in wireless communication system
A method of receiving a Short Message Service (SMS) message by a mobile station in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes receiving a paging message including a first field indicating whether there is a broadcast SMS message to be received from a base station, if the first field is set to a value indicating that the broadcast SMS message is to be received, recognizing a broadcast transport Connection IDentifier (CID) indicating a channel over which to transmit the broadcast SMS message, and a data burst allocation region by decoding a broadcast MAP Information Element (IE), and receiving the broadcast SMS message, transmitted using a resource of the data burst allocation region, through the channel over which to transmit the broadcast SMS message. |
| US08260325B2 |
Location estimation system
A location estimation system includes: a position measurement unit that receives position measurement signals from a plurality of sources of emission, and calculates position information of a first mobile object; a distance measurement unit that measures a distance from the first mobile object and to a second mobile object; a relationship determination unit that determines presence or absence of a relationship between the first mobile object and the second mobile object based upon relative position of the second mobile object based upon the distance, and selects position measurement signals from sources of emission that are different from the sources of emission of the position measurement signals received by the first mobile object; a position correction unit that corrects a position of the first mobile object based upon the position measurement signals received by the first mobile object and the position measurement signals selected by the relationship determination means. |
| US08260324B2 |
Establishing wireless links via orientation
A system for establishing a wireless link from a wireless communication device (WCD) to at least one target device. The process of both identifying the target device and establishing a link to this device may incorporate the orientation and/or movement of the WCD into the procedure in lieu of the extensive use of traditional menu interfaces. A WCD may interpret a combination of orientation and/or movement as an approximate target device location that may be utilized to narrow the total population of all located devices into a subset containing those devices located within of near the approximate target device location. The subset of devices may be formulated and displayed as potential target devices for selection by a user. If any of the potential target devices are known by the WCD, a link may be established automatically. |
| US08260323B1 |
Utilization of existing network infrastructure to provide person tracking capabilities
A tracking/locating/paging system utilizes a “pre-established” local area network to determine essentially real-time information regarding one or more client devices within a closed communication environment (“pre-established” also considered as including an ad hoc network connection of devices deployed to serve a common interest). Particularly suited for arrangements such as an amusement park, college campus, shopping mall, etc., the service of the present invention utilizes conventional client devices and includes the ability to transmit an identification signal unique to each device. Various network access points distributed through the closed environment receive these unique identification signals and can therefore pinpoint the location of various client devices in real time. Accordingly, a paging function may be added to further enhance the communication aspects of the tracking and locating features of the present invention. |
| US08260319B2 |
Wireless transceiver
The present invention relates to a method for determining a distance between a wireless transceiver and a wireless receiver arranged to communicate with each other in a wireless communication network, the wireless receiver having an active and an inactive reception state, the method comprising transmitting, with the wireless receiver in the active reception state, a first transmission signal, receiving a first reflection signal, the first reflection signal being a reflection of the first transmission signal and influenced by the active reception state of the wireless receiver, transmitting, with the wireless receiver in the inactive reception state, a second transmission signal, receiving a second reflected signal, the second reflection signal being a reflection of the second transmission signal and influenced by the inactive reception state of the wireless receiver, and determining a distance between the wireless transceiver and the wireless receiver based on the second reflection signal. |
| US08260317B2 |
System and method of updating presence information
A network node provides presence updates to mobile users. The node reduces the amount of network traffic by eliminating the need for explicit messaging used to inform a user of presence updates. Additionally, the node reduces network traffic by consolidating presence updates, and sending the user only changed portions of the presence information. |
| US08260314B2 |
Business hour notification delivery
A delivery period for delivering messages including a notification is determined. A location of a mobile station user is identified. A time zone difference between the location of the mobile station user and a location of a server for delivering the messages is calculated. The delivery period for the notification message is adjusted based on the time zone difference so that the mobile station user receives and confirms the messages at his or her best-acceptable time. |
| US08260309B2 |
Transmission rate control method and radio base station
A transmission rate control method according to the present invention includes: determining, at the radio base station NodeB, a maximum granted value that can be notified to the mobile station UE, in accordance with a throughput at which the uplink user data transmitted from the mobile station UE to the radio base station NodeB is successfully received at a point of time; calculating, at the radio base station NodeB, as an allowable value to be notified to the mobile station UE, a granted value not more than the maximum granted value; notifying, from the radio base station NodeB to the mobile station UE, the granted value calculated at the radio base station NodeB, by using a transmission rate control channel; and transmitting, from the mobile station UE, the uplink user data, at the transmission rate corresponding to the granted value notified from the radio base station NodeB. |
| US08260306B2 |
Apparatus and method of determining mobility state in wireless communication system
An apparatus and method of determining a mobility state is provided. A user equipment determines a size of a cell to be reselected by performing cell reselection, and determines the mobility state on the basis of the number of cell reselections and a size of the cell. Unnecessary cell reselection can be avoided even if the user equipment enters an area where a micro cell and a macro cell coexist. |
| US08260305B2 |
Wireless communication method for updating reference channel information and system thereof
A wireless communication system capable of updating current reference channel information is provided. The wireless communication system includes a control apparatus and a plurality of reference information generating apparatuses. The wireless communication range of the control apparatus covers a plurality of regions. The reference information generating apparatuses, respectively placed in the regions, respectively report their reference position information and reference channel information to the control apparatus. When the control apparatus receives current position information from a target mobile communication apparatus, a current region among the regions is determined according to the current position information, and the control apparatus updates reference channel information according to the current region to the target mobile communication apparatus in real time. |
| US08260296B2 |
System and method for proactive, early network switching
A mobile terminal for reduction of data loss during transitioning of the mobile terminal between network devices includes a controller. The controller is capable of transmitting a request to transition and receiving queued data from an original network device prior to transition from the original network device to a target network device. The queued data is content data intended for and undelivered to the mobile terminal that is temporarily stored at the original network device from a time when the request to transition is transmitted to when the transition occurs. The controller is also capable of transitioning from the original network device to the target network device and receiving data stored at the target network device responsive to the request to transition following transition from the original network device to the target network device. |
| US08260294B2 |
Method for managing internet protocol handoff in network system
There is provided a method of processing Internet Protocol (IP) handoff of a mobile node in a network system, in which the IP handoff is processed distinguishing a signal packet path for the IP handoff from a data packet path the method including receiving a registration request message when the mobile node moves to an arbitrary mobile agent, the message received from the mobile node via the mobile agent to which the mobile node moves; transmitting the received registration request message to a mobile agent where the mobile node is previously located, without change, according to whether an entry with respect to the mobile node exists in preset visitor list; and transmitting a registration reply message with respect to the registration request message to the mobile agent without change. |
| US08260292B2 |
Hierarchical service list
The present invention related to communicating between a network and user equipment in a wireless communication system. The invention includes receiving communications on a first frequency, receiving information on the first frequency, wherein the information indicates at least one transmission frequency having no associated uplink service, and determining not to search for any transmission frequency having no associated uplink service different from the at least one transmission frequency. |
| US08260291B2 |
Method for handling periodic PLMN search in RRC connected mode in UMTS system
A method of performing a periodic public land mobile network (PLMN) search for a mobile station in a CELL_PCH state of radio resource control (RRC) connected mode in a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) is described. The method includes providing a mobile station operating in the CELL_PCH state camping on a serving cell of a PLMN utilizing a first PLMN identity; performing a periodic PLMN search with the mobile station and selecting a cell with a second PLMN identity, the second PLMN identity having a higher network priority than the first PLMN identity; and performing a CELL UPDATE procedure to register the mobile station with the selected cell utilizing the second PLMN identity if the serving cell and the selected cell are each associated with a common PLMN identity. |
| US08260288B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating a unique identifier for a wireless device
A base station receives a first identifier (e.g., pseudo ESN) from the wireless device and assigns an index to the wireless device. The base station generates a second identifier (e.g., a dynamic ESN) for the wireless device based on the first identifier and the index. The second identifier is unique among all wireless devices communicating with the base station and may also be unique among other wireless devices communicating with other base stations. The base station generates a code (e.g., a PLCM) for the wireless device based on the second identifier. The wireless device generates the second identifier and the code in similar manner. The second identifier and code may be used for communication between the base station and the wireless device. |
| US08260285B2 |
Performing diagnostics in a wireless system
In one embodiment, the present invention includes an apparatus for permitting diagnostic testing of a wireless device. The apparatus may include a first switch to route diagnostic information or acoustic information received from a processor of the device, a codec coupled to the first switch to code the routed diagnostic information or acoustic information, and a second switch coupled to the codec to route the coded diagnostic information to a first port of the wireless device and to route the coded acoustic information to the first port or a second port of the wireless device. |
| US08260283B2 |
Communicating codeset information as part of a native application
A native application includes codeset information. The native application, if loaded into a cellular telephone, allows the cellular telephone and a novel associated Operational Signal Generating Device (OSGD) to be usable as a remote control device. An on-line media store provides the native application for purchase and download. A user uses the cellular telephone to download the native application into the cellular telephone. The codeset information is transferred into the OSGD. The OSGD has a mechanism for using codeset information to generate IR operational signals of the type used to control electronic consumer devices. Execution of the native application causes a keypad to appear on the cellular telephone display. If the user presses a key of the keypad, the cellular telephone detects the key press and sends a communication to the OSGD which causes the OSGD to use the codeset information to generate and transmit an appropriate IR operational signal. |
| US08260281B2 |
System and method of wireless communication
A method of providing wireless communication service to a mobile phone is provided. The method comprises identifying common mobile phone applications and selectively supported mobile phone applications, installing the common mobile phone applications and the selectively supported mobile phone applications in read only memory of the mobile phone, each of the selectively supported applications associated with a selection switch initially disabled. The method further comprises, when activating the mobile phone, enabling at least one of the selection switches and writing at least one reference to branded content to a random access memory of the mobile phone based on a service plan associated with the mobile phone. |
| US08260279B2 |
System, method and apparatus for providing communications that conform to a cellular communication standard and a non-cellular communication standard
The present invention provides a software defined radio transceiver that includes a programmable cellular radio front end and a programmable baseband processor. The programmable cellular radio front end is typically a digital radio frequency processor configured to support a cellular communication standard. The programmable baseband processor is connected to the digital radio frequency processor. The programmable baseband processor (a) selectively reconfigures the cellular configured digital radio frequency processor to support a non-cellular communication standard by bypassing one or more cellular communication standard specific function, and modifying one or more operating parameters to conform to the non-cellular communication standard, (b) processes input data in accordance with the non-cellular communication standard and provides the processed input data to the digital radio frequency processor for transmission, and (c) receives output data from the digital radio frequency processor and processes the received output data to obtain transmitted data. |
| US08260276B2 |
Method and system for providing transfer service between mobile terminal and telematics terminal
The present invention relates to method and system for releasing terminal switching between a mobile terminal and a telematics terminal, and the method according to the present invention comprises receiving from the mobile terminal a terminal switching release request including an identification code representing terminal switching release; restoring information of the mobile terminal by inactivating information of the telematics terminal set as information of the mobile terminal in a home location register and activating information of the mobile terminal based on the identification code; and transmitting a mobile terminal activation command to a first switching center, where the mobile terminal is located, to allow a mobile communication service of the mobile terminal. |
| US08260271B2 |
Systems and methods for facilitating the acquisition of content
The present invention provides systems and methods for acquiring content (e.g., a ring tone or a ring view) for a communication device. |
| US08260270B2 |
Femto BS for reducing inter-cell interference and method for transmitting signal using the same
A signal transmission method includes determining whether there is a User Equipment (UE) within an area of the femto BS, determining whether the UE is in an active mode, operating in a first mode of alternating a first Available Interval (AI) with a first UnAvailable Interval (UAI) in time, if no UE exists within the area of the femto BS, operating in a second mode of alternating a second AI with a second UAI shorter than the first UAI in time, if a UE exists within the area of the femto BS and operates in an inactive mode and operating in a third mode of continuously transmitting a signal, if a UE exists within the area of the femto BS and operates in the active mode. |
| US08260269B2 |
Input device with an accelerometer
Methods, devices, and systems are described for bumping a mobile device, such as a smart phone, against a fixed poster board display at a store to initiate a download of coupons, advertisements, or other benefits to the mobile device. Products can be rated by a user's up/down bump or other bump patterns. Using accelerometer-based inertial measurements, multiple users can control multiple mouse cursors on a large display with their mobile devices in order to select information to be downloaded to their mobile devices. |
| US08260267B2 |
Device based telecommunications initiated data fulfillment system
A system and method for service fulfillment is based on service invocation with a preprogrammed communication device. The communication device recognizes special multi-function code digit sequences to cause service invocation. The preprogrammed communication device, upon recognition of a multi-function code, selects a communication channel or messaging protocol and forwards information related to the service invocation to a service fulfillment platform. The communication channel or messaging protocol may be selected based on availability, optimization, preprogrammed logic associated with the multi-function code, or other parameters related to the service invocation, such as user, subscription, registration, location or device ID. The preprogrammed communication device permits service invocation without reconfiguration of a communication network to which the communication device is coupled. The communication device can be reconfigured or reprogrammed to recognize and respond to different multi-function codes. |
| US08260266B1 |
Method and system for third-party discovery of proximity-based services
A system and method for third-party discovery of proximity-based services are provided. In general, a mobile device of a proximity user collects service metadata or information from service providers within its proximity via, for example, local wireless communication. The service metadata is then published to one or more third-party users. More specifically, in one embodiment, the mobile device provides the service metadata to a service discovery system. In response, the service discovery system provides the service metadata or some representation thereof to a client device of a third-party user subscribed to the service metadata. The third-party user may then be enabled to generate a service request. For example, if the service metadata is an advertisement, the third-party user may generate a service request that is provided either directly or indirectly to the mobile device asking that the advertised product or service be purchased on behalf of the third-party user. |
| US08260264B2 |
Automated retrieval and handling of a second telecommunications terminal's voicemail by a first terminal
An apparatus and method are disclosed that enable a terminal such as a computer-based softphone to retrieve and handle, transparently for its user, the voicemail that has been left by calling parties who called the user's cell-phone number. Furthermore, the softphone is able to integrate the presentation to its user of the voicemail associated with the cell phone with the voicemail that has been left by calling parties who called the softphone itself. The softphone features both i) a personal area network interface that is used to communicate directly with the cell phone and ii) a local area network interface that is used to retrieve the cell-phone voicemail from a voicemail system. Once the softphone is paired with the cell phone, the softphone is able to retrieve signals directly from the cell phone and, based on those signals, retrieves the voicemail from the cell phone's voicemail system. |
| US08260263B2 |
Dynamic video messaging
A video messaging service is compatible with multiple transport technologies (such as 2G and 3G networks), and operable to render an integrated video message having voice and corresponding video in a matter consistent with the capabilities of the recipient device. The video messaging service receives a voice (audio) and identifies a video component, computes a video format compatible with an intended recipient device, and generates an integrated video message renderable on the recipient device. The video messaging service identifies the initiator and recipient as 2G or 3G network conversant, and identifies the rendering capabilities of the recipient device, such as memory and mailboxes. The system employs MMS (Multimedia Message Service) to encapsulate independent audio and video components as an integrated message including a voice message and a video source. Depending on the capabilities of the recipient device, a .gif ( ) video rendering or a so-called 3GP rendering is also provided. |
| US08260257B2 |
Key distribution for wireless devices
A method for communicating a key to a wireless device includes communicating the key to a cellular telephone system which subsequently communicates the key to the wireless device. Thus, the need to manually enter a key into a wireless device to facilitate communication with a local area network is avoided. |
| US08260256B2 |
Billing off-net users for telecom services
Disclosed herein is a method of billing a user for Voice short messaging services. A user subscribing to a first network may send a first Voice short messaging service (Voice SMS) message to a recipient user subscribing to a second network. The recipient user may reply to or forward the first Voice SMS message. The Voice SMS message reply may be routed to an intelligent network element of the first network. The intelligent network element prompts the recipient for a payment for delivering the Voice SMS message reply to the sender. The off-net recipient user may make the payment through a premium chargeable SMS message. A confirmation of this payment is communicated to the intelligent network element by the second network. |
| US08260254B2 |
Network billing
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method, in a network having access to a billing system, of debiting a subscribers account for a charge-incurring use made by the subscriber of the network, comprising: in response to receiving a request to make a charge-incurring use of the network, requesting authorization from the billing system for the requested use; supplying to the billing system a billing rate identifier indicating a billing rate to be applied for the chargeable use; and indicating to the billing system an amount of time for which the subscribers account is to be debited at the indicated billing rate thereby causing the subscribers account to be debited a corresponding amount, wherein the period between requesting the authorization and indicating an amount of time is less than the indicated amount of time. |
| US08260250B2 |
Method and apparatus for handling emergency calls in a packet switched radio access network
A method and apparatus for providing location information for subscribers connected to a packet-switched mobile access network in connection with emergency calls made over a multimedia service network. An emergency request is received at the multimedia service network from a subscriber containing the calling number of the subscriber. In response thereto, a media gateway control function in the multimedia service network sends a location query including the calling number to a mobile positioning center in the mobile access network, which then can retrieve location information for the subscriber. After receiving location information from the mobile positioning center, the media gateway control function selects an emergency center and sends a location indication for the subscriber thereto in a circuit-switched control message for initiating an emergency call, according to prevailing standards. |
| US08260248B2 |
Method and system for automatically establishing a dial-up connection to a network through a mobile device
There is provided a method for use by a computing device for automatically establishing a dial-up connection to a network through a mobile device. The method includes establishing a communication link with a mobile device. For example, the mobile device can be a cellular telephone and the communication link can be a Bluetooth communication link. The method further includes receiving network identification data from the mobile device, where the network identification data indicates the type of the network, e.g., Global System for Mobile (“GSM”) communications or Code Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”). The method further includes configuring a dial-up connection entry in the computing device and configuring connection entry in the mobile device based on the type of the network, and establishing the dial-up connection to the network using the dial-up connection entry. |
| US08260244B2 |
Rotating harmonic rejection mixer
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a mixer circuit to receive and generate a mixed signal from a radio frequency (RF) signal and a master clock signal, a switch stage coupled to an output of the mixer circuit to rotatingly switch the mixed signal to multiple gain stages coupled to the switch stage, and a combiner to combine an output of the gain stages. |
| US08260242B2 |
Bandpass filter, and radio communication module and radio communication device using same
A bandpass filter, and a radio communication module and device using the same are disclosed. Provided is the bandpass filter in which resonant electrodes (30a, 30b, 30c) are disposed in an interdigital manner inside of an annular ground electrode (23) disposed in one interlayer of a laminate (10) composed of a plurality of dielectric layers (11) on the upper and lower surfaces of which first and second ground electrodes (21, 22) are disposed, and in which an input coupling electrode (40a) facing the resonant electrode (30a) in an input stage in the interdigital manner, an output coupling electrode (40b) facing the resonant electrode (30b) in an output stage in the interdigital manner, and an input/output coupling conductor (71) which faces the input coupling electrode (40a), the resonant electrode (30a) in the input stage, the output coupling electrode (40b), and the resonant electrode (30b) in the output stage and is subjected to electromagnetic field coupling therewith are disposed in the other interlayer of the laminate (10). |
| US08260241B1 |
RFID reader with sub-orthogonal self-jammer cancellation
RFID readers configured to transmit a radio frequency signal include a sub-orthogonal self-jammer cancellation circuit that generates two or more distinct phase variants of the transmit signal, selects two of the phase variants with a vector projection of one of the selected phase variants on another of the selected phase variants being substantially greater than zero such that a canceling signal comprising a combination of the at least two phase variants is substantially opposite in phase to a self-jamming signal, and selects amplitudes for the at least two selected phase variants such that the canceling signal is substantially equal in amplitude to the self-jamming signal. The canceling signal is then combined with the self-jamming signal to reduce the amplitude of an RF signal received by a receive circuit. |
| US08260240B2 |
Single path architecture and automatic gain control (SAGC) algorithm for low power SDARS receivers
An automatic gain control (AGC) for use in a digital radio receiver that allows at least two types of input signal to be processed using a single receiver front end by supporting two modes of operation, each optimized for one particular signal type, and a third mode not optimized for either. The AGC enables smooth switching between the optimized modes of operation via the non-optimized mode. By measuring a difference in the strength between the demodulated signals, and comparing that to two preset values, the AGC controls which mode of operation to place the receiver in. Modes of operation are maintained by adjusting the gain of a variable gain amplifier (VGA), so that an appropriate incoming signal is amplified to a level that is suitable for an analogue-to-digital (ADC) converter. The AGC is compatible with existing satellite digital audio radio system (SDARS) transmission capabilities. |
| US08260239B2 |
System and method for using location information to execute an action
A system and method is provided for using location information associated with wireless devices. The system includes a wireless device, a location system, and a feature server. The wireless device includes any wireless apparatus having wireless communications capabilities. The location system can generate location information pinpointing the location of the wireless device. The feature server can use the location information to determine whether to execute an action in accordance with subscriber rules. A large number of applications may be implemented to execute the action via a number of communication channels, including without limitation, a wireless communications network, a computer network, and a public switched telephone system, for example. |
| US08260235B1 |
Fast RF receiver DC offset correction
The present disclosure relates to down conversion circuitry that uses a fast DC correction method to correct for a DC offset of an RF mixer and a post mixer amplifier. The down conversion circuitry may include a DC correction amplifier downstream of the post mixer amplifier to apply a DC correction, which is based on a gain of the post mixer amplifier. During a calibration mode, the DC offset of the RF mixer and the post mixer amplifier are determined at multiple gain levels of the post mixer amplifier. The DC correction needed at multiple gain levels of the post mixer amplifier is then determined based on the determined DC offset. During a normal operation mode, a desired gain of the post mixer amplifier is selected and a determined DC correction that correlates with the desired gain is provided. |
| US08260230B2 |
Radio receiver and method for receiving and playing signals from multiple broadcast channels
A radio receiver may comprise a receiver adaptable for receiving a plurality of broadcast streams over a plurality of broadcast channels, wherein the receiver will attempt to receive a selected broadcast stream on a selected broadcast channel, and if the selected broadcast stream is not receivable on the selected broadcast channel, the receiver will attempt to receive the selected broadcast stream on an alternative broadcast channel. A computer readable medium may allow a user of a receiver to create a composite stream comprising at least one portion selected from each of at least two of a plurality of broadcast streams. A method of open interface merge replication may involve comparing data between first and second databases, and if a conflict exists, updating one of the first and second databases with at least a portion of data from the other of the first and second databases to resolve the conflict. |
| US08260225B2 |
Power amplifier controller circuit
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 amplitude correction signal may also be split into two or more signals with different frequency ranges and provided respectively to different types of power supplies with different efficiencies to generate the adjusted supply voltage to the power amplifier. The phase control loop adjusts the phase of the input signal based upon a phase error signal indicating a phase difference between phases of the input signal and the output signal to reduce phase distortion generated by the power amplifier. |
| US08260224B2 |
System and method of prebias for rapid power amplifier response correction
A system and method are provided for reducing dynamic EVM of an integrated circuit power amplifier (PA) used for RF communication. In a multistage PA, the largest amplification stage is biased with a high amplitude current pulse upon receipt of a Tx enable, before receipt of the RF signal data burst. The high amplitude current pulse causes a large portion of the total ICQ budget of the multistage PA to pass through the largest amplification stage causing the entire integrated circuit to rapidly approach steady-state operating conditions. A smoothing bias current is applied to the largest amplification stage after the pulse decays to compensate for transient bias current levels while standard bias circuitry is still approaching steady-state temperature. |
| US08260223B2 |
Dual-mode mixer circuit and method
The present invention relates to a mixer circuit and method of frequency transformation, wherein an input signal is switched in accordance with a first local oscillator signal and in accordance with at least one second local oscillator signal having a smaller duty cycle than said first local oscillator signal, or having a respective predetermined phase shift with respect to said first local oscillator signal. Output signals obtained by the switching in accordance with the first and at least one second local oscillator signals are summed and the polarity of one of said first local oscillator signal and said at least one second local oscillator signal is switched in response to a control input, to thereby switch between a harmonic-rejection mode and a sub-harmonic mixing mode. |
| US08260222B2 |
Negative amplitude polar transmitter
A polar transmitter includes a phase monitoring unit for monitoring input modulating data. When a phase transition exceeds a phase transition threshold, the phase monitor unit can signal an amplitude negation unit to invert the amplitude data coupled to the polar amplifier. The phase monitoring unit can also add an offset to the phase data that is provided to a frequency synthesizer. In another embodiment, when the phase transition threshold is exceeded, the phase monitoring unit can trigger inverting differential frequency data coupled to the polar amplifier. In one embodiment, the phase offset and the amplitude negation are applied until a second phase transition value exceeding the phase transition threshold is detected. If such an event is detected, then the input amplitude data is no longer inverted and the phase offset value is no longer added to the modulating data. |
| US08260218B2 |
Mixer circuit and RF transmitter using such mixer circuit
Described herein are techniques for providing a mixer circuit having a mixer core. The mixer circuit includes a variable current block that is arranged to feed the mixer core with an amplified input signal. |
| US08260211B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for estimating channels
A method, an apparatus and a system for estimating channels are disclosed. A method for estimating channels includes: receiving downlink signals inclusive of reference signals from two or more Access Points (APs), where the relative frequency shift between reference signals sent by different APs is zero; and performing channel estimation according to the reference signals. Another method for estimating channels includes: receiving downlink signals inclusive of reference signals from two or more APs, where for a first AP and a second AP among the two or more APs, a specific time-frequency lattice in the downlink signals sent by the first AP includes no data signal, and the specific time-frequency lattice corresponds to a time-frequency lattice utilized by the second AP to send a reference signal; and performing channel estimation according to the reference signals. The technical solution disclosed herein eliminates the interference between the reference signal and the data signal, enables the UE to estimate the channel value between the UE and the cooperative APs accurately, and improves the UE performance. |
| US08260208B2 |
Radio channel estimator
Radio channel estimators are provided. In an exemplary embodiment, a radio channel estimator is provided for estimating a first radio channel to obtain a first estimate, the first radio channel being comprised in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radio channel extending between at least a first transmit antenna and a second transmit antenna and a receive antenna, the first radio channel extending between the first transmit antenna and the receive antenna. The estimator comprises a means for receiving a reference symbol transmitted by the second transmit antenna and a means for estimating a second radio channel based on the reference symbol, the second radio channel extending between the second transmit antenna and the receive antenna. The estimator further comprises a means for processing the estimate of the second radio channel based on a spatial property of the MIMO radio channel to obtain the first estimate. |
| US08260207B2 |
Measuring communicating and using interference information
Apparatus and methods of performing interference mitigation in a communication network. The interference mitigation can include a controller sending a message to a first access point instructing the first access point to measure at least one signal transmitted by a first wireless terminal communicating a signal having known characteristics; the controller receiving from the first access point signal measurement information; and the controller communicating at least some of the signal measurement information received from the first access point to a second access point. |
| US08260206B2 |
Methods and apparatus for uplink and downlink inter-cell interference coordination
A method for inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) by a home evolved NodeB (HeNB) is described. A portion of bandwidth is reserved for a user equipment (UE). Notification of the reserved portion of bandwidth is sent to at least one potentially interfering evolved NodeB (eNB). A data exchange is performed with the UE using the reserved portion of bandwidth. Notification is sent to the potentially interfering eNBs releasing the reserved portion of bandwidth. |
| US08260205B2 |
Wireless communication system, wireless communication device, wireless communication method and program
A first communication unit performs a non-contact communication with an external device and receives setting data from the external device. A second communication unit performs a wireless communication with the external device. A control unit establishes the wireless communication between the second communication unit and the external device by using the setting data. A data processing unit stores the setting data in a storage unit before the wireless communication is released. A communication releasing unit releases the wireless communication. The control unit uses the setting data stored in the storage unit at a time of re-performing a wireless communication between the second communication unit and the external device. The communication releasing unit releases the wireless communication when the power is not being supplied via a power input unit to which power is input from outside. |
| US08260203B2 |
Energy device with integral conductive surface for data communication via electromagnetic energy and method thereof
An apparatus, method, and system to, for example, transmit and/or receive wireless signals is disclosed. The present invention uses, for example, electrically conductive surfaces within the energy device itself as a means of receiving and/or transmitting wireless communications signals. The surface may be an integral portion of the energy device, such as a charge collection surface within a battery or a capacitor that mainly provides the battery or a capacitor with a necessary function. In another embodiment of the invention the metallic or conductive surface is added to and specifically built into the energy device during manufacturing for the main purpose of receiving and/or transmitting wireless communications signals but is otherwise not necessary for the energy storage component. |
| US08260189B2 |
Entertainment system using bio-response
An entertainment system using bio-response includes a narrative, which includes a plurality of narrative segments assembled into at least one of a plurality of sequences, depending on at least one of a user profile and user bio-response, to create a plurality of cogent narratives. |
| US08260187B2 |
Image forming device
An image forming device is disclosed. The device includes a toner-image forming unit which forms a toner image; a transfer unit; a fixing unit; a paper-output unit; a drive unit; a first drive-power transmission gear; a second drive-power transmission gear; a gear housing; a first positioning unit which positions the fixing unit relative to a device body; and a second positioning unit. The second positioning unit positions the paper-output unit relative to the device body in the direction of a gap between the first drive-power transmission gear and the second drive-power transmission gear by engaging the gear housing with the device body. |
| US08260184B2 |
Hyper nanocomposites (HNC) for fuser materials
Provided are fuser members and printing apparatuses including fuser members. The fuser member can include a substrate and a top coat layer including a hyper nanocomposite disposed over the substrate, wherein the hyper nanocomposite can include a plurality of nanoparticles substantially uniformly dispersed in one or more cross-linked hyperbranched polymers selected from the group consisting of polycarbosilane, polycarbosilixane, polycarbosilazene, and polyfluorocarbon. |
| US08260183B2 |
Soft pressure roller composition for fusing system
A soft pressure roller for use in a printer fusing system having an inside diameter and an outside diameter, wherein the roller is fabricated of LIM silicone elastomer having a softness of between 15 and 35 Asker C and wherein the distance between the inside diameter and the outside diameter is between 2 mm and 10 mm. |
| US08260181B2 |
Image forming apparatus that detects positional deviation between images formed by different image forming units
An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a moving body which moves in a moving direction; a plurality of formation units which are provided to oppose the moving body, respectively, and align in an alignment direction, and which sequentially form images directly on the moving body or an image forming medium transported on the moving body; a detection section which outputs a detection signal corresponding to a position of a mark which is formed directly on the moving body or the image forming medium by each of the formation units; and a measurement section which specifies a positional relationship between marks formed by at least two formation units based on the detection signal from the detection section, and which measures a deviation angle between the moving direction of the moving body and the alignment direction of the formation units based on the specified positional relationship. |
| US08260180B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus starts a separation operation of separating at least one of a plurality of image bearing members and an intermediate transfer member from each other at a first speed, and when the at least one of a plurality of image bearing members and the intermediate transfer member are not separated from each other within a predetermined period of time from the start of the separation operation, the image forming apparatus performs the separation operation at a second speed lower than the first speed. With such a configuration, even when a sudden load to the separation motor occurs, a load increases due to aging degradation, etc., the occurrence of a separation operation failure of the intermediate transfer belt may be reduced to increase the service life of the image forming apparatus. |
| US08260176B2 |
Developer storing container including an agitation member for agitating developer, developing device including the developer storing container and image forming apparatus including the developer storing container
A developer storing container includes a developer storing portion having a developer outlet opening at a substantially longitudinal center portion, and an agitation member rotatable about a rotation axis to thereby agitate and eject the developer via the developer outlet opening. The agitation member includes a mounting portion with a mounting surface along the rotation axis, and an elongated flexible member having first and second ends. The flexible member is mounted to the mounting portion at the first end so that the second end defines a sliding end portion at which the flexible member slides in a sliding direction. Both longitudinal end portions of the sliding end portion of the flexible member slide along the inner surface of the developer storing container, ahead of a substantially longitudinal center portion of the sliding end portion in the sliding direction, and are inclined with respect to a direction perpendicular to the sliding direction. |
| US08260172B2 |
Image forming unit and image forming apparatus
An aspect of the invention provides an image forming unit that includes: an image forming unit main body including an image carrier; a housing of the image forming unit main body, the housing having at least one opening having concave parts at edge parts facing each other in the opening; and a connection element suspended with fracture parts between the edge parts facing each other in the opening, the fracture parts located within the concave parts. At least a part of the connection element corresponding to the image carrier is removable at the fracture parts. |
| US08260171B2 |
Electrophotographic image forming apparatus
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a drum cartridge including an electrophotographic photosensitive member drum; a developing cartridge including a developing roller for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum using a developer; a supporting member movable between an inside position and a retracted position in the state that supporting member supports the drum cartridge and the developing cartridge, wherein the inside position is inside the main assembly of the apparatus, and the retracted position is retracted from the main assembly of the apparatus; wherein the supporting member supports the drum cartridge and the developing cartridge independently demountably therefrom, wherein mounting and demounting directions of the drum cartridge relative to the supporting member and mounting and demounting directions of the developing cartridge are different from each other. |
| US08260169B2 |
Developer storing container, developing unit, developing device and image forming apparatus capable of reducing the developer from being scattered
A developer storing container includes a developer storing body having a first opening, and a shutter member capable of taking a closing position and an opening position to close and open the first opening. The shutter member includes a first seal member including a seal portion provided along the first opening and an extending portion extending from the seal portion in the opening direction of the shutter member. A distance from an end portion of the first opening in the opening direction to an end of the extending portion when the shutter member is in the closing position is longer than a distance of an end portion of an exposable portion of the first seal member (exposed via the first opening when the shutter member is in the closing position) when the shutter member moves from the closing position to the opening position. |
| US08260168B2 |
Image forming apparatus with enhanced electrical connection maintenance, and control method thereof
An image forming apparatus is disclosed. The image forming apparatus includes a body having an opening perforated in one side thereof, a developing unit detachably mounted to the body through the opening, a body cover configured to cover a rear portion of the developing unit in a mounting direction of the developing unit and adapted to open or close the opening, and a memory unit provided at the rear portion of the developing unit and having a developing device terminal. The body cover includes a body terminal to come into contact with the memory unit. Accordingly, an electrical connection between the developing unit and the body can be made less susceptible to vibration, etc. caused during operation of a drive motor. |
| US08260164B2 |
Toner-density calculating method, reflective optical sensor, reflective optical sensor device, and image forming apparatus
A toner density is calculated from outputs of light-receiving elements based on a difference between a reflection property of a supporting member and a reflection property of a toner pattern. Light-emitting elements aligned in one direction that is inclined to a sub-direction emit a detection light in such a manner that a distance between adjacent spots falling on the supporting member in a second direction is equal to or smaller than a width of the toner pattern in the second direction. The light-receiving elements receive a reflected light reflected from the supporting member and/or the toner pattern. The light-receiving elements are aligned, opposed to the supporting member, in a one direction corresponding to the light-emitting elements. |
| US08260163B2 |
Image forming apparatus including control for removing electrical discharge product
An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member; a charging member contactable to said photosensitive member to electrically charge said photosensitive member; applying means applying a charging bias voltage to said charging member; detecting means detecting a current flowing between said charging member and said photosensitive member; a controller for controlling said image forming apparatus to execute an operational mode for removing an electric discharge product deposited on a surface of said photosensitive member, in the case that detecting means detects a current not lower than a predetermined value when a voltage lower than a voltage at which an electric charge starts between said photosensitive member and said charging member is applied to said charging member. |
| US08260161B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a control mechanism capable of selecting a plurality of print modes and a fixing device fixing an image developed based on one of the print modes selected by the control mechanism. The control mechanism selects any one of the print modes based on a successive print sheet number determined by print information received from a host device and a power consumption amount of each of the print modes calculated from fixing temperature of the fixing device prior to starting print operation. |
| US08260158B2 |
Recording sheet processing device
A recording sheet processing device includes a stack tray used, when a recording sheet gets jammed inside a subsequent finishing device, for collecting recording sheets left inside a preceding image forming device and recording sheets left inside a recording sheet feeding unit of the image forming device before those recording sheets reach the finishing device. A portion of a conveying path in the recording sheet processing device is opened so that the recording sheet that has jammed at the finishing processing side can freely fall down into a stack tray. Then, a conveying path switching claw is switched to a position for collecting subsequent recording sheets into the stack tray. Thus, subsequent recording sheets are collected in the stack tray without stoppage in conveyance. |
| US08260154B2 |
Digital equalization apparatus and method for coherent optical receiver
Disclosed are a digital equalization apparatus for a coherent optical receiver and a digital equalization method for a coherent optical receiver, capable of compensating for chromatic dispersion and polarization impairment through a digital signal processing, and capable of performing a clock recovery and a data recovery through a digital symbol synchronization. The digital equalization apparatus and the method compensate for various impairments occurring on an optical path in a digital manner and achieve synchronization through a simple structure. |
| US08260152B2 |
Optical signal detection method, and light receiving apparatus using the same
A signal detection method used in an optical receiver apparatus detects the variation of an optical input level from the presence or absence of a clock signal and appropriately controls a dispersion compensator, thereby enabling the presence or absence of an input signal to be correctly determined. The signal detection method includes: detecting the level of input light of an optical amplifier, storing the level of the detected input light, comparing the level of the stored previous input light with the level of current input light, detecting the level variation of the input light by the comparison to detect the state change of the presence or absence of an optical signal, performing a dispersion compensation on the input light, and extracting a clock from an optical input. When the level variation of the input light is detected, the presence or absence of the optical signal of the input light is determined from the presence or absence of the clock signal. When the clock signal is not extracted, the dispersion amount is swept. |
| US08260151B2 |
Optical communication integration
An integrated circuit die has a transistor circuitry section for implementing information handling operations. Optical circuitry is within the single semiconductor die. The optical circuitry includes a laser transmitter and is operably coupled to the transistor circuitry section. The transistor circuitry section originates information. The optical circuitry transmits the information in a laser beam through a wave guide to the edge of the integrated circuit die. |
| US08260148B2 |
Device for transmitting and receiving DVI video over a single fiber optic interconnect
A transmitting device includes a housing, a multichannel transmitter optical subassembly, a microcontroller, and a DVI connector. The housing has only one optical port, where the only one optical port is adapted to receive only one optical fiber. The multichannel transmitter optical subassembly is mechanically associated with the housing. The microcontroller is electrically associated with the multichannel transmitter optical subassembly. The DVI connector is mechanically associated with the housing. The transmitting device is adapted to convert at least four electrical TMDS signals into optical paths that are transmittable over the only one optical fiber. A receiving device is similar to the transmitting device, however, in contrast to the transmitting device, the receiving device includes a multichannel receiver optical subassembly, and wherein the receiving device is adapted to convert multiple colored wavelengths into at least four electrical TMDS signals. |
| US08260140B2 |
WDM passive optical network with parallel signal detection for video and data delivery
An optical network component, architecture and method for a wavelength division multiplexed passive optical network includes a band coupler configured to demultiplex first and second wavelength division multiplexed content transmitted from an optical line terminal into a first band signal and a second band signal. An arrayed wavelength grating is configured to receive the first band signal and to further demultiplex the first band signal into different wavelengths to provide a plurality of wavelength signals. An optical splitter is configured to split the second band signal into sub-signals and multiplex the sub-signals with each of the wavelength signals such that the first and second wavelength division multiplexed content is provided on a single wavelength to a user. |
| US08260134B2 |
Synchronized code division multiplexing communication method and synchronized code division multiplexing communication system
A synchronized CDM communication system performs 1-to-N communication by CDM between a central office and first to N-th optical network units (ONU). The synchronized CDM communication system adds structural elements for realizing a connection state acquisition section to a conventional synchronized CDM communication system. A central office includes a presence check section, a ranging processing section and the connection state acquisition section. The presence check section checks the ONUs that are connected with the central office and the ONUs that are not connected. The ranging processing section performs transmission timing adjustments for the ONUs that are connected. The connection state acquisition section verifies whether all of ONUs are connected with the central office, and performs a discovery of a ONU, among the ONUs that were not connected at the time of the check, that has resumed participation in communication since the check ended. |
| US08260130B2 |
Auto focus device of mobile communication apparatus
An auto focus device of a mobile communication apparatus is disclosed. The auto focus device comprises a voice coil motor, a first driving circuit and a second driving circuit. The voice coil motor comprises a floating movable device and a lens in the floating movable device. The first driving circuit drives the voice coil motor so that the floating movable device moves inside the voice coil motor to zoom in/out and focus the lens on image sensors when the camera function is activated. The second driving circuit drives the voice coil motor to fix the floating movable device inside the voice coil motor and cover the image sensors. |
| US08260128B1 |
Liquid-resistant connectors and covers for equipment using the same
A water-resistant connector for use with fabric and sheet-like material comprises two plates stitched to each other on either side of and through the fabric or sheet-like material with at least one gasket made of an elastomeric material such as neoprene being placed between one of the plates and the fabric or sheet-like material. The gasket is stitched through and compressed between the plates so as to press against the stitching for water resistance. A suitable elastomeric material is a sheet of elastomeric compound adhered to either side of a reinforcing scrim. A rain cover for a camera and lens includes a water-resistant connector attached on the outside to a neck strap and on the inside to a strap system secured to the camera and lens whereby the camera and lens can be supported by the neck strap when the rain cover is protecting the camera and lens. A gasket may be provided encircling an eyepiece of the camera. |
| US08260127B2 |
Lighting modifiable photo booth with external process control
A photo booth incorporating LED lighting elements configured for causing a polycarbonate resin thermoplastic outer sheeting of the booth having translucent properties to exhibit a desired color, pattern or sequence. The body and associated polycarbonate sheet are typically constructed in an arcuate (rounded or ellipsoidal) shape to create an internal space sufficient for mounting the LED lighting elements as well as the associated interior architecture for operating the booth. An external processor control interfaces with the internal processor associated with the architecture of the booth and for operating such as a digital camera and printer. Security hardware and software components are also provided and for ensuring against non-authorized use of the booth. |
| US08260126B2 |
Dual wall axial flow electric heater for leak sensitive applications
A dual wall axial flow electric heater for leak sensitive applications provides an improved corrosion and leak resistant assembly and includes protective tubes over electrical heater rods, double tubesheets spaced apart by a plenum and leak detectors positioned to sensor leaks through the walls of the protective tubes. The design includes the option of two or more tube bundles with each inserted into opposite ends of a shell surrounding the tube sheets and heaters. The design provides ease of maintenance since each heater rod can be replaced independently while the unit is in service. Variable heat flux is provided from standard single flux heater rods by providing protective tubes of varying diameters. A built-in thermowell is provided to allow the rod temperatures to be monitored directly. Hot spots are avoided by the use of turning baffles and vibration is avoided by use of spider baffles to support the tubes. |
| US08260124B2 |
Method and apparatus for reproducing digital broadcast and method of recording digital broadcast
Provided are a method and apparatus for reproducing a digital broadcast having different compression formats and a method of recording the digital broadcast so that the digital broadcast may be consistently stored and reproduced regardless of a compression format of the digital broadcast. The method of reproducing a digital broadcast includes receiving a transport stream of the digital broadcast which is provided in a compression format; extracting an original stream of a desired program by demultiplexing the transport stream and extracting metadata from the original stream for reproducing or performing trick-play functions on the original stream; separately storing the original stream and the metadata; and decoding the original stream in accordance with the compression format and displaying the original stream. The method and apparatus allows a user to consistently perform functions on the digital broadcast regardless of a compression format of the digital broadcast. |
| US08260123B2 |
Information distributing method, information recording method, information reproducing method, and information recording medium
In a system in which DVD contents authored in the past is to be downloaded and saved into a recording disk, such DVD contents are authored in such manner that they can be recorded into the recording disk without being re-authored, and copyright protection of the downloaded DVD contents can be strengthened. In this system, a disk image file is produced including data to be handled as main data among sectors, and header information of each of the sectors. The data of the DVD contents is divided into packets of a transport stream, and identification codes for the content and for a distribution destination of the content are added to each of the packets, thus enabling identification on a basis of the individual sectors. In a recording apparatus, the DVD contents can be recorded into a large-capacity optical disk or a hard disk based on these identification codes. |
| US08260120B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and computer program
A stream on a recording medium is divided into parts, and is subjected to rearrangement editing while the compatibility with a playback-only device is maintained.By adopting a division processing procedure of a play item, rearrangement processing of a stream for each chapter is achieved. In a product specification, a plurality of real play lists are put together into a series of chapter groups to be presented to the user, and thus there are cases where rearrangement of chapters are closed in the same play list, and cases where the rearrangement extends over a plurality of play lists. Moreover, rearrangement editing, which moves a chapter between real play lists, between virtual play lists, and further from a real play list to a virtual play list, is performed. |
| US08260119B2 |
Content editing apparatus
Provided is a content editing apparatus which, while selecting and deselecting a plurality of contents, edits the plurality of contents such that selected contents are appropriately associated with each other so as to be simultaneously reproduced. Moving image shooting information which identifies a shooting time of a moving image content, individual shooting information which indicates shooting times of a plurality of other contents, and the moving image content, are acquired. The moving image content is reproduced and displayed. A moving image shooting time corresponding to the moving image content is outputted based on the moving image shooting information, and such individual shooting information that an individual time indicated by the individual shooting information is within a predetermined time period including the outputted moving image shooting time, is retrieved. When the individual shooting information is retrieved, the reproduction of the moving image content is paused, and a user is made select whether or not an other content, which corresponds to each of the retrieved individual shooting information, is to be displayed in link with the moving image content. An other content selected to be displayed in link is acquired, and stored in association with the moving image content, together with information indicating a time for a link display. |
| US08260115B2 |
Method and product for copy protection of optical discs using unbalanced DC content
The present invention relates to a method of copy protecting optical discs, such as CDs or DVDs. Instead of encoding data onto the CD-ROMs in a conventional manner which ensures balanced dc content, for copy protection the digital data is encoded and recorded onto the optical disc such that it is arranged to give some of the recorded digital data highly unbalanced dc content. Thus, for example, the DSV (digital sum value) value of the encoded data is recorded so that the DSV value changes continuously once 50 frames of data or more. |
| US08260114B2 |
Video recording and playback equipment, video recording method, video playback method, and video recording and playback method
A video recording and playback equipment which plays video data of a program memorized in an MXF file without playback delay is provided. It has a receiver, an analyzer, a playback information table, a program data memory and a decoder. The receiver receives the MXF file which includes the video data and metadata including information about an identification tag to identify the video data and data size of the video data. The analyzer judges whether the data contained in the file is the video data. If it is the video data, the analyzer analyzes a memory location where the video data is memorized in the file and memorize it on the playback information table as playback information, and also memorize the file to the program data memory. Only the video data is played by the decoder from the file based on the playback information. |
| US08260112B2 |
Method for generating additional information for guaranteeing seamless playback between data streams, recording medium storing the information, and recording, editing and/or playback apparatus using the same
A method for generating additional information for guaranteeing seamless playback of data streams includes generating data stream information for each of two or more data streams, which includes packet data to which information on an arrival time of the respective packet data is added. The data stream information includes seamless playback information, which indicates whether a corresponding data stream is to be seamlessly reproduced after playback of a preceding data stream, and/or seamless time control information for controlling an output time of the corresponding data stream to be seamlessly reproduced. Therefore, data streams can be seamlessly reproduced without interruption between the data streams, by using data stream information which includes seamless information and/or seamless time control information including reference time, an offset value and/or a gap length value. Additionally, even if data streams are edited, the data streams can be seamlessly reproduced by just modifying data stream information. |
| US08260111B2 |
Method of button routing editing for storage medium menu
A method of button routing editing for a storage medium menu containing at least one button is provided. The method includes steps of (a) displaying a routing reminder on a button with an incorrect routing status; (b) selecting at least one button; (c) displaying a routing controller on the selected button, wherein the routing controller comprises a first control button, a second control button, a third control button and a fourth control button; and (d) selecting one of the above-mentioned control buttons, and then selecting a target button to set a routing direction target for the selected control button to the target button, wherein after the steps (b)-(d) are performed, if there exists any button with an incorrect routing status, the routing reminder is displayed thereon, and if there exists any button with a correct routing status, no routing reminder is displayed thereon. |
| US08260110B2 |
Recording medium having data structure for managing reproduction of multiple playback path video data recorded thereon and recording and reproducing methods and apparatuses
The recording medium includes a playlist directory area and at least one navigation information area. The playlist directory area stores a playlist directory including a plurality of playlist files. Each playlist file identifies a portion of the multiple playback path video data and at least a portion of the playlist files associated with different playback paths. The navigation information area stores navigation information at least providing information on one playback path. |
| US08260101B2 |
System and method for an in-plane hollow metal waveguide optical power beam splitter
A system and methods for dividing an optical beam in a hollow metallized waveguide are disclosed. The method includes directing an optical signal into a first section of a hollow metallized waveguide. The optical signal is adiabatically expanded in a second section of the hollow metallized waveguide coupled to the first section. The optical signal is split with an in-plane optical beam splitter located in a third section of the hollow metallized waveguide coupled to the second section. |
| US08260097B2 |
Opto-electronic alignment system and method
Alignment of one or more lenses with one or more opto-electronic devices in an opto-electronic system is aided by an aligner device having a substantially cylindrical body with a base and an outer ring. The base has one or more openings, one of which is a first opto-electronic device opening. The first opto-electronic device opening has a substantially circular shape coaxial with the outer ring and coaxial with a central axis of the aligner device. |
| US08260096B2 |
Photonic integrated circuit having bent active components
Consistent with the present disclosure, the number of passive waveguides in a PIC are reduced by directly connecting active components to one another. Accordingly, optical signals propagating in the PIC may experience less loss, and, thus, improved performance may be achieved. In addition, active components may be bent or curved in order to obtain a more compact layout with greater device density. Reduced manufacturing costs can therefore be realized. |
| US08260093B2 |
Component monitoring arrangement
Fibre substrates act as a conduit for light along which response signals are transmitted to a controller in the form of an electronic device associated with a component. The processed signals are stored in a local memory to provide a component history and a prediction of future performance and life. Service and repair history may be added to the component device memory to enable a complete history to be stored with the component. A controller may transmit data to an external controller or display through typically a wireless connection. Power to the component electronics may be provided by an induction loop or transformer. |
| US08260092B2 |
Systems and methods for polarization mode dispersion mitigation
In one exemplary embodiment, a method comprises transmitting an optical signal via the optical line, measuring a relative change in spectral intensity of the optical signal near a clock frequency (or half of that frequency) while varying a polarization of the optical signal between a first state of polarization and a second state of polarization, and using the relative change in spectral intensity of the optical signal to determine and correct the DGD of the optical line. Another method comprises splitting an optical signal traveling through the optical line into a first and second portions having a first and second principal states of polarization of the optical line, converting the first and second portions into a first and second electrical signals, delaying the second electrical signal to create a delayed electrical signal that compensates for a DGD of the optical line, and combining the delayed electrical signal with the first electrical signal to produce a fixed output electrical signal. |
| US08260090B2 |
Information processing apparatus, imaging apparatus, image display control method and computer program
An apparatus for processing an image includes an input unit for inputting user operation information, a recording medium for recording moving image data, a data processor for retrieving data recorded on the recording medium and generating display data in response to an input to the input unit, and a display unit for displaying the display data. The data processor generates a contracted image of an image selected at predetermined time intervals from a scene as a moving image recording unit recorded on the recording medium and displays on the display unit a list of generated contracted images arranged in a time-series order. |
| US08260088B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program to execute the image processing method
An image processing apparatus includes a sensor unit configured to include a plurality of line sensors to read image data having a plurality of channels; a correcting unit configured to correct the image data read by the sensor unit to obtain a plurality of frames of image data in which reading positions on an original image by adjacent line sensors among the plurality of line sensors are shifted by less than a pixel in a main scanning direction or/and a sub-scanning direction; and a high-resolution converting unit configured to perform interpolation by using the plurality of frames of image data obtained by the correcting unit so as to obtain monochrome image data having resolution higher than resolution of the line sensors. |
| US08260087B2 |
Image upsampling technique
An upscaling (upsampling) technique for digital images and video for presentation on a display. An image at a first resolution may be separated into a plurality of channels. Each channel may be upsampled to a higher resolution. The plurality of channels may then be combined to form an image at the higher resolution. |
| US08260084B2 |
Binary image stitching based on grayscale approximation
Binary image stitching based on grayscale approximation. In a first example embodiment, a method for automatic binary image stitching of first and second binary images includes several acts. First, the first and second binary images are converted into first and second thumbnail grayscale images. Each thumbnail grayscale image is a lower resolution than its corresponding binary image by a scaling factor. Next, a thumbnail transform is calculated between the first thumbnail grayscale image and the second thumbnail grayscale image. Then, a full-size transform is calculated as a function of the thumbnail transform and the scaling factor. Next, the stitched binary image is created by projecting the first binary image onto the second binary image using the full-size transform and combining overlapping portions of the first and second binary images. |
| US08260081B2 |
Image processing device, method, program, and storage medium for face or red eye detection
An image processing device which is capable of efficiently performing face-detection, red-eye detection, and/or image data correction including red-eye correction without waste when there are a plurality of chances of performing the image data correction including the red-eye correction on a single image. A printing apparatus acquires image data and information concerning a face detection process performed on the image data from an image pickup apparatus. A controller of the printing apparatus determines to cause the printing apparatus to perform a face detection process on the acquired image data, based on the acquired information. The information contains an information item concerning detection accuracy of the performed face detection process, and a face detection process with higher detection accuracy than the detection accuracy described in the information is determined as the face detection process to be performed by the printing apparatus. |
| US08260080B1 |
Tone selective adjustment of images
Methods, systems and apparatus, including computer program products, for processing an image. A first tone value is determined for a location within the image based upon attributes of pixels within a first neighborhood surrounding the location. The first tone value specifies a local weight for a first tone adjustment in the image. A second tone value is determined for the location based upon attributes of pixels within a second neighborhood surrounding the location. The second tone value specifies a local weight for a second tone adjustment in the image. The image is adjusted at the location using the first and second tone adjustments according to the local weights specified by the first and second tone values, respectively. |
| US08260078B2 |
System and method for adaptively sharpening digital images
Embodiments of the invention provide a technique to sharpen luminance data associated with each pixel of a digital image without introducing certain sharpening artifacts. An alpha mask is generated based on first, second, and third alpha submasks that indicate how strongly overshoot, color fringe, and dark regions, respectively, are detected at each pixel location. The alpha mask is used to combine luminance data derived from the digital image with sharpened luminance data that is generated by applying a sharpening filter to the luminance data. |
| US08260075B2 |
Two-dimensional filter arithmetic device and method
A two-dimensional filter arithmetic device comprises a picture memory, a line memory, a vertical filtering unit which includes nine first filter modules installed in parallel, a buffer for timing adjustments, and a horizontal filtering unit which includes four second filter modules installed in parallel. From the line memory, the pixel values of nine full pels per line are inputted in parallel to the vertical filtering unit, nine vertically-filtered values of half pels are generated and inputted to the horizontal filtering unit; thereby, four two-dimensionally-filtered values of half pels are generated. |
| US08260068B2 |
Encoding and decoding device and associated methodology for obtaining a decoded image with low delay
An identifying information generating unit that generates shared-process identifying information that identifies by which encoding processing and decoding processing a process shared between the encoding processing of image data and the decoding processing of an encoded stream is to be performed, or generates program identifying information that identifies which decoding program is to be selected from among a plurality of decoding programs that differ from each other in an assignment pattern in which a plurality of processes that constitute the decoding processing are assigned to a plurality of processing units or in an arrangement pattern of memories used by the plurality of processes. A transmitting unit that transmits the shared-process identifying information or the program selection information generated by the identifying information generating unit. |
| US08260062B2 |
System and method for identifying document genres
A system, a computer readable storage medium including instructions, and method for generating genre models used to identify genres of a document. For each document image in a set of document images that are associated with one or more genres, the document image is segmented into a plurality of tiles, wherein the tiles in the plurality of tiles are sized so that document page features are identifiable, and features of the document image and the plurality of tiles are computed. At least one genre classifier is trained to classify document images as being associated with one or more genres based on the features of the document images in the set of document images, the features of the plurality of tiles of the set of documents images, and the one or more genres associated with each document image in the set of documents images. |
| US08260059B2 |
System and method for deformable object recognition
The present invention provides a system and method for detecting deformable objects in images even in the presence of partial occlusion, clutter and nonlinear illumination changes. A holistic approach for deformable object detection is disclosed that combines the advantages of a match metric that is based on the normalized gradient direction of the model points, the decomposition of the model into parts and a search method that takes all search results for all parts at the same time into account. Despite the fact that the model is decomposed into sub-parts, the relevant size of the model that is used for the search at the highest pyramid level is not reduced. Hence, the present invention does not suffer the speed limitations of a reduced number of pyramid levels that prior art methods have. |
| US08260057B2 |
Image processing apparatus that obtains a ruled line from a multi-value image
In an image processing apparatus, a binary image generating unit generates a binary image from a multi-value image, a ruled line candidate extracting unit extracts ruled line candidate pixels constituting a ruled line from the binary image, an edge detecting unit determines, from the multi-value image, target pixels that are positioned near the ruled line candidate pixels and detects edge information indicative of whether each target pixel constitutes an edge, and a ruled line obtaining unit obtains a ruled line from the multi-value image based on the edge information detected by the edge detecting unit. |
| US08260056B2 |
Resizing video and aligning video image edges to block boundaries and picture boundaries
The invention teaches a method of positioning a first image having a first image format into a second image comprising multiple image blocks and having a second image format. A straight boundary of at least one image block in the second image is identified. The first image is positioned into the second image by aligning an edge of the first image with the identified straight boundary. Alternatively, a block row or column of the first image can be aligned with the straight boundary but then in such a way that an edge of the first image parallel to the block row or column is aligned with a boundary of a row or column of image blocks in the second image. This image positioning reduces any bleeding artifacts and the number of bits required for representing the image during encoding. |
| US08260051B2 |
Image processing apparatus for generating and transmitting push-type data
An image processing apparatus including an input part configured to input document data of a document, an extracting part configured to automatically extract partial image data from the document data, a storage part configured to store the document data and configuration data of the document data, a registering part configured to associate the document data with the partial image data and register the document data and the associated partial image data in the storage part, a generating part configured to generate push-type data based on the configuration data, and a transmitting part configured to transmit the push-type data. |
| US08260049B2 |
Model-based method of document logical structure recognition in OCR systems
In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for determining a logical structure of a document. The method comprises generating at least one document hypothesis for the whole document; for each document hypothesis, verifying said document hypothesis including (a) generating at least one block hypothesis for each block in the document based on the document hypothesis; and (b) selecting a best block hypothesis for each block; selecting as a best document hypothesis the document hypothesis that has the best degree of correspondence with the selected best block hypotheses for the document; and forming the document based on the best document hypothesis. |
| US08260047B2 |
System and method for determining high frequency content in an analog image source
A system and method for determining high frequency content in an analog image source. A method comprises creating a histogram of the image, and selecting a portion of the image based on the histogram. The histogram comprises a first number of horizontal bins and a second number of vertical bins, with each bin having an associated counter for maintaining a count of pixel differences of pixels in a portion of the image corresponding to the bin that exceed a threshold. The portion of the image selected corresponds to a portion of the histogram having a high pixel difference count relative to other portions of the histogram. |
| US08260046B2 |
Method for pixel color correction and pixel color correcting apparatus thereof
A method for pixel color correction includes the steps of determining a gray degree of a designated pixel; generating an adjusted color correction matrix according to the gray degree of the designated pixel; and applying the adjusted color correction matrix to the designated pixel to correct color errors of the designated pixel. The gray degree is generated according to a ratio of the chrominance information to the luminance information. A weighted sum of a reference color correction matrix and a unity matrix is calculated to generate the adjusted color correction matrix, and weighting factors of the reference color correction matrix and the unity matrix are determined by the gray degree, wherein the unity matrix is a fundamental matrix without color correction. |
| US08260044B2 |
Reducing erroneous colors in edge areas with chromatic abberation
A technique is disclosed for calculating a value for a second color for a particular pixel. The technique selects a first set of neighboring pixels situated on a first side of the particular pixel, and a second set of neighboring pixels situated on an opposite side of the particular pixel. Based upon color values from the first set of neighboring pixels, the technique determines a first representative relationship, and based upon color values from the second set of neighboring pixels, the technique determines a second representative relationship. Based upon these representative relationships, the technique determines a target relationship between the value for the second color for the particular pixel and a value for a first color for the particular pixel. Based upon the target relationship and the value for the first color for the particular pixel, the technique calculates the value for the second color for the particular pixel. |
| US08260042B2 |
Anonymous passenger indexing system for security tracking in destination entry dispatching operations
An elevator control system (18) provides elevator dispatch and door control based on passenger data received from a video processing device (12). The video processing device (12) includes a video processor (14) connected to receive video input from at least one video camera (10) and memory (16). The video processor (14) anonymously monitors passengers using color index analysis of each passenger. Based on the monitored position of each passenger, video process (14) calculates passenger data parameters such as location, direction, speed and estimated time of arrival at an elevator door, and provides one or more of the passenger data parameters to elevator control system (18). Based in part on the passenger data received, elevator controller (18) provides elevator dispatch, elevator door control, and security functions. |
| US08260041B2 |
Image-capturing apparatus and method, 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. |
| US08260037B2 |
3D model reconstruction acquisition based on images of incremental or decremental liquid level
A 3D model reconstruction acquisition includes the steps of preparing a transparent container and at least one image capture device, wherein an object is placed in the transparent container and a liquid is received in the transparent container; keeping the liquid level rising or lowering to allow the liquid level to pass through a surface of the object and then keeping capturing a series of the images; computing a liquid-level equation for each of the images by using curves of the images between the object and the incremental or decremental liquid level confined by the transparent container; computing 3D coordinates of the curves in accordance with the liquid-level equation of each image; and collecting 3D coordinates of all of the curves to create a 3D model of the object. In addition, the acquisition can be done in the environment having water and thus be applied to various environments. |
| US08260036B2 |
Object detection using cooperative sensors and video triangulation
Methods and apparatus are provided for detecting and tracking a target. Images are captured from a field of view by at least two cameras mounted on one or more platforms. These images are analyzed to identify landmarks with the images which can be used to track the targets position from frame to frame. The images are fused (merged) with information about the target or platform position from at least one sensor to detect and track the target. The targets position with respect to the position of the platform is displayed or the position of the platform relative to the target is displayed. |
| US08260034B2 |
Multi-modal data analysis for defect identification
A technique for identifying a defect in an object produced by a controllable process. A first type of data generated as a result of production of the object by the controllable process is obtained. A second type of data generated as a result of production of the object by the controllable process is obtained. The first type of data and the second type of data are jointly analyzed. A defect is identified in the object based on the joint analysis of the first type of data and the second type of data. By way of example, the controllable process comprises a semiconductor manufacturing process such as a silicon wafer manufacturing process and the object produced by the semiconductor manufacturing process comprises a processed wafer. The first type of data comprises tool trace data and the second type of data comprises wafer image data. The tool trace data is generated by a photolithographic tool. |
| US08260032B2 |
Photo-mask and wafer image reconstruction
A system receives a mask pattern and a first image of at least a portion of a photo-mask corresponding to the mask pattern. The system determines a second image of at least the portion of the photo-mask based on the first image and the mask pattern. This second image is characterized by additional spatial frequencies than the first image. |
| US08260031B2 |
Pattern inspection apparatus, pattern inspection method, and computer-readable recording medium storing a program
A pattern inspection apparatus includes a magnification conversion unit to convert first sample optical image data to higher resolution second sample optical image data, a low-pass filter configured to filter first design image data which has a resolution N times that of the first sample optical image data, an optical filter which calculates third design image data by convolving the second design image data with an optical model function, a coefficient acquisition unit configured to acquire a coefficient of the predetermined optical model function using the second sample optical image data and the third design image data, an optical image acquisition unit configured to acquire actual optical image data of an inspection target workpiece, a reference image data generation unit configured to generate reference image data corresponding to the actual optical image data, and a comparison unit configured to compare the actual optical image data with the reference image data. |
| US08260029B2 |
Pattern shape inspection method and apparatus thereof
This invention relates to a pattern shape inspection method and an apparatus thereof for conducting a first step of irradiating wideband illuminating light which contains far ultraviolet light to a sample from a perpendicular direction, inspecting a shape of the pattern based on a spectral waveform of reflecting light detected from the sample, and detecting an edge roughness of the pattern based on the spectral waveform of the reflecting light detected from the sample, and a second step of irradiating a laser beam to the sample from an oblique direction, and detecting the edge roughness of the pattern based on scattered light detected from the sample. |
| US08260024B2 |
Systems and methods for measuring surface shape
A system for determining a surface shape of a test object includes a pattern having a plurality of first elements dispose about a central axis and defining an aperture containing the central axis. The first elements includes a plurality of common elements having a common form and a reference element having a reference form that is different than the common form. The system further comprises a detector array and an optical system. The optical system is adapted to provide an image of the first elements when light reflects off a surface of a test object, passes through the aperture, and is received by the detector array. The reference form may be configured to facilitate an association between the common elements and the spot images of the common elements. |
| US08260020B2 |
Image based computed tomography number and volume corrections for thin objects in computed tomography systems
Methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable media are provided for image based CT Number and volume corrections for thin objects in computed tomography systems. For example, in one embodiment a method is provide which computes an average computed tomography (“CT”) value and volume of voxels that are part of an object. Thereafter, a surface area and a surface CT Number, a boundary area and a boundary CT Number, and a corrected CT Number and a corrected volume for the object are computed. Embodiments of the invention also include other methods, computer-readable mediums, apparatuses, and systems that contain features similar to the features in the above described method. |
| US08260017B2 |
Rotation center identifying method and apparatus, ring artifact correction method, and X-ray diagnostic apparatus employing the same
The influences of the vibrations and the like of a rotational radiography system are corrected with respect to a projection image for each projection direction which contains an artificial artifact, and volume data containing only a ring artifact is generated by image reconstruction using the projection images. A ring center is determined by using this volume data, and polar coordinate conversion of an actual radiographed image is executed by using the ring center as an origin, thereby extracting a signal (ring artifact) parallel to an angular axis. |
| US08260015B2 |
Peak reassembly
In differential and non-differential analyses, composite images derived from replicates of liquid-chromatography/mass-spectrometry processes can provide scientists with a better signal-to-noise ratio in discovering biological features of interest. Certain distinct peaks in composite images point to distinct biological features but some distinct peaks in composite images may also point to biological features that have common chemical species ancestry. A peak reassembly process is used to indicate whether two adjacent peaks should point to a biological feature using complementation analysis and collision analysis. |
| US08260014B2 |
Microcalcification detection in mammography CAD using a classifier
A system is disclosed that is configured for microcalcifications (mcc) detecting by forming a plurality of true mcc clusters and a plurality of normal clusters, gathering spot and cluster features from said clusters, extracting linear structure features, and using said spot, cluster and linear structure features in mcc detector algorithm training. |
| US08260013B2 |
Data representation for rtp
An imaging system (10) includes imaging modalities such as a PET imaging system (12) and a CT scanner (14). The CT scanner (14) is used to produce a first image (62) which is used for primary contouring. The PET system (12) is used to provide a second image (56), which provides complementary information about the same or overlapping anatomical region. After first and second images (62, 56) are registered with one another the first and second images (62, 56) are concurrently segmented to outline a keyhole (76). The keyhole portion of the second image (56) is inserted into the keyhole (76) of the first image (62). The user can observe the composite image and deform a boundary (78) of the keyhole (76) by a mouse (52) to better focus on the region of interest within previously defined keyhole. |
| US08260012B2 |
Image-capturing apparatus and method, 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. |
| US08260011B2 |
Method, system, and computer readable medium for face detection
A method, system, and computer readable medium for detecting a face in a video stream including receiving a sequence of input color images; and for each input image, calculating a greyscale image of the input color image, creating a one-bit motion image based on the current and a previous greyscale image, calculating a normalized color image of the input color image, calculating a motion color probability image, providing at least the grayscale image and the motion color probability image to a face detector, and executing face detection by determining a presence of a face based on first features in the grayscale image and second features in the motion color probability image. |
| US08260006B1 |
System and method of aligning images
A system and method is provided for aligning images of one resolution based on both features contained in the images and the alignment of related images of a different resolution. |
| US08259995B1 |
Designating a tag icon
Displaying a tag icon is disclosed. Displaying includes receiving a tag for an object that has been detected from an image, designating the object as the tag icon, and displaying the tag icon, wherein the tag icon is a graphical representation of the tag. |
| US08259987B2 |
Diaphragm, diaphragm assembly and electroacoustic transducer
A slender-type diaphragm longer in a longitudinal direction and shorter in a transversal direction in relation to the longitudinal direction, has a base member and a slant member. The base member has a pair of extending members provided in parallel in the longitudinal direction as facing each other, and a curved section that protrudes toward a first side of the diaphragm in a vibration direction of the diaphragm from a first plane that includes the extending members, the vibration direction being perpendicular to the longitudinal and transversal directions. The slant member has a slant surface in relation to the first plane and connected to the base member in a manner that the slant member surrounds the base member in a second plane parallel to the first plane, the slant member having a curved surface in a cross section thereof in relation to a cross section of the base member in the transversal direction. |
| US08259986B2 |
Loudspeaker magnetic flux collection system
A loudspeaker design delivers improved efficiency by reducing the power required from an audio source to produce sound. The loudspeaker includes a magnet housing, at least two magnets and a magnetic flux collector. The magnetic flux collector is coupled with and extends away from the magnet housing. Magnetic flux generated by the magnets is received and channeled by the magnetic flux collector and the magnet housing to an air gap included in the loudspeaker to maximize the availability of the magnetic energy of the magnets in the air gap. |
| US08259984B2 |
Headset with on-ear detection
A headset including a body configured to be affixed to an ear of a user, and a speaker for reproducing an audio signal, the speaker representing part of the body such that when the body is affixed to the ear, the speaker is positioned proximate the ear canal of the user. The headset further includes at least one sensor for producing an output indicative of whether the body is affixed to the ear. In addition, the headset includes an analyzer, operatively coupled to the at least one sensor, for analyzing whether the body is affixed to the ear based on the output of the at least one sensor. |
| US08259980B2 |
Pivotal speaker tweeter
An adjustable tweeter assembly is provided to allow a tweeter to be directionally oriented to a selected position. The assembly includes a base, a bowl, and a cup, which are nested together so that the bowl is sandwiched between the base and the cup for movement therebetween. The tweeter is mounted in the bowl which can be rotated and pivoted relative to the cup and to the base. A fastener extends through the cup, the bowl, and the base, and through a leaf spring so as to provide a compressive or clamping force between the base, the bowl, and the cup. The tweeter is rotatable 360° and pivotal approximately 90°. |