| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08276210B2 |
Tomographic atom probe comprising an electro-optical generator of high-voltage electrical pulses
A tomographic atom probe uses electrical pulses applied to an electrode in order to carry out evaporation of the sample being analyzed. In order to produce these electrical pulses, the tomographic atom probe comprises a high-voltage generator connected to an electrode by an electrical connection comprising a chip of semiconductor material. The probe also comprises a light source which can be controlled in order to generate light pulses which are applied to the semiconductor chip. Throughout the illumination, the chip is rendered conductive, which puts the high-voltage generator and the electrode in electrical contact so that a potential step is applied to the latter. The probe also comprises means for applying a voltage step of opposite amplitude to the previous step at the end of a time interval Δt0, so that the electrode finally receives a voltage pulse of duration Δt0. |
| US08276208B2 |
Security-level enforcement in virtual-machine fail-over
Methods, systems, and articles to receive, by a fail-over computing device, a request to instantiate a virtual-machine in response to a virtual-machine failure on a separate physical device. The request includes a minimum security rating. The fail-over computing device then compares the minimum security rating against an assigned security rating of the fail-over computing device and instantiates the virtual-machine if the assigned security rating meets or exceeds the minimum security rating. |
| US08276206B2 |
Systems and methods for partial matching searches of encrypted retained data
Systems and methods are provided for encryption allowing partial matching searches to retrieve data that is retained in a database. A user identification number or other characteristic is stored in unencrypted form such that a wildcard search may be performed to retrieve one or more encrypted indexes associated with the unencrypted user identification. These encrypted indexes are then unencrypted by use of a key to determined their associated unencrypted index and corresponding targeted retained data. The targeted retained data may then be accessed by an authorized entity such as a law enforcement agency. |
| US08276203B2 |
System and method for mitigating a denial of service attack in a subscriber network
A system and method for mitigating a denial of service attack in a subscriber network. A traffic monitor monitors bandwidth usage of a subscriber network that is directed to a particular port. The traffic monitor detects excessive traffic based on preset thresholds or algorithms. When excessive traffic is detected, the traffic monitor may obtain the source IP address from headers in the packet stream and identify the device or devices from which the packets were delivered to the network. Using the IP addresses of affected devices, a policy may be implemented to throttle packets originating from those devices that are directed to the particular port. |
| US08276200B2 |
Systems and methods for securely processing sensitive streams in a mixed infrastructure
A system and method for securely processing sensitive streams in a mixed infrastructure includes analyzing a stream to determine data sensitivity. A likelihood that processing elements employed to process the stream would result in a risk to sensitive information is determined. At least a portion of the data stream having sensitive information is transferred to a secure processing environment to ensure security of the data stream during processing. |
| US08276199B2 |
Method and device for secure test port authentication
A device includes a first test port coupled to a first test device, a second test port coupled to a second test device, a resource, and a security controller coupled to the first and second test ports. The security controller is operable to authenticate the first test device prior to authenticating the second test device, and, in response to authenticating the first test device, permit the first and second test devices to access the first resource. |
| US08276198B2 |
Method and apparatus for local area networks
A mechanism for segregating traffic amongst STAs that are associated with a bridge, referred to herein as the personal virtual bridged local area network (personal VLAN), is based upon the use of a VLAN to segregate traffic. The IEEE 802.1Q-1998 (virtual bridged LANs) protocol provides a mechanism that is extended by the invention to partition a LAN segment logically into multiple VLANs. In the preferred embodiment, a VLAN bridge forwards unicast and group frames only to those ports that serve the VLAN to which the frames belong. One embodiment of the invention extends the standard VLAN bridge model to provide a mechanism that is suitable for use within an AP. In a preferred embodiment, the Personal VLAN bridge extends the standard VLAN bridge in at least any of the following ways: VLAN discovery in which a personal VLAN bridge provides a protocol for VLAN discovery; VLAN extension in which a Personal VLAN allows a station to create a new port that serves a new VLAN, or to join an existing VLAN via an authentication protocol; Logical ports in which a Personal VLAN bridge can maintain more than one logical port per physical port, and bridges between ports of any kind; and cryptographic VLAN separation. |
| US08276194B2 |
Methods and systems for user authentication
Method and systems for user authentication are provided according to the embodiments of the invention. The method mainly includes: sending, by a management station, an authentication request message of an authentication protocol to a managed device via a management protocol, and sending user authentication information to the managed device; and authenticating the user by the managed device via the authentication protocol or a authentication server based on the received user authentication information, and returning an authentication acknowledgement message of the authentication protocol carrying the authentication result to the management station via the management protocol. The system mainly includes a management station and a managed device; or, a management station, a managed device and a backend authentication server. With the present invention, methods and systems for user authentication with a good extensibility and a widened application are provided. |
| US08276193B2 |
System for online compromise tool
An Activity Access Control (AAC) utility controls access to applications and devices by allowing an administrator to set terms of use/access regarding a applications and/or devices for a group of users, whose activity are monitored. The AAC utility also enables administrator and user access to a compromise facility via a centralized access point to establish or request changes to the terms of use/access. The AAC utility allows the administrator to dynamically update information and set terms based on real-time information collected during activity monitoring. Dynamic updates may also occur based on the monitored user's request, the priority of the requesting user(s), historical data, occurrence of a special event, completion of other internal or/external tasks, and/or pre-set limitations or thresholds. In addition, the AAC utility facilitates the real-time display or publishing of the terms of use, status information, and statistical information to users and the administrator. |
| US08276192B2 |
System and method for security planning with hard security constraints
A method for security planning with hard security constraints includes: receiving security-related requirements of a network to be developed using system inputs and processing components; and generating the network according to the security-related requirements, wherein the network satisfies hard security constraints. |
| US08276191B2 |
Provisioning data storage entities with authorization settings
A method and system for generating authorization settings that indicate whether host administrators using a host-based storage-management application are authorized to perform provisioning operations on data storage entities residing on a data storage system are disclosed. Accordingly, a storage-management application receives from an administrator an authorization setting indicating on a per-user basis a set of provisioning operations which can be performed with a data storage entity via the storage-management application. The authorization settings are then communicated from the host-based storage-management application to the storage system where the data storage entity resides, and the authorization settings are stored. A storage-management application executing on any host can then utilize the authorization settings to control which users are allowed to interact with certain data storage entities, and what specific interactions (e.g., provisioning operations) are allowed. |
| US08276188B2 |
Systems and methods for managing storage devices
Systems and methods for managing storage devices are provided. The functionalities of smart card and micro SD card are integrated into a storage device to expand the effective storage capacity. The system includes a storage device having a storage area, a microcontroller, and a microprocessor. The microcontroller receives an access request, determines whether the access request conforms to a specific protocol or whether the access request is requesting to activate the microprocessor, and transmits the access request to a microprocessor when the access request conforms to the specific protocol or when the access request is requesting to activate the microprocessor. The microprocessor executes a Card Operating System (COS), and manages the storage area by performing the access request based on the COS. Further, the segmentation of expanded storage space and independent management/security mechanism for segmented spaces also make it possible to perform multi-applications for different card organizations/issuers. |
| US08276186B2 |
System and method for synchronizing security settings of control systems
A method for communicating data between a first and second control system (FCS and SCS). FCS (202) controls a first process (FP) having first security data (FSD) in a first data security format (FDSF). The method involves modifying the FSD (214) from being in the FDSF into modified security data (MSD) in a modified security format (MSDF) compatible with SCS (226). Subsequent to the modifying, a request is received from an SCS user. The request includes a user type, process parameter (PP) associated with the FP, and request for information regarding the PP or a request to change a PP value. The method also involves referencing the user type and PP to the MSD. The method further involves blocking or allowing the request based on results of the referencing. If results indicate that the request is allowed, then an access level can be impersonated for changing the PP value in FCS. |
| US08276182B2 |
Television content from multiple sources
Television content from multiple sources is described. In embodiment(s), a television client device includes an interface to receive television media content in multiple streaming video formats. A television media service implemented in the television client device can process television media content when received in a first streaming video format, and render the television media content for display. In addition, the television media service can process additional television media content when received in a second streaming video format, and render the additional television media content for display. |
| US08276178B2 |
Digital broadcasting system and method of processing data in digital broadcasting system
A digital broadcast receiver and a control method thereof are disclosed. The digital broadcast receiver includes a reception unit for receiving a broadcast signal which mobile service data and main service data are multiplexed, an extractor for extracting transmission parameter channel signaling information and fast information channel signaling information from a data group in the received mobile service data, an acquirer for acquiring a program table describing virtual channel information and a service of an ensemble by using the extracted fast information channel signaling information, the ensemble being a virtual channel group of the received mobile service data, a detector for detecting a descriptor defining a telephone number system corresponding to the mobile service data by using the acquired program table, and a controller for controlling such that a telephone number of the telephone number system of the detected descriptor and the mobile service data are displayed. |
| US08276169B2 |
Medium processing device
A medium processing device is provided. A processor processes a plate-shaped medium. A tray has a storage for storing the medium and is movable between a first position where the medium is processed by the processor and a second position where the medium is mounted and removed from the storage. A moving mechanism moves the tray between the first position and the second position. A transporting mechanism mounts the medium in the storage and removing the medium from the storage. A restraining member restrains an upward movement of a front end of the tray that is moved to the second position by the moving mechanism. |
| US08276168B2 |
Data storage media accessibility in a media library
An apparatus and method for increasing data storage capacity of a media library is disclosed herein. The elevation or vertical clearance of a tray assembly included in the library is configured to permit access of data storage media stored near the floor of the library. |
| US08276164B2 |
Data parallel computing on multiple processors
A method and an apparatus that allocate one or more physical compute devices such as CPUs or GPUs attached to a host processing unit running an application for executing one or more threads of the application are described. The allocation may be based on data representing a processing capability requirement from the application for executing an executable in the one or more threads. A compute device identifier may be associated with the allocated physical compute devices to schedule and execute the executable in the one or more threads concurrently in one or more of the allocated physical compute devices concurrently. |
| US08276163B2 |
Portable electronic device and method for scheduling sessions
A portable electronic device and method for scheduling sessions in a portable electronic device is provided. The device provides a session manager. The session manager provides different types of sessions between multimedia services and multimedia drivers in the device. Each session comprises one or more statuses directed at controlling allotment of the multimedia services to applications. The session manager coordinates the statuses of the sessions if a service has modified a status of a corresponding session. The session manager provides callbacks to notify a corresponding service when a status of the corresponding session has been coordinated. |
| US08276155B2 |
Method, system, and storage medium for managing computer processing functions
Exemplary embodiments include a system and storage medium for managing computer processing functions in a multi-processor computer environment. The system includes a physical processor, a standard logical processor, an assist logical processor sharing a same logical partition as the standard logical processor, and a single operating system instance associated with the logical partition, the single operating system instance including a switch-to service and a switch-from service. The system also includes a dispatch component managed by the single operating system instance. Upon invoking the switch-to service by standard code, the switch-to service checks to see if an assist logical processor is online and, if so, it updates an integrated assist field of a work element block associated with the task for indicating the task is eligible to be executed on the assist logical processor. The switch-to service also assigns a work queue to the work element block. |
| US08276149B2 |
Thread livelock reduction unit
Method, apparatus and system embodiments to assign priority to a thread when the thread is otherwise unable to proceed with instruction retirement. For at least one embodiment, the thread is one of a plurality of active threads in a multiprocessor system that includes memory livelock breaker logic and/or starvation avoidance logic. Other embodiments are also described and claimed. |
| US08276141B2 |
Selection of transaction managers based on transaction metadata
One or more transaction managers are automatically selected from a plurality of transaction managers for use in processing a transaction. The selection is based on types of resources used by the transaction and supported resource types of the transaction managers. The selection of the one or more transaction managers enables less than all of the transaction managers of an application server to be used in transaction commit processing, thereby improving performance. |
| US08276136B2 |
Transparent configuration of a network appliance
A method and apparatus for configuring a remotely available service. In one embodiment, the method includes downloading configuration data for the remotely available service while running a current instance of the service, and invoking a new instance of the service without causing a current instance of the service to terminate. The method may further include causing the current instance of the service to continue performing designated operations until the new instance completes initialization using the configuration data and is able to perform the designated operations. |
| US08276133B1 |
System, method, and computer program product for determining a plurality of application settings utilizing a mathematical function
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for determining a plurality of application settings utilizing a mathematical function. In operation, a plurality of application parameters are identified. Additionally, the application parameters are defined as a mathematical function. Furthermore, a plurality of application settings are determined utilizing the mathematical function. |
| US08276131B2 |
Method and system for dynamic loop transfer by populating split variables
A method that provides for dynamic loop transfer for a method having a first set of instructions being executed by an interpreter is provided. An execution stack includes slots for storing a value of each local variable known to each subroutine while the subroutine is active. The method comprises suspending execution at a point for which a current execution state can be captured from the execution stack; assigning the value in each slot of the execution stack to a corresponding slot of an array of values; scanning the first set of instructions to identify a data type for local variable that is not known in the current execution state and shares a slot in the execution stack with a local variable that is known; and generating a second set of instructions for the method coded to be initially executed to declare each local variable that is known in the current execution state and each local variable for which a data type was identified, assign each declared variable with the value assigned to the slot in the array that corresponds to the slot of the execution stack in which the value of the variable is stored during execution of the first set of instructions, and branch to a target point in the second set of instructions that corresponds to the point at which execution was suspended. |
| US08276125B2 |
Automatic discovery of the java classloader delegation hierarchy
A computer implemented method, data processing system, and computer program product for automatic discovery of the Java classloader delegation hierarchy. One or more classloaders are instrumented with byte code instrumentation code such that a delegation event is received each time a classloader delegates a resource finding method to a parent classloader of the classloader. From each delegation event received, the classloader that generated the delegation event and a parent classloader to which the classloader directly delegates the resource finding method is determined. Based on the delegation events received, the classloaders to which a current classloader in the one or more classloaders can directly delegate are determined. The order of delegation to the classloaders may then be determined. |
| US08276124B2 |
Constructing petri nets from traces for diagnostics
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for using Petri Nets for diagnostics of concurrent programs. One or more initial traces are obtained from a concurrent program that executed properly. The initial trace is used to create a Petri Net. To generate the Petri Net, unique task identifiers and places of interest are generated, and transitions are added. The resulting Petri Net is stored for later use in differential debugging. A trace is obtained from a later execution of the concurrent program that did not execute properly. The later trace is run against the Petri Net to identify at least one difference. A Petri Net can also be used for model checking of concurrent programs. A model checking process is performed to analyze possible executions in the Petri Net to look for one or more problems. A result of the model checking process is output. |
| US08276118B2 |
Depicting changes to structures in an integrated development environment
Operating an integrated development environment in a data processing system comprising running a source code editor, displaying source code in a graphical interface of the source code editor, displaying at least one cross-reference marker, the at least one cross-reference marker indicating crosscutting in the source code, receiving an input, changing one or more cross-reference markers, and highlighting the one or more changed cross-reference marker. |
| US08276117B2 |
Displaying and refactoring programs that include database statements
Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for displaying and refactoring of programs, including database statements. In one embodiment, database statements embedded in the program source are evaluated to identify statements of the source code affected by, or affecting, the changed element of the database. An indication of the statements of source code affected by or affecting the changed element of the database may be presented to a user. |
| US08276116B2 |
Algebra operation method, apparatus, and storage medium thereof
An algebra operation method includes the steps of converting algebra operations for a plurality of objects which appear in a program into an algebra operation sequence object described using object access data used to access the plurality of objects and object state data used to store states associated with the plurality of objects without immediately evaluating the algebra operations, determining a function to be applied to the algebra operation sequence object, and evaluating the algebra operations by executing the function by designating an argument group required for the function in response to a call of a substitute operator. |
| US08276113B2 |
Dynamic highlighting of related artifacts in a UML diagram
A method displays a Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagram on a graphic user interface. The UML diagram can have, for example, nodes representing objects of an object-oriented system. Further, input is received regarding the location of a user-directed pointer on the UML diagram. The location of the pointer identifies a currently “selected node” of the UML diagram. In response to such input, the method dynamically highlights portions of the UML diagram depending on the location of the selected node. This highlighting process dynamically alters the appearances of nodes logically related to the selected node by highlighting nodes that are relatively closely related to the selected node differently (e.g., more brightly) than nodes that are not as relatively closely related to the selected node. |
| US08276110B2 |
Reducing voltage drops in power networks using unused spaces in integrated circuits
A method of designing an integrated circuit includes providing an integrated circuit design including a power network. A voltage drop mitigation system is provided, which includes a power strap enhancer configured to automatically find a source node and a terminal node in the power network. A redundant strap for the power network using the voltage drop mitigation system is added, wherein the redundant strap interconnects the source node and the terminal node. After the step of adding the redundant strap, dummy patterns may be added. |
| US08276104B2 |
Stress reduction on vias and yield improvement in layout design through auto generation of via fill
A process for automated via doubling in a layout of a semiconductor device, comprising: selecting at least one cell of the layout for via doubling, wherein the at least one cell comprises at least two metal layers; selecting at least two metal layers of the at least one cell for via doubling; selecting metal/metal intersection areas out of the at least two metal layers, wherein a metal/metal intersection comprises an existing via interconnecting a plurality of metal layers; and dimensionally fitting additional vias into the selected metal/metal intersection areas, wherein the additional vias are placed into the layout. |
| US08276101B2 |
Touch gestures for text-entry operations
In general, this disclosure describes techniques for providing a user of a computing device with the ability to perform text-entry operations (e.g., using a touch screen) on a computing device. Specifically, the techniques of this disclosure may, in some examples, allow the user to use gestures on a mobile computing device to perform text entry and editing operations. Using a presence-sensitive user interface device (e.g., a touch screen), the user may use gestures to enter text into text-based applications (e.g., short message service (SMS) messages, e-mail message, uniform resource locators (URLs), and the like). Using visually-defined areas on the touch screen, the user may utilize gestures of certain patterns, relative to the defined areas, to indicate text entry and editing operations such as, for example, deleting characters and words, indicating a space or return characters, and the like. |
| US08276097B2 |
Key control system and method
A key control system disposed in a display apparatus includes a hierarchical menu, a power key, and a key module. The hierarchical menu includes a first layer menu and a second layer menu. The first layer menu has an item corresponding to the second layer menu. The power key is adapted to turn on the power supply of the display apparatus. The key control system is used to execute a key control method includes steps of defining the function of the power key as opening the first layer menu of the hierarchical menu after the power supply is turned on; defining the function of the key module as selecting the item of the first layer menu when the first layer menu is opened; and defining the function of the power key as opening the second layer menu after the item of the first layer menu is selected. |
| US08276095B2 |
System for and method of generating and navigating within a workspace of a computer application
A computer application and method for generating a workspace and navigating therein are disclosed. Code can be used to generate an application workspace for an associated computer application, wherein the application workspace is comprised of a plurality of screens and each screen has dimensions that are generally coextensive with a viewable area defined by the computer application. Code can be used to logically associate a plurality of sub-application windows for displaying viewable content with respective locations of the application workspace. |
| US08276093B2 |
Computer-readable storage medium having object display order changing program stored therein and apparatus
An icon line is displayed on a screen. A display order for the icon line can be changed by using a switch input unit enabling a direction input. When an input in a first direction is made, objects are scrolled so as to sequentially display each object at a specific position or the objects are scrolled across the specific position. When an input in the second direction is made, an object positioned at the specific position is saved at a saving position or an object positioned at the saving position is positioned at the specific position. Thus, a user is allowed to easily change the display order in which a plurality of objects are displayed on a screen. |
| US08276090B2 |
Automatic reference note generator
A reference note is automatically generated in an electronic document when directly quoting information from another electronic document by receiving a first user-selected insertion point or replacement area to a destination electronic document by receiving a user selection of text content to be transferred from a source user interface to the first insertion point or replacement area; automatically copying the selected content to a transfer buffer without requiring the user to return to the first user interface; automatically capturing and recording one or more source reference data items corresponding to the selected content simultaneously with or subsequent to automatically copying the selected content to a transfer buffer; and automatically generating in the destination electronic document at least one reference note such as a footnote, an endnote, a table of references entry, or a bibliographical entry containing the recorded source reference data items. |
| US08276086B2 |
Method and system for visual landing page optimization configuration and implementation
Systems, methods, and computer program products provide a utility to an administrator computer used by an administrator for visually configuring an optimization experiment on a landing page. The landing page selected by the administrator is read. The landing page is processed to allow the administrator to configure the optimization experiment without writing code. |
| US08276081B2 |
Computer-based methods for arranging meetings and systems for performing the same
Methods and systems for assisting individuals arrange meetings such as networking meetings with other individuals at a specified time (or within a specified time range) and at a specified place (or within a specified geographic region). More specifically, methods and systems for allowing individuals to post an invitation to for a meeting on an on-line network. |
| US08276079B2 |
Supplementing user web-browsing
An apparatus and method of providing a user with a web-browser supplement is disclosed. One method includes providing access to a focal group, wherein the focal group includes at least one member having at least one association with the user. Access is provided to information associated with the at least one member having relevance to the focal group. Web browsing by the user is supplemented by the information of the members of the focal group. |
| US08276073B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program that enable easy information acquisition.A television receiver accesses an application server to acquire an application list. The television receiver accesses the application server again to acquire an application selected from the application list. While a processing based on the acquired application is being executed, the television receiver accesses a contents server to acquire contents data as needed. The acquired application or contents data is deleted from a storage section when an instruction to end the processing based on the application is made. The invention can be applied to a television receiver that acquires data through a network. |
| US08276067B2 |
Classification method and apparatus
A method for building a classification model for classifying unclassified documents based on the classification of a plurality of documents which respectively have been classified as belonging to one of a plurality of classes, said documents being digitally represented in a computer, said documents respectively comprising a plurality of terms which respectively comprise one or more symbols of a finite set of symbols, and said method comprising the following steps: representing each of said plurality of documents by a vector of n dimensions, said n dimensions forming a vector space, whereas the value of each dimension of said vector corresponds to the frequency of occurrence of a certain term in the document corresponding to said vector, so that said n dimensions span up a vector space; representing the classification of said already classified documents into classes by separating said vector space into a plurality of subspaces by one or more hyperplanes, such that each subspace comprises one or more documents as represented by their corresponding vectors in said vector space, so that said each subspace corresponds to a class. |
| US08276065B2 |
System and method for classifying electronically posted documents
A method for classifying electronically posted documents includes receiving two posted documents and generating corresponding metadata summaries for each, wherein each of the metadata summaries includes at least one sub-tree structure. The structures of the two summary sub-trees within the respective metadata summaries are subsequently compared. If the two summary sub-trees are different, the two documents are deemed distinct. If the two summary sub-trees are the same, attribute values and text content of the metadata summaries are compared over a portion of the metadata summaries. If the compared attribute values and text content are determined to be the same, the documents are deemed duplicative. |
| US08276064B2 |
Method and system for effective schema generation via programmatic analysis
A method to generate an effective schema of an electronic document for optimizing the processing thereof may include performing a programmatic analysis to determine all required portions of the electronic document. The method may also include generating a parser or deserializer to build an optimized document model; and specializing a document processing program against the optimized document model. |
| US08276061B2 |
Marking and annotating electronic documents
A user can highlight text and provide accompanying annotations. Highlighted text, accompanying annotations, and time-stamp information are stored in a user profile that is maintained locally with a web browser, at the client side. A retrieved web page is presented to a user with annotations of some form, based upon the user profile. The retrieved web page may typically be annotated through marked or highlighted portions of text, so that the user can readily locate this information in the web page, and assess the relevance of the retrieved page. |
| US08276059B2 |
Displaying detailed information in the context of a condensed enumeration of information
Systems and techniques for displaying detailed information in the context of a condensed enumeration of information. For example, in one aspect, in one aspect, a display includes a visual rendition of a table that systematically arranges condensed information in a collection of rows and columns for reference by a human user. The table includes information characterizing a collection of items. The visual rendition of the table comprises a region that renders additional detail regarding a first item in the collection. The region is disposed in the midst of the visual rendition of the table. |
| US08276058B2 |
Method of automatically populating and generating flowerchart cells
A method for creating a multimedia experience is disclosed. The method includes defining a first cell, defining a first branch selectively associated with the first cell, and defining a second branch selectively associated with the first cell. The method further includes associating a variable with the first cell that is configured to identify one of the first and second branches. The method further includes defining a second cell, associating the second cell to the first cell such that the variable is reflected in the second cell, and generating copies of the first and second branches in response to the association of the variable to the second cell. |
| US08276055B1 |
Low latency programmable encoder with outer systematic code and low-density parity-check code
Low-latency programmable encoders, and more particularly, low-latency programmable encoders which use low-density parity check (LDPC) codes in combination with an outer systematic code. The LDPC encoder is programmable for any irregular circulant-based LDPC code. The code profile, block length, number of block rows, and number of block columns can vary. The LDPC encoding and the outer systematic code encoding can proceed in a parallel manner (e.g., simultaneously) instead of in a serial manner. |
| US08276054B2 |
Wireless communication system, wireless communication apparatus, wireless communication method, and computer program
A wireless communication system includes a first communication station configured to operate according to a first communication protocol, and a second communication station capable of operating according to both the first communication protocol and a second communication protocol. When the second communication station transmits a packet according to the second communication protocol, at least a first signal field compliant with the first communication protocol and a second signal field compliant with the second communication protocol are attached to a header of the packet, and the first signal field includes a parity bit. When the second communication station receives a packet from another communication station, the second communication station performs a parity check on the first signal field of the packet, and when no parity error is detected, the second communication station further checks whether content of the first signal field is compliant with the first communication protocol. |
| US08276053B2 |
Decoding circuit operating in response to decoded result and/or a plurality of viterbi target levels with pattern dependency
A decoding circuit includes: a level adjuster with pattern dependency arranged to generate a plurality of Viterbi target levels with pattern dependency; and a Viterbi decoder arranged to perform Viterbi decoding according to the Viterbi target levels with pattern dependency. A decoding circuit includes a Viterbi decoder arranged to perform Viterbi decoding, and the Viterbi decoder includes a branch metric generator arranged to generate a plurality of branch metrics with pattern dependency according to an input of the Viterbi decoder and a plurality of Viterbi target levels with pattern dependency. In particular, the branch metric generator includes: a plurality of branch metric generation paths arranged to generate a plurality of intermediate values according to the input of the Viterbi decoder and the Viterbi target levels with pattern dependency, respectively; and a selection unit for selecting a portion of the intermediate values as the branch metrics with pattern dependency. |
| US08276051B2 |
Chien-search system employing a clock-gating scheme to save power for error correction decoder and other applications
Chien search apparatus operative to evaluate an error locator polynomial having a known rank and including a sequence of terms for each element in a finite field whose elements correspond respectively to bits in each of a stream of data blocks to be decoded, the apparatus comprising a sequence of functional units each operative to compute a corresponding term in the sequence of terms included in the error locator polynomial, each term having a degree; and a power saving unit operative to de-activate at least one individual functional unit from among the sequence of functional units, the individual functional unit being operative, when active, to compute a term whose degree exceeds the rank. |
| US08276040B2 |
Digital broadcasting system and method of processing data in digital broadcasting system
A digital broadcasting system and a method for controlling the same are disclosed. A method for controlling a digital broadcast receiving system includes the steps of receiving a broadcast signal having mobile service data and main service data multiplexed therein, extracting transmission parameter channel (TPC) signaling information and fast information channel (FIC) signaling information from a data group within the received mobile service data, by using the extracted fast information channel (FIC) signaling information, acquiring a program table describing virtual channel information and service of an ensemble, the ensemble being a virtual channel group of the received mobile service data, by using the acquired program table, detecting a descriptor defining basic information required for accessing the received service, and, by using the detected descriptor, controlling the receiving system to enable access to the corresponding service. |
| US08276035B1 |
High performance digital communications resiliency in a roamable virtual private network
There is a class of applications that favor expediency of the communications over reliability. Counter-intuitively, the reliability aspect of a protocol may cause sub-optimal performance when considering this special class of applications in some environments. To resolve this performance issue, the exemplary illustrative non-limiting protocol implementation favors timeliness over reliability by allowing for loss of data, thus providing a non-guaranteed, order sensitive level of service. Such features can be combined in the same system and data stream/channel with a guaranteed-reliable protocol to provide a roamable VPN simultaneously providing both guaranteed-reliable and real-time, dynamically adaptable performance. |
| US08276033B2 |
Data writing method for a flash memory, and flash memory controller and flash memory storage apparatus using the same
A data writing method for a flash memory, and a flash memory controller and a flash memory storage apparatus using the same are provided. First, data is received from a host system. Next, the data is divided into at least one frame. Afterwards, an error checking and correcting (ECC) code corresponding to the frame is generated so as to form at least one ECC frame. Then, the ECC frame is divided into a plurality of frame segments. Finally, the frame segments are written into a flash memory chip according to a non-sequentially ranking order. |
| US08276032B2 |
Detection of uncorrectable re-grown fuses in a microprocessor
A microprocessor includes a first plurality of fuses, a predetermined number of which are selectively blown. Control values are provided from the first plurality of fuses to circuits of the microprocessor to control operation of the microprocessor. The microprocessor also includes a second plurality of fuses, blown with the predetermined number of the first plurality of fuses that are blown. In response to being reset, the microprocessor is configured to: read the first plurality of fuses and count a number of them that are blown; read the predetermined number from the second plurality of fuses; compare the counted number with the predetermined number read from the second plurality of fuses; and prevent itself from fetching and executing user program instructions if the number counted from reading the first plurality of fuses does not equal the predetermined number read from the second plurality of fuses. |
| US08276030B2 |
Scan distributor and parallel scan paths with controlled output buffer
Scan distributor, collector, and controller circuitry connect to the functional inputs and outputs of core circuitry on integrated circuits to provide testing through those functional inputs and outputs. Multiplexer and demultiplexer circuits select between the scan circuitry and the functional inputs and outputs. The core circuitry can also be provided with built-in scan distributor, collector, and controller circuitry to avoid having to add it external of the core circuitry. With appropriately placed built-in scan distributor and collector circuits, connecting together the functional inputs and outputs of the core circuitry also connects together the scan distributor and collector circuitry in each core. This can provide a hierarchy of scan circuitry and reduce the need for separate test interconnects and multiplexers. |
| US08276029B2 |
System and method for using a memory mapping function to map memory defects
A system and method are herein disclosed for managing memory defects in an information handling system. More particularly, a system and method are described for generating a usable memory map which excludes memory locations containing defect memory elements. In an information handling system, a memory defect map, which contains information about the location of defective memory elements, is coupled to the memory device. As a map of memory usable by the system is created, usable memory regions containing defective memory elements are excluded from the memory map. The memory map is passed to the operating system, which uses only those regions of memory designated as usable and non-defective. |
| US08276028B2 |
Using error information from nearby locations to recover uncorrectable data in non-volatile memory
In various embodiments, the reference voltage used for read operations in a non-volatile memory may be adjusted up or down in an attempt to read data from an area that previously produced at least one uncorrectable error. The direction and amount of this adjustment may be based on the number and direction of correctable errors in surrounding data. |
| US08276026B2 |
Transmission apparatus, reception apparatus, and transmission/reception method for same
A receiving station repeatedly performs decoding processing of data in a decoding processing portion, performs error detection of the decoding results, and transmits to a transmitting station an error detection result (ACK/NACK) for decoding results for a preset number of executions, and moreover issues a request to the transmitting station to modify the data transmission interval based on the data reception characteristic. The transmitting station transmits data at transmission intervals according to the transmission interval modification requests sent from the receiving station. The receiving station selectively inputs to the decoding processing portion the data received from the transmitting station and the previous decoding result data. |
| US08276024B2 |
Method and system for error correction of a storage media
A data file on a storage media is processed during playback or execution to identify unreadable data. Replacement data corresponding to the unreadable data is obtained over a communications network, and the replacement data is used to playback or execute the data file as if the data file does not contain any unreadable data. |
| US08276023B2 |
Method and system for remote monitoring subscription service
Embodiments pertain generally to a method of providing a remote monitoring subscription service. The method includes receiving client activity data from at least one of a client virtual machine and a physical machine supporting the client virtual machine at a site of a customer and comparing the client activity data against a set of performance guidelines. The method also includes determining a recommended action in response to the client activity data not falling within the set of performance guidelines and forwarding the recommended action to the customer. |
| US08276019B2 |
Processing method, and computer for fault recovery
A computer for the stream data processing system includes a query recovery point management table. A recovery point management section determines a recovery point for the stream data processing system by identifying an oldest one of input tuples used for generating output tuples, which are managed, or an earlier tuple through the use of a query recovery point stored in the query recovery point management table, and transmits the determined recovery point for the stream data processing system to an additional computer. The additional computer stores the last-received recovery point for the stream data processing system in a checkpoint file. When the computer for the stream data processing system recovers from a fault, the additional computer transmits the data succeeding the stored recovery point to the computer for the stream data processing system. |
| US08276018B2 |
Non-volatile memory based reliability and availability mechanisms for a computing device
Mechanisms are provided for use with a microprocessor chip, for storing selected reliability information in an on-chip non-volatile storage device. An on-chip reliability controller coupled to one or more on-chip resources of the microprocessor chip, collects raw reliability information from the one or more on-chip resources of the microprocessor chip. The on-chip reliability controller analyzes the raw reliability information to identify selected reliability information for the one or more resources of the microprocessor chip. The on-chip reliability controller stores the selected reliability information in the on-chip non-volatile storage device. The on-chip non-volatile storage device stores the selected reliability information even in the event of an overall failure of the microprocessor chip in which the microprocessor chip loses power. The on-chip non-volatile storage device has an interface through which the selected reliability information is accessible by an off-chip device even in the event of an overall failure of the microprocessor chip. |
| US08276014B2 |
Stalling synchronisation circuits in response to a late data signal
A data processing circuitry for processing data is disclosed. The data processing circuitry comprises: a plurality of synchronization circuits for capturing and transmitting the data in response to a clock signal and a plurality of combinational circuits arranged between the synchronization circuits for processing the data, the plurality of synchronization circuits being arranged in at least two groups; an error detecting circuit for determining if the data input to one of the plurality of synchronization circuits is stable during a predetermined time and for signalling an error if the data input is unstable, the predetermined time being less than a half cycle of the clock signal; control circuitry responsive to said error detecting circuit signalling said error to transmit a control signal to at least one of said groups of synchronization circuits that contains a subsequent synchronization circuit that said synchronization circuit with said unstable input is configured to transmit said data to; each of said group of synchronization circuits being configured to respond to receipt of said control signal to stall for a clock cycle and to transmit a stall signal to at least one further group of synchronization circuits that said group of synchronization circuits is configured to transmit data to or receive data from; each of said group of synchronization circuits being configured to respond to receipt of said stall signal provided they have not stalled in a preceding clock cycle to stall for a clock cycle and to transmit a stall signal to said at least one further group of synchronization circuits. |
| US08276013B2 |
System and method for reducing a link failure detection delay using a link energy signal while in a low power idle mode
A system and method for using a link energy signal in physical layer devices (PHYs) having a silent channel/interface in energy efficient Ethernet (EEE). LPI modes in EEE suffer deficiencies in cable unplug detection due to the latency in refresh cycles. LPI modes in EEE also suffer from potential frequency drift, which leads to high bit error rate (BER) when coming out of LPI mode. A link energy signal transmitted during LPI modes enables real-time detection of cable unplug and the frequency lock to be maintained. |
| US08276012B2 |
Priority-based power capping in data processing systems
A mechanism is provided for priority-based power capping. A power management controller identifies a set of priorities for a set of partitions of the data processing system. The power management controller determines whether a measured power of the data processing system exceeds a power cap for the data processing system. Responsive to the measured power exceeding the power cap, the power management controller sends a set of commands to a set of component actuators to adjust one or more of a set of operation parameters for a set of components associated with the set of partitions using the set of priorities. The set of component actuators adjust the one or more of the set of operational parameters associated with the set of component in order to reduce a power consumption of the data processing system. |
| US08276007B2 |
Processor and switching power supply apparatus
A processor includes analog signal input ports, an A/D conversion unit, and an ALU in a stage subsequent to the A/D conversion unit, separately from a CPU. The ALU not only stores a comparison result in a RAM independently of the CPU, but also compares an output value of the A/D conversion unit with a reference value set in the RAM, and interrupts the CPU or issues a command to a PWM generator in accordance with a flag based on the comparison result. This realizes high-speed processing in accordance with a change in an analog signal, although the processor has a low cost and a low clock frequency overall. |
| US08276004B2 |
Systems and methods for energy efficient load balancing at server clusters
Methods and systems to balance the load among a set of processing units, such as servers, in a manner that allows the servers periods of low power consumption. This allows energy efficient operation of the set of processing units. Moreover, the process is adaptable to variations in systemic response times, so that systemic response times may be improved when operational conditions so dictate. |
| US08276001B2 |
Apparatus and method for conrolling power supplied to both processing system and battery
An apparatus and method for adaptively changing a constant power level of a system in compliance with a current system specification can improve safety issues such as overheating, due to excess charging capacity. After purchase/after market add-ons to the system made by a customer can change the load such that the present invention adaptively changes the constant power level supplied to match the after initial purchase add-ons. The method includes acquiring system specification information, searching for a constant power level corresponding to the acquired system specification information, and changing a constant power level according to the searched constant power level. |
| US08276000B2 |
System and method for supplying power to a load using deep-sleep-mode power supplies
A system and method are provided for supplying power to a load using deep-sleep-mode power supplies. Each of plural switching power supplies includes an input converter, an output converter and a standby converter. Each is configured to have its output converter connected to the load, and each is configured to operate in at least an online mode in which the input, output and standby converters are enabled for switching, and a deep sleep mode in which the input, output and standby converters are disabled from switching. A system controller is configured to place a first set of the plural switching power supplies in the online mode and a second set of the plural switching power supplies in the deep sleep mode while the load is operating and the power supplies in the first set are supplying power to the load. |
| US08275999B2 |
Methods for providing power to an information handling system upon receiving a hot plug detect signal from a video display
A method for powering on an information handling system (IHS) includes receiving a power request signal from a video display in communication with the IHS. The methods further includes determining that the power request signal is a response to a power-on signal for the video display, and powering on the IHS by sending the power-on signal to a power controller of the IHS. |
| US08275995B2 |
Identity authentication and secured access systems, components, and methods
Security tokens contain data that is each uniquely encrypted based on a unique biometric identifier of an authorized user of that token. Decoders receive the token and the user's biometric identifier, convert the biometric identifier to a biometric key, and apply the biometric key to decrypt the token. In this way, the decoders authenticate the users without performing a biometric identifier comparison. In some embodiments pieces or sets of the data are stored in designated data compartments, which are individually encrypted based on authority keys, and all of the encrypted data compartments are collectively encrypted based on the biometric key to create the token. The decoders store only the authority keys corresponding to the data compartments which they have authorization to open. In addition, in some embodiments the token and the biometric identifier are encrypted and sent to a remote authentication server for decryption of the token. |
| US08275993B2 |
Author signatures for legal purposes
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for establishing trust in an electronic document. An electronic document is received. State dependent content in the electronic document is identified. The state dependent content is content that is renderable to have a several appearances. The electronic document is presented to a user, which includes disclosing the presence of any identified state dependent content in the electronic document. |
| US08275990B2 |
Method for receiving/sending multimedia messages
A method for receiving/sending multimedia message uses a wireless LAN, and communicates with a gateway via the wireless LAN so as to send and receive multimedia messages. Furthermore, the gateway of the invention detects whether the user device is located within the wireless LAN. If yes, then multimedia messages are sent and received via the wireless LAN; and if not, then via conventional telecom network. The invention also discloses a corresponding gateway and a corresponding user device. |
| US08275988B2 |
Verification of system information in wireless communication system
The present invention relates to a method for communicating between a network and a mobile terminal. The method comprises possessing at least one configuration parameter, and transmitting a message to the network, wherein the message includes information for verifying the authenticity of the at least one configuration parameter to the network, and wherein the information for verifying the authenticity of the at least one configuration parameter is calculated using an integrity key. |
| US08275985B1 |
Infrastructure to secure federated web services
A federation participant in communication with other participants of a federation according to a federation protocol is described. The web service participant includes business logic and a security provider. The business logic implements a web service consumer (WSC) or a web service provider (WSP) business logic. The business logic is configured to generate an outgoing message for transmission to a recipient and receive an incoming message from the recipient, the recipient being a WSP if the business logic is a WSC business logic and a WSC if the business logic is a WSP business logic. The security provider is configured to receive the generated messages and apply header information to the outgoing message according to the federation protocol to form a modified outgoing message. The security provider then transmits the modified outgoing message to the recipient. Methods of operation for the WSC and WSP are also described. |
| US08275982B2 |
System and method for a managed BIOS
In accordance with the present disclosure, a system and method for a managed BIOS is disclosed. A software for a BIOS in an information handling system is provided on a computer readable medium. A first code, for execution on a central processing unit (CPU), is operable to initiate a connection to a management controller through a controller, send a message to the management controller through the controller, and receive a message from the management controller through the controller in response to a system management interrupt. The first code is also operable to stall a power-on procedure if it is able to determine a plurality of bootable devices before the connection to the management controller is ready. The first code is further operable to stall the power-on procedure before releasing control to an operating system if the management controller is active. |
| US08275980B2 |
Server computer, computer system, and file management method
A server computer which determines the configuration of a file for configuring a plurality of virtual computers respectively is configured to comprise: an OS/AP file evaluation criteria table which stores evaluation criteria for judging whether to split and manage a file required for the configuration of the virtual computers; a user data evaluation criteria TBL; and a verification and splitting unit which judges whether the file conforms to the evaluation criteria, and determines a part of a file judged to conform to the evaluation criteria as a first file stored as an entity and determines the remaining part of the file as a second file for referencing an entity of a predetermined destination storage. |
| US08275978B1 |
Execution of conditional branch instruction specifying branch point operand to be stored in jump stack with branch destination for jumping to upon matching program counter value
In one embodiment the present invention includes a microprocessor that has a pipeline circuit, a branch circuit, and a control circuit. The pipeline circuit pipelines instructions for the microprocessor. The branch circuit is coupled to the pipeline circuit and operates to store branch information. The control circuit is coupled to the pipeline circuit and the branch circuit. The control circuit stores a first branch information from the pipeline circuit to the branch circuit when a first condition is met. The control circuit retrieves a second branch information from the branch stack circuit to the pipeline circuit when a second condition is met. In this manner, the need for dedicated pipeline flush circuitry is avoided. |
| US08275972B2 |
Write data mask method and system
In various embodiments, dedicated mask pins are eliminated by sending a data mask on address lines of the interface. A memory controller receives a request for a memory write operation from a memory client and determines the granularity of the write data from a write data mask sent by the client. Granularity, as used herein, indicates a quantity of write data to which each bit of the received write data mask applies. In an embodiment, the memory controller generates a particular write command and a particular write data mask based on the granularity of the write data. The write command generated is typically the most efficient of several write commands available, but embodiments are not so limited. The write command is transmitted on command lines of the interface, and the write data mask is transmitted on address lines of the interface. |
| US08275970B2 |
Optimizing write traffic to a disk
The write optimizer described in this disclosure optimizes write traffic to a disk. The write optimization technique writes small data sets to be written to a disk drive to a log file in write optimized order and rewrites the small data sets to disk drive in read optimized order when the disk drive is idle. The write optimizer reserves a portion of a disk to be used for write performance improvement, and then takes all small writes to the disk and writes them to the reserved area rather than to their intended destination. When the disk becomes idle (or the reserved area full), the write optimizer takes the data that has been written to the reserved area and that has not been subsequently overwritten and copies it to its final location. |
| US08275966B2 |
Dispersed storage network virtual address generations
A dispersed storage device within a dispersed storage network includes a processing module for determining whether to add a new generation for a vault, in which the vault identifies at least one user having data to be stored. When the new generation is to be added to the vault, the processing module further assigns a vault generation identifier to the new generation, assigns a virtual address range of a virtual memory associated with the dispersed storage network to the new generation and maps the virtual address range to a physical memory for storage of the data therein. |
| US08275957B2 |
System and method for optimizing data in value-based storage system
A method (and system) of storing data in a value-based storage system, includes optimizing a value of data stored in the value-based storage system. |
| US08275955B2 |
Efficient data storage system
A system and method are disclosed for providing efficient data storage. A plurality of data segments is received in a data stream. The system determines whether a data segment has been stored previously in a low latency memory. In the event that the data segment is determined to have been stored previously, an identifier for the previously stored data segment is returned. |
| US08275952B2 |
Data recording device and data recording method configured to sort data by frame ID prior to recording
In a data recording device which records a plurality of data items of different kinds, one or plurality of nodes set the plurality of data items to data frames with frame IDs uniquely assigned for respective kinds of the data items, and transmit the data frames to a multiplex communication line. A recording unit assorts the data items contained in the data frames sent from the multiplex communication line, in accordance with the frame IDs of the data frames, and stores the assorted data items in a storage unit. |
| US08275947B2 |
Mechanism to prevent illegal access to task address space by unauthorized tasks
A method and data processing system for tracking global shared memory (GSM) operations to and from a local node configured with a host fabric interface (HFI) coupled to a network fabric. During task/job initialization, the system OS assigns HFI window(s) to handle the GSM packet generation and GSM packet receipt and processing for each local task. HFI processing logic automatically tags each GSM packet generated by the HFI window with a global job identifier (ID) of the job to which the local task is affiliated. The job ID is embedded within each GSM packet placed on the network fabric. On receipt of a GSM packet from the network fabric, the HFI logic retrieves the embedded job ID and compares the embedded job ID with the ID within the HFI window(s). GSM packets are forwarded to an HFI window only when the embedded job ID matches the HFI window's job ID. |
| US08275940B2 |
Method and device for optimisation of the management of a server cache which may be consulted by client terminals with differing characteristics
A method is provided for optimization of the management of a server cache for dynamic pages, which may be consulted by client terminals with differing characteristics which requires the provision of discrete versions of a dynamic page in the cache. When a terminal requests a dynamic page, a verification step—for the presence of at least one version of the dynamic page in the cache is carried out, such that if the verification is positive the following complementary steps are carried out: procurement of a set of characteristics specific to the type of client terminal, determination of a subset of necessary characteristics from amongst the specific characteristics for the reproduction of the dynamic page on a client terminal, search, among the version(s) of the dynamic page in the cache for a suitable version using the subset of necessary characteristics and allocation of the suitable version to the client terminal. |
| US08275937B2 |
Storage system and processing efficiency improving method of storage system
A storage system 200 has a storage device 240 providing a plurality of logical volumes 250 used as data storage areas of a host 100 and a plurality of MPPKs 210 executing data IO processes for the logical volumes 250 from the host 100 and, when it is determined whether the MPPKs 210 correlated with the logical volumes 250 must be changed based on a storage function such as local copy set for the logical volumes 250, if it is determined that the change is necessary, the MPPK 210 after the change is determined such that the logical volumes 250 are correlated with the same MPPK 210. |
| US08275935B2 |
Semiconductor storage device and control method thereof
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor storage device comprises a main memory, a request issue module, a delay module, and an access module. The main memory is configured to store candidate information for determining a compaction candidate for a nonvolatile memory. The request issue module is configured to issue an access request for the candidate information in the main memory. The delay module is configured to delay the access request issued from the request issue module. The access module is configured to access the candidate information in the main memory based on an access request delayed by the delay module. |
| US08275934B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device and cache read method using the same
A nonvolatile memory device includes first and second registers configured to store parameters received via an input/output (IO) unit, a microcontroller configured to control an operation of the nonvolatile memory device according to the parameter stored in the first register, and a control logic unit configured to, when a parameter is received via the IO unit while the microcontroller performs an internal operation, store the received parameter in the second register. |
| US08275933B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for managing physical regions in a solid-state storage device
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for managing physical regions in a solid-state storage device. The definition module defines a physical storage region on solid-state storage media of a solid-state storage device. The physical storage region includes a subset of total physical storage capacity on the solid-state storage media. The storage controller performs memory operations within the physical storage region such that the memory operations are bounded to the physical storage region. The implementation module implements the physical storage region definition with respect to the storage controller for the solid-state storage media. |
| US08275931B2 |
Block management method for flash memory, and storage system and controller using the same
A block management method for a flash memory of a storage system is provided, wherein the flash memory includes a plurality of physical blocks. The block management method includes grouping the physical blocks into a plurality of physical units, and grouping the physical units into a data area, a spare area, and a replacement area. The block management method further includes performing a first physical unit switch which switches the physical units between the data area and the spare area, and performing a second physical unit switch which switches the physical units between the spare area and the replacement area. Therefore, the block management method can uniformly use the physical blocks and thereby effectively prolong a lifespan of the storage system. |
| US08275928B2 |
Memory module and method for performing wear-leveling of memory module using remapping, link, and spare area tables
The invention comprises a memory module capable of wear-leveling. In one embodiment, the memory module comprises a flash memory and a controller. The flash memory comprises a plurality of management units, wherein each of the management units comprises a plurality of blocks. The controller receives new data with a logical address managed by a first management unit selected from the management units, pops a first spare block from a spare area of the first management unit, determines whether an erase count of the first spare block is greater than a first threshold value, searches a second management unit selected from the management units for a replacing block with an erase count lower than a second threshold value when the erase count of the first spare block is greater than the first threshold value, and directs the first management unit and the second management unit to exchange the first spare block with the replacing block. |
| US08275920B2 |
Event handling in an integrated execution environment
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, are described for handling input received from a common interface of a program and a runtime environment when both the program and the runtime environment are configured to consume the received input. Given that both a browser program and a media player program hosted by the browser program are configured to detect an event of a certain type, there may be a contention of whether the browser program or the media player program may act first on the detected event. The disclosed systems and techniques enable interpretation of a user's intent when the user interacts with a webpage hosting media content and when the user's input occurs over media content rendered by the media player program. Similar advantages may also be realized within the context of another execution environment, or other program, different than a browser program. |
| US08275917B2 |
Efficient communication of producer/consumer buffer status
A mechanism is provided for efficient communication of producer/consumer buffer status. With the mechanism, devices in a data processing system notify each other of updates to head and tail pointers of a shared buffer region when the devices perform operations on the shared buffer region using signal notification channels of the devices. Thus, when a producer device that produces data to the shared buffer region writes data to the shared buffer region, an update to the head pointer is written to a signal notification channel of a consumer device. When a consumer device reads data from the shared buffer region, the consumer device writes a tail pointer update to a signal notification channel of the producer device. In addition, channels may operate in a blocking mode so that the corresponding device is kept in a low power state until an update is received over the channel. |
| US08275916B2 |
System for processing routing according to priorities of logical interfaces and method for controlling the same
A system for processing routing according to priorities of logical interfaces is provided. The system includes a priority setting unit for setting priorities of a plurality of logical interfaces set in a physical interface, and a priority scheduler for determining a priority of a respective logical interface from an input frame, and for outputting the input frame to a driver queue of the physical interface when the input frame is output from a logical interface having the highest priority. Traffic burstiness caused by queuing can be reduced in a network routing system employing at least one logical interface. |
| US08275915B2 |
Link state detection system for network cable
A link detection system for a network cable is applicable for detecting a connection state of the network cable. If the network cable is connected to the link detection system, the network state detection unit sends a voltage level of a first signal, so as to turn on the power supply of the LAN controller. If the network cable is unplugged, the LAN controller sends a second signal, so as to turn off the power supply of the LAN controller. Alternatively, if the network cable is linked to the network interface in an idle contact state, the network state detection unit sends another voltage level of the first signal, so as to not turn on the power supply of the LAN controller, thereby reducing the power consumption of the personal computer. |
| US08275905B2 |
System and method for store-and-forward for highly available message production
The present invention enables a store-and-forward service that provides higher availability for application residing or connecting to a server to reliably deliver messages and allows an application to send messages to a destination on another server even when the destination is not available at the moment the messages are sent because of network problems or system failures. The messages will be stored durably and temporarily on a local server, and then be efficiently forwarded to the destination once it becomes available. |
| US08275903B1 |
Concurrent transmit processing
A method and system for concurrent processing transmit requests uses transmit queue including a circular buffer and a queue state including a producer index, a consumer index, and a producer list. Producer processes write to the circular buffer concurrently. The producer list signals which portion of the circular buffer are allocated to each of the producer processes. |
| US08275901B1 |
Method and system to program programmable input output (PIO) pins via non-storage of a control message in a client
A network comprising a server and a remote client including an input output pin is disclosed. The server and the client are connected through a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection. The server controls the client input output pin, e.g., switches it on and off. The input output pin control instruction is transmitted from the server to the client. The control instruction is not stored in the client memory upon its execution. |
| US08275900B2 |
Migrating configuration information based on user identity information
Techniques are provided for the configuration of a home-networking system. Home-networking configuration information may be stored on a host system in a manner accessible to the home-networking system and migrated to a home-networking gateway or router that has not yet been configured. Wireless configuration information may be stored on a home-networking gateway or router and used to configure one or more wireless access points through the use of a physical connection, such as a wired communications pathway. One or more wireless home-networking devices may be configured based on wireless configuration information stored in a central repository on a host system or a home-networking system. The wireless configuration information may be accessible only through the use of a security code. |
| US08275895B1 |
Systems and methods for establishing a trusted dynamic host configuration protocol connection
A method for establishing trusted communication between a client and a server is described. The method is implemented by a computer system. A response is received from a first server. An internet protocol address of the first server is compared with at least one internet protocol address within a list. The response is validated if the internet protocol address of the first server is included within the list. Trusted communication is established between the client and the first server. The trusted communication includes assigning an internet protocol address provided by the response to the client. |
| US08275894B2 |
System and method for providing location information of a terminal
A common location service request/response method between various types of clients and location servers. A location request and a location estimate are delivered between a terminal and a location server using messages defined in a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) protocol. In this manner, the terminal and server using the SIP protocol can easily send a request/response for location information, making it possible to provide a new service associated with the location service. |
| US08275893B1 |
Systems and methods for accessing an interaction state between multiple devices
The present application discloses systems and methods for accessing digital content between multiple devices. The systems and methods may be directed to providing access to an interaction with a first application on a head-mounted display (HMD) to a second device. Contextual information relating information of the HMD and information associated with the interaction to describe an interaction state may be stored. A second device may be selected upon which the interaction state may be accessed and a determination of attributes of the second device may be made. The HMD may transfer to the second device the stored contextual information such that the second device may provide via the second application access to the interaction state. Information associated with a user input to the first application may also be transferred. In one example, the contextual information may describe an identified occurrence of digital content accessed via the first application. |
| US08275885B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for processing a series of service messages
A method, apparatus and system for processing of a series of service messages. In one embodiment, the series of service messages is formed by a plurality of service messages, and at least two server instances provide real-time processing of the service messages and store the information provided by the service messages and results obtained from processing the service messages. The method includes the steps of: determining an activity that affects real-time processing of the service messages will occur in at least one server instance of the server instances; and dispatching subsequent service messages among the service messages to other server instance(s) other than the at least one server instance, so as to ensure that said activity will not affect message processing delay. |
| US08275880B2 |
Media content programming, delivery, and consumption
A media content programming, delivery, and consumption model is provided by which consumers can receive programming that is personalized to their tastes and interests and discover new media content that they will likely enjoy, without having to put in a lot of effort or needing to be technically adept. The received media content programming can then be played on a PC or portable media player. Consumers can access the media content programming from a cloud-based service with the same ease as tuning to a radio station, and then may simply enjoy the programming without needing to take any additional steps. However, unlike traditional linear programming, the programming here is curated so that the delivered content is highly relevant to the consumer. Navigation within a programmed sequence is enabled by skipping ahead or going back in a playlist, and consumers can learn more about particular content by interacting with rich metadata. |
| US08275879B1 |
Generalized virtualizer IO path model and general virtual transformation model for storage assets
Modeling a data path of a network environment is disclosed. Components are identified at a source location of a data path, at a target location of the data path, and connections there between. The network environment includes a plurality of domains, and the data path traverses the plurality of domains. Components and the connections there between are assigned to one of: an input-output path pattern, a virtualizer pattern, and a meta pattern. The patterns represent common elements of components of the network environment. The patterns and relationships between patterns are defined to repeat within and across domains in the network environment. A model of the data path is created from the assigned patterns and the defined relationships between patterns. The created model of the data path is then presented. |
| US08275878B2 |
Router analysis system
A device may receive a first message that indicates whether an application layer gateway is hosted on the router, send a second message to test whether a firewall on the router incorrectly blocks the second message from reaching a client, send a set of messages to detect a pinhole in the firewall, and generate a report that provides results of receiving the first message, sending the second message, and sending the set of messages. |
| US08275869B2 |
Re-synchronizing data between network elements and network management system using partial node discovery
An apparatus and method for improving network efficiency for data transfer utilizing partial node discovery a during system recovery are disclosed. Upon retrieving a saved last sequence number associated with a network element (“NE”) from a database in a network management system (“NMS”), a process of the partial node discovery obtains a current last sequence number associated with the NE from the NE. After identifying missing sequence numbers associated with the NE, sequence events associated with the NE in the database are updated in accordance with the missing sequence numbers. |
| US08275867B2 |
Using virtual domain name service (DNS) zones for enterprise content delivery
A domain to be published to an enterprise ECDN is associated (either by static configuration or dynamically) with a set of one or more enterprise zones configurable in a hierarchy. When a DNS query arrives for a hostname known to be associated with given content within the control of the ECDN, a DNS server preferably responds in one of three (3) ways: (a) handing back an IP address, e.g., for an ECDN intelligent node that knows how to obtain the requested content from a surrogate or origin server; (b) executing a zone referral to a next (lower) level name server in a zone hierarchy, or (c) CNAMing to another hostname, thereby essentially restarting the lookup procedure. In the latter case, this new CNAME causes the resolution process to start back at the root and resolve a new path, probably along a different path in the hierarchy. At any particular level in the zone hierarchy, preferably there is an associated zone server. That server preferably executes logic that applies the requested hostname against a map, which, using known techniques, may be generated from given (static, dynamic, internally-generated or third party-sourced) performance metrics. Thus, a given name query to ECDN-managed content may be serviced in coordination with various sources of distributed network intelligence. As a result, the invention provides for a distributed, dynamic globally load balanced name service. |
| US08275866B2 |
Assigning telecommunications nodes to community of interest clusters
The present invention provides techniques for assigning network nodes to community of interest clusters. A seed point representing a cluster is selected. One or more nodes are added to the cluster based on each node's geographic proximity to the selected seed point. Nodes that are adjacent to the cluster are identified and a clustering metric is computed that is representative of the affinity that each identified adjacent node has for the cluster. One or more of the identified nodes are added to the cluster when the clustering metric for the one or more identified nodes exceeds a predetermined value. |
| US08275862B2 |
RFID tag information service system
A single unified server transmits/receives information in a common interface format with respect to a plurality of service servers and a portable terminal and has a common database in a data format corresponding to the common interface format, and the plurality of service servers connects to clients in a specific interface format to provide services by individual applications, respectively, and coverts a data format between higher-rank data transmitted/received in the common interface format and lower-rank data transmitted/received in the specific interface format. The portable terminal transmits/receives information in the common interface format using the application. |
| US08275861B2 |
Technique for communicating by utilizing communication setting information
A communication device is configured to connect with a network including a plurality of types of external devices. The communication device is provided with a spec storage device, a type obtaining device, and a communication attempt device. The spec storage device is configured to store an association of a type of external device and a spec of communication setting information which is capable of being set in the type of external device. The type obtaining device is configured to obtain type information of each external device. The communication attempt device is configured to attempt to communicate with each external device by utilizing communication setting information which complies with the spec associated with the obtained type information of external device by the type obtaining device. |
| US08275859B2 |
Selective partial updates of web content
A request for a partial update of web content is received that identifies at least one web content element associated with the web content. An update is requested for the identified at least one web content element from a content server. The partial update of the web content is performed in response to receipt of the update for the identified at least one web content element from the content server. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract. |
| US08275857B2 |
Remote session recording apparatus and method
An Intelligent Network Peripheral (INP) is equipped with a recording control processor that is connected to at least one internal or external recording device (e.g., hard drive, disk array, CD-recorder, DVD recorder, and/or tape device). Using the INP, a user may be prompted to perform an activity, such as (1) start a new recording session, (2) playback a recorded session, (3) delete a recorded session, (4) edit recording parameters (e.g., the number of stored frames, the length of a session to record, the resolution of the image to record), and (5) re-run a recorded session. An INP may be incorporated into a Keyboard/Video/Mouse (KVM) switch, a Rack Connection Manager (RCM) and/or a Pod Extension Module (PEM) for recording at least one of video from and user input to a computer for diagnostic and other purposes. |
| US08275855B2 |
Method and system for monitoring rest web services
Generally, the present invention provides a method and computerized system for monitoring REST web services including generating a REST based web service client call operative to be used for monitoring web service activities. The web service client call is then deployed. The method and computerized system further includes monitoring the web service activities via the call invocation and a response analysis. The method and computerized system further includes receiving a plurality of feedback results from the monitoring of the web service functionality and thereupon adjusting the web service parameters based on the aggregated feedback. |
| US08275850B2 |
Multi-source longitudinal patient-level data encryption process
Systems and processes for assembling de-identified patient healthcare data records in a longitudinal database are provided. The systems and processes may be implemented over multiple data suppliers and common database facilities while ensuring patient privacy. At the data supplier locations, patient-identifying attributes in the data records are placed in standard format and then doubly encrypted using a pair of encryption keys before transmission to a common database facility. The pair of encryption keys includes a key specific to the data supplier and a key specific to the common database facility. At the common database facility, the encryption specific to the data supplier is removed, so that multi-sourced data records have only the common database encryption. Without direct access to patient identifying-information, the encrypted data records are assigned dummy labels or tags by which the data records can be longitudinally linked in the database. The tags are assigned based on statistical matching of the values of a select set of encrypted data attributes with a reference database of tags and associated encrypted data attribute values. |
| US08275847B2 |
Interactive maintenance management alarm handling
An Interactive Maintenance Management System (“IMMS”) (10) is an alarm handling system (FIG. 2) for handling alarms (102) that indicate present or imminent equipment failure. The IMMS (10) may be utilized in industrial situations, such as strip-mines (14), to reduce equipment (12) downtime and reduce or prevent equipment failure. The IMMS (10) utilizes a flexible response system to track, analyze, and improve performance of the alarm handling system. |
| US08275845B2 |
System and method for verified contract acceptance
In order to provide third party verification of the content and delivery of an electronic message such as an e-snail, a server receives the e-mail intended to be sent or forwarded to a specified addressee, and “tags” the message to indicate that it is “registered” with the provider of the service. The server then establishes a direct telnet connection with the addressee's Mail User Agent (MUA), and transmits the tagged email to the addressee's MUA, as well as to the MUA's of any other addressees. After receiving responses from the receiving MUA's that the message was successfully received, the server then creates and forwards to the message originator an electronic receipt. The receipt includes one or more, and preferably all of, the following: the original message including any original attachments; a delivery success/failure table listing which addressee's MUA's successfully received the message and at what time, and for which MUA's there was a delivery failure; and a digital signature corresponding to the message and attachments. By receiving the receipt at a later date and verifying that the digital signature matches the message and related information, the operators of the system can provide independent third party verification that the receipt is a genuine product of their system and that the information pertaining to content and delivery of the message is accurate, without the need to archive either the original message or the receipt. |
| US08275840B2 |
Automated messaging tool
A system and method for an automatic messaging system which automatically sends emails or pages to groups of people with specific data from a database. Other messaging tools may be utilized. The data source that provides information may be any ODBC compliant data source including standard DBMS (SQL Server, Oracle, Informix, DB2, Sybase, etc.) Access databases, or Excel spreadsheets. |
| US08275836B2 |
System and method for supporting collaborative activity
A system for supporting collaborative activity in a network includes a storage component storing data related to the network and a model of the network; a processor that accesses the stored data and the model to process the data according to the model, where the stored data relates to the collaborative activity including user-defined data created by interaction of a user and the model, and context data related to the user, where the user-defined data and the context data, as metadata, are stored in the storage component; and a user interface, provided by the processor, that presents the user-defined data, the context data, and the model in a form readable by the user, the interface permitting the user to define a set of arbitrary domains, relate the user-defined data to the domains, and view relationships between the user-defined data and the context data, and the domains. |
| US08275834B2 |
Multi-modal, geo-tempo communications systems
Disclosed is a flexible, multi-modal system useful in communications among users, capable of synchronizing real world and augmented reality, wherein the system is deployed in centralized and distributed computational platforms. The system comprises a plurality of input devices designed and configured to generate signals representing speech, gestures, pointing direction, and location of a user, and transmit the same to a multi-modal interface. Some of the signals generated represent a message from the user intended for dissemination to other users. A plurality of agents and one or more databases (defined by matrices which include input commands or information from the input devices, and meanings for some input commands or combinations thereof) are integrated into the system, where at least some of the agents are designed and configured to receive signals from the multi-modal interface, translate the signals into data, compare the same to a database, generate signals representing meanings as defined by the database, and transmit the signals to the multi-modal interface. In some embodiments, at least one agent resides on a computational device located on a user, and at least one other agent resides on a computation device remote from the user. Finally, a plurality of output devices are associated with the system and designed and configured to receive and process signals from the multi-modal interface, some of said signals representing messages to the user to be communicated by means of an output device in visual, auditory, or tactile modes. |
| US08275829B2 |
Systems and methods of prefetching objects for caching using QoS
The present solution provides a variety of techniques for accelerating and optimizing network traffic, such as HTTP based network traffic. The solution described herein provides techniques in the areas of proxy caching, protocol acceleration, domain name resolution acceleration as well as compression improvements. In some cases, the present solution provides various prefetching and/or prefreshening techniques to improve intermediary or proxy caching, such as HTTP proxy caching. In other cases, the present solution provides techniques for accelerating a protocol by improving the efficiency of obtaining and servicing data from an originating server to server to clients. In another cases, the present solution accelerates domain name resolution more quickly. As every HTTP access starts with a URL that includes a hostname that must be resolved via domain name resolution into an IP address, the present solution helps accelerate HTTP access. In some cases, the present solution improves compression techniques by prefetching non-cacheable and cacheable content to use for compressing network traffic, such as HTTP. The acceleration and optimization techniques described herein may be deployed on the client as a client agent or as part of a browser, as well as on any type and form of intermediary device, such as an appliance, proxying device or any type of interception caching and/or proxying device. |
| US08275823B2 |
Analog filter with passive components for discrete time signals
A filter intended to receive a discrete time signal at a sampling clock frequency, comprising a determined number, greater than 2, of filtering units, each filtering unit comprising head capacitors in a number equal to the determined number, assembled in parallel between an input terminal and the terminal of an integration capacitor, and means for connecting, in successive clock cycles in a number equal to the determined number, successively each head capacitor to the input terminal, and for then simultaneously connecting the head capacitors to the integration capacitor, and in which the successive clock cycles during which the head capacitors of a filtering unit are connected to the input terminal are offset by one clock cycle from one filtering unit to the next one. |
| US08275819B2 |
Methods and apparatus for performing calculations using reduced-width data
Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture for performing calculations using reduced-width data are disclosed. In particular, an example method determines reduced-width data values associated with generating and evaluating functions. Some of the reduced-width data values are stored within instructions in an instruction memory during a compile phase and retrieved from instruction memory during a runtime phase. |
| US08275817B2 |
Broadband low noise complex frequency multipliers
A frequency multiplier device including a plurality of multipliers, each of which has a first input port, a second input port and an output port; a first combiner coupled to the plurality of multipliers so as to receive an output signal from at least two of the plurality of multipliers, the first combiner outputting a first output signal; and a second combiner coupled to the plurality of multipliers so as to receive an output signal from at least two of the plurality of multipliers, the second combiner outputting a second output signal. The plurality of multipliers includes a first multiplier, a second multiplier, a third multiplier and a fourth multiplier, where the first multiplier has a first input port and a second input port and receives a first input signal at the first input port and the second input port; the second multiplier has a first input port and a second input port and receives a second input signal at the first input port and the second input port; the third multiplier has a first input port and a second input port and receives the second input signal at the first input port and the first input signal at the second input port; and the fourth multiplier has a first input port and a second input port and receives the first input signal at the first input port and the second input signal at the second input port. |
| US08275811B2 |
Communicating solution information in a knowledge management system
A contact center system features: testing comprehension of informational messages with a quiz; capturing insight of users having a KPI score above a threshold by having them describe why they perform so well; dynamically ordering issue solutions by re-ranking the solutions periodically based on recency and frequency; integrating information used by a contact center representative while online with a customer and information for use when not online; storing content in a telecommunications industry taxonomy; directing feedback on a content item to the proper owner/manager of that content; communicating solution information using a solutions taxonomy; displaying a dual information system having a CRM application and reference material that is context-appropriate; enforcing completion of templates when creating a content item to be published; ensuring a group of templates are complete before publishing them; and searching within a contact center system portal using a continuum of search functions. |
| US08275807B2 |
Device and process for remote management of a network of audiovisual information reproduction systems
Management device for a network of audiovisual information reproduction systems or jukeboxes, including a database with a plurality of sets of arrays, each array containing grouped information either about the composition of a jukebox, or the use of the jukebox, or the payment of fees. The database is managed by a computer server connected with the audiovisual information reproduction systems to receive messages sent by each audiovisual information reproduction device and containing information necessary to update determined sets of arrays in the database, and update data or the program for each audiovisual information reproduction device with information stored in at least one set of arrays in the database and transmitted in this message. |
| US08275805B2 |
Method of decreasing a total computation time for a visual simulation loop in a virtual world application
A method of decreasing a total computation time for a visual simulation loop includes sharing a common data structure across each phase of the visual simulation loop by adapting the common data structure to a requirement for each particular phase prior to performing a computation for that particular phase. |
| US08275800B1 |
Splitting polygons with interior rings
A spatial feature is considered for storage in a database system running on a computer. The spatial feature includes a polygon, P. The polygon includes an outer ring, OR, and the area within the outer ring. The polygon includes an interior ring contained within the polygon. The computer removes the interior ring from the polygon. The computer determines a line along which to split the polygon without regard for the location of the inner ring within the polygon. The computer splits the polygon into two polygons, SP1 and SP2, along the line. The computer applies the interior ring to the two split polygons by invoking a point set difference between the interior ring and the two split polygons. The computer stores the split polygons in the database system on the computer. |
| US08275795B2 |
Model extension framework
Techniques for implicitly extending an object model, even those that do not provide an extension mechanism, in a manner that is transparent, independent, and non-disruptive to the model itself. An “extension” is preferably created for each object to be extended, and comprises a reference to the object and contains an “extension object” that specifies the particular extensions. |
| US08275794B2 |
Lightweight self-contained self-expanding product data package
One or more embodiments of the invention provide a data structure, method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for representing data in a self-expanding data package. The package comprises one or more basic table data having zero, one or more table rows, a set of one or more constant lists having one or more values, and one or more row validation calculations. Use of the set of constant lists and row validation calculations provides a mechanism for compact data storage, wherein the self-expanding data package may be expanded. To expand the package, each list member of a constant list is combined with all other basic table rows and additional list members to produce every possible combination of table rows. Row validation calculations are applied to test validity of each tow, and only those expanded table tows that are valid appear in the expanded table. |
| US08275778B2 |
Method and system for adaptive prefetching
A cache server (18) may prefetch one or more web pages (30) from an origin server (16) prior to those web pages being requested by a user (13). The cache server determines which web pages to prefetch based on a graph (42) associated with a prefetch module (40) associated with the cache server. The graph represents all or a portion of the web pages at the origin server using one or more nodes (130) and one or more links (100) connecting the nodes. Each link has an associated transaction weight (102) and user weight (104). The transaction weight represents the importance of the link and associated web page to the origin server and may be used to control the prefetching of web pages by the cache server. The user weight may be used to change a priority (46) associated with a request (22) for a web page. The user weight and transaction weight may change based on criteria (50) associated with the origin server. |
| US08275776B2 |
Method and apparatus for enhancing electronic reading by identifying relationships between sections of electronic text
An apparatus, method and article of manufacture of the present invention detects the presence of references to the same concept in separate sections of text, and, with no input required from the reader, presents the reader with information concerning the detected references to the concept. The information provided may comprise information related to the location of the reference to the concept in other sections of text, and the reader also is provided the ability to move from one reference to a concept directly to another reference to the same concept. |
| US08275767B2 |
Kiosk-based automatic update of online social networking sites
Systems and methods identify a current location of a user based on a known location of an electronic device including kiosk, beacon, or location-aware camera when the user interacts with the electronic device. The systems and methods automatically create a user status data file based on the known location. The user status data file contains data identifying that the user is currently at the known location and other data captured about the event or venue at that location. The systems and methods automatically upload the user status data file to a personal storage account which can then be used to post to a social networking web site associated with the user as an activity post associated with the user. |
| US08275766B2 |
Systems and methods for detecting network resource interaction and improved search result reporting
Systems and methods are described for intercepting user interactions without network-provided content. The intercepted information can be used for prioritizing search results by statistical and other analyses of user interactions with a network resource and/or network content. A server connected to a network can receive captured information from an agent that is installed in a device connected to the network. The captured information can be related to an interaction of a user with a network resource. An aggregator may be provided to aggregate the captured information with other captured information related to a plurality of network resources and maintains a repository of aggregated captured information. A prioritizer can determine the relevance of network content based on characteristics of the aggregated captured information. The prioritizer determines relevance for a plurality of search results based on frequency of prior user interactions with the content of the search results. |
| US08275765B2 |
Method and system for automatic objects classification
The present invention provides a method and system for automatic objects classification. The method comprises: acquiring a set of objects; classifying the objects based on query log to generate a first classification result; classifying the objects based on ontological information to generate a second classification result; and semantically fusing the first and second classification results to generate a final classification result. According to the present invention, compared with the prior arts, by semantically fusing the query log-based classification result and the ontology-based classification result, the accuracy and user-friendness of the object classification can be improved. |
| US08275760B2 |
Dynamic headline switcher
A system for dynamic headline switching. The system includes a database, a display module, an interface module, and a search engine. The database contains entry data for accessing content such as stories, pictures, or videos. The display engine generates a display including a current headline. The interface module indexes through each headline, for example, at a predetermined time interval, to provide new and updated information to the user. The search engine queries the database and generates a list of entries allowing the user to access content related to the current headline. |
| US08275758B2 |
Search system of communications device
A communications system is provided which can search for information about a communications device that is not registered in a network by designating time. The search system, which includes a plurality of communications devices, gateways and an entity management server, can execute a search method. The entity management server stores in a storage device the identification information of the communications device sent from the gateways with establishing correspondence with notification time. The entity management server receives from a mobile terminal the identification information of the communications device and designated time. The entity management server searches for the identification information stored in the storage device at the designated time, and identifies the location information of the gateways corresponding to the identification information included in the search request. |
| US08275749B2 |
Enterprise server version migration through identity preservation
Systems and methods are described for service availability that provides automated recovery of server service in a timely and application intelligent manner, maintaining application consistency and integrity, while preserving server identity. The systems and methods, referred to herein as a Service Preservation System (SPS), manage complete recovery of server data and preserve continuity of server service, reestablishing user access to server(s) after an event or disaster in which in which primary or other server(s) fail. The failures, disasters, and losses referred to herein can be at many levels and include, but are not limited to, accidental deletion of an item, loss of an entire mailbox, loss of an entire disk drive, loss of an entire server, and/or loss of an entire server site. |
| US08275743B1 |
Method and apparatus for securing data volumes to a remote computer using journal volumes
A method and apparatus for securing data volumes to a remote computer using journal volumes is provided. In one embodiment, a method for securing data volumes in memory to a remote computer using at least one processor includes accessing at least one data volume and at least one journal volume, replicating the at least one journal volume after each operation of a plurality of file system operations associated with the at least one data volume and creating at least one data volume copy at a remote computer using the at least one replicated journal volume. |
| US08275739B2 |
User interface display for monitoring a database load engine
The invention described herein provides a load engine and method for efficiently accomplishing mass conversions of customer data into an existing customer database. In particular, the method incorporates existing business rules for validating new customer data and for creating tables for the new customer data, creates load files for the new customer data, and provides a means for running multi-threaded data loads of the new customer data tables onto an existing customer database. The disclosure further provides a method for gathering data regarding the status of a data load or conversion and creating a user interface for tracking the progress of a specific data load. |
| US08275738B2 |
Radio frequency microscope for amplifying and analyzing electromagnetic signals by positioning the monitored system at a locus of an ellipsoidal surface
One embodiment provides a technique for analyzing a target electromagnetic signal radiating from a monitored system. During the technique, the monitored system is positioned at a first locus of an ellipsoidal surface to amplify the target electromagnetic signal received at a second locus of the ellipsoidal surface. Next, the amplified target electromagnetic signal is monitored using an antenna positioned at the second locus of the ellipsoidal surface. Finally, the integrity of the monitored system is assessed by analyzing the amplified target electromagnetic signal monitored by the antenna. |
| US08275735B2 |
Diagnostic system
The present invention provides a diagnostic system that diagnoses a diagnostic object by applying a diagnostic rule to data measured on the diagnostic object wherein an object of the present invention is to allow the diagnostic rule to be updated based on a variety of diagnostic case data. Each of multiple diagnostic devices 101 makes a diagnosis by applying a diagnostic rule to diagnostic object data measured on a diagnostic object 104 and sends diagnostic case data, which includes diagnostic object data and its diagnostic result, to a diagnostic rule generation device 102 via a network 103. The diagnostic rule generation device 102 generates a diagnostic rule based on the diagnostic case data received from the multiple diagnostic devices 101 and sends the generated diagnostic rule to the diagnostic devices 101 via the network 103. The diagnostic devices 101 update a diagnostic rule in their devices with the diagnostic rule received from the diagnostic rule generation device 102. |
| US08275734B1 |
Systems and methods for returned mail
A system, method, and computer-usable medium are disclosed for providing automated processing of returned mailpieces. Recipient data and mailpiece data are processed to generate a mailpiece operation rule, all of which are then encoded to generate a unique identifier. The unique identifier is then indexed to its corresponding recipient data, mailpiece data, and mailpiece operation rule and thereafter associated with a corresponding mailpiece, which is then sent to an intended recipient. If the sent mailpiece is undeliverable to its intended recipient, it is returned and its unique identifier is scanned and then decoded to extract its corresponding recipient data, mailpiece data, and mailpiece operation rule. The extracted mailpiece operation rule is then processed to initiate a corresponding returned mailpiece operation. |
| US08275733B2 |
Creating an album
A system for creating an album is disclosed. In one embodiment, the system includes an image input configured to receive related images, an image memory coupled to image input, an image processor coupled to image memory, and an album output coupled to image processor. The image processor is configured to use game play with users to assign metadata labels to the related images and assign album layout rules based upon the story schema and metadata labels. |
| US08275732B2 |
High definition multimedia interface transcoding system
According to one embodiment, a system including a decoder and a high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) whose copy protection protocol has been modified to allow the received uncompressed digital audio-video content from the decoder to be re-encoded and recorded. |
| US08275731B2 |
Anonymous types for statically typed queries
Anonymous types for a programming language. Non-denotable anonymous types are types that a compiler generates on behalf of a programmer and can then be used as nominal types. Insofar as anonymous types do not have a name, they can be used only inside a method in which they are created. Additionally, an anonymous type cannot be exposed in any way outside of the method. Syntax to create an anonymous type is useful when employed with a Select operator to generate a result with a particular shape, without the need of having a regular type for it. Anonymous types are expressible such that an expression of that type can be written. Translation of an anonymous type by a compiler generates a nominal class that implements Equals and GetHashCode methods. There is equivalence of anonymous types within the same method, and conversion of an unrealized structural type into structurally compatible nominal type. |
| US08275722B2 |
System and method for determining semantically related terms using an active learning framework
Systems and methods for determining semantically related terms using an active learning framework such as Transductive Experimental Design are disclosed. Generally, to enhance a keyword suggestion tool, an active learning module trains a model to predict whether a term is relevant to a user. The model is then used to present the user with terms that have been determined to be relevant based on the model so that an online advertisement service provider may more efficiently provide a user with terms that are semantically related to a seed set. |
| US08275717B2 |
Source- and venue-specific inventory data processing and identification system
A system processes product data including values for a product data record corresponding to a product style. A network interface receives a product data record over a network from a source. A memory has stored thereon computer readable instruction code, including, a rule set having rules associated with the product data record, and a processing manager to apply the rules to the product data record and determine availability of values to a venue. The processing manager includes a style identification manager to determine from among the available values a product style associated with the available values, and to make the product style available to the venue based on the rules. |
| US08275716B2 |
Method and system for subscription digital rights management
A system and method for managing use of items having usage rights associated therewith. The system includes an activation device adapted to issue a software package having a public and private key pair, the public key being associated with a user, a license device adapted to issue a license, a usage device adapted to receive the software package, receive the license and allow the user to access the item in accordance with the license, and a subscription managing device adapted to maintain a subscription list including the public key associated with the user. License's is issued by the license device upon verifying presence of the public key in the subscription list corresponding to requested content. |
| US08275712B2 |
Prepaid transaction card activation system and method
Reloadable or non-reloadable prepaid transaction card activation systems are disclosed. More specifically, the system provides a platform for activation of prepaid or stored value transaction cards and capture of customer demographic information, and verification of that information, after the customer has obtained or has been issued a prepaid transaction card. The data capture is performed at activation rather than at point of sale. |
| US08275711B2 |
Enforcement of network service level agreements
A service level agreement may be imposed by a service provider, such as an Internet service provider, that may include, e.g., a volume limitation and a bandwidth limitation. One or more limitations of the service level agreement may be enforced or modified in response to a triggering event. For example, a bandwidth limitation on a network subscriber may be enforced or modified based on how much data is consumed by the subscriber. |
| US08275709B2 |
Digital rights management of content when content is a future live event
A system for managing use of digital content within a trusted community. An access list defines the trusted community. License requests for use of content made from outside the trusted community are handled in accordance with a license request policy process. |
| US08275704B2 |
Systems and methods for authorizing an allocation of an amount between transaction accounts
A financial account issuer facilitating transactions between accounts is disclosed. The invention provides sellers with an irrevocable method of receiving funds from a purchaser and for improving purchaser willingness to transact with an unknown party. The invention also enables the allocation of a portion or all of a charge or loyalty points to different transaction accounts issued by different issuers, or to sub-accounts. |
| US08275701B2 |
Method and system for mortgage exchange
A method and system for electronically facilitating real estate transactions by providing accurate representations of the loans a borrower is qualified to receive, which are based on actual data, rather than estimates. All actions required for completing the real estate transaction, from entry of the borrower information to the closing and funding of the loan, are seamlessly integrated. An automated underwriting engine is provided for generating a decision matrix based on user input and/or existing data. An appropriate loan is selected based on the decision matrix, and is communicated to a potential borrower. After a loan is selected, fulfillment processing is performed, and the loan is funded and closed. |
| US08275695B2 |
Enhanced parimutuel wagering
Methods and systems for engaging in enhanced parimutuel wagering and gaming. In one embodiment, different types of bets can be offered and processed in the same betting pool on an underlying event, such as a horse or dog race, a sporting event or a lottery, and the premiums and payouts of these different types of bets can be determined in the same betting pool, by configuring an equivalent combination of fundamental bets for each type of bet, and performing a demand-based valuation of each of the fundamental bets in the equivalent combination. In another embodiment, bettors can place bets in the betting pool with limit odds on the selected outcome of the underlying event. The bets with limit odds are not filled in whole or in part, unless the final odds on the selected outcome of the underlying event are equal to or greater than the limit odds. |
| US08275692B2 |
System and method for automatic trading of foreign exchange currencies
A method for automatic trading of foreign exchange currencies including the steps of: receiving first signals at an order receiver based on one or more orders for foreign exchange currency trades; sending second signals from an order configuration tool that provides for selection of a preferred execution method for each of the foreign exchange trades using an algorithm; and executing each of the foreign exchange trades based on received third signals relating to a respective determined preferred execution method. |
| US08275691B2 |
Issuing machine and issuing system
An issuing system for issuing unmodifiable and/or unforgeable hardcopy documents or securities includes a server and a plurality of issuing machines connected to the server via a network. Each of the issuing machines receives an ID recording medium provided by a potential purchaser, retrieves an identification recoded in the received ID recording medium, requests the potential purchaser to input request for a transaction of the security or fixed rate financing instrument, processes the requested transaction by retrieving information via a network from the server, and prints out on demand a hardcopy of the security or fixed rate financing instrument as purchased by the potential purchaser and a checksum thereon. A method for forming a new market with the issuing system. |
| US08275685B2 |
Determining a payment strategy
Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and apparatuses for determining, recommending, and/or executing a payment strategy. For example, in some embodiments, a method is provided for determining a payment strategy for using at least some funds from a first account to make two or more payments on a second account during a single pay period. In such embodiments, the method includes: (1) determining that the second account includes a payment due date and a minimum payment due; (2) determining a number of payments to make on the second account; (3) determining a payment amount for each payment, such that the total payment amount for all of the payments is sufficient to at least offset the minimum payment due; and (4) determining a triggering event for each payment, such that each of the payments is made on or before the payment due date. |
| US08275684B2 |
Program for alternative funding of employee and retiree benefits
An investment program for funding benefits by maintaining assets in the investment program that includes an employer owned trust account and at least one life, disability, health or annuity contract (including a terminal annuity) obtained directly or indirectly from a partially or wholly owned or non-owned captive insurance company. The insurance contract is purchased with assets from the trust account and the partially or wholly owned or non-owned captive insurance company is a least partially, wholly or non-owned by the employer. When paying or reimbursing benefits, the employer or the trust may pay the benefit and if the employer pays the benefit, the trust may reimburse the employer. |
| US08275680B2 |
Enabling transactional mechanisms in an automated controller system
The claimed subject matter provides a controller that facilitates implementing a transaction between a controller and a business system within an industrial automation environment. An interface component can facilitate receipt of data associated with a business system at the programmable logic controller. The controller can incorporate a transaction component that executes a transaction related to the business system. |
| US08275678B2 |
Devices for wirelessly routing a vehicle
The present invention automates the process of receiving transportation documentation and producing advance loading manifests therefrom to optimize load planning and dynamic product shipment and delivery control. Methods provide for receipt of the transportation documentation, initial preparation, and transmission of the documentation from on board a vehicle or while the vehicle is in transit. |
| US08275672B1 |
Coordinating multiple devices in a product purchasing system
In general, the subject matter described in this disclosure can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products. A server system receives a request to purchase a product from a first computing device. The first computing device is one of multiple computing devices assigned to a user account. The server system requests to charge an account associated with a user of the first computing device for a price. The server system receives an indication that the account has been charged. The server system sends for receipt by each of the computing devices a notification that a purchasing event has occurred. The server system receives, as sent by each of at least a subset of the multiple computing devices, a request for details. The server system sends, for receipt by each of the at least subset of the multiple computing devices, an indication that the product has been purchased. |
| US08275671B2 |
Validating E-commerce transactions
Methods of the present invention allow for validating eCommerce transactions. An exemplary method for validating an eCommerce transaction may comprise the steps of validating a Hosting Provider, validating a Merchant using the Hosting Provider to host an eCommerce website, and validating a Customer who may purchase goods or services from the Merchant via the eCommerce website. If the Hosting Provider, Merchant, and Customer are validated, an eCommerce transaction may be approved. |
| US08275669B2 |
Auction method and apparatus
An automatic system for determining outcomes to an auction process represents the auction by a directed graph and uses a K best solutions algorithm to determine the K best solutions. The system uses a particular graphical representation. Constraints may be included directly into the graph. |
| US08275666B2 |
User supplied and refined tags
Managing online content via user supplied and/or refined tagging is disclosed. In some embodiments, a selection of an item available from an online store is received, and one or more tags to be associated with the item are received from a member of an online community comprising users of the online store. In some embodiments, an indication of a degree of usefulness of a tag is received from a member of an online community, and an attribute of the tag is updated to reflect the indication. |
| US08275662B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating geo-targeted message with search results
Method and apparatus for generating a geo-targeted message with search results are disclosed. The method and apparatus allow client entities to present target messages to computer user recipients by providing geo-targeted messaging that provides search results to computer users along with a geo-targeted message. Client entities lease words based on specified geo-target criteria on specified platforms. Users initialize the apparatus and can perform word searches utilizing the method and apparatus where the word may be a client's leased word that is associated to the user's geographic profile. Thus, the user is provided a geo-targeted message along with search results and the client is able to effectively communicate a message to targeted recipients. |
| US08275659B2 |
Method and system for collecting and communicating dynamically incorporated advertising information
Methods and systems for dynamically incorporating advertising content into multimedia environments, such as games, are provided. Example embodiments include a dynamic inserter, which selects content, based upon a set of criteria, to deliver to a receiving client system, such as a game client. The receiving client system typically dynamically determines locations within the game where advertisements are desirably inserted. Associated with these locations are ad tags that specify criteria for the ads including, for example ad type, ad genre, and scheduling information, which are sent by the client system to the dynamic inserter to select appropriate ads. The dynamic inserter selects ads based upon the criteria and sends them to the client system, which selects them for ad tags with conforming criteria. The client system then renders the selected ad in the appropriate location. |
| US08275656B2 |
Maximum likelihood estimation under a covariance constraint for predictive modeling
Embodiments employ a maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) under a covariance matrix floor constraint to predict missing data from observed data. An MLE solution is obtained for approximately Gaussian distributions under the constraint that the covariance matrix is greater than or equal to a positive-definite matrix. In one embodiment, an offline model estimation is performed using an expectation-maximization (EM) approach to estimate various statistical parameters based on observed data. Then, in an online approach, parameters for various missing CTR data may be predicted based on the offline estimated statistical parameters. A non-limiting, non-exhaustive example using the constrained MLE approach is described for predicting missing click-through rate data useable in selecting an advertisement to display with a search query result. |
| US08275654B2 |
Computer implemented method for scoring change proposals
A method for scoring changes of components of a concept by a group of evaluators in a collective decision process is presented. First, the level of disagreement with the components is collected together with comments indicating desired changes. The expected incremental decrease of the overall disagreement level achievable by a component change is computed for a given probability that a formulation can be found that is acceptable by both agreeing and disagreeing evaluators. Performing this computation for different values of the compromise probability yields a score indicating the expected incremental decrease in overall disagreement achievable by a component change. Additionally, the minimum compromise probability where an improvement is possible and the expected relative improvements are provided. Next, alternative formulations for the selected components are drafted and subjected to a second round of voting. For each component the alternative yielding the maximum incremental improvement of overall consent is selected, where the sequence in which the components are scrutinized is determined by the score computed in the first step. In this way, an optimal new version of the concept is produced. |
| US08275653B2 |
Industrial status viewer system and method
A method of providing industrial status views reflecting a schedule for industrial project plan generated by a project schedule planning and management application includes uploading the industrial project plan schedule, uploading CAD drawing files comprising a physical layout of resources, structural elements and equipment units included in the project plan schedule, extracting project data from the uploaded project schedule and CAD drawing files and generating Plan progress views that reflect expected completion percentages of intended project tasks and operations over a fixed industrial project timeline, according to the plan schedule, as well as Comparison progress views depicting a difference between the expected and actual project progress. |
| US08275652B2 |
Method for establishing a person as a user in a system
Dependents of benefit plan participants can be given access to personal information of a plan participant. The dependents, who are not existing users or members of the plan, can be allowed access to some or all of the personal information associated with the plan participant. |
| US08275651B2 |
System for managing member self-checking of set goal achievement in an organization
A behavior improvement system for ascertaining behavior reform by helping a person take notice of his/her behavior in regard to behavior modification from various sides. The behavior improvement system is executed using terminals connected to a LAN. The behavior improvement system is characterized by setting a goal for a behavior improvement, setting an action plan realizing the goal, a member periodically carrying out a self-check of the action plan to take notice of growth of a behavior within him/herself or comparing a diagnosis interview result replied by the member and a diagnostician using the same diagnosis interview sheet to take notice of a difference of evaluations between him/herself and another person, the member taking notice of his/her behavior improvement with each other member using a bulletin board function, and enabling the member to obtain an idea to be done by him/herself using advice from an advisor who is an expert. |
| US08275650B1 |
Capacity planning for user wait time
Systems and methods are disclosed for determining when installation of additional self-service financial transaction devices (SSFTDs) may be desired at a site to improve end-to-end user experience. The system may collect and store transaction-level data, session-level data, user wait time data, and/or other data, and use an enhanced SSFTD user wait time model to identify recommendations and other statistical outputs. The SSFTD may include hardware and software to assist in measuring and collecting various useful readings. |
| US08275648B2 |
System and method for managing a survey for a community development asset
A system and method to manage a survey for a community development asset. The system includes a response repository, a sampler, a respondent profile filter, and an inference generator. The response repository stores a plurality of survey responses from survey respondents about a community development asset. The sampler selects a sample response of the plurality of survey responses. The sample response corresponds to an identified respondent. The respondent profile filter identifies a community with which the identified respondent is associated. The inference generator infers a similar response from the community associated with the identified respondent based on the sample response of the identified respondent. |
| US08275646B2 |
Intellectual property assessments based on component business models
An embodiment of the invention provides a method for IP assessment based on a component business model (CBM). The method assesses components in the CBM via a component assessment module, which interrogates an entity (e.g., a user, a third party consultant, and an information database) with questions. Output (including answers to the questions) from the component assessment module is sent to a component detection module. Scores (e.g., numerical scores and/or low, medium, or high scores) are assigned to the components via the component detection module based on the output from the component assessment module. The output from the component assessment module and/or the scores are analyzed to determine whether a gap, a duplication, a conflict, and/or an over-investment exists in at least one of the components. |
| US08275643B2 |
Defining service ownership for a service oriented architecture
Defining service ownership for an SOA including defining, in response to an event requiring a change in service ownership and in dependence upon data describing business functions within a business, a service domain; reviewing, by a service domain ownership review board, the defined service domain for approval; upon approval of the defined service domain, identifying potential impact upon currently existing service domains caused by implementation of the defined service domain; identifying a potential owner of the defined service domain in dependence upon a service type of the defined service domain and funding requirements of the service domain; presenting, to relevant stakeholders in the business, the potential owner of the defined service domain for approval; and upon approval of the potential owner of the defined service domain, assigning the potential owner of the defined service domain responsibility for managing the defined service domain. |
| US08275638B1 |
Apparatus and method for creating a retirement medical program through a profit sharing plan and a pension plan retiree health account
An apparatus and method of using the apparatuse. The method includes: controlling a computer system comprising a digital computer processor to process input data into output data, the processor in communication with an input device, to receive the input data, and to an output device, to output the output data, the processor programmed so as to facilitate managing a dual purpose profit sharing plan cooperating with a pension plan such that money in an incidental account of the dual purpose profit sharing plan funds a retiree health account of an employee of an employer, and money in another account of the dual purpose profit sharing plan funds pension plan retirement income benefits of the employee. |
| US08275636B2 |
Identity insurance transaction method
The instant invention relates to a system and method for ensuring and verifying the identity of all parties involved in an online marketplace transaction involving buyers, sellers, and third parties, such as a marketplace. Anonymous transactions are supported by the present invention. Verification is provided and insurance may be purchased in accordance with the instant invention guaranteeing that the parties are who they represent themselves to be and are capable of entering into the transaction, thereby facilitating completion of the online transaction. Both the verification provided and insurance purchased take into account numerous factors including, but not limited to, the credit score of a user trading counterpart, the amount and type of a user's or trading counterpart's past trading activity, the monetary amount, size, and type of transaction for which verification and/or insurance is sought, and the nature of the goods and/or services involved in the transaction for which verification and/or insurance is sought. |
| US08275634B2 |
Method and system for aligning a plurality of prescription refills to multiple alignment dates
The method, system and user-interface allows alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions to a plurality of alignment dates, such that a plurality of selected prescriptions require refills on each of the plurality of alignment dates, thus limiting the number of occasions on which a customer must visit the pharmacy to retrieve refills of the aligned prescriptions, and increasing the likelihood that the customer will comply with the recommended medication regimen. |
| US08275631B2 |
Executing clinical practice guidelines
A clinical practice guideline can be implemented using a guideline execution engine. The engine can interpret the clinical practice guideline, obtain medical data stored in a clinical information system (CIS), and implement an action in response to execution of the clinical practice guideline based on medical data for a patient obtained from the CIS. The use of the CIS medical data in guideline execution beneficially allows the guideline to be tightly integrated into the real-time workflow of a clinician in a clinical setting and to provide patient-specific guideline recommendations. A VMR/actions interface facilitates communications between a guideline execution system and a CIS by processing a request for medical data from the guideline execution engine and implementing actions on the CIS requested by the guideline execution engine. |
| US08275630B2 |
Performance reporting for products and services using web-based portals
A method includes obtaining performance information from sources, where the performance information relates to products and/or services, enabling the performance information to be reviewed to thereby produce vetted and categorized performance information, receiving the vetted and categorized performance information, where the vetted and categorized performance information includes the performance information that has been vetted for reliability and that has been categorized according to reliability, and using the vetted and categorized performance information to generate reports, where the reports indicate a performance impact of the products and/or services. |
| US08275629B2 |
Template development based on reported aspects of a plurality of source users
A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to: providing a plurality of relevant reported aspects associated with a plurality of source users that are relevant to achieving one or more target outcomes, the providing of the plurality of relevant reported aspects being based, at least in part, on relevancy of the plurality of relevant reported aspects with respect to the one or more target outcomes; and developing a template 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 template are emulated, the development of the template being based, at least in part, on the providing of the plurality of relevant reported aspects associated with the plurality of 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. |
| US08275628B2 |
Personalized plan development based on one or more reported aspects' association with one or more source users
A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to: providing one or more relevant reported aspects associated with one or more source users that are relevant to achieving one or more target outcomes, the providing of the one or more relevant reported aspects being based, at least in part, on the one or more relevant reported aspects' association with the one or more source users; and developing one or more personalized plans designed to facilitate an end user to achieve the one or more target outcomes when one or more emulatable aspects indicated by the one or more personalized plans are emulated, the development of the one or more personalized plans being based, at least in part, on the providing In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure. |
| US08275627B2 |
Wave planter method and device
A method of seed planting in a “serpentine” pattern called the wave planter is demonstrated. It consists of a manner of placing the seeds that essentially results in equally spaced rows of seeds placed in a serpentine-like layout or wave instead of a straight row. The preferred method creates a wave pattern equidistant from the next, yet creates a substantial increase over the density of straight row planting devices and drills (eg parallel, essentially straight rows). The use of the wave pattern provide concrete and substantial benefits to the business and economics of farming through labor, energy, and maintenance savings over current planting methods which results in a new farming business method. The method may be accomplished by several devices. Some of the devices include an oscillating draw Bar planter; oscillating tongue planter; elliptical row opener; steerable undercarriage for the planter and castor row openers under undercarriage. |
| US08275616B2 |
System for detecting speech interval and recognizing continuous speech in a noisy environment through real-time recognition of call commands
The present invention relates to a continuous speech recognition system that is very robust in a noisy environment. In order to recognize continuous speech smoothly in a noisy environment, the system selects call commands, configures a minimum recognition network in token, which consists of the call commands and mute intervals including noises, recognizes the inputted speech continuously in real time, analyzes the reliability of speech recognition continuously and recognizes the continuous speech from a speaker. When a speaker delivers a call command, the system for detecting the speech interval and recognizing continuous speech in a noisy environment through the real-time recognition of call commands measures the reliability of the speech after recognizing the call command, and recognizes the speech from the speaker by transferring the speech interval following the call command to a continuous speech-recognition engine at the moment when the system recognizes the call command. |
| US08275614B2 |
Support device, program and support method
A support device, program and support method for supporting generation of text from speech data. The support device includes a confirmed rate calculator, a candidate obtaining unit and a selector. The confirmed rate calculator calculates a confirmed utterance rate which is an utterance rate of a confirmed part having already-confirmed text in the speech data. The candidate obtaining unit obtains multiple candidate character strings resulting from a speech recognition of an unconfirmed part having unconfirmed text in the speech data. The selector preferentially selects, from among the plurality of candidate character strings, a candidate character string whose utterance time consumed in uttering the candidate character string at the confirmed utterance rate is closest to an utterance time of the unconfirmed part of the speech data. |
| US08275613B2 |
All voice transaction data capture—dictation system
A method of dictation in which authors may assign their own words or phrases (UnifiedWords) to introduce various subjects/document elements for a dictated document to be terminated with an ending word such as “end-it”. After transcription the UnifiedWords, with associated dictated text, are submitted and automatically recognized as introducing data that may then be processed by the invention backend database program. Each UnifiedWord allows technical subject identifiers and the author's assigned familiar words for their dictation captions. All dictation applications are associated with the author. Dictation applications can be created for one document, a plurality of documents including integration with respective file access methods to update specific information such as electronic medical records, legal case files, law enforcement investigative reports, and other resource databases. The invention does not transcribe the voice files however; all methods of transcription are supported. |
| US08275612B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting noise
A method of and apparatus for detecting noise are provided. The method of detecting noise includes: receiving an input of a voice frame and converting the voice frame into a filter bank vector; converting the converted filter bank vector into band data; calculating a weight Gaussian mixture model (GMM) for each band by using the converted band data; and detecting noise in the voice frame based on the calculation result. |
| US08275611B2 |
Adaptive noise suppression for digital speech signals
An apparatus for adaptively suppressing noise in an input signal frequency spectrum derived from overlapping input frames is provided. The system includes a psychoacoustic power computation module configured to compute a noisy signal power in psychoacoustic bands, a voice activity scoring module configured to compute a probabilistic score for a presence of a speech, and a noise estimation module configured to estimate a noise power in the psychoacoustic bands based on information of past frames, the probabilistic score, and the computed noisy signal power. The system also includes a gain computation module configured to compute a gain for each frequency, based on a probabilistic heuristic, the probabilistic score and the information on the past frames, and a gain post-processing module configured to perform a gain time smoothing, a gain frequency smoothing, and a gain regulation for the computed gain. |
| US08275608B2 |
Clique based clustering for named entity recognition system
A soft clustering method comprises (i) grouping items into non-exclusive cliques based on features associated with the items, and (ii) clustering the non-exclusive cliques using a hard clustering algorithm to generate item groups on the basis of mutual similarity of the features of the items constituting the cliques. In some named entity recognition embodiments illustrated herein as examples, named entities together with contexts are grouped into cliques based on mutual context similarity. Each clique includes a plurality of different named entities having mutual context similarity. The cliques are clustered to generate named entity groups on the basis of mutual similarity of the contexts of the named entities constituting the cliques. |
| US08275606B2 |
System and method for localizing assets using flexible metadata
A system and method for managing localization workflow for video game development is disclosed. The method includes determining that a string is to be translated. The method further includes associating a translator with the string. The method further includes providing video metadata to the translator, wherein the video metadata includes at least video information from game play of the video game being developed such that the translator is provided with context for the translation. |
| US08275605B2 |
Machine language translation with transfer mappings having varying context
A computer-implemented machine translation system translates text from a first language to a second language. The system includes a plurality of mappings, each mapping indicative of associating a dependency structure of the first language with a dependency structure of the second language, wherein at least some of the mappings correspond to dependency structures of the first language having varying context with some common elements, and associated dependency structures of the second language to the dependency structures of the first language. A module receives input text in a first language and outputs output text in a second language based on accessing the plurality of mappings. |
| US08275602B2 |
Interactive conversational speech communicator method and system
The compact and portable interactive system allows person-to-person communication in a typed language format between individuals experiencing language barriers such as the hearing impaired and the language impaired. The communication system includes a custom configuration having a display screen and a keyboard, a data translation module for translating the original data from a first language type to a second language type. The display screen shows a split configuration with multiple dialogue boxes to facilitate simultaneous display of each user's input. The system supports multilingual text-based conversations as well as conversion from audio-to-text and text-to-audio conversations. Translation from one communication format to a second communication format is performed as messages are transmitted between users. |
| US08275601B2 |
Mobile electronic device and associated method enabling transliteration of a text input
An improved mobile electronic device enables the inputting of text in one alphabet, Traditional Chinese in the present example, by transliteration of inputs in another alphabet, BoPoMoFo in the present example. Since some of the inputs can be ambiguous, transliteration of an ambiguous input is delayed until a detection of a finalization event, thus avoiding the outputting of unnecessary transliteration results, and thus advantageously avoiding a distraction to the user. |
| US08275596B2 |
Method for robust statistical semiconductor device modeling
According to one exemplary embodiment, a method for robust statistical semiconductor device modeling includes building a semiconductor device model using at least one new device parameter variation, constructing a variation library for the semiconductor device model, and verifying the variation library against measured data from physical semiconductor devices. The variation library is constructed by determining variations of the at least one new device parameter variation and standard device parameters as functions of, for example. sizes and locations of semiconductor devices on semiconductor dies. |
| US08275590B2 |
Providing a simulation of wearing items such as garments and/or accessories
A user may simulate wearing real-wearable items, such as virtual garments and accessories. A virtual-outfitting interface may be provided for presentation to the user. An item-search/selection portion within the virtual-outfitting interface may be provided. The item-search/selection portion may depict one or more virtual-wearable items corresponding to one or more real-wearable items. The user may be allowed to select at least one virtual-wearable item from the item-search/selection portion. A main display portion within the virtual-outfitting interface may be provided. The main display portion may include a composite video feed that incorporates a video feed of the user and the selected at least one virtual-wearable item such that the user appears to be wearing the selected at least one virtual-wearable item in the main display portion. |
| US08275576B2 |
System and method for distributed reporting of machine performance
Certain exemplary embodiments can include obtaining and analyzing data from at least one discrete machine, automatically determining relationships related to the data, taking corrective action to improve machine operation and/or maintenance, automatically and heuristically predicting a failure associated with the machine and/or recommending preventative maintenance in advance of the failure, and/or automating and analyzing mining shovels, etc. |
| US08275574B2 |
Corona phenomena detection
A system for automatically detecting corona effects in operating dynamic electromechanical equipment may include: at least one sensor connected to operating dynamic electromechanical equipment, a controller connected to the at least one sensor and to the operating dynamic electromechanical equipment; and a corona phenomena detection device. The at least one sensor may be adapted to measure behavior of emitted signals of the operating dynamic electromechanical equipment. The controller may be adapted to adjust emitted signals of the operating dynamic electromechanical equipment to correct for errors detected by the sensor in the emitted signals The corona phenomena detection device may be adapted to automatically detect corona effects of the dynamic electromechanical equipment. The corona phenomena detection device may be connected to, or embedded in, the dynamic electromechanical equipment during manufacture of the dynamic electromechanical equipment, or retro-fitted to the dynamic electromechanical equipment. |
| US08275571B2 |
Method and system for correlating weapon firing events with scoring events
An exemplary embodiment, the present invention sets forth a method for correlating at least one weapon firing event to at least one scoring event. The method comprising: receiving information relating to a first scoring event; receiving information relating to a first weapon firing event; calculating an angle between a reference line, extending from location of the first weapon event to the location of the first scoring event, and the reference direction at the first computing device; comparing the time of the first scoring event to the time of the weapon firing event at the first computing device; comparing the angle of incidence for the projectile to the calculated angle at the first computing device; and identifying whether the weapon firing event and the scoring event are an unambiguous, one-to-one pairings at the first computing device. |
| US08275569B2 |
Test apparatus and diagnosis method
Provided is a test apparatus that tests a device under test, comprising: a plurality of modules that each include an output circuit that outputs a prescribed output signal to the device under test and a measurement circuit that measures a prescribed characteristic of the device under test; and a control section that, for each module, causes the measurement circuit to measure output of the output circuit and diagnoses the module based on a measurement result of the measurement circuit. Each measurement circuit measures the output of the corresponding output circuit in parallel, and the control section is provided in common to the plurality of modules and sequentially reads the measurement result of the measurement circuit of each module. |
| US08275568B2 |
Semiconductor test system with self-inspection of electrical channel
A semiconductor test system with self-inspection of an electrical channel is disclosed, which includes a tester head, a plurality of parameter detection units and a self-inspection controller. The tester head includes a plurality of pin electronics cards inserted therein, in which the plurality of pin electronics cards contain a plurality of power channels, a plurality of I/O channels and a plurality of drive channels. The self-inspection controller outputs different inspection signals respectively to each power channel, each I/O channel and each drive channel. Then, the plurality of parameter detection units detect response signals respectively produced by each power channel, each I/O channel and each drive channel in response to the inspection signals respectively received thereby, and the response signals are judged by the self-inspection controller. Thus, the invention is capable of self-inspecting each electrical channel if it is in a normal condition, either in an open or short circuit, or if there exists a leakage condition. |
| US08275565B2 |
Radio communication apparatus and radio communication method used in mobile communication system
A disclosed radio communication apparatus includes a unit receiving a broadcast channel including a system frame number (SFN), a control channel including a process number (Proc) and a new data identification, and a user data channel including a sequence number; a unit detecting whether a received first packet includes an error and reporting the detection result indicating ACK or NACK to a transmitter side; a unit detecting whether the control channel has not been correctly received in the past based on the process number and the new packet identification information of a second packet transmitted after the first packet; and a unit reporting an indicator including the SFN at which the second packet is transmitted to the transmitter side, so that a packet is re-transmitted, the packet being transmitted to the radio communication apparatus by a preceding SFN that precedes an SFN at which the second packet is transmitted. |
| US08275564B2 |
Patterned wafer inspection system using a non-vibrating contact potential difference sensor
A method and system for inspecting a surface of a material having a repeating pattern of relative work function. The method and system processes sensor data to identify data characteristic of the repeating pattern, and the sensor data is then further processed to remove the data characteristic of the repeating data, leading to a characteristic of non-uniformities of the material surface. |
| US08275563B2 |
Nonparametric method for determination of anomalous event states in complex systems exhibiting non-stationarity
According to a feature of the present disclosure, a method is provided for the determination of anomalous events in complex systems, such as problems, inefficiencies, and failures, and a tool is provided for the detection of these events. Many complex systems are non-stationary or experience periodic fluctuations or spikes in values that are outside of normal ranges, but constitute normal behavior nevertheless. The method accounts for both non-stationarity, as well as fluctuations and spikes. Additional novel features include both a threshold setting initialization method and a regression method for the determination of the start points and end points of events. |
| US08275561B2 |
Power monitoring and analysis system for identifying individual electrical devices
Techniques and mechanisms for evaluating a plurality of electrical devices variously powered by a common alternating current service. In an embodiment, a set of transition reports are processed to determine a cluster of transition reports including on-transition reports for an electrical device. In another embodiment, a data structure is created based on such an identified cluster, the data structure characterizing a first device of the plurality of electrical devices. The data structure is provided in one embodiment for an automatic determining of whether a first transition report subsequent to the set of transition reports corresponds to the first device. |
| US08275559B2 |
Fault detector for a tip and ring circuit, a method of protecting such a circuit and a power supply including the fault detector
A fault detector for use with a telephone wire-pair having a return conductor and an output conductor, a method of protecting a telecommunications network including the telephone wire-pair and a power supply for the telecommunications network. In one embodiment, the fault detector includes (1) a passive sensor coupled between Earth and the wire-pair to detect a ground fault thereon, (2) an amplifier having inputs coupled across the passive sensor and configured to characterize the ground fault in terms of a value and (3) a controller configured to receive the value via an output of the amplifier and compare the value to a threshold to determine if the ground fault exceeds a safety limit. |
| US08275557B2 |
Computer-implemented method and computer-based system for validating DNA sequencing data
To validate DNA sequencing data from sequence data of one or more DNA fragments, a server (3) obtains a target specification from a user via a telecommunications network (2). From a set of one or more possible reference sequences (42), related to the target specification and stored in a database (4), the server (3) selects the reference sequence having the highest correlation with the fragment sequence data. For example, if the target specification identifies a gene sequence, then the reference sequence is selected from a set of variants of the gene sequence. Automatically, the server (3) aligns the fragment sequence data with the selected reference sequence and identifies any sequence positions where nucleotide codes of aligned fragment sequence data and selected reference sequence do not correspond. For validating DNA sequencing data, selection of reference sequence and identification of ambiguous nucleotide codes can be performed without human intervention, thus, the speed and reliability of the validation process is improved. |
| US08275556B2 |
Method of quantifying polynucleotides using a stored calibration curve
Method for quantifying analyte polynucleotide in a test sample using real-time amplification and adjustment of a stored calibration curve. The method may be practiced using as few as a single adjustment calibrator to adjust the stored curve. This simplifies the quantitative analysis procedure, while still providing the advantages of internal calibration adjustment to account for variation in amplification reaction efficiency. |
| US08275554B2 |
System for differentiating the lengths of nucleic acids of interest in a sample
Systems for differentiating the lengths of nucleic acids of interest in a sample are provided. The system includes a microfluidic device, a detector, and a software system. The microfluidic device includes an amplification microchannel or microchamber containing a reaction mixture under conditions that provide one or more amplicons of the nucleic acid of interest. The detector is integral with or proximal to the microfluidic device and is configured to detect the amplicons as one or more signals from a homogenous mixture. The software system interprets one or more coincidentally detected signals to indicate lengths of one or more individual nucleic acid molecules of interest, thereby differentiating the lengths of the nucleic acids of interest. |
| US08275553B2 |
System and method for evaluating physiological parameter data
Embodiments disclosed herein may include systems and methods for evaluating physiological parameter data. Embodiments of methods may include monitoring a patient to produce a signal comprising a sequence of numerical values for a physiological parameter over a time period, calculating an index from the signal, comparing the index to a reported index, and if the index is greater than the reported index, setting the reported index to the value of the index. Embodiments of methods may include calculating a modulation of the signal, comparing the modulation to a previous value of the modulation to identify a trend in the modulation and if the trend corresponds to an undesirable condition, using a first function to increase the reported index. Embodiments of methods may include providing an indication of a physiological status based on the reported index. |
| US08275552B1 |
Toxicity reporting system
The present invention is a method for communicating and forecasting the extent of toxicity of a given treatment program by deploying a uniform multi-modality grading system, and capturing significant high-grade events within defined risk periods to create a treatment-specific summary rating or classification of the toxicity experience. |
| US08275550B2 |
Method for target-oriented reverse time migration for prestack depth imaging
A method and system for target-oriented reverse time migration for prestack depth imaging. One embodiment of the present invention includes determining an acquisition area within an earth model and also determining a reference surface near a target in the subsurface region of interest. The embodiment includes exciting wavefields from the reference surface and propagating the excited wavefields through the earth model. The embodiment additionally includes recording the wavefields at receiver locations in the acquisition area and at the target and synthesizing wavefields along the reference surface to reconstruct Green's functions which relate the receiver locations in the acquisition area to the target. The embodiment includes utilizing the Green's functions and prestack seismic data to determine subsurface characteristics of the subsurface region. |
| US08275548B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting lightning activity
Described are methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for detecting lightning activity. Waveform data indicative of lightning activity is received by a waveform sensor from one or more signal converters. The waveform data comprises a group of electromagnetic waveforms. The waveform data is filtered by a processor to remove noise frequencies. One or more uncompressed portions of the waveform data are transmitted to a processing server. Digital filter data based on the one or more uncompressed portions of waveform data are received from the processing server. One or more frequencies are removed from the waveform data based on the digital filter data. The waveform data is compressed. The compressing includes selecting one or more points on a waveform, wherein the one or more points are above a predetermined threshold. The compressing includes determining an inflection of the selected points based on a predefined algorithm. |
| US08275543B2 |
Path guidance apparatus and method of inputting execution command thereof
A method of controlling a navigation apparatus, and which includes displaying map information on a touch screen display unit of the navigation apparatus, receiving at least a first touch input signal corresponding to a touching of a first position on the display unit and a second touch input signal corresponding to a touching of a second position on the display unit while the first position is continuously touched, calculating, via a controller, a traveling route including the touched first and second positions, and displaying the calculated traveling route on the displayed map information to inform a driver of a vehicle including the navigation apparatus about the calculated traveling route including the first and second positions. |
| US08275542B2 |
Navigation device, navigation method, and navigation program
Information is acquired that indicates a current road on which a vehicle is traveling. Information is acquired that relates to a plurality of branching roads that branch off from the current road at a branching point that lies ahead in the direction of movement of the vehicle. In a situation where route guidance is not being used, a determination is made as to whether or not there is a possibility that the vehicle will proceed on one of the branching roads that is of a different type from the current road, instead of on one of the branching roads that is of the same type as the current road and has an attribute that is of the same type as an attribute of the current road. If it is determined that there is a possibility that the vehicle will proceed on one of the branching roads that is of a different type, guidance is performed that informs the driver that the possibility exists. |
| US08275541B2 |
Automatic determination of aircraft holding locations and holding durations from aircraft surveillance data
A method using airport surveillance data to output a location of a delay and an amount of time a vehicle is subjected to the delay during a movement of the vehicle between two locations, the delays being observed in the surveillance data as a knot of several data points. A first method is used to identify proposed knots based on distances between individual data points within the data. A second method is used to identify proposed knots based on the speed of the vehicle. Another method can be used to separate proposed knots have been incorrectly joined together. This method performs the separation by arranging the data points into a two-dimensional grid to form clusters of grid cells having data points. The location of the individual cells is then analyzed to determine whether clusters should be separated. Each of the remaining clusters defines a hold where the vehicle is delayed. |
| US08275540B2 |
Dynamic time series prediction of traffic conditions
Techniques are described for generating predictions of future traffic conditions at multiple future times, such as by using probabilistic techniques to assess various input data while repeatedly producing future time series predictions for each of numerous road segments (e.g., in a real-time manner based on changing current conditions for a network of roads in a given geographic area). In some situations, one or more predictive Bayesian models and corresponding decision trees are automatically created for use in generating the future traffic condition predictions for each geographic area of interest, such as based on observed historical traffic conditions for those geographic areas. Predicted future traffic condition information may then be used in a variety of ways to assist in travel and for other purposes, such as to plan optimal routes through a network of roads based on predictions about traffic conditions for the roads at multiple future times. |
| US08275538B2 |
Multi-fuel engine starting control system and method
Various example approaches are described, one of which includes a method for controlling injection of gaseous and liquid fuel to a cylinder during engine starting. Specifically, gaseous fuel is injected during or before an intake stroke of the cycle to form a well-mixed overall lean air-fuel mixture, and then liquid fuel is directly injected to the cylinder at least during one of a compression and expansion stroke of the engine cycle to form a rich air-fuel cloud near the spark plug, where a spark initiates combustion of the injected fuels. In one example, the rich cloud enables additional spark retard, and thus faster catalyst light-off, while maintain acceptable combustion stability of the gaseous fuel. |
| US08275533B2 |
Late lean injection with adjustable air splits
A gas turbine engine is provided and includes a combustor having a first interior in which a first fuel is combustible, a turbine into which products of at least the combustion of the first fuel are receivable, a transition zone, including a second interior in which a second fuel and the products of the combustion of the first fuel are combustible, a plurality of fuel injectors which are configured to supply the second fuel to the second interior in any one of a single axial stage, multiple axial stages, a single axial circumferential stage and multiple axial circumferential stages, a compressor, by which air is supplied to the first and second interiors for the combustion therein, and a control system configured to control relative amounts of the air to the first and second interiors and relative amounts of the first and second fuels supplied to the first and second interiors. |
| US08275531B2 |
Target turning vehicle speed setting apparatus and braking/driving force control apparatus
A target turn vehicle speed setting device for setting a target turn vehicle speed according to the corner radii obtained from external information. A reference radius used for setting the target turn vehicle speed is set to a minimum value of the corner radii of points included in a corner successively obtained from the external information. When the values of the corner radii of the points decrease, the update of the reference radii is started. When the values of the corner radii increase, the update of the reference radii is ended. The target turn vehicle speed can be more appropriately determined. |
| US08275529B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling a hybrid vehicle
A control unit 13 moves an engine throttle 15 to the wide open position whenever the driver wishes to decelerate. This maximizes the transfer of rotational energy from the vehicle wheels 6 to a flywheel 12 which is coupled to a drivetrain 7,8,9 because pumping losses in the engine 2 are much reduced due to the open throttle. The energy stored in the flywheel 12 can be used at a later time to supplement the engine's motive power. The control unit 13 also controls an electro hydraulic clutch 11 which couples and decouples the flywheel to and from the drivetrain through a continuous variable transmission (CVT) 10. The gear ratio of the CVT 10 is set by the ECU 13. |
| US08275528B2 |
Transmission turbine acceleration control for managing vehicle acceleration
Methods and systems for managing acceleration of a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission by controlling transmission turbine acceleration are provided. A desired transmission turbine acceleration is determined based on vehicle speed, turbine speed, and other information obtained from the vehicle transmission. One or more torque limits are determined as a function of the turbine acceleration. The torque limits are applied to manage acceleration of the vehicle. |
| US08275527B2 |
Method of modeling transmissions for real-time simulation
A transmission modeling system includes an in-gear module that determines an in-gear acceleration when a vehicle is in gear. A shift module determines a shift acceleration based on a clutch torque when the vehicle is shifting between gears. A shaft acceleration determination module determines a shaft acceleration based on at least one of the in-gear acceleration and the shift acceleration. |
| US08275526B2 |
Planter assembly with selectively actuated output
An actuating system for a planting device. The actuating system has an electric motor that provides an actuating force for a seed shaft. A pneumatic acting member is connected to a source of compressed air through a valve and positioned to engage the electric motor to actuate the electric motor. The source of compressed air and electric motor can thus be connected to a controller that operates the source of compressed air and the electric motor in order to provide selective actuation to control planting of the planting device. |
| US08275521B2 |
System and method for controlling air gap between a tractor and a trailer
A highway tractor (12) has a fifth wheel (28) to which a trailer (14) that is to be towed by the tractor can be coupled. A positioning system sets fore-aft position of the fifth wheel on the tractor. The positioning system (FIG. 2; FIG. 3) has a positioning mechanism for moving the fifth wheel fore and aft on the tractor and a controller for processing certain data that is used to cause the positioning mechanism to move the fifth wheel to a fore-aft target position on the tractor. |
| US08275517B2 |
Control assisting system for a motor vehicle
The inventive control-assisting system for a motor vehicle comprises a power steering (1) associated with a steering wheel (2) and a power steering actuator (3) whose operation is controlled by a data processing unit (4) for applying power torque to the vehicle steering and is characterized in that said data processing unit (4) is connected to means (5) for controlling the power steering (1) return to at least one predetermined position by computing a return torque according to a disturbance rejection torque corresponding to a resistance torque applied to the steering system and to a reference torque corresponding to a torque required for controlling the steering wheel rotation. |
| US08275515B2 |
Shock absorber health and condition monitoring device
Apparatus and method for determining shock-absorber wear are presented. The device includes a shock absorber, a temperature sensor, and an electronics assembly. The temperature sensor may generate temperature data for the shock absorber. The electronics assembly may determine a condition of the shock absorber based on the temperature data. The temperature sensor may be inside, on the surface, or nearby the shock absorber. A condition of the shock absorber, such as a shock-wear value or a remaining useful life (RUL) is determined, based on the temperature data. A shock-wear state may be determined by comparing the shock-wear value to one or more thresholds. A shock-wear indicator and/or a combined indicator may indicate the shock-wear value, RUL, and/or the shock-wear state. |
| US08275510B2 |
Failure determining device and failure determining method of continuously variable transmission
An ECU executes a program including the steps of determining that a change speed solenoid is abnormal when a target speed ratio falls within a predetermined range, an upshift is recognized and the change speed solenoid is abnormal; determining that the change speed solenoid is normal when the change speed solenoid is not abnormal; determining that a belt pinch pressure solenoid is abnormal when the target speed ratio is substantially equal to a speed ratio γmin on a maximum speed-increase side and the target speed ratio is not substantially equal to an actual speed ratio; and determining that the belt pinch pressure solenoid is normal when the target speed ratio is substantially equal to the actual speed ratio. |
| US08275508B1 |
History timeline display for vehicle fleet management
A vehicle management system can generate a vehicle management user interface that depicts vehicle history information in timelines or graphical timelines. These history timelines can include information regarding vehicle location, speed, and idling, among other useful information. The graphical nature of the history timelines can quickly convey vehicle tracking details and potential problems, such as idling and congregation, to an administrator. Further, history timelines for multiple vehicles can be displayed in parallel, allowing comparison between histories for different vehicles. |
| US08275507B2 |
Method of monitoring a thrust reverser
The method of the invention for monitoring a thrust reverser of a turbojet having an actuator controlled by an electric motor consists in determining a maintenance notice from a weighted combination of provisional notices, each provisional notice relating to a category of parameters associated with at least one phase of an operating cycle of the reverser, the category being selected from a category of parameters representative of a duration of said phase, of an energy seen by the motor during said phase, of a torque seen by the motor at a predefined instant of said phase, and of a duration during which the setpoint speed of rotation and the measured speed of rotation of the motor differ during said phase, each provisional notice being generated by analyzing values obtained during at least one cycle for at least one parameter of said category relative to a degradation threshold. |
| US08275505B2 |
Method and control system for controlling an auxiliary device of a vehicle
The invention relates to a method and a control system for controlling an auxiliary device of a vehicle, wherein the auxiliary device is automatically started at a starting time which is determined based on an estimated departure time of the vehicle. In particular, the invention relates to an air-conditioning device which is automatically started for pre-air-conditioning (PAC) based on an estimate departure time of an electric or hybrid vehicle. The invention enables a precise and flexible automatic determination of an activation time of the auxiliary device, wherein determining a time of usage of at least one home appliance of a user of the vehicle; determining a departure time of the vehicle based on the time of usage of the at least one home appliance; and determining a starting time of said auxiliary device based on the determined departure time of the vehicle are determined. |
| US08275502B2 |
Braking regeneration energy shunt system
A regeneration energy shunt system utilizes a module to monitor the power bus voltage and can divert excess regeneration energy to a resistor array to dissipate the excess regeneration energy. The module can monitor the state of charge of a rechargeable power source to ascertain when excess regeneration energy condition exists. The resistor array can include a plurality of resistors. The module can ascertain the number of resistors needed dissipate the excess regeneration energy and selectively direct the excess regeneration energy to the required number of resistors. The module can dynamically switch which resistors are used to dissipate the excess regeneration energy and can thereby even out the loading across the resistors. The module can ascertain a state of health of the individual resistors and remove unhealthy resistors from service, report the state of health of the resistors, and initiate changes in operation based thereon. |
| US08275501B2 |
Method and device for aiding the piloting of an aircraft during a landing
Disclosed is a method and device for aiding the piloting on an aircraft during a landing phase. One of the landing runways of an airport onto which the aircraft is to land is determined by a runway determination device. A position determining unit is used to determine a current position of the aircraft in a reference frame. A minimum breaking distance is estimated by an estimation unit, upon the aircraft passing above tje determined landing runway. The minimum braking distance is compared by a distance comparison unit with a length of the determined landing runway, and an alert is emitted by an alert unit, when said minimum braking distance is greater than the length of said determined landing runway. |
| US08275499B2 |
Device for calculating a flight plan of an aircraft
The invention relates to a device for formulating a flight plan ensuring sufficient safety margins for a duration of a few minutes in relation to the set of flight constraints that could arise and comprising means for: detecting the surrounding moving objects (aircraft or meteorological phenomena), evaluating their type and the danger that they represent, formulating a reconfiguration flight plan ensuring a separation with these phenomena and taking best account of the constraints of the initially followed flight plan, avoiding prohibited or regulated airspaces and avoiding the surrounding relief with ad hoc operational margins. |
| US08275497B2 |
Method and device for assisting in driving a vehicle
A method and device for assisting in driving a vehicle, particularly a motor vehicle, having a surroundings detector for detecting at least a partial area of the surroundings of the vehicle, an output device for the output of information concerning the vehicle surroundings obtained from the surroundings detection to a driver, and an evaluation unit for determining a risk level based on the vehicle-surroundings information. To facilitate driving of the vehicle, it is provided that at least a portion of the vehicle-surroundings information provided for determining the risk level, and the risk level determined by the evaluation unit are output continuously by the output device to the driver during operation of the vehicle. |
| US08275495B2 |
Method and device for monitoring the ability to navigate of an aircraft during a phase of flight close to the ground
Disclosed is a method and device, which provide an enhanced ability to monitor the navigation of an aircraft during a phase of flight in which the aircraft is close to the ground in which the aircraft uses positional information supplied by a satellite positioning system for the navigation. A display screen is used to display a first characteristic sign representing a selected setpoint value for a height parameter of the aircraft. The display screen also displays a second characteristic sign representing a current auxiliary value expressed in the form of an achievable height parameter. An alert is emitted when the second characteristic sign is determined to be within a predetermined height value of the first characteristic sign, and the alert is shown in visual format on the display screen. An alarm is also emitted following a predetermined time after the alert is emitted, if the setpoint value is not replaced by a new setpoint value. |
| US08275494B1 |
System, apparatus and method for controlling an aircraft
Apparatuses, systems and methods are provided for controlling an aircraft. |
| US08275493B2 |
Bow riding unmanned water-borne vehicle
A system and method are provided for launching and recovering an unmanned, water-born vehicle (UWBV) from a mother ship. The UWBV mimics the behavior of dolphins and is positioned ahead of the ship in preparation for bow riding. The UWBV uses a guidance system to position and keep in the bow wave. A high-frequency (HF) sonar transceiver array aboard the ship computes and sends course corrections to maintain the UWBV within the bow wave. The frequency range of the HF array can be 100 kHz or higher due to the short distance between the ship and the UWBV. Accordingly, the HF array can have a small aperture allowing for accurate bearing resolution. Course corrections can be sent on a near-continuous basis such that changes in thrust and rudder angle can be minimized to allow for accurate control of the UWBV. |
| US08275488B2 |
Digital excitation control system utilizing swarm intelligence and an associated method of use
A system and method of use for self-tuning a PID controller utilized with an exciter and generator is disclosed. The system includes a power source, an exciter electrically connected to the power source, a generator that is electrically energized by the exciter, and a processor that provides a PID controller that calculates an estimated exciter time constant and an estimated generator time constant using particle swarm optimization (“PSO”) to control exciter field voltage. The particle swarm optimization (“PSO”) technique includes increasing the voltage reference by a predetermined percentage over a predetermined time period, initializing each particle position of exciter time constant and generator time constant, calculating generator voltage, performing a fitness evaluation and then obtaining and updating best values. This is followed by repeating the steps of determining the generator voltage, the fitness evaluation, and the best values over a predetermined number of iterations. |
| US08275487B2 |
Electric power system automation using time coordinated instructions
A system for controlling and automating an electric power delivery system by executing time coordinated instruction sets to achieve a desired result. A communication master may implement the execution of time coordinated instruction sets in a variety of circumstances. The communication may be embodied as an automation controller in communication with intelligent electronic devices (IEDs). The communication master may also be embodied as an IED that is configured to coordinate the actions of other IEDs. The time coordinated instruction sets may include steps for checking status of power system equipment before executing. The time coordinated instruction sets may include reactionary steps to execute if one of the steps fails. The time coordinated instruction sets may also be implemented based on a condition detected in the electric power delivery system, or may be implemented through high level systems, such as a SCADA system or a wide area control and situational awareness system. |
| US08275486B2 |
Electric power system automation using time coordinated instructions
A system for controlling and automating an electric power delivery system by executing time coordinated instruction sets to achieve a desired result. A communication master may implement the execution of time coordinated instruction sets in a variety of circumstances. The communication may be embodied as an automation controller in communication with intelligent electronic devices (IEDs). The communication master may also be embodied as an IED that is configured to coordinate the actions of other IEDs. The time coordinated instruction sets may include steps for checking status of power system equipment before executing. The time coordinated instruction sets may include reactionary steps to execute if one of the steps fails. The time coordinated instruction sets may also be implemented based on a condition detected in the electric power delivery system, or may be implemented through high level systems, such as a SCADA system or a wide area control and situational awareness system. |
| US08275485B2 |
Electric power system automation using time coordinated instructions
A system for controlling and automating an electric power delivery system by executing time coordinated instruction sets to achieve a desired result. A communication master may implement the execution of time coordinated instruction sets in a variety of circumstances. The communication may be embodied as an automation controller in communication with intelligent electronic devices (IEDs). The communication master may also be embodied as an IED that is configured to coordinate the actions of other IEDs. The time coordinated instruction sets may include steps for checking status of power system equipment before executing. The time coordinated instruction sets may include reactionary steps to execute if one of the steps fails. The time coordinated instruction sets may also be implemented based on a condition detected in the electric power delivery system, or may be implemented through high level systems, such as a SCADA system or a wide area control and situational awareness system. |
| US08275484B2 |
Stepper motor gas valve and method of control
A controller for a variable heating system is operable to control a stepper motor operated gas valve to adjust gas flow to vary the heating level. The controller includes a first terminal for receiving a thermostat signal requesting heating, an electronic memory, and a microprocessor in communication with the electronic memory and first terminal. The microprocessor detects a thermostat signal requesting heating, and generates a control signal for the stepper motor to operate the gas valve. The microprocessor includes a programmable read-only-memory encoded with an instruction to store a time duration during which the microprocessor detects a thermostat signal requesting heating, and further encoded with an instruction operable to determine a predetermined heating level based on the stored time duration. The microprocessor responds to a thermostat signal requesting heating by determining the number of steps the motor must move to vary the gas flow corresponding to the predetermined heating level. |
| US08275477B2 |
Method and apparatus for distortion of audio signals and emulation of vacuum tube amplifiers
A method for digitally processing audio signals to emulate the effects of vacuum tube amplifiers and preamplifiers, musical instrument amplification systems, and distortion effects. By use of an implicit numerical method to estimate the response of a parametrically-controlled non-linear transfer function, non-linear filters, and feedback elements, the dynamic behavior and distortion effects of tube amplification stages are simulated. This provides the capability to reproduce the desired sounds of vintage and modern tube amplifier systems and effects with the conveniences and control associated with digital signal processing systems and software. |
| US08275475B2 |
Method and system for estimating frequency and amplitude change of spectral peaks
Methods, digital systems, and computer readable media are provided for estimating change of amplitude and frequency in a digital audio signal by transforming a frame of the digital audio signal to the frequency domain, locating a frequency peak in the transformed frame, determining an interpolated peak of the located frequency peak, computing inner products of a portion of the transformed frame about the interpolated peak with a plurality of test signals, and estimating change of amplitude and change of frequency for the frequency peak from results of the inner products. |
| US08275474B2 |
Flexible multichannel outputs for dual audio decode
A system and method for flexibly outputting audio from a plurality of programs to the particular outputs that are desired for each audio stream. This routing flexibility enables the audio system to operate in a variety of configured usage modes, wherein each usage mode identifies the routing of each audio stream to one or more outputs such as SPDIF, HDMI, I2S, and DAC. |
| US08275473B2 |
Data recording and reproducing apparatus, method of recording and reproducing data, and program therefor
A data recording and reproducing apparatus is adapted to receive audio data created by encoding an original sound signal and to decode the audio data into the original sound signal to thereby reproduce the original sound signal. The data recording and reproducing apparatus includes a data storage unit operable to store the audio data; a feature point information creation unit operable to create information about feature points by extracting information about characteristics of sound indicated by the original sound signal from the stored audio data and to create feature point information based on the extracted information; and an altered-speed reproduction unit operable to reproduce the original sound signal at an altered speed by decoding the audio data and thinning out the decoded audio data based on the feature point information. |
| US08275466B2 |
Band stop filter employing a capacitor and an inductor tank circuit to enhance MRI compatibility of active medical devices
A band stop filter is provided for a lead wire of an active medical device (AMD). The band stop filter includes a capacitor in parallel with an inductor. The parallel capacitor and inductor are placed in series with the lead wire of the AMD, wherein values of capacitance and inductance are selected such that the band stop filter has a Q with the resultant 3 dB bandwidth being in the megahertz range. The Q of the inductor may be relatively maximized and the Q of the capacitor may be relatively minimized to reduce the overall Q of the band stop filter to attenuate current flow through the lead wire along a range of selected frequencies. In a preferred form, the band stop filter is integrated into a TIP and/or RING electrode for an active implantable medical device. |
| US08275465B2 |
Stimulation lead for application of electrical pulses to tissue of a patient and method for fabricating a stimulation lead
A method of fabricating a stimulation lead by supplying a lead body with a plurality wire conductors extending the length of the lead body and being within insulative material therein; providing a plurality of terminals and electrodes on the ends of the lead body, wherein the plurality of terminals and electrodes are electrically coupled, wherein the providing comprises: (i) positioning a conductive band about the lead body that is adapted to be clasped about the lead body; (ii) positioning a conductor wire between an exterior surface of the first end and an interior surface of the second end of the conductive band; (iii) closing overlapping ends of the conductive band about the conductor wire; and (iv) welding the ends to seal the conductive band about the lead body. |
| US08275462B1 |
Integrated phase-shift power control transmitter for use with implantable device and method for use of the same
Systems and methods for efficiently transmitting power using a high frequency (e.g., RF) telemetry transmitter are provided. The telemetry transmitter may include a fixed clock source (which may provide a fixed clock signal), telemetry phase shift circuitry (which may include switching circuitry and phase shifting circuitry), and a push-pull network. The telemetry phase shift circuitry generates a phase shifted clock signal that is phase shifted with respect to the fixed clock signal. The fixed and phase shifted clock signals may drive the switching circuitry to produce a high frequency signal that is passed through the push-pull network. The power or magnitude of the high frequency signal is based on the phase delay between the fixed clock signal and the phase shifted clock signal. |
| US08275456B2 |
Implantable device for delivering cardiac drug therapy
An implantable medical device in which an electrogram is recorded and analyzed in order to detect changes indicative of cardiac ischemia. Cardiac ischemia may be detected by recording an electrogram from a sensing channel of the device and comparing the recorded electrogram with a reference electrogram. If cardiac ischemia is detected, a cardiac drug such as a thrombolytic agent is delivered. |
| US08275455B2 |
Medical devices employing conductive polymers for delivery of therapeutic agents
In accordance with one aspect, the invention relates to medical devices which comprise at least one reservoir, a therapeutic-agent-containing region disposed within the reservoir and an electrode comprising a conductive polymer. The devices of the invention are configured such that a rate of release of the therapeutic agent from the reservoir changes upon a change in the oxidation state of the conductive polymer. |
| US08275452B2 |
Rapid 3D mapping using multielectrode position data
An electrophysiology (EP) system includes an interface for operator-interaction with the results of code executing therein. A template model can have channels positioned or repositioned thereupon by the user to define a set-up useful in rapid catheter positioning. Mapping operations can be performed without the requirement for precise catheter location determinations. A map module coordinates EP data associated with each selected channel and its associated position on the template model to provide this result, and can update the resulting map in the event that the channel or location is changed. Messaging and other dynamic features enable synchronized presentation of a myriad of EP data. Additional systems and methods are disclosed herein. |
| US08275449B2 |
Overlay image contrast enhancement
A method of creating an image difference overlay comprises identifying a loop of reference images of a subject and identifying a loop of data images of the subject. The loop of image data can be identified after an event, such as the administration of contrast agent to the subject. A reference loop image frame is compared to one or more data loop image frames and the reference loop frame is associated with a data loop image frame which closely resembles the data loop image frame. Each of the associated frames can then be processed and used to create an image difference overlay frame. |
| US08275448B2 |
Method for reconstructing a 3D presentation
The invention relates to a method for reconstructing a 3D presentation of a hollow organ based on two-dimensional catheter images, comprising: detecting at least two fluoroscopy images at two different angles of the hollow organ; determining a start position of the catheter from the fluoroscopy images in a three-dimensional model of the hollow organ or a catheter guide; determining a probable withdrawal path of the catheter based on the three-dimensional model; withdrawing the catheter while recording the catheter images and assigning a withdrawal length to each catheter image; determining the deviation of the position of the catheter from a central path running through the middle of the hollow organ and the orientation of the catheter for each catheter image based on the withdrawal path and the withdrawal length; and reconstructing the 3D presentation from the two-dimensional catheter images as well as the deviation of the position of the catheter. |
| US08275441B2 |
Electrodes possessing change indicator
The present disclosure provides electrodes that possess components capable of indicating to an end-user when the electrode is in need of replacement. The electrode includes a substrate and a conductive composition on at least a portion of a surface of the substrate. The conductive composition includes at least one hydrogel and at least one component that precipitates from the hydrogel after repeated use of the electrode, thereby providing an indication to replace the electrode. |
| US08275438B2 |
Analyte sensor
Systems and methods of use for continuous analyte measurement of a host's vascular system are provided. In some embodiments, a continuous glucose measurement system includes a vascular access device, a sensor and sensor electronics, the system being configured for insertion into communication with a host's circulatory system. |
| US08275436B2 |
Method and apparatus for non-invasive fetal oximetry
Method and apparatus to non-invasively measure fetal blood oxygen saturation levels. Optical sensors capable of producing and detecting multiple wavelengths of tissue penetrating light are placed on the surface of the maternal abdomen, and the light beams directed to pass through at least a portion of the uterus containing the fetus. The fetal heart rate is monitored by Doppler ultrasound, and pure maternal optical signal related to maternal arterial blood flow are also measured. The optical sensors collect composite signals containing both maternal and fetal hemoglobin absorption spectral data and modulated by their respective pulsatile blood flows. The composite signals processed in the time domain and frequency domain, the pure maternal pulsatile optical signal used to extract the maternal contribution to the composite signal, and the fetal pulsatile signal is used to lock onto and extract the fetal contribution to the composite signal, and a fetal blood oxygen level deduced. |
| US08275435B2 |
Co-location of emitters and detectors and method of operation
An implantable medical device having an optical sensor selects the function of modular opto-electronic assemblies included in the optical sensor. Each assembly is provided with at least one light emitting device and at least one light detecting device. A device controller coupled to the optical sensor controls the function of each the assemblies. The controller executes a sensor performance test and selects at least one of the plurality of assemblies to operate as a light emitting assembly in response to a result of the performance test. The controller selects at least one other of the plurality of optical sensor assemblies to operate as a light detecting assembly in response to a result of the performance test. |
| US08275434B2 |
Method for measuring blood oxygen content under low perfusion
A method for measuring blood oxygen content under low perfusion, which is used in a device for measuring blood oxygen content, includes the steps of: initializing the device that is applied with power; collecting and processing data with a driving circuit of light emitting device, a bias circuit, a gain circuit and an A/D sampling circuit, which are controlled under a cone control module; calculating blood oxygen saturation based on the collected data with a data processing module which integrates the collected data in a period of time with an area integration method; and outputting from a communication functional module results of the blood oxygen saturation or pulse rate calculated with the data processing module. The method further includes a decision step of deciding the two results acquired from the data processing module with the waveform method and the integration method respectively based on the intensity of the measured signal and generating the final measured result, performed by a decision unit included in the device. By adopting the above method, the disturbance to effective signal by noise can be eliminated. As a result, the measuring accuracy of blood oxygen content under low perfusion can be improved without increasing the production cost for the measuring device. |
| US08275433B2 |
Non-invasive blood constituent measuring instrument and measuring method
A non-invasive blood constituents measuring instrument measures blood constituent values including blood glucose concentration in a living body non-invasively. The instrument is composed of a light source 11 to irradiate a light containing plural wavelengths to a living body 13, a light receiver 14 to detect the light transmitted through a living body or reflected and scattered thereon, a spectrum analyzer 15 to analyze the light transmitted through the living body or reflected thereon at different times, a subtraction processor 18 to generate spectrum subtraction from the spectrum of the light at the different times measured by the spectrum analyzer 15, and a blood glucose concentration predictor 21 into which the output data of the subtraction processor 18 are input and which outputs a blood constituent value. |
| US08275430B2 |
Arrangement with a superconductive cable
An arrangement for an electrically conducting connection of a superconductive electric cable with a cable having normal conductivity at room temperature is provided, which includes a passage with an electric conductor surrounded by a thermal insulation. The conductor of the superconductive cable is connected to an end of the conductor of the passage, at whose other end a cable having normal conductivity can be connected. On the end of the superconductive cable intended to connect to the conductor of the passage an electrode is mounted serving the electric field control. At least in the area of the electrode a cryostat is present which surrounds it, which is constructed as a circumferentially closed sheath of electrically insulating material with a vacuum free, thermal insulation. The end of the sheath facing the passage is placed during the state of operation of the arrangement at high voltage potential, while the other end is connected to ground potential. |
| US08275429B1 |
High magnetic field gradient strength superconducting coil system
High magnetic field gradient strength superconducting coil systems for use in medical applications are provided. Systems capable of providing time-varying gradient magnetic field strength greater than 50 mT/m, over a spherical volume with a diameter greater than 20 centimeters include superconducting gradient coils and a heat conduction assemblage in physical contact with each coil. |
| US08275425B2 |
Portable terminal for multimedia
A portable device suitable for various multimedia environments includes: a main body; a folder; and a hinge unit mounted on the main body and rotatably connecting the folder to the main body. The hinge unit is slidable on the main body together with the folder. The mode-switching of the portable being provided according to the sliding position of the hinge unit. |
| US08275424B2 |
System and method for controlling a wireless device
A method is provided for controlling operation of a wireless device, including: receiving an initial incoming signal from a remote device in a first operational mode, the initial incoming signal including information related to an initial remaining battery power in the remote device; determining that a second operational mode will be a first possible mode if the initial remaining battery power in the remote device is within a first power range; determining that the second operational mode will be a second possible mode if the initial remaining battery power in the remote device is within a second power range; and transmitting instructions to the remote device in the first operational mode to transmit and receive in the second operational mode. |
| US08275421B2 |
Wireless communication device
With respect to a mobile wireless device in which a first housing 101 and a second housing 102 are foldably connected via a hinge 104, and in which a third housing 103 comprising a substantially rectangular display portion 106 is connected to the second housing 102 with a rotation mechanism portion 105 that rotates in a plane that is parallel with respect to a surface of the second housing 102, an antenna 107 is placed at an end portion of the first housing 101 on the side of the hinge, and a passive element 108 is placed at an end portion of the third housing 103. As a user rotates the third housing 103 by 90° to view visual data in horizontally long display, the antenna 107 and the passive element 108 are electro-magnetically coupled with each other, and the antenna characteristics of the antenna 107 improve. Thus, it becomes possible to provide an antenna that is more efficient when viewing visual data with a mobile wireless device, which is capable of receiving terrestrial digital TV and other visual data, on a screen that displays in a horizontally long manner. |
| US08275420B2 |
Portable terminal having flexible display and screen controlling method thereof
Disclosed are a portable terminal having a flexible display, and a screen controlling method thereof. When detecting an entertainment key for a film, a game, a navigation and a DMB, a flexible display disposed inside a body is slid to a vertical direction of a main display to have an extended screen. On the other hand, when detecting an incoming call or dropping of the portable terminal in a state that the flexible display has been extended, the flexible display is restored to an initial state. This may allow a user to more conveniently appreciate various entertainments such as films, games, navigations, and DMB, and may effectively prevent damage of the portable terminal. |
| US08275416B2 |
Combined base transceiver station and base station controller
A combined base station controller (12) and base transceiver station (14) comprises a selector distribution unit (SDU, 20), a main call control (MCC, 22) coupled to the SDU, a radio call control (RCC, 18) coupled to the MCC, and a channel element control (CEC, 16) coupled to the RCC. |
| US08275413B1 |
Wireless communication device with integrated electromagnetic radiation sensors
A hand-held mobile communication device, such as smart telephone, incorporating sensors and signal conditioning modules for measuring signals from external sources of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) in the low, radio, ultraviolet, and infrared spectral ranges. These include the detector for receiving and monitoring electromagnetic fields originating from various external sources of radiation that pose potential health hazards or may interfere with various electronic devices. The mobile phone equipped with such sensors could alternate between communication and monitoring functions. Other integrated EMR sensors are a photodiode for the ultraviolet detection to monitor the user's sun exposure and a thermopile for non-contact measurement of temperature of humans or inanimate objects. This infrared sensor in combination with a photographic digital camera and a pattern recognition signal processing allows measuring temperatures at specific locations and from optimal distances to the surface of the object to enhance accuracy of non-contact temperature measurements. |
| US08275404B2 |
Managing and monitoring emergency services sector resources
A system for monitoring and managing emergency services sector resources includes a wireless communications device configured to establish a wireless network, a plurality of wireless nodes wirelessly connected to the wireless network, a user application, a message management and routing system configured to facilitate communications between the wireless communication device and the user application, and a user device configured to display information from the user application. Each wireless node of the plurality of wireless nodes is associated with an emergency services sector resource, and is configured to communicate information regarding the emergency services sector resource to the user application via the wireless communications device. The user device is configured to display information regarding the emergency services sector resource from the user application. |
| US08275399B2 |
Dynamic context-data tag cloud
Disclosed are a system, method, and article of manufacture of a dynamic context-data tag cloud. A context data from a context-enriched message is acquired. A context-data tag that corresponds to the context data is generated. A context-data tag cloud comprising at least one context-data tag is provided. A mobile device that generated the context-enriched message for an updated context data may be queried. A depiction value of the context data may be updated according to an updated context-data value. The context-data tag cloud may include a visual cue of an attribute of the context data. |
| US08275391B2 |
Enhancing cell resolution mobile positioning estimates via signal strength measurement reported by mobile station
In a method for estimating the position of a subscriber station of a radio communication system, a receiver station receives reports from the subscriber station, said reports containing information relating to the signal strength of a receiving signal of at least one transmitting station in the locality of the subscriber station. The reports are stored in a memory of a network device of the radio communication system and a position determining unit takes into account at least two reports stored prior to the request for position estimation, in order to estimate the position of the subscriber station. |
| US08275380B2 |
Cell information transmission method and user apparatus in mobile communications system
A method of transmitting cell information is disclosed. The method includes the steps of transmitting a primary broadcast channel at constant intervals in a cell of a mobile communications system; broadcasting, in the primary broadcast channel, scheduling information indicating a location of a first scheduling unit, including information to be broadcast in the cell; and broadcasting, in the first scheduling unit, information indicating whether the cell is a dominant cell or a subordinate cell. |
| US08275379B2 |
Inter-MSC handover in a communications network
There is provided a method and apparatus for handling handover of a mobile terminal in a mobile communications network. The mobile communications network comprises both radio access network and core network portions. Handover is from a source cell served by a source Mobile Switching Center to a target cell served by a target Mobile Switching Center. The source Mobile Switching Center generates a request for handover message and sends it to a Handover Routing Router. At the Handover Routing Router, an identity of the target cell or a target node is determined from the request, and the target cell or node identity is mapped to the address of the target Mobile Switching Center. The request for handover is then sent from the Handover Routing Router to the target Mobile Switching Center. |
| US08275378B2 |
Handover for cellular radio communications
An improved handover process is described for a cellular wireless network. In one example, a method includes registering a mobile station to a first base station and a first gateway, handing the mobile station over to a second base station coupled to the first gateway, selecting a second gateway coupled to the mobile station, registering the mobile station to the second gateway, de-registering the mobile station from the first gateway, and handing the mobile station over to a third base station coupled to the second gateway and not coupled to the first gateway. |
| US08275370B2 |
Systems and methods for subscriber profile management
Systems and methods subscriber profile management to facilitate seamless roaming of mobile devices from one network to another. A subscriber profile management system is provided that includes a time to live (“TTL”) generator that generates a TTL limit for a subscriber based on usage characteristics of the subscriber. The subscriber profile management system further includes an administration module that administers TTL limits, TTL limit database that store TTL limits, a subscriber profile database that stores subscriber profiles, a usage measurement database that stores usage measurements, and a TTL limit reference module that administers TTLs when a subscriber profile and TTL limit are transmitted. The invention further includes a series of methods that support seamless roaming capabilities of a subscriber throughout visited networks without the need to continually make proxy calls to re-authenticate a subscriber. |
| US08275368B2 |
Method and apparatus for operating a telecommunication platform
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a telecommunications platform having a plurality of communications links of which only a portion of the links are enabled for use through the activation of a first base license key, comprising: a licensing framework for activating an upgrade license key to enable additional ones of the plurality of links; and a traffic monitoring element for measuring the traffic level of the platform and for generating data related to the measured traffic level when it is determined that the measured traffic level is indicative that the number of links used is greater than that provided for by the base license key. |
| US08275367B1 |
Methods and apparatus for remote data transfer
Methods and apparatus for communication and data transfer according to various aspects of the present invention include a communication system configured to transfer data to and from a mobile customer device. The communication system may receive customer data for a customer, such as a communication carrier for and a type of remote device. The communication system may include a storage system to store communication information associated with a plurality of wireless carriers and/or device types, such as the wireless carrier and the remote device identified for the user. The communication system may further include a host configured to access the storage system and communicate with the remote device according to the communication information associated with the wireless carrier and/or the remote device. |
| US08275353B2 |
System and method of managing contactless payment transactions using a mobile communication device as a stored value device
A method handling payment transactions in a system using mobile communication devices as stored value devices is disclosed. A transaction operations server receives multiple records of the transaction from the stored value device—one via a communication channel through the telecommunication provider network, and another via an independent communication channel. The records are reconciled at the transaction server for transaction verification. |
| US08275352B2 |
Location-based emergency information
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for location-based emergency information. A current geographic location of a device is determined. One or more first contact information items based on the determined geographic location are received at the device. The first contact information items include one or more contact information items associated with emergency services. |
| US08275351B1 |
Systems and method for automating a response from a mobile station
Mobile stations, methods, functionality, and articles of manufactures enable mobile stations to automatically respond to a messaging service message. An application is stored and executed on a mobile station. The application provides functionality to determine response message content for use by the application, receive a mobile messaging service message, and respond automatically, without interaction by the end-user of the mobile station, send a response to the received mobile messaging service message containing the message content for the sender of the received mobile messaging service message. The automatic response application may be user activated or automatically activated under various circumstances, for example at a specific time, on a regularly scheduled basis, upon detection of movement faster than a predetermined speed, upon detection of the station being in a vehicle, e.g. associated with a recognizable device in the vehicle. |
| US08275348B2 |
Method for managing telephone calls in a vehicle
A method for managing an ongoing telephone call in a vehicle includes the steps of monitoring signals provided by vehicle systems and monitoring conversational cognitive load indicators for a driver during the telephone call. A current driving situation is assessed by evaluating the signals provided by the vehicle systems and by evaluating the conversational cognitive load indicators. A semantic cue is provided during the telephone call, wherein the semantic cue is indicative of the current driving situation and wherein the semantic cue is audible at least for a caller calling the driver. Methods for managing incoming telephone calls and assisting the driver with outgoing telephone calls are also provided. |
| US08275343B2 |
System and method of using residual voltage from a prior operation to establish a bias voltage for a subsequent operation
A system and method of improving the power efficiency of a receiver for low duty cycle applications. In one aspect, the receiver includes a low noise amplifier (LNA) that is capable of being enabled in a relatively quick fashion so as to amplify an incoming signal when needed, and then being disabled to set the LNA in a low power consumption mode. In particular, the LNA includes a pair of complimentary devices, and an enable circuit adapted to quickly cause the complimentary devices to conduct substantially the same current. In another aspect, a bias voltage generating apparatus is provided that uses a residual voltage from a prior operation to establish the current bias voltage for the LNA. In particular, the apparatus includes a controller adapted to tune an adjustable capacitor to a capacitance based on a residual voltage applied to a fixed capacitor, and couple the capacitors together to establish the bias voltage. |
| US08275338B2 |
Passive high frequency image reject mixer
The apparatus is a complete passive implementation of an image reject mixer (IRM) that is capable of operating at very high frequency. Using a hybrid as part of the IRM circuit enables operation at very high frequencies that also employs a high intermediate frequency (IF). All the components of the design are passive and implementable in MOS technologies providing significant cost and implementation advantages. Furthermore, the apparatus is operative at frequencies that are higher than several tens of GHz. |
| US08275333B2 |
Apparatus and method for switching radio channel
An apparatus and a method for switching to a channel including good receiving sensitivity among a plurality of channels for the same broadcast service are provided. The apparatus includes a radio broadcast receiving unit for receiving a radio broadcast, a display unit for indicating an existence of another frequency channel, through which it is possible to listen to a current broadcast, and a control unit for notifying a user of the existence of the other frequency channel if the other frequency channel exists for listening to the current broadcast service, and for switching a current channel to the other frequency channel to listen to the broadcast service through the other frequency channel if the other frequency channel is selected. |
| US08275329B2 |
Mobile wireless communications device with reduced harmonics resulting from metal shield coupling
A mobile wireless communications device includes a housing, antenna, and circuit board carried by the housing and having radio frequency (RF) circuitry operative with the antenna for receiving and transmitting RF signals through the antenna. A power amplifier is connected within a transmission line for amplifying RF signals to be transmitted over the transmission line to the antenna. An antenna switch is connected to the antenna and RF circuitry. An RF shield surrounds the power amplifier and antenna switch and isolates the power amplifier and antenna switch from the antenna and RF circuitry. A low pass filter is connected to the power amplifier and antenna switch for reducing any RF coupling of voltage standing waves of upper harmonic frequencies from the power amplifier into the antenna switch through the RF shield while maintaining transmission of signals through the transmission line at a desired fundamental frequency. |
| US08275327B2 |
Wrist watch type mobile terminal
The present invention relates to a wrist watch type mobile terminal, and may include a conductive metal housing connected with a band or strap to be worn on a human body, and formed to be operable as an antenna at a specific bandwidth, a wireless communication module configured to process a signal transmitted and/or received by the housing, and a feeding portion configured to electrically connect the metal housing with the wireless communication module. The metal housing thereof may function as an antenna transmitting and/or receiving a specific bandwidth, and thus has an advantage of facilitating the implementation of the wireless performance and improving the appearance thereof, compared to a case in which an antenna is disposed within the housing having a small and limited size. |
| US08275325B2 |
Transceiver
The transmitter of the transceiver includes: a transmitter-side mixers of a transmitter-side modulator; a transmitter-side voltage-controlled oscillator; and a transmitter-side divider. The divider having a dividing factor of a non-integral number is supplied with an oscillating output of the oscillator. A pair of non-quadrature local signals having a phase difference of 90° plus a predetermined offset angle is produced by the divider and supplied to the mixers. The transmitter includes a phase-shift unit which converts a pair of quadrature transmit signals having a phase difference of about 90° on an analog basis into a pair of non-quadrature shifted transmit signals. Consequently, quadrature modulation is performed by the mixers. Use of a similar configuration enables the reduction in interference of an RF signal with local signals supplied to receiver-side mixers of the receiver. |
| US08275323B1 |
Clear-channel assessment in 40 MHz wireless receivers
A system including an activity sensing module to sense RF activity in first and second sub-channels of a communication channel of a first wireless network. N adjacent channel interference (ACI) filter modules arranged in parallel receive signals from N antennas, respectively, filter out signals in channels adjacent to the communication channel, and generate N filtered signals, respectively, where N>2. The activity sensing module generates control signals based on the N filtered signals. A channel identification module processes the control signals, and determines that both of the first and second sub-channels are available when the RF activity originating from a second wireless network is not present in both of the first and second sub-channels, and that the first sub-channel is available when the RF activity originating from the second wireless network is present only in the second sub-channel and is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold. |
| US08275322B2 |
Rateless coding for multiuser interference relay channel
An interference relay channel (IRC) utilizes a single relay to assist communications between multiple source-destination links under the half-duplex (HD) constraint. It is assumed that each source has an independent message and its transmitted signal may cause interference at the other destinations. It is also assumed that each node only estimates its backward channels and has no knowledge of its forward channels as well as the other links. The role of the relay is to generate signals to cooperate with the intended signal and mitigate the interference at all destinations. |
| US08275321B2 |
Electrical circuits with reconfigurable interferer signal routing
An electrical circuit comprises a source of an interferer signal; at least one component configured for using the signal; at least two electrically parallel conductive paths by which the signal can pass between the source and each of the at least one components; and a signal path selector configured to selectively enable the signal to pass from the source to the component by any of the at least two conductive paths and to, when one of the paths is enabled to carry the signal, disable each of the other at least two paths from carrying the signal. |
| US08275318B2 |
System and method for short range wireless communication
A magnetic induction data transmission network comprising a master hub, at least one sensor node communicatively coupled to the master hub and a magnetic induction coil preferably adapted to be worn about a body part of a subject such as an individual's waist or neck. In at least one embodiment of the invention, the magnetic induction coil preferably includes a connector which serves as an intermediary between the coil and the hub to allow data communication. |
| US08275315B2 |
System and method for transmitting data over an audio communication link
The present invention relates to a system and method that allows a user to transfer digital data to and from a mobile device between two or more communication devices, in cases where the communication between the devices is restricted or otherwise limited to audio or audio tone transmissions. Transmitting digital data over such an audio communication link may include establishing a wireless, short-range communication link, converting a digital data set to an audio tone sequence, converting the audio tone sequence to a digitized audio signal, transmitting the digitized audio signal from a first device to a second device over the communication link, converting the digitized audio signal back to the audio tone sequence, and converting the audio tone sequence back to the digital data set. |
| US08275314B1 |
Bluetooth scan modes
Different scan modes are provided for Bluetooth devices. In at least some embodiments, a narrowband scanning mode looks for signal energy on individual transmission frequencies at a time. By looking for signal energy rather than decoding transmitted packets, at least some of the components in a Bluetooth device can remain in an idle or rest state. A midband scanning mode looks for signal energy across multiple different frequencies at a time. Again, by looking for signal energy across multiple different frequencies rather than decoding transmitted packets, at least some of the components in a Bluetooth device can remain in an idle or rest state. A wideband scanning mode looks for signal energies across all relevant frequencies at a time. At least some embodiments enable a Bluetooth device to switch between scanning modes. |
| US08275295B2 |
Toner container and toner filling method
A toner container which is mountable and removable at a main body of an image forming apparatus, the toner container comprising: at least one toner filling port provided in a casing body of the toner container; and a sealing member which covers the toner filling port and a predetermined range of surroundings of the toner filling port, from an outer side of the casing body, for sealing toner inside the casing body, is provided. |
| US08275293B2 |
Conductive member, charging device, process cartridge, and image forming device
A conductive member includes a substrate, an elastic layer provided on the substrate and a surface layer provided on the elastic layer, in which the surface layer has a sea/island structure includes a sea portion containing a first resin and an island portion containing a second resin, and at least the island portion contains carbon black. |
| US08275290B2 |
Electrophotographic photosensitive body and image forming apparatus provided with the same
An electrophotographic photosensitive body includes a substrate and a photosensitive layer. In the electrophotographic photosensitive body, a reflectance to an exposure light L1 is defined as a first reflectance, and a reflectance of an eliminating light is defined as a second reflectance. The first reflectance is positively correlated with a light intensity rate of the exposure light L1, and the second reflectance is positively correlated with the light intensity rate of the exposure light L1 in a first case, while is negatively correlated with the light intensity rate of the exposure light L1 in a second case. In the first case, an amount of change of the first reflectance to an amount of change of the light intensity rate of the exposure light L1 is less than 1. In the second case, an amount of change of the first reflectance to an amount of change of the light intensity rate of the exposure light L1 is more than 1. |
| US08275289B2 |
Fixing unit and image forming apparatus therewith
A fixing unit is provided with a heat roller having a plurality of heaters provided therein for applying heat to a toner image formed on a sheet of paper, an upper-side casing for holding the heat roller, a holding member detachably fitted to the upper-side casing, and a plurality of fitting portions that are provided in the holding member and to which first to third terminal portions of the plurality of heaters can be detachably fitted from a same direction. |
| US08275288B2 |
Image forming device capable of improving precision in relative positioning of conveying unit and fixing unit
An image forming device includes a main body having a main frame, a plurality of photosensitive members, a conveying unit that conveys a recording medium onto which images are transferred from the photosensitive members, a fixing unit that fixes the images onto the recording medium, and an attaching member that attaches both the fixing unit and an end section of the conveying unit nearest the fixing unit to the main frame. |
| US08275284B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a cartridge detachably mountable to a main assembly thereof. The cartridge includes a developer carrying member for carrying a developer, a conductive member contactable to the carrying member, a developing chamber for holding the carrying member and the conductive member, a developer accommodating chamber for accommodating the developer, and a seal member for sealing an opening between the developing chamber and the developer accommodating chamber. The apparatus further includes a seal member removing device, and a control device. The control device controls concurrently performing seal member removal and driving of the carrying member when the cartridge is mounted to the main assembly and then sends a detection signal signaling failure of removal of the seal member when a potential difference is provided between the carrying member and said conductive member during the execution of the control. |
| US08275282B2 |
Image forming apparatus, control method, and control program
An image forming apparatus having a display unit for displaying a program which can be executed in the apparatus so as to be identified is disclosed. The apparatus has: an input unit for inputting a program into the image forming apparatus; a display control unit for controlling a process for displaying select keys including a plurality of select keys to instruct a selection of a desired one of a plurality of programs stored in the image forming apparatus onto a display screen displayed on the display unit; and a discriminating unit for discriminating whether the select key to instruct a selection of the program inputted by the input unit can be further displayed onto the first display screen to display the select keys corresponding to the programs registered in the image forming apparatus in response to the input of the program from the input unit or not. |
| US08275279B2 |
Image forming apparatus with operation of image bearing member after image formation
An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable drum; a charging roller for electrically charging the drum; a developing device for developing a latent image formed on the drum into a developer image; a cleaning device for removing a developer remaining on the drum after transfer; and a control device. The cleaning device includes a cleaning blade contacting the drum. The control device is capable of performing an operation for rotating the drum, in a direction identical to the rotational direction of the drum during image formation effected by rotating the drum, after a lapse, without next instruction of image formation, of a predetermined period from a stop of rotation of the drum after completing image formation. The predetermined period is longer with a larger number of sheets subjected to the image formation in an image forming job before the rotation of the image bearing member is stopped. |
| US08275278B2 |
Fixing control device, fixing device, and image forming apparatus
A fixing control device includes a power distribution controller that adjusts a power distribution time period when the power is distributed to plural heater elements per control cycle, a turn on time determining member that determines a time when each of the plural heater elements is turned on based on a duty ratio between the power distribution time period and the control cycle, and a soft operation controller that either gradually starts or stops heating each of the plural heater elements during a soft start or stop period, respectively. One of the soft start and stop periods for one of the plural heater elements is decreased not to overlap with another one of the plural heater elements. |
| US08275275B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus including a latent image carrier, a charger to evenly charge a surface of the latent image carrier, a writing device to irradiate a charged surface of the latent image carrier to form an electrostatic latent image, a writing device control unit to control the writing device, a developing device to develop the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image, a transfer device to transfer the toner image onto a transferred member, and a pre-transfer irradiating device to irradiate the charged surface of the latent image carrier during a period after development and before transfer. The writing device control unit controls the writing device based on a target image signal A and an image signal B output a single rotation of the latent image carrier after output of the target image signal A in a sub-scanning direction. |
| US08275270B2 |
High-sensitivity, high-resolution detector devices and arrays
Avalanche amplification structures including electrodes, an avalanche region, a quantifier, an integrator, a governor, and a substrate arranged to detect a weak signal composed of as few as several electrons are presented. Quantifier regulates the avalanche process. Integrator accumulates a signal charge. Governor drains the integrator and controls the quantifier. Avalanche amplifying structures include: normal quantifier, reverse bias designs; normal quantifier, normal bias designs; lateral quantifier, normal bias designs; changeable quantifier, normal bias, adjusting electrode designs; normal quantifier, normal bias, adjusting electrode designs; and lateral quantifier, normal bias, annular integrator designs. Avalanche amplification structures are likewise arranged to provide arrays of multi-channel devices. The described invention is expected to be used within photodetectors, electron amplifiers, chemical and biological sensors, and chemical and biological chips with lab-on-a-chip applications. Structures have immediately applicability to devices critical to homeland defense. |
| US08275267B2 |
Method, system, and apparatus for filter implementation using hermitian conjugates
Filter implementation using Hermitian conjugates and time division multiplexing (TDM) is disclosed to more efficiently compensate for chromatic dispersion of optical signals transmitted over a fiber optic medium. Embodiments for an input, filter, and output sections of a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) are described. The disclosed methods, and corresponding apparatus and systems enables a substantial reduction in the complexity of the hardware needed to implement CD compensation in the DSP. According to another embodiment, Inverse-Fourier transform circuits receive TDM data from the filter section and assemble the TDM data format back to a non-TDM format. |
| US08275264B2 |
Optical waveform controlling apparatus
According to an aspect of an embodiment, an apparatus for controlling optical waveform, comprises: an input port for inputting a signal light having a modulating frequency and a signal light power; a pump light generator generating pulsed pump light having a frequency higher than the modulating frequency of the signal light and a pulsed pump light power; a nonlinear optical medium for transmitting the signal light from the input port and the pulsed pump light, the nonlinear optical medium having a gain of the signal light based on a nonlinear optical effect; and a power adjustor for adjusting a gain of the signal light saturates in the nonlinear optical medium by a nonlinear optical effect by adjusting at least one of the signal light power or the pulsed pump light power. |
| US08275260B2 |
Network restoration under link or node failure using preconfigured virtual cycles
The design of telecommunication networks is such that there is provision of end-to-end path protection to multiple demands under a single link or node failure in the networks. Restoration routes are provided on Preconfigured Virtual Cycles (PVC's), where each demand is assigned one restoration route and specific restoration wavelengths on a segment of one cycle. Multiple demands may share restoration wavelengths, and the number of restoration wavelengths may vary among the PVC links. First, a plurality of candidate PVC's are generated where each demand may be assigned to multiple candidates. Assignment of demands with common failure scenarios are allowed, under certain conditions, to the same PVC. Next, a set of PVC's is selected from among the candidates, while minimizing total reserved restoration capacity and ensuring that all demands are protected. Next duplicate assignments are eliminated. Finally, conflicts of wavelength assignments are resolved. The invention focuses primarily on optical networks. |
| US08275257B2 |
Differential quadrature phase-shift keying transmission system with variable transmission rate
Methods and apparatus for varying the transmission rate of a signal transmitted within a dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) system or network are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method includes obtaining a first signal and determining a transmission rate associated with the first. If it is determined that the transmission rate is a first rate, the method includes processing the first signal as having a first transmission format and the first rate. Alternatively, it is determined that the transmission rate is not the first rate and is a second rate, the method includes processing the first signal as having a second transmission format and a second rate. |
| US08275254B2 |
Camera module and method for assembling the same
A camera module includes a lens assembly and a baseboard assembly mounted on the lens assembly. The lens assembly includes a lens, a barrel receiving the lens, and a support member receiving the barrel. The baseboard assembly includes a circuit board and an image sensor on the circuit board. The baseboard defines a friction surface at a side surface thereof. |
| US08275250B2 |
Zoom switch assembly, image photographing apparatus having the same, and method of controlling zoom lens
A zoom switch assembly for an image photographing apparatus includes a fixing member which includes a flat unit, a rotating member which is mounted rotatably with respect to the fixing member, an electric conductivity unit which is mounted on the rotating member to rotate opposite the flat member, and a position detection pattern which is formed along a rotation trace of the electric conductivity unit on the flat unit of the fixing member, and through which electricity flows selectively according to a rotation angle of the electric conductivity unit. |
| US08275247B2 |
Method and apparatus for normal reverse playback
Provided are a method and apparatus for normal reverse playback of GOPs of a bitstream stored in a storage medium from an Xth GOP. The apparatus includes an MPEG decoder which reads a first bitstream corresponding to the Xth GOP and an (X−1)th GOP from the storage medium and which decodes pictures of the Xth GOP and reference pictures of the (X−1)th GOP using the read bitstream, a frame buffer which stores the pictures decoded by the MPEG decoder, and a display block which displays the decoded pictures stored in the frame buffer, wherein during the normal reverse playback, the apparatus displays all the decoded pictures only once, and each display time of the decoded pictures displayed only once is the same. Accordingly, the apparatus can perform a linear search even during the normal reverse playback. |
| US08275245B2 |
Replace content with like content to enhance program experience
A method and a system for replacement of programs on a video recorder based on preferences and size constraints of a video recorder. The video recorder compares recorded programs in the computer readable storage media and a schedule of programs to be recorded to a plurality of global preferences and program specific preferences specifying preferred recording quality. For each recorded program whose quality does not match a global preference or program specific preference, a listing of future programs is examined for alternate versions of the program which do match a global preference or program specific preference. |
| US08275244B2 |
Recording apparatus
A recording apparatus includes an input unit to which moving picture data is input, a memory, a management-information processing unit configured to generate management information related to a position of a predetermined picture in the moving picture data and to store the information in the memory, a recording unit configured to create a moving picture file and a clip information file on a recording medium, to record the moving picture data on the medium by storing the data in the moving picture file, and to record the management information on the medium by storing the information in the clip information file, and a control unit configured to control the recording unit so that, when a size of the stored information reaches a predetermined size during recording of the moving picture file, the recording unit stops recording and records the data by storing the data in a new moving picture file. |
| US08275240B2 |
Recording medium capable of interactive reproducing and reproduction system for the same
On an optical disk, video object sets (VTST_VOBS) to be reproduced and video title set information (VTSI) serving as management information on the video object sets have been stored. In each video object set (VTST_VOBS), many data cells, each containing video, audio, and sub-picture data, are arranged. Management information on programs chains, which are combinations of programs to be reproduced one after another, has been written in a video title set PGC table (VTS_PGCIT). By referring to the program chain table (VTS_PGCIT) according to the user's input, the playback order of program chains can be changed, enabling the program chains to be reproduced one after another in various modes. |
| US08275238B2 |
Recording medium capable of interactive reproducing and reproduction system for the same
On an optical disk, video object sets (VTST_VOBS) to be reproduced and video title set information (VTSI) serving as management information on the video object sets have been stored. In each video object set (VTST_VOBS), many data cells, each containing video, audio, and sub-picture data, are arranged. Management information on programs chains, which are combinations of programs to be reproduced one after another, has been written in a video title set PGC table (VTS_PGCIT). By referring to the program chain table (VTS_PGCIT) according to the user's input, the playback order of program chains can be changed, enabling the program chains to be reproduced one after another in various modes. |
| US08275237B2 |
Moving image reproducing apparatus
A reproducing apparatus configured to reproduce moving image data based on management information including time information and position information about a plurality of intra pictures in the moving image data and display the reproduced moving image data on a display includes a determination unit configured to acquire information about a time interval and a position interval between two intra pictures from the time information and the position information and determine a bit rate between the two intra pictures, and a display control unit configured to display information concerning the bit rate determined by the determination unit, on the display. |
| US08275232B2 |
Apparatus and method of transmitting / receiving multimedia playback enhancement information, VBI data, or auxiliary data through digital transmission means specified for multimedia data transmission
A data transmission interface apparatus is provided for communicating with another data transmission interface apparatus through a digital transmission means specified for multimedia data transmission. The data transmission interface apparatus has at least a processor for processing multimedia data; and a data converting circuit, coupled to the processor, for converting a plurality of first multimedia data sets into a plurality of second multimedia data sets; and for converting a plurality of first auxiliary data sets into a plurality of second auxiliary data sets. |
| US08275230B2 |
Stackable optical fiber retainer
An optical fiber retainer includes a first split band of material having a bottom, a top, a front and a back surrounding an interior passage, the front including a first portion depending from the top and having a bottom edge and a second portion extending from the bottom and including a top edge, the top edge and bottom edges comprising a first split of the first split band. The bottom includes an inner surface comprising a wall of the interior passage and an outer surface facing away from the interior passage, and the top includes an inner surface comprising a wall of the interior passage and an outer surface facing away from the interior passage. The bottom outer surface includes a first connector element, and the top outer surface includes a second connector element configured to releasably mate with another connector element of another split band. |
| US08275226B2 |
Multi-mode fiber optically coupling a radiation source module to a multi-focal confocal microscope
A multi-mode optical fiber delivers light from a radiation source to a multi-focal confocal microscope with reasonable efficiency. A core diameter of the multi-mode fiber is selected such that an etendue of light emitted from the fiber is not substantially greater than a total etendue of light passing through a plurality of pinholes in a pinhole array of the multi-focal confocal microscope. The core diameter may be selected taking into account a specific optical geometry of the multi-focal confocal microscope, including pinhole diameter and focal lengths of relevant optical elements. For coherent radiation sources, phase randomization may be included. A multi-mode fiber enables the use of a variety of radiation sources and wavelengths in a multi-focal confocal microscope, since the coupling of the radiation source to the multi-mode fiber is less sensitive to mechanical and temperature influences than coupling the radiation source to a single mode fiber. |
| US08275223B2 |
Opto-electrical hybrid wiring board and method for manufacturing the same
An opto-electrical hybrid wiring board is formed with a flexible wiring board; a first rigid wiring board and second rigid wiring board connected to each other by the flexible wiring board; a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element, one of which is arranged on the first rigid wiring board and the other on the second rigid wiring board; and a flexible optical waveguide for optically connecting the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element. One end of the flexible wiring board is inserted in and supported by the first rigid wiring board, and the other end is inserted in and supported by the second rigid wiring board; the rigid wiring boards and flexible wiring board are electrically connected to each other by using vias to connect the wiring of the first and second rigid wiring boards and the wiring of the flexible wiring board at the inserted portions. |
| US08275221B2 |
Evaluating subject interests from digital image records
A method of evaluating a user subject interest is based at least upon an analysis of a user's collection of digital image records and is implemented at least in part by a data processing system. The method receives a defined user subject interest, receives a set of content requirements associated with the defined user-subject-interest, and identifies a set of digital image records from the collection of digital image records each having image characteristics in accord with the content requirements. A subject-interest trait associated with the defined user-subject-interest is evaluated based at least upon an analysis of the set of digital image records or characteristics thereof. The subject-interest trait is associated with the defined user-subject-interest in a processor-accessible memory. |
| US08275220B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium storing computer program for image area separation processing
An image processing apparatus includes an image area separation device, a compression device, an image storage device, an image area storage device, a data writing device, and an image output state monitoring device. The image area separation device separates input image data into image data and image area separation data. The compression device compresses the image data. The data writing device writes the image area separation data to the image area storage device, secures an initial compressed image storage region in the image storage device, and sequentially stores the compressed image data in the initial compressed image storage region. The image output state monitoring device monitors a compressed image data amount, and causes the data writing device to secure an additional storage region in the image storage device when the compressed image data amount has reached or exceeded a data amount storable in the initial compressed image storage region. |
| US08275219B2 |
Method and device for video image processing, calculating the similarity between video frames, and acquiring a synthesized frame by synthesizing a plurality of contiguous sampled frames
To acquire a high-resolution frame from a plurality of frames sampled from a video image, it is necessary to obtain a high-resolution frame with reduced picture quality degradation regardless of motion of a subject included in the frame. Because of this, between a plurality of contiguous frames FrN and FrN+1, there is estimated a correspondent relationship. Based on the correspondent relationship, the frames FrN+1 and FrN are interposed to obtain first and second interpolated frames FrH1 and FrH2. Based on the correspondent relationship, the coordinates of the frame FrN+1 are transformed, and from a correlation value with the frame FrN, there is obtained a weighting coefficient α (x′, y′) that makes the weight of the first interpolated frame FrH1 greater as a correlation becomes greater. With the weighting coefficient, the first and second interpolated frames are weighted and added to acquire a synthesized frame FrG. |
| US08275216B2 |
Method and system for equalizing holographic data pages
Methods and systems for equalizing a holographic image page and for compensating nonlinearity of a holographic data storage channel are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for equalizing a holographic image page includes receiving the holographic image page and dividing the holographic image page into a plurality of local image regions. The method further includes generating a local alignment error vector for each local image region, computing a local finite impulse response kernel for each local image region according to the corresponding local alignment error vector, and adjusting misaligned pixels of each local image region using the corresponding local finite impulse response kernel. |
| US08275215B2 |
Merging images
A method for merging first and second images includes determining a pixel difference image from the first and the second images, determining first and second locations of the foreground subject from the pixel difference image, determining a minimum path of values from the pixel difference image for a region between the first and the second locations of the foreground subject, forming a merged image by stitching the first and the second images along the minimum path, and adjusting pixels of the merged image within a width of the minimum path. |
| US08275214B2 |
Image texture characterization of medical images
A method for texture characterization is provided. Multi-dimensional spectrum data are determined by transforming multi-dimensional image data into Fourier domain. The multi-dimensional spectrum data are partitioned into a plurality of partitions, wherein each partition is associated with a predetermined set of orthogonal voice frequencies. The partitioned multi-dimensional spectrum data are then transformed into Stockwell domain resulting in discrete orthonormal Stockwell transform data. The discrete orthonormal Stockwell transform data are then processed to determine data associated with image texture, which are indicative of a feature of the object. |
| US08275211B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method
This invention is to easily generate a normal map at a low cost. Hence, image data representing the characteristic of the surface of paper is inputted using an image input device. The type of finish of the paper is determined. Filtering processing corresponding to the type of finish is performed for the image data. A normal map is generated from the image data on which the filtering processing is performed. |
| US08275209B2 |
Reduced DC gain mismatch and DC leakage in overlap transform processing
In certain embodiments, overlap operators are applied during encoding and/or decoding of digital media, where the overlap operators have reduced DC gain mismatch and/or DC leakage between interior overlap operators and overlap operators at the edge and/or corner. In other embodiments, information indicating a selected tile boundary option for overlap processing can be encoded and/or decoded. The selected tile boundary option indicates one of a hard tile boundary option and a soft tile boundary option for processing with overlap operators. Overlap transform processing can then be applied based at least in part on the selected tile boundary option. |
| US08275205B2 |
Prioritizer system for target acquisition
A system having an approach for prioritizing targets for an order of capturing the targets photographically or otherwise. Prioritizing is based on cost of obtaining or capturing the target for viewing or photographing in high resolution. One acquisition mechanism is for obtaining a wide field of view of a scene of targets and another acquisition mechanism is for obtaining a narrow field of view of a target for capture. The cost for prioritizing is based on the time that the narrow field of view acquisition mechanism takes to pan and tilt to get a close-up image of a target divided by the width of the target. The targets may be faces of people. |
| US08275200B2 |
Method, a device, a module and a computer program product for determining the quality of an image
The invention relates to a method, a device, an image quality evaluation module and a computer program product for determining the quality of an image. In an input image, at least one color component is iteratively restored with a deblur parameter, which deblur parameter is increased at each iteration. The iteration is stopped when an overshooting in the final image exceeds a predetermined value. After the iteration has been stopped, a number of iterations is defined and the quality of the image is determined according to the number of iterations. |
| US08275199B2 |
Color processing apparatus and color processing method
Upon creating a color conversion table from a first color space to a second color space, a reversal region where hues are reversed is detected from at least one color gamut in step S2, and the reversal region is corrected in step S3. Mapping is done based on the corrected color gamut in step S4, thereby creating an appropriate color conversion table that suppresses any hue reversal. |
| US08275198B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method and computer readable medium with compression processing for each color
An image processing apparatus includes: a limited color conversion processing section that extracts a plurality of pieces of color information making up image information and executes conversion to specific colors to which the color information belongs; a by-color separation processing section that separates for each specific color, image information converted into the specific colors by the limited color conversion processing section; a compression processing section that compresses for each color, the image information for each specific color separated by the by-color separation processing section; and a layered structure forming processing section that collectively outputs the image information for each color compressed by the compression processing section. |
| US08275196B2 |
Image processing device and image processing method
According to one embodiment, an image processing device includes a plurality of parallax image generators. Each of the parallax image generators is configured to generate a first image and a second image based on an input image and a parameter for setting a distance between viewpoints. There is a first parallax between the first image and the second image. The first parallax depends on the parameter for setting the distance between viewpoints. The input image is inputted to the parallax image generators in common. A plurality of parameters for setting the distance between viewpoints different from each other are inputted to the parallax image generators, respectively. |
| US08275195B2 |
Method for determining scattered disparity fields in stereo vision
In a system for stereo vision including two cameras shooting the same scene, a method is performed for determining scattered disparity fields when the epipolar geometry is known, which includes the steps of: capturing, through the two cameras, first and second images of the scene from two different positions; selecting at least one pixel in the first image, the pixel being associated with a point of the scene and the second image containing a point also associated with the above point of the scene; and computing the displacement from the pixel to the point in the second image minimizing a cost function, such cost function including a term which depends on the difference between the first and the second image and a term which depends on the distance of the above point in the second image from a epipolar straight line, and a following check whether it belongs to an allowability area around a subset to the epipolar straight line in which the presence of the point is allowed, in order to take into account errors or uncertainties in calibrating the cameras. |
| US08275193B2 |
Miniaturized GPS/MEMS IMU integrated board
This invention documents the efforts on the research and development of a miniaturized GPS/MEMS IMU integrated navigation system. A miniaturized GPS/MEMS IMU integrated navigation system is presented; Laser Dynamic Range Imager (LDRI) based alignment algorithm for space applications is discussed. Two navigation cameras are also included to measure the range and range rate which can be integrated into the GPS/MEMS IMU system to enhance the navigation solution. |
| US08275192B2 |
Coupling alignment apparatus and method
An apparatus for axially aligning a first coupling member and a second coupling member that can be connected so as to form a rotating assembly. The apparatus includes a measurement arrangement configured to be mounted onto the first coupling member and to be rotated therewith. The measurement arrangement includes an emitter arrangement configured to emit first and second signals in the direction of the second coupling member so as to cause at least a portion of said first and second signals to be reflected by the second coupling member. The measurement apparatus further has a capture arrangement configured to capture at least a portion of the first and second reflected signals. The apparatus includes a control arrangement configured to determine an offset in axial alignment between the first and second coupling member based on at least the first and second reflected signals. |
| US08275190B2 |
Method and apparatus for inspecting pattern defects
An apparatus for inspecting pattern defects, the apparatus including: an image acquisition unit which acquires an image of a specimen and stores the acquired image in an image memory; a defect candidate extraction unit which performs a defect candidate extraction process by using the acquired image, which is read from the image memory; and a defect detection unit which performs a defect detection process based on a partial image containing a defect candidate that is extracted by the defect candidate extraction unit, wherein the defect detection process performed by the defect detection unit is performed asynchronously with an image acquisition process that is performed by the image acquisition unit. |
| US08275189B2 |
Defect inspection system
The present invention relates to a defect inspection system which can perform inspection condition setting easily in a relatively short period of time, can examine the inspection condition setting even when there is no sample, and further can provide an inspection condition and a defect signal intensity to a person, who sets the inspection condition, to assist the inspection condition setting. In the defect inspection system, a defective image, which is an inspection image, and a reference image corresponding thereto and a mismatched portion of the defective image and the reference image are digitalized as a defect signal intensity and accumulated in association with the inspection condition, and the inspection conditions are changed to repeat evaluations while repeating accumulating works until the evaluation of all the inspection conditions in a set range is completed. After all the evaluations are completed, if there are a plurality of defects to be inspected, the work is repeated by times corresponding to the number of kinds of the defects and a recipe file including the accumulated conditions having the high defect signal intensity and an inspection condition item distribution as a inspection condition recipe is automatically outputted and is provided to the person who sets the inspection condition. And, appearance inspection for detecting a pattern defect or a foreign material defect on a substrate is performed. |
| US08275188B2 |
System and method for inspecting chips in a tray
A system for inspecting chips in a tray comprises a three-dimensional sensor, a focus computing unit, an image sensor and a focusing device. The three-dimensional sensor is used to obtain the height signals of surfaces of the chips. The focus computing unit calculates the focusing positions of chips. The surface inspection sensor is used to inspect the surfaces of the chips. The focusing device is used to bring the images of the surfaces of the chips into the focus of the image sensor. |
| US08275185B2 |
Discover biological features using composite images
An image processing system extracts parts or characteristics of interest from prepared biological samples One suitable use of the image processing system is to find biomarkers. But many other suitable uses are possible. Some components of the system include image preprocessing (data interpolation, retention time alignment, image noise filtering, background estimation, and formation of a composite image); image feature extraction (peaks, isotope groups, and charge groups); and computation of feature characteristics and expression statistics, differential expression, and non-differential expression. Outputs of the system include a candidate list of parts or characteristic of interest for aiding further discovery. |
| US08275183B2 |
Signal processing method and apparatus
A signal processing method that includes inputting sample values of a signal and considering the signal to have a plurality of portions. For each portion, a predetermined function is fitted to the sample values of that portion of the signal by calculating values of coefficients for that predetermined function. At least one statistical information function is evaluated for the signal to determine statistical information about the signal and the calculated coefficient values are used so that the form of the statistical information function has been determined for the predetermined function used to fit the signal portion and further includes using the statistical information obtained about the signal to process the signal. |
| US08275178B2 |
Software based method for finger spoof detection and related devices
A finger sensor may include a finger sensing area and a controller cooperating with the finger sensing area for storing enrollment data including finger feature locations. The controller may be for generating authentication data including finger feature locations based upon positioning of an object adjacent the finger sensing area. The controller may also be for performing aligning the authentication data and the enrollment data, matching between the aligned enrollment and authentication data, and spoof attempt detecting based upon corresponding pairs of finger features and their spatial locations in the aligned enrollment and authentication data. The controller may further be for performing an authentication decision based upon the matching and spoof detecting. |
| US08275174B2 |
Vein pattern management system, vein pattern registration apparatus, vein pattern authentication apparatus, vein pattern registration method, vein pattern authentication method, program, and vein data configuration
An imaging unit capturing an image of a body surface with near-infrared light while changing a magnification, and generating multiple pieces of near-infrared light imaging data having different magnifications, a vein pattern extraction unit extracting multiple vein patterns corresponding to each of the multiple pieces of the near-infrared light imaging data from each of the multiple pieces of the near-infrared light imaging data, a fractal dimension calculation unit calculating a fractal dimension corresponding to each of the vein patterns for the extracted multiple vein patterns, and a pseudo-vein pattern determination unit determining presence of a pseudo-vein pattern intentionally formed on a part of the captured body surface based on the calculated fractal dimension are provided. |
| US08275172B2 |
Multipass data integration for automatic detection and classification of objects
Classification of a potential target is accomplished by receiving image information, detecting a potential target within the image information and determining a plurality of features forming a feature set associated with the potential target. The location of the potential target is compared with a detection database to determine if it is close to an element in the detection database. If not, a single-pass classifier receives a potential target's feature set, classifies the potential target, and transmits the location, feature set and classification to the detection database. If it is close, a fused multi-pass feature determiner determines fused multi-pass features of the potential target and a multi-pass classifier receives the potential target's feature set and fused multi-pass features, classifies the potential target, and transmits its location, feature set, fused multi-pass features and classification to the detection database. |
| US08275171B2 |
Composition determining apparatus, composition determining method, and program
A composition determining apparatus includes a subject detecting unit configured to detect one or more specific subjects in an image based on image data; a subject orientation detecting unit configured to detect subject orientation information indicating an orientation in the image of the subject detected by the subject detecting unit, the detection of the subject orientation information being performed for each of the detected subjects; and a composition determining unit configured to determine a composition based on the subject orientation information. When a plurality of subjects are detected by the subject detecting unit, the composition determining unit determines a composition based on a relationship among a plurality of pieces of the subject orientation information corresponding to the plurality of subjects. |
| US08275170B2 |
Apparatus and method for detecting horizon in sea image
Provided is an apparatus and method for detecting a horizon which is necessary to detect a camera movement when compositing sea images in a marker-free sea-image camera tracking system. In the method, an ROI is selected near a horizon in a still image of the moving image of the sea, and each maximum point corresponding to the maximum brightness difference is detected from brightness differences between two pixels of each pair having two symmetrical pixels in each column of the ROI. The horizon is detected through a line-fitting using the maximum points. Therefore, the result of horizon detection can be very stable and a horizon can be easily detected in a sea scene having hundreds of frames. |
| US08275169B2 |
Communication system and control method thereof
A method for controlling a communication system comprising obtaining moving picture data, inquiring about processing capability with respect to the obtained moving picture data, changing a preset transfer rate of the moving picture data to a changed transfer rate based on the inquiry results, and transmitting the moving picture data using the preset transfer rate or the changed transfer rate. |
| US08275168B2 |
Orientation free watermarking message decoding from document scans
Bit data is encoded into characters in an input image by providing different darkness levels for pixels in either half of a text character. To determine if the input image is of a right-side up document, or an upside-down document, multiple scans of the input image at 90° rotations between scans may be made. Each scan result is searched for occurrences of a indicator prefix bit-sequence. The scan that contains the indicator prefix bit-sequence is elected as the right-side up orientation for the input image. If multiple scans show occurrences of the indicator prefix bit-sequence, then the scan that has the highest number of occurrences is elected as the correct orientation. Alternatively, the number of data bits between repeated occurrences of the indicator prefix bit-sequence is compared with a predefined message bit size, and the scan that matches most closely is elected as the correct orientation. |
| US08275163B2 |
Battery compartment with latching element for a behind-the-ear hearing device and behind-the-ear hearing device
A battery compartment for a behind-the-ear hearing device includes a battery compartment body having a battery receiving space for accommodating a battery and at least one latching element for locking to a hearing device housing. The latching element and the battery compartment body are formed of different materials and the latching element is disposed in a holding device in the battery compartment body. A behind-the-ear hearing device with a latching element and the use of polyoxymethylene for manufacturing the latching element, are likewise provided. As a result of the separation of the latching element and the battery compartment body and the use of different materials, a switching and locking function can be optimized and the wearing quality can be improved. |
| US08275162B2 |
Method for operating a hearing device and microphone system for hearing device
A method for operating a hearing device, an associated microphone system comprising at least two omnidirectional microphones, and a hearing device are provided. The microphones emit microphone signals and are electrically interconnected with one another in order to form directional characteristics. A damping of the upper frequency range of the microphone signals is determined from the lower frequency range of the microphone signals. The impression of a wide-band directional microphone is produced as a result. |
| US08275161B2 |
Hearing device employing signal processing based on design-related parameters and corresponding method
For enabling fast, customer-specific and precise matching of a hearing device's directional characteristic, a hearing device having a signal processing unit for performing a processing algorithm is provided, with at least one design-related parameter of the hearing device having been made available to the signal processing unit and with the signal processing unit performing the processing algorithm based on the design-related parameter of the hearing device. It should be considered as especially advantageous in the case of the inventive hearing device that a processing algorithm can be performed particularly precisely and customer-specifically based on the provided design-related parameters of the hearing device. |
| US08275160B2 |
Delay time calculation apparatus, delay time calculation method, and storage medium storing program therefor
A delay time calculation apparatus that enables all of speaker units constituting a speaker array to contribute to the formation of a combined wavefront directed to an area specified by a user. The delay time calculation apparatus includes a delay time calculation unit that calculates delay times of delayed audio signals supplied to the speaker units such that a ratio at which an evaluation object area is occupied by an area to which an acoustic wave output from each speaker unit reaches earlier than acoustic waves output from the other speaker units falls within a predetermined range. The evaluation object area is a target area to which a combined wavefront of acoustic waves output from the speaker units is directed, or is a perspective projection image of the target area onto a predetermined evaluation plane. |
| US08275154B2 |
Apparatus for processing an audio signal and method thereof
An apparatus for processing an audio signal and method thereof are disclosed, by which a local dynamic range of an audio signal can be adaptively normalized as well as a maximum dynamic range of the audio signal. The present invention includes receiving, by an audio processing apparatus, a signal, and feedback information estimated based on a normalizing gain; generating a noise estimation based on the signal; computing a gain filter for noise canceling, based on the noise estimation and the signal; and, obtaining a restricted gain filter by applying the feedback information to the gain filter. |
| US08275153B2 |
System and method for generating an audio gain control signal
Embodiments of a system and method of controlling the loudness of an audio signal are disclosed. The method includes determining a long term loudness level for the audio signal over a first sliding time period, determining a short term loudness level for the audio signal over a second sliding time period where the second sliding time period is shorter than the first sliding time period, detecting a segment transition in the audio signal; and generating a gain control signal. The gain control signal is based on the short term loudness level for a first time interval after a segment transition and the gain control signal is based on the long term loudness level after the expiration of the first time interval. Other embodiments include addition signal analysis steps to identify different segments of a signal and to control the loudness of the segments. |
| US08275152B2 |
Dynamic bass boost filter
Bass frequencies of audio can be dynamically boosted using various techniques and tools. The described techniques and tools can be applied separately or in combination. Bass frequencies of audio can be boosted using a linear combination of an input audio signal and output of a high-pass filter. For example, bass frequencies of audio can be boosted by applying a high-pass filter to an input audio signal to produce an output of the high-pass filter, determining a current level, determining a target gain amount, dynamically adjusting the input audio signal and the output of the high-pass filter, and combining the gain-adjusted signals to produce an output signal. A dynamic bass boost filter can comprise a high-pass filter and a dynamic boost module. |
| US08275148B2 |
Audio processing apparatus and method
An audio processing apparatus is provided, comprising: a main microphone for receiving sounds from a source and noises from non-source sources and generating a main input; a reference microphone for receiving the sounds and the noises and generating a reference input; a short-time Fourier transformation (STFT) unit for applying short time Fourier transformation to convert the main input of a time domain signals into a main signal of a frequency domain and convert the reference input of the time domain signals into a reference signal of the frequency domain; a sensitivity calibrating unit for performing sensitivity calibration on the main signal and the reference signal and generating a main calibrated signal and a reference calibrated signal; and a voice active detector (VAD) for generating a voice active signal according to the main calibrated signal, the reference calibrated signal and a direction of arrival (DOA) signal. |
| US08275147B2 |
Selective shaping of communication signals
Angular discrimination between signals is described. Multiple signals are sampled with multiple signal sensors spatially separated from each other. Respective transform signals are determined that are representative of each sampled signal. If a difference between the transform signals in a given transform kernel bin is greater than a difference threshold, a first transform signal is modified by altering that kernel bin. Then the resulting modified transform signal is inverse transformed. |
| US08275145B2 |
Vehicle communication system
The present invention relates to a vehicle communication system comprising a plurality of microphones adapted to detect speech signals of different vehicle passengers, a mixer combining the audio signal components of the different microphones to a resulting speech output signal, a weighting unit determining the weighting of the audio signal components for the resulting speech output signal, where the weighting unit determines the weighting of the signal components based upon non-acoustical information about the presence of a vehicle passenger. |
| US08275144B2 |
Intelligent audio speakers
An intelligent audio speaker that uses a power line communication element to provide audio distribution within homes, businesses, apartment complexes, and other buildings. Multiple intelligent audio speakers may be networked together, with common control. The intelligent audio speaker may, in some embodiments of the present invention, contain enhanced ambient backlight effects to further enhance the listener's experience. In some embodiments of the present invention, an existing audio speaker is retrofitted to an intelligent audio speaker using a retrofit kit. |
| US08275140B2 |
Transducer for sensing actual or simulated body sounds
A transducer system is disclosed for detecting actual or simulated body sounds. An audio signal generation and detection system is disclosed for the purposes of simulating the medical examination of a patient or simulating the listening of sounds seeming to emanate from a live or inanimate body. A signal generator sets up a voltage potential at an electrode physically attached to the body, or electrically connected to a body, thereby setting up a voltage potential on a surface area of the body. An electric field potential sensor or a capacitive electrical sensor placed in proximity to the electrode or body surface then detects the voltage potential. The signals produced by the signal generator can represent heart, lung, bowel or other sounds and the electrical sensor can take the physical form of a listening device such as a stethoscope, thereby creating a simulation of listening to body sounds for medical diagnostic purposes. |
| US08275138B2 |
Dynamic acoustic rendering
A method of acoustically rendering a virtual environment is described. The method includes receiving a subset of polygons derived for an acoustic display from a set of polygons generated for a graphical display. Acoustic reflections are determined from a sound source that bounce off of polygons in the subset of polygons to a listener position in the virtual environment. It is determined whether a polygon in the subset of polygons causes an occlusion of the sound source at the listener position, and a play list of sounds is generated based on the reflections and occlusions. |
| US08275134B2 |
Method for guaranteeing security of critical data, terminal and secured chip
A method for guaranteeing the security of critical data, which is used in a terminal including a secured chip and includes the steps of: activating the secured chip by the terminal platform to receive cryptograph A of said critical data; parsing internally by the secured chip the cryptograph A with a preset key A to generate a plaintext, then encrypting said plaintext with a preset key B to generate cryptograph B, and returning the cryptograph B to the terminal platform. Since cryptograph conversion is performed inside the secured chip, and the process of converting the cryptograph A to the cryptograph B is completed inside the secured chip as a one-shot action, the secured chip cannot be eavesdropped upon or stolen by any vicious software, and thus the critical data is guaranteed to be always in a cryptograph status from the secured input device to the remote server, which ensures the security of the critical data. In addition, the present invention is low in cost, advantageous in spreading and application, and convenient in customization and upgrading. The present invention further provides a terminal and a secured chip. |
| US08275131B2 |
Image forming apparatus and security setting method thereof
An image forming apparatus and a security setting method thereof, the method including: inputting an encryption key of a wireless network connection of the image forming apparatus; displaying a selection screen including one or more functions which the image forming apparatus provides; and selecting at least one of the displayed functions with which to share the encryption key as a password. |
| US08275129B2 |
Data scrambling, descrambling, and data processing method, and controller and storage system using the same
A data scrambling method for scrambling raw data from a host system is provided. The data scrambling method includes generating a random number and storing the random number into a storage unit. The data scrambling method also includes receiving a user password from the host system, generating a padded value by using a first function unit based on the random number and the user password, and generating a nonce value by using a second function unit based on the padded value and a key. The data scrambling method further includes generating scrambled data corresponding to the raw data by using a third function unit based on the nonce value and the raw data. Accordingly, the raw data of the host system can be effectively protected. |
| US08275127B2 |
Cryptographic processing apparatus, cryptographic processing method, and computer program therefor
The invention realizes a high-security cryptographic processing apparatus that increases difficulty in analyzing its key and a method therefor. In Feistel-type common-key-block cryptographic processing that repeatedly executes an SPN-type F-function having the nonlinear conversion section and the linear conversion section over a plurality of rounds, Linear conversion processing of an F-function corresponding to each of the plurality of rounds is carried out by linear conversion processing that applies square MDS (Maximum Distance Separable) matrices. The invention uses a setting that arbitrary m column vectors included in inverse matrices of square MDS matrices being set up at least in consecutive even-numbered rounds and in consecutive odd-numbered rounds, respectively, constitute a square MDS matrix. This structure realizes cryptographic processing whereby resistance to linear cryptanalysis attacks in the common-key-block cipher is improved. |
| US08275125B2 |
Method for designing a secure hash function and a system thereof
A system and method for designing a secure hash function is provided. Both of which have been designed for secure hash functionality, Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-3) using pre processing (MP) methods and to help reduce hash collisions. It is a one way hash function which is a combination of message pre-processing which is a bijective function and the cipher block chaining mode (CBC). |
| US08275123B2 |
Integrated data transceiver and sensor for the generation of a symmetrical cryptographic key
Systems for exchanging encrypted data communications between devices. A system can comprise a first device and a second device. The first device can comprise a first sensor adapted to create a first data profile based at least in part on a sensed condition, and a first transceiver integrated with the first sensor and adapted to generate a first cryptographic key from the first data profile. The second device can comprise a second sensor adapted to create a second data profile based at least in part on the sensed condition, the second data profile being substantially similar to the first data profile, and a second transceiver integrated with the second sensor and adapted to generate a second cryptographic key from the second data profile, the first and second cryptographic keys comprising a set of identical cryptographic keys. |
| US08275117B2 |
Methods and apparatus for use in computer-to-human escalation
A system and method are provided for escalating a user or customer to a live agent from a conversational agent when predetermined criteria are met. The conversational agent textually converses in so-called natural language interaction and can run on a computer, such as a server. Upon receiving a first query, the conversational agent creates a new case, and interacts with the customer, in an attempt to resolve the case and satisfy the user. The predetermined criteria for escalation may include a determination that the conversational agent is unable to satisfy a computer-to-computer information request. Alternatively, the predetermined criteria may include patterns and/or words associated with frustration, for example, and/or unrecognized query subject matter, high priority queries, for example to increase sales, etc. |
| US08275107B2 |
Techniques for managing a multimedia conference call
Techniques include managing a multimedia conference call. An apparatus may comprise a wireless device having at least one wireless transceiver and a conference call manager module. The conference call manager module may establish a voice connection and a data connection for a multimedia conference call using the wireless transceiver, the voice connection to communicate media information and the data connection to communicate conference call event information during the multimedia conference call. |
| US08275103B2 |
Communication device, displaying method and computer readable medium
A system and method for selecting callers on a communication device is disclosed. When a call is received from a caller, call history data are obtained from a call history database, and presented on a display. A user may then decide based on the call history whether to receive the call. |
| US08275092B1 |
Three-dimensional mapping based on scattered penetrating radiation
Methods for a tangible image of an inspected object. An object is illuminated with at least two sources of penetrating radiation that generate respective pencil beams and define respective viewing points and view planes. Post-interaction penetrating radiation due to the respective sources is used to generate signals based on respective views of the inspected object, and thus derive information with respect to a dimension transverse to the first view plane based on the second signal. A tangible image of the inspected object is then displayed depicting information with respect at least to the first view plane and the transverse dimension. |
| US08275091B2 |
Compact mobile cargo scanning system
The present invention is a self-contained mobile inspection system and method and, more specifically, improved methods and systems for detecting materials concealed within a wide variety of receptacles and/or cargo containers. In particular, the present invention is an improved method and system with a novel boom structure that reduces the weight of the boom. The single, light-weight boom of the inspection system is relatively compact in a stowed configuration and has a low height and center of gravity lending to greater maneuverability. |
| US08275089B2 |
Shift register and gate line driving device
It discloses a shift register and a gate line driving device, relating to the technology field for a liquid crystal display, it is made to reduce the switching on errors for gate lines and improve the quality of the image. Said shift register includes: a first thin film transistor, a second thin film transistor, a third thin film transistor, a storage capacitor, a feedback module, and a switch module, wherein said feedback module is used to receive a trigger signal of the feedback module of the previous stage and a clock signal in order to pull up the level of the first node Qa as a pull up node, and to output a feedback signal to the shift register of the previous stage and output a trigger signal to the feedback module of the next stage, said switch module is used to maintain the output terminal of the shift register of the present stage at a low level when the shift register of the present stage does not operate. An embodiment of the present invention is applied to a liquid crystal display panel. |
| US08275088B2 |
Perforated plate support for dual-cooled segmented fuel rod
A perforated plate support supports dual-cooled fuel rods, each of which has concentric outer and inner tubes and is coupled with upper and lower end plugs at upper and lower ends thereof, and guide thimbles, each of which is used as a passage for a control rod. The perforated plate support is formed as a support plate having the shape of a flat plate, which includes internal channel holes, each of which has a diameter corresponding to an outer diameter of the inner tube, guide thimble holes, each of which has a diameter corresponding to an outer diameter of the guide thimble, and sub-channel holes around each internal channel hole. The upper or lower end of the dual-cooled fuel rod is coupled to the support plate such that the outer diameter of the inner tube is matched with the diameter of the internal channel hole. |
| US08275082B2 |
Method and system for delay locked loop for rake receiver
Certain aspects of a method and system for a delay locked loop for a rake receiver are disclosed. Aspects of one method may include normalizing a signal power of a first control channel based on a threshold value. A sampling time associated with at least one or more of the following: the first control channel, a second control channel, an on-time control channel, and a data channel, may be adjusted based on a comparison between the normalized signal power of the first control channel and a signal power of the second control channel. The second control channel may be delayed with respect to the first control channel by a particular time period. The first and second control channels may be common pilot control channels (CPICHs). The combined signal power of the first control channel may be normalized based on said threshold value. |
| US08275078B2 |
Method and apparatus for signal detection
In order to reduce the complexity of complex signal correlator and realize algorithm optimization, the present invention provides a method and an apparatus for implement complex signal correlation by means of shifter and adder instead of complex multiplier. In the method, the amplitude and radial angle of a corresponding received symbol is firstly adjusted based on a pre-stored local reference symbol. Then, the radial angle of the adjusted received signal is rotated based on a corresponding interchange indicator. Finally, all the processed received signals are combined to obtain a final complex correlation signal. With this method, the chip size and computing load can be greatly reduced. |
| US08275077B1 |
Coherent demodulation of ais-GMSK signals in co-channel
The present invention pertains to demodulation of GMSK signals by estimating a carrier frequency of the signal having a carrier residual, basebanding the signal, tracking the signal's carrier frequency, removing the carrier residual, detecting a data burst, generating a bank of poly-bit matched filters, applying the bank of poly-bit matched filters to the signal, determining a magnitude and phase of the output of each poly-bit filter of the bank of poly-bit matched filters, determining a maximum magnitude, determining the location of a baud center, generating a plurality of correlation signals by applying the bank of poly-bit matched filters at the baud center, estimating a carrier phase, removing the estimated carrier phase, applying a Viterbi decoding algorithm to the signal, and estimating the transmitted data sequence. |
| US08275074B2 |
OFDM receiver for dispersive environment
A received OFDM signal is processed to determine a plurality of reference delays, which may include the path delays of a multipath channel. The effective channel estimates corresponding to each reference delay are determined, as is the covariance of the ISI and noise components observed at each delay. Combining weights resulting in maximum post-combining SINR are determined for all subcarriers. A corresponding plurality of FFTs is applied to the incoming sample stream, one at each of the reference delays. The individual subcarriers from each FFT output are then combined using the combining weights. This produces a single FFT output with suppressed ISI, which is used in further processing. |
| US08275071B2 |
Compact dual receiver architecture for point to point radio
A radio frequency receiver comprising a receiver module, an intermediate frequency (“IF”) module, a synthesizer module and a controller module. The receiver module receives a radio frequency signal and provides a baseband in-phase signal and a baseband quadrature signal, eliminates a sideband of the in-phase and quadrature signals to create a first and a second signal, downconverts the first and second signal to a first and a second IF signal, and selects one of the first or second IF signals. The IF module receives the first or second IF signal, performs analog-to-digital conversion on the first or second IF signal, and demodulates the digitally converted IF signal. The synthesizer module receives a programmable reference signal, downconverts the reference signal to an IF feedback signal, downconverts the reference signal to a baseband feedback signal, provides the IF feedback signal to the IF module, and provides the baseband feedback signal to the receiver module. The controller module samples the digitally converted IF signal and provides the programmable reference signal to the synthesizer module to thereby provide a demodulated output signal. |
| US08275070B2 |
Apparatus and method of transmitting/receiving signals using signaling point rotation at mutual cooperation transmission
An apparatus for and method of transmitting and/or receiving a signal by using signaling point rotation in mutually cooperative relaying are provided. The apparatus for transmitting a signal includes: a rotated I-channel generation unit rotating a symbol containing data of a first user, by a predetermined angle, and then, obtaining the I-channel (in-phase) component of the rotated symbol; a rotated Q-channel generation unit receiving a symbol rotated by a predetermined angle, of a previous time slot from a node of a second user performing mutually cooperative relaying with the node of the first user, detecting the I-channel component, and obtaining the Q-channel (quadrature-phase) component of a symbol containing data of the second user from the detected I-channel component; and a combining unit combining the I-channel component of the first user generated in the rotated I-channel generation unit and the Q-channel component of the second user generated in the rotated Q-channel generation unit, thereby generating one symbol. |
| US08275069B2 |
Transmitting apparatus, transmission method and signal generating apparatus
A transmitting apparatus and method transmits different modulated signals from a plurality of antennas, and employs a configuration that includes a modulation section that obtains a modulated signal by performing signal point mapping of transmit bits using a signal point arrangement that is divided into a plurality of signal point sets on the IQ plane, whereby the minimum distance between signal points within a signal point set is smaller than the minimum signal point distance between signal point sets; and an antenna that transmits a modulated signal obtained by the modulation section. A signal point generating apparatus generates a first and second symbols to be transmitted by first and second antennas, respectively. |
| US08275065B2 |
System and method for power saving coding in integer cycle or impulse type modulation transmissions
A system and method for substantially reducing average transmit power by omitting the transmission of a majority of pulses by using a modified run length coding to reduce signal power. By lowering the average power, an opportunity is presented to either decrease the total power drawn by the transmitter (battery life) or raise the peak power of all symbols (Eb/No), thereby increasing range of a RF transmission system. |
| US08275063B2 |
Method for transmitting and receiving precoded signal in MIMO communication system
A method for transmitting and receiving a precoded signal in a Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) communication system is provided. In the method, a preceding matrix is selected from a codebook including one or more preceding matrices of each rank, each of the preceding matrices including a unitary matrix modified by an antenna selection element. A signal for transmission is then precoded by applying the selected preceding matrix to the signal for transmission and the precoded signal is transmitted through a selected antenna. |
| US08275062B2 |
User scheduling method in multiple antenna system
A user scheduling method includes: determining a maximum temporary user set of a maximum capacity among temporary user sets obtained from combinations of M number of active users; and transmitting data to users belonging to the maximum temporary user set via multiple antennas by using a preceding matrix and a weight matrix with respect to the maximum temporary user set. Users to actually receive data can be selected from among active users in a multi-antenna system, and a corresponding precoding matrix and a weighting matrix can be obtained. |
| US08275060B2 |
Codebook searching apparatus and method thereof
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure propose multiple codebook searching methods for a receiver in a communication system, wherein the communication system uses a codebook having L pre-coding matrices. First, L matrices are calculated according to the L pre-coding matrices, and the L matrices are inversed mean square error matrices of the L pre-encoding matrices. Then, diagonal cofactors or determinants of at least S matrices of the L matrices are calculated, and a pre-coding matrix used by the receiver is found according to the maximum cofactors of the diagonal of the at least S matrices or ratios between the maximum cofactors of the diagonals and the determinants of the at least S matrices. |
| US08275059B2 |
Frequency synchronization apparatus and method in OFDM system
A frequency synchronization apparatus includes: a correlating unit that obtains a first correlation value by correlating a known reference guard interval of an OFDM symbol and a reference copy interval corresponding to the reference guard interval, and obtains a second correlation value by correlating the estimate guard interval and an estimate copy interval corresponding to the estimate guard interval; a determining unit that compares the first and second correlation values to determine a first case where the first correlation value is larger by a pre-set magnification than the second correlation value, a second case where the second correlation value is larger by a pre-set magnification than the first correlation value, and a third case which is not the first case nor the second case; and a frequency offset estimating unit that estimates a frequency offset by using a correlation value corresponding to any one of the first to third. |
| US08275054B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for data transmission
In an embodiment, a communication device is provided comprising transmit circuitry and crosstalk reduction circuitry. In an embodiment, the crosstalk reduction circuitry is configured to receive crosstalk information indicative of crosstalk between a plurality of communication connections for only a part of communication channels of said communication connections. |
| US08275052B2 |
FFT carrier frequency offset estimation for OFDM signal
There is being disclosed an OFDM signal receiver for detecting carrier frequency offset. When FFT transform of the signal is processed in the receiver, an estimator applies the spectrum shape of the FFT transform for estimating the carrier frequency offset. |
| US08275051B2 |
Feedback based scalable video coding
A system and method provides a first integrity check code that can be calculated at an encoder and then sent to a decoder as a supplemental enhancement information message. The decoder can then calculate a second integrity check code over the actual received network abstraction layer units. This second integrity check code can be compared with the encoder-generated first integrity check code sent via the supplemental enhancement information message to indicate if in fact all of the transmitted NAL units from which the integrity check code was generated have been received without changes in their content. In addition, an error tracking algorithm is provided that can be run at either the encoder or the decoder in order to determine if the network abstraction layer units are correct in content at the decoder level. Therefore, pictures that are sent as just intra coded frames and pictures that are sent as just inter coded frames can both be checked for errors. Hence, error checking can be provided in those situations where the decoder fails to provide adequate information to the encoder as to what has actually been decoded. |
| US08275043B2 |
Image information encoding method and encoder, and image information decoding method and decoder
In an image information encoder (10) supplied with an interlaced image in a 4:2:0 format, a color-difference signal phase correction unit (22) shifts, for motion estimation and compensation, the phase of the color-difference signal in a reference image block adaptively to a selected motion estimate mode and the value mv of vertical component in motion vector information so that the reference image block will coincide in phase of the color-difference signal with an input image block. |
| US08275041B2 |
High accuracy motion vectors for video coding with low encoder and decoder complexity
Two-stage interpolation can be provided for frame prediction samples with quarter-pixel and finer accuracy. All samples of quarter-pixel and finer accuracy can use either half or full/integer-pixels in a bi-linear interpolation to allow for the use of higher accuracy motion vectors, such as one-eighth-pixel accuracy motion vectors. The motion vectors can be restricted in a manner such that they are not allowed to point to every possible sub-pixel sample on a sub-pixel grid, but rather a subset of those sub-pixel samples. In addition, the same full/integer and half-pixel samples that can be used to obtain a quarter-pixel sample can also be used to obtain a one-eighth-pixel sample that the quarter-pixel sample is connected to. Hence, for every quarter-pixel sample, a motion vector could point to two additional positions/locations with one-eighth-pixel accuracy, where the two additional positions/locations can be calculated using the same half or integer-pixel samples which were used to obtain the quarter-pixel sample. Therefore, an arbitrary motion vector accuracy can be achieved without the need to perform additional interpolation stages or increase the complexity of a decoder configured to decode motion vector data. |
| US08275038B2 |
Motion detecting method and motion detector
A motion detecting method and a motion detector are provided. The motion detecting method includes the following steps. When the type of the current macro block (MB) is intra-type (I-type) or predictively-coded type (P-type), a first procedure or a second procedure is performed. The first procedure includes setting the active flag of the currentMB according to the type of the previous MB. The second procedure includes setting the active flag of the current MB according to the motion vectors of the previous MB and the current MB. The present invention is capable of reducing the probability of erroneous motion judgments. |
| US08275035B2 |
Video coding apparatus
One embodiment of the invention provides a video coding apparatus including an intraprediction section that generates prediction signals by plural intraprediction modes, an interprediction section that generates prediction signals by plural interprediction modes, and a first determination section that selects a first prediction mode to select a prediction signal by the first prediction mode from among the prediction signals by the plural intraprediction modes and the plural interprediction modes. The first determination section includes a second determination section that selects a second prediction mode from among the plural interprediction modes, a candidate limiting section that selects at least one of the plural intraprediction modes based on the second prediction mode, a third determination section that selects a third prediction mode from among the at least one of the plural intraprediction modes and a fourth determination section that selects the first prediction mode from among the second and third prediction modes. |
| US08275032B2 |
Distributed video coding apparatus and method capable of controlling encoding rate
There are provided a distributed video coding apparatus and method capable of controlling an encoding rate, the apparatus including: an intra-frame encoder encoding a key frame and outputting a bit stream of the encoded key frame; an encoder rate control (ERC) module calculating a bit rate according to motion complexity of a present Wyner-Ziv (WZ) frame by using a correlation between the motion complexity and the bit rate; and a turbo encoder encoding the present WZ frame by the bit rate calculated at the ERC module and outputting the encoded WZ bit stream. |
| US08275030B2 |
Signaling system with selectively-inhibited adaptive equalization
An integrated circuit having a receiver that selectively inhibits incoming data from being used to update adaptively generated controls. Sampling circuitry generates a plurality of samples of an incoming signal. Control circuitry generates an inhibit signal in either a first state or a second state according to whether the plurality of samples meets a randomness criterion. Tap weight update circuitry receives the inhibit signal from the control circuitry and updates a plurality of equalizer tap weights based on the plurality of samples if the inhibit signal is in the first state. The tap weight update circuitry refrains from updating the plurality of equalizer tap weights based on the plurality of samples if the inhibit signal is in the second state. |
| US08275020B1 |
Secure communication using a non-differentiable waveform
A transmitter system includes a processor that synthesizes a randomly varying, non-differentiable waveform by applying independent, pseudo-random variations to a number of transmission parameters to produce a number of independent pseudo-random variable stochastic processes with independent distributions within the waveform. Examples of transmitter parameters that can be varied include: a PN spreading sequence segment; a PN spreading symbol rate; a chip clock frequency; a chip frequency-dwell period; a data symbol rate; a data symbol rate dwell; an RF carrier frequency; and a carrier frequency dwell-time. |
| US08275016B2 |
Demodulation method and device, equalization method and system in transmitting diversity mode
A demodulation method and device, an equalization method and system in a transmitting diversity mode are provided. The demodulation method includes: demodulating two equalized equalization signals respectively through a transmitting diversity mode; and then performing a maximum ratio combination on the demodulated signals. According to embodiments of the present invention, the two equalized signals are respectively demodulated according to a transmitting diversity mode, and then a maximum ratio combination is performed on the two signals to get a demodulated signal, which improves the performance of the demodulated signal and the equalization system. |
| US08275015B2 |
Passively Q-switched side pumped monolithic ring laser
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for generating a side-pumped passively Q-switched non-planar ring oscillator. The method introduces a laser into a cavity of a crystal, the cavity having a round-trip path formed by a reflection at a dielectrically coated front surface, a first internal reflection at a first side surface of the crystal at a non-orthogonal angle with the front, a second internal reflection at a top surface of the crystal, and a third internal reflection at a second side surface of the crystal at a non-orthogonal angle with the front. The method side pumps the laser at the top or bottom surface with a side pump diode array beam and generates an output laser emanating at a location on the front surface. The design can include additional internal reflections to increase interaction with the side pump. Waste heat may be removed by mounting the crystal to a heatsink. |
| US08275014B2 |
Surface-emitting laser element, surface-emitting laser array, optical scanning device, and image forming apparatus
A surface-emitting laser element includes a substrate; a plurality of semiconductor layers laminated on the substrate, the plural semiconductor layers including a resonator structural body including an active layer and semiconductor multilayer film reflection mirrors having the resonator structural body sandwiched therebetween; an electrode provided in such a manner as to surround a emitting region on a surface of the surface-emitting laser element from which light is emitted; and a dielectric film provided in the emitting region such that a reflection ratio of a peripheral part of the emitting region is different from a reflection ratio of a center part of the emitting region. Edge portions that are near edges of the dielectric film are tilted with respect to the surface. |
| US08275013B2 |
Semiconductor laser device and method of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor laser device includes a first semiconductor laser element formed on a surface of a first conductive type substrate, obtained by stacking a first conductive type first semiconductor layer, a first active layer and a second conductive type second semiconductor layer successively from the first conductive type substrate and a second semiconductor laser element obtained by successively stacking a first conductive type third semiconductor layer, a second active layer and a second conductive type fourth semiconductor layer, wherein the third semiconductor layer is electrically connected to the first semiconductor layer by bonding a side of the third semiconductor layer to the surface of the first conductive type substrate through a fusible layer. |
| US08275009B2 |
Green laser generation device, and portable electronic machine having laser projection display using the said device
The present invention relates to a green laser generation device which can be applied to a cellular phone, and more particularly to a green laser generation device which is ultra compact in size having volume of 1 cc or less, despite having a built-in thermo electric cooler, and has sufficient output power, despite having low power consumption, and a portable electronic machine having a laser projection display using the said device. The present invention provides a green laser generation device comprising an LD pump constituted by a photo diode; a fundamental generator generating infrared light laser according to the driving of the LD pump; a second harmonic generator generating green light using the generated infrared light laser; a polarization maintenance unit inserted between the fundamental generator and the second harmonic generator to maintain the polarization of the laser; and a temperature controller controlling an internal temperature of the green laser generation device. |
| US08275006B2 |
Method and apparatus for binding transmission lines
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method for binding transmission lines and the method includes the following steps: first decide a transmission speed supported by all the transmission lines to be bound, activate all the transmission lines to be bound at the transmission speed supported by all the transmission lines and then bind all the transmission lines. Apparatus for binding transmission lines is also disclosed in the embodiments, which includes a speed reselecting module, a reactivating module and a binding module. According to the embodiments of the present invention, transmission lines with different transmission speeds are bound together in such a way that transmission lines with different transmission speeds could be activated at one transmission speed. Therefore, the bound transmission line may provide wider bandwidth for the user because all the bound transmission lines have the same transmission speed. |
| US08275004B2 |
Digital broadcasting transmitter, turbo stream processing method thereof, and digital broadcasting system having the same
A digital broadcasting transmitter, a turbo stream processing method thereof, and a digital broadcasting system having the same. The digital broadcasting transmitter includes a first compressor, forming a normal stream by compressing audio and video signals in a first compression format, a second compressor, forming a turbo stream by compressing the audio and video signals in a second compression format, a transport stream (TS) constructor, compressing the turbo stream in an H.264 format and forming the dual transfer stream by multiplexing the normal stream and the turbo stream, and a TS processor, robustly processing the dual transfer stream transmitted from the TS constructor, thus enhancing the transmission efficiency. |
| US08275003B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating multiplexed signals
An aspect of the invention relates to a method and apparatus for multiplexing content. In one example, a first transport stream is received. The first transport stream includes a sequence of burst cycles, each of the burst cycles having a plurality of packet bursts respectively associated with a plurality of primary services. In one example, a primary service is a national service. A packet burst stream is received that is associated with a secondary service. In one example, a secondary service is a regional service. The first transport stream is multiplexed with the packet burst stream to produce a second transport stream. The second transport stream includes a deterministic relationship between the plurality of packet bursts in each of the burst cycles and packet bursts of the packet burst stream. Additional packet burst streams associated with additional secondary services may be received and multiplexed in a similar manner. |
| US08275001B1 |
Systems and methods for synchronizing backup receivers to network clocks
An interworking function (IWF) at an edge of a packet network comprises a primary receiver and a backup receiver. The primary receiver receives data packets and timing information from a packet network. The primary receiver interworks data from the data packets into a data signal that is based on a local clock signal. The primary receiver uses the timing information from the packet network to adjust the frequency of the local clock signal such that it is synchronous to a network clock signal, such as a clock signal at an IWF, referred to as the “transmitting IWF,” that transmitted the data packets. In addition, the primary receiver from time-to-time provides timing information, such as a frequency control word, to the backup receiver, which uses such timing information to synchronize a clock signal of the backup receiver to the network clock signal upon an occurrence of a switchover from the primary receiver to the backup receiver. By using the timing information from the primary transceiver, the backup transceiver is able to synchronize its clock signal to the network clock signal in less time. |
| US08274998B2 |
Systems and methods for packet based timing offset determination using timing adjustment information
Systems and methods for performing timing offset and or fractional frequency offset for the purpose of time and/or frequency synchronization are provided. Timing packets are exchanged between a master device and a slave device. In addition, timing adjustment information is received by the slave device. The slave device uses the timing adjustment information in conjunction with the transmit and receive times for the timing packets to estimate at timing offset and/or fractional frequency offset. |
| US08274997B2 |
Transmission method and reception method
The invention relates to a transmission method in which at least two Ethernet data frames are combined to form one Ethernet telegram and the Ethernet telegram is transmitted via a communications network. |
| US08274994B2 |
Methods and apparatus for communicating using a gateway communications device having alert generation capability
Methods and a gateway apparatus for facilitating communication between communications devices which support different communications protocols are described. The gateway device may receive an identifier of interest from a first device which supports a first communications protocol but not a second communications protocol. The gateway monitors signals corresponding to the second communications protocol to detect signals corresponding to the identifier of interest. An externally perceivable alert is generated by the gateway device when a signal corresponding to the identifier of interest is detected. Communications is established between the first communications device and a second communications device with the gateway device performing protocol conversion to the extent required. The first device may power down its interface after sending the identifier of interest to the gateway and then power up the interface in response to sensing of the alert or input from a user responding to the alert. |
| US08274982B2 |
Method for packet data session release in ultra mobile broadband access network
A packet data session release method for ultra mobile broadband access network is disclosed, and which includes: S402, when releasing the packet data session, an access gateway sends a proxy mobile IP registration revocation message to the data attachment point of the ultra mobile broadband access network and the evolved base station which has one reverse proxy mobile IP tunnel to the access gateway, respectively; S404, after receiving the proxy mobile IP registration revocation message, the data attachment point and the evolved base station which has one reverse proxy mobile IP tunnel to the access gateway, delete their proxy mobile IP tunnels between them and the access gateway, respectively, and send a proxy mobile IP revocation ACK message to the access gateway, respectively, so as to confirm the reception of the registration request messages; and S406, the data attachment point notifies the session reference network controller that the packet data session has been released, via sending a IP tunnel notification message to the session reference network controller. |
| US08274980B2 |
Ethernet link aggregation
A system and method of transmitting data across a link aggregation group, the method comprises: receiving a packet sourced from a client having a MAC header and an IP header at an input port of a first upstream switch for transmission from the first upstream switch along a link aggregation and at least two down stream switches to a server, said MAC header having a Destination MAC address and a Source MAC address, and the IP header having a Source IP address and a Destination IP address; changing the destination MAC address from a down stream destination to another down stream destination; sending the packet through a first link aggregation to a first down stream switch; using a hash calculation for changing the Source MAC address of the packet in the first down stream switch to a new address; sending the packet through a second link aggregation to a second down stream switch having an address; and sending the packet from the second down stream switch to a server having a server address. |
| US08274971B2 |
Switch fabric with memory management unit for improved flow control
A method for controlling a flow of packet data in a memory management unit of a network switch fabric is disclosed. A first portion of a data packet is received at a port on an ingress bus ring of the network switch fabric. A class of service for the data packet is determined based on the first portion and the portion is stored in a packer RAM of the port based on the class of service. Subsequent portions of the data packet are stored in the packer RAM. Once the predetermined number of portions have been received, the predetermined number of portions is sent to a packet pool RAM. A reference pointer to a first predetermined number of portions is sent to a transaction queue once an end of packet is detected and an egress scheduler detects a presence of a ready packet in the transaction queue and notifies an unpacker of the ready packet. The unpacker puts the ready packet into a FIFO and the ready packet is sent to an ingress/egress module. |
| US08274968B2 |
Restriction of communication in VoIP address discovery system
In one embodiment, a system is provided to restrict VoIP communication. The system may validate a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call initiation message based on demonstrated knowledge of a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) call. |
| US08274967B2 |
Method, system and gateway for remotely accessing MPLS VPN
A method, system and gateway for remotely accessing an MPLS VPN are provided. In the method, multiple virtual interfaces are established in an SSL VPN gateway, one virtual interface is bound with one VPN, different VPN users are differentiated according to authentication and authorization information of users, and the authentication and authorization information of the users is respectively bound with corresponding VPNs. When the SSL VPN gateway receives a packet sent by a user, an inner label and an outer label are added to the packet according to a VPN instance bound with the user; when receiving a response packet from a resource server, the SSL VPN gateway searches for a VPN instance according to the VPN label, and forwards the response packet to the user through the SSL connection according to the found VPN instance. |
| US08274963B2 |
Considering mobile station capability in negotiating quality of service for packet switched services
Mobile station capabilities are made available to a radio access network note. The radio access network node determines whether the requested quality of service can be supported by the mobile station in its current cell. These capabilities are take into account in negotiating a quality of service for a packet flow involving the mobile station. |
| US08274961B2 |
Apparatus and associated methodology of adjusting a RTS/CTS transmission protocol
Access control based on CSMA is favorably carried out with the RTS/CTS method used together.If the RTS/CTS procedure is used together, CTS information is transmitted in response to the reception of RTS information, and data is transmitted in response to the reception of CTS. The CTS transmitting station measures the quality of RTS receive signal, and thereby determines a transmission rate at which it can receive and notifies a station as the destination of CTS. The station as the destination of CTS transmits data in response to CTS information. As the transmission rate for this data, the transmission rate indicated in the RATE field in CTS is applied. |
| US08274954B2 |
Alternate channel for carrying selected message types
A method for communicating information in a base station is disclosed. A reverse link channel is allocated to be a shared acknowledgement channel for receiving acknowledgement information. Acknowledgement information associated with data payload from a field unit is then received over the shared acknowledgement channel by the base station. |
| US08274953B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting feedback information
Disclosed is an apparatus for transmitting feedback information to a base station. The feedback information transmitting apparatus receives channel allocation information, generates a plurality of payloads regarding feedback information, and multiplexes the plurality of payloads in terms of a plurality of classes so as to generate a plurality of multiplexed payloads. Subsequently, the plurality of multiplexed payloads are code multiplexed so as to generate a code division multiplexing symbol, and a channel code is applied to the code division multiplexing symbol. Then, the code division multiplexing signal applied with the channel code is transmitted to a base station through a wireless resource. Accordingly, a feedback channel that is adaptive to a channel condition is configured, such that a wireless resource for a feedback channel can be efficiently used. |
| US08274952B2 |
Transmission power management
The present invention relates to a method of adjusting transmission power on a downlink radio channel in a communication system comprising a user equipment and a base station. In the method uplink power headroom is determined by dividing a maximum transmission power of the user equipment by a transmission power of a control channel of the user equipment and the determined uplink power headroom value is sent to the base station. Then uplink path loss estimate is determined between the user equipment and the base station based on the uplink power headroom. Then an estimate for the downlink path loss is derived and finally the transmission power of the downlink radio channel is adjusted taking into account the downlink path loss estimate. |
| US08274951B2 |
System and method for dynamic cell selection and resource mapping for CoMP joint transmission
A wireless communication system includes a number of base stations capable of communicating with a plurality of subscriber stations. The base station coordinates transmission of resource blocks with a transmission of resource blocks from a second base station. The resource blocks include at least one reference signal (RS) patterns. In addition, base station punctures a plurality of resource elements in the resource blocks that might overlap with one of the CRS patterns in another resource block transmitted by the second base station such that no data is transmitted in the plurality of punctured resource elements. The subscriber station receives the resource blocks from at least two base stations and can avoid reading data from the resource elements that might overlap. |
| US08274948B2 |
Distributed infrastructure for wireless data communications
A mobile user terminal 402 accesses a packet data network 450 through one or more of several network access points 404-412. One or more control points 432-440 determines which network access point or points the user terminal is to access. Control may be retained in the current control point, or transferred to another control point, whenever it is convenient. There are preferably several routers, each having an associated home agent 418-420 which determines which foreign agents need to be accessed on behalf of each user terminal. There are several foreign agents 422-430, which forward packets received from a user terminal's home agent to the control point currently controlling communications with the user terminal. |
| US08274943B2 |
MIMO OFDMA with antenna selection and subband handoff
An access node wirelessly coupled to a plurality of access terminals, having a subband scheduler, a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplex elements, and a plurality of antennas. The subband scheduler receives precoded data, and schedules transmission of a preamble signal and a plurality of data streams. The plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplex elements converts the preamble signal and the plurality of data streams into a corresponding preamble tone and a corresponding plurality of data tones. The preamble tone indicates a mapping of the plurality of data tones to one or more of the plurality of access terminals. The plurality of antennas transmits the corresponding preamble tone and the corresponding plurality of data tones in timely fashion for receipt by the plurality of access terminals. The corresponding preamble tone and the corresponding data tones are transmitted over subbands of a code division multiple access (CDMA)-based carrier frequency. |
| US08274942B2 |
Supplementary service provision method and system for IMS-based network
A service provision method in an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network is provided. A service request message is transmitted from a first user terminal to a second user terminal for requesting a service. The service request message includes global identifiers (IDs) allocated to the first user terminal and the second user terminal. A service response message is transmitted from the second user terminal to the first user terminal. A service session is established between the first user terminal and the second user terminal, when the service response message is received by the first user terminal. |
| US08274941B2 |
Apparatus and method for subcarrier scrambling
A subcarrier scrambling method for use in a transmitter with multiple subcarriers, the transmitter being configured to allocate pilot symbols and data symbols for each of a plurality of resource units (RUs). The method includes: applying, for each of the plurality of RUs, a first intra RU sequence to the pilot symbols, to thereby generate a plurality of scrambled pilot symbols; applying, for each of the plurality of RUs, a second intra RU sequence to the data symbols, to thereby generate a plurality of scrambled data symbols; and combining the plurality of scrambled pilot symbols and the plurality of scrambled data symbols to form the plurality of RUs. |
| US08274938B2 |
Method and system for coordinating protocol stack entities to share single radio resource
The invention discloses a method for coordinating protocol stack entities to share a single radio resource, executed by a processor of a mobile station, including the step of: after a first protocol stack entity for a first subscriber identity card enters a TALKING mode or enables a dial-up service, forcing a second protocol stack entity for a second subscriber identity card to release the radio resource or suspend utilization of the radio resource, and enabling the radio resource to be utilized to perform requisite operations or procedures of the TALKING mode or the dial-up service. |
| US08274932B2 |
LI reporting of updated location information for EPS
The present invention relates to a method to enhance resolution of location information of a mobile user in an Evolved Packet communication System. The system comprises a Mobility Management Entity that provides the user with at least one tracking area in which the user is able to move without location information being reported, The method comprises the following steps: receiving to the Mobility Management Entity, a location activation message valid for the user. receiving to the Mobility Management Entity, a service request related to the user; detecting in the Mobility Management Entity, user location information with higher resolution than the at least one tracking area level resolution; sending from the Mobility Management Entity, a monitoring message comprising high resolution information of the user's location within the at least one tracking area. |
| US08274931B2 |
Signalling within a communication system
Sounding reference signal presence information is incorporated into an uplink data resource assignment for a user equipment, and the uplink data assignment including the sounding reference signal presence information is sent to the user equipment. |
| US08274928B2 |
Wireless mesh network
A wireless mesh network where a portion of the nodes have reduced receive sensitivity. The negative effects of the density of the wireless mesh network, such as interference, are reduced when fewer nodes receive messages to rebroadcast. In an alternative embodiment, some of the nodes of the mesh network are configured to not rebroadcast even if they receive a message. A method for configuring a dense mesh network is also provided. As many nodes as possible are discovered and registered in the network. Node characteristics of those nodes are adjusted to reduce or eliminate the negative effects of the dense mesh network so that additional nodes may be discovered and registered. |
| US08274925B2 |
Retaining traffic channel assignments for satellite terminals to provide lower latency communication services
A traffic channel is assigned for use by a terminal to transmit data traffic to a satellite for relay to a satellite base station. The traffic channel assignment is retained for use by the terminal while the terminal is idle between data traffic transmissions to the satellite in response to a type of service designation that is associated with the terminal. |
| US08274923B2 |
Wireless access control method, relay station and base station
The present invention provides a wireless access control method, relay station and base station. The wireless access control method according to the present invention is characterized in that under the control of said base station, information of said subscriber station and said base station is received and forwarded via a wireless channel by using the relay station. Said method further comprises the steps of: uplink bearer data and control information from said subscriber station being first received by said relay station and then forwarded to said base station; downlink bearer data from said base station being first received by said relay station and then forwarded to said subscriber station. Said base station sends control information directly to the subscriber station. The present invention further comprises a relay station for implementing the above method and an improved base station. In the method and devices provided by the present invention, with the introduction of relaying access technique, subscriber stations located with the long distance to the base station or in shadowing areas may be connected by relaying. |
| US08274922B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmitting data and apparatus and method for receiving data
Provided are a apparatus and method for transmitting data and a apparatus and method for receiving data, in which a transmitting station sets priorities among a plurality of data to be transmitted and a receiving station processes the plurality of data according to the priorities. The apparatus for transmitting data includes a packet-generation module which generates a plurality of data and a packet that includes the plurality of data and that specifies priorities between the plurality of data; and a communication module which transmits the packet through a communication channel. |
| US08274919B2 |
System and method for implementing multiple ring networks using a common link
Various systems and methods for implementing virtual ports within ring networks are disclosed. For example, one method involves allocating a logical port that corresponds to a first port and a second port and instantiating a spanning tree protocol instance. The first port and the second port are both assigned to a first ring network. The spanning tree protocol instance selectively blocks the logical port; however, the spanning tree protocol instance is unable to block the first port independently of blocking the second port. Events (e.g., link failures and recoveries) that occur within the ring network are communicated to spanning tree by transitioning the state of the logical port in response to receiving a ring protocol control packet. The spanning tree protocol instance initiates a bridge protocol data unit (BPDU) exchange from the logical port in response to a transition in the state of the logical port. |
| US08274918B2 |
Method for extending the use of single IPv4 addresses to multiple network end-hosts
An address resolution system is provided where network devices are arranged to share a common public network address in a public network environment. The address resolution system includes: an address resolution table residing at a router and configured to store a public network address and a source port assigned to each network device registered with the router in connection with a hardware address that uniquely identifies each of the registered network devices; a port management agent residing on a given network device that is configured to receive a request to assign a source port to an application residing on the given network device and transmit the assignment request to the router; and an address resolution service residing at the router that is configured to query the address resolution table in response to the assignment request from the agent and transmit a reply to the agent based on results from the query of the address resolution table. |
| US08274915B2 |
Methods and apparatus for operating a wireless communications system
A wireless communications system comprising at least one network station and a plurality of subscriber stations. As part of a network access procedure, a number of the subscriber stations selecting a time slot from a plurality of predefined time slots and transmitting an individual code to the network station in the selected time slot. At the network station, receiving and decoding the codes and broadcasting a preliminary decoding status report to the subscriber stations and broadcasting a detailed decoding status report associated with each time slot in which one or more codes were decoded successfully. At a subscriber station which transmitted a code, identifying successful decoding if the preliminary decoding status indicator associated with the time slot in which subscriber station transmitted its code comprises a positive indicator, and if the detailed decoding status report associated with that positive indicator identifies the code transmitted by the subscriber station. |
| US08274912B2 |
Mapping discovery for virtual network
A virtual network has network interfaces coupled by tunnels (100) through a forwarding network (40), each interface having a forwarding address in an address space of the forwarding network, each network interface having a reconfigurable address mapper (320) for determining a forwarding address for a packet, and encapsulating the packet with its forwarding address so that the forwarding network can forward the data packet transparent to its destination address. The network interface automatically configures the address mapper by sending a discovery request for a given virtual network address over the forwarding network, to prompt a response with an indication of the corresponding forwarding address, and to use the indication in such a response to configure the address mapper. This can ease the administrative burden of setting up and maintaining the address mapper and to ease network reconfiguration according to demand or faults for example. |
| US08274911B2 |
Network monitoring system and path extracting method
A network monitoring system that monitors a communication network including plural communication apparatuses and includes an obtaining part for obtaining a transmission traffic amount and a reception traffic amount of each port of the plural communication apparatuses, a determining part for determining whether the transmission traffic amount is no less than a first threshold and whether the reception traffic amount is less than a second threshold for each port of the plural communication apparatuses, a storage part for storing connecting path data of the communication network therein, an extracting part for extracting a loop affected path, and an outputting part for outputting data of the loop affected path. |
| US08274910B2 |
Adaptation protocols for local peer group (LPG) networks in dynamic roadway environments
A method and system for determining a size of a local peer group (LPG) network in a dynamic roadway (mobile) environment is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises measuring a roundtrip time between a first node and a second node, and utilizing the measured roundtrip time to select the size of the local peer group network from a lookup table. In another embodiment, the method comprises determining when the roundtrip time exceeds a time interval of the heartbeat signal, and when the roundtrip time exceeds the time interval of the heartbeat signal adjusting the size of the local peer group network. |
| US08274909B2 |
Conditional protocol control
Techniques for modifying the performance of a transport layer protocol in response to a request for content are disclosed. A connection can be established between a content distribution server and an end user computer according to preconfigured parameters. When a request for content is received over the connection, the content distribution server can determine one or more parameters relating to the performance of the connection using information from the request. The content distribution server can modify the connection at the transport layer according to the one or more parameters. Thereafter, the transport layer can manage delivery of the requested content to the end user computer in accordance with the modified parameters. In various embodiments, the content distribution server includes a modified TCP protocol stack which adjusts timing, pacing, and buffer allocation associated with a connection in response to requests from an application-layer data source. |
| US08274908B2 |
Quality of service packet processing without explicit control negotiations
Apparatuses, methods, systems, and computer program products to process QoS packets of wireless traffic without explicit control negotiations are disclosed. An embodiment may comprise a mobile computing device with wireless communications capabilities. The mobile computing device may be a client that associates or connects with an access point or communicates another client device, such as a peripheral device with wireless capabilities. The mobile computing device may monitor wireless packet traffic being transmitted from the mobile computing device. For example, the mobile computing device may monitor the packets being transmitted from a video streaming application to the peripheral device, which may comprise an LCD monitor that has wireless communications capabilities. The mobile computing device may mark the packets of the video stream as QoS packets even though the video streaming application may not do so, and place the marked packets in a QoS queue for priority processing. |
| US08274907B2 |
Network device and method for establishing quality of service
A network device for establishing quality of service (QoS) between two terminal devices includes a transceiver module and a state-machine setting module. The transceiver module is configured for receiving establishing requests, request responses, acknowledge messages, and QoS requests from any one of the two terminal devices. The state-machine setting module is configured for setting a state of the network device according to a current state of the network device and messages received by the transceiver module, and the state of the network device includes an idle state, an inviting state, a trying state, an acknowledge state, and a QoS state. |
| US08274902B2 |
Estimation method for loss rates in a packetized network
A method is provided, according to which data are collected on downstream packet losses at a single point in a network. From from the collected data, packet loss rates are estimated on at least two subnetworks downstream of the collection point. The respective subnetworks may differ by one or more links. |
| US08274899B2 |
Autoconfiguration of ethernet OAM points
A system and method for configuring Maintenance Intermediate Point (MIP) nodes of an Ethernet OAM network based on absolute level indicia as well as relative level indicia encoded in OAM frames generated by Maintenance End Point (MEP) nodes. A first OAM level field in a payload portion of an Ethernet OAM frame is encoded with an absolute OAM level associated with the originating MEP's OAM domain. A second OAM level field is encoded with a relative OAM level indicative of the number of OAM domain levels traversed by the Ethernet OAM frame. |
| US08274896B2 |
Virtual queue
An apparatus comprising a virtual queue configured to virtually receive virtual data units as the data units are actually received by a real queue. In various embodiments, the virtual queue may include a token counter decrementor configured to, as an entering data unit virtually enters the virtual queue, attempt to allocate the entering data unit to either the committed burst or the excess burst and decrement either the committed token counter (CTC) or the excess token counter (ETC) respectively. In one embodiment, a token counter incrementer configured to, as a data unit virtually exits the virtual queue, increment one of the token counters. In some embodiments, the virtual queue may include a congestion indicator configured to categorize the entering data unit. In various embodiments, the virtual queue may be configured to provide congestion feedback information based, at least in part, upon the state of the CTC & ETC. |
| US08274895B2 |
Dynamic management of network flows
A plurality of flow network elements monitors network flows at the subscriber level for a plurality of subscribers. The flow network elements export flow records to a collector, which organizes the flow records. A policy client correlates the flow records and determines whether any network flows are violating a flow policy definition. If a flow policy definition is violated, the policy client transmits a policy action to a policy server which indicates what action to take for a given violating flow. The policy server assigns a flow policy for the subscriber corresponding with the violating flow. The assigned flow policy is then transmitted to the flow network element having that violating flow, and that flow network element installs the flow policy. |
| US08274893B2 |
Network interface selection using historical connection information
A computer may be capable of communicating with devices via network through multiple interfaces. When a new connection is to be established, the computer may select an interface to use for the connection. In some embodiments, the interface may be selected based on historical connection information representing the performance of previous network connections that the computer has established through the interfaces. |
| US08274890B2 |
Method and device for distributing connections towards a receiving domain
A method is described for distributing a plurality of connections towards a receiving domain. The connections are established over at least two connection entities. Each connection entity handles traffic being associated to the connections. An initial procedure distributes the connections among the connection entities. First, a traffic load associated with the connections over each of the connection entities is determined. Further, the traffic load associated with the connections over at least two connection entities is compared. Finally a procedure for adapting the distribution of the connections according to the comparison is invoked. |
| US08274889B2 |
Method, system and computer program product involving congestion detection in ethernet
A method for determining data packet transmission times in an Ethernet protocol including, receiving a first data packet having a first data packet send time, wherein the first data packet send time is a time the data packet is sent by a source transmitter, subtracting the first data packet send time from a first data packet receive time to yield a first data packet transmission time, wherein the first data packet receive time is the time the data packet is received by a destination receiver, comparing the first data packet transmission time to a third time, determining whether a difference between the first data packet transmission time and the third time exceeds a threshold value, and sending a notification of a transmission delay responsive to determining that the difference between the first data packet transmission time and the third time exceeds the threshold value. |
| US08274887B2 |
Distributed congestion avoidance in a network switching system
According to an example embodiment, a total offered traffic load for a shared resource within a network switching system may be determined, the total offered traffic load may include, for example, a sum of offered traffic loads from one or more active virtual output queues (VOQs) of the network switching system. A capacity of the shared resource within the network switching system may be determined. A transmission rate from one or more of the active VOQs over the shared resource may be adjusted such that the total traffic load from the active VOQs does not exceed the capacity of the shared resource. |
| US08274886B2 |
Inferring TCP initial congestion window
A packet trace is received. Inter-arrival times between the multiple packets in the packet trace are determined. An inter-arrival time in the inter-arrival times that is greater than a threshold is identified. An order number of the inter-arrival time is identified. A determination is made as to whether a size of each of at least a portion of the multiple packets is equal to a maximum segment size. When a determination is made that the size of each of at least a portion of the multiple packets is equal to the maximum segment size, a size of the ICW as a product of the order number and the maximum segment size is returned. |
| US08274879B2 |
Transmission apparatus and transmission method
A transmitter transmits data to a communicating opponent with a better channel condition with use of one or more frequency blocks including one or more carrier frequencies. The transmitter includes a communicating opponent selection unit evaluating the channel condition for each frequency block for each of plural communicating opponents and selecting one or more communicating opponents from the plurality of communicating opponents, a modulation scheme determination unit determining at least a modulation scheme depending on the evaluated channel condition, a control channel generation unit generating a control channel indicative of the determined modulation scheme and one or more frequency blocks available for the selected communicating opponents to receive a data channel, and a channel transmission unit providing the selected communicating opponents with the control channel and the data channel modulated in accordance with the modulation scheme. |
| US08274878B2 |
Frame and training pattern structure for multi-carrier systems
A transmitting apparatus for transmitting signals in a multi carrier system on the basis of a frame structure, each frame comprising at least two preamble patterns adjacent to each other in the frequency direction and at least two data patterns, said transmitting apparatus comprising a pilot mapper configured to map the same sequence of pilot signals on frequency carriers of each of said at least two preamble patterns in a frame, each preamble pattern having the same length, a data mapper configured to map data on frequency carriers of said at least two data patterns in a frame, a transformer configured to transform said preamble patterns and said data patterns from the frequency domain into the time domain in order to generate a time domain transmission signal, and a transmitter configured to transmit said transmission signal. |
| US08274873B2 |
Optical recording method, optical recording apparatus, apparatus for manufacturing a master through exposure process, optical information recording medium and reproduction method
An optical recording method for recording information by irradiating an optical disc medium with a modulated write pulse train of laser light variable over a plurality of power levels such that a plurality of marks are formed on the optical disc medium, edge positions of each of the marks and a space between adjacent two of the marks being utilized for recording of the information. The optical recording method includes the steps of: encoding record data to generate encoded data which is a combination of marks and spaces; classifying the encoded data according to a combination of a mark length of the mark, a space length of a first space that immediately precedes the mark, and a space length of a second space that immediately succeeds the mark; generating a write pulse train for forming the mark, in which at least one of a leading end edge position, a trailing end edge position and a pulse width of the write pulse train is changed according to a classification result; and irradiating the optical disc medium with the write pulse train generated to form the plurality of marks on the optical disc medium. |
| US08274871B2 |
Storage media defect detection
Detecting a defect on a storage device is disclosed. Detecting includes receiving a signal read from a storage device, sampling the signal to obtain a set of signal samples, wherein the sampling starts at an arbitrary time, computing a defect value for a defect type using the set of signal samples, comparing the defect value with a threshold associated with the defect type, determining whether there is a defect of the defect type based at least in part on the comparison, and in the event that a defect is detected, outputting an indication associated with the defect. |
| US08274869B2 |
Method for detecting blank area of power calibration area
The present invention relates to a method for detecting a blank area of a power calibration area. The method includes the steps of: selecting a recording test area in the power calibration area; writing the recording test area with multiple stages of normal power and detecting power; forming multiple normal blocks and detecting blocks, wherein each of the detecting blocks includes one unit of unrecorded block and one unit of recorded block; and reading information from the unrecorded blocks of the detecting blocks and thus determining whether the unrecorded blocks of the detecting blocks are blank or not. Once all the unrecorded blocks of the detecting blocks are determined to be blank, it represents that the selected recording test area is totally blank. |
| US08274868B2 |
Optical recording medium, recording/reproducing apparatus and method, initialization method, and reinitialization method
A recording/reproducing apparatus includes a writing/reading unit writing data to or reading data from an information recording medium having an access control area in which access control data is recorded, the access control data having common information set to allow the recording/reproducing apparatus that cannot recognize a predetermined function adapted to the information recording medium to control access to the information recording medium; and a control unit controlling the writing/reading unit to record access control data regarding a function recognizable by the recording/reproducing apparatus in the access control area when the information recording medium is initialized or reinitialized. |
| US08274866B2 |
Optical recording head and optical recording apparatus
An optical recording head includes: a light source; a slider comprising a wave guide which irradiates light from the light source to a recording medium, wherein a grating coupler is formed on an end portion at an opposite side of the waveguide relative to the light source; and an optical element which comprises a diffraction grating and introduces the light from the light source to the grating coupler through the diffraction grating. The optical element deflects the light from the light source so that the light is incident into the grating coupler with a deflection angle larger than 90 degrees with respect to a direction in which the light proceeds when the light is incident into the optical element. |
| US08274859B2 |
Systems and methods for modeling 3D geological structures
Systems and methods for modeling a three-dimensional (3D) geological structure to improve maximum continuity interpolation. An integration method describes local anisotropic effects and introduces interpolation techniques to perform the interpolation between two points of interest along a direction of maximum continuity and across fault surfaces. |
| US08274855B2 |
Semiconductor device for performing a refresh operation
A semiconductor device according to the present invention has an address scrambling circuit for performing address scrambling operation of an address and a redundancy judging circuit for judging that redundancy judgment is performed about the address scrambled by the address scrambling circuit. This structure makes it possible to completely refresh operation concerned with normal word lines and redundancy word lines. |
| US08274852B2 |
Semiconductor memory apparatus and method of testing the same
A semiconductor memory apparatus includes a sense amplifier coupled to a plurality of bit lines, a switching unit configured to cause the plurality of bit lines to be coupled to a first node in response to a switching signal, a mode selecting unit configured to selectively couple the first node to a pad or a ground terminal in response to a mode selection signal and a testing unit configured to supply current to the pad during a test mode. |
| US08274851B2 |
Memory controller for interfacing data, a PCB in a computer system including the memory controller, and memory adjusting method thereof
A memory controller, a PCB and a computer system employing the memory controller, and a memory adjusting method using the memory controller. The memory controller interfaces data reading from and writing to a memory and includes: a characteristic estimating part estimating a characteristic of a memory output signal outputted from the memory for the data reading and writing; and a characteristic adjusting part controlling the memory so that the characteristic of the memory output signal is within a predetermined reference range if the characteristic of the memory output signal estimated by the characteristic estimating part is beyond the predetermined reference range. |
| US08274850B2 |
Memory system, semiconductor memory device, and wiring substrate
A memory system includes a plurality of semiconductor memory devices each including a termination resistance circuit that can be controlled to be turned on or off from an outside by a termination resistance control signal, and a memory controller. The memory controller includes a termination resistance control unit that outputs the termination resistance control signal so that when a read command or a write command is executed on one of the semiconductor memory devices, termination resistances of all of the semiconductor memory devices are turned on, and when any of the semiconductor memory devices does not execute the read command or the write command, the termination resistances of all of the semiconductor memory devices are turned off. The termination resistance circuit of one of the semiconductor memory devices is turned off, irrespective of the level of the termination resistance control signal when the one of the semiconductor memory devices outputs data in response to the read command. |
| US08274848B2 |
Level shifter for use with memory arrays
In a first aspect, a level shifter circuit for use in a memory array is provided that includes (1) a first voltage domain powered by a first voltage; (2) a second voltage domain powered by a second voltage; (3) level shifter circuitry that converts an input signal from the first voltage domain to the second voltage domain; and (4) isolation circuitry that selectively isolates the first voltage domain from the second voltage domain so as to selectively prevent current flow between the first voltage domain and the second voltage domain. Numerous other aspects are provided. |
| US08274845B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device is provided, which includes an input buffer provided with a first inverter that can electrically adjust circuit threshold values, a circuit: threshold value monitor provided with a second inverter having the same circuit configuration as the first inverter to detect the circuit threshold values of the first inverter when the input and output of the second inverter are short-circuited, respectively, a memory storing parameter values that correspond to the circuit threshold values detected by the circuit threshold value monitor, and a data-reader circuit reading the parameter values given to the first inverter from the memory. |
| US08274844B2 |
Semiconductor memory device, information processing system including the same, and controller
To include first and second data input/output terminals allocated to first and second memory circuit units, respectively, and an address terminal allocated in common to these memory circuit units. When a first chip selection signal is activated, the first memory circuit unit performs a read operation or a write operation via the first data input/output terminal based on an address signal regardless of an operation of the second memory circuit unit. When a second chip selection signal is activated, the second memory circuit unit performs a read operation or a write operation via the second data input/output terminal based on the address signal regardless of an operation of the first memory circuit unit. With this configuration, a wasteful data transfer can be prevented, and the effective data transfer rate can be increased. |
| US08274841B2 |
Semiconductor signal processing device
A unit operator cell includes a plurality of SOI (Silicon on Insulator) transistors, write data is stored in a body region of at least two SOI transistors, and the storage SOI transistors are connected in series with each other to a read port or each of the storage SOI transistors is singly connected to the read port. Therefore, an AND operation result or a NOT operation result of data stored in the unit operator cells can be obtained, and operation processing can be performed only by writing and reading data. A semiconductor signal processing device that can perform logic operation processing and arithmetic operation processing at high speed is implemented with low power consumption and a small occupation area. |
| US08274837B2 |
NAND flash memory
A NAND flash memory includes a semiconductor substrate, a well region in the semiconductor substrate, memory cells connected in series in the well region, a discharge circuit connected to the well region, a word line connected to the memory cells, and a control circuit which controls potentials of the well region and the word line. The control circuit set the well region to a first potential, and set the word line to a second potential lower than the first potential, in an erase operation. The discharge circuit comprises a constant current source with a constant discharge speed independent on a temperature, and discharges the well region after the erase operation. |
| US08274835B2 |
Mitigation of runaway programming of a memory device
Methods for mitigating runaway programming in a memory device, methods for program verifying a memory device, a memory device, and a memory system are provided. In one such method, a ramp voltage signal is generated by a digital count signal. A memory cell being program verified is turned on by a particular verify voltage of the ramp voltage signal in response to a digital count of the digital count signal. The memory cell turning on generates a bit line indication that causes the digital count to be compared to a representation of the target data to be programmed in the memory cell. The comparator circuit generates an indication when the digital count is greater than or equal to the target data. |
| US08274834B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device including plural memory cells and a dummy cell coupled to an end of a memory cell
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device having a plurality of electrically rewritable nonvolatile memory cells connected in series together includes a select gate transistor connected in series to the serial combination of memory cells. A certain one of the memory cells which is located adjacent to the select gets transistor is for use as a dummy cell. This dummy cell is not used for data storage. During data erasing, the dummy cell is applied with the same bias voltage as that for the other memory cells. |
| US08274831B2 |
Programming non-volatile storage with synchronized coupling
A process for programming non-volatile storage is able to achieve faster programming speeds and/or more accurate programming through synchronized coupling of neighboring word lines. The process for programming includes raising voltages for a set of word lines connected a group of connected non-volatile storage elements. The set of word lines include a selected word line, unselected word lines that are adjacent to the selected word line and other unselected word lines. After raising voltages for the set of word lines, the process includes raising the selected word line to a program voltage and raising the unselected word lines that are adjacent to the selected word line to one or more voltage levels concurrently with the raising the selected word line to the program voltage. The program voltage causes at least one of the non-volatile storage elements to experience programming. |
| US08274829B2 |
Row-decoder and source-decoder structures suitable for erase in unit of page, sector and chip of a NOR-type flash operating below +/− 10V BVDS
An apparatus and method for operating an array of NOR connected flash nonvolatile memory cells erases the array in increments of a page, block, sector, or the entire array while minimizing operational disturbances and providing bias operating conditions to prevent gate to source breakdown in peripheral devices. The apparatus has a row decoder circuit and a source decoder circuit for selecting the nonvolatile memory cells for providing biasing conditions for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing the selected nonvolatile memory cells while minimizing operational disturbances and preventing gate to source breakdown in peripheral devices. |
| US08274828B2 |
Structures and methods for reading out non-volatile memory using referencing cells
The structures and methods of reading out semiconductor Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) using referencing cells are disclosed. The new invented scheme can reduce large current consumption from the direct current biasing in the conventional scheme and achieve a high resolution on the cell threshold voltage with a good sensing speed. |
| US08274826B2 |
NAND type flash memory
According to one embodiment, a NAND type flash memory includes a first transfer transistor disposed between first and second memory planes, the first potential transfer terminal of the first transfer transistor being commonly connected to a first word line in the first NAND block and a second word line in the third NAND block, a second transfer transistor disposed at a first end of the first memory plane, the first potential transfer terminal of the second transfer transistor being connected to a third word line in the second NAND block, and a third transfer transistor disposed at a second end of the second memory plane, the first potential transfer terminal of the third transfer transistor being connected to a fourth word line in the fourth NAND block. |
| US08274821B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device
A nonvolatile memory device, includes: a memory layer having a resistance changeable by performing at least one selected from applying an electric field and providing a current, the storage layer having a first major surface; a plurality of first electrodes provided on the first major surface; a plurality of probe electrodes disposed to face the plurality of first electrodes, the plurality of probe electrodes having a changeable relative positional relationship with the first electrodes; a drive unit connected to the plurality of probe electrodes to record information in the memory layer by causing at least the one selected from the electric field and the current between at least two of the plurality of first electrodes via the plurality of probe electrodes, the electric field having a component parallel to the first major surface, the current flowing in a direction having a component parallel to the first major surface. |
| US08274820B2 |
Magnetic memory element, method of driving same, and nonvolatile storage device
In order to obtain a memory cell of size 4 F2 to realize cross-point type memory, a magnetic memory element is used having a spin valve structure including a free layer 5, nonmagnetic layer 4, and layer 3. The layer or the free layer includes an N-type ferrimagnetic material, and the magnetic compensation point of the N-type ferrimagnetic material is lower than the temperature reached by the layer when a certain write pulse is applied to control the combination of magnetizations of the free layer and layer, and higher than the temperature reached by the layer when another write pulse is applied. These write pulses can have the same polarity. |
| US08274819B2 |
Read disturb free SMT MRAM reference cell circuit
An array of SMT MRAM cells has a read reference circuit that provides a reference current that is the sum of a minimum current through a reference SMT MRAM cell programmed with a maximum resistance and a maximum current through an reference SMT MRAM cell programmed with a minimum resistance. The reference current forms an average reference voltage at the reference input of a sense amplifier for reading a data state from selected SMT MRAM cells of the array such that the reference SMT MRAM cells will not be disturbed during a read operation. The read reference circuit compensates for current mismatching in the reference current caused by a second order non matching effect. |
| US08274818B2 |
Magnetoresistive element, magnetic memory cell and magnetic random access memory using the same
Provided is a high-speed and ultra-low-power-consumption nonvolatile memory having a high temperature stability at a zero magnetic field. In a tunnel magnetoresistive film constituting a nonvolatile magnetic memory that employs a writing method using a spin-transfer torque, an insulating layer and a nonmagnetic conductive layer are stacked above a ferromagnetic free layer. |
| US08274817B2 |
Non volatile memory device ion barrier
An ion barrier layer made from a dielectric material in contact with an electronically insulating layer is operative to prevent mobile ions transported into the electronically insulating layer from passing through the ion barrier layer and into adjacent layers during data operations on a non-volatile memory cell. A conductive oxide layer in contact with the electronically insulating layer is the source of the mobile ions. A programming data operation is operative to transport a portion of the mobile ions into the electronically insulating layer and an erase data operation is operative to transport the mobile ions back into the conductive oxide layer. When the portion is positioned in the electronically insulating layer the memory cell stores data as a programmed conductivity profile and when a substantial majority of the mobile ions are positioned in the conductive oxide layer the memory cell stores data as an erased conductivity profile. |
| US08274814B2 |
Semiconductor device including storage device and method for driving the same
A structure of a storage device which can operate memory elements utilizing silicide reaction using the same voltage value for writing and for reading, and a method for driving the same are proposed. The present invention relates to a storage device including a memory element and a circuit which changes a polarity of applying voltage to the memory element for writing (or reading) into a different polarity of that for reading (or writing). The memory element includes at least a first conductive layer, a film including silicon formed over the first conductive layer, and a second conductive layer formed over the silicon film. The first conductive layer and the second conductive layer of the memory element are formed using different materials. |
| US08274812B2 |
Write and erase scheme for resistive memory device
A method for programming a two terminal resistive memory device, the method includes applying a bias voltage to a first electrode of a resistive memory cell of the device; measuring a current flowing through the cell; and stopping the applying of the bias voltage if the measured current is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. |
| US08274808B2 |
Semiconductor signal processing apparatus
A pair of operator cells each having a series-coupled circuit of first and second transistors is used as a storage unit. To-be-retrieved data and retrieval data are respectively stored in the first and second transistors, and mutually complementary data items are stored in the operator cells of the storage unit. The operator cells supply currents according to the result of an AND operation between the stored data items to corresponding bit lines, and the read data from the storage unit corresponds to the result of an EXOR operation between the retrieval data and the to-be-retrieved data. The currents flowing in the corresponding bit lines are amplified with sense amplifier circuits to drive local match lines. In the individual sub-blocks of an operator cell array, data items having different pattern lengths can be stored. The potentials of the local match lines are selected according to the data pattern lengths, and match retrieval is performed for the data items having the different pattern lengths. |
| US08274805B2 |
High voltage power supply
There is provided a high voltage power supply capable of reducing voltage stress of a voltage multiplying device. The high voltage power supply includes: a power converter switching on/off and converting an input direct current power into a direct current power having a preset voltage level; and a voltage multiplier including a first multiplying cell multiplying the voltage level of the direct current power from the power converter, wherein the first multiplying cell includes: first and second capacitors charging the direct current power from the power converter, respectively; a first diode providing a path for transferring the direct current power when the power converter is switched off; and a second diode providing a path for transferring the direct current power when the power converter is switched on. |
| US08274802B2 |
Energy transmission device and semiconductor device for energy transmission control
The present invention includes a voltage clamping circuit 6 for outputting a voltage signal, which has been clamped to a predetermined voltage, from the drain voltage of a switching element 1, and a turn-on detection circuit 7 for detecting the turn-on timing of the switching element 1 from the voltage signal. Thus it is possible to turn on the switching element 1 at the minimum value of the drain voltage without adding external terminals. |
| US08274794B2 |
Three-dimensional SoC structure formed by stacking multiple chip modules
A three-dimensional SoC structure formed by stacking multiple chip modules is provided. The three-dimensional SoC structure includes at least two vertical SoC modules and at least one connector module, wherein each connector module electrically connects two vertical SoC modules. Each vertical SoC module is constructed by stacking at least two chip modules vertically. Each chip module includes a module circuit board and at least one preset element. A recess is formed in each module circuit board and provided with a first connecting interface for electrically connecting with the corresponding at least one preset element. The at least two vertical SoC modules are connected by the connector module to form a three-dimensional SoC structure with multiple functions. Besides, the recesses formed in the module circuit boards provide effective heat dissipation paths for the preset elements. |
| US08274788B2 |
Locking mechanism and portable computer utilizing the same
A portable computer includes a base, a display panel rotatably connected to the base, a locking mechanism mounted to the display panel, and a security lock. The base includes a receiving chamber and a hole communicating with the receiving chamber. The locking mechanism includes a main body, a rotation member rotatably connected to the display panel, and a sliding member. The rotation member includes an extending end defining a receiving hole. The extending end is operable to be received in the receiving chamber. The sliding member includes a hook portion being received in the receiving hole. The hook portion is capable of disengaged from the receiving hole, causing the extending end to rotate by the thereof. The security lock includes a latch for engaging the extending end to prevent the extending end of the rotation member from disengaging from the base, to lock the display panel to the base. |
| US08274786B2 |
Flippable I/O port for portable computer
An I/O housing holds an I/O port and is pivotable between a housed position, wherein the I/O housing is held snugly flat in a chassis of the computer, and an extended position, wherein the port end of the housing is distanced from the chassis. The I/O housing can mechanically engage an I/O device with the port establishing communication between the I/O device and the computer processor. |
| US08274782B2 |
Motor control center network connectivity method and system
A motor control center comprises a plurality of bays in which switchgear components, circuit protective components, automation components and power electronic components are disposed for driving motors and other loads. Network optical conductors are routed through one or more wireways adjacent to the bays. Distribution nodes are coupled to the conductors and are interconnected with respective network terminals within the bays. Components within individual bays for which EtherNet and/or Internet connectivity is desired are coupled to the network terminals. The conductors may comprise plastic optical fibers and may be designed to operate in the relatively high voltage environment of the motor control center bays. |
| US08274776B2 |
Disabling a target using electrical energy
One system described herein provides electrical energy by means of a Tesla coil that generates a strong electric field in the vicinity of an electrical target. An energy booster provides additional electrical energy to increase the probability of disabling and/or disrupting the electrical target. For example, an electrode may be configured with the Tesla coil to from the electric field of the electrical target. The electric field may cause a breakdown in the air about the Tesla coil that allows electric current to conduct to the electrical target. The Tesla coil may repetitively burst the electric field such that pulses of electric current are conducted to the electrical target. |
| US08274773B2 |
Multilayered board semiconductor device with BGA package
In a lamination type semiconductor device, in the case where a power source plane is wrapped by a closed area to prevent the needless radiation from being leaked to the outside of the semiconductor package, a planar conductor for shield having an area intersecting with the respective layers is required. However, in a device for manufacturing the lamination type semiconductor device, a process for manufacturing the above-mentioned conductor cannot be realized ordinarily. In order to make the process possible, it is required to modify or replace a manufacturing apparatus of the semiconductor device, and accordingly a manufacturing cost will be considerably increased. In the present invention, a guard ring is arranged in an surrounding area of a power source plane. The guard ring is connected to a GND plane of another layer through a via. Consequently, the RF radiation occurs between the power source plane and the guard ring. |
| US08274772B2 |
Current detection and limiting method and apparatus
An apparatus for detecting and controlling current. A current detector for generating a first value that represents an amount of current being delivered to a device. A current limit circuit for generating a second value that represents a maximum permitted current level from a current source. A current controller for controlling the amount of current drawn by the device if the first value exceeds the second value. |
| US08274770B2 |
Electrostatic discharge protection of semiconductor device
A semiconductor device includes a pads for receiving a reference voltage and input signals from an external device, a unit gain buffer for receiving the reference voltage as an input, input buffers for identifying a corresponding one of the input signals based on an internal reference voltage outputted from the unit gain buffer, external electrostatic discharge protectors connected to a transmission path of the reference voltage and transmission paths of input signals, and internal electrostatic discharge protectors connected to the transmission path of the reference voltage and the transmission paths of the input signals. |
| US08274766B2 |
Magnetic recording element including a thin film layer with changeable magnetization direction
A magneto-resistive element includes: a first magnetic layer having a substantially fixed magnetization direction; a thin film layer disposed on the first magnetic layer and having at least one of oxide, nitride, oxynitride, and metal; and a second magnetic layer disposed on the thin film layer and having a substantially fixed magnetization direction. |
| US08274761B2 |
Magnetic head including a thermal asperity effect element sensor in a stepped-back position from an air bearing surface
A magnetic head disposed in a slider arranged with an interval with respect to a magnetic disk includes a sensor that is positioned in a stepped-back position from an air bearing surface facing the magnetic disk, an insulating film that is positioned on the air bearing surface and that covers the sensor; a pair of lead films, the lead films being electrically connected to the sensor such that at least portions of the lead films are exposed on the air bearing surface, and being configured to transfer a temperature change of the air bearing surface to the sensor. |
| US08274759B1 |
Magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording having a main pole and a shield
A main pole has a top surface including a first portion and a second portion. The main pole has a bottom end including a third portion and a fourth portion. Each of the first and third portions has a first end located in a medium facing surface. The first portion is inclined relative to the medium facing surface and a first virtual plane that passes through the first end and is perpendicular to the medium facing surface and to the direction of travel of a recording medium. The third portion is inclined relative to the medium facing surface and a second virtual plane that passes through the first end and is perpendicular to the medium facing surface and to the direction of travel of the recording medium. The first portion is smaller than the third portion in length in a direction perpendicular to the medium facing surface. |
| US08274756B2 |
Use of carbon nanotubes to form conductive gaskets deployed in sensitive environments
Approaches for implementing a conductive gasket comprising carbon nanotubes for deployment within a sensitive environment, such as an environment containing equipment whose operation may be affected by airborne particles or electromagnetic energy. For example, a hard-disk drive (HDD) comprises an enclosure that is formed by coupling a first component, such as a cover, to a second component, such as a base, using one or more gaskets. The one or more gaskets may be constructed using a material that includes carbon nanotubes. The composition of the material used to construct the gaskets may be selected to achieve a desired electromagnetic conductivity for the gaskets. In this way, the gaskets of the enclosure of the HDD do not render the enclosure vulnerable to external electromagnetic energy and are constructed in a manner that does not introduce any harmful airborne contaminants within the protective enclosure of the HDD. |
| US08274752B2 |
Servomechanism with adjustable predictor filter
A digital control system, and in particular a tape drive system having a track-following servomechanism with a predictor (also referred to herein as a predictor filter), is described. In certain embodiments, the servomechanism includes an actuator, a servo channel, and a predictor coupled to the servo channel. The predictor receives from the servo channel a lateral position estimate signal and determines a modified lateral position estimate signal that reduces a difference, introduced by a tape velocity-dependent delay, e.g., introduced by the servo channel, between the modified lateral position estimate signal and an actual lateral position. The modified lateral position estimate may be used to modify a control signal sent to the actuator. |
| US08274747B2 |
Piezoelectric actuator, camera module, and portable electronic device having same
An exemplary piezoelectric actuator includes a fixed barrel, a movable barrel in the fixed barrel, a piezoelectric driving module, a flexible circuit board on the fixed barrel, a bracing sheet, and a preloading module. The movable barrel receives a lens module. The driving module drives the movable barrel to move relative to the fixed barrel along an optical axis of the lens module. The driving module includes a piezoelectric member on the fixed barrel, and a friction member on the movable barrel and opposite to the friction member. The flexible circuit board is electrically connected with the piezoelectric member. The sheet is attached around the flexible circuit board. The preloading module is between the fixed barrel and the movable barrel. The preloading module is opposite to the piezoelectric driving module for exerting a pressure on the movable barrel, thereby making the friction member resist against the piezoelectric member. |
| US08274746B2 |
Voice coil motor having fine pattern coil
An exemplary voice coil motor includes a movable unit, a fixed unit, and a resilient plate. The movable unit includes a hollow lens barrel for accommodating a number of lenses, and at least one fine pattern coil fixed on a sidewall of the lens barrel and configured for electrical connection to a power source. The fixed unit includes a hollow frame structured bracket and a number of magnets mounted on the bracket. The bracket accommodates the movable unit. The magnets surround and are spaced apart from the at least one fine pattern coil. The resilient plate is resiliently connected between the bracket and the lens barrel to hold the lens barrel on the bracket. |