| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08308676B2 |
Phaco thermal control apparatus and method
Control apparatus for an ultrasonic phacoemulsification handpiece utilizes flow rates and temperature measurements as well as power provided to a handpiece for calculating a matrix of power level duty cycle combination that would not generate sufficient heat to create a burn in eye tissue and either prevent operation of handpiece in the matrix or alert a surgeon of such use. |
| US08308674B1 |
Methods and systems for multifunction needle/catheter devices
Multifunction needle/catheter devices and applications. In one instance, the device includes a substantially tubular and flexible catheter, where the catheter has an opening at an end of a distal section of the catheter and one or more apertures longitudinally spaced away from the end of the distal section, and a removable substantially rigid core capable of facilitating vein cannulization, the removable substantially rigid core being disposed within the catheter. |
| US08308671B2 |
Knee orthosis
A knee orthosis device provides medial, lateral, and rotational control of a knee joint. The novel knee orthosis device stabilizes an injured or surgically repaired, or a weakened knee joint having a neurological disability, which causes instability therein, by applying adjustable corrective and therapeutic forces, which operate to stabilize and protect the knee as well as to correct abnormal gait and to rehabilitate the knee joint and surrounding muscles above and below the knee by encouraging and recruiting said muscles to operate again more normally through the use of a dynamic swing assist mechanism. The knee orthosis also provides dynamically conformable thigh and shin cuff circumferential band systems in combination with a multitude of other elements that conform to the constant dimensional changes of the muscle groups that are surrounded by the knee orthosis device during ambulatory or athletic motion. |
| US08308663B2 |
Device and method for determining the aperture angle of a joint
A device for determining the aperture angle of a joint includes a detection device for detecting positions of joint components and/or positions of structures connected to or to be connected to the joint and a computational unit for ascertaining the aperture angle of the joint based on the detected positions. |
| US08308661B2 |
Collecting activity and sleep quality information via a medical device
A device, such as an implantable medical device (IMD), programming device, or other computing device determines when a patient is attempting to sleep. When the device determines that the patient is attempting to sleep, the device determines values for one or more metrics that indicate the quality of a patient's sleep based on at least one physiological parameter of the patient. When the device determines that the patient is not attempting to sleep, the device periodically determines activity levels of the patient. Activity metric values may be determined based on the determined activity levels. A clinician may use sleep quality information and patient activity information presented by a programming device to, for example, evaluate the effectiveness of therapy delivered to the patient by a medical device. |
| US08308660B2 |
Guidewire having linear change in stiffness
The invention is directed to a guidewire having a distal section with multiple distally tapered core segments with at least two contiguous distally tapering core segments in which the most distal tapered core segment preferably has a greater degree of taper than the proximally contiguous tapered core segment. The invention is also directed to an elongated intracorporeal device, preferably a guidewire or section thereof, that has a core member or the like with a plurality of contiguous tapered segments having taper angles that are configured to produce a linear change in stiffness over a longitudinal section of the device. The device may also have a core section with a continuously changing taper angle to produce a curvilinear profile that preferably is configured to produce a linear change in stiffness of the core over a longitudinal section of the device. |
| US08308658B2 |
Medical guidewire
The guidewire provides a core and wire coil construction. The core can be shaped with a generally squared-off distally facing shoulder that forms a platform for a proximal end portion of the wire coil. The wire coil can have a plurality of spaced apart coil turns at its proximal end portion. A bonding agent comprising an adhesive can be used to secure the core to the wire coil proximal end portion. |
| US08308656B2 |
Sampling device and method usable in an analysis automated device
A sampling device includes a body, a needle, a sealing element and an element for feeding and removing a liquid. The needle has at least one groove located between the sealing element and the sampling end of the needle. The sampling end has a sampling hole opening out on a lateral wall of the end. The sampling device leakage problems encountered in the conventional art to be overcome while at the same time resolving the problems of placing the inside of a tube containing a product to be analyzed at atmospheric pressure. |
| US08308654B2 |
Devices for use in processing of continuous pressure-related signals derivable from a human or animal body or body cavity
This invention describes a method for processing pressure signals derivable from locations inside or outside a human or animal body or body cavity. Different aspects of the invention relate to a method for optimal differentiating between cardiac beat- and artifact-induced pressure waves, a method for obtaining new and improved information from said pressure signals, a method for obtaining signals predicting pressures inside a body or body cavity from pressure signals outside said body or body cavity. In particular, this invention describes devices for sensing continuous pressures signals and displaying otput of processing according to the inventive methods. |
| US08308653B2 |
Automated diagnostic hearing test
Method and system are disclosed for automated testing of a patient's hearing. The automated hearing test allows the patient to quickly and accurately test his own hearing with minimal or no assistance from an audiologist or other hearing health professionals. The test prompts and instructs the patient for inputs and responses as needed. The patient can select one or several tests to be performed, including air and bone conduction testing with masking, speech reception threshold, speech discrimination, tympanogram, acoustic reflex, and otoacoustic emissions testing. Multiple languages are supported. Data obtained from one test may be used for another test or another iteration of the same test to calculate masking levels. The automatic hearing test also detects ambient noise and can compensate for it in the test results. If a contingency occurs, the automated hearing test is configured to page the operator for assistance. |
| US08308652B2 |
Apparatus, method and system for determining a physiological condition within a mammal
A system, method and apparatus for determining a physiological condition within a mammal based on pH and/or temperature measurements. In one aspect, the invention is directed to an apparatus for measuring a physiological condition within a mammal comprising: a tubular housing extending along a longitudinal axis from a distal end to a proximal end, the housing having an internal cavity; a first opening in the elongated housing forming a first passageway into the internal cavity; an ion-sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET) for measuring pH within a body lumen of the mammal, the ISFET positioned in the internal cavity, the ISFET aligned with the first opening so that at least a portion of the ISFET is exposed via the first opening; and a first seal between the ISFET and the housing forming a hermetic seal about a perimeter of the first opening. |
| US08308647B2 |
System and method for a non-invasive blood pressure measurement
A method of measuring blood pressure of a patient is provided. The method comprises inflating a blood pressure cuff to a user selectable target pressure and subsequently further inflating or deflating the blood pressure cuff in a stepwise manner by a predetermined pressure amount. At each pressure step in a first sequence of alternate steps of cuff pressure variation, the occurrence of at least two successive oscillometric pulses with matching pulse amplitude and other possible matching criteria is identified. The blood pressure cuff is inflated following the identification. Further a single oscillometric pulse is obtained at each pressure step in a second sequence of alternate steps of cuff pressure variation. The pattern of inflating, obtaining two matching oscillometric pulses, inflating, and obtaining a single oscillometric pulse is repeated until sufficient oscillometric envelope information is obtained for determining one or more blood pressure parameters of the patient. |
| US08308646B2 |
Trainable diagnostic system and method of use
A trainable, adaptable system for analyzing functional or structural clinical data can be used to identify a given pathology based on functional data. The system includes a signal processor that receives functional data from a device monitoring a subject and normalizes the functional data over at least one cycle of functional data. The system also includes a neural network having a plurality of weights selected based on predetermined data and receiving and processing the normalized functional data based on the plurality of weights to generate at least one metric indicating a degree of relation between the normalized functional data to the predetermined data. A diagnostic interpretation module is included for receiving the at least one metric from the neural network and classifying the functional data as indicative of the given pathology or not indicative of the given pathology based on a comparison of the at least one metric to at least one probability distribution of a likelihood of the given pathology. |
| US08308642B2 |
Spectroscopic diagnostic apparatus as an aid for laser tattoo removal
A spectroscopic diagnostic apparatus is disclosed as an aid for laser tattoo removal. The apparatus performs spectroscopic analysis of the tattooed skin before or during laser treatment, which provides composition information of the tattoo pigments and photometric information of the skin for optimizing laser treatment protocols automatically or manually. It also provides a simulated treatment result for the selected laser types. |
| US08308639B2 |
Split hoop wound retractor with gel pad
An incrementally adjustable wound retractor, which provides access to a body cavity, includes an inner ring having a diameter greater than the desired diameter of the wound incision, an outer ring having an annular axis and a diameter greater than the desired diameter of the wound incision, and a flexible sleeve disposed in a generally cylindrical form between the inner and outer rings. The outer ring includes first and second circular tubes spaced apart axially with each including a lumen having a rigid, noncompliant split hoop placed therein. The outer ring may be rolled over itself and around the annular axis to retract the sleeve with sufficient force to stretch the incision to the desired diameter. A gel cap seal may be coupled to the outer ring outside of the biological body to seal the opening produced by the wound retractor between the body cavity and outside the body cavity. |
| US08308638B2 |
Internal tissue retractor
A positionable internal retraction device is provided comprising a malleable ring member and a web-like structure. The retraction device operates to temporarily reposition tissues and organs from an operative site to provide a clear access and visual path for the surgeon. The ring member may be elongated, twisted, folded, bent or deformed to provide an appropriate insertion profile and subsequent functional shape. The retraction device may be shaped for both open and minimally invasive surgeries. The retraction device is atraumatic and may be used for retraction of delicate tissues and organs. The ring member may have different bending biases. The web-like structure may be constructed of any elastic material that can stretch and recover from the shaping and reshaping of the ring member. |
| US08308634B2 |
Endoscope
An endoscope includes an insertion portion which has a bending portion, a wire which is fixed to an end of a distal side of the bending portion and is pushed along the insertion portion, an operating portion which is provided on a proximal side of the insertion portion opposite to the bending portion, and a wire-connecting member which is interposed in the wire between the insertion portion and the operating portion to form an allowance in a in which the wire is pushed and pulled, wherein a portion of the wire between the wire-receiving member and the wire-connecting member is inserted into the coil spring so that the coil covers a surface of the portion of the wire. |
| US08308633B2 |
Manipulator operation system
A manipulator operation system includes a treatment instrument distal end movement control section having an endoscope treatment instrument having a bending portion and a distal end portion, a bending driving section and a bending operating section. The manipulator operation system includes imaging mechanism having an imaging section that includes an optical system having a field curvature, images, observing mechanism having a display section that displays a taken image, detecting mechanism having a detecting section that detects an arrangement position of the distal end portion, field curvature information acquiring mechanism having a field curvature information acquiring section that acquires field curvature information of the taken image, and adjusting mechanism having an adjustment section that adjusts a ratio of an operation amount of the bending operating section and a driving amount of the bending driving section based on the arrangement position and the field curvature information. |
| US08308630B2 |
Hydraulic gastric band with collapsible reservoir
A self-regulating gastric band apparatus for adjusting stoma size. The apparatus includes an adjustable gastric band that has an inner ring expanding with injected fluid. A band adjustment assembly is provided for implanting with the gastric band that includes a sensor for sensing fluid pressure in the inner ring. The band adjustment assembly further includes a pump assembly connected to the expandable inner ring and to a controller that can operate the pump assembly to adjust the volume of the fluid in the band based on the sensed fluid pressure. The band adjustment assembly includes memory storing an operating range relative to a target fluid pressure, and the pump assembly is operated to maintain the sensed band pressure within the operating range. The target pressure being set to maintain pressure variations below a predefined variation limit generally corresponding with satiated fill volumes for a particular patient and implanted band. An elongated fluid reservoir may extend along a substantial part of a fill tube. A balloon-like expandable fluid reservoir in fluid communication with the pump assembly may store a volume of the fluid for adjusting the volume of fluid in the lumen. A protective outer sheath may be provided around the exterior of an expandable fluid reservoir in both a first, deflated state, and a second, inflated state of the reservoir. |
| US08308627B2 |
Medical and recreational magnetic device and method of using it
A medical and recreational device comprises at least two laminas. The laminas comprise sources of magnetic field. The sources of the magnetic field located on one of the laminas faced to another one completely or partially by like and/or unlike magnetic poles and at least one of said laminas configured to be attached to the treated body part. |
| US08308626B2 |
Rotor unit for a centrifugal separator having undetachably joined separating discs
A rotor unit for a centrifugal separator, which centrifugal separator comprises a non-rotatable housing wherein the rotor unit is disposed about a central axis of rotation, an inlet for supply of a mixture of components to be separated, at least one outlet for a component separated during operation, whereby the rotor unit, at least parts of which are made of metal, comprises a separating chamber formed inside the rotor unit, an inlet chamber connected to the inlet and the separating chamber, is formed radially within said separating chamber and is usually shielded from the separating chamber, at least one outlet connected to the separating chamber, a plurality of separating discs disposed at a distance axially from one another in said separating chamber coaxially with the axis of rotation, at least a number of the metal parts of said rotor unit are undetachably joined together to form a composite assembly. |
| US08308623B2 |
Apparatus for enhancing a filter component of a smoking article, and associated method
An apparatus and method for manufacturing a rod member for a cigarette filter element is provided. Each rod member defines a longitudinal axis and includes a generally longitudinally-extending filter material. A rod-forming unit is configured to form a continuous supply of a filter material into a continuous cylindrical rod member. An object insertion unit is configured to introduce a plurality of objects into engagement with the rod member along the longitudinal axis. A dispensing device is configured to selectively dispense a liquid substance into the filter material, substantially commensurately with the introduction of the plurality of objects into engagement with the rod member, wherein the liquid substance is configured to affect an attribute associated with the objects. A rod-dividing unit is configured to divide the rod member into a plurality of rod portions such that each rod portion includes at least one object and a portion of the liquid substance. |
| US08308622B2 |
Centrifugally cast composit roll
A centrifugally cast composite roll comprising an outer layer having a composition comprising by mass 2.5-9% of C, 0.1-3.5% of Si, 0.1-3.5% of Mn, and 11-40% of V, the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities; an intermediate layer made of a high-speed steel alloy, which is formed inside the outer layer; and an inner layer made of cast iron or steel, which is formed inside the intermediate layer. |
| US08308617B2 |
Elliptical treadmill with torsional swinging
An elliptical exercise apparatus with a swinging effect has a pedals, a crank mechanism, a damping mechanism and pedals. A pair of sloping guide rails are arranged symmetrically between the front support and a middle support of a pedestal. One end of the pair of sloping guide rails is arranged laterally. A pair of pedals are arranged separately onto the pair of sloping guide rails and connected with the crank mechanism. A slide guide is steerably set at a front bottom of the pedals and slidably mated with the pair of sloping guide rails. A universal joint is set at the rear bottom of the pedals and is connected to the left and right cranks. |
| US08308615B2 |
System and method for predicting athletic ability
A system for predicting athletic ability is disclosed. The system includes at least one device for measuring at least a first athletic parameter and a second athletic parameter, and a computer for calculating a performance score based upon the first athletic parameter and the second athletic parameter. The performance score is predictive of athletic ability. Methods of predicting athletic ability based upon a plurality of athletic parameters are also disclosed. |
| US08308610B2 |
Device for controlling a power transmission device of a vehicle at the time of gearshift
A device for controlling a power transmission device for a vehicle, which, at the time of gearshift, so controls the engine as to rotate at a target rotational speed, wherein at the time of shifting the gear up, a target value properly corresponding to an actual vehicle speed is set to quickly increase the engine output and to shorten the time for shifting the gear. In controlling the engine at the time of shifting the gear up, a target engine rotational speed is set based the signals from, wheel rotational speed detector means that detects the rotational speed of a wheel, such as an anti-lock control device. Thus, the target engine rotational speed is set depending properly upon an actual vehicle speed that varies accompanying an increase in the amount of engaging the clutch at the time of gearshift, and the gear at the time of accelerating the vehicle can be quickly shifted up without accompanied by the shift shock. At the time of shift-down, a target engine rotational speed is set based on an actual vehicle speed found from the signals of the transmission input shaft rotational speed. |
| US08308609B2 |
Power-off downshift engagement dampening
A method for controlling a power-off downshift in a powershift transmission includes disengaging the current gear, synchronizing engine speed and a speed of the target gear layshaft by increasing a torque capacity of the target gear clutch, disengaging the clutch, engaging the target gear, and reengaging the clutch. |
| US08308605B2 |
Method for controlling and/or regulating a hybrid drive arrangement
A method of controlling and/or regulating a hybrid drive system of a vehicle, with at least one internal combustion engine and at least one electric machine which can be coupled to the input shaft of an automated transmission, at least some of the time, by at least one clutch to facilitate driving of the vehicle such that at least one energy accumulator is charged by the electric machine which is operated as a generator and driven by the internal combustion engine. The electric machine is a synchronizer machine that is continually energized by maintaining a nominal speed of the synchronizer machine below an inflexion speed (n_Eck) during the charging process. |
| US08308599B2 |
Eccentric speed reducer
An eccentric speed reducer is provided with which it is possible to achieve improved output torque without increasing the outer radial dimension of the casing. A tapered side is formed on at least part of a peripheral side surface of struts 18, with the tapered side extending in a tapered manner in the longitudinal direction of the struts 18 in a direction that is oblique to a direction parallel to a center line P passing through a casing 14 so as to connect inner circumferential centers of the casing 14 and in which the struts 18 narrow toward an end carrier 17. A tapered side gradient that is the angle of a direction in which the tapered side extends relative to the direction parallel to the center line P is formed to be at least 3 degrees and at most 6 degrees. |
| US08308595B2 |
Hybrid drive device
A hybrid drive device including an electric motor; an automatic transmission; a first oil passage; and a second oil passage branched from the first oil passage and that guides the oil to a friction element that is engaged for establishment of a speed in the automatic transmission. An orifice is provided in the first oil passage downstream of the second oil passage. A switching valve for the friction element is provided in the second oil passage to be switched between communicated and blocked states. A hydraulic servo for the friction element is supplied with a hydraulic pressure to control the friction element between engaged, disengaged, and slip states. The switching valve includes a control oil chamber that communicates with the hydraulic servo, and is switched into the blocked state when the friction element is disengaged and into the communicated state when the friction element is engaged or the slip state. |
| US08308593B2 |
Hybrid vehicle drive system
A drive system of a hybrid vehicle, including an engine, a first electric motor, a second electric motor operatively connected to a drive wheel of the hybrid vehicle, and two planetary gear mechanisms, and wherein the two planetary gear mechanisms have at least four rotary elements arranged to permit the drive system to be placed in a selected one of a first operation mode in which the rotary element connected to the engine and the rotary element connected to the first electric motor are disposed on opposite sides of the rotary element connected to the drive wheel and the second electric motor, as seen in a collinear chart in which the four rotary elements are located at respective four different positions along a base line, and a second operation mode in which the rotary element connected to the first electric motor and the rotary element connected to the drive wheel and the second electric motor are disposed on opposite sides of the rotary element connected to the engine, as seen in said collinear chart. |
| US08308591B2 |
Resin pulley
A resin pulley includes an outer cylindrical portion including an outer circumferential surface on which a belt is to be wound, an inner cylindrical portion, and a plurality of ribs connecting an inner circumferential surface of the outer cylindrical portion and an outer circumferential surface of the inner cylindrical portion, which are formed of a resin material. The ribs are provided so as to be inclined towards a circumferential direction relative to a radial imaginary line as viewed in an axial direction. Radially outer end portions of the ribs are formed such that inclination angles of the respective radially outer end portions relative to the radial imaginary line increase as the ribs extend radially outward, and radially inner end portions of the ribs are formed such that inclination angles of the respective radially inner end portions relative to the radial imaginary line increase as the ribs extend radially inward. |
| US08308590B2 |
Hub-pulley assembly having a rotationally disengageable pulley
A hub-pulley assembly comprising a hub adapted to be connected to a rotational member of a motor vehicle and having an axis, a pulley adapted to cooperate with a drive belt and driving means arranged between the hub and the pulley. The driving means comprise bidirectional disengagement means which allow a relative rotation between the hub and the pulley in both directions. |
| US08308589B2 |
Belt and chain drive with kidney-shaped traction mechanism
A belt and chain drive for vehicles or for use in drive technology with an input shaft and an output shaft supported on a frame, the input shaft and the output shaft project out of the frame, with the following features: a) gear transmissions with gear wheels, which are embodied as belt and chain drives, are located between the input shaft and the output shaft, b) all of the gear wheels are constantly in rotation during operation, c) the gear transmissions located between the input shaft and the output shaft are embodied as belt and chain drives with toothed belts as traction mechanisms and with pulleys as gear wheels, d) the traction mechanism are reinforced with aramide, Kevlar, carbon fibers or other fibrous materials, is characterized in that e) the traction mechanism is pressed into a kidney-like shape onto the pulleys by at least one component during no-load rotation, and that under the effect of load this component does not touch the traction mechanism, and f) the kidney-like shape of the traction mechanism during no-load rotation is formed by a convex curvature of the driving side and by a concave curvature of the slack side, and g) the kidney-like shape of the traction mechanisms under load is formed by a straight shape of the driving side and by an intensified concave curvature of the slack side. |
| US08308585B2 |
Golf balls having a low modulus HNP layer and a high modulus HNP layer
The present invention is directed to golf balls consisting of a dual-layer core and a cover. The core consists of an inner core layer formed from a high modulus HNP composition and an outer core layer formed from a low modulus HNP composition. The outer core layer has an outer surface hardness less than the outer surface hardness of the inner core layer. |
| US08308583B2 |
Golf club head with alignment system
A golf club head is disclosed. The golf club head includes a first body member and a second body member. The first body member includes a strike face and a top portion. The second body member is coupled to the first body member and extends away from the first body member in a direction opposite the strike face. At least a top portion of the second body member is camouflaged. A preferred method of camouflage is color differentiation, wherein the second body member is darker than the first body member. Specific color values and club head geometries are also disclosed and claimed. The club head may include a body member and a weight member such as a bar that extends rearward from the body member. A cover may be included to camouflage the weight member. A separate core member and high visibility sight lines may also be provided. |
| US08308582B2 |
Golf club head, and method for manufacturing the golf club head
To provide a golf club head which is easy-to-hit and which restrains the reduction of flight distance at the time of off-center shot to the minimum without making a sacrifice of the flight distance at the time of sweet spot shot, and a method for manufacturing the golf club head, a golf club head (1) has a hollow structure including a face portion (2) and a body portion (6), the body portion (6) includes a ring-shaped body barrel portion (26) as a front portion, and a tail portion (27) as a rear portion, and the average thickness of the body barrel portion (26) is 0.1 to 0.6 mm, and the mass of the tail portion (27) including a weight portion (8) is 20 to 70 g. The relations kb/kf≦3 and 2 kN/mm≦1/(1/kb+1/kf)≦5 kN/mm are satisfied where kf (kN/mm) is the rigidity of the face portion (2) and kb (kN/mm) is the rigidity of the body barrel portion (26). |
| US08308580B2 |
Golf alignment and posture training device
A golf alignment and posture training device is disclosed. According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a golf training device for indicating a proper stance, including posture and alignment, of a golfer who is positioned in preparation for hitting a golf ball prior to taking a swing. The device includes a shoulder positioning member for indicating a desired stance of a golfer prior to taking a swing, including a desired position of each of the golfer's shoulders relative to the position and/or the intended trajectory of the ball, and a support structure for positioning the shoulder positioning member in a first position and a second position. In the first position, the desired position of the golfer's shoulders is indicated by contact of the golfer's shoulder area with the shoulder positioning member, and, in the second position, the shoulder positioning member is located away from the first position such that the shoulder positioning member does not interfere with the swing when it is taken. |
| US08308575B2 |
Gear mechanism with torque limiter
A gear mechanism with torque limiter includes a felt member 14 that is held between a first gear 13 and a second gear 15 coaxially arranged first gear 13 and second gear 15, for transmitting drive power between the gears, such that coupling of drive power between the gears is restricted by slippage of the felt member 14 when an excessive load is applied thereto, wherein multiple protrusions 19a are provided concentrically on the surface of one of the gears 13 (15) in contact with the felt member 14, and concentric grooves 20a corresponding to the protrusions are provided on the surface of the other gear (13) 15. |
| US08308574B2 |
Managing games in wagering gaming networks
Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter include one or more machine readable media including instructions which when executed by a machine cause the machine to perform operations comprising: loading, into a main memory of the machine, a wagering game software program configured to, upon execution, determine results for wagering games and to provide the results to remote wagering game terminals; executing the wagering game software program in the machine; deactivating the wagering game software program, wherein the deactivating includes, for each one of the wagering game terminals, determining that the one of the wagering game terminals has been idle for a specified time period; discontinuing determination of the results and provision of the results to the one of the wagering game terminals; and ceasing execution of the wagering game software. |
| US08308568B2 |
Time and location based gaming
A user engaged in at least one activity via a gaming device is not permitted to engage in the at least one activity if the user leaves a particular area for at least a predetermined amount of time and/or enters a particular area for at least a predetermined amount of time. |
| US08308567B2 |
Discovery service in a service-oriented gaming network environment
A gaming network includes a discovery service, gaming machines and services providers. The discovery service receives service information from the service providers and publishes the service information to gaming machines and other entities on the gaming network. The discovery service and service providers may be implemented as web services with a gaming services framework. The gaming services framework comprises a set of services, protocols, XML schemas, and methods for providing gaming system functionality in a distributed, network based architecture that includes gaming machines and servers. Systems and methods provide a service-oriented framework for gaming and property management based upon internetworking technology and web services concepts. |
| US08308563B2 |
Game system and storage medium having game program stored thereon
A first controller includes a first operation data generation section for generating first operation data in accordance with a motion of a first controller body included in the first controller. A second controller includes a second operation data generation section for generating second operation data in accordance with a direction input operation performed by a player. A game apparatus includes a game process means for obtaining the first operation data and the second operation data and subjecting a virtual game world to a predetermined game process in accordance with the obtained operation data, and a display process means for causing the display device to display, on a display area, an image of the virtual game world having been subjected to the game process. |
| US08308561B2 |
Gaming apparatus having a configurable control panel
A gaming apparatus for facilitating game play. The gaming apparatus may include a value input device, a display unit, and a player control panel. The player control panel may include a curved surface centered around at least one axis. The gaming apparatus also may include a touch screen, the touch screen conforming to the curved surface of the player control panel. A value input may be received from a player via the value input device, and the display unit may be caused to display a game display. One of a plurality of player input displays may be selected and display the selected one of the plurality of player input displays. Player input data associated with the selected one of the plurality of player input displays may be received via the touch screen, and a value payout associated with an outcome of the game may be determined. |
| US08308558B2 |
Universal tactile feedback system for computer video games and simulations
A universal tactile feedback system for computer and video game systems is disclosed which provides real time tactile feedback to enhance a user's experience while interacting with a computer/video game or simulation. The tactile feedback system operates both in host-independent and host-dependent modes, thereby allowing the system to function even when no accommodation is provided by the game or simulation system that is being used. The host-independent mode is responsive to the audio signal that is typically generated by a computer or video game system while it is executing a game or simulation. The host-dependent mode is responsive to control commands specifically generated by a computer or video game system while it is executing a game or simulation. The tactile feedback system then creates tactile sensations primarily via controller-based tactile sensation generators, such that the user feels physical sensations corresponding to events occurring within the game or simulation in real time. |
| US08308550B2 |
Gaming systems, gaming devices and methods providing time based game sessions with changing values
Various embodiments of the present disclosure are generally directed to gaming systems, gaming devices and methods that provide time based game sessions that each include a plurality of wagering events, wherein if one of the plurality of wagering events results in or is associated with a designated change outcome, a value associated with an element or function in the game session (such as a value associated with an outcome, a time value, or a wager amount) changes (such as by increasing) for a remaining portion of the game session (such as the rest of the gaming session). |
| US08308549B2 |
Gaming system and method for adjusting the average expected payback associated with a play of a wagering game
A gaming system and method which provides a player with a higher average expected payback for making a gaming system wager on a gaming system wagering event in addition to making a primary game wager on a primary game. If the player places the gaming system wager on the gaming system wagering event, the player obtains the chance to win a gaming system award in addition to the player's chance of winning an award based on the outcome of the primary game, wherein the gaming system award is based, at least in part, on the primary game outcome. By placing a gaming system wager on the gaming system wagering event, the overall average expected payback associated with the play of the game increases, without changing the average expected payback of the primary game. |
| US08308548B2 |
Gaming device and method of use
A gaming apparatus is configured to allow a player to place a wager and play a game. The gaming apparatus includes a bonus display that indicates a bonus prize to be awarded to a player. The bonus display includes a moveable indicator and an indicator positioning mechanism that is coupled to the moveable indicator and moves the moveable indicator in a rotary manner. A gaming device allows the player to place a wager and play a game. The gaming device includes at least one game reel that has game symbols. The outcome of a game is indicated by displaying at least one game symbol. A bonus reel has bonus symbols that communicate how the bonus display will change. |
| US08308547B2 |
Selection of multiple roulette wheels
A roulette game allows players to place wagers across multiple roulette wheels. The player designates the amount of the wager, the particular outcomes on which the wager is contingent, and how many tables are covered by the wager. A control system automatically selects one or more tables across which the wager is based. The selection may be based on location of the player relative to the tables, impending outcomes from the tables, or other criteria as desired. |
| US08308545B2 |
Wagering game with enhanced player-selection bonus feature
A gaming system for conducting a wagering game includes a wager input device for receiving a wager from a player to play a wagering game. The system includes a display for displaying an array of selectable elements. Each of the selectable elements is associated with an award. The system also includes a player input device for receiving selections from the array of selectable elements. Also included in the gaming system is a feature for returning to the array of selectable elements. The feature includes at least one game-return outcome and at least one game-terminating outcome awarding a first award for the selections. A multiplier changes each time a game-return outcome is achieved. |
| US08308542B2 |
Baccarat card game with side bets
A method to implement two side bets for the casino card game of Baccarat. The player can choose to bet on a player side bet, a banker side bet, or play both side bets. The player side bet wins if, after the game is resolved, the player point total is one less than the banker point total, and loses in all other situations. The banker side bet wins if, after the game is resolved, the banker point total is one less than the player point total, and loses in all other situations. Subsets of these winning sets can be used as well for the winning combinations. |
| US08308538B2 |
Methods and devices for card games with card replacement
A player of a card game, such as poker, is presented with opportunities to replace one or more of the cards in his or her hand. The first such replacement may be free, but the player may incur a cost for each subsequent replacement. This cost may be based on how much the player is expected to benefit from the replacement. Facilitating these subsequent replacements may allow the player to improve a poor hand, thus enhancing the player's excitement of playing the card game. |
| US08308532B2 |
Abrasive article
Provided is a durable abrasive article which can conform even to a surface of a complicated shape and has an excellent abrasive power and which does not give any deep flaw to become a problem at a subsequent step and is not broken even when used in sanding the surface of the complicated shape. The abrasive article comprises a flexible resin film, an abrasive grain layer formed on the surface of the resin film, and an extremely flexible resin layer formed on the abrasive grain layer, wherein the flexible resin film has a thickness of 10 to 200 μm, a tensile strength of 30 to 130 MPa and an elongation of 3 to 250%, wherein the abrasive grains of the abrasive grain layer are of P280 to P12, and wherein the extremely flexible resin layer has a 100% M of 1 to 20 MPa, a tensile strength of 20 to 90 MPa and an elongation of 250 to 1000%. |
| US08308528B2 |
Apparatus and method for reducing removal forces for CMP pads
An improvement in a polishing apparatus for planarizing substrates comprises a tenacious coating of a low-adhesion material to a platen surface. An expendable polishing pad is adhesively attached to the low-adhesion material, and may be removed for periodic replacement at much reduced expenditure of force. Polishing pads joined to low-adhesion materials such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) by conventional adhesives resist distortion during polishing but are readily removed for replacement. |
| US08308525B2 |
Processes and apparatuses for enhanced cutting using blends of abrasive materials
A waterjet system selectively produces fluid jets for water jet cutting or abrasive jets for abrasive-waterjet-cutting. The abrasive materials in the abrasive jet are determined based on the properties of the workpiece. The waterjet system includes an abrasive delivery system that is capable of delivering either a single abrasive or a plurality of abrasives as an abrasive blend, to a cutting head assembly. The cutting head assembly entrains the abrasive into a fluid jet to form an abrasive jet. |
| US08308519B2 |
Method for the production of a sealing region and discharge lamp produced by said method
A method for producing a sealing region, into which an element is fused and which comprises a first sealing region section and a second sealing region section is provided. The method may include applying an encapsulation made of a material onto the element between the production of the first sealing region section and the production of the second sealing region section. |
| US08308515B2 |
Multi-interfaces connector
A multi-interfaces connector includes a plurality of housings, a circuit board and a casing. The circuit board has a soldering portion, and the circuit board has a plurality of tongue plates extended from one side of the soldering portion. The tongue plates are separately arranged through the plurality of housings. The tongue plates respectively have a plurality of first conductive pins, a plurality of second conductive pins and a plurality of third conductive pins. The casing has a hollow case body which includes a plurality of through holes. The plurality of housings are arranged with the circuit board and installed in the casing. Therefore, the multi-interfaces connector is capable of being inserted with several transmission lines which have different types of insertion plug. |
| US08308513B2 |
Electrical connector
An electrical connector includes an insulative housing and contacts received therein. The insulative housing defines a retaining section and a mating tongue projecting beyond the retaining section perpendicularly. A plurality of terminal grooves are defined on the mating tongue and extending along a front-to-rear direction. A plurality of positioning slots are defined on the retaining section and extending along a vertical direction perpendicular to the front-to-rear direction and in communication with the terminal grooves respectively. Each contact comprises a contact portion secured in the terminal groove on the mating tongue and a solder tail secured in the positioning slot on the retaining section. The contacts are divided into signal contacts and grounding contacts, solder tails of said signal contacts and grounding contacts are separately located at different rows alone in the front-to-rear direction. |
| US08308512B2 |
Connector assembly
A connector assembly includes contact modules having dielectric bodies holding contacts having mating portions extending from the dielectric body. The connector assembly includes a conductive shield body holding the contact modules in a stacked configuration. The shield body provides shielding around the contact modules and the shield body has a mating end configured to be mated to a mating connector assembly. The mating end has one or more exposed surfaces between corresponding contacts. The shield body extends between selected contact modules. The connector assembly includes a conductive gasket positioned along the mating end of the shield body. The conductive gasket engages the exposed surfaces of the shield body to define a ground path between the conductive shield body and the mating connector assembly. |
| US08308511B2 |
Waterproof electrical connector
An electrical connector comprises: a lower insulative housing with several terminal slots each comprising a sink communicating to exterior; an upper insulative housing assembled on the lower insulative housing to define a receiving room for receiving an audio plug, the upper insulative housing comprising several terminal slots corresponding to those of the lower insulative housing and an extension plate extending toward the sink of the lower insulative housing; a number of terminals each comprising a main body, a resilient arm and a solder tail extending from the main body, the main bodies of the terminals retained in cooperating terminal slots of the lower and upper insulative housing inwardly of the sinks of the lower insulative housing and the extension plates of the upper insulative housing; and a fastening member combining the upper and lower insulative housings as an integrating unit. |
| US08308509B2 |
Multiple-position modular connector employing shielded or filtered signal conductors for reducing electrical noise
A multiple-position modular connector (jack, plug or both) includes a rigid insulating body and a set of spaced-apart coaxial conductors carried by the body. Each coaxial conductor has a mating end at a mating portion of the body providing electrical connection between the inner signal conductor and a corresponding conductor of a mating modular connector. A conductive structure extends between the outer shield conductors of the coaxial conductors and a reference contact at an outer surface of the body to provide a high-frequency ground for the outer shield conductors. In another aspect, a modular connector includes a printed circuit board carried by an insulative body and employing some combination of well-matched conductive paths and filtering circuitry such as common-mode coils or “chokes”. Electrical traces of the printed circuit board may include ground/reference traces interspersed among signal traces to provide shielding and uniform electrical characteristics to the signal traces. Filtering circuitry when present is disposed on the PC board along the signal traces and acts to reduce the level of common-mode signal components reaching the mating contacts from the cable. |
| US08308505B2 |
Guarded coaxial cable assembly
A guarded coaxial cable assembly including a micro-coaxial cable and at least one rail. |
| US08308503B2 |
Flat cable and connection structure between flat cable and printed wiring board
A flat cable includes a plurality of conductors arranged in parallel and exposed at both end portions in a longitudinal direction thereof, an insulation film covering the plurality of conductors except the exposed both end portions, and a reinforcing member that covers the plurality of conductors along a width direction of the plurality of conductors, is provided on a surface of the insulation film in a part of a region including an edge of the insulation film, and includes a metal plate and an insulative covering layer for covering the metal plate. |
| US08308502B2 |
Break away starter terminal
An electrical arrangement for a motor vehicle includes a starter cable electrically connected with a vehicle battery, a terminal head conductor electrically connected with the starter cable, a terminal base conductor electrically connected with a starter motor, and an electrically nonconductive terminal enclosure defining a cavity in which the terminal head conductor and the terminal base conductor are positioned. The vehicle battery is electrically connected with the starter motor when the terminal head conductor contacts the terminal base conductor in the cavity. The terminal enclosure includes a weakened section offset from the terminal head conductor such that breaking of the terminal enclosure at the weakened section to form a free edge of the terminal enclosure and disconnection of the terminal head conductor from the terminal base conductor results in the terminal head conductor remaining in the cavity and spaced from the free edge. |
| US08308501B2 |
Solid state lighting assembly having a strain relief member
A solid state lighting assembly includes a housing configured to hold a solid state lighting module. The housing has a cavity. A contact is positioned within the cavity. The contact has a wire end and a mating end. The wire end is configured to be coupled to a insertion segment of a wire. The wire extends from the cavity to an exterior of the housing. A strain relief member extends from the exterior of the housing. The strain relief member is configured to engage a portion of the wire upstream from the insertion segment of the wire. |
| US08308500B2 |
Power connector system
A power connector system for an appliance includes a cable assembly comprising a plug having plug contacts terminated to discrete wires of the cable assembly. The power connector system also includes a receptacle assembly having a receptacle housing having a cavity that receives the plug. The receptacle housing is configured to be received in a cutout of a bezel of the appliance such that the cavity is accessible from an exterior of the appliance. The receptacle housing holds receptacle contacts that are mated to the plug contacts when the plug is received in the cavity. |
| US08308497B2 |
End cap, socket, and adaptors for use with a lamp
An end cap and socket system for use with a lamp bulb may include an end cap and a socket body. The end cap may include a first cylindrical portion with a first diameter, and a second cylindrical portion with a second diameter smaller than the first cylindrical portion. The socket may a key portion projecting from a front face of the socket. A adaptor for use with a socket may include a key portion. Alternatively, the end can may include a key disk with a key groove cut into the key disk, and the socket may include a key piece with a key rib structured to couple with the key groove. An adaptor for use with an end cap may include an adaptor body portion and a whole, wherein a contact pin can be inserted through the hole. These keying features are intended to prevent improper coupling between mismatched lamps and sockets or insure that the lamp, when mated to the socket, may be rotated in only one direction. |
| US08308493B2 |
Low-profile power adapter
A low-profile power adapter is disclosed. In one embodiment, a low profile power adapter is facilitated by improved approaches to construct and assembly of a power adapter plug for the power adapter. According to one aspect, a base for a power adapter plug of a power adapter can include a metal base connected to a blade (or prong) of the power adapter plug. The metal base can provide mechanical support to the blade as well as electrical connectivity to an internal terminal for the power adapter plug. According to another aspect, internal terminals used by a power adapter plug of a power adapter can be flexibly positioned on the power adapter plug, thereby facilitating interconnection with electrical components used by the power adapter. |
| US08308491B2 |
Connector assembly having a cable
A connector assembly includes a connector housing configured to be coupled to a primary circuit board. A connector is held within the connector housing. The connector has a connector circuit board having a mating surface and a cable surface. The mating surface has mating contacts configured to be mated to corresponding mating contacts of a secondary circuit board. The cable surface has cable contacts. Cables extend between a first end and a second end. The first end of each cable is coupled to corresponding cable contacts of the connector circuit board. The second end of each cable is configured to be coupled to a cable contact on the primary circuit board or a second connector assembly on the primary circuit board. |
| US08308489B2 |
Electrical garment and electrical garment and article assemblies
Electrical garments and components for use in electrical garments are provided. A communication medium of various forms is integrated into a garment seam that is used to join two or more portions of a garment. The communication media can be used to provide electrical or other electromagnetic connection for coupling among a plurality of electrical devices associated with the garment. Accordingly, the electrical garment can be configured for a plurality of uses, applications and environments, depending on the electrical devices associated therewith. The electrical devices can be configured to be attached to or integrated with the garment in a releasable fashion or in a more permanent configuration. The electrical devices can be chosen for their desired functionality and interconnected with the communication media, which is at least partially integrated within the garment seams. Additional embodiments provide an electronic connector suitable for use with seams incorporating electronic wiring. The connector provides additional flexibility in constructing the electric garment as additional items may be incorporated into the electronic capabilities of the garment. |
| US08308476B2 |
Injection molding apparatus having a magnetic valve pin coupling
An injection molding apparatus is disclosed having an actuated part that is movable in forward and rearward directions with a magnetic valve pin coupling attached thereto. A valve pin for opening and closing a mold gate is coupled to the magnetic valve pin coupling to be movable with the actuated part. When the actuated part is moved in an opening stroke direction and the valve pin experiences a stopping force, the magnetic valve pin coupling permits the valve pin to become decoupled from the actuated part to prevent continued movement of the valve pin with the actuated part. |
| US08308469B2 |
Cleaning device and fine-particle processing device therewith
In a spheronizer for transforming columnar granulated product, which is fed in a wet condition, into spherical shapes, irregularities on a top surface of a particle-regulating disc are easily clogged, in particular, in an outer circumference. In view of this, a cleaning device (32) is provided for rapidly and reliably removing wet powders adhering to the particle-regulating disc. The cleaning device (32) is provided with a cover (33) covered on a part of the outer circumference of a rotating particle-regulating disc. The cover (33) is formed with a nozzle (39). The nozzle (39) injects a fluid to a cleaning target surface covered with the cover (33). The fluid in a space formed between the cover (33) and the cleaning target surface is suctioned and discharged from a vacuum connection port (36) to the outside. |
| US08308465B2 |
Wedge-lock system for injection molds
A wedge-lock system for injection molds, using a protrusion on one side of the mold and a mating opening and sets of wedges which act together upon mold closing to provide and maintain accurate centering of the core and cavity halves in reference to each other, to prevent core shifts and compensate for uneven thermal expansion of mold components. |
| US08308464B2 |
Bearing and liquid cooling type screw compressor
A groove is provided in the periphery of a pressure receiving area of a pressure receiving surface opposing to the load of axis weight within a bearing surface supporting an axis, and a liquid supply route communicating with the groove is provided so that liquid is supplied to the groove through the liquid supply route. In such a configuration, a bearing having a simple structure and a high compact load capacity and a liquid cooling type screw compressor using the above bearing are provided. |
| US08308461B2 |
Scroll compressor with improved rotation prevention mechanism
To provide a scroll compressor capable of reducing a noise occurring in a pin-and-ring type self rotation preventing mechanism and improving compression performance. In a scroll compressor comprising: a fixed scroll member and a revolving scroll member; a driven crank mechanism for driving the revolving scroll member to revolutionary turn; and a pin-and-ring type self rotation preventing mechanism provided in plural places for preventing self rotation of a revolving scroll member, at least one of the self rotation preventing pin, the self rotation preventing ring and the self rotation preventing ring hole, which form the pin-and-ring type self rotation preventing mechanism, is provided with an orbit correction part for reducing a maximum displacement R in a direction of self rotation of the revolving scroll member to smooth a change of an orbit of the revolving scroll member in changing a pin and a ring in a section of prevention of self rotation by means of a corresponding pin and ring part. |
| US08308457B2 |
Peristaltic infusion pump with locking mechanism
A medical device includes an interface unit body, which is configured to hold a portion of a flexible infusion tube. A hinge insert is fixed to the interface unit body and is configured to engage a hinge receptacle, which defines a hinge axis, on an infusion pump. A catch insert is fixed to the interface unit body and is configured to lock onto a catch receptacle on the infusion pump upon rotation of the mechanical interface unit about the hinge axis while the hinge insert engages the hinge receptacle, so as to bring the tube into engagement with a peristaltic mechanism of the infusion pump in order to enable the peristaltic mechanism to propel a fluid through the tube. |
| US08308456B2 |
Rotary axial peristaltic pumps and related methods
Rotary axial peristaltic pumps, related methods and components. The rotary axial peristaltic pump generally comprises a platen having a platen surface, a tube positioned adjacent to the platen surface, cam that rotates about a rotational axis and has a cam surface that is spaced apart from the platen surface and a plurality of tube compressing fingers. The fingers move axially back and forth in sequence to sequentially compress segments or regions of the tube against the platen surface, thereby causing peristaltic movement of fluid through the tube. The fingers move back and forth on axes that are substantially parallel to the axis about which the cam rotates. |
| US08308453B2 |
Diaphragm pump
A pump chamber (15) is formed between a piezoelectric vibrator (7) and a valve main plate (10). The valve main plate (10) includes an inlet port (13) at its central portion, and an outlet port (14) in its peripheral portion, and the inlet port (13) is made in a smaller diameter than the outlet port (14). On the valve main plate (10) an inflow check valve (11) and an outflow check valve (12) are provided, so that when the inflow check valve (11) and the outflow check valve (12) open and close in response to the vibration of the piezoelectric vibrator (7), a fluid is introduced into and discharged from the pump chamber (15). |
| US08308451B2 |
Injection molded fan motor controller housing with advanced cooling features
An example fan motor controller housing includes an inner fan housing, an outer fan housing including a base plate, plenums and air passages, stator vanes and a motor control housing. The inner fan housing, the outer fan housing, the stator vanes, and the motor control component housing are all made of a polymer. The fan motor controller housing also includes heat sinks attached to the plenums. The heat sinks are cooled by air flowing from air passages through the plenum. Motor controller components are attached to the heat sink and heat dissipates from the motor controller components to the heat sink. |
| US08308450B2 |
High pressure fuel pump with parallel cooling fuel flow
A high pressure fuel pump with parallel cooling fuel flow is disclosed wherein a fuel pump barrel having a substantially cylindrical plunger bore with an annular drain groove is provided. A first fuel path is provided that fluidically couples a fuel supply to an annular cooling ring formed on the outer surface of the barrel. The first fuel path further fluidically couples the annular cooling ring to a storage tank via an exit passage. A second, parallel fuel path is provided that fluidically couples the first fuel path to the drain groove, and further includes a drain passage fluidically coupled to the drain groove and the first fuel path via the storage tank. |
| US08308447B2 |
Piston compressor producing an internal cooling air flow in the crankcase
A compressor piston including a piston in a cylinder; a connecting rod connecting the piston to a crankshaft in a crankcase by a roller bearing; and an air inlet line and an air outlet line in a cylinder head. A tube connection between the air inlet line and the crankcase transports cooling air from the inlet line to the crankcase. The tube connection is exterior the cylinder. An inlet valve is connected to the tube connection which opens when the pressure in the crankcase is less than the pressure in the air inlet line; and an outlet valve is connected to the crankcase which opens when the pressure in the crankcase exceeds a predetermined value. |
| US08308442B2 |
Integrated electric compressor
There is provided an integrated electric compressor having a circuit configuration capable of decreasing the size thereof while restraining current ripples. In an inverter of the electric compressor, by providing a capacitor 13 and a reactor 14 between a power source and an inverter board 12, the ripples of a driving voltage is restrained, and a motor can be driven with high efficiency and the size of a housing can be decreased. Further, by connecting the capacitor 13 and the reactor 14 to a power board 16 by using a bus bar 23, the voltage ripple restraining effect is further increased, and the capacitor 13 and the reactor 14 are unitized integrally by the bus bar 23 to improve the assembling workability of the power board 16. |
| US08308437B2 |
Wind turbine with auxiliary fins
A wind turbine includes a nacelle mounted atop a tower. Power generating components are housed within the nacelle. A rotor hub is rotationally coupled to the power generating components. A plurality of blades are fixed to the rotor hub. The blades include a root section extending radially outward from the rotor hub and an aerodynamic section extending radially outward from the root section, wherein lift is generated by the blades primarily along the aerodynamic section. Aerodynamic fins extend radially outward from the rotor hub alongside the root sections of the blades and have an aerodynamic shape so as to capture wind and impart rotational torque to the hub from a central impinging wind zone that is coaxial to the rotor hub and the blade root sections. |
| US08308435B2 |
Methods and system for balancing turbine rotor assemblies
A balancing system and method for reducing imbalance in a rotatable member of a machine is provided. The system includes a plurality of vibration sensors positioned about a stationary portion of the machine, a controller assembly communitively coupled to the plurality of vibration sensors, and a balancing assembly coupled to the rotatable member, said balancing assembly configured to wirelessly communicate with said controller assembly, said balancing assembly configured to modify the weight distribution of the rotatable member in response to a command wirelessly transmitted from the controller assembly. The controller assembly is configured to receive data from the plurality of vibration sensors and determine an imbalance in the rotatable member using the received data. |
| US08308432B2 |
Fan assembly
A fan assembly for creating an air current includes a nozzle mounted on a base. The base comprises an outer casing, an impeller housing located within the outer casing, the impeller housing having an air inlet and an air outlet, an impeller located within the impeller housing and a motor for driving the impeller to create an air flow through the impeller housing. The nozzle includes an interior passage for receiving the air flow from the air outlet of the impeller housing and a mouth through which the air flow is emitted from the fan assembly. |
| US08308431B2 |
Turbocharger
A turbocharger includes a turbine wheel having a center hole and a turbine shaft having one end secured on a small-diameter inner circumferential surface of the center hole. A large-diameter inner circumferential surface and a large diameter outer circumferential surface are formed to provide a cylindrical clearance opening toward a bearing housing between the center hole and the outer circumferential surface of the turbine shaft. |
| US08308423B2 |
Variable area fan nozzle for accommodating a foreign object strike event
A gas turbine engine system includes a fan and a fan bypass passage downstream of the fan for conveying a bypass airflow from the fan. A nozzle associated with the fan bypass passage includes a plurality of different positions that influence the bypass air flow. One or more sensors near the fan produce a signal representative of a foreign object near the fan. A controller commands the nozzle to move to a desired one of the plurality of different positions in response to the signal from the sensor to change a pressure ratio across the fan to thereby reduce a mechanical stress on the fan. |
| US08308422B2 |
Submerged hydroelectric turbines having buoyancy chambers
In a hydroelectric turbine having a rotor disposed within a stator housing, the rotor having an annular outer rim received by a channel in the stator housing, the improvement comprising a buoyant rotor, the rotor preferably having buoyancy chambers disposed within the rotor. The buoyancy chambers may be disposed within the annular outer rim, the blades or an annular inner rim, or combinations thereof. Preferably, the buoyancy chambers are filled with a material having a specific gravity of one or less, and most preferably the filler material is a polymer foam that adds rigidity to the rotor. |
| US08308421B2 |
Axial turbine
A method of operating an axial turbine, having a stage including stationary blades and moving blades, each stationary blade having a radial height of an outlet thereof higher than the radial height of an inlet thereof, each moving blade being located downstream of a corresponding one of the stationary blades along a flow direction of a working fluid, the moving blades being constructed such that a moving blade front-end peripheral velocity Mach number exceeds 1.0, the method including restraining a radial velocity component of a working fluid flowing through an outer peripheral portion of the stationary blade from the stationary blade inlet to the stationary blade outlet, whereby the working fluid having passed through the stationary blade flows substantially parallel to the central axis of the turbine from the stationary blade outlet to the moving blade inlet. |
| US08308415B2 |
Bulk unloading apparatus
An apparatus for use in unloading bulk material from containers that is vertically adjustable and provides a mechanism for maintaining a coupling engagement with an outlet on a container. The apparatus has a plurality of inflatable flexible members configured and arranged to maintain the coupling engagement of the apparatus to the container outlet. |
| US08308413B2 |
Sod roll dispenser
A roller for moving, rolling and unrolling rolls of sod. The roller is generally comprised of a top portion including a side shift actuator and at least one attachment member for attachment to a vehicle, preferably a skid steer. The roller also includes a rotary actuator with a shaft, slidably attached to the top portion. A main frame consisting of a top member, side member, base member and an end gate, extends down from the shaft of the rotary actuator. The end gate of the main frame is configured to pivot open and closed. The main frame is configured to rotate with the shaft. |
| US08308409B2 |
Railroad car coil restraint system
A transverse railroad coil car coil restraint apparatus or system which includes a plurality of coil restraints attachable to each trough in a transverse railroad coil car to reduce the sideways shifting of coils positioned in the troughs. In certain embodiments, the coil restraints are attached in each trough and extend across the transverse coil car. In other embodiments, the coil restraints are attached in each trough along the length of the trough. In certain embodiments, when a coil is positioned in the trough, the coil compresses certain of the coil restraints and does not compress other of the coil restraints which prevents the sideways shifting of the coil during movement of the transverse coil car. In other embodiments, when a coil is positioned in the trough, the coil compresses certain of the compression members and does not compress other of the compression members which prevents the sideways shifting of the coil during movement of the transverse coil car. |
| US08308408B2 |
Apparatus, systems and methods for securing parts
A clip for securing a part, having a body portion having a first wall surface and a supporting surface adjacent the first wall surface, a retaining arm connected to the body, the retaining arm comprising a second wall surface opposite the first wall surface, an engaging portion at the distal end of the retaining arm, and an engaging surface on the engaging portion generally opposite the supporting surface. The first and second wall surfaces cooperate to define a groove that is sized and shaped to receive a portion of the part therein. The retaining arm is moveable between an open position wherein the portion of the part may be received in the groove, and a locked position wherein the engaging surface at least partially overhangs the groove and the engaging surface and the supporting surface cooperate so as to retain the portion of the part when received within the groove. |
| US08308405B2 |
Cutter holder
A cutter holder has a holder body and a sleeve. The holder body has a first end, a middle, an insert part and a mounting part. The insert part is formed on the first end. The mounting part is formed on the middle of the holder body and has an outer thread formed around the mounting part. The sleeve is mounted around the mounting part and has an inner thread, multiple screw holes and multiple setscrews. The inner thread is formed on an inner surface of the sleeve, is screwed with the outer thread of the mounting part. The screw holes are separately defined through the sleeve. The setscrews are mounted in the screw holes and abut the mounting part. |
| US08308403B2 |
Tool holder
A tool holder for holding a shank of a cutting member. The tool holder has a socket for receiving the shank and a set screw rotatable in a set screw hole to advance along a first direction; and at least one clamping member that applies a force to the shank along a second direction responsive to advance of the set screw in the first direction to clamp the shank in the socket. |
| US08308400B2 |
Sheet member, rotary tool using the sheet member, and cutting method using the rotary tool
A sheet member has a body part having a top surface, a bottom surface and a side surface; and an upper shoulder part which is formed so as to project from the top surface of the body part, and has an upper shoulder top surface and an upper shoulder side surface. The upper shoulder part has a restricting seat surface formed on the top surface and abutted against the bottom surface of a cutting insert; a first through hole extending between the restricting seat surface and the bottom surface or the side surface; and a screw hole opening into the restricting seat surface. The body part has a first restricting side surface which is formed on the upper shoulder side surface intersected with the restricting seat surface, and abutted against a side surface of the cutting insert; and a first recessed part disposed above the first through hole and formed on the first restricting side surface so as to extend from the restricting seat surface toward the upper shoulder top surface. A rotary tool is constructed and arranged to detachably mount the cutting insert with the sheet member interposed therebetween. A cutting method uses the rotary tool. |
| US08308397B2 |
Concrete float and method of manufacture
A concrete floating dock can be formed using a form that has an inner and an outer form. Concrete sections can be cast such that they include a deck portion and two longitudinally extending side walls that extend downwardly from the deck portion. The concrete sections can be removed from the form and coupled together to form a concrete floating dock. One or more buoyancy elements can be positioned in the cavities of the fully cured concrete sections before or after the concrete sections are coupled to each other. |
| US08308395B2 |
Road construction machine, leveling device, as well as method for controlling the milling depth or milling slope in a road construction machine
In a road construction machine (1) for the treatment of road surfaces with a milling drum (3) height-adjustable with regard to the milling depth, with a leveling device (4) with at least one controller (6a, 6c) which receives set values for the milling depth and/or the slope of the milling drum (3), and with at least one exchangeable sensor (A, B, C) or with several switchable sensors for registering the current actual value of the milling depth and/or the slope of the milling drum (3) relative to a reference surface, where the controller (6a, 6c) effects a milling depth control and/or a slope control for the milling drum (3) conditional on pre-determined set values and the currently measured actual values of the at least one sensor (A, B, C) by returning an adjustment value for achieving or maintaining the set value during the milling operation, where the leveling device (4) is provided with an indication and setting device (2) for indicating and setting operating parameters for the at least one sensor (A, B, C), it is provided that the indication and setting device (2) of the leveling device (4), in addition to an indication and setting unit (2a, 2c) provided for the at least one sensor (A, C) currently in use, is provided with an additional indication and setting unit (2b) for a selectable sensor (B) that is to be exchanged for the sensor (A, C) currently in use. |
| US08308394B2 |
Vacuum-operated material transfer system and method
Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods implemented in a pothole patching system for creating a vacuum that pulls heavy particulate, such as gravel, out of a hopper. For example, according to an embodiment, a vacuum body having a vacuum chamber formed therein is positioned proximate to an opening of the hopper. A moveable slide gate is provided between the vacuum chamber and the opening of the hopper. The slide gate moves between open and closed positions for permitting and blocking communication between the vacuum chamber and the hopper. A reduction nozzle is provided between an air source and the vacuum chamber. Forced air flows from the air source, through the reduction nozzle, and into the vacuum chamber. The reduction nozzle reduces the pressure of the forced air entering the vacuum chamber, and thereby creates a vacuum in the vacuum chamber. When the slide gate is in the open position, this vacuum pulls particulate from the hopper. |
| US08308392B2 |
Ball joint
A friction ball joint and a method for using the friction ball joint are provided. A clam shell is formed from at least two segments and has a mechanical element extending from one of the clam shell segments. A cap that has a mechanical element extending from the rounded portion of the cap is also provided. This cap covers the joined clam shell segments opposite the mechanical element extending from the clam shell. The clam shell surrounds a spring that pushes the cap against the fixed outer clam shell, creating friction that retains the friction ball joint in the desired position. Further embodiments provide a locking assembly and an external spring or clamp. In these embodiments the spring or clamp is placed over the outside of the ball and clam shell. The ball has holes disposed over its surface to receive a locking assembly to hold the ball joint in the selected position. |
| US08308391B2 |
Folding baby stroller
A baby stroller for transporting a child has a folding mechanism to facilitate folding for easier stowing and transporting. The folding mechanism, a unique feature of the design, is directed toward compactness, ease of use, reliability, and reduction in manufacturing costs. |
| US08308390B2 |
Shower nozzle having a brush
A shower nozzle having a brush for bathing includes a shower nozzle body and a brush head which is driven by a power member disposed in the shower nozzle body. The power member is supplied power by an internal battery or an external power supply. Thereby, when the user takes a bath, the combination of the shower nozzle and the brush is able to supply water for cleaning and has a brushing function, enhancing the cleaning effect. |
| US08308388B2 |
Fluid delivery system
A fluid delivery system includes an applicator having gradient foam where the gradient foam includes a fluid and the applicator has an applicator surface area open to the environment such that the fluid is passively dispensed onto a surface independent of gravity through the applicator surface area. The gradient foam may be encompassed by a holder. A fluid reservoir in the applicator holder is used to replenish fluid. A cap covers the gradient foam to prevent the foam drying out. The types of surfaces that the fluid delivery system may be applied to can be hard or soft, such as wood or skin and hence, the fluid delivery system may be used for many applications in the home, health/medicine, beauty, feminine, baby, personal, fabric, pet and food areas. |
| US08308384B2 |
Pressable pen
A pressable pen includes a tube body having a front end where a sealing unit, a cosmetic base, a cosmetic head and a cap are placed in order. An inner portion of the tube body includes an inner space to fill cosmetic materials, a plug unit, an elongated rod and a base. The base has a resilient unit, a guiding unit, a revolving unit and a pressing unit, wherein the pressing unit has short slots (slot one) and long slots (slot two) with different depth to align with a spacing column of the positioning unit to control the pressing unit. The guiding unit, revolving unit and positioning unit are equipped with associated inclined surfaces, and the guiding unit has a guiding rail to guide the elongated rod. The elongated rod has a spiral portion thereon to engage with a spiral through hole, such that the elongated rod is driven to rotate by the pressing unit and the movement of associated inclined surfaces. Since the elongated rod can only spirally rotate, the cosmetic materials in the tube body can be squeezed out by a spiral pressing process to efficiently control the situation of wrongfully-squeezing and precisely control the squeezed amount. |
| US08308383B2 |
Heated mascara applicator and suitable compositions
A handheld mascara applicator comprising an applicator head, a source of electric current, and a heat generating portion that is effective to heat a quantity of mascara located on the applicator head, from an ambient temperature to a product application temperature, in 25 seconds or less, or that is effective to raise the temperature of the outer surface of the applicator head from an ambient temperature to about 55° C. or more, in 25 seconds or less. Systems for applying various types of mascara compositions are also disclosed. |
| US08308382B2 |
Operation apparatus and electronic device equipped therewith
An operation apparatus that enables selection of a required menu item from a plurality of menu items without several pushes of operation keys, and an electronic device that is equipped with the operation apparatus. When a fingertip is moved while protrusion portions of an operation apparatus are being touched with the fingertip, this is detected by an electrostatic capacitance-type sensor, and a selection frame for selecting a menu item is moved horizontally/vertically. Then, when the selection frame reaches a required menu item, the menu item is selected. Thus, it is possible to select a required menu item from a plurality of menu items just by moving a finger while touching the protrusion portion, without several pushes of operation keys. |
| US08308377B2 |
Delatch device having both push and pull operability for use with an optical transceiver module, and a method
An optical transceiver module is provided with a delatch device that is configured for pushing and pulling an optical transceiver module into and out of a cage. The delatch device includes an elongated handle having at least one strength member integrally formed therein or secured thereto that provides the handle with a sufficient moment of inertia to prevent the handle from bending or buckling when a force is being applied to the elongated handle to push an optical transceiver module into a cage. The elongated handle allows a module to easily be inserted into a cage by a user without the user having to directly access the front face of the module. |
| US08308376B2 |
Plug connector having an improved shell
A plug connector (10) for mating with a receptacle connector (200) includes an insulative housing (1) having a base portion (11) and a tongue portion (12) extending forwardly beyond the base portion; a set of contacts (2) having contacting portions (211, 221) attached to the tongue portion for mating with the receptacle connector; and a metal shell (7) having a chamber (79) with the tongue portion extending therein, a plurality of openings (74) formed thereon for being locked in by a plurality of resilient fingers (2051) of the receptacle connector, and a set of embossments (76) located at front of the openings and protruding outwardly of the metal shell for interferentially engaging with the resilient fingers (2051). |
| US08308372B2 |
Roller bearing and main shaft support structure of wind-power generator
A tapered roller bearing comprises an outer ring (32), an inner ring (33), a plurality of tapered rollers (34) arranged between the outer ring (32) and the inner ring (33), and a plurality of retainer segments (11a) having pockets for holding the tapered rollers (34) and arranged so as to be continuously lined with each other in a circumferential direction between the outer ring (32) and the inner ring (33). Here, the tapered roller (34) is arranged between two adjacent retainer segments (11b) and (11c) except for between the first retainer segment (11a) and the last retainer segment lined continuously with each other in the circumferential direction. |
| US08308371B2 |
Bearing apparatus for a wheel of vehicle
A vehicle wheel bearing apparatus has an outer member (2), an inner member (1) and double row ball groups. A pitch circle diameter (PCDo) of the outer side ball group is larger than a pitch circle diameter (PCDi) of the inner side ball group. Ribs (17) are formed on a surface of the inner side of the wheel mounting flange (6). Each rib (17) is formed by an outline including straight portions (17a), radially extending outwardly from the base of the wheel mounting flange (6), and a rounded tip portion (17b), having a predetermined radius of curvature (r) centered on the axial center (O) of hub bolt (6a). The rounded tip substantially corresponds to a distance between the axial center (O) and the outermost periphery of the wheel mounting flange (6). |
| US08308368B2 |
Track roller
A self-lubricating track roller and a method of making the self-lubricating track roller are disclosed. First, an inner ring is provided having a radially outwardly facing surface. A parting agent is applied onto the radially outwardly facing surface. Next, a self-lubricating material is applied over the radially outwardly facing surface. Then, an outer ring is formed around the self-lubricating material such that a radially inwardly facing surface of the outer ring is bonded to the self-lubricating material. A resilient tire is bonded onto the radially outwardly facing surface of the outer ring. In the resulting track roller, the radially outwardly facing surface of the inner ring has a surface profile that corresponds to a mating surface profile of the self-lubricating material that is bonded to the radially inwardly facing surface of the outer ring. |
| US08308364B2 |
Auxiliary bearing system for magnetically supported rotor system
An auxiliary bearing system for a magnetically supported rotor system according to which the auxiliary bearing system includes at least two mounting pad assemblies having compliantly mounted body members. |
| US08308363B2 |
Package integrity indicator for container closure
A resealable closure for packages is provided which has a package integrity feature. The closure includes a two-ply material having an inner film layer and an outer film layer, forming a top of container. The outer film layer has a sealing panel completely covering a first panel and a second panel of the inner film layer. The sealing panel is permanently attached to the first panel and is releasably affixed a portion of the inner film layer around the perimeter of the first panel to form an opening in the top when the sealing panel with affixed first panel is peeled back from the top. The sealing panel is resealable against the top to seal the opening when the sealing panel is moved back against the top. The package integrity feature comprises the second panel of the inner layer which separates from the sealing panel to indicate that the container has been previously opened. |
| US08308358B2 |
Circuit and method for beta variation compensation in single-transistor temperature sensor
A circuit (1-2) for compensating for variations in the current gain β of a sensing transistor (Q1) having a collector coupled to a reference voltage (GND) includes a first current mirror (20) having an input coupled to a base of the sensing transistor. A second current mirror (21) has an input coupled to an output of the first current mirror. A current source (13) is coupled to provide emitter current for the sensing transistor. An output of the second current mirror circuit (21) feeds base current of the sensing transistor back to its emitter to cause the collector current of the sensing transistor to be precisely equal to the current (I1) provided by the current source. |
| US08308348B2 |
Device for determining the dew-point temperature of a test gas
The invention relates to a device for determining the dew point temperature of a measurement gas, having a light guide, a condensation surface located on the light guide and whose reflectivity is dependent on the condensation of the measurement gas, a light source for emitting light through the light guide onto the condensation surface, a light sensor for determining the light intensity reflected back into the light guide by the condensation surface and means for adjusting the temperature of the condensation surface, which has a semihydrophobic construction. |
| US08308347B2 |
High-pressure tank temperature detection system and high-pressure tank system
In a hydrogen tank, discharge of a hydrogen gas may cause lowering of the temperature to a value at which it is assumed that disconnection has occurred in a thermistor. A temperature detection system for the hydrogen tank estimates the possibility that the temperature of the hydrogen tank is below this temperature value, according to the ambient temperature and the internal pressure. Only when there is no possibility that the temperature is below the value, disconnection is judged to have occurred. |
| US08308346B2 |
Lever escapement for a timepiece
The escapement comprises an escape wheel assembly (1), a balance roller (3) carrying an impulse pin (4) and a first impulse pallet (5). It further comprises a lever (8) provided with a second impulse pallet (11) and with first and second locking pallets (12, 13). The wheel assembly (1) comprises an escape wheel with teeth (6) that mesh directly with the teeth (20) of the last wheel of a gear train (2), the teeth (6) of the wheel (1) engaging with the impulse and locking pallets. |
| US08308344B2 |
Mixing machine with associated bowl guard system
A mixing machine includes a mixer body including a head portion that extends over a bowl receiving location. An output member extends downward from the head portion toward the bowl receiving location. A drive system is linked to the output member for effecting planetary rotation of the output member. A bowl guard support is at an underside of the head portion. The bowl guard support provides a circular support path in the form of a groove extending about a periphery of the bowl guard support. A bowl guard assembly includes a housing member and a catch member extending from a surface of the housing member. The catch member is received within the groove to maintain a vertical position of the bowl guard assembly while permitting rotation of the bowl guard assembly. The catch member is movable relative to the housing member and is biased into the groove to seat therein. |
| US08308342B2 |
Processing elements for mixing meat products
A continuous method and system for processing whole muscle meat employs a mixer housing having a pair of parallel rotating shafts located therein. The parallel rotating shafts have a plurality of mixing elements thereon, such as frustoconical elements, blocking elements, or ellipsoid elements. The mixer housing has an input end to receive the meat ingredients, such as meat pieces, salt solution, water, preservatives, and other additives such as spices. The mixer housing has an output, which is separated a distance from the input, such that the output discharges the whole muscle meat product. As the ingredients including the meat move from the input to the output along the shafts, the mixing elements work the meat with the other ingredients thereby increasing ingredient incorporation including diffusion of the salt solution into the whole muscle meat pieces. |
| US08308340B2 |
Composite mixer
Devices and methods for mixing a clotting agent with other inputs such as blood, blood derived product, bone marrow, and/or bone marrow derived product to form a congealed mixture. |
| US08308339B2 |
Method and means for precision mixing
An extremely dilute mixture of a liquid in a flowing fluid stream is prepared by forming tiny droplets of the liquid and injecting the droplets individually into the flowing stream. The rate at which liquid is added to the flowing stream is determined by the number of droplet forming units that are provided and upon the frequency with which the units are activated, allowing a precise digital control of the concentration of the liquid in the flowing fluid stream. |
| US08308338B2 |
Light guide plate and backlight module
A light guide plate includes a transparent substrate and a plurality of micro structures. The transparent substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface, and the micro structures are disposed at least on the first surface of the transparent substrate and are separate from each other. Each of the micro structures includes a first coating layer and a second coating layer. The first coating layer is formed on the first surface and includes an adhesive material. The second coating layer is formed on at least a part of the first coating layer and includes a light-diffusing material. |
| US08308337B2 |
Light guide plate, backlight module and liquid crystal display
A light guide plate, a backlight module and a liquid crystal display are provided. The light guide plate has a first surface at least having one first structure and one second structure formed thereon. The first structure and the second structure are adjacent arranged and are mirror reflection with each other. Each of the first structure and the second structure has a first protrusion having a cross section of eccentric triangle. |
| US08308330B2 |
Backlight apparatus with remote light source
An apparatus for optical examination of documents. The apparatus includes a light source, a plurality of panels which are exchangeable with each other, a viewing unit having a window formed by at least one of the plurality of exchangeable panels through which window light emitted from the light source exits for examination of documents by an observer. Further included is a coupling unit configured to supply the light emitted from the light source into the viewing unit. The light source and the viewing unit are coupled together by a light guide and the light guide is adapted to supply the light from the light source to the coupling unit. At least one of the plurality of exchangeable panels is a fluorescent panel including a fluorescent substance. The fluorescent panel is fluorescent in the yellow-red-infrared wavelength range when being illuminated with light in the ultraviolet-blue-green wavelength range. |
| US08308329B1 |
Directionalizing fiber optic plate
An image display device may include a fiber optic plate. The fiber optic plate may comprise a plurality of parallel optical fibers, the terminal ends of the optical fibers combining to define a light input surface and an at least partially concave light output surface.An apparatus may include: a fiber optic plate; and a mechanism for affixing the fiber optic plate to a display device.A method for manufacturing a fiber optic plate may include: computing one or more viewing angles between one or more elements of an image display and a focal point; and shaping a fiber optic plate output surface according to the one or more viewing angles. |
| US08308326B2 |
Lighting or signaling device comprising a curved light guiding plate
A lighting or signaling device for a motor vehicle which is capable of emitting a linear beam in the direction of an optical axis and which comprises a point light source that emits light rays radially around a source; a light ray guiding plate; wherein the light guiding plate is shaped so that the light rays generally propagate in incident propagation planes normal to the plate between the light source and the reflection edge and in reflected propagation planes normal to the plate between the reflection edge and the output edge. |
| US08308317B2 |
Surface light source structure of backlight module in a flat panel display
A surface light source structure having a circuit board, a first light emitting diode (LED) array, and a second LED array is provided. The first and second LED arrays are assembled on the circuit board. Each LED rows of the two LED arrays has a plurality of LED units connected in series. The LED rows of the first LED array are connected in parallel. The LED rows of the second LED array are connected in parallel. The LED rows of the second LED array are intersected between the LED rows of the first LED array. Positive-to-negative directions of the LED units of the first and second LED array are arranged in opposite directions. |
| US08308316B2 |
Lamp
A lamp has a power management circuit 11. It includes an integrated circuit 12 for control of the lamp. The IC can be controlled by operation of a switch 7 to apply a voltage on line 10 30 switch on the transistor 26. |
| US08308311B2 |
Reconfigurable instrument cluster
Provided are several reconfigurable instrument clusters for instrument panels in an automotive vehicle. Instrument cluster comprises a value indicia configured to indicate a value of a plurality of vehicle data and an appliqué comprising first and second indicia. A control circuit is configured to receive first and second vehicle data from different data sources and further configured to control the value indicia and first indicia to indicate the first vehicle data and, in response to a signal, to control the value indicia and second indicia to indicate the second vehicle data. |
| US08308310B2 |
Rear-view mirror system with display device
In a rear-view mirror system with display device in which a display device is attached to a rear-view mirror device disposed in a car room, a display device includes a display housing having a display window disposed at the periphery of a rear-view mirror and disposed in contiguous with a mirror housing, a light reflection device faced to the display window and disposed in the display housing, and a emission display device faced to the light reflection device and disposed in the display housing, in which a relative arrangement for the display window, the light reflection device, and the emission display device is determined such that emission display information displayed by the emission display device and reflected on the light reflection device transmits the display window, whereby the system can use an emission display device of low luminance while sufficiently ensuring the rearward view by the rear-view mirror, and can obtain emission information at the display window while decreasing the feeling of distance relative to images reflected on the rear-view mirror. |
| US08308306B2 |
Light source unit utilizing laser for light source and projector
A light source unit includes a light emitting plate which has a plurality of segment areas and in which a luminescent material layer which emits light having a predetermined wavelength band by receiving excitation light and a transmissive portion which transmits light are formed on at least the plurality of segment areas, a primary light source for emitting excitation light on to the luminescent material, a secondary light source for emitting light having a wavelength band which differs from those of luminescent light emitted from the luminescent material layer and excitation light emitted from the primary light source, a light guiding optical system for guiding light emitted from the light emitting plate and light emitted from the secondary light source to the same optical path, and a light source control means for controlling the emission of light from the primary light source and the secondary light source. |
| US08308305B2 |
Projector with optical filter reducing internal multiple reflections
A projector includes: a light source device, a color-separating optical system for separating a light beam irradiated by the light source device into a plurality of color light components, a plurality of optical modulators for modulating each of the separated color light components in accordance with image information, a color-combining optical device for combining optical images modulated by the plurality of optical modulators and a projection optical device for projecting the combined optical images in an enlarged manner. An optical filter that reflects a predetermined spectral component of the light beam and transmits the other spectral component is disposed in an optical path between the light source device and the optical modulators The optical filter is disposed such that a light-irradiation side surface for irradiating the light beam is inclined by a predetermined angle relative to a plane orthogonal to an optical axis of the light beam. |
| US08308304B2 |
Systems associated with receiving and transmitting information related to projection
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods that are related to projection. |
| US08308299B2 |
Lenslet array for retinal oximetry
The multi-aperture system of the present invention provides a retinal oximetry apparatus for determining the level of oxygen saturation in retinal vessels using a lenslet array comprising at least seven lenses for the simultaneous measurement of reflected light with at least three wavelengths and at least four polarization states. The multi-aperture system of the present invention further provides an apparatus for determining the level of oxygen saturation in retinal vessels using a lenslet array comprising at least ten lenses for the simultaneous measurement of reflected light with at least three wavelengths for oxygen measurement, at least three wavelengths for melanin content, and at least four polarization states. Methods of operating the same are also provided. |
| US08308298B2 |
Microscopy system for eye surgery
The invention relates to an eye surgery microscopy system (1) having an imaging optic (14, 11) for the generation of the image of an object plane (15) and having an electronic image sensor (22), which detects the image of the object plane (15) and is connected to a computer unit (5) for the computation of the position of the center of a circular structure (44) of a patient eye (16). The computer unit (5) is designed for the computation of the position of a patient eye (16) outside of the center (52) of the circular structure (44) and provided with at least one marking (46, 48). The computer unit (5) determines the position of the at least one marking (46, 48) with reference to the computed center (52) by means of image processing via correlation with a comparison information, and an angular position of the at least one marking (46, 48) with reference to the computed center (52) by means of image processing. |
| US08308295B2 |
Multifocal lens having a progressive optical power region and discontinuity
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a multifocal lens having a mostly spherical power region and a progressive optical power region. Embodiments of the present invention provide for the proper alignment and positioning of each of these regions, the amount of optical power provided by each of the regions, the optical design of the progressive optical power region, and the size and shape of each of the regions. The combination of these design parameters allows for an optical design having less unwanted astigmatism and distortion as well as both a wider channel width and a shorter channel length compared to conventional PALs. Embodiments of the present invention may also provide a new, inventive far-intermediate distance zone and may further provide for increased vertical stability of vision within a zone of the lens. |
| US08308294B2 |
Method of calculating an optical system according to a given spectacle frame
A method of calculating an optical system (OS) of an ophthalmic lens according to a given spectacle frame comprising the steps of: providing geometrical data of the spectacle frame, providing deformability data of the spectacle frame, providing wearer data, providing a surface curvature of a front face of the ophthalmic lens, and optimization of both the optical system (OS) and the edging parameter according to the list of the optimization criteria consisting of the geometrical and deformability data of the spectacle frame and the wearer data, so as to generate at least one optical surface different from the front surface of the lens. |
| US08308291B2 |
Temple hanger with security device for wire frame glasses
A hanger assembly is provided for securing a tag to a pair of eyeglasses that has a frame with two temple members connected to two hinged legs. The hanger assembly includes a hanger, a ledge, a support member, a zip-tie and optionally a hook. The ledge extends outwardly from the back side of the hanger and can have one or more apertures. The zip-tie surroundingly engages the ledge and the first temple member to secure the hanger to the eyeglasses. The temple hanger assembly can also include a security device support section and a security device installed therein. The security device can be a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag or electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag. |
| US08308290B2 |
Holder for a sheet of material
The present invention relates to a frame for holding a sheet of material. A frame arranged to removably locate a sheet of material in a vision area, the frame having binocular lenses focused away from the vision area. A benefit of the invention is that a user is provided with binocular lenses at the point of need. The user is thus saved from the embarrassment of having to admit to requiring reading glasses they had omitted to bring. |
| US08308286B2 |
Curable phase change ink containing alkoxysilane monomer
A phase change ink includes an ink vehicle that includes at least one curable carrier, at least one gellant, at least one wax and at least one alkoxysilane monomer. In a method of forming an image with the ink, the phase change ink is melted, then jetted onto an image receiving substrate, wherein the phase change ink forms a gel state, and exposed to ultraviolet light to cure the curable components of the phase change ink. The alkoxysilane participates in crosslinking to form silicon-oxygen-silicon bonds, thereby producing an ink with advantageous stability and high image quality. |
| US08308274B2 |
Printhead integrated circuit with thermally sensing heater elements
A printhead integrated circuit including a MEMS layer having a plurality of nozzle assemblies and a CMOS layer having control circuitry. Each nozzle assembly includes a heater element for ejecting ink and sensing a temperature of the nozzle assembly. The control circuitry modifies operation of the heater elements in response to a sensed temperature exceeding a predetermined threshold. |
| US08308258B2 |
Liquid droplet jetting apparatus
A liquid droplet jetting apparatus which jets liquid droplets includes: a liquid droplet jetting head which has a nozzle for jetting the liquid droplets; and a jetting controller which controls the liquid droplet jetting head to jet the liquid droplets from the nozzles by supplying the liquid droplet jetting head with a driving signal having a predetermined drive waveform in each of continuing driving periods, and which includes: a driving waveform selecting section which selects, with respect to each of the continuing driving periods, a driving waveform from a plurality of driving waveforms each having a wavelength which is same as a length of one driving period; and a driving waveform shifting section which shifts the driving waveform selected by the driving waveform selecting section. |
| US08308256B2 |
Liquid ejecting apparatus simultaneously performing ejection of liquid and detection of remaining liquid amount
A liquid ejecting apparatus includes an ejecting unit which repeatedly ejects a liquid every predetermined unit, a first storing unit which stores the liquid to be supplied to the ejecting unit, a second storing unit which stores the liquid to be supplied to the first storing unit, a pump which supplies the liquid from the second storing unit to the first storing unit, and a control unit which performs a first operation and a second operation. The first operation includes an operation of creating the ejection signal and an operation of performing a predetermined unit of a subsequent ejection using the ejecting unit. The second operation includes an operation of supplying the liquid using the pump, an operation of creating a detection signal, and an operation of detecting the liquid of the second storing unit, wherein the control unit performs the second operation while the first operation is performed. |
| US08308255B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of controllers that controls nozzle groups for forming an image on an image forming medium based on image data; a plurality of distribution processing units that are connected to a portion of the controllers to transmit to the controllers image data for controlling the nozzle groups allocated to the controllers; and a transmitting processing unit that transmits the image data to the distribution processing unit. Upper and lower level distribution processing units from the first distribution processing unit at the uppermost level to the second distribution processing unit at the lowermost level are communicatably connected to each other. The first distribution processing unit is communicatably connected to the transmitting processing unit. |
| US08308252B2 |
Inkjet printer
Streams of ink being returned by a circulation pump from a lower tank through an upstream flow path block to an upper tank have viscosities higher than viscosities of streams of ink being supplied from the upper tank through a downstream flow path block to an inkjet head, there being a difference in flow rate of ink developed with attendant differences in viscosity between the upstream flow path block and the downstream flow path block, while being reduced by differences between heating efficiencies in the upstream flow path block and heating efficiencies in the downstream flow path block. |
| US08308247B2 |
Wheel mounting sleeve
A sleeve for a fastener aperture in a vehicle wheel includes a tubular body having a first end and a plurality of external conically shaped barbs. The barbs include successively increasing outer diameters as a distance from the first end increases. A head radially outwardly extends from a second end of the body and is adapted to engage a land on the wheel that encompasses the fastener aperture. A bore extends through the body and the head and is adapted to receive a wheel fastener. |
| US08308239B2 |
Infant support structure with supported seat
An infant support structure that supports a child above a support surface is disclosed. The infant support structure includes a frame, a seat, and an elastic member that supports the seat for vertical and horizontal movement relative to the frame. |
| US08308234B2 |
Seating structure made of natural composite material and process for making same
A seating structure, particularly a bicycle saddle, includes a load-bearing shell and a cover element for contact with a user. The shell includes a first base element made from a composite material composed of a synthetic polymeric matrix and a natural fiber-containing reinforcement. The shell may have one or more differential deformable portions. A process for making such a seating structure is also disclosed. |
| US08308233B1 |
Bicycle passenger seat and associated method
A bicycle passenger seat may include a mounting bracket adapted to be attached to an existing pole of an operator seat pole of an existing bicycle. A support frame may be pivotally attached to the mounting bracket and adapted to be selectively coupled to an axle of the rear wheel of the existing bicycle. A stud bolt is removably connected to the support frame. Passenger handles are removably attached to axially opposed ends of the stud bolt. A passenger seat may further be coupled to a posterior end of the support frame. The horizontal length of the support frame may be selectively adjustable along an x-axis while the vertical length may be selectively adjustable along a y-axis. In this manner, the combined weight of the operator and passenger is more evenly distributed so that a center of mass is forwardly spaced from the rear wheel of the bicycle. |
| US08308229B2 |
Strap management system for infant support structure
The disclosed invention relates to an infant support structure. In particular, the invention relates to a strap management system for an infant support structure. In addition, the invention relates to an infant support structure that includes a seat portion that can be used alternatively as a booster seat and with a frame as part of a highchair. |
| US08308228B2 |
Zero-wall clearance linkage mechanism for a lifting recliner
A seating unit that includes a linkage mechanism adapted to move the seating unit between seat-lift, closed, extended, reclined, and seat-lift positions is provided. The linkage mechanism includes a seat-mounting plate mounted to a footrest assembly, a base plate fixedly mounted to a lift assembly, a back-mounting link rotatably coupled to the seat-mounting plate, a seat-adjustment assembly with a bellcrank, and a linear actuator for automating adjustment of the linkage mechanism. In operation, a stroke in a first phase of the linear actuator generates a force on the bellcrank that translates the seat-mounting plate rearward in a consistent angle of inclination and rotates the back-mounting link from a reclined to an upright orientation. A stroke in a second phase acts to collapse the footrest assembly. A stroke in a third phase causes the lift assembly to raise and tilt the seating unit, thereby accommodating egress and ingress of an occupant. |
| US08308225B2 |
Automotive front support beam, front carrier, and a method of assembly
An automotive front support beam for use in an automotive front carrier, wherein the automotive front support beam comprises a top piece and a bottom piece, wherein the top piece and the bottom piece are fastened together and enclose a hollow space and wherein the top piece and the bottom piece are molded. |
| US08308224B2 |
Cowl top panel and front vehicle body structure for automobile
A main bent portion 25 is formed at a center portion of a cowl top outer panel 14 with respect to a vehicle longitudinal direction so as to extend linearly along a vehicle widthwise direction. The main bent portion 25 is formed by a lower flange portion 18, an upright portion 19 and a lower flat portion 20. The lower flange portion 18 and the upright portion 19 are perpendicular to each other, and the upright portion 19 and the lower flat portion 20 are perpendicular to each other. A lower flange portion 18, a lower flat portion 20 and an upper slanted portion 23 are provided to the cowl top outer panel 14 so as to support a front end portion and a rear end portion of a first bracket 27 and a second bracket 28 of a wiper unit 30. The lower flange portion 18, the lower flat portion 20 and the upper slanted portion 23 are arranged in this order along the vehicle longitudinal direction of the main bent portion 25. |
| US08308223B2 |
Net structure for a vehicle
A net structure for attachment to a roll cage of a vehicle includes a mesh structure, a reinforcement structure attached to the mesh structure, and an overload indicator. Upon a rollover event during operation of a vehicle, to which the net structure is attached, with the net structure in a lowered, closed configuration, an operator of the vehicle may impact the net structure, causing the net structure to deflect outwardly. This outward deflection of the net structure may cause the overload indicator to become visible, which provides an indication to an operator or other person associated with the vehicle that the structural integrity of the net structure has been compromised, such that replacement of the net structure may be warranted. |
| US08308222B2 |
Extendable and retractable spoiler
Described herein are embodiments for extending and retracting an extendable spoiler for assisting a motor vehicle in navigating a turn. According to embodiments, an extendable spoiler has a first and second flaps coupled to first and second outer edges of the spoiler respectively. At least one strut is coupled to an underside of the spoiler and to an extension mechanism that can be used to extend and retract the extendable spoiler when various conditions have been met. A steering detection mechanism is also included and configured to detect left and right turn of the motor vehicle and controls which extendable spoilers are moved from a retracted state to an extended state. |
| US08308220B2 |
Sliding guide rail for convertible vehicle
A sliding guide rail for a convertible vehicle may include a front rail, a middle rail into which the front rail slides to enter, a rear rail into which the middle rail slides to enter, a wire screw for supplying the sliding power to the front rail, a rolling member for facilitating the sliding movement, and locking means for locking the front rail to the middle rail and the middle rail to the rear rail, thus providing a sliding mechanism by a single driving device. |
| US08308210B2 |
Lifting grab
A lifting grab for grabbing and lifting drums and/or other objects includes: a lifting point having two or more lifting arms radiating therefrom, the arms each having rim engaging elements, at least one arm is an articulated arm movable between engaging and non-engaging positions. A drum can be grabbed by initially attaching the engaging elements of the non-articulated arms to the rim, the at least one articulated arm then brought into the rim engaging position for attachment to the object or rim. Applying an upward or lifting force to the lifting point causes the rim engaging elements of all lifting arms to forcibly grab the object or rim of the drum, and whereby on releasing the lifting force, the at least one articulated arm is first disengaged from the rim thereby also relaxing the grip of the non-articulated arms wherein the drum or object can be released from the grab. |
| US08308208B1 |
Magnetic locking tongs
Kitchen tongs have two arms, each having a hinge end with a handle portion and a grasping end. A spring at pivotally joined hinge ends biases the grasping ends away from each other in open position. A support member on each arm intermediate the handle portion and the grasping end is located such that the weight between the hinge end and the support member is greater than the weight between the grasping end and the support member. The support members extend from the arms sufficiently to cause the grasping ends to be elevated above a horizontal planar support surface when the hinge ends and the support members are resting on the support surface so that the tongs may rest upon a planar support surface without contaminating the support surface or the grasping ends. A sliding element moves between two magnets for locking and unlocking tongs with one hand. |
| US08308205B2 |
Toggle latch
A toggle latch for a gate has a first unit mounting a pivotal latch arm and adapted to be mounted on the gate and a second unit providing a receiving and latching cavity and adapted to be mounted on a gate post, the body portion of the second unit having a forward nose to provide a ramp to deflect upwardly and over the nose the latch arm when impacting thereon and an interior retaining surface defined in the body and having upper and rear surfaces of the cavity to deflect down into the cavity the latch arm after it has ridden up over the nose. |
| US08308202B2 |
Separation prevention device for pipe joint
A separation prevention device for a pipe joint has disengagement prevention members and a press member. The disengagement prevention members are disposed at a plurality of locations in a circumferential direction of the pipe, on an inner peripheral surface of an engaging tool or of a receiving opening itself and which are formed with claws. The press member presses the disengagement prevention member radially inward of the pipe and which engages the claw with the outer peripheral surface of an inserting opening. The claw of the disengagement prevention member and the claw of the disengagement prevention member which is adjacent to the former disengagement prevention member in the circumferential direction of the pipe are arranged so as to overlap on each other in the axial direction of the pipe in a state where the claws are engaged with the outer peripheral surface of the inserting opening. |
| US08308200B1 |
Quick connect hose-in-hose coupler
A double hose having a hose contained within a hose. First and second hose assemblies to be joined together so each have an outer hose and an inner hose. Ends coupler parts of the inner hoses are maintained in a concentric relationship within coupler parts on the ends of the outer hoses. The coupler parts are joinable to each other. One of the ends of the inner hoses extends beyond its corresponding coupler part to form a male and is received in the end of the other inner hose within the other coupler part. As such, when the flanges on the outer coupler parts of the outer hoses are joined together the inner hoses are joined to form a fluid tight seal. |
| US08308195B1 |
Small book fabrication system
The first step is fabricating a sheet with a front face divided into 4 quadrants; a rear face divided into 4 quadrants; upper and lower edges separated by a height; first and second side edges separated by a width; a central vertical fold line; and a central horizontal fold line. The next step is forming an image on each quadrant. The next step is creating a first fold along the vertical fold line and a second fold along the horizontal fold line. The next step is coupling the quadrants adjacent to the vertical fold line using a tape. The final step is cutting along the horizontal fold line to crop and remove the horizontal fold line creating a first signature having pages 1 through 8. |
| US08308186B1 |
Active bolster mounting system
An active bolster system for a vehicle includes a trim substrate panel adapted to be mounted to a structural element of the vehicle, wherein the substrate panel has a bolster opening. A bolster has a main body configured to fit within the bolster opening, wherein the main body has an A-side substantially flush with the substrate panel and a B-side facing the structural element. The main body has a plurality of lateral side tabs extending from the main body, and the main body expands during a deployment of the active bolster system so that a distance between the A-side and B-side increases. A retainer bracket retains the bolster against the substrate panel, wherein the retainer bracket comprises a frame extending around a periphery of the main body. The frame includes a reaction surface disposed against at least a portion of the B-side, a plurality of pinch tabs each pressing a respective lateral side tab against the substrate panel, and a plurality of rigid attachments for directly attaching the is retainer bracket to the substrate panel. Reaction forces applied by the bolster against the reaction surface during at least an initial expansion of the main body during the deployment are transmitted by the retainer bracket to the substrate panel so that separation is urged between the main body and the substrate panel, and the substrate panel is urged against the structural element. |
| US08308184B2 |
Towing hook mounting member and bumper mechanism with the same
A towing hook mounting member includes: a plate shaped portion having an attachment means for removably attaching a tow hook to a vehicle. The towing hook mounting member is adapted to be fixedly mounted to a bumper wall of a bumper reinforcement and a supporting wall of a vehicle attachment supporting the bumper reinforcement in a manner that the plate shaped portion, the bumper wall and the supporting wall overlap one another. |
| US08308183B1 |
Ball mount storage device
A ball mount storage device for attachment to a vehicle supporting member. The ball mount storage device for storing a ball mount that engages a vehicle hitch. The ball mount includes a metallic tubular stem connected to a ball retaining portion that carries a ball for towing a trailer. The ball mount storage device includes a mounting bracket for attachment to a vehicle. A ball mount stem receiving pin extends from the bracket and is engageable with apertures carried in the stem of the ball mount. The stem is also provided with an aperture for receiving a ball mount lock. A stem stop wall is attached to the mounting bracket in predetermined position to prevent rotation of the ball mount about the ball mount stem receiving pin. A magnetic means is carried on the stem stop wall to magnetically maintain the ball mount in firm engagement with the stem stop wall until the ball mount is manually removed. A configuration of the ball mount storage device with two mounting brackets is also provided. |
| US08308176B2 |
Suspension stop comprising a mobile sealing element
A suspension stop for a motor vehicle has an upper cup, a lower cup and roller bodies arranged between the cups to permit the relative rotation thereof. The cups are designed to have at least one annular space between them. The stop further has a seal element arranged in the annular space with a sliding contact with each cup. The seal element is arranged to be mobile with relation to at least one cup. |
| US08308175B2 |
Tubular torsion beam for rear suspensions of vehicles and manufacturing method thereof
Provided is a tubular torsion beam for rear suspensions of vehicles, which is produced according to a more durable design capable of improving roll stiffness and roll strength of the tubular torsion beam. The tubular torsion beam is produced by pressure-forming a tubular steel member through hydroforming such that the tubular torsion beam has a cross-section varying along an entire length thereof, with opposite ends having a closed cross-section and mounted to respective trailing arms, a middle portion having a V-shaped open cross-section, and a transitional portion having a varying cross-section and connecting the middle portion to each of the opposite ends. During the process of manufacturing the tubular torsion beam, the opposite ends of the tubular steel member are fed using respective axial punches of a hydroforming machine, so that the opposite ends are thicker than the middle portion. |
| US08308170B2 |
Active suspension assembly for a vehicle
The invention relates to an active suspension assembly and a vehicle equipped therewith. The assembly comprises a bearing arm, spring and adjusting mechanism. In use, the bearing arm supports the second vehicle mass, for instance a cabin or wheel and is pivotally connected to the first vehicle mass, for instance a chassis, around a pivot axis; the spring mechanism produces a spring force that exerts a counter moment on the bearing arm that can counterbalance any external moment acting on said bearing arm; and the adjustment mechanism is arranged to vary said counter moment by altering the direction of the spring force and/or move its point of application in a first direction. The adjustment mechanism is furthermore arranged to move the point of application of the spring force in a second direction, in which the counter moment is not or hardly affected, but by which the effective spring stiffness of the suspension assembly is affected. Thanks to said latter movement, the effective stiffness of the suspension can be maintained at a desired value. |
| US08308169B2 |
Chucking fixture with device for measuring the distance between a chunk and a toolholder or workholder
A chucking fixture for a tool or a workpiece, comprising a chuck and a toolholder or workholder matching the chuck, wherein the chuck has posts having bearing surfaces for orienting the tool or workpiece in an X and Y direction and having end faces for establishing a plane perpendicular to the Z direction, wherein devices for measuring the distance between the chuck and the toolholder or workholder are formed in the bearing surfaces and in the end faces. |
| US08308165B2 |
Card game
A card game includes a deck of cards used, for example, to play craps, poker, or any combination thereof. |
| US08308164B2 |
Scallywags board game
An interactive pirate themed board game comprising: a pirate ship shaped game board; a plurality of spaces on the game board, where said plurality of spaces are arranged in a plurality of levels; a starting position, where said starting position is at a lowest level of the plurality of levels; and a finishing position, where said finishing position is at a highest level of the plurality of levels. A plurality of pirate related paraphernalia, pirate related activity or penalties may be associated with the plurality of spaces, where the plurality of pirate related paraphernalia includes at least swords, eye patch, telescope, scarf, markers, coins and earrings. The winning player of the interactive pirate themed board game may be awarded a captain's hat and a stuffed parrot after reaching the finishing position. |
| US08308160B2 |
Sheet conveying apparatus and image forming apparatus with oblique feed rollers
A sheet conveying apparatus and an image forming apparatus are provided. The sheet conveying speed of a pair of conveying rollers which convey a sheet to a skew feeding correction device 55 and can be contacted and separated is set to be a speed in which the sheet obliquely conveyed by a pair of first oblique feed rollers is warped between the pair of first oblique feed rollers and the pair of conveying rollers. After the sheet is warped, a separation mechanism is controlled to separate the pair of conveying rollers. |
| US08308158B2 |
Sheet conveying apparatus and image forming apparatus
A registration portion which conveys a sheet toward an image forming portion forming an image on the sheet includes a controlling portion which regulates a sheet skew feeding correction amount by the skew feeding correcting portion based on the sheet right angle degree detected by the end detection sensor. The controlling portion automatically calculates, from the sheet right angle degree detected by the end detection sensor, a skew feeding regulation amount used for making any one of the two sides, forming the corner of the sheet, parallel to the image and corrects the skew feeding of the sheet by the skew feeding correcting portion with the use of the skew feeding regulation amount so that any one of the two sides forming the corner of the sheet is parallel to the image. |
| US08308152B2 |
Method and system for producing booklets
A method and system of making a book formed of a plurality of booklets having a plurality of sheets including receiving a paper value from an input device which corresponds to a sheet thickness. A maximum number of sheets per booklet based on the paper value is determined. The minimum number of sheets which will contain all pages of the book pages and the least number of booklets required responsive to the maximum number of sheets required are determined. The number of sheets in each booklet is determined and is stored. The sheets are distributed among the number of booklets. The creep for each sheet based on the paper value is determined. An image transfer device is controlled responsive to the determination of the creep. |
| US08308151B2 |
Elevator assembly for robotic positioning of a workpiece
An elevator assembly includes a carrier, a first arm, and a second arm. Each arm has a primary portion pivotally connected to the carrier and a secondary portion pivotally connected to the primary portion. A first gear system interconnects the first arm and the second arm for synchronous rotation with respect to the carrier in opposite directions. A pair of second gear systems establish a geared relationship between the secondary portions of the arms and the carrier. A support member is connected to the secondary portions of the arms, wherein rotation of the primary portions of the arms with respect to the carrier drives the support member between a neutral position and at least a first extended position. |
| US08308144B2 |
Diaphragm carburetor
The present invention provides a diaphragm carburetor wherein heat transferred from the engine to the carburetor through the insulator is reduced to lower the temperature of the carburetor unit and reduce the occurrence of bubbles in the fuel. The carburetor of the present invention is a diaphragm carburetor in which a fuel channel that extends from a pump chamber of the carburetor to a constant-pressure fuel chamber is divided into two branches to form one branch as a main fuel channel connected to the constant-pressure fuel chamber, and the other branch as a fuel circulation channel for passing the fuel through the body side surface of the carburetor on the insulator side, or the body side surface of the insulator on the carburetor side, causing the fuel to make a circuit around the carburetor, and returning the fuel to the fuel tank. |
| US08308142B1 |
System and method for transporting cargo utilizing an air towing system that can achieve vertical take-off and vertical landing
A system and method of lifting a cargo container into flight using a plurality of aircraft. A swivel bearing is provided that has a first end and a second end. The two ends of the swivel bearing are free to rotate independently. A cargo container is provided that is streamlined for flight. The second end of the swivel bearing is attached to the cargo container. Aircraft in flight are used to lift the container. The aircraft have tow tether lines. The tow tether lines are attached to the first end of the swivel bearing. The aircraft fly in an ascending circular pattern, therein applying lift to the cargo container that is sufficient to raise the cargo container into flight. The cargo container is streamlined and contains flight controls to enable the cargo container to maintain level and controlled flight while it is being towed. |
| US08308138B1 |
Wire puller and conduit adapter
Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for wire pullers and conduit adapters. According to various embodiments, a wire puller includes first and second positionable arms. The wire puller also can include an adapter and adapter bracket. In some embodiments, the adapter and adapter bracket are configured to allow easier pulling of wire through conduit. Some embodiments of the wire puller are configured to allow for easier set up and use compared to existing wire pullers. Some embodiments of the wire pullers also are configured to provide increased pulling force over existing wire pullers. |
| US08308137B2 |
Remote controlled vehicle for threading a string through HVAC ducts
The invention is a remote controlled vehicle adapted for navigating inside HVAC supply trunks. It is equipped with a moveable camera and a powered tool for snagging a string or parachute propelled into the trunk by other methods. A command box is provided to view the image from the camera and control the vehicle's various functions. The installation technician inserts the vehicle into the trunk through an access hole and uses the command box to navigate the vehicle inside a HVAC trunk and locate and secure the string to the vehicle. The technician then controls the vehicle to pull the string back to the access or the technician manually pulls the vehicle back to the access by its tether. |
| US08308126B2 |
Peripheral slab formwork system
The invention relates to a perimetral slab formwork system applicable for configuring a cantilever on a base grid formwork, configured by primary beams between which formwork panels are housed. In one possible solution, it incorporates perimetral beams provided with connectors for coupling on props and a straining piece which is vertically placed between outer and inner perimetral formwork panels supported by the perimetral beams to aid in lowering a formwork stripping tool connected to the outer panels. In another solution for smaller cantilevers, it has second perimetral beams having a matching configuration with the primary beams extending with regard to the base formwork combined with perimetral clamps fitting in one of their ends provided with a connector for a prop and housing for railings. |
| US08308115B2 |
In-vehicle holder support device
There is provided an in-vehicle holder support device to which an in-vehicle holder unit can be easily attached, with an improved rigidity thereof in an attached condition. In the in-vehicle holder support device, there is provided, in a base portion 12, a sloping surface 12c which slopes toward a side of a right seat frame cover 4 that is an object for attachment. An attaching portion 6 is allowed to slide via the sloping surface 12c and is guided to a gap G to be fitted thereinto. Besides, own weight of a pocket 2 can be certainly received by an opposed surface 14b that is formed flat in a holding portion 14. Thus, the pocket 2 can be easily attached to the in-vehicle holder support device and further rigidity of the in-vehicle holder support device 3 can be improved with the pocket 2 attached thereto. |
| US08308113B2 |
Panel positioning mechanism and display device with different positioning modes
A panel positioning mechanism includes a supporting component, and a slot is formed on a side of the supporting component. The panel positioning mechanism further includes a loading component disposed on a side of the supporting component, a rotational spring set connected to the supporting component and the loading component, a fixing component set for fixing the supporting component, the loading component, and the rotational spring set, a contacting component connected to the loading component and disposed inside the slot in a slidable manner so as to constrain rotation of the loading component within a first range, and a releasing component passing through the loading component and fixed on the contacting component for driving a contacting portion of the contacting component to separate from the slot on the supporting component, so that the loading component can rotate outside the first range. |
| US08308111B2 |
Panel assembly for a space-based power generation system
An example space-based power generation panel arrangement includes a first reflective panel and at least one heat pipe configured to communicate thermal energy to the first reflective panel and a second reflective panel. The heat pipe is configured to hinge the first reflective panel to the second reflective panel. |
| US08308106B2 |
Hydrogen powered aircraft
Disclosed is an aircraft, configured to have a wide range of flight speeds, consuming low levels of power for an extended period of time, while supporting a communications platform with an unobstructed downward-looking view. The aircraft includes an extendable slat at the leading edge of the wing, and a reflexed trailing edge. The aircraft comprises a flying wing extending laterally between two ends and a center point. The wing is swept and has a relatively constant chord. The aircraft also includes a power module configured to provide power via a fuel cell. The fuel cell stores liquid hydrogen as fuel, but uses gaseous hydrogen in the fuel cell. A fuel tank heater is used to control the boil-rate of the fuel in the fuel tank. The fuel cell compresses ambient air for an oxidizer, and operates with the fuel and oxidizer at pressures below one atmosphere. |
| US08308105B2 |
Aircraft engine pylon attachment
An aircraft engine mounting structure comprising a pylon box having an upper surface and at least one attachment element configured to be attached to a front spar of an aircraft wing box, the front spar having a lower surface, the attachment element being configured to attach the rear face of the pylon box to the front spar such that at least a portion of the upper surface of the pylon box lies above the lower surface of the front spar. |
| US08308097B2 |
Click sound generating device for bait reel
Disclosed herein is a click sound generating device for a bait reel. The bait reel includes a reel frame, a spool, a handle and a drag knob. The spool is rotatably mounted to the reel frame. A fishing line is wound around the circumferential outer surface of the spool. The handle is connected to the spool through a gear shaft. The drag knob is provided between the handle and the gear shaft to adjust the drag strength of the spool. The click sound generating device is in the drag knob and generates clicking sounds depending on rotation of the drag knob, thus enabling a user to minutely and precisely control the drag strength or rotating force of the spool. |
| US08308094B2 |
Shredder hammers including improved engagement between the hammer pin and the hammer
Shredder hammers include a hammer pin opening in which at least some portion of the interior surface is curved in a direction moving from one major surface of the shredder hammer to the other. This interior surface may be smoothly formed as an arc of a circle, as a parabola, as a hyperbola, or as another curved surface, with the local extrema within the interior of the hole (e.g., at or near the center). Providing the curved interior surface helps vary and disperse the locations where force is absorbed due to contact between the hammer pin and the walls defining the hammer pin opening when the shredding hammer blade contacts the material to be shredded. Other structures include engagement between the hammer pin and the hammer as part of a bushing member, a spool or sleeve member, or a ball swivel member. |
| US08308092B2 |
Multiple tool attachment system with universal body with grapple
A multiple tool attachment system is adapted to be attached to demolition equipment. The system includes a universal body attached to the demolition equipment. A series of tools is independently attachable to the universal body. The universal body includes a guide slot extending longitudinally along the universal body. Each tool generally includes a pair of pivotable jaws adapted to be pivotably attached to the universal body with at least one linkage extending from the universal body and attachable to each jaw of the tool. A slide member is received within the guide slot, with each linkage attached to the slide member, and a piston cylinder arrangement is attached to the universal body and coupled to the slide member for moving the slide member and the jaws. The multiple tool attachment system is provided with quick change features and is designed to optimize the cutting characteristics throughout the movement cycle. A tool set such as a grapple may be centrally supported by bridge housings thereby minimizing the stresses across the main pivot pin. Additionally, a tool set such as a grapple may have tine surfaces with wear plates welded directly thereto to minimize wear. |
| US08308090B2 |
Grinder
A grinder includes a generally vertical, rotatable shaft having at least one set of cutter blades driven thereby and a fan assembly mounted on the shaft below the cutter blades in position to receive output therefrom. The fan assembly includes a fan disc secured to the shaft and rotatable therewith. Fan blades are secured to the fan disc in a generally radial orientation. Each fan blade includes a bottom flange secured to a top surface of the fan disc, a web extending upwardly from the bottom flange and a top flange extending outwardly from the web in a direction of rotation of the fan disc. The fan blades are preferably moveably mounted to the fan disc such that the angle of the fan blades relative to a true radial orientation can be adjusted. |
| US08308087B2 |
LDPE tubular reactor peroxide mixer
The present invention provides an injection nozzle for mixing an initiator with a process fluid. Then injection nozzle comprises a body comprising an inlet port, and outlet port, and an injector inlet; a process fluid flow passage; an initiator flow fluid passage; and a stylus. The process fluid flow passage comprises a constricting portion and an expanding portion to help improve transport and mixing. The injection nozzle is useful for injecting a fluid into another fluid at elevated temperatures and pressures, and for maximizing mixing of the fluids. |
| US08308085B2 |
Multifunction showerhead with automatic return function for enhanced water conservation
The present invention provides a showerhead that allows a bather to switch among at least three different water delivery functions. In the first function, the showerhead delivers a concentrated fluttering spray at a rate not to exceed 1.5 GPM (5.75 GPM). In the second function, the showerhead delivers a combined spray pattern, wherein the fluttering spray and a radially dispersed precision spray are simultaneously delivered to the bather at a rate not to exceed 2.0 GPM (7.57 L/min) for the combined water flow. In the third function, the showerhead delivers the precision spray pattern at a rate not to exceed 2.0 L/min (7.57 GPM). The combination spray pattern is effected without compromising either the desirable massaging and cleaning effect of water delivery or the inherent water conservation benefits. In addition, the showerhead of the present invention provides an automatic return feature for return of the showerhead to the first function when water pressure to the showerhead falls below a predetermined bottom threshold. |
| US08308079B2 |
Sanitary installation element with by-pass duct
A sanitary installation element (1) having at least one bypass or cleaning duct (6) which is assigned a valve in whose open position the at least one bypass or cleaning duct is connected switched on. The installation element (1) according to the invention is characterized in that the installation element (1) has a filter screen (4) with at least one outlet opening (5), which outlet opening (5) has a larger clear opening cross section than the screen openings of the filter screen (4), that the at least one outlet opening (5) opens into the at least one bypass or cleaning duct (6), and that, as seen in the direction of flow, the outlet opening (5) is arranged in front of at least one liquid-conveying component of at least one functional unit situated in the installation element (1) and, as seen in the direction of flow, the duct outlet of the at least one bypass or cleaning duct (6) is arranged after this component. |
| US08308077B1 |
Method and system for soil and water resources
A system and method for monitoring soil and water resources is disclosed herein. Sensors capable of monitoring soil temperature, moisture and salinity are utilized with other sensors capable of monitoring such values as air temperature in order to provide real-time parameters to users/operators of land area. |
| US08308070B2 |
System for automatically acquiring optically coded information, illuminator for said system and method for aligning with each other optical components of the system
An illuminating device for a system for automatically acquiring optically encoded information includes at least one illuminating element, the at least one illuminating element including at least one linear light source extending along a first direction, at least one reflecting optical element associated with the at least one linear light source and suitable for reflecting a light beam emitted by the at least one light source, the optical element having at least one first focus, the linear light source being arranged within an area surrounding the first focus, the illuminating device further includes rotating means suitable for rotating the at least one reflecting optical element with respect to the at least one first focus, with a rotation center arranged within a further area surrounding the at least one first focus. |
| US08308069B2 |
User configurable search methods for an area imaging indicia reader
A method of operating an optical reading device for collecting and processing indicia data comprising the steps of: converting light with an image sensor into output signals representative of an image in a field of view (FOV) of the image sensor; user programming a processor to search the output signals according to a search strategy; searching the output signals for an information bearing indicia (IBI) within the FOV according to the user programmed search strategy; and, decoding information contained in the IBI. |
| US08308068B2 |
Colored barcode decoding
In an exemplary embodiment, a method is employed to read an overprinted barcode. An RGB pixel map is obtained from an overprinted color barcode that contains a plurality of disparate colors. A pixel map is allocated for each of the colors detected and each pixel is classified in the one or more pixel maps according to color. One or more barcodes are extracted from the overprinted barcode that correlates to each color detected. Each of the extracted barcodes are then filtered, decoded and read. |
| US08308067B1 |
Structural display of visual codes
An apparatus is described for displaying visual codes using structural components, and a system and method is described for modifying the visual codes. |
| US08308062B1 |
Electronic medical information card and system and method of use
An electronic medical information card (1) for storing an individual's emergency medical information on. The medical information card is stored in a storage sleeve (2) to attract the attention of medical personnel. The storage sleeve may be removably attachable to a user's driver's license, wallet, purse and so forth so that it may be easily seen by a first responder. In addition, the storage sleeve is water proof and fire resistant to protect the electronic medical information card from becoming damaged. The information on the electronic medical information card may be updated by an individual over the internet by sending updated information to a central location that updates the information in a central database and allows the user to download the updated information back onto the electronic medical information card. |
| US08308058B2 |
Mobile banking architecture
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for interfacing a user device to a transaction system. An interface is provided in order to call a function on the transaction system for performing the transaction. |
| US08308056B2 |
Method for obtaining information associated with a location
The method of the present invention allows obtaining location associated information (3) through the use of a telecommunications device (2) and a two-dimensional code (1) in which the information is stored. The information obtained relates to the geographical position of the two-dimensional code (1), i.e., the location (3), as well as to additional data such as a description thereof, a contact telephone number or its opening hours. The information may be presented according to the language preferences of the user, the two-dimensional code (1) having at least three languages, and it being possible to access a repository with a great number of alternatives or to also translate the content if the repository does not contain the translation in any of the selected languages. The translation will be obtained by accessing the repository with a unique key which includes data relating to the geographical position of the location (3). |
| US08308055B2 |
Container for accommodating coins and/or valuable documents
A container for receiving coins and/or documents of value having a container housing with at least one feed opening, a sealing element which is movable between a sealing position to block the feed opening and an open position in which the feed opening is opened to allow the feeding of coins or documents of value, and a biasing element which biases the sealing element in the direction of the sealing position in the open position. The container also includes an actuating opening that receives an actuating element to move the sealing element out of the sealing position into the open position, a catch device which has a catch element, and a closing device that enables the catch device to be displaced out of the catch state into the ready state. |
| US08308053B2 |
Microfeature workpieces having alloyed conductive structures, and associated methods
Microfeature workpieces having alloyed conductive structures, and associated methods are disclosed. A method in accordance with one embodiment includes applying a volume of material to a target location of a microfeature workpiece, with the volume of material including at least a first metallic constituent. The method can further include elevating a temperature of the volume of material while the volume of material is applied to the microfeature workpiece to alloy the first metallic constituent and a second metallic constituent so that the second metallic constituent is distributed generally throughout the volume of material. In further particular embodiments, the second metallic constituent can be drawn from an adjacent structure, for example, a bond pad or the wall of a via in which the volume of material is positioned. |
| US08308048B2 |
Robotic high density welding body shop
A method and apparatus for managing the delivery of component parts and tooling to a robotic welding assembly positioned on a motor vehicle body assembly line. Automatic guided vehicles deliver component parts from a source of parts to a parts staging area on the robotic welding assembly including a substage awaiting area, a substage in-use area and a substage empty area, and further automatic guided vehicles deliver tooling from a tooling management area to the robotic welding assembly whereafter the tooling, upon model changeover, is moved to a tooling use area proximate the assembly line whereafter, upon further model changeover, the tooling is removed from the tooling use area and loaded onto an automatic guided vehicle for return to the tooling management area. |
| US08308047B2 |
Compliant spray flux masks, systems, and methods
A flux spray head, a mask, and an integrated circuit substrate are arranged in a flux spray station to reduce flux overspray during a spraying operation. A support element within the spray station is used to align the substrate with the mask and spray head. A portion of the mask contacts the substrate along a boundary between a region to be sprayed and a region to be masked. The flux spray head sprays the substrate while a portion of the mask is in contact with the boundary of the region to be masked. In an embodiment, the mask may comprise one or more replaceable non-stick stencil elements and associated springs to press the stencil elements against the substrate. Each stencil element may have a wall to contact the substrate along a portion of the boundary. |
| US08308037B2 |
Print media tensioning apparatus
An apparatus for maintaining uniform tension across a width of a web includes a roller, a first arm and a second arm, a plurality of devices, and a plurality of links. The roller includes a shaft, about which the roller rotates, that defines an axis of rotation. The first arm and the second arm are coupled to opposite sides of the shaft of the roller and to a corresponding one of the plurality of devices such that each device is allowed two degrees of rotational freedom about the arm to which it is coupled. Each of the devices is pivotably coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of links such that the roller is allowed to pivot about a first axis. Each link is pivotably coupled to a stationary frame such that the roller is allowed to pivot about a second axis. |
| US08308036B2 |
Sheet material feeding apparatus
A main roll and a sub-roll of a sheet material feeding apparatus interpose therebetween a sheet material to intermittently feed the same to a press apparatus. A roll clearance is adjusted according to a sheet thickness by displacing the main roll up and down. A release device that temporarily releases a sheet material having been interposed by the both rolls just before the sheet material is subjected to press working by the press apparatus includes a sub-roll guide that can move up and down together with the sub-roll, a rectilinear cam, and cam followers for engagement with a cam surface of the rectilinear cam, and the release device moves the rectilinear cam axially of the sub-roll in synchronism with the operation of the press apparatus to thereby displace the sub-roll up and down through the cam followers and the sub-roll guide. |
| US08308034B2 |
Hook structure of power tool
In a housing of a power tool is formed a hook-receiving portion, with openings facing leftward and rightward, through which a substantially U-shaped hook having a left hook leg and a right hook leg is movable among a left protruding position in which the left hook leg protrudes leftward from the hook-receiving portion, a right protruding position in which the right hook leg protrudes rightward from the hook-receiving portion, and an accommodating position in which the left and right hook legs are both accommodated in the hook-receiving portion. Also provided in the housing is a retaining mechanism by which the hook is retainable in one of the positions of the left protruding position, right protruding position, and accommodating position. |
| US08308032B2 |
Machine for forming and ironing folds in pieces of cloth
A machine for forming and ironing folds in cloth has a plate frame on which are fixed a support and pressure system, a template on which the cloth is put, a moving system for moving a blocking plate which blocks the cloth, a guide system for guiding a folding element which folds outer edges of the cloth and an ironing plate. The guide system has a guide profile and a translating arm which is translated in a longitudinal direction and has a roller and a folding element. The arm is under pressure towards the guide profile so that the roller beats and slides along the edge of the guide profile. In this way, the folding element follows the movement of the arm according to the guide profile and moves in the longitudinal direction and a transversal direction. |
| US08308027B2 |
Automatic soap dispenser with top-side motor and methods
Embodiments of the present invention provide dispensers, and particularly automatic dispensers, and even more particularly, automatic soap dispensers for dispensing a foamed soap or another cleaning or antibacterial substance to a user's hands. The dispensers provide an internal working system that allows soap or foam to be dispensed from an inverted bottle via movement of an actuator. |
| US08308024B2 |
Parts feeder
A parts feeder includes a feed device or tray for putting a pile of parts on. The feed device imparts vibration to the pile of parts to feed them. An ion generating device is disposed above the feed device for providing ions to the parts. An airflow passage is formed in the feed device for sucking in air to introduce ions within the pile of parts. |
| US08308022B2 |
Stopper with unlocking lid and elastic return
A stopper for application to a container of the type with a base, an emptying duct, a lid, mounted on the base to pivot between an open and a closed position, a hinge with elastic return which holds the lid in the open position thereof and locking means, for locking the lid on the base. The stopper comprises positive unlocking means for the lid from the base, which are manually operated to provide a force to disengage the holding means. The base is a unitary construction and made from plastic material, the lid is made from the same plastic material and the leaf of the hinge is in an elastomeric plastic material. |
| US08308020B2 |
Shipping device and related methods
A containment assembly may be used with a shipping container and may include: a cargo net having a pair of sleeves; and, a pair of tethering members that are received within the sleeves and that have ends that extends out from the sleeves. The ends of the tethering members may be attachable to multiple attachment surfaces on the shipping container to change the orientation of the cargo net with respect to the shipping container. |
| US08308019B2 |
Battery bath and joint assembly therefor
A joint assembly and a tub assembly for a battery bath. The joint assembly has a seal that extends between a first flange of a first section and a second flange of a second section. The seal sealing a gap defined between the first and second flanges. |
| US08308015B2 |
Collapsible container having sliding support member assemblies for supporting dunnage
The present invention provides a collapsible container for holding product therein during shipment and being returned for reuse that has a collapsible body, tracks attached to opposite sides of the collapsible body, and a plurality of support members extending between the tracks. Sliders are located at the ends of flexible supports, the sliders being slidable in the tracks to move the support members. The support members support dunnage for supporting products for storage or shipment. |
| US08308009B2 |
Pedal bin
A pedal bin having a housing in which a waste container can be accommodated, a lid mounted at the top of the housing by a pivot pin, which lid has a lever that extends on the side of the pivot pin facing away from the lid and at this location has a sliding construction that allows a sliding movement between a relatively low position and a relatively high position in a plane transverse to the pivot pin, a movable pedal provided at the bottom of the housing as well as an operating member interacting with the sliding construction of the lid and the pedal for pivoting the lid, by depressing the pedal, between a closed position and a first open position defined by a first pivot angle with respect to the closed position, the sliding construction and the operating member being in the relatively low position and the operating member being subjected to tensile force. |
| US08308008B2 |
Container
A container (210) for holding granular or powdered material and formed by a top wall (212), a bottom wall (214), a front wall (216), a rear wall (218), a first side wall (220), and a second side wall (222). A rotatably removable lid (D) is interiorly mounted with a scoop (32) and is pivotally hinged to a collar (300) that includes a sealing gasket (330). The collar (300) mounts to the walls of the container (210). A sealing wall 240 of the lid (D) cooperates with the gasket 300 to prevent the contents from spilling. The container (210) incorporates powder control features, a container wall junction (50) preferred geometry and congruent scoop (32) enabling convenient access to the contents, a tolerance variation accommodating and strength improving, J-shaped collar (300) and interlocking indentations (290) and flex clips (310), and a pressure controlling portion (350) that prevents unwanted deformation due to pressure differentials. |
| US08308007B2 |
Hot-fill container
A one-piece plastic hot-fill container may employ a shoulder portion, a base portion and a sidewall portion, which may be integrally formed with and extend from the shoulder portion to the base portion. The container may further employ a plurality of contour ribs molded into the sidewall portion—each of the plurality of contour ribs operable to change from a first shape to a second shape in response to cooling of the liquid and further extending outwardly from the container. |
| US08308006B2 |
Thin walled hot filled container
A hot-fill container may have a shoulder portion, body portion, bottom portion, and numerous strengthening grooves and a thin-walled, flexible, bag-like, collapsible portion in the body portion. The collapsible portion may be located between the strengthening ribs. The container structure may also employ one or more vacuum panels in the body portion that may lie between the collapsible portion and the bottom portion. The vacuum panels and the collapsible body portion may move toward a central vertical axis when the container is subjected to an internal vacuum pressure. Strengthening grooves may border the collapsible body portion, which may be circular in pre-vacuum cross-section but polygonal in post-vacuum cross-section. Part of the collapsible portion may be concave inward toward a central vertical axis of the container while part of the collapsible portion may move away from the central vertical axis. Vertical columns may support the collapsible portion. |
| US08308004B2 |
Dispensing package having non-removable and non-rotatable dispensing closure
A dispensing package includes a container having a neck finish with an axis, a non-circular cross section in a plane perpendicular to the axis, and at least one circumferentially extending external engagement element on the neck finish. A closure has a wall received over the container neck finish. The wall has a non-circular cross section corresponding to the non-circular cross section of the neck finish and at least one internal circumferentially extending engagement element in engagement with the external engagement element on the neck finish. The internal and/or external circumferentially extending engagement element has a shallow lead-in angle to enable press-fit of the closure onto the container neck finish and a steep back angle to retard removal of the closure from the neck finish. Rotation of the closure on the neck finish is prevented by the non-circular cross sections of the neck finish and the closure wall. |
| US08307999B2 |
Device for presenting eyeglasses
A device is provided for presenting eyeglasses, comprising a base body and comprising a plurality of accommodating devices carried by the base body and serving for accommodating a respective pair of eyeglasses in secured fashion, wherein each accommodating device comprises at least one supporting part for placing the eyeglasses thereon and a securing part for securing the mounted eyeglasses against removal, and wherein the securing parts can be brought jointly from a locking position, which secures the eyeglasses, into a removal position, which releases the eyeglasses. |
| US08307995B2 |
Theft deterrent system
Described herein is technology for, among other things, a theft deterrent apparatus for cooperation with an elongate member attached to and extending outwardly from a forward-facing side of an article display panel. The apparatus includes a housing defining an internal chamber. The housing includes a first aperture passing through the housing into the internal chamber for receiving the elongate member, a second aperture for receiving a magnetic key, and a locking member that has a magnetic portion and is movably disposed within the internal chamber. The locking member is adapted to selectively: maintain the apparatus in locked and unlocked configurations in which the locking member respectively prevents or permits the elongate member from being at least partially withdrawn from the first aperture. Whether the locking member maintains the apparatus in the locked or unlocked configuration depends on whether or not the magnetic key is inserted into the second aperture. |
| US08307993B2 |
Filter apparatus
A filter apparatus that while maintaining a high revolution speed, realizes reduction of filter element vibration. The filter apparatus is one comprising cylindrical main-body vessel (1); tubular filter element (7) having a multiplicity of filter pores (7a) for removal of foreign matter contained in liquid, disposed in the main-body vessel (1) coaxially with the main-body vessel (1); inflow pipe (5) for introduction of a liquid containing separation objects, disposed in a direction tangential to a circumferential wall surface of the main-body vessel (1); outflow pipe (8) for outflow of the filtrate having passed through the filter element (7); and foreign matter discharge pipe (12) for discharging of the separation objects together with the liquid, disposed in a direction tangential to the circumferential wall surface of the main-body vessel (1), wherein the filter pores (7a) partially or wholly are formed into a taper such that the pore size on a fluid inflow side is different from that on a fluid outflow side. |
| US08307989B2 |
Paper handling apparatus and method therefor
A bill handling apparatus having a thickness detection sensor 401 for detecting the thickness of bills; optical sensors 405 and 406 for acquiring images of the profiles and surfaces of the bills; a judgment unit for judging the positions and directions of folds of the bills with the use of signals obtained with the thickness detection sensor 401 and the optical sensors 405 and 406; and a control unit for exercising control such that if a judgment result of the judgment unit shows that the position and direction of a fold of a folded bill are unlikely to cause double bill transfer during bill transfer by considering the relationship of the folded bill to a bill located immediately before or after the folded bill, the folded bill is kept in the apparatus without being returned to the user. |
| US08307983B2 |
Non-reclosable package for products prejudicial to health, as well as process for its production
A non-reclosable package for products which are prejudicial to health, such as pharmaceutical products. The package comprises a first packaging material element and a second packaging material element. The two packaging material elements are arranged on top of each other. The package has at least one first surface section, at the margin or margins of which the two packaging material elements are releasably connected with each other. At least one cavity, which is enclosed on all sides and receives the product to be packaged, is formed between the two packaging material elements. The package has at least one second surface section lying outside or adjoining the first surface section, and at the margin or margins of which the two packaging material elements are releasably connected with each other. At least one of the two packaging material elements has at least one structure extending within the second surface section and enables the packaging material element(s) to be torn. |
| US08307977B2 |
Vessel conveying device separating a main vessel flow into a plurality of secondary flows
The invention relates to a device for conveying vessels of the bottle type, characterized in that it comprises: a primary wheel for conveying the bottles including a plurality of transfer arms; at least two secondary conveying wheels respectively capable of conveying the bottles fed by the primary wheel; the conveying path of the bottles grasped by the clamps of the transfer arms of each secondary wheel being at one point tangential to the conveying path of the bottles grasped by the transfer arms of the primary wheel, whereby the main flow of bottles conveyed by the primary wheel is divided into at least two secondary flows of bottles respectively conveyed by the secondary conveying wheels. |
| US08307971B2 |
Check-processing device with conditionally-reversible track direction
An apparatus includes a document track, a processing device, and a selector gate after the processing device. The document track includes a second, return path extending from a location at the selector gate to a location before the processing device. A bi-directional drive mechanism receives the document as the document passes through the selector gate in the forward direction. A gate actuator selectively moves the selector gate. Upon the bi-directional drive mechanism reversing direction after receiving the document to drive the document in the reverse direction, when the selector gate is in the first position, the selector gate diverts the document into the return path and re-introduces the document to the processing device with the document now in a reverse orientation. When the selector gate is in the second position, the selector gate allows the document traveling in the reverse direction to be re-introduced, in reverse, to the processing device. |
| US08307969B2 |
Shift device with synchronizer
A gear has a hub with cut-off portions and outer splines as one unit. Thrust pieces are inserted in the cut-off portions for transmitting thrust between a shift sleeve and a synchronizer ring. The gear has a flange portion formed with supporting holes corresponding to the cut-off portions provided with a force-amplifying slope at synchronized member sides thereof. First end portions of the thrust pieces are inserted in the supporting holes. Second end portions thereof are formed with a side end surface for receiving friction torque from the synchronizer ring and with a pressure-receiving slope for transmitting the friction torque to the force-amplifying slope. The thrust pieces swing around centers in the supporting holes so that the second end portions swing in a rotational direction to contact the pressure-receiving slopes with the force-amplifying slopes to change the friction torque to the thrust acting on the synchronizer ring. |
| US08307961B2 |
Rail vehicle brake slack adjuster
A rail vehicle brake slack adjuster comprises an axially movable, sleeve-shaped driver element (22) adapted to receive an axially applied braking force in a brake application direction, a spindle (16) axially movable within the driver element, an adjuster nut (34) in non-self-locking thread engagement with the spindle, clutch means between the driver element and the adjuster nut, and a barrel spring (30) biasing the spindle in the brake application direction. The adjuster has a combination of a first clutch (36) comprising a clutch surface on the driver element (22) directed in the brake application direction and a corresponding clutch surface on the adjuster nut (34) and a second clutch (38) comprising a clutch surface on the driver element (22) directed in the direction opposite to the brake application direction and a corresponding clutch surface on an adjuster nut sleeve (37). The adjuster nut sleeve (37) is axially movable on the adjuster nut (34). |
| US08307958B2 |
Brake support plate
A brake support plate secures a caliper for disk brakes or the components of a drum brake to a wheel suspension or to a wheel axle. The brake support plate includes an axle opening with a snug-fit section for receiving an axle element, wherein the snug-fit section is slightly smaller than a corresponding section of the axle element. A circumference of the axle opening includes at least one discontinuation, such as, for example, a slot where the snug-fit section can be expanded for assembly. A securing element is disposed in such a manner as to decrease the discontinuation so that the snug-fit section returns to substantially its original size. |
| US08307953B2 |
Elevator car position detection system and method of determining a position of an elevator car in an elevator shaft
Elevator cabin position detection system comprising an activation device mounted on an elevator car, a sensor stripe mounted on a sidewall of an elevator shaft and control electronics. The activation device, preferably a light emitting device, activates a portion of the sensor stripe which comprises a feed line, a resistor line and sensors positioned between these. The sensors, preferably optical sensors, when activated by the activation device, conduct electricity to create electrical connection between the feed line and resistor line and thus modify the resulting resistance between an end (A) of the resistor line and an end (B) of the feed line. The control electronics determines the exact position of the elevator cabin based on the resulting resistance between the end (A) of the resistor line and the end (B) of the feed line. |
| US08307951B2 |
Food item cooking, assembly and packaging system and method
A system and method for making a food item are provided. The apparatus includes a food item assembly and packaging station having a first work area for assembling and packaging a food item and a food order assembly station having a second work area for assembling a food order that includes a food item packaged on the first work surface. A conveyor is positioned beneath the first work area and extends from a position proximate to the first area to a position proximate to the second work area. A conveyor access opening is proximate to the first work area to provide worker access to the conveyor to permit manual placement of a food item assembled and packaged at the first work area onto the conveyor for conveying the packaged food item beneath the first work area to the location proximate the food order assembly station. |
| US08307944B2 |
Muffler
A muffler (1) for an exhaust system (2) of an internal combustion engine, especially of a motor vehicle, with a muffler housing (3), which encloses a housing interior space (5), and with at least one exhaust gas-carrying hollow body (4) with two half shells in a half shell construction. The hollow body is arranged in the housing interior space (5). The two half shells (14, 15) of the hollow body (4) are fastened to one another in the area of a separating plane (16). The assembly of the muffler (1) or of the hollow body (4) can be simplified if the two half shells (14, 15) are fastened to one another by fastening elements (17, 18), which are formed directly on the half shells (14, 15). |
| US08307942B2 |
Flat earplug and package
A flat earplug and flat earplug package assembly is provided and a method of forming a flat earplug. The flat earplug includes a flat, rectangular foam sheet having a first surface and second surface, and adapted to be rolled up upon itself to form a coiled earplug for insertion into a user's ear. An inner coil is compressed to form a rigid coil when rolled up upon itself and an outer coil expands after the coiled earplug is inserted into the user's ear. The flat earplug package assembly includes a tray container for retaining the foam sheet therein and a wrapping for enclosing the flat earplug and tray container therein. |
| US08307939B2 |
Steering gear
Disclosed is a steering gear for a power steering system of a vehicle, comprising a component that is mounted axially displaceably in a housing of the steering gear, a tie rod fixed in an articulated manner on at least one axial end of the component by way of a joint, wherein a rotational center of the joint is disposed on a radially directed adapter part laterally offset with respect to a central longitudinal axis of the axially displaceable component, and the adapter part is fixed to the axially displaceable component by way of a shaft-hub connection, which is fastened on the axial end of the axially displaceable component using a nut on an external thread so as to provide a steering gear that has a high-strength, play-free connection between the axially displaceable component thereof and the adapter part, and which is easy to produce, the shaft-hub connection being formed by a play-free, conical serrated connection. |
| US08307937B2 |
Steering apparatus
An improved apparatus (30) for steering rear wheels (16, 18) of a vehicle (10) includes hydraulic motor (34) having chambers (56, 58) which hold hydraulic fluid. An increase in fluid pressure in one of the chambers turns the steerable rear wheels of the vehicle in a first direction. An increase in fluid pressure in another one of the chambers turns the steerable rear wheels in a second direction. A control valve (36) is connected in fluid communication with the chambers (56, 58) of the hydraulic motor. The control valve (36) is free of a return flow of hydraulic fluid from the motor (34). A return conduit (134) is connected with the chambers (56, 58) and conducts a flow of hydraulic fluid to a reservoir (116) along a path which is spaced from the control valve (36). The motor (34) may include springs (70, 72) which are disposed in the chambers (56, 58) of the motor. Biasing sleeves (76, 78) are effective to transmit force from the springs to a piston (62). |
| US08307936B2 |
Transmission device for a vehicle, comprising a variator, a planetary gear unit and a manual transmission unit
A transmission device (1) for a vehicle with a variator (3), a planetary gear unit (4) and a gearshift transmission unit (9). The variator (3) has a length which is greater than a width and a depth of the variator (3). When the variator (3) is installed in position in the vehicle, the length of the variator (3) is orientated at least approximately diagonally to the length of the vehicle. |
| US08307935B2 |
Vehicle pop up hood apparatus
In a vehicle pop-up hood apparatus in which a rod is extended and a hood is pushed up by the operation of an actuator at a time of collision with a collision body, collision energy is absorbed with high efficiency when a collision load of a predetermined value or greater is input to an area near a hood pushed up position.Actuator (18) operates such that rod (20) moves in an axial direction toward a hood upper side, pushes up a rear edge side of hood rocker (12) and holds it at that position and, in that state, when a collision load of a predetermined value or greater acts from a hood upper side to near the pushed up position of the hood, push portion (54) slides along pushed up surface (38) of hinge arm (30) towards a vehicle rear side, and rod (20) is made to bend in conjunction therewith. |
| US08307934B2 |
Vehicle fire prevention and detection system
This invention provides fire prevention and detection for heavy-duty and medium-duty commercial and military vehicles by ensuring the engine is automatically and immediately shut down upon the occurrence of a catastrophic event that may lead to a fire. The shutdown is achieved through the isolation of the vehicle batteries and alternator and the disconnecting of those devices from all electrical circuits. Anomalies that cause the shutdown and disconnect include battery and vehicle load currents that are outside a preset range, excessive temperatures, detection of smoke in the drive compartment or sleeper, or detection of a frontal impact accident or vehicle rollover. Once disconnected, the battery contactor must be manually reset in order to restore electrical power to the vehicle. |
| US08307930B2 |
Scalable, hybrid energy storage for plug-in vehicles
An energy storage module (30, 32) for an electric vehicle or hybrid electric vehicle (12). Multiple low-voltage storage batteries (36) disposed on a tray (60) and connected in parallel circuit relationship form a low-voltage battery bank. A DC-to-DC converter (42) has an input connected to the low-voltage battery bank and an output connected to a high-voltage energy storage bank (34). An AC-to-DC converter (40) is connected to the low-voltage battery bank for charging the low-voltage battery bank from a source of AC electricity (45). |
| US08307928B2 |
System and method for operating an electric motor by limiting performance
A method and system for limiting motor performance in a hybrid electric vehicle system. During a condition in a primary drivetrain, the method limits performance of an electric motor used in an auxiliary drivetrain to control energy consumed from a battery in the auxiliary drivetrain. A calculation or measurement is made to determine available battery energy remaining in the battery after the condition. The performance of the electric motor is then limited based on the available battery energy. |
| US08307926B2 |
Hybrid vehicle
There is provided a hybrid vehicle capable of attaining excellent acceleration response and reducing pumping loss. When an engine combustion stop demand is issued, the engine is associatively rotated by carrying out a fuel cut-off operation and controlling the speed of a generator to control the engine in such a way that the speed of the engine becomes a predetermined speed NE1. During the associative rotation, intake and exhaust valves are held at their fully closed positions. |
| US08307922B2 |
System and method for powering an aircraft using radio frequency signals and feedback
A system and method are described for powering an aircraft using radio frequency (“RF”) signals. For example, a method according to one embodiment of the invention comprises: positioning an antenna array beneath or on the road surface of a roadway, the antenna array configured to transmit RF signals responsive to RF processing logic and/or circuitry; coupling a rectenna array to an aircraft, the rectenna array configured to receive the RF signals transmitted from the antenna array and to generate power from the RF signals; providing feedback signals from the aircraft to the RF processing logic and/or circuitry, the feedback signals including channel state information (CSI) defining a current state of the channels between the antenna array and the rectenna array, the RF processing logic and/or circuitry using the channel state information to adjust the RF signal transmissions from the antenna array to improve the efficiency of the power generated by the rectenna array; and using the power generated by the rectenna array to power the aircraft. |
| US08307921B2 |
Drilling apparatus
Drilling apparatus comprises: a body; a pilot hole-drilling assembly (14) mounted to the body for drilling a pilot hole of a first diameter; and a hole-opening assembly (16) mounted to the body for opening the pilot hole to a larger second diameter. The apparatus is configured such that the pilot hole-drilling assembly (14) will drill at a faster rate than the hole-opening assembly (16) for a given unit loading. As the pilot hole-drilling assembly (14) has the capability to drill at a faster rate than the hole-opening assembly (16), the pilot hole-drilling assembly will tend to experience relatively low weight-on-bit (WOB). The pilot hole-drilling assembly (14) will thus tend to maintain a vertical orientation. The hole-opening assembly (16) will follow the path of the pilot hole, while opening the hole to the required diameter. |
| US08307918B2 |
Hydrocarbon recovery drill string apparatus, subterranean hydrocarbon recovery drilling methods, and subterranean hydrocarbon recovery methods
Disclosed are hydrocarbon recovery drill string apparatus, subterranean hydrocarbon recovery drilling methods, and subterranean hydrocarbon recovery methods. In one embodiment, a hydrocarbon recovery drill string apparatus includes an elongated assembly within which a rotatable drill rod is received. The assembly comprises a longitudinal axis, a drill rod entrance end, and a drill rod exit end. The assembly comprises a tailcuttings diverter pipe proximate the drill rod exit end, with the tailcuttings diverter pipe defining an initial fluid flow path of the tailcuttings from the longitudinal axis which is acute from the longitudinal axis. Other apparatus and method aspects are contemplated. |
| US08307917B2 |
Downhole injector system for CT and wireline drilling
An apparatus for moving tubing through a borehole is disclosed. The apparatus includes a surface injector assembly and a downhole injector assembly with a driving mechanism to move the tubing through the borehole, an anchoring system for securing the downhole injector assembly downhole to a cased portion of a borehole wall and connections for receiving a power supply form the surface. A method of moving tubing through a borehole is also disclosed. The method involves attaching a downhole injector assembly to a cased portion of a borehole wall sufficiently downhole such that the downhole injector assembly can supply weight to a drilling assembly, and injecting tubing through the borehole using the downhole injector assembly. |
| US08307907B2 |
Hybrid foam proportioning system
A hybrid foam system for providing a variety of proportioned foam solutions is provided. The system includes a low flow foam proportioning system operatively associated with a high flow foam proportioning system and a system controller for controlling the operating conditions of the overall hybrid foam system. |
| US08307905B2 |
Activating mechanism
The present invention relates to an activating mechanism (200) for guiding and controlling a downhole tool (100) and/or subsea equipment employed in connection with recovery of hydrocarbons. The activating mechanism (200) comprises an annular sleeve (21) provided with non-through-going recesses (22, 24) in the material of the annular sleeve (21), where separate replaceable elements are provided in the recesses (22, 24) to act as a pump (P), piston (S1), reservoirs (R1, R2), movable slide (S2) and pistons (25a, 25b), where these elements create a closed fluid circuit which on being subjected to a number of cyclical loads will open up a connection between the pistons (25a, 25b). A method for controlling the activating mechanism (200) is also presented. |
| US08307903B2 |
Methods and apparatus for subsea well intervention and subsea wellhead retrieval
The present invention generally relates to methods and apparatus for subsea well intervention operations, including retrieval of a wellhead from a subsea well. In one aspect, a method of performing an operation in a subsea well is provided. The method comprising the step of positioning a tool proximate a subsea wellhead. The tool has at least one grip member and the tool is attached to a downhole assembly. The method also comprising the step of clamping the tool to the subsea wellhead by moving the at least one grip member into engagement with a profile on the subsea wellhead. The method further comprising the step of applying an upward force to the tool thereby enhancing the grip between the grip member and the profile on the subsea wellhead. Additionally, the method comprising the step of performing the operation in the subsea well by utilizing the downhole assembly. In another aspect, an apparatus for use in a subsea well is provided. In a further aspect, a method of cutting a casing string in a subsea well is provided. |
| US08307898B2 |
Method and apparatus for cementing a liner in a borehole using a tubular member having an obstruction
A method and apparatus are disclosed for cementing a liner in place in an open borehole using a tubular member having at least one obstruction in the tubular member to pass the cement into the liner and through the liner into an annular space surrounding the liner to position the liner in the open borehole. |
| US08307897B2 |
Geochemical control of fracturing fluids
Methods using diagenesis source material including the steps of providing a diagenesis source material in a subterranean formation and introducing a first plurality of particulates into the subterranean formation. The diagenesis source material then consolidates at least a portion of the first plurality of particulates into a pack in the subterranean formation. |
| US08307893B2 |
Method of improving waterflood performance using barrier fractures and inflow control devices
The present invention is directed to a method of hydrocarbon production from a hydrocarbon reservoir. The method includes providing a substantially horizontal wellbore having at least one productive interval within a hydrocarbon reservoir and forming at least one non-conductive transverse fracture in the reservoir along the substantially horizontal wellbore. An injection well is also provided. A fluid is injected into the reservoir through the injection well to displace hydrocarbons within the reservoir toward a production portion of the substantially horizontal wellbore. Fluid production from the at least one production interval into the substantially horizontal wellbore flows through an inflow control device that can restrict the fluid flow. A non-conductive transverse fracture can form a barrier within the reservoir to divert injected fluids to increase sweep efficiency and reduce the influx of injected fluids into the production interval. |
| US08307892B2 |
Configurable inserts for downhole plugs
A configurable insert for a downhole tool. The configurable insert can have a body having a bore formed therethrough, at least one shear groove disposed on the body, wherein the body separates at the shear groove when exposed to a predetermined force, applied by a threadably engaged component therewith, at least one shoulder disposed within the bore, the shoulder formed by a transition between a larger inner diameter and a smaller inner diameter of the bore, wherein the shoulder is adapted to receive one or more impediments at least partially within the bore, and one or more threads disposed on an outer surface of the body for connecting the body to a downhole tool. |
| US08307891B2 |
Retractable downhole backup assembly for circumferential seal support
Wedge shaped elements form a ring structure that can increase in diameter for a grip using relative axial motion of adjacent segments. The adjacent seal is further separated from access to the edges of the adjacent segments that move relatively by ring segments attached to the wide dimension of the segments that face the seal. The ring segments move out with the wedge elements to which they are attached so that in the set position of the seal there is an enhanced barrier against the surrounding tubular with the ring segments. The ring segments further block access of the seal under compressive loading to the interface locations between the wedge shaped elements so that their relative axial movement does not trap a portion of the seal and initiate cracks in the seal that can lead to leakage past the seal. |
| US08307890B2 |
Whipstock assembly
A whipstock assembly for milling an aperture in a casing of an oil, gas or water well, the whipstock assembly having a whipstock with a deflection face (6) for deflecting a milling head of a milling device to cut through the casing. The whipstock has a plateau portion (7) raised above the plane of the deflection face to support the milling head as it engages the casing. The plateau can induce the milling device to pivot around one of the milling heads during some of the milling operations, which optimizes the stress applied to the heads of the milling device. |
| US08307888B1 |
Method and apparatus for removing casing
A method and apparatus for removing a string of casing from a well bore. The method and apparatus include a plurality of drill bits substantially aligned with each other for drilling a plurality of holes in the string of casing. The plurality of holes can be used to lift the string in casing from the well bore via a series of incremental casing sections. |
| US08307886B2 |
Heat exchanging device and method of making same
A heat exchanging device includes first and second disk members coupled together to form a disk unit having a chamber. The first disk member has an inlet and the second disk member has an outlet. A medium directing member is disposed within the disk unit. A first end of the medium directing member has a first channel formed at an angle to direct heat exchange media flowing in from the inlet to the chamber, and a second end of the medium directing member has a second channel formed at an angle to direct the heat exchange media out of the chamber through the outlet. A plurality of disk units are coupled together in a row. Multiple rows of the heat exchanging devices may be disposed between manifolds. |
| US08307884B2 |
Die casting machine
A die casting machine provided with an electric servomotor and a hydraulic cylinder as drive sources for injection is enhanced in operation stability in an injection step. In the injection step, the rotational speed of an injection electric servomotor (3) is pattern-controlled to follow a preset speed command pattern while the forward speed of a piston (5a) caused by driving of an injection hydraulic cylinder (5) is feedback-controlled with an addition signal of the forward speed of the piston (5a) caused by driving of the injection electric servomotor (3) and the forward speed of the piston (5a) caused by driving of the injection hydraulic cylinder (5). Alternatively, the forward speed of the piston (5a) caused by driving of the injection hydraulic cylinder (5) may be pattern-controlled to follow a preset speed command pattern while the rotational speed of the injection electric servomotor (3) is feedback-controlled with the addition signal. |
| US08307882B2 |
Casting method
In the casting of a single crystal component, such as a turbine blade, by the lost wax casting technique, one or more ceramic pieces are positioned on a wax pattern at locations corresponding to parts of the cast component where relatively quick solidification of molten metal may occur during casting. A coating is subsequently formed around the wax pattern to define a mould, whereupon the wax is removed to leave the one or more ceramic pieces within the formed mould. |
| US08307880B2 |
Sheet material tensioning apparatus
A sheet material tensioning apparatus includes frame members interconnected one with another to define a closed contour. The apparatus applies tension to sheet material by imposing a separation between frame members to expand the closed contour. Beneficially, the sheet material tensioning apparatus includes an edge-bridging mechanism, such as a spline, to span the gap between the separated frame members. The edge-bridging mechanism maintains the continuity of the edge supporting the sheet material. The sheet material apparatus may include a crossbar assembly to add rigidity to long frame members, while maintaining planar alignment even under considerable compression. |
| US08307875B2 |
Sectional gate with escape door
A sectional gate with an escape door includes a plurality of vertically displaceable gate sections, which are foldably connected to one another along their horizontally extending longitudinal edges. The escape door is inserted into the sectional gate and is constructed from door sections, which are foldably connected to one another. A device for opening and closing the escape door and a locking mechanism are non-positively engaged in at least one of the gate sections. The device for opening and closing the escape door are non-positively connected with one or more sliding bolts, which extend in vertical and horizontal directions to the locking mechanism, which engages in at least one of the gate sections. The sliding bolts that extend in the vertical direction are sub-divided into a plurality of sliding bolt sections and connected to one another in an articulated manner in the fold region of two door sections, and are non-positively connected at a bottom end to the sliding bolts that extend in the horizontal direction, with the movement of the sliding bolts or of the locking mechanism, or both, being able to be arrested. |
| US08307873B2 |
Device for cutting through the adhesive bead of panes fixed by bonding
The invention discloses a device for cutting through an adhesive bead of a vehicle pane, in particular a windshield, having a motor-driven winding-up device that comprises a coil for winding up a cutting wire in a working direction for cutting through the adhesive bead, the winding-up device being provided with a strain relief for the cutting wire which allows the cutting wire to be withdrawn from the winding-up device in a sense opposite to the working direction. |
| US08307872B2 |
Apparatus for curing a composite structural member
An apparatus for forming a structural member includes a tool platform and a pressure platform that may be movable relative to one another between an open position and a closed position. The apparatus may include a tool against which the member may be pressed. The tool may be supported by the tool platform and may have an inner surface. The apparatus may include a pressure bladder configured to be pressurized for applying pressure to the member. The pressure bladder may be supported by the pressure platform for pressing the member against the tool. Also included may be a heating system for heating the tool and a tool liner in thermal contact with the inner surface for distributing heat thereto. |
| US08307870B2 |
Heat plate unit and double facer for fabricating double-faced corrugated fiberboard
A double facer that fabricates a corrugated fiberboard and that includes heat plate units having thin walls aims at improving the heat conductive efficiency to fiberboard sheets in order to enhance responsibility to the setting temperature and concurrently avoiding thermal deformation of the heat plates due to a difference in temperature between the top surface and the bottom surface. The heat plate unit for fabricating a double-faced corrugated fiberboard included in a double facer that fabricates a double-faced corrugated fiberboards by gluing a single-faced corrugated fiberboard in a swath form and a linerboard together, the heat plate, being horizontally disposed and having a top surface on which the single-faced corrugated fiberboard in a swath form and the linerboard overlapping and being glued together travels, includes: a rib 32, disposed on a bottom surface of a heat plate 31, extending in a width direction of the heat plate 31, being coupled to the heat plate 31 to form an integrated body, and being capable of thermal expansion; and temperature controlling means that controls a temperature of the heat plate 31 and a temperature of the rib 32 independently of each other. |
| US08307869B2 |
Central tire inflation wheel assembly and valve
The present invention is a wheel assembly having a rim with a valve aperture extending therethrough that is designed to receive a valve having a simplified a construction that can be seated directly within a tire wheel assembly to minimize the number and type of components necessary for the valve. The valve includes a main body that is positionable in a sealed and recessed or embedded configuration within the aperture in the wheel rim in communication with the interior of the tire and with a pressurized air source that is used to inflate or deflate the tire. The main body encloses a valve mechanism that includes a components situated within the main body in a manner that enables the parts to be easily removed, cleaned and/or replaced if necessary without having to remove the entire valve assembly from the wheel. |
| US08307868B2 |
Central tire inflation wheel assembly and valve
The present invention is a valve for use in a central tire inflation system including a casing securable to the rim of a vehicle in communication with the tire that houses a main body connectable to a pressurized fluid supply of the central tire inflation system, and a valve member moveable within the main body to control the flow of air through the valve. The valve can be mounted flush on the exterior surface of the rim or in a recessed position within the rim, and can be connected to a manifold that is able to control the flow of pressurized fluid from the central tire inflation system to each valve and tire connected to the valve. The operation of the manifold and pressurized fluid supply can be controlled utilizing a controller operably connected to the manifold and fluid supply. |
| US08307863B2 |
Fuel filling and waste solution recovery apparatus and fuel vessel
Recovery of dehydrogenation product must be done separately from supply of hydrogen fuel. However, there is a problem that it takes much time when dehydrogenation product recovery and fuel filling are done separately. A fuel filling/waste solution recovery apparatus includes measuring means to measure a volume of supplied fuel and a volume of recovered waste solution by measuring flow rates of solutions passing through a fuel filling nozzle and a recovery nozzle or piping, and a display which shows the volume of supplied fuel and the volume of recovered waste solution which are measured by the measuring means. |
| US08307853B2 |
Valve defining modulated and unmodulated flow paths
A valve comprises an inlet portion configured to couple to a source of a fluid, and a body portion in fluidic communication with the inlet portion. The body portion defines a modulated flow path and a constant flow path adjacent to the modulated flow path. |
| US08307849B2 |
Rotary coupler and method of using same
A rotary coupler for directing a fluid between a fluid supply and fixtures rotatable about a fixture axis and which has a manifold plate directing the fluid from a manifold inlet and a manifold outlet to the fixtures positioned about the fixture axis, the coupler including a spindle having a base portion and a shaft portion and the shaft portion defines a coupler axis and has a shaft surface generally coaxial to the coupler axis and the shaft surface includes an annular pressure zone and an axially spaced annular tank zone, the spindle also includes an internal pressurized fluid passage and an internal tank fluid passage wherein the pressurized passage extends within the spindle the coupler further includes a hub with a shaft opening shaped to receive the shaft portion, the manifold having control valves for selective actuation of the fixturing. |
| US08307848B2 |
Freeze resistant manifold assembly and system
A freeze resistant manifold includes a plurality of conduits, junction, and expansion device. Each conduit of the plurality of conduits includes a respective first end in fluid communication with a respective second end. The junction is defined by each of the respective first ends of the plurality of conduits in direct fluid communication with a remainder of the first ends of the plurality of conduits. The expansion device includes a housing, plug, and linear actuator. The housing has a first housing end and a second housing end. The first housing end is in fluid communication with the junction. The plug is disposed between the first housing end and the second housing end. The plug has a substantially fluid-tight, sliding engagement with an inner wall of the housing. The linear actuator is to urge the plug towards the first housing end with a predetermined amount of force. The plug is held proximal to the first housing end by the linear actuator in response to a fluid pressure in the junction being less than a predetermined normal working pressure. The plug is moved towards the second end in response to the fluid pressure in the junction exceeding the predetermined normal working pressure. |
| US08307846B2 |
Pressure control valve
A pressure control valve is provided with a valve main body (10) having a valve chamber (15) with a valve seat portion (14), a refrigerant inflow port (11) and a refrigerant outflow port (12), and a pressure response element (30) having a diaphragm (20) defining an upper surface of a valve chamber (15) and driving a valve body (17) and a lid-like member (35) defining a sealed pressure chamber (25) together with the diaphragm (20) and having a concave portion (36), an inert gas having a thermal expansion coefficient not more than a predetermined value is enclosed within said sealed pressure chamber (25), and an internal volume of the sealed pressure chamber is set such that the valve body (17) comes to a full-open state when that the pressure of the valve chamber (18) becomes a predetermined pressure or more higher than the pressure at which said valve body starts opening. |
| US08307842B2 |
Fluid supply valve attachment device
A fluid supply valve attachment device that includes: a fixing member formed with a recessed fitting section; and a fluid supply valve provided with a protruded insertion section that is inserted and fixed in the recessed fitting section. Clearance between a reference inner peripheral surface of the recessed fitting section and a reference outer peripheral surface of the protruded insertion section is set smaller than clearance between an internal thread of the recessed fitting section and an external thread of the protruded insertion section in a state that the protruded insertion section is inserted and fixed in the recessed fitting section. |
| US08307838B1 |
Self-operating windshield wiping apparatus and associated method
A self-operating windshield wiping apparatus for cleaning a window includes a portable housing having a cavity, and a curvilinear guide track formed in an outermost wall thereof. A suction cup is eccentrically positioned within the cavity and partially extends outwardly from the open bottom end for removably securing the portable housing to a support surface. A handle is rotatably mated to the portable housing and reciprocated along the curvilinear guide track, a rotating cam situated within the portable housing and mated to the handle, and a motor communicatively mated to the rotating cam. Such a motor causes the rotating cam to rotate along a circular travel path within the cavity. A wiper blade section is coupled to a distal end of the handle and simultaneously reciprocated with the handle along a first arcuate path as the rotating cam is revolved along the circular travel path. |
| US08307834B1 |
Cigarette case smoking cessation device
The cigarette case smoking cessation device only allows lid opening and therefore cigarette access at times set by the adjustable timer. The device thereby allows a smoker to predetermine cigarette access in designing a period for weaning off of cigarettes, of just reducing smoking itself. The device provides automatic unlocking at the set intervals, thereby allowing lid opening. The device provides both audio and vibratory alert of cigarette access. The device provides a gasket between case and lid so that cigarettes stay fresh. The charge port is an important feature in assuring battery charge and therefore long-life operation between charges. The thin walled device is compact and only slightly larger than a cigarette pack itself. |
| US08307831B2 |
Implant systems and methods for treating obstructive sleep apnea
A system for treating obstructive sleep apnea includes a body implantable in a soft palate, and a fastening element at a proximal end of the body for connecting the body with a hard palate. In one embodiment, the body is curved and has a convex top surface and a concave bottom surface. The curved body is adapted to support and/or change the shape of the soft palate for minimizing the likelihood of airway obstructions during sleep. The fastening element, secureable to the hard palate, includes at least one barb adapted to engage the hard palate for anchoring the body to the hard palate. In one embodiment, the body has a surface adapted to promote tissue in-growth. The implant body may be made of materials including nitinol, stainless steel, biocompatible polymers, temperature-sensitive materials, and shape memory materials. |
| US08307828B2 |
Pneumatic single-lumen medical gas conserver
A pneumatic single-lumen medical gas conserver combines the advantages of typical single-lumen and dual-lumen conservers. In particular, a pneumatic single-lumen conserver can provide a rapid response to patient inhalations without the need for a more expensive dual-lumen cannula hose. In addition, after delivering oxygen the conserver has a specific pneumatically-implemented delay period before being able to detect the next inhalation to inhibit “double pulse” deliveries. In addition to a conserving or pulse flow mode, the conserver can provide a user-selectable gas flow at a continuous or constant flow mode. |
| US08307822B2 |
High efficiency solar energy devices and methods
A solar energy device includes a first prism with a dichroic surface and a reflective surface opposite the dichroic surface. A first solar cell is positioned to receive light rays passing through the dichroic surface. A second solar cell positioned to receive light rays from the reflective surface. |
| US08307821B2 |
Continuous moving bed solar steam generation system
A continuous moving bed solar steam generation and storage system is provided to generate steam for production processes after loss or reduction of received solar energy. The system includes a receiver 10 that receives a flowing stream of particulate material 30 that absorbs solar radiant energy 15 as it passes through beams of the energy 15 received from collectors 14. The heated stream of material 30 passes into a first chamber 40 to heat a tube bundle 42 therein. Heat from the particulate material 30 is transferred to the bundle 42, evaporating the water to generate, reheat (RH) and/or superheat (SH) steam 46. The cooled material 30 passes to a second chamber 60. The material 30 is drained from the second chamber 60 and carried to a cyclone 80 in the receiver 10. The material 30 drains from the cyclone 80 to complete the flow cycle. |
| US08307818B2 |
Shape memory alloy motor
The invention discloses a novel and efficient drive mechanism for use in a variety of applications. This novel mechanism replaces traditional stepper motors or another analogous art with shape memory alloys. The drive mechanism so disclosed provides substantial operational benefits over conventional motors and other such traditional drive mechanisms that would be used in similar applications. The drive mechanism includes a high gear-ratio worm gear and worm drive which further provides precise, controlled movement of an output shaft. In the illustrative use elaborated upon herein, the motor is used to drive a photovoltaic panel so that the panel may remain in appropriate alignment with the sun throughout the day. |
| US08307817B2 |
Gas burner module for a gas cooktop, and gas cooktop
A gas burner module for a gas cooktop has a gas burner with an ignition and monitoring electrode, and also ignition and control electronics, a flame monitoring device and a gas valve. A burner foot in the form of a base is provided as a supporting element of the gas burner module. These parts of the gas burner module are combined to form a unit and are mechanically connected to one another in such a way that they form a constructional unit which can be handled independently. |
| US08307812B2 |
Vaporized-fuel processing device for an engine
A vaporized-fuel processing device for an engine stabilizes the idling operation wherein vaporized fuel within a fuel reservoir is adsorbed to an adsorbing member of a canister. While the engine is in operation, air is sucked from an air inlet into the canister with the intake-air negative pressure produced in an intake-air passage. This air separates the vaporized fuel adsorbed to the adsorbing member of the canister. Purge gas resulting from mixing the vaporized fuel into the air is sucked from a purge-gas sucking port into the intake-air passage. A throttle valve is arranged in a throttle intake-air passage of a throttle body. An intake-air pipe is disposed intake-upstream of the throttle body and is communicated with the throttle intake-air passage. The intake-air pipe has a peripheral wall to which a purge-gas sucking pipe is detachably attached. The purge-gas sucking port is provided within the purge-gas sucking pipe. |
| US08307811B2 |
Fuel pump mounting structure of motorcycle
A fuel pump unit is mounted on a predetermined position in a fuel tank. There are a supporting mechanism to support the fuel pump unit at the mounting position and a holding mechanism to fixing and holding the fuel pump unit supported at the mounting position, and an opening portion through which the fuel pump unit is inserted into the fuel tank is closed by a cover member being a separate body from the supporting mechanism and the holding mechanism. |
| US08307806B2 |
Device for actuating the decompression engine brake in an internal combustion engine
A device for actuating the decompression engine brake in an internal combustion engine provided with hydraulic tappets is described, characterized by: an additional rocker arm (9) for each cylinder, pivoting about an axis (4) common to the rocker arms of the exhaust valves, and suitable to engage with a corresponding additional cam (10) arranged on the cam axis (7) of the cylinders; an actuator system for said additional rocker arm (9), for each cylinder. In the actuator system of said additional rocker arm (9) there is a piston (15) hinged to an end of said rocker arm, said piston (15) being in its turn moved hydraulically or by a mechanical system comprising an additional arm (12) controlled by eccentric cams (13). |
| US08307792B2 |
Mechanism for internal combustion piston engines
An internal combustion engine has a mechanism, through which movement of a piston can be transferred to a crankshaft, from a first con rod on which the piston is mounted. The mechanism has an oscillating device mounted on a crankcase of the engine for oscillating on a first axis parallel to the crankshaft axis. The oscillating device is connected to a second con rod connected to the crankshaft for relative rotation on a second axis parallel to the first axis, and also to the first con rod for rotation on a third axis parallel to the first and second axes. The oscillating device is connected to the con rods so that the first axis and the crankshaft axis are on opposite sides of the piston axis, to enable adjustment of piston reciprocation. |
| US08307788B2 |
Chute inflatable
An inflatable device for shifting an animal's position in a chute, and specifically a bull in a bull riding event. The wedge includes an inflatable bladder with an opening to receive the inflatant from an inflatant source and one or more communicating passages transporting the inflatant to and from the inflatable bladder wherein inflation and deflation of the inflatable bladder controls the position of the animal in a chute. |
| US08307786B2 |
Bird feeder protection apparatus and methods
Feeder protection apparatus comprising a plurality of side panels attached around a periphery of the base of the feeder by a plurality of fasteners. Each side panel comprises a generally rectangular sheet configured to be oriented generally perpendicular to the base when attached thereto and to extend above and below the base. |
| US08307783B2 |
Plasma booster for plasma treatment installation
Vacuum treatment installation particularly for plasma coating workpieces, has an arrangement for boosting and/or igniting a glow discharge plasma for the treatment of workpieces, and at least one hollow body of electrically conductive material, the hollow body including a hollow space and at least one entrance opening through which charge carriers flow in order to make possible ignition and operation of a plasma or to boost an existing plasma. The hollow body is electrically connected to workpieces so that the hollow body is essentially at workpiece potential. The hollow space is formed such that when an electric signal is applied to the hollow body, at least in a certain pressure and voltage range, geometric conditions for the ignition of a discharge in the interior of the hollow body are satisfied, and the at least one hollow body is not a workpiece carrier. |
| US08307782B2 |
Deposition apparatus and deposition method
A deposition apparatus includes: a first electrode for placing a processing object; a second electrode for generating plasma with the first electrode, the second electrode being opposed to the first electrode; and a cooling part for cooling the processing object, wherein between the processing object and the cooling part, as compared with a thermal resistance between a central part of the processing object and the cooling part, a thermal resistance between a peripheral part peripheral to the central part and the cooling part is small. |
| US08307781B2 |
Surface wave excitation plasma CVD system
This surface wave excitation plasma CVD system, along with feeding a material gas including silicon element by feeding the material gas into a chamber 1 from at least one of an upper surface gas introduction conduit and a side surface gas introduction conduit, also activates the material gas with a surface wave excitation plasma and feeds a process gas which initiates chemical reactions within the material gas into the chamber 1 from a process gas introduction conduit 5. A gas feed aperture of the upper surface gas introduction conduit and/or the side surface gas introduction conduit is provided in a position which is closer to the substrate than the gas feed aperture of the process gas introduction conduit. |
| US08307779B2 |
Coating apparatus
A coating apparatus includes, a container unit which contains liquid, a container support unit which supports the container unit, a work support unit which supports a work oppositely to a discharge unit of the liquid in the container unit, a base unit which supports the container support unit, and is grounded, and an insulating unit which is provided between the base unit and discharge unit, and insulates the base unit and discharge unit. |
| US08307778B2 |
Coating method and coating unit
Jet lines C1, C3, C5, . . . extending in an X-direction and suction lines C2, C4, C6, . . . extending in the X-direction are arranged alternately at a fixed pitch W in a Y-direction. Jet openings 88 are arranged at fixed intervals 3D on the jet lines C2n−1, suction openings 90 are arranged at fixed intervals 3D on the suction lines C2n, and the jet openings 88 and the suction openings 90 on the adjacent ones of the jet lines C2n−1 and the suction lines C2n are spaced apart from each other by a fixed distance D with respect to the X-direction. Slots 88a and 90a are extended straight from the upper ends of the jet openings 88 and the upper ends of the suction openings 90, respectively, in a carrying direction (the X-direction) and a direction opposite the carrying direction. |
| US08307773B2 |
Passenger module suspension system
A suspension system for passenger modules used with high-speed boats, the suspension system including a shock absorbing assembly, for supporting the passenger module relative to the vessel. The passenger module is attached to the vessel via an assembly of pivoting spars. The spars may be configured such that the passenger module moves from an upper at-rest no-load position towards a bottom loaded position, the passenger module tilts. The amount of such tilt may be adjustable. The suspension system may have include means for resisting relative lateral movement (e.g. a panhard rod or a Watts linkage) and an anti-sway device. |
| US08307771B2 |
Row clutch device for planting implement
Disclosed is a control apparatus for a planter implement having a drill shaft and at least one row unit including a seed meter. A clutch unit is mounted inside the row unit so that it is protected against contact and damage by crop debris and other material passing by the planting implement. An input of the clutch driven off of the drill shaft of the planting implement and an output of the clutch is operably connected to the seed meter so that operation of the clutch unit interrupts dispensing of seed by the seed meter. The clutch unit is controlled by an electrical control system to limit or prevent overlap of seed being planted by the planting implement. |
| US08307768B2 |
Projectiles and methods for forming projectiles
A bullet for a firearm includes a rear unit that comprises substantially a solid structure. Additionally, the bullet includes a front unit separate and discrete from the rear unit. The front unit defines a cavity and at least a portion of the rear unit is secured in the cavity of the front unit. |
| US08307767B2 |
Impact initiated venting system and method of using same
An initiator includes a detonation port and a reactive panel coupled with the detonation port. The reactive panel includes an inner panel, an outer panel, and an explosive sheet disposed between the inner panel and the outer panel and operatively associated with a venting device. A system for venting a container includes a venting device and an initiator coupled with the venting device. The initiator includes a detonation port and a reactive panel coupled with the detonation port. The reactive panel includes an inner panel, an outer panel, and an explosive sheet disposed between the inner panel and the outer panel and operatively associated with the venting device. A method of venting a container includes providing a venting system operatively associated with a container, detonating an explosive sheet of the venting system, and venting the container as a result of detonating the explosive sheet. |
| US08307762B1 |
Meat cutting assembly
A cutting assembly for cutting a meat or food product passing along a path of travel and comprising a blade assembly including a cutting roller having a plurality of cutting blades radially mounted thereon and movable relative to the path of travel. A mating assembly interacts with the plurality of cutting blades to accomplish a multipoint cutting procedure which is facilitated by the concurrent rotation of the cutting roller and cutting blades as well as a linear reciprocal travel thereof transverse to the path of travel. A stabilizing assembly is provided to restrict the dimensional variance of the spacing between the cutting roller and mate roller through which the meat product travels and an ejecting assembly to remove cut portions from between the cutting blades and back onto the path of travel. The cutting assembly preferably includes a modular construction disposal within and removal from an operative position along a processing line associated with the path of travel. |
| US08307757B2 |
Kneading element of kneader, kneader, and bread machine
A kneading element is rotary driven around a rotating shaft disposed in a bottom part in a pot to knead ingredients within the pot. The kneading element has a blade part that has a bottom surface circumferential edge that is substantially semi-elliptical, wherein an inclined surface is formed in a side surface of the blade part, an erection surface is formed in a rotation direction back surface of the blade part, and the inclined surface is formed such that ingredients to be kneaded are rotated on the inclined surface. According to this configuration, because dough materials within the pot can be scooped up and rotated on the kneading element and furthermore flipped and tossed toward the inner circumferential surface of the pot, great pressure can be applied directly from the entire area of the inner circumferential surface of the pot to the dough material pressurized by the kneading element, whereby the entire area of the inner circumferential surface of the pot can be effectively used to knead the ingredients effectively. |
| US08307742B2 |
Hand tool adapter
A hand tool adapter of the present invention includes a wheel shaped main body and at least four sockets. The main body has a top surface, a bottom surface and a peripheral surface. The sockets are firmly disposed in the main body, locating annularly on the peripheral surface. Each socket has a non-circular bore. The main body is formed with no hole which has a dimension larger than the dimension of the largest bore. As such, the structure of the adapter is strengthened. |
| US08307738B2 |
Coaxial transmission, especially hollow shaft transmission for industrial drive engineering
A coaxial transmission, especially a hollow shaft transmission for industrial drive engineering, having a high power density. The transmission comprises an input element (7), an element (3) and an output element, a drive torque being multiplied and transmitted between the input element (7) and the output element via a plurality of radially mobile toothed sections (5). At least one toothed section (5) has a bearing element (11) which is enlarged in its effective zone with respect to an input element (7). |
| US08307732B2 |
Parallel link robot
A parallel link robot (10) provided with a base (11), a moving part (12), three links (20a to 20c) coupling the base and the moving part and having respectively single degrees of freedom with respect to the base, and three actuators (13a to 13c) respectively driving the links, each of the links comprised of a drive link (21a to 21c) coupled with the base and two driven links (22a to 22c, 23a to 23c) coupling the drive link and the moving part and parallel to each other, and further provided with a posture changing mechanism (15) which changes a posture of an element (19) attached to the moving part, an additional actuator (13d to 13f) arranged between the two driven links of at least one link in parallel to these driven links, and a power transmission shaft (39) which extends coaxially from the additional actuator and transmits rotational drive force to the posture changing mechanism. Due to this, it is possible to increase the degrees of freedom without reducing the possible region of operation and the acceleration/deceleration performance. |
| US08307731B2 |
Torque limiting shaft and sprocket assembly
A driveline component with a first drive member, which is rotatable about an axis, a second drive member and a clutch. The second drive member has a hub, which is supported on the first drive member for rotation about the axis, and a transmission portion. The transmission portion, which is configured to engage a flexible power transmitting member, is disposed about the hub and aligned to a transmission axis that is generally perpendicular to the axis. The clutch has a spring and a set of interleaved clutch plates having portions that are coupled for rotation with a respective one of the first drive member and the second drive member. The spring generates a force that is transmitted through the hub such that the clutch plates frictionally engage one another. The location of the transmission portion relative to the transmission axis is unaffected by wearing of the set of clutch plates. |
| US08307730B2 |
Transmission device
To provide a transmission device in which assembly of a shift spindle is improved. In the transmission device, a groove is formed on a shift spindle into an annular shape along the peripheral portion of the shift spindle. A positioning pin is mounted so as to be inserted through a through hole of a rear cover from the outside. The distal end of the positioning pin projecting inwardly of the rear cover is locked with the groove. A rib with which a spindle plate can come into abutment is formed on the inner side of the rear cover. The groove is arranged on the extension of the through hole in a state in which the spindle plate comes into abutment with the rib. |
| US08307726B2 |
Starter with compact structure
An electromagnetic switch is disclosed as having an electromagnetic switch, operative to open or close a main contact of a motor circuit, and a solenoid having a function to push a pinion gear to a position away from a motor. The electromagnetic switch and the solenoid are placed in series in a unitary structure such that the electromagnetic switch and the solenoid have a switch case and a solenoid case both of which are integrally formed with each other to be contiguous in an axial direction.Further, a stationary core for the electromagnet and a stationary core for the solenoid are integrally formed and an operational direction of a plunger for the electromagnet and an operational direction of a plunger for the solenoid are set to be opposite in direction. |
| US08307720B2 |
Device for determining a torque and/or a rotational angle of a shaft
A device for determining a torque and/or a rotational angle of a shaft, which has a circuit carrier, which is concentric to the shaft, and on which at least two current-conducting printed conductor sections are situated. The device additionally has one transducer element, which is concentric to the shaft and is rotatable in relation to the circuit carrier, having at least one first subarea made of electrically conductive material and at least one second subarea made of electrically nonconductive material. Upon application of a torque to the shaft, the transducer element rotates in relation to the circuit carrier, whereby an overlap area between the printed conductor sections and the first subarea(s) of the transducer element changes and thus a change in an inductance of the printed conductor sections occurs. |
| US08307708B2 |
RFID based thermal bubble type accelerometer and method of manufacturing the same
An RFID based thermal bubble type accelerometer includes a flexible substrate, an embedded system on chip (SOC) unit, an RFID antenna formed on the substrate and coupled to a modulation/demodulation module in the SOC unit, a cavity formed on the flexible substrate, and a plurality of sensing assemblies, including a heater and two temperature-sensing elements, disposed along the x-axis direction and suspended over the cavity. The two temperature-sensing elements, serially connected, are separately disposed at two opposite sides and at substantially equal distances from the heater. Two sets of sensing assemblies can be connected in differential Wheatstone bridge. The series-connecting points of the sensing assemblies are coupled to the SOC unit such that an x-axis acceleration can be obtained by a voltage difference between the connecting points. The x-axis acceleration can be sent by the RFID antenna to a reader after it is modulated and encoded by the modulation/demodulation module. |
| US08307706B2 |
Boat steering fluid sight gauge
A marine steering fluid system sight gauge comprises a hollow body having an annular first end, a second end, and a substantially transparent intermediate portion. The annular first end is externally threaded and screws into and sealingly engages against a threaded aperture of a marine steering fluid system. The second end is internally threaded and sealingly receives the threaded cylindrical plug of a marine steering fluid system cap. The hydraulic fluid level is periodically inspected by viewing the level of fluid in the transparent intermediate portion of the sight gauge. |
| US08307704B2 |
Apparatus and methods for gas volume retained coring
An apparatus for use in a wellbore may include a tool having a first section configured to receive a core and a second section configured to collect a gas escaping from the core. The apparatus may also include a sensor associated to provide signals relating to a property of gas. In one aspect, the second section may be removable and may be pressurized. The apparatus may also include a recorder that records data representative of the signals received from the sensor. The recorder may record data while the tool is retrieved from the wellbore. A method for estimating a parameter of interest of a formation includes retrieving a core from the formation, collecting a gas escaping from the core as the core is retrieved to the surface, and measuring at least one property of gas while the core is retrieved to the surface. |
| US08307701B2 |
Engine pulley testing device
An engine pulley testing device for detecting damaged engine pulleys featuring a first support arm and a second support arm pivotally connected via a pivot component. Lengths of the support arms are adjustable. A brace component connects the support arms and functions to temporarily secure the support arms a certain distance apart. A pulley pole extends through the pivot component such that the first support arm and second support arm pivot about the pulley pole via the pivot component. A top pulley is disposed on the pulley pole, a first bottom pulley is rotatably attached to the first support arm, and a second bottom pulley is rotatably attached to the second support arm. An engine belt can be wrapped around the first bottom pulley, the second bottom pulley, the top pulley, and a test pulley being tested in an engine. |
| US08307693B2 |
Devices, systems and method for calibration of systems
An injector system for use in injecting a fluid into a patient includes a communication system adapted to receive data from at least a first sensor that measures a value first variable. The communication system is also adapted to receive data from a calibrated sensor that measures a value the first variable. The injector system further includes a calibration system adapted to calibrate output from the first sensor in response to output from the calibrated sensor. An injector for use in injecting a fluid into a patient, includes a first sensor that measures a value first variable, a communication port adapted to receive data from a calibrated sensor that measures the value the first variable, and a controller adapted to compare data from the calibrated sensor with data from the first sensor and to calibrate output from the first sensor. The devices, systems and methods of the present invention are applicable to systems other than injection systems. For example, a method for calibrating a system (for example, an injector system) includes: placing a calibrated sensor in communication with the system; making a measurement of the value of at least a first variable with the calibrated sensor; transmitting the measured value from the calibrated sensor to the system via a data communication system in operative connection between the calibrated sensor and the system; making a measurement of the value of the first variable with a sensor of the system at approximately the same time as the measurement made with the calibrated sensor; comparing the value of the first variable measured with the calibrated sensor with the value of the first variable measured with the system sensor; and calibrating the output of the system sensor at least in part based upon the comparison. |
| US08307692B2 |
Calibration of dust load flow measuring systems
A method for calibrating a dust load flow measuring system is provided. The dust delivery line may be connected from a metering vessel to a calibration line leading to the input sluice in the delivery direction downstream of the installed dust load flow measuring device instead of to the gasification reactor. The input sluice is provided with a weighing unit such that the weight of the content of the input sluice is determined. A differential pressure that may be set is controlled between the metering vessel and the input sluice, the dust load flow is determined in a time interval. |
| US08307689B2 |
Discrete die
A discrete die for forming a three-dimensionally curved surface. The discrete die includes a frame and parallel pins which are individually movable in a first longitudinal direction relative to the frame. The pins are arranged in parallel rows and front ends of the pins define the three-dimensionally curved surface. Further included are substantially plate-shaped separating elements and at least one of which is situated between the rows. Also included are pressure elements for pressing against the rows of pins and configured to push off against the frame in the radial direction of the pins. A surface of some of the plate-shaped separating elements extends parallel to the first longitudinal direction, the surface being corrugated in the second longitudinal direction, at least during use of the discrete die. |
| US08307687B2 |
Metal plate material hot press molding apparatus and hot press molding method
A metal plate material hot molding apparatus is provided for press molding a heated metal plate material. The apparatus may include supply piping for a cooling medium in a mold, and ejection holes penetrating from a molding surface of the mold to the supply piping. The exemplary apparatus may also include discharge piping for the cooling medium situated in the mold, and discharge holes penetrating from the molding surface of the mold to the discharge piping, and cooling piping. Molding procedure can be performed while the cooling medium is ejected from the ejection holes to a gap between the metal plate material and the mold. |
| US08307686B1 |
Structure of roll-forming machine
A roll-forming machine formed of a machine base, a guide block unit, pairs of forming roll sets, a first adjustable shape-forming wheel set, a second adjustable shape-forming wheel set, a first lower auxiliary shape-forming wheel set, a second lower auxiliary shape-forming wheel set, an upper auxiliary shape-forming wheel set, a small straightener and a big straightener for the formation of a C-shaped component or a Z-shaped component from a sheet material is disclosed in such a manner that a wide space is provided around each of the adjustable shape-forming wheel assembly, the non-adjustable shape-forming wheel assembly and the adjustable shape-forming wheel set to facilitate maintenance work and, the coupling walls and sidewalls of the non-adjustable shape-forming wheel assembly and the adjustable shape-forming wheel set are mounted with respective pivot shafts and fastening members for quick positioning of the respective shape-forming wheels, assuring high stability and accurate processing. |
| US08307685B2 |
Multi-directionally swept beam, roll former, and method
A high-strength beam includes first and second sections bent in opposite directions as part of a roll-forming process. A frame includes side frame members incorporating the double-bent beam and at least one energy management tube attached to the beam. In one form, the beam is tubular and has a cross-sectional dimension of greater than 25 mm and a material strength of at least about 60 KSI tensile strength. A roll form apparatus includes a roll former device and a sweep station in-line with the roll former device for sweeping the continuous beam in first and second opposing directions. Also, a method of roll-forming comprises steps of: roll-forming a sheet of material into a continuous beam and sweeping first and second sections of the beam in opposite directions. |
| US08307681B2 |
Integrally rotating turbo machinery and method and apparatus for achieving the same
A method of inducing compressive residual stress of blading members integrally formed with a rotor. The method includes using a caliper-type burnishing tool such that the caliper arms of the tool are contoured and oriented for placing the burnishing elements on opposite sides of the blading member to be treated. The blading member is burnished to introduce a pre-determined pattern of residual compressive stresses in a selected area of the blade. |
| US08307679B2 |
Crimp validation using crimp force monitoring apparatus, systems and methods
A method monitoring crimping of a fitting onto a hose, or the like, includes monitoring fluid pressure for carrying out the crimp at discrete diameters of the crimp, during the crimp, and analyzing crimp data reflecting the fluid pressure with respect to the diameters of the crimp during the crimp to determine if the fluid pressure is above a minimum pressure at particular diameters during the crimp, below a maximum pressure during the particular diameters during the crimp, and/or varies significantly from earlier crimps, to determine if the crimp is acceptable. A system for monitoring crimping of a fitting onto a hose end or the like might include a pressure sensor deployed in conjunction with a crimper to measure fluid pressure employed by the crimper during the crimp, a die diameter monitor and, a controller operatively connected to the crimper and sensors. |
| US08307677B2 |
Key container with security liner
A key containment apparatus includes a key container having a pocket and a liner positioned in the pocket of the key container, the liner being shaped to receive a key. |
| US08307676B2 |
Openable and closable two-pronged body holding device
A two-pronged body restraining device includes a restraint unit provided at one end of an operating rod and a lock unit provided at the other end within the operating rod. The restraint unit includes a pair of griping members pivotably attached to a supporting member secured to the front end of a sliding bar. The sliding bar is slidably inserted into the operating rod and a pair of swinging plates, which are pivotably attached to a supporting element in which the sliding bar is slidably inserted. The lock unit is comprised of a rack-type engagement portion having saw-toothed projections, and a locking portion having a locking piece to be engaged with the rack-type engagement portion. The lock unit is configured to slide the sliding member only toward the rear end of the operating rod causing the pair of griping members to be closed when the supporting member is moved backwardly. |
| US08307675B2 |
Computer casing lock
A locking device for box-shaped containers (20) having a base and a separable cover each provided with an ear-like extension (20c; 20d) with openings, wherein in the lockable position the openings are in register one with respect to the other. The device comprises a block-shaped housing (10) with a key-operated mechanism (30) comprising a rotor. A slidable locking element is coupled to the rotor so that upon rotation of the rotor by 180° in one or the opposite directions by turning the key, a locking element slides over a certain distance in one or the opposite directions. A cavity is formed in the housing configured to accommodate therein both ear-like extensions (20c; 20d). For locking the container, the locking element is driven in the direction of and across the cavity and openings. |
| US08307673B2 |
Glass lampshade and method for producing the same
A glass lampshade comprising a fusion body of crystal grain glass, an upper crystal glass plate, a lower crystal glass plate, and a curing gel layer. The upper crystal glass plate is attached to the lower crystal plate via the curing gel layer. The fusion body of crystal grain glass is attached to the upper crystal glass plate. A method of producing the glass lampshade. |
| US08307669B2 |
Multi-channel flat tube evaporator with improved condensate drainage
A heat exchange tube includes a tubular member having a flattened cross-section and extending along a longitudinal axis, and a longitudinally extending condensate drain channel formed in an upper wall of the flattened tubular member. A heat exchanger includes a first and a second spaced apart and generally vertical longitudinally extending headers, a plurality of heat exchange tubes disposed in parallel, spaced relationship in a generally vertical array and extending longitudinally between the first header and the second header, and a condensate drain extending longitudinally along, the upper wall of at least one of the plurality of flattened heat exchange tubes. The condensate drain may comprise a longitudinally extending condensate drain channel formed in an upper wall of said flattened tubular member, and/or a series of condensate drain portals formed in the heat transfer fins in a base portion bounding to the upper external surface of at least one heat exchange tube. The condensate drain portals of neighboring heat transfer fins are aligned longitudinally to provide a series of longitudinally aligned condensate drain portals along the upper external surfaces of the heat exchange tubes. |
| US08307666B2 |
Methods and apparatus for providing rotational movement and thermal stability to a cooled sample
A method of rotating a sample for use in a cryocooler, having the steps of mounting a sample in a sample mounting apparatus, the apparatus comprising a housing having an outer wall surface, an inner wall surface, a mount attached to the inner wall surface for supporting the sample, and a motor for rotating the sample, and an exchange gas to provide thermal communication between the moving sample and the inner housing surfaces; sealing the housing by applying a sealant to adjoining parts of the housing such that the joints are air tight; evacuating the housing; adding an inert gas to the housing; sealing the inert gas in the housing; attaching the outer wall surface of the housing to a cryocooler; and rotating the sample by engaging the motor. Also disclosed is a cryogenic apparatus having a sample holder; a cryo-cooler; a thermal link connecting the sample holder and the cryo-cooler; and a motor attached to the sample holder for rotating a sample. |
| US08307665B2 |
Sample cooling apparatus
A sample cooling apparatus capable of cooling and holding samples or wafers at a cryogenic temperature with no vibration or drift with respect to a measurement reference surface is disclosed. In the sample cooling apparatus, a sample holder is arranged in a vacuum vessel mounted on a housing having a table for forming a measurement reference surface to be supported by a thermal insulator. A frame is disposed within the housing to be supported by a first buffer. A refrigerating machine is disposed in the frame to be supported by a second buffer and has a head directed to the vacuum vessel. The cooling head of the refrigerating machine is connected to the sample holder by way of a flexible thermal conduction member. |
| US08307664B2 |
Portable cooler with internal ice maker
A portable cooler including a sealable outer container, and a sealable inner container situated within the outer container. A first thermoelectric cooling device having a cooling panel and a heating panel is mounted on the wall of the outer container such that the cooling panel faces the interior of the sealable outer container and the heating panel faces outside of said sealable outer container. A second thermoelectric cooling device, also having a cooling panel and a heating panel, is mounted on the wall of the internal container such that the cooling panel faces the interior of the inner container and the heating panel faces outside of the sealable inner container into the interior of said sealable outer container. |
| US08307662B2 |
Gas turbine engine temperature modulated cooling flow
A gas turbine engine cooling system includes a heat exchanger in fluid communication with a source of cooling air, a first cooling circuit including a first heat exchanger circuit in the heat exchanger and a first bypass circuit with a first bypass valve for selectively bypassing at least a portion of first airflow around the first heat exchanger circuit. A second cooling circuit may be used having a second heat exchanger circuit in the heat exchanger and a shutoff control valve operably disposed in the second cooling circuit upstream of the second heat exchanger circuit and the heat exchanger. A circuit inlet of the first cooling circuit may be used to bleed a portion of compressor discharge bleed air for the first airflow to cool turbine blades mounted on a rotor disk using an annular flow inducer downstream of the first bypass valve and the heat exchanger. |
| US08307661B2 |
Small gas turbine engine with multiple burn zones
A small gas turbine engine for use in an UAV such as a cruise missile, the gas turbine having a combustor forming a primary burn zone and a secondary burn zone, and in which fuel is injected into both the primary and the secondary burn zones by either a rotary cup injector or a plurality of fuel injector nozzles. The secondary burn zone with separate fuel injection allows for the diameter of the engine to be reduced in size but still allow for adequate power and efficiency to be reached for powering the vehicle. Air flow from the compressor is used to cool the combustor walls before being injected into the combustor, and to pass through and cool the guide nozzles and a main bearing located near the hot section of the combustor prior to being introduced into the combustor. |
| US08307658B2 |
Flame holder for an afterburner duct of a jet engine with a spacer shoe, afterburner duct, and jet engine comprising an afterburner duct
A flame holder for an afterburner duct of a jet engine, including an arm in the form of a gutter forming a cavity, a shield for protecting the cavity of the arm from heat, and an air supply baffle housed in the cavity, is disclosed. The arm, the protective shield, and the air supply baffle are held together by a one-piece spacer shoe. |
| US08307654B1 |
Transition duct with spiral finned cooling passage
A transition duct for a gas turbine engine of the kind with can combustors, the transition duct is formed from an inner section and an outer section that form a spiral shaped cooling channel from an inlet end to an outlet end. The spiral channel includes a number of fins that extend into the cooling air passage. an annular plate with an annular arrangement of exit holes closes an aft end of the spiral cooling channel and forms an expansion chamber for the exit holes. |
| US08307651B2 |
Arrangement for exhaust gas heat utilization
The invention relates to an arrangement for exhaust gas heat utilization comprising a steam generator arrangement (20) to which exhaust gas is applied, in which heat contained in the exhaust gas can be transferred to a working medium for further utilization, characterized by a heat accumulator (38) to which the exhaust gas can be applied, and control means for controlling exhaust gas partial flows according to a value representing the available heat energy of the exhaust gas by the heat accumulator and the steam generator arrangement. The arrangement is operated by means of a method using the following steps: a) applying exhaust heat to a steam generator arrangement; b) if more exhaust heat is available than required for the steam generation: diverting an exhaust gas partial flow into a heat accumulator; c) if less exhaust gas heat is available than required for the steam generation, and if the temperature of the heat accumulator is higher than the temperature of the exhaust gas entering into the arrangement: conducting the exhaust gas flow through the heat accumulator and subsequently through the steam generator arrangement. |
| US08307641B2 |
Machine having selective ride control
A machine is provided with a first work arm, at least one first cylinder having a first lift chamber configured for receiving pressurized fluid so as to lift the first work arm, and a first accumulator associated with the first lift chamber of the first cylinder. The machine further includes a second work arm, at least one second cylinder having a second lift chamber configured for receiving pressurized fluid so as to lift the second work arm, and a second accumulator associated with the second lift chamber of the second cylinder. A control arrangement is provided for selectively fluidly connecting one or both of the first and second accumulators with the associated first and second lift chambers. |
| US08307633B2 |
Engine exhaust gas purification apparatus enabling accurate judgement of appropriate time for terminating NOx catalyst regeneration procedure
In an engine exhaust gas purification apparatus incorporating a LNT (lean NOx trap), during a NOx catalyst regeneration procedure for deoxidizing and removing accumulated sulfur from the LNT by producing a fuel-rich atmosphere in the exhaust system, the point at which to terminate the regeneration procedure is judged based on a difference between values of A/F ratio measured by sensors located respectively upstream and downstream from the LNT, with the regeneration being terminated when the difference falls below a predetermined threshold value. |
| US08307632B2 |
Post injection bucketing strategy to avoid hardware cavitation
An engine control system (18) causes fuel to be post-injected into combustion chambers by a “buffering” or “bucketing” strategy (instructions 100-111 in FIG. 3) to mitigate fuel system cavitation during regeneration of a diesel particulate filter (24). |
| US08307630B2 |
Engine exhaust system having a plurality of diesel particulate filters
An exhaust system for an internal combustion engine comprises a turbocharger, an exhaust pipe, a first diesel particulate filter, a second diesel particulate filter, and a flow control valve. The exhaust pipe has a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion. At least the second portion of the exhaust pipe comprises a plurality of fluid paths. The first diesel particulate filter is coupled to on one of the plurality of fluid paths between the second portion and the third portion of the exhaust pipe. The second diesel particulate filter is coupled to another of the plurality of fluid paths. The flow control valve is disposed within the second portion of the exhaust pipe. The flow control valve is response to an input signal indicative of an operating condition and is configured to control exhaust flow to the first diesel particulate filter and the second diesel particulate filter in response to the input signal. |
| US08307626B2 |
Auxiliary pump system for fan drive gear system
A pump system for lubricating a bearing in a gear system includes an auxiliary pump connected to the gear system. The auxiliary pump is fluidically connected to the bearing through an auxiliary supply passage and to a reservoir through an auxiliary scavenge passage. An auxiliary valve is fluidically connected to the auxiliary supply passage for transferring liquid from the auxiliary pump to the bearing when a pressure in the auxiliary supply passage downstream of the auxiliary valve is less than a particular threshold and for transferring liquid from the auxiliary pump to the reservoir when the pressure in the auxiliary supply passage downstream of the auxiliary valve is greater than the particular threshold. A method for circulating liquid is also included. |
| US08307622B2 |
Two-for-one twisting or cabling spindle
A two-for-one twisting or cabling spindle apparatus (1) with a supply bobbin (4) mounted on a pot base (2) of a stationary protective pot (3) and a spindle (6) arranged below the protective pot (3) to guide a yarn (5) to be processed during a twisting or cabling process. The spindle (6) is rotatably mounted by a lower bearing device (7) in a bearing housing (9) fixed on a spindle rail (8) and an upper bearing device (11) mounted to the stationary protective pot (3). The largest diameter (d) of the rotatably mounted spindle (6) is at least 10% less than the diameter (D) of a touching line (23) of the pot base (2) of the stationary protective pot (3) with the yarn (5). |
| US08307614B1 |
Support assembly and method
A support assembly for use in packaging and other purposes which includes a pivotable support member engaged by a pawl. The support assembly may move along a rail and collect articles thereagainst which are moving at a rate greater than the support assembly. Once the support member accumulates a predetermined number of articles, a pawl rotates and the support member pivots to allow the accumulated group of articles to pass thereby and be removed from the rail for packaging or other purposes. |
| US08307611B2 |
Strip-pack manufacturing apparatus
A strip-pack manufacturing apparatus is adapted to attach an end part of an article to a strip. The strip-pack manufacturing apparatus includes a holding part, first and second rollers, a stopper member and an adjusting part. The holding part is configured and arranged to hold and transport the article to a predetermined attaching position. The first and second rollers are arranged in a receiving position at which the holding part receives the article. The first and second rollers are configured and arranged to rotate while sandwiching the end part of the article therebetween. The stopper member is configured and arranged to control the position of the end part of the article that has been drawn by rotation of the first and second rollers to stop at a predetermined position. The adjusting part is configured and arranged to adjust a distance between rotation axes of the first and second rollers. |
| US08307602B2 |
Grate sunshade
An energy saving grate installed outside a building or structure in warm weather that reduces heating due to infrared radiation (IR) from sunlight. For a window application the grate acts as a sunshade to block or diffuse the IR and ultraviolet (UV) portions of sunlight while passing visible light. The grate cell size, depth, cell surface characteristics, and mounting details near the sash determine system performance of sunlight control, of the view through the grate, and of the exterior appearance. The grate is removable for cool weather. The grate system can cool various surfaces and requires no operating adjustments. It can be applied near most windows (including skylights) on all sides of a building where impinging sunlight causes unwanted heating. Compared to external solar thin mesh screens the grate system can provide more open area for a given performance in reduced IR heating. |
| US08307600B2 |
Mat connecting system
A fastening system for connecting mats is provided. The fastening system may include one or more features such as a hook and loop fastening system, a projection and trench fastening system, retainer and a tension strip securing system, and/or magnets to secure mats in place. |
| US08307597B2 |
Modular floor system
A modular floor system comprises modular floor panels and zippers that are fabricated in a manufacturing facility and subsequently installed in a facility. By virtue of being fabricated in the manufacturing facility the modular floor is subsequently installed in the sports facility with minimal labor and cost, while providing superior performance. |
| US08307595B2 |
Molded fiberglass sidelite assembly
The present relates to a sidelite assembly having first and second panels and a window. Each of the panels has an inner edge extending outwardly from a major planar portion and surrounding an opening. The inner edge includes a first portion having a ridge extending outwardly from a distal end thereof and a second portion having a channel extending inwardly from the distal end. An outer edge extends outwardly from the major planar portion and adjacent a periphery thereof, and includes a first portion having a ridge extending outwardly from a distal end thereof and a second portion having a channel extending inwardly from the distal end. The ridges of the first panel are aligned with and received in the channels of the second panel. The window is disposed within the opening. |
| US08307594B2 |
Toilet flapper and method
Disclosed are a toilet flapper and associated methods. In one representative embodiment, a flapper is provided having an upper side and a sealing side, the sealing side including a sealing surface. A dome protrudes from the sealing side at a middle of the sealing surface. Also, an opening of the dome is positioned in the upper side of the flapper. A float is employed with the flapper. |
| US08307591B2 |
Embedding unit for display devices
The invention relates to an embedding unit for display devices to be embedded in a building, comprising at least one receptacle for a medical display device. |
| US08307589B2 |
Segmented dock seals for truck loading docks and associated systems and methods
Segmented dock seals for truck loading docks are described herein. An elongate, compressible pad member for use with a loading dock seal is positioned to compliantly conform to an aft end of a trailer positioned proximate to an opening in a building. The pad member includes a body portion having a front side and a back side. The body portion is composed of a compressible foam material. The pad member further includes a plurality of individual fingers projecting away from the front side of the body portion. The individual fingers are integral with the body portion and are spaced apart from each other. |
| US08307588B2 |
Flexible structures for use with dock seals and shelters
Flexible structures for use with dock seals and shelters are disclosed. An example flexible structure includes an elongate flexible panel assembly having first and second longitudinal edges and at least one flexible thin-walled member having a length along a longitudinal axis of the elongate flexible panel assembly. The at least one flexible thin-walled member is configured to have a cross-sectional geometry that provides sufficient rigidity to enable the elongate flexible panel assembly to be cantilevered from a surface via the first longitudinal edge without substantial deformation of the cross-sectional geometry of the at least one flexible thin-walled member along the length of the at least one flexible thin-walled member. |
| US08307585B2 |
Frictional damper for damping movement of structures
The invention is a damper and a method for protecting buildings and similar structural systems from dynamic loading such as loading caused by earthquakes, strong winds or machine vibrations. More specifically, the damper is made from structural members being interconnected in frictional or visco-elastically dampened rotational joints. Due to the dampening of the joints, relative movement between the structural elements is dampened. In particular, the damper is useful for base isolation, e.g., in order to allow a building or a machine to move in a dampened movement relative to its foundation or in order to allow a cable stay of a cable stay bridge to move in a dampened movement relative to its fixation point on the bridge. |
| US08307582B2 |
Shower enclosure design and assembly methods using prefabricated shower benches
Methods and apparatus for creating a shower or bath enclosure, in which, given a predetermined area in which to create the shower or bath, a given prefabricated water proof bath or shower floor module is too small to occupy the entire available enclosure space. The apparatus includes the use of one or more additional enclosure components, such as one or more shower benches, to occupy a space between an edge or edges of the floor module and the exterior boundary(ies) of the enclosure space. |
| US08307580B2 |
Spectrally selective grow tube
A biodegradable spectrally selective grow tube or tree shelter that improves the establishment of woody plant forms by reduction and/or elimination of certain biotic and abiotic stress factors. The grow tube may provide an enhanced micro climate that is humid, CO2-replenished and promotes photosynthesis by selectively propagating photosynthetically active radiation. In addition to providing a physical barrier to wind and herbivores, certain embodiments of the grow tube can also provide protection from chemical sprays while permitting ventilation of the grow tube. Various embodiments of the spectrally selective grow tube may comprise separate interior and exterior members for enhancement of the interior and exterior surface functions and that may be constructed from a biodegradeable polymer or paper-based material. The interior member can be dyed or pigmented to selectively transmit wavelengths of the visible spectrum known to promote photosynthesis, such as red light and/or blue light. |
| US08307578B1 |
Gun magazine-clip finger-tip supplemental-release tool
A handy time-saving finger-tip device facilitating more convenient release of an magazine-clip from a gun such as an AR-15 rifle, some of which magazine/release-buttons are configured with a statute-mandated recessed sub-button therein, heretofore requiring dexterous insertion of a separate pocket-carried cylindrical probe-tool. The notion hereof being to supplement actuation of the present awkwardly operating release-button, with a more convenient and reliable release device referred to as the MagMagnet™, which I set forth herein in two iterations. The first embodiment preferably being an index-finger stall adapted with an insertion-pin; while my second embodiment is a self-retaining version, which attaches directly into the existing magazine/release sub-button instead of being retained upon the shooter's index-finger. Both iterations serving the common purpose of enabling the gun user at a firing-range to more efficiently dispatch the spent magazine-clip for a loaded one, in a safer and substantially more efficient time-&-motion manner, whereby the target-shooter is enabled to more safely maintain their attention down-range, without the distraction of fumbling for a possibly misplaced probe-tool by which to actuate the mandated BulletButton®. |
| US08307576B1 |
Firearm support apparatus
A firearm support apparatus has a table element having legs for supporting the table element in a generally horizontal configuration, a forward cradle assembly mounted on a forward portion of the table element, and a rearward cradle assembly mounted on a rearward portion of the table element. The forward cradle assembly may comprise a mounting post, an adjustment plate mounted on the mounting collar and extending laterally therefrom, and a pair of adjustment collars mounted on the adjustment plate laterally spaced from one another. A lateral adjustment rod has ends engaged with the adjustment collars, and an externally threaded median portion threadedly engaged with an adjustment slide. A forward cradle is mounted on an adjustment slide for adjustable mounting a forward part of the rifle. |
| US08307571B1 |
Ladies shoes having multiple different configurations
A shoe system for providing multiple usable shoes with a reduced inventory of shoes comprising one or more top shoes that are wearable by themselves essentially having a relatively flat sole area and a separate shoe base that includes a high heeled shape end portion and a upper surface that is recessed around its periphery said top shoes each having a raised sole portion that fits snuggly into the recessed portion of the shoe base for a friction engagement and a plurality of fasteners attached to the top shoe and the shoe base for firmly attaching a pair of top shoes to the shoe base thereby greatly increasing the wardrobe potential and number of shoes available for different occasions. |
| US08307570B2 |
Attachment system for shoe uppers
A system for attaching a shoe upper to a shoe bottom through the use of elastic loops attached to the perimeter edge of the upper, the elastic loops being fitted to corresponding channels molded into the sidewall and lower surface of the shoe bottom. Easy attachment and removal of the shoe upper allows for replacement of the shoe upper with an alternative upper of a different color, pattern, or structure. |
| US08307569B2 |
Training footwear
Articles of footwear are disclosed. In one embodiment, an article of footwear comprises a sole having a forefoot portion and a heel portion. The sole comprises a midsole, an intermediate sole, and a ground contacting surface. At least a portion of the intermediate sole extends from the midsole such that a forefoot bulge substantially covers the forefoot portion of the ground contacting surface and a heel bulge substantially covers the heel portion of the ground contacting surface. |
| US08307563B2 |
Device and method for aligning one or more wires in a plane
Device and method for precisely aligning at least one wire in a plane projecting from a surface on which an end of the wire is anchored. The wire in taut position is held by a fastener rigidly connected to an inclinometer capable of measuring an inclination of the wire. The inclinometer is connected to a mobile member of a structure by a joint having elements articulated with respect to each other in order to allow a relative angular displacement of the elements. The mobile member is movable with respect to the surface in order to allow a positioning of the wire in the plane according to the inclination of the wire measured by the inclinometer free to turn freely according to an axis of the wire. The device is adaptable for aligning two wires forming a precise reference plane. |
| US08307562B2 |
Laser line generator having three intersecting light planes
An improved laser line generating device is provided for use in construction layout tasks. The laser line generating device is comprised of a first laser light generator operable to emit from a housing a first plane of light having a fan angle greater than 180° and arranged in the housing to project the first plane of light perpendicular to a horizontal plane; and a second laser light generator operable to emit from the housing a second plane of light having a fan angle greater than 180° and arranged in the housing to project the second plane of light perpendicular to the first plane of light and perpendicular to the horizontal plane, such that the first plane of light intersects with the second plane of light at two points. |
| US08307561B2 |
Jig and method for measuring runout of flange surface of hub unit
There is provided a jig for measuring a runout of a flange surface of a hub unit adapted to be fitted between a plurality of plate-shaped projecting portions of a road wheel mounting flange of a deformed type including the plurality of plate-shaped projecting portions. The projecting portions are formed on an outer circumferential surface of a hub wheel serving as a rotating side member of a road wheel hub unit so as to project radially. Each of the projecting portions has a bolt insertion hole in a distal end portion thereof. The jig is positioned adjacent to a flange surface of the projecting portions so as to form an annular continuous surface. |
| US08307558B2 |
Line holding system for fixed line trimmer head
In an embodiment, at least one pair cleats is provided. The two cleats of each pair are symmetrically arranged about a passageway for trimmer line. The two cleats of each pair allow trimmer line to be inserted through an entrance port with relatively little (if any) hindrance. However, the cleats grip the trimmer line preventing the trimmer line from being removed via the entrance port when the trimmer line is pulled from the entrance port (e.g., during use).In an embodiment, a trimmer head is provided with an exit port on the top of the trimmer head, which is for removing trimmer line by pulling the trimmer line through the exit port. The trimmer head uses a fixed length of trimmer line, which may be loaded with new trimmer line by inserting the trimmer line into an entrance port until one end of the trimmer line reaches the exit port. |
| US08307554B1 |
Catcher for hedge trimmer
A clippings catcher that attaches to a trimmer having a guard and motor driven reciprocating cutting blades for catching vegetation clippings regardless of the direction in which the trimmer is moved when cutting vegetation, and having a section of flexible fabric configured to result in a desired billowing of the fabric which enables an effective structure for catching vegetation clippings regardless of the direction in which the trimmer is moved while avoiding interference between the fabric and the blades of the trimmer. |
| US08307553B2 |
Razor cartridge
A razor cartridge has a frame, a razor blade resiliently mounted in the frame, a cartridge retainer disposed around a portion of a periphery of the frame; and a separable lubrication articulately connected to the frame and selectively moveable between a forward position and a locked position. The cartridge retainer has a first portion that includes a surface that defines a skin engaging surface when the separable lubrication is in the locked position and second portions at opposed ends of the first portion that retain the blade in the frame and include means to fixedly attach the cartridge retainer to the frame. |
| US08307548B2 |
Method of making a fiber reinforced printed circuit board panel and a fiber reinforced panel made according to the method
A method of making a printed circuit board panel, a printed circuit board panel made according to the method, and a system incorporating a printed circuit board provided onto the panel. The printed circuit board panel has a panel top edge, a panel bottom edge parallel to the panel top edge, and two parallel panel side edges, and further includes a first set of fiber bundles extending at the predetermined angle with respect to the panel side edges, and a second set of fiber bundles extending at the predetermined angle with respect to the panel top edge. |
| US08307538B2 |
Method for manufacturing head gimbal assembly, and method for manufacturing hard disk drive
A method for manufacturing an head gimbal assembly (HGA) according to the present invention is comprised of: a step for preparing a thin film piezoelectric actuator including a first piezoelectric laminate having a first piezoelectric layer, and a second piezoelectric laminate having a second piezoelectric layer; a step for preparing a suspension; a fixing step for fixing the thin film piezoelectric actuator to the suspension; a first repolarization treatment step for performing repolarization treatment to the first piezoelectric layer after the fixing step; and a second repolarization treatment step for performing repolarization treatment to the second piezoelectric layer after the fixing step. |
| US08307537B1 |
Method of using a tooling mandrel for assembling a disk drive
A method of using a tooling mandrel for assembling a disk drive is described. The method includes providing a head stack assembly including a shaft with an engagement feature, and providing the tooling mandrel including two tooling fingers, one of which is movable. The movable tooling finger is moved between a first configuration in which respective distal tips of the tooling fingers are insertable into and removable from the engagement feature and a second configuration in which the distal tips engage the engagement feature. The tooling mandrel further includes a tooling finger spreader coupled to the movable tooling finger to selectively move the movable tooling finger between the first and second configurations. The method further includes locating the distal tips at least partially within the engagement feature with the tooling fingers in the first configuration, and moving the movable tooling finger to the second configuration to engage the shaft. |
| US08307534B2 |
Method of forming a coupled coil arrangement
A method of forming an encapsulated coupled coil arrangement. The method includes coupling a first lead of a first coil to a second lead of an electrical circuit device, by soldering or infusion, using a superconductive jointing alloy; and encapsulating the first coil, the electrical circuit device and the jointed leads of the first coil and the electrical circuit device in an encapsulation material. The jointing alloy has a melting point higher than a highest temperature experienced by the encapsulation material having the encapsulation process. |
| US08307533B2 |
Method of making sealed rolled pole housing for an electric motor
A method of making a pole housing for an electric motor is provided. The pole housing may be used in both sealed and unsealed applications. |
| US08307522B2 |
Machine tool and pallet standby station
A machine tool and pallet standby station using a crane for changing a pallet between a table or pallet mounting table (27) of the machine tool and the pallet standby station are provided. The table (27) includes a plurality of guide pins (31) having tapered front ends, a plurality of elevatable lift pins (35) having spherical front ends, and a plurality of taper cones (37) having tapered outer peripheral surfaces. On the other hand, the pallet (P) includes at least two brackets (39) attached so as to project in the side directions from the two side surfaces of the pallet, and each bracket is formed with a guide hole (41) into which a guide pin (31) is inserted for rough positioning of the pallet. Further, the bottom of the pallet (P) is formed with a plurality of locate holes (45) having tapered inner peripheral surfaces and engaging with the spherical front ends of the lift pins for precision positioning of the pallet and a plurality of taper holes (47) having shapes complementary with the taper cones (37) and engaging with the taper cones for final positioning of the pallet. |
| US08307520B2 |
Hinge without shaft and method for producing the same
The present invention relates to a shaftless hinge comprising two hinge plates where shaft bushes are disposed on confronting sides of the two hinge plates; each of the shaft bushes on one of the hinge plates is disposed with an extension section at one end thereof; the extension section inserts into and pivotally articulated with one of the shaft bushes of an other one of the hinge plates respectively. The present invention also relates to a manufacturing method of the shaftless hinge, comprising the following steps: (1) Form blanks of two hinge plates on a flat strip material by punching, where shaft bush sections with projections are formed on one of them and shaft bush sections are formed on an other one; (2) Curl the shaft bush sections of one hinge plate first to form shaft bushes with extension sections and the extension sections are formed from the projections in Step (1); fold the two hinge plates towards each other so that the substantially cylindrical extension sections of the curled shaft bushes are positioned towards the shaft bush sections on the other hinge plate; (3) Curl the shaft bush sections of the other hinge plate so that shaft bushes are formed; the shaft bushes enclose the extension sections in Step (2). The present invention has simple and reasonable structure and is safe and reliable to use. The manufacturing process of the present invention is simple with high processing accuracy and low costs. |
| US08307518B2 |
Anti-theft zipper head
An anti-theft zipper head includes a head member and a handle. The head member includes a zipper groove for engaging a zipper. The handle is connected with the head member. The head member further includes an elastic piece. The elastic piece is configured for engaging the zipper and thereby confining the movement of the head member on the zipper. The handle includes a push switch. The push switch is configured to control the elastic piece to extend into the zipper groove so as to engage the zipper, or to withdraw from the zipper groove so as to be disengaged with the zipper. |
| US08307513B1 |
Door hinge with integrated preset stops
A hinge for a swinging door. The hinge includes first and second leafs, each having knuckles, and a pin which rotatably attaches the first and second leafs together. The first knuckle of the first leaf includes a detent, the first knuckle of the second leaf includes first, second, and optionally third, channels, and the pin includes first and second ribs. The first rib is positioned within a desired channel thereby fixing the relative position between the pin and second leaf and predetermining the swing range of the door, which is restricted when the detent engages the first rib. The second rib acts as a spacer to keep the pin from moving away from and over the detent when the door has reached its predetermined swing range. In this fashion, the hinge limits the swing range of a door to keep the door from striking an adjacent wall. |
| US08307512B2 |
Hinge apparatus and attachment member for the same
One end portion and the other end portion of the first link 51 are respectively rotatably connected to a first housing side attachment member 11 and a second housing side attachment member 21. Upper and lower side portions of one end portion of the second link 61 are respectively rotatably connected to the first and second housing side attachment members 11, 21. Upper and under side portions of the other end portion of the second link 61 are respectively rotatably connected to the first and second door side attachment members 31, 41. One end portion and the other end portion of the third link 71 are respectively rotatably connected to the second housing side attachment member 21 and the second door side attachment member 41. The first, second and third links 51, 61, 71 are arranged to be spaced from one another in the direction of rotation axes thereof. |
| US08307511B2 |
Swivel-hinge assembly with rotation limiting peg
A swivel-hinge assembly includes a main plate, a knuckle on the main plate, a first pivot shaft rotatably engaged in the knuckle, at least one end of the first pivot shaft exposed out of the knuckle and a peg positioned on the end of the first pivot shaft exposed out of the knuckle. The peg includes a limiting portion protruding out of the first pivot shaft and abutting an edge of the knuckle, wherein when the first pivot shaft is rotated and reaches a predetermined position the limiting portion of the peg abuts the main plate thereby preventing further rotation of the first pivot shaft. |
| US08307508B2 |
Hinge assembly for portable electronic devices
A hinge assembly for pivotably coupling a cover section and a body section comprise a first coupling element, a second coupling element including a first latching block and a second latching block spaced from the first latching block, the first latching block and the second latching block being configured for latching with the cover section, and an elastic element. One end of an elastic element is fixed to the first coupling element, another end of the elastic element is fixed to the second coupling element. |
| US08307504B2 |
Breakaway hinge receptacle
A breakaway hinge receptacle includes a base including first and second hinge arm mounting structures. The second hinge arm mounting structure is movable between an operative position and a breakaway position. A breakaway lever is connected to the base and includes inner and outer ends, wherein the inner end is operatively engaged with the second hinge arm mounting structure. A spring is operatively engaged between the breakaway lever and the base. The spring biases the breakaway lever to a first position in which the inner end of the breakaway lever biases the second mounting structure to its operative position. The second hinge arm mounting structure is selectively movable from its operative position to its breakaway position against the biasing force exerted by the inner end of said breakaway lever and the spring. Alternatively, the second hinge arm mounting structure is defined by or is connected to or is otherwise included on the inner end of the breakaway lever. |
| US08307502B2 |
Integrated hinge assembly
A hinge assembly includes a first member configured to be coupled to a door, a second member configured to be pivotally coupled to the first member, the second member having first and second mounting surfaces, and a mounting bracket configured to be coupled to the body. The mounting bracket may be at least partially located between the first and second mounting surfaces, and the second member may be adjustable relative to the mounting bracket to enable adjustment of the door relative to the body. |
| US08307500B2 |
Convertible wheeled luggage handle
A convertible wheeled luggage handle comprises a housing holding a movable swivel handle, and the swivel handle is locked from moving outside the housing by a spring-loaded detent pin engaging a hole, and this detent pin can be raised from the hole freeing the swivel handle to pivot outside the housing by a retainer pin driven through the width of the swivel handle at the housing, and each end of this retainer pin protrudes slightly from each side of the swivel handle, and these protruding ends correspondingly sit into two accommodating slide members located along opposite lengths of the walls locking the swivel handle to the housing, besides locking and being the pivot point for the swivel handle these protruding pin-ends from the retainer pin have the additional function of sliding the swivel handle along the slide members in order to position the swivel handle outside/perpendicular to the housing. |
| US08307498B2 |
Damping device for damping an opening and/or closing motion of a furniture fitting
The invention relates to a damping device for damping an opening and/or closing motion of a furniture fitting. The damping device includes a restoring mechanism, by which an actuating element of the damping device can be moved into a starting position of the subsequent damping stroke after damping has been carried out. The location of the starting position of the actuating element can be set relative to the damping device by an adjusting unit. The actuating element of the damping device is rotatably supported, and the adjusting unit can be used to adjustably limit the restoring stroke of the actuating element relative to the damping device. |
| US08307497B2 |
Soft-closing device for a sliding door
A soft-closing device has a base, a cylinder, a slider and a resilient member. The base has a track channel and at least one guiding channel. The cylinder is mounted in the base and has a housing and an expansion rod. The slider is mounted slidably in the track channel, is connected pivotally to the expansion rod and has two holding arms, a positioning pin and a holding recess defined between the holding arms. The positioning pin is mounted slidably in the at least one guiding channel. The resilient member has two ends connected respectively with the base and the slider. |
| US08307492B2 |
Linking device including turning limitation means
The invention provides a device for linking (10) a windscreen wiper blade with an arm driving the wiper blade into a wiping movement, which is connected to a connector (12) for the joint-mounting of the wiper blade with the arm about a transversal axis (A), the linking device (10) being fastened to the wiper blade and being mobile for pivoting with respect to the connector (12) about said transversal axis (A), characterized in that the linking device (10) includes a portion (30) able to abut against a component (24) of the connector (12) for limiting the amplitude of the pivoting of the linking device (10) with respect to the connector (12) about the transversal axis (A). |
| US08307487B2 |
Cleaning device for cleaning turf
The invention relates to a cleaning device particularly for grassed areas. The cleaning device includes a cylindrical brush in contact with a rear roller to clean the roller. The brush can be adjusted to a working height relative to the chassis of the device, along an arcuate path having a center situated on the longitudinal axis of the roller. |
| US08307483B2 |
Waterproof footwear with elastic connecting band
Shoe upper having a lower end of the upper, an outer material with a lower end (19) of the outer material, a waterproof functional layer (16), which has a lower end region of the functional layer with a functional layer zone (20) not covered by outer material, and a connecting band (17), which extends in the direction of the periphery of the upper, has a upper longitudinal side (23) of the connecting band, joined to the end (19) of the outer material, and a lower longitudinal side (25) of the connecting band, at least partially overlaps the functional layer zone (20) and consists of liquefiable sealing material or of material through which liquid sealing material (37; 41) can flow, the connecting band (17) having at points of curvature of the lower end (19) of the outer material an arcuate shape corresponding to the local radius of curvature, with different degrees of curvature of the two longitudinal sides (23, 25) of the connecting band, in such a way that, for an arc sector lying in the respective curvature, with a predetermined unitary sector angle, the arc lengths belonging to this arc sector of the two longitudinal sides (23) of the connecting band differ from each other all the more the greater the curvature in the arc sector respectively being considered. |
| US08307479B2 |
Hospital bed
A hospital bed includes a frame including connected first and second sections, a head plate connected to the first section of the frame, a tail plate connected to the second section of the frame, a first lifting unit for lifting and lowering the first section of the frame relative to the head plate, a second lifting unit for lifting and lowering the second section of the frame relative to the tail plate, an axle connected to the first lifting unit, a crank connected to the second lifting unit, a hanger for hanging the axle to the frame, and a gear assembly for connecting the axle to the crank so that the crank is operable to spin the axle to actuate the first and second lifting units. |
| US08307478B2 |
Disposable comfort sheet
A disposable comfort sheet has a waterproof layer and an absorbent layer, with adhesive strips applied to the waterproof layer along side edges. The sheet is adapted for use with a patient transfer device having upper and lower counter-rotating belts, and protects the upper belt against contamination. The patient transfer device may have registration marks for installation of the sheet, and indicator marks can be printed at predetermined locations on the waterproof layer for alignment with the registration marks. The sheet may include various means for indicating prior use by a patient, such as an ink pattern made of a heat-sensitive or moisture-sensitive ink. The sheet may further include a peel-away layer releasably bonded to the absorbent layer, with additional longitudinal adhesive strips applied to the side edges of the peel-away layer. The peel-away layer protects the lower belt against contamination from the sheet after a patient is delivered. |
| US08307477B2 |
Bed rail
Bed rail for children, comprising a grid element being releasably attachable, wherein the grid element, in an attached state, is extending along an edge of a bed above a resting area, wherein the grid element can be releasably connected with a mounting base via a locking member, the mounting base being positionable under the resting area. |
| US08307476B1 |
Beach towel with built-in pillow
An apparatus for placement on the ground includes a pouch with a removable pillow that is preferably made of a memory foam type of material. A top sheet is formed of a desired flexible fabric material for comfort. The top sheet is extended to form the pouch. A preferred material for the top sheet includes a cotton cloth or cotton blend of fabric. A water resistant bottom sheet is optionally disposed or laminated under the top sheet and is used to keep the top sheet dry when the apparatus is placed on a damp surface. A plastic film or any flexible material resistant to the passage of moisture can be used as the bottom sheet. An extension sheet portion is optionally provided that can be extended along the plane of the ground surface beyond the pillow to provide additional ground cover for the placement of objects, thereon, which keeps the objects dry and away from sand or dirt The use of buttons is preferred for closure of the pouch, closure of the apparatus into a folded state for transport, and for attachment of an optional detachable carrying strap. |
| US08307474B2 |
Transfer trolley
A lifting element for use with a transfer trolley, the element comprising: a support member having a support surface and a sheath attached to the support member such that, in an initial configuration, a first portion of the support surface is covered by the sheath and a second portion thereof is uncovered, wherein the sheath is operable to be inflated so as to cause the sheath to extend and evert, insinuating itself under a load in order to support the load, and, after inflation, the support member and the sheath may be moved with respect to each other so that the support member extends further into the sheath, the second portion of the support surface is covered by the sheath and the support surface at least partially supports the load. |
| US08307473B1 |
Patient transfer device
A patient transfer device including a retractable wheel assembly, a caster brake and a track extension is provided. The retractable wheel assembly can include a cammed linkage arm operatively coupled to a retractable wheel. As the patient transfer device moves downwardly over a step, the cammed linkage arm can bear against the step, rotating the retractable wheel to a stowed position. The caster brake and the track extension can cooperate to stabilize the patient transfer device at the top and bottom of a stairway, respectively. The caster brake and the track extension can each include a high-friction engagement surface that is vertically offset from the respective caster and track. The retractable wheel assembly, caster brake and track extension can improve the control the patient transfer device along level, ramped and stepped surfaces, particularly for operators lacking sufficient training or experience. |
| US08307472B1 |
Light emitting diode system
A housing has an upper component formed of an upper plate and a periphery. The upper plate has an upper central aperture. The housing has a lower component formed of a lower plate and a periphery. The lower plate has a lower central aperture. An annular printed circuit board is positioned within the housing. A plurality of light emitting diodes are secured to the printed circuit board and extend downwardly therefrom. A plurality of equally spaced small apertures in the lower plate of the lower component each receive one of the light emitting diodes for providing light. |
| US08307471B2 |
Bather movement apparatus
Bather movement apparatus for use with a sidewall opening bath enclosure generally includes a chaise, a stanchion having a stirrup for supporting the chaise along with a pivot post extending exterior to the bath enclosure and a pivot arm interconnecting the pivot post and stanchion for enabling arcuate movement of the chaise between a bathing position within the bath enclosure and a doorway position outside of the bath enclosure. The movement of the chaise passes the chaise through the bath enclosure side opening. |
| US08307468B2 |
Air blasting devices for plumbing purposes to clean, clear, unclog, or unstop drains or pipes
An improved plunger comprises a generally V-shaped handle attached to a top distal end of a shaft. The handle comprises two mirrored arms that face inwards from a base so that neither of them nor the shaft shares a vertical or a horizontal plane. The handle is removably detachable from the plunger so that it can be washed, disinfected, and sanitized. At least one extension shaft portion extends a height of the shaft when it is not collapsed into and housed in the hollow shaft. |
| US08307462B1 |
Bath towel bib
A bath towel bib including a collar adapted to form a releasably securable loop around a user's neck, an actuatable means for releasing the loop from around the user's neck, and an absorbent cloth fixedly attached to the collar and operatively arranged to hang from the collar in front of the user's torso when the loop is releasably secured around the user's neck, wherein the actuatable means for releasing the loop from around the user's neck is operatively arranged to actuate when the absorbent cloth is pulled in a direction away from the user's neck. The bath towel bib is particularly adapted for use while bathing a pet, in a system for bathing a pet including the bath towel bib, a bathing receptacle, and a bath mat. The bath towel bib is arranged to receive a pet from a bath, while allowing the bather to keep her hands free. |
| US08312559B2 |
System and method of wireless security authentication
A wireless security authentication system comprises a wireless element configured to determine validity of a user credential to enable use of a computing system, the wireless element powered by inductive coupling. |
| US08312552B1 |
Method and system for rendering watermarked content
Methods and systems for rendering watermarks in a computer system are provided. One technique renders a content unit based on a call from an application, and renders a watermark for the content based on a call from a tool separate from the application. Another technique for rendering a watermark for content displayed on a display screen renders the content via a content window on the display, and renders the watermark via another window on the display that overlays at least a portion of the content window. |
| US08312550B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for processing rights
A method for processing rights granted to an operator of a device or a group of devices using a rights object, wherein the method comprises at least the steps of receiving a rights object from the computer of a third party, generating at least one derived rights object based on the rights object received from the computer of the third party, and forwarding the at least one derived rights object to the device or individual devices from the group of devices. A system is provided which operates in accordance with the method. An apparatus that performs the method is also provided. |
| US08312548B1 |
Volume metadata update system for antivirus attributes
A volume metadata manager manages volume metadata including antivirus attributes. When a volume is to be relocated, the volume metadata manager updates a generation indicator in volume-level metadata for the volume but does not update a generation indicator in file-level metadata for a file in the volume. After the volume is relocated, the volume metadata manager updates the generation indicator and antivirus attributes of the file when the file is requested for access. |
| US08312546B2 |
Systems, apparatus, and methods for detecting malware
Various embodiments, including a method comprising creating a first fuzzy fingerprint of a known malware file, the first fuzzy fingerprint including a first set of calculated complexity approximations and weightings for each of a plurality of blocks within the known malware file, creating a second fuzzy fingerprint of a file to be checked, the second fuzzy fingerprint including a second set of calculated complexity approximations and weightings for each of a plurality of blocks within the file to be checked, comparing the second fuzzy fingerprint to the first fuzzy fingerprint, calculating a similarity probability for each of the block-wise comparisons, the calculation including a respective weightings for each of the plurality of blocks within the known malware file and for each of the plurality of blocks within the file to be checked, and the calculation including a distance between the compared blocks; and calculating an overall similarity probability for the plurality of blocks compared. |
| US08312545B2 |
Non-signature malware detection system and method for mobile platforms
A system and method for detecting malware on a mobile platform in a mobile network. The system and method verifies that an executable is malware-free by computing the checksum of the executable and comparing that checksum with a checksum obtained from a malware-free copy of the executable. The checksum is a sum of all 32-bit values in a code section and an import section of said executable, a byte sequence at an entry point in said executable, a size descriptor of an import table, a size descriptor of said import section, a cyclic redundancy check of said executable, or a combination thereof. |
| US08312536B2 |
Hygiene-based computer security
A reputation server is coupled to multiple clients via a network. Each client has a security module that detect malware at the client. The security module computes a hygiene score based on detected malware and provides it to the reputation server. The security module monitors client encounters with entities such as files, programs, and websites. When a client encounters an entity, the security module obtains a reputation score for the entity from the reputation server. The security module evaluates the reputation score and optionally cancels an activity involving the entity. The reputation server computes reputation scores for the entities based on the clients' hygiene scores and operations performed in response to the evaluations. The reputation server prioritizes malware submissions from the client security modules based on the reputation scores. |
| US08312534B2 |
System and method for securely clearing secret data that remain in a computer system memory
A system, method, and program product is provided that initializes a counter maintained in a nonvolatile memory of a security module to an initialization value. The security module receives requests for a secret from requesters. The security module releases the secret to the requesters and the released secrets are stored in memory areas allocated to the requesters. A counter is incremented when the secret is released. Requestors send notifications to the security module indicating that the requestor has removed the secret from the requestor's memory area. The security module decrements the counter each time a notification is received. When the computer system is rebooted, if the counter is not at the initialization value, the system memory is scrubbed erasing any secrets that remain in memory. |
| US08312530B2 |
System and method for providing security in a network environment using accounting information
According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing security in a network environment that includes receiving a flow that propagates through an access gateway. The flow is initiated by an end user associated with the flow and propagates through a network. The method also includes receiving accounting information indicative of the termination of the flow. In response, tearing down of the communication associated with the flow is initiated. |
| US08312529B2 |
Global network computers
A microchip for a computer configured to connect to a one network of computers, the microchip comprising: a first internal hardware-based firewall, the first internal hardware-based firewall configured to deny access to a portion of the microchip from the network; a general purpose microprocessor including at least two general purpose cores or general purpose processing units; a first core or processing unit is located inside of the first internal hardware-based firewall; a second core or processing unit is located outside of at the first internal hardware-based firewall; the second core or processing unit is separate from the first internal hardware-based firewall; and a memory component located inside of a second internal hardware-based firewall that is located between said memory component and a core or processing unit with which said memory component is associated. The microchip can also include a plurality of dies. |
| US08312527B2 |
Authentication system and method including image forming apparatus
The present invention enables any authentication for a plurality of authentication methods with an authentication server for storing management data on a user. The present invention uses one of set information for logging in with an IC card and user input information from operation means in the case of logging in to a directory server; requests the directory server from a Kerberos authentication operation part for a service ticket; requests the directory server from an LDAP communication operation part for authentication with the service ticket obtained by the relevant request; and requests the directory server from the authentication processing functioning part for a search for granting use of the relevant MFP to a user with one of card information read by a card reader and a user name of user input information in the case where authentication to the directory server by the relevant request is successful. |
| US08312526B2 |
Method and system for delegating authority with restricted access right in an online collaborative environment
A method and system to delegate an authority to access collaborative resources are provided. The system enables a participant to re-delegate the authority to another participant by an authorization certificate. A chain of the authorization certificate is established along with the re-delegation of the authority from one participant to another. The participant requesting access to the collaborative resources is requested to provide the owner with the chain of authorization certificate for verification. Therefore, the re-delegation process may be performed without the need to notify the owner and yet without comprising the security of the collaborative resources. In addition, the system provides for restricting the participant from accessing the collaborative resources. Consequently, though the participant may not have access to the collaborative resources, he is still able to re-delegate the authority to another participant. |
| US08312525B2 |
Authentication over a network using one-way tokens
A method for authenticating an entity at a first data resource, the method comprising the steps of: sending a first request token from the entity (100) to a token distribution unit (20) to request a first one-way authentication token, the first request token being a function of authentication information provided by the entity (100); sending the first one-way authentication token from the token distribution unit (20) to the entity (100); sending the first one-way authentication token from the entity (100) to the first data resource (200) to authenticate the entity (100) at the first data resource (200); sending the first one-way authentication token from the first data resource (200) to the token distribution unit (20) to validate the first one-way token; and invalidating the first one-way token. |
| US08312524B2 |
Card management device and card management system
A card management device includes: a card device configured to include a controller on which a cryptographic IP is mounted in advance; and an individual information writing device configured to allow the card device to be connected to the individual information writing device in such a way that the card device is capable of data transfer to the individual information writing device, individual information assigned to the card device in advance being set in the individual information writing device, the individual information writing device being capable of writing the individual information to the card device connected to the individual information writing device. |
| US08312523B2 |
Enhanced security for electronic communications
Techniques are described for providing enhanced security for electronic communications, such as by including in a message sent between two services a digital signature that is generated by using secret information known to the services, so that the recipient receives assurance regarding the sender's identity if the recipient can replicate the received digital signature using the secret information known to the recipient. In some situations, the enhanced security is used in communications to and/or from an access manager system that provides single sign-on functionality and other functionality to other services for use with those services' users, such as to prevent malicious phishers from inappropriately gaining access to user information. Various services may use the enhanced security techniques when interacting with the access manager system at various times, such as to initiate sign-on for a user and/or to take subsequent action on behalf of a signed-on user. |
| US08312520B2 |
Methods and systems to detect attacks on internet transactions
A method and system are disclosed for detecting interference with a remote visual interface, such as a HTML webpage, at a client computer, particularly to determine if a malicious attack such as at HTML attack has occurred. When the web server receives a request for a page, a script is embedded in the page, and as a consequence the client computer requests at least one session key and at least one one time password from an enterprise server. The client computer also performs a check of the HTML interface present on the client computer, which an attack of this type would change. The result of the interface check, encrypted with the session key and one time password, is sent to the enterprise server, so that a comparison with the expected value for the website can be performed. |
| US08312517B2 |
User-entered credentials for a mobile station in a wireless network
Embodiments of the present disclosure describe method, apparatus, and system configurations to provide user-entered credentials for a mobile station in a wireless network. A method includes receiving, by one or more service provider devices of a wireless network from a mobile station, an indication that the mobile station is ready for activation in the wireless network and sending, by the one or more service provider devices to the mobile station during a subscription process that is performed in response to the indication that the mobile station is ready for activation, a message prompting or indicating a creation of credentials to be entered by a user of the mobile station to authenticate the mobile station on re-entry to the wireless network. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed. |
| US08312511B2 |
Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for imposing security measures in a virtual environment based on user profile information
Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for integrating criminal databases with virtual worlds. The real-world identity of a user of a virtual world may be determined, e.g., by the user's network address. The user's identity may be used to search for data records of the user's criminal activities, e.g., from a police database. The retrieved data may be used to determine potential harm to other users of the virtual world from further criminal acts. Actions to prevent potential harm to other users may then be determined, including blocking access or activities available to the user, providing other users with warnings, and monitoring the avatar of the user. |
| US08312510B2 |
Authentication terminal and network terminal
Responsive to a proxy authentication request from a network terminal, a display for prompting a user to start an authentication operation is performed; authentication data for performing personal authentication are read by a user operation; an authentication request is sent together with the read authentication data to an authentication server; an authentication result is received from the authentication server; the network terminal is notified of the result. When a service requiring personal authentication is used, via a network, a request for proxy authentication can be made from a network terminal lacking an interface for personal authentication to a proxy authentication terminal having an interface for personal authentication, whereby the interface of the proxy authentication terminal can be used to perform the personal authentication. |
| US08312507B2 |
System and method to apply network traffic policy to an application session
Method for applying a security policy to an application session, includes: recognizing the application session between a network and an application via a security gateway; determining by the security gateway a user identity of the application session using information about the application session; obtaining by the security gateway the security policy comprising network parameters mapped to the user identity; and applying the security policy to the application session by the security gateway. The user identity may be a network user identity or an application user identity recognized from packets of the application session. The security policy may comprise a network traffic policy mapped and/or a document access policy mapped to the user identity, where the network traffic policy is applied to the application session. The security gateway may further generate a security report concerning the application of the security policy to the application session. |
| US08312503B2 |
Management apparatus for managing a content display change time on a display apparatus and content information to be transmitted to a terminal
A management apparatus for managing a content display change time on a display apparatus and content information to be transmitted to a terminal determines the content information to be transmitted to the terminal on the basis of a reception time of a content information request command transmitted from the terminal and the content display change time on the display apparatus. |
| US08312502B2 |
Recording system, receiving apparatus and receiving method, recording apparatus and recording method, and program
A recording system includes: a receiving apparatus that receives a content; and a recording apparatus that records the content received by the receiving apparatus. The receiving apparatus includes reception means for receiving the content, acceptance means for accepting a user's operation instructing to record the received content, generation means for generating a control signal for controlling a recording operation of the recording apparatus according to the accepted operation, and supply means for supplying the received content and the generated control signal to the recording apparatus, and the recording apparatus includes acquisition means for acquiring the content and the control signal supplied from the receiving apparatus, recording means for recording the acquired content, and control means for controlling the recording means according to the acquired control signal. |
| US08312500B2 |
System and method for social network chat via a set-top box
A system and method for chatting between a set-top box and one or more social networks. One or more social networks is associated with a set-top box. User preferences are set for communications with one or more contacts included in the one or more social networks. A chat interface is displayed to a user on a display associated with the set-top box in response to the user preferences and activity trigger determined in response to activity detected by the set-top box. Communications occurs with the one or more contacts using the chat interface. |
| US08312495B2 |
Apparatus for remotely controlling set-top boxes and an associated method and computer program product
An apparatus is provided for remotely controlling set-top boxes. In general, a virtual remote controller is described including a memory device and a processor. The memory device is configured to store an image file and more than one signal file. The image file defines an image of a set-top box remote controller, and each signal file defines a command to control an operation of the set-top box. The processor is configured to generate the image of the remote controller according to the image file. The image of the remote controller includes buttons, and a signal file is associated with each button. Selecting a button causes a signal defined by the signal file associated with the selected button to be transmitted from the apparatus to the respective set-top box to command the set-top box to perform an operation. A method and a computer program product are also provided for remotely controlling set-top boxes. |
| US08312490B2 |
DVR with enhanced functionality
A personal video on-demand system and method which permits a user to receive available content using a single tuner and perform one of a plurality of operations on the available content. These operations include recording two or more signals, where one or both may be simultaneously viewed, recording one or more signals and playing back one or more signals, playing back two or more signals, watching one or more signals while recording one or more other signals, viewing two or more signals live, or viewing at least one signal live, while viewing one or more signals in a playback mode. These operations also include selecting an even based on actor, actress, director, etc., alerting a user to an attempt to record a duplicate program, displaying a status of a program from the available content the user is watching, playing paused programming or converting paused programming to recorded programming during a channel change, allowing a user to record an entire program after viewing the program for a period of time, permitting a user to capture a snippet of the available content, permitting a user to rewind recording in an increment for playback of a portion of the available content, enabling a user to jump back from a live broadcast to a last paused video segment. |
| US08312487B1 |
Method and system for arranging an advertising schedule
A method and system for arranging advertising breaks based on channel surfing characteristics of viewers. The surfing characteristics of a plurality of viewers is determined, the surfing characteristics bearing on a likelihood of a respective viewer channel surfing. Advertisements are assigned to time slots among a plurality of channels based on the surfing characteristics of the plurality of viewers to form an advertising schedule. Programming is delivered with the plurality of advertisements according to the advertising schedule. The reduction of simultaneous channel surfing increases availability and efficient use of a shared medium by a plurality of different users. |
| US08312485B2 |
System, method and computer program product for selective filtering of objectionable content from a program
A system, method, and computer program product is provided for the selective filtering of objectionable content from a program. The selective filtering of objectionable content from a program is accomplished by applying an encoding process and a decoding process to the audio and/or video signal of the program. The encoding process includes marking potentially objectionable material in the program with filtering information that identifies the type (e.g., audio, violent content, sexual content, etc.) and intensity level (e.g., mild, graphic, extreme, etc.) of the potentially objectionable material using filter codes. The decoding process includes comparing, during the presentation of the program to the user and prior to outputting the audio or displaying the video, the filtering information to filter criteria, which includes user supplied filter settings, to determine whether filtering of the potentially objectionable content (i.e., audio and/or video) should be performed. If filtering is to be performed, the objectionable content in the program is filtered according to the filtering information which, in the preferred embodiment, identifies the start and duration of the filtering and, for filtering of the video of the program, also identifies the display area of the video to be blocked. |
| US08312482B2 |
Automation disk feeding device
The present invention relates to an improved automation disk feeding device, comprising: a base, a pushing member, two disk feeding members, and a cover, wherein the base has a operation space, a supporting member and a disk exporting hole. In the present invention, a driving device is used to drive the pushing member to slide forward and backward on the operation space, such that a disk stored in a disk storing district of the cover is able to be exported via the disk exporting hole; Moreover, the disk feeding members are not formed integrally with the base but capable of being assembling to and disassembling from the base, so that, the applications of the improved automation disk feeding device can be increased by way of changing the disk feeding members with different shaped slide ways. |
| US08312481B2 |
Optical disk drive
An optical disk drive includes a main body and a tray. The main body includes a housing and two rails disposed in the housing. The tray is slidably coupled to the two rails, and is operable to be switched between a first state and a second state. The tray is received in the housing in the first state, and protrudes out of the housing in the second state. The main body further includes a first resisting member. The tray includes a second resisting member. The first resisting member is adapted to apply a resisting force to the second resisting member in the first state to secure the tray. The first resisting member is away from the second resisting member in the second state. |
| US08312473B2 |
Specifying parameters for selective return to an invoker
Provided is a method and an apparatus for selectively returning parameters from an invoked object. Specifically, a requestor can invoke an object by transmitting a message. The message can include specified return parameters from an interface, such as an interface definition language (IDL). Alternatively, an object stub locally accessible by the requester can be invoked. The object stub, similar to the IDL, can specify the parameters to return. After the execution of a method in the invoked object, the requestor receives the return parameters or a subset of the return parameters previously selected. |
| US08312471B2 |
File system independent content aware cache
A server supporting the implementation of virtual machines includes a local memory used for caching, such as a solid state device drive. During I/O intensive processes, such as a boot storm, a “content aware” cache filter component of the hypervisor of the server first accesses a cache structure in a content cache device to determine whether data blocks have been stored in the cache structure prior to requesting the data blocks from a networked disk array via a standard I/O stack of the hypervisor. The content aware cache filter component is implemented in an I/O virtualization layer of the standard I/O stack that sits above a file system layer of the standard I/O stack, such that any file system protocol may be implemented in the file system layer. |
| US08312467B2 |
Method and system for concurrently executing an application
A method for executing an application, that includes instantiating, by a first thread, a first executable object and a second executable object, creating a first processing unit and a second processing unit, instantiating an executable container object, spawning a second thread, associating the first executable object and the second executable object with the executable container object, processing the executable container object to generate a result, and storing the result. Processing the executable container object includes associating the first executable object with the first processing unit, and associating the second executable object with the second processing unit, wherein the first thread processes executable objects associated with the first processing unit, wherein the second thread processes executable objects associated with the second processing unit, and wherein the first thread and the second thread execute concurrently. |
| US08312466B2 |
Restricting resources consumed by ghost agents
One aspect of the present invention can include a method for restricting resources consumed by ghost agents. The method can include the step of associating a ghost agent with a host. A resource utilization value can be ascertained for the ghost agent and the host combined. The ascertained resource utilization value can be compared with a usage threshold. A determination can be made as to whether operations of the ghost agent are to be executed based upon the previous comparison. |
| US08312464B2 |
Hardware based dynamic load balancing of message passing interface tasks by modifying tasks
Mechanisms are provided for providing hardware based dynamic load balancing of message passing interface (MPI) tasks by modifying tasks. Mechanisms for adjusting the balance of processing workloads of the processors executing tasks of an MPI job are provided so as to minimize wait periods for waiting for all of the processors to call a synchronization operation. Each processor has an associated hardware implemented MPI load balancing controller. The MPI load balancing controller maintains a history that provides a profile of the tasks with regard to their calls to synchronization operations. From this information, it can be determined which processors should have their processing loads lightened and which processors are able to handle additional processing loads without significantly negatively affecting the overall operation of the parallel execution system. Thus, operations may be performed to shift workloads from the slowest processor to one or more of the faster processors. |
| US08312462B2 |
Reducing remote memory accesses to shared data in a multi-nodal computer system
Disclosed is an apparatus, method, and program product for identifying and grouping threads that have interdependent data access needs. The preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes two different constructs to accomplish this grouping. A Memory Affinity Group (MAG) is disclosed. The MAG construct enables multiple threads to be associated with the same node without any foreknowledge of which threads will be involved in the association, and without any control over the particular node with which they are associated. A Logical Node construct is also disclosed. The Logical Node construct enables multiple threads to be associated with the same specified node without any foreknowledge of which threads will be involved in the association. While logical nodes do not explicitly identify the underlying physical nodes comprising the system, they provide a means of associating particular threads with the same node and other threads with other node(s). |
| US08312458B2 |
Central repository for wake-and-go mechanism
A wake-and-go mechanism is provided with a central repository wake-and-go array for a multiple processor data processing system. The wake-and-go mechanism recognizes a programming idiom that indicates that a thread running on a processor within the multiple processor data processing system is waiting for an event. The wake-and-go mechanism updates a central repository wake-and-go array with a target address associated with the event. Each entry in the central repository wake-and-go array may include a thread identification (ID), a central processing unit (CPU) ID, the target address, the expected data, a comparison type, a lock bit, a priority, and a thread state pointer, which is the address at which the thread state information is stored. |
| US08312457B2 |
Maintaining a count for lock-free linked list structures
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for maintaining a count for lock-free stack access. A numeric value representative of the total count of nodes in a linked list is maintained at the head node for the linked list. Commands for pushing and popping nodes appropriately update the total count at a new head node when nodes are added to and removed from the linked list. Thus, determining the count of nodes in a linked list is an order 1 (or O(1)) operation, and remains constant even when the size of a linked list changes. |
| US08312456B2 |
System and method for optimizing interrupt processing in virtualized environments
An approach is provided that retrieves a time spent value corresponding to a selected partition that is selected from a group of partitions included in a virtualized environment running on a computer system. The virtualized environment is provided by a Hypervisor. The time spent value corresponds to an amount of time the selected partition has spent processing interrupts. A number of virtual CPUs have been assigned to the selected partition. The time spent value (e.g., a percentage of the time that the selected partition spends processing interrupts) is compared to one or more interrupt threshold values. If the comparison reveals that the time that the partition is spending processing interrupts exceeds a threshold, then the number of virtual CPUs assigned to the selected partition is increased. |
| US08312455B2 |
Optimizing execution of single-threaded programs on a multiprocessor managed by compilation
A method for optimizing execution of a single threaded program on a multi-core processor. The method includes dividing the single threaded program into a plurality of discretely executable components while compiling the single threaded program; identifying at least some of the plurality of discretely executable components for execution by an idle core within the multi-core processor; and enabling execution of the at least one of the plurality of discretely executable components on the idle core. |
| US08312454B2 |
System administration method and apparatus
A system, device, and method are provided for managing one or more computer resource systems. More specifically, the present invention provides for the automated maintenance of a computer resource and gradual change of management policies based upon a state of the computer resource. Moreover, the present invention is capable of generating commands related to changing the configuration of the computer resource and maintaining a log of generated commands for later reference by a system administrator. Further, the present invention includes one or more human user written policies, in some computer understandable format, to manage the system and accomplish specific goals based on the system's dynamic nature or behavior. |
| US08312453B2 |
Mechanism for communication in a virtualization system via multiple generic channels of a paravirtualized device
A mechanism for communication in a virtualization system via multiple generic channels of a paravirtualized device is disclosed. A method of the invention includes creating one or more communication devices for each VM managed by a hypervisor of a host machine, exposing a plurality of ports on top of each created communication device to the VM that the communication device is associated with, specifying options for each port to enable the port to be used to establish a communication channel between the hypervisor and the VM, the options including a port name to associate with both of the port and the communication channel of the port, and creating a direct connection between two or more VMs via their associated communication devices in order to enable direct communication between the two or more VMs by utilizing the ports of their associated communication devices. |
| US08312452B2 |
Method and apparatus for a guest to access a privileged register
Embodiments of apparatuses and methods for guest processes to access registers are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes an interface to a first register, shadow logic, evaluation logic, and exit logic. The shadow logic is to, in response to a guest attempt to write data to the first register, cause the data to be written to a second register. The evaluation logic is to determine, based on the value of the data, whether to transfer control to a host in response to the guest attempt. The exit logic is to transfer control to the host after the data is written to the second register if the evaluation logic determines to transfer control. |
| US08312445B2 |
User-specified install locations
Computer implemented methods, data processing systems and computer program products install deliverables into user-specified install locations. A user-specified install location is provided. Software virtual product data is extracted from a software bundle. Software virtual product data is stored within the user-specified install location. |
| US08312440B2 |
Method, computer program product, and hardware product for providing program individuality analysis for source code programs
A source code of a program is used to identify a first portion of the program that is predicted as being written by a first developer wherein a remaining portion of the program is written by a second developer. The program includes a plurality of program elements. Style information is extracted from each of the program elements. The style information is analyzed to identify a first set of program elements which have a first style corresponding to the first developer, wherein the first style differs from a second style corresponding to the second developer and used by a second set of program elements comprising remaining program elements of the plurality of program elements, and wherein the style information identifies a pattern indicative of how one or more non-syntactic characters have been inserted among syntactic program elements of the plurality of program elements. |
| US08312439B2 |
Inlining native functions into compiled java code
A method, apparatus, and computer instructions are provided for inlining native functions into compiled Java code. A conversion engine is provided by the present invention for converting the intermediate representation of native functions to the just-in-time (JIT) compiler's intermediate representation. With the converted intermediate representation, an inliner recursively inlines the converted JIT compiler's intermediate representation into the native callsite to remove the need of invoking the native function and subsequent native calls made by the function. The inlining process continues until either a call to an opaque function is encountered or until a JIT compiler intermediate representation growth limits are reached. The inliner also replaces calls to most native functions that are non-inlineable or opaque with calls to synthesized native functions that provide access to native libraries containing implementations of the original non-inlineable calls. |
| US08312426B2 |
Method and system for simplified service composition in web environment
A method for service composition whereby a tag query is received and a processing graph is composed in accordance with the tag query. The processing graph is composed by using annotated primal data and services. The processing graph includes at least one of the services. The service included in the processing graph is deployed in an execution environment. |
| US08312424B2 |
Methods for generating code for an architecture encoding an extended register specification
There are provided methods and computer program products for generating code for an architecture encoding an extended register specification. A method for generating code for a fixed-width instruction set includes identifying a non-contiguous register specifier. The method further includes generating a fixed-width instruction word that includes the non-contiguous register specifier. |
| US08312423B1 |
Deploying and distributing of applications and software components
A self-contained virtual file system is disclosed for deploying and distributing an application and/or software component. Executable files relating to the application are included in a distributable composite file. The composite file and a user front end application are deployed and distributed to an application user where the application is executed. An application provider can tag the composite file with the version information and other useful meta-data of the files for the application. The format of the composite file may support the storage of any kind of file types and associated meta-data. The composite file may contain the hierarchical directory structure of the files for the application so that the hierarchical directory structure is installed in the application user's electronic device. |
| US08312421B1 |
System and method for performing structural templatization
A mechanism for graphically performing structural templatization in a graphical model is discussed. A model component with a defined interface is designated as an “interface component” and includes at least one external interface port and one or more internal ports. An instance of the interface component is instantiated in a graphical model and exposes the external interface port. A user also instantiates in the graphical model an instance of a component that is designated as an “implementation component” that includes model functional content and which exposes an implementation port. The user connects the exposed interface port and implementation port and the internal port information from the interface component programmatically merges with the content of the implementation component. The model designer is thus able to concentrate on separately providing interface and content information during the design of the graphical model. |
| US08312413B2 |
Navigating analytical tools using layout software
A background process is used to install at least one system hook for message interception of integrated circuit chip layout display software. A call message is intercepted through the system hook, and, responsive to the call message, current layout coordinates are read from the integrated circuit chip layout display software. A representation of the current layout coordinates is entered into tool control software configured to control a physical tool for analyzing integrated circuits, and the physical tool is controlled with the tool control software, based on the representation of the current layout coordinates. In an “inverse” approach, a background process is used to install at least one system hook for message interception of tool control software configured to control a physical tool for analyzing integrated circuits, and a call message is intercepted through the system hook. Responsive to the call message, current coordinates are read from the tool control software. A representation of the current coordinates is entered into integrated circuit chip layout display software, and at least a portion of an integrated circuit layout, corresponding to the representation of the current coordinates from the tool control software, is displayed. |
| US08312411B2 |
Wiring verification system, wiring verification method, and wiring verification program product
A wiring verification system is provided which is capable of simultaneously solving problems of wiring constraints on each board and of total skew in a wire passing through a plurality of boards. Board data, external connection board data, inter-board connection information, and wiring constraints are inputted in advance. When a system netlist creating unit (including a software means) creates a system netlist showing a theoretical connection relation of each board, an external connection tracing unit (including a software means) extracts external connection information based on the system netlist. An external load producing unit (including a software means) produces an external dummy load converted to a wire length or wire delay of the outside based on extracted external connection information. A wiring verification unit (including a software means) performs verification of a wiring state of an entire board by using the produced external dummy load. This enables proper distribution of wiring constraints on each board and solution of the total skew simultaneously. |
| US08312396B2 |
Set of masks, method of generating mask data and method for forming a pattern
A method of generating mask data, for a set of masks used to transfer a pattern for delineating a circuit pattern of a semiconductor integrated circuit, includes preparing design data having a design pattern corresponding to the pattern to be transferred on a semiconductor substrate; generating resized data by enlarging the design data by a resizing quantity; generating first mask data by filling a space area having a space width of a space quantity or less of the resized data; and generating second mask data, to be aligned with the first mask data, having a window portion for selectively exposing an area determined by enlarging the space area by the resizing quantity. |
| US08312394B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining mask layouts for a spacer-is-dielectric self-aligned double-patterning process
Methods and apparatuses are described for determining mask layouts for printing a design intent on a wafer using a spacer-is-dielectric self-aligned double-patterning process. A system can determine whether a graph corresponding to a design intent is two-colorable. If the graph is not two-colorable, the system can merge one or more pairs of shapes in the design intent to obtain a modified design intent, so that a modified graph corresponding to the modified design intent is two-colorable. The system can then determine a two-coloring for the modified graph. Next, the system can place one or more core shapes in a mandrel mask layout which correspond to vertices in the modified graph that are associated with a selected color in the two-coloring. The system can then place one or more shapes in a trim mask layout for separating the shapes in the design intent that were merged. |
| US08312393B2 |
Variable overlap method and device for stitching together lithographic stripes
The technology disclosed relates to variable tapers to resolve varying overlaps between adjacent strips that are lithographically printed. Technology disclosed combines an aperture taper function with the variable overlap taper function to transform data and compensate for varying overlaps. The variable taper function varies according to overlap variation, including variation resulting from workpiece distortions, rotor arm position, or which rotor arm printed the last stripe. Particular aspects of the present invention are described in the claims, specification and drawings. |
| US08312390B2 |
Dynamic screentip language translation
When a user interface cursor hovers over a user interface item, a determination is made as to whether the user interface item has an associated screentip. If the user interface item has an associated screentip, text associated with the screentip is identified, a translated text string is located for the text string, and the translated text string is displayed in the screentip. If the user interface item does not have an associated screentip, a determination is made as to whether the user interface item contains a text string. If so, a determination is made as to whether a translated text string is available that corresponds to the text in the user interface item. If so, the translated text string is displayed in a screentip for the user interface item. |
| US08312389B2 |
Visualization of decision logic
Techniques for visualization of decision logic are provided. In one aspect, the techniques can be implemented by providing a control within a graphical user interface to a user. The control can display a plurality of graphical user interface elements corresponding to linked nodes within a hierarchical structure. An input identifying a selected graphical user interface element within the control can be generated by a user. A selected node within the hierarchical structure can be identified based on the selected graphical user interface element. In response to a request from a user, modifying an appearance of a subset of the linked nodes within the hierarchical structure based on a desired visualization criteria, the linked nodes within the hierarchical structure and the selected node. |
| US08312385B2 |
System and method for providing context-sensitive sidebar window display on an electronic desktop
A computer-implemented system and method for providing context-sensitive sidebar window display on an electronic desktop is provided. A document that includes digital data is maintained in electronic storage. The document is operated upon through an application window generated by an application program on an electronic desktop. A sidebar window is initially generated. Contextual information relevant to the document is determined. Part of the contextual information to present is selected based on a current state of the document in the application window. The selected part of the contextual information is presented in the sidebar window positioned visually adjacent to the application window. The contextual information presented in and the positioning of the sidebar window is continually updated in step with the current state of the document and the application window. |
| US08312383B2 |
Mashup application processing system
A method, programmed medium and system are provided for enabling a user to move a piece of data or context to another page in a mashup application. Rather than linking directly between pages, pages are “linked” by a drag-and-drop action of the user. To move a piece of data or context to another page, the user drags an item from the current mashup page onto the tab of a target page to which the data item is to be moved. The dropping of a text item on, for example, a tab of a target page causes an event to be fired on the target page, which may be wired to widgets contained within the target page. The target tab is then brought into focus and its page contents displayed. Visual indicators are also provided on source pages to indicate the target pages, which will “accept” the dragged contents. |
| US08312382B2 |
Developing and executing applications with configurable patterns
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for developing user interface applications using configurable patterns and for executing such pattern-based applications. The applications can be developed by generating a graphic representation of a pattern, which can include multiple pattern elements having prearranged user interface elements. The pattern can specify predefined actions that can be performed using the user interface elements, and the graphic representation can include graphic objects corresponding to the pattern elements. Application development can further include receiving user input identifying a selected graphic object and modifying the graphic representation to display information regarding the pattern element corresponding to the selected graphic object. |
| US08312378B2 |
Universally accessible printer configuration page
A system configured to organize and display configuration information associated with at least one digital printing apparatus. The system includes a processor, a communications interface operably connected to the processor and configured to establish an operable connection to at least one remotely located printing device, and a computer readable medium operably connected to the processor, the computer readable medium containing a set of instructions. The instructions are configured to instruct the processor to request configuration information from the at least one printing device, receive the configuration information from the at least one printing device, format the configuration information such that the configuration information is displayable in a window within the user interface, and display the configuration information. |
| US08312375B2 |
Digital mixer
A screen displayed in response to the selection of a tag button is called a tag screen and groups of the tag screens corresponding to the tag buttons are called screen groups. One of the screen groups is assigned to a home button as a home screen group, and clicking this home button when an arbitrary screen is displayed causes a large display to display a setting screen belonging to the home screen group. Here, in each of the screen groups, the selected tag button, the position of a mouse cursor, and so on are saved, and when an original screen is switched to another screen during an adjustment work or the like and the original screen is thereafter displayed again, the adjustment work or the like that was executed in the original screen can be continued at once. |
| US08312374B2 |
Information processing apparatus and method and computer program
An information processing apparatus includes: display means for displaying an image; operation-input receiving means for receiving operation input of a user; and display control means for performing, when the operation-input receiving means receives predetermined operation for a root image displayed on the display means, display control for causing the display means to display a related image related to the root image. |
| US08312373B2 |
Apparatus, method, and computer program product for affecting an arrangement of selectable items
Provided is an apparatus that includes a processing unit configured to monitor a quality of user performance in selecting one or more selectable items that are presented on a display. The processing unit is further configured to cause the one or more selectable items to be presented on the display in a modified arrangement based at least in part on the quality of user performance in respectively selecting the one or more selectable items. For example, the processing unit can be configured to cause the selectable items to be presented in a modified arrangement based at least in part on noted frequency of user error in respectively selecting the selectable items and/or on noted rate of user selection in respectively selecting the selectable items. Also provided are corresponding methods and computer program products. |
| US08312368B2 |
Dynamic documentation
Systems, methodologies, media, computing devices, and other embodiments associated with dynamic documentation are described. One exemplary system embodiment can include a dynamic documentation system configured to dynamically generate a document using a skeleton document that includes references to content. The document can be generated by using the skeleton document and retrieving the referenced content to form a final document. |
| US08312367B2 |
Technique for dynamically sizing columns in a table
During a technique for dynamically determining sizes of columns in a table, available space in the table is allocated based at least on sequential groups of size targets, which include ranges of sizes of the columns, and which are associated with visual usability targets for the columns. Note that a given size target in a given group of size targets includes a given range of sizes of a given column. For example, minimum sizes of the columns may correspond to the ranges of sizes of one or more of the groups in the sequential groups of size targets for which the columns satisfy the associated visual usability targets. Furthermore, for a subsequent group of size targets in the sequential groups of size targets after the one or more groups, increments to the minimum sizes of the columns may be calculated based at least on the range of sizes of the subsequent group of size targets, the available space and the minimum sizes. |
| US08312365B2 |
Rendering web content with a brush
A content display system is described herein that combines the positive attributes of brushes and web content by allowing web content to be applied as a brush. The content display system renders web content and creates a bitmap of the rendered web content. The bitmap of the web content as rendered by a web host is captured and used as the pixels for a web brush. The brush can be used wherever other types of brushes can be used. In some embodiments, the brush content is refreshed under control of the application. Web content provided through a brush is much more versatile than simply compositing rendered HTML with other visuals. Thus, the content display system allows applications to display web content inside an application sandbox or other platform using the familiar form to application developers of a brush. |
| US08312364B2 |
Social website domain registration announcement and search engine feed
Systems and methods of the present invention provide for publishing an announcement of a registered domain name and a link to an associated website on a social networking website. A control panel for the registered domain name and associated website may be displayed on a client. |
| US08312362B1 |
Determining data transmission error and/or checking or confirming such error determinations
A data partitioning circuit partitions received data and an appended error checking code into a plurality of data lines having a fixed length and a last line. A vector selector inserts a pad vector after the appended error checking code when the last line is less than the first length and not equal to the first fixed length minus a length of the appended error checking code, and selects one of a plurality of error checking vectors, the pad vector having a length providing the last line with the first fixed length when appended thereafter, and the plurality of error checking vectors comprising an initial vector and an error checking code feedback vector. An error checking code calculation circuit performs error checking calculations on the plurality of data lines and the last line to generate an error checking result. |
| US08312361B2 |
Arithmetic circuit, arithmetic processing device, and arithmetic processing method
In an arithmetic circuit, every time a numerical value is stored in a register, a partial solution is predicted on the basis of the numerical value, an intermediate value is generated by a predetermined calculation using one or more predicted partial solutions, an extended sign bit is appended to the intermediate value by sign extension, and the intermediate value to which the extended sign bit is appended is stored in the register. In addition, the solution is generated on the basis of the one or more partial solutions. A value of a sign bit constituting the intermediate value stored in the register is compared with a value of the extended sign bit stored in the register, and an error signal is outputted when the value of the sign bit is different from the value of the extended sign bit. |
| US08312358B2 |
Tail-biting decoding method and device
A tail-biting decoding method and device are provided, so as to improve accuracy of backtracking state determination and decrease decoding delay. The method includes the following steps. Survivor paths of a training system are acquired. The training system is formed of a first transport block and a second transport block connected in series. The number of the survivor paths passing through each first state of the second transport block is counted. A first state having a maximum number of the survivor paths may be selected as a backtracking state of the second transport block. Backtracking decoding is performed on the second transport block by using the survivor paths on the backtracking state, so as to obtain a decoding result. |
| US08312357B2 |
Digital broadcasting transmission capable of improving receiving and equalizing performance and signal processing method thereof
A digital broadcast transmitting system and a signal processing method thereof that improves the receiving performance of the system. A digital broadcast transmitter includes a randomizer to receive and randomize a transport stream into a specified position of which stuff bytes are inserted, a replacement sequence generator to generate known data including a predefined sequence, a stuff-byte exchange unit to insert the known data into the specified position of the transport stream into which stuff bytes are inserted, an encoder to encode the transport stream output from the stuff-byte exchange unit for an error correction, and a transmission unit to modulate the encoded transport stream, RF-convert the modulated transport stream and transmit the RF-converted data. The digital broadcast receiving performance is improved even in an inferior multi-path channel by detecting the known data from the received transmission and using the known data for synchronization and equalization. |
| US08312352B2 |
Communication apparatus and communication method
A communication apparatus which can communicate a data packet, a recovery packet used to recover a data packet that failed to be communicated, and a retransmit packet for the data packet that failed to be communicated, the communication apparatus includes a determining unit configured to determine, when a first packet of a plurality of packets that failed to be communicated is normally communicated, a packet that can be recovered, from among the plurality of the packets that failed to be communicated based on the first packet and the normally communicated recovery packet, and a retransmit determination unit configured to determine not to retransmit at least a part of the plurality of packets that can be recovered, when the first data packet is retransmitted which is determined to recover a plurality of data packets if it is normally communicated. |
| US08312350B2 |
Mobile communication apparatus
In a mobile communication system, when a receiving condition is deteriorated to the extent that reception does not succeed even by means of combination after retransmission to the maximum number of retransmissions, a transmission rate is restricted by reducing radio frames assignable to new data, and by setting dedicated retransmission frames, to which retransmission data are assignable, over the maximum number of retransmissions for the reduced transmission rate, thereby enabling a greater number of retransmissions than the maximum number of retransmissions without an increase of a buffer size. By this, a combination gain through retransmission is improved and a retransmission failure rate is decreased. |
| US08312349B2 |
Error detection/correction based memory management
The present disclosure includes methods, devices, and systems for error detection/correction based memory management. One embodiment includes performing a read operation with respect to a particular group of memory cells of a memory device and, if the read operation results in an uncorrectable error, determining whether to retire the particular group of memory cells in response to a status of an indicator corresponding to the particular group of memory cells, wherein the status of the indicator indicates whether the particular group of memory cells has a previous uncorrectable error associated therewith. |
| US08312347B2 |
Lighting control protocol
A digital lighting control network protocol with forward and backward frames, each of the frames including an error check code. A no-acknowledgment (NAK) signal is sent from a receiving node to a transmitting node responsive to the error check code. An interface circuit of the receiving node may include an energy storage section to store at least some energy from the network while receiving digital signals, and an output section to transmit digital signals to the network using the stored energy. The interface circuit may also include a high voltage buffer circuit. The transmitting node may send forward frames to receiving nodes based on device type. |
| US08312346B2 |
Systems and methods for communications
Systems, methods, and an article of manufacture for performing serial concatenated decoding are shown and described. The decoding includes monitoring a measure of the number of corrections made to a plurality data blocks during outer decoding and determining whether applying sub-optimal inner decoding would reduce a computational load experienced by a processor performing the serial concatenated decoding when compared to the computation load experienced by the processor when optimal inner decoding is applied. |
| US08312332B2 |
Device and method for testing and for diagnosing digital circuits
A test apparatus includes a test input signal generator that generates a test input signal of word width N, and terminals that connect to inputs and outputs of an electrical circuit to be tested. The electrical circuit includes N digital test inputs and M digital test outputs. The terminals for the test inputs are connected to the test input signal and an electrical circuit is driven such that it outputs at its test outputs data with a macro clock cycle T of length L as test response. A compactor includes M inputs that are connected to the terminals for the test outputs of the circuit to be tested. The compactor compacts the test response with a micro clock cycle t of length l and outputs a data word of width m, where the length L is at least twice as large as the length l. |
| US08312326B2 |
Delta checkpoints for a non-volatile memory indirection table
According to some embodiments, delta checkpoints are provided for a non-volatile memory indirection table to facilitate a recovery process after a power loss event. |
| US08312325B2 |
Storage system that finds occurrence of power source failure
One or more switches are interposed between a controller portion and a storage device. When transmission of a command to a certain storage device fails, a command is transmitted starting from an upstream side to a downstream side of a path between the controller portion and the switch to which the certain storage device is connected, and when command transmission fails while transmitting a command from a kth switch (k is an integer of 0 or more) which is connected to a (k+1)th switch and is one level upstream of the (k+1)th switch or from any port of the controller portion, it is determined that a failure has occurred in a power source that supplies power to the (k+1)th switch. |
| US08312322B2 |
System for automated generation of computer test procedures
A system automatically generates a workflow report for computerized system testing and other uses. The system comprises at least one processing device including at least one log file including records identifying time stamped actions performed by a user of a computerized processing system and actions performed by the system. A repository includes stored predetermined data patterns associated with workflow tasks performed in a workflow by a user and a system. A parser automatically parses records of the at least one log file to identify workflow tasks performed during a time period using the predetermined data patterns. A report generator automatically generates a workflow report comprising the identified workflow tasks and associated time stamps indicating workflow tasks performed by the system and user during the time period. An output processor provides the generated workflow report to a destination device for access by a user. |
| US08312316B2 |
Data storage system, method and data storage and backup system
A data storage system, method and a data storage and backup system are provided. The data storage method comprises defining a local storage of the data processing system as a journal vault; storing data in the journal vault by journaling; sending the data from the journal vault to a transmitter; and transmitting the data from the transmitter to a secondary storage. The present invention enhances a write function of a low performance storage device by journaling. In a case where the present invention is applied to a backup system, the performance of the whole backup system can be improved significantly, and the backup system can be extended to a remote site easily. When a storage of a production system fails, the storage system of the present invention can be switched to “production mode” and service resumes to be provided with the shortest downtime. |
| US08312314B2 |
Storage system and control method of storage system
A fault-tolerant storage system is provided. The storage system is composed of a controller having a plurality of processors and other units. When an error occurs in any one of the components in the controller, the storage system cuts off an I/O path of the controller, specifies the failed component in the cutoff status, and invalidates the failed component. After invalidating the failed component, the storage system determines whether it is operable only with the normal components, cancels (releases) the cutoff of the I/O path when it determines that it is operable, and resumes operation by rebooting. |
| US08312311B2 |
Computer system and method for automatically overclocking based upon a signal standard and an I/O signal of overclocking element
A computer system for automatically overclocking includes an overclocking element, a detecting circuit and a basic input/output system (BIOS). The overclocking element has a signal standard. The detecting circuit is used for acquiring an I/O signal of the overclocking element. The BIOS is used for comparing the signal standard with the I/O signal to obtain a comparing result. The BIOS is further used for adjusting a reference signal according to the comparing result. The reference signal is an input signal of the overclocking element. |
| US08312310B2 |
Apparatus and method for changing clock frequency and modulation method based on current state
An electronic apparatus with a wireless unit includes a multiplier to receive a clock signal at a predetermined frequency. The electronic apparatus further includes a modulator configured to modulate the frequency of the clock signal generated by the multiplier, and a controller configured to change the frequency of the clock signal generated by the multiplier and a modulation rate of the modulation performed by the modulator according to a state of the electronic apparatus. |
| US08312307B2 |
Systems and methods for reducing power consumption during communication between link partners
Generally, this disclosure describes an energy-efficient Ethernet communications approach. In at least one embodiment described herein, an Ethernet controller may be configured to operate in an active power state to transmit or receive data packets at a maximum available link speed. The maximum available link speed may be determined by a negotiation between the Ethernet controller and a link partner coupled to the Ethernet controller. Once the data packets are transmitted or received, the Ethernet controller may be configured to operate in an idle power state to reduce energy consumption. |
| US08312304B2 |
Platform communication protocol
A host chipset heartbeat may be utilized, in some embodiments, to handle interrupts from external devices on a power efficient basis. The availability of the host chipset heartbeat may be signaled to external devices and those external devices may time their activities to a period of time when not only are resources available, but the assertion of the activity is advantageous because the host chipset is already transitioning from a lower power consumption state. |
| US08312302B2 |
Power distribution inside cable
Circuits, methods, and apparatus that provide for the powering of active components in connector inserts at each end of a cable may in various ways. For example, where a host is coupled to a device that is not self-powered, the host may provide power for circuitry at each end of the cable. In various embodiments of the present invention, the device may request higher voltage from the host, such that more power can be delivered. In these cases, the device may regulate the voltage received from the host to a lower voltage, and then provide the lower voltage to circuitry at one or both ends of the cable. Where the host is connected to a device that is self-powered, the host and the self-powered device may power their respective connector insert circuits. |
| US08312295B2 |
Access key generating apparatus and information processing apparatus
An access key generating apparatus includes: a bit field converting unit which converts a partial bit field into a reduced bit field having a bit width shorter than a bit width of the partial bit field; an access key retaining unit which retains a plurality of access keys to control access to a memory from peripheral devices in association with each of the peripheral devices; and an indexing unit which indexes the access keys from the access key retaining unit using an index address including the reduced bit field if the conversion of the partial bit field into the reduced bit field is successful, and indexes the access keys from the access key retaining unit using an index address including the partial bit field if the conversion of the partial bit field into the reduced bit field is unsuccessful. |
| US08312294B2 |
Information processing apparatus, authentication method, and storage medium
According to one embodiment, a storage medium comprises an encrypted content, key management information which is updated whenever necessary and includes a media key block including encrypted media keys obtained by encrypting a media key which is a base of an authentication key used for mutual authentication with another apparatus by using different device keys, and first and second application keys which encrypt the title keys for each application of the content and are alternately updated and encrypted when the key management information is updated. |
| US08312290B2 |
Biometric method and apparatus and biometric data encryption method thereof
A biometric method, a biometric apparatus, and a biometric data encryption method thereof are disclosed. In the biometric method and the biometric apparatus, a biometric data is quantified to obtain a quantified data. A one-way function is then performed to convert the quantified data into an encrypted data. In the present invention, the biometric data is protected through a cryptography system so as to prevent the biometric features from being stolen or misappropriated. Moreover, in the present invention, a biometric technique can be integrated with a cryptography technique. |
| US08312289B2 |
Template renewal in helper data systems
The invention provides a method for authenticating a physical object (OBJ) using a first helper data (W1) and a first control value (V1) associated with a reference object. The method comprises a step to generate a first property set (S1) using a noise compensating mapping (NCM) on information derived from the first helper data (W1) and a metric data (Y) associated with the physical object, and a step to establish a sufficient match between the physical object and the reference object using the first property set (S1) and the first control value (V1). The method further comprises a step to generate an update data (WUPD) for updating the first helper data (W1) using the first helper data (W1), the first property set (S1) and the metric data (Y). Also provided is a client terminal configured to carry out the method. |
| US08312287B2 |
Apparatus and method for dynamically changing a password
An apparatus and method for dynamically changing a password are provided. In the method, a random number is generated, and an original password and an operator are checked. The original password is changed by performing an operation of the random number and the original password based on the operator. Accordingly, the password exposure can be prevented and the personal information and asset information can be protected without using additional devices. |
| US08312285B2 |
Global profile management method and system
A profile management method and system. The method includes retrieving by a computer processor from a user of social network, a user request for generating a profile. The computer processor retrieves user data and an encrypted master security token comprising an identifier associated with the user. The computer processor generates the profile with the user data and associates the profile with the encrypted master security token. The computer processor receives from the social network a request associated with a membership to the social network. The computer system adds communication data to the encrypted master security token and enables access to the profile based on the encrypted master security token. The computer processor transmits to said first social network, a copy of the profile. |
| US08312284B1 |
Verifiable timestamping of data objects, and applications thereof
This invention relates to creating a verifiable timestamp for a data object, such as a digital photograph. The verifiable timestamp includes a first and second timestamp and a data object. The verifiable timestamp enveloped with several different tiers of digital signatures that together authenticate that the data object was created at a time after the first timestamp, but before the second timestamp. |
| US08312274B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method for controlling the same
The present invention improves security of image data when communication between an image managing apparatus that stores the image data of a submitted job and an image processing apparatus is not possible. To accomplish this, for executing a specific process according to a submitted job, the image data and log information of the job is transmitted to the image managing apparatus to store them when the image processing apparatus can communicate with the image managing apparatus. After transmission of the image data and the log information, upon receiving a notification indicating the completion of storage from the image managing apparatus, control is made to execute a specific process on the image data. |
| US08312273B2 |
Privacy vault for maintaining the privacy of user profiles
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for facilitating personalization of web content is provided, while protecting the privacy of the user data utilized to personalize the user's experience. A privacy vault may collect user data including user activity data, demographic data, and user interests submitted by a user. In one embodiment, the privacy vault operates on a user client device. The privacy vault sends the user data to a community vault that collects user data from multiple users. The community vault generates segment rules that whether a user belongs to a user segment, which expresses a user's interest. The segment rules are then communicated back to the privacy vault, which assigns one or more user segments to the user based on the user data available to the privacy vault and the segment rules. The privacy vault may communicate user segments to one or more content providers that supply personalized content that is selected based on the user segments provided. |
| US08312262B2 |
Management of signing privileges for a cryptographic signing service
A Management System (MS) manages signing privileges for entities desiring cryptographic signatures, and a Certificate Authority (CA) provides a cryptographic signing service. MS registers entities for the cryptographic signing service, determines signing privileges for each entity, and processes requests from entities for signatures. For registration, MS obtains registration information for the entity and invokes CA to generate an identity certificate for the entity. This identity certificate contains cryptographic information used to uniquely identify the entity. For signature generation, MS receives a request for a signature from the entity, authenticates the entity, authorizes or denies the request based on the signing privileges stored for the entity, and invokes CA to generate the signature if the signature is authorized. CA provides the cryptographic signing service and generates signatures and certificates as directed by MS. |
| US08312260B2 |
Dynamic analytical differentiator for obfuscated functions in complex models
Systems and methods are provided for providing secure transmission of software code, which includes a mathematical function, from a first computer to a second computer so that the mathematical function's content cannot be determined at the second computer. A method includes generating a secure container, where the secure container includes an encrypted representation of the mathematical function and metadata identifying the mathematical function encrypted in the secure container. The method further includes providing the secure container from the first computer to the second computer over a communication transmission medium, where the secure container is accessed at the second computer using the metadata to identify the mathematical function, and where the mathematical function contained within the secure container is decrypted and incorporated into program code in a compiled form so that the mathematical function can be used but the mathematical function's content cannot be determined at the second computer. |
| US08312249B1 |
Dynamic trampoline and structured code generation in a signed code environment
A method and apparatus for performing a function based on an executable code in response to receiving a request including function parameters are described. The executable code may be validated when loaded in a memory according to a signature statically signed over the executable code. A data location in the memory for storing the function parameters may be determined according location settings included inside the executable code. A target code location for storing a copy of the executable code may be determined based on the location parameters and the determined data location. A function is performed by executing the executable code from the target code location referencing the stored function parameters. |
| US08312244B1 |
System and method for managing a data storage system by contacting a single processor in a data storage system having more than one processor
An architecture, system, and method for managing a data storage system by contacting a single processor in a data storage system having more than one processor. The single processor contacts each other peer processor in the data storage system and merges selected data from the single processor with data from the peer processor to determine the state of the data storage system. |
| US08312243B2 |
Memory management in network processors
System and method for storing information units is provided. The system includes a memory comprising a plurality of contiguous memory segments, a local memory storing a plurality of pointers, each pointer pointing to one contiguous memory segment, a receiving unit configured to arrange incoming information units into queues and memory control logic configured to allocate pointers to the queues and configured to cause the incoming information units to be written into contiguous memory segments. The incoming information units form at least one queue and wherein pointers form a linked list of pointers if the information units are written into more than one contiguous memory segment. |
| US08312233B2 |
Storage system that is connected to external storage
A first storage system is connected to a second storage system, and an external device within the first storage system is provided to a host as a device of the second storage system. The second storage system includes a cache control section having cache adaptors, each controlling a disk and a cache, a protocol conversion section including protocol adaptors that switch requests from the host to appropriate ones of the cache adaptors, a management adaptor, and an internal network that mutually connects the cache adaptors, the protocol adaptors and the management adaptor. The first storage system being connected to any of the protocol adaptors is connected to the second storage system. The second storage system executes a processing for the external device by the cache control section, or connects to the first storage system through the protocol conversion section without the cache control section executing processing for the external device. |
| US08312231B1 |
Method and system for mounting logical unit numbers (LUNS) of snapshots
A computer system and method for caching configuration information for use in mounting and/or unmounting snapshot LUNs of a network-based storage system are disclosed. During a first request to mount a snapshot LUN, a discovery operation is performed at a host system to discover various configuration information used in mounting and unmounting various LUNs of a storage system to a host system. The configuration information is used to process the first request and then the configuration information is cached. During a subsequent request to mount a second snapshot LUN, the cached configuration information can be used to mount the second snapshot LUN, thereby avoiding a second discovery operation. |
| US08312230B2 |
Dynamic control of partition memory affinity in a shared memory partition data processing system
Dynamic control of memory affinity is provided for a shared memory logical partition within a shared memory partition data processing system having a plurality of nodes. The memory affinity control approach includes: determining one or more home node assignments for the shared memory logical partition, with each assigned home node being one node of the plurality of nodes of the system; determining a desired physical page level per node for the shared memory logical partition; and allowing the shared memory partition to run and using the home node assignment(s) and its desired physical page level(s) in the dispatching of tasks to physical processors in the nodes and in hypervisor page memory management to dynamically control memory affinity of the shared memory logical partition in the data processing system. |
| US08312229B2 |
Method and apparatus for scheduling real-time and non-real-time access to a shared resource
A method and apparatus are provided in a computing environment for scheduling access to a resource. The method grants access to the resource by a non-real-time request when the non-real-time request can be completed before the latest possible start time at which a first real-time request must start service to timely complete all actual and anticipated real-time requests, otherwise granting the first real real-time request access to the resource. |
| US08312228B2 |
Processing data in shared memory by multiple processes
Various embodiments of systems and methods for processing data in shared memory are described herein. A number of work processes of an application server write data in corresponding areas of shared memory. At least one data unit for a first process is read from a first area of the shared memory by the first process. The first process also reads at least one unit of data for a second process from a second area of the shared memory. The first process writes information in a third area of the memory to indicate that the at least one unit of data for the first process and the at least one unit of data for the second process are read. The read data units are aggregated and saved in a storage by the first process. |
| US08312226B2 |
Network memory appliance for providing data based on local accessibility
A first appliance of a network memory includes a processor configured to receive data. The processor determines whether the data is locally accessible to a second appliance of the network memory and generates an instruction based on the determination in order that the second appliance obtain the data. The processor then transfers the instruction over a communication network to the second appliance. In another first appliance of a network memory, the first appliance includes a processor configured to receive an instruction over a communication network from a second appliance of the network memory. The processor processes the instruction to determine an action to perform to obtain the data. The processor performs the action to obtain the data if the data is locally accessible to the first appliance. |
| US08312221B2 |
Cache system, cache system control method, and information processing apparatus
To provide a cache system that can dynamically change a cache capacity by memory areas divided into plural. The cache system includes a line counter that counts the number of effective lines for each memory area. The effective line is a cache line in which effective cache data is stored. Cache data to be invalidated at the time of changing the cache capacity is selected based on the number of effective lines counted by the line counter. |
| US08312217B2 |
Methods and systems for storing data blocks of multi-streams and multi-user applications
A method for storing data, comprises the steps of: defining one or more intervals for one or more virtual disks, wherein each of the intervals has data; receiving a storage command in a cache, wherein the command having a logical address and a data block; determining a respective interval for the data block corresponding to the logical address of the data block; determining whether the data of the respective interval is to be written to a corresponding storage unit; and receiving a next storage command. |
| US08312216B2 |
Data processing apparatus and data processing method
The data processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a first processor; a second processor; and an external RAM to/from which the first processor writes/reads data, the first processor including a cache memory for storing data used in the first processor in association with an address on the external RAM, and the data being written to the cache memory by the second processor not through the external RAM. |
| US08312215B2 |
Method and system for resolving configuration conflicts in RAID systems
A software-based RAID system is provided that enables configuration conflicts to be detected and resolved between a PD that is logically present but physically missing, and a PD that is physically and logically present. In accordance with the invention, a determination is made as to whether such a configuration conflict exists, and if so, the logically-present, but physically missing, reference identifier associated with the PD is remapped to a port number that currently is not in use. |
| US08312214B1 |
System and method for pausing disk drives in an aggregate
The present invention provides a system, method, and computer program product for “cooling” selected disks in a set of disks connected to a storage system by reducing access frequency to the selected disks and pausing the disks with the reduced access frequency. Pausing some disks advantageously reduces power consumption by the disks. |