| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08356990B2 |
Toggle drive system for driving in a thermoforming press
A drive system for double toggle mechanisms used to move upper and lower platens with an electric servo motor-gear box drive shaft driving a crank arm arranged to drive a respective double toggle mechanism in turn connected to the platen. The drive shaft axis is located below the toggle mechanism link pivots and driven in a direction so that the motor acts to assist the double toggle mechanism in lifting the platen, reducing the servo motor peak load. The various components are arranged for symmetrical loading of the pivots concerning the toggle links to increase the evenness of the platen when being raised or lowered. |
| US08356988B2 |
System and method for making wallboard
A process and apparatus for forming wallboard panels having recessed edges along all four edges. |
| US08356983B2 |
Airflow control for variable speed blowers
An apparatus for controlling an air distribution system by controlling the speed of a motor associated with a blower to maintain a rate of air flow in the system at substantially a target air flow rate. The apparatus comprises means for controlling a supplied frequency to the motor; means for providing a speed signal representative of the speed of motor; means for providing a frequency signal representative of the supplied frequency from a controller to the motor; means for providing a load signal representative of the load of the motor; means for calculating an air flow rate signal based on the speed signal and the load signal; means for controlling a supplied frequency in response to the target air flow rate signal and the calculated air flow rate signal. The apparatus can apply three different types of algorithm for controlling and compensating the motor. |
| US08356982B2 |
Reversible system for dividing aerogenerator blades into several parts
An aerogenerator blade assembly has a blade with a first side and a second side an insert member positioned therein and therebetween. The insert member has a first surface in toothed engagement with a toothed surface on an inner surface of the first side of the blade, The blade has a first sector and a second sector affixed to the insert member. A first positioning rod is affixed to the first and second sides of the first sector of the blade and with the insert member. A second positioning rod is affixed to the first and second sides of the second sector of the blade and with the insert member. |
| US08356975B2 |
Gas turbine engine with non-axisymmetric surface contoured vane platform
A vane segment for a gas turbine engine according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes an inner vane platform relative an axis, the inner vane platform having a non-axisymmetric surface contour. |
| US08356974B2 |
Steam turbine and method of cooling steam turbine
A steam turbine 20 is provided with a casing 109, a turbine rotor 25 disposed through the casing 109, and labyrinth portions 50, 55 which are disposed at the boundary between the casing 109 and the turbine rotor 25. The steam turbine 20 is further provided with a sealing steam pipe 65 for supplying sealing steam to the labyrinth portions 50, 55 and a gas supply pipe 60 for supplying the labyrinth portions 50, 55 with a cooling gas for cooling the turbine rotor 25 or a heating gas for heating the turbine rotor 25. |
| US08356972B2 |
Thermally activated shutdown seals for rotatable shafts
A thermally actuated shutdown seal for a rotating shaft having a narrow annular fluid flow path surrounding the shaft. The seal surrounds the shaft with the annulus therebetween during normal operation and constricts against the shaft when the shaft slows or stops rotating. The annulus is maintained open during normal operation by a spacer interposed between opposing ends of a split ring. When the shaft stops rotating, the temperature of the annulus rises, which actuates removal of the spacer from the split ring constricting the split ring against the shaft blocking the annulus. The blocked annulus causes a pressure differential across the seal which urges a polymer seal ring, downstream of the split ring against the shaft which seals the annulus. In one embodiment, the spacer is formed of a meltable material. In a second embodiment, the spacer is removed from the split ring by a thermally responsive actuator. |
| US08356969B2 |
Pumping unit
Pumping units are known to have an inlet channel, opening out into a pumping channel and tapering from an inlet cross section to an outlet into the pumping channel with an outlet cross-section. The flow is deflected through ninety degrees on entry to the pumping channel which induces strong swirling. The transition from the inlet channel into the pumping channel is not optimal for flow. This effect reduces the efficiency of the pumping unit. The inlet flow into the pumping channel is improved in the pumping unit according to the invention and hence efficiency is improved. According to the invention, the outlet is essentially provided in a first quadrant with relation to the inlet cross section and the tapering of the inlet channel essentially occurs in the other three quadrants. The tapering wall of the inlet channel is formed by a plane-generating shape which goes around from one side of the outlet to the other side of the outlet and is shaped to be increasingly flat relative to a plane of the outlet. |
| US08356967B2 |
Stacker, stacking system or assembly and method for stacking
A stacking system and method that utilizes a device control for precisely controlling the downward movement of at least one printed material support at a first speed, while substantially simultaneously permitting upward movement of the at least one support at a second speed which is greater than the first speed. |
| US08356965B2 |
Apparatus for conveying and lifting a group of containers
A device for lifting a plurality of rows of containers has a base and a lifter with a transport surface formed like a blind and displaceable parallel to the base and provided with a frame. The surface slipped under the layer by feeding the containers into the frame. Prior to raising the layer, the lifter is moved toward the layer so that the transport surface is located with its front edge in front of the first row of the layer and is then moved underneath the layer into its lifting position by relative movement with respect to the containers. A partial region of the base is underneath every container at any point in time and the edge of the transport surface is shifted downward to form a clearance is given between the bottoms of the containers of the row and the base. |
| US08356958B2 |
Paver and method
In a paver F comprising a combustion engine M, in particular a diesel engine, of a primary driving aggregate P, functional units having hydraulic pumps 23, 30 to 33 inclusive a travel pump aggregate 23 which can be driven by the combustion engine M for supplying at least one travel drive 16, a generator G for supplying electric heating devices H of the paver F and/or of a paving screed B of the paver F with electric power, the generator G is driven permanently while at least one pump 23, 30 to 33 selectively can be disconnected from the combustion engine via at least one shiftable clutch K1, K2, K3. During a heating-up phase of electric heating devices H via the permanently driven generator G at least one of the pumps is disconnected. During transport travel at least one pump of the functional units, except the permanently driven travel pump aggregate 23 and the generator G, is disconnected. During start and, optionally, during warm-up of the combustion engine M pumps of functional units, optionally including the travel pump aggregate 23, are disconnected. |
| US08356955B2 |
System and method for concrete slab connection
Systems and methods of transferring loads between adjacent cast-in-place slabs, such as concrete slabs, and for accurately positioning dowels between adjacent sections of slabs are provided. A generally planar plate-type dowel is used which may be positioned within a cutaway in a preexisting slab of concrete. The dowel is shaped to generally conform to the shape of the cutaway, which is made by a saw blade. Once the dowel is positioned within the preexisting slab, a new slab is poured adjacent the preexisting slab. Rubber seals are included on the edges of the dowels to provide spacing or a gap between the dowel and the preexisting slab to allow for lateral independent movement of the adjacent slabs, and to prevent concrete from the newly poured second slab from entering into the gap. A saw unit for making a generally planar cut horizontally into an edge of a hardened concrete slab is also provided. |
| US08356951B2 |
Wet-processing apparatus
A wet-processing apparatus, which spouts a coating liquid onto a surface of a substrate, includes: nozzles provided with passages for the coating liquid; a light source which illuminates an area between a plane containing the tips of the nozzles and the surface of the substrate; a camera for forming an image of the area; a control unit which provides a spout signal requesting spouting the liquid from the nozzle toward the substrate, and an imaging signal requesting the camera to start an imaging operation; and a decision unit which decides whether or not the liquid was spouted from the nozzle and whether or not changes occurred in the condition of the liquid spouted from the nozzle toward the substrate on the basis of an image formed by the camera and expressing the brightness of the liquid spouted toward the substrate and illuminated by light emitted by the light source. |
| US08356949B2 |
Focal plane shutter and optical device
A focal plane shutter includes: a board including an opening; a blade movable between a position where the blade recedes from the opening and a position where the blade covers at least part of the opening; a drive arm connected to the blade, the drive arm including an engagement hole; a drive lever including a drive pin engaging the engagement hole; and a restriction portion provided in the drive arm, the restriction portion abutting the drive pin and being thicker than the drive arm. |
| US08356946B2 |
Interchangeable wheel bearing unit, for example for commercial vehicles and method for assembling a wheel bearing unit
The interchangeable wheel bearing unit has a wheel hub and two tapered roller bearings, each having an outer ring and an inner ring, between which a respective row of tapered rollers is situated, and a securing ring in at least one of the inner rings of the tapered roller bearing. To assemble the wheel bearing unit without special tools, each outer ring of the tapered roller bearings has a cylindrical extension, which runs coaxially with the wheel hub axis towards the outer face of the bearing and into which a respective seal is inserted, and a retaining element, which is supported on the corresponding inner ring and axially fixes the outer ring, is located on the opposite face of the respective tapered roller bearing from the seal. |
| US08356945B2 |
Railway car roller bearing
A bearing assembly is provided having a roller bearing a cone forming an inner race fitted around the journal portion of an axle. A cup forms an outer raceway that combines with the inner raceway to receive roller elements. A backing ring is centered to the shaft fillet. Tapered roller elements are located between and contact the inner and outer raceways. A cage is comprised of an inner ring, and outer ring, and a plurality of pocket bars extend between the inner and outer rings. The pocket bars of the cage include a protrusion that is received in a groove in the cone. |
| US08356943B2 |
Bearing device for wheel
A bearing device for a wheel is capable of suppressing a backlash in a circumferential direction, is excellent in coupling operability of a hub wheel and an outer joint member of a constant velocity universal joint, and is excellent for maintenance by allowing separation of the hub wheel and the outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint. In the bearing device for a wheel, a hub wheel, a double-row roller bearing, and a constant velocity universal joint are unitized together, and the hub wheel and a shaft section of an outer joint member of the constant velocity universal joint are separably coupled with each other through intermediation of a recess-projection fitting structure, the shaft section being inserted in a fitting manner into a hole portion of the hub wheel. |
| US08356942B2 |
Sealing device for bearing assembly and wheel support bearing assembly therewith
A bearing sealing device is provided between inner and outer members of a wheel support bearing assembly and includes an annular sealing plate of an L shaped section and an elastic sealing member having an elastic body secured to a core metal of a reverse L-shaped section. The sealing plate includes a cylindrical wall, mounted on an outer periphery of the inner member, and a radial wall extending upwardly from one end thereof. The core metal includes a cylindrical wall, mounted on an inner periphery of the outer member, and a radial upright wall extending radially inwardly from one end thereof. The elastic body includes two side sealing lips, arranged radially of the core metal and having their tips held in contact with the radial upright wall. The distance between those side sealing lips is chosen to be equal to or greater than 0.1 mm. |
| US08356941B2 |
Railway car bearing seal
A bearing assembly is provided having a roller bearing with an inner raceway fitted around the journal portion of an axle. An outer raceway combines with the inner raceway to receive roller elements. An improved lubricant seal arrangement is provided between the wear ring and the supporting outer raceway comprising a stator element, a rotor element and a flinger element. |
| US08356934B2 |
Surrogate temperature sensor for a radiant heat source
A surrogate temperature sensor (52) for a convection cooled radiant heater system is described. The surrogate temperature sensor has an internal controllable heater (62) and a sensing device such as a thermocouple (64). The surrogate temperature sensor is paired with a furnace/dryer radiant heat source (38). The surrogate's internal heater provides sufficient power to heat the surrogate to the same temperature as the radiant heater. At least one surrogate temperature sensor (52) is positioned to be exposed to the cooling media in a manner similar to the radiant heat source. The surrogate sensor reports its temperature which is indicative of the radiant heater temperature to the cooling controller. The controller responds to this signal and adjusts cooling to maintain the radiant heater at its desired temperature. |
| US08356933B2 |
Calorimeter with a digestion container and with a water jacket
A calorimeter (1) with a decomposition chamber (3) with a combustion chamber (2), in which a receiving device (4) for a sample, an ignition device (5), and at least one supply line (6) for oxygen are provided. The decomposition chamber (3) is surrounded by a liquid or water jacket (7) into which at least one temperature sensor (8) extends. The liquid or water jacket (7) is surrounded by an outer container (9), which is a pressure container and which absorbs pressure generated during the combustion of a sample in the decomposition chamber (3) at the walls (10) thereof as a result of a tight sliding fit (15) by way of the water or the incompressible liquid. The decomposition chamber (3) therefore has an accordingly thin wall so that the heat generated during combustion of a sample can reach the temperature sensor or sensors (8) quickly. |
| US08356929B2 |
Timepiece movement with a karussel
The timepiece movement (1) includes a karussel (4) whose platform carries an escape wheel that cooperates with a balance (7). The platform is driven from the time display mechanism associated with a time-setting mechanism (32). The escape wheel is driven directly from the gear train. In addition to compensating for differences in rate due to gravity, the karussel of the invention proposes a new, complementary role: that of time indicator. |
| US08356927B1 |
Universal hand mixer
A universal mixer for mixing two or more components is provided. The mixer comprises two telescopically nested cylinders, the inner cylinder having a piston that stays in place due to hydraulic pressure inside the cylinders. The components to be mixed are inserted into a space formed by the outer cylinder, a cap and a gasket having one or more holes. The user forces the compounds through the holes by holding the handles of the mixer and pushing a back handle forward thereby causing the inner cylinder to move forward. The inner cylinder preferably has a diameter that narrows slightly from its back to front end. Further mixing is achieved by pulling the back handle backwards whereby the components are squeezed between the piston and the gasket and the components move through the holes in the gasket into the container formed by the outer cylinder. |
| US08356925B2 |
LED lamp having light guide
An LED lamp includes a frame, a bracket connected to the frame, two LED modules and driving modules received between the frame and the bracket, and a backplate, a reflective plate, a light guide, a diffusion plate and a cover sequentially sandwiched between the frame and the bracket. The LED modules are oriented towards two opposite lateral sides of the light guide. The light guide has a large amount of scattering dots formed on a back face thereof. The scattering dots are arranged in multiple columns. The sizes of the dots in each column are identical to each other, and the sizes of the dots in different columns gradually increase from two opposite sides towards a middle of the light guide. |
| US08356924B2 |
Light source apparatus
A light source apparatus includes a light source from which, excitation light is emitted, an optical fiber which is optically connected to the light source, and which guides the excitation light, and a wavelength converting member which is optically connected to an emitting end portion of the optical fiber, and which receives the excitation light emitted from the emitting end portion, and makes emerge light of a wavelength area different from a wavelength area of the excitation light. The light source apparatus has a diverging unit which is arranged in an optical path of the excitation light, between the emitting end portion of the optical fiber and the wavelength converting member, and a holding member for holding the emitting end portion of the optical fiber, the diverging unit, and the wavelength converting member. |
| US08356915B2 |
Lighting device
Disclosed is a lighting device that comprises a first body having a first sloping surface toward a reflector; a second body having a second sloping surface toward the reflector; a middle body having an insertion groove formed respectively on both sides of the lower part of the middle body, and allowing the first body and the second body to be coupled to both sides of the middle body by inserting a first hinge and a second hinge into the insertion groove, respectively; and a main light emitting device module disposed on a first sloping surface and a second sloping surface respectively, wherein the first sloping surface and the second sloping surface face outward with respect to the middle body. |
| US08356914B2 |
Luminaires and optics for control and distribution of multiple quasi point source light sources such as LEDs
A light projection device of a stack of at least 2 LED light projection modules. Each module shares a common optical axis and each includes an LED at least partially surrounded by an off-axis collimating optic and each projects a radially collimated canted beam towards and onto. There is a refracting plate for redirecting and changing the angle in respect to the optical axis of at least one of the radially collimated canted beams. |
| US08356911B2 |
LED light source
A lighting source comprises a plurality of LED tubular lighting fixtures having upper and lower ends. Upper and lower mounting caps positioned at the ends of the fixtures have cups for receipt of the fixture ends that locate the fixtures within the caps in a pattern and allow for rotation of the fixtures within the cups. A locking bar extends between the mounting caps, for sealing the ends of the fixtures within the cups against the mounting caps and prevents further rotation of the fixtures. A circuit board located on the upper mounting cap is connected electrically to the LED fixtures. Wires extending from the upper ends of the tubular fixtures pass through apertures in the cups of the upper mounting caps to push connectors on the circuit board for connection to an external DC power source. |
| US08356905B2 |
Optically enhanced image sequences
Enhanced image sequences are provided by a high resolution imaging system (HRIS) for generating an enhanced image, where the system includes a device for outputting an image sequence including a plurality of K source images, each source image including a plurality of pixels; and a projector for projecting, within a period of integration, each of the source images to an optical filter, the filter adapted for providing pixels of each source image as sub-pixels of pixels in the enhanced image. The enhanced images may be two-dimensional or three-dimensional. A method and computer program product are provided for generating enhanced images, as well as techniques for fabrication of the HRIS. |
| US08356902B2 |
Ambient lighting for an image display
A system comprises means (PL; MI) for projecting an image light beam (ILB) on a projection area (PA) for display of an image (PI) on the projection area (PA), and means (1) for generating an ambient light beam (ALB; ALB1, ALB2) and comprising: an ambient light source (LS; LS1, LS2) for generating ambient light, a collimator (CO) or a light-guide (LG1, LG2) for receiving the ambient light to supply the ambient light beam (ALB; ALB1, ALB2), and a reflector (RF; RF1, RF2) for reflecting the ambient light beam (ALB; ALB1, ALB2) towards the projection area (PA) to obtain an ambient lighting area (ALI) adjacent the image (PI). |
| US08356901B2 |
Systems and methods for widefield mapping of the retina
Systems and methods for constructing a widefield image of the retina from a plurality of retinal images. In one aspect, the disclosure concerns constructing a widefield image of the retina from a plurality of retinal images, comprising a base image and a plurality of peripheral images. These techniques enable medical observations of retinal phenomena in patients, such retinal vein occlusion, artery occlusion, retinal detachments, intraocular inflammation, ocular tumors, and the like, that were difficult to detect and impossible to quantify under prior art approaches. |
| US08356899B2 |
Sleepiness signal detector
A sleepiness sign detection apparatus, includes: a head movement detection unit configured to detect a head movement to generate a head movement data; an eye movement detection unit configured to detect an eye movement to generate an eye movement data; an ideal eye movement angular velocity calculation unit configured to calculate an ideal eye movement angular velocity based on the head movement data generated by the head movement detection unit; an eye-rotation angular velocity calculation unit configured to calculate an eye-rotation angular velocity based on the eye movement data generated by the eye movement detection unit; and a sleepiness sign detection unit configured to detect vestibule-ocular reflex (VOR) from the ideal eye movement angular velocity and the eye-rotation angular velocity, and determine a sign of sleepiness based on the vestibule-ocular reflex. |
| US08356898B2 |
Fundus camera and ophthalmologic image processing apparatus
A fundus camera includes an imaging unit configured to capture a fundus image formed via a photographic optical system, a portion information detection unit configured to detect information about a predetermined portion of a fundus from image data acquired from the imaging unit, and an image generation unit configured to generate an image according to a tone curve which is changed according to a result of a detection performed by the portion information detection unit of the fundus image. |
| US08356897B2 |
Method and device for performing online aberrometry in refractive eye correction
A device for correcting visual defects of an eye comprises a coherent light source, a beam modification device for shaping and deflecting a beam of the coherent light source, and a wavefront analyzer device for analyzing a wavefront of an optical path in the eye. |
| US08356895B2 |
All weather sport goggle
Embodiments of the present invention include a lens configured to adapt to varying light conditions. The lens comprises a first layer made of a transparent thermoplastic material and a second layer made of a transparent thermoplastic material. The lens also includes a polarized film and a photochromatic film that adjusts to vary the amount of light that is transmitted through the film in response to the amount of ultraviolet radiation received by the film. The lens is thermoformed to have a selected radius of curvature. Embodiments of the lens disclosed herein are adapted for use with a frame that is configured to receive the lens and position the lens proximate a user's face and eyes. |
| US08356894B2 |
Recording apparatus and liquid ejecting apparatus
An ink jet recording apparatus includes a recording head which discharges ultraviolet curing inks toward a recording sheet while reciprocally moving in a reciprocal movement direction M crossing a transportation direction S of the recording sheet; and an ultraviolet irradiation head which irradiates ultraviolet rays toward the ultraviolet curing inks discharged from the recording head and attached to the recorded medium. The recording head includes a going recording head and a returning recording head which are disposed at the front and the back of the reciprocal movement direction M with respect to a region in which the ultraviolet irradiation head irradiates the ultraviolet rays to the recording sheet. |
| US08356887B2 |
Piezoelectric element, and liquid ejection head and recording apparatus using the piezoelectric element
Provided are a piezoelectric element that can effectively utilize a piezoelectric constant d15 to increase a deflection displacement of a vibrating plate, and devices using the piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element includes: a first electrode; a second electrode; a vibrating plate that is in contact with the first electrode; a piezoelectric film provided between the first electrode and the second electrode; at least one recess formed on the second electrode side of the piezoelectric film; and a third electrode formed on an inner side wall of the at least one recess, in which the third electrode is connected to the second electrode. |
| US08356885B2 |
MEMS fluid sensor
A fluid sensor for detecting fluid in a chamber, has a MEMS sensing element of conductive material with a resistance that is a function of temperature, and electrical contacts for connection to an electrical power source for heating the sensing element with an electrical signal, so that control circuitry can measure the current passing through the sensing element during heating of the sensing element; and determine the temperature of the sensing element from the known applied voltage, the measured current and the known relationship between the current, resistance and temperature. As the temperature of the element will be greater if it is in the presence of gas rather than liquid, the sensor determines if there is liquid or gas in the chamber. This is particularly useful to detect if the chambers of an inkjet printhead are primed with ink. |
| US08356879B1 |
Nozzle plate cleaning
An example printer or method involves recognizing artifacts in a digital image of at least a part of a nozzle plate, and triggering a nozzle plate cleaning routine if the recognized artifacts cover more than a predetermined threshold. |
| US08356878B2 |
Method of printing images
A method of printing an image includes co-dispensing a compensation vehicle and an ink from an ink set to sites on a printing medium to form a printed image. A combined amount of the ink and the compensation vehicle dispensed to each site is at least substantially equal to a minimum site value that is predetermined for the ink set and the printing medium. The method further includes applying an amount of an overcoat liquid to the printed image to obtain a predetermined ratio of gloss to haze. |
| US08356877B2 |
Verifying a maintenance process on a print head
The present invention is embodied in a printing system (100) that includes a print head (120) having a controller (110), a temperature sensor (116) and a priming system (126) configured to apply a fluid pressure externally to the print head (120) to purge the print head with fluid, wherein purging the print head (120) with fluid has an effect of reducing the print head temperature. The controller (110) is configured to activate the priming system (126) for purging the printhead (120) with fluid, monitor a signal from the temperature sensor (406), and determine (418) whether activating the primer has resulted in sufficient fluid passing through the print head (120) based upon monitoring the signal from the temperature sensor (116). |
| US08356873B2 |
Apparatus and method for precision application and metering of a two-part (binary) imaging solution in an ink jet printer
A multi-color ink jet printing system uses a two-part (Binary) imaging solution, where the precise mixture of the multiple fluid parts (Colorant(s) and Reactant) is controlled with the use of multiple drop size (Grey Scale) ink jet print heads. The precise mixture of colorant(s) and reactant initiates a chemical reaction, which cures the imaging solution into a solid or nearly solid compound that ensures proper drop location. |
| US08356872B2 |
Liquid discharge apparatus and method
A liquid discharge apparatus includes a nozzle, a pressure chamber and a liquid supply portion that supplies the liquid to the pressure chamber. A discharge pulse generating unit generates a discharge pulse to discharge the liquid. The viscosity of the liquid is no less than 8 millipascal-seconds. The nozzle has a first portion with a discharge side that has an opening area smaller than that of a pressure chamber side and a second portion that communicates with an end portion of the discharge side. An opening area of the second portion is no greater than 1/9 of the opening area of the pressure chamber side. The discharge pulse has a decompression portion that decompresses the liquid to lead a meniscus in the second portion to the first portion and a compression portion that compresses the liquid to discharge the liquid before the meniscus returns to the second portion. |
| US08356870B2 |
Label printer, media processing device, and media processing system
A label printer can reliably print an object in a desired position in the printing area of a recording medium. The label printer has a carriage that moves bi-directionally in a main scanning direction over a disc-shaped recording medium; a printer tray that is disposed movably in a subscanning direction with the recording medium placed thereon; an ink head that is disposed to the carriage and prints a desired object by discharging ink to a printing area on the recording medium in conjunction with movement of the carriage in the main scanning direction and movement of the printer tray in the subscanning direction; a detection unit that is disposed to the carriage and detects a reference position alignment mark that indicates a position used as a reference for appropriately printing the object in the printing area of the recording medium; and a printing position control unit that rotates the recording medium so that the object is printed in the printing area of the recording medium based on the reference position alignment mark detection result from the detection unit. |
| US08356869B2 |
Body diode forward conduction prevention
A device has an output circuit arranged to receive a voltage pulse, a body diode associated with the output circuit, and a detection circuit electrically coupled to the voltage pulse and the output circuit, such that when the voltage pulse transitions from high to low, the detection circuit is configured to activate the output circuit to reduce current in the body diode. A circuit to control parasitic power dissipation in an integrated circuit has a P-channel FET having a source electrode coupled to a high voltage signal source and a drain electrode coupled to a load, a body diode associated with the P-channel FET, and a detection circuit. An apparatus has a print head arranged to dispense ink, a print driver circuit electrically coupled to the print head and configured to provide voltage pulses to actuate the ejection ports through an output circuit, and a detection circuit electrically coupled to the output circuit. |
| US08356863B2 |
Headrest support
Disclosed is a headrest support composed of a tube having means for receiving a headrest and a recess for joining to a seat. In order to guarantee flexible production, it is provided that a body is inserted into the tube in the area of the recess. |
| US08356856B2 |
Front spoiler for a motor vehicle
A front spoiler of a motor vehicle is held on the front end part of the vehicle by fastening elements. To reinforce the front spoiler in the central region, reinforcing ribs are provided, which extend into inward and outward formations on the front end part. The reinforcing ribs are preferably vertically aligned plate-shaped structures that extend in the longitudinal direction. To ensure a necessary dimensional stability of the front spoiler during driving, the reinforcing ribs can be supported on the front end part, and the front spoiler itself can be supported on the reinforcing ribs. |
| US08356854B2 |
Hood for a convertible vehicle
The invention relates to a folding top for a convertible vehicle, wherein the folding top can be displaced between a closed position and an opened position, comprising a main guide link mechanism with a first main guide link, a second main guide link and a guide link element, and a first folding top element, wherein the first folding top element pivotally couples the first main guide link and the second main guide link together, and wherein, starting from the closed position of the folding top, one of the first main guide link and the second main guide link can be displaced in a vertical direction by a swiveling of the guide link element. |
| US08356851B2 |
Multicomponent decorative screen for a motor vehicle and method for the installation thereof
A decorative screen configuration is provided for fastening on a motor vehicle body having a first decorative screen profile and a second decorative screen profile, which are each fastenable on the vehicle body using an end section adjoining one another in the profile longitudinal direction, the first decorative screen profile having a fastening extension protruding in the profile longitudinal direction from its end section, which is positively and/or nonpositively connectable to the end section of the second screen profile. Furthermore, decorative screen and an associated installation method are provided in which the decorative screen is fixed using detent and counter detent element in a pre-installation position on the vehicle body and can be transferred by a pivot movement into a final installation position on the vehicle body. |
| US08356850B1 |
System and method for carrying and installing a plurality of empty ice bags into an ice bagging assembly
A handle system for carrying and installing a plurality of empty ice bags in an ice bagging assembly is disclosed herein. The handle may comprise any system for effectively transporting empty ice bags and loading the ice bags into an ice bagging assembly. Implementations of the handle system may comprise a post member and a cover member. The post member may include a handle and a plurality of posts protruding from one side of the post member. The cover member may include a cover support bar with a plurality of reentrant openings aligned with the plurality of posts when the cover member is mated with the post member. The plurality of reentrant openings that each extend through the cover member and are sized to receive a portion of one of the plurality of posts. |
| US08356847B1 |
Hand-held typing aid
One embodiment of a typing aid (1) of the type having two identical halves, or identical typing units (10) and (11), which are attached to one another with a flexible attachment device (6). Each said identical typing unit consists of a protruding segment (4), an impact tip (5), one or more anchoring devices (3) and a gripping appendage (2) assembled so that said protruding segment and said impact tip extend away from the base of said gripping appendage. Other embodiments are described and shown. |
| US08356840B2 |
Marking device for a personal mobility vehicle
A marking device that is supported by a personal mobility vehicle, such as a scooter, is movable from a first position, in which the marking device does not contact the riding surface, and a second position, in which the marking device contacts the riding surface. The marking device includes an attachment portion and a marking portion that creates markings on the riding surface as a result of frictional contact with the riding surface. The marking device can also include an actuation portion which is accessible to the user and allows the user to move the marking device to the second position. In one arrangement, the marking device includes an elastic marking member which is configured to bend in order to maintain contact with the riding surface. |
| US08356838B2 |
Front spring bracket for a truck
The invention relates to a front spring bracket (18) for a truck, wherein said bracket can be attached to the front end of a vehicle frame (10) and comprises a side part (20) associated with a respective longitudinal frame carrier (12, 14) of the vehicle frame (10), which are connected to each other by way of at least one cross-member (22), wherein at least parts (20) of the front spring bracket (18) are configured as aluminum castings. |
| US08356836B2 |
Variable load knee bolster
A knee bolster for mounting within a vehicle includes a curved bracket mounted to an associated cross beam of the vehicle. The knee bolster further includes a knee panel member mounted to the curved bracket at a location spaced from the associated cross beam. The knee panel member exhibits a variable load response for a contact location when the contact location varies between a lower portion of the knee panel member and an upper portion of the knee panel member. |
| US08356832B2 |
Method for folding in or folding out an electrically operated trailer coupling, and electrically operated trailer coupling
In a method for folding in or folding out an electrically operated trailer coupling for vehicles which can be moved electrically between a folded-out use position and a folded-in rest position with excess force limitation, an actuating device is provided for activating the trailer coupling. A brief actuation of the actuating device results in an automatic adjusting movement of the trailer coupling in the folding-in or folding-out direction. In the method, in the event of a continuous actuation of the actuating device, the excess force limitation threshold is increased during the automatic adjusting process of the trailer coupling, and after the actuating device is released, the automatic adjusting process is continued with the original excess force limitation threshold until the trailer coupling has reached its use or rest position. |
| US08356828B2 |
Aerodynamic brake system
An aerodynamic braking system is disclosed herein. In particular, the brake arms may define an aerodynamic leading portion or edge and may be integrated into the legs of the front fork. Also, the brake arms may be disposed behind the bottom bracket shell to take the rear brake out of the air flow path and reduce aerodynamic drag. The rear brake arms are tapered so that the brake arms remain sufficient stiff to provide sufficient brake response times. The rear brake arms may be matched to recesses formed on an underside of chain stays. |
| US08356827B2 |
Support structure for axle housing of a towing tractor
A support structure for an axle housing of a towing tractor includes a leaf spring forming a part of a suspension, an axle housing which has a contact surface and is supported at opposite ends of the axle housing by the suspension and a spring seat which is separately provided from the leaf spring and the axle housing and disposed between the leaf spring and the axle housing, and the spring seat has a support surface. The axle housing is supported by the spring seat in plane surface contact between the contact surface and the support surface. |
| US08356826B2 |
Suspension system for a vehicle
A suspension system of the present invention pivotally supports a wheel of a motor vehicle. An upper control arm and a lower control arm are cooperable with a spindle, which supports the wheel. A vibration damper is cooperable with the upper control arm. A link interconnects the lower control arm and one of the terminal ends of the vibration damper thereby defining a common axis bisecting the link. The vibration damper moves along the common axis to absorb vibration transferred from a road surface and through the wheel. |
| US08356822B2 |
Snowboard
Some embodiments are directed to a board for riding on a snow surface, comprising a base having a first snow engaging element, a second snow engaging element, and a third snow engaging element positioned on a bottom surface of the base. The first snow engaging element can be positioned beneath a user's front foot during operation of the board and positioned entirely on a forward half of the base. The second and third snow engaging elements can be positioned such that a fore portion of each is positioned beneath a user's front foot during operation of the board and extends toward the rear portion of the board at least to the user's rear foot. In some embodiments, the snow engaging elements can be protrusions, depressions, or otherwise, and can be removably supported by the base. |
| US08356818B2 |
Durable target apparatus and method of on-target visual display
A durable reusable target apparatus with on-target visual display is described. In embodiments of the invention, pie-shaped target sectors surround a bull's eye sector. Each sector may be associated with one or more illuminated display segments. The display segments are visible at a distance, enabling shooters to determine the sector hit, and to adjust a next shot without looking away, thereby improving shooter proficiency. Various training mode are available. Methods for determining the target sector impacted and algorithms for asserting the correct display segment(s) are described. By utilizing on-target display segments, embodiments of the invention enable the shooter to ascertain the accuracy of the shot without looking away from the sights on the firearm or from the target. |
| US08356810B2 |
Transport device and recording apparatus
A transport device includes a stopper which comes into contact with a target ahead of a guide surface of a guide member and regulates movement of the target and a slider which slides by contact of the target with the stopper. The stopper has a first regulation surface with which the target comes into contact ahead of the guide surface of the guide member, and a second regulation surface which regulates the movement of the target which moves along the first regulation surface. A damper mechanism is connected to the slider and has a damper force that weakens kinetic energy by the target that the stopper receives. |
| US08356803B2 |
Attachment for baluster for stair, balcony or landing rails for both adjustable and fixed railings
A method and apparatus for attaching balusters for a stair, balcony, deck, landing or the like providing an adjustable connection of a baluster to a rail and a base surface. The apparatus includes a ball adapter and a socket. The ball adapter is joined with the socket and mounted on a stair surface. The ball adapter and its mounting to the socket provides for limited adjustable movement of the adapter with respect to the socket and the stair surface. The ball adapter provides for the attachment of a baluster to the adapter. The adjustable connection of this apparatus can be used to attach to a rail or to a base of a stair, balcony, deck, landing or the like. The ball adapter and socket can be used to produce modular prefabricated baluster systems that can be adjusted for any slope or level rail and baluster installation. |
| US08356793B1 |
Cartridge valve and manifold assembly
A valve manifold has at least one valve receptacle for threadlessly receiving and seating a cartridge valve. A threadless valve nose engages the cartridge valve with the manifold to provide an increased diameter central orifice for improved fluid flow. |
| US08356788B2 |
Corner protector
A human impact protection apparatus includes a body portion formed of a first resilient material and a plurality of members protruding radially outward from the body portion. The plurality of members are formed of a second resilient material which is the same as or different from the first resilient material. The plurality of members are adjacent one another and are separated by one or more spaces. An adhesive material or a mechanical fastener is disposed about one or both of the body portion and the plurality of members, whereby the apparatus may be affixed to a surface. |
| US08356787B2 |
Method and apparatus for a BWR jet pump main wedge clamp
A method and apparatus for vertically lifting and supporting a main wedge of a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) jet pump restrainer assembly, to ensure that the wedge is no longer contacting a restrainer bracket of the restrainer assembly. A main wedge clamp with an upper and lower clamp jaw is used to attach to the upper support of the restrainer assembly, the lower clamp jaw being fashioned with a prong or prongs that fit underneath the crown of the main wedge and provide the vertical lift for the main wedge. |
| US08356785B2 |
Arm apparatus with reinforcement
An extension arm apparatus is provided for mounting devices such as flat panel monitors above a workspace. The apparatus includes upper and lower channels connected to a pair of endcaps. One endcap may connect to the workspace and the other endcap may connect to an extension arm or to the device to be mounted. At least one of the channels includes a reinforcement structure providing additional support to the apparatus. The reinforcement structure is tapered. A forearm extension may also include a reinforcement structure. The endcaps may have interior spacers that provide clearance for the sidewalls of the channels, which may be fabricated without parting lines. |
| US08356784B2 |
Camouflage branch holding and positioning apparatus and method for using the same
A method and fixtures for holding natural or artificial material which can be used by hunters or other nature observers to construct a camouflage screen. The fixture may include a clamp which can be attached to any existing stand, support structure or other tree branch as necessary to obtain optimal concealment, or a stake which can be anchored in the ground. Each clamp has two branch holders, which may be arranged at alternating angles or rotatably connected to the clamp. Each stake may have one or more branch holders, which may be fixed or rotatable. The branch holders may have set screws with knobs permitting branches to be secured at the optimal angle and position to conceal the hunter or nature observer and to resemble the growth pattern of natural foliage. The branch holders may also be rotatable to allow the user to further customize the camouflage screen. |
| US08356781B2 |
Suction device
A suction device includes a suction cup, a vertical bar connected with the suction cup, a first support cap having an opening that the vertical bar can be placed through and a first pair of gaps in the rim of the first support cap, a sleeve connected with the first support cap for containing the vertical bar, a linkage unit combined with the sleeve and the vertical bar, for controlling the vertical bar to move in the sleeve to pull the suction cup, to enable the suction functionality, and a second support cap between the suction cup and the first support cap, combined with the first support cap through relative rotation and having a second pair of gaps in the rim of the second support cap. The suction device can firmly attach to a curved surface when the second pair of gaps is under the first pair of gaps. |
| US08356774B1 |
Structure for storing and unfurling a flexible material
Flexible and resilient masts are connected by flexible and resilient inner and outer spars, and flexible cords radially connect the spars. A flexible material is attached to the cords. The assembly is wrapped around a rotatable cylindrical drum in the structure's stored configuration. Each mast is flexible only about an axis lying parallel to the axis of rotation of the drum, and is otherwise rigid. Each mast is linear when extended and has a bending stress when deformed into a non-linear configuration, such as when wrapped around the drum. When the structure is in its stored configuration, a restraining device opposes the bending stress and another prevents the drum from rotating. Upon disengagement of the restraining devices, the stored bending strain energy forces the drum to rotate and the masts to extend into the deployed configuration and thereby unfurl the flexible material. |
| US08356773B2 |
Structural wing-fuselage component for connecting two wings to a fuselage section of an aircraft
A structural wing-fuselage component for connecting two aerofoils to a fuselage section of an aircraft includes: a first wing shell component for the first wing and a second wing shell component for the second wing, with each component being made in a single piece and comprising a shell component on the wing side and a shell component on the fuselage side, where each shell component on the fuselage side comprises coupling parts and recesses in each case situated between the coupling parts, where in the installed state the coupling parts and the recesses of the shell component on the fuselage side for the first wing and of the shell component on the fuselage side for the second wing interlock, and where at least two coupling parts at their ends pointing away from the shell component on the wing side each comprises an extension part, a partially cylindrical fuselage shell component whose supporting rims include recesses which are engaged by the extension parts of the first wing shell components. |
| US08356771B2 |
Coupling for joining two frame segments
The invention relates to a coupling for joining two frame segments within a fuselage cabin structure of an aircraft. The frame segments may comprise a Z-shaped or I-shaped cross-sectional geometry, optionally including a recess. Towards the top and the bottom, respectively, the frame segments are equipped with a header flange and a footer flange. According to the invention, at least one side plate is arranged in the area of one side of the web, and at least one counter plate is fitted in the area of an opposing side of the web. Because of the side plates and counter plates butted and riveted symmetrically on both sides against the webs of the frame segments to be joined, the coupling is moment-free and can be configured in a weight-optimized way. For further increase of rigidity, the header flanges may additionally be riveted with the side plates and/or counter plates. |
| US08356766B2 |
Winder for rectangular cross-section wire
A device is provided for winding wire into a coil. The device includes a shaft for turning on an axis; a hub attached to the shaft; inner and outer wheels; a mandrel having an outer radial surface for looping the wire; and a guide connectable to the mandrel and extending past the inner wheel. The shaft is structurally supported by a housing. The inner wheel, mandrel and outer wheel are removably fastened to the hub, the wire passes along the guide and lays along the radial surface of the mandrel, and the shaft rotates for looping the wire around the mandrel. The shaft can be rotated either manually or by a motor. A system is provided that includes the winding device, and further includes a wire-feed device, particularly for arranging several strands of wire into a ribbon. |
| US08356762B2 |
Mounting structure of on-vehicle circuit unit and on-vehicle circuit unit
It is an object to effectively reduce minute clearances generated between a heat radiating member and a vehicle body and ensure good cooling performance while avoiding the occurrence of impact and noise caused by the vibration of a vehicle. A circuit unit U is mounted such that an outer surface 11B of the heat radiating member 10 to which the circuit body 30 is fixed faces a body surface S of the vehicle with a clearance. Preferably, the mounting part 12 fixed to the body of the vehicle is extended, the surface 13 of the mounting part 12 which is in contact with the body is positioned to be substantially parallel to the outer surface 11B of the heat radiating member and a step is provided in both surfaces 13, 11B. In a mounted state, the body and the outer surface 11B of the heat radiating member are facing each other in a substantially parallel state and a clearance is formed between the body and the outer surface of the heat radiating member over the entire area excluding the mounting part 12. |
| US08356759B2 |
Low-cost magnetic stripe reader using independent switching thresholds
A F/2F waveform generator has a comparator and an analog multiplexer. In a low-cost magnetic card reader application, a magnetic track signal is amplified, filtered, and compared with a threshold signal to create a digital signal output. The analog multiplexer detects changes in state of the digital signal. When a change of state is detected, the analog multiplexer switches among dynamically tunable threshold signals. The selected threshold signal is used for comparison with the magnetic track signal. Switching level detection enables accurate F/2F waveform generation from relatively noisy magnetic track signals, thus improving the robustness of magnetic card readers. The analog implementation eliminates the need for expensive A/D conversion and processing and the design can be readily implemented in a very compact and low-cost package. |
| US08356753B2 |
Method for multi-type barcode recognition, computer readable medium, and barcode recognition apparatus
A method for multi-type barcode recognition is provided for recognizing a current barcode, so as to determine a barcode type of the current barcode among supported barcode types and the corresponding barcode information. In the method, a record table is loaded in advance for recording the matching frequency that each supported barcode type matches the barcode type of recognized barcodes. According to the matching frequency these supported barcode types are sorted in a recognizing sequence to be utilized to recognize the current barcode according to the recognizing sequence. Every time a current barcode is to be recognized, the supported barcode type utilized to recognize the current barcode is picked up according to the recognizing sequence, so as to determine the barcode type of the current barcode. The supported barcode type that most frequently matches the recognized barcode will be picked up at first, therefore, the barcode recognition efficiency is improved. |
| US08356745B2 |
Enclosure for the decontamination and identification of a medical apparatus
The invention relates to an enclosure of the type including a base (6), at least one side wall (7) and an upper lid (8) defining a decontamination volume (9), wherein one of said side walls (7) comprises an access opening (10) to the decontamination volume (9) extending up to the upper lid (8), the upper lid (8) including a cable passage (12) open towards said opening and a cable suspension member (14) through said cable passage. The enclosure includes a means (18) for reading an electronic identification label (17) provided on a cable (5) of the medical instrument. |
| US08356742B2 |
Method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using an Al-Zn connecting material
In a connecting material of the present invention, a Zn series alloy layer is formed on an outermost surface of an Al series alloy layer. In particular, in the connecting material, an Al content of the Al series alloy layer is 99 to 100 wt. % or a Zn content of the Zn series alloy layer is 90 to 100 wt. %. By using this connecting material, the formation of an Al oxide film on the surface of the connecting material at the time of the connection can be suppressed, and preferable wetness that cannot be obtained with the Zn—Al alloy can be obtained. Further, a high connection reliability can be achieved when an Al series alloy layer is left after the connection, since the soft Al thereof functions as a stress buffer material. |
| US08356739B2 |
Stapler
A stapler includes a main arm having two slots and two pivots, wherein two links have two respective first ends thereof are movably and pivotably connected to the two slots, and two respective second ends of the links are pivotably connected to the two pivots of the main arm. An operation arm having a strike plate is pivotably connected to a base and a magazine is located between the operation arm and the base. By pivoting the main arm downward, the two links are movable in the two slots and drive the operation arm to lower the strike plate to eject the staples in the magazine. |
| US08356737B2 |
Identification apparatus and method of use
An identification apparatus and methods of use are presented. Embodiments include a loop of flexible material, having an exterior surface. Indicia, identifying an organization, is displayed on at least a portion of the exterior surface. A container is provided to store the loop of flexible material. Some embodiments couple the container with a belt or other article of clothing or clothing accessory. The loop of flexible material may be coupled with the container. The container may serve as an anchoring point for one or more methods of displaying the loop of flexible material. Some methods of use position the loop of flexible material over portions of a user's body. Some methods of use permit one hand operation of the apparatus. |
| US08356736B2 |
Portable gadget-holding device
A gadget holding device for releasably holding a cell phone, an ipod or other similar gadget on a users clothing, belt or purse. The gadget holding device preferably comprising a clip, a D-ring, and a hanging interlock clasp, wherein the D-ring connects the clip to the hanging interlock clasp that permits the D-ring to rotate relative to the clip and the hanging interlock clasp to rotate and slide relative to D-ring. This configuration releasably holds a gadget and enables easy one-handed release from the gadget holding device. In this way, the gadget-holding device is a sleek, flat, lightweight, fashionable and ultimately inconspicuous way to carry a cell phone, music player or any other gadget on a person comfortably. |
| US08356735B1 |
Method and apparatus for putting on and taking off socks or stockings
An apparatus which may include a first subsection having a first top end and a second top end, and a second subsection having a first top end and a second top end. A first line from the first top end of the first subsection to the second top end of the first subsection, and a second line from the first top end of the second subsection to the second top end of the second subsection, may be at a first angle with respect to the second line. The second top end of the first subsection may be fixed to the first top end of the second subsection. The apparatus may further include a first hollow tube, and a device for moving the first hollow tube along the first and second subsections to put a sock on or to take a sock off a leg of a person. |
| US08356734B2 |
Trigger type head cap for an aerosol sprayer
A trigger type head cap for an aerosol sprayer allows residual gas inside of an aerosol container of the sprayer to be easily and reliably discharged and eliminated. The cap includes a cap cover to be placed on the aerosol container, which has a stem provided on a top thereof; a tubular member that has a stem mating part to mate with the stem and ends with a jet orifice to form a flow path continuous from the stem mating part to the jet orifice in the tubular member; and a trigger lever member capable of thrusting down the stem mating part. In addition, the cap has a rotatable rotary stopper (21) to hold the stem mating part in the state that it is thrust down, and a stopper operating lever for effecting rotation of the stopper. |
| US08356730B2 |
Beverage dispensing system with a head capable of dispensing plural different beverages
A beverage dispensing system includes a base to which a dispensing head is removably attached without additional fasteners. Beverage-forming liquids are supplied through a plurality of separate conduits in the base. Each base conduit has a normally closed valve that normally blocks fluid flow. The dispensing head has at least one passageway that receives liquid from an associated one of the base conduits. A projection associated with each dispensing head passageway opens the associated conduit valve to allow fluid flow from the base to the head. Dispensing valves in the dispensing head regulate the dispensing of the beverage. By selectively opening the dispensing valves, a plurality of beverages are formed from combinations of one or more liquids. A dispensing head includes an inlet opening and an outlet opening at each end of a passage extending through a body, the inlet opening having a smaller cross-sectional area than the outlet opening. |
| US08356727B2 |
Venting mechanisms for containers
The disclosed device primarily consists of a band, ring, or other piece of shape memory polymer (SMP) or SMP composite in various embodiments that allows or disallows containment. When the SMP reaches its transition temperature (Tg) the SMP provides the means for releasing containment of the pressurized material so as to prevent ignition or explosion of hazardous material. At normal operating temperatures, the SMP is in a deformed shape maintaining an environmental seal to protect the contents of the container. When environmental conditions cause the SMP or SMP composite to exceed its Tg, specified by the operating requirements, the SMP returns to its memory shape in a controlled geometry, rather than simply melting. The return of the SMP to its memory shape causes the venting of the container in different manners depending on which embodiment is utilized. |
| US08356725B2 |
Container and method for producing a connection between a lower part and an upper part of a container
A container for receiving objects has a lower part with an opening and a receiving space, which is accessible via the opening, for objects, an upper part which can be connected to the lower part via at least one connecting region, wherein the at least one connecting region is designed in such a manner that the receiving space is tightly closed, and a device for releasing the connection between the upper part and lower part. The device for releasing the connection is formed between the opening and the at least one connecting region. |
| US08356721B1 |
Spring retainer
A spring retention device particularly well suited to use on railcars. The spring retention device has first and second fingers that oppose each other at inclined interior surfaces to define an opening. The interior surfaces overlap and are inclined relative to opposed substantially parallel and planar surfaces with which the first finger is substantially aligned between aside from its terminal end which is bent so the first finger extends outwardly from the first planar surface. The opening terminates in an enlarged portion that has an interior surface defining the perimeter of the enlarged portion. The interior surface of the enlarged portion is substantially perpendicular to the planar surfaces. Springs having eyes that have their wire bent in substantially the same plane may be inserted through the opening, then when turned to align with the enlarged portion, the spring contained therein will be prevented from backing out of the opening. |
| US08356719B2 |
Crockery basket and dishwasher
A crockery basket of a dishwasher for receiving pieces of crockery. The crockery basket includes a bottom; lateral parts that frame the bottom; and at least one row of rods that are arranged on the bottom to hold the pieces of crockery. The at least one row of rods has a base wire and individual rod wires that are attached to the base wire. Each end of the base wire is bent and pivotally mounted on the bottom. When the at least one row of rods is pivoted upright, the base wire is arranged at a distance from the bottom. |
| US08356712B2 |
Portable container with integrated table surface
A portable, insulated container, preferably a cooler, including an integrated table surface upon which items can be placed. The table surface is movable between a stowed position and an extended position, wherein each position the lid of the container can be lifted to access the interior cavity of the container. Advantageously, the footprint of the table surface in a horizontal plane is always located above the footprint of the container in a horizontal plane such that object or item in a surrounding area need not be disturbed in order to move the table surface between the stowed position and the extended position. |
| US08356710B2 |
Modular conveyor belt
Disclosed is a modular conveyor belt device with a system for easy removal of the belt modules. The belt comprises at least one driving chain and a plurality of belt modules extending transversally and parallely mounted over the entire length of the chains. The belt modules include underside openings, shaped to receive a locking pin extending outwardly from the driving chains and comprising a notch. The belt modules further include side openings intersecting with corresponding bottom openings in which fasteners are removably mounted. Each fastener comprises a projection positionable between a locked configuration and a released configuration. In the locked configuration the projection is embedded in the notch of the locking pin whereas the projection is disembedded from the notch of the locking pin when in the released configuration. The device using the disclosed locking system provides excellent locking capabilities while offering fast and easy removal of the belt modules. |
| US08356708B2 |
Modular belt link with an EC edge
Modular belt link of the type having a leading and trailing edge and a top surface there between, and two side surfaces at right angles to the leading and trailing edges, and a lower carrying surface and furthermore provided with a plurality of eye parts for hingedly connecting to adjacent modular belt links, characterised in that the modular belt link is made from a polymer material, and that at least in a side surface a conductive material insert is embedded, such that the conductive material is exposed on the top surface and the side surface, and is part of said top and side surface. |
| US08356706B2 |
Conveyor device for flat cardboard sheets in cardboard-box forming machines
This comprises a horizontal entraining loader (1) on which are placed in an initial zone several piled cardboard sheets (12) to be driven by several transversal pushers (13) to a forming station (14) for cardboard boxes (23), said transversal pushers (13) being connected to a lateral chain (2) coupled to several end pinions (3) connected to several cross axles (4-4′). It is characterized in that the horizontal entrainment loader (1) can be adjusted longitudinally, thereby varying the distance between the transverse axles (4-4′), including for this purpose a vertically moveable tractive mechanism (8), that has a clutch mechanism (20) by means of which the movement is transmitted to a large cogwheel unit (17) and to an encoder (16) arranged coaxially with said large cogwheel unit (17), without ever losing the link between aforementioned encoder (16) and the respective transversal pusher (13). |
| US08356704B2 |
Robotically controlled entertainment elements
A robotic mount is configured to move an entertainment element such as a video display, a video projector or a staircase. The robotic mount is movable in three-dimensions, whereby the associated entertainment element is moveable in three-dimensional space. In one embodiment, a unitary display comprises a plurality of closely spaced individual displays which are mounted to robotic mounts, whereby the configuration of the unitary display may be altered by changing the position of one or more of the displays relative to the others. |
| US08356693B2 |
Overboard vent valve for use in an aircraft bearing lubrication system
A pressure-regulated bearing assembly is provided for deployment within an aircraft bearing lubrication system. The pressure-regulated bearing assembly includes a vent valve and a bearing housing having an air cavity therein. The vent valve includes a valve housing having a main flow passage coupled to the air cavity. A valve element is disposed within the main flow passage and configured to move between (i) an open position and (ii) a closed position. A bellows is coupled to the valve element and configured to move the valve element from the open position to the closed position when the pressure within the air cavity surpasses a predetermined pressure threshold. |
| US08356690B2 |
Exhaust apparatus for an internal combustion engine
An exhaust apparatus is provided with an exhaust gas pipe for discharging to the atmosphere an exhaust gas discharged from an internal combustion engine. The exhaust gas pipe has an upstream open end connected to the sound deadening device positioned at the upstream side of an exhaust gas discharging direction, and a downstream open end through which the exhaust gas is discharged to the atmosphere. At least one of the exhaust gas upstream side and the exhaust gas downstream side of the exhaust gas pipe has a diameter expansion structure expanded in diameter toward one of the upstream open end and the downstream open end. The exhaust apparatus comprises a plate provided in the diameter expansion structure to be held in opposing relationship with the discharge direction of the exhaust gas and having an open portion formed to pass through the plate in the discharge direction of the exhaust gas. |
| US08356686B2 |
Drifting kart
Drifting karts in accordance with embodiments of the invention are described that include a front wheel drive train and rear caster wheels that can be dynamically engaged to induce and control drift during a turn. One embodiment of the invention includes a chassis to which a steering column is mounted, where the steering column includes at least one front steerable wheel configured to be driven by an electric motor, a battery housing mounted to the chassis, where the battery housing contains a controller and at least one battery, wiring configured to provide power from the at least one battery to the electric motor, two caster wheels mounted to the chassis, where each caster wheel is configured to rotate around a rotational axis and swivel around a swivel axis, and a hand lever configured to dynamically engage the caster wheels to induce and control drift during a turn. |
| US08356682B2 |
Fuel cell system using external heat sources for maintaining internal temperature
A solid oxide fuel cell system including electric resistance elements for heating of space and components within the “hot zone” enclosure of the system, preferably in combination with means for using “waste” heat from other sources, to assist in warm-up from a cold start and/or to maintain a stand-by temperature of reformer and fuel cell elements within the system and/or to maintain optimum operating temperatures within the system during periods of very low electrical demand on the system. A method is included for using off-peak grid electricity, battery-stored onboard electricity, or vehicle-generated electricity to energize the resistance heaters, as well as utilizing gaseous waste heat sources such as vehicle exhaust gas to complement the resistance heating. |
| US08356679B2 |
Rotary drill bit with gage pads having improved steerability and reduced wear
A rotary drill bit having blades with gage pads disposed on exterior portions thereof to improve steerability of the rotary drill bit during formation of a directional wellbore without sacrifice of lateral stability. One or more of the gage pads may include radially tapered exterior portions and/or cut out portions to assist with reducing wear of the associated gage pad. For some applications, a rotary drill bit may be formed having blades with gage pads having a relatively uniform exterior surface. Hard facing material and/or buttons may be disposed on exterior portions of the gage pad to form a radially tapered portion to improve steerability, reduce wear of the gage pad and/or improve ability of the rotary drill to form a wellbore having a generally uniform inside diameter, particularly during directional drilling of the wellbore. |
| US08356678B2 |
Oil recovery method and apparatus
A method and apparatus for recovering oil from oil-containing sorbents, such as drill cuttings obtained from drilling with an oil-based mud. The method includes peptizing the substrate with an acid reagent and direct thermal desorption with combustion effluent gases at high temperature under turbulent mixing conditions. Another method disclosed includes upgrading the oil in the substrate to improve one or more of the properties of the recovered oil relative to the oil in the substrate, such as, lower aromatics content, lower sulfur content, lower functional group content, higher saturates, higher viscosity, higher viscosity index, and any combination thereof. The apparatus provides for efficient recovery of oil from the substrate with a short residence time, high throughput, low residual oil content in the treated solids and/or high percentage of oil recovery. The apparatus may be transported to a remote location for on-site treatment of drill cuttings or other oil-containing solids. |
| US08356675B2 |
Apparatus and methods for tubular makeup interlock
Apparatus and methods used to prevent an operator from inadvertently dropping a string into a wellbore during assembling and disassembling of tubulars. In one instance, an interlock system is used to control the operations of a gripping apparatus connected to the top drive and a spider such that at least one of the top drive or the spider retains the tubular. The interlock system allows the spider to open when the gripping apparatus is supporting a load of the tubular or is in position to support a load of the tubular. |
| US08356671B2 |
Tool with multi-size ball seat having segmented arcuate ball support member
A tool for use in a wellbore which includes a housing having an axial flow bore and a piston sleeve moveably disposed within the flow bore. The tool is moveable between first and second operating positions by an actuation mechanism having a piston with a ball seat having a partially annular shape with an outer base and a plurality of retaining segments projecting radially inwardly therefrom. The tool can be moved between first and second operating positions with the use of actuating balls of different sizes that can be landed upon the ball seat. |
| US08356666B2 |
Wellbore perforation tool
A wellbore perforation tool comprises an explosive charge, a tool body containing the explosive charge, and a flowable material carried with the tool. The flowable material is released by detonation of the explosive charge and, after perforation of the tool body by the explosive charge to form an aperture in the tool body, flows to form at least a partial barrier of the aperture. |
| US08356665B2 |
Method for recovering heavy/viscous oils from a subterranean formation
Methods are provided for improving the production of heavy/viscous crude oil from subterranean formations. The methods include secondary production through use of a displacement fluid (typically a waterflood) wherein the subterranean formation is subjected to cyclic periods of overinjection of the displacement fluid followed by underinjection of the displacement fluid, but keeping the overall cumulative voidage replacement ratio (VRR) within a defined range, typically targeted to be about 1. In some aspects, the initial production of such heavy/viscous crude oil is limited, if possible, followed this cyclic secondary production methodology. By keeping the initial production, VRR, and cumulative VRR in defined ranges, the expected ultimate recovery (EUR) can be optimized, and overall production increased for example by as much as 100% or more relative to conventional production methods. |
| US08356663B2 |
Compliant expansion swage
The present invention generally relates to a swage assembly that is movable from a compliant configuration having a first shape to a substantially non-compliant configuration having a second shape. In one aspect, an expansion swage for expanding a wellbore tubular is provided. The expansion swage includes a body and a solid cone disposed on the body. The expansion swage further includes a deformable cone disposed on the body, wherein the solid cone is made from a first material and the deformable cone is made from a second material and wherein the deformable cone is movable relative to the body when the expansion swage is in a compliant configuration. In another aspect, a method of expanding a wellbore tubular is provided. |
| US08356658B2 |
Heat transfer enhancing system and method for fabricating heat transfer device
A heat transfer device includes a plurality of heat transfer walls configured to separate a first fluid and a second fluid. A heat transfer enhancing system is provided to one or more heat transfer walls. The heat transfer enhancing system includes a plurality of micro turbulating particles bonded to the one or more heat transfer walls using a binding medium. |
| US08356657B2 |
Heat pipe system
A lattice wick system has a plurality of granular wicking walls configured to transport liquid through capillary action in a first direction, each set of the plurality of granular wicking walls forming respective vapor vents between them to transport vapor. Granular interconnect wicks are embedded between respective pairs of the granular wicking walls to transport liquid through capillary action in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The granular interconnect wicks have substantially the same height as said granular wicking wall so that the plurality of granular wicking walls and granular interconnect wicks enable transport of liquid through capillary action in two directions and the plurality of vapor vents transport vapor in a direction orthogonal to the first and second directions. |
| US08356654B2 |
Methods of forming and installing overhead support systems for movable partition systems
Movable partition systems may include a chain guide structure extending along a curved path. The chain guide structure may have a specified maximum width, and may include attachment flanges that project laterally from a central beam beyond laterally outward ends of chain guide members of the chain guide structure by a specified minimum distance. Overhead support systems for movable partition systems may include such chain guide structures. Methods of forming overhead support systems and movable partition systems may include stretch forming a bent chain guide structure. Methods of installing overhead support systems and movable partition systems may include inserting fasteners at least substantially perpendicularly through attachment flanges of a chain guide structure to secure the chain guide structure to an overhead structure. |
| US08356653B2 |
Control module having a clutch for raising and lowering a window shade
A control module may be used for raising and lowering a window shade. This configuration allows a user to pull the operating cord a predetermined distance to raise the window shade, then release the operating cord until it has retracted, and then pull the operating cord another predetermined distance to raise the window shade again. A brake mechanism is operably connected to a brake release and configured to lock or unlock the drive axle. A clutch is adapted to be mounted on the axle for selectively engaging the cord drum to the axle. The cord drum may rotate independent of the drive axle when a clutch is disengaged from the drive axle. As a result, movement of the operating cord will not cause the window shade to raise while the clutch is disengaged. When the clutch is engaged with the drive axle, the cord drum and adapter sleeve may rotate together to drive the rotation of the drive axle for raising the window shade. |
| US08356645B2 |
Transfer guard systems and methods
A transfer guard may provide a fluid path from a vial to a reservoir containing a plunger head connected to a plunger arm operatively engagable with a handle that at least partially covers a casing configured to allow the handle to operatively engage the plunger arm to move the plunger head to transfer fluidic media from the vial to the reservoir.A support structure may have a chamber, a first adapter for mating with a vial containing fluidic media, and a second adapter for mating with a reservoir containing a plunger head moveable within the reservoir. A first needle may provide a fluid path from the vial to the reservoir and a second needle may connect the vial and the chamber containing an air flow control mechanism for allowing air to flow in one direction. |
| US08356644B2 |
Transfer guard systems and methods
A transfer guard may provide a fluid path from a vial to a reservoir containing a plunger head connected to a plunger arm operatively engagable with a handle that at least partially covers a casing configured to allow the handle to operatively engage the plunger arm to move the plunger head to transfer fluidic media from the vial to the reservoir.A support structure may have a chamber, a first adapter for mating with a vial containing fluidic media, and a second adapter for mating with a reservoir containing a plunger head moveable within the reservoir. A first needle may provide a fluid path from the vial to the reservoir and a second needle may connect the vial and the chamber containing an air flow control mechanism for allowing air to flow in one direction. |
| US08356637B2 |
Hydraulic supply hose including an integral tensile load member
A supply hose includes a core tube, a first layer, a second layer, and a sheath. The core tube defines a hollow interior that surrounds a central axis and is configured to transport fluid therethrough. The first layer and/or the second layer provide tensile strength to the supply line. The first layer is disposed about the core tube and includes a plurality of first fibers. The first fibers are braided about the core tube at a first angle, relative to the central axis. The second layer is disposed directly on the exterior surface of the first layer and includes a plurality of second fibers. The second fibers are braided about the exterior surface of the first layer at a second angle, relative to the central axis. The sheath may be disposed about the second layer. |
| US08356628B2 |
Electronic bypass system for a fluid treatment system
An electronic bypass system for a water softener having a raw water inlet and a bypass outlet, having a valve assembly associated with the water softener including at least one piston and a controller in communication with the at least one piston. The at least one piston is configured for automatically controlling water flow in a conduit between the raw water inlet and the bypass outlet in response to a signal sent from the controller. |
| US08356623B2 |
Mass flow meter and mass flow controller
In order to improve a measurement accuracy of a mass flow meter, the mass flow meter comprises a flow rate calculating section that obtains an output signal from a sensor section having a thermosensitive resistive element arranged in a flow channel where a sample gas flows and that calculates a flow rate of the sample gas, a pressure measuring section that measures a primary side pressure in the flow channel, and a flow rate correcting section that corrects the measured flow rate obtained by the flow rate calculating section by the use of the primary side pressure obtained by the pressure measuring section and a gas coefficient determined by an isobaric specific heat of the sample gas. |
| US08356620B2 |
Pressure controlled three way valve device
A pressure-controlled three-way valve device for inflating, keeping inflated and deflating tires, the device having a plunger axially traversed by an inlet passage normally closed by a spring-urged inlet valve. The plunger's outer sidewall has a recess in which an O-ring extends to abut against the steps of the recess to limit the plunger stroke and keep an outlet circuit closed to a venting port formed in the sidewall of the body of the device. The plunger moving between a position to open air supply to the tire, a position to keep an outlet circuit to a tire closed and a position to open a venting port to deflate the tire. The plunger being mounted into the valve body by a diaphragm sealing an outer wall of the plunger against the valve body and permitting the moving of the plunger with minimal friction between the plunger and the valve body. |
| US08356619B2 |
Non return valve and a proceeding to form a non return valve system to be fasten together inside a receptacle intended to contain air or liquid
The present invention relates to a non-return valve (100) intended to be joined to a container (11) for air or liquids. The non-return valve is formed of non-rigid plastic or rubber material (1, 15), which forms reliable, tight non-return valve function in an opening channel (2) of the non-return valve. The invention is primarily characterized in that a resilient device (5) is arranged in a channel (50) arranged on the side of the opening channel (2) of the non-return valve and that said resilient device (5) extends from one side (52) of the channel (50) to the opposite side (52) of said channel (50). The invention also relates to a method for producing in a common stage the non-return valve together with a container (11) or for joining said non-return valve to a container (11) after the production of the non-return valve. |
| US08356617B2 |
Poppet valve with dual flow area gain
A poppet valve includes a housing having an inlet port and an outlet port. A poppet is located in the housing and includes a poppet body which blocks the outlet port when the valve is in a closed position and a poppet tip disposed at a distal end of the poppet body. The poppet tip includes at least one tip flow channel extending substantially along a poppet axis to meter flow therethrough as the valve is moved from a closed position. A method of controlling a flow includes translating a poppet located in a valve housing in a first direction along a poppet axis. At least one poppet flow channel extends across a valve inlet port via translation of the poppet. A fluid is flowed from the inlet port through a first flow area defined by the at least one poppet flow channel extending across the inlet port. |
| US08356614B2 |
Self defense spray walking stick and methodology of operating same
One possible embodiment could be a self-defense walking stick and a process of operating same, the stick comprising of a shaft having two ends, a first end and a second end; a grip having a body with a top end and a bottom end, the top end having a top aperture connected to a top open-ended channel, the bottom end having a bottom aperture connected to a bottom open-ended channel that receives the first end of the shaft; an aerosol irritant dispensing canister comprising of a pressurized cylinder of irritant connected to activating and dispensing mechanisms, wherein a portion of the canister is retained within the top open-ended channel to expose the activating and dispensing mechanisms above the top end; and a tip connecting to the second end to interact with a surface of a ground being traversed by the operator using the stick. |
| US08356609B1 |
Plaque buster system
A plaque buster system is for removing stains and whitening both teeth and dentures and for tongue cleaning and mouth washing. A composition in a dry power form consists of baking soda plus vitamin C/ascorbic acid plus ground peppermint. A container/dispenser receives and dispenses the composition. |
| US08356607B2 |
Smoking article and method of manufacturing same, and method of manufacturing carbon monoxide reducing agent
A smoking article includes a carbon monoxide reducing agent including particles including a calcium aluminate represented by the formula (CaO)m(Al2O3)n, where 1/6≦m/n≦4/1, wherein the particles have a BET specific surface area of 2 m2/g or more and less than 20 m2/g. |
| US08356606B2 |
Production of micronized encapsulated tobacco particles for tobacco flavor delivery from an oral pouch
A method of providing a comestible plant material taken orally by coating a micronized plant material with a first layer of polysaccharides or proteins, then a second layer of polysaccharides or proteins is disclosed. A bi-encapsulated plant material produced by this process is also disclosed. |
| US08356605B2 |
Devices and methods for treatment of obesity
Methods, devices, tools, instruments and systems for treating a patient to induce weight loss. In one method embodiment, a device, including an expandable member in a collapsed configuration, is passed through an opening in the skin of the patient, and into the abdominal cavity of the patient. At least a portion of the expandable member is anchored relative to at least one structure in the abdominal cavity, without piercing the stomach. The expandable member is expanded to an expanded configuration in a space in the abdominal cavity to perform at least one of: prevention of expansion of the stomach of the patient into the space; and compression of a portion of the stomach. |
| US08356603B2 |
Oral appliance for treating a breathing condition
In certain embodiments, an apparatus for treating a breathing condition includes a body, a threaded member, a hook, and a receiver. The body comprises a front stop, a rear stop, and a guide extending between the stops. The threaded member couples between the stops and rotates relative to the body. The hook couples to the guide, comprises a threaded passage and an arm that engages a lower arch, and travels in a forward direction along the guide to adjust the position of the lower arch. The receiver couples to the lower arch and comprises a shelf that engages the arm of the hook. The apparatus may include an extender coupled to the receiver and providing a shelf that is more rearward than the shelf of the receiver. The apparatus may include a post that couples the apparatus to another device. In certain embodiments, a removable receiver, which may be one of a plurality of removable receivers with different dimensions, is removably positioned within a recess in a posterior surface of a lower arch and is engaged by a connector of an upper arch to define the relative positions of the arches. |
| US08356600B2 |
Occlusion implant
Contraceptive and/or sterilization methods and devices are disclosed which may improve the speed of tubal occlusion and mechanisms for anchoring for a contraceptive device. In accordance with some embodiments, improvements may be made to the delivery catheter to induce trauma and create faster tubal occlusion, improvements may be made to the occlusion device to prevent migration and induce trauma, and improvements may be made to the occlusion device to reduce the total volume of in-growth required compared to conventional expansive occlusion devices. |
| US08356596B2 |
Device for supplying a respirator with breathing gas
A device for supplying a respirator with breathing gas is designed in a modular design. To accomplish the object, a cover plate (9), a distributor plate (20) and a half shell body (11) are provided in a sandwich-like design, wherein said distributor plate (20) has walls (3, 5) projecting on both sides, which are connected to the cover plate (9) and to the half shell body (11) and define gas ducts (7) as well as a buffer volume (12). |
| US08356594B2 |
Methods and apparatus for heart failure treatment
Methods and apparatus for assessing the condition of and treating patients for heart failure by the delivery of continuous positive airway pressure are disclosed. Treatment of obstruction due to reflex vocal cord closure often experienced by heart failure patients is distinguished from treatment of upper airway obstruction typically associated with Obstructive Sleep Disorder Treatment may also be implemented by delivering synchronized cardiac pressure oscillations superimposed on a respiratory pressure level to provide assistance for the heart. Heart treatment pressure dose indicator may be calculated for prescribing and monitoring the delivery of treatment. The apparatus may also generate data to track heart failure condition that may be indicative of the degree of severity of heart failure based upon breathing patterns to assist in the diagnosis and management of heart failure patients. |
| US08356592B2 |
Chin pivot patient interface device
A patient interface device that includes a body portion comprising a pair of arms and a chin support. A first end portion of each arm in the pair of arms is coupled to an opposite end of the chin support. The chin support is adapted to be disposed under the mandible responsive to the patient interface device being donned by a user. At least one headgear attachment element is provided on each arm in the pair of arms. A circuit portion is provided at a second end portion of each arm in the pair of arm. A patient interface portion is coupled to the circuit portion. |
| US08356591B2 |
Corner structure for walls of panels in solar boilers
A boiler for a solar receiver includes a first wall of substantially coplanar side by side boiler panels. A plurality of contiguous panels of the first wall each have an inlet header thereof at a common first wall header elevation. A second wall includes substantially coplanar side by side boiler panels. A plurality of contiguous panels of the second wall each have an inlet header thereof at a common second wall header elevation. The second wall is adjacent to and angled with respect to the first wall so that one end panel of the first wall is adjacent to one end panel of the second wall to form a boiler wall corner. The inlet headers of the two end panels of the boiler wall corner are at different elevations relative to one another. |
| US08356587B2 |
PCV valve guide
A positive crankcase ventilation valve assembly including a housing having a fluid inlet and outlet. A poppet valve is arranged in the housing between the fluid inlet and outlet and is movable in a axial direction between a plurality of positions. The positions respectively define a plurality of fluid flow rates. A plurality of ribs extend radially from either the poppet valve and the housing in an axial direction. The ribs define a bearing surface between the housing and the poppet valve. In this manner, the poppet valve is supported within the housing with a reduced bearing surface area while aligning the poppet valve relative to the housing throughout its movement between the positions. In another embodiment, the poppet valve is eliminated to prevent problems associated with an improperly operating poppet valve. A diaphragm is arranged in the housing between the fluid inlet and outlet. The diaphragm has an orifice, which may be defined by a hole and a plurality of slots extending outwardly from the hole, defining first and second areas, respectively, in first and second positions. The first and second positions respectively define first and second fluid flow rates. The diaphragm moves axially in response to pressure fluctuations on the valve, which changes the area of the orifice to vary the flow rate through the orifice. |
| US08356577B2 |
Combination of a teat cup and a flexible milk tube, a coupling piece, and a method of monitoring the integrity of the flexible milk tube
A combination of a teat cup and a flexible milk tube is shown. The flexible milk tube has a main duct and a plurality of secondary ducts for discharging milk from the teat cup and for applying vacuum in the teat cup. The main duct is confined by a duct wall extending around the main duct. The secondary ducts are included in the duct wall of the main duct. By including the plurality of secondary ducts in the duct wall of the main duct the flexible milk tube as a whole has a smaller cross-section than that of the known milk tube. The plurality of secondary ducts no longer need separate duct walls forming separate tubes either connected or not with the flexible milk tube comprising the main duct. This results in space saving. |
| US08356573B1 |
Shutterless, instant radiation device for curing light curable floor coatings
Apparatus for curing a photocurable material applied to a floor surface includes a carriage having wheels, a source of curing light carried by the carriage, and a solid state ballast circuit selectively energizing said light source. The apparatus is free of a shutter that would selectively cover the source of curing light. |
| US08356572B2 |
Clamping unit for depositing thin film solar cell and signal feed-in method
A clamping unit for depositing a thin film solar cell and a signal feed-in method are provided. The clamping unit comprises an electrode plate module, a signal feed-in module (201), and a supporting frame. The electrode plate module is set with a shielding cover (204). The signal feed-in module (201) comprises a waist section and a head section, wherein the head section is a rectangular-shaped signal feed-in surface. The head section of the signal feed-in module (201) is surface contacted with and is connected to the feed-in port of the electrode plate module. The feed-in port is set on the concave rectangular surface which is arranged in the central region of the back side of the cathode plate of the electrode plate module. The clamping unit can effectively remove standing wave effect and skin effect, improve the yields and reduce the costs. |
| US08356571B2 |
Applicator and application method for applying a sealant to a flanged seam
An applicator is disclosed for applying a coating agent, such as a sealant, to a component, such as a flanged seam of a motor vehicle body component. The applicator includes a nozzle for delivering the coating agent on to the component and a carrier. The carrier may be guided by a multiple-axis robot in operation, with a joint located kinematically between the carrier and the nozzle, thereby permitting the nozzle to move to avoid contact with a component being coated. |
| US08356569B2 |
Location signaling device
A location signalling device comprising a wing balloon for signalling a location. The wing balloon is fixed to a tether line that itself is fixed to the location to be signalled. The wing balloon has an inflatable aerodynamically shaped hollow body to be at least partly be filled with a lighter-than-air gas and having a wing attack surface for air flowing relative to said wing balloon. The floating aloft of said wing balloon is supported by said air flow. When the wing balloon is inflated, a flexible wing portion is passively variable. The stronger the wind, the less attack is given. Thus, the dragging force on the tether line is generally static. |
| US08356562B2 |
Pallet
A pallet may include a first portion and a second portion that may be arranged in a use position. The first and second portions may also be arranged in one or more nested positions that may be more compact than the first position to help facilitate more efficient storage of the portions. The portions may also include one or more magnets that may be used to help secure the portions in the use position and/or the nested positions. The portions may include one or more interlocking and/or engaging features that may be used to help secure the portions in the use position and/or the nested positions. If desired, the first and second portions may be sized and configured to be independently used as pallets. |
| US08356561B2 |
Side wall for a rail vehicle
A side wall for a rail vehicle is provided. The side wall includes a plurality of profiles which are arranged vertically one above the other. A sliding seat is formed between two adjacent profiles. A first profile of the adjacent profiles has, on an outer side of the side wall, a welding projection, and a second profile of the adjacent profiles has a welding projection which is dimensioned to reach a predefined overall side wall height. The two adjacent profiles are welded to one another on the outer side of the side wall via a V-seam. |
| US08356560B2 |
Railroad car and door mechanism therefor
A hopper car discharge outflow is controlled by closure members, at least one of which is movable. The doors are hingeless, being mounted on four bar linkages, such that the distal edge of the doors sweeps predominantly horizontally while the proximal edge of the door moves predominantly upwardly. The doors move through noncircular arcs, such that the size of the vertically projected door opening is abnormally large compared to the clearance heights of the door. The doors are driven by a longitudinal shaft that is mounted within the center sill. It drives a set of single input, double output bell cranks that drive adjacent pairs of doors, and that employs an over-center toggle to hold the doors in the closed position when the car is laded. The actuators may be mounted in shelters midway along the car, and may be offset from the centersill. The actuators may be mounted predominantly vertically such that gravity may obviate the need for a secondary lock. The doors of a transverse car need not all be of the same size. The over center may include a manual release having a fulcrum with a progressive decrease in mechanical advantage. |
| US08356558B2 |
Constant contact side bearing
A constant contact side bearing (CCSB) for use between a truck and car of a rail car that includes a generally hollow housing that includes a closed bottom end and an open top end. An attachment member is attached to an outside surface of the housing and is positioned in a center region between the top end and the bottom end. A resilient member is positioned inside the housing, and a cap is fitted over resilient member and is sized relative to the housing to enable slidibly moving into the housing. |
| US08356553B2 |
Print unit having blanket cylinder throw-off bearer surfaces and method
An offset print unit includes a plate cylinder having an end, a rotatable plate cylinder support supporting the end and having a first bearing surface, a blanket cylinder having a blanket cylinder end, a rotatable blanket cylinder support supporting the end and having a second bearing surface and an actuating device for rotating the plate cylinder support and the blanket cylinder support, the first and second bearing surfaces contacting during a part of the rotation of the supports. A method is also provided. |
| US08356550B2 |
Piston skirt with friction reducing oil recess and oil reservoir
A piston (20) includes a piston skirt (30) extending along a longitudinal axis (L) and having a pair of convex outer surfaces (42) facing opposite one another. Each of the outer surfaces (42) include an oil reservoir (44) above the pin bore axis (P) and an oil recess (46) below the pin bore axis (P) and spaced from the oil reservoir (44) by an intervening oil spreading area (48). The oil reservoir (44) and oil recess (46) each include a bottom (50) extending over an area of the outer surface (42) and surrounded by ramped side walls (52). The oil recess (46) and oil reservoir (44) include radiused corners (54) at a transition between the outer surface (42) and at the bottoms (50), so that the oil reservoir (44), oil recess (46), and outer surface (42) are free of sharp edges. |
| US08356549B2 |
Method of mounting a cylinder arrangement of a hermetically enclosed refrigerant compressor arrangement, and hermetically enclosed refrigerant compressor arrangement
The invention concerns a method of mounting a cylinder arrangement of a hermetically enclosed refrigerant compressor arrangement in a carrier arrangement (14, 15), in which the cylinder arrangement is inserted in the carrier arrangement (14, 15), aligned in relation to a crank shaft (5) and connected to the carrier arrangement (14, 15). It is endeavored to ensure a good efficiency of the refrigerant compressor arrangement. For this purpose the carrier arrangement is deformed, before inserting the cylinder arrangement, by means of a calibration cylinder (40), until the calibration cylinder (40) has a predetermined alignment, after which the calibration cylinder (40) is removed and replaced by the cylinder arrangement in the carrier arrangement (14, 15). |
| US08356546B2 |
Holding control valve
A holding control valve of the present invention is configured such that: a spool is configured to perform strokes by a piston configured to operate by introduction of pilot pressure and have a larger diameter than the spool; the piston is divided into a pilot piston configured to receive the pilot pressure and a relief operation piston disposed adjacent to the spool to receive pressure of relief oil discharged when a relief valve operates; and the relief oil is introduced to between the pilot piston and the relief operation piston. |
| US08356543B2 |
Firearm firing mechanism
A semiautomatic firearm and firearm firing mechanism includes a bolt assembly having a bolt body coupled to a locking head for imparting a dwell in the sequence or process of bullet casing ejection, reloading, and re-cocking sequence during firing of the firearm. The locking head and bolt body rotate relative to one another as they translate longitudinally relative to one another, owing to corresponding engagement members. The locking head includes an additional engaging member for engagement with a corresponding engaging member along an inner surface of a fire control housing that houses the firing mechanism, so that the rotation and longitudinal translations of the locking head are performed in a controlled manner, which further controls the movement of the locking head and the bolt body relative to one another. A striker is released by a sear, which is coupled to a trigger, to initiate the firing and reloading/re-cocking sequence. |
| US08356534B2 |
Fastener driving system with precision fastener guide
An apparatus for positioning a fastener in a driving system. A positioning assembly is positioned at the first end of a guide tube to engage a fastener driven by a driver shaft out of the guide tube. The positioning assembly includes a first jaw having an interior cavity and a mounting portion allowing the jaw to be mounted to the guide tube. The positioning assembly includes a second jaw having an interior cavity and a mounting tab allowing the jaw to be mounted to the guide tube. The first and second jaw are rotatably coupled to the guide tube in a retractable manner such that a fastener exiting the guide tube separates the jaws and is centered about the axis passing longitudinally through the guide tube. |
| US08356525B2 |
Analyzer and transportation device
An analyzer comprising: a first measurement unit for measuring samples; a second measurement unit; and a transportation device operable to transport a plurality of sample containers accommodated in a first rack and containing samples and a plurality of sample containers accommodated in a second rack and containing samples, to the first measurement unit and the second measurement unit, wherein the transportation device comprises a first transportation section operable to transport the plurality of sample containers on the first rack to the first measurement unit and the second measurement unit by transporting the first rack on a transport path, and a second transportation section operable to transport the plurality of sample containers on the second rack to the first measurement unit and the second measurement unit by transporting the second rack on the transport path independently from movement of the first rack, is disclosed. A transportation device is also disclosed. |
| US08356518B2 |
Method and apparatus for ultrasonically inspecting pipes
An apparatus for inspecting a pipe comprising a body adapted for passage through the bore of a pipe to be inspected, a main transducer array comprising a plurality of circumferentially spaced transducers for transmitting ultrasound energy, the transducers being mounted on the body for movement between a retracted position, wherein the body can freely move through the bore of the pipe, and an extended position wherein the plurality of transducers are pressed into operative contact with the inner wall of the pipe. An actuator selectively urges the plurality of transducers to their extended positions. A control transmits ultrasound energy into the pipe to propagate a guided wave within the pipe walls in at least one longitudinal direction along the pipe when the transducers are in their operative position and receives the propagated wave and analyzes the wave to determine the presence or absence of defects in the pipe wall. |
| US08356514B2 |
Sensor with improved thermal stability
Improved sensors are disclosed that include a heater resistor and/or one or more sensor resistors. In some instances, the heater resistor may be configured to have a zero or near-zero temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR), while one or more sensor resistors may be configured to have a non-zero higher TCR. In some instances, the heater resistor may include a polysilicon material that is doped with a first concentration of dopant, and the one or more sensing elements may include a polysilicon material that is doped with a second higher concentration of dopant. In some cases, the first concentration of dopant may be configured to provide a heater resistor that has a zero or near-zero temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR). |
| US08356511B2 |
Device including a pressure sensor for measuring pressures inside the combustion chamber of an engine
A device includes a pressure sensor (11-13) for measuring pressures inside the combustion chamber of a cylinder in an internal combustion engine. The device includes: an outer body (1); a lug (5) extending partially into the combustion chamber; an inner housing (14) inserted into the body and surrounding an upper portion of the lug, the housing being secured to the lug and to the body and having an elastically deformable portion (17) between the two securing areas, characterized in that the housing (14) is secured to the body (1) at a securing area (18) extending in the upper portion of the body. |
| US08356509B2 |
Differential torque densitometer
A densitometer suitable for fluid measurements in remote, hostile environments comprises one or more pairs of matched weight masses housed within a tube and having respectively different densities. When immersed in the subject fluid, the buoyancy differential between the masses is converted to a proportional torque oriented about an axis aligned substantially parallel with a pipe bore. The torque is transferred through a calibrated environmental isolation cylinder to an electric property sensor positioned in a protected environment. A proportionalized electric property signal is transmitted to a value reading station. |
| US08356506B2 |
Method of forming industrial housings
A method of forming a housing which includes roll forming a steel tube radially inwardly with a plurality of rollers each having a rolling axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tube, the rollers compressing the tube and forming reduced diameter portions and enlarged diameter portions. The method then includes cutting the tube perpendicular to the longitudinal axis generally midway through an enlarged diameter portion and a reduced diameter portion, forming a plurality of mirror image preforms. Finally, the method includes cold working the preforms into the desired shape of the housing and increasing the strength of the steel at least 15% and forming a housing member having enlarged diameter open end and a reduced diameter open end. |
| US08356501B2 |
Method of supplying lubricating oil in cold-rolling
A method of supplying lubricating oil in cold-rolling by emulsion lubrication, characterized by comprising: using a constant (supply efficiency) obtained under conditions of a specific rolling rate, emulsion supply, emulsion concentration, emulsion temperature, plateout length, rolled material width or roll barrel length, rolling load, grade of the rolled material, and type of lubricating oil and oil film thickness at the time of neat lubrication realized under the specific rolling lubrication conditions to estimate the oil film thickness realized by emulsion lubrication under the specific rolling lubrication conditions and controlling at least one of the emulsion supply, emulsion concentration, emulsion temperature, and plateout length so that the estimated oil film thickness matches with the target oil film thickness. |
| US08356497B2 |
Hydraulic connecting element of a water-conducting domestic appliance
A water-conducting domestic appliance having a connector, a neck, and a connecting element that has at least one section formed by elastic material and an insertion end, wherein the connecting element connects the connector to the neck. A supporting ring is arranged at the insertion end, and the connecting element has an insertion region with an insertion rounding on the insertion end, wherein the insertion rounding runs tangentially into a sealing region. |
| US08356496B2 |
Apparatus and method for loading items to be washed with an air flow
An apparatus for loading items to be washed with an air flow, comprising a substantially closed first channel system for guiding an air flow which loads the items to be washed. A treatment chamber for receiving the items to be washed, a blower for driving the air flow, a heater for heating the air flow before the items to be washed are loaded, and a cooler for cooling the air flow after the items to be washed have been loaded are arranged in the first channel system. Here, the first channel system has outside the treatment chamber and the blower, two branches and which are connected to one another in parallel and can be flowed through in parallel by corresponding parts of the air flow. Here, the heater is arranged in a first branch and the cooler is arranged in a second branch of said branches. The invention likewise relates to a corresponding method. |
| US08356493B2 |
Fluorophosphate glass and method of making thereof
New and improved compositions of doped fluorophosphate glasses for lasers have a high refractive index (nD) of approximately 1.6 to 1.7, high transmission in the near infrared part of the spectrum and a wide glass forming domain. These glass systems, Ba(PO3)2—Al(PO3)3—BaF2-Dopants, utilize dopants from the group of oxides or fluorides of the rare earth elements Sm, Eu, Nd, Er, Yb, Tm, Tb, Ho and Pr as well as MnO; and mixtures thereof. The composition of glass includes chemical durability, efficiency of laser use in the infrared spectrum and improved duration of luminescence. |
| US08356489B2 |
Injection of refrigerant in system with expander
A refrigerant system incorporates an expander. At least a portion of refrigerant bypasses an evaporator and is injected into the compression process to cool main refrigerant vapor flow and compressor elements. In disclosed embodiments, the injected refrigerant may be partially expanded in the expander and routed either into the compressor suction or to an intermediate point in the compression process. A valve may control the amount of the injected refrigerant to achieve desired operational characteristics for the refrigerant system. |
| US08356488B2 |
Method of producing metal plate type water, a metal plate type water production apparatus, a water collection metal plate, and a water collection metal element
By cooling a metal plate, a water film is generated on a surface of the metal plate due to dew condensation, in a linear increase amount process and at before stage of saturation, the generation water is flipped off, and the generation water film is peeled off forcibly from the metal plate and water collection is carried out. It provides the metal plate, a cooler for cooling the metal plate, and a water film peeling-off mechanism for flipping off forcibly and peeling off forcibly the water film generated on the surface of the metal plate. A water collection metal plate wherein with the metal plate having the surface in which an effective surface of after processing is enlarged to a surface area before processing, the water film is generated to the surface of the metal plate by dew condensing moisture in atmosphere, the generation water film is flipped off forcibly and peeling off from the metal plate, thereby the water collection is carried out. |
| US08356485B2 |
System and method for oxygen separation in an integrated gasification combined cycle system
An integrated gasification combined cycle power generation system (100). In one embodiment, shown in FIG. 1, a gasifier (108) is configured to generate synthetic gas (117) from a carbonaceous material (106) and an oxygen supply (109) with a cleaning stage (120) positioned to receive synthetic gas (117) from the gasifier (108) and remove impurities therefrom. A gas turbine combustion system (2) including a turbine (123) is configured to receive fuel (128) from the gasifier (108) and a first air supply (131) from a first air compressor (130). A steam turbine system (4) is configured to generate power with heat recovered from exhaust (140) generated by the gas turbine system (2) and an ion transport membrane air separation unit (110) includes a second air compressor (114) for generating a second air supply (113). A first heat exchanger (118) is configured to cool the synthetic gas (117) prior to removal of impurities in the cleaning stage (120) by flowing the second air supply (113) through the first heat exchanger (118) so that the second air supply (113) receives heat from the synthetic gas (117). |
| US08356484B2 |
Hybrid Wobbe control during rapid response startup
According to one aspect, the subject application involves a method of controlling a transition of a gas turbine. The method includes receiving a request of the gas turbine to drive an increased load. The increased load is greater than a load being driven by the gas turbine when the request is received. The method further includes determining that a temperature of a fuel to be ignited within a combustor of the gas turbine is less than a target temperature of the fuel to be introduced into the combustor for driving the increased load. Responsive to this determination, the method also includes controlling introduction of an additive into the combustor of the gas turbine when the temperature of the fuel is less than the target temperature to establish a suitable Wobbe Index of a fuel combination to promote a substantially continuous transition of the gas turbine to drive the increased load, wherein the fuel combination includes the fuel and the additive. |
| US08356483B2 |
Gas turbine engine systems involving variable nozzles with sliding doors
A nozzle assembly for a gas turbine engine includes a door axially slidable relative to a passage in communication with a secondary flow path to regulate the secondary flow though the passage. |
| US08356480B1 |
Energy recovery device
A cluster of thrust rods are disposed in a module oriented to extend somewhat beyond the surface of a road or trackway adapted to receive vehicular traffic thereon, the thrust rod fastened to reciprocate in the presence of vehicular traffic and spring biased to return the thrust rod to an original, unstressed position. Each deflection of an associated thrust rod causes a fluid contained within a hydraulic piston/cylinder to be pulsed in response to pressure formed from a piston associated with the thrust rod, the thrust rod operating against spring tensioning to return to its unstressed state. Each fluid pulse is allowed to communicate through a single fluidic line to a second piston/cylinder arrangement having reduced cross section for a pulse of greater intensity and deflection, and spring biased to return to an original, unstressed position simultaneously with the thrust rod. This piston cylinder arrangement is provided with double sided piston surfaces one surface remote from the single fluidic line fluid. The remote surface deflection communicates with a pump/manifold system communicating with a reservoir executing its fluid to travel in a fluid conduit past a turbine and generator arrangement or a similar instrumentality for the useful output associated with a liquid impinging against the turbine's blades. Tailwater from the turbine flows to a reservoir to be reinitialized. |
| US08356477B2 |
Dual linear actuator
An actuator having two or more interconnected movement components, wherein the movement components are designed as linear actuators with substantially coaxial longitudinal axes or longitudinal axes that are parallel to each other and that are interconnected in longitudinal direction such that their linear movements are superimposed on one another, and such that at least one of the linear actuators can be stopped at one or several predetermined positions. |
| US08356475B2 |
Catalysts with slow, passive release of alkali ions
Described is a method of slowly releasing a catalyst for, inter alia, the purpose of soot oxidation in a particulate filter. An example method includes incorporating an alkali metal oxide in a glass. Slow leaching of the alkali from the glass provides a means to gradually deliver the catalyst over extended periods. Additionally, the example method includes increasing the amount of alkaline metal ions that may be leached from the glass. |
| US08356474B2 |
LNT desulfation strategy with reformer temperature management
Desulfation methods for an exhaust treatment system having a fuel reformer configured upstream of a LNT. Reductant is injected upstream of the fuel reformer. The reductant reacts within the reformer to generate heat, but the system is configured for some reductant to breakthrough and react in the LNT to generate further heat. This configuration allows the LNT to operate at temperatures higher the than first device and facilitates independent control of the LNT and first device temperatures. |
| US08356472B2 |
Exhaust purification device for hybrid electric vehicle
An ammonia selective reduction-type NOx catalyst (48) is interposed in an exhaust passage of an engine (2) provided in a series-type hybrid electric vehicle (1), and a urea water injector (52) is disposed in the exhaust passage to supply a urea water into exhaust gas existing upstream of the ammonia selective reduction-type NOx catalyst (48). The engine (2) is started and stopped in accordance with the storage state of a battery (8), and the urea water injector (52) is controlled in accordance with the operating state of the engine (2). When the engine (2) is to be stopped, an adsorption increasing operation for increasing the amount of ammonia adsorbed by the ammonia selective reduction-type NOx catalyst (48) is executed over a predetermined period before the engine (2) is stopped. |
| US08356470B2 |
Method of controlling NOx purification system and NOx purification system
An NOx purification system having a selective reduction catalyst, adapted so that even when no ammonia or urea is supplied, NOx is converted to ammonia by a first catalyst including a lean NOx catalyst or a ternary catalyst at ammonia formation control and the ammonia is adsorbed by the selective reduction catalyst disposed downstream and so that by the adsorbed ammonia, there is carried out reduction purification of the NOx contained in the exhaust gas when no ammonia formation control is performed by the selective reduction catalyst. At the ammonia formation control, an ammonia adsorption target amount being a target value of ammonia adsorbed by the selective reduction catalyst is computed, and the ammonia formation control is carried out only when a cumulative value of an ammonia formation amount formed by the first catalyst at the ammonia formation control is under the ammonia adsorption target amount. Consequently, ammonia is stably supplied in just proportion to the selective reduction catalyst. |
| US08356469B1 |
Gas turbine engine with dual compression rotor
The present invention provides a gas turbine engine including a first combustion chamber, a dual compression rotor positioned behind the combustion chamber, and a centrifugal compression rotor positioned behind the dual compression rotor. |
| US08356467B2 |
Combustion wave ignition for combustors
A system, such as a turbine power production system, including a plurality of combustion chambers. The combustion chamber may be provided with an ignition system that allows for substantially simultaneous ignition of each of the plurality of the combustors. Generally, a detonation wave may be provided to each of the combustion chambers substantially simultaneously from a single ignition combustion wave chamber. |
| US08356466B2 |
Low grade heat recovery system for turbine air inlet
A heating and cooling system for inlet air of a gas turbine engine in a combined cycle power plant having a steam turbine. The heating and cooling system may include a fluid coil positioned about the gas turbine engine, a heat exchanger in communication with the fluid coil, and a condenser in communication with the steam turbine and the heat exchanger such that waste heat from the steam turbine is forwarded to the fluid coil. |
| US08356465B2 |
Height of cut adjuster assembly for reel mower cutting unit with removable attachment
A height of cut adjuster for a reel mower cutting unit with a removable attachment includes a front roller with a shaft positionable in front of the cutting reel axis, and a roller bracket assembly having a bottom bracket removably attached to a top bracket to provide a gap therebetween where the front roller shaft is held. The roller bracket assembly may be pivoted, and the top bracket may be connected to the bottom bracket in a different position further from the cutting reel, so that an attachment such as a conditioner may be installed between the front roller and the cutting reel. |
| US08356461B2 |
Apparatus for cleaning, filling, and sealing a container
An apparatus for washing, filling, and sealing a container includes an enclosure having an opening for receiving a container. The apparatus may include a rotary assembly, a wash station, a rinse station, a fill station, and a seal station all contained within the enclosure. The rotary assembly may include any number of racks for carrying the containers. The rotary assembly advances (e.g., about an axis) and facilitates the washing, filling, and sealing of the containers within the enclosure. The apparatus may be employed in a method for washing, rinsing, filling, and sealing containers within an enclosure. The method may be conducted consecutively. The steps of washing, filling, and sealing are conducted simultaneously. |
| US08356458B2 |
Loading and palletizing device for roll trucks, such as dollies, and the associated method
Loading arrangement for loading dollies which has a transport station for placing at least two dollies one behind another along their line of transport. The loading arrangement also has movable transport element with engaging structures, which engaging structures are configured to engage and move the dollies to position the dollies at a predetermined distance from one another at a loading station. The dollies are then loaded at the same time at the loading station before the engaging structures move the dollies to a transfer station which transfers loaded dollies out of the loading arrangement. |
| US08356455B2 |
Packaging system including control means with power-saving mode
A system for reducing power consumption of a packaging machine, including a processing device performing a predetermined process on supplied processing objects and discharging them, and a packaging machine packaging the objects discharged from the processing device. The packaging machine includes a centralized control unit controlling the operation of the packaging machine. The control unit operates the packaging machine in a power-saving mode when an insufficient supply of the processing objects is in or is likely to be in the processing device. |
| US08356454B2 |
Unitized overhead glazing systems
In an embodiment, a unitized overhead glazing system of the present invention includes an array of assembled structural framing cassettes each having at least five photovoltaic modules. In an embodiment, each cassette forms one electrical string and is pre-wired, tested, and shipped ready to install for a variety of applications, including, but not limited to, parking canopies, covered walkways and specialty awnings. The unitized overhead glazing system can be utilized to generate electricity, provide shade, collect water, reduce heat island effect, provide more controlled lighting and support infrastructure for plug-in vehicles. The unitized overhead glazing system is designed to be installed and maintained from below, eliminating safety concerns associated with conventional canopies where work must be performed while on top of the canopy. The unitized overhead glazing system incorporates sealing methods and components to manage water, limit debris build up, and maximize energy yield. |
| US08356453B2 |
Bracket and bridging member for metal stud wall
The present invention provides for a bracket for use in a metal stud wall having internal bridging members for tying the metal studs and bridging members together. The bracket is an L shaped bracket having a leg for overlying the bridging member joined to an upright for overlying the metal stud. The outside corners of the leg and upright of the L shaped bracket are truncated such that the diagonal dimension across the L-shaped bracket is less than the width of the channel of the metal stud so that the bracket may be inserted within the channel of the metal stud and rotated to the proper position for attaching to the bridging member and metal stud. |
| US08356449B2 |
Floor span connector
A connector for connecting wall studs of two adjacent floors in a light frame building structure, the connector having a first attachment tab, a seat member, a diagonally slanted support leg, and a second attachment tab, all substantially planar. The connector is intended to be paired and the paired connectors joined by an elongated tie member that pierces the sill plates of the intervening floor structure. |
| US08356446B2 |
Capsule room unit and two-level installation structure thereof
A capsule room unit for use as a capsule bed or other private space has a horizontally oblong rectangular parallelepiped room framework formed by columns, beams and panel materials fitted into the room framework to constitute a ceiling, a floor and walls, wherein the columns and the beams are composed of extruded materials each having a longitudinally consecutive groove. The panel materials of the ceiling and walls are composed of synthetic resin or FRP hollow panel materials each having peripheral flanges at a periphery along a plane direction, and the flanges of the hollow panel material are inserted and fitted to the grooves of the extruded materials. |
| US08356445B1 |
Rotating plant stand
A rotating stand includes a turner casing base and a turner casing top rotatably coupled with the turner casing base. A motor drive assembly is coupled with the turner casing base, wherein the motor drive assembly is configured to rotate the turner casing top relative to the turner casing base. A motor controller is coupled with the turner casing base, wherein the motor controller is configured to cause the motor drive assembly to rotate the turner casing top relative to the turner casing base using alternating clockwise and counter-clockwise rotational motions. |
| US08356443B1 |
Coverable fish net apparatus
The coverable fish net apparatus provides for easily netting a fish and selectively covering the first frame and large net with the second frame with small net. The second frame with small net is slideably positioned in a plurality of positions along the handle, with the second frame being capable of positioning on the handle well above the first frame and progressively positioned closer to the first frame. The second frame may further be positioned partially over the first frame, and completely over the first frame, thereby trapping a fish within. Release of the lever positions the second frame with small net as chosen. Effectively netting a plurality of sizes of fish is thereby best accomplished, with less chance of fish escape. The apparatus further provides for easily reviving a fish prior to release. |
| US08356442B2 |
Adjustable shooting rests and shooting rest assemblies
Adjustable shooting rests and shooting rest assemblies are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a shooting rest includes a rest assembly for supporting a forestock of a firearm. The rest assembly includes a base member and first and second upright members extending from the base member. A position of each of the first and second upright members is independently adjustable with reference to the base member. The shooting rest also includes a support assembly coupled to the rest assembly to move the rest assembly in a first direction and in a second direction. The first and second directions are in a plane generally transverse to a longitudinal axis of the firearm. The shooting rest further includes a base coupled to the support assembly. |
| US08356433B2 |
Badge displaying device
A badge displaying device comprising a backing plate having a left and right sides, a center between the left and right sides, and top and bottom surfaces. The backing plate has at least one slot through at least the top surface extending from one of the left or right sides towards the center of the backing plate. A pin clip sized to slide in the at least one slot receives a pin from a badge. |
| US08356423B2 |
Household appliance containing a heat transfer fluid
A household appliance includes a drying chamber, a process air loop and a heat pump. The heat pump includes a heat transfer loop containing a heat transfer fluid, an evaporator heat exchanger, a liquefier heat exchanger, a compressor, and a nozzle. The heat transfer fluid has a critical temperature above 60° C., a nominal heat of vaporization at boiling point of at least 220 kJ/kg, a GWP index of less than 150 and a lower flammability level of at least 0.1 kg/m3. Preferably, the household appliance is a dryer for drying wet laundry. |
| US08356420B2 |
Adjustable divider/hopper for a grain tower dryer
A combined plenum divider/hopper is provided for a grain drying tower. The divider/hopper is positioned in the drying tower proximate the heater for the drying tower and is operable to adjust the ratio of the length of the heating portion of the plenum to the length of the cooling portion of the plenum. |
| US08356416B1 |
Archery bow sight with a pin illuminated by a protected optical fiber
A sight pin for an archery sight comprises a sight pin member having an integrally formed fiber channel. The fiber channel is arranged to hold the optical fiber in a curvilinear arrangement so that light emergent from the fiber is directed in a rearward direction from a sight reference point on the sight pin member. At least a portion the fiber channel comprises rows of depressions formed on opposing transverse surfaces of the sight pin member that overlap to form transverse passages through the sight pin member. An optical fiber in the fiber channel is exposed by the depressions and passages from transverse directions but protected from a forward direction by a forward-facing surface of the sight pin member. |
| US08356415B2 |
Scraping tool with blade lock assembly
The invention is related to a scraping tool that can be assembled and replaced for scraper blade quickly. The scraping tool in general comprises a stick for hand grasp and a scraping section in the front. The invention mainly uses an arm of suitable length extended from the back end of a jaw clamp toward the middle. It uses fasteners to be located inside the groove in the back of the scraping section. The fastener is also used as pivot for the arm to swing back and forth. On the arm in the back of the jaw clamp, there is a control button that provides vertical pushing force in the back of the jaw clamp and allows strong clamping force in the front of the jaw clamp onto the scraper blade to achieve stable assembly and fast replacement for scraper blade. |
| US08356412B2 |
DPA automated assembly and packaging machine
This patent relates to a machine that automatically assembles, inspects, and packages disposable prophylaxis angles. The machine includes a movable table including a plurality of fixtures on which angle components are assembled and the assembled angles are inspected. The movable table is surrounded by a number of stations, each of which performs a different operation of the assembly and inspection procedure. Feeders automatically supply the angle components to their respective stations for assembly. Angles that are incorrectly assembled are automatically rejected. Properly assembled angles are automatically sealed in individual bags. Individually bagged angles are counted into batches by the machine and automatically sealed into cartons. |
| US08356411B2 |
Exhaust manifold with hybrid construction and method
An exhaust manifold and related method have a hybrid clamshell construction including an outer manifold half stamped from a first metal and having a first wall thickness, as well as an inner manifold half stamped from a second metal that is different from the first metal and has a second wall thickness which is different from the first wall thickness. Opposite side edges of the outer and inner manifold halves are rigidly interconnected to define a hollow manifold bottom. Port and outlet flanges are rigidly attached to inlet and outlet sides of the manifold body. |
| US08356408B2 |
Method of manufacturing an inflator
At the time of manufacturing an inflator, a blocking body is first disposed at an opening so as to allow the interior and the exterior of a housing to communicate with each other. The blocking body is abutted against a peripheral edge of the opening so as to ensure sealability between the blocking body and the peripheral edge of the opening. A filling nozzle injecting a pressurized gas is then pressed against a periphery of an inlet port of the blocking body, and the pressurized gas is injected from the filling nozzle so as to fill the pressurized gas into the housing through a filling channel. Subsequently, to block the filling channel, the blocking body is energized with a resistance-welding current to resistance-weld an inner peripheral portion of the filling channel. At the same time, the blocking body is fixed to the peripheral edge of the opening by resistance-welding so as to maintain sealability, thereby manufacturing the inflator. |
| US08356404B2 |
Method of producing multilayer printed wiring board and photosensitive dry film used therefor
A method of producing a multilayer printed wiring board by attaching a photosensitive dry film onto an interlaminar resin insulating layer having a thin-film conductor layer and conducting a light exposure and development to form a plating resist and then forming a conductor circuit on a portion not forming the plating resist, characterized in that the photosensitive dry film has a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound layer on its either surface.A photosensitive dry film capable of improving the compatibility between thin-film conductor layer and photosensitive dry film to strengthen the adhesion force and to prevent the occurrence of floating or the like in the photosensitive dry film as well as a method of producing a multilayer printed wiring board using such a dry film. |
| US08356402B2 |
Connector compression tool
A connector compression tool is provided wherein the tool includes a handle, pivotally moveable from a second position to a first position, a body, configured to compress together when the handle is moved to the first position, wherein the body includes at least two centering openings having different widths to accommodate differently configured connectors having different diameters and different lengths. |
| US08356400B2 |
Method for manufacturing a field emission structure
An improved method for manufacturing a field emission structure is provided that involves receiving magnets from a magnet supplying device and placing each one of the magnets at a corresponding location of a plurality of location of the field emission structure. The corresponding location and a corresponding orientation of each of the magnets relative to each other are defined in accordance with a code. |
| US08356398B2 |
Modular hybrid drill bit
An earth-boring bit comprising a bit body is configured at its upper end for connection into a drillstring. A fixed blade depends axially downwardly from the bit body. An axially extending slot is formed in the bit body adjacent the fixed blade. A bit leg is received and retained in the slot by engagement between the slot and correspondingly shaped bit leg, wherein the bit leg cannot be removed from the slot except by axial movement relative to the bit body. A rolling cutter is secured to the bit leg at its lower extent. A fastener secures the bit leg against movement relative to the bit body and extends through oblong apertures in the bit leg and into the bit body, the bit leg can be moved axially relative to the bit body to adjust the projection of the rolling cutter relative to the fixed blade. |
| US08356396B2 |
Method for making threaded tube
The invention includes a method, and a component made according to the method having at least one thread pattern formed thereon from a stamping method. The invention includes a tubular member comprising a body having a wall formed from a wrapped sheet of stock to define an interior wall and an exterior wall, a seam in the wall defining a first and second end of the wrapped sheet of stock, and a thread pattern stamped on the exterior wall. The method comprises the steps of forming a blank from sheet of stock having a first surface. A thread pattern is formed onto the first surface while in a substantially sheet-like form. A bending operation then forms the sheet stock into a tubular member such that the thread pattern, located on the tube's external surface, is substantially aligned about its circumference. |
| US08356395B2 |
Assembling device for assembling actuator and lens module
An assembling device for assembling an actuator and a lens module. The actuator includes a first top surface for supporting the lens module and a first bottom surface. The lens module includes a top portion for receiving lens and a bottom portion. The diameter of bottom portion is slightly larger than the top portion. The bottom portion further includes a second first bottom surface in contact with the first top surface. The assembling device includes a base, a support set, and a pressing sheet. The base includes a supporting surface for supporting the first bottom surface. The support set is above the base and defines at least three threaded holes therethrough. The pressing sheet is in contact with the second top surface. The at least three pins are movably threaded with the threaded holes correspondingly and configured for pushing the pressing sheet. |
| US08356391B2 |
Slider for slide fastener with automatic stopper
There are provided interlock pieces extending from both edge portions of a side-to-side winglike piece provided in a pull-tab retainer toward an anterior wall part and a posterior wall part of the pull-tab retainer. An anterior support wall of an anterior mounting post and a posterior support wall of a posterior mounting post at superior angular corner regions of the internal faces thereof are provided with notches for interlocking of the interlock pieces. When the pull-tab retainer is fitted to the anterior mounting post and the posterior mounting post, the interlock pieces and the notches are interlocked with together to thereby prevent any displacement of the pull-tab retainer in anteroposterior side-to-side directions. Further, at that time, a side end face of the anterior support wall and a side end face of the posterior support wall can be covered up by the pull-tab retainer. |
| US08356390B2 |
Coupling clamping system
A clamping system for use in a fluid coupling assembly may include redundant locking features for connecting adjacent ends of fluid conduits such as aircraft fuel lines. The exemplary clamping system may make use of two draw latch mechanisms that each separately apply a spring loaded clamping force to a flex band assembly through corresponding draw springs which oppose one another. Thus, either latch mechanism may provide a draw latch function by providing a clamping force to the flex band assembly, which in turn holds the end flanges of the fluid conduits together, thereby providing a sealing connection to facilitate the transfer of a fluid there between. Using two opposed draw latch mechanisms provides for redundant clamping forces such that the failure of one of the mechanisms does not result in an inadvertent disconnection of the fluid conduits one from the other. |
| US08356388B2 |
Biaxial hinge mechanism and electronic apparatus
A biaxial hinge mechanism includes: an opening/closing support section projected toward an outer side of a casing; an opening/closing shaft supported on the opening/closing support section; an outer cover provided to be fixed to the casing so as to hide the opening/closing support section and the opening/closing shaft; a hinge base supported on the opening/closing shaft so as to be rotatable relative to the casing, with the opening/closing shaft as a center axis of rotation; a rotation-restricting section operable to restrict a rotation angle of the hinge base to within a predetermined range; a rotating shaft supported on the hinge base and provided in a direction orthogonal to the opening/closing shaft; and a rotating support section supported on the rotating shaft so as to be rotatable relative to the hinge base, with the rotating shaft as a center axis of rotation. |
| US08356387B1 |
Bi-fold door structural integrity clamping assembly
To the top or bottom edge of a bi-fold door panel near either its pivoting or channel guided mechanisms is attached a base plate with an opening in it through which is passed into the panel either pivoting or track sliding hardware. A clamping plate is attached to the panel's face at that site to provide strong lateral support so that pin wobble is avoided. A backing plate may also be attached to the opposing side of the panel for reinforcement. It is generally necessary to drill some holes in the door to complete the arrangement. If desired, the plates may be welded to one another along an edge or otherwise manufactured as one-piece unified structure. The hardware may be sold in kits for repair or preventive maintenance. Undertaking the steps involved provides a reliable method toward that end. |
| US08356386B2 |
Door closer
A door closer includes a damping device having a cylindrical housing which has a compartment formed by an inclined inner peripheral surface and which includes a greater inner diameter at one end than the other end, a cap attached to the cylindrical housing and having an air perforation for an air to flow into and out of the cylindrical housing, a piston rod slidably engaged in the cylindrical housing, and a sleeve attached to the piston rod and having an outer diameter for engaging with the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical housing at one end of the cylindrical housing, but not engaged with the inner peripheral surface at the other end of the cylindrical housing. |
| US08356385B2 |
Leaf blower with hose retaining device
The present invention relates to a backpack leaf blower with a sheppard's hook device mounted on the back pack for the purpose of holding the flexible air hose by rotational force against the hose. The device can be added to an existing backpack or designed into a new device as needed. |
| US08356383B2 |
Windscreen wiper device
A windscreen wiper device comprising an elastic, elongated carrier element, as well as an elongated wiper blade of a flexible material, which can be placed in abutment with a windscreen to be wiped, which wiper blade includes opposing longitudinal grooves on its longitudinal sides, in which grooves spaced-apart longitudinal strips of the carrier element are disposed, wherein neighboring ends of longitudinal strips are interconnected by a respective connecting piece, which windscreen wiper device comprises a connecting device for an oscillating wiper arm, wherein oscillating arm is pivotally connected to connecting device about a pivot axis near one end, with the special feature that connecting device is soldered to longitudinal strips. |
| US08356373B2 |
Unitary composite/hybrid cushioning structure(s) and profile(s) comprised of a thermoplastic foam(s) and a thermoset material(s)
Embodiments disclosed in the detailed description include a unitary or monolithic composite or hybrid cushioning structure(s) and profile(s) comprised of a cellular thermoplastic foam and a thermoset material. The thermoset material may also be provided as cellular foam as well. In one embodiment disclosed herein, the unitary composite cushioning structure is formed from a cellular thermoplastic foam and a thermoset material. The cellular thermoplastic foam provides support characteristics to the unitary composite cushioning structure. The thermoset material provides a resilient structure with cushioning characteristics to the cushioning structure. A stratum is disposed between at least a portion of the cellular thermoplastic foam and at least a portion of the thermoset material to secure the at least a portion of the thermoset material to the at least a portion of the cellular thermoplastic foam to provide a unitary composite cushioning structure. |
| US08356372B2 |
Systems and methods for hinged bedding assemblies
In many aspects, the systems and methods described herein include a mattress having a top sleeping layer disposed on top of a support layer. The support layer includes a polyurethane foam having channels aligned with the joints of the articulated sections of the foundation or frame of the adjustable bedding assembly. When the sections articulate about the joints, the channels allow the overlying top layer to conform to the sections while reducing wear and tear therein. |
| US08356371B2 |
Mattress system and method
A mattress system and method according to which a custom mattress is built according to customer-specific parameters. In several exemplary embodiments, the custom mattress includes one or more removable core cartridges and/or one or more removable topper cartridges. |
| US08356369B2 |
Disc and elongate support portable bed assembly
A portable bed assembly of a disc and an elongate support, and the disc has a body having a central hole having an axis, and the central hole being sized for slidably receiving the elongate support, with the disc body and the elongate support having a cooperable flexibly mounted retractably extendable lock pin and the disc body has two transversely disposed through holes for receiving the lock pin and locking the elongate support in the disc body and preventing rotational movement of the elongate support in the disc body. |
| US08356367B2 |
Adjustable support system for undermounted sinks
An adjustable support device for under-mounted sanitary fixtures which enables the installation of rimless and rimmed fixtures to a countertop without the use of counter attaching hardware. The system includes mounting brackets for attachment to under-counter support cabinetry and moveable carriages suspended from the mounting brackets by adjustable lift actuators. Length adjustable hanger beams are attached to the opposing moveable carriages to create a support surface for the fixtures. The moveable carriages and attached hanger beams are lowered by the lift actuators to accommodate the insertion of a sanitary fixture and then raised to position the supported, upward facing rim of the fixture to the desired position relative to the countertop. |
| US08356366B2 |
Glove having a flexible cuff with integral vent
A glove including a hand portion having a palm portion and an opposing back side portion, the back side portion including a plurality of protective portions formed therein, the palm portion and opposing back side portion defining a cavity, a cuff portion, a band disposed on and outward of the cuff portion and having a first ventilation opening, the cuff portion having a second ventilation opening disposed coaxially with the first ventilation opening, and wherein air traverses through the first and second ventilation openings to the cavity. |
| US08356365B2 |
Feety grow sleepy
A sleeping garment for toddlers that adjusts via a hook and loop connection at one flap per each of the feet to accommodate for the child's growth to extend the usability of the garment for that child as well as to preserve it for subsequent children as a “hand-me-down.” The hook portions are flaps of fabric located at the bottom of the toes and the hook is folded upward to the loops located at the top of the feet to adjust to the rapidly growing size of the child's feet. There are five claims submitted with seven drawings. |
| US08356364B2 |
Hunting garment having an inflatable seat
A hunting garment includes an article of clothing, a pouch, an inflatable cushion, and an inflation device. The article of clothing has an interior surface and an exterior surface. The pouch includes an attachment member configured to couple the pouch to at least one of the interior surface and the exterior surface. The inflatable cushion is configured to be at least partially retained within the pouch when the inflatable cushion is in an inflated configuration. The inflation device is configured to inflate the inflatable cushion. |
| US08359652B2 |
Detecting anomalies in access control lists
An access control anomaly detection system and method to detect potential anomalies in access control permissions and report those potential anomalies in real time to an administrator for possible action. Embodiments of the system and method input access control lists and semantic groups (or any dataset having binary matrices) to perform automated anomaly detection. This input is processed in three broad phases. First, policy statements are extracted from the access control lists. Next, object-level anomaly detection is performed using thresholds by categorizing outliers in the policies discovered in the first phase as potential anomalies. This object-level anomaly detection can yield object-level security anomalies and object-level accessibility anomalies. Group-level anomaly detection is performed in the third phase by using semantic groups and user sets extracted in first phase to find maximal overlaps using group mapping. This group-level anomaly detection can yield group-level security anomalies and group-level accessibility anomalies. |
| US08359651B1 |
Discovering malicious locations in a public computer network
A web threat protection system may receive candidate uniform resource locators (URLs) from several URL sources. The candidate URLs may be received in a submission database. At least a portion of the candidate URLs is selected for further investigation by sending crawlers to retrieve objects from the selected URLs. The retrieved objects may be analyzed to determine whether they are malicious or good (i.e., not malicious). The result of the analysis may be used to build a security states database that includes security information of the selected URLs. Good URLs may be included in a safe URL sphere, which may be used to navigate to good websites on the Internet. |
| US08359650B2 |
System, method and computer readable medium for evaluating potential attacks of worms
A method for evaluating potential attacks of worms, the method includes: associating, in response to information representative of a network and of worm entities, between worm entities and potential worm sources to provide associated worm sources; determining potential worm attacks that start from the associated worm sources; and evaluating at least one potential worm attack security metric associated with the potential worm attacks. |
| US08359648B2 |
Method and system for defending DDoS attack
In a method of defending a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, an attack target server determines whether the attack target server suffers a DDoS attack from a plurality of terminals and, according to a result of the determination, informs a control server that the attack target server suffers the DDoS attack by transmitting its own information to the control server. The control server which has received the information of the attack target server confirms the plurality of terminals which transmits data to the attack target server and transmits an attack prevention message to the plurality of confirmed terminals. Each of the plurality of terminals which has received the attack prevention message determines whether the terminal launches the DDoS attack and, according to a result of the determination, blocking the DDoS attack. |
| US08359646B2 |
Ensuring security of connection between thin client and client blade
A method and system for ensuring security and preventing intrusion in a connection between a thin client and a client blade. An encrypted keep-alive protocol is conducted between the client blade and the thin client. The client blade issues keep-alive protocol messages and monitors for keep-alive protocol acknowledgments from the thin client. If a failure in receiving a keep-alive protocol acknowledgment from the thin client is detected and the failure is not due to a momentary glitch in the keep-alive protocol, then a command is generated to enter the client blade in a particular state (e.g., a hard power off state). The command is based on a “privilege mask” which includes code that specifies an action to be performed (i.e., enter a particular state) by the client blade. Based on the action performed by the client blade, the client blade provides different levels of security or protection against intrusion. |
| US08359639B1 |
Systems and methods for increased security during logging in to web site
A user at a computing device interacts with a networked site so that the user can log in thereto. The site receives a selection to log in and in response downloads at least one replacing driver for bypassing a corresponding driver operating on the computing device that may possibly copy log-in data including authentication credentials as entered by the user. Each replacing driver is loaded into an operating system of the computing device so as to bypass the corresponding possibly copying driver and be employed in the operating system rather than such corresponding bypassed driver. The site then delivers a log-in screen to a presentation application of the computing device after each replacing driver has been loaded. The presentation application displays the log-in screen and the user enters the log-in data thereinto. Accordingly, each non-trusted and bypassed driver is unable to copy the entered log-in data. |
| US08359635B2 |
System and method for dynamic creation of privileges to secure system services
A system, method, and program product is provided that allows new privileges to be dynamically added to an operating system. Entities are assigned roles and these roles are associated with various authorizations. Authorizations are associated with privileges, including the new privilege. A request is received to dynamically add the new privilege to the operating system. The operating system then dynamically adds the new privilege to the system. A software service is installed that requires the new privilege. A request to execute the installed software service is received from an entity that is running on the operating system. The operating system allows the entity to execute the installed software service in response to determining that the entity has been granted the privilege. However, if the entity has not been granted the new privilege, then the operating system inhibits execution of the software service by the entity. |
| US08359632B2 |
Centralized account reputation
A centralized account reputation system differentiates between illegitimate users and legitimate users using reputation scores associated with the users' online accounts. The system restricts the access of illegitimate users to certain network services while minimizing its negative effects on legitimate users. The system can manage the life cycle of an online account, considering data about the account that is obtained throughout the account network to compute the online account reputation score and allocating access to network services based on the online account reputation score. For example, a reputation score may be embedded in a security token that can be accessed by multiple services on the account network, so that each service can determine the appropriate level of access to be granted to the associated user account based on the reputation score. Various types of online account behavior over time can improve or diminish the online account's reputation. |
| US08359625B2 |
Apparatus and method for managing set top boxes
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a set top box having a controller to eliminate a scheduled recording of a targeted media program, where the scheduled recording is a redundant recording of the targeted media program that is determined based upon monitoring of recordings of media programs by a group of set top boxes in communication with each other over a network, where another set top box of the group of set top boxes is designated as a host set top box to record the targeted media program, and where the controller is provided access to the targeted media program by the host set top box. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08359622B1 |
Wireless video device for use with a wireless video uplink system
A wireless video device comprises: a user interface, optical receiver, processing system, and wireless transceiver. The optical receiver processes optical signals to generate corresponding video data. The user interface receives a user request to establish a wireless video uplink. The processing system processes the user request to generate a system request for the wireless video uplink. The wireless transceiver wirelessly transfers the system request to a wireless access system and wirelessly receives at least one system condition for a grant of the request. The processing system processes the condition to direct the user interface to display the condition. The user interface displays the condition and receives a user acceptance of the condition. The processing system processes the user acceptance to direct the wireless transceiver to wirelessly transfer the video data to the wireless access system. The wireless transceiver wirelessly transfers the video data to the wireless access system. |
| US08359620B2 |
Set-top box for wideband IP telephony service and method for providing wideband IP telephony service using set-top box
An Internet Set-Top Box (ISTB) and a method of providing wideband IP telephony services using the ISTB are provided, which are capable of implementing wideband voice communication services using a wideband voice codec, controlling a Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) packet payload to process a variety of wideband speech frame payloads, and providing high-quality wideband IP telephony services by controlling a jitter buffer to maintain conference call synchronization. |
| US08359619B2 |
Web cam with an interlude switch
A web cam with an interlude switch, wherein the interlude switch can be toggled between a view and an interlude mode. In its view mode, the web cam captures images of a scene for their transmittal to a web cam page hosted at a web site. With the switch in its interlude mode, the web cam system replaces the live images with interlude content which is prerecorded content which may include still and video images, slide shows, or advertisements. The prerecorded interlude content may be stored locally at the host computer, or it may be stored at and/or provided from a remote site. A user viewing a web cam page in its interlude mode, will see prerecorded interlude content as if it was provided by the digital camera. The interlude switch may be a manual or an automatic switch configured to switch between its view and interlude modes based on the occurrence of external events. The external events may include an outgoing or an incoming telephone call. Alternately, external events such as motion, light, sound levels, movement of doors and windows could be used to cause the interlude switch to toggle from the interlude to the view mode and vice versa. The interlude switch may be a tethered switch or one which is configured to wirelessly receive input and cause the web cam to switch between a view and an interlude mode. |
| US08359613B2 |
Blocking television commercials and providing an archive interrogation program
An apparatus and method is disclosed for blocking specific television commercials from the viewer's television based upon the characteristics of the television commercial and a program to place the blocked television commercials into an archive. An archive interrogation program 10 then acquires the users search criteria and sends the search criteria to the content search program for a list of matches. The matches are displayed to the user and the user can select a segment for viewing. |
| US08359612B2 |
Content distribution system using transportable memory devices
A portable device includes solid-state memory, an Ethernet and/or wireless network connection, and an HDMI. The portable device receives content guide data from a first server and displays a content guide on a display. In response to a user's selection of a content item, the portable device requests the content item over the Internet from a second server. The portable device receives the content item, stores the content item in solid-state memory, generates display signals that represent the content item, and sends the display signals to a display. The second server may match the content item with relevant advertisements based on keywords associated with the content item and the advertisements. The second server may send selected advertisement URLs to the portable device. Using the URLs, the portable device may obtain the advertisements over the Internet and cause the display to display the advertisements in conjunction with the content item. |
| US08359611B2 |
Searchable television commercials
A mechanism is provided for indexing commercials. A viewer may query a search engine for a particular product or service. The index may include descriptors that are provided within a blanking interval within the media stream or within program guide information associated with the stream. The index information may also include Internet hyperlinks. Commercials may also have associated therewith a value that is relative to a value of media content. A viewer may accumulate value by viewing advertisements. Accumulated value may then be used to acquire more content. |
| US08359605B2 |
System and method for integrated hardware platform for flash applications with distributed objects
There are provided systems and methods for providing an integrated hardware platform to allow hardware control via an Application Program Interface (API) used by a Flash application executing in a Flash runtime environment on a host system. There is a provided a computer platform comprising a processor, a peripheral hardware, a connector device, and a memory. The memory contains an API implementation for remote methods provided by the API for the Flash application, a proxy server for enabling communications between the Flash application and the platform processor, and a security service for providing a security policy to grant network connection permissions for communications with the platform processor. API remote method invocations allow the Flash application to control the peripheral hardware, and a networked server may manage remote invocations to control platform hardware of multiple networked clients. |
| US08359604B2 |
Propagating unobserved exceptions in a parallel system
A method of handling an exception in a parallel system includes constructing a task object, executing a method with the task object, and catching an exception with the task object during execution of the method. The exception is propagated in response to the task object becoming inaccessible without the exception having been observed. |
| US08359602B2 |
Method and system for task switching with inline execution
The present disclosure is directed to a method and system for task switching with inline execution. In accordance with a particular embodiment of the present disclosure, a first state and a second state are identified for a function executing in the first state. A switch routine is invoked at a particular execution point in the function. A work element is generated in the switch routine. The work element includes status information for the function. The work element is transmitted to at least one alternate state task. The first state is altered to the second state according to the work element. Execution of the function in the second state is resumed at the particular execution point. |
| US08359600B2 |
Providing personalization of virtual machines for system on demand (SOD) services based on user's use habits of peripheral devices
Disclosed is a system for providing personalization of virtual machines for a system on demand (SoD) service includes an SoD server, wherein the SoD server includes an aspect measuring unit that measures user's use habits and aspects with respect to the peripheral devices on the basis of use or not of the peripheral devices; a preference generating unit that calculates preference for each attribute with respect to attributes included in the peripheral devices on the basis of the use habits and aspects measured by the aspect measuring unit; and a configuration unit that calculates satisfaction for each device with respect to peripheral devices which can be used in the virtual machine on the basis of the preference for each attribute calculated by the preference generating unit and configures the peripheral devices of the virtual machine on the basis of the calculated satisfaction for each device. |
| US08359595B2 |
Generic application server and method of operation therefor
A generic application server is capable of simultaneously receiving requests, processing requested work, and returning results using multiple, conceptual thread pools. In addition, functions are programmable as state machines. While executing such a function, when a worker thread encounters a potentially blocking condition, the thread issues an asynchronous request for data, a state transition is performed, and the thread is released to do other work. After the blocking condition is relieved, another worker thread is scheduled to advance to the next function state and continue the function. Multiple priority work queues are used to facilitate completion of functions already in progress. In addition, lower-priority complex logic threads can be invoked to process computationally intense logic that may be necessitated by a request. Throttling functions are also implemented, which control the quantity of work accepted into the server and server response time. |
| US08359594B1 |
Automated rapid virtual machine provisioning system
Embodiments disclosed herein utilize Habitats to perform incremental updates on virtual machines (VMs) over time. A VM Habitat comprises a collection of VMs and a specification shared between these VMs. Each Habitat specification may define an image name, processing power, etc. A Habitat specification may exist across a cluster of servers. In some embodiments, to dynamically update a Habitat specification, only “spare” VMs in the Habitat are updated, subject to some scheduling parameters and server concurrency limit. As spare VMs are updated, they move towards the new Habitat specification. Eventually, all VMs reach this goal over time, given sufficient spare VM resources. This approach can allow the service provided by the VMs to remain operational, thus maintaining the service level required for its users. This automated process can also eliminate or otherwise reduce human error either in the server removal/insertion from/to the cluster or in the VM update itself. |
| US08359592B2 |
Identifying groups and subgroups
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to automatically identifying groups and subgroups in dependency data. In aspects, a data structure that indicates dependencies between components is analyzed to create groups that are related by dependencies. The groups are further analyzed to create subgroups that depend on shared components but that do not depend on each other. Information about the components is used to generate names for the groups that are indicative of the components included in the groups. The groups, their names, and their relationships may then be displayed. |
| US08359591B2 |
Streaming from a media device
A technique for streaming from a media device involves enabling a local device to function as a streaming server. An example of a method according to the technique includes inserting a removable storage device that includes programs associated with a streaming application, running one or more of the programs, ensuring that a streaming software player is installed, and executing a streaming-related activity associated with the streaming application. An example of a system according to the technique includes a means for providing a streaming application that expects content to be found on a media drive, a means for intercepting requests for content expected to be found on the media drive, and a means for honoring the requests with content from a different media location. |
| US08359580B2 |
System and method for tracking testing of software modification projects
A system for tracking the testing of a set of software modification projects in an install plan provides a centralized project database where the testers can update their progress of testing software modification projects as they perform the tests. The central database advantageously eliminates the need to contact individual testers of each and every project every time a status report needs to be generated. Instead, a manager can automatically generate status reports which contain the testing progress of particular projects in real-time to more accurately monitor what projects are on track and what projects may be falling behind schedule. |
| US08359579B2 |
Monitoring dynamic aspect oriented applications at execution time
A method for generating one or more satisfaction records for an expression in a software application, the expression including at least one criterion relating to the application wherein the satisfaction of the criterion can be determined only at application execution time, the method comprising: analyzing the application to generate a first set of locations in the application where the at least one criterion is potentially satisfied; executing the application; monitoring the application to generate a second set of locations in the application where the at least one criterion is actually satisfied; for each location in the second set of locations generating a satisfaction record indicating that the application satisfied the at least one criterion at the location; and for each location in the first set not in the second set generating a satisfaction record indicating that the application did not satisfy the at least one criterion at the location. |
| US08359575B2 |
Protection domains for a computer operating system
A protection domain system is implemented to provide protection for applications executing in a computing environment. Protection domains are allocated system resources and may contain executing tasks. The protection domain system may allow tasks to access resources in other protection domains to which attachments have been made. Attachment is transparent to the software developer. The protection domain system provides flexibility in implementing operating system services and defining protection hierarchies. |
| US08359572B2 |
Self-describing re-usable software components
Technologies are presented herein for self-describing re-usable software components. Metadata is generated and published with a re-usable software component that identifies the capabilities of the software component, identifies other software components that the re-usable software component may be integrated with, and identifies mechanisms for integrating the re-usable software component with other software components. The metadata can then be used to discover re-usable software components and to integrate the re-usable software components with other software components. |
| US08359570B2 |
Adaptive scripting tool
A meta-data driven adaptive scripting tool which employs a framework across clients and servers to achieve dynamic binding for user defined commands at runtime and support different scripting languages residing in a heterogeneous distributed network. In a preferred embodiment the Bean Scripting Framework (BSF) defines the unified extension mechanism used, the meta-data associated with commands is in XML format, and the adaptive scripting tool is written in Java. |
| US08359564B2 |
Circuit design information generating equipment, function execution system, and memory medium storing program
A design information generating equipment is provided. A control component of the design information generating equipment, when a basic function of the plurality of functions constitutes a requested function, and design information that corresponds to the basic function is stored in a second memory area, uses the stored design information, and, when the design information that corresponds to the basic function of the plurality of functions is not stored in the second memory area, uses a source program corresponding to the basic function of the plurality of functions stored in a first memory area, and performs control so as to generate design information corresponding to the basic function of the plurality of functions and stores the generated design information in the second memory area, and, using the generated design information, reconfigures a design configured to execute the requested function, and executes the requested function with the reconfigurable design information. |
| US08359561B2 |
Equivalence verification between transaction level models and RTL at the example to processors
A method for formally verifying the equivalence of an architecture description with an implementation description. The method comprises the steps of reading an implementation description, reading an architecture description, demonstrating that during execution of a same program with same initial values an architecture sequence of data transfers described by the architecture description is mappable to an implementation sequence of data transfers implemented by the implementation description, such that the mapping is bijective and ensures that the temporal order of the architecture sequence of data transfers corresponds to the temporal order of the implementation sequence of data transfers, and outputting a result of the verification of the equivalence of the architecture description with the implementation description. |
| US08359556B1 |
Resolving double patterning conflicts
A mechanism is provided for resolving patterning conflicts. The mechanism performs decomposition with stitches at all candidate locations to find the solution with the minimum number of conflicts. The mechanism then defines interactions between a layout of a first mask and a layout of a second mask through design rules, as well as interactions of mask1/mask2 with top and bottom layers (i.e., contacts, vial, etc.). The mechanism then gives the decomposed layout and design rule definition to any existing design rule fixing or layout compaction tool to solve native conflicts. The modified design rules are that same-layer spacing equals spacing of single patterning, different-layer spacing equals spacing of final layout, and layer overlap equals minimum overlap length. |
| US08359544B2 |
Automated content submission to a share site
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for remotely submitting content to a website without navigating to the website are provided. The website is a content-sharing website that accepts public content submissions and makes the content available to multiple users. Initially, a client application may download remote-content-submission instructions from the website. Subsequently, the client application may follow the instructions to format a remote content submission and communicate it to the website. |
| US08359535B2 |
Order taking apparatus
According to one embodiment an order taking apparatus includes a storage processing section, a display processing section, an enlargement processing section. The storage processing section configured to read information on the order for the menu item the input of which has been accepted by the order taking section, and to store the information in a predetermined order information storage region. The display processing section configured to read an image of the menu item the input of which has been accepted by the order taking section, and to allow a display device to display the image. The enlargement processing section configured such that when the menu item image is enlarged, the enlargement processing section rewrites the information on the order for the menu item which is of the same type as that of the current menu item but has a serving size larger than that of the current menu item. |
| US08359534B1 |
System and method for producing documents in a page description language in a response to a request made to a server
A system and computer program product produces an output document in any of several formats including any of several page description languages, from a file, in response to server side code. |
| US08359533B2 |
Systems and methods of performing a text replacement within multiple documents
A computer receives a user request to replace a first text string with a second text string in a first document and a second document, respectively, wherein the first text string in the first document has a first content type and the first text string in the second document has a second content type that is different from the first content type. The computer substitutes the second text string for the first text string in the first document and the second document, wherein the replacing second text string in the first document has the first content type and the replacing second text string in the second document has the second content type. |
| US08359528B2 |
Parity look-ahead scheme for tag cache memory
A device includes a tag cache memory array; a pre-parity unit configured to receive an address, and calculate and output a pre-parity bit calculated from all bits of the address. A comparator is configured to compare a tag read from the tag cache memory array with the address, and output a read-hit bit. The read-hit bit is true when the tag and the address are identical, and is false when the tag and the address are not identical. The device further includes a simplified parity-check unit configured to receive and perform operations on the pre-parity bit, the read-hit bit, and a parity bit from the tag cache memory array, and to output a read-parity bit. |
| US08359524B2 |
Parallel reed-solomon RAID (RS-RAID) architecture, device, and method
The parallel RS-RAID data storage architecture can aggregate that data and checksums within each cluster into intermediate or partial sums that are transferred or distributed to other clusters. The use of intermediate data symbols, intermediate checksum symbols, cluster configuration information on the assignment of data storage devices to clusters and the operational status of data storage devices, and the like, can reduce the computational burden and latency for the error correction calculations while increasing the scalability and throughput of the parallel RS-RAID distributed data storage architecture. |
| US08359516B2 |
Systems and methods for error correction and decoding on multi-level physical media
Apparatus and methods for operating a flash device characterized by use of Lee distance based codes in a flash device so as to increase the number of errors that can be corrected for a given number of redundancy cells, compared with Hamming distance based codes. |
| US08359512B2 |
Interference avoidance with synchronous HARQ and persistent scheduling
A method of avoiding periodic interference by permuting periodic transmissions by a base station (BS) may include transmitting a frame of data to a subscriber station (SS). The BS may check for an acknowledgement of the frame of data from the SS and may schedule a next frame of data for transmission or retransmission based on whether the acknowledgement was received from the SS. The scheduling may include permuting traffic within the next frame in time or in frequency relative to similar traffic in a prior frame according to a predetermined function. The BS may generate media access protocol (MAP) information for the next frame based on the permuting. |
| US08359509B2 |
System and method for determination of reserved hybrid automatic repeat request identifiers
A system and method are provided for determining a minimum number of reserved hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifiers (IDs). The method includes, determining a minimum number of reserved HARQ Process IDs based upon a maximum transmission time and a period of a semi-persistent resource allocation. |
| US08359508B2 |
Method and apparatus for selecting retransmission mode in a MIMO communication system
A method and apparatus for selecting a retransmission mode in a MIMO communication system are provided wherein a receiver receives m initial transmission streams from a transmitter, m being an integer of 2 or larger, channel-decodes the m initial transmission streams and checking errors in the m channel-decoded streams, selects, if at least two channel-decoded streams have errors among the m channel-decoded streams, a retransmission mode to be used for the at least two streams having errors in the transmitter, and transmits information including the selected retransmission mode to the transmitter. |
| US08359507B2 |
Systems and methods for adaptive hybrid automatic retransmission requests
A turbo coded hybrid ARQ with both IR and repetition existing in one or more transmission blocks is designed. The mixed combining is performed at the receiver—Chase combining is performed for the repetitions first, followed by code combining for all code bits based on Chase combining outputs. The packet error probability is obtained by applying the union-Bhattacharyya (UB) bound for parallel channels. The throughput optimization of hybrid ARQ is determined as well as the optimal assignment rates by solving the optimization using a genetic algorithm. |
| US08359506B2 |
Method of transmitting data using a plurality of HARQ process channels sequentially
Methods of transmitting data using a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process channels sequentially is disclosed. One of the methods of transmitting data through a plurality of HARQ process channels including a first channel and a second channel includes adding offset to a retransmission data block if the first channel which will transmit the retransmission data block is prescheduled (S702) by another data block, the offset representing the difference in a transmission timing point between the second channel in which positive acknowledgement (ACK) signal has been received (S701) and the first channel; transmitting the retransmission data block through the second channel; and transmitting a data block corresponding to the second channel through the first channel. |
| US08359505B2 |
Method and apparatus for decoding
Aspects of the disclosure can provide a method and an apparatus to decode a data stream based on multiple transmissions with efficient usages of storage and power resources. The method for decoding can include receiving a first plurality of encoded code blocks corresponding to a first transmission of a transport block, decoding the first plurality of encoded code blocks into decoded code blocks, error detecting the decoded code blocks, and storing a decoding history of the decoded code blocks. Further, the method can include receiving a second plurality of encoded code blocks corresponding to a retransmission of the transport block. The second plurality of encoded code blocks can map the first plurality of encoded code blocks, respectively. The method can selectively decode a subset of the second plurality of encoded code blocks based on the decoding history. In addition, the method can include storing soft bits for code blocks that failed decoding. The soft bits can be a combination of soft bits from multiple transmissions. The memory size for storing the soft bits can be reduced by dynamically freeing memory space associated with successfully decoded code blocks. |
| US08359504B1 |
Digital functional test system
A digital functional test system incorporating both digital stimulus and digital response/compare capability for digital electronic circuitry. The system includes a chassis and a single width VME eXtensions for Instrumentation (VXI) module arranged in or on the chassis. The single width VXI module includes a timing sub-module that generates a stimulus clock signal and a response clock signal, eight pattern sub-modules, and a master oscillator sub-module that provides a clock signal. Each pattern sub-module receives the stimulus and response clock signals, and the clock signal from the master oscillator sub-module, and includes a pattern generating module, a stimulus memory component that stores stimulus data outgoing from the pattern generating module, a response memory component that records response data incoming to the pattern generating module, and a compare reference memory component that provides a reference for a compare function of the recorded response data in the response memory component. |
| US08359499B2 |
Method and apparatus for deinterleaving in a digital communication system
A method and apparatus for deinterleaving in a communication system is disclosed. The method and apparatus deinterleave data units using a data deinterleaver; compressed deinterleave input symbol quality information (SQI) units using a compressed deinterleaver, wherein at least one of the input SQI units deinterleaved by the compressed deinterleaver corresponds to at least one of the plurality of data units deinterleaved by the data deinterleaver; and apply the deinterleaved SQI units to the corresponding deinterleaved data units. |
| US08359498B1 |
Encoding and decoding apparatus and method with hamming weight enhancement
A method of communicating a bitstream having a characteristic Hamming weight to a destination via a channel comprises determining the characteristic Hamming weight of the bitstream, inverting each bit in the bitstream if the characteristic Hamming weight of the bitstream is below a threshold value and developing an indication of whether the bits in the bitstream are inverted, delivering the bitstream and the indication of whether the bits in the bitstream are inverted to the destination via the channel, and inverting each bit in the bitstream at the destination if the indication indicates that the bits are inverted. |
| US08359493B2 |
Mechanism to provide assured recovery for distributed application
A system and method is provided for providing assured recovery for a distributed application. Replica servers associated with the distributed application may be coordinated to perform integrity testing together for the whole distributed application. The replica servers connect to each other in a manner similar to the connection between master servers associated with the distributed application, thereby preventing the replica servers from accessing and/or changing application data on the master servers during integrity testing. |
| US08359491B1 |
Disaster recovery rehearsal using copy on write
A system for disaster recovery rehearsals using copy-on-write may include a data set of an application and a disaster recovery manager. The disaster recovery manager may be configured to perform a disaster recovery rehearsal using a copy-on-write snapshot of the data set. |
| US08359487B2 |
System and method for effectively performing a clock adjustment procedure
A system and method for effectively performing a clock adjustment procedure includes a multi-core processor that has a plurality of processor cores that each operate with reference to a target clock signal for performing various processing tasks. The processor cores include functional processor cores and one or more non-functional processor cores. A clock manager performs the clock adjustment procedure under control of a master processor core by selecting and applying a target clock frequency for the target clock signal. The target clock frequency is selected to allow the functional processor cores to compensate for the non-functional processor cores by collectively performing all of the required processing tasks. |
| US08359483B2 |
Communication device that enters active mode when updated feed is acquired
A communication device is communicable with a server that distributes a content item and a content summary. The communication device acquires the content summary from the server at fixed intervals. When an updated content summary is acquired while a display unit of the communication device is in a sleep mode, then the display unit enters an active mode. |
| US08359476B2 |
User authentication system and method for encryption and decryption
A system configured to authenticate a user for encryption or decryption includes a user authentication apparatus, a computer-readable medium operable to communicate with the user authentication apparatus, and an encryption and decryption computer communicating with the user authentication apparatus. The computer-readable medium may store user identifying information and encryption and decryption data. The encryption and decryption computer may be configured to receive an application programming interface (API) for interfacing with the user authentication apparatus and receive the user identifying information from the computer-readable medium via the API. A user may be authenticated based on the user identifying information and, once the user is authenticated, the encryption and decryption data may be read. |
| US08359475B2 |
System, method and program product for generating a cancelable biometric reference template on demand
A system, method and program product for generating a cancelable biometric reference template on demand. The method includes creating, using a biometric application, a base reference template having a unique biometric template identifier that uniquely identifies biometric data corresponding to a biometric sample collected for an individual and generating, utilizing a transformation engine, a cancelable reference template derived from the base reference template, where the cancelable reference template generated is used by the individual to participate in a new biometric application without having to provide a new biometric sample or without having to rely on a biometric service provider to issue a new reference template for the new biometric application. The method further includes injecting the base reference template created into a secure portable device issued to the individual and loading the transformation engine onto the device for generating on demand the cancelable reference template. |
| US08359469B2 |
One way authentication
A cryptosystem prevents replay attacks within existing authentication protocols, susceptible to such attacks but containing a random component, without requiring modification to said protocols. The entity charged with authentication maintains a list of previously used bit patterns, extracted from a portion of the authentication message connected to the random component. If the bit pattern has been seen before, the message is rejected; if the bit pattern has not been seen before, the bit pattern is added to the stored list and the message is accepted. |
| US08359468B2 |
Masked digital signatures
The present invention relates to digital signature operations using public key schemes in a secure communications system and in particular for use with processors having limited computing power such as ‘smart cards’. This invention describes a method for creating and authenticating a digital signature comprising the steps of selecting a first session parameter k and generating a first short term public key derived from the session parameter k, computing a first signature component r derived from a first mathematical function using the short term public key, selecting a second session parameter t and computing a second signature component s derived from a second mathematical function using the second session parameter t and without using an inverse operation, computing a third signature component using the first and second session parameters and sending the signature components (s, r, c) as a masked digital signature to a receiver computer system. In the receiver computer system computing a recovered second signature component s′ by combining a third signature component with the second signature component to derive signature components (s′, r) as an unmasked digital signature. Verifying these signature components as in a usual EIGamal or ECDSA type signature verification. |
| US08359467B2 |
Access control system and method
Certain embodiments of the invention relate to an access control system for controlling access to file system objects stored in a digital file system store. The system provides a first compartment rule type for granting a first permission to an entity, associated with a respective compartment to which the rule is applied, to lookup a directory object in a directory path and list the contents of the said directory object, and a second compartment rule type for granting a second permission to an entity, associated with a respective compartment to which the rule is applied, to lookup a directory object in a directory path and not to list the contents of the said directory object. |
| US08359466B2 |
Security association prefetch for security protcol processing
Described embodiments provide a network processor that includes a security protocol processor for staged security processing of a packet having a security association (SA). An SA request module computes an address for the SA. The SA is fetched to a local memory. An SA prefetch control word (SPCW) is read from the SA in the local memory. The SPCW identifies one or more regions of the SA and the associated stages for the one or more regions. An SPCW parser generates one or more stage SPCWs (SSPCWs) from the SPCW. Each of the SSPCWs is stored in a corresponding SSPCW register. A prefetch module services each SSPCW register in accordance with a predefined algorithm. The prefetch module fetches a requested SA region and provides the requested SA region to a corresponding stage for the staged security processing of an associated portion of the packet. |
| US08359464B2 |
Quarantine method and system
A quarantine method and system for allowing a client terminal to connect to a user network. An authentication apparatus recognizes that a communication means of the client terminal has been activated. The authentication apparatus is connected to a quarantine network, to the user network, and to the client terminal. The client terminal is permitted to connect to the quarantine network by confirming a common certificate for the client terminal followed by storing the common certificate in the client terminal. The client terminal is security checked to determine whether each check item of a plurality of check items has a violation. For each check item having a violation, a security measure is performed to improve the check item with respect to the violation. The client terminal is allowed to connect to the user network by confirming a user certificate for the client terminal followed by storing the user certificate in the client terminal. |
| US08359462B1 |
Method and apparatus for programmable coupling between CPU and co-processor
In one embodiment the present invention includes a method and apparatus for enabling a main core and one or more co-processors to operate in a de-coupled mode, thereby facilitating the execution of two or more instruction threads in parallel. A co-processor, according to an embodiment of the invention, has a coupling manager including a loop buffer for storing instructions which can be independently fetched and executed by the co-processor when operating in de-coupled mode. In addition, the coupling manager includes a loop descriptor and a counter/condition descriptor. The loop descriptor and condition descriptor work in conjunction with one another to determine what, if any, action should be taken when a co-processor is in a particular processing state, for example, as indicated by a counter keeping track of loop processing. |
| US08359459B2 |
Using hardware support to reduce synchronization costs in multithreaded applications
A processor configured to synchronize threads in multithreaded applications. The processor includes first and second registers. The processor stores a first bitmask in the first register and a second bitmask in the second register. For each bitmask, each bit corresponds with one of multiple threads. A given bit in the first bitmask indicates the corresponding thread has been assigned to execute a portion of a unit of work. A corresponding bit in the second bitmask indicates the corresponding thread has completed execution of its assigned portion of the unit of work. The processor receives updates to the second bitmask in the second register and provides an indication that the unit of work has been completed in response to detecting that for each bit in the first bitmask that corresponds to a thread that is assigned work, a corresponding bit in the second bitmask indicates its corresponding thread has completed its assigned work. |
| US08359450B2 |
Memory utilization analysis
An application records memory allocations and releases as they occur over time, and an analysis system presents characteristic memory utilization patterns to a user for review and analysis. A variety of sampling techniques are used to minimize the impact of this memory utilization monitoring on the performance of the application, and the analysis system is configured to estimate the overall memory utilization based on these samples. Because these samples of the memory allocations are taken continuously as the application is running, the analysis system can provide visualizations of the memory utilization patterns that allow a user to easily recognize anomalous behavior. The analysis system includes an interactive interface that allows the user to trace the cause of the presented memory utilization patterns, and provides statistics regarding memory allocation and release to guide the user in this analysis. |
| US08359445B2 |
Method and apparatus for signaling between devices of a memory system
A method and apparatus for signaling between devices of a memory system is provided. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, one or more of several capabilities are implemented to provide heretofore unattainable levels of important system metrics, for example, high performance and/or low cost. These capabilities relate to timing adjustment capabilities, bit time adjustment capabilities, cycle time selection, use of differential and/or non-differential signaling for bus signals and/or clock signals, use of termination structures on a bus, including integrated termination structures, and active control circuitry to allow adjustment to different characteristic bus impedances and power-state control, including a calibration process to optimize the termination value, use of slew rate control circuitry and transfer characteristic control circuitry in the predriver and driver of transmitter blocks to allow adjustment to different characteristic bus impedances and to allow adjustment for other bus properties, including a calibration process to optimize the such circuitry, and/or provision of a memory component designed to prefetch (preaccess) words that are wider than the width of the data bus so that the memory access bandwidth approximately matches the transfer bandwidth, and memory component able to adjust the size of the prefetch (preaccess) word to accommodate connection to data buses of different width. |
| US08359444B2 |
System and method for controlling automated page-based tier management in storage systems
System and method for automated page-based management in storage systems. The system includes host computers, file servers and a storage system having automated page-based management means. The storage system interface receives instructions to change the condition for decision for migration regarding particular parts or the whole volume. The host computer can control execution of the migration performed by the storage system by specifying areas or volumes with the condition via the interface. Highly optimized, appropriate data placement and data relocation in computer system can be achieved when the application, host computer or management computer can recognize or predict the usage of the data or files. The storage system having automated page-based management may include compression/decompression and a control method for the compression and decompression process. |
| US08359439B2 |
Backup apparatus, backup method, and file reading apparatus
Proposed are a backup apparatus and a backup method capable of improving the backup performance, as well as a file reading apparatus capable of improving the file reading performance. As a result of determining a read sequence upon reading the respective files from a disk device based on a physical address of the respective storage areas storing data of each of the files in the disk device, and sequentially reading data of each of the files from the disk device according to the determined read sequence, overhead such as the head seek and rotational delay in the disk device upon reading a plurality of files from such disk device can be dramatically reduced. |
| US08359436B2 |
Core snoop handling during performance state and power state transitions in a distributed caching agent
A method and apparatus may provide for detecting a performance state transition in a processor core and bouncing a core snoop message on a shared interconnect ring in response to detecting the performance state transition. The core snoop message may be associated with the processor core, wherein a plurality of processor cores may be coupled to the shared interconnect ring via a distributed last level cache controller. |
| US08359433B2 |
Method and system of handling non-aligned memory accesses
A method and system to facilitate full throughput operation of cache memory line split accesses in a device. By facilitating full throughput operation of cache memory line split accesses in the device, the device minimizes the performance and throughput loss associated with the handling of non-aligned cache memory accesses that cross two or more cache memory lines and/or page memory boundaries in one embodiment of the invention. When the device receives a non-aligned cache memory access request, the merge logic combines or merges the incoming data of a particular cache memory line from a data cache memory with the stored data of the preceding cache memory line of the particular cache memory line. |
| US08359431B2 |
Storage subsystem and its data processing method for reducing the amount of data to be stored in a semiconductor nonvolatile memory
The amount of data to be stored in a semiconductor nonvolatile memory can be reduced and overhead associated with data processing can be reduced. When a microprocessor 112 receives a write request from a host computer 300 and data D1 to D3 exist in a cache slot 117, the microprocessor 112 reads the LBA of each piece of the data, manages each piece of the data D1 to D3 using a bitmap table 118 by associating them with their LBAs, generates a specific command CMD based on the LBAs of the data D1 to D3, adds the data D1 to D3 and addresses ADD1 to ADD3 indicating where the data D1 to D3 are to be stored, to the specific command CMD, and sends it to an FMPK 30. The FMPK 130 stores each piece of update data in a specified block in the flash memory 135 based on the specific command CMD. |
| US08359421B2 |
Partitioning a crossbar interconnect in a multi-channel memory system
A method includes identifying a first set of masters and a second set of masters from a plurality of masters. The plurality of masters have access to a multi-channel memory via a crossbar interconnect. The method includes partitioning the crossbar interconnect into a plurality of partitions comprising at least a first partition corresponding to the first set of masters and a second partition corresponding to the second set of masters. The method also includes allocating a first set of buffer areas within the multi-channel memory. The first set of buffer areas correspond to the first set of masters. The method further includes allocating a second set of buffer areas within the multi-channel memory. The second set of buffers correspond to the second set of masters. |
| US08359420B2 |
External memory based FIFO apparatus
An external memory based FIFO (xFIFO) apparatus coupled to an external memory and a register bus is disclosed. The xFIFO apparatus includes an xFIFO engine, a wDMA engine, an rDMA engine, a first virtual FIFO, and a second virtual FIFO. The xFIFO engine receives a FIFO command from the register bus and generates a writing DMA command and a reading DMA command. The wDMA engine receives the writing DMA command from the xFIFO engine and forwards an incoming data to the external memory. The rDMA engine receives the reading DMA command from the xFIFO engine and pre-fetches a FIFO data from the external memory. The wDMA engine and the rDMA engine synchronize with each other via the first virtual FIFO and the second virtual FIFO. |
| US08359417B2 |
Audio/video router
A composite input signal having an audio component and a video component is routed from an input to an output by separating a stream of audio data words at an average frequency F1 from the video component and supplying the separated stream of audio data words sequentially to a FIFO input register. The output of the FIFO input register is polled at a frequency F2, greater than F1, and, in the event that an audio data word is available at the output of the FIFO input register, the audio data word is conveyed from the output of the FIFO input register to an input of a signal path. Otherwise a null data word is conveyed to the input of the signal path. The signal path thereby conveys a stream of data words that comprises both audio data words and null data words. The audio data words of the stream conveyed by the path are combined with the video component of the composite input signal. |
| US08359413B2 |
Data stream buffer control using reference time and decoding time
A buffer control device includes a reference time generation unit configured to generate a reference time based on time information included in a data stream input, a buffer configured to receive an encoded data extracted from the data stream, store the encoded data, and output the encoded data at a decoding time or a reproducing time of the encoded data, and a control unit configured to control an input of the encoded data to the buffer based on a relativity between the decoding time or the reproducing time of the encoded data and the reference time. |
| US08359411B2 |
Data filtering using central DMA mechanism
A method and system is disclosed for passing data processed by a DMA controller through a transmission filter. The method includes the DMA controller accessing data for transfer between an origination location in the system and a destination location in the system. The accessed data is passed through the DMA controller before being sent to the destination location. While the data is being passed through the DMA controller, it is passed through a transmission filter for processing. This processing may include the addition or removal of transmission protocol headers and footers, and determination of the destination of the data. This processing may also include hash-based packet classification and checksum generation and checking. Upon completion of the processing, the data is sent directly to a prescribed destination location, typically either a memory circuit or an I/O device. |
| US08359406B2 |
Middleware filter agent between server and PDA
A content server provides content to a first network device during a data synchronization between the two devices. A middleware filter selectively filters content provided by the content server such that selected content is provided to the first network device. The middleware filter is included within a second network device coupled between the content server and the first network device. The second network device acts as a proxy for the first network device to receive the content provided by the content server. The content is provided from the content server according to a subscription service between the content server and the first network device. The first network device is preferably a personal digital assistant (PDA) and the second network device is preferably a personal computer. Alternatively, the content server is coupled to the first network device, without the second network device coupled in between. In the alternative case, the middleware filter is included within the content server, and the content is selectively provided from the middleware filter, on the content server, to the first network device. |
| US08359404B2 |
Zone routing in a torus network
A system for routing data in a network comprising a network logic device at a sending node for determining a path between the sending node and a receiving node, wherein the network logic device sets one or more selection bits and one or more hint bits within the data packet, a control register for storing one or more masks, wherein the network logic device uses the one or more selection bits to select a mask from the control register and the network logic device applies the selected mask to the hint bits to restrict routing of the data packet to one or more routing directions for the data packet within the network and selects one of the restricted routing directions from the one or more routing directions and sends the data packet along a link in the selected routing direction toward the receiving node. |
| US08359403B2 |
Content based data routing
A method of routing data from a source to one or more clients over a network, where the data conforms to a structured meta-language; in which the routing is performed by a server applying rules to the data itself, and not any address accompanying the data, to determine where to route that data to. The present invention is predicated on the counter-intuitive insight that data does not need to be concealed within a data envelope and given an address label in order to be routed effectively and efficiently. Instead, routing can be performed on the actual content of a message by applying simple routing rules to the data itself by intelligent ‘routing’ servers within the network which can unpack data from their message envelopes and intelligently filter/combine them with data unpacked from other messages to achieve a routing function. |
| US08359402B2 |
Intercept device for providing content
Described are computerized methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for network virtualization. An intercept device receives a DNS response message from a DNS server. The DNS response includes a domain name, a network address associated with the domain name, and a destination address of a first network device. The intercept device determines whether the domain name satisfies a DNS intercept criterion. If the domain name satisfies the DNS intercept criterion, then a request intercept criterion is updated to include the network address associated with the domain name. The DNS response message is transmitted on to the first network device by the intercept server. |
| US08359401B2 |
Network switch
A system and method for electronically transferring data between servers in a Local Area Network (LAN) requires a Network switch. Essentially, the Network switch incorporates a PCI Express switch that is run by a Central Processing Unit (CPU). A plurality of connectors (i.e. one for each server in the system) is provided to directly connect the PCI Express capability of the respective server to the PCI Express switch. With these connections, the CPU is used to implement an Internet Protocol (IP) routing function in compliance with IP addresses provided by respective servers to route data through the system from one server to another. |
| US08359397B2 |
Reliable peer-to-peer connections
Embodiments of a system and method for establishing reliable connections between peers in a peer-to-peer networking environment. In one embodiment, a reliable communications channel may use transmit and receive windows, acknowledgement of received messages, and retransmission of messages not received to provide reliable delivery of messages between peers in the peer-to-peer environment. In one embodiment, each message may include a sequence number configured for use in maintaining ordering of received messages on a receiving peer. A communications channel may make multiple hops on a network, and different hops in the connection may use different underlying network protocols. Communications channels may also pass through one or more firewalls and/or one or more gateways on the network. A communications channel may also pass through one or more router (relay) peers on the network. The peers may adjust the sizes of the transmit and receive window based upon reliability of the connection. |
| US08359393B2 |
Methods, apparatuses and systems facilitating seamless, virtual integration of online membership models and services
Methods, apparatuses and systems facilitating integration of the functionality associated with a first on-line service entity with the functionality associated with a second on-line service entity. Embodiments of the present invention allow a first on-line service entity having its own membership model to efficiently collaborate with a second on-line service entity to offer its users the services of the second on-line service entity in a seamless and consistently branded manner. One implementation obviates the need for synchronization of the membership models between the first and second on-line service entities. One implementation allows the second on-line service entity to provide services to the users associated with the first on-line service entity in a seamless manner without the first on-line service entity having to proxy the session between the second on-line service entity and the users. |
| US08359387B2 |
Network accelerator for controlled long delay links
A communication system for providing network access over a shared communication link is disclosed. The communication system includes a user access point, a network access point and a communications link. The user access point is coupled to one or more user terminals that access a remote network. The network access point is coupled to the remote network. The communications link couples the user access point and the network access point. The communications link is at last partially controlled by the network access point, which monitors information passed between the remote network and the user access point to create an estimate of future usage of the communications link by the user access point based on the information. The network access point allocates communications link resources for the user access point based on the estimate. |
| US08359384B2 |
Method, system, and apparatus for communicating with a computer management device
Methods, systems, and apparatus are provided for enabling communication with a computer management device. According to a method one or more vendor specific commands for communicating with a management device are defined according to a first communication standard. The one or more vendor specific commands are then transmitted to the management device over a communication link conforming to a second communication standard. A device conforming to the second communication standard may be emulated on the communication link. If vendor specific commands are received by the management device that are not intended for the emulated device, the commands may be used for communicating with the management device. |
| US08359381B2 |
Method for triggered location service in SUPL
Disclosed is an SUPL-based triggered location service which provides a triggered location service capable of pausing an ongoing session and then resuming the paused session by using a dedicated or common message and other certain parameters indicating a session pause/resume. |
| US08359379B1 |
Method of implementing IP-based proxy server for ISCSI services
A facility for impersonating a number of iSCSI initiators within a IP-based Storage Area Network (SAN) is provided. In some embodiments, the facility receives iSCSI PDUs from a plurality of iSCSI devices. Each iSCSI PDU includes a SCSI command, an IP address of the initiator from which it was received, and an indication of a target storage device to which the iSCSI PDU is addressed. The facility maps IP address of the initiator from which the iSCSI PDU was received to a globally unique IP address and sends the iSCSI PDU to the indicated target storage device. When a response to the iSCSI PDU is received, the facility maps the globally unique IP address to the IP address of the initiator from which the iSCSI PDU was received and forwards the response to the initiator. In some embodiments, the facility is transparent to the iSCSI initiators. |
| US08359378B2 |
Network system and method of administrating networks
A network system assists in selection of an optimum system structure for performance necessary for actual operations and a method of administrating networks. A server (222) is installed with software functioning as an SNMP agent to a monitor unit (240). An administrating server (24) has the monitor unit (240) of software functioning as an SNMP manager. A data collecting unit (300) collects structure and performance information from an infrastructure DB (26) of an administrating-assistance-subject network (2) and orders a system DB (32) to store such information. A rule generating unit (302) acquires the structure and performance information from the system DB (32), applies a learning technique of a decision tree or the like to generate sorting rules that sort the structure information in accordance with characteristic performance information at an operating time. An information extracting unit (304) acquires sorting rules from a rule memory unit (34) to provide a terminal device (36) with structure information of the other server (222) that satisfies necessary performance conditions for any one of the servers (222) at an operating time. |
| US08359374B2 |
Fast determination of compatibility of virtual machines and hosts
A method of determining compatibility of a virtual machine or virtual machine disk file with a host, including a storage host, is disclosed. A lookup matrix is created to provide a fast compatibility lookup for a group of computing objects and a group of hosts. To create the lookup matrix, computing object properties are retrieved from each of the plurality of computing objects. The computing object properties include resource requirements of each of the plurality of computing objects. Further, host properties are retrieved from each of the plurality of hosts. The method further includes creating a plurality of host logical groups of a subset of the plurality of hosts having substantially same host properties and creating a plurality of computing object logical groups of a subject of the plurality of computing objects having substantially same computing object properties. The lookup matrix provides answers whether each member of a selected computing object logical group can be transferred to each member of a selected host logical group. |
| US08359373B2 |
Handheld computing unit of a computing device with an extended computing unit
A handheld computing unit includes a hardware section and memory. The memory includes an application section and an operating system section. The operating system section includes operational instructions that cause the hardware section to: detect a mode change request to a non-standalone mode; determine whether an extended computing unit is engaged with another handheld computing unit; when the extended computing unit is engaged with another handheld unit, initiate a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit mode; and when the initiation is successful, retrieve a single extended computing unit-multiple handheld computing unit operating system boot loader. |
| US08359369B2 |
Dynamically optimizing delivery of multimedia content over a network
A method includes connecting a communications device to an Internet Multimedia Subsystem network. The method includes transmitting presence information indicating multimedia capabilities of the communications device and requesting multimedia content from a multimedia server to cause the multimedia server to transmit multimedia content. The method includes detecting connection of a peripheral device to the communications device and determining that the multimedia capabilities have increased due to the connection of the peripheral device. The method includes updating the presence information to indicate the increased multimedia capabilities and transmitting the updated presence information to cause the multimedia server to transmit the multimedia content adjusted for the increased multimedia capabilities indicated in the updated presence information. The method includes receiving the multimedia content adjusted for the increased multimedia capabilities and presenting at least some of the adjusted multimedia content on the peripheral device. |
| US08359365B2 |
Systems and methods for load-balancing by secondary processors in parallel document indexing
A system and method for parallelizing document indexing in a data processing system. The data processing system includes a primary processor for receiving a list of data having embedded data associated therewith, at least one secondary processor to process the data as provided by the primary processor, a data processor to determine a characteristic of the embedded data and process the embedded data based upon the characteristic, and a messaging module to exchange at least one status message between the primary processor and the at least one secondary processor. |
| US08359360B2 |
Electronic message system with federation of trusted senders
Systems and methods for allowing challenge messages to be sent directly to a recipient's inbox where normally the challenge message would be sent to a pending folder or deleted. Challenge messages sent between federated messaging services contain a federated token which can be identified, authenticated and validated to determine whether the challenge message should be sent to a recipient's inbox. The federated token can include an authentication portion and a validation portion. Authentication methods for the authentication portion can include, for example, checksums, salts, hashes and digital signatures. Once a federated token is authenticated by decrypting the authentication portion according to one or more of these authentication methods, the federated token is validated by determining the defined use-base and determining whether the receipt of the federated token satisfies the defined use. |
| US08359359B2 |
Device, method, and computer program product for supporting creation of reply mail
A device and method are described to create a reply message in which, even in a case where electronic messages are exchanged among a plurality of users, a past electronic message to be referred to as a desired reply message can be efficiently retrieved, and trouble in creating a reply message can be reduced. When a first electronic message that has been stored most recently has been extracted from history information, and when an instruction indicating that the body part of the first electronic message is necessary has been accepted, the body part of the first electronic message is temporarily stored. A second electronic message that has been stored next most recently is extracted from the history information. When information on a source in the header part of the second electronic message does not match information on the author of a reply message, the address of the source is set to the address of the destination of the reply message, the temporarily stored body part is added to the reply message, and history information preceding the second electronic message is added. |
| US08359358B2 |
File folder transmission on network
Disclosed are a method and a system for transmitting a file folder from the sending end to the receiving end. The system uses a file folder transmission unit at the sending end side to generate a directory structure file of the file folder. The directory structure file may have properties such as the size of the file folder, paths and path lengths of the files in the file folder. The sending end then sends the directory structure file to the receiving end through the file folder transmission unit to allow the system to determine which files in the file folder need to be transmitted. The needed files in the file folder are then transmitted to the receiving end according to the determination. The sending end and the receiving end may communicate using an instant messaging tool. The disclosed method and system allow a faster and more convenient file folder network transmission. |
| US08359356B2 |
Presenting calendar events with presence information
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a presence system having a controller to transmit to a calendar system presence information of a subscriber of the presence system for recording said presence information in a calendar event. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08359355B2 |
System and method for verifying access to content
A method and computer program product for receiving an indication of an email being generated for at least one recipient. The email is analyzed to determine if the email includes at least one link to a piece of content on a remote content resource. If the email includes at least one link to a piece of content on a remote content resource, the at least one recipient is analyzed to determine if the at least one recipient has sufficient rights to access the piece of content on the remote content resource. |
| US08359354B1 |
Methods for providing a status to devices in a distributed system
A method for providing a status of a device to a plurality of devices in a distributed system includes receiving a status data packet from the device, the status data packet including the status of the device. The method also includes saving the status of the device to a memory and obtaining a list of the plurality of devices in the distributed system. The list is associated with a sequence for circulating the status data packet between the plurality of devices. The method further includes sending the status data packet including the status of the device to a next device in the sequence. |
| US08359352B2 |
Automated content and bookmark distribution
A method of submitting content on behalf of a client to multiple service providers includes the steps of receiving a request from a client to submit content to a plurality of service providers and processing the request utilizing a server. The step of processing includes the steps of retrieving client login information necessary to submit the content to the plurality of service providers, logging on to the service providers using the client login information, if necessary, and submitting the content to the plurality of service providers through a client device. The steps of processing, retrieving, logging on, and submitting are performed automatically by the server after the request is received without additional input from the client. |
| US08359343B2 |
System and method for identifying threat locations
A system and method for identifying threat locations including a receiver to receive threat data identifying a threat, one or more processors configured to retrieve location data from one or more databases based on the threat data, and an output to provide floor plan information identifying threat location based on the location data at a display. |
| US08359342B2 |
Method and system for generating indexes in an XML database management system
The invention concerns a method for generating at least one index (10) over XML documents (30) in an XML database (40); the method comprising the steps of: a. executing at least one indexing function (20) defined in the XQuery language; each indexing function (20) accepting an XML document (30) as input and returning at least one computed result; and b. storing each of the at least one computed results from the at least one indexing function (20) as a key (11) of the corresponding index (10) and a reference to the input XML document (30) as a value (12) of the index (10). |
| US08359340B2 |
System and method for representing media assets
Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable media for representing media assets. The method includes receiving an original media asset and derivative versions of the original media asset and associated descriptors, determining a lineage to each derivative version that traces to the original media asset, generating a version history tree of the original media asset representing the lineage to each derivative version and associated descriptors from the original media asset, and presenting at least part of the version history tree to a user. In one aspect, the method further includes receiving a modification to one associated descriptor and updating associated descriptors for related derivative versions with the received modification. The original media asset and the derivative versions of the original media asset can share a common identifying mark. Descriptors can include legal documentation, licensing information, creation time, creation date, actors' names, director, producer, lens aperture, and position data. |
| US08359339B2 |
Graphical user interface for configuration of an algorithm for the matching of data records
Systems and methods for an interface for the configuration of a system for the association of data records are disclosed. Embodiments of the invention provide a graphical interface for manipulating a representation of an algorithm for the configuration of such a system, including the configuration of how a system transforms data records from their native format to a standard data format, selects set of candidates and associates data records. |
| US08359338B2 |
System and method for managing medical databases for patient care devices
A system and method for creating, managing and loading selected configuration datasets used to program a patient care device to have a selected behavior is provided. A common configuration database includes medical treatment guidelines and device operating characteristics for a plurality of patient care device types. A processor operatively connected to the configuration database is programmed to construct at least one device-specific configuration dataset for a selected device behavior from the common configuration database and load the device-specific dataset into the memory of a patient care device. Further, the device-specific configuration datasets may contain device communication information, including communication protocols and data structures, for a plurality of patient care devices types and behaviors to enable communication between patient care devices. |
| US08359335B2 |
Computing system and method to implicitly commit unsaved data for a world wide web application
In one embodiment, the invention is a computing system comprising a World Wide Web application with a user interactive record field is described. The record field receives a record field entry. The application receives a context change request. Responsive to the context change request, the application dynamically transmits the record field entry to a server for storage in a database. |
| US08359331B2 |
Methods and systems for managing data
Methods and systems and machine readable media for managing data. In one exemplary embodiment, an initial search query is received and examined to determine whether elements within the initial search query are within the same category of data, and a machine interpreted search query is derived in response to the determining. Other methods and systems and media are also described. |
| US08359330B2 |
Contents deletion/update apparatus, contents deletion/update method and recording medium
A contents deletion/update system includes plural nodes which delete or update contents shared by the plural nodes mutually connected via a network. A management node includes a first transmitter transmitting an instruction to cause another node to delete or update the contents based on owning node information, and a second transmitter transmitting non-responding node information when there is a non-responding node. Each of the other nodes includes the first receiver receiving an instruction to delete or update the contents, an editor deleting or updating the contents according to the instruction, the first transmitter transmitting a response to the management node, the second receiver receiving non-responding node information from the management node and storing the non-responding node information in a storage unit, and the second transmitter transmitting the instruction to the non-responding node based on the non-responding node information when recognizing that the non-responding node makes access. |
| US08359329B2 |
Method, computer apparatus and computer program for identifying unusual combinations of values in data
In a method of identifying unusual combinations of values in data (1) that is arranged in rows and columns, the data is pre-processed to put it into a form (4, 5) suitable for application of a search method thereto. Using said search method, the pre-processed data is searched (8) to search the set of possible combinations of unique values from the columns to find any combinations that are unusual according to an evaluation metric. |
| US08359327B2 |
Document processing method and system
A method and system for expanding a document set as a search data source in the field of business related search. The present invention provides a method of expanding a seed document in a seed document set. The method includes identifying one or more entity words of the seed document; identifying one or more topic words identifying one or more topic words related to the based entity word in the seed document where the entity word is located; forming an entity word-topic word pair from each identified topic word and the entity word on the basis of which each topic word is identified; and obtaining one or more expanded documents through web by taking the entity word and topic word in the each entity word-topic word pair as key words at the same time. A system for executing the above method is also provided. |
| US08359326B1 |
Contextual n-gram analysis
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which a first search query in a session is compared to a second search query within the session to determine whether any terms included in the second search query differ from terms in the first search query. If differing search terms are identified in the second search query, the differing search terms can be excluded from bigram analysis with other search terms included in the second query. |
| US08359322B2 |
Information-processing apparatus, method, system, and computer readable medium and method for automatically recording or recommending content
The present invention allows a program vector representing attributes of a program to be generated as follows. At a step S11, EPG data is received. At a step S12, meta data necessary for generation of a program vector PP is extracted from the EPG data. At a step S13, a morphological analysis is carried out on contents and title included in the meta data to disassemble the contents and the title into words. At a step S14, items included in the meta data are subjected to a vector creation process to generate the program vector PP. At a step S15, an effect vector is extracted on the basis of a genre of a program associated with the meta data. At a step S16, the extracted effect vector is associated with the generated program vector PP and the processing is ended. The present invention can be applied to a distribution server for distributing contents. |
| US08359321B2 |
Real-time single entry multiple carrier interface (SEMCI)
A method and system for converting XML files to and from files in a data format based on hierarchies in real-time. A method for converting from XML to the data format based on hierarchies includes: applying a stylesheet to at least one XML file thereby generating at least one data record in an intermediate format and including information included in the at least one XML file; and, translating the at least one record in the intermediate format to the data format based on hierarchies. A method for converting from a data format based on hierarchies to XML includes: translating at least one record including information stored in the file format based on hierarchies to an intermediate format; and, applying a stylesheet to the at least one record in the intermediate format thereby generating at least one XML file being indicative of the information and suitable for transmission. |
| US08359318B2 |
System and method for distributed index searching of electronic content
There are provided methods and systems for efficient search in a peer-to-peer network topology. In various embodiments, search methods and systems provide for response times and network traffic that are independent from the number of query terms, thereby producing constant run-time searches and bandwidth hits in a P2P network search implementation. By distributing inverse indexes between peers, and storing with each inverse index a Bloom filter populated with selected keywords, multi-term search and analysis can be conducted on one network node without requiring exchange of posting lists between various network nodes. |
| US08359316B2 |
Database table look-up
Techniques for database table look-up are provided. The techniques include storing one or more column attributes of a database table in a data structure, wherein the data structure also comprises a record identification (RID) column of a table, one or more predicate columns corresponding to the RID column, and a sequence number column that is associated with one or more updated records, generating a key using one or more portions from one or more of the one or more predicate columns, using the key to partition the data structure, wherein partitioning the data structure comprises partitioning the one or more predicate columns for evaluation, and evaluating the one or more predicate columns against the data structure for each matching predicate column-data structure partition. |
| US08359315B2 |
Generating a representative sub-signature of a cluster of signatures by using weighted sampling
A method and a system are provided for generating a representative sub-signature of a particular cluster of signatures. In one example, the system reads a sub-signature of a signature of the particular cluster. The system calculates a first factor for the sub-signature. The first factor is based on how many signatures contain the sub-signature. The signatures are in the particular cluster. The system calculates a second factor for the sub-signature. The second factor is based on how many signatures in other clusters contain the sub-signature. These other signatures in other clusters are not in the particular cluster. The system calculates an effectiveness score for the sub-signature. The effectiveness score is based on at least the first factor and the second factor. The system then determines one or more representative sub-signatures for the particular cluster. The one or more sub-signatures are based on one or more effectiveness scores calculated by the system. |
| US08359314B2 |
System and method for tagging images based on positional information
A system and method for suggesting keywords for tagging a digital image are provided. In general, a requesting node is communicatively coupled to a keyword service via a network. The requesting node sends a request to the keyword service requesting suggested keywords for a digital image. The request includes information relating to the digital image such as positional information. Based on the information, the keyword service generates a list of suggested keywords and provides the list of suggested keywords to the requesting node. At the requesting node, the list of suggested keywords is displayed to a user, and the user selects one or more of the suggested keywords for tagging the digital image. |
| US08359313B2 |
Extensible custom variables for tracking user traffic
A system and method for presenting custom variables to a user of a web analytics system. An activity file of a web server is received, wherein the activity file includes activity file hit records that provide information about respective requests for documents made by visitors of web sites. A custom variable tag of an activity file hit record in the activity file is identified. Attribute-value pairs of the custom variable tag are then extracted. The attribute-value pairs of the custom variable tag are stored in a database hit record of a database of the server. One or more attribute-value pairs of a plurality of custom variable tags assigned to the custom variable of the web site are then prepared to be presented to a user, wherein the user is separate and distinct from the authors of the documents of the web site. |
| US08359311B2 |
Federated implicit search
A resource selection system is described for assisting a user in performing a task that includes multiple actions. At each stage of the task, the system presents a set resources from which the user may select to perform a subsequent action in the task. The system implicitly selects the set of resources based on context information that identifies the user's current informational needs. For example, the context information may be derived from textual information that is being presented on a user device, which the user is presumed to be viewing at the current time. In one implementation, the system selects the set of resources by computing language models for respective domains and respective entities. The system uses the language models to determine the relevance of the context information to each of the domains. The system then selects resources associated with domains that have been assessed as relevant. |
| US08359309B1 |
Modifying search result ranking based on corpus search statistics
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for ranking search results of a search query using corpus search statistics. In one aspect, a method includes determining a first relevance of a first corpus to a search query, determining a second relevance of a second corpus to the search query, determining a measure of relative relevance of the first corpus and the second corpus to the search query, and providing the measure of relative relevance to a ranking engine for ranking of search results for a new search corresponding to the search query. |
| US08359308B2 |
Inline data correlation and hierarchical datasets
Architecture which provides that certain data-bound objects in the report can be configured by the report author to use data from a specific query result rather than take data from the containing data bound object. The report author defines a relationship between the data in the contained object and the data in the container, allowing instances of the descendant object to be correlated with instances of the ancestor object. This relationship can be either explicit with join conditions or implicit due to an intrinsic hierarchical relationship between the query results. |
| US08359307B2 |
Method and apparatus for building sales tools by mining data from websites
A website mining tool is disclosed that extracts information from, for example, a company's website and presents the extracted information in a graphical user interface (GUI). In one embodiment, web pages from a website are stored in, for example, computer memory and a structure of the web pages is identified. A plurality of blocks of information is then extracted as a function of this structure and a category is assigned to each block of information. The elements in the blocks of information are then displayed, for example to a salesperson, as a function of these categories. In another embodiment, Document Object Modeling parsing is used to identify the structure of the web pages. In yet another embodiment, a support vector machine is used to categorize each block of information. |
| US08359297B2 |
Multiple source data management using a conflict rule
A solution for managing data received from multiple sources is provided. In particular, when conflicting data values are received from multiple sources for a data element, a conflict rule is used to determine the main data value for the data element, which is subsequently stored for use. The conflict rule can define any automatic, semi-automatic, or manual procedure for resolving the conflict. The conflict rule, or an identifier thereof, can be stored with each data value and the main data value for the data element. |
| US08359294B2 |
Incorrect hyperlink detecting apparatus and method
An incorrect hyperlink detecting apparatus which can detect a semantic inconsistency of a hyperlink with high accuracy is provided. An incorrect hyperlink detecting apparatus 10 includes a link source text extracting unit 12 for extracting a text from an HTML file 26 of a link source, a link destination text extracting unit 14 for extracting a text from the HTML file 26 of a link destination, a morpheme analysis unit 16 for dissolving the extracted texts into words, a weighting unit 18 for assigning a weightier every part of speech, a consistency rate calculating unit 20 for calculating a rate that the words of the link source are included in the words of the link destination as a consistency rate from the link source to the link destination and a rate that the words of the link destination are included in the words of the link source as a consistency rate from the link destination to the link source, degree of association calculating unit 22 for calculating a degree of association which indicates a probability of the hyperlink in response to both of the consistency rates, and a CSV output unit 24 for outputting the consistency rate and the degree of association in a CSV form. |
| US08359292B2 |
Semantic grouping for program performance data analysis
Particular portions of program execution data are specified and organized in semantic groups. A grouping expression written in a transformation syntax language specifies a pattern and a replacement, for grouping performance data samples. An exception to the pattern can also be specified. In response to the grouping expression, a cost accounting shows groups and their costs. The grouping expression may operate on names and/or name-associated characteristics such as private/public status, author, directory, and the like. Samples may represent nodes in a directed acyclic graph memorializing call stacks or memory allocation. Grouping expressions are used to group nodes and consolidate costs by various procedures when making modified sample stacks: clustering-by-name, entry-group-clustering, folding-by-name, a folding-by-cost. An entry group clustering shows at least one entry point name while avoiding unwanted detail. |
| US08359291B2 |
Architecture-aware field affinity estimation
A data layout optimization may utilize affinity estimation between pairs of fields of a record in a computer program. The affinity estimation may be determined based on a trace of an execution and in view of actual processing entities performing each access to the fields. The disclosed subject matter may be configured to be aware of a specific architecture of a target computer having a plurality of processing entities, executing the program so as to provide an improved affinity estimation which may take into account both false sharing issues, spatial locality improvement and the like. |
| US08359290B1 |
Smart sync—refreshing application state based on user migration patterns
A method of synchronizing data is provided. An embodiment of the method includes receiving, at a server, information identifying a detected user interaction with a device, determining, at the server, a probability that a user will access a service provided by the server using the device at a time, and generating, at the server, a session signature based on the determined probability, wherein the session signature is used by the device to generate refresh requests associated with the service. |
| US08359286B1 |
Method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for solving linear optimization problems including linear programming problems and systems of linear equations
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a method of optimizing a linear equation optimality problem subject to a change of conditions can be accomplished. The method can include determining a first set of conditions for the linear equation optimality problem; initiating processing by a computer to optimize the optimality problem in accordance with the first set of conditions; determining a second set of conditions different from the first set of conditions; continuing processing with the computer to optimize the optimality problem by using the second set of conditions without having to re-initialize the computer. |
| US08359283B2 |
Genetic algorithms with robust rank estimation for hearing assistance devices
Disclosed herein, among other things, is a method for fitting a hearing assistance device for a user using a genetic algorithm. Stimulus pairs are presented to the user using a computer, the stimulus pairs adapted to provide contrasting options for selection from a set of stimuli stored in the computer. Inputs are received from the user entered into the computer, including preference judgments of the user. A score is calculated for each stimulus of the pair using the computer to execute a rank agreement function to maximize agreement between scores and the preference judgments. A set of genes is selected based on the scores, where the set of genes correspond to hearing assistance device parameters. The set of genes is operated on with a genetic algorithm using the assigned scores to obtain a child set of genes. The child set is used to provide parameter values during fitting. |
| US08359281B2 |
System and method for parallelizing and accelerating learning machine training and classification using a massively parallel accelerator
A method system for training an apparatus to recognize a pattern includes providing the apparatus with a host processor executing steps of a machine learning process; providing the apparatus with an accelerator including at least two processors; inputting training pattern data into the host processor; determining coefficient changes in the machine learning process with the host processor using the training pattern data; transferring the training data to the accelerator; determining kernel dot-products with the at least two processors of the accelerator using the training data; and transferring the dot-products back to the host processor. |
| US08359279B2 |
Assisted clustering
Assisted clustering systems and methods are described herein that provide a user interface by which a user can easily create clusters and selectively associate data items with such clusters. Information regarding data item-cluster associations made by the user is processed by a recommendation engine to learn a clustering model. The clustering model is then be used to generate recommendations for the user regarding which unassociated data items should be associated with which clusters. In certain embodiments, after the user has determined that the clustering model is performing at a satisfactory level based on the quality of the recommendations, the user can cause the system to automatically cluster a large quantity of remaining unassociated data items. In accordance with further embodiments, a user can specify arbitrary data item types for clustering as well as features of such data types that should be considered in generating the clustering model. |
| US08359274B2 |
Systems and methods to provide messages in real-time with transaction processing
In one aspect, a computing apparatus is configured to generate trigger records for a transaction handler to identify authorization requests that satisfy the conditions specified in the trigger records, identify communication preferences of the users associated with the identified authorization requests, and use the communication preferences to target real-time messages at the users in parallel with the transaction handler providing responses to the respective authorization requests. |
| US08359272B2 |
Methods and apparatus for electronic file use and management
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for facilitating online storage of files (e.g., audio tracks, video, etc.) for playback/access or sale/exchange by the owners of the files without violating copyrights that copyright holders have in the files. For example, by providing a playback service that does not store additional versions of an audio file when the file is transmitted to, and immediately played on, a user device without buffering, the present invention avoids violating copyright laws by not making copies of the file. Numerous other aspects are disclosed. |
| US08359271B2 |
Apparatus for customer authentication of an item
An apparatus is provided for authentication of an item or a label by storing unique random serial numbers or codes in a remote secure storage that can be used to authenticate the item or the label, generating a pointer to each stored unique random serial number/code and storing the generated pointer(s) in a client data storage. During or prior to a production run of the item(s) or label(s): the generated pointer(s) are sent from the client data storage to one or more media devices, the generated pointer(s) are obtained from the media device using a post-content manager, the unique random serial number(s)/code(s) are obtained from the server via the post-content manager using the generated pointer(s), the obtained unique random serial number(s)/code(s) are sent to the media device, and the received unique random serial number(s)/code(s) are imprinted on the item(s) or the label(s) using the media device. |
| US08359270B2 |
System for identifying an individual and managing an account
The present invention provides a method for managing an account for an unidentified individual by communicating with the unidentified individual who is using a device to communicate which transmits an identifier associated with the origin of the communication, obtaining from the unidentified individual a group of characters associated with the unidentified individual's personal information, comparing the group of characters to a database including a plurality of personal information associated with a plurality of individuals, identifying from the plurality of individuals one individual whose plurality of personal information includes the group of characters associated with the unidentified individual, and managing an account for the identified individual in an account database. |
| US08359265B2 |
Banking system with enhanced identification of financial accounts
A computer based banking system is provided in which at least selected clients termed participating system members have access to a remote device adapted to communicate with the computer base banking system such that financial transactions can be conducted by remote operation of the remote device by the participating system member to result in the debiting of a financial data base record associated with an instructing participating system member and in the crediting of a different financial data base record. Each data base record is identified by a conventional account number generated to conform to banking numbering standards as well as a linked communication number different from the relevant bank account number and composed of at least two component strings of numbers and/or letters, one of which is a number regionally unique to the participating system member, and the other of which is a bank identifying number unique to the particular bank at least on a regional basis. The communication number preferably also includes the two digit international dialing code; the telecommunications area code or the mobile operator code; and a check digit. |
| US08359264B2 |
System and method for matching loan consumers and lenders
A system and method for matching a loan consumer with lenders via the Internet includes receiving loan consumer application information. The application information is stored in a database. An internally specified filter is applied to the information to determine if the loan consumer meets a set of loan criteria. A subset of the information is submitted to a credit bureau. A credit report is generated based on the subset of information. A lender database is searched to match the customer information and credit report to ranked lenders. A query is transmitted to one of the lenders. A response is generated and received based on the query. Subsequent query and response steps are repeated only after receipt of the previous response, until all lenders have been queried. Only lenders who responded with an approval are presented for review by the customer. |
| US08359259B2 |
System and method for administering telematics based reinsurance pools
A data processing system includes a processor that is configured for determining a percentage share to assign a share of relative risk in an insurance pool between an insurer, a first safety vendor and at least one other safety vendor. The processor is further configured to allocate portions of the insurance pool among the insurer and the safety vendors according to the determined shares assigned to the insurer and the safety vendors, to aggregate by the insurer loss information related to the insurance pool, and transmit the loss information to the safety vendors. Also, the processor is configured to allocate portions of a claim liability or a received premium associated with the insurance pool among the insurer and the safety vendors according to the determined shares assigned to the insurer and the safety vendors. The data processing system also includes a memory for storing the determined shares assigned to the insurer and the safety vendors. |
| US08359255B2 |
Computer system for applying proactive referral model to long term disability claims
A computer system includes a data storage module. The data storage module receives, stores, and provides access to data related to long term disability claims. A proactive referral model component is coupled to the data storage module, and determines whether to refer a current claim to an investigation unit. The proactive referral model is based on at least two of the following variables: (a) a variable that indicates that the claimant's diagnosis has changed; (b) a variable that indicates that the current claim in question was brought under any-occupation coverage; (c) a variable that reflects a market segment for a policy under which the current claim in question was brought; (d) a variable that has a value based on a state in which the claimant resides; and (e) a variable that represents an amount of experience of a claims handler who handled the current claim in question. |
| US08359254B1 |
Non-scalar-valued financial instruments
A method and system is disclosed for creating and using non-scalar valued financial instruments. The method and system addresses the problems caused by limited the value of financial instruments to scalar quantities. Applications of the method and system include recreation, education, therapeutic intervention, and finance. |
| US08359251B2 |
Distributed commerce system
A networked system for managing commercial interactions is providing. In some embodiments, the system includes: a bundle-passing interface between a plurality of networked users including distribution logic including a distribution control input responsive to machine-readable information in the bundles; and a statistics collection engine including a control input responsive to machine-readable information in the bundles. |
| US08359248B2 |
Systems, methods, and devices for managing emergency power supply systems
Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to systems and methods for managing and monitoring a plurality of emergency power supply systems (EPSS's) at a facility via an emergency power management system (EPMS). The EPMS generally comprises EPSS equipment, a management computer system for managing, monitoring, and testing the operational characteristics of the EPSS equipment, and a plurality of interface modules for providing unified communication capabilities between the management computer system and the EPSS equipment. Additional aspects relate to methods for easily and efficiently creating and installing an EPMS at a facility. Further aspects are directed to providing predictive analyses related to the EPSS equipment. Also, aspects of the present disclosure relate to normalizing EPSS equipment information across varying vendors, makes, and models of equipment so as to provide a unified view of all equipment across a given facility. |
| US08359247B2 |
System and methods for generating virtual clothing experiences
A system for generating a virtual clothing experience has a display for mounting with a wall, one or more digital cameras for capturing first images of the person standing in front of the display, an image processing module for synthesizing the first images and for generating a display image on the display that substantially appears, to the person, like a reflection of the person in a mirror positioned at the display. The cameras capture second images of a garment with the person; the module synthesizes the second images with the first images to generate the image that substantially appears, to the person, that the reflection wears the garment. A home version of the system may be formed with a home computer and a database storing garment images in cooperation with a manufacturer. |
| US08359244B1 |
Apparel production system and method
A computer-implemented system and method for coordinating apparel production. In preferred embodiments, the invention is a business model and system for the apparel industry in which production channels and marketing channels are comprehensively coordinated by a central operating center via the Internet. By interacting with a website, registered clients (e.g., apparel businesses, wholesalers, retailers, etc.) articulate what their specific detailed requirements are in terms of production, delivery and other aspects. Then, data on these clients' orders are forwarded to each of the production channels through the central operation center which performs the tasks of comprehensive coordination, management and business operation. |
| US08359242B2 |
Method for exchanging data concerning an electronic transaction
A method for exchanging data concerning an electronic transaction between two entities, includes: a step which consists in determining and booking an origin address (TPOA) in conformity with a bidirectional mobile telephony (GSM) digital messaging service protocol (SMS); a step which consists in sending in accordance with the protocol (SMS), an offer message (OFFER_SMS) of the transaction (TR), the offer message (OFFER_SMS) being sent from the first entity (MW) and addressed to the second entity (CL); and a step which consists in sending, from the second entity (CL) and addressed to the first entity (MW), a reply message comprising an information (REP) representing acceptance or rejection of the transaction. |
| US08359229B2 |
Methods and systems for forecasting product demand during promotional events using statistical confidence filters
An improved method for forecasting and modeling product demand for a product during promotional periods. The forecasting methodology employs information about prior promotional demand forecasts, prior product sales, and the data dispersion and the number of data samples in a product class hierarchy to dynamically determine the optimal level at which to compute promotional uplift coefficients. The methodology calculates confidence values for promotional uplift coefficients for products at each level in a merchandise product hierarchy, and uses the confidence values as a filter to determine the optimal level for promotional uplift aggregation. |
| US08359227B2 |
Real-time sales support and learning tool
A real time sales support method includes automatically monitoring an interaction between a sales agent and a customer. One or more contexts of the interaction are determined and, based on the contexts, stored information relevant to the interaction is automatically retrieved. The retrieved information is provided in an electronically presentable format to the sales agent to be shared with the customer. |
| US08359222B2 |
System and method for generating forecasts and analysis of contact center behavior for planning purposes
A method of predicting expected performance of a processing center system is provided. The method includes receiving performance information from a performance monitoring system associated with the processing center system. A computer model of the processing center system is developed based on the performance information. The method further includes generating predictions based on the computer model, and analyzing the predictions to generate performance scenarios for the processing center system. |
| US08359218B2 |
Computer readable medium for implementing supply chain control using service-oriented methodology
Methods and apparatus, including systems and computer program products, for a services architecture design that provides enterprise services having supply chain control functionality at the level of an enterprise application. The design includes a set of service operations, process components, and optionally deployment units. Suitable business objects are also described. |
| US08359217B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining optimized resolutions for infrastructures
An exemplary method of providing an optimized resolution to a problem in an infrastructure includes a step of determining at least one target configuration of the infrastructure wherein the target configuration is aligned with at least one template. The exemplary method also includes determining at least one resolution to the problem suitable for the at least one target configuration. The exemplary method also includes calculating at least one metric associated with at least one combination of at least one determined target configuration and at least one determined resolution. The exemplary method also includes selecting at least one combination of at least one determined transformation and at least one determined resolution based at least in part on the at least one calculated metric. |
| US08359215B1 |
System and method for managing utility resources based on normalized utility usage
A system comprises a memory that stores weather data associated with a site. The system further comprises a processor that determines a balance point of the site based at least in part on the weather data. The processor may determine an amount of utility usage at the site during a particular time period. The processor may normalize the amount of utility usage based at least in part on the balance point and the weather data. The processor may generate a graphical user interface that displays the balance point and the normalized amount of utility usage. |
| US08359214B1 |
System and method for processing data related to charges applicable to investment accounts
A system for data processing for an account of a financial product has a processor and a memory. The processor receives an account value and a charge applicable to the account based on a fraction of the value of the account; on a basis of a second period, shorter than a first period. Throughout the first period, the processor calculates a fractional charge based on the value of the account, and updates the account value by decrementing the account value in the amount of the fractional charge. At the end of the first period, the processor compares a charge for the first period based on the account value on one day during the first period to a sum of the fractional charges for the first period, and increases the account value by the difference if the first period charge is less than the sum of the fractional charges. |
| US08359208B2 |
Wellness program management and integration with payroll vendor systems
A computer implemented method is disclosed for receiving employee usage information associated with at least one employee's usage of a wellness program. A status level associated with the at least one employee for the wellness program is determined based on the employee usage information. A status level indicates a degree of participation in the wellness program. A data set is created comprising at least the status level associated with the at least one employee. The data set is in a format acceptable by a payroll vendor without conversion of the data set. The data set is then sent to an employer of the at least one employee. |
| US08359203B2 |
Enabling speech within a multimodal program using markup
A method for speech enabling an application can include the step of specifying a speech input within a speech-enabled markup. The speech-enabled markup can also specify an application operation that is to be executed responsive to the detection of the speech input. After the speech input has been defined within the speech-enabled markup, the application can be instantiated. The specified speech input can then be detected and the application operation can be responsively executed in accordance with the specified speech-enabled markup. |
| US08359191B2 |
Deriving ontology based on linguistics and community tag clouds
In some embodiments, a method comprises receiving a tag cloud including tags that hyperlink to web content. The method can also comprise separating the tags into different linguistic categories, assigning a weight to each tag, and grouping the tags into clusters, wherein tags in a cluster are associated with a context. The method can also include determining one or more domains for the tag clusters, wherein a domain is a broadest class that defines one or more of the tags in a linguistic category, determining a hierarchy for the tags based on the weights of the tags, and identifying linguistic relationships between the tags. The method can also comprise determining properties associated with one or more of the tags and one or more of the domains, wherein the tag's properties are determined using linguistic analysis and storing the tags, the hierarchies, the linguistic relationships, and the properties. |
| US08359187B2 |
Simulating a different number of memory circuit devices
A system and method are provided for simulating a different number of memory circuits. Included is an interface circuit in communication with a first number of memory circuits and a system. Such interface circuit is operable to interface the memory circuits and the system for simulating at least one memory circuit of a second number. Further, the interface circuit interfaces a majority of address or control signals of the memory circuits. |
| US08359184B2 |
Method, program and computer system for scaling hydrocarbon reservoir model data
A method, program and computer system for changing scale of reservoir model permeabilities (for example a hydrocarbon reservoir) are provided. Mini-models of reservoirs are defined (S100) with a number of meshes and cells in these meshes. For each model mesh, a scaling of the permeability values KH of the meshes is carried out (S400-800) via a mean power formula KHωH∝ΣkHiωH relating the mesh permeability KH to the local permeabilities kH,i of the cells. According to the invention, the power coefficient ωH appearing therein is analytically modified, relatively to its expression given by the Noetinger-Haas relationship, in order to correct a non-ergodicity bias. |
| US08359182B2 |
Methods and systems for evaluating the performance of MEMS-based inertial navigation systems
Disclosed are systems and methods for evaluating the navigation performance of MEMS inertial sensors. The method uses MEMS inertial sensors static data signals to estimate the static sensor errors and combines them with a reference kinematic signal obtained through field testing of a high-grade inertial sensor. Such emulated field data may then be processed with the corresponding GPS data collected in the same or different field test to evaluate the navigation performance of the MEMS inertial sensors. |
| US08359176B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining an operating voltage for preventing photovoltaic cell reverse breakdown during power conversion
A method and apparatus for preventing photovoltaic (PV) cell reverse breakdown during operation of a PV module. In one embodiment, the method comprises determining a first temperature value; and restricting an operating voltage of the PV module based on the first temperature value. |
| US08359172B2 |
Underwater depth measurement device
An underwater depth measurement device includes a piezoresistive ceramic transducer in communication with a circuit for outputting an absolute pressure. |
| US08359169B2 |
Method and apparatus for predicting physical contact
A method of qualifying a ferrule assembly as being adequate to make physical contact upon application of a certain mating force, said ferrule assembly comprising a ferrule having an mating face and two or more fibers in said ferrule extending from said mating face, said method comprising (a) determining a coplanarity line of the ends of said fibers of said ferrule assembly, (b) determining minus coplanarity, said minus coplanarity being the greatest parallel offset between said coplanarity line and a fiber end below the coplanarity line; and (c) determining whether said ferrule assembly will make physical contact as a function of at least said minus coplanarity and said certain mating force. |
| US08359166B2 |
Method and system for genotyping samples in a normalized allelic space
Aspects of the present invention describe an apparatus and method for generating genotype calls for a sample. The genotyping initially models allelic signal response into an allelic model having one or more model parameters for an identified one or more sources of systematic variation. The model and parameters are then used to transform the allelic signals to a normalized normalized allelic space that serves to compensate for the one or more sources of systematic variation. By compensating for the systematic variation in this manner, the genotype for the sample is readily determined based upon its relationship to the representation of the allelic signals in normalized allelic space and in accordance with the allelic model. |
| US08359165B2 |
Spatially heterogeneous stochastic petri-net modeling
A system, and associated article of manufacture, in which biochemical reactions of the system are modeled by using spatially heterogeneous stochastic Petri-net modeling. The biochemical reactions of the system to be modeled are defined. A spatial decomposition of the system is defined by defining regions of a space in which the system is to be modeled and by assigning each biochemical reaction to a region, such that the system is spatially heterogeneous. Relationships for inter-region movement of reactants of the biochemical reactions are defined as flux, advection, convection, and/or diffusion-based molecular movements. The system of the biochemical reactions is then modeled by modeling the biochemical reactions of each region as a spatially homogenous stochastic Petri-net and by modeling the inter-region movement of the reactants based on the relationships as defined. |
| US08359164B2 |
Supervised principal component analysis
The invention provides a multivariate modeling method for quantitative analysis by supervised principal component analysis (SPCA). The method comprises: (a) designing a plurality of calibration samples wherein the desired variances are dominant or greatly enhanced; (b) producing a calibration data matrix using suitable mathematical pretreatment and truncation of the acquired NIR/Raman spectra of the calibration samples; (c) decomposing the matrix using PCA; (d) evaluating the score and loading matrices to ensure a genuine orthogonal relationship between scores of the desired latent variables in a two-dimensional principal component space 7; (e) generating a prediction matrix for quantitative prediction of unknown samples. This method does not require testing of calibration samples using a reference method. In addition, this method has high tolerance to variations in sample composition and manufacturing conditions. |
| US08359162B2 |
Terrain correction systems
A method, apparatus and computer program code for processing data from potential field surveys, particularly airborne gravity field surveys, to correct for the effects of terrain. A method of processing potential field measurement data from a moving platform survey for mapping a field includes data defining a time series of potential field measurements captured by a potential field measurement instrument mounted on a moving platform, each of the measurements having associated data defining positions, inputting terrain data defining a spatial variation of terrain surveyed, determining time-domain correction data to be applied to the measured potential field data in the time-domain, and adjusting the measured potential field data defining the time series of potential field measurements using the time-domain correction data to provide terrain corrected measured potential field data for the mapping of the field. |
| US08359158B2 |
Method of operating a navigation system using images
A method of operating a navigation system determines a route between an origin and a destination and provides a photographic image showing a geographic area through which the route passes. The photographic image shows the geographic area from a land-based viewpoint. The method overlays a route highlight on the photographic image identifying a path to be traveled. The route highlight includes a symbol indicating at least one feature of the route selected from a group consisting of handicap accessible route, tree-lined route, well-lit route, quiet route, scenic route, crowded route, peaceful route, and bicycle friendly route. |
| US08359156B2 |
Map generation system and map generation method by using GPS tracks
A map generation system comprising: a mobile device for acquiring location data of a vehicle and a status of the vehicle at a time of acquisition of the location; and a server for processing the acquired location data of the vehicle. The server comprises an input interface, a first storage unit, a processor and a second storage unit. The server includes a management unit for collecting a plurality of pieces of the track data obtained by a motion of the vehicle, an extraction unit for extracting feature points of the plurality of pieces of the track data on a road from which the plurality of pieces of the track data are collected to calculate a Spline curve satisfying the extracted feature points, and an update unit for adding the calculated Spline curve as a lane central line to the digital road map to update map data. |
| US08359148B2 |
Running road determination device, vehicle running control apparatus and vehicle running control method
A vehicle running control apparatus, which performs automatic running control by controlling an engine for applying a driving torque to a vehicle C and a brake device for applying a braking torque to the vehicle C such that a vehicle speed of the vehicle C becomes equal to a preset target vehicle speed, determines, on the basis of a target driving torque ETo calculated to apply the driving torque to the vehicle C and a target braking torque BTo calculated to apply the braking torque to the vehicle C, whether or not the vehicle C is running on a road difficult to run on, when automatic running control is performed. When it is determined that the vehicle C is running on the road difficult to run on, automatic running control is terminated. |
| US08359147B2 |
Antiskid control unit and data collection system for vehicle braking system
A wheel speed transducer including a magnetic device associated with a wheel and a sensor device associated with the axle of the wheel provides data indicative of the velocity of the wheel. A processor located at the axle receives the wheel speed data and processes it to perform antiskid control functions. The velocity data is stored in a data concentrator also associated with the axle. A tire pressure sensor, a brake temperature sensor and a brake torque sensor, each associated with the wheel, send data to the processor at the axle, for storage in the data concentrator. A transmitting antenna associated with the axle and in communication with the data concentrator transmits stored data to a receiving antenna associated with the wheel. A data port at the wheel and in communication with the receiving antenna provides an interface to an external device for receiving the data. |
| US08359145B2 |
Flywheel driveline and control arrangement
In an energy storage and recovery system for a hybrid vehicle 1, the operating ratio range of a continuously variable transmission (CVT) 10 which transfers drive between the vehicle's driveline 8 and a flywheel 9 is effectively extended by the use of an integrated starter-generator (ISG) 13 connected to the flywheel shaft 12. When there is a high mismatch of rotational speed between the propshaft 8 and the flywheel shaft 12, prior to connecting the two shafts by a clutch 11, the ISG 13 either spins up or decelerates the flywheel 9 until its speed is brought within the optimum operating range of the CVT 10. This measure reduces wear and tear on the clutch 11. |
| US08359143B2 |
Controlling a digging operation of an industrial machine
Systems, methods, devices, and computer readable media for controlling a digging operation of an industrial machine. A method includes determining a hoist bail pull associated with the industrial machine, determining a crowd torque limit value for a crowd drive based on the determined hoist bail pull of the industrial machine, and setting a crowd torque limit of the crowd drive to the crowd torque limit value to limit a torque associated with a crowd motor to the crowd torque limit value. |
| US08359142B2 |
Varying irrigation scheduling based on height of vegetation
A method of controlling application of a substance to vegetation using data obtained via a mobile machine is provided. A height of the vegetation is measured during a scheduled task of the mobile machine. The measured height of the vegetation is compared with a calculated height of the vegetation. Then, an amount of the substance applied by an irrigation system to an area containing the vegetation is adjusted based on a difference between the measured height of the vegetation and the calculated height of the vegetation. |
| US08359138B2 |
Method and system for assisting the steering of steered wheels of a vehicle thus equipped
A method and system for assisting the steering of steered wheels of a vehicle, in which a phase lead is applied between a steering wheel and a steering rack element to reduce response time of the vehicle to an action performed by the driver on the steering wheel. |
| US08359136B2 |
Electromechanical parking brake for a motor vehicle
An electromechanical parking brake for a motor vehicle is provided. The electromechanical parking brake includes an operating element that operates a wheel brake, a central control unit that provides an electric supply to the operating element via at least one supply line, an electric actuating unit for interrupting the supply to the operating element, and a control line that connects the central control unit with the electric actuating unit. The operating element and the electric actuating unit are arranged at the motor vehicle in a manner protected against external manual access. The central control unit controls the electric actuating unit via the control line in order to interrupt the supply to the operating element or to reestablish the supply to the operating element. The central control unit also monitors the control line to detect a manipulation of the control line. |
| US08359135B2 |
Control apparatus for automatic transmission
An control apparatus for an automatic transmission includes: a failure shift stage setting section configured to set, to the target shift stage, a shift stage which can be attained in a state in which the one of the solenoids judged that the failure is generated is not energized; and a failure neutral state through section configured to control the solenoids at a predetermined vehicle speed or over so that the automatic transmission is brought to a neutral state, when the target shift stage is a shift stage at which the vehicle speed is suddenly decreased when the solenoids are controlled so that the automatic transmission attains the target shift stage, and to control the solenoids below the predetermined vehicle speed so that the automatic transmission attains the target shift stage. |
| US08359129B2 |
Method and device for controlling the thrust of a multi-engine aircraft
A method and device control the thrust of a multi-engine aircraft. At least one engine command is determined by a command determining unit, with the determined command commanding each engine that has not failed to deliver a thrust substantially equal to a reduced thrust value. A command application unit is configured to apply the determined command to each aircraft engine that has not failed. The reduced thrust value is determined, by a weight determining device, according to the current weight of the aircraft and according to a reduced thrust value FOEI, which is calculated by a thrust calculation unit. |
| US08359124B2 |
Energy optimization system
A system for optimizing customer utility usage in a utility network of customer sites, each having one or more utility devices, where customer site is communicated between each of the customer sites and an optimization server having software for optimizing customer utility usage over one or more networks, including private and public networks. A customer site model for each of the customer sites is generated based upon the customer site information, and the customer utility usage is optimized based upon the customer site information and the customer site model. The optimization server can be hosted by an external source or within the customer site. In addition, the optimization processing can be partitioned between the customer site and an external source. |
| US08359122B2 |
Autonomous personal service robot
Autonomous personal service robot to monitor its owner for symptoms of distress and provide assistance. The system may include sensors to detect situations before they affect people such as smoke, heat, temperature and carbon monoxide sensors. The system can provide security for the home. The PRA may comprise features such as a medicine dispenser and blood pressure cuff. Features such as broadband internet, MP3 player, reading lights and eye glass tracker provide butler type capabilities that enable the system to appeal to markets beyond the elderly and infirmed. The system may also include an X10 transmitter/receiver to automatically control various household lights and appliances. Equipping the system with a robot arm enables the robot to fetch items, turn on and off wall switches and open the refrigerator. |
| US08359121B2 |
Systems, methods and products for shipping passenger/individual belongings for travel
Described are systems, methods and products for the shipment of passenger or other traveler containers, e.g. containing personal items for use during travel. In certain aspects, systems and methods for such shipment involve the use of transport vessels other than those that will be occupied by a passenger during travel, e.g. cargo vessels or vehicles. |
| US08359120B2 |
Method and apparatus for preparing mail pieces
A method and apparatus is disclosed for preparing mail pieces. By determining the number of postal items of a mail set that is fed or to be fed to a gathering station, the further processing can be based thereon, and if the number of postal items exceeds a predetermined maximum, the mail set is split by transporting the already gathered postal items from the gathering station to the inserting station, where the postal items are inserted in an envelope and an envelope printer can print an association marking on the envelope of the formed mail piece. |
| US08359109B2 |
Apparatus for determining and/or monitoring a process variable
An apparatus for determining and/or monitoring at least one process variable of a medium. The apparatus includes: at least one sensor unit for registering the process variable, wherein the sensor unit produces measurement signals; at least one electronics unit for controlling the sensor unit, wherein the electronics unit has at least one microprocessor; and at least one memory unit, which is associated with the sensor unit, and in which control data are storable. The control data specifically relate to the sensor unit and can be read out by the electronics unit. The microprocessor of the electronics unit is embodied in such a manner, that the microprocessor executes in an inactive state only basic functionalities, and that the microprocessor in an active state controls the sensor unit. The microprocessor transfers from the inactive state into the active state transfers by loading control data from the memory unit. |
| US08359105B2 |
Electrically conductive pathways in medical devices
Apparatuses, systems, and methods for electrically conductive pathways in medical devices. One embodiment of a medical device can include an elongate polymeric body having a proximal end and a distal end. Discrete particles of an electrically conductive material in the elongate polymeric body can form an electrically conductive pathway that extends at least partially between the proximal end and the distal end of the elongate polymeric body. |
| US08359102B2 |
Selective high frequency spinal cord modulation for inhibiting pain with reduced side effects, and associated systems and methods
Selective high-frequency spinal cord modulation for inhibiting pain with reduced side effects and associated systems and methods are disclosed. In particular embodiments, high-frequency modulation in the range of from about 1.5 KHz to about 50 KHz may be applied to the patient's spinal cord region to address low back pain without creating unwanted sensory and/or motor side effects. In other embodiments, modulation in accordance with similar parameters can be applied to other spinal or peripheral locations to address other indications. |
| US08359100B2 |
Method for selecting electrodes for deep brain or cortical stimulation and pulse generator for deep brain or cortical stimulation
In one embodiment, a system for electrically stimulating neural tissue of a patient and for determining neurotransmitter release in response to stimulation, the system comprises: pulse generating circuitry for generating electrical pulses; at least one electrical lead for conducting electrical pulses generated by the pulse generating circuitry to neural tissue, the at least one electrical lead comprising a plurality of electrodes; at least one electrochemical sensor for sensing an extracellular level of one or several neurotransmitters; circuitry for sampling a signal from the at least one electrochemical sensor; a controller for automatically applying stimulation to neural tissue using a plurality of electrode combinations, the controller generating data related to neurotransmitter release for each of the plurality of electrode combinations; and a display for displaying neurotransmitter release for electrode combinations to a clinician. |
| US08359090B2 |
Electrocardiograph with extended lead function, and extended lead electrocardiogram deriving method
There are provided an electrocardiograph with an extended lead function and an extended lead ECG deriving method capable of easily deriving an ECG signal of an extended lead ECG by an arithmetic operation, based on ECG signals of a standard 12-lead ECG measured by a potential detector 10. An ECG memory 12 stores the ECG signals measured as the standard 12-lead ECG by the potential detector 10. An extended lead ECG calculator 16 calculates extended lead ECGs V7-V9 from the ECG signals stored in the ECG memory 12, using coefficients α representing a relationship among leads. The extended lead ECGs V7-V9 calculated are displayed through an extended lead ECG waveform outputting device 18 on a display monitor 20. |
| US08359086B2 |
Device for applying and monitoring medical atherectomy
Device for carrying out and monitoring an atherectomy, with which a cutting knife driven in a rotating manner by an external unit and set back to project into an opening in the tip of the catheter can be pressed onto the artery wall by means of an inflatable balloon arranged on the side of the catheter casing opposite the window opening, an atherectomy catheter being connected to an OCT catheter to form an integrated unit. |
| US08359085B2 |
Method and system for performing coordinate transformation for navigation-guided procedures utilizing an imaging tool and a position-determining system
The invention relates to a method and device for performing coordinate transformation for navigation-guided procedures using an imaging diagnostic tool, especially an X-ray diagnostic tool, and a position-determining system. In the vicinity of the image receiver, the diagnostic tool has one or more three-dimensional reference structure that can be touched with a pointer of a position-determining system. From the known geometry of the three-dimensional reference structure and the coordinates of the touched points determined by the position-determining system, a coordinate transformation is created between the coordinate system of the diagnostic tool and the coordinate system of the position-determining system. Navigation for an instrument captured by the position-determining system can be performed in reconstructed images of the diagnostic tool after the registration procedure. |
| US08359082B2 |
Catheter having a force sensing distal tip
A catheter for contact force sensing includes a catheter body, a deflectable section, and a distal section having a tip electrode and a contact force sensor for sensing a 3D contact force vector applied to the tip electrode. The contact force sensor has a body and at least one sensor with an electrical characteristic responsive to deformation of the body resulting from the force vector. The sensor receives an electrical current and outputs an electrical signal indicative of a change in the electrical characteristic. The sensor may be a strain gage responsive to tension and compression of at least a portion of the body of the force sensor, and the electrical characteristic may be electrical resistivity of the strain gage. Alternatively, the sensor may be responsive to strain and stress of at least a portion of the body, and the electrical characteristic is inductance or hysteresis loss. |
| US08359072B2 |
Mobile terminal having floated displaying unit
A mobile terminal having a floated display unit is provided. The mobile terminal includes a first body unit having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, a second body, and a hinge unit. The second body unit is shorter than the first body unit, is disposed in a central part of the first surface of the first body unit, and has a first display unit disposed in a first surface of the second body unit opposite to a second surface of the body unit facing the first surface of the first body unit. The hinge unit connects the first body unit and the second body unit. The second body unit is movable about the hinge unit to open/close the second body unit with respect to the first surface of the first body unit. |
| US08359071B2 |
Power management techniques for a universal serial bus
Power management techniques for a universal serial bus are described. For example, a mobile computing device may include an interface having a universal serial bus, a host processor to couple to the interface, and a radio module to couple to the interface. The radio module may have a radio processor and a detector, the detector operative to detect temporary block flow from radio signals communicated over wireless shared media, the radio processor to enable the universal serial bus when the detector detects the temporary block flow and disable the universal serial bus when the detector does not detect the temporary block flow for a guard interval. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08359070B1 |
Dynamic smart card application loading
A system is provided for smart card application loading. The system includes a mobile device comprising an electronic wallet and a smart card, with the smart card including resident smart card application. The mobile device authenticates a request to load selected smart card application on the mobile device and provides loading approval. The mobile device saves some information for the resident smart card application, and loads the selected smart card application to the smart card in response to the loading approval. |
| US08359069B2 |
One button access to network services from a remote control device
Systems and methods of accessing a network-based communication service provide for generating a dialing request at a remote control device based on user input. A dialing signal is transmitted toward a mobile communication device based on the request, where the dialing signal instructs the mobile communication device to access the network-based communication service. Communication services can enable a user to use information retrieval at a network server as well as use number dialing at the network server. In one example, the dialing signal is transmitted according to a Bluetooth standard. |
| US08359066B2 |
Multimode land mobile radio
A multimode land mobile radio (LMR) and a method of communicating land mobile radio (LMR) content using an LMR device are provided. The LMR includes an LMR communication portion configured to provide communication with an LMR network and a cellular data network communication portion configured to provide communication with a cellular data network. |
| US08359062B2 |
Network access across wireless technologies
Techniques for accessing wireless networks are disclosed. For instance, an apparatus may include a control module to broadcast messages for transmission within a coverage area of a first type of a wireless communications network. In addition, the apparatus may include a storage medium that stores access parameters for wireless network(s) of a second type that are accessible within the coverage area. Additionally, the control module may generate messages for transmission that include the one or more access parameters. The types of wireless communications networks may be, for example, wireless cellular networks and wireless data communications networks. |
| US08359058B2 |
Mobile terminal apparatus and method for processing a handover of a mobile terminal
A mobile terminal apparatus includes a wireless communicator for communicating with a first wireless base station and a second wireless base station; and a controller. The controller measures a first signal quality and a second signal quality, the first signal quality being signal quality of a signal from the first wireless base station which is communicated with the communicator, the second signal quality being a signal quality of a signal received by the communicator from the second wireless base station, and executes a handover from the first wireless base station to the second wireless base station by controlling the communicator when the first signal quality is lower than the second signal quality and an integration value, along the time axis, of a difference between the first and the second signal qualities is more than a predetermined value. |
| US08359057B2 |
Portable electronics device with programmable battery
A portable electronics device comprises at least one device subsystem, and a programmable battery. The programmable battery is coupled to a power input of the device subsystem and is configured to dynamically adjust a characteristic of the power that is applied to the power input in accordance with a power configuration command that is received at the battery. |
| US08359054B2 |
Transmission power control method, and mobile communication system
A transmission power control method for controlling a transmission power of an E-HICH for uplink user data transmitted from a cell controlled by a radio base station to a mobile station, includes: notifying, from a radio network controller to at least one radio base station controlling a first cell and a second cell, offsets between the transmission power of the E-HICH and a transmission power of a DPCH, when a mobile station is performing a soft-handover with the first and second cell; determining, at the first cell, a transmission power of a first E-HICH based on a notified offset, and transmitting the first E-HICH to the mobile station using the determined transmission power; and determining, at the second cell, transmission power of a second E-HICH based on a notified offset, and transmitting the second E-HICH to the mobile station using the determined transmission power. |
| US08359053B2 |
Method and apparatus for delivering information to an idle mobile station in a group communication network
A method and apparatus provides for delivering information to an idle mobile station in a group communication network includes delivering the information to the mobile station in special form, e.g., short data burst (SDB) form, if the information is smaller than a predetermined size limit. In one embodiment, the method and apparatus provides for encapsulating the information inside a frame, forwarding the frame to a server for delivery to the mobile station, and causing the server to extract the information from the frame and deliver the information to the mobile station on a forward common channel. In one embodiment, the method and apparatus provides for receiving information for delivery to the mobile station, the information being tagged for delivery on a forward common channel, and delivering the information to the mobile station on the forward common channel. In one aspect, the method delivers the information when the mobile station is in idle state with no traffic channel. |
| US08359051B2 |
Wireless master-slave distributed communications network
A master-slave distributed communications network comprises a master node (10), a plurality of slave nodes (12 to 22), and links (VL) operatively interconnecting the slave nodes and the master node in accordance with a routing plan. Each slave node has means for storing an address of the next node in the routing plan for a message to be routed on an uplink to the master node and when sending a data packet to the master node it appends the prestored address and forwards the data packet to the next node. If the next node is not the master node, it, in turn, adds the prestored address of the next following slave node to the data packet thus lengthening the data packet and re-transmits it, and so on until the data packet reaches the master node.For a downlink message, the master node (10) using a prestored routing table includes in the data packet the addresses of all the slave nodes on the selected route. As the data packet is progressed from slave node to slave node, the address of each slave node which has forwarded the data packet is deleted thus shortening the overall length of the data packet. |
| US08359049B2 |
Methods and systems for enhanced directory assistance using wireless messaging protocols
Directory assistance provides telephone number look up services to callers based on the business or caller name as listed in a telephone directory. In the prior art, directory assistance provides a value-added service to telephone users and an expense that must be charged back to telephone callers or absorbed by telephone carriers. In enhanced directory assistance (EDA) services as described in the disclosure, EDA is further developed to deliver a keyword targeted advertising service to telephone listing owners and advertisers. The present invention provides a method and system to extend EDA services to the wireless messaging systems used by telecommunications operators. The invention further discloses methods to support both one-way and two-way communications on these devices, as well as systems to support the distributed EDA Transaction business model. |
| US08359045B1 |
Method and system for wireless device communication
A method, system and apparatus for wireless device communication. A wireless device may be engaged in a wireless data communication session within a local geographic region. The wireless device may be tracked within the local geographic region. The targeted information may be provided to the wireless device regarding the local geographic region based on the tracking of the wireless device. |
| US08359043B2 |
Transmission speed control method, mobile station, and radio line control station
The present invention relates to a transmission rate control method for controlling a transmission rate of user data to be transmitted via an uplink by a mobile station. A radio network controller notifies an initial maximum allowable transmission rate of the user data to the mobile station, when a serving cell of the mobile station is to be changed. The mobile station increases the transmission rate of the user data up to the initial maximum allowable transmission rate notified from the radio network controller automatically, while the serving cell is being changed. The mobile station increases the transmission rate of the user data up to a maximum allowable transmission rate in the changed serving cell of the mobile station automatically, after the serving cell has been changed. |
| US08359042B2 |
Communication system and method of performing interference control using random beamforming technique
Provided is a communication system using various types of random beamforming technologies. Each of terminals that belong to a user group may generate a decoding matrix, based on interference caused by a neighboring base station of a serving base station. Each of the terminals may transmit, to the serving base station or the neighboring base station, information associated with a signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) or throughput based on the decoding matrix. The serving base station may select, from the terminals, at least one target terminal to communicate with the serving base station. |
| US08359040B2 |
Transmission rate control method, mobile station, radio base station, and wireless line control station
The present invention relates to a transmission rate control method of controlling a transmission rate of user data transmitted from a mobile station via an uplink. When a serving cell performing a scheduling control in the uplink of the mobile station transmits, to mobile station, an absolute rate grant channel for designating the maximum allowable transmission rate common in the serving cell, and when the mobile station is configured to determine the transmission rate of the user data based on the absolute rate grant channel, a non-serving cell other than the serving cell does not transmit a relative rate grant channel for adjusting the maximum allowable transmission rate. |
| US08359039B2 |
System and method for sharing a control channel for carrier aggregation
A method for processing a control channel at a user agent (UA) to identify at least one of an uplink and a downlink resource allocated by a resource grant within a multi-carrier communication system wherein resource grants are specified by control channel element (CCE) subset candidates, the method comprising the steps of identifying the number of carriers used to communicate with the access device, based on the number of carriers used to communicate with the access device, identifying a number of CCE subset candidates to decode and decoding up to the identified number of CCE subset candidates in an attempt to identify the resource grant. |
| US08359037B2 |
Adaptive sleep area
Techniques for determining a sleep area of a sleep group in a wireless communications network based on a value of a dynamically changing communication characteristic. In various embodiments, a sleep area may be determined to reduce resource use in a wireless communication network supporting a sleep mode of a mobile station. In one embodiment, the sleep area may be determined based on a speed of a mobile station. |
| US08359036B2 |
Wireless terminal, base station and wireless communication system
According to one embodiment, a wireless terminal includes a determination module, a request generator and a transmitter. The determination module is configured to determine whether wireless communication with a second base station is possible, when the wireless terminal is connected to a first base station. The second base station is capable of communicate with the first base station via an inter-base-station network and supports a first operating mode in which wireless communication is valid and a second operating mode in which wireless communication is invalid. The request generator is configured to generate a control signal which comprises address data designating the second base station and which requests for setting the second base station to the first operating mode, if the wireless communication with the second base station is possible. The transmitter is configured to transmit the control signal to the first base station. |
| US08359034B2 |
Mobile communication system, base station apparatus, user equipment and method
A base station apparatus includes a determination unit configured to determine whether to cause a user equipment residing in a cell of the base station apparatus to conduct different frequency measurement and a transmitting unit configured to transmit a control signal to the user equipment. The user equipment includes a reception unit configured to receive the control signal from the base station apparatus of a camped cell and a cell search and quality measurement unit configured to conduct cell search at a frequency indicated by the base station apparatus and cell quality measurement. If a candidate handover target cell of the user equipment is a predefined cell, the control signal allows the user equipment to conduct the different frequency measurement in a gap period defined in a mobile communication system. If the candidate handover target cell of the user equipment is another predefined cell different from the predefined cell, the control signal allows the user equipment to conduct the different frequency measurement in the gap period defined in the mobile communication system and between discontinuous signal receptions in a discontinuous reception operating mode. |
| US08359032B2 |
User data transmission method, and radio network controller
A user data transmission method for transmitting uplink user data via an E-DPDCH, including: determining, at a radio network controller, that the mobile station transmitting the E-DPDCH to only a first cell transmits the E-DPDCH to the first cell and a second cell; notifying, at the radio network controller, E-HICH decoding information for decoding a E-HICH for the uplink user data to be transmitted by the second cell, to the mobile station based on the determination; transmitting, at the mobile station, the E-DPDCH to the first cell and the second cell, after the E-HICH decoding information is received; and decoding, at the mobile station, the E-HICH for the uplink user data to be transmitted from the second cell based on the E-HICH decoding information, and performing a retransmission control of the uplink user data toward the second cell based on the decoded E-HICH for the uplink user data. |
| US08359031B2 |
Computer based method and system for logging in a user mobile device at a server computer system
The invention provides a computer-based method for logging a user mobile device onto a server computer system including registering a unique identifier of a user mobile device, receiving a first message from the user mobile device, detecting an Internet Protocol address associated with the user mobile device, receiving the unique identifier corresponding to the Internet Protocol address; and transmitting to the user mobile device a second message. |
| US08359030B2 |
Method and apparatus of searching for base station using paging procedure in mobile communication network
A method for searching for a base station using paging procedure in a mobile communication network has a paging agent that performs the paging procedure. The method includes: receiving, at the paging agent, subscriber information including information of a service, to which a mobile node subscribed, from a home location register while performing a location registration procedure in response to a location registration request from the mobile node; setting an available scan time based on the time required to perform the paging procedure; generating a paging request message including the available scan time and the subscriber information to send the paging request message to a base station required for paging; and generating base station information based on the subscriber information to input into the paging request message to transmit with the available scan time to the mobile node. |
| US08359028B1 |
Mitigating the impact of handoffs through comparison of historical call lengths
Methods and devices for mitigating the impact of handoffs to non-preferred wireless coverage areas are presented. In particular, a RAN may determine that a first wireless communication device (WCD) and a second WCD are contending for a resource of a preferred wireless coverage area, and that both of the WCDs are likely to be handed off to non-preferred wireless coverage area(s) if they are not granted the resource. Both WCDs may be subscribed to a home wireless service provider that also controls and/or operates the preferred wireless coverage area. The RAN may compare historical call length data of the first WCD with historical call length data of the second WCD. Based on the outcome of this comparison, the RAN may allocate the resource to the WCD that would likely incur higher roaming fees to the home wireless service provider if that WCD were to roam to a non-preferred wireless coverage area. |
| US08359025B2 |
Determination of a network parameter
A method of determining a network parameter in a telecommunication system is disclosed. The system has a coverage area including at least two sub-areas, and also includes a User Equipment (UE) being in idle mode and being registered in at least two of these sub-areas. According to the present disclosure, a network node in the system receives from the UE a time information relating to the time periods the UE has been present in each of the at least two sub-areas it is registered in, respectively, and then this time information is utilized to determine a network parameter in the system. |
| US08359020B2 |
Automatically monitoring for voice input based on context
In one implementation, a computer-implemented method includes detecting a current context associated with a mobile computing device and determining, based on the current context, whether to switch the mobile computing device from a current mode of operation to a second mode of operation during which the mobile computing device monitors ambient sounds for voice input that indicates a request to perform an operation. The method can further include, in response to determining whether to switch to the second mode of operation, activating one or more microphones and a speech analysis subsystem associated with the mobile computing device so that the mobile computing device receives a stream of audio data. The method can also include providing output on the mobile computing device that is responsive to voice input that is detected in the stream of audio data and that indicates a request to perform an operation. |
| US08359014B2 |
I am driving/busy automatic response system for mobile phones
A cell phone which has been modified by the addition of software which responds to the press of one or more Busy keys by automatically sending a pre-typed text message to the sender of the latest text message just received or automatically answering an incoming call immediately upon pressing the Busy key and playing a pre-recorded audio message. The outgoing text or audio message can inform the sender of the incoming text or the caller that the user is driving or otherwise engaged and cannot respond immediately. In some embodiments, one or more Busy keys can be added keys or one or more existing keys on the cell phone or on the keypad of the cell phone or on a touchscreen or a visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of the cell phone. In some embodiments, only the text of the automated reply message is entered automatically, and all other commands to launch the SMS service, select the text message to reply to and send the automated reply message are manually given. |
| US08359012B2 |
Location based service voice blogging system for land mobile networks
A blogging system is operated on a server connected to a cellular land mobile network where a media object for the blogging system is transmitted from a first cellular terminal over the land mobile network to the server and stored in a database connected to the server, and the media object can be retrieved from a second cellular terminal. A first parameter characterizing the geographical location of the first cellular terminal is determined and linked to the media object, and a second parameter characterizing the geographical location of the second cellular terminal is determined and compared to the first parameter. The media object is made available to the second cellular terminal only when the geographical position of the first terminal as characterized by the first parameter does not exceed a certain distance from the geographical location of the second cellular terminal as characterized by the second parameter. |
| US08359011B2 |
Non-visual inbox summary for mobile communication devices
A mobile communication device is operable to receive and store messages in a defined message inbox. A user input device is provided to permit a user of the device to make a message inbox status query. In answer to the query, the device provides a non-visual response communicating one or more characteristics of the message inbox. Such characteristics are definable and the method of providing a non-visual response communication is configurable. The non-visual response potentially includes an auditory communication that is provided in response to a query made using an easy to access button located on the device. |
| US08359008B2 |
Security system and method for an electronic device
A security system and method for an electronic device include comparing data in a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card with data in a virtual SIM card, if the virtual SIM card is not blank. The security system further include determining whether the electronic device has received a command of reporting loss of the SIM card from the network server, if the data in the SIM card is the same as the data in the virtual SIM card. The security method further includes running the electronic device normally if the electronic device has not received the command of reporting loss of the SIM card. If the command of reporting loss is received, a contact list and message of the electronic device are deleted and a calling function of the electronic device is disabled. |
| US08359006B1 |
Using communications records to detect unauthorized use of telecommunication services
Subject matter described herein is directed to detecting fraudulent use of telecommunication services. Different attributes (e.g., dialed number, start location, start time, end time, etc.) are analyzed that describe communication instances. When an authorized-use parameter is violated, fraudulent use can be detected. Once unauthorized use of services with a mobile device has been detected, a location of the mobile device can be used to determine a locus of fraudulent activity. |
| US08358996B2 |
Image rejection
A receiver (10) for extracting a desired signal component (70) from a received signal, which received signal contains the desired signal component (70) and may contain an interfering signal component (72), wherein the receiver (10) comprises a first mixer (16) which generates an intermediate frequency signal containing a frequency-shifted version of the received signal and a frequency-shifted version of an image of the received signal, the receiver further comprising: a second mixer (26) for shifting the desired signal component (70) of the intermediate frequency signal such that it is centered on a baseband frequency, so as to generate a first composite signal containing the shifted desired signal component (70) and a shifted version of any interfering signal component (76) contained in the image of the received signal; a third mixer (30) for shifting an image of the desired signal such that it is centered on the baseband frequency, so as to generate a second composite signal containing the shifted image (74) of the desired signal component and a shifted version (72) of any interfering signal component contained in the received signal; an estimator (34) for estimating, from the first and second composite signals, a coefficient indicative of the amount of the interfering signal (72) component that is present with the desired signal component (70) in a selected one of the composite signals; a multiplier (36) for scaling the complex conjugate of the selected composite signal by the coefficient so estimated; and an adder (38) for subtracting the scaled signal output by the multiplier (36) from the other composite signal to obtain a scaled version of the desired signal component. |
| US08358994B2 |
Mitigating radio receiver multipath noise
In one embodiment, a method for processing radio frequency signals includes estimating an average value of a demodulated signal and a noise signal, both obtained from a radio frequency signal, estimating a noise floor based on the noise signal, generating a blend control signal based on the average values and the noise floor, and blending at least two path signals based on the blend control signal to obtain a blended signal. This blended signal may be output for further processing when multipath noise is detected. |
| US08358992B2 |
System and method for the wireless terminal receiving sensitivity performance test based on data mode
A method and system for the wireless terminal receiving sensitivity performance test based on a data mode are provided. The method comprises: building a human body model, in which the upper limb of the model holds the device under test at a predefined distance in front of the head of the model; taking the antenna of the device under test as the origin to build a spherical coordinate and selecting a testing point in the spherical coordinate; placing the model under the circumstance of a full-anechoic chamber; enabling the device under test to work in a data mode, and collecting the receiving power at the testing point in the spherical placement system using the testing antenna, so as to obtain the total power receiving sensitivity of the device under test. In this way, the performance influence on the mobile terminal from the human body coupling of the human being in a data mode can be actually reflected, the reality is high and the usage is easy. |
| US08358990B2 |
Method and device for transmitting a signal in a multi-antenna system, signal, and method for estimating the corresponding transmission channels
A method is provided for transmitting a digital signal via n transmit antennas, wherein n is strictly greater than 2. The method includes combining with a source data vector n vectors to be transmitted respectively by each of the transmit antennas by a coding matrix M with a yield equal to 1, using reference symbols known to at least one receiver whereby it is able to estimate at least three transmission channels corresponding respectively to each of the transmit antennas. The coding matrix M applies a mathematical transformation to the reference symbols prior to the transmission thereof. |
| US08358989B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus having automatic antenna tuning function
A matching circuit, connected to a receiving antenna and to the input of a receiving circuit, incorporates a variable capacitor that is adjustable for tuning the resonance frequency of the antenna to a desired reception frequency. In an automatic tuning mode of operation, an oscillator signal of different frequency from the reception frequency is applied to induce resonance of the antenna and matching circuit, and the variable capacitor is adjusted until an output signal level from the receiving circuit attains a predetermined value which has been stored beforehand in a memory and which corresponds to a condition whereby the antenna resonance frequency corresponds to the reception frequency and impedance matching exists between the antenna and receiving circuit. |
| US08358981B1 |
Minimally invasive networked surgical system and method
A system for performing non-invasive networked medical procedures including a number of in vivo medical devices, a communication path between at least two of the devices, an ex vivo control unit to control the behavior of the devices, and a wireless communication path between the control unit and at least one of the devices. An associated method for performing non-invasive networked medical procedures is also provided. |
| US08358979B2 |
Method and apparatus for measuring interference in a telecommunications system
A method for facilitating noise and interference measurements on an air interface of a wireless network includes obtaining information relating to a time-varying layout of a silent resource element (RE) grid and taking a presence of a silent RE grid into account in the reception of a control or a data channel. |
| US08358976B2 |
Wireless device with an aggregate user interface for controlling other devices
An apparatus, device, methods, computer program product, and system make a determination that a wireless device is in proximity to at least one secondary wireless device, and determine an aggregate user interface on the wireless device based on the determination. |
| US08358974B2 |
Method and circuit for amplitude modulation of a carrier signal with a specified modulation factor
An amplitude of a carrier signal at an output of an impedance matching block is measured as a first amplitude value. A value of the signal amplitude at the output of the impedance matching block is calculated as a second amplitude value that a signal resulting from amplitude modulation with said modulation factor from said carrier signal should assume, said carrying signal having an amplitude with the first amplitude value. A setting of a transmitter is changed to decrease the carrier signal amplitude at the output of the impedance matching block. An amplitude of a new carrier signal at the output of the impedance matching block is measured as a new amplitude value. The transmitter setting keeps changing so many times until the new amplitude value is equal to or lower than said second amplitude value or within a predetermined tolerance range around said second amplitude value. Parameters of the last new transmitter setting are stored as the parameters of the transmitter setting, by means of which the transmitter will generate a transmitted signal being amplitude-modulated in the specified manner. The setting of the amplitude modulation with the specified modulation factor is carried out automatically. The designing of the transmitter circuit is simplified. |
| US08358973B2 |
Communications system
An underwater communications system is provided that transmits electromagnetic and/or magnetic signals to a remote receiver. The transmitter includes a data input. A digital data compressor compresses data to be transmitted. A modulator modulates compressed data onto a carrier signal. An electrically insulated, magnetic coupled antenna transmits the compressed, modulated signals. The receiver that has an electrically insulated, magnetic coupled antenna for receiving a compressed, modulated signal. A demodulator is provided for demodulating the signal to reveal compressed data. A de-compressor de-compresses the data. An appropriate human interface is provided to present transmitted data into text/audio/visible form. Similarly, the transmit system comprises appropriate audio/visual/text entry mechanisms. |
| US08358972B2 |
Power control in a radio base station with sustained cell radius
A method and apparatus is described herein for controlling the operating temperature of radio equipment (44, 46) in a radio base station (10) while preventing a decrease in power of a common channel. A radio base station (10) according to the present invention includes a radio unit (40) and a control unit (20). The radio unit (40) determines a temperature of the radio unit (40), e.g., by determining a temperature of high power radio equipment (46) in the radio unit (40). The control unit (20) allocates a desired power to the common channel, determines an available power for dedicated and/or shared channels based on the allocated power for the common channel and a power limit derived from the determined temperature, and allocates the available power to the dedicated and/or shared channels. |
| US08358968B2 |
Method for selecting a channel to be monitored by subscriber units that are idle in a communication system
In a two-way radio frequency (RF) communications system having at least one repeater, a plurality of channels, and a plurality of subscriber units, a repeater hosts a first channel that is currently serving as a rest channel. The channel that is currently serving as the rest channel is monitored by subscriber units that are idle in the system. When the repeater determines to select a second channel to serve as the rest channel, it determines whether there is at least one eligible channel to serve as the rest channel. If there is at least one eligible channel in the system, the repeater may select the second channel to serve as the rest channel from one of the eligible channels. |
| US08358966B2 |
Detecting and measuring exposure to media content items
User exposure to media items is detected and measured. A mobile client device carried by a user digitally samples the audio environment of the user on a regular basis. These samples are transformed into a stream of data signatures and compared with reference media items to detect user exposure to the reference items. Purchase behavior following exposure to selected media content items can be detected and tracked as well, so as to gauge effectiveness of media items such as advertisements. |
| US08358965B2 |
Internet based learning systems
A learning system is adapted to provide a learning management system adapted to present an exercise environment to the user in which the user is able to practice skills through a combination of presented media and practice areas. The learning system is adapted to provide feedback to the user during the practice session to allow the user to improve performance while in the exercise environment. Additionally, the learning system is adapted to track the user's performance in terms of practice time and in terms of accuracy percentage to allow the student and the educator to monitor performance related to effort. Still additionally, the learning systems of the present disclosure may be adapted to track the types of errors committed by the users to enable the users and educators to provide more directed educational experiences and practice sessions to overcome recurring problems. |
| US08358961B2 |
Image-bearing member protecting agent, protective layer forming device, image forming method, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge
An image-bearing member protecting agent including: a hydrophobic organic compound (A); an inorganic lubricant (B); and inorganic fine particles (C), wherein each of the inorganic fine particles (C) has a specific surface area of 2.0 m2/g to 6.5 m2/g. |
| US08358945B2 |
Fixing device, image forming apparatus including same, and control method for fixing device
A fixing device includes a fixing member, a heating member to heat the fixing member, a pressing member to press against the fixing member with a predetermined pressure, forming a nip where an image is fixed on a recording medium with heat and pressure, a heating controller to cause the heating member to heat the fixing member to a predetermined temperature set in advance and to preheat the fixing member while maintaining the temperature of the fixing member, a recording-medium data receiver to acquire recording-medium data before a fixing process is started, and a preheating-time adjuster to adjust a preheating time during which the heating member preheats the fixing member based on the data acquired by the recording-medium data receiver. |
| US08358940B2 |
Method and system for optoelectronic receivers for uncoded data
A method and system for optoelectronic receivers for uncoded data are disclosed and may include amplifying received electrical signals in a signal amplifier comprising differential gain stages with signal detectors coupled to the outputs. First and second output voltages may be tracked and held utilizing the signal detectors. A difference between the tracked and held value may be amplified in a feedback path of the gain stage, which enables the dynamic configuration of a decision level. The received electrical signals may be generated from an optical signal by a PIN detector, an avalanche photodiode, or a phototransistor. The electrical signal may be received from a read channel. The feedback path may comprise digital circuitry, including an A/D converter, a state machine, and a D/A converter. The detectors may comprise envelope detectors utilized to detect maximum or minimum voltages. The signal amplifier may be integrated in a photonically-enabled CMOS chip. |
| US08358938B2 |
Optical receiver able to prevent LOS alarm from malfunctioning
An optical receiver able to generate the LOS alarm reliably is disclosed. The optical receiver module in the optical receiver provides a level monitor that monitors the average of the optical input, compares it with a reference and generates a decision signal that is provided to the squelching unit. The squelching unit, by receiving the decision signal, isolates the outputs of the output buffer from the inputs thereof and fixes the outputs of the receiver module in the level “0” or the level “1”. Even the main amplifier is coupled with the receiver optical module in the AC mode; no complicated response appears in the input of the main amplifier. |
| US08358937B2 |
Systems and methods for reducing clipping in multichannel modulated optical systems
A system for reducing clipping may be used between a multichannel RF source and a laser to reduce or correct clipping that might occur in the laser as a result of negative spikes or peaks in a multichannel RF signal. The system generally includes a clipping correction circuit that receives the multichannel RF signal and responsive to the RF signal, prevents one or more of the negative peaks in the RF signal from causing clipping. The clipping correction circuit may either detect an envelope of the RF signal and/or may detect one or more peaks in the RF signal. One or more negative peaks may be prevented from causing clipping by adjusting a bias current provided by a bias control circuit and/or by modifying the RF signal with one or more clipping correction pulses coinciding with one or more negative peaks. |
| US08358934B2 |
Data transport system with an embedded communication channel
A network comprising at least one host device having an interface card connected to a backplane of said host device, wherein said interface card comprises at least one cage for receiving a pluggable module which provides at least one embedded communication channel which exchanges performance monitoring data and configuration data between said pluggable module and a far end device. |
| US08358933B2 |
Optical signal sideband millimeter-wave signal generation for super-broadband optical wireless network
An optical wireless network includes an optical coupler for diverting received millimeter-wave signals comprised of an optical carrier and second order sidebands into multiple transmission paths; a downstream optical path being one of the multiple transmission paths and including an optical filter for filtering passing through the optical carrier with a single sideband, a converter for converting the optical carrier and single sideband to a corresponding electrical signal for amplification and broadcast transmission from an antenna; and an upstream path being one of the multiple transmission paths and having a filter for passing through the optical carrier only from the mm-wave signals and an intensity modulator driven by data received over the antenna to modulate the optical carrier for optical transmission to a receiving destination. |
| US08358930B2 |
In-band optical signal to noise ratio determination method and system
There is provided a method for determining the in-band noise in agile multichannel Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) optical systems, where the interchannel noise is not representative of the in-band noise in the optical channel. The method relies on the analysis of two observations of the same input optical signal. In the two observations, the linear relationship between the optical signal contribution and the optical noise contribution (i.e. the observed OSNR) is different, which allows the discrimination of the signal and noise contributions in the input optical signal. In a first approach, the two observations are provided by polarization analysis of the input optical signal. In a second, the input optical signal is obtained using two different integration widths. |
| US08358929B2 |
Network protection switching mechanisms and methods of network protection
A network protection switching mechanism comprises a plurality of optical switches located at a plurality of nodes; a plurality of optical communication paths between said switches; switch based fault detectors located as part of at least two switches which generate detection results representative of the identification of a fault; switch based controllers located as part of said at least two switches; and internal switch-communication means between said fault detectors and said controllers which facilitate the transmission of detection results from said fault detectors to said controllers; wherein said controllers directly cause switching to an alternative optical communication path dependent upon the receipt of said detection results; whereby autonomous switch based protection without dependence on either inter-switch control communication or higher level network control communication is achieved. |
| US08358928B2 |
Lens guard
A lens guard for protecting a camera includes a lens-guard housing, a pressurized gas system, and a gas supply. The housing defines an opening and has a transparent protective lens disposed in the opening and having an outer surface exposed to the environment, an upper portion, and a portion defining apertures shaped to respectively receive therein camera support rods operable to mount the lens-guard housing to the camera in front of a lens. The pressurized gas system is operable to remove fluids and debris from the outer surface of the protective lens. The pressurized gas system includes a blow tube mounted to the upper portion of the housing and having a plurality of outlets directed towards the outer surface of the protective lens. The gas supply fluidically connects to the blow tube and is operable to supply pressurized gas to the blow tube and through the outlets thereof. |
| US08358927B2 |
Imaging apparatus
An imaging apparatus includes an input unit configured to receive an instruction for starting a continuous shooting operation, a sound output unit configured to output a predetermined sound according to a shooting operation, and a controller configured to control output/non-output of the predetermined sound from the sound output unit according to a setting of sound output, and to control the continuous shooting operation. The setting of sound output includes an ON setting for outputting the predetermined sound from the sound output unit according to a start of the shooting operation and an OFF setting for non-outputting the predetermined sound from the sound output unit according to the start of the shooting operation. When receiving the instruction for starting the continuous shooting operation via the input unit with the setting of sound output being the OFF setting and the shooting interval in the continuous shooting operation being set to be variable, the controller performs a control so as to prevent the continuous shooting operation at the variable shooting interval from being performed in a state that the predetermined sound according to the shooting operation is not output. |
| US08358926B2 |
Imaging apparatus and method for controlling same
In an imaging apparatus including a stepping motor that drives a diaphragm, a favorable moving image exposure control is carried out while reducing electrical power required for holding the diaphragm position. For moving image exposure control, a determination unit determines the presence or absence of the diaphragm driving. When a rotor and the magnetic poles of the stator do not face to each other in the first operation mode, the control unit of a stepping motor drives the rotor to a facing position, and shuts off the current in a coil. When the diaphragm driving does not occur in the second operation mode, the control unit of a stepping motor shuts off the current in the coil at the state where the rotor of the motor and the magnetic poles of the stator face to each other. A holding current to be supplied to the motor is shut off in the first and second operation modes, whereby the lower power consumption can be realized. The program profile of a diaphragm drive method and an exposure control is switched depending on the type of an imaging lens unit, whereby a favorable moving image exposure control can be realized. |
| US08358923B2 |
Housing structure and electronic device
A structure of a housing mounted with a lens unit is provided that is capable of withstanding internal pressure changes and ensures shock-resistance while being waterproof and thin. The housing structure includes a resin case, and a metal frame for preventing deformation of the resin case. A sliding groove with which the metal frame is engageable by being slid is formed in an inner section of the resin case. |
| US08358921B2 |
Heating kettle of a reducing agent tank
The invention relates to a line feedthrough through a heating kettle cover of a heating kettle of a reducing agent tank. At least one line penetrates an opening of the heating kettle cover and is sealed by means of a sealing element. It is provided that the sealing element is configured as an elastic plug sealing stopper, which is inserted in a holder associated with the heating kettle cover in a sealing manner. |
| US08358916B2 |
Annotations for trick modes of video streams with simultaneous processing and display
A method annotates information of video streams to enable their subsequent trick mode presentation. Annotations are performed while simultaneously storing the one or more video programs and further in concert while decoding and displaying the one or more video programs. |
| US08358915B2 |
Recording medium, and method and apparatus for reproducing the recording medium
In one embodiment, the method includes retrieving management information associated with audiovisual data. The management information includes location information, an indicator, and reference information. The method further includes identifying whether or not a set of additional data associated with the audiovisual data exists in a stream including at least a portion of the management information using the indicator, the additional data being describing the audiovisual data. The indicator includes one of a first indicator value indicating that the set of the additional data associated with the audiovisual data exists in the stream and a second indicator value indicating that the set of the additional data associated with the audiovisual data does not exist in the stream. The audiovisual data and the set of the additional data are retrieved using the location information specifying a location of the set of the additional data and the reference information being assigned to the audiovisual data, and the audiovisual data and the associated additional data are reproduced. |
| US08358914B2 |
Recording controlling device, recording controlling method, program used therein and recording device
A recording controlling device includes a display controlling unit configured to display moving image data delayed using a delay circuit on a first display unit and a recording controlling unit configured to record the moving image data delayed using the delay circuit on a recording medium in accordance with an operation instruction given on the basis of content displayed on the first display unit. |
| US08358912B2 |
Method of synchronizing broadcast content between broadcast recorder and portable content player and apparatus for the same
A method of synchronizing broadcast contents between a broadcast recorder and a portable content player and an apparatus for the same are disclosed. The broadcast content synchronizing method includes obtaining metadata about broadcast contents stored in a portable content player from the portable content player; confirming a broadcast content that has already been reproduced among the broadcast contents stored in the portable content player by the obtained metadata; retrieving a broadcast content corresponding to the next installment of the confirmed broadcast content from recorded broadcast contents; and storing the retrieved broadcast content in the portable content player. |
| US08358906B2 |
Content playback method and content playback apparatus
By allowing the movement of a user to affect the playback of content, the entertainment characteristic or uplifting spirits derived from content playback itself can be enhanced. The timing at which the user places his/her foot on the ground while walking or the timing at which the user shakes or changes from swinging in one direction to swinging to another direction is detected. Then, content, such as a music piece or moving pictures, is played back by allowing the timing of beats or bars of the music piece or the timing of scene changes or cut changes of the moving pictures to be synchronized with the timing of the movement of the user. |
| US08358904B2 |
Image signal recording apparatus, method of structuring preference information for recording apparatus and network system of recording apparatus
According to one embodiment of the present invention is applied to an apparatus which performs automatic recording based on a timer recording list. A transmitting/receiving module is connected to a network. Preference information retrieved from another recording apparatus via the transmitting/receiving module is once set directly in a first storage module. A second storage module saves a timer recording list in which the preference information in the first storage module is reflected. As a result, the preference information retrieved from the other recording apparatus is once set directly in the first storage module, and the preference information in the first storage module is reflected in the timer recording list. |
| US08358903B1 |
Systems and methods for recording information on a mobile computing device
A computer-readable medium storing computer executable instructions for: (1) receiving video footage taken by a handheld device; (2) identifying one or more indicia associated with a point of interest within the video footage; (3) using the one or more indicia to retrieve information associated with the point of interest; (4) displaying the information on a display screen associated with the handheld device as the video footage is being displayed on the display screen; and (5) recording a screen capture of the display screen as the display screen is displaying the video footage and information. |
| US08358898B2 |
Storage device for the overlength of an optical fiber or other type of cable
A device for storing an excess length of a cable, the device includes two separate guide members configured to guide the cable, each guide member presenting a groove for receiving the cable, the relative position of the guide members being adjustable with a longitudinal part extending having a first end and a free second end, the first end being secured to one of the guide members, the longitudinal part being suitable for being fastened to the other guide member from the free second end and being capable of being moved relative to the other guide member while remaining fastened thereto. |
| US08358896B2 |
Flexible optical device
A flexible and optionally highly elastic waveguide capable of propagating and emitting light is disclosed. The flexible waveguide comprises a flexible material having a surface and an end, wherein a first portion of the light is emitted through at least a portion of the surface of the flexible waveguide, and a second portion of the light is emitted through the end. The flexible waveguide can be used, for example as an area illuminator for many applications. Additionally disclosed is a clothing device for providing illumination. The clothing device comprises clothing (or even optionally a sheet) and a light source for providing light. In one embodiment the clothing device comprises the flexible waveguide. |
| US08358894B2 |
Optical cable with identifiable optical fibers
A optical fiber includes an optically transmissive element; at least one curable colored layer surrounding the optically transmissive element; and an additional removable colored layer surrounding and homogeneously covering the curable colored layer. The presence of the additional removable colored layer improves identifiability of the fiber, especially when the latter is included in an optical cable together with other fibers. |
| US08358891B2 |
Waveguide type optical device
There is provided a waveguide type optical device whose parasitic capacitance is reduced to allow an increase in signal transmission speed. Bottom electrode 41 is formed on substrate 2, bottom cladding 51 is formed on bottom electrode 41, and bottom core 62 is formed on bottom cladding 51. Top core 61 is formed on bottom core 62, top cladding 53 is formed on top core 61, and top electrode 42 is formed on top cladding 53. Two sides of top core 61 and bottom core 62 are covered with side cladding layer 52. Vertically overlapping portions of top electrode 42 and bottom electrode 41 are located almost at a same place as a region for a core layer composed of top core 61 and bottom core 62. The width of one from among top core 61 and bottom core 62 is satisfying a single mode condition, and the width of the other is almost equal to or more than the width of a field distribution. |
| US08358888B2 |
Systems and techniques for generating Bessel beams
A technique is described for generating a Bessel beam. An input optical fiber is provided that supports propagation in the fundamental mode. The input fiber is connected to a fiber mode converting device that provides phase matching, at a predetermined excitation wavelength, between the fundamental mode and a selected azimuthally symmetric higher-order mode. As an input to the fiber mode converting device, a coherent light beam is fed through the input optical fiber to provide a fundamental mode input at the excitation wavelength. The fiber mode converting device resonantly excites the selected azimuthally symmetric mode. The azimuthally symmetric mode is provided as a beam output from an endface of the fiber mode converting device to approximate a Bessel beam. |
| US08358883B2 |
Fiber optic shape sensor
A shape sensing system to determine the position and orientation of one link with respect to another link in a kinematic chain. An optical fiber is coupled to two or more links in a kinematic chain. A shape sensing segment is defined to start at a proximal link and to end at a distal link, crossing one or more joints. A reference frame is defined at the start of the shape sensing segment. As the joints move, an interrogator senses strain in the shape sensing segment. The sensed strain is used to output a Cartesian position and orientation of the end of the shape sensing segment with respect to the reference frame defined at the start of the shape sensing segment. The pose of the kinematic chain is determined from the Cartesian positions and orientations of one or more shape sensing segments defined for the kinematic chain and from an a priori model and constraints of the kinematic chain. |
| US08358876B1 |
System and method for content aware in place translations in images
A system and method for performing content aware cropping or expansion may be applied to translate an object within an image. The object may be selected by defining an approximate bounding box of the object. The method may receive input indicating a lowest priority edge or corner of the object to be translated (e.g., using a drag operation). Respective energy values for pixels in regions of the image adjacent to a region comprising the selected object may be weighted based on their distance from the region and/or lowest priority edge/corner, on a cropping or expansion graph, and/or on the translation dimension and direction. Relative costs may be determined for seams of these regions dependent on the energy values. Low cost seams may be removed from one region and replicated in another region, and the region comprising the translated object may be combined with these resized regions in a modified image. |
| US08358874B2 |
Method for displaying computed-tomography scans, and a computed-tomography system or computed-tomography system assembly for carrying out this method
At least one embodiment of the invention relates to a method and/or a computed-tomography system and/or a computed-tomography system assembly for displaying tomographic records, with a first computed-tomography display data record displaying structures of a first type and of a second type by way of a complex recording technique, with an area of interest with structures of a second type being marked there and with relative positions of the structures being determined, with a second computed-tomography display data record subsequently being created by a simpler recording technique, in which only structures of the first type can be identified, and the structures of the second type are made visible in this display on the basis of the known relative positions with respect to the visible structures of the first type or at least their position, or a surrounding boundary. |
| US08358873B2 |
Hybrid system for multi-projector geometry calibration
A method of calibrating a multi-projector image display system is provided. According to the method, non-parametric calibration data for the display system is recovered and used to generate a non-parametric model of the display system. Local parametric models relating to the display surface of the projection screen are generated and are compared with data points defined by the non-parametric calibration data to identify one or more local errors in the non-parametric calibration data. The local errors in the non-parametric calibration data are converted to data points defined at least in part by the local parametric models and the projectors are operated to project an image on the image projection screen by utilizing a hybrid calibration model comprising data points taken from the non-parametric model and data points taken from one or more local parametric models. Additional embodiments are disclosed and claimed. |
| US08358872B2 |
Information-inputting device inputting contact point of object on recording surface as information
Structure and function for inputting information preferably includes a display device having two cameras in respective corners thereof. At least one computer readable medium preferably has program instructions configured to cause at least one processing structure to: (i) extract an object located on a plane of the display device from an image that includes the plane of the object, (ii) determine whether the object is a writing implement by determining, when a plurality of objects are extracted from the image, that one of the plurality of objects that satisfies a prescribed condition is the writing implement, (iii) calculate a position of a contact point between the writing implement and the plane as information to be input if the object has been determined as the writing implement, and (iv) input the information representing a position on the plane indicated by the object. |
| US08358871B2 |
Method and device for detecting and correcting skewed image data
A skewed image data detecting and correcting device includes a skew angle detecting module, and an image rotating correction module. A skewed image data detecting and correcting method includes the following steps. Firstly, a binary digitizing operation is performed to obtain a binary image data. The binary image data is rotated by multiple different rotating angles, thereby obtaining multiple rotated binary image data. The pixel numbers of all horizontal rows of the rotated binary image data are totalized, thereby obtaining multiple horizontal pixel number distribution curves. A high-pass filtering procedure is performed to filter off low-frequency noise, thereby obtaining multiple high-frequency signal curves. The square sums of respective high-frequency signal curves are calculated, thereby obtaining multiple index values. Afterward, a rotating correction operation is performed on the image data according to the rotating angle corresponding to a maximum of the index values, thereby obtaining a corrected image data. |
| US08358867B1 |
Painterly filtering
Local histogram-based filters may create non-photorealistic computer graphics effects. An edge-preserving smoothing filter processes a source image to generate a smoothed image. An orientation filter processes the source image to generate a smoothed orientation image. At least one of the orientation filter and the edge-preserving smoothing filter include a local histogram-based filter. The non-photorealistic effect filter may generate a fine detail image from the smoothed image and the source image. The fine detail image may be diffused according to the smoothed orientation image to generate a brush stroke image. The brush stroke image is combined with a base image to create a non-photorealistic image. Local histogram-based filters include a closest mode, a local median, and a dominant mode filter. Local histogram-based filters are determined by convolving a neighborhood filter with one or more offset-kernel images, each based on the application of a shifted tonal filter kernel to the source image. |
| US08358860B2 |
Motion vector detecting device, motion vector detecting method, image encoding device, and program
A motion vector detecting device includes: a motion predicting and compensating means for calculating cost values of a plurality of motion vectors, which is candidates of an optimal motion vector, with a first pixel precision every prediction mode and calculating the optimal motion vector with a second pixel precision and a cost value of the optimal motion vector with the second pixel precision on the basis of a gradient of the cost values. |
| US08358859B2 |
System and method for dynamically switching quality settings of a codec to maintain a target data rate
A video compression system includes a compression module to compress each of a plurality of segments of an input signal using an initial quality setting. A rate calculation module calculates, for each compressed segment, a data rate for an output signal that would result from adding a compressed segment to the output signal. A selection module automatically selects, in response to the calculated data rate deviating from a target range, a quality setting for each segment that results in a data rate this is within the target range when a segment compressed using the automatically-selected quality setting is added to the output signal. |
| US08358852B2 |
Automatic forms identification systems and methods
Systems and methods automatically generate a model of a form or other document and identify the form or other document. In one aspect, a system and method normalize an image of a document and identify the relative positions of the vertical and horizontal lines in the normalized image. The relative positions of the vertical and horizontal lines of the normalized image are the model of the document image. The model may be stored in a record, such as an array. The system and method compare the relative positions of the horizontal and vertical lines of the model to the relative positions of horizontal and vertical lines of other models to identify a matching model. |
| US08358850B2 |
Determination method of edge direction
An edge direction determination method for a pixel of a display picture. The display picture has a corresponding edge map. The pixel has corresponding pixel direction pairs. First, in step (a), it is judged whether the pixel is an edge pixel according to the edge map. Next, in step (b), it is judged whether the pixel has a right-inclined edge direction or a left-inclined edge direction when the pixel is the edge pixel. Then, in step (c), the edge direction of the pixel is determined according to specific pixel direction pairs corresponding to the same inclined edge direction if a judged result in step (b) is affirmative. Finally, in step (d), if the judged result in step (b) is negative, it is judged whether the pixel has a horizontal edge direction or a vertical edge direction. |
| US08358847B2 |
Display apparatus and display method
A display apparatus able to perform appropriate and accurate focusing. An image displayed on a display unit is stored in a first storage unit, a focus position of the image is moved by a movement unit, and the image obtained after the focus position movement is stored in a second storage unit. The images stored in the first and second storage units are compared by a comparison unit on a pixel basis, and based on a result of the comparison, an image area where there is a change in pixel state is extracted by an extraction unit, a contrast value in the extracted image area is calculated by a calculation unit, and a change in the calculated contrast values is determined by a determination unit. Based on a result of the determination, the attribute of pixels in the extracted image area is changed by a change unit. |
| US08358843B2 |
Techniques including URL recognition and applications
Methods are systems are provided that include obtaining a digital image from a digital photograph, such as may be taken by a digital camera or a camera phone. The digital image includes, for example, a URI or URL, which may be contained within a visible frame. A character recognition technique, such as an optical character recognition technique, may be used to recognize the URI or URL from the digital image. The URI or URL may be used to access a corresponding Web page. The character recognition technique may be applied on the digital camera or cell phone itself, or remotely. |
| US08358840B2 |
Methods and systems for representation and matching of video content
The described methods and systems provide for the representation and matching of video content, including spatio-temporal matching of different video sequences. A particular method of determining temporal correspondence between different sets of video data inputs the sets of video data and represents the video data as ordered sequences of visual nucleotides. Temporally corresponding subsets of video data are determined by aligning the sequences of visual nucleotides. |
| US08358837B2 |
Apparatus and methods for detecting adult videos
Disclosed are apparatus and methods for detecting whether a video is adult or non-adult. In certain embodiments, a learning system is operable to generate one or more models for adult video detection. The model is generated based on a large set of known videos that have been defined as adult or non-adult. Adult detection is then based on this adult detection model. This adult detection model may be applied to selected key frames of an unknown video. In certain implementations, these key frames can be selected from the frames of the unknown video. Each key frame may generally correspond to a frame that contains key portions that are likely relevant for detecting pornographic or adult aspects of the unknown video. By way of examples, key frames may include moving objects, skin, people, etc. In alternative embodiments, a video is not divided into key frames and all frames are analyzed by a learning system to generate a model, as well as by an adult detection system based on such model. |
| US08358829B2 |
System and a method for inspecting an object
An inspection method and an inspection system, the inspection system includes: (i) a first group of sensors, for sensing light components of a first light band of an image of an area of an inspected object, and for generating first detection signals reflecting sensed light components of the first light band; (ii) a second group of sensors, for sensing light components of a second light band of the image of the area of the inspected object, wherein the second light band differs from the first light band, and for generating second detection signals reflecting sensed light components of the second light band; (iii) optics, for projecting the image of the area of the inspected object towards the first group of sensors and towards the second array of sensors; and (iv) a processing unit, coupled to the first and second group of sensors, for detecting defects based on the first or second detection signals. |
| US08358827B2 |
Optical waveform generation and use based on print characteristics for MICR data of paper documents
A method and system for determining an optical waveform based on a plurality of print features of a selected marking of a document. The method and system comprise obtaining optical image data representing the print features of the selected marking. The optical image data is corrected for at least one of print contrast or reflectance of the print features in the optical image data using respective print contrast thresholds or reflectance thresholds to produce a converted pixel map of the selected marking, the pixel map containing an ordered sequence of values. Also included is a generation module to transform the print features represented in the converted pixel map to a plurality of corresponding waveform features to produce the optical waveform of the selected marking, the corresponding waveform features including a plurality of spaced apart peaks representing respective optical signal levels of the print features. |
| US08358826B1 |
Systems and methods for receiving and orienting an image of one or more checks
Images of a plurality of checks to be presented for payment may be captured through the use of a check sleeve. The check sleeve includes check-holding mechanism to hold one or more checks in place in the sleeve, and contains various types of markings or other features that allow an image of the sleeve to be oriented, and to allow the portion of the image that represents a check to be distinguished from portions of the image that do not represent a check. One or more algorithms may be used to distinguish check from non-check portions of the image, and to orient the image. The check sleeves may have one or more barcodes imprinted thereon, which may encode various types of information. |
| US08358823B2 |
Method for tracking tumors in bi-plane images
A tumor is tracked in sequences of bi-plane images by generating a set of segmentation hypotheses using a 3D model of the tumor, a bi-plane geometry, and a previous location of the tumor as determined from the pairs of biplane images. Volume prior probabilities are constructed based on the set of hypotheses. Seed pixels are selected using the volume prior probabilities, and a bi-plane dual image graph is constructed using intensity gradients and the seed pixels to obtaining segmentation masks corresponding to tumor boundaries using the image intensities to determine a current location of the tumor. |
| US08358818B2 |
Apparatus and methods of compensating for organ deformation, registration of internal structures to images, and applications of same
A method and system of compensation for intra-operative organ shift of a living subject usable in image guide surgery. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of generating a first geometric surface of the organ of the living subject from intra-operatively acquired images of the organ of the living subject, constructing an atlas of organ deformations of the living subject from pre-operatively acquired organ images from the pre-operatively acquired organ images, generating a second geometric surface of the organ from the atlas of organ deformations, aligning the second geometric surface of the organ to the first geometric surface of the organ of the living subject to determine at least one difference between a point of the first geometric surface and a corresponding point of the second geometric surface of the organ of the living subject, which is related to organ shift, and compensating for the intra-operative organ shift. |
| US08358808B2 |
Video-based vehicle detection and tracking using spatio-temporal maps
Systems and methods for detecting and tracking objects, such as motor vehicles, within video data. The systems and method analyze video data, for example, to count objects, determine object speeds, and track the path of objects without relying on the detection and identification of background data within the captured video data. The detection system uses one or more scan lines to generate a spatio-temporal map. A spatio-temporal map is a time progression of a slice of video data representing a history of pixel data corresponding to a scan line. The detection system detects objects in the video data based on intersections of lines within the spatio-temporal map. Once the detection system has detected an object, the detection system may record the detection for counting purposes, display an indication of the object in association with the video data, determine the speed of the object, etc. |
| US08358806B2 |
Fast crowd segmentation using shape indexing
A method for performing crowd segmentation includes receiving video image data (S21). Background differencing is performed on the received video image data to identify a foreground silhouette shape (S22). Approximate number and position of human subjects within the received video image data are determined by matching the foreground silhouette shape against a set of predetermined foreground silhouette shapes, for each of which a number and position of human subjects is known (S28). The estimated number and position of the human subjects is refined to determine a final number and position of the human subjects (S27). |
| US08358804B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing system and computer readable medium storing program
An image processing apparatus includes: a recognition unit that recognizes a layout of a line including a character string in an image read from an original; a determination unit that determines a size of a region in which additional information is embedded so as to include at least a part of a line including a character string in the region, based on the layout recognized by the recognition unit; a dividing unit that divides the image read from the original based on the size of the region determined by the determination unit; and an embedding unit that embeds the additional information in the image divided by the dividing unit. |
| US08358802B2 |
Method of transmitting medical data
A method of transmitting a data set comprising at least one medical data from a first imaging station to at least one other imaging station via a network interface in a DICOM standard communication system is provided. The method comprises the acts of selecting a first medical data from the data set for transmission; checking a memory of the first imaging station for a receipt of an acknowledgement signal indicative of a successful transmission of the first medical data to the at least one other imaging station; transmitting the medical data if the act of checking does not detect the receipt of acknowledgement signal; receiving the acknowledgment signal from the at least one other imaging station in response to a successful receipt of the first medical data at the at least one other imagine station; and storing the receipt of acknowledgement signal in the memory of the first imaging station. |
| US08358800B2 |
Earphone with adjustable plug
An earphone comprises two earbuds, a plug assembly, and a wire connected to the earbuds and the plug assembly. The plug assembly comprises a first insulation shell, a second insulation shell, an adjusting wheel located between the first insulation shell and the second insulation shell, a plug fixed in the inside of the first insulation shell, two stopping blocks fixed to one side of the first insulation shell away from the wire, and a resetting element received in the second insulation shell. The plug comprises a plug core and a sleeve set on the outside of the plug core. |
| US08358796B2 |
Method and acoustic signal processing system for binaural noise reduction
A method and an acoustic signal processing system for noise reduction of a binaural microphone signal are proposed. A source signal and two interfering signals input to a left and a right microphone of a binaural microphone system respectively. A left and a right microphone signal is filtered by a Wiener filter to obtain binaural output signals of the source signal. The Wiener filter is calculated as H W ( Ω ) = 1 - S y 1 , y 1 ( Ω ) S v 1 , v 1 ( Ω ) + S v 2 , v 2 ( Ω ) , wherein Sy1,y1(Ω) is the auto power spectral density of the sum of the interfering signals contained in the left and right microphone signal, Sv1,v1(Ω) is the auto power spectral density of the filtered left microphone signal and Sv2,v2 is the auto power spectral density of the filtered right microphone signal. The method provides the advantage of an improved binaural noise reduction compared to the state of the art with small or less signal distortion. |
| US08358795B2 |
Receiver system and method for transmitting information for an otological device
The invention relates to a receiver system for an otological device. The receiver system has an oscillation receiver to receive a carrier signal with a carrier frequency. The receiver system is designed to change a receive frequency for the carrier signal. The receiver system has a frequency regulator which is designed to at least indirectly register the receive frequency and to change the receive frequency for the carrier signal to a predetermined receive frequency and to set it to the predetermined receive frequency. The frequency regulator is connected to the oscillation receiver at least at least indirectly and is designed to generate an excitation signal and to excite the oscillation receiver to oscillate by means of the excitation signal and thus to generate a response oscillation with a response frequency. The frequency regulator is also designed to ascertain the receive frequency depending on the response oscillation. |
| US08358792B2 |
Actuator systems for oral-based appliances
Actuator systems for oral-based appliances utilizing transducers which are attached, adhered, or otherwise embedded into or upon a dental or oral appliance to form a hearing aid assembly. Such oral appliances may be a custom-made device which receives incoming sounds and transmits the processed sounds via a vibrating transducer element. The transducer element may utilize electromagnetic or piezoelectric transducer mechanisms and may be positioned directly along the dentition or along an oral appliance housing in various configurations. |
| US08358790B2 |
Band-splitting time compensation signal processing device
A band-splitting time compensation signal processing device 2 includes a band-splitting circuit 211 for extracting, after extracting a signal of a high-frequency band component or low-frequency band component from an input signal, a signal of the low-frequency band component or high-frequency band component by subtracting the signal of the high-frequency band component or low-frequency band component from the input signal; a delay circuit 212 for delaying, for adjusting arrival time, at least one of the high-frequency band component and low-frequency band component output from the band-splitting circuit 211; and a mixing circuit 213 for combining the high-frequency band component or low-frequency band component output from the delay circuit 212 with the low-frequency band component or high-frequency band component output from the band-splitting circuit 211. |
| US08358789B2 |
Adaptive microphone system for a hearing device and associated operating method
A microphone system and an associated method are proposed. The microphone system comprises at least two omnidirectional, microphone signal-emitting directional microphones connected electrically to one another to establish directivity, at least one filter unit with at least one adaptation parameter for the adaptive filtering of the at least two microphone signals and a control unit to change the at least one adaptation parameter such that the sum of interference power is reduced. The value range of the at least one adaptation parameter is limited. The control unit determines limits from a comparison of the noise floor of the ambient noise with a microphone noise number. The adaptation range of an adaptive differential directional microphone is a function of stationary component of background noise, so the directivity can be selected such that the non-stationary microphone noise resulting due to directivity is masked by the stationary component of the background noise. |
| US08358786B2 |
Method and apparatus to measure hearing ability of user of mobile device
Provided are a method and apparatus to measure in real time the hearing ability of a user in a game environment of a mobile device. The method includes generating a series of sound patterns and visual patterns for a combination of a specific frequency and level of sound, and extracting ear characteristics of the user based on the user's responses to the series of sound patterns and visual patterns. |
| US08358785B2 |
Hearing system with wideband pulse transmitter
Wireless communication is to be enabled between hearing units of small construction, especially between hearing aids with an increased data rate. To this end it is provided in accordance with the invention that the hearing unit is fitted with a transceiver which has an inductive receiving device and a digital wideband pulse transmitter. Two such hearing units can then communicate wirelessly with one another with the help of a communication station which is structurally separate from the hearing units and with which a message can be transmitted from the one to the other of the hearing units. The digital wideband pulse transmitter can be implemented in a structurally small manner in the hearing unit and with low power consumption. |
| US08358784B2 |
System and method for a secure synchronization between a wireless communication device and a server
The present invention provides a system and method for designing secure synchronization protocols in mobile communication by using Deterministic Random Number Generator (DRNG) through linear operators without using multi-precision integers. It also provides an efficient way to generate a huge size collection of pseudorandom numbers with a less computational complexity and DRSG is designed for mobile and wireless communications and also the said DRSG algorithm is a lightweight algorithm. The generated sequence has a lot of applications in Mobile computation and Information security. The invention provides a securely transfer of registry and provision of consumer details over the communication network and also provide a light weight security with better performance in comparison to the lower layer chip level security provided by 2G, 3G or 4G applications. |
| US08358779B1 |
Prime field elliptic curve cryptography processor
Prime field elliptic curve cryptography processors are provided, having corresponding methods and computer-readable media. The processors comprise a prime field circuit comprising a first memory configured to store data, and an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) circuit configured to perform prime field operations upon the data; and a curve operation processor comprising a second memory configured to store instructions, and a controller configured to execute the instructions; wherein the instructions include instructions for performing curve operations upon the data, wherein the curve operations require performing the prime field operations upon the data; and wherein the instructions for performing the curve operations cause the ALU circuit to perform the prime field operations. |
| US08358775B2 |
Method and telecommunication system for transmission of a message
A method and telecommunication system is disclosed for transmission of a message from a first telecommunication terminal to a second telecommunication terminal, of which at least one is connected to a line-connected telephone network. The message is converted as a short message into the short message format, a connection setup is realized and the short message is transmitted in the short message format to a short message service center and from the latter to the second telecommunication terminal, where the transmission of the short message to the short message center and/or to the second telecommunication terminal is carried out by means of DTMF or FSK off-hook signaling in the voice band. |
| US08358772B2 |
Means for directing a caller through an interactive voice response system and of making use of prerecorded precategorized scripts
An apparatus, computer program product, method and system are disclosed for manually guiding inbound callers through an IVR system, then sequentially playing prerecorded, precategorized scripts, or audio dialogs, to the caller in accordance with the steps of a sales method governing the categorization of the scripts. Certain embodiments of the present invention include substitute means of collecting, conferencing, routing, and managing inbound callers in and out of IVR platforms. |
| US08358769B2 |
Personal desktop router
A client-server telephone call router system as part of a customer premises system has a client-server router adapted to execute on a telephony switch, such as a public branch exchange (PBX) or other telephony switch, or on a processor connected by CTI link to a telephony switch. The telephony switch or processor executing the router is connected to a local area network (LAN) that also interconnects computer workstations proximate to telephones connected to the telephony switch. Client user interface applications run on the computer workstations, allowing clients to edit routing rules for the router, which has a list of routing rules keyed to users and workstations of the customer premises system. The editing rules are kept by the router in portions dedicated to individual users. With this system a user can edit at a workstation on the LAN his\her own routing rules, and transmit the edits to the client-server router where the rules will be followed to route calls for that user and protocol. |
| US08358766B1 |
Operating a directory assistance call center based upon directory assistance database and caller ID data
A system and method is provided to operate a directory assistance call center based upon data stored in a directory assistance database and a line information database (LIDB). A caller can access a directory assistance call center to request phone listing information about a particular party. The directory assistance call center can send a query to a directory assistance database for the requested information. Moreover, if the requested information is not found, then the directory assistance call center can send a query to a LIDB or CNAM database provider. The LIDB or CNAM database provider can forward the query to a local LIDB or CNAM database and to other remote LIDB or CNAM database providers to find the requested information. |
| US08358765B1 |
System for simultaneous delivery of communication session invitation messages to communication devices
A system for causing the simultaneous, or near simultaneous, receipt by multiple pre-identified communication termination endpoints of electronic messages sent at times respectively delayed relative to one another and inviting each of the communication termination endpoints to join a communication session. The system receives identification of associated communication termination endpoints that are to receive, at substantially the same time, electronic messages to join a communication session. The system determines and stores send time delays for each such communication termination endpoint that are calculated by a respectively appropriate method. Thereafter, when an electronic message is received requesting initiation of a communication session with one of the communication termination endpoints, the system uses the send time delays to respectively delay by an appropriate amount of time the sending of electronic invite messages to join the communication session to each of the communication termination endpoints. |
| US08358760B2 |
Method and apparatus for enabling phone number dialing using email addresses
The invention comprises a method and apparatus for enabling a subscriber to establish a call to at least one destination phone number using an email address. Specifically, the method comprises receiving an incoming communication request from the subscriber for establishing the call (where the incoming communication request comprises an email address), determining at least one destination phone number associated with the email address, and processing the call using at least one of the at least one destination phone number associated with the email address. |