| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08418259B2 |
TPM-based license activation and validation
A Trusted Activation License (TAL) can be comprised of a key unique to a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and identifying information of the software applications bundled with the computing device having that TPM. To activate the software applications, the identifying information in the TAL can be compared against that of the software applications being activated, and the unique TPM key in the TAL can be compared against that of the TPM on the computing device on which the activation is taking place. Subsequent validations can be based on a protected association between the TAL and an Attestation Identity Key (AIK) that can be generated by the TPM as part of the activation step. Optionally, Platform Configuration Registers (PCRs) of the TPM can be periodically changed during validation to protect against useage of one TPM for validations on multiple computing devices. |
| US08418253B2 |
Application data usage management system for an electronic device
An IP server sends e-mail to a mobile device MS. This e-mail includes an application specifier that specifies startup of a Java application stored in mobile device MS and a data specifier that includes data used in operations executed by mobile device MS in accordance with a Java application. On the other hand, the ADF for the Java application stored in mobile device MS includes trusted source data containing a plurality of e-mail addresses that indicate trusted origins. Mobile device MS compares the e-mail transmission origin address with the trusted source data. Mobile device MS, only in the case where the transmission origin address of the received e-mail is included in the trusted source data, starts up a Java application based on an application specifier included in said e-mail, and uses data included in said data specifier in operations executed by that Java application. |
| US08418250B2 |
Methods and apparatus for dealing with malware
In one aspect, a method of classifying a computer object as malware includes receiving at a base computer data about a computer object from each of plural remote computers on which the object or similar objects are stored. The data about the computer object received from the plural computers is compared in the base computer. The computer object is classified as malware on the basis of said comparison. In one embodiment, the data about the computer object includes one or more of: executable instructions contained within or constituted by the object; the size of the object; the name of the object; the logical storage location or path of the object on the respective remote computers; the vendor of the object; the software product and version associated with the object; and, events initiated by or involving the object when the object is created, configured or runs on the respective remote computers. |
| US08418249B1 |
Class discovery for automated discovery, attribution, analysis, and risk assessment of security threats
A method for profiling network traffic of a network. The method includes obtaining a signature library comprising a plurality of signatures corresponding to a plurality of behavioral models, generating, based on a first pre-determined criterion, a group behavioral model associated with the signature library, wherein the group behavioral model represents a common behavior of a plurality of historical flows identified from the network traffic, wherein each of the plurality of signatures correlates to a subset of the plurality of historical flows, selecting a flow in the network traffic for including in a target flow set, wherein the flow matches the group behavioral model without matching any of the plurality of behavioral models, analyzing the target flow set to generate a new signature, and adding the new signature to the signature library. Further, each behavioral model is generated from a kernel constructed using boosting of decision tree learning methods. |
| US08418246B2 |
Geographical threat response prioritization mapping system and methods of use
Systems and methods for mapping threats (or vulnerabilities to attacks) based on a correlation of location data, such as wireless location data or a physical location, with an network address associated with a threat are provided. In one aspect, methods and systems include receiving threat data, retrieving location data, correlating the threat data with the location data to create map data, and generating a map, based on the map data, displaying a geographical location of the threat. Threat locations may be determined for wired and wireless telecommunications systems. |
| US08418245B2 |
Method and system for detecting obfuscatory pestware in a computer memory
A method and system for detecting obfuscatory pestware in a computer memory is described. One illustrative embodiment identifies, within an executable object, a reference to a known procedure, the known procedure having a fixed address in the computer memory; and searches for a predetermined check value at a known offset relative to an address, in the computer memory, of the reference to the known procedure. |
| US08418242B2 |
Method, system, and device for negotiating SA on IPv6 network
A method, system, and device for negotiating a security association (SA) on an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) network are disclosed. In this method, the initiator and the responder generate an SA through the interaction of two messages. Compared with the conventional procedure for setting up an SA based on the Internet Key Exchange Protocol (IKE), the interaction procedure in the present invention is simplified significantly. Therefore, the negotiation is faster and more convenient. In addition, with the present invention, cryptographically generated address parameters (CGA Params) are carried in the message and the CGA may be verified so that the invader cannot spoof the address. |
| US08418241B2 |
Method and system for traffic engineering in secured networks
Aspects of a method and system for traffic engineering in an IPSec secured network are provided. In this regard, a node in a network may be authenticated as a trusted third party and that trusted third party may be enabled to acquire security information shared between or among a plurality of network entities. In this manner, the trusted third party may parse, access and operate on IPSec encrypted traffic communicated between or among the plurality of network entities. Shared security information may comprise one or more session keys utilized for encrypting and/or decrypting the IPSec secured traffic. The node may parse IPSec traffic and identify a flow associated with the IPsec traffic. In this manner, the node may generate and/or communicate statistics pertaining to said IPSec secured traffic based on the flow with which the traffic is associated. |
| US08418239B2 |
Authentication method, authentication device and information processor
Authentication processing is easily performed on a device used as a node in a network. Upon the authentication of a terminal used as the node in the network, when the terminal can communicate with another terminal, the terminal sends an electronic certificate of the terminal per se to the other terminal and requests the other terminal to perform an authentication process of the terminal per se. Conversely, when the terminal cannot communicate with any other terminal, the terminal outputs the electronic certificate of the terminal per se to an authentication device and requests the authentication device to perform authentication of the terminal per se. The authentication device performs authentication of the terminal based on the outputted electronic certificate. |
| US08418236B1 |
System and method for streaming application isolation
A system, method, computer program and/or computer readable medium for providing streaming of one or more applications from streaming servers onto one or more clients. The computer readable medium includes computer-executable instructions for execution by a processing system. The one or more applications are contained within one or move isolated environments, and the isolated environments are streamed from the servers onto clients. The system may include authentication of the streaming servers and authentication of clients and credentialing of the isolated environments and applications the clients are configured to run. The system may further include encrypted communication between the streaming servers and the clients. The system may further include a management interface where administrators may add, remove and configure isolated environments, configure client policies and credentials, and force upgrades. The streamed isolated environments may be isolated from other applications and the host operating system on the clients and applications within the isolated environments may run without performing an application-installation on the client. |
| US08418233B1 |
Rule based extensible authentication
A system, apparatus, and method are directed to managing access to a resource using rule-based deep packet extractions of a credential. A network device, such as a traffic management device, is situated between a client device and a server device. When the client device sends a request for a resource, the request is intercepted by the network device. The network device may employ a multi-layer deep packet extraction of the credential from the request. The network device may then use the credential to determine whether the request enabled to access the resource. Based, in part, on a variety of rules, the network device may deny access, enable access, route the request to a different server, or the like. In one embodiment, the network device may receive a rule from another device that directs the network device to request a different credential. |
| US08418231B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer program products for managing media content by capturing media content at a client device and storing the media content at a network accessible media repository
Media content is managed by defining a list of authorized recipients in a network accessible security information repository, recording media content at a client device, obtaining the list of authorized recipients at the client device, associating at least one of the authorized recipients with the media content, and transmitting the media content along with information identifying the at least one of the authorized recipients associated therewith from the client device to a network accessible media repository for storage therein. The media content includes audio, video, and/or image content. |
| US08418230B1 |
Apparatus and method for mobile communications and computing
A wireless computing and communications device comprises a baseband processor configured to implement operations providing access to a wireless communications network, and an application processor configured to execute user applications. A communications management processor communicates with the baseband processor and the application processor by respective first and second communications channels. The communications management processor is configured to operate in a separate security domain from the application processor, and to mediate all access to the wireless communications network by the user applications. |
| US08418216B2 |
Forecasting and cable television network—planning of narrowcast services
A method and a non-transitory computer readable medium for evaluating a configuration change of a cable television network, the method may include: receiving, a model of a cable television network, the cable television network comprises multiple service groups, multiple transmitters and at least one session management unit; wherein each service group comprises multiple user devices; receiving or generating, viewers' activity information about viewing patterns of viewers that belong to the multiple service groups; receiving a request to perform a requested change in a current configuration of the cable television network; simulating, by a simulator, based on the model, the viewers' activity information and the requested change, a provision of services to the multiple service groups given the requested change to provide simulation results that represent an effect of the requested change, prior to a deployment of the change in the cable television network. |
| US08418210B2 |
Satellite television system ground station having wideband multi-channel LNB converter/transmitter architecture with controlled uplink transmission
A satellite television ground system, particularly for a make or break satellite television signal system, includes an outdoor unit and an indoor unit that are in communication with each other via a single coaxial cable and an optional separate single conductor for power. The satellite television ground system is operative to measure and reverse frequency conversion errors utilizing DSP techniques, allowing for more precise generation and transmission of uplink signals from the satellite television ground system. Control data for the system is sent via a low data rate connection on a power cable thereof, or by a narrowband signaling channel via a coax cable. The system also utilizes a single reference oscillator to drive the various frequency synthesizers and the like. The satellite television ground system utilizes related oscillators for the uplink and downlink sections. Carrier frequency offset in the downlink is measured in a carrier tracking loop part of a television signal demodulator. The carrier frequency offset of the downlink is utilized to synthesize various frequency signals for the uplink and downlink sections to correct frequency errors. For the uplink section, the carrier frequency offset of the downlink is reversed in the uplink. If the uplink is on a different frequency, the measured offset of the system master oscillator can be scaled by different synthesizer ratios. |
| US08418208B2 |
Electronic television program guide schedule system and method with remote product ordering
An electronic program schedule system with product ordering capability which includes a data processor for receiving program schedule information for a plurality of programs, and a user control apparatus, such as a remote controller, for generating user control commands and transmitting signals to the data processor in response thereto. The program schedule information indicates the availability of a product or service for certain of the programs included in the program information. The viewer utilizes the remote control apparatus for placing an order for the product or service. The data processor receives the user control commands and generates an order for the product or service. |
| US08418202B2 |
Method and system for providing on-demand viewing
A method and system relating to an on-demand listings guide which is easy to use and that provides true on-demand viewing capabilities. One aspect of the method and system relates to electronically displaying an on-demand listings guide which includes information relating to at least one series and information relating to a plurality of episodes available on-demand from the series. |
| US08418200B2 |
Method of acquiring program guide information, program guide method appropriate for the same, and program guide apparatus
A method and apparatus of acquiring program guide information for a digital television receiver. There is provided a digital television signal receiver, including: a tuner to receive a digital television transport stream (TS) which includes audio, video, and program information; an extractor to extract the program information from the received TS; a storage to store the extracted program information; a processor to access the storage to generate a channel list based on the stored program information stored in the storage, where the channel list comprises at least one channel number and the at least one channel number comprises at least one main channel number; and a user interface to allow a user to navigate the channel list to search a channel number, wherein if the at least one main channel number has a corresponding sub-channel number, the sub-channel number can be listed after the at least one main channel number. |
| US08418198B2 |
System and method for sending advertising data based on data associated with video data
A computer readable medium is disclosed containing computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer perform a method, the method including but not limited to monitoring video data for advertising data keys; correlating the advertising data keys with penetration data for an end user; and selecting advertising data for the end user based on the correlation. A system is disclosed that is useful in performing the method. A data structure embedded in a computer readable medium is disclosed that contains data used by the system and method. |
| US08418197B2 |
Method and apparatus for browser based advertisement insertion
Content is downloaded to a mobile handheld device (MHD) and buffered on the MHD prior to, and during, viewing. Normal wireless bandwidth varies with atmospheric conditions, distance, obstructions in the path, etc. and hence the speed at which a content-buffer (CB) on the MHD is replenished changes. Because this can result in very low quality viewing experience for the user, the capability for alternate content scheduling provided a micro-splicer is used to enable stored alternate-content or advertisement insertion during periods of low viewing quality, when the CB does not hold sufficient content during the viewing period. This alternate content insertion allows the CB to be refilled before the user resumes content viewing. |
| US08418196B2 |
Interactive content with enhanced network operator control
A method and apparatus are described that provide enhanced network operator control. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method comprises determining at a head-end and data center whether to inform one or more users of an interactive television service of available content, the one or more users connected with head-end and data center via a network. Responsive to determining to inform the one or more users of the available content, generating a hot key signal indicating availability and a location of the alternate content. The hot key signal is inserted into a content signal transmitted to the one or more users from the head-end and data center via the network. |
| US08418191B2 |
Application flow control apparatus
An apparatus receives a first message based on a transmission trigger when receiving the transmission trigger indicating a transmission of the first message containing flow definition information for specifying an execution sequence of a plurality of applications performing a cooperative processing; calls an application to be executed according to the flow definition information contained in the first message; and transmits the second message containing the flow definition information and a result of execution by the called application to the transmission addressee executing the next application. |
| US08418190B2 |
Responsive user interface with background application logic for working on an object
A user interface can be maintained in a responsive state on a user interface thread while synchronous application logic is running on a background thread. The application logic can access an object on the background thread, and the user interface can access the same object on the user interface thread. Additionally, a request for work to be done on an object can be received. If the request is to be dispatched to a background thread, then the work can be dispatched to the background thread without blocking the user interface thread. However, if the request is to be dispatched to the user interface thread, then the work can be dispatched to the user interface thread, and the background thread can be blocked. |
| US08418183B2 |
Resource information collection and delivery method and system
A resource use device that sends a resource information evaluation expression, which is a criterion for selecting resources, to a resource providing device. The resource providing device evaluates resource information on a resource using the resource information evaluation expression, adds a resource information value, which is the result of evaluation, to resource information and delivers the resource information to the resource use device. |
| US08418179B2 |
Multi-thread runtime system
A runtime system implemented in accordance with the present invention provides an application platform for parallel-processing computer systems. Such a runtime system enables users to leverage the computational power of parallel-processing computer systems to accelerate/optimize numeric and array-intensive computations in their application programs. This enables greatly increased performance of high-performance computing (HPC) applications. |
| US08418177B2 |
Virtual machine and/or multi-level scheduling support on systems with asymmetric processor cores
Different processor cores in a computing device can support different features. In one or more embodiments, the features supported by each of multiple physical processor cores of a computing device are identified. A set of one or more features of the multiple physical processor cores to make available to virtual processor cores of the virtual machine are determined based at least in part on both the one or more features supported by each of the multiple physical processor cores and a number of virtual processor cores of the virtual machine. In additional embodiments, a multi-level scheduling model is used. An operating system level scheduler of an operating system schedules multiple applications for execution on multiple processor cores, and a user level scheduler of an application schedules application threads of that application for execution on one or more of the multiple processor cores. |
| US08418149B2 |
Differential comparison system and method
A method and computer program product for monitoring the chronological order in which one or more portions of a first instance of a computer program are executed, thus generating a first data file. The chronological order in which one or more portions of a second instance of the computer program are executed is monitored, thus generating a second data file. The first and second data files are compared. |
| US08418146B2 |
Sampling techniques for dynamic data-race detection
This document describes a dynamic data race detector that utilizes adaptive sampling techniques. The adaptive sampling techniques include locating threads during execution of a multi-threaded program and identifying thread-specific hot paths, thread-specific cold paths and lockset paths during execution of the program. Once these paths are identified, they are sampled, potentially at different rates. Any information gained during the sampling may be stored in a data race log, which a developer may use to correct any identified program bugs. |
| US08418137B2 |
Adaptive evolutionary computer software products
The invention concerns a method for automatically adapting a computer program product to an environment, the computer program product comprising executable parts and data parts, the method comprising the steps of configuring the computer program product for the environment and executing the software in the environment. Furthermore the method comprises the steps of observing effects of the execution, i.e. metering the behavior, of the executable parts, analyzing the inter-relation of the observed effects with the software, and modifying executable parts based on rules in order to reduce undesirable observed effects like in-efficiency or failure. The present invention relates also to the automatically adapting computer program product, and a method for manufacturing the automatically adapting computer program product. |
| US08418135B2 |
Method and apparatus to abstract away rule languages
Some embodiments of a method and an apparatus to abstract away rule languages from a rule engine have been presented. In one embodiment, rules written in a first rule language are parsed into descriptor classes, which are used to model concepts that can be expressed in a rule engine. An intermediate structure is generated from the parsed rules. The intermediate structure is input to a core of the rule engine, which is operable to execute the rules. |
| US08418133B2 |
Method and apparatus for executing software applications
Consumer electronic devices, such as e.g. high-definition movie players for removable storage media such as optical discs, may provide possibilities for advanced interactivity for the user, implemented as software applications. A question arising generally with such software applications is what the life cycle of such an application is, and who may control it. The invention provides a method for executing software applications within a playback device for audio-video data, wherein data from a first removable storage medium are read for a software application to be executed within said playback device, and the data comprise an indication defining a termination condition for the application. Based on said termination code and depending on how the medium holding the application is ejected, the application is terminated or may survive. |
| US08418130B2 |
Managing comments associated with computer code
Methods and arrangements to manage comment data that is associated with computer executable code are provided. Comment data associated with a line or lines of executable code can be stored, and a tag can be assigned to the comment, data or the line(s) of code. When it is desired to locate, information about lines of code, tags allow for an improved way to search for the desired lines of code. Thus, in response to a user query for information, a search engine can locate a specific tag or groups of tags and display code and comments associated with the located tag(s). |
| US08418126B2 |
Software factory semantic reconciliation of data models for work packets
A method, system, and computer-readable medium is presented for maintaining and supporting a semantic reconciliation of canonical data model exchange formats in support of software factory workflow management, state determination governing model transformations, and tool enabled processes across software development roles and methodologies used by a software factory. |
| US08418124B2 |
Method and apparatus for software policy management
A system and method for software policy management are provided. A compiled policy-enabled software application includes a policy enforcement point to export an information element to a policy manager. The policy manager includes a policy interpreter having a policy decision point to perform policy decision making based on the received information element from the policy enforcement point. Through a plurality of policy decision points, the policy manager can execute a wide range of policies for different compiled software applications. Policies can be modified centrally in the policy interpreter and changes can affect either one or more of the policy-enabled software applications. A policy manager browser can create and manage the policy decision making performed by the policy interpreter. |
| US08418123B2 |
Software development production management system, computer program, and recording medium
A software development production management system having a processor, which is enhanced in reliability by reducing a different between an evaluation of an actual development and a formed plan. A management database holds both development process component data necessary to model a development process of software and estimation parameter data used to estimate a development plan of the software. The software development production management device compares and evaluates, upon completion of the software development, an actually performed development process and the previously created software development plan, and makes a correction to the estimation parameter data as needed to feed details of the actually conducted software development back to the next development plan. |
| US08418117B2 |
Chip-level ECO shrink
In a method of forming an integrated circuit, a layout of a chip representation including a first intellectual property (IP) is provided. Cut lines that overlap, and extend out from, edges of the first IP, are generated. The cut lines divide the chip representation into a plurality of circuit regions. The plurality of circuit regions are shifted outward with relative to a position of the first IP to generate a space. The first IP is blown out into the space to generate a blown IP. A direct shrink is then performed. |
| US08418113B1 |
Consideration of local routing and pin access during VLSI global routing
Global routing and congestion evaluation is enhanced by including consideration of local routing and pin access. Pin information is computed for each global edge based on adjacent tiles, and the wiring track capacity for an edge is reduced based on the pin information. After global routing, the wiring track capacities are increased by previous reduction amounts for detailed routing. The pin information can include pin count for an associated tile, the Steiner tree length for the pins, or relative locations of the pins. Wiring track capacities are preferably reduced by creating blockages in tracks of a particular metal layer of the circuit design used for logic gates of the pins. The blockage tracks can be spread evenly across the wiring tracks of a given edge. |
| US08418110B2 |
Using port obscurity factors to improve routing
An integrated circuit characterized by a netlist may be routed using a routing priority list that may be created using port obscurity factors. A port obscurity factor may indicate how difficult it may be to route to that port and may be calculated as being inversely proportional to the number of routing tracks that may be connectable to that port. Routing priorities for the nets of the netlist may then be created using the port obscurity factors of the ports in the net. Routing may then be done in the order determined by the routing priority list and the generated layout information stored in a computer useable medium. In some cases, routing may be performed using multiple routing passes where a new routing priority list may be calculated for each routing pass. |
| US08418107B2 |
Performing statistical timing analysis with non-separable statistical and deterministic variations
In one embodiment, the invention is a method and apparatus for performing statistical timing analysis with non-separable statistical and deterministic variations. One embodiment of a method for performing timing analysis of an integrated circuit chip includes computing delays and slews of chip gates and wires, wherein the delays and slews depend on at least a first process parameter that is deterministic and corner-based and a second process parameter that is statistical and non-separable with the first process parameter, and performing a single timing run using the timing quantity, wherein the single timing run produces arrival times, required arrival times, and timing slacks at outputs, latches, and circuit nodes of the integrated circuit chip. The computed arrival times, required arrival times, and timing slacks can be projected to a corner value of deterministic variations in order to obtain a statistical model of the delays and stews at the corresponding corner. |
| US08418104B2 |
Automated synthesis of multi-channel circuits
Methods and apparatuses to time-share resources having internal states are described. A first design of a system having a plurality of instances of a logical block to perform logical operations is received. The instances may have internal states. The system is automatically transformed to generate a second design having a fewer quantity of time-shared instances of the logical block. The plurality of the instances in the first design is replaced with the fewer time-shared instances in the second design. The time-shared instances in the second design have elements to time multiplex the internal states. |
| US08418103B2 |
Nonlinear approach to scaling circuit behaviors for electronic design automation
Circuit behaviors are scaled to different operating conditions by using a generalized nonlinear model. Nonlinear transforms are applied to the operating conditions and/or to the circuit behaviors contained in a library set. The transformed quantities have a more linear relationship between them. Parameters for the linear relationship are estimated based on the data and operating conditions in the library set. These parameters and nonlinear transforms can then be used to scale circuit behaviors to operating points not contained in the library set. |
| US08418098B2 |
Advisory system for verifying sensitive circuits in chip-design
A verification system for verifying an integrated circuit design is provided. The verification system includes a functional block finding module configured to identify potential sensitive circuits in the integrated circuit design; and a search module. The search module is configured to find sensitive circuits from the potential sensitive circuits; and verify the sensitive circuits. |
| US08418097B2 |
Multi-rate hierarchical state diagrams
Systems and methods are provided for a scheme and mechanism for performing static analysis of a sample time aware state diagram model to compute and propagate multiple samples rates associated with the state diagram model. A graphical intermediate representation of the state diagram model, such as a directed graph or control flow graph, is used to determine how the multiple sample rates are propagated via elements of the state diagram model. The graph provides a static representation of the control of flow, including alternative and/or conditional flow paths, of the state diagram model. The present invention determines the propagation of sample rates via analysis and traversal of the intermediate representation. By using the techniques of the present invention, a state diagram model may provide multiple sample rate outputs, such as by function calls and output signals to a graphical model, such as a model representing a dynamic system. |
| US08418095B1 |
Compilation and simulation of a circuit design
One or more embodiments provide a method of HDL simulation that determines characteristics of nets, such as shorting of nets, non-blocking assignments, etc., for the entire circuit design during compilation. Simulation code and data structures are generated for each net, individually, based on the determined characteristics of the respective net. As a result, rather than implementing code for simulation of each net capable of handling every possible combination of the characteristics, less complex code and data structures may be generated for simulation of the nets. |
| US08418093B2 |
Method and system for design simplification through implication-based analysis
Methods and systems are provided for reducing an original circuit design into a simplified circuit design by merging gates that may not be equivalent but can be demonstrated to preserve target assertability with respect to the original circuitry design. A composite netlist is created from the simplified netlist and the original netlist. The composite netlist includes a number of targets that imply the existence of a target in the simplified netlist and a corresponding target in the original netlist. The implications are verified and then validated to ensure the simplified circuit design is a suitable replacement for the original circuit design. |
| US08418092B2 |
Source-synchronous data link for system-on-chip design
A method of producing an integrated circuit (700) using a system-on-chip (SoC) architecture includes providing a first circuit (710) in a first island of synchronicity (IoS); and providing a source-synchronous data link (755/757, 765/767) between the first circuit (710) in the first IoS and a hard core (720) in a second IoS for communicating n-bit data elements between the first circuit (710) and the hard core (720). The source-synchronous data link (755/757, 765/767) includes a set of n data lines (755, 765) for transporting the n-bit data elements between the first circuit (710) and the hard core (720), and a source-synchronous clock line (757, 767) for transporting a source clock between the first circuit (710) and the hard core (720) for clocking the n-bit data elements. The hard core (720) does not include a bus interface adaptor for interfacing with the source-synchronous data link (755/757, 765/767). |
| US08418089B2 |
Computer readable non-transitory medium storing design aiding program, design aiding apparatus, and design aiding method for determining performance index of an integrated circuit in worst case operation conditions
A computer readable non-transitory medium storing a design aiding program causes a computer to execute a process of determining worst-case corner candidates for each of a plurality of condition sets. The design aiding program causes the computer to execute a process of mapping the worst-case corner candidates that are within an allowable range. The design aiding program causes a computer to execute a process of determining the worst-case corner candidates that minimize the number of the worst-case corner candidates mapped to the condition sets by handling the worst-case corner candidates thus mapped as a single worst-case corner candidate to be worst-case corners. |
| US08418086B2 |
Isolating received information on a locked device
Quarantining data received while a computing device is locked. While the computing device is locked, content items such as images, notifications, voice memos, telephone numbers, and the like are stored in a first memory area. The content items are transferred to a second memory area, separate from the first memory area, based on transfer criteria associated with the content items. For example, images may be automatically uploaded to a web page after the computing device is unlocked, while a mail program executes to display any messages received while the display has been locked. In some embodiments, the user inputs the content items into a locked mobile computing device and further provides the transfer criteria for the content items. |
| US08418085B2 |
Gesture coach
A capture device may capture a user's motion and a display device may display a model that maps to the user's motion, including gestures that are applicable for control. A user may be unfamiliar with a system that maps the user's motions or not know what gestures are applicable for an executing application. A user may not understand or know how to perform gestures that are applicable for the executing application. User motion data and/or outputs of filters corresponding to gestures may be analyzed to determine those cases where assistance to the user on performing the gesture is appropriate. |
| US08418082B2 |
Cross-track edit indicators and edit selections
A method of defining a media editing application for creating media presentations. The method provides a composite display area for displaying a set of clip shapes that represent media clips. It also provides a consolidated editing tool for (1) identifying clip-shape edit points that are near a cursor's location as the cursor moves from track to track in the composite display area and (2) collectively selecting the identified clip-shape edit points along multiple track in order to receive an edit operation to collectively perform on said the clip-shapes of the identified edit points. |
| US08418080B2 |
Computer system with enhanced user interface for images
A computer system and method are presented that enhance a user experience when viewing images displayed on the computer. The system includes a user interface for the computer that displays a number of thumbnail images that are small representations of image files existing on the computer. The thumbnail images are arranged in alignment with one another, such as at the bottom of a viewing window. An enlarged preview image is positioned adjacent the thumbnail images. The enlarged preview image corresponds to a selected thumbnail image and is a larger representation of an image file corresponding with the selected thumbnail image. A control is displayed in the window that enables the user to iterate through the thumbnail images in at least one direction. As the user iterates through the thumbnail images, the enlarged preview image changes correspondingly. |
| US08418076B2 |
Managing inputs from a plurality of user input device actuators
A computing device and method for managing inputs from a plurality of user input device actuators are provided. The computing device may include code stored in memory for implementing, via a processor, an actuator input module configured to receive a first actuator input from a first user input device actuator, and a second actuator input from a second user input device actuator. The computing device may further execute code to implement a window selection module configured to select a first selected window to which the first actuator input is sent according to predetermined selection rules, to select a second selected window to which the second actuator input is sent according to the predetermined selection rules, and to send the first actuator input to the first selected window and to send the second actuator input to the second selected window. |
| US08418073B2 |
User interfaces for electrosurgical tools in robotic surgical systems
A method for a minimally invasive surgical system is disclosed including capturing camera images of a surgical site; generating a graphical user interface (GUI) including a first colored border portion in a first side and a second colored border in a second side opposite the first side; and overlaying the GUI onto the captured camera images of the surgical site for display on a display device of a surgeon console. The GUI provides information to a user regarding the first electrosurgical tool and the second tool in the surgical site that is concurrently displayed by the captured camera images. The first colored border portion in the GUI indicates that the first electrosurgical tool is controlled by a first master grip of the surgeon console and the second colored border portion indicates the tool type of the second tool controlled by a second master grip of the surgeon console. |
| US08418069B2 |
Spinning off chat threads
A solution for providing an instant messaging (IM) space, such as for a chat session, is provided, which includes provisions for spinning off of chat threads. An embodiment of the invention provides a method of providing an IM space, the method comprising: providing a first graphical user interface (GUI) space for an IM conversation; obtaining a selected portion of the IM conversation represented on the first GUI; and creating a second GUI space for a second IM conversation based on the portion selected. |
| US08418068B1 |
System, software application, and method for customizing a high-resolution image via the internet
The present invention provides a system, method, and software program for enabling a user to create a customized, high-resolution version of an image (such as artwork) via the Internet. An artist/developer creates an image set comprising one or more base images, as well as any optional image objects that can be added to the base image. The artist/developer uses a script-creation tool to generate a computer-readable script that specifies how to generate an image based on the image set. The script, as well as multiple resolutions of the image set, are stored on a server. When an end user customer desires to customize the image, the server sends the script file and a lower-resolution version of the image set to the user's computer. The user's browser runs the script to create a graphical user interface through which the user can edit the image data in the script file. After the user customizes the image, the modified script file is stored on the server-side. High quality prints can be created from the modified script file and a high-resolution version of the image set. |
| US08418063B2 |
Aiding device in creation of content involving image display according to scenario and aiding method therein
A request acknowledging unit in a scenario creation unit of a content creation aiding device acknowledges a user request related to scenario configuration. A displayed image processing unit displays an image on a display device to assist the user to set up a key frame. A key frame interpolation unit inserts a key frame that triggers switching of the display to a link destination image when the display area reaches an area in which a link is set up. A coordinate converting unit represents the key frame using frame parameters in a coordinate system of a post-switching image. A correction unit corrects the key frame by applying, to the key frame set up, correction that is opposite to the correction applied to a frame when the frame is displayed. A scenario file output unit creates an ultimate scenario file and stores the file in a storage device. |
| US08418059B2 |
Editing apparatus and editing method
An editing apparatus includes a designating unit configured to designate a color for use in an image including a plurality of objects, according to an instruction by a user, a determining unit configured to determine a combination of colors corresponding to the color designated by the designating unit, and a specifying unit configured to specify colors of the plurality of objects included in the image, by using the combination of colors determined by the determining unit. |
| US08418055B2 |
Identifying a document by performing spectral analysis on the contents of the document
A system and method for identifying a document based on a spectral analysis of the text of the document is described. In some examples, the system generates a document identifier for a rendered document based on assigning values to words in the rendered document, such as values associated with the frequency of use of the word by the rendered document, the absolute or relative position of the word in the rendered document, and so on. The system may use the document identifier to generate a group of documents having similar document identifiers, and choose a likely match from the group of documents based on predictive analysis. |
| US08418051B1 |
Reviewing and editing word processing documents
Methods and systems, including computer program products, implementing techniques for reviewing and editing word processing documents. The techniques include receiving from a reviewer a first comment about a word processing document receiving from the reviewer a second comment about the word processing document, sending the first comment to one or more editors and independently sending the second comment to one or more editors. The first comment can be sent before the second comment is received. |
| US08418045B2 |
Network intermediate device and method thereof
A network intermediate device and method are provided. The network intermediate device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention comprises a data transmitting/receiving part which receives frames which have header error check information, and a control part which controls the data transmitting/receiving part to start forwarding the frame before the entire frame is received by determining whether there are errors in the header using the header error check information. In this case, the frame may comprise a first field in which header error check flag information is recorded to notify whether to perform the forwarding after checking for errors in the header, and a second field in which the header error check information is recorded. If it is confirmed that the check and forward method is applied by the header error check flag information, the control part may verify the header error check information to determine whether errors occur in the header. Therefore, the relay of the frame can be stably performed within the minimum time. |
| US08418043B2 |
Error detection
A method of error detection for a data packet, the method comprising the steps of: i) identifying a set of non-compliances (N), the non-compliances being illegal bit sequences according to a coding standard; ii) identifying a first subset (N+) of non-compliances that are to be treated as errors; iii) identifying a second subset (N.) of non-acceptable near-compliances; iv) decoding the data packet according to the coding standard; and v) adaptively deciding based on the first and second subsets whether to treat a detected non-compliance within the decoded data packet as an error or as an acceptable near-compliance. |
| US08418041B2 |
MPE-FEC RS decoder and decoding method thereof
A decoding method of an MPE-FEC (MultiProtocol Encapsulation-Forward Error Correction) RS (Reed-Solomon) decoder, includes: substituting a value corresponding to an erasure error position with 0 in a reception signal; calculating a syndrome by using the reception signal; calculating an erasure position polynomial by using erasure information; calculating a modified syndrome by using the syndrome and the erasure position polynomial; calculating an erasure error size polynomial by using the modified syndrome; calculating an error position by using the erasure position polynomial; calculating an error size by using a modified Forney's algorithm; and correcting an error through the error position and the error size. |
| US08418038B2 |
Error correcting method and device
The invention concerns a method of correcting errors in a data stream of at least one image, implemented in a data reception device, said at least one image being cut up into image portions, said stream being coded by image portion and divided into data packets, the method comprising a step of detecting at least one lost data packet and being characterized in that it comprises the following steps: determining a strategy for cutting up said at least one image into image portions, determining, according to the determined cutting-up strategy, an item of information representing the reconstruction quality of data included in said at least one lost packet by an error correcting method, adapting said error correcting method according to the determined item of information representing the reconstruction quality, and applying the adapted error correcting method to the adapting step to reconstruct the data included in said at least one lost packet. |
| US08418032B2 |
Processing of bit errors in a digital audio bit frame
The invention relates to a method of processing bit errors in a bit frame emanating from a digital audio coder, comprising a step of receiving a current bit frame liable to comprise bit errors. According to the invention, the bit frame comprises sensitive bits to be protected which are catalogued in at least one category according to the type of parameter that they code and the method furthermore comprises the steps of receiving protection bits, of reading the sensitive bits received in the current bit frame, the number of sensitive bits being lower than the number of bits of the bit frame, of detecting bit errors as a function of said protection bits received and of said sensitive bits received and in the event of detecting at least one erroneous bit in said bit frame, of modifying the current bit frame before decoding, as a function of the category in which the erroneous bit is catalogued. The invention also pertains to a device implementing the method according to the invention as well as to a decoder and a coding/decoding system comprising such a device. |
| US08418030B2 |
Storage system with data recovery function and method thereof
A storage system with a data recovery function and its method reduce errors in a storage medium to a recoverable range of a general ECC function by repeating a testing and recovery procedure for one or more times to assure the accuracy of reading data and enhance the data reliability effectively. The data recovery procedure includes the steps of providing test data by a test data generator of the storage system, writing the test data into a memory block where error data is found, finding an error bit by reading the test data, reducing the error to a recoverable range of the ECC technique by the recovery procedure. If the error bit cannot be found or reduced to a recoverable range of the ECC technique within an upper limit of the number of tests, the memory block is marked as bad. |
| US08418028B2 |
Chien search device and Chien search method
To provide a Chien search device and a Chien search method capable of performing a Chien search process at a high speed. The Chien search device calculates an error position at the time of correcting an error included in data read from a nonvolatile memory, and includes a first processing unit that performs a search process of an error position in at least one-bit unit to an error-correction area of input data, and a second processing unit that processes at one time plural bits in an non-error-correction-target area of the input data. |
| US08418027B2 |
Device enabling the use of a programmable component in a natural radiative environment
A device for using a programmable component carrying out at least one logical function in a radiative environment includes: a mechanism for error detection in a data-storing working memory space actually serving to carry out each logical function of the device through use of data stored in at least one reference memory space storing a data copy implemented by at least one logical function; a mechanism blocking at least one output of at least one logical function of the component for which an error in the data implemented by the logical function is detected by the mechanism for detection; and a mechanism correcting each error detected in the working space. |
| US08418026B2 |
Hybrid error correction coding to address uncorrectable errors
A method in a memory device includes receiving data including a data block and main error correction coding (ECC) data for the data block. The data block includes a first sub-block of data and first ECC data corresponding to the first sub-block. An ECC operation is initiated to process the data block using the main ECC data. In response to the ECC operation indicating uncorrectable errors in the data, a first sub-block ECC operation is initiated to process the first sub-block of data using the first ECC data. |
| US08418024B2 |
Error detection code generating method and error detection code generator
In a mobile communication system, an error detection code or a quality frame indicator (e.g., CRC) is generated using selectively frame information, and at least one of a WCA identifier of another terminal, and a corresponding terminal identifier. And the terminal identifier can be implicitly transmitted to the receiver. |
| US08418020B2 |
LDPC selective decoding scheduling using a cost function
A cost function is obtained. For each of a plurality of groups of check nodes associated with low-density parity-check (LDPC) encoded data, the cost function is evaluated using information associated with a variable node and/or information associated with a check node. One of the groups of check nodes is selecting based at least in part on the evaluated cost functions. Error correction decoding related processing is performed on the selected group of check nodes. |
| US08418017B2 |
Adaptive acknowledgment mechanism for network communication
The present disclosure is directed to network communication between a sender and a receiver. Network communication is established between the sender and the receiver using a first acknowledgment mechanism for signifying receipt of data by the receiver. The first acknowledgment mechanism is selected from one of a receiver positive acknowledgment mechanism (RPA) and a receiver negative acknowledgment mechanism (RNA). Communication information is monitored, wherein the communication information indicates at least a current state of performance for network communication. Based on the communication information, a message is exchanged between the sender and the receiver to negotiate a switchover to a second acknowledgment mechanism for signifying receipt of data by the receiver. The second acknowledgment mechanism is selected from the other of the receiver positive acknowledgment mechanism (RPA) and the receiver negative acknowledgment mechanism (RNA). Network communication is then established between the sender and the receiver using the second acknowledgment mechanism. |
| US08418015B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for coding and decoding of LDPC codes
The present invention discloses a method, an apparatus and a system for low-density parity-check (LDPC) coding and decoding. The coding method includes the following steps: constructing each layer of a check matrix of a layered LDPC code used as an error correcting code; when data is initially sent by a data transmitting terminal, performing first-layer-coding of the data to be sent by using the first layer of a check matrix of the LDPC code, sending the first-layer-coded data; when data for (n−1)th retransmission is sent by the data transmitting terminal, performing nth-layer-coding of the data by using the nth layer of a check matrix of the LDPC code, sending the nth-layer-coded data, wherein n is an integer no less than 2. It is possible to reduce the system overhead, decrease the decoding delay, and improve the decoding performance by using the technical solution of the present invention which is also adapted to high-speed data services. |
| US08418014B2 |
Multiple device apparatus, systems, and methods
Data digits and correction digits are received in each of a number of integrated circuit (IC) devices. Apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed that operate to check the data digits for error in each IC device according to an algorithm associated with the IC device, the algorithm being different for each IC device. Each IC device will act in response to the data digits if no error is detected in the data digits. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed. |
| US08418011B2 |
Test module and test method
There is provided a test module comprising a random number generator that generates a pseudo random pattern and includes a controller that generates a register selection signal based on a control instruction stored on an instruction memory, a plurality of polynomial configuration registers one of which is selected by the register selection signal, each polynomial configuration register having polynomial data stored therein, a plurality of initial value configuration registers one of which is selected by the register selection signal, each initial value configuration register having an initial value stored therein, and a random number generation shift register that loads the initial value from the selected one of the plurality of initial value configuration registers and sequentially generates the pseudo random pattern based on the polynomial data stored in the selected one of the plurality of polynomial configuration registers. |
| US08418004B2 |
Back channel communication
Various embodiments are described for back channel communication. One embodiment is a method that comprises receiving data at customer premises equipment (CPE), determining at least one error in the received data, formatting the determined error for communication to a central office (CO), and sending the formatted error to the CO via a back channel, wherein the formatted error is sent between sync frames of a discrete multitone (DMT) superframe. |
| US08418002B2 |
Service modeling impact analysis
A computer system includes a plurality of computer processor dependent nodes and a plurality of computer processor antecedent nodes. Each node includes a severity value relating to an operational state of the node. A dependent node and an antecedent node pair include a significance value relating to a criticality that the antecedent node has to its paired dependent node. The antecedent node comprises a relevance value, wherein the relevance value is a function of the severity value of the antecedent node and the significance value for the antecedent node and the dependent node. The relevance value is used to determine an impact that the antecedent node has on the paired dependent node. |
| US08418000B1 |
System and methods for automated testing of functionally complex systems
A system for automated testing of functionally complex systems, comprising a test manager module operating on a server computer, a test data storage subsystem coupled to the test manager module and adapted to store at least test results, a test execution module operating on a server computer, and a test analysis module operating on a server computer and adapted to receive test data from the test data storage subsystem. The test manager module causes tests to be executed by the test execution engine, and on detection of an anomalous test result, the test manager module at least causes additional testing to be performed and causes the test analysis module to analyze the results of at least some of the additional testing in order to isolate at least one component exhibiting anomalous behavior. |
| US08417998B2 |
Targeted black box fuzzing of input data
Technologies are described herein for performing targeted, black-box fuzzing of input data for application testing. A dataflow tracing module traces an application while it reads and processes a set of template data to produce operation mapping data that maps data locations in the template data to operations performed by the application in processing the data at the location. The tracing is performed without requiring the application source code, knowledge of the syntactical structure of the input data, or specially instrumented binaries for the application. A fuzzing module is then utilized to target a specific operation or operations in the application by fuzzing data locations within the template data according to the operation mapping data until the desired outcome is achieved. |
| US08417997B2 |
Governance in work flow software
The disclosure presents categorization of users into groups comprising expert users and novice users. A system and method analyzes the users' inputted data in helpdesk troubleshooting software to determine the deviation of novice users from expert users, or the deviation of novice users to a preconfigured behavior as determined by management policy. Other embodiments are also disclosed. |
| US08417989B2 |
Method and system for extra redundancy in a raid system
A system and method of creating an extra redundancy in a RAID system is disclosed. In one embodiment, one or more RAID arrays are created. Each RAID array comprises a plurality of disk drives. Further, a respective dedicated hot spare is created for each RAID array. Furthermore, data is copied from each RAID array to the respective dedicated hot spare using a copyback process based on a predetermined controller usage threshold value. |
| US08417985B2 |
Adjusting system clock to faster speed upon receiving mass storage command and back to lower speed upon completion of all commands
In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method for dynamically adjusting a system clock of a plurality of system clock-controlled components in a system is provided, the method comprising: detecting the receipt of a command at a non-system clock-controlled component of the system; and adjusting the system clock to a fast speed based on the detecting. This embodiment may also include: determining that the command has been completed; determining that there are no outstanding commands in the plurality of system clock-controlled components; and adjusting the system clock to a slow speed based on the determination that there are no outstanding commands in the plurality of system clock-controlled components. |
| US08417983B2 |
Adjusting a device clock source to reduce wireless communication interference
Adjusting a clock source of a device clock to reduce wireless communication (e.g., radio frequency (RF)) interference within a device. The device clock may be derived from an input clock to a serial interface, e.g., coupled to a display, and may be initially driven by a first clock. Later, it may be determined that the serial interface clock is or will interfere with wireless communication. Accordingly, temporary clock signals may be provided to the device clock while the first clock is modified. Once modified, the modified clock signals may be provided to the device clock to reduce wireless communication interference. |
| US08417981B2 |
Time format conversion method, device and system
A method and device for converting between different time domains at a local unit utilizing an processor is disclosed. Time counters to count time in at least two different formats are located locally at each unit. Once a time conversion is initiated, a time stamp is received by the processor and the time counter in the new time domain commences calculating an adjustment count. Once the converted time is received from the processor, the received time plus the adjustment count are summed to provide a time base for the new time domain. The time counters continue counting in their respective time domains after conversion. |
| US08417980B1 |
Dual-mode power supply
A power supply connected to an electrical load that supplies an output voltage to the electrical load. The power supply includes a first portion having a fast transient response topology that supplies a first part of an output current, and a second portion having a slow transient response topology that supplies a second part of the output current, such that the second part of the output current does not increase or decrease as fast as the first part of the output current. Advantageously, embodiments of the invention provide a more efficient power supply design that converts part of the total power supply output current using a fast transient response portion and part using a slow transient response portion of the power supply. Additionally, embodiments of the invention provide an alternate current path for transporting large amounts of current to a GPU, while maintaining the efficiency of the overall current path. |
| US08417976B2 |
Image processing apparatus, communication system, control method thereof, and storage medium
An apparatus connected to a network via a network interface device and capable of executing encrypted communication with an external device on the network requests that a first algorithm to be used in the encrypted communication with the external device is changed to a second algorithm included in the network interface device when the apparatus detects that a condition for shifting to a power saving mode, in which power consumption is smaller than that in a normal power mode, is satisfied while the apparatus is operated in the normal power mode. |
| US08417974B2 |
Power efficient stack of multicore microprocessors
A computing system has a stack of microprocessor chips that are designed to work together in a multiprocessor system. The chips are interconnected with 3D through vias, or alternatively by compatible package carriers having the interconnections, while logically the chips in the stack are interconnected via specialized cache coherent interconnections. All of the chips in the stack use the same logical chip design, even though they can be easily personalized by setting specialized latches on the chips. One or more of the individual microprocessor chips utilized in the stack are implemented in a silicon process that is optimized for high performance while others are implemented in a silicon process that is optimized for power consumption i.e. for the best performance per Watt of electrical power consumed. The hypervisor or operating system controls the utilization of individual chips of a stack. |
| US08417973B2 |
Using a control policy to implement power saving features
Managing power-consumption, for use in a storage system comprising first data stored on one or more storage devices is provided. A receiver receives a policy comprising a power-management parameter, a first parameter and a rule associated with the policy. An analyser, responsive to receipt of a policy, analyzes second data associated with the rule. A determiner, responsive to the analysis, determines third data in accordance with the second data. The third data is associated with migration of the first data. |
| US08417968B2 |
Secure repository with layers of tamper resistance and system and method for providing same
A secure repository individualized for a hardware environment and a method and system for providing the same. The secure repository includes a hidden cryptographic key and code that applies the key without requiring access to a copy of the key. The code that implements the secure repository is generated in a manner that is at least partly based on a hardware ID associated with the hardware environment in which the secure repository is to be installed, and may also be based on a random number. Cryptographic functions implemented by the secure repository include decryption of encrypted information and validation of cryptographically signed information. The secure repository may be coupled to an application program, which uses cryptographic services provided by the secure repository, by way of a decoupling interface that provides a common communication and authentication interface for diverse types of secure repositories. The decoupling interface may take the form of a single application programmer interface (API) usable with multiple dynamically linkable libraries. |
| US08417966B1 |
System and method for measuring and reporting consumption of rights-protected media content
Various embodiments of a system and method for reporting and measuring consumption of media content are described. Embodiments may include computing a set of registration hash values for an encrypted content file representing each of one or more content items. To distribute a content item to a consumer, an encrypted content file representing the content item is delivered to a content viewer system. At the content viewer system, a set of playback sums is computed that corresponds to segments of the content item actually played on the content viewer system. The playback hash values can be matched with registration hash values to establish that one or more segments of a content item associated with the matched hash values have been played. |
| US08417965B1 |
Method and circuit for secure definition and integration of cores
An embodiment of the present invention provides a method and circuit for secure definition and integration of a core into a circuit design without exposing the core. In one embodiment, a core development package is obtained. The core development package includes an encrypted core and a decryption key of the encrypted core. The decryption key is encrypted with an asymmetric cipher. The encrypted core is transmitted from the design tool to a trusted platform module. The decryption key is decrypted with a private key of the asymmetric cipher. The encrypted core is decrypted within the trusted platform module. One or more design tool operations are performed using the decrypted core. |
| US08417963B2 |
Secure read-write storage device
A method is described for securing a read write storage (RWS) device, the method comprising, providing the RWS device, the RWS device comprising a controller comprising a processor and a bit bucket and employing, in response to a decision making process, a sanction in the RWS device. Related apparatus and methods are also described. |
| US08417962B2 |
Device booting with an initial protection component
Booting a computing device includes executing one or more firmware components followed by a boot loader component. A protection component for the computing device, such as an anti-malware program, is identified and executed as an initial component after executing the boot loader component. One or more boot components are also executed, these one or more boot components including only boot components that have been approved by the protection component. A list of boot components that have been previously approved by the protection component can also be maintained in a tamper-proof manner. |
| US08417959B2 |
Biometric device based on luminescence
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and/or method of identifying a user comprising illuminating a user with electromagnetic energy to induce luminescence and producing an output data signal. A reference data signal corresponding to the luminescence of a selected user may be identified and compared to the output data signal. In such a manner, an identification may be made as to whether a selected user is present. |
| US08417958B2 |
Systems and methods for electronic postmarking of data including location data
Systems and methods for electronic postmarking of location data are provided. Electronic postmarking of location data (S.20) includes generating a hash value corresponding to merged data (S.30). Electronic postmarking further includes generating an electronic postmark data structure (S.40) comprising the hash value and a date/time stamp. The electronic postmarking data structure (S.40) may further include a digital signature. |
| US08417956B2 |
Encryption and authentication systems and methods
Methods, apparatus, and systems are disclosed for, among other things, providing an electronic record (e.g., MICROSOFT WORD document, AUTOCAD drawing, etc.) that can be signed by “printing” that record to a special “virtual signature printer,” which provides the user with an intuitive, simple way of authenticating an electronic record. The “virtual signature printer” system can produce an output file (or multiple files) that can be sent to a recipient for viewing, printing, and validation. The recipient can view or print the file and, with special software, can validate the signature on the file. |
| US08417955B2 |
Entity bidirectional authentication method and system
An entity bidirectional authentication method and system, the method involves: the first entity sends the first message; the second entity sends the second message to the credible third party after receiving the said first message; the said credible third party returns the third message after receiving the second message; the said second entity sends the fourth message after receiving the third message and verifying it; the said first entity receives the said fourth message and verifies it, completes the authentication. Compared with the conventional authentication mechanism, the invention defines an on-line retrieval and authentication mechanism of a public key, realizes the centralized management for it, simplifies the operating condition of the protocol, and facilitates the application and implement. |
| US08417953B2 |
Method and system for restricted service access
A method and system for restricted service access is described. To access adult content, the user has to enter an administrator personal identification number into a mobile device. Upon receipt of the administrator personal identification number, an access code is generated, which is provided to a content provider. The content provider can calculate a valid time window and/or request an acknowledge message from a central server. If the current usage is within the valid time window or otherwise verified, access to the content is allowed. Thus, children are prevented from accessing adult content, while adult access is permitted. |
| US08417947B2 |
Electronic authorization system and method
An electronic authorization system comprising a data source system configured to transmit transaction data. A secure data system is coupled to the data source system over an open network, the secure data system is configured to receive the transaction data from the data source system, generate a unique encrypted identifier for the transaction data and to transmit the unique encrypted identifier to the data source system. The data source system is configured to receive the unique encrypted identifier and replace payment card data associated with the transaction data in a database with the unique encrypted identifier. |
| US08417943B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing an authentication after cipher operation in a network processor
A method and apparatus is described for processing of network data packets by a network processor having cipher processing cores and authentication processing cores which operate on data within the network data packets, in order to provide a one-pass ciphering and authentication processing of the network data packets. |
| US08417941B2 |
Apparatus and method to prevent man in the middle attack
A system, peripheral device, and method for authenticating an encryption key before transmitting encrypted messages containing sensitive information are provided. Authentication of a client device during the coordination of data transfer among multiple computer devices is possible by providing a peripheral device that does not have a direct connection to a network, but rather, any message to be transmitted over the network must be relayed through a client device. Any sensitive information to be transferred to a remote device is inserted into a message, then the message is encrypted in the peripheral device. This prevents any process running on the client device from fooling the client device into communicating confidential information to a third party rather than the desired remote computer, because the client device never sees the sensitive information in an unencrypted form; only the peripheral device has access to the sensitive information in an unencrypted form. |
| US08417939B2 |
Method and apparatus for file sharing between a group of user devices with encryption-decryption information sent via satellite and the content sent separately
A communication system 100 includes a group of user devices 110, a first satellite 106 and a content delivery network 120 in communication with the group of user devices 110. The content delivery network 120 communicates encryption-decryption information to the plurality of user devices using the first satellite 106 and encrypts the content in response to the encryption-decryption information. The content delivery network 120 communicates the content to the plurality of user devices separately from the encryption-decryption information. The plurality of user devices 110 decrypts the content in response to the encryption-decryption information. A control word packet may also be used to convey security information to the user devices so that decryption may be performed. |
| US08417937B2 |
System and method for securely transfering content from set-top box to personal media player
A media player is provided for receiving session data from a security socket layer. The session data includes encrypted content data, a content key and digital rights data, wherein the content key and the digital rights data have been encrypted with a SSL session key. The said media player includes a first processor portion and a second processor portion. The first processor portion is arranged to receive the session data, has a second key. The first processor portion and can generate the SSL session key and can decrypt the session data with the SSL session key. The first processor portion can further re-encrypt the decrypted content key with the second key and can output the re-encrypted content key and digital rights data. The second processor portion is arranged to receive the re-encrypted content key and digital rights data. The first processor portion can further decrypt the content, and is externally inaccessible. |
| US08417932B2 |
Information processing apparatus and control method thereof
An information processing apparatus including an apparatus body and a system control apparatus. The apparatus body includes a first processing unit that executes an arithmetic operation; a first storage unit that stores configuration information of the first processing unit; and a first control unit that controls a readout of the configuration information. The system control apparatus includes a second storage unit that stores a program for controlling the system control apparatus and diagnosis procedures of the information processing apparatus; a second processing unit that reads the program and executes the program; and a second control unit that detects the first processing unit by reading the configuration information via the first control unit on the basis of the diagnosis procedures stored in the second storage unit simultaneously with the execution of the program by the second processing unit. |
| US08417931B2 |
Method and system for NAND flash support in an autonomously loaded secure reprogrammable system
A boot code may be segmented to allow separate and independent storage of the code segments in a manner that may enable secure system boot by autonomous fetching and assembling of the boot code by a security sub-system. The code fetching may need to be done without the main CPU running on the chip for security reasons. Because the boot code may be stored in memory devices that require special software application to account for non-contiguous storage of data and/or code, for example a NAND flash memory which would require such an application as Bad Block Management, code segments stored in areas guaranteed to be usable may enable loading remaining segment separately and independently. Each of the code segments may be validated, wherein validation of the code segments may comprise use of hardware-based signatures. |
| US08417929B2 |
System for selecting a server from a plurality of server groups to provide a service to a user terminal based on a boot mode indicated in a boot information from the user terminal
A cloud computing system is provided in order to meet the requirement for efficiently processing a large amount of information, and to meet the requirement for stable performance. This is achieved by a computer system including a user terminal, a plurality of servers connected to the user terminal through a network to provide services to the user terminal, and a management device for managing a server for providing a service to the user terminal. In the computer system, the user terminal transmits the boot information indicating one boot mode among fix boot, first boot, and not-first boot, to the management device. The management device selects a server for providing a service to the user terminal based on the boot information. Then, the selected server provides the service to the user terminal. |
| US08417925B2 |
Processor register recovery after flush operation
An information handling system includes a processor that may perform general purpose register recovery operations after an instruction flush operation that an exception, such as a branch misprediction causes. The processor receives an instruction stream that may include multiple instructions that operate on a particular target register that stores instruction result information. The general purpose register may temporarily store instruction opcode and register bits information for use during dispatch, execution and other operations. The processor includes a recovery buffer unit for use during flush recovery operations. The processor may use recovery valid and recovery pending bits that correspond with each instruction during the register recovery from flush operation. |
| US08417924B2 |
Data processing device and method of halting exception processing
A processor begins exception processing in response to an exception event. Exception processing by the processor is halted during exception processing to facilitate debugging. The exception event can be a reset exception event or an interrupt exception event. Normal exception processing by the data processor can be resumed after debugging, or exception processing by the data processor can be aborted to allow the normal execution of instructions by the data processor to resume. An exception event can be selectively treated as an interrupt or a reset. |
| US08417923B2 |
Data processing apparatus having trace and prediction logic
A data processing apparatus is disclosed including trace logic for monitoring behavior of a portion of said data processing apparatus and prediction logic for providing at least one prediction as to at least one step of the behavior of the portion of the data processing apparatus. The trace logic monitors behavior of the portion of the data processing apparatus, determines from the monitored behavior whether the at least one prediction is correct, and outputs a prediction indicator indicating whether the at least one prediction is correct. |
| US08417918B2 |
Reconfigurable processor with designated processing elements and reserved portion of register file for interrupt processing
An interrupt handling technology and a reconfigurable processor are provided. The reconfigurable processor includes a plurality of processing elements, and some of the processing elements are designated for interrupt handling. When an interrupt request occurs while the reconfigurable processor is executing a loop operation, the designated processing elements may process the interrupt request. The interrupt handling technology allows the interrupt request and the loop operation to be processed in parallel. |
| US08417914B2 |
Memory address translation
The present disclosure includes devices, systems, and methods for memory address translation. One or more embodiments include a memory array and a controller coupled to the array. The array includes a first table having a number of records, wherein each record includes a number of entries, wherein each entry includes a physical address corresponding to a data segment stored in the array and a logical address. The controller includes a second table having a number of records, wherein each record includes a number of entries, wherein each entry includes a physical address corresponding to a record in the first table and a logical address. The controller also includes a third table having a number of records, wherein each record includes a number of entries, wherein each entry includes a physical address corresponding to a record in the second table and a logical address. |
| US08417912B2 |
Management of low-paging space conditions in an operating system
A virtual memory management unit can implement various techniques for managing paging space. The virtual memory management unit can monitor a number of unallocated large sized pages and can determine when the number of unallocated large sized pages drops below a page threshold. Unallocated contiguous smaller-sized pages can be aggregated to obtain unallocated larger-sized pages, which can then be allocated to processes as required to improve efficiency of disk I/O operations. Allocated smaller-sized pages can also be reorganized to obtain the unallocated contiguous smaller-sized pages that can then be aggregated to yield the larger-sized pages. If allocated smaller-sized pages belonging to a second process cannot be de-allocated by reorganizing, the second process can be terminated to de-allocate the pages. Furthermore, content can also be compressed before being written to the paging space to reduce the number of pages that are to be allocated to processes. |
| US08417911B2 |
Associating input/output device requests with memory associated with a logical partition
An address controller includes a bit selector that receives a first portion of a requester id and selects a bit from a vector that identifies whether a requesting function is an SR-IOV device or a standard PCIe device. The controller also includes a selector coupled to the bit selector that forms an output comprised of either a second portion of the RID or a first portion of the address portion based on an input received from the selector and an address control unit that receives the first portion of the RID and the output and determines the LPAR that owns the requesting function based thereon, the address control unit providing the corrected memory request to the memory. |
| US08417909B2 |
Block management and data writing method, and flash memory storage system and controller using the same
A block management method for managing a plurality of physical blocks is provided. The method includes grouping the physical blocks into a plurality of physical units, grouping a portion of the physical units into a data area and a spare area, configuring a plurality of logical units, and grouping the logical units into a plurality of logical unit groups and configuring another portion of the physical units as a plurality of global random physical units corresponding to the logical unit groups, wherein each of the global random physical units corresponds to one of the logical unit groups. The method further includes getting the physical units from the spare area as global random substitute physical units of the global random physical units. Accordingly, the method can store data in the global random physical units or the global random substitute physical units, thereby reducing the time for executing a host write command. |
| US08417906B2 |
Method and system to locate a storage device
A request is received from a client machine via a web interface for content presented on a web page. A globally unique identifier (GUID) that is associated with the user is accessed and a number is generated based on the GUID. The generated number is utilized as an index to locate the storage device from the number of storage devices. Here, the storage device stores a user profile associated with the user. The user profile is read from the located storage device and the web page is personalized based on this user profile. The personalized web page is then communicated to the client machine. Other techniques for locating a storage device are also described. |
| US08417900B1 |
Power save module for storage controllers
A storage controller includes a memory controller that interfaces with memory that stores data. A first receive logic interface provides an interface to a host. A second receive logic interface provides an interface to a storage device. A power save module has a power save mode in which at least a clock of the memory controller is turned off while a clock for operating the first receive logic interface and the second receive logic interface is kept on. |
| US08417897B2 |
System and method for providing locale-based optimizations in a transactional memory
The system and methods described herein may reduce read/write fence latencies and cache pressure related to STM metadata accesses. These techniques may leverage locality information (as reflected by the value of a respective locale guard) associated with each of a plurality of data partitions (locales) in a shared memory to elide various operations in transactional read/write fences when transactions access data in locales owned by their threads. The locale state may be disabled, free, exclusive, or shared. For a given memory access operation of an atomic transaction targeting an object in the shared memory, the system may implement the memory access operation using a contention mediation mechanism selected based on the value of the locale guard associated with the locale in which the target object resides. For example, a traditional read/write fence may be employed in some memory access operations, while other access operations may employ an optimized read/write fence. |
| US08417894B2 |
Data processing circuit with cache and interface for a detachable device
A processor (10) of processes data using a cache circuit (12). The processor (20) is coupled to a functionally detachable device (19) via the cache circuit (12). When a cache line is loaded into cache memory (120), it is tested whether the cache line has an address within a detachable device address range allocated to the detachable device (19). If so, identification of the cache line, or a range of addresses that includes the address of the cache line is stored. When a flush command is received that requires write back cached data to the detachable device, the identification is used to select the cache line for selective write back to the detachable device. Thus less cache data needs to be invalidated when a device is functionally detached from the circuit. |
| US08417891B2 |
Shared cache memories for multi-core processors
Embodiments of shared cache memories for multi-core processors are presented. In one embodiment, a cache memory comprises a group of sampling cache sets and a controller to determine a number of misses that occur in the group of sampling cache sets. The controller is operable to determine a victim cache line for a cache set based at least in part on the number of misses. |
| US08417889B2 |
Two partition accelerator and application of tiered flash to cache hierarchy in partition acceleration
An approach is provided to identify a disabled processing core and an active processing core from a set of processing cores included in a processing node. Each of the processing cores is assigned a cache memory. The approach extends a memory map of the cache memory assigned to the active processing core to include the cache memory assigned to the disabled processing core. A first amount of data that is used by a first process is stored by the active processing core to the cache memory assigned to the active processing core. A second amount of data is stored by the active processing core to the cache memory assigned to the inactive processing core using the extended memory map. |
| US08417886B2 |
Storage system
The storage system includes a disk controller for receiving write commands from a computer, and a plurality of disk devices in which data is written in accordance with the control of the disk controller. The size of the first block which constitutes the data unit handled in the execution of the input/output processing of the data in accordance with the write command by the disk controller is different from the size of the second block which constitutes the data unit handled in the execution of the input/output processing of data by the plurality of disk devices. The disk controller issues an instruction for the writing of data to the disk devices using a third block unit of a size corresponding to a common multiple of the size of the first block and the size of the second block. |
| US08417880B2 |
System for NAND flash parameter auto-detection
A system comprising a NAND flash memory device having a multiplicity of parameters; a flash controller configured to perform a NAND flash memory parameter automatic detection process including reading a device identifier of the NAND flash memory device and proceeding if a valid device identifier value is returned, detecting an address cycle and a block type of the NAND flash memory device, detecting a page size of the NAND flash memory device, detecting a spare size of the NAND flash memory device, detecting a memory size of the NAND flash memory device, and detecting a block size of the NAND flash memory device. |
| US08417879B2 |
Method for suppressing errors, and associated memory device and controller thereof
A method for suppressing errors is provided. The method is applied to a controller of a Flash memory, where the Flash memory includes a plurality of blocks. The method includes: according to an address of data to be written into or read from the Flash memory, determining whether to utilize an original seed as an input seed of a randomizer/derandomizer, where the randomizer/derandomizer is arranged to generate a random function according to the input seed, with the random function being utilized for adjusting a plurality of bits of the data bit by bit, and with regard to at least each block of the blocks, a value of the original seed remains unvaried; and when it is determined that the original seed should not be utilized as the input seed, generating the random function according to a new seed to adjust the data. |
| US08417875B2 |
Non-volatile memory controller processing new request before completing current operation, system including same, and method
A non-volatile memory controller, system and method capable of processing a next request as an interrupt before completing a current operation are disclosed. The non-volatile memory system includes a first memory storing meta data loaded from a flash memory; a second memory storing the meta data copied from the first memory; and a flash memory controller copying the meta data from the first memory to the second memory, changing the meta data in the second memory, and then re-copying the changed meta data from the second memory to the first memory during a first-type operation that requires changes in the meta data. |
| US08417871B1 |
System for increasing storage media performance
A storage access system provides consistent memory access times for storage media with inconsistent access latency and reduces bottlenecks caused by the variable time delays during memory write operations. Data is written iteratively into multiple different media devices to prevent write operations from blocking all other memory access operations. The multiple copies of the same data then allow subsequent read operations to avoid the media devices currently servicing the write operations. Write operations can be aggregated together to improve the overall write performance to a storage media. A performance index determines how many media devices store the same data. The number of possible concurrent reads varies according to the number of media devices storing the data. Therefore, the performance index provides different selectable Quality of Service (QoS) for data in the storage media. |
| US08417866B2 |
Media card command pass through methods
Methods for transmitting application specific or extended commands between a host and a memory card are disclosed. Commands for an extended card protocol are embedded in messages, along with a marker, in the data or command portion of a base card transmission protocol that is used to communicate between the host and the memory card. This allows for the transmission of application specific commands that lack a corresponding command in the base card protocol. The method can be implemented on the host side at the device driver level or the file level. In order to implement a read command in the extended card protocol, a write command in the base card protocol with an encapsulated read command in the extended protocol is first sent to a logical address, followed by a read command to the same logical address. Message set identifiers associate embedded commands and data received in separate transmissions. |
| US08417864B2 |
Cascade-able serial bus device with clock and management and cascade methods using the same
A cascade-able serial bus device for coupling between a host device and another serial bus device is disclosed. The host device includes a serial bus interface. The serial bus device includes a first connection interface, a second connection interface and a bypassing module. The first connection interface is coupled to the serial bus interface of the host device. The second connection interface is coupled to the second serial bus device. The bypassing module is coupled to a chip select (CS) signal line of the serial bus interface and the second connection interface for selectively bypassing or non-bypassing the CS signal to the second serial bus device. |
| US08417861B2 |
Wireless bus for intra-chip and inter-chip communication, including data center/server embodiments
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a wire-free data center/server. The data center/server is wire-free in the sense that communication within a data unit of the data center/server (i.e., intra-data unit), between data units of the data center/server (inter-data unit), and between the data units and the backplane of the data center/server is performed wirelessly. |
| US08417853B2 |
Universal serial bus host control methods and universal serial bus host controllers
A USB host control method is provided for a USB host controller. The USB host controller includes a USB device and a buffer, the USB device includes one or more endpoints. The USB host control method includes the steps of: storing first output data to be sent to a first endpoint into one or more buffer units used for the first endpoint; sending the first output data to the first endpoint; and when a first predetermined response from the first endpoint is received, configuring fake releasing labels and information tags corresponding to the first endpoint in the one or more buffer units, and not releasing the one or more buffer units. |
| US08417850B2 |
Information processing device and method for processing signal of information processing device
An information processing device is provided with plural HDMI connectors through which an audio signal is supplied to the other information processing device. The device allows selection of an audio signal supply destination. The audio signal supply is requested, and the audio signal is supplied to the specified information processing device in the requested arriving order. The information processing device of a specific type is determined as a priority device which is preferentially selected to receive the audio signal. If the information processing device of specific type is determined as the priority device, and supply of the audio signal therefrom is requested, the audio signal is supplied to the priority device by terminating the audio signal supply to the other information processing device. The audio signal may be supplied to plural supply destinations. |
| US08417848B2 |
Method and apparatus for implementing multiple service processing functions
A multi-service processing method, including: configuring different cores of a multi-core processor to process different services; and sending received packets to the cores in the pre-defined service processing sequence. The multi-core processor apparatus, includes the configuration management unit, the packet distributing unit, and the multi-core processor. The method and apparatus can save investments in devices while implementing multiple service processing functions. |
| US08417847B2 |
Devices, systems, and methods regarding a PLC
Certain exemplary embodiments can comprise a system, which can comprise a module communicatively coupled to a programmable logic controller (PLC). The module can comprise a transmission circuit and/or a receiving circuit. The module can be adapted to communicate with the PLC via 8B/10B encoded frames. A frame of the 8B/10B encoded frames can comprise a plurality of ordered fields. |
| US08417842B2 |
Virtual direct memory access (DMA) channel technique with multiple engines for DMA controller
A virtual DMA channel technique in which a generally larger number of DMA channels are mapped to a generally smaller number of DMA engines can provide a configuration in which switches amongst DMA engines (and therefore amongst a current working set of DMA channels currently mapped thereto) can be accomplished without context switch latency. Accordingly, as long as contents of the current working set can be appropriately managed, many changes (whether or nor priority based) between a current active DMA channel and a next runnable DMA channel can be accomplished without incurring a context switch latency such as normally associated with loading/restoring and/or saving DMA context information. In some embodiments, a working set or replacement strategy that seeks to cache a most frequently (or most recently) used subset of virtual DMA channels is employed. In some embodiments, a set- or frame-oriented variants of such strategies may be employed. |
| US08417841B2 |
Communication system, host device, and terminal device
Provided is a host device (10), which can establish a communication connection with a terminal device (20) and can be connected to a peripheral device (30), including a first communication section and a second communication section, via the first communication section. The host device (10) transmits information for identifying the terminal device (20) acquired from the terminal device (20) to the peripheral device (30) as communication destination identification information that allows the peripheral device (30) to identify a communication partner in a case of performing communications via the second communication section, when the host device (10) is connected to the terminal device (20) and connected to the peripheral device (30) via the first communication section. |
| US08417839B1 |
Concurrent actions for data storage
The disclosure is related to systems and methods of concurrent actions for data storage. A controller may be configured to initialize a first data storage medium and a second data storage medium. The controller may receive a command when the first data storage medium is initialized but before the second data storage medium is initialized. The controller may service the command when the command utilizes the first data storage medium and the initialization for the second data storage medium is not complete. A controller may also be configured to send an indicator to a host that the system is ready to receive commands when a first data storage device is initialized, but a second data storage device is still in an initialization process. |
| US08417838B2 |
System and method for configurable digital communication
The present invention pertains to a configurable PCI-Express switch. The configurable PCI-Express switch includes a differential I/O interface capable of being configured in a first configuration or a second configuration. In the first configuration, the differential I/O interface implements a PCI-Express interface with a coupled device. In the second configuration, the differential I/O interface implements a differential interface other than PCI-Express with the coupled device. The configurable PCI-Express switch also includes a switching unit capable of configuring the differential I/O interface in the first configuration or the second configuration. |
| US08417837B2 |
Set sampling controls instruction
A measurement sampling facility takes snapshots of the central processing unit (CPU) on which it is executing at specified sampling intervals to collect data relating to tasks executing on the CPU. The collected data is stored in a buffer, and at selected times, an interrupt is provided to remove data from the buffer to enable reuse thereof. The interrupt is not taken after each sample, but in sufficient time to remove the data and minimize data loss. |
| US08417835B2 |
Information processing apparatus, and information processing method
There is provided an apparatus including a plurality of modules. Each module includes a storage unit configured to store a waiting ID and a specific ID of the module, a communication unit configured to transmit and receive packets to and from a bus, and a processing unit configured to process data of a packet which includes a valid flag indicating that the packet is valid, wherein the communication unit takes in data held by a packet which has an ID that coincides with the waiting ID, and stores the processed data in a packet which includes the valid flag indicating invalid and an ID coincident with the specific ID, and transmits the packet. |
| US08417832B2 |
Routing a session initiation protocol (SIP) message in a communication system
An approach that provides routing a SIP message to a proxy server of a called party in a communication network is provided. In one embodiment, there is a routing tool that assists in routing a session initiation protocol (SIP) message to a called party. The routing tool, including a receiving component, receives a SIP message of a user making a call in the network. The routing tool further includes a parsing component configured to parse the message to determine the domain of the called party and performs a table lookup using the domain of the called party in order to: retrieve a destination code; embed the destination code into the message; and route the message based on the destination code. |
| US08417831B2 |
Method for IPv4 application transition over IPv6 networks
A network system adopting a first IP protocol is provided. The network system includes an address allocating server and a communication terminal supporting both the first IP protocol and a second IP protocol, wherein the address allocating server dynamically allocates an address of the second IP protocol to the communication terminal. The communication terminal includes a dynamic address manager for acquiring the dynamically allocated address of the second IP protocol of the communication terminal from the address allocating server and a second IP protocol address of the destination of a second IP protocol packet from a second IP protocol application, and an address adapter for encapsulating the second IP protocol packet from the second IP protocol application into a first IP protocol packet, wherein the second IP protocol address of the communication terminal in the header of the second IP protocol packet and the second IP protocol address of the destination are encapsulated into the first IP protocol packet. |
| US08417821B2 |
System and method of enabling TCP splice with a content-based charging proxy
A system and method of enabling transmission control protocol (TCP) splice between a client application and a server, while maintaining control of the connections by a contest-based charging proxy. The system framework includes a TCP splicing module for splicing connections between a client application and a server, an application proxy (e.g., content-based charging proxy) for redirecting a request of the client application, and a content-based charging engine for determining the classification of the data flow between the client application and the server. If the data flow has a predetermined classification or a triggering event has been detected, the content-based charging engine transfers control of the connections to the application proxy. The application proxy, for example, can redirect the client application to a predetermined service or source based on the classification of the data flow. |
| US08417820B2 |
Methods and systems for selecting media content based on technical environment information
The present disclosure includes methods and systems for selecting media content based on technical environment information. A connection over a network between a server and a client is established. The e connection is associated with the technical environment information and the technical environment information is associated with an the ability of the client to playback media content locally. The method includes selecting, at the server, a version of media content appropriate for playback at the client locally based on the ability of the client. |
| US08417817B1 |
Preventing server overload
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for preventing server overload. In one aspect, a method includes placing each request of a plurality of requests into a queue. Requests are popped from the queue, and for each popped request, in response to popping the request: a counter value is incremented; computing resources are allocated for the request; a determination is made that a condition for which computing resources allocated for the request can be de-allocated has occurred; and the counter value is decremented after the condition occurs. In response to determining that the counter value does not exceed a threshold number, requests continue to be popped from the queue. In response to determining that the counter value exceeds the threshold number, requests are not popped from the queue until the counter value is decremented to or below the threshold number. |
| US08417816B2 |
Topology aware cache cooperation
A content distribution network (CDN) comprising a hierarchy of content storage nodes (CSNs) or caches having storage space that is allocated between local space for storing locally popular content objects and federated space for storing a portion of the less popular content objects. Local space and federated space based upon changes in content object popularity and/or other utility factors. Optionally, parent/child (upstream/downstream) communication paths are used to migrate content between CSNs or caches of the same or different hierarchical levels to avoid utilizing higher price top hierarchical level communications channels. |
| US08417809B1 |
Event supression method and system
A method and system for managing and dynamically suppressing event notification is provided. The method and system receives an indication of an event from a storage environment to be processed by a support system according to a set of default delivery parameters. Next, the method and system determines if one or more event specific delivery parameters have been associated with the event. If this is the case, then the method and system modifies the default delivery parameters for the information associated with the event according to the one or more event specific delivery parameters. These event specific delivery parameters are also used to determine when to transmit a notification of the event to the support system. The dynamic suppression of events combines events gathered into an event log together into a set of one or more recurring events. From these events, the method and system then identifies a high frequency subset as one or more recurring events considered to occur at a higher frequency compared with a low frequency subset having one or more recurring events that occur at a lower frequency. Based on this information gathered, the method and system then eliminates a portion of the events in the high frequency subset until the frequency of events in the high frequency subset approximates the frequency of events in the low frequency subset. |
| US08417808B2 |
Device linkage control apparatus
A device linkage control system is provided that includes a life data recording apparatus for accumulating usage information on the use of devices by a user, as life data, and a life pattern extraction apparatus including an episode creation unit that takes, as element data, details related to an identified episode from among life data and creates episode data which is a combination of the element data. Moreover, the system includes an episode analysis unit that analyzes relationships between the element data included in the episode data, and a life pattern interpretation unit that identifies, from the relationships between the element data, the life pattern which is characteristic of the user, and records this pattern, as life pattern information, and a control apparatus for linkage controlling of the devices by using the life pattern information of the user stored in the life pattern storage unit. |
| US08417807B2 |
Assessment of click or traffic quality
Systems and methods enable displaying an indication of traffic quality. The system retrieves keyword or other traffic data for at least one keyword associated with at least one search engine. The system compares the traffic data for a first time period to the traffic data for a second time period, according to one or more date ranges and other parameters selected by a user for each time period. As a result of the comparison, an indication of the traffic quality associated with a disparity between the first time period data and the second time period data, if any, is displayed. |
| US08417804B2 |
System for presenting media programs
A system for presenting media programs is disclosed. A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a multimedia system having a controller element to receive a request from a set-top box (STB) for an emulator that emulates a user interface of a media player, wherein the request identifies the media player, retrieve the emulator according to the identification of the media player, and transmit to the STB the emulator for emulating the user interface of the media player by way of the STB. Additional embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08417802B2 |
System and method for configuring a client electronic device
A method and computer program product for obtaining a main configuration file from a client electronic device upon the client electronic device being coupled to at least a portion of a media distribution system. The main configuration file defines one or more enhanced functionalities of the client electronic device. The client electronic device is coupled to the at least a portion of the media distribution system using a binary transfer protocol configured to transfer media data from the at least a portion of a media distribution system to a client electronic device. |
| US08417801B2 |
Managing remote computer training labs
An educational and training system allows organization and management of computers and course material used in teaching and administering classes of computer based information. Remote users access computers in laboratories or virtual classrooms as if they were actually using the computers within the laboratory or classroom. The system also allows management and tracking of the remote users and of other various course details. |
| US08417796B2 |
System and method for transferring a computing environment between computers of dissimilar configurations
A system and method for migrating a computer to another computer having dissimilar hardware, wherein a preparation stage for the transfer of a disk image between the origin and target computer comprise analyzing the origin computer and modifying certain parameters therein while operating under its native operating system. After the modification an image of the origin computer is taken and sent to the second computer. The second computer can then boot the image as the necessary changes for booting the target machine were made at the origin computer. The invention is particularly useful for transferring physical computer to a virtual machine environment, where it minimizes the time the origin computer is out of service, where the transfer may occur remotely to the origin computer or the target computer. Most importantly, the invention provides a very high rate of success in migrating a physical system to a virtual system. |
| US08417788B1 |
File system for virtual local area network
A file system that utilizes Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) addressing and routing schemes to permit implementing multiple networked file system applications in a single data processing system. In particular, a networked file server or data mover has associated with it a mass storage device such as one or more disk drives, as well as one or more Network Interface Cards (NICs). A network interface to the data mover is associated with VLAN identifiers (IDs) such that a VLAN ID can be assigned to each file system. At the physical layer of the data mover, VLAN information is encapsulated and passed up to various higher protocol layers, such as a network layer and/or a transport layer, eventually to a selected file system as dictated by the VLAN ID. The file system application in effect becomes an addressable element of the VLAN. A single data mover can thus be deployed to service multiple groups of end users, as long as the members of each group have different VLAN identifiers for the multiple file systems. The result provides security, access restrictions, and all the other benefits of VLAN protocols that would be obtained by deploying separate data movers for each VLAN, without incurring the acquisition expense and administrative overhead associated with having to purchase and maintain multiple data mover systems. |
| US08417782B2 |
Universal calendar event handling
System and method for handling calendar events among a plurality of user devices in a communication network are disclosed. The system includes a device manager for interfacing with the plurality of user devices, where the plurality of user devices use different calendar applications and have calendar events in different data formats, and the plurality of user devices include at least a meeting organizer device and one or more attendee devices. The system further includes a calendar gateway for processing the calendar events to form a corresponding connected calendar-data-set for each connected user, where the connected calendar-data-set is stored in a calendar backend server and is shared among one or more devices of each connected user, and an email gateway for communicating the calendar events between the calendar gateway and the plurality of user devices. |
| US08417778B2 |
Collective acceleration unit tree flow control and retransmit
A mechanism is provided for collective acceleration unit tree flow control forms a logical tree (sub-network) among those processors and transfers “collective” packets on this tree. The system supports many collective trees, and each collective acceleration unit (CAU) includes resources to support a subset of the trees. Each CAU has limited buffer space, and the connection between two CAUs is not completely reliable. Therefore, to address the challenge of collective packets traversing on the tree without colliding with each other for buffer space and guaranteeing the end-to-end packet delivery, each CAU in the system effectively flow controls the packets, detects packet loss, and retransmits lost packets. |
| US08417776B2 |
Online evidence collection
Collecting and preserving evidence developed during an on-line investigation. Evidence gathered on-line is hashed with a time stamp from an external time source and stored. Other data pertinent to an investigation is also stored and may also be hashed. The evidence may be presented later in a report that demonstrates the authenticity of the evidence. A computer system for on-line investigations includes a CPU, memory, input/output facilities, a communication element, and a security element such as a dongle. Communication software enables the investigator to communicate over the Internet and gather evidence. Investigation software enables the computer system to store and hash the evidence; this may be done automatically. A database structure includes tables for investigator and suspect data, cases, evidence, and provision for storing a time stamp indicating when the evidence was collected. |
| US08417774B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for a reconfigurable baseboard management controller
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for a baseboard management controller (BMC) which includes an FPGA with a monitor module for monitoring the operations parameters of a host computer device. In addition, the BMC has a host connector that connects the BMC to the system bus of the host computing device, allowing the BMC access to the computing elements on the host. The host connector has reconfigurable pins with connection configuration controlled by the FPGA. In addition, the BMC has a server with a processor and associated non-volatile memory on board. The operating system provides services to the host computing device and its constituent components, as well as allowing advanced networking and interconnectivity with other BMCs in a management network. |
| US08417770B2 |
Data redirection system and method therefor
A data redirection system and method comprises a first and second redirector in one or more embodiments. The first redirector may receive and respond to requests for a network service by redirecting a client's request to the second redirector. The second redirector may receive and respond to the redirected request by sending a network address of a gateway. The gateway may provide an enhanced communication link with a network resource providing the network service. In this manner, communications used to provide the network service may be redirected to the enhanced communication link. The requests for a network service and responses to the requests will typically be communicated over a standard communication link. |
| US08417762B2 |
Mechanism for execution of multi-site jobs in a data stream processing system
A cooperative data stream processing system utilizing a plurality of independent, autonomous and heterogeneous sites in a cooperative arrangement process user-defined job requests over dynamic, continuous streams of data. A distributed plan is created that identifies the processing elements that constitute a job that is derived from user-defined inquiries. These processing elements are arranged into subjobs that are mapped to various sites within the system for execution. The jobs are executed across the plurality of distributed sites in accordance with the distributed plan. The distributed plan also includes requirements for monitoring and back-up of the execution sites in the event of a failure on one of those sites. Execution of the jobs in accordance with the distributed plan is facilitated by the identification of an owner site to which the distributed plan is communicated and which is responsible for driving the execution of the distributed plan. |
| US08417761B2 |
Direct decimal number tripling in binary coded adders
The digital propagate, digit generate, sum+0, and sum+1 terms used in typical carry-propagate adders are generated directly off the multiplicand. During the direct generation, the logic takes into account that each digit will be tripled and if each digit's next less significant digit is greater than 4. Using this technique, the generation of the multiplicand is significantly faster and uses less circuitry. |
| US08417756B2 |
Method and apparatus for efficient modulo multiplication
A method of a hardware based Montgomery reduction contemplates preparing a table comprising a plurality of sets of values of 2K+i (mod n), 2K+i+1 (mod n) and (2K+i+2K+i+1)(mod n), where i=0 to M−2, n is a modulo number, K is an integer, and M is a number of significant bits in a binary Y; selecting one of the values within one of the plurality of sets of the table in dependence upon a value of two neighboring bits Yi+1,i of the binary Y; adding two neighboring selected values and calculating the modulo value of the sum value with the modulo number n; repeatedly adding two neighboring calculated modulo values and calculating the modulo value of the intermediate sum of the two neighboring calculated modulo values until only a single calculated module value is obtained; and setting the single value as the Montgomery representation. |
| US08417755B1 |
Systems and methods for reducing memory traffic and power consumption in a processing environment by solving a system of linear equations
A system and methods for reducing memory traffic and power consumption when solving systems of linear equations. Certain embodiments provide several aspects for improved performance in solving a consistent system of linear equations and in computing a generalized inverse. One aspect involves performing row transformations on AX=B, so that the transformed A contains row vectors that are either zero or are part of an orthonormal set. Another aspect involves performing column transformations on A, so that A contains column vectors that are either zero or are part of an orthonormal set. Another aspect involves performing row eliminations differently so that a variation of an LU factorization is obtained that is in a more directly useful form. |
| US08417744B2 |
Techniques to manage a collection of objects in heterogeneous environments
Techniques to perform garbage collection in an environment where more than one software programming language is in use are described. A technique may include creating a managed proxy object in one language that creates an unmanaged object in memory in a different language. A collection of nodes is generated and maintained, where a node comprises: a reference to the managed proxy object, and a reference to the unmanaged object. A count of the nodes in the collection is maintained. When the count exceeds a threshold, the collection is traversed, and garbage collection is performed on any unmanaged object in a node when the managed proxy object in the same node has been collected. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08417743B2 |
Data management apparatus, data management program and data management system
In an apparatus for managing data processed in a vehicle, from outside the vehicle, acquired is a management rule including at least one of information indicating types of data to be acquired by an external device placed outside the vehicle and information indicating an acquisition cycle at which the data should be acquired. At least one of the type of data and the acquisition cycle is set by making reference to the management rule in response to acquisition of the management rule. Data is acquired, which is according to at least of one of the type of data and the acquisition cycle. The acquired data is stored in a data recorder. |
| US08417739B2 |
Systems and methods for object-based modeling using hierarchical model objects
Embodiments relate to systems and methods for object-based modeling using hierarchical model objects. A modeling client can host modeling logic and an application programming interface (API) to create, access, manipulate, and import/export modeling objects used in modeling applications, such as engineering, medical, financial, and other modeling platforms. In aspects, the source data accepted into the modeling client can include consumer or business-level applications, whose spreadsheet, database or other content can be extracted and encapsulated in extensible markup language (XML) or other object-oriented format. Various model objects can be extracted from source data, and aggregated into a hierarchical model object encapsulating and preserving the underlying object layers. In aspects, one or more of the model object layers can functionally combine at least two other layers, to relate levels of data in hierarchical fashion. The modeling client can exchange composite or other modeling objects with external platforms on a programmatic basis. |
| US08417733B2 |
Dynamic atomic bitsets
Embodiments of the present invention provide techniques, including systems, methods, and computer readable medium, for dynamic atomic bitsets. A dynamic atomic bitset is a data structure that provides a bitset that can grow or shrink in size as required. The dynamic atomic bitset is non-blocking, wait-free, and thread-safe. |
| US08417726B2 |
Guided structure synchronization
Method and apparatus for enabling the user to guide the synchronization of a source data structure with a target data structure. The guided synchronization stores the operations defined by the user and reapplies them to future synchronizations. |
| US08417725B2 |
Consolidating related task data in process management solutions
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for managing task data. A task advisor identifies a set of queries and a set of data sources mapped to a task type in a mapping entry. The task type is associated with a selected task. The mapping entry maps the task type to the set of queries. The set of queries is mapped to the set of data sources. The task advisor sends each query in the set of queries to a corresponding data source in the set of data sources. The task advisor aggregates the data received from the set of data sources in response to the set of queries. A user may utilize the aggregated data to complete the selected task. |
| US08417724B2 |
File server for extracting and displaying file list on client, method of providing display on client, and computer program executable on file server
A file server for displaying, on a client, files to be retrieved, a method of providing a display on the client, and a computer program product with program instructions executable on the file server. The number of files to be displayed and start point information related to the start point of a file list to be extracted is acquired from a client, and a file list is extracted from files stored as a partitioned data set in a storage device based on the number of files and start point information acquired. The numbers of preceding and succeeding files stored before and behind the extracted file list are calculated, the calculated numbers of the preceding and succeeding files and the extracted file list are sent to the client. The client displays the file list and the received numbers of remaining files before and behind the received file list, respectively. |
| US08417722B2 |
Profiling method and system
The invention relates to a method and system for profiling recipients into recipient categories on the basis of responses to content items provided to users. The profiling is based on rankings that are assigned to the content items, recipient categories, links between the content items and links between the content items and recipient categories. In one embodiment the ranking of a given content item is calculated on the basis of rankings of other content items having a link to the given content item, together with the ranking of the link between the content items, while the ranking of a given respondent in respect of a given recipient category is calculated on the basis of rankings of content items and/or categories that have a link to that recipient category. The links between content items and to the recipient categories indicate a particular response, by the respondent, in respect of content items. The recipients are profiled with respect to the recipient categories on the basis of the rankings assigned to the recipient categories. |
| US08417713B1 |
Sentiment detection as a ranking signal for reviewable entities
A method, a system and a computer program product for ranking reviewable entities based on sentiment expressed about the entities. A plurality of review texts are identified wherein each review text references an entity. A plurality of sentiment scores associated with the plurality of review texts are generated, wherein each sentiment score for a review text indicates a sentiment directed to the entity referenced by the review text. A plurality of ranking scores for the plurality of entities are generated wherein each ranking score is based at least in part on one or more sentiment scores associated with one or more review texts referencing the entity. A plurality of search results associated with the plurality of entities are displayed based at least in part on the ranking scores. |
| US08417711B2 |
Data analysis based on data linking elements
A computer controlled method for automatically segmenting an ensemble of data. The method starts by acquiring an ensemble of data and data is segmented by identifying a first subset of sequences of Linking Data Elements based on a repository of Linking Data Elements. A second subset of sequences of Information Carrying Data Elements is identified, wherein the sequences are linked by the Linking Data Elements. The subsets are provided in a structured format. |
| US08417710B2 |
Public relations and reputation mining via semantic analytics
A method, information processing system, and computer readable storage medium manage public relations queries using semantic analysis. A public relations query expressed in natural language is received from a user. A set of relevant topics and subjects associated with the query are identified. A set of information sources are identified that comprise data associated with the set of topics and subjects based on the set of topics and subjects. A set of data from the set of information sources is identified that satisfies the query. A set of weights are assigned to the set of data that has been identified. A set of data elements within the set of data that comprises a set of weights above a given threshold are identified. A response to the query is generated using the set of data elements that has been identified. |
| US08417705B2 |
Graphically displaying a file system
The contents of a computer file system are displayed on a graphical user interface. File system metadata descriptive of the computer file system and file metadata descriptive of each of a plurality of files are gathered. A file selection is received indicating a file accessed by the user. A user context is determined by the file metadata. The files are clustered using the file system metadata, a set of file metadata, and the user context. The set of file clusters are mapped onto a visualization model and graphically displayed on the graphical user interface using the visualization model. |
| US08417698B2 |
Systems and methods to provide search based on social graphs and affinity groups
Business, recommendation, and social relationship graph information for businesses may be received from a data source social networking website, where each business is recommended by users. The recommendation information may indicate users that recommend certain businesses. The social relationship graph information may indicate user-specific networks of social relationships on the social networking website. For a user query including business and affinity group selection criteria, business, recommendation, and social relationship graph information may be searched to select businesses that: match the business selection criteria; and are recommended by users having social relationships within a maximum degree of closeness with the querying user and being in an affinity group matching the affinity group selection criteria. The selected businesses may be ranked based on numbers of recommending users and social relationship graph information. A search result, with businesses indicated in a rank order and with business and recommendation information, may be provided. |
| US08417694B2 |
System and method for constructing targeted ranking from multiple information sources
Embodiments of the invention provide a system and method for determining preferences from information mashups and, in particular, a system and method for constructing a ranked list from multiple sources. In an exemplary embodiment, the system and method tunably combines multiple ranked lists by computing a score for each item within the list, wherein the score is a function of the associated rank of the item within the list. In one exemplary embodiment, the function is equal to 1/(n^(1/p)), where p is a tuning parameter that enables selection between responsiveness in the combined ranking to one candidate ranked highly in one source versus responsiveness in the combined ranking to a candidate with lower but broader support among the various sources ranking the candidates. |
| US08417690B2 |
Automatically avoiding unconstrained cartesian product joins
Database queries for retrieving data from database tables, that do not impose any constraints on the data to be retrieved, result in Cartesian product joins. Such unconstrained database queries when executed impose a significant load on resources, take a long time to execute, and may produce inaccurate and misleading results. Functionality can be implemented to reduce the amount of data retrieved by constraining database queries resulting in Cartesian product joins before they are executed. This can be done by leveraging referential constraints that depict relationships between the tables to be joined to limit the results produced by executing the Cartesian product join. Automatically detecting and preventing execution of Cartesian product joins by leveraging the referential constraints can reduce the processing load on the machine, reduce the time spent in executing the database query, minimize the number of query results, and prevent inaccurate results from being displayed. |
| US08417686B2 |
Web crawler scheduler that utilizes sitemaps from websites
Methods and systems for a web crawler scheduler that utilizes sitemaps from websites are described. A web crawler scheduling system receives a notification from a website or web server. In response to the notification, the system accesses one or more sitemap(s) for documents associated with the website or web server. The system schedules crawls of the documents based on information identified from the sitemaps. The system crawls at least a subset of the documents scheduled for crawling. |
| US08417683B2 |
System and method for presenting geolocated relevance-based content
The present invention provides for a computerized method and system for presenting geolocated relevance-based content including determining a geographic location of a mobile processing device and identifying a plurality of search queries associated with the geographic location of the mobile processing device. The computerized method and system further includes generating at least one search result responsive to at least one of the plurality of queries associated with the geographic location of the mobile processing device. Therefore, in the method and system, the mobile processing device is presented with one or more search results based on the geographic location of the mobile processing device. |
| US08417682B2 |
Visualization of attributes of workflow weblogs
Described is a method for visualization of attributes of workflow weblogs. A group of workflow weblogs is searched to find weblogs that have an attribute that satisfies a search condition. The group of workflow weblogs can include instantiations of a single workflow. Attributes are displayed for each of the weblogs found by the search. An attribute is displayed using a modified graphical parameter if the attribute satisfies a predefined condition for the attribute type. The modified graphical parameter can include modified text or a modified graphical structure. |
| US08417680B2 |
System for improving access efficiency in database and method thereof
A system and method for improving access efficiency in a database. The database stores values of a plurality of keys associated with the respective keys. The system of the invention executes a plurality of transactions on the database, and acquires and records a referenced value which is a value of a key referenced in a corresponding transaction from the database according to the execution of each of the transactions. Then, according to commit requests of the plurality of transactions, the system requests a reply of a resultant table including an arrangement of judgment results obtained by judging whether the value of the key stored in the database is maintained as the referenced value without change made by another transaction for the respective transactions. The system further judges whether each transaction is successful, based on the resultant table sent back and commits only transactions judged to be successful. |
| US08417676B2 |
Automated method for detecting and repairing configuration conflicts in a content management system
Embodiments of the invention provide for detecting and (in at least some cases) repairing XML configuration conflicts in a content management system (CMS). One method allows a CMS to evaluate various configuration components and determine when those components may conflict with one another. If a conflict is detected, the CMS may be configured to notify an administrator of the problem, and in some cases, correct the problem. As a result, administrators may not have to carefully evaluate each configuration file associated with a document type definition for a given document type before creating or modifying a content processing rule. |
| US08417674B2 |
System and method for creating deduplicated copies of data by sending difference data between near-neighbor temporal states
Systems and methods are disclosed for using a first deduplicating store to update a second deduplicating store with information representing how data objects change over time, said method comprising: at a first and a second deduplicating store, for each data object, maintaining an organized arrangement of temporal structures to represent a corresponding data object over time, wherein each structure is associated with a temporal state of the data object and wherein the logical arrangement of structures is indicative of the changing temporal states of the data object; finding a temporal state that is common to and in temporal proximity to the current state of the first and second deduplicating stores; and compiling and sending a set of hash signatures for the content that has changed from the common state to the current temporal state of the first deduplicating store. |
| US08417672B2 |
Item level recovery
A backup and restore system may present recovered backup data as local resources and in a read and write manner so that the recovered backup data may be accessed using an application that created the data. In some embodiments, the recovered data may be read only data, but a differencing virtual hard disk (VHD), Common Internet File System protocol, or differencing driver may be used to present a read/write version of the data. Additionally, the data may be presented using iSCSI or other technologies to present the data as local data, even though the data may be remotely located. The backup and restore system may additionally use VHD differencing technologies to create multiple backups. |
| US08417666B2 |
Structured coauthoring
A system is presented for structured coauthoring of a document, the system comprising a server. The server includes one or more documents organized into sections, a document permissions module that stores user access permissions for each section of a document, a document update processing module that processes requests from a user to share document updates with other users and that processes requests from a user to receive document updates from other users and a document rendering module that renders a document for display on a client so that sections of the document are updated with shared document updates made by users. The user access permissions determine the extent to which a user can modify each section of the document. |
| US08417658B2 |
Deployment pattern realization with models of computing environments
Deployment pattern matching is implemented by accessing a target computing environment model that captures environment modeling parameters relating to resources and resource-resource relationships of a corresponding computing environment and expressing the target computing environment model as a model graph defined by target resource elements and resource-to-resource relationship links. Deployment pattern matching is further implemented by accessing a realization pattern that captures deployment parameters relating to resources and resource-resource relationships of a deployment of interest and expressing the realization pattern as a pattern graph defined by conceptual resource elements and constraints arranged by resource-to-resource relationship links and constraint links. The realization pattern is then evaluated against the target computing environment model by executing at least one pattern matching algorithm that attempts to match the pattern graph to the model graph and information corresponding to results of the evaluation are conveyed. |
| US08417657B2 |
Methods and apparatus for computing graph similarity via sequence similarity
This disclosure describes systems and methods for identifying and correcting anomalies in web graphs. A web graph is transformed into a sequence of tokens via a walk algorithm. The sequence is fingerprinted to form a set of shingles. The singles are compared to shingles for other web graphs in order to determine similarity between web graphs. Actions are then carried out to remove anomalous web graphs and modify parameters governing web mapping in order to decrease the likelihood of future anomalous web graphs being built. |
| US08417656B2 |
Techniques for building an aggregate model for performing diagnostics
Techniques for building a model for performing diagnostics. In one embodiment, a set of models is determined based upon a topological relationship created upon receiving an alert or a request for which diagnostics are to be performed. An aggregate model is then generated based upon the set of models and the topological relationship. The aggregate model is then used for performing the diagnostics. |
| US08417651B2 |
Matching offers to known products
A method and apparatus for electronically matching an electronic offer to structured data for a product offering is disclosed. The structure data is reviewed and a dictionary of terms for each attribute from the structure data is created. Attributes in unstructured text may be determined. Each pair of the attributes (name and value) from the unstructured data and the structured data are obtained, the attribute pairs of the structured data and the unstructured data and compared and a similarity level is calculated for the matching the attribute pairs. The structured data pair that has the highest similarity score to the unstructured data pair is selected and returned. |
| US08417650B2 |
Event prediction in dynamic environments
Event prediction in dynamic environments is described. In an embodiment a prediction engine may use the learnt information to predict events in order to control a system such as for internet advertising, email filtering, fraud detection or other applications. In an example one or more variables exists for pre-specified features describing or associated with events and each variable is considered to have an associated weight and time stamp. For example, belief about each weight is represented using a probability distribution and a dynamics process is used to modify the probability distribution in a manner dependent on the time stamp for that weight. For example, the uncertainty about the associated variable's influence on prediction of future events is increased. Examples of different schedules for applying the dynamics process are given. |
| US08417639B1 |
Automatic check reordering
Systems and methods for automatically reordering checks for a plurality of accounts utilizing checks. For each of the plurality of accounts, a number of checks written may be determined from a most recent check order. The number of checks written may comprise a number of checks cleared and a number of stop payment orders made. Also, for each of the plurality of accounts, a check usage rate for the account may be determined. The check usage rate may be proportional to a number of checks written per unit time. Additionally, for each of the plurality of accounts a time-to-exhaustion for the account may be determined considering the number of checks written and the check usage rate for the account. Also, for each of the plurality of accounts, when the time-to-exhaustion drops below a threshold, an order of new checks directed to a customer associated with the account may be initiated. |
| US08417636B2 |
Approving ACH operator processing of ACH payments based on an originating depository financial institution's approved originator list
Approving automated clearing house (“ACH”) payments for processing by an ACH operator is based on an approved originator list identifying originators authorized by an originating depository financial institution (“ODFI”) to originate ACH payments and to send those ACH payments to the ACH operator on behalf of the ODFI. The ACH operator receives an ACH payment originated by a first originator and sent to the ACH operator on behalf of the ODFI. The ACH operator determines whether the first originator is on the approved originator list and processes the ACH payment if the first originator is on the approved originator list. The ACH operator can reject the ACH payment if the first originator is not on the approved originator list or can seek approval from the ODFI to process the ACH payment even if the first originator is not on the approved originator list. |
| US08417630B2 |
Systems and methods for deposit predictions based upon template matching
Systems and methods may be provided for deposit prediction based upon template matching. The system and methods may include receiving deposit information associated with a plurality of deposits for a deposit account of a financial institution customer, where the deposit information includes a plurality of deposit amounts, and a respective date associated with each of the plurality deposit amounts; identifying, based upon the received deposit information, one or more deposit patterns by applying one or more template patterns to the deposit information and determining that one or more of the applied template patterns match at least a portion of the deposit information; and generating an indication of the identified one or more deposit patterns. |
| US08417626B2 |
System and method for sports betting
A method of providing an account is provided. The method includes receiving identification information associated with a user during a communication session. The method further includes communicating a request for credit information. The request includes at least a portion of the identification information. The method further includes receiving the requested credit information, and for each of a plurality of different types of accounts, determining whether to approve that type of account based at least in part on the received credit information. The method further includes communicating an indication of at least a portion of the approved types of accounts, and receiving a selection of at least one of the approved types of accounts. The method further includes opening at least one of the selected types of accounts and providing access to at least one of the opened accounts during the communication session. |
| US08417623B2 |
System and method for implementing an investment company that issues a class of conventional shares and a class of exchange-traded shares in the same fund
A system is provided for administering a single investment company that issues one or more classes of shares that are bought from and redeemed with the single investment company at a net asset value and issues one or more classes of shares that are listed for trading on a securities exchange and that are bought and sold at negotiated market prices. One or more computers maintain account data of the outstanding shares. An owner of any share of any share class has an undivided interest in the single investment company. |
| US08417622B2 |
Systems and methods of conducting financial transactions
Systems and methods of conducting financial transactions are disclosed. For example, one disclosed method includes receiving a first price on a computer from a provider, the first price associated with an available volume of a financial instrument; associating the price with the provider in a computerized database of a plurality of providers; identifying a plurality of user-preferred providers in the computerized database associated with the first price; aggregating the available volume of the financial instrument offered for sale or required for purchase by the plurality of user-preferred providers on the computer; and causing the aggregated volume of the financial instrument to be displayed on a display in communication with the computer. |
| US08417612B2 |
Using commercial share of wallet to rate business prospects
Commercial size of spending wallet (“CSoSW”) is the total business spend of a business including cash but excluding bartered items. Commercial share of wallet (“CSoW”) is the portion of the spending wallet that is captured by a particular financial company. A modeling approach utilizes various data sources to provide outputs that describe a company's spend capacity. Research analysts can use CSoW/CSoSW to provide a comprehensive and robust indication of the business prospects of a rated company. |
| US08417611B2 |
System and method for legal document authoring and electronic court filing
A system for legal document authoring for a legal action and electronic court filing of such legal documents provides an online network for subscribers. The system provides a direct mechanism (and a web portal mechanism) for submitting a claim file containing party and claim information necessary for automatic legal document generation based on an auto-selected destination court (in some embodiments) and further based on at least certain party and claim information. The automatically-generated legal documents are compliant with the requirements of the destination court, providing end-to-end automation for improved efficiency in judicial debt collection. The system also provides an online network for facilitating communications between subscribers (litigants) and the court systems. |
| US08417606B2 |
Method, software program, and system for structuring risk in a financial transaction
A computer-implemented method, system, apparatus, and media is directed to minimizing a risk associated with an anticipated value of an investment. An insurer establishes a capital structure within a computer memory of a computer system, the capital structure designed to minimize risk and structured with regulatory capital and a cash stream that is pledged to fund a default associated with the investment. Establishing the capital structure can include allocating regulatory capital based on a coverage factor multiplied by an average annual depression scenario default percentage for the investment and determining a portion of the capital structure for a pledged insuring investment that produces at least a portion of the cash stream. A determination of whether the established capital structure is sufficient to obtain a minimal target credit rating for the insurer is generated. The desired target rating is electronically provided based on the determination. |
| US08417602B2 |
Method for using environmental classification to assist in financial management and services
Managing risks of crop production can be performed by understanding the relative performance of different agricultural inputs under the same or similar environmental conditions. In addition, managing of crop production risks can be performed by understanding variations in the performance of the same agricultural inputs over a range of environmental conditions. By being able to describe and understand these variations in performance, decisions can be made which are consistent with overall business and/or production objectives and limit risk associated with variations in environmental conditions. In addition to producers there are other stakeholders in the crop production process, such as financial institutions, insurance providers, users of crops produced, and input suppliers. These and other stakeholders can provide financial incentives to producers for managing crop production risks through use of environmental classification and/or genotype-by-environment information. |
| US08417592B1 |
Inventory of libraries
Determining efficiently whether it is necessary to re-inventory a storage media library, such as a tape library, is disclosed. It is determined whether a first number computed based at least in part on at least a portion of a new inventory data is the same as a second number computed based at least in part on a corresponding stored inventory data. An update of the stored inventory data is initiated if it is determined that the first number is not the same as the second number. |
| US08417591B2 |
Stock flow management system and method
A computer program product tangibly embodied in an information carrier includes instructions that, when executed, perform operations that modify stock levels of a storage location in a logistic environment system. The operations include receiving information indicating a stock level change at storage location database objects that each represent a storage location for stock in a logistic environment. A storage location database object has associated with it a rule, a stock amount value specifying an amount of stock for the storage location, and a threshold that indicates a stock level to be maintained for the storage location. The operations also include determining, using the rule, if the stock level change would cause the stock amount value to cross the threshold, and if so, generating a request to modify the amount of stock at the storage location so that the stock amount value does not cross the threshold. |
| US08417589B2 |
Method of conducting business for making and selling articles of apparel having interchangeable parts
A method of conducting business for selling to a purchaser an article of apparel having interchangeable parts comprising the steps of offering for sale to a purchaser a multiplicity of base units of an article of apparel and a multiplicity of interchangeable components; providing a location for the purchaser to update the base unit with a purchase of a multiplicity of interchangeable components; creating an electronic purchaser user account to allow a purchaser to place an order of base units for the article of apparel and the interchangeable components; delivering the selected components to the purchaser; and updating the purchaser's user account to reflect the delivered components. |
| US08417581B2 |
Method, system, and medium for enabling a user to access learning content via a single-window learner interface
Methods and systems are disclosed for providing learning as a service in a learning network. At least certain embodiments connect users with providers of learning content using an online learning marketplace in a web-based user interface that allows users to control content and pace of learning. The learning can be self-directed, through self-paced online courses, as well as live online courses. The platform is configured to fulfill user requests for learning content without regard to location of the content or time of access. The learning content can be decomposed into monetized components, which can be accessed by users on a per-use or per-session basis. |
| US08417579B2 |
Method of managing parts
A method of managing a plurality of parts of an apparatus includes creating a part database of part information including at least the weights, part numbers, and shapes of individual parts, measuring the weight of a part to be ordered, entering the measured weight through input means of an information terminal and accessing the part database, extracting part information of all parts having weights which fall in a predetermined allowable range similar to the entered weight, from the part database, and displaying the extracted part information on display means of the information terminal, identifying the part number of the part to be ordered based on shapes of the parts represented by the displayed part information, and ordering the part with the identified part number. |
| US08417578B1 |
Customizing component configurations for utility computing
Disclosed are various embodiments for customizing component configurations used in utility computing. A listing of multiple computing components that may be selected to define a component configuration is generated. A selection by a customer of a subset of the computing components is stored as a component configuration. A deployment is initiated for one or more customized computing devices that conform to the component configuration in a networked plurality of computing devices in response to a request by the customer. |
| US08417577B2 |
Viewing shopping information on a network based social platform
A system for viewing shopping information on a social networking platform is disclosed. At the social networking platform, the system receives a request from a user device corresponding to a first user of the social networking platform to view a list of a second user of the social networking platform. The list may include items offered for transaction on a network-based commerce server. In response to receiving the request from the user device, the system forwards the request to the network-based commerce server, and then receives updated information for at least one item on the list from the network-based corner server. Then, the system communicates the updated information received from the network-based commerce server to the user device. |
| US08417576B2 |
Information transmitting apparatus, information transmitting method, information transmitting and processing program, and information transmitting system
There are provided an information transmitting apparatus, an information transmitting method, an information transmitting and processing program, and an information transmitting system capable of transmitting information such as a web page displaying stock quantity or the like while realizing the decreased number of times of obtaining stock quantity and lessening a process burden. In the case where a request for a hypertext generating page information is received, a hypertext including tag information having location information defining location of image data corresponding to stock quantity is transmitted to a terminal device, and the tag information displays the image data. In the case where a request including the location information is received from the terminal device which received the hypertext, stock-quantity information defining the stock quantity corresponding to the location information is obtained from a database. Image data indicating the stock quantity shown by the obtained stock quantity information in characters is generated. The generated image data is transmitted to the terminal device. |
| US08417570B2 |
System for automated media delivery to mobile devices and mobile device lockscreens
A method and system for automated media delivery to mobile devices and mobile device lockscreens. The method includes receiving a first media request associated with a first target device, obtaining a first user account associated with the first media request, wherein the first user account comprises first user category criteria; selecting a first user-submitted media item based on the first user category criteria, and sending, to the first target device, the first user-submitted media object, wherein the first user-submitted media object is presented on a lock screen of the first target device. The method further includes receiving a second media request associated with the first target device, selecting a first advertiser-submitted media object based on the first user category criteria, and sending, to the first target device, the first advertiser-submitted media object, wherein the first advertiser-submitted media object is presented on the lock screen of the first target device. |
| US08417569B2 |
System and method of evaluating content based advertising
A system and method searches, identifies, tests and/or evaluates websites and content related ads for suitability. The results can be used to identify and promote services to prospective advertising affiliates as part of an advertising campaign. |
| US08417568B2 |
Generation of contextual image-containing advertisements
According to embodiments of the invention, an advertisement-generation system generates image-containing advertisements. The advertisement-generation system includes: at least one feature-selection guideline that specifies at least one recommended feature for image-containing advertisements based on advertiser inputs that specify at least one of advertisement-target-audience information, cost information, and advertiser-industry information; an image-clip library from which images are selected for inclusion in the image-containing advertisements; and at least one advertisement template that is based on the at least one feature-selection guideline; wherein the system automatically generates image-containing advertisements that contain one or more suggested colors that are automatically suggested based on one or more colors present on a web page that will host the image-containing advertisement. |
| US08417564B2 |
Method for allocating advertising resources
A method of allocating advertising resources uses a database that includes a number of business unit characteristics, one being an average allocation of advertising costs over time. A regression coefficient is produced based on the characteristics, wherein a non-linear specification is used for the average allocation of advertising cost characteristic. An impact indicator is assigned based on the how positive the regression coefficient is so that the effect of each characteristic on sales/profits and quantity sold can be determined. |
| US08417560B2 |
Systems, methods, and apparatus for analyzing the influence of marketing assets
In various embodiments, the influence of marketing assets upon an individual are analyzed. In particular, a record of the individual's interactions with a first marketing asset of a first marketing campaign may be stored in a database. Thereafter, the database may be queried to determine whether the individual interacted with the first marketing asset in accordance with defined criteria. If so, the individual may be associated with the first marketing campaign. |
| US08417558B2 |
Systems and methods for identifying offered incentives that will achieve an objective
A computer implemented method of improving the performance of a viral marketing program comprises exposing, via a computer network, a first offered incentive to a first plurality of users. A first consumer viral marketing action is to be completed to receive the first incentive. First data indicative of the first plurality of users' progress toward achieving the first action is collected thereby providing a likelihood of the first incentive obtaining an objective. A second incentive is exposed to a second plurality of users. A second consumer viral marketing action is to be completed to receive the second incentive. Second data indicative of the second plurality of users' progress toward achieving the second marketing action is collected thereby providing a likelihood of the second incentive obtaining the objective. The first and second data is compared using a metric to identify which incentive is more likely to obtain the objective. |
| US08417548B2 |
Medical service support apparatus
A recording unit holds a plurality of examination data including the examination date of a performed examination. A search unit extracts examination data matching a set condition, of the plurality of examination data held in the recording unit. An output unit outputs a search result by the search unit. A first narrowing unit extracts examination data in which the examination date is included within a designated first period. A reference data determination unit classifies the examination data extracted by the first narrowing unit by an examinee and determines, for every examinee, one piece of the examination data to be a reference in accordance with a predetermined rule. A second narrowing unit sets, for every examinee, a second period designated in at least one of the past direction and the future direction starting from a reference date that is the examination date of the examination data determined by the reference data determination unit and extracts examination data in which the examination date is included within the second period. |
| US08417546B2 |
Verification technique for patient diagnosis and treatment
Exemplary embodiments provide a verification technique that facilitates administration of a health-related procedure to an intended recipient patient or group of patients. An interface template may be configured to establish verifiable matching engagement between the patient and various types of objects used to administer the health-related procedure. |
| US08417545B2 |
Device and method for automatic data acquisition and/or detection
Methods and devices for providing diabetes management including automatic time acquisition protocol is provided. |
| US08417538B2 |
System and method for performing object association based on interaction time using a location tracking system
A system is provided for associating an object with a locale or a second object based on interaction time. The system includes and object identifier linked with an object for providing data identifying the object and a location determining module for determining the location of the object. The location determining modules includes an object location module for determining the location of the object based at least in part on the data and an object association module for associating the object with a second object or locale. The object association module is configured to determine whether the object is in proximity to the second object or the locale for a time period greater than or equal to a threshold time and create an associating between the object and the second object or the locale. |
| US08417537B2 |
Extensible and localizable health-related dictionary
A system that uses a health-related dictionary component to establish responses to requests from devices and applications is provided. The innovation discloses uses of a health-related dictionary to enable retrieval of standardized lists and taxonomies in the healthcare space as well as localization of health-related data. Examples of these taxonomies include codes from medical coding vocabularies such as CPT (Current Procedural Terminology), layouts, templates, as well as references to units of measurements such as feet, inches, meters, liters, etc. |
| US08417536B2 |
Ultrasound laboratory information management system and method
A multifunctional information management system that integrates a plurality of modules, each of the modules being interfaced via a relational database. The integrated system manages a large volume of business, data, and image information and is capable of being accessed/organized via the Internet. One embodiment of the multifunctional information management system is an ultrasound laboratory information management system (ULIMS) for a medical ultrasound imaging and hemodynamic laboratory, e.g., an echocardiographic or comparable medical laboratory environment, incorporating a multifunctional management system. The ULIMS includes: 1) Scheduling and Workflow Modules; 2) Patient Information and Demographics Modules; 3) Billing Modules; 4) Procedure Information and Referral Diagnosis Modules; and 5) Measurement, Templates and Calculations Modules; 6) Final Impressions and Interpretation Modules; 7) Procedure Report Modules; 8) Serial Studies Module; 9) Research Protocols Module; 10) User Interface and Services Modules; 11) Web Based Modules; 12) Unique Reports Modules; 13) Database Modules; 14) Systems Administration Modules; 15) Security, Privacy and User Configuration Modules; 16) Image Modules; 17) Systems and Technical Support Modules; and 18) Knowledge Base Modules. |
| US08417526B2 |
Speech recognition learning system and method
One or more embodiments include a speech recognition learning system for improved speech recognition. The learning system may include a speech optimizing system. The optimizing system may receive a first stimulus data package including spoken utterances having at least one phoneme, and contextual information. A number of result data packages may be retrieved which include stored spoken utterances and contextual information. A determination may be made as to whether the first stimulus data package requires improvement. A second stimulus data package may be generated based on the determination. A number of speech recognition implementation rules for implementing the second stimulus data package may be received. The rules may be associated with the contextual information. A determination may be made as to whether the second stimulus data package requires further improvement. Based on the determination, one or more additional speech recognition implementation rules for improved speech recognition may be generated. |
| US08417522B2 |
Speech recognition method
A speech recognition method includes receiving a speech input signal in a first noise environment which includes a sequence of observations, determining the likelihood of a sequence of words arising from the sequence of observations using an acoustic model, adapting the model trained in a second noise environment to that of the first environment, wherein adapting the model trained in the second environment to that of the first environment includes using second order or higher order Taylor expansion coefficients derived for a group of probability distributions and the same expansion coefficient is used for the whole group. |
| US08417521B2 |
Method, device and system for implementing speech recognition function
The present disclosure discloses a method, a device and a system for implementing a speech recognition function, in which a media resource control device controls a media resource processing device to recognize a speech input by a user via H.248 protocol. The method includes receiving, by the media resource processing device, an H.248 message carrying a speech recognition instruction and a related parameter sent by the media resource control device; performing speech recognition according to the speech recognition instruction and the parameter; and reporting a recognition result to the media resource control device. A corresponding device and system for implementing the speech recognition function is further provided. |
| US08417519B2 |
Synthesis of lost blocks of a digital audio signal, with pitch period correction
The present invention relates to signal modification before pitch period repetition for the synthesis of blocks lost on decoding digital audio signals. The effects of repetition of transitories, such as the plosives of a speech signal, are avoided by comparing the samples of a pitch period with those of the previous pitch period. The signal is modified preferentially by taking the minimum between a current sample (e(3)) of the last pitch period (Tj) and at least one sample (e(2−T0) of approximately the same position in the previous pitch period (Tj−1). |
| US08417518B2 |
Voice recognition system, method, and program
A voice recognition system comprises: a voice input unit that receives an input signal from a voice input element and output it; a voice detection unit that detects an utterance segment in the input signal; a voice recognition unit that performs voice recognition for the utterance segment; and a control unit that outputs a control signal to at least one of the voice input unit and the voice detection unit and suppresses a detection frequency if the detection frequency satisfies a predetermined condition. |
| US08417517B2 |
Beamforming codebook generation system and associated methods
A codebook generation system and associated methods are generally described herein. For instance, a codebook generation agent (CGA) may implement techniques for generating one or more matrix codebooks from vector codebooks. The CGA may be implemented in mobile devices (e.g., stations, subscriber units, handsets, laptops, etc.). In this regard, the dynamic generation of matrix codebooks rather than having them stored on the mobile device enables the mobile device to utilize the memory normally consumed by the matrix codebooks in support of other features and/or services. |
| US08417513B2 |
Representation of objects and relationships in databases, directories, web services, and applications as sentences as a method to represent context in structured data
Systems and methods are disclosed for tagging and translating database objects and relationships into sentences. The successive composition of these sentences form hierarchies which encode contextual information about the objects. A virtual directory/context server functions using a common abstraction layer to access data from databases, applications, directories, Web Services, and other data sources within the enterprise. The virtual directory/context server includes a sentence/context builder module that enables the translation or relationships between data and from the plurality of data sources into a human-readable form, for example, an English language sentence. Thus, applications can view, access, and/or modify the data from the data sources of the enterprise through the virtual directory/context server, for example, using the sentences representative of the relationships between the data. The sentences are indexed, which allows for searches that bring information not only about objects, but also about the context in which those objects appear. |
| US08417510B2 |
Vocabulary generating apparatus and method, speech recognition system using the same
A vocabulary generating method and apparatus and a speech recognition system using the same are disclosed. In the vocabulary generating method, a new system vocabulary can be generated to increase the flexibility of the speech recognition system, so a user, when unsure of a system command, can use a specially defined “unknown code word” (UCW) for the undetermined part in the command. |
| US08417509B2 |
Natural language interface customization
A predefined interface is presented to a remote user. A natural language inquiry from the remote user is received via the predefined interface. The natural language inquiry is configured for use in an analysis. A customized interface is presented to the remote user based on the analysis of the natural language inquiry. The customized interface includes a customized set of communications options for the remote user to route communications. |
| US08417504B2 |
Conversion of circuit description to a transaction model
A system and method are described for converting a circuit description into transaction-based description at a higher level of abstraction. Thus, a designer can readily view a series of transactions that occurred in the simulation of a circuit. In one aspect, the simulated signals are analyzed and converted into messages of a protocol used by the design. A combination of the messages represents a transaction. Thus, the simulated signals are then converted into a series of protocol transactions. In another aspect, a message recognition module performs the analysis of the simulated signals and converts the simulated signals into messages (e.g., request for bus, bus acknowledge, etc.). A transaction recognition module analyzes the messages and converts the messages into transactions (e.g., Read, Write, etc.). Using both the system and method the circuit description is converted into a higher level of abstraction that allows more comprehensive system-level analysis. |
| US08417501B2 |
Configuring a simulator for testing wireless devices
A simulator for testing a wireless device is configured by using an indication of connected devices and channel model to be applied to an identified link received as input to calculate settings for function elements which modify signals to implement simulated effects defined by the channel model. The calculations are performed while a test is running, thereby avoiding delays associated with playback tests. Allocation of simulator paths and function elements are automated, and an indication of how the wireless devices are to be connected to the simulator is provided to the user. |
| US08417500B2 |
Sensor simulation system
The invention concerns a sensor simulation system. The simulation system (1) comprises a generator (3) that generates a digital signal by direct digital frequency synthesis, based on the following parameters: a frequency, an amplitude, a phase and amplitude shift; a digital/analog converter (4), and a means (6) that modulates the signal received from said converter (4). |
| US08417491B2 |
3D tool path planning, simulation and control system
A system, apparatus, and method are provided for control of a catheter (including an ablation catheter), bronchoscope/endoscope and beveled needle. Control of a bronchoscope (100) is calculated for a 3D environment based on capabilities of the bronchoscope and the patient morphology. This can be used to plan and simulate an optimal motion, train or compare surgical techniques or automate the procedure. A particular bronchoscope may be recommended based on its form and flexibility as well as based on the personal morphology of the patient rather than relying on statistical norms. For all tools, a 6 dimensional configuration space problem is solved using 3 storage dimensions and a ‘6D neighborhood’ for path planning. The present invention finds the kinematically feasible path from a ‘start’ to a goal, while avoiding obstacles and dangerous regions. |
| US08417488B2 |
Computer code and method for designing a multi-family dwelling
A collection of dwelling unit module designs is created from which multi-family dwelling buildings or the multi-family portion of a mixed-use building may be designed. The module designs each fit onto uniform grid intervals defining a structural support system which may fit a parking layout below the units. A module design may include an individual unit or a stack of units. A graphical user interface to a computer system accommodates defining a site specific outline for the building and filling the outline with dwelling unit modules from the collection. The dwelling unit module designs may be designed and perfected in a manner independent of and in advance of any specific project and project schedule. |
| US08417486B2 |
System, method, and program product for synthesizing heat exchanger networks and identifying optimal topology for future retrofit
Systems, methods, and program product to synthesize a grass-roots heat exchanger network for hot process streams to be cooled and cold process streams to be heated and to identify optimal topology for future retrofit, are provided. An exemplary system includes a heat exchange network synthesizing computer and heat exchange network synthesizing program product configured to analyze the waste heat recovery problem, without decomposition, to produce a result having a better number of heat exchanger units and/or better waste heat recovery through application of advanced process-to-process matching schemes for both non-constrained and non-thermodynamically constrained problems. The heat exchange network synthesizing program product is also configured to produce alternative optimal heat exchanger network designs which account for variations in energy and capital costs to allow for construction of a physical heat exchanger network configured during its initial construction or deployment to be “easily-retrofitable” in future times according to a continuum of possible energy-capital cost scenarios. |
| US08417485B2 |
Constructing computer aided design models from procedurally defined curve and surface lofts
The advantageous embodiments provide a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for constructing a computer aided design model. User input is received that contains a callback function and a required accuracy. The callback function prescribes a procedurally defined geometry and the required accuracy specifies the degree of accuracy needed for the computer aided design model. The callback function is sampled at a number of points to form sampled points and a candidate curve is constructed that approaches the sampled points. A determination is made as to whether the candidate curve meets the required accuracy. |
| US08417483B2 |
Determination and control of wellbore fluid level, output flow, and desired pump operating speed, using a control system for a centrifugal pump disposed within the wellbore
A method and apparatus for determining a fluid level and/or output flow during operation of a centrifugal pump, are provided, which may be used for production of gas and/or oil from a well, and include a vector feedback model to derive values of torque and speed from signals indicative of instantaneous current and voltage drawn by the pump motor, a pump model which derives values of the fluid flow rate and the head pressure for the pump from torque and speed inputs, a pumping system model that derives, from the estimated values of the pump operating parameters, an estimated value of fluid level and other pumping system parameters. Controllers responsive to the estimated values of the pumping system parameters control the pump to maintain fluid level at the pump input, near an optimum level, or within a safe operating range and/or output flow from the pump. |
| US08417480B2 |
Control asset comparative performance analysis system and methodology
A system and method is provided for determining the variability induced on a process output. The method includes the analysis of input variable values to determine the total variability. A series of processes may be analyzed and ranked so that a process owner may gain an understanding of how a target process performs relative to the processes of other process owners. The method includes the generation of graphical process comparisons and advice regarding asset performance. The method also includes the estimation of cost impacts due to changes in induced variability. |
| US08417476B2 |
Dynamic randomized controlled testing with consumer electronics devices
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for performing dynamic randomized controlled testing to evaluate design choices for a consumer electronics (CE) device. A plurality of CE devices may communicate with a server system over a data communications network to be assigned a variant of the design choice. The variant may correspond to a variant of a user interface component of the CE device or a functional component of the CE device. Once assigned, feedback may be collected from the plurality of CE devices specifying one or more performance metrics associated with the design variant assigned to a respective CE device. |
| US08417474B2 |
Methods of use of substrate having properties of keratinous tissue
Method of product evaluation comprising the steps of applying at least one substance to a surface of an artificial substrate to form a substance-coated surface, wherein the substrate surface demonstrates at least one physical property selected from the group consisting of a total surface energy of from about 15 mJ/m2 to about 50 mJ/m2, a polar component of the total surface energy of from about 0 mJ/m2 to about 15 mJ/m2, a zeta-potential at a pH of about 5.0 of from about −30 mV to about 30 mV, and combinations thereof, and performing at least one analysis of the substance-coated surface. |
| US08417469B1 |
Force measurement
The different advantageous embodiments provide a method and an apparatus for measuring forces. In one advantageous embodiment, an apparatus comprising a probe, a force sensor, an angle measurement system, and an output device is provided. The probe is configured to apply a load to a surface of an object. The force sensor is configured to measure a force along an axis through an end of the probe that contacts the surface when the load is applied to the surface by the probe. The angle measurement system is configured to identify an angle of the axis relative to the surface of the object. The output device is configured to display the force and the angle. |
| US08417460B2 |
Method of detecting coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli bacteria from reflected light
The present invention relates to a method of detecting coliform bacteria in water from reflected light and a method of detecting Eschericha Coli bacteria in water from reflected light, and also includes devices for the measurement, calculation and transmission of data relating to that method. |
| US08417453B2 |
Map information guidance device, map information guidance method, and computer program
Devices, methods, and programs update map information stored in a storage medium based on map update information distributed from a map distribution center. The devices, methods, and programs search for a vehicle route based on the stored map information, perform first guidance along the route, and identify a target area on the route that will be updated when the map information is updated. The devices, methods and programs determine whether the update of the target area will be complete when the vehicle reaches the target area. If the update of the target area will not be complete when the vehicle reaches the target area, the devices, methods, and programs request second guidance for the target area from the map distribution center, switch from proving the first guidance to providing the second guidance through the target area, and return to performing the first guidance when the vehicle exits the target area. |
| US08417452B2 |
System for providing information to an operator of a vehicle
Methods and apparatus are provided for a system that provides information to an operator of a vehicle. The system includes, but is not limited to a call center that configured to provide the operator with route guidance to a location. The system also includes a plurality of internet websites. Each internet website relates to a vehicle lifecycle event and is configured to permit the operator to electronically transmit a location associated with the vehicle lifecycle event to the call center. |
| US08417449B1 |
Electronic navigation related technology
Techniques are described for monitoring whether a user is following directions to a destination during electronic navigation to the destination provided by an electronic navigation device. When the electronic navigation device determines that the user is not following directions to the destination (e.g., the user has missed several turns suggested by the electronic navigation device), the electronic navigation device determines that the user appears to be avoiding the route (or a primary component thereof) to the destination. In response to a determination that the user appears to be avoiding the route (or a primary component thereof) to the destination, the electronic navigation device may automatically, without human intervention, perform an operation directed to using an alternative route (or alternative primary component) to the destination despite the current route remaining preferred according to current routing settings. |
| US08417447B2 |
Method and system for visualizing shared route information
A method and system for visualizing shared route information are provided. The method includes receiving a route query from a user and retrieving multiple route results for the query for display as an overlay on a map. The method further includes processing the route results for display by dividing each route result into sub-routes, wherein a sub-route is a portion of a route between intersections with other routes and aggregating the sub-routes across the route results. Each sub-route in the route results is scored according to a defined scoring basis and represented in the display according to the relative score to other sub-routes. A user can select a displayed sub-route and the method filters the route results to remove any routes not including the selected sub-route and displays the narrowed results. |
| US08417442B2 |
Collection, monitoring, analyzing and reporting of traffic data via vehicle sensor devices placed at multiple remote locations
Traffic management reports are created by providing vehicle sensor devices at different location in a region. Each device captures data of vehicles that pass the device. The vehicle data is communicated to a central computer database. At the central computer database, a user interface selects one or more criteria from a plurality of criteria for filtering the vehicle data. Traffic management reports are then automatically created from the filtered vehicle data using the selected criteria. |
| US08417435B2 |
Eco-run system, computer readable medium and eco-run state informing apparatus
The present invention is an eco-run system having an eco-run function that stops and restarts an internal combustion engine depending on a state of a vehicle. The eco-run system includes: table information that prescribes a relationship between a plurality of eco-run prohibition reasons and priorities in which a user is informed of the eco-run prohibition reasons; an eco-run ECU 10 that judges whether an eco-run prohibition reason occurs to the vehicle; and an eco-lamp 41 or a navigation apparatus that, when it is judged by the eco-run ECU 10 that the eco-run prohibition reason occurs to the vehicle, informs the user of the eco-run prohibition reason depending on the priorities prescribed by the table information. |
| US08417431B2 |
Method for reducing gear rattle in a hybrid electric vehicle powertrain
A method for controlling a powertrain for a hybrid electric vehicle having an engine and a motor and gearing for establishing power flow paths from the engine and the motor with common gear elements to vehicle traction wheels. An engine power bias is applied to an engine power command and a bias to a motor torque command to avoid an operating mode in which motor torque is at or near zero, whereby gear rattle due to torque disturbances is avoided. |
| US08417423B2 |
Robotic platform for collecting data to emulate material handling vehicle mast angles
A defined vehicle path emulator system is described, which system can be used for measuring the F-min values and profiles for a path on a concrete floor traversed by a vehicle with a specific wheelbase. The defined vehicle path emulator is an autonomous robot that guides itself down the selected path.The F-min values are used to calculate the deviations away from zero planar infinity while traversing the path for a tall mast carried by an emulated vehicle. This invention's systems are distinct from the (FF/FL) floor flatness and floor levelness measuring systems in the literature as prior art.The floor can be marked for deviations from flatness by means of a laser etching system activated by the emulator's software system. The emulator can also signal an operator when it detects itself veering off of the defined path. |
| US08417421B2 |
Electronic system to induce the occupants of a vehicle to fasten seat belts
An electronic system to induce the occupants of a vehicle to fasten seat belts is described. The electronic system is configured to determine an alert condition indicating that a seat belt of at least one occupant of the vehicle is not fastened or is not properly fastened. The electronic system is also configured to allow the car radio to operate even when said alert condition is present, and to control the volume of the car radio for as long as said alert condition persists, preventing it from exceeding a low volume level. |
| US08417417B2 |
Architecture and methodology for holistic vehicle control
A method to control a vehicle includes monitoring desired vehicle force and moment, monitoring real-time corner constraints upon vehicle dynamics which includes monitoring corner states of health for the vehicle, and monitoring corner capacities for the vehicle. The method further includes determining a desired corner force and moment distribution based upon the desired vehicle force and moment and the real-time corner constraints, and controlling the vehicle based upon the desired corner force and moment distribution. |
| US08417415B2 |
Driver authentication system and method for monitoring and controlling vehicle usage
A driver authentication and safety system and method for monitoring and controlling vehicle usage by high-risk drivers. A centralized database comprising a software application can be accessed by an authorized user via a data communications network utilizing a remote computer in order to configure a desired operating profile that matches requirements of the high-risk driver. The operating profile can be loaded to a driver identification and data logging device in conjunction with the remote computer. A master control unit receives a unique identification code from the data logging device to authenticate the high-risk driver and to operate the vehicle within the desired operating profile. A slave control unit receives commands from the master control unit and generates a real time alarm signal if the driver violates the preprogrammed operating profile unique to the driver. |
| US08417399B2 |
Systems and methods for orienting a marine vessel to minimize pitch or roll
Systems and methods for orienting a marine vessel minimize at least one of pitch and roll in a station keeping mode. A control device having a memory and a programmable circuit is programmed to control operation of the plurality of marine propulsion devices to maintain orientation of a marine vessel in a selected global position and heading. The control device receives at least one of actual pitch and actual roll of the marine vessel in the global position and controls operation of the plurality of marine propulsion units to change the heading of the marine vessel to minimize at least one of the actual pitch and the actual roll while maintaining the marine vessel in the selected global position. |
| US08417396B2 |
Air traffic control method
A method of operating an air traffic control system may include receiving, by a control system, an instruction from a control system user. The method may further include providing, by the control system, the instruction to an airplane via a data link between the control system and a system of the airplane. In addition, the method may include adjusting, by the airplane system, at least one airplane control to correspond to the instruction. |
| US08417393B2 |
Demand response appliance module
The present disclosure provides a method of controlling an appliance comprising: profiling at least one appliance including one or more power consuming functions connected with a home energy management system (HEM); defining an energy event corresponding to each of the one or more power consuming functions; developing a home energy profile in the HEM of all the energy events including a calendar of energy events; manipulating the home energy profile by a user wherein the user cancels, delays, reschedules, or enables processing of the calendar of energy events; and, communicating through a translator board wireless communication between the HEM and the at least one appliance. |
| US08417391B1 |
Automated demand response energy management system
The power flexibility of energy loads is maximized using a value function for each load and outputting optimal control parameters. Loads are aggregated into a virtual load by maximizing a global value function. The solution yields a dispatch function providing: a percentage of energy for each individual load, a time-varying power level for each load, and control parameters and values. An economic term represents the value of the power flexibility to different players. A user interface includes for each time interval upper and lower bounds representing respectively the maximum power that may be reduced to the virtual load and the maximum power that may be consumed. A trader modifies an energy level in a time interval relative to the reference curve for the virtual load. Automatically, energy compensation for other intervals and recalculation of upper and lower boundaries occurs. The energy schedule for the virtual load is distributed to the actual loads. |
| US08417390B2 |
Code replacement for irrigation controllers
Described herein are several embodiments relating to modular irrigation controllers. In many implementations, methods of implementing irrigation control are provided that detect a presence of a first module coupled with a control unit of an irrigation controller, the control unit operating in accordance with a bootloader set of code and a first set of code to implement irrigation control, identify that the first module stores a second set of code, and activate the bootloader set of code to replace the first set of code with the second set of code. Also described are various different types of modular controllers, expansion modules that may be coupled to the modular controller, having as variety of functions and features, as well as related methods of use and configuration of the controller and these modules in the controller. |
| US08417386B2 |
System and method for defrost of an HVAC system
A system and a method are provided for monitoring a condition and selectively executing a certification defrost algorithm for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system in response to the status of the monitored condition. A system and a method are provided for selectively operating a certification defrost algorithm in parallel to a field defrost algorithm. A system and a method are also provided for causing a controller to execute a first algorithm and for causing the controller to selectively execute a second algorithm while also executing the first algorithm where each of the first algorithm and the second algorithm are configured to selectively cause the HVAC system to operate in a defrost mode. |
| US08417385B2 |
Home appliance control device
There is provided a home appliance control device for obtaining various parameters of each active object according to a variation between a plurality of current images acquired by an image sensor or according to a relation of a current image acquired by the image sensor with respect to a reference image or a reference data thereby determining an operation state of a home appliance. |
| US08417383B2 |
Detecting robot stasis
A coverage robot includes a drive configured to maneuver the robot as directed by a controller, a stasis indication wheel rotatable about a first axis perpendicular to a direction of forward travel, and a suspension supporting the wheel. The stasis indication wheel defines a first reflective portion and a second reflective portion. The second reflective portion is substantially less reflective than the first reflective portion. The suspension permits movement of the wheel in a direction other than rotation about the first axis. A signal emitter is disposed remotely from the wheel and positioned to direct a signal that sequentially is intercepted by the first and second reflective portions of the wheel. A signal receiver is positioned to receive the reflected signal by the rotating wheel. Communication between the emitter and the receiver is affected by rolling transitions between the first and second reflective portions during permitted movement of the wheel. |
| US08417382B2 |
Control device for legged mobile body
A desired motion determiner of a control unit of a legged mobile robot determines a leg motion parameter specifying the motion trajectory of a distal end of a leg of the robot on the basis of the information on a floor geometry of an environment in which the robot travels and a requirement related to a travel route of the robot, thereby sequentially determining the desired motion of the robot. A floor geometry information output unit which outputs floor geometry information to the desired motion determiner outputs floor geometry information in which a rising surface of a stepped portion of a predetermined type, the contact thereof with a leg of the robot should be avoided, has been shaped into a surface having a gentler slope than an actual rising surface. The desired motion determiner determines the leg motion parameter such that the leg will not come in contact with the stepped portion having the shaped rising surface. |
| US08417380B2 |
System and method for communicating vending information
A system and method for communicating vending information for a digital video disc is provided. A plurality of vending transaction data is received, wherein each of the plurality of data comprises a transaction timestamp and corresponds to a rental transaction for a digital video disc. The plurality of vending transaction data is stored in a memory of a vending apparatus, and is encrypted. It is determined whether a predetermined period of time has elapsed since a first transmission of transaction data from the vending apparatus, and a communication request is transmitted upon such determination to a remote control center. A signal is received at the vending apparatus from a control center in response to the communications request, and a plurality of vending transaction data is transmitted to the remote control center in response to receiving the signal. |
| US08417379B2 |
Pharmacy dispensing system and method
A system for filling a prescription order for a patient includes a plurality of trays each having an RFID tag for storing a unique identifier corresponding to the prescription order, and a plurality of workstations operatively linked to one another, each workstation having an antenna for detecting the unique identifier in one of the plurality of trays, where the detecting is operative to trigger displaying of a profile of at least one prescription item for the corresponding prescription order. |
| US08417374B2 |
Method and apparatus for changing speed or direction of an article
A method of reversing direction of an article, or of speeding up or slowing down an article is disclosed by engaging an article with a first belt to move the article in a first direction; disengaging the article from the first belt; and then engaging the article with a second belt to move the article at a different speed. An apparatus to change speed of an article is also disclosed by a first belt rotating in a first direction; a second belt rotating in the direction at a second speed; the first belt engaging an article at a first time while the second belt is disengaged with the article, the first belt disengaging the article at a second time, and the second belt engaging the article at a third time while the first belt is disengaged with the article. |
| US08417372B2 |
Method for optimizing value of wood products dried in a drying process
The present disclosure includes a method for optimizing value of current wood products dried in one or more current drying processes and associated computer software. The method comprises the steps of obtaining prior wood product data for prior wood products dried in one or more prior drying processes and generating a value function based on the prior wood product data. The method further includes identifying one or more sources of variability in the prior wood product data and quantifying a contribution to overall variability from each of the sources. The value function and the contributions to overall variability may be used to quantify one or more value opportunities associated with each the one or more sources, each value opportunity being associated with one or more executable steps for improving the one or more current drying processes. |
| US08417366B2 |
Compensation orthodontic archwire design
Method and workstation automatically designing an arch-wire including compensations for auxiliary appliances or biological constraints exerting unknown forces to achieve a pre-planned treatment goal are disclosed. The adjusted customized arch-wire is designed after an initial customized arch-wire has been used to treat a patient and is at or near equilibrium. The initial custom arch-wire is first designed by producing a 3D computer-based, geometrical model of a patient's dentition, locating brackets on the digital tooth model, moving the digital tooth models to planned final positions and orientations, and then calculating a wire which fits in the slots of the brackets while the teeth are in their planned final positions and exerts no forces on the brackets. After a period of time the teeth will move under the force of the wire and will eventually move into positions such that the forces from all appliances and biological systems are in equilibrium. If the teeth are not in the final planned positions at that point in time, the adjusted custom arch-wire is designed and applied. |
| US08417365B2 |
Systems and methods for encoding and decoding computer-aided design files
A system includes an encoding module and a decoding module. The encoding module generates a three-dimensional (3D) model of a part, modifies the 3D model to include a 3D structure, and generates a computer-aided design (CAD) file based on the modified 3D model. The decoding module determines whether the CAD file includes the 3D structure, authorizes operation of analysis software on the CAD file when the CAD file includes the 3D structure, and prohibits operation of the analysis software when the CAD file does not include the 3D structure. |
| US08417361B2 |
Model predictive control system and method for integrated gasification combined cycle power generation
Control system and method for controlling an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant are provided. The system may include a controller coupled to a dynamic model of the plant to process a prediction of plant performance and determine a control strategy for the IGCC plant over a time horizon subject to plant constraints. The control strategy may include control functionality to meet a tracking objective and control functionality to meet an optimization objective. The control strategy may be configured to prioritize the tracking objective over the optimization objective based on a coordinate transformation, such as an orthogonal or quasi-orthogonal projection. A plurality of plant control knobs may be set in accordance with the control strategy to generate a sequence of coordinated multivariable control inputs to meet the tracking objective and the optimization objective subject to the prioritization resulting from the coordinate transformation. |
| US08417360B2 |
System and method for dynamic multi-objective optimization of machine selection, integration and utilization
Systems and methodologies are provided for controlling a process having computer-controlled equipment, which provide for optimized process performance according to one or more performance criteria, such as efficiency, component life expectancy, safety, emissions, noise, vibration, operational cost, or the like. The systems and methods provide for employing machine diagnostic and/or prognostic information in connection with optimizing an overall business operation over a time horizon. |
| US08417356B2 |
Fibrous electrode material
A biomimetic electrode material including a fibrous matrix including a conductive polymer and an ion conducting polymeric material is described. The biomimetic electrode material may be used in a number of body-implantable applications including cardiac and neuro-stimulation applications. The biomimetic electrode material can be formed using electrospinning and other related processes. The biomimetic electrode may facilitate efficient charge transport from ionically conductive tissue to the electronically conductive electrode, and may induce surrounding tissue to attach or interface directly to the implanted device, increasing the biocompatibility of the device. |
| US08417354B2 |
Methods for using a pulmonary artery electrode
According to some method embodiments, a left pulmonary artery electrode is positioned in a left pulmonary artery, and the left pulmonary artery electrode is used to sense atrial activity, or capture cardiac tissue, or deliver neural stimulation. According to some method embodiments, a right pulmonary artery electrode is positioned in a right pulmonary artery and a left pulmonary artery electrode is positioned in a left pulmonary artery, the right pulmonary artery electrode is used to sense atrial activity, or capture cardiac tissue, or deliver neural stimulation, and the left pulmonary artery electrode is used to sense atrial activity, or capture cardiac tissue, or deliver neural stimulation. |
| US08417352B2 |
System and method for stimulating sensory nerves
An electrotherapy system for stimulating sensory nerves within skin tissue includes a electrode carrier, a pulse generator, an array of skin-penetrating electrodes and surface skin electrodes, a pulse conditioning circuit, and a power source. The system administers biphasic pulsed current at the surface skin electrodes and monophasic pulsed current at each skin-penetrating electrode. The skin-penetrating surfaces and skin contact surfaces of the electrotherapy system may be sterilized or may be replaceable for outpatient reusability. |
| US08417348B2 |
Pulsatile cochlear implant stimulation strategy
An implantable device includes a multi-channel electrode array in which each channel is associated with an electrode in the array. An audio processing stage processes an input audio signal to produce output channel signals representing associated bands of audio frequencies. A timing and envelope detector processes the output channel signals in a sequence of sampling intervals, including, for each sampling interval, determining for each output channel signal a set of pulse timing requests. A pulse selection amplitude definition stage determines for each set of requested pulse timings a set of output pulses at specified times and amplitudes selected from the set of requested pulse timings based on a pulse selection inhibition function. |
| US08417347B2 |
Method for achieving facial toning using selectively applied galvanic current
A method of toning the facial muscles and tissues in selected target areas involves applying predetermined galvanic currents, frequencies, and polarities to the target areas in specific patters and with particular repetitions and movements selected to provide enhanced cosmetic effects, such as reduced lines and wrinkles, reduced depth of folds, and improved circulation to promote health and vitality. |
| US08417345B2 |
Corpus callosum neuromodulation assembly
Neuromodulation assemblies with lead bodies having curvatures that mimic the curvatures of the splenium, trunk, genu, or rostrum of the corpus callosum. Methods of stimulating the corpus callosum and methods of securing an electrical lead in the brain are also provided. |
| US08417342B1 |
Gastrointestinal electrical stimulation device and method for treating gastrointestinal disorders
A device and method is provided for treating treat gastrointestinal disorders using electrical stimulation. In one advantageous form, the method uses mucosal EGG (mEGG) to analyze a patient's natural gastric electrical activity. The mEGG can be measured anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract. From the mEGG, one can determine whether a patient is a good candidate for gastrointestinal electrical stimulation. For example, analysis of the frequency, amplitude and a ratio of frequency to amplitude can be used to determine who should receive gastrointestinal electrical stimulation, and at what the various stimulation parameters should be. The present method can be used to treat various disorders relating to gastrointestinal electrical activity. Ideally, the gastric electrical stimulation is delivered at a desired frequency and amplitude to effectuate normalization of gastric electrical current/activity, thereby treating disorders associated with gastric electrical activity. Advantageously, gastrointestinal electrical stimulation is effectuated by endoscopically delivering the electrostimulating device. |
| US08417340B2 |
Implant with antenna array
Implant devices described herein may be adapted to communicate with other devices via an antenna array. The antenna array may be configured to minimize radiation to surrounding tissue and/or maximize signal power in a direction of device(s) with which the implant device communicates. |
| US08417339B2 |
System for the remote programming of a personal medical device
The invention comprises a system and a method for secure remote programming of an implant. For this purpose, a TAN list is generated on the part of the programming device and both stored in the implant (10) and also provided to a physician. The TAN list is preferably indexed and the implant predefines the index of a TAN in each case, which a physician must input to have a programming instruction executed by the implant. |
| US08417336B2 |
System and method for pacing rate control utilizing patient hemodynamic status information
A system and method for pacing rate control in a cardiac rhythm management (CRM) system. The method includes acquiring a pressure signal representative of coronary venous pressure (CVP) from a pressure sensor implanted within a coronary vein of the patient and generating a CVP waveform from the pressure signal. A pacing stimulus is applied to the patient's heart, and the pacing rate is increased in response to increases in patient's metabolic demand. The CVP index is monitored during the pacing rate increase, and the CRM system detects a reduction in the patient's hemodynamic performance based on the CVP index and establishes a maximum rate setting based on the pacing rate corresponding to the reduction in the patient's hemodynamic performance. |
| US08417332B2 |
Endocardial stimulation/defibrillation system of the left ventricle
A system for the endocardial stimulation/defibrillation of the left ventricle. This system includes a generator (60) and an endocardial lead. The lead includes a lead body (26) whose distal end (30) extends into the right ventricle (14) and is provided with a mechanism to anchor (32) the distal end to the interventricular septum (20). The lead body carries on it a stimulating and/or defibrillation electrode (38) (64, 66). A microcable (42) extends into the lead body and beyond, with an intermediate portion (56) crossing from one side of the interventricular septum (20) to the other, and an active free portion (58) that emerges in the left ventricle (16). The microcable is coupled to the generator, to produce an electric field (62) between, on one hand, the stimulation electrode (38) or defibrillation electrode (64, 66) of the lead body and, on the other hand, a bare region of the active free portion (58) of microcable (42). |
| US08417330B2 |
Corrosion resistant electrodes for iontophoretic transdermal delivery devices and methods of use
Embodiments of the invention provide electrode assemblies and associated methods for the iontophoretic transdermal delivery of therapeutic agents. Many embodiments provide a corrosion resistant electrode for the iontophoretic transdermal delivery of various therapeutic agents. Such embodiments allow for the iontophoretic transdermal delivery of therapeutic agents such as iron compounds for prolonged periods without any substantial corrosion of the electrode, impedance increases or discoloration or irritation of the skin. Embodiments of the invention are particularly useful for the long term treatment of various chronic medical conditions such as iron deficient anemia. |
| US08417327B2 |
Variable frequency impedance measurement
When a defibrillator selects a dosage of energy or current to be delivered to a patient, the defibrillator selects an excitation current frequency and applies the excitation current at the selected frequency to the patient. The frequency of the excitation current is selected as a function of the dosage to be delivered. The patient's response to the excitation current at the selected frequency will accurately reflect the impedance that the defibrillator will “see” when delivering the selected dosage of energy or current. |
| US08417326B2 |
RR interval monitoring method and blood pressure cuff utilizing same
Disclosed is an apparatus and method for ambulatory, real-time detection of Atrial Fibrillation (AF) providing an overall accuracy that refers to detection of AF, irrespective of the duration of AF and beat-to-beat classification. |
| US08417325B2 |
Differentiating decompensation detection based on co-morbidities in heart failure
This document discusses, among other things, a system comprising a sensor signal processor configured to receive a plurality of electrical sensor signals produced by a plurality of sensors and at least one sensor signal produced by an implantable sensor, a memory that includes information indicating a co-morbidity of a subject, a sensor signal selection circuit that selects a sensor signal to monitor from among the plurality of sensor signals, according to an indicated co-morbidity, a threshold adjustment circuit that adjusts a detection threshold of the selected sensor signal according to the indicated co-morbidity, and a decision circuit that applies the adjusted detection threshold to the selected sensor signal to determine whether an event associated with worsening heart failure (HF) occurred in the subject and outputs an indication of whether the event associated with worsening HF occurred to a user or process. |
| US08417324B2 |
Fluorescence lifetime spectrometer (FLS) and methods of detecting diseased tissue
This invention relates to method and apparatus for collection of the complete fluorescence emission spectrum and the transient decay of a selected spectral band simultaneously with data acquisition times of less that one second. This invention is useful for studying human tissues and cells in vivo. |
| US08417321B2 |
Flow reduction hood systems
Flow reduction hood systems are described which facilitate the visualization of tissue regions through a clear fluid. Such a system may include an imaging hood having one or more layers covering the distal opening and defines one or more apertures which control the infusion and controlled retention of the clearing fluid into the hood. In this manner, the amount of clearing fluid may be limited and the clarity of the imaging of the underlying tissue through the fluid within the hood may be maintained for relatively longer periods of time by inhibiting, delaying, or preventing the infusion of surrounding blood into the viewing field. The aperture size may be controlled to decrease or increase through selective inflation of the membrane or other mechanisms. |
| US08417318B2 |
Calibrating tracking systems to remove position-dependent bias
A method for removing position-dependent bias from tracking systems computes invertible transformations between a tracking system and a reference system, and applies an inverse of the transformation to measurements in the tracking system to estimate the locations of reference points in the reference system and to determine relative bias at the measured points. |
| US08417316B2 |
MRI imaging and contrast method
A novel MRI contrast technique enables to observe tissue properties not observable by previously known MRI methods. A difference between two disclosed pulse sequences is used to measure magnetization exchange time between water molecules and macromolecules such as proteins, thereby producing a measure highly sensitive to tissue changes resulting from coagulation, yet relatively insensitive to temperature fluctuations. This result is applied to an imaging method and provides direct visualization of the effects of surgical thermal ablation procedures. |
| US08417314B2 |
Ruthenium purple biosensor
The invention relates to a biosensor comprising an electrically conductive substrate, with a first layer comprising Ruthenium Purple formed on the substrate, a second layer comprising polyaniline or a derivative thereof comprising one or more non-polar substituents formed on the first layer, and a third layer comprising one or more enzymes trapped within a matrix formed on the second layer. The biosensor is for use in the detection of analytes such as purines and derivatives thereof, particularly in the detection of hypoxanthine. |
| US08417313B2 |
Method and device for determining and presenting surface charge and dipole densities on cardiac walls
The invention discloses a method, a system, a computer program and a device for determining the surface charge and/or dipole densities on heart walls. Using the foregoing, a table of dipole densities ν(P′, t) and/or a table of surface charge densities ρ(P′, t) of a given heart chamber can be generated. |
| US08417311B2 |
Fluid component analysis system and method for glucose monitoring and control
Disclosed are methods and apparatuses for determining analyte concentration in a sample such as bodily fluid. Systems and methods disclosed herein can also include a treatment dosing system to infuse or inject a treatment dose (e.g. insulin, dextrose, etc.) and provide glycemic control. The dose of the treatment drug may be based on the patient's calculated sensitivity to treatment dosing, for example. The dose of the treatment drug may be based on the concentration of the analyte or the average value for the concentration of the analyte and/or the rate of change of the value of the concentration of the analyte. Delivery of the treatment drug can be cut off if the determined analyte concentration indicates that continued delivery would be harmful to the patient. |
| US08417306B2 |
Method and device for measuring parameters of cardiac function
A device for non-invasively measuring at least one parameter of a cardiac blood vessel in a patient is provided. The device comprises at least one light source that emits light in the 400 nm to 1000 nm wavelength range; at least one photodetector adapted to receive light emitted by the light source and generate an output based on the received light, wherein said light is reflected from or transmitted through tissue of the patient, the output of said photodetector being correlated with a parameter of the blood vessel; and at least one probe for facilitating delivery of light from the light source to an external tissue site on the patient in the proximity of the cardiac blood vessel and receipt of light by the photodetector. A system and methods of monitoring/measuring cardiac parameters utilizing the device and/or system are also provided. |
| US08417303B2 |
Mobile device case
A removable case for a mobile device is provided, the mobile device having a front face and a side edge, and an input button located on the side edge. The case includes a main body defining a region in which the mobile device can be removably received, and an actuator on the main body having a user interface and a button interface, wherein the actuator translates an input force received on the user interface into a button activating force applied by the button interface in a different direction than the input force. |
| US08417301B2 |
Portable electronic device having at least one of resonator and shield
In some aspects, a portable electronic device, having a rear housing, an upper housing coupled to the rear housing and slideable relative thereto between a closed position and an open position, an antenna, and at least one element coupled to the antenna and configured to perform at least one of inhibiting low frequency shift and increasing high frequency sensitivity of the antenna. |
| US08417300B2 |
Mobile wireless communications device having frequency selective grounding and related method
A mobile wireless communications device includes a portable housing having a metallic front housing forming a peripheral sidewall as a metallic ring. A circuit board is carried by the portable housing and forms a chassis ground plane. A wireless communications circuit is carried by a circuit board. An antenna circuit is carried by a circuit board and connected to the wireless communications circuit. A frequency selective grounding circuit is positioned at a selected grounding location at the chassis ground plane and metallic front housing and forms a harmonic trap that responds to a specific range of frequencies. |
| US08417296B2 |
Electronic device with proximity-based radio power control
An electronic device such as a portable electronic device may have an antenna and associated wireless communications circuitry. A sensor such as a proximity sensor may be used to detect when the electronic device is in close proximity to a user's head. Control circuitry within the electronic device may be used to adjust radio-frequency signal transmit power levels. When it is determined that the electronic device is within a given distance from the user's head, the radio-frequency signal transmit power level may be reduced. When it is determined that the electronic device is not within the given distance from the user's head, proximity-based limits on the radio-frequency signal transmit power level may be removed. Data may be gathered from a touch sensor, accelerometer, ambient light sensor and other sources for use in determining how to adjust the transmit power level. |
| US08417294B2 |
Method and system for providing data services in a hybrid network
A method and system is disclosed for providing data services to a wireless mobile in a hybrid network. |
| US08417293B2 |
Electronic device, method of controlling the same, and program
An electronic device that is accessible to a first storage medium that has no communication function and a second storage medium that has a communication function and is detachable to the device, including: an input unit configured to input image data; a designation unit configured to designate at least one of the first storage medium and the second storage medium as a storage medium serving as a storage destination of the image data input by the input unit; and a control unit configured to, if the first storage medium is designated as the storage destination of the image data and the second storage medium is not designated, store the image data in the first storage medium and store the image data in the second storage medium as well so as to transmit the image data to an external apparatus by the communication function of the second storage medium. |
| US08417292B2 |
Device-adaptive connection establishing method and system for a mobile terminal
A device-adaptive connection establishing method and system for a mobile terminal that is capable of identifying an external device based on a variation of signals exchanged between the mobile terminal and the external device and establishing an electrical connection adaptive to the external device is provided. A device-adaptive connection establishing method of the present invention includes detecting a connecting of an external device to the mobile terminal, detecting a signal transmitted between the external device and the mobile terminal, comparing the signal with previously stored reference values, and determining a type of the external device based on a result of the comparison. |
| US08417290B2 |
Methods, systems and apparatus for displaying the multimedia information from wireless communication networks
Video signals for a mobile terminal are converted to accommodate reproduction by an alternative display terminal. The video signal is processed to provide a converted video signal appropriate for an alternative display terminal that is separate from the mobile terminal. This converted video signal is then provided for the alternative display terminal to accommodate the corresponding video display on a screen provided by the alternative (e.g., external) display terminal. |
| US08417287B2 |
Virtual gateway node for dual-mode wireless phones
In one embodiment, a virtual gateway mediates between a dual-mode subscriber device and an IP-based PBX. In particular, the virtual gateway includes a WLAN interface for communicating with the dual-mode subscriber device and a network interface (wired or wireless) for communicating with the IP-based PBX over the Internet. As such, the virtual gateway may relay voice and call control instructions between the dual-mode subscriber device and the IP-based PBX, and may provide the same call control functions to the dual-mode subscriber device provided by the call control processor in existing dual-mode phones. The embodiment further provides a dual-mode subscriber device suitable for operation with the virtual gateway. Because the dual-mode subscriber device does not require a call control processor, the battery life and cost of the device are significantly improved. |
| US08417286B2 |
Transmit-receive radio frequency front end integrated circuits for laptop computer applications
A radio frequency communications system with a first operating frequency band and a second operating frequency band is disclosed. There is a first antenna. A transceiver has a first transmission port, a second transmission port, a first reception port, and a second reception port. In a first front end circuit, a first port is coupled to the antenna, and a second port is coupled to the transceiver. The first front end circuit has a first low noise amplifier, a second low noise amplifier, a first power amplifier, and a second power amplifier. A switching circuit connects the first transmission port, the first reception port, the second transmission port, and the second reception port to the second port of the first front end circuit. The antenna is distant from the transceiver, while the first front end circuit is proximal to the antenna. The first switching circuit is proximal to the transceiver. |
| US08417285B2 |
Mobility management message analysis
A system that facilitates detecting, analyzing, and selectively enabling mobility management messages in connection with providing dual mode services comprises a receiver component that receives a mobility management message from an enterprise network. An analysis component communicatively coupled to the receiver component determines a type of the mobility management message and further determines whether or not to allow a mobility management transaction corresponding to the mobility management message based at least in part upon the determined type. |
| US08417278B2 |
Wireless communication system, communication terminal device, method of controlling transmission power thereof, and program
A de-spreading unit 104 de-spreads a path timing information after A/D conversion, using a specified code of a signal from an RF unit 102; a TPC judgment unit 106 makes a decision of valid TPC data, if the de-spread signal was found to contain a symbol data of a CPICH, for which channel estimation has been completed on the same time axis with a symbol data of a TPC for each base station, at a correct position; and transmission power control unit 107 controls transmission power of the RF unit 102 so as to attain transmission power adapted to the TPC result. |
| US08417276B2 |
Mobile station-centric method for managing bandwidth and QoS in error-prone system
A wireless transmission system for multimedia information having plural layers includes a base station (BTS) and a mobile station (MS) that can select which layers to transmit based on reported channel conditions, mobile location, and/or forward error correction (FEC) used for a particular layer. A respective FEC rate and/or power level can be dynamically established for each layer by a mobile station dependent on available bandwidth and/or reception and decoding capability of the BTS. |
| US08417272B2 |
Communications system providing automatic text-to-speech conversion features and related methods
A communications system may include at least one mobile wireless communications device, and a wireless communications network for sending text messages thereto. More particularly, the at least one mobile wireless communications device may include a wireless transceiver and a controller for cooperating therewith for receiving text messages from the wireless communications network. It may further include a headset output connected to the controller. The controller may be for switching between a normal message mode and an audio message mode based upon a connection between the headset output and a headset. Moreover, when in the audio message mode, the controller may output at least one audio message including speech generated from at least one of the received text messages via the headset output. |
| US08417267B2 |
System and method for managing short message service communications for a radio station hosted event
A system and method for communicating with an audience. The system includes a radio transmitter that transmits a first communication to a plurality of audience members. A server receives a plurality of short message service communications, wherein each of the plurality of short message service communications is transmitted from a portable communication device in reply to the first communication. A display operably coupled to the server automatically displays each of the plurality of short message service communications. |
| US08417266B2 |
Location based service system
Disclosed is a Location Based Service (LBS) system for providing location information of a target terminal for positioning. Such a LBS system can provide both a requester for location information as well as a third party specified by the requester with the location information by means of only one request message for the location information. The LBS system includes a requester terminal requesting location information of a specific terminal, and a LBS provider receiving a request for the location information from the requester terminal and providing the requester terminal with the location information. The LBS provider receives information on at least one terminal specified to simultaneously receive the location information, along with the request message for the location information, from the requester terminal, whereby the LBS provider delivers the location information to the at least one specified terminal along with the requester terminal. |
| US08417265B2 |
Wireless communication device with navigation functions for accurately detecting orientation by a geomagnetism sensor and displaying maps with the current orientation
A navigation device includes a measuring unit to measure the current position; a geomagnetism sensor that is provided on a predetermined main unit, and is to detect geomagnetism; an orientation calculation unit to calculate the orientation of the main unit, upon setting correction values for correction detection values of the geomagnetism, based on the detection values and the correction values; a presenting unit to present measurement results by the measuring unit and the calculation results of the orientation to a user; an operating state switchover unit to switch between a normal operating state that executes the presenting processing and a suspended state that maintains a portion of processing state while stopping at least the calculation processing of the orientation; and an initialization processing unit to initialize the correction values, in the case of having switched from the suspended state to the normal operating state by the operating state switchover unit. |
| US08417263B2 |
System and method for generating a recommendation on a mobile device
A system and a method generate a recommendation on a mobile device. The system and the method may use a time, a location, a venue and/or an event to generate the recommendation. Further, the system and the method may use an event database to determine current interests of the user. Still further, the system and the method for generating a recommendation on a mobile device may use a transactional history of the user and/or behavior of other users to generate the recommendation. The system and the method may recommend, for example, digital media, news and event information, editorial content and/or physical or digital merchandise. As a result, the system and the method may generate a recommendation that corresponds to the current interests of the user. |
| US08417254B2 |
Systems and methods for multiple radio access bearier traffic throttling
Various embodiments for data throttling are disclosed. One embodiment is a method performed by a mobile device for managing a voice call. The method comprises determining a voice call status. Based on the voice call status, a determination is made on whether at least one application executing on the mobile device is concurrently accessing data via the mobile device during an active call. In response to the occurrence of an active call and concurrent data access by the mobile device, the data access mode used by the mobile device for accessing the data is determined. Based on the determined data mode, data access by the at least one application is suppressed. |
| US08417252B2 |
Method and apparatus for interference reporting in a N-MIMO communication system
Systems and methodologies are described herein that facilitate interference measurement and reporting in a network multiple-in-multiple-out (N-MIMO) communication system. As described herein, a network device can measure and report interference corresponding to network nodes outside a designated set of nodes that can cooperatively serve the device. Respective interference reports can additionally identify dominant interfering nodes, correlation between transmit antennas of respective nodes, or the like. Subsequently, respective interference reports can be combined with per-node channel information to manage coordination and scheduling across respective network nodes. As further described herein, interference from a network node can be measured by observing reference and/or synchronization signals from the network node. To aid such observation, respective non-interfering network nodes can define null pilot intervals in which transmission is silenced or otherwise reduced. As additionally described herein, loading information broadcasted by respective interfering network nodes can be identified and utilized in connection with interference calculation. |
| US08417249B2 |
Mobile communication system, base station controller, base station, and base station state control method
A mobile communication system includes an association requesting unit provided in a base station and configured to request a base station controller, which is an upper node, to associate the base station with a tracking area; and a state control unit provided in the base station controller and configured to monitor entry or appearance and exit or disappearance of mobile stations in and from the tracking area associated with the base station, to cause the base station to transition to a serving state if at least one of the mobile stations enters or appears in the tracking area, and to cause the base station to transition to a radio-unit-inactive state if all of the mobile stations exit or disappear from the tracking area. |
| US08417241B2 |
Communications system
A mobile communications system is described in which a mobile communications device can register with a Macro RAN base station or with a home base station when in range of the home base station. The home base station may be an open access mode, a closed access mode or a hybrid access mode home base station. The home base station sends a gateway device information about its access mode so that unnecessary access control is avoided. This information may be signalled to the gateway device by the presence or absence of an optional element of a registration request or by the presence or absence of entries within a mandatory element within the registration request. |
| US08417240B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for using IMS communication service identifier
A method includes obtaining, by an HSS, information related to a user subscribed IMS communication service identifier, and sending information of a user subscribed IMS communication service identifier to a SID-requiring network entity according to the information related to the user subscribed IMS communication service identifier. |
| US08417231B2 |
Method and apparatus for programming a mobile device with multiple service accounts
Methods and systems enable mobile devices equipped with software defined radio based chipset modules to seamlessly re-program the mobile device to operate on any of a variety of service provider networks. By re-programming a mobile device equipped with software defined radio based chipset module, the mobile device can support communications over both GSM and CDMA communication networks. An environment is provided which allows a user to quickly and efficiently switch between service provider accounts supporting communications. |
| US08417227B2 |
Virtualized mobile communication device
Virtual handsets may be defined and downloaded to physical devices when desired. The use of virtual handsets may allow a user to have multiple different physical handsets or other devices, all of which can present a relatively consistent interface to the user. In one particular implementation, a profiles may be stored that define personal preference and usage information for the virtual handset. The profile may be downloaded a physical handset for implementation of a user interface at the physical handset based on the personal preference and usage information of the profile. |
| US08417226B2 |
Advertisement scheduling
Embodiments of the invention are concerned with a method and a system for scheduling the transmission of messages to a subscriber in a communications network on basis of communications events that are determined to have occurred from communications events generated by the communications network. The method includes identifying a communications event as one of a plurality of predetermined types of communications events on the basis of at least one said identified current or previous communications session, and, responsive to the identified communications event, triggering a scheduling process for scheduling transmission of a message to the subscriber, in which the scheduling process is dependent on the type of communications event.Thus in embodiments of the invention, the transmission of messages is determined on the basis of communications events associated with the subscriber; typical communications events include making calls, sending messages, switching off, switching on, roaming, cell to cell handover, answering calls, and trends relating thereto. The method can include reviewing call detail records so as to identify likely actions and availability of the subscriber, and using this information to ensure that messages are received by a subscriber at a time that is convenient to their actions and availability. |
| US08417224B1 |
Systems and methods for providing live voicemail to a mobile handset
The exemplary live voicemail functionality offers a user of a mobile station the ability to listen to a voicemail message in real-time, as the message is being recorded in a voicemail platform. The mobile communication network serving the user directs an incoming call intended for the mobile station to the voicemail platform, which records the audio for the incoming message. The network infrastructure also duplicates the audio and directs the duplicate audio to the mobile station for real time monitoring of the incoming message by the user, as the platform is recording the voicemail message. |
| US08417218B2 |
SIM based authentication
A method of authentication in a communications network, said communications network comprising a network authentication server, a local authentication entity and a user terminal, said local authentication entity comprising a subscriber application and an authentication application, said method comprising the steps of: sending a request from the local authentication entity to the network authentication server to authenticate the user terminal, said request comprising the identity of the user terminal; generating by the network authentication entity an authentication key in response to the request and generating by the subscriber application an identical authentication key; sending the authentication key generated by the network authentication server securely to the user terminal identified by said identity, then storing the authentication key at the user terminal; sending the authentication key generated by the subscriber application securely to the authentication application, then storing the authentication key at the authentication application; and authenticating the user terminal by verifying the authentication key stored at the user terminal with the authentication key stored at the authentication application. |
| US08417215B2 |
Method for positioning of wireless medical devices with short-range radio frequency technology
In a tracking method for tracking a local wireless device in a medical facility having a medical facility network (10), the local wireless device (50, 51, 52), which is not connected with the medical facility network (10), is detected based on local wireless communication. (54, 55, 56, 58) between the local wireless device and at least one nearby network device (12, 14, 16) that is connected with the medical facility network. A location of the local wireless device within the medical facility is estimated based on the local wireless communication and information indicative of a location of the at least one nearby network device. |
| US08417211B2 |
In-vehicle system (IVS) control of emergency data communications
An in-vehicle system (IVS) captures data such as location data and in an emergency automatically places a call to an emergency call taker or PSAP via a wireless telecommunications network. After a voice call session is established, the IVS system transmits a predetermined control signal through the voice channel. The control signal directs the call taker system to prepare to receive data. Preferably, the control signal comprises at least one audio frequency tone. This may be done without human intervention. In this way, emergency information is transmitted accurately and with minimum delay. After transmission of essential information, the IVS system may switch on audio connections for live human voice conversation. |
| US08417208B2 |
Systems and methods for suppressing radio interference from a noise source via active filtering
Systems and methods are provided for suppressing radio interference from a noise source having an operating frequency. In accordance with an embodiment, a vehicle is provided. The vehicle may include, but is not limited to, a communications bus having a delay, an electric motor communicatively coupled to the communications bus, the electric motor configured to transmit an operational frequency of the electric motor to the communications bus, a radio communicatively coupled to the communications bus, and an audio amplifier communicatively coupled to the communications bus and further configured to be coupled to the radio via the communications bus, the audio amplifier comprising a filter configured to selectively filter radio signals of the radio based upon the operational frequency of the electric motor and a maximum change in angular velocity of the vehicle over the delay. |
| US08417205B2 |
Antenna selection scheme for multiple antennae
Techniques to select an antenna from a plurality of antennae used for wireless communications are described. A first embodiment of the techniques is a method to select an antenna from a plurality of antennae. The method includes monitoring at least one antenna during a fraction of at least one preamble period of a frame to derive at least one quality indicator corresponding to the antenna; storing the quality indicator derived from monitoring the antenna during the fraction of the preamble period of a frame; and selectively switching to a selected antenna after a number of frames, based on the quality indicator. A second embodiment is another method to select an antenna from a plurality of antennae. These embodiments can be applied in several wireless communication applications using multiple antennae. |
| US08417204B2 |
Method and system for on-demand signal notching in a receiver
Aspects of a method and system for on-demand signal notching in a receiver. In this regard, signal strength measurements of a received signal may enable detection of unwanted signal component(s) and one or more filters in an on-chip receiver may be configured in response to the measurements. The filter(s) may additionally be configured based on power consumption of the filter(s). Signal measurements and/or the corresponding configuration may be performed real-time. The filter(s) may be configured such that a notch in a frequency response of the filter(s) is centered at or near the unwanted component. In this manner, the unwanted component(s) may be filtered out. The filter(s) may be configured, for example, by switching one or more filter stages and/or components into and/or out of a signal path and/or by tuning one or more variable circuit elements within the filter(s). |
| US08417199B2 |
Method and apparatus for improving efficiency in a power supply modulated system
A radio is presented that has a processor, memory, modulator and a power amplifier. An envelope of a signal to be transmitted is used by the processor to control modulation of the voltage of the power amplifier by the modulator between a desired minimum voltage and a desired maximum voltage. Using the memory, the desired minimum voltage is determined from the desired maximum voltage and these voltages are less than nominal minimum and maximum voltage, respectively. The desired minimum voltage is tailored for the radio and takes into account environmental conditions to optimize operating conditions for the radio. If the range of voltages would exceed the dynamic range of the radio, the modulation provided by the modulator is controlled by the processor in steps until the desired minimum and maximum voltages are achieved. |
| US08417198B1 |
Selection of closed-loop/open-loop power control in user equipment
A method for power control, including determining a need in a transmitter to perform a first output power update and then a second output power update. The method includes selecting a control mode for the first output power update and a control mode for the second output power update prior to performing the first output power update. The control modes are selected from a closed loop mode and an open loop mode, and the selection is based on a function of a current output power, a power to be applied at the first output power update, and a power to be applied at the second output power update. The method includes performing the first output power update using the first control mode, and then performing the second output power update using the second control mode, without measuring a power level applied responsively to performing the first output power update. |
| US08417195B2 |
Method and apparatus adapted to transmit data
The present invention relates to the field of data transmission. The invention has application to amplifiers, the transmission of data modulated signals, filters and/or matching circuits connected between an amplifier and a load, radio transmitters, the transmission of data modulated radio signals, filters and/or matching circuits used between a transmitter's power amplifier and an antenna and the field of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), such as in the transmission of data between a tag and an interrogator. The present invention enables the transmission of phase modulated signals, by adjusting a device's tuning to substantially match the instantaneous frequency of the phase modulated signal. |
| US08417194B2 |
Compensation device applied to power amplifier, method for determining pre-distortion of power amplifier, and method for compensating linearity of power amplifier thereof
A method for determining pre-distortion of a power amplifier includes the following steps: providing a first power input signal to make the power amplifier generate a first power output signal; receiving a first receiving signal, which is acquired according to the first power output signal; detecting a predetermined gain of the power amplifier by means of the first power input signal and the first receiving signal; providing a second power input signal to make the power amplifier generate a second power output signal; receiving a second receiving signal, which is acquired according to the second power output signal; determining pre-distortion amplitude values and pre-distortion phase values of the power amplifier by means of the predetermined gain, the second power input signal and the second receiving signal. |
| US08417192B2 |
Radio frequency (RF) transceiver
Systems and methods are disclosed for transmitting and receiving RF signals. An exemplary RF transceiver includes a signal generator, a frequency multiplier circuit, a receiver circuit, a transmitter circuit, and a switching device. The signal generator is configured to output a first signal and a second signal. The first signal comprises a local oscillator signal, and a frequency of the second signal is derived from a frequency of the first signal. The frequency multiplier circuit is configured to upconvert the output of the signal generator by frequency multiplication. The receiver circuit is configured to process a received signal using an upconverted first signal, and the transmitter circuit is configured to provide an upconverted second signal to a transmitter channel. The switching device is configured to provide the upconverted first signal to the receiver circuit and the upconverted second signal to the transmitter circuit. |
| US08417186B2 |
Method and apparatus for communicating push-to-talk state to a communication device
Apparatus, which has a multilayer protocol stack for processing incoming messages, determines PTT state from messages received from a peripheral over a wireless serial communication channel. The apparatus: receives, from the peripheral, a sequence of messages comprising a plurality of data messages (e.g., RFCOMM messages), wherein each of the data messages provides an indication of a PTT state for the apparatus, and wherein the sequence of data messages is received over a short range wireless data path for exchanging priority data that comprises a wireless serial communication channel and that is different from a short range wireless data path for exchanging non-priority data. A pattern detector in the apparatus performs a pattern matching process, within the first two layers of the multilayer protocol stack, to determine the PTT state indicated by each of the data messages and sets the apparatus to have the determined PTT states. |
| US08417182B2 |
Excessive-signal prevention apparatus and method therefor
Disclosed is an excessive-signal prevention apparatus which includes a connection state judgment section and a zero-level signal insertion section. The connection state judgment section detects whether connection between a first device and a second device is normal or abnormal on the basis of a pattern of signals that are other than a transmission signal transmitted from the first device to the second device at normal time and are required for transmission of the transmission signal. The zero-level signal insertion section outputs the transmission signal output from the first device to a destination during a period of time when the connection state judgment section judges that the connection between the first and the second device is normal, and which outputs a zero-level signal to the destination during a period of time when the connection state judgment section judges that the connection between the first and the second device is abnormal. |
| US08417180B2 |
Methods and systems for mixing media with communications
A communications device may transmit a media item chosen by a user over a communication path also being used to transmit an established communications operation. The user may select a media item of any known type, including for example a musical selection, a video, a voicemail, a podcast, an image, or any other suitable media item. The user may select any suitable contact method for the communications operation, including for example, telephone, voicemail, email, text message, chatting, fax, or any other suitable method. |
| US08417179B2 |
Radio broadcast receiver
A radio broadcast receiver includes a broadcast reception and reproduction unit 1 for outputting a digital sound when being able to receive a digital signal included in a terrestrial digital radio broadcast, and for outputting an analog sound when being unable to receive the digital signal, and a control unit 3 for determining the broadcast type of the digital terrestrial broadcast received by the broadcast reception and reproduction unit 1 to carry out variable control of a transition time required to switch from an output of the analog sound to an output of the digital sound according to the determined broadcast type. |
| US08417177B2 |
Image forming apparatus having lowered image forming position and recessed sheet stacking portion
In a printer, a scanner unit is formed into a taper shape having a thinner thickness on a side of a pick-up roller in a removing direction of a process unit, to allow the process unit to be removed from the printer. A part of a sheet feeding path is formed in an area between the process unit and a sheet cassette. An image forming position on the sheet feed path is set lower than an upper end of the pick-up roller. Thus, removal of the process unit can be readily performed. Further, the height of the printer at a position of the pick-up roller can be reduced as compared with a case where the scanner unit is not formed into a taper shape. |
| US08417176B2 |
Image forming apparatus
A disclosed image forming apparatus includes a main conveyance path configured to convey a recording medium from a paper feeding unit to a sheet discharge unit; a double-side reversing conveyance path configured to switch back a recording medium, one side of which has an image formed, so as to reverse the sides of the recording medium for double-sided image formation; a sheet resending conveyance path configured to resend the recording medium reversed in the double-side reversing conveyance path to the main conveyance path; and a double-side reversing open-space unit configured to provide a space for switching back the recording medium on the double-side reversing conveyance path. The double-side reversing open-space unit also serves as a temporary tray for storing misfed recording media and remaining recording media left inside the image forming apparatus when a jam occurs. |
| US08417173B2 |
Powder recovery device and image forming apparatus
A powder recovery device includes a powder storage container and at least two powder conveying members. The powder storage container stores powder recovered from a recovery port. The at least two powder conveying members are disposed on upper and lower sides of the recovery port interposed therebetween in the powder storage container, and are disposed in a longitudinal direction of the powder storage container. The at least two powder conveying members are set so that the amount of powder conveyed near the recovery port is larger than the amount of powder conveyed to a back side which is on the opposite side of the recovery port in the longitudinal direction. |
| US08417172B2 |
Powder collecting container and image forming apparatus
A powder collecting container includes: a first chamber that is configured to store collected powder; a conveying unit that has a rotary shaft, and a powder conveying blade formed to be wound around the rotary shaft, the conveying unit being arranged along an upper-limit zone for accommodating powder in the first chamber and configured to convey powder which is contained in the first chamber and located at a position exceeding the upper-limit zone. A hollow member has an opening portion formed in a peripheral wall so that a powder conveying end of the conveying unit is located in the opening portion, and that the conveying unit passes through the hollow member. A second chamber has an inlet provided to face the opening portion so that powder conveyed by the conveying unit enters the second chamber from the inlet. |
| US08417165B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus which attains a high quality image by suppressing fluctuation in speed of an intermediate transfer belt generated when a leading edge of a recording material having high rigidity such as a thick sheet is brought into contact with the belt in a single color mode. The single color mode is switched between a first single color mode in which a toner image on one photosensitive drum is primarily transferred onto the belt with only the one drum being in contact with the belt, and the toner image on the belt is secondarily transferred onto the recording material, and a second single color mode in which a toner image born on one of drums is primarily transferred onto the belt with the drums being in contact with the belt, and the toner image on the belt is secondarily transferred onto the recording material. |
| US08417160B2 |
Toner cartridge including a toner flowing-out preventing valve
A toner cartridge includes a toner container for containing toner, a toner discharge section provided on one side part of the toner container and having a toner discharge port, an auger screw provided in the toner container, for conveying toner in the toner container to the toner discharge section, and a toner flowing-out preventing valve provided in a communicating part between the toner container and the toner discharge section to prevent flowing out of toner. The toner flowing-out preventing valve is configured to open and close the communicating part in conjunction with rotation of the auger screw. |
| US08417159B2 |
Powder container and image forming apparatus
A powder container includes: a cylindrical powder containing portion that contains a powder, and is able to be pulled out of an image forming apparatus; a covering member facing an outer surface of the powder containing portion, being provided to be movable on a movement route along an axial direction of the powder containing portion, the covering member, whose movement is regulated by a protruding portion of the apparatus, moving relative to the powder containing portion, thereby covering a specific portion on a lower side of the powder containing portion when the powder containing portion is pulled out of the apparatus; and a pressing portion provided between the outer surface of the powder containing portion and the movement route of the covering member, the pressing portion pressing the protruding portion when the powder containing portion is pulled out of the apparatus, thereby removing the regulation provided by the protruding portion. |
| US08417158B2 |
Image forming apparatus including toner transporting member and toner container including toner transporting member
An image forming apparatus includes: a feed portion that is fed with toner from above; a transport path that includes an inlet through which the toner fed to the feed portion enters, that allows the toner to be transported therethrough, and that is in a cylindrical shape; and a transporting member including: a rotary shaft provided to extend in the feed portion and the transport path; and a moving portion pressing toner with rotation of the rotary shaft to move the toner, and that transports along the transport path the toner fed to the feed portion, a part of the rotary shaft of the transporting member located in the transport path having a larger diameter than a part of the rotary shaft located in the feed portion. |
| US08417157B2 |
Developer storage container having a turn stop part
A developer storage container includes a container main body, an outflow port, an open/closed member and a turn stop part. The outflow port from which a developer flows out is formed in the container main body storing the developer. The open/closed member is supported to the container main body and, moves relative to the container main body based on a rotation of the container main body. The open/closed member opens and closes the outflow port. The turn stop part is formed on a wall face of the container main body, and has a circular arc shape being concentric with a rotation direction of the container main body. The turn stop part engages with a convex part which is provided in the attachment section and is formed at a different position in response to the image forming apparatus body. |
| US08417154B2 |
Image forming apparatus with connecting portion for shaft misalignment
An image forming apparatus is provided and includes: a rotating member; an engaging member to be removably engaged with the rotating member; a driving force transmitting member to be rotated and driven by a driving source; and a connecting portion that connects the engaging member to the driving force transmitting member so that the engaging member and the driving force transmitting member are movable in a misaligned direction and an axial direction. The connecting portion includes a connecting member, a pair of spherical members provided on respective ends of the connecting member, at least one of which is movable in the axial direction with respect to the engaging member and the driving force transmitting member, and a pair of fixing members that fix the pair of spherical members to the engaging member and the driving force transmitting member. |
| US08417148B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method
An image forming apparatus and an image forming method are provided that realize both the use of a decolorizing toner and a non-decolorizing toner and miniaturization of the apparatus. |
| US08417147B2 |
Image forming apparatus with translation cam member
An image forming apparatus includes a detaching and pressing mechanism for releasing developing rollers of developer cartridges mounted in a drum unit from photosensitive drums and pressing the developing rollers on the photosensitive drums. The detaching and pressing mechanism includes a pair of translation cam members, intermediate members provided on the translation cam members, cam holders for holding the translation cam members in such a manner as to be linearly movable in an anteroposterior direction, and a synchronous movement mechanism for allowing the pair of translation cam members to linearly move in synchronization. |
| US08417145B2 |
Photoreceptor unit of image forming apparatus
A photoreceptor unit of an image forming apparatus includes an attachment body, a photoreceptor body, a first gripping portion, and a second gripping portion. The attachment body is attached to the image forming apparatus and is detachable from the image forming apparatus. The photoreceptor body is rotatably provided in the attachment body. The first gripping portion is provided in the attachment body. The second gripping portion is provided in the attachment body and is contactable with the photoreceptor body when the photoreceptor unit is gripped. The second gripping portion does not contact the photoreceptor body when the photoreceptor unit is attached to the image forming apparatus. The photoreceptor body is provided between the first gripping portion and the second gripping portion and is allow to be gripped by using the first gripping portion and the second gripping portion. |
| US08417144B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus has a tray, which is able to be drawn out of the apparatus and on which a plurality of cartridges of different sizes can be mounted. A cartridge, being the largest in size among a plurality of process cartridges, is detachably arranged at a location at which it is first exposed to outside when a cartridge tray is drawn out. A developer storage portion of the largest cartridge has the largest capacity and stores a developer of a black color. |
| US08417140B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method
An image forming apparatus includes toner-image forming units, an intermediate transfer body, a controller, a detector, an instruction acceptance unit, and a memory. The toner-image forming units form toner images. The toner images are transferred onto the intermediate transfer body. The controller performs control of causing, among the toner-image forming units, one or multiple toner-image forming units to be used to form the toner images to contact the intermediate transfer body, and of separating the other toner-image forming units from the intermediate transfer body. The detector detects a test pattern formed by the toner forming units. The instruction acceptance unit accepts an instruction for performing a detection process with the detector. The memory stores, among forming modes indicating combinations of toner-image forming units to be used, a first forming mode for forming an image and a second forming mode for forming the test pattern. |
| US08417136B2 |
Image forming apparatus, fixing device, and image forming system using the same
Provided are an image forming apparatus, a fixing device, and an image forming system using the same, including: an image forming section for transferring a toner image onto a recording sheet; a first and second fixing rollers for thermally fixing the toner image on the recording sheet; a first and second temperature sensors each provided at a plurality of positions in a longitudinal direction of the fixing roller; and a rocking section for reciprocally shifting at least one of the fixing rollers in the longitudinal direction of the fixing roller, wherein the temperature gradient of each of the fixing rollers is detected, a central position of reciprocal shift of one fixing roller which can be shifted is set such that the temperature gradient of the other fixing roller is cancelled, and then the one fixing roller is reciprocally shifted by the rocking section. |
| US08417133B2 |
Apparatus and method for supplying charge voltage to organic photoconductor drum
Provided is an apparatus and method for supplying a charge voltage to an organic photoconductor (OPC) drum. The apparatus includes a storage unit for storing first service life information of the OPC drum according to a first supplying method, and second service life information of the OPC drum according to a second supplying method, a sensor unit for measuring information about conditions surrounding the apparatus, a control unit for selecting one of the first and second supplying methods according to the measured information and determining a charge voltage corresponding to the service life information according to the selected method, and a voltage supplying unit using the selected method to supply the determined charge voltage to the OPC drum. |
| US08417132B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes an exposure section configured to form an electrostatic latent image, a developing section configured to supply developer to the electrostatic latent image to form a developer image, a first carrier configured to rotate while carrying thereon the developer image formed by the developing section, a second carrier configured to interpose a recording medium with the first carrier and configured to indirectly carry the developer image transferred from the first carrier to the recording medium, and a correction section configured to correct a formation position of the electrostatic latent image with using a correction value which is based on a use level of developer corresponding to at least one of an amount of developer and a coverage of developer in the developer image. |
| US08417131B2 |
Developing device
A developing device is provided. The developing device includes: a rotatable developer carrier which is configured to carry developer; a housing including a first resin frame which includes a pair of sidewalls supporting both end portions of the developer carrier in a rotational axial direction thereof, and a second resin frame which is connected to the first resin frame; and a receiving-side coupling member which is provided rotatably to one of the sidewalls and is configured to couple with a driving-side coupling member in the rotational axial direction to transmit driving force to the developer carrier. The receiving-side coupling member is overlapped with a connection part between the first frame and the second frame as viewed from the rotational axial direction. |
| US08417130B2 |
Image forming device having process unit that can be pulled out thereof
An image forming device includes a main body, a support unit, a driving unit, a developer cartridge, a moving member, a transmitting member, and a detection member. The support unit can be pulled out from the main body in a removing direction. The developer cartridge is detachably mounted in the support unit and has a driving member. The driving member is driven by the driving unit when the developer cartridge is mounted in the support unit. The moving member moves when the driving member is driven by the driving unit. The transmitting member is provided to the support unit and is rotatable about a rotational axis which extends perpendicular to the removing direction and a longitudinal direction of a photosensitive member. When the moving member contacts the transmitting member, the transmitting member rotates. The detection member detects a rotation of the transmitting member. |
| US08417124B2 |
Multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) communication via multimode media
Multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) communication systems and a method using multimode media are provided. A MIMO communication system includes an array of emitters that receives a data signal and outputs a plurality of signals (e.g., modulated light, or other signal types) representative of the data signal, a multimode medium (e.g., a multimode fiber, a fiber bundle, a bundle of cables) that receives the plurality of signals from the array of emitters and carries the plurality of signals in a plurality of modes, and an array of detectors that receives the plurality of signals carried by the multimode medium and outputs the data signal. The system can include a demultiplexer that demultiplexes a single high-speed data stream into the array of emitters as the data signal. The system can also include a multiplexer that multiplexes the data signal from the array of detectors back into the single high-speed data stream. |
| US08417120B2 |
Textile-typeinterface devices for optical communication in wearable computing system
Both ends of an interface may each be configured by an interface device including a light emitting unit that emits light into a textile, a light diffusion unit that widely diffuses the emitted light onto the textile and extends a light receiving range of a light receiving unit, and a light receiving unit for receiving an optical signal of the other party unlike the existing method using electromagnetic inductive coupling in the wearable computing system and a method of performing communication by using light such as infrared rays, visible light, laser, or the like as a medium is provided. |
| US08417119B2 |
Customer premises optical network unit and optical transmission system
An optical network unit according to the present invention is provided as comprising a configuration that component units built therein are grouped for at least two sheets of substrate modules and arranged thereat. There are provided individual embodiments: (a) arranging an L2 layer and a part of the component unit of an L1 layer at a first substrate module, meanwhile, arranging the left part of the component unit of the L1 layer at a second substrate module; (b) arranging the component units of the L1 layer and of the L2 layer at the first substrate module and the second substrate module individually by grouping therefor; and (c) arranging the component units of the L2 layer and of the L1 layer at the first substrate module and the second substrate module respectively. |
| US08417116B2 |
RoF system providing HD wireless communication service and signal control method for the same
Disclosed is an RoF system providing an HD wireless communication service. The RoF system includes the base station for transmitting and receiving each of the TDD/FDD individual signals and TDD/FDD combined signals, channel-combining downstream signals for a TDD scheme with downstream signals for an FDD scheme, and generating TDD/FDD mode control signals; a base station donor for receiving downstream RF signals from the base station, converting the resultant signals into downstream optical signals, outputting the converted signals, and delivering upstream optical signals, which are input to the remote station from the wireless terminals, to the base station; and the remote station for switching a corresponding duplexing mode operation according to wireless service channel states of the wireless terminals, converting the downstream optical signals transmitted from the base station donor into service RF signals, amplifying the converted service RF signals, and providing the amplified service RF signals to the wireless terminals through antennas. |
| US08417114B1 |
Apparatus, system and method for network monitoring
Systems, methods, and devices are disclosed for monitoring optical communications between a managed location and a remote location. In particular, an optical signal is transmitted over an optical fiber and passed-through a test device. A portion of the optical signal is filtered from the original optical signal and passed to a monitoring unit. The monitoring unit may instruct one or more switches in the test device to loop the optical signal back toward the managed location. Subsequently, testing and monitoring may be performed at the managed location. The device may provide a test output or may transmit the information to the managed location. |
| US08417113B1 |
Auxiliary network for fiber optic system health management
In an embodiment, an apparatus comprises a switch configured to control bi-directional communication in a first channel of a fiber optic network between the switch and a number of devices and in a second channel of the fiber optic network between the switch and a number of health assemblies in the number of devices. The fiber optic network comprises a number of lines, each line connecting one of the number of devices to the switch. Each health assembly is configured to send and receive a number of optical signals in the second channel. |
| US08417105B2 |
In-vivo information display device, in-vivo information display system, and in-vivo information display method
An in-vivo information display device includes a communication unit that communicates with a receiving device that receives in-vivo information transmitted, at a predetermined time interval, from a body-insertable device that is introduced into a subject and acquires the in-vivo information regarding an inside of the subject; a transmission requesting unit that transmits a transmission request for the in-vivo information to the receiving device via the communication unit; and a display unit that displays the in-vivo information received via the communication unit from the receiving device in response to the transmission request. The transmission requesting unit transmits the transmission request to the receiving device at a first time interval smaller than the predetermined time interval, and the transmission requesting unit transmits the transmission request to the receiving device at a second time interval larger than the first time interval when one or more the in-vivo information is received. |
| US08417104B2 |
Zoom button structure
A zoom button structure including a zoom button, a first middle band and a second middle band is provided. The first middle band has a first lock portion and a first body portion. The first lock portion extends from the first body portion and is located at a side of the zoom button. The second middle band has a second lock portion and a second body portion. The second lock portion extends from the second body portion and is located at the other side of the zoom button. Herein, the first lock portion and the second lock portion lock together and form an annular accommodating space. And the annular accommodating space surrounds and accommodates the zoom button. |
| US08417103B2 |
Image stabilization apparatus, image sensing apparatus and image stabilization method
An image stabilization apparatus wherein a detection unit detects camera shake in first and second directions that are not parallel to each other and a calculation unit calculates first and second correction amounts for correcting the camera shake in the first and second directions, respectively, based on outputs from the detection unit. A control unit controls correction characteristics of the calculation unit so as to restrain correction of a movement corresponding to a panning operation in the first and second directions as the first and second correction amounts becomes larger, controls the correction characteristics of the second correction amount based on the first correction amount and controls the correction characteristics of the first correction amount based on the second correction amount and a correction unit corrects the camera shake based on the calculated correction amounts. |
| US08417102B2 |
Machine-implemented authoring method for a high definition digital versatile disc, and a computer readable storage medium for implementing the same
A machine-implemented authoring method for a high definition digital versatile disc includes: receiving a user-specified title; enabling a user to specify an initial playlist file and at least one application, the initial playlist file being one of a template-generated raw playlist file and a user-authored raw playlist file; and in response to a user-inputted command, modifying the initial playlist file to set corresponding relationship between the user-specified title and the at least one application such that, during playback of the user-specified title, the at least one application set to correspond to the user-specified title can be invoked and executed. |
| US08417101B2 |
Recording medium of stream data, and recording method and playback method of the same
Upon playback of stream data which is recorded while being appended with time stamp information in units of packets, time management is made using the time stamp information. A video playback time viewed from the user, which may be indicated by I-, B-, and P-picture display times, is different from the time of the time stamp information. For this reason, when time management for the stream data recorded on an information storage medium is made using only the time stamp information, display time control (video playback time control) for the user cannot be accurately done. In this invention, a time relationship table indicating the relationship between the time stamp information recorded in stream data at each I-picture start time position and display time information (PTS or field information) for the user is provided to a portion of management information. |
| US08417100B2 |
Apparatus and method of encoding and decoding audio signal
In one embodiment, the method includes receiving the audio signal having a plurality of random access units. The random access unit includes one or more frames and at least one of the frames is a random access frame. The random access frame is a frame encoded such that previous frames are not necessary to decode the random access frame. The embodiment further includes reading location information from the audio signal. The location information indicates whether random access unit size information is stored or not in the audio signal. If the random access unit size information is stored, the location information further indicates a location where the random access unit size information is stored in the audio signal. Random access unit size information is read according to the location information. The random access unit size information indicates a distance between random access frames in bytes. The random access units are decoded based on the random access size information. |
| US08417096B2 |
Method and an apparatus for determining a playing position based on media content fingerprints
A method for determining a playing position of media content based on media content fingerprints is described. In an embodiment, the playing of an advertisement may be detected by determining that one or more fingerprints of media content being played are associated with an advertisement portion of the media content. In an embodiment, an advertisement may be detected by identifying the persons associated with the faces in the advertisement portion of the media content and determining that the identified persons are not actors listed for the media content. In an embodiment, the advertisement may be enhanced with additional content pertaining to the product or service being advertised. In an embodiment, the advertisement may be automatically fast-forwarded, muted, or replaced with an alternate advertisement. In an embodiment, only a non-advertisement portion of the media content may be recorded by skipping over the detected advertisement portion of the media content. |
| US08417094B2 |
Apparatus for recording signals on disk recording medium
A recording apparatus of this invention detects the state of management information, which pertains to a recording address of an image signal, and which is reproduced from a disk-like recording medium having a first area for the image signal and a second area for the management information. On the basis of the detection result, management data is reproduced from the first area of the disk-like recording medium. On the basis of the management data reproduced from the first area, the management information reproduced from the second area is modified. A modify unit records the modified management information in the second area. |
| US08417093B2 |
Recording medium capable of interactive reproducing and reproduction system for the same
On an optical disk, video object sets (VTST_VOBS) to be reproduced and video title set information (VTSI) serving as management information on the video object sets have been stored. In each video object set (VTST_VOBS), many data cells, each containing video, audio, and sub-picture data, are arranged. Management information on programs chains, which are combinations of programs to be reproduced one after another, has been written in a video title set PGC table (VTS_PGCIT). By referring to the program chain table (VTS_PGCIT) according to the user's input, the playback order of program chains can be changed, enabling the program chains to be reproduced one after another in various modes. |
| US08417092B1 |
System, method, and program for recording presentable data accessed through interactive links displayed by an interactive television program
A system, method, and program product for recording presentable data accessed through interactive links displayed within an interactive television program are disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, an interactive television recording device receives an interactive television signal containing one or more interactive links associated with presentable data. In response to receipt of a record command, the interactive television recording device records the interactive television program, and the presentable data associated with the one or more interactive links are accessed and recorded into a designated storage medium. In a preferred embodiment, the interactive television signal and the one or more interactive links are stored on a first data storage medium, while the presentable data are separately stored on a second data storage medium. If a play command is received, the interactive television recording device plays the interactive television signal from the first data storage medium. If the user activates an interactive link, the interactive television recording device retrieves and plays the presentable data associated with the interactive link from the second data storage medium. |
| US08417086B2 |
Data recording apparatus, data transfer method, data transfer program and recording medium, and data transfer system
While viewing and listening to AV data, other AV data is converted and transferred to a reproducing terminal. A recorder has two decoding parts as a decoding unit of AV data on a recording medium. AV data which was decoded in one of the decoding parts is supplied to a monitor device. When there is a transfer request for AV data, in accordance with a schedule which is formulated based on a transfer request list and a programmed picture recording list, AV data in the transfer request list is decoded in the other one of the decoding parts, encoded in an encoding part, converted into new AV data, and recorded in the recording medium. When a connection to the reproducing terminal is detected, the new AV data on the recording medium is transferred to the reproducing terminal. Since it has two decoding parts, it is possible to convert other AV data into new AV data while viewing and listening to AV data on the monitor device. |
| US08417085B2 |
Optical fiber termination holder and methods for using the same
Disclosed are holders for preparing one or more optical fibers for termination and methods of using a holder when preparing and/or making a termination using a mechanical splice connector. In one embodiment, the optical fiber holder includes a body having a longitudinal passageway for receiving an optical fiber and a retainer. The retainer fits into a portion of an opening of the body and has a first side with a resilient member for securing one or more optical fibers to the holder. A front portion of the holder may be inserted into one or more assemblies for perform operations to prepare the at least one optical fiber for termination and/or making a termination using a mechanical splice connector. |
| US08417084B2 |
Distributed optical pressure and temperature sensors
Disclosed herein is a carrier for an optical fiber having a plurality of optical sensors located thereon. The carrier has a test section comprising a cavity and at least one geometric discontinuity, wherein in response to a pressure applied to the test section, a stress concentration is formed proximate to the geometric discontinuity, and wherein the optical sensor is adhered to at least a part of the geometric discontinuity. The cavity may be filled with a liquid or a gel. A temperature optical sensor may also be provided adjacent to the pressure optical sensor. |
| US08417082B2 |
Strain relief for optical fibre cables and patch cords
An enclosure (10) for optical fibre cable or patch cord connections comprising a casing (20), an optical connection adaptor (80), a holder (90) for the connection adaptor, and cable or cord strain relief means attachable to the casing, wherein the holder is integral with or secured or securable within the casing and allows limited axial movement of the adaptor inside the holder over an axial distance (α) greater than the distance of flexural distortion of the casing which is caused at the point of strain relief attachment by manual traction on the cable or cord outside the casing. |
| US08417079B2 |
Method of producing a ferrule with an optical fiber
In accordance with a method of producing a ferrule with an optical fiber, a reinforcing pipe is adhered to a single-core fiber to form an adhesive portion that protrudes and tapers from a pipe end surface portion of the reinforcing pipe toward a front end of the single-core fiber. The single-core fiber includes an optical fiber and a coating. The coating is stripped from the front end of the single-core fiber to provide an exposed optical fiber portion and a coated optical fiber portion. The coated optical fiber portion has a coating end surface portion. The single-core-fiber is inserted in a ferrule provided with a first tapered hole and a second tapered hole until the coating end surface portion abuts against the first tapered hole and until the pipe end surface portion abuts against the second tapered hole. Thereafter, the single-core fiber is secured in the ferrule. |
| US08417078B2 |
Printed circuit board element including an optoelectronic component and an optical waveguide
The invention relates to a printed circuit board element (10) including at least one optoelectronic component (1) which is embedded in an optical, photopolymerizable layer material (13), and at least one optical waveguide (14) optically coupled thereto, which is structured in the optical, photopolymerizable material (13) by photon irradiation, wherein the component (1) comprises a curved deflection mirror (5) on its light transmission surface (3), which curved deflection mirror deflects the light radiation (15), for instance by 90°. |
| US08417077B2 |
Optical branching device and optical communication system including the same
The present invention provides an optical branching device and an optical communication system which are easy to connect with optical fibers. In the optical branching device, when light emitted from an optical fiber in a front stage is incident on an entrance port of a multicore optical fiber, the light propagates through a first core and then is distributed from the first core to four second cores by core-to-core crosstalk between the first and second cores. The light beams distributed to the four second cores propagate through the respective cores and are emitted to four optical waveguides optically coupled core-to-core thereto within a fan-out part at exit ports. |
| US08417076B2 |
Tunable photonic microwave or radio frequency receivers based on electro-optic optical whispering gallery mode resonators
Photonic devices and techniques based on tunable single sideband (SSB) modulation in whispering gallery mode resonators formed of electro-optic materials to construct RF or microwave receivers. |
| US08417075B2 |
Multi-channel electro-magnetic rotary joint using a trapezoidal metamaterial de-rotating mechanism
A multi-channel electro-magnetic rotary joint has been invented in which one or more electro-magnetic signals can be transmitted simultaneously from a rotating collimator array and a stationary collimator array in air and in other fluids. A metamaterial de-rotating mechanism is positioned in the path between said rotating collimator array and said stationary collimator array, and arranged tier rotation relative to each collimator arrays at a rotary speed equal to one-hall the relative rotational rate between said rotating and stationary collimator arrays. |
| US08417072B2 |
Light emitting device and optical transmission system
According to one embodiment, a light emitting device includes a substrate, a light emitting layer, a first conductivity type layer, a first and a second distributed Bragg reflector layer. The first conductivity type layer is provided between the substrate and the light emitting layer. The first reflector layer is provided between the first conductivity type layer and the substrate. First and second layers are alternately stacked therein. The second layers have refractive index different from that of the first layers. The first reflector layer has a center wavelength substantially same as emission wavelength of emission light. The second reflector layer is provided between the light emitting layer and the first reflector layer. Third and fourth layers are alternately stacked therein. The fourth layers have refractive index different from that of the third layers. The second reflector layer has a center wavelength longer than the center wavelength of the first reflector layer. |
| US08417068B2 |
Image processing apparatus
Provided is an image processing apparatus configured to preferentially extract an image with high user satisfaction when multiple images are automatically extracted from an image group. A user specifies the number of images to be extracted from the image group. The image group is classified into a first image group with high user satisfaction and a second image group with low user satisfaction. When the number of images extracted from the first image group does not reach the specified number, an image having only a dissatisfaction factor acceptable to the user is additionally extracted. |
| US08417065B2 |
Image processing system and method
This invention relates to an image processing system and method, the image processing system comprising an image capturing unit; a resolution conversion unit; a detection unit; an image conversion processing unit; an image compression unit, and a memory unit, the processing method comprising the steps of: capturing a first image data; transferring the first image data to the resolution conversion unit and the image conversion processing unit; converting the first image data into a second image data; detecting a plurality of position data from the second image data according to at least one detection rule; generating a third image data by mapping the first image data according to a mapping table; and compressing the third image data. This invention has image encryption function. |
| US08417062B2 |
System and method for stabilization of fisheye video imagery
A coordinate system mapping between each image and the reference image of fisheye images are computed and used to resample each image to align with the reference image directly in the fisheye image space. |
| US08417059B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method, and program
A motion vector calculation unit calculates inter-frame movement amounts. A masked region specification unit separates the entire edge image of frame feature data into (i) an edge image showing relatively large movement amounts and (ii) an edge image showing relatively small movement amounts. The masked region specification unit then specifies the edge image showing relatively large movement amounts as a region to be masked. This way, a correction parameter is detected from a region other than the masked region. When the correction parameter is a slang angle, a slant correction unit performs slant correction on a frame picture obtained by an image sensor. |
| US08417056B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus which includes an image processing unit and a system control unit, wherein this system control unit adds information for determining an image height reference position of an image before cropping processing is performed to an image cropped by the image processing unit, and records the resultant image in an external storage device. Alternatively, information for determining an image height reference position of an image before rotation processing is performed is added to an image rotated by the image processing unit, and the resultant image is recorded in an external storage device. |
| US08417054B2 |
System and method for optimizing camera settings
There is provided a recognition system. The recognition system is coupled to an image capturing device, and determines a first matching percentage by comparing a first live image with a first reference image, determines a second matching percentage by comparing a second live image with the first reference image, compares the first matching percentage with the second matching percentage to determine a direction of adjustment of a setting of the image capturing device, and generates a feedback signal to adjust the setting based on the direction of adjustment. The first live image and second live image are captured by the image capturing device. |
| US08417051B2 |
System and method for feature emphasis and de-emphasis in image processing
A system and method for emphasizing and/or de-emphasizing features in a digital image. In an embodiment of the invention, the image is processed by a series of filters, which decompose the image into a series of sub-bands. Each sub-band is then processed by an emphasis circuit. In an embodiment of the invention, the emphasis circuit is connected to an input representing a particular sub-band. Each filter, therefore, is connected to its own respective emphasis circuit. The result is a series of emphasis circuit outputs, which are then combined. The result of the combination is the processed image, containing one or more emphasized or deemphasized features. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the sub-bands are combined in a weighted fashion. The sum of the weighted sub-bands is then applied to a single emphasis circuit. The output of the emphasis circuit, in this embodiment, is a processed image having one or more emphasized or deemphasized features. |
| US08417050B2 |
Multi-scale robust sharpening and contrast enhancement
Embodiments of the present invention employ robust filtering at each of a number of scales, or resolutions, within a signal, such as a still image or video sequence. In certain embodiments of the present invention, robust filtering comprises or includes a non-linear neighborhood operation at each scale in order to produce both a denoised, sharpened and contrast-enhanced signal and a correction signal at each scale. Correction signals and sharpened and contrast-enhanced signals are combined to produce a denoised, sharpened and contrast-enhanced output signal. Scale-appropriate enhancements at each scale or resolution, including denoising, sharpening and contrast enhancement, ameliorate artifacts introduced by re-enhancement, at a second scale or resolution, features previously enhanced at another scale or resolution and inhibit over enhancement. |
| US08417046B1 |
Shadow and highlight image enhancement
Embodiments provide techniques for enhancing an existing image after image acquisition. These techniques include sub-sampling the original image, identifying and/or deriving local region brightness, and using the local region brightness to enhance the contrast of pixels within these regions in the original image. Sub-sampling is generally used to reduce the number of pixels and corresponding computational load. Local region brightness is localized brightness in an image determined based on the dark and light regions within the image by, for example, using a 2-D Gaussian filter. The use of the local region brightness to enhance the image may be accomplished using a lookup table that may be configured to implement a variety of techniques, for example, contrast overlay, Alpha blending, and the like, for contrast enhancement in the dark and light regions. |
| US08417044B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding/decoding image using adaptive distribution adjustment of differential values
Provided are an image encoding method and apparatus, in which a distribution of difference values included in an image unit is adjusted using a predetermined offset, an image unit including the adjusted distribution of the difference values is divided into an image plane corresponding to upper bits and an image plane for lower bits, and then the image planes are entropy-encoded. |
| US08417040B2 |
Image coding apparatus and image coding method
In a coding apparatus for performing motion-compensated coding, N (M>N≧2)-arized images are converted from a coding target image and reference image as M-arized images, and a motion search is conducted using the N-arized images. During this process, the coding apparatus applies low-pass filter processing to the coding target image and the reference image before conversion of the N-arized images. |
| US08417037B2 |
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. |
| US08417034B2 |
Apparatus and method for separating foreground and background
Disclosed herein is an apparatus and method for separating a foreground and a background. The apparatus includes a background model creation unit for creating a code book including a plurality of code words in order to separate the foreground and the background, and a foreground/background separation unit for separating the foreground and the background using the created code book. The method includes the steps of creating a code book including a plurality of code words in order to separate the foreground and the background, rearranging the cord words of the created code book on the basis of the number of sample data that belong to each of the code words, and separating the foreground and the background using the code book. |
| US08417030B2 |
Method of image edge enhancement
A method of image edge enhancement comprises: determining the edge trend for an image in accordance with the second order gradient value of a center pixel in different directions; performing interpolation operation with the center pixel; calculating absent color component of pixels; performing edge enhancement for the image in the interpolation module in accordance with original color component of the center pixel and the image edge trend based on the Bayer data. The image edge enhancement process takes into account the influence of the green component values of different pixels surrounding the center pixel, and adopts a noise-resistant, self-adaptive edge enhancement algorithm, to suppress noise on the image edge. Thus, the resulting image has a clear image edge. In addition, the fact that the process performs image edge enhancement in the interpolation module based on the Bayer data can significantly reduce the consumption of memory space. |
| US08417028B2 |
Apparatus for automatically determining color/monochrome of document image, method of controlling same, program of same and image processing apparatus with same
Performance of the auto selection processing depends greatly on performance of an image reading apparatus. Since an image processing parameter set by assuming the possible strictest condition is applied to all the image processing apparatuses of the same product kind without variation, there occurs an event that some of the image processing apparatuses do not sufficiently effect the performance of the image reading apparatus. An apparatus of setting a parameter used at the time an image processing apparatus determines whether an image data read by an image reading apparatus is a colored image or a monochrome image, to the image processing apparatus, comprises a unit configured to obtain a reading characteristic of the image reading apparatus, and a parameter setting unit configured to set the parameter corresponding to the obtained reading characteristic. |
| US08417026B2 |
Gesture recognition methods and systems
Gesture recognition methods and systems are provided. First, a plurality of gesture templates are provided, wherein each gesture template defines a first gesture characteristic and a corresponding specific gesture. Then, a plurality of images is obtained, and a multi-background model is generated accordingly. At least one object image is obtained according to the multi-background model, wherein the object image includes at least an object having a plurality of edges. The included angles of any two adjacent edges of the object image are gathered as statistics to obtain a second gesture characteristic corresponding to the object image. The second gesture characteristic of the object image is compared with the first gesture characteristic of each gesture template. The specific gesture corresponding to the first gesture characteristic is obtained, when the second gesture characteristic is similar to the first gesture characteristic. |
| US08417025B2 |
Image processing apparatus and program recording medium
The image processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a local skin color level calculating section, a local brightness deviation calculating section, and a correction amount calculating section. The local skin color level calculating section calculates, as a local skin color level, a skin color level in a predetermined local region in an image. The local brightness deviation calculating section calculates, as a local brightness deviation, a brightness dynamic range in the predetermined local region. The correction amount calculating section determines whether the predetermined local region is a skin region or not by using the local skin color level and the local brightness deviation. |
| US08417020B2 |
Method for detecting the line broken fault of common electrode lines of LCD
A method for detecting line broken faults of common electrode lines of liquid crystal display comprising: loading detection picture to the liquid crystal display, wherein said detection picture comprises at least one detection picture for line broken of common electrode lines, wherein, in the detection picture of same frame, the voltage difference of storage capacitor corresponding to pixel electrode with one polarity is larger than voltage difference of a storage capacitor corresponding to pixel electrode with another polarity; when the detection picture for line broken of common electrode line is displayed on the liquid crystal display, detecting whether there is black line or white line gradually changed in horizontal direction in said detection picture for line broken of common electrode line, and determining line broken fault of common electrode line exists in the liquid crystal display when there is a black line or white line gradually changed in horizontal direction. |
| US08417015B2 |
Methods and system for validating sample images for quantitative immunoassays
A method and system for automatically evaluating quality of a slide-mounted tissue sample includes receiving a digital image of a magnified portion of the slide-mounted tissue sample. At least one quantitative quality indicator is automatically determined for at least one of the samples, and the digital image of the magnified portion of the sample. Each of the quantitative quality indicators is automatically compared to a respective minimum acceptable quality threshold. The quantitative quality indicators and associated quality thresholds are selected for suitability with an automated quantitative immunoassay. Failure of one or more of the quantitative quality indicators to meet its respective minimum acceptable quality threshold suggests that the sample is unsuitable for subsequent automated pathological evaluation. Results can be examined at a user interface allowing for user inspection of samples determined to be unsuitable, the user interface also having provisions for manual override of the determination. |
| US08417011B2 |
Colony detection
The present invention provides in one aspect a method for determining a production level of a polypeptide of interest by a cell or cell colony, comprising obtaining an image of one or more cells or cell colonies; and analyzing the image to detect a signal associated with the polypeptide of interest; wherein a signal level is determined for each cell or cell colony based on signal values from a predefined area surrounding the cell or cell colony, the signal level being indicative of the production level of the polypeptide of interest by the cell or cell colony. |
| US08417007B2 |
Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and magnetic resonance imaging method
A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes a data acquisition unit, a correction unit, a sorting unit and an image reconstruction unit. The data acquisition unit acquires data for imaging and projection data. The correction unit performs motion correction of the data using respiratory motion data obtained based on the projection data. The sorting unit sorts the data after motion correction into a cardiac time phase order based on electrocardiographic information. The image reconstruction unit reconstructs three-dimensional image data based on the sorted data after motion correction. |
| US08417001B2 |
Biometric authentication device, fake body judgment device, and biometric authentication method where biometric information value range is updated when subject is living body
A biometric authentication device includes a fake body judgment unit that judges whether a subject is a fake body by verifying whether a biometric information value that is input from the subject is within a biometric information value range that has been registered in advance; and a biometric information value range updating unit that, when the fake body judgment unit has judged that the subject is a living body, updates the biometric information value range such that a difference between the biometric information value that is input from the subject and an end of the biometric information value range becomes larger. |
| US08416994B2 |
Remote sensing analysis of forest disturbances
The present invention provides systems and methods to automatically analyze Landsat satellite data of forests. The present invention can easily be used to monitor any type of forest disturbance such as from selective logging, agriculture, cattle ranching, natural hazards (fire, wind events, storms), etc. The present invention provides a large-scale, high-resolution, automated remote sensing analysis of such disturbances. |
| US08416992B2 |
Device and method for creating a saliency map of an image
Detection of the salient points in an image enable the improvement of further steps such as coding or image indexing, watermarking, video quality estimation. The methods rely on the fact that a model is fully based on the human visual system (HVS) such as the computation of early visual features, and the methods compute a saliency map for video images taking into account motion and the velocity of the eye. |
| US08416988B2 |
Systems and methods for analyzing facial expressions, identifying intent and transforming images through review of facial expressions
Methods of analyzing a plurality of facial expressions are disclosed that include: identifying a subject person, utilizing the subject person to create an image of a known target, removing at least one distracter expression from the target image to form a revised target image, and reviewing the revised target image with at least one third party participant to form a final target image. Additional methods of analyzing a plurality of facial expressions include: identifying a subject person, utilizing the subject person to create an image of a known target, digitizing the target image, removing at least one distracter expression from the target image to transform the target image to a revised target image, and reviewing the revised target image with at least one third party participant to transform the revised target image to a final target image. Software for implementing contemplated methods include: a set speed function, a pre-test phase function, an instruction phase function, a practice phase function, and a post-test phase function. |
| US08416987B2 |
Subject tracking apparatus and control method therefor, image capturing apparatus, and display apparatus
A subject tracking apparatus extracts a subject region which is similar to a reference image on the basis of a degree of correlation with the reference image for tracking a predetermined subject from images supplied in a time series manner. Further, the subject tracking apparatus detects the position of the predetermined subject in the subject region on the basis of the distribution of characteristic pixels representing the predetermined subject contained in the subject region, and corrects the subject region so as to reduce a shift in position of the predetermined subject in the subject region. Moreover, the corrected subject region is taken as the result of tracking the predetermined subject, and the reference image is updated with the corrected subject region as the reference image to be used for the next supplied image. |
| US08416984B2 |
Automatic tooth charting using digital images
A method for generating an electronic dental chart for a patient, executed at least in part by a host processor, obtains image data for each of a number of teeth of the patient and generates a template dental chart for the patient that represents the position of each imaged tooth with a symbol according to the obtained image data. The template dental chart for each imaged tooth symbol is populated to form the electronic dental chart by associating the obtained image data to the corresponding symbol in the template dental chart for the imaged tooth, analyzing the obtained image data to identify a condition of the imaged tooth, associating at least the identified condition with the symbol for the imaged tooth, and displaying the populated electronic dental chart, wherein the displayed electronic dental chart provides a visual indication of the identified condition. |
| US08416982B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method and program
An image processing method performs reduction processing on an input image to acquire a reduced image, extracts a feature point from a group of images including the input image and one or more of the reduced images, determines as a matched feature point the feature point extracted from a matching position in each of two or more images in the group of images, calculates a local feature quantity of the matched feature point determined by the determination unit, and registers the calculated local feature quantity as a local feature quantity of the input image. |
| US08416977B1 |
Combination helmet and speaker system and method
A combination helmet and speaker system has an audio media player and a pair of speakers removably mounted on a helmet using locking fastening materials. First and second locking fastening materials are adapted for removably mounting the audio media player on the helmet. The pair of speakers each have an electrical connector cord that extends to a plug that is adapted to operatively engage the output port of the audio media player. Two pairs of locking fastening materials are adapted for mounting the pair of speakers on the helmet. A method of mounting the audio media player and the speakers on the helmet is also disclosed. |
| US08416973B2 |
Electrostatic loudspeakers
An electrostatic loudspeaker comprises a multi-layer panel (1) incorporating an electrically insulating middle layer (2) sandwiched between first and second electrically conducting outer layers (3, 4). A signal generator is provided for applying an alternating electrical voltage across the outer layers (3, 4) to initiate vibration due to variation of the electrostatic forces acting between the layers, thereby serving as a loudspeaker. Furthermore at least one of the outer layers (3, 4) is permeable to air displaced by such vibration. Such a loudspeaker can serve as a low cost audio loudspeaker which can be made lightweight and flexible or large-area so as to render it suitable for a wide range of applications, for example to provide sound reproduction in a home environment without requiring any bulky enclosure, public-address systems, or in a notebook computer or mobile telephone. |
| US08416972B2 |
Transducer for vibration absorbing, sensing, and transmitting
A hermetically sealed actuator design for absorbing and reducing the effect of sound or vibration energy from a vibrating surface. The device comprises a body (1) containing a magnetostrictive core (2-6) a reaction mass (7) for energizing the actuator by compression, and a bearing or lever system to control the movement of the reaction mass. The actuator has a foot (11) for receiving the vibration from the structure into the device and a sensor (13) for monitoring vibration levels. The device can also function as an audio transmitter whereby it vibrates the surface onto which it is mounted and can be used for audio trans-10 mission through the structure or noise and vibration reduction by driving the surface out of phase with the vibration received from the structure. |
| US08416970B2 |
Condenser microphone array chip
A plurality of structures of condenser microphones is fabricated in a single condenser microphone array chip. The condenser microphone array chip includes a substrate having a plurality of openings serving as air cavities, a first insulating layer formed in the outer periphery of the openings, a first electrode layer stretched over each of the openings, a second insulating layer formed above the first electrode layer in the outer periphery of the openings, a second electrode layer formed above the second insulating layer relative to the first electrode layer via an air gap therebetween. The structures are connected via a plurality of bridges and separated via a plurality of channels therebetween. The channels circumvent the bridges so that at least the second insulating layer is partially removed from the channels. The bridges are formed using the second electrode layer serving as wiring for electrically connecting the structures of condenser microphones. |
| US08416967B2 |
Bidirectional, variable-impedance instrument-level to professional-level audio interface with signal splitters and balanced DC power
An audio frequency variable-impedance instrument-level to professional-level audio interface with balanced DC power, comprising a unique arrangement of electronic elements, consisting of the musical instrument-level signal splitter with professional-level audio output interface 10, the professional-level signal splitter to instrument-level interface 12 and the power supply with regulation, innovative new DC balancing and power distribution 14. The innovation of balanced DC power effectively cancels the unwanted power supply noise on professional audio electronics giving greatly improved distortion and lower noise specifications over previous designs. |
| US08416966B2 |
Method of automatic gain modulation and apparatus implementing the same
Provided is method for automatic audio gain modulation and a related apparatus. In order to prevent the unstable signals as continuously increasing or decreasing the gain when the signals hover around an upper threshold, it's featured that the method is to predict the signal intensity as pre-adding a predict gain in a hold time before outputting signals. By determining whether the prediction exceeds a predetermined threshold or not, the suitable and adjustable gains can be obtained without exceeding the predetermined threshold. In the automatic gain control mechanism, it's to decrease the gain gradually as automatically entering an attack time, or to increase the gain gradually as performing a conventional auto-gain control procedure including entering a release time. The claimed method can modulate the gain automatically by predicting the gain, and confine the signals under a threshold. In addition to avoid sawtooth phenomena, the method can stabilize the signals. |
| US08416963B2 |
System for providing a personalized driving sound
The present invention relates to a system for providing a personalized driving sound by using an active sound design. The system includes a sound design tool, a memory card, and an audio system. The sound design tool enables a user to create the driving sound. The memory card receives and stores the created driving sound from the sound design tool. The audio system outputs the driving sound stored in the memory card. |
| US08416959B2 |
Hearing enhancement system and components thereof
A circuit includes a microphone circuit, an audio processing module, a digital audio processing module, and an active noise reduction (ANR) circuit. The microphone circuit receives acoustic vibrations and generates an audio signal therefrom. The audio processing module generates a representation of the audio signal. The digital audio processing module compensates the representation of the audio signal based on hearing compensation data to produce a hearing compensated audio signal. The ANR circuit receives the hearing compensated audio signal and an ANR signal. The ANR circuit further functions to adjust the hearing compensated audio signal based on the ANR signal to produce an output audio signal, wherein the ANR signal is generated based on the output audio signal. |
| US08416956B2 |
Protected digital audio driver
A digital audio driver having a floating PWM input and for controlling a stage of high voltage, high speed high- and low-side MOSFETs series connected at a node. The driver includes a floating input interface circuit having a protection circuit to provide secure protection sequence against over-current conditions; and high and low side circuits for driving the high- and low-side MOSFETs, each high and low side circuit including a bi-directional current sensing circuit which requires no external shunt resistors that enables capture of over-current conditions at either positive or negative load current direction. The RDS(ON) of the high- and low-side MOSFETs is used as current sensing resistors, once the RDS(ON) exceeds a pre-determined threshold, an over current output signal is fed to the protection block to shutdown the MOSFET to protect the devices. |
| US08416952B1 |
Channel family surf control
An interface for an interactive television application includes a graphical representation of a channel changing apparatus and is configured such that in response to a channel change request a channel change event limited to a channel change within a designated family of television channels is initiated. The graphical element may be labeled so as to indicate the presently viewed family of television channels. In various embodiment, the channel content may be scaled to fit within a window or may be full screen, in which latter case the interface may be overlaid on top of the full screen video. In one example, the graphical representation of the channel changing apparatus resembles a pair of channel up/down buttons. |
| US08416950B1 |
Copy protection without non-volatile memory
An integrated circuit includes a fingerprint element and a decryption circuit. The fingerprint element generates a fingerprint, where the fingerprint is reproducible and represents an inherent manufacturing process characteristic unique to the integrated circuit device. The decryption circuit decrypts, using a decryption key that is based on the fingerprint, an encrypted data in order to extract data. In one embodiment, the propagation delay of various circuit elements are used to generate the fingerprint. In another embodiment, the specific frequency of an oscillator is used to generate the fingerprint. In yet another embodiment, a ratio of measurable values is used to generate the fingerprint. In another embodiment, differences in transistor threshold voltages are used to generate the fingerprint. In yet another embodiment, variations in line widths are used to generate the fingerprint. |
| US08416944B2 |
Servicing calls in call centers based on caller geo-location
Methods are disclosed for servicing incoming calls at a call center based on one or more of the following: the geo-locations of the calling telecommunications terminals; the direction of movement of the calling telecommunications terminals (e.g., north, south, toward a particular geo-location or area, away from a particular geo-location or area, etc.); the speed of movement of the calling telecommunications terminals; and the local time at the calling telecommunications terminal. For example, in accordance with the illustrative embodiments, a person who calls the Home Depot® call center from his or her cell phone while in a Home Depot® store might be given priority over another call that was received earlier but was not placed from a Home Depot® store. |
| US08416941B1 |
Method and apparatus for managing customer data
Embodiments of the technology disclosed herein provide an overall, or holistic view, of an enterprise's interaction with its customers. These embodiments can also provide a holistic view of other types of interactions. In one particular embodiment, a system collects and aggregates information related to user inquiries and/or response generated by different types of response systems. Such an embodiment could collect data about phone response system activities and aggregate that information with data about automated response system activities. Other embodiments collect and aggregate information related to customer information, contact resolutions and other information. Other embodiments of the disclosed technology generate reports based on aggregated information and/or generate recommendations to address problems with the individual response systems or the overall strategy for responding to customer inquiries. |
| US08416940B2 |
Subscriber accommodating apparatus, transfer control method, communication system, and program product
A subscriber accommodating apparatus which receives a call connection request from at least one subscriber terminal includes a control unit. The control unit compares a number of sessions under connection with a predetermined threshold value and controls a transfer of the call connection request according to the comparison result, when receiving the call connection request from the subscriber terminal. |
| US08416938B2 |
Programmable caller ID
Methods and systems are disclosed for providing Programmable Caller ID Screening services. One method monitors a telephone call for a call screening request for commercial, residential, and other identifiers of incoming calls. An action is taken in response to the call screening request. The action could be playing an announcement, terminating the connection, forwarding to voice mail, storing the ICLID information in a database, adding the ICLID information to a Do Not Call list, updating a subscriber's profile with the ICLID information, and/or storing the ICLID information in a subscriber's blocked communications list. The call screening request may comprise a Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency, a softkey entry, and/or a data message. Subsequent incoming calls from the calling telephone number are characterized as undesirable and are screened from alerting or otherwise establishing a communications connection to the called telephone number. |
| US08416935B2 |
Methods and systems for calling conference participants to establish a conference call
A conference call system comprising at least a gateway, a conference reservation agent and a multiport conference unit, can establish conference calls by calling conference call participants at a phone number specified by the conference call participants. When a user initiates a conference, an identifier is assigned to the conference and a URL referencing this identifier is transmitted to each conference participant. Upon clicking the URL, conference participants are presented with a web-form within which the participants can entered a preferred phone number and further join the conference. The multiport conference unit receives each participant phone number and calls the participants at that phone number. Upon establishing a telecommunication connection with each participant, the multiport conference unit bridges the multiple call legs to establish the conference call. |
| US08416929B2 |
Sharing solutions for a universal linking gateway between telephonic devices
A universal linking gateway interfaces between a local network of one or more local phones, such as analog phones or PBX phones, a plurality of cell phones and multiple service lines, including a public switched telephone network. Implementation of industry standard protocols such as hook flash signals enable a simplistic local phone to access enhanced calling features including answering calls on multiple service lines, to select and make calls on any desired service line as well as handle simultaneous calls on either an active service line or multiple service lines. Further, the gateway manages security and data transfer features between the gateway and the telephonic devices connected thereto. The gateway interfaces between a variety of other telephonic devices including PSTN, VoIP, and telephonic intercoms. Wireless communications are controlled by the gateway for proper pairing management. |
| US08416927B2 |
System and method for limiting voicemail transcription
Methods and systems for limiting voicemail transcription. The methods include answering a forwarded call from a caller to a subscriber of the voicemail transcription service, outputting an audio message to the caller prompting for the caller to leave a voicemail message, recording the voicemail message from audio of the forwarded call, and transcribing the audio of the forwarded call into text. The step of transcribing may be limited according to one or more of the following criteria: the duration of the recording, the number of characters transcribed, the number of text messages generated and filled from transcribed text, the caller ID of the call, the time the call is received, and the duration of the transcription. The systems include a call handler and a transcriber. At least one of the methods may be embodied by a software product including instructions for executing the steps of the method. |
| US08416926B2 |
Method and system for providing an audio representation of a name
A system and method for providing an audio representation of a name includes providing a list of a plurality of users of a network and respective presence information regarding each of the plurality of users; receiving a request from an endpoint to receive an audio representation of a name of a particular user of the plurality of users, and providing the audio representation to the endpoint. Moreover, the audio representation of the name at least generally approximates a pronunciation of the name as pronounced by the particular user. |
| US08416921B2 |
X-ray convergence element and X-ray irradiation device
An X-ray convergence element and an X-ray irradiation device including the X-ray convergence element are provided. The X-ray convergence element can extend a working distance from an exit-side opening end thereof to a specimen, and can perform analysis of the specimen with rough surface, a fluorescent X-ray analysis, and a X-ray diffraction analysis, regardless of a size of the specimen. An X-ray blocking member 23 is provided with three supporting members 233 for supporting the X-ray blocking member 23, which extend from an annular member 232 having approximately the same diameter as a diameter of an entrance-side opening end (outer diameter of a capillary 20) toward the center of the X-ray blocking member 23 to fix the annular member 232 to the capillary 20. The annular member 232, the supporting members 233, and the X-ray blocking member 23 are integrally formed of a metal that shields X-rays, such as tantalum, tungsten, or molybdenum. A dimension of the X-ray blocking member 23 in the axial direction (thickness) is set to be sufficient for blocking X-rays. |
| US08416920B2 |
Target for X-ray generation, X-ray generator, and method for producing target for X-ray generation
A target for X-ray generation has a substrate and a target portion. The substrate is comprised of diamond and has a first principal surface and a second principal surface opposed to each other. A bottomed hole is formed from the first principal surface side in the substrate. The target portion is comprised of a metal deposited from a bottom surface of the hole toward the first principal surface. An entire side surface of the target portion is in close contact with an inside surface of the hole. |
| US08416912B2 |
Nuclear fuel assembly including an internal reinforcing device
The nuclear fuel assembly means a group of nuclear fuel rods disposed in a substantially regular array together with a support skeleton (5), the assembly having: two nozzles; guide tubes interconnecting the nozzles; and spacer grids secured to the guide tubes for holding the rods. The assembly includes at least one support skeleton reinforcing device disposed between two successive spacer grids and secured to guide tubes. The reinforcing device is disposed inside the group of rods and presents a transverse extent that is smaller than the transverse extent of the array of nuclear fuel rods. |
| US08416911B2 |
Nuclear reactor cavity arrangements for ice condenser plants
A pressurized water reactor nuclear containment radiation shield which surrounds the upper portion of a pressure vessel in an ice condenser containment. The vertical walls of the neutron shield are formed in vertical sections with the lower and upper sections operable during outages, to open to promote air flow cooling along the walls in the vicinity of the vessel head. |
| US08416909B2 |
Nuclear fuel cell repair tool
A method of repairing a nuclear fuel cell wall and tools useful for performing that repair are described. A repair tool may be used to align a jack near a region of a bent or distorted structural component of nuclear fuel cell and that jack may be used to apply a force to that structural component. Application of such a force may serve to bend the structural component of a nuclear fuel cell in a way to restore the structural component to its position before damage occurred. The repair tool includes a way of mounting that tool to a fuel cell, positioning elements to align the tool near a structural deformation or bent element and a jack that may be use to apply a force to at least one structural component in a fuel cell. |
| US08416905B2 |
Digital NRZI signal for serial interconnect communications between the link layer and physical layer
Systems and methods of operating a serial interconnect interface provide for generating a pulse in response to a state change in a data signal of the serial interface interconnect, and transmitting the pulse from a physical layer of the serial interconnect interface to a link layer of the serial interconnect interface. The duration of the pulse can be selected based on whether the state change corresponds to an end of packet (EOP) condition. In addition, the data signal may include a non return to zero invert (NRZI) encoded signal, wherein the pulse is part of a digital NRZI signal. |
| US08416898B1 |
Techniques for decision feedback equalization that reduce variations in the tap weight
A circuit includes a receiver circuit, a decision feedback equalizer circuit, and a control loop circuit. The receiver circuit receives a data signal and generates an input signal in response to the data signal. The decision feedback equalizer circuit includes a tap driver and a first current source coupled to the tap driver. The tap driver drives the input signal based on a tap weight. The control loop circuit varies a current through the first current source based on variations in the input signal to reduce changes in the tap weight that are caused by the variations in the input signal. |
| US08416897B2 |
Receiver for high-speed wireless communication system and control method thereof
An apparatus for reducing power consumption of a receiver in a high-speed wireless communication system and a control method thereof are provided. The apparatus for processing a signal in a receiver of a wireless communication system includes a carrier sensor configured to sense a carrier used in the wireless communication system, a decoder configured to decode the detected carrier signal to a signal and data, and a controller configured to control supplying power and a clock only to the carrier sensor during carrier sensing, and supplying power and a clock to an overall receiver when a carrier is sensed. |
| US08416894B2 |
Timing signal frequency management methods and apparatuses
Methods and apparatus are provided for use in devices operatively enabled to establish timing signal offset data and/or utilize such established offset data. |
| US08416888B2 |
Coding and decoding of 8-VSB digital television signals for mobile/handheld receivers
Modified systems for broadcasting M/H data employ two-dimensional coding of RS Frames that combines transverse RS coding with subsequent byte-error-locating block coding that generates codewords of a prescribed standard length. This prescribed standard length is chosen such that an integral number of codewords of the byte-error-locating block code fits exactly, or substantially so, into the portion of each RS Frame that is encoded in CCC for inclusion within an M/H Group. The byte-error-locating block coding is CRC coding by way of one specific example or is Reed-Solomon (LRS) forward-error-correction (FEC) coding by way of another specific example. M/H receivers are described in which codewords of this byte-error-locating block coding are decoded and used to influence the soft decisions concerning data bits. Then, these soft decisions are processed and used for locating byte errors for the transverse Reed-Solomon (TRS) codes on an individual basis. |
| US08416884B2 |
Digital RF transmitter optimized for linear quantized IQ up conversion
The digital RF transmitter includes a decoder for receiving the in phase (I) and quadrature (Q) digital baseband signals, a phase generator for generating eight waveforms at a carrier frequency where each phase is a multiple of 45 degrees, a first set of main amplifiers of fixed output power, a second set of auxiliary amplifiers of fixed output power such that the ratio of the voltage amplitudes at the outputs of the second set of auxiliary amplifiers to the voltage amplitudes at the outputs of the first set of main amplifiers is fixed at sqrt(2)−1, and a set of multiplexers for selecting one of the eight carrier waveforms, or an off signal, to transmit to each of the first set of main amplifiers and the second set of auxiliary amplifiers based on both the in phase (I) digital baseband signal and the quadrature (Q) digital baseband signal. |
| US08416883B2 |
Configurable load impedance for power amplifier pre-distortion calibration
An integrated circuit radio transceiver and method therefor includes an integrated circuit radio transceiver operable to provide specified gain levels and transmit path filter responses to correspond with a selected power spectral density mask. Changes in gain may be provided solely digital gain changes or may include analog gain module gain changes. A transmitter selects from one of at least three masks to reduce or eliminate spectral regrowth out of band to satisfy EVM requirements. Circuitry is provided to allow a transceiver to determine in advance what pre-distortion compensation settings are required for the various gain settings. |
| US08416879B2 |
System and method providing signal combining to support multimode communication
A system and method providing signal combining to support multimode communication. Various aspects of the present invention may provide a first input adapted to receive a first baseband signal corresponding to a first communication protocol. A second input may be provided, which is adapted to receive a second baseband signal corresponding to a second communication protocol. A spectral placement module may, for example, be adapted to spectrally shift the first baseband signal. For example, the spectral placement module may be adapted to spectrally shift the first baseband signal to one or more frequency bands substantially distinct from one or more frequency bands associated with the second baseband signal. The spectrally shifted first baseband signal and the second baseband signal, which may also be spectrally shifted, may then be combined to form a composite signal. |
| US08416878B2 |
Method and system for achieving space and time diversity gain
Certain aspects of a method and system for achieving space and time diversity gain are disclosed. Aspects of one method may include modifying a generalization code of at least one pilot channel, to measure signal strengths for each of a plurality of received multipath signals. A portion of the plurality of received multipath signals may be combined based on the measured signal strengths. The signal strengths of the plurality of received multipath signals may be measured on a primary pilot channel by assigning its generalization code to zero. The signal strengths of the plurality of received multipath signals on a secondary pilot channel may measured by assigning its generalization code to a non-zero value. |
| US08416875B2 |
Diversity transmitter and diversity transmission method
The present invention concerns a diversity transmitter, comprising: transmit symbol input means (1) for inputting a symbol matrix (b) to be forwarded to a transmit processing means (2), said transmit processing means comprising supplying means (2a) for supplying columns of said symbol to a plurality of at least two branches, each branch being supplied to a respective one of spatial channels (A1, . . . , Am) for transmission to a receiver, a parallelization means (2b) adapted to provide within each branch at least two parallel channels allocated to a respective user, and weighting means (2c) adapted to subject the symbol signals on at least one of said branches to an invertible linear transformation with a fixed complex weight, the complex weight being different for at least two parallel channels. The present invention also concerns a corresponding diversity transmission method. |
| US08416874B2 |
Method of operating a block transmission based communication apparatus
A block of information is processed before transmission thereof in a block transmission based communication. This comprises inserting a cyclic prefix and a cyclic suffix into the block of information before applying a time reversal based prefilter prior to transmission to the data after cyclic prefix and cyclic suffix insertion, the prefilter being configured on the basis of knowledge of the condition of the channel over which communication is to be effected. Then, at the receiver, a removal operation is operable to remove the effect of cyclic prefix and suffix insertion, leaving a circulant shifted version of the original block. This can be decoded using a diagonal matrix containing frequency domain channel coefficients on its diagonal entries after FFT. For systems with more than two transmit antennas, this facilities the use of full rate OSTBC, regardless of whether real or complex signaling is transmitted. |
| US08416870B2 |
Automatic gain control for frequency-hopped OFDM
An automatic gain control method and system for use in signal processing of OFDM symbols at a receiver. Two stages of coarse and fine automatic gain control are implemented that adjust different gains in an analog RF processing stage of the receiver. Gain of a low noise amplifier and a mixer are adjusted during a first and coarse automatic gain control stage based on feedback from a digital baseband stage. During a subsequent fine gain control period, the gain of a programmable gain amplifier is adjusted separately for each frequency band used by the OFDM symbols based on a histogram bin that counts the number of output samples of an analog to digital converter whose magnitude falls within certain ranges. Coarse and fine gains are updated after each OFDM symbol. |
| US08416869B2 |
Peak-to-average power ratio reduction method for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems based on path finding
In a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction method for an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system based on path finding, the method applied to the OFDM system uses an ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm and a PTS to reduce a PAPR value, and an area of a computing circuit. In a simulated result, the method can reduce the PAPR effectively, and can be executed by a lower level of complexity of the computation. To solve a large matrix of the PTS, an ant colony optimization algorithm is used for calculating phase rotation vectors of a better quality effectively to achieve the effects of improving the performance, overcoming the high level of complexity of the computing circuit, and reducing the large area of the computing circuit. |
| US08416868B2 |
Method and system for diversity and mask matching in channel estimation in OFDM communication networks using circular convolution
A mobile device in an OFDM system receives an OFDM signal comprising RS tones and data OFDM symbols. The received RS tones are extracted for channel estimation using a masking operation. Masking parameters are determined by matching channel time variance using corresponding time domain samples of the extracted RS tones. As approximated channel impulse responses of transmission channels, the time samples are masked to perform the channel estimation. The channel time variance comprising inter-carrier interference and delay spread are measured, respectively. A mean of differences in power between neighbor adjacent subcarriers of the extracted RS tones is used for the inter-carrier interference measurement. The delay spread measurement such as root-mean-squared (RMS) delay spread is calculated using the approximated channel impulse responses. Masking parameters are determined based on the inter-carrier measurement and the RMS-DS measurement for generating channel estimates by masking the approximated channel impulse responses. |
| US08416866B1 |
System and method for reducing phase errors in multiple sub-carrier communication systems
This disclosure is directed to systems and methods that compensate for a phase change that results from a change in RF gain, a “phase glitch,” that would otherwise degrade the performance of a multiple sub-carrier communication system, such as OFDM. Pilot symbols are used to estimate the phase change, allowing the pilot and data symbols to be compensated by the estimated phase change. Preferably, the compensated pilots are used to per form a second iteration of phase change estimation that determines residual phase glitch. Thus, following the second estimation of phase change, data symbols can be compensated for the estimated residual phase change. |
| US08416861B2 |
Fixed-point implementation of an adaptive image filter with high coding efficiency
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method comprising: representing coefficients of an adaptive image filter in binary words wherein the coefficients are restricted and the binary words have a maximum number of bits defined at least in part by a precision index; computing at least one of a convolution sum and multiple partial convolution sums of the adaptive image filter wherein the at least one of a convolution sum and multiple partial convolution sums having a constrained value range and having a binary representation with a fixed maximum number of bits; and generating the output of the adaptive image filter based at least in part on the at least one of a convolution sum and multiple partial convolution sums, is disclosed. |
| US08416860B2 |
Deblocking filter, image encoder, and image decoder
A deblocking filter, an image encoder, and an image decoder perform edge-filtering of moving-image data which can be divided into blocks, on groups of a predetermined number of pixels arrayed across edges between the blocks, and include: a processing unit concurrently performing column-direction-edge filtering on more than one first group of pixels which are arrayed in rows across ones of the edges oriented in a column direction, the ones of the edges belonging to a macroblock to be currently processed; and an rearrangement unit rearranging pixels being included in the more than one first group of pixels and the macroblock and having been processed by the processing unit, into more than one second group of pixels in respective columns. |
| US08416859B2 |
Signalling and extraction in compressed video of pictures belonging to interdependency tiers
In one embodiment, a method comprises providing a video stream, and providing information identifying compressed pictures in the video stream corresponding to respective picture interdependency tiers. |
| US08416855B2 |
Motion vector coding mode selection method and coding mode selection apparatus and machine readable medium using the same
A coding mode selection method for selecting a coding mode for motion vector estimation is disclosed. The method includes the following steps. First, a first coding mode is selected to perform motion vector estimation for a macroblock having M sub-blocks. M motion vectors corresponding to the M sub-blocks are separately calculated. It is determined whether correlations for the M motion vectors match to a predetermined condition. If not, the first coding mode is selected and the M motion vectors are utilized to perform a motion vector estimation; and if so, a second coding mode is selected and the N motion vectors corresponding to the second coding mode are utilized to perform the motion vector estimation, wherein the N motion vectors are generated by using the M motion vectors and 1≦N |
| US08416851B2 |
Motion detection for video processing
Various embodiments for performing motion detection for video processing are described. In one or more embodiments, motion detection may be performed by computing a temporal difference measurement, a local spatial complexity measurement, and a content dependent motion detection value based on the temporal difference measurement and the local spatial complexity measurement. In some implementations, the content dependent motion detection value may comprise a division of the temporal difference measurement by the local spatial complexity measurement. In other implementations, an approximated content dependent motion detection value may be computed without division to reduce computational complexity. The content dependent motion detection value may be used to perform various adaptive post-processing operations such as for de-interlacing, noise reduction, frame rate conversion, and so forth. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08416847B2 |
Separate plane compression using plurality of compression methods including ZLN and ZLD methods
Methods, medium, and machines which compress, enhance, encode, transmit, decode, decompress and display digital video images. Real time compression is achieved by sub-sampling each frame of a video signal, filtering the pixel values, and encoding. Real time transmission is achieved due to high levels of effective compression. Real time decompression is achieved by decoding and decompressing the encoded data to display high quality images. A receiver can alter various setting including, but not limited to, the format for the compression, image size, frame rate, brightness and contrast. In a Doppler improvement aspect of the invention, Doppler velocity scales are incorporated into grayscale compression methods using two bits. Variable formats may be selected and Doppler encoding can be turned on and off based on the image content. A separate plane compression aspect of the invention provides for distinguishing between regions of an image, separating and masking the original image into multiple image planes, and compressing each separated image plane with a compression method that is optimal for its characteristics. From a video stream, separate image streams can be compressed with different methods, and the separate image streams can be stored or transmitted at different rates. Alternatively, frame differencing can be applied to the separated streams. Regions may be distinguished by user input or by automated analysis of the characteristics of various regions of an image, such as the presence of Doppler enhanced pixels. |
| US08416845B1 |
Decision feedback equalization for variable input amplitude
Methods and circuits for automatic adjustment of equalization are presented that improve the quality of equalization for input signals with varying amplitudes. The methods and circuits may be used in Decision Feedback Equalization (DFE) circuits to maintain a constant equalization boost amplitude despite variations in input signal amplitude. The equalization circuitry measures the amplitude of the equalization input signal and computes tap coefficients to maintain a desired level of boost amplitude. Tap coefficients may be automatically adjusted by the equalization circuitry. |
| US08416844B2 |
OFDM receiving apparatus, OFDM receiving method, OFDM receiving circuit, integrated circuit, and program
A synchronization section specifies a position of a guard interval correlation's center of gravity based on a guard interval correlation value, and calculates a carrier-direction shift amount Fshift. An equalization section shifts the passband of a carrier interpolation filter of a carrier interpolation section by the carrier-direction shift amount Fshift calculated by the synchronization section. This shift processing causes the delay profile to be kept in the center of the passband of the carrier interpolation filter, for any FFT window position. This enables transmission path estimation without limiting a range of an FFT window position even if the passband of the carrier interpolation filter is narrower than a guard interval of an OFDM signal. |
| US08416843B2 |
Power back-off mode and circuit for 100BaseT
Generally, 100BaseT allows for the establishment of links on cables (such as Category 5 or CAT5 cables) up to 120 m or more in length. In a given industrial Ethernet system, many of the cables deployed will be less than 120 m in length, and, in fact, many of the cables are much shorter than 120 m. Yet, the transmission amplitude output from each unit is generally the same, regardless of cable length. Here, Power Back Off (PBO) circuitry is provided in a unit that operates in a PBO mode to passively estimate a cable length and adjust its corresponding transmission amplitudes to generally match the estimated cable length so as to reduce power consumption. |
| US08416842B2 |
Channel estimation method and apparatus for wireless communication system
A channel estimation method and apparatus using a self-tracking algorithm is provided for improving channel estimation accuracy. The channel estimation apparatus of a mobile terminal includes a receiver for converting a received radio signal into a baseband signal, a match filter for converting the baseband signal into a digital signal including at least two samples, a channel estimator for buffering the samples, for analyzing multipath signals to predict a maximum power position and multipath energy, and for estimating a channel by selecting a multi-tap at the maximum power position through a slew control, an equalization controller for calculating an equalization tap gain using the multi-tap selected by the channel estimator, and an equalizer for compensating for distortion in the samples output by the channel estimator using the equalization tap gain calculated by the equalization controller. |
| US08416834B2 |
Spread spectrum wireless communication code for data center environments
A technique for wirelessly transmitting management data without cables in a data center is provided. Management data is obtained at a device in the data center. A wireless management data signal is generated from the management data. The wireless management data signal is configured to be transmitted at frequencies matching an ambient electromagnetic noise emitted by the data center, such that the wireless management data signal is masked in the ambient electromagnetic noise emitted by the data center. The wireless management data signal is wirelessly transmitted to another device. |
| US08416830B2 |
Wavelength stabilized light emitter and system for protecting emitter from backreflected light
A gain module, operative to output a laser light coupled into a laser system, is structured with at least one gain element radiating the laser light and a spectrally-selective element. The spectrally-selective element includes a slab of photosensitive material and two parallel feedback and isolating Bragg mirrors recorded in the slab. The feedback Bragg mirror is operative to provide a wavelength-dependent feedback so as to cause the laser chip to generate the laser light at the resonance wavelength of the feedback Bragg mirror. The isolating Bragg mirror is automatically adjusted to retroreflect a backreflected signal light, which is generated by the laser system at a signal wavelength different from the resonance wavelength, upon positioning the feedback mirror orthogonally to the laser light. |
| US08416829B1 |
Corrosion-resistant multilayer structures with improved reflectivity
In one general embodiment, a thin film structure includes a substrate; a first corrosion barrier layer above the substrate; a reflective layer above the first corrosion barrier layer, wherein the reflective layer comprises at least one repeating set of sub-layers, wherein one of the sub-layers of each set of sub-layers being of a corrodible material; and a second corrosion barrier layer above the reflective layer. In another general embodiment, a system includes an optical element having a thin film structure as recited above; and an image capture or spectrometer device. In a further general embodiment, a laser according to one embodiment includes a light source and the thin film structure as recited above. |
| US08416823B2 |
Quantum well active region with three dimensional barriers and fabrication
The invention provides a quantum well active region for an optoelectronic device. The quantum well active region includes barrier layers of high bandgap material. A quantum well of low bandgap material is between the barrier layers. Three-dimensional high bandgap barriers are in the quantum well. A preferred semiconductor laser of the invention includes a quantum well active region of the invention. Cladding layers are around the quantum well active region, as well as a waveguide structure. |
| US08416822B2 |
Manufacturing method, surface-emitting laser device, surface-emitting laser array, optical scanner, and image forming apparatus
A manufacturing method for manufacturing a surface-emitting laser device includes the steps of forming a laminated body in which a lower reflecting mirror, a resonator structure including an active layer, and an upper reflecting layer having a selective oxidized layer are laminated on a substrate; etching the laminated body to form a mesa structure having the selective oxidized layer exposed at side surfaces thereof; selectively oxidizing the selective oxidized layer from the side surfaces of the mesa structure to form a constriction structure in which a current passing region is surrounded by an oxide; forming a separating groove at a position away from the mesa structure; passivating an outermost front surface of at least a part of the laminated body exposed when the separating groove is formed; and coating a passivated part with a dielectric body. |
| US08416820B1 |
Active laser guarding system
An active laser guarding system 1 comprises at least one screen 3 provided with at least two spaced apart conductors 7, 9 each defining a respective electrically conductive path that is electrically separate from the other. The screen 3 comprises material, at least between the two conductors 7, 9, which is arranged to carbonize when struck by a laser beam to form a further conductive path 19 which extends between, and electrically connects, the two conductors 7, 9. The system 1 further comprises a detector 15 operative to detect the further conductive path 19 so formed, the detector 15 being operative to generate a laser deactivation signal response to detecting the further conductive path 19. |
| US08416812B2 |
Network timing synchronization systems
A method and means synchronize timing of a follower system to a reference system. A Hierarchical CFF function (“HCFF”) is applied to a set of Correction Factor Functions types (“CFFs”) or a set of other HCFF. Each CFF type uses the same input data set specific to that type and generates at least one Correction Factor Solution (“CFS”) for each of the CFF, wherein the CFS consists of only CF or the CFS consists of both i) CF and ii) a SACF. The HCFF takes as input a set of CFS and generates at least one CFS, wherein the CFS consist of only the CF, or the CFS consists of both the i) CF and ii) a SACF. |
| US08416809B2 |
Apparatus for reporting reception result of packets in mobile communication system
Disclosed is a receiver for configuring a Block Acknowledgement (BA) frame in a wireless communication system for acknowledgement of a data transmission from a transmitter. The receiver receives a Block Acknowledgement Request (BAR) frame in the data transmission from the transmitter and determines an overall size of a bitmap for the BA frame from the BAR frame to acknowledge the data transmission. The receiver configures the BA frame of the response to include the bitmap having the determined overall size, and transmits the configured BA frame to the transmitter. The bitmap of the BA frame includes bits representing reception results of packets of the data transmission received from the transmitter. |
| US08416808B2 |
Packet indicator for RLC protocol
In a communication terminal implementing a radio link control (RLC) protocol, error propagation to higher layer protocols is mitigated by use of an additional length indicator, referred to herein as a new packet indicator, in the RLC data blocks to indicate the beginning of a new higher layer packet in addition to a conventional length indicator to indicate the last segment of a higher layer packet. The new packet indicator prevents the Logical Link Control (LLC) data segment at the beginning of an RLC data block from being concatenated with an LLC data segment in the previous data block even when length indicators in the previous data block are not received. |
| US08416807B2 |
Base station apparatus providing resource block allocation and method therefor
In a wireless communication base station device, a modulation unit carries out modulation processing for Dch data after coding to generate a Dch data symbol. A modulation unit carries out modulation processing for Lch data after coding to generate an Lch data symbol. An allocation unit allocates the Dch data symbol and Lch data symbol to each sub-carrier composing an OFDM symbol and outputs the allocated sub-carrier to a multiplex unit. In this case, the allocation unit allocates the Dch data symbol to a plurality of resource blocks where one Dch is arranged at an interval equal to integral multiples of the number of resource blocks composing a resource block group. |
| US08416806B2 |
Variable bandwidth communication systems and methods
A variable bandwidth communication system includes a first and a second communication station, coupled for continuous, bi-directional communication. The first communication station is capable of transmitting at a first and a second bandwidth, and is capable of receiving at a third and a fourth bandwidth. The second communication station is capable of receiving at the first and second bandwidth and is capable of transmitting at the third and fourth bandwidth. The transmitting bandwidth of each station is selectable by the user. The second bandwidth is greater than the first and the fourth bandwidth is greater than the third. Preferably, but not necessarily, the first and third bandwidth like the second and fourth bandwidth are about the same. The first communication system can display communication received at the fourth bandwidth at the first bandwidth, and the second communication system can display communications received at the second bandwidth at the third bandwidth. |
| US08416793B2 |
Method and apparatus for queue depth detection in a memory system
A method and apparatus for detecting a queue depth of a memory queue in a memory system is described. The method includes estimating a start position of the queue by examining a portion of a queue start identifier of the memory queue, estimating an end position of the queue by examining a portion of a queue end identifier of the memory queue, and utilizing the start position and the end position to estimate the queue depth of the memory queue. The apparatus applies the method. One embodiment of the method and apparatus may be suitable for implementation on look-up tables of field general programmable gate arrays. |
| US08416792B2 |
Networked computer telephony system driven by web-based applications
A networked telephony system and method allow users to deploy on the Internet computer telephony applications associated with designated telephone numbers. The telephony application is easily created by a user in XML (Extended Markup Language) with predefined telephony XML tags and easily deployed on a website. The telephony XML tags include those for call control and media manipulation. A call to anyone of these designated telephone numbers may originate from anyone of the networked telephone system such as the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone System), a wireless network, or the Internet. The call is received by an application gateway center (AGC) installed on the Internet. Analogous to a web browser, the AGC provides facility for retrieving the associated XML application from its website and processing the call accordingly. The architecture and design of the system allow for reliability, high quality-of-service, easy scalability and the ability to incorporate additional telephony hardware and software and protocols. |
| US08416791B2 |
Local break out in case of WiMAX roaming
A home agent is configured to be placed in a visited connectivity service network and configured to provide a possibility of a local break out of data. The home agent is configured to separate a first data traffic path and a second data traffic path. The first data traffic path is directly routed between the visited connectivity service network and the internet, and the second data traffic path is routed between the visited connectivity service network and a home connectivity service network, in order to minimize a number of hops and delay times. The home agent is configured to receive a routing policy from a home authentication, authorization and accounting server. The home agent is configured to route data traffic based on the received routing policy. |
| US08416786B2 |
Data transport container for transferring data in a high speed internet protocol network
The present invention relates to a data transport container for transferring a number n of different types of data in an Internet Protocol network. The number n is superior or equal to 2, and data is generated as Ethernet Jumbo packets, wherein the data transport container is an Internet Protocol packet. The invention also relates to a source device and to a destination device respectively for transferring and receiving such a data transport containers. At least, the invention relates to a method for transferring n different types of data being generated as Gigabit Ethernet RTP-UDP-IP jumbo packets. Both devices are to be used in a method as mentioned above. |
| US08416780B2 |
System and method for session initiation protocol header modification
A method for modifying the contents of session initiation protocol (SIP) messages is presented. The method includes receiving a SIP message. The SIP message may include a set of message header fields. The method includes receiving an application policy. The application policy may specify how to modify the SIP message based on a characteristic of the SIP message. Alternatively, the application policy may be retrieved from a database such as one provided by a home subscriber server (HSS) or an application server. The method includes using the application policy to modify the SIP message resulting in a modified message, and sending the modified message. |
| US08416774B2 |
Method and system for energy-efficiency-based packet classification
Aspects of a method and system for energy-efficiency-based packet classification are provided. In this regard, a network link for communicating a packet may be selected based, at least in part, on an amount of energy required to communicate the packet over the network link, and based, at least in part, on an energy efficiency class to which the packet is assigned. The energy efficiency class may be determined based on one or more fields of the packet, wherein the fields may comprise one or more of an Ethertype field, a type of service header of an IP datagram, and a field pre-pended or appended to a payload of the packet. In this regard, during or subsequent to generation of the packet, the packet may be marked such that a network path traversed by the generated packet may be determined based on the energy required to communicate the packet over the network path. |
| US08416773B2 |
Packet monitoring
Network devices, systems, and methods are provided for packet processing. One network device includes a network chip having logic and a number of network ports for the device for receiving and transmitting packets therefrom. The logic is encoded with application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) primitives to check header fields and payload content in the packets. |
| US08416770B2 |
Universal service transport transitional encoding
An apparatus comprising a switch fabric coupled to a plurality of interfaces and configured to switch a plurality of universal service transport (UST) multiplexing (USTM) data streams between the interfaces, wherein the USTM data streams comprise packet-switched traffic, circuit-switched traffic, and transitional signaling that indicates a change of state between the packet-switched traffic and the circuit-switched traffic, wherein the transitional signaling does not indicate the state in every octet of the USTM data streams. Also disclosed is a network component comprising at least one processor coupled to a memory and configured to receive a data that corresponds to a flow, identify the flow using a flow map, determine whether there is a change in a state of the flow, send transitional signaling on a USTM data stream that indicates the state of the flow if the state of flow has changed, and send the data on the USTM data stream. |
| US08416766B2 |
Method for implementing distributed voice functions into software applications
A system includes application software that issues voice function requests to one or more web services server. A web services server receives the requests from the application software. In response to the voice function request, the web services server selects at least one to perform one or more actions to provide the voice function request and issues implementation specific messages to the selected device or devices to perform the actions. |
| US08416757B2 |
Radio transmission device
To obtain maximum throughput in accordance with characteristics of a propagation path, a radio transmission device having a plurality of transmitting antennas (18a, 18b) for transmitting a transmission signal in units of sub-carriers by performing spatial multiplexing or without performing spatial multiplexing is provided that includes a sub-carrier modulation part 11 modulating the input transmission signal for each sub-carrier, a transmission signal allocation part 13 allocating the transmission signal modulated for each of the sub-carriers to each of the transmitting antennas, and a transmission control part 12 that determines a multiplexing number for performing spatial multiplexing for each sub-carrier based on information received from another radio communication device as an opposite party, and outputs the determined multiplexing number to the sub-carrier modulation part and the transmission signal allocation part. |
| US08416756B2 |
Power boosting in a wireless communication system
Method and apparatus for power boosting a portion of installments in transmission of a packet of data. The power boosting incorporates a power boost factor for each installment. On receipt of a negative acknowledgement after the power boosted portion of installments, transmission of the subpacket is terminated, and processing passed to a higher layer. |
| US08416754B2 |
Network location based processing of data communication connection requests
Responsive to receiving a request for a data communications connection, a data communications module of a receiver determines whether a sender of the request is local or remote with respect to the receiver. The data communications module also determines whether a location response flag indicates local or remote. If the relative location of the sender with respect to the receiver corresponds with the location response flag, then the data communications connection is allowed. Otherwise, the connection is not allowed. |
| US08416752B2 |
Communication system, communication terminal, and method therefor
A communication system includes a first communication terminal configured to comply with a plurality of communication methods, and a second communication terminal that complies with any one of the communication methods, wherein the first communication terminal includes a network creating unit configured to transmit a notification signal including information about a network to create a network that complies with any one of the communication methods, a checking unit configured to check history information about a communication between the first communication terminal and the second communication terminal according to a notification signal including information about a network different from the network that has been created by the network creating unit, while the network creating unit has created the network, and a communication control unit configured to cause the first communication terminal to join the network created by the second communication terminal based on the history information. |
| US08416743B2 |
Method and apparatus for a station to operate within WLAN system
Methods and apparatuses for a specific station, operating as a non-AP (Access Point) station permitted to operate within available channels not used by a licensed device, to operate as an AP station in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) are disclosed. A specific protocol related to a registration of a station's location to operate within a white space id defined whose Information IDs comprises a registration request and a registration response. Using the defined registration request and registration response, the station can register its geographical location with a Registered Location Server (RLS), and operate as an AP STA within WS. |
| US08416733B2 |
Time tracking loops for a communication system utilizing a cyclic prefix
Techniques for performing time tracking in a communication system utilizing a cyclic prefix are described. In an aspect, a receiver may detect for large timing errors based on early and late received samples obtained with early and late FFT windows, respectively. The receiver may derive first and second channel impulse response (CIR) estimates based on the early and late received samples, respectively, determine an early channel energy based on the first CIR estimate, determine a late channel energy based on the second CIR estimate, compute an update amount based on the early and late channel energies, and update the FFT window position based on the update amount. In another aspect, the receiver may perform time tracking with an inner time tracking loop (TTL) and an outer TTL. The receiver may update the FFT window position in coarse steps with the outer TTL and in fine steps with the inner TTL. |
| US08416731B2 |
Transmission in a relay node-based wireless communication system
Methods, devices and systems for improved transmission in a remote node-based wireless communication system is provided. In one embodiment, a method of wireless communication comprises receiving a downlink signal from a first node, demodulating said received downlink signal, generating a channel quality measurement (“CQM”) value of said demodulated downlink signal, determining said CQM value exceeds a first threshold, modulating said demodulated downlink signal to form a processed downlink signal, and cooperatively transmitting said processed downlink signal with said first node to a wireless device. |
| US08416728B2 |
Flexible medium access control (MAC) for ad hoc deployed wireless networks
Systems and methods are disclosed that facilitate wireless communication using resource utilization messages (RUMs), in accordance with various aspects. A RUM may be generated for a first node, such as an access point or an access terminal, to indicate that a first predetermined threshold has been met or exceeded. The RUM may be weighted to indicate a degree to which a second predetermined threshold has been exceeded. The first and/or second predetermined thresholds may be associated with various parameters associated with the node, such as latency, throughput, data rate, spectral efficiency, carrier-to-interference ratio, interference-over-thermal level, etc. The RUM may then be transmitted to one or more other nodes to indicate a level of disadvantage experienced by the first node. |
| US08416727B2 |
Communicating a group message packet over a wide area network
A method and apparatus is provided for communicating a group message packet among wireless communication devices (WCDs) over a wide area communication network that includes a first infrastructure device (ID), a second ID and a third ID. A first communication connection is established between an envoy packet duplicator module (EPDM) that is in communication range of a source wireless communication device (WCD) and a first envoy module implemented at the first ID that is in communication range of a first destination WCD. The EPDM is implemented at the third ID. The source WCD communicates a group message packet from the source WCD to a third envoy module implemented at the third ID, which forwards the group message packet to the EPDM. The EPDM generates a first copy of the group message packet destined for the first destination WCD, and communicates the first copy of the group message packet to the first envoy module. |
| US08416724B2 |
Dynamic selection of channel assignment for preserving power in a wireless device
A method, information processing system, and wireless communication system for dynamically assigning a communication channel to a wireless device. A request for a communication channel from a wireless device (108) is received. At least a current-drain profile (120) associated with the wireless device (108) is analyzed. The current-drain profile (120) indicates power consumption associated with the wireless device (108) for a plurality of channel frequency bands. A plurality of communication channels is analyzed with respect to the current-drain profile (120). A communication channel is selected from the plurality of communicating channels in response to the analyzing at least the current-drain profile (120). A communication channel assignment comprising the communication channel that has been selected is transmitted to the wireless device (108) in response to the selecting. |
| US08416722B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus, method of controlling same and storage medium
Efficient selection of an access point is performed in accordance with quality of service of wireless communication required for a wireless communication apparatus. To achieve this in a wireless network system that uses a plurality of access points, the access point suited to the quality of service of wireless communication required by the wireless communication apparatus is selected automatically when the access point to which the wireless communication apparatus will be connected is selected. |
| US08416721B1 |
Method and apparatus for enhancing the power efficiency of wireless communication devices
Method and system for enhancing the power efficiency of a first wireless device that includes an energy receiver. In one implementation, the method includes receiving a transmitted signal at the first wireless device, converting the transmitted signal into power through the energy receiver, and providing the power to the first wireless device. |
| US08416713B2 |
Use of decision trees for automatic commissioning
A computer algorithm (36) employing decision trees in order to assign wireless communication nodes (12-19,39-43) in a derived spatial arrangement. In a first embodiment, the algorithm (36) assigns nodes to an array of positions corresponding to the positions of luminaires (2-9) in a lighting array (1) to enable the lighting array (1) to be commissioned automatically. In a second embodiment, the algorithm (36) assigns nodes to control groups (49-51) such that the member nodes of a particular control group (49-51) may be controlled by a single switch or sensor (46-48). The use of decision trees allows the final assignment of nodes to be delayed until more information has been taken into account, thus, the algorithm (36) is able to select the best overall configuration. |
| US08416711B1 |
Systems and methods for sharing availability status information between network nodes
A communication system, method and client program for communicating via a first network. The system comprises a first network and a router coupling the second network to the first network, the router comprising an address translator configured to map second-network addresses to a lesser number of first-network addresses identifying the second user nodes collectively to the first network. Each of the second user nodes is installed with a communication client configured so as when executed on the second user nodes to: compare the first-network addresses of two of the user nodes, and, if their first-network addresses match such that both are nodes of the second network, communicate an availability status of one of the two user nodes between the two user nodes directly over the second network without routing via the first network. |
| US08416710B2 |
Indoor competitive survey of wireless networks
System(s) and method(s) are provided to collect network operation data within a confined indoor wireless environment for generation of competitive intelligence and strategic network planning. Scanner component(s) survey and compare signals transported in a set of electromagnetic frequency bands, and in accordance with a set of radio technologies associated with competing networks. Collected data can be aggregated and delivered to femto gateway node(s), which can supply the data to an analysis component that generates network operations NetOp intelligence. A report component can manage received and aggregated network operation data and convey a portion thereof to planning tool(s) that can produce competitive intelligence and develop strategic network planning. Planning tool(s) can request specific network operation data or NetOp intelligence. Aggregated network operation data can be employed to identify service provider indoor coverage strengths or weaknesses relative to competitors to focus sales activities related to network services, and network improvement efforts. |
| US08416708B2 |
Method and device for controlling floor in push to service
A PT (e.g., Push-To-Talk, Push-To-View or Push-To-Data) service, and more particularly, to a method and device for controlling a floor (talk burst authority, permission to send media burst, etc.) in a PT service, are discussed. According to an embodiment, the method for controlling a state of a Push-To (PT) server, includes starting, by a PT server, a stop talking (T2) timer which is a type of media burst control timer that operates with respect to a terminal having permission to send a media burst; checking, by the PT server on expiry of the T2 timer, whether a media burst release message was already received while the T2 timer was running; and entering, by the PT server, a media burst idle state if the media burst release message was already received as a result of the checking step. |
| US08416706B2 |
Apparatus and method for dual-cell high-speed uplink packet access
A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided in which a plurality of uplink carriers are utilized in a cellular communications system. In an aspect of the disclosure, a wireless terminal configured for use in a cellular network transmits an uplink with a plurality of uplink carriers including an anchor carrier and a secondary carrier, and receives a downlink with a plurality of downlink carriers. Here, the wireless terminal provides feedback information, such as a channel quality indicator and an acknowledgment, corresponding to the plurality of downlink carriers, on an uplink channel on each of respective carriers in a subset of the plurality of uplink carriers. |
| US08416703B2 |
Network management
A computer program product comprises computer-readable instructions that cause a network management device (selected from one or more devices including one or more configured devices to which usage parameters necessary for using functions available via a network have already been set) to execute a process for managing the usage parameters comprising: a parameter acquisition step of acquiring one or more usage parameters already set to one of the configured devices from the configured device; and a candidate reporting step of reporting the usage parameters acquired in the parameter acquisition step as candidates for one or more usage parameters to be set to a setting target device which is connected to the network management device to be capable of data communication via a network and needing the setting of the usage parameters. |
| US08416698B2 |
Serial networking fiber optic inflight entertainment system network configuration
Serial networking dedicated fiber optic inflight entertainment (IFE) systems, methods therefor and components thereof, that exhibit improved configuration and failover attributes through implementation of novel network configuration protocols. In some aspects of the invention, such an IFE system comprises a plurality of head end line replaceable units (HE-LRUs) and a plurality of serial networking line replaceable units (SN-LRUs), wherein each of the SN-LRUs individually detects that a closed system network has been formed between the plurality of HE-LRUs and the plurality of SN-LRUs based on a plurality of packets sourced by at least one of the HE-LRUs and received on a plurality of ports of each of the SN-LRUs, and wherein in response to detecting that the closed system network has been formed one of the SN-LRUs blocks one of its ports based on further detecting that the SN-LRU is a middle SN-LRU. |
| US08416696B2 |
CFM for conflicting MAC address notification
In one embodiment, an aggregation device operating in a computer network may have a down maintenance end point (MEP) configured on certain of its user-to-network interface (UNI) ports. These down MEPs may then receive continuity check messages (CCMs) from down MEPs configured on customer edge (CE) devices, where each CCM has a media access control (MAC) address of a corresponding CE device UNI port from which the CCM is transmitted. In response to detecting conflicting MAC addresses between CE device UNI ports based on the CCMs, the aggregation device may notify the CE devices corresponding to the conflicting MAC addresses of the conflict. |
| US08416693B2 |
Errorless and hitless variable data rate communications
A variable data rate wireless transmitter configured to receive input of data from a plurality of input channels and transmit at least some of the data over a variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link, wherein portions of the data are associated with priorities, and the wireless transmitter is configured to change transmission of at least some of the portions of the data, based, at least partly, on the priorities associated with the portions of the data, and on a data rate configured for transmitting the portions of the data over the variable data rate wireless communication link. A variable data rate wireless receiver configured to receive data over a variable data rate wireless point-to-point communication link, including a delay compensation buffer configured to maintain a substantially fixed delay between input of the data into a wireless transmitter transmitting the data and output of the data from the delay compensation buffer, by maintaining a suitable output rate of the data from the delay compensation buffer. Related apparatus and methods are also described. |
| US08416689B2 |
Meter-based hierarchical bandwidth sharing
Example methods and apparatus for hierarchical bandwidth management are disclosed. An example method includes, using dual-token bucket meters (two-rate three-color meters) to meter bandwidth usage by individual microflows and associated macroflows (combinations of microflows). The dual-token bucket meters are used to locally and finally mark the packets using a three-color marking approach. In the example method, forwarding and discard decisions for packets processed using such techniques are made based on the final marking. |
| US08416688B2 |
Automatic adaptive network traffic prioritization and shaping
A local area network includes computers and peripherals networked in a high-speed LAN with access to a WAN through a slower connection via a broadband modem. A LAN gateway device manages data traffic between the local computers and peripherals and between the LAN and the WAN. The LAN gateway device provides multiple features, such as wired or wireless links, security, firewall, NAT, DCHP, traffic management, and the like. Traffic management features include an automatic quality of service priority classification scheme. A quality of service module automatically assigns priorities to the data streams based on analysis of the data packets. A configuration access list can be provided with pre-configured priorities for some streams. Initially, all streams are given highest priority and subsequently the priority is automatically adapted to the results of the packet analysis. Traffic shaping techniques control the LAN gateway upstream output and enable IP fragmentation of TCP packets according to measured upstream channel conditions. |
| US08416686B2 |
Packet spraying for load balancing across multiple packet processors
A network device includes multiple packet processing engines implemented in parallel with one another. A spraying component distributes incoming packets to the packet processing engines using a spraying technique that load balances the packet processing engines. In particular, the spraying component distributes the incoming packets based on queue lengths associated with the packet processing engines and based on a random component. In one implementation, the random component is a random selection from all the candidate processing engines. In another implementation, the random component is a weighted random selection in which the weights are inversely proportional to the queue lengths. |