| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08417671B1 |
Backup system including a primary backup server accessible via a VPN and an alternate backup server accessible via the internet
A system and method for backing up data from a client computer system are described. The system may include the client computer system, a primary backup server computer system, and an alternate backup server computer system. The primary backup server computer system may be privately accessible to the client computer system via a virtual private network (VPN). The alternate backup server computer system may be accessible to the client computer system via a public or open network such as the Internet. The client computer system may be configured to backup a first set of data to the alternate backup server computer system at a particular time via the Internet in response to determining that the client computer system is not connected to the VPN at the particular time. |
| US08417670B1 |
Dynamic membership management in a distributed system
Transactional database replication techniques are disclosed that do not require altering of the database management system implementation. A replicator module includes a dynamic membership manager, which is configured to manage the persistent membership of a coordination group. The persistent membership can be, for example, a durable set of sites that can replicate changes amongst themselves. Changes from sites not in the persistent membership are discarded. The set of recovered members is a subset of the persistent membership. The persistent membership changes incrementally by either removing or adding members. Failed members may still be part of the persistent membership. The dynamic membership manager module manages the modification of the persistent membership, initialization of replicas, and propagation of membership information. |
| US08417669B2 |
Auto-correction in database replication
Systems, methods and computer program product embodiments for auto-correction in database replication are disclosed herein. An embodiment includes receiving a log record of one or more database row changes on a table marked for replication. From the received log record, one or more insert operations on the marked table are identified. Each identified insert operation is automatically replaced with a first pair of operations, where each first pair comprises a delete operation associated with a new insert operation. Each first pair, when executed at a replicate database, acts to delete data at a first location identified by each identified insert operation prior to inserting data of the new insert operation at the first location. The embodiment further includes identifying, from the log record, one or more update operations on the marked table, and automatically replacing each identified update operation with a second pair of operations, where each second pair comprises a new delete operation associated with a new insert operation. |
| US08417668B2 |
Device and method of integrating file systems
A device for integrating file systems includes a plurality of storage device interfaces. Each storage device interface is operatively coupleable to a corresponding storage device, and each storage device has a corresponding storage device file system. The device also includes a host interface and a hub configured for operatively connecting between the storage device interfaces and the host interface. The hub is operative to create a virtual file system that aggregates the storage device file systems. The virtual file system is configured to represent to a host, via the host interface, each file of a first group and to refrain from representing to the host each file of a second group, where the files are stored in one or more of the plurality of storage devices. Each file of the first group satisfies a first condition and each file of the second group fails to satisfy the first condition. |
| US08417667B1 |
Running commands on files using filename extensions to overload operations
A client without direct access to a server performs commands on files of the server's file system, wherein the file system is made available by a network file system protocol. Calls to access the file system on the server are filtered. A call is identified that is passed a parameter comprising a filename with an identifiable filename extension. The identifiable filename extension is interpreted as indicating that the identified call was made as part of an attempt to execute an operation that is overloaded with a different command. It is determined, from the identifiable filename extension, which command is to be executed instead of the operation. Once the command to be executed is determined, the filename extension is removed from the parameter, and the determined command is executed instead of the overloaded operation. |
| US08417663B2 |
Managing digital files in an electronic device
A file management method of a mobile terminal, the method including entering a mode configured to receive a file identifier, detecting the file identifier via an input device, associating the file identifier with the a file location in the mobile terminal, and detecting a selection of at least one file from a displayed file list, wherein the selected at least one file is accessible from the file location when an input value matches the file identifier. A mobile terminal for adding files includes a memory unit for storing a plurality of files and a file identifier set to correspond to a specific input signal, a display unit for displaying a list of files and file identifiers, the list comprising all or a specific category of the plurality of files and file identifiers, an input unit for selecting at least one file from the displayed file list and generating a specific input signal corresponding to the file identifier of the selected at least one file, a transceiving unit for communicating with a terminal, by sending and receiving files, and a controller for adding the selected at least one file to a file location associated with the specific input signal. |
| US08417662B2 |
Adjustable alert rules for medical personnel
A method, a system, and a computer-readable medium are provided for adjusting an alert rule used to indicate a status of a patient. A first user interface window is presented. The first user interface window includes a plurality of values of physiological characteristics of a patient. An indicator of a selection of a physiological characteristic presented in the first user interface window is received. A second user interface window is presented. The second user interface window includes a first user interface control configured to allow a user to adjust a first alert value for a first condition priority associated with the selected physiological characteristic. The adjusted first alert value is received and stored as part of an adjusted alert rule. A future alert is generated based on the adjusted alert rule. |
| US08417655B2 |
Pattern matching
A method of determining whether two patterns having a plurality of homologous regions match, comprising: generating a set of decisions associated with values (k,n) for determining whether the patterns match, where k, is a number of non similar homologous regions from a sample of size, n, of the homologous regions; constraining the decisions so that a probability of providing a false negative decision that there is no match when in fact there is a match is less than or equal to a predetermined upper bound; configuring the association of decisions and pairs (k,n) to minimize running time of a computer programmed to use the set of decisions to determine whether there is a match; and using a computer programmed with the set of decisions to determine if the patterns match. |
| US08417654B1 |
Decision tree refinement
A model refinement system refines initial split rules that define an initial decision tree to generate final split-rules. The model refinement refines the initial split rules by removing clauses that are satisfied by match scores that are less than a threshold match score to generate initial trimmed rules. Using the initial trimmed rules, the model refinement system classifies an initial training set and filters the initial training set to remove negative training pairs that are classified as duplicate pairs resulting in a filtered training set. An intermediate decision tree defined by intermediate split-rules is generated based on the filtered training set. Final split-rules are generated based on the intermediate split rules and input pairs of data records are classified as duplicate pairs based on attribute values of the input pairs and the final split-rules. |
| US08417648B2 |
Change analysis
Different virtual labels, for example, like +1 and −1, are assigned to two data sets. A change analysis problem for the two data sets is reduced to a supervised learning problem by using the virtual labels. Specifically, a classifier such as logical regression, decision tree and SVM is prepared and is trained by use of a data set obtained by merging the two data sets assigned the virtual labels. A feature selection function of the resultant classifier is used to rank and output both every attribute contributing to classification and its contribution rate. |
| US08417647B2 |
Method for controlling transaction management server, transaction management server and program
A control method, for a transaction management server of a transaction administrator administrating commodity transactions between a seller and a buyer, comprises transmitting to a forwarder terminal an instruction to transport a commodity received along with price information of the commodity from a seller terminal; writing the price information into a database; receiving from the forwarder terminal and writing into the database the number of the waybill issued when the commodity is loaded into transportation by the forwarder; transmitting to the seller terminal information indicating that the transaction administrator has made an alternative payment for the commodity; receiving from the forwarder terminal and writing into the database the number of the waybill put on the commodity having arrived at a destination and commodity identification information; receiving the commodity identification information of the commodity delivered to the buyer from the forwarder terminal, and transmitting to a buyer terminal a payment request based on the price information stored in association with the commodity identification information. |
| US08417646B2 |
Methods, apparatus, systems and computer readable mediums for use in generating a customs export document
According to some embodiments, methods, apparatus, systems and/or computer readable mediums are provided. According to some embodiments, a method includes generating at least one shipment request data object based at least in part on at least one outbound delivery data object; generating at least one freight unit data object based at least in part on the at least one shipment request data object; generating at least one shipment data object based at least in part on the at least one freight unit data object; generating at least one invoice data object based at least in part on the at least one shipment data object; and generating at least one customs export document based at least in part on the at least one invoice. |
| US08417645B2 |
System, method, and computer program product for providing an association between a first participant and a second participant in a social network
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for associating a first participant and a second participant in a social network. In one embodiment, payment is received from a first participant. Additionally, an association between the first participant and a second participant in a social network is provided, in exchange for the payment. |
| US08417638B2 |
Multiple party on-line transactions
A role associated with one or more parties involved with a purchase transaction is received. A routing rule associated with the purchase transaction is also received, the routing rule defining how the purchase transaction is routed among the one or more parties. The purchase transaction is processed based on the role of each party and the routing rule. |
| US08417634B1 |
Method and system for analyzing a capital structure for a company
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and systems for analyzing a capital structure for a company (e.g., a public corporation). More particularly, one embodiment of the present invention relates to a decision making tool for analyzing a company's capital structure, which decision making tool may include: (1) Economic EPS, wherein Economic EPS and its volatility may capture the cost/risk trade-off of all fixed income and equity-related alternative capital structures; and (2) Capital Structure Efficient Frontier, wherein a company should strive to bring its capital structure to the efficient frontier of strategies with the highest EPS for given levels of EPS risk. Of note, the Economic EPS and the Capital Structure Efficient Frontier methodologies of the present invention provide a unifying framework in which to analyze a company's capital structure (e.g., for identifying and implementing the economically optimal solutions to a company's capital structure challenges). Apart from the global view of the company's capital structure, this framework can be used as a decision-making tool for analyzing and comparing specific restructuring transactions (including, but not limited to): new financing, share repurchase, liability management, bank capital optimization, and/or tax-driven hybrid equity issuance. |
| US08417633B1 |
Enabling improved protection of consumer information in electronic transactions
Consumer information in electronic transactions is protected by avoiding disclosure of the consumer information to a merchant. In order to execute a transaction, the merchant forwards transaction data, i.e., an offer, to the consumer. In order to accept the offer, the consumer forwards a payment command to a service provider. The service provider selectively applies authentication before approving payment. Once payment is approved, the service provider forwards a payment instruction, including consumer account information, to a payment service. The payment service forwards payment to the merchant. Consequently, consumer information is not provided to the merchant. Further, the consumer need not necessarily provide any communication directly to the merchant. Payment confirmation may be returned to the service provider and, through the service provider, to the consumer. The service provider may also store information about each transaction performed by each subscriber. Storage of the transaction information by various devices facilitates the return process and adds marketing capability to the service provider. |
| US08417632B2 |
Systems and methods for interfacing with a billing and account management unit
A system updates a billing unit. The system receives at least one modification to an Internet Protocol (IP) communications network account from a user and modifies a first record in a database based on the received at least one modification. The system transmits the at least one modification from the database to the billing unit and updates a second record, corresponding to the first record, in the billing unit based on the at least one modification so as to make the updated second record available in substantially real time. |
| US08417625B2 |
Apparatus and methods for facilitating real estate transactions
Apparatus and methods for approving financing for the sale of real estate. The apparatus and methods may involve receiving from a seller, or a seller's agent, information regarding the property so that a financial institution can determine a loan amount before the seller is engaged by a buyer. The financial institution may order from vendors documentation and certification desired or required for closing. The financial institution may issue a seal certifying that the financial institution has pre-approved a loan in a stated amount. The amount may be subject to change based on the qualifications of a buyer. |
| US08417624B2 |
System and process for protected retirement asset management
In one aspect, the invention comprises a system for the management and administration of a longevity policy funded by a retirement account comprising: (a) a means for creating a customized longevity policy by predicting future economic performance based on client data and (b) a means of servicing the customized longevity policy. In another aspect, the invention comprises a method of funding and administering a longevity policy comprising: (a) creating a longevity policy; (b) transferring the asset fee from a retirement account to the longevity policy on a systematic basis; (c) providing statements regarding the longevity policy; (d) distributing benefit payments to the longevity policy holder on a systematic basis; (e) allowing the asset fee and starting age to be adjusted. |
| US08417620B2 |
Systems and methods for improving the liquidity and distribution network for luxury and other illiquid items
Systems and methods for improving the liquidity and distribution network for luxury and other illiquid items are provided. These systems and methods preferably include the trading of futures and options contracts, which will provide the liquidity and distribution network for luxury items. Possible embodiments of these systems and methods include the trading of futures and options contracts for diamonds and wine. Another embodiment of this invention preferably includes generating indexes for diamond prices, wine prices, luxury item prices, housing values, mortgage prepayments, privately-held companies or for anything with from sufficiently liquid points of value. Another embodiment of this invention preferably includes a centralized data base for retrieving closing and current auction prices for determining the value of, and best method for the auctioning of various items. The data provided by this data base would improve liquidity by creating greater price transparency. |
| US08417617B1 |
Method and system for obtaining the best fill for an order using automated suborders
A computerized system (10) and method for obtaining the best fill for an order using automated suborders is disclosed. The system (10) includes a client system (14) that proves a user interface (150) for inputting an order and a single click operation for initiating the order. The system (10) also includes a server system (12) that is in communication with the client system (14) and a plurality of trade execution locations (30). When the server system (12) receives the order from the client system (14), the server system (12) parses the order into a plurality of suborders. The server system (12) then sends each of the suborders to one of the market participants which are selected and sorted based upon having the best available price for a particular suborder. As such, if all of the suborders are filled, the best price is obtained for the order. |
| US08417615B2 |
Methods and systems for computing trading strategies for use in portfolio management and computing associated probability distributions for use in option pricing
Exemplary methods and systems for creating uncorrelated trading strategies and deriving associated implied probability distributions of the price of an underlying financial instrument at future times are disclosed, applicable to stock market prices, interest rates, currency exchange rates, commodity prices and credit spreads. |
| US08417614B1 |
Investor personality tool
Various embodiments are directed to computer-implemented methods for providing investor services. The methods may comprise providing a user interface to a user via a first computer device. The user interface may comprise a first axis describing a desired level of involvement of the user in investment decisions and a second axis describing a risk tolerance of the user. The user interface may also comprise a first icon representing a first position on the first and second axes and a second icon representing a second position on the first and second axes. When the first or second icons are activated, the interface may display a description of respective example investors having investment characteristics corresponding to the respective first and second positions on the axes. The user interface may also comprise first and second slider bars corresponding to the respective axes. The slider bars may be movable in response to a signal from a first input device in communication with the computer system. The methods may further comprise receiving from the user, via the user interface, an indication of a user position on the first and second axes; and storing first data describing the user position on the first and second axis in association with an identifier of the user. |
| US08417610B2 |
Method, apparatus and article-of-manufacture for managing and supporting initial public offerings and other financial issues
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer-assisted business methods, and to system and articles-of-manufacture for implementing such methods. More particularly, the invention relates to computer-based methods, apparatus and articles-of-manufacture for supporting the coordination, communication, record-keeping, accounting, security and scheduling needs for the syndicate associated with an initial public offering (“IPO”) or other new financial issue. While the invention is exemplified and discussed herein with reference to IPO's, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is equally applicable to other types of securities and debt instruments, such as preferred stock, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, etc. |
| US08417609B2 |
Methods and systems for modeling deposits' data
Systems and methods according to the invention preferably determine errors in a financial institutions implementation of production changes, production modifications and/or a new production release by comparing critical interface data from a production cycle to critical interface data from a test environment cycle. |
| US08417608B2 |
Dynamically providing financial solution recommendations
Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for dynamically building financial solution recommendations based on received inputs. These inputs, which may be received from the customer, an associate collaborating with the customer or from a customer database, may include customer behaviors, customer attitudes, customer life events, customer life interests, customer personal/profile data, customer financial data, such as portfolio data and the like. Based on the received inputs, financial solution recommendations are determined and presented to the customer in real time or near time. As such, the customer is able to instantaneously see how each input of recommendation criteria impacts the financial solution recommendations. Further, embodiments of the present invention provide for inputs to the financial solution recommendation tool/module to be received in a non-linear fashion, such that a customer or a collaborating associate may provide inputs at various entry points to accommodate specific financial solution needs of the customer. |
| US08417604B2 |
Personal data aggregation, integration and access
A data storage archive is provided for storing personal information and other data from a variety of disparate information sources. The information stored may be later electronically accessed and retrieved by users without requiring the users to carry physical documentation having the information stored thereon. The information may be stored in association with a user's financial account at a financial institution. For example, the information may be indexed or stored in an account identified by the user's financial account number or other financial identifier. In some arrangements, accessing the personal information may include a validation process using a security device separate from a device through which a user is attempting to access the information. Personal information may also be shared among financial account holders based on legal and financial relationships known to the financial institution. A user may also manually assign access privileges to other users. |
| US08417601B1 |
Variable rate payment card
A method of arranging for payment of a purchase includes receiving, from a supplier, agreement to accept a payment from a buyer via use of a payment card having variable payment terms; after a purchase by the buyer from the supplier, assessing the supplier a standard interchange rate; receiving, from the buyer, approval to pay the invoice; and issuing, to the supplier, a rebate, based upon when the approval to pay the invoice was received. the variable payment terms are calculated by: determining a first early payment date; determining a second standard payment date; assessing against the supplier a first percentage of the standard interchange rate if the invoice is approved by the first early payment date; and assessing against the supplier a second percentage of the standard interchange rate if the invoice is approved on or after the second standard payment date. |
| US08417599B2 |
Method and system for browsing and ordering from catalogs via the internet
A method and system for browsing and ordering from product catalogs via the Internet is disclosed. When a customer requests a catalog page, a low resolution image of the requested page is first provided to the customer. The size of the computer file corresponding to the page is reduced to be as small as possible, while still allowing products imaged on the page to be recognized. When a customer clicks on a hyperlink in the form of a blocked area in the low resolution image catalog page corresponding to a particular product, a more detailed presentation for that product is built from stored files which include a high resolution picture of the product, a headline file identifying the product, a copy file describing the product, and an order block data file providing detailed information for ordering the product. By initially providing low resolution images for requested catalog pages, such pages can be quickly downloaded to a customer's computer. |
| US08417598B2 |
Vehicle identification system, method and recharging station for electric vehicles
Electric vehicle recharging system in public garages and parking facilities that utilizes a vehicle identification to prevent energy theft and to provide a reliable and safe method to resume recharging process without any manual authorization after recharging interrupt. |
| US08417597B1 |
Methods systems and articles of manufacture for collecting data for future electronic tax return
Collecting tax return data and integrating collected tax return data into a future electronic tax return. A computer in communication with a tax authority stores first year electronic tax return data of a user that prepared the tax return with a tax preparation application for that year. The computer sends a first electronic message to the user's communication device asking whether data in the first year tax return changed or to verify prior data. The user sends a response using the communication device, and verified and changed data in the response may be stored for inclusion in an electronic tax return of a second year. The second year tax return may be partially prepared utilizing the user's response. When the tax preparation application for the second year is launched, the electronic tax return for the second year is already partially completed. |
| US08417596B1 |
Technique for explaining income-tax calculations
A graphical user interface includes a first window configured to display a first value, which is entered by a user of an income-tax preparation program, and a second value, which is computed as a function of the first value. Note that the second value is to be used in an income-tax return of the user. Furthermore, the graphical user interface allows the user to obtain an explanation of the difference between the first value and the second value. |
| US08417595B2 |
Economic calculations in a process control system
A process control system includes economic models disposed in communication with process control modules, as well as with sources of economic data such as cost, throughput and profit data, and uses the economic models to determine useful economic parameters or information associated with the actual operation of the process plant at the time the plant is operating. The economic models can be used to provide financial statistics such as profitability, cost of manufactured product, etc. in real time based on the actual current operating state of the process and the business data associated with the finished product, raw materials, etc. These financial statistics can be used to drive alarms and alerts within the process network and be used as inputs to process plant optimizers, etc. to provide for better or more optimal control of the process and to provide a better understanding of the conditions which lead to maximum profitability of the plant. |
| US08417590B2 |
Method of maintaining aircraft
A method of maintaining aircraft provides for the secure, efficient acquisition and certification of aircraft parts as a closed loop system within the airfield where the aircraft is grounded and in proximity to the aircraft. |
| US08417587B2 |
Method and apparatus for custom strategy specification in a hosted electronic transaction service system
A merchant generates a customized service strategy related to a suite of electronic transaction services hosted by a service provider. The custom strategy specifies services to perform, and possibly an order in which to perform the services, by a service provider in relation to an electronic transaction associated with the merchant. Through use of a user interface, the strategy can be represented as a graphical decision tree, with terminal nodes representing services or actions. A customized strategy is transmitted to a service provider, as is transaction related information, whereby the service provider can service the transaction according to the strategy and based on the transaction information. Scheduling information that specifies different strategies to apply to different transaction scenarios can be generated. A strategy is selected by a service provider based on the scheduling information and transaction information, and is used to service one or more electronic transactions. |
| US08417584B2 |
Physiological response of a customer during financial activity
A server behavior modification system assists a customer during a financial activity, such as a transaction, and includes a current financial activity assistance system having a data collection system for collecting current physiological activity data, such as current electrodermal activity data, and a data manipulation system for assessing the likelihood of vulnerability to a predetermined undesired financial behavior, as defined by customer input received by a customer settings definition system. The assessment is based at least in part on the data manipulation system comparing a combined historical behavior pattern with the collected current data. The combined historical behavior pattern comprises a correlation between historical physiological activity data and historical financial activity data. An alerting system instructs a customer behavior modification system to produce an alert based at least in part on an assessment of likely vulnerability to a predetermined undesired financial behavior. |
| US08417580B2 |
System and method for reselling a previously sold product
A seller, having previously sold a product to an original purchaser subject to a buyout-provision condition, determines if the buyout-provision condition is satisfied. If the buy-out provision condition is satisfied, the seller retakes the product from the original purchaser and resells the product to a subsequent purchaser. |
| US08417575B2 |
On-device offline purchases using credits
This is directed to providing offline purchasing of media items using an electronic device. One or more media items that are not part of a user's media library can be stored on an electronic device. When a user later wishes to play back one of the media items, but the device cannot connect to a communications network to provide payment information for purchasing the media items, the electronic device can use pre-paid credits that were purchased and stored by the device when a communications network was available to complete the purchase. By using pre-paid credits, the media store can be assured that the user has sufficient funds for the media item purchase. |
| US08417574B2 |
System and method for initiating returns over a network
The present invention provides systems and methods for processing return transactions over a network. An embodiment of the invention discloses an online return application that generates an electronic return shipping label that can be delivered to a browser of a customer that wishes to make a return. Also, disclosed is the creation and transmission of label delivery links, which provide for dynamic generation and delivery of shipping labels. |
| US08417565B2 |
Electronic-commerce, communication-network method
A sourcing-provider-implemented, electronic-commerce, communication-network method for controlling acquisition-access to electronically-deliverable, affinity-interest deliverables in portions of which rights are held both by a sourcing provider and by a contributing network communicant. The method includes (a) establishing an electronic, network-connected, sourcing-provider-associated-and-controlled catalogue designed to contain at least one such deliverable, (b) vetting the entrepreneurial talent of at least one network communicant relative to the creation, catalogue-placement, and network-acquisition-promotional offering to others, by that one communicant of such a deliverable, whereby, through deliverable-creation and catalogue-placement thereof, the vetted network communicant becomes a contributing network communicant, (c) authorizing the vetted network communicant to become a contributing network communicant, and to create, to place or have placed, and to offer to other network communicants, deliverables-acquisition network access to such a catalogue-placed deliverable, and (d) rewardingly incentivizing such offers. |
| US08417559B2 |
Assortment planning based on demand transfer between products
A computer-implemented method described for facilitating selection of an assortment of products to offer for sale. The method includes receiving transaction data representing characteristics of a plurality of commercial transactions including a first product and a second product. Product attribute data representing attributes for at least the two products are also received. Substitution demand data for the second product is estimated which represents demand for the second product given the first product is not available, the estimation being based on the transaction data and product attribute data. |
| US08417557B2 |
Method and apparatus for evaluating visitors to a web server
Different web pages on a web server are associated with different qualification profiles, each of which is assigned a value by the web-site proprietor. Traffic data hits at the web-site are analyzed to determine which web pages the visitor viewed on the web server. Each qualifying visitor is thereafter associated with a qualification profile and a corresponding value. In another aspect of the invention, visitors arriving as a result of an advertisement on a remote web-site are tracked. The web-site proprietor is consequently able to determine a return on advertising investment based on the value of visitors brought to the site by the tracked advertisement. |
| US08417555B2 |
Collaboration based capacity planning in a modular business setting
A computer implemented method, system, and/or computer program product collaboratively reallocate resources across business modules. A collaboration vector, which describes primary and second abilities for each of multiple resources, is defined. A decision matrix is created from multiple collaboration vectors, and a pipeline for transferring the multiple resources among multiple business modules is defined based on the decision matrix. A recurring time interval to measure an effectiveness of the multiple business modules is defined, and the multiple resources are reallocated according to a measured effectiveness of the multiple business modules. The collaborative matrix is optimized to reflect reallocation of the multiple resources. |
| US08417551B2 |
Scheduling sessions of multi-speaker events
A method of scheduling events includes receiving event data specifying one or more sessions for an event, an event duration that encompasses a plurality of time slots, a respective duration for each session, a respective start time for the event and zero or more of the sessions, and information describing a plurality of attendees; generating a first list of each possible set of time slots within which each session can be scheduled based upon the respective start times; generating a second list by removing each possible set of time slots for each session that is less than the duration specified for the session; individually performing a scheduling process for each session that comprises allocating a respective set of time slots for the session in a schedule, removing each possible set of time slots for the session that is not equivalent to the set of time slots allocated, and removing each possible set of time slots for each other session that includes at least one time slot allocated for the session; and sending a respective electronic message presenting the schedule to each attendee. |
| US08417549B2 |
System and method for sourcing a demand forecast within a supply chain management system
A system and method are described for intelligently sourcing demand forecasts within a supply chain management (“SCM”) system based on a constrained supply chain model, in light of material and resource constraints. For example, a computer implemented method according to one embodiment of the invention comprises: calculating a demand forecast identifying anticipated demand for a product over a specified time period; identifying current sales orders for the product with delivery dates scheduled during the specified time period; generating an open forecast for the product based on the current sales orders and the anticipated demand; and sourcing different percentages of the open forecast from different plants, the percentages selected based on supply chain material and/or resource constraints. In addition, after the demand forecast is sourced, one embodiment of the invention employs additional techniques for intelligently sourcing new sales orders entering the SCM system. |
| US08417547B2 |
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. In one instance, a method includes, but is not limited to, establishing an interface template to serve as an identifier for a health-related issue involving a particular patient; adopting a primary version of the interface template that is located in proximity to the particular patient; adopting a secondary version of the interface template that is shaped for verifiable matching engagement with the primary version of the interface template; and associating the secondary version of the interface template with a selected procedure intended for the particular patient. |
| US08417544B2 |
Research collaboration system
Systems and methods for conducting collaborative research are described. In some embodiments, a portal provided on a server allows users, who may be isolated from each other, to network and collaborate on initiating, designing, implementing, analyzing, and/or publishing research. |
| US08417542B2 |
Generation and sharing of a custom mode of a medical instrument through a social community
A computer-implemented method of a mode server is disclosed. The method includes authenticating a medical instrument based on an identifier associated with the medical instrument using a processor. The method includes authenticating a user of the medical instrument based on a password using the processor. The method also includes generating a graphical representation of the medical instrument, and providing a set of rules associated with the medical instrument based on the identifier and the user. In addition, the method includes generating a custom mode of operation of the medical instrument based on a response of the user and creating a name associated with the custom mode of operation. The method further includes automatically programming the medical instrument based on the custom mode, and sharing the custom mode with other users and other medical instruments based on the set of rules. |
| US08417541B1 |
Multi-stage model for predicting probabilities of mortality in adult critically ill patients
Computerized methods in a clinical computing environment for predicting mortality in critically ill patients, that is, patients admitted to Intensive Care Units, are provided. In accordance with embodiments hereof, at least two distinctly different mortality prediction models (e.g., the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE®) model and the Mortality Probability Model at Admission (MPM0) are utilized in a multi-stage fashion to determine, with better accuracy than may be provided by either mortality prediction model alone, the probability of mortality for critically ill adult patients. |
| US08417539B2 |
Machine vision and spectroscopic pharmaceutical verification
A pharmaceutical solid in a prescription vial is identified from an optical property of the pharmaceutical solid using light reflected from two different light sources. For each known pharmaceutical solid, an optical property of the known pharmaceutical solid is stored. The prescription vial is illuminated with a first light source and a first image is recorded. The prescription vial is then illuminated with a second light source and a second image is recorded. The first image and the second image are processed to find an optical property of the pharmaceutical solid. The optical property found is compared to the stored optical properties. The identity of the pharmaceutical solid is determined from the comparison. The first light source and the second light source are selected to remove artifacts of the prescription bottle or to enhance or suppress two-dimensional or three-dimensional effects on the surface of the pharmaceutical solid. |
| US08417532B2 |
Encoding an information signal
The transient problem may be sufficiently addressed, and for this purpose, a further delay on the side of the decoding may be reduced if a new SBR frame class is used wherein the frame boundaries are not shifted, i.e. the grid boundaries are still synchronized with the frame boundaries, but wherein a transient position indication is additionally used as a syntax element so as to be used, on the encoder and/or decoder sides, within the frames of these new frame class for determining the grid boundaries within these frames. |
| US08417530B1 |
Accent-influenced search results
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for generating search results. In one aspect, a method includes obtaining a transcription of a voice query, and data that identifies an accent of the voice query, submitting the transcription and the data that identifies the accent of the voice query to a search engine to generate one or more accent-influenced results of the voice query, and providing the accent-influenced results to a client device for display. |
| US08417527B2 |
Speaker adaptation of vocabulary for speech recognition
A phonetic vocabulary for a speech recognition system is adapted to a particular speaker's pronunciation. A speaker can be attributed specific pronunciation styles, which can be identified from specific pronunciation examples. Consequently, a phonetic vocabulary can be reduced in size, which can improve recognition accuracy and recognition speed. |
| US08417524B2 |
Analysis of the temporal evolution of emotions in an audio interaction in a service delivery environment
Analyzing an audio interaction is provided. At least one change in an emotion of a speaker in an audio interaction and at least one aspect of the audio interaction are identified. The at least one change in an emotion is analyzed in conjunction with the at least one aspect to determine a relationship between the at least one change in an emotion and the at least one aspect, and a result of the analysis is provided. |
| US08417523B2 |
Systems and methods for interactively accessing hosted services using voice communications
Systems and methods for an interactive voice response system are described herein. In one embodiment, the system may include a voice recognition module, a session manager, and a voice generator module. An utterance received at the voice recognition module may be converted into one or more structures using a lexicon tied to an ontology. Concepts in the utterance may then be identified. If sufficient information has been provided to identify a relevant service, corresponding text responses associated with that service may then be converted into voice messages by the voice generator. |
| US08417516B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding high frequency signal
Provided are a method and apparatus for encoding and decoding a high frequency signal by using a low frequency signal. The high frequency signal can be encoded by extracting a coefficient by linear predicting a high frequency signal, and encoding the coefficient, generating a signal by using the extracted coefficient and a low frequency signal, and encoding the high frequency signal by calculating a ratio between the high frequency signal and an energy value of the generated signal. Also, the high frequency signal can be decoded by decoding a coefficient, which is extracted by linear predicting a high frequency signal, and a low frequency signal, and generating a signal by using the decoded coefficient and the decoded low frequency signal, and adjusting the generated signal by decoding a ratio between the generated signal and an energy value of the high frequency signal. |
| US08417515B2 |
Encoding device, decoding device, and method thereof
There is disclosed an encoding device capable of appropriately adjusting the dynamic range of spectrum inserted according to the technique for replacing a spectrum of a certain band with a spectrum of another band. The device includes a spectrum modification unit (112) which modifies a first spectrum S1(k) of the band 0≦k |
| US08417514B2 |
System and method for finding the most likely answer to a natural language question
Automated question answering is disclosed that relates to the selection of an answer to a question from a pool of potential answers which are manually or automatically extracted from a large collection of textual documents. The a feature extraction component, a feature combination component, an answer selection component, and an answer presentation component, among others, are included. The input to the system is a set of one or more natural language questions and a collection of textual document. The output is a (possibly ranked) set of factual answers to the questions, these answers being extracted from the document collection. |
| US08417512B2 |
Method, used by computers, for developing an ontology from a text in natural language
The invention relates to a method, used by computers, for developing an ontology (70) of a text (10) in natural language, comprising the steps of: receiving text data from the text (10); extracting the syntax and meaningful words (20) from the text via a grammatical analysis (S100) of the received data; for each of at least some of the meaningful words (20) of the text: searching (S200) for a definition (40) of that word (20) by means of at least one electronic dictionary (30, 35), extracting the syntax and the meaningful words of that definition, and creating (S300) an elementary lexical graph (50) of that definition based on the syntax and the meaningful words of that definition; and merging (S400) at least two of the elementary lexical graphs (50) created, as a function of the syntax of the text, so as to create at least one semantic graph (60) of the text. The invention further concerns a computer program product and an electronic data processing system comprising code means adapted to implement the steps of the method of the invention. |
| US08417511B2 |
Dynamic grammars for reusable dialogue components
A system and method for authoring a voice application is provided. The voice recognition process uses a dynamic grammar which obtains data from a backend data source based upon an input in order to create expected results that a speech engine can recognize. The process can retrieve data from at least one of a plurality of back-end data sources and can build a grammar based on the data using at least in part a dynamic grammar builder. The grammar is loaded into the voice recognition application using at least in part the reusable dialog component. A data access service, XSLT processor, or other data accessing framework can be used to facilitate access and manipulation of data in heterogeneous environments. |
| US08417507B2 |
Formal verification of models using concurrent model-reduction and model-checking
Formal verification of models using concurrent model-reduction and model-checking. For example, a system for formal verification of models includes: one or more model reducers to reduce a model; one or more model checkers to check the model, wherein at least one of the model reducers is to run concurrently with at least one of the model checkers; and a model synchronizer to synchronize information between at least one of the model reducers and at least one of the model checkers. |
| US08417503B2 |
System and method for target-based compact modeling
A method and structure for a computer model of a device has a performance parameter. The performance parameter includes a first bounded range and a second bounded range. The first bounded range has performance parameter variations within a single manufacturing process, and the second bounded range has performance parameter variations of different device designs. |
| US08417499B2 |
Enabling real-time testing of on-demand infrastructure to predict service level agreement compliance
Provided is an apparatus and method for demonstrating the efficiency and effectiveness of a customer's information technology (IT) system and applications operating in a shared IT, or electronic business on-demand, environment. A test suite mimics hypothetical settings in an on-demand services environment (129) and then determines how the settings affect the allocation of resources in the on-demand services environment (129). The calculated allocation of resources is then compared to one or more service level agreements (SLAs) in order to determine compliance with a particular SLA. |
| US08417498B2 |
Crystallization and structure of a plant peptide deformylase
This invention relates to the crystal structure of a plant peptide deformylase polypeptide and methods of using the structure to design compounds that modulate the activity of the polypeptide. |
| US08417496B2 |
Hydrocarbon recovery from a hydrocarbon reservoir
A computer system for modelling and controlling a hydrocarbon reservoir through management of fluid flow at individual wells. The computer system has program instructions which operate a computer model which uses oilfield production data to provide a model of future production. The model comprises an optimal regression model which represents injector and producer wells whose fluid flow characteristics are highly correlated with the fluid flow characteristics of the well of interest; the application of parsimonious information criterion techniques to identify well pairs that statistically contribute information to the optimal regression model; and a statistical reservoir model comprising the product of the optimal regression model and a significance matrix. The system is also provided with control means, responsive to the output of the computer model in order to control wells in the hydrocarbon reservoir. |
| US08417493B2 |
Scanning dental models
A system for generating an electronic model having a common coordinate system includes a scanning device; a first plate module; and a second plate module. Each of the plate modules is configured to separately couple to the scanning device. The plate modules also can be moveably coupled together using an articulation device. Each of the plate modules includes alignment structures (e.g., spheres) to facilitate determining a position and orientation of the plate modules within a coordinate system of the scanning device. |
| US08417492B1 |
Simulating granular material
A computer-implemented method for simulating a granular material includes removing, from a layer of granular material in a virtual domain defined by a data structure stored in a computer readable storage medium, a portion of the granular material in a closed region where the portion and a part of an object impacting the granular material are defined as occupying a same space. The method includes determining a value for a size aspect of the portion based on applying a numerical solver along an entirety of a boundary of the closed region. The method includes placing additional granular material along the boundary to create a shape resulting from the impact of the object. The method includes generating an image using the data structure, the image reflecting the impact of the object on the granular material in the virtual domain. |
| US08417490B1 |
System and method for the configuration of an automotive vehicle with modeled sensors
A system and methods are disclosed for providing integrated software development environment for the design, verification and validation of advanced automotive safety systems. The system allows automotive software to be developed on a host computer using a collection of computer programs running simultaneously as processes and synchronized by a central process. The software disclosed uses separate synchronized processes, permitting signals from disparate sources to be generated by a simulation running on the host computer or from actual sensors and data bus signals coming from and going to actual vehicle hardware which is connected to their bus counterparts in the host computer on a real-time basis. The methods disclosed are for providing an Algorithm Prototyping, Analysis and Test through an integrated framework for dynamic data modeling and application development. |
| US08417489B2 |
Duration estimation of repeated directed graph traversal
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for duration estimation of simulating a process model embodied in a directed graph. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for estimating a duration of simulation for a process model embodied in a directed graph can include loading a directed graph for traversal in a simulation engine, identifying nodes in the directed graph, estimating a duration of simulation by the simulation engine for individual ones of the nodes, summing a duration of simulation for the individual ones of the nodes to produce an estimate of a duration of traversal of the directed graph, and presenting the estimate in association with the traversal of the directed graph by the simulation engine. |
| US08417484B2 |
Method and device for monitoring an intercooler bypass valve
A method for diagnosing a bypass valve in a bypass line for an intercooler in a supercharger for an internal combustion engine, including the following steps: ascertaining a value of an efficiency of the intercooler as the reference efficiency; actuating the bypass valve to open the bypass valve; ascertaining a value of a further efficiency of the intercooler as the diagnosis efficiency after actuating the bypass valve to open; and detecting a malfunction of the bypass valve when the absolute value of the deviation between the reference efficiency and the diagnosis efficiency is less than a specified threshold value. |
| US08417479B2 |
System for calculating axial deformation of turbine rotor
A system calculates axial deformation of a turbine rotor. The system includes an input part that sets measurement points of rotor disks that constitute the turbine rotor; a deflection amount detection part that derives radial displacement amounts of the turbine rotor for at least four or more measurement points along an outer surface in a circumferential direction of the turbine rotor based on measured values measured by a displacement gage; a storage part that stores the radial displacement amounts and measured angles at the measurement points; and a calculation part that calculates misalignment data of a most probable circle of the turbine rotor based on data stored. The calculated circle is calculated from the displacement amount and the measured angles. The most probable circle is determined from the calculated circle, and the misalignment data of the most probable circle is calculated from the most probable circle. |
| US08417477B2 |
Methods and apparatus for local outlier detection
A method and apparatus for data analysis according to various aspects of the present invention is configured to identify statistical outliers in test data for components, including local outliers representing outliers within subsets of larger data populations. |
| US08417472B2 |
Synchronized data sampling systems and methods
A battery management system with synchronized data sampling for a battery pack including multiple battery cells is disclosed. The battery management system includes a plurality of local monitors coupled to a plurality of battery cells and operable for sampling status information for the battery cells. The battery management system further includes a central controller coupled to the local monitors and operable for broadcasting a sample command to the local monitor synchronously, wherein the local monitors start to sample the status information for the battery cells in response to the sample command. |
| US08417471B2 |
Systems and methods for electricity metering
In one aspect, the invention comprises a system comprising: a master data clock source; one or more transponders; and a plurality of remote power line transceivers; wherein all of said plurality of transceivers are connected to a common alternating current power distribution grid; and wherein each of said plurality of transceivers has a location is operable to monitor a voltage waveform of a power line prevailing at said location. In another aspect, the invention comprises a system comprising: transponders and remote power line transceivers each connected to a common alternating current power distribution grid each operable to monitor the voltage waveform of the power line prevailing at its own location, and generate selectable frequencies from said local power line waveform of a frequency of p/q times the frequency of said power line where p and q are positive integers greater than or equal to 1. |
| US08417470B2 |
Safety pulser for fuel dispenser and method for judging fraud activity
A security pulse generator and methods thereof are applied in fuel dispensers. The fuel dispenser includes a flow measuring transducer and a control main board on which there is a measuring microprocessor on the control main board. The security pulse generator includes: a pulse signal generating component, which generates a corresponding pulse signal according to the rotation of the flow measuring transducer; an encoding microprocessor, which receives and transduces the pulse signal, transmits it to the control main board, and meanwhile encodes the output pulse signal; a measuring microprocessor, which receives and decodes output pulse number encoded data from the encoding microprocessor and transforms it to the output pulse number after decoding it, then compares it to the pulse number of the control main board to determine if there is suspecting frauds in the fueling process. |
| US08417468B2 |
Diagnostic method for detecting control valve component failure
The claimed method and system identifies faults and/or deterioration of components in a process control valve. The system may use different sensor combinations to provide the necessary data to compute irregular component integrity. Alerts may be generated to indicate potential component integrity problems. In particular, the system may detect potential deterioration and/or faults in actuator springs, pneumatic tubing and piping, and bellows seals. The claimed system may be communicatively coupled to a process control network to provide a more elaborate alarm system. Moreover, additional statistical methods may be used to refine the detection accuracy of the system. |
| US08417467B2 |
Shielding and activity estimator for template-based nuclide identification methods
According to one embodiment, a method for estimating an activity of one or more radio-nuclides includes receiving one or more templates, the one or more templates corresponding to one or more radio-nuclides which contribute to a probable solution, receiving one or more weighting factors, each weighting factor representing a contribution of one radio-nuclide to the probable solution, computing an effective areal density for each of the one more radio-nuclides, computing an effective atomic number (Z) for each of the one more radio-nuclides, computing an effective metric for each of the one or more radio-nuclides, and computing an estimated activity for each of the one or more radio-nuclides. In other embodiments, computer program products, systems, and other methods are presented for estimating an activity of one or more radio-nuclides. |
| US08417463B2 |
Systems and methods for monitoring pulmonary edema dynamics
This document discusses, among other things, systems and methods for measuring the dynamics of pulmonary congestion in heart failure subjects over time to monitor the subjects susceptibility to pulmonary edema, including sensing and receiving information indicative of a bodily pressure and information indicative of pulmonary fluid, and using the transient responses of these measurements to compute parameters related to the dynamics of thoracic fluid accumulation, such as a critical pressure (Pc), a critical time (Tc), or a filtration index (Kfi). |
| US08417462B2 |
System and method for identifying complex patterns of amino acids
A method and system are disclosed for identifying and/or locating complex patterns in an amino acid sequence stored in a computer file or database. According to an aspect of the present invention, techniques are provided to facilitate queries of protein databases. For protein descriptions received in response to the queries, embodiments of the present invention may scan the received protein descriptions to identify and locate Replikin patterns. A Replikin pattern is defined to be a sequence of 7 to about 50 amino acids that include the following three (3) characteristics, each of which may be recognized by an embodiment of the present invention: (1) the sequence has at least one lysine residue located six to ten amino acid residues from a second lysine residue; (2) the sequence has at least one histidine residue; and (3) at least 6% of the amino acids in the sequence are lysine residues. |
| US08417461B2 |
Identification and modification of dynamical regions in proteins for alteration of enzyme catalytic effect
A method for analysis, control, and manipulation for improvement of the chemical reaction rate of a protein-mediated reaction is provided. Enzymes, which typically comprise protein molecules, are very efficient catalysts that enhance chemical reaction rates by many orders of magnitude. Enzymes are widely used for a number of functions in chemical, biochemical, pharmaceutical, and other purposes. The method identifies key protein vibration modes that control the chemical reaction rate of the protein-mediated reaction, providing identification of the factors that enable the enzymes to achieve the high rate of reaction enhancement. By controlling these factors, the function of enzymes may be modulated, i.e., the activity can either be increased for faster enzyme reaction or it can be decreased when a slower enzyme is desired. This method provides an inexpensive and efficient solution by utilizing computer simulations, in combination with available experimental data, to build suitable models and investigate the enzyme activity. |
| US08417459B2 |
Methods of selection, reporting and analysis of genetic markers using broad-based genetic profiling applications
Disclosed are a method for determining whether an individual has an enhanced, diminished, or average probability of exhibiting one or more phenotypic attributes and related methods of selecting a set of genetic markers; for providing relevant genetic information to an individual; of evaluating the probability that progeny of two individuals of the opposite sex will exhibit one or more phenotypic attributes; and for determining the genomic ethnicity of an individual. |
| US08417458B2 |
Removing ground-roll from geophysical data
A method for processing geophysical data. The method includes generating a model from geophysical data acquired at a receiver location and one or more boundary receiver locations. After generating the model, the method applies a forward modeling algorithm using information from the model to generate a modeled estimate of a direct ground roll between the receiver location and each boundary receiver location. The method then estimates a ground roll between a source location and each boundary receiver location. Using the modeled estimate of a direct ground roll between the receiver location and each boundary receiver location and the estimate of the ground roll between a source location and each boundary receiver location, the method applies interferometry between the estimate of the ground roll between the source location and each boundary receiver location and the modeled estimate of the direct ground roll between the receiver location and each boundary receiver location to generate an interferometric estimate of a ground roll between the source location and the receiver location. The method then removes the interferometric estimate of the ground roll between the source location and the receiver location from geophysical data acquired at the receiver location due to a source at the source location. |
| US08417457B2 |
Borehole stress module and methods for use
The disclosure is directed to methods and apparatuses for estimating a response relating to a formation by stressing a wall of a borehole during either wireline or while drilling deployment. The response may be estimated by stressing the wall of a borehole formed in the formation; and estimating a response of the borehole wall to the stress. The response may be estimated using a force module configured to induce the stress around borehole and a tool configured to estimate the response of the borehole wall to the stress. |
| US08417454B2 |
Method and apparatus for storing or displaying prespecified geometric objects and computer program product
To store geometric objects, a distance is determined from each prespecified objects to one other prespecified object. The distance represents a similarity of the corresponding prespecified objects. The prespecified objects are grouped together such that the prespecified objects are more similar with respect to prespecified geometric objects of the same group than with respect to objects of the other groups. For each group, a representative is ascertained, depending on the prespecified objects within the groups. The representatives of all the groups (are stored. In a representative fashion for the prespecified objects, only one identification of the prespecified object an indication of the corresponding representative of the prespecified object and values, by which a size and position of the corresponding representative is prespecified, is stored for each of the prespecified objects, depending on the size and the position of the corresponding prespecified objects. |
| US08417451B2 |
Autonomous cooperative surveying
A method and apparatus for measuring depth of waterways and elevation of land features through autonomous consolidation of GPS device data acquired from a plurality of mobile platforms is disclosed. The GPS device data may then be processed and compared to published reference data. A data recorder and a wireless transmission system comprise an onboard unit, which serves to interface with the GPS device for collecting, recording and transmitting data. The onboard device also provides an apparatus for collecting other georeferenced data from multiple mobile platforms, and serves as a node on a two-way meshed communication network. |
| US08417450B2 |
On-board diagnostics based navigation device for dead reckoning
A computing navigation device is disclosed that includes a processor configured to control a communication module configured to receive a global positioning satellite (GPS) system signal corresponding to a vehicle position of a vehicle. The processor may be further configured to recognize a dropped signal condition in which no operational signal is detected from the GPS system, and to identify a last position of the vehicle corresponding to a time of the dropped signal condition. The processor may be further configured to retrieve on-board diagnostics data from an on-board diagnostics system of the vehicle corresponding with a movement of the vehicle. The computing navigation device may further include a kinematic module configured to calculate a calculated position of the vehicle based on the last position and the movement of the vehicle, and a display configured to display a representation of the calculated position. |
| US08417448B1 |
Electronic direction technology
An electronic direction system accesses navigation data describing at least one instance in which a direction was missed during provision of electronic navigation along a route and tracks instances in which directions have been missed based on the accessed navigation data. The electronic direction system accounts for the tracked instances in which directions have been missed in handling provision of future directions. |
| US08417446B2 |
Link-node maps based on open area maps
Systems and methods for generating and using geographic data are disclosed. For example, one method comprises generating and/or identifying an open area map. A route is generated using the open area map. A path segment record and/or a node record is created based on the generated route. The path segment record and/or the node record may be stored in a geographic database. |
| US08417444B2 |
Method and system for locating and navigating an autonomous vehicle
Techniques and methodologies are disclosed for minimizing inaccuracies in distance measurements and location determinations for autonomous vehicles or targets ranging to subsets of beacons. Such techniques and methodologies can be used to better control (e.g., navigate) an autonomous vehicle in an area and/or along a pathway, or trajectory. |
| US08417443B2 |
Travel pattern information obtaining device, travel pattern information obtaining method, and travel pattern information obtaining program
Vehicle speed identification information for identifying vehicle speed of a vehicle on a road is obtained for a plurality of vehicles. Based on a distribution of the vehicle speed identification information, the vehicle speed identification information is classified into groups corresponding to motions of the vehicle. An occurrence probability of a motion of the vehicle is obtained based on the classification. |
| US08417441B2 |
Method and apparatus generating and/or using estimates of arterial vehicular movement
A roadway information system is disclosed with components generating and using vehicle signatures for vehicles passing near sensor pods located on or near lanes. These components in turn are part of and/or communicate with means and/or processors for generating an/or using Vehicle Movement Estimates based upon the vehicle signatures. The VME are used to create traffic feedback that may be presented to programmable field devices that may present at least some of the traffic feedback to drivers of the vehicles, thereby optimizing the fuel usage and travel time of the roadway. |
| US08417438B2 |
Apparatus for detecting air-fuel ratio dispersion abnormality between cylinders of multiple-cylinder internal combustion engine
An apparatus for detecting dispersion abnormality in air-fuel ratio between cylinders of a multiple-cylinder engine, including a waste gate passage which bypasses a turbine of a turbocharger, a waste gate valve which opens/closes the passage, an air-fuel ratio sensor installed in an exhaust passage on the downstream of an outlet of the passage, an abnormality detecting unit for detecting dispersion abnormality in air-fuel ratio between cylinders by comparing a parameter value correlating with a fluctuation of the sensor value with a predetermined threshold, and an exhaust speed increasing unit for increasing exhaust gas speed. The apparatus further includes a controller which controls the valve and the exhaust speed increasing unit, and the controller opens, when dispersion abnormality in the air-fuel ratio between cylinders is detected, the valve and increases exhaust speed by the exhaust speed increasing unit. |
| US08417433B2 |
Dynamically auto-tuning a gas turbine engine
Tuning processes implemented by an auto-tune controller are provided for measuring and adjusting the combustion dynamics and the emission composition of a gas turbine (GT) engine via a tuning process. Initially, the tuning process includes monitoring parameters, such as combustion dynamics and emission composition. Upon determining that one or more of the monitored parameters exceed a critical value, these “out-of-tune” parameters are compared to a scanning order table. Upon comparison, the first out-of-tune parameter that is matched within the scanning order table is addressed. The first out-of-tune parameter is then plotted as overlaid slopes on respective graphs, where the graph represents a fuel-flow split. Typically, the slopes are plotted as a particular out-of-tune parameter against a particular fuel-flow split. The slopes for each graph are considered together by taking into account the combined impact on each out-of-tune parameter when a fuel-flow split is selected for adjustment. |
| US08417429B2 |
Vehicle brake fluid pressure control apparatus
A vehicle brake fluid pressure control apparatus includes: a controller configured to control fluid pressures in wheel brakes to increase or reduce by controlling normally open electromagnetic valves and normally closed electromagnetic valves, wherein the controller perform: a pressure reducing in a pressure reducing cycle in which a basic pressure reducing control and a gradual pressure control are performed continuously in a case that the controller determines to execute a pressure reducing control with wheel speeds decreasing; a pressure reducing control in a basic pressure reducing amount in the basic pressure reducing control; and a temporary holding control for holding the fluid pressure and a fine pressure reducing control for executing a pressure reducing in an amount smaller than the basic pressure reducing amount in a case that the wheel speeds tend to decrease after the temporary holding control in the gradual pressure reducing control. |
| US08417428B2 |
Alternator controlling apparatus and alternator controlling method
An alternator controlling method includes: performing alternator braking/driving force control such that alternator braking/driving force generated by an alternator mounted in a vehicle and applied to the vehicle is controlled based on a running state of the vehicle; calculating an SOC value based on a charge status of a battery; calculating an SOC correction value based on the alternator braking/driving force Fo; determining an accelerating/decelerating state of the vehicle; setting a target voltage based on the accelerating/decelerating state and the SOC correction value; and performing battery charging control by causing the alternator to generate electrical power based on the target voltage. This enables efficient recovery of energy produced during electrical power generation by the alternator, taking account of the alternator braking/driving force control. |
| US08417419B2 |
Device and process for automatic locking of a steering column
The invention relates to a device for locking (D) the steering column of a motorcycle (M), which includes a first module (200) secured to the rotating column and a second module (100) secured to the frame of the vehicle (M), which is stationary with respect to said column, said frame mechanically limiting the angular amplitude of rotation of said column, a module (200) including a locking bolt (211) projecting toward the other module (100), and the other module (100) including two flat bolts (110) projecting toward the other module (200). Said device is remarkable in that the two flat bolts (110) are arranged at the two ends of the angular course defined by said frame, so as to create an area of operation without possible locking between said two flat bolts (110), a locking area at each end of the angular course so that said locking bolt (211) can reach the end of the angular course and the corresponding locking area only in the retracted position of the locking bolt (211) or the flat bolts (110), and the deployment of said locking bolt (211) or the flat bolts (110) in the area of operation defined between the two flat bolts (110) prevents said locking bolt (211) from passing into the locking area during normal operation of the vehicle. The invention also relates to a process of operation of said device. |
| US08417416B2 |
Electric auxiliary heating unit for a motor vehicle
An electric auxiliary heating unit for a motor vehicle reliably avoids temperature overshoots of the heated air, especially during acceleration phases of the vehicle. The temperature of adjustment the discharged hot air is adjusted in dependence upon the vehicle speed. This is preferably done via a stored characteristic field via which a plurality of vehicle parameters, such as the vehicle speed, the opening condition of the convertible top, the outside temperature, etc., can easily be taken into account. The temperature of the incoming air can also be derived from temperature values which are already available in the vehicle. This heating can preferably be used locally in the vehicle, e.g. in the vehicle seat or in the rear of the passenger compartment. Temperature fluctuations in the heated air can be avoided reliably and easily even in the case of dynamically varying operating conditions of the motor vehicle. |
| US08417413B2 |
Oxygen sensor control apparatus
In an oxygen sensor control apparatus, after start of fuel cut, the weighted average Ipd of corrected values obtained by multiplying the output value of a mounted oxygen sensor by a correction coefficient Kp is obtained as a representative value Ipe, representing the corrected values in the fuel cut period (S19). In the case where the number of times the representative value Ipe is continuously judged not to fall outside a second range (S21: NO) and to fall outside a first range (S23: YES) reaches 10 (a first number of times) (S26: YES), a new correction coefficient Kp is computed (S27). In the case where the number of times the representative value Ipe is continuously judged to fall outside the second range (S21: YES) reaches 4 (a second number of times smaller than the first number of times) (S29: YES), a new correction coefficient Kp is computed (S30). |
| US08417412B2 |
Abnormality detection device, abnormality information transmission method, and abnormality information transmission system
An abnormality detection device is disclosed that includes a storage unit configured to, when abnormality of an in-vehicle device is detected, store abnormality information of the abnormality; a transmission unit configured to transmit the abnormality information to a server; an in-vehicle information terminal configured to, when driving support information is provided to an occupant and read-out operation information is input through an operation section, read out the abnormality information stored in the storage unit; and a transmission prevention unit configured to, when the read-out operation information is input through the operation section, prevent transmission of the abnormality information to the server. |
| US08417411B2 |
Torque sensor performance diagnostic systems and methods
A control system may include a polarity determination module, a torque variation module, and a torque sensor diagnostic module. The polarity determination module determines a first polarity of a torque signal that indicates a transmission torque. The torque sensor diagnostic module diagnoses an error of a torque sensor when an detected polarity of the torque signal is opposite from the first polarity. A control system may include a torque variation module and a torque sensor diagnostic module. The torque variation module determines a maximum torque variation during a predetermined diagnostic period based on the torque signal. The torque sensor diagnostic module diagnoses an error of a torque sensor when the maximum torque variation is outside of a torque variation range. The torque variation range is defined by a minimum torque variation threshold and a maximum torque variation threshold. |
| US08417409B2 |
Transit routing system for public transportation trip planning
A public transit travel planning system and methodology that uses an extensive pre-processing approach of transit information prior to query time on order to determine optimal public transit routes for journeys. At query time, since the transit information has already been processed by the system, very little computation is needed in order to fulfill the query. The system then provides users with public transit directions in response to the queries for public transit journeys. |
| US08417408B2 |
Drive control apparatus for hybrid vehicle
A drive control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle which has an engine selectively set in one of a normal fuel-consumption operation mode and a low fuel-consumption operation mode for obtaining a lower fuel consumption; a generator selectively used for one of being driven by the engine and assisting driving of the engine; a motor for generating a driving force of the vehicle by electric power supplied by the generator or a battery device; and a clutch between the generator and wheels of the vehicle. The drive control apparatus has a control part for performing a low fuel-consumption driving assistance mode when the engine is set in the low fuel-consumption operation mode. In the low fuel-consumption driving assistance mode, the clutch is connected, and driving of the vehicle is assisted using one of the generator and the motor, which is selected in accordance with an operation state of the vehicle. |
| US08417406B2 |
Method for the early induction of an additional start of an internal combustion engine in a vehicle with a hybrid drive
A method is provided for the early induction of an additional start of an internal combustion engine in a vehicle with a hybrid drive including at least one electric drive unit and one internal combustion engine. When only the electric drive is in operation, then the internal combustion engine is additionally started no later than when the determined requested nominal drive torque exceeds the maximum possible drive torque of the electric drive unit. In order to initiate an additional startup of the internal combustion engine before reaching or exceeding the maximum possible drive torque of the electric drive unit by way of the requested nominal drive torque, the still unfiltered driver request torque or a limited driver request torque is evaluated. |
| US08417402B2 |
Monitoring of power charging in vehicle
A energy meter unit for an electric vehicle contains energy measuring circuitry, a GPS unit, a CPU, and memory. The energy meter unit is capable of detecting the amount of energy charged at a specific location and storing that information for later uses, such as with a governmental incentive program. |
| US08417401B2 |
Map display apparatus, map display method, and computer-readable tangible medium
A navigation apparatus for use in a hybrid vehicle in which an engine and a drive motor are used in combination acquires a current SOC value of a battery, geometry of roads around the vehicle, gradient information, traffic information, learning information, and so forth. A travelable range of the vehicle after the battery is charged is calculated for each of a plurality of various charge times on the basis of the acquired information. The plurality of calculated travelable ranges is simultaneously displayed on a liquid crystal display. It is thus possible to display a minimum charge time required to travel to a destination in a manner easily understandable to a user. |
| US08417400B2 |
Control system for hybrid vehicles with reconfigurable multi-function power converter
A multi-directional power conversion system for providing power to a motor of a hybrid vehicle includes an electric control unit; an electric motor which provides a driving force to the vehicle; a primary energy storage device; and a secondary energy storage device. An energy management system communicates parameters of the energy storage devices to the electronic control unit. A power manipulating device is coupled between the primary energy storage device and the secondary energy storage device that is configured to manage power between the energy sources and deliver electricity external the vehicle. |
| US08417398B2 |
Vehicle and method for drive control in a vehicle
A vehicle, including two controllable electrical drives, which are capable of being operated in mutual dependence, the rotational speed and the torque of a first drive, in particular a master drive. |
| US08417397B2 |
Vertical profile display with variable display boundaries
A display system includes instrumentation configured to obtain aircraft data comprising current flight status data of the host aircraft and current flight status data of neighboring aircraft located near the host aircraft. The system also includes a processor coupled to the instrumentation. The processor analyzes and filters the aircraft data, using lateral boundary criteria for the host aircraft, to identify a proper subset of the neighboring aircraft, and the processor generates image rendering display commands based upon the current flight status data of the host aircraft and based upon the current flight status data of neighboring aircraft included in the proper subset. A display element receives the image rendering display commands and, in response thereto, renders a vertical situation display that includes graphical representations of the host aircraft and each neighboring aircraft included the proper subset. |
| US08417395B1 |
Hierarchical closed-loop flow control system for aircraft, missiles and munitions
The present invention relates to a missile or aircraft with a hierarchical, modular, closed-loop flow control system and more particularly to aircraft or missile with a flow control system for enhanced aerodynamic control, maneuverability and stabilization. The present invention further relates to a method of operating the flow control system.Various embodiments of the flow control system of the present invention involve different elements including flow sensors, active flow control device or activatable flow effectors and logic devices with closed loop control architecture. The sensors of these various embodiments are used to estimate or determine flow conditions on the various surfaces of a missile or aircraft. The active flow control device or activatable flow effectors of these various embodiments create on-demand flow disturbances, preferably micro-disturbances, at different points along the various aerodynamic surfaces of the missile or aircraft to achieve a desired stabilization or maneuverability effect. The logic devices are embedded with a hierarchical control structure allowing for rapid, real-time control at the flow surface. |
| US08417394B2 |
Substrate processing apparatus, semiconductor device manufacturing method and temperature controlling method
Provided are a substrate processing apparatus, a semiconductor device manufacturing method, and a temperature controlling method, which are adapted to improve equipment operational rate. A calculation parameter computing unit computes a calculation parameter using at least a first calculation parameter correction value determined by a first calculation parameter setting unit based on an accumulated film thickness on a reaction vessel, a second calculation parameter correction value determined by a second calculation parameter setting unit based on an accumulated film thickness on a filler wafer, and a third calculation parameter correction value determined by a third calculation parameter setting unit based on the number of filler wafers. Product and filler wafers are accommodated and heat-treated in the reaction vessel while controlling a heating unit using calculation results obtained using at least the calculation parameter and deviation between a set temperature and a temperature detected in the heating unit by a temperature detector. |
| US08417392B2 |
Qualification system and method for chilled water plant operations
A qualification system for determining the effects of one or more upgrades or modifications to a chilled water plant is disclosed herein. The qualification system my collect various data from operating logs of a chilled water plant. The data may be collected in stages, where at least one first stage may be used to collect data used to identify representative log data. The representative log data may then be used to perform an accurate analysis to determine the effects of one or more upgrades or modifications. In this manner, the qualification system provides accurate analysis while reducing data entry. In addition, the qualification system may accept varying amounts of data such as to reduce percentage error or the like in its analysis. |
| US08417389B2 |
Control system, oscillation control device, and control signal generation method
There is proposed a control system and the like that can realize a CPG (Central Pattern Generator) network having high controllability. A control system (CPG network) includes a plurality of oscillation control devices (CPG) and one target signal generating device (rhythm generator (RG)). Each CPG and the RG are described by the Van der Pol equation, and an amplitude and a period of an output waveform are substantially independently controlled by an external signal. In order to control a phase difference between the CPGs, the period of each CPG is temporarily controlled through connections that are only conjunctions between the each CPG and the RG. |
| US08417388B2 |
Load control system having an energy savings mode
A load control system for a building having a heating and cooling system and a window located in a space of the building is operable to control a motorized window treatment in response to a demand response command in order to attempt to reduce the power consumption of the heating and cooling system. When the window may be receiving direct sunlight, the motorized window treatment closes a fabric covering the window when the heating and cooling system is cooling the building, and opens the fabric when the heating and cooling system is heating the building. In addition, when the space is unoccupied and the heating and cooling system is heating the building, the motorized window treatment may open the fabric if the window may be receiving direct sunlight, and may close the fabric if the window may not be receiving direct sunlight. |
| US08417384B2 |
Information processing system, robot apparatus, and control method therefor
Provided is an information processing system including a display device for displaying an image on a display screen, and a robot apparatus for performing input/output of information from/to a user. The information processing system acquires a position of the display screen in a real space, and moves the robot apparatus based on the acquired position of the display screen. |
| US08417376B1 |
Method and means for viewing selecting and taking action relative to an item of a group of items
A method and device utilizing touch screen transparent LED means is shown for viewing a number of products, selecting one or more for investigation by displaying information concerning the selected items, choosing one for removal from the display of items and delivering the chosen item to a user. |
| US08417373B2 |
Automatic warehouse
An automatic warehouse comprises: a support structure (2) for supporting trays (50) each provided with at least a container cell (51) exhibiting an opening (52); an operating station (3), which is provided with an access opening (4) and is predisposed for receiving at least a tray (50) such that an opening of the container cell (51) faces the access opening (4); the operating station (3) being provided with a cover (5, 6), which cover (5, 6) is mobile on command between an open position, which enables access to the container cell (51) of the tray (50) and a closed position, which prevents access to the container cell (51); a manipulator device (7) to remove and transfer at least a tray (50) from the support structure (2) to the operating station (3), and vice versa. |
| US08417369B2 |
Device for machining continuously successively transported, flat objects or an almost endless web of material
A device for processing objects which are conveyed one after another in a continuous manner, or a quasi endless material web, includes tools revolving on a revolving path. In one variant of the device, the tools are controllably pivotable relative to the revolving path in a manner such that their pivot position is adapted in a controlled manner to the objects to be processed or the material web, independently of an orientation of the revolving path. In a further variant of the device, the device includes at least one drive, which are controllable in a manner such that the tools in groups or individually, may be driven simultaneously at different speeds on the revolving path. This, for example, is realized by way of two drives, wherein each second tool is coupled to the first drive, and the other tools to the second drive. |
| US08417367B1 |
Manufacturing exception handling system
A manufacturing exception handling system is described for use with a manufacturing execution system that controls a semiconductor manufacturing process. The present invention provides real time information to the user that identifies restrictions that have been placed on the use of entities and inventories in the semiconductor manufacturing process. The present invention also provides real time information to the user that identifies the persons who are authorized to remove the restrictions. The present invention saves the time and effort that would otherwise be required to find out why a restriction existed and who could remove the restriction during the semiconductor manufacturing process. |
| US08417363B2 |
Control method for machines, including a system, computer program, data signal and gui
A method for controlling a group of machines such as robots or pick and place machines to pick up an item from a first position and place the item in a second position. Information from a sensor about the location of the first position is provided to a control member, which sends a message from a master process to all machines. The message includes a list of all first positions. The machines dynamically and adaptively handle each of the first positions and inform the master process when each first position is handled. The master process in turn informs all machines that a given first position has been handled. A system, a computer program and a graphical user interface are also described. |
| US08417362B2 |
Advanced process control for semiconductor processing
A computer comprising a recordable medium on which is stored instructions for at least one model-based, run-to-run controller routine is provided. The computer includes instructions to receive a first dataset regarding a first wafer after a first process, to determine a process parameter for the first process for a second wafer using the first dataset; and to determine a second process parameter for a second process for the first wafer using the first dataset. In an embodiment, the first process is an etch process. In an embodiment, the second process is a planarization process. |
| US08417357B2 |
Method and system for generating a control system user interface
A method for providing an improved engineering interface for configuring, maintenance or monitoring an industrial control system. The system includes a computer and a plurality of process graphics including software objects for controlling and/or monitoring real world objects controlled by the control system. A display of a process graphic is automatically generated in a window or designated view including a tab. The process graphic is selected dependent on one or more logical groupings, or hierarchical positions in a structure, in which control system software objects representing the control objects, the real world objects, belong or are arranged. A view of a structure group including a selected object is automatically displayed including tabs, each of which tab being linked to another structure group in a structure view that also contains an instance of the selected object. An engineer or other user can easily find and navigate to all instances of a selected object when configuring etc a control system. A system, a user interface and a computer program are also described. |
| US08417353B2 |
Method and apparatus for securing an electrode
A system for securing at least one electrode to an anatomy is provided. The system can include a first plate, which can include at least one first passage. The at least one first passage can be configured to receive a lead of the at least one electrode. The system can also include a second plate configured to move relative to the first plate. The movement of the second plate relative to the first plate can at least partially occlude the at least one passage of the first plate to secure the lead of the at least one electrode to the anatomy. |
| US08417349B2 |
Rate matching for a stimulating medical device
Methods and systems are disclosed for rate matching in a stimulating medical device, such as a cochlear implant or an auditory brain stimulator. In embodiments, the stimulating medical device applies a fast Fourier transform (FFT) at an analysis rate to the received signal to obtain a plurality frequency bin output signals. The stimulating medical device then applies a rate matching through interpolation function to the frequency bin output signals to match the stimulation rate for the stimulating medical device. This rate matching through interpolation function may apply a common interpolation filter to each frequency bin output to obtain a plurality of outputs distributed in time across the time period between executions of the FFT. The values of the frequency bin output signals at the time most closely matching the time for which stimulation is to be applied may then be selected and used in applying the stimulation. |
| US08417344B2 |
Dynamic cranial nerve stimulation based on brain state determination from cardiac data
A method of treating a medical condition in a patient using an implantable medical device, comprising providing an electrical signal generator; providing at least a first electrode operatively coupled to the electrical signal generator and to a vagus nerve of the patient; sensing cardiac data of the patient; determining at least a first cardiac parameter based upon said cardiac data; setting at least a first value; declaring an unstable brain state of a patient from said at least a first cardiac parameter and said at least a first value; and adjusting the at least a first value. Also, a computer readable program storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed by a computer, performs the method. In addition, the implantable medical device used in the method. |
| US08417341B2 |
Pacemaker RF telemetry repeater and method
A system and method for repeating radio frequency (RF) transmissions between a programmer and an implantable medical device (IMD) is provided. One aspect of this disclosure relates to an RF repeater. According to various embodiments, the repeater includes a first antenna and a first communication circuit electrically connected to the first antenna. The first communication circuit is adapted to communicate with an IMD, the IMD including a built-in active telemetry transceiver, over a first channel. The device also includes a second antenna and a second communication circuit electrically connected to the second antenna. The second communication circuit is adapted to communicate with a programmer over a second channel different from the first channel. The device also includes a control circuit coupled to the first and second communication circuits. The control circuit is adapted to enable or disable the first and second communication circuits. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein. |
| US08417338B2 |
System and method for monitoring power source longevity of an implantable medical device
Power source longevity monitor for an implantable medical device. An energy counter counts the amount of energy used by the implantable medical device. An energy converter converts the energy used into an estimate of remaining power source longevity and generating an energy longevity estimate. A voltage monitor monitors the voltage of the power source. A voltage converter converts the voltage monitored by the voltage monitor into an estimate of remaining longevity of the power source and generating a voltage longevity estimate. A calculator is operatively coupled to the energy converter and to the voltage converter and predicts the power source longevity using the energy longevity estimate early in the useful life of the power source and using the voltage longevity estimate later in the useful life of the power source. |
| US08417335B2 |
Synchronized ventricular pacing to promote atrial sensing
Methods and systems are described that involve synchronized ventricular pacing that promotes sensing of atrial events. The atrioventricular pacing delay is modified based on characteristics of previously sensed atrial events. The modified AV delay is implemented relative to a first atrial event. A second AV delay is implemented relative to a second atrial event if the second atrial event is sensed during the modified AV delay. A ventricular pacing pulse is delivered following the second AV delay. |
| US08417333B2 |
Painless non-stimulating lead impedance measurement
This document discusses, among other things, an apparatus comprising, a plurality of electrodes configured to deliver defibrillation countershock energy to a subject, an impedance measurement circuit communicatively coupled to the electrodes and configured to measure the impedance between any two of the electrodes using a non-stimulating excitation signal, and a controller communicatively coupled to the impedance measurement circuit and configured to calculate the impedance of a shock vector, wherein the shock vector includes a first electrode and a second electrode electrically connected together, and a third electrode, and wherein the controller calculates the impedance using measured impedances between the three electrodes when none of them are electrically connected. |
| US08417322B2 |
Method and apparatus for diagnosing bone tissue conditions
In a method for diagnosing or helping to diagnose a bone tissue condition of a patient, a portion of bone tissue of the patient is irradiated using a light source. The bone tissue may be irradiated in vivo through the skin or via an incision, for example. Alternatively, a biopsy of the bone tissue may be irradiated. Then, spectral content information for light scattered, reflected, or transmitted by the bone tissue is determined, and is used, at least in part, to determine whether the patient has a bone tissue condition. |
| US08417319B2 |
Visualization and quantization of newly formed vasculature
An angiographic image processing system includes a filtering module (40) configured to filter an angiographic image based on blood vessel diameter (46) to identify neovasculature having small blood vessel diameter, and a display sub-system (32, 70) configured to display the angiographic image with the identified neovasculature. A neovasculature density computation module (72) is configured to compute density of the neovasculature identified by the filtering module (40). |
| US08417315B2 |
Marker systems with spaced apart surfaces or markers and methods of using the same
A marker system includes a structure having a first surface and a second surface, a first marker located on the first surface, and a second marker located on the second surface, wherein the first marker and the second marker are arranged so that they face approximately a same direction, and so that they can be simultaneously viewed by an optical device, and wherein a first distance between the first marker and the optical device is different from a second distance between the second marker and the optical device when the first and the second markers are simultaneously viewed by the optical device. |
| US08417312B2 |
Systems and methods for processing sensor data
Systems and methods for processing sensor data are provided. In some embodiments, systems and methods are provided for calibration of a continuous analyte sensor. In some embodiments, systems and methods are provided for classification of a level of noise on a sensor signal. In some embodiments, systems and methods are provided for determining a rate of change for analyte concentration based on a continuous sensor signal. In some embodiments, systems and methods for alerting or alarming a patient based on prediction of glucose concentration are provided. |
| US08417310B2 |
Digital switching in multi-site sensor
A system includes a flexible sensor configured to be placed into a first configuration and a second configuration, wherein the sensor is configured to measure a physiological characteristic. The sensor may include a first memory device configured to store a first set of calibration data and a second memory device configured to store a second set of calibration data. The system may further include a monitor coupled to the sensor, wherein the first memory device is accessible by the monitor in the first configuration and the second memory device is accessible by the monitor in the second configuration. |
| US08417309B2 |
Medical sensor
The present disclosure generally relates to a medical sensor configured to attach to a patient's finger. According to embodiments, a sensor body is attached to a ring such that the sensor body is limited to contact with the patient's finger. The ring may have a fixed diameter or be adjustable. The ring may also include an indicator that facilitates the determination of whether the ring applies appropriate tension to the patient's finger. The sensor body may comprise a strip attached to the ring at two points or a hood that covers the distal end of the patient's finger. The sensor body may be coupled to the patient's finger with adhesives or securing flaps. |
| US08417305B2 |
Non-invasive measurement of blood oxygen saturation
The invention relates to a method for non-invasive determination of oxygen saturation of blood within a deep vascular structure of a human patient comprising locating on skin of the patient in a vicinity of the deep vascular structure of interest emitter and receiver elements of a light oximeter device, wherein optimal location of said elements is achieved through matching of a plethysmography trace obtained from the oximeter device to known plethysmography characteristics of the deep vascular structure of interest, and wherein oxygen saturation is determined from a ratio of light absorbed at different wavelengths by haemoglobin in the blood within the vascular structure of interest. The invention also relates to modified oximetry devices capable of carrying out the method. |
| US08417304B2 |
Biological information measuring apparatus
There is provided a biological information measuring apparatus, which permits to release constriction of capillary vessels a human body to provide stable measurement results of biological information and a proper S/N ratio.The biological information measuring apparatus 1 includes a beam-emitting type sensor device 10 provided on a mounting unit 2 to optically measure biological information of a subject 4. The beam-emitting type sensor device 10 is placed in a position so as to be in a non-contact state relative to the subject 4 when measuring the biological information. |
| US08417302B2 |
Modular access point
Described is a modular access point for wireless communications. The access point includes a housing which has at least one module receiving slot and a first wireless communication radio. The radio communicates with a first wireless device via a first frequency band. The access point also includes a removable module configured for insertion into the module receiving slot. The module includes a second communication radio utilizing a second frequency band so that, when the removable module is inserted into the slot, the access point is capable of communicating with a second wireless device via at least one of the first and second frequency bands. The access point includes a plurality of antenna connectors which are connected to the first and second radios. The access point may utilize external antennas or internal antenna modules which interchangeably attachable to the antenna connectors. |
| US08417297B2 |
Mobile terminal and method of providing graphic user interface using the same
Provided are a mobile terminal and a method of providing a graphic user interface using the same. The mobile terminal includes a plurality of bodies. Various graphic user interfaces are provided according to a posture of the mobile terminal, which is formed by the plurality of bodies of the mobile terminal. |
| US08417288B1 |
Communication device
The communication device which includes a voice communication implementer, a caller's information displaying implementer, an icon software implementer, and a multiple language mode implementer. |
| US08417284B2 |
Location notification method, location notification system, information processing apparatus, wireless communication apparatus and program
There is provided a wireless communication apparatus including a base station information input portion to input base station information of a base station transmitting a radio wave having a wave reaching range including a particular location, the base station information acquired from a first memory storing a plurality of pieces of base station information containing a base station ID, a recording portion to record the base station information input to the base station information input portion into a second memory placed in the wireless communication apparatus, a reception portion to receive the radio wave transmitted from a surrounding base station, and a notification processing portion to perform prescribed notification processing based on a determination result whether the wireless communication apparatus exists in the particular location. |
| US08417281B2 |
Communication terminal with camera
A communication terminal with a camera includes a communicator for processing the sending and receiving of mail messages, a designator for designating any one of the mail messages received by the communicator as a browsing mail message, and a determiner for determining whether there is an image related to the browsing mail message. When a determination result by the determiner is negative, a first validator validates a defined camera setting, and when a determination result by the determiner is affirmative, a second validator validates a camera setting compliant with the related image. A creator creates an image along with the camera setting validated by the first validator or the second validator, and an attacher attaches the image created by the creator to a mail message using a sending source of the browsing mail message as a destination. |
| US08417277B2 |
Radio base station and control method thereof
To provide a radio base station and a control method thereof wherein a simple way is used to relax the load concentration of a power control and also relax the control delay. A radio base station and a control method thereof wherein a frame generating part inserts a dummy TPC command, and a power setting part sets a TPC command, whereby a process of deciding the TPC command to be inserted can be delayed by the time required for the processes done in the frame generating part, a modulating part and a spreading part and wherein the process of deciding the TPC command and a process of deciding a power value are separated from and done at different timings from a process of controlling a TPC command insertion status and a process of controlling a power setting status, with the result that even when the processes are concentrated, a load dispersion can be done. |
| US08417268B1 |
Methods and systems for disabling text messaging
Methods and systems are provided for disabling text-entry capabilities. In one embodiment, a mobile station detects that it is being supported by a given single hand of a user and not by two hands of the user. The mobile station also detects that it is being operated by the single given hand of the user and not by two hands of the user. Optionally, the mobile station also determines that it is moving at greater than a threshold rate or detects more than a threshold degradation in text-entry proficiency. In response to detecting at least that the mobile station is being supported and operated by the single given hand of the user and not by two hands of the user, the mobile station disables one or more text-entry capabilities. |
| US08417259B2 |
Localized detection of mobile devices
Various aspects are disclosed herein for detection of mobile devices. Detection of mobile devices can be localized to an environment that is radio frequency enclosed. Within this environment, any packages can be scanned for the presence of mobile devices and for the interrogation of information from such mobile devices, such as the mobile device number and mobile device equipment information. The environment can contain an antenna for communicating with any mobile devices within the environment and a receiver component configured to receive information from any contacted mobile device. Based on this information, a determination can be made whether to validate a contacted mobile device or to take any alternative action. |
| US08417251B2 |
Mobile station, mobile communication method and network device
A mobile station (UE) according to the present invention includes a CSG cell management unit (11) configured to manage one or a plurality of CSG cell IDs; and a control unit (14) configured to eliminate, during a predetermined period included in received broadcast information, a first CSG cell specified by a first CSG cell ID included in the received broadcast information, from target cells of a cell selection, a cell reselection, a PLMN selection or an automatic CSG cell search, when the first CSG cell ID is not managed by the CSG cell management unit. |
| US08417250B2 |
Control of radio cell activity
A cellular network includes a first cell management entity adapted for managing a first radio cell that can be in an active or inactive state, a second cell management entity adapted for managing at least a second radio cell, and at least one control entity adapted for controlling the first cell management entity, wherein said first and second radio cells at least partially overlap each other geographically. At the control entity, a piece of presence information is obtained concerning the presence of at least one terminal in a radio neighboring area of the first cell. An activity state of the first cell is then decided on the basis of the piece of presence information, the radio neighboring area of the first cell including at least the second cell. |
| US08417247B2 |
Method of assigning a mobile unit to a tracking area based on a location update frequency
The present invention provides a method for assigning a mobile unit to a tracking area based upon a location update frequency. The method includes selecting one of a technology-specific tracking area and a shared tracking area based on a location update frequency associated with a mobile unit. |
| US08417246B2 |
Method for providing information in a cellular wireless communication system
The present disclosure relates to a method for providing information in a cellular wireless communication system including: detecting a radio link failure (RLF) for a mobile station while connected to a first cell; re-establishing the connection in a second cell; and providing information about the radio link failure (RLF) only to cells supporting the same radio access technology (RAT) as the first cell and/or a third cell, wherein the third cell is the cell to which the mobile station was connected before the first cell. Furthermore, the disclosure also relates to a method in a mobile station, a method in a base station, a computer program, a computer program product, a mobile station device and a base station device. |
| US08417244B2 |
Detection of early inter-radio access technology (IRAT) handover triggering
A device detects poor coverage associated with a source radio access technology (RAT) with which the device is connected, and connects to a target RAT. The device also measures the source RAT for a time period after connecting to the target RAT, and sends, based on the measurements, one or more measurement reports to the target RAT, where the target RAT forwards the one or more measurement reports to the source RAT. Alternatively, or additionally, the target RAT may detect that the handover was triggered too early and may inform the source RAT or command the UE to return to the source RAT. The device further stops the measuring and the sending when the time period expires. In this way, IRAT handover parameters may be automatically or manually tuned to minimize the number of handovers triggered too early, which may result in a more efficient cell configuration. |
| US08417242B2 |
Operator configurable preferred network and radio access technology selection for roaming multi-RAT capable devices
A multi-RAT capable wireless device and a method for execution in a multi-RAT capable wireless device are provided. The wireless device registers with a data communication service registration point and receives an update to a preferred network,RAT combination list stored at the wireless device, the update having been sent to the wireless device responsive to the wireless device registering with the data communication service registration point. Upon an event triggering network registration, the wireless device selects an available wireless network,RAT combination from a set of available wireless network,RAT combinations having regard to the preferred network,RAT combination list. |
| US08417239B1 |
Wireless device coverage mapping
Mapping signal strength. A signal strength monitor is polled to measure signal strength. Each polled signal strength is associated with an associated geographical position. The signal strength and the associated geographical position is stored in memory. The stored signal strength and the stored associated geographical position is sent to a server. A coverage map of a geographical area is generated based on the stored signal strength and the associated geographical position in memory. |
| US08417236B2 |
Systems and methods for classifying user equipment and selecting tracking areas
Some embodiments disclose methods for classifying user equipment in a network, comprising: recording a first number of times a tracking area identity has changed for a user equipment device during a period of time based on messages exchanged between the user equipment device and a mobility management entity; recording a second number of times the user equipment device is paged during a second period of time; classifying the user equipment device into one of at least three categories based on the first and second recorded numbers; generating a tracking area identity list for the user equipment based device on its category; and sending the generated tracking area identity list to the user equipment device. |
| US08417233B2 |
Automated notation techniques implemented via mobile devices and/or computer networks
Various aspects disclosed herein are directed to different types of automated personal assistant techniques for facilitating call event notation, tagging, calendaring, etc., particularly those implemented on mobile communication devices. Users of mobile devices are provided with a relatively easy way to record and organize personal notes relating to one or more selected telephone conversations conducted by the user. Users can also manage notes, tasks, and schedule items related to the user's contacts and social network(s). In at least one embodiment, a Mobile Application running on a user's mobile device may be configured or designed to automatically detect an end of phone call event at the mobile device, and to automatically display a “pop-up” dialog GUI prompting the user to record a personalized note or other content (if desired), to be associated with the phone call which just ended. |
| US08417230B2 |
System and method for routing a call to a landline communication unit or a wireless communication unit
Methods and Systems are provided for routing a call to a landline communication unit or a wireless communication unit based on the availability of the wireless communication unit. A call placed to a landline communication unit is routed to the wireless communication unit if the wireless communication unit is determined available. Otherwise, the call is routed to the landline communication unit. |
| US08417223B1 |
Advanced voicemail features without carrier voicemail support
In one embodiment, a communication request from a remote requester is intercepted at the computing device. Based on the intercepted communication request, one or more voicemail features are enabled at the computing device, independent of carrier voicemail support. The remote requester may be, for example, a caller or a voicemail server, and the intercepted communication request may be a phone call or a voicemail notification, respectively. In another embodiment, a system at a computing device coupled to a network includes a communication request handler and a voicemail manager. The communication request handler intercepts a communication request from a remote requester at the computing device. The intercepted communication request may be a voicemail notification from a network server or a phone call from a caller. The voicemail manager enables one or more voicemail features at the computing device, independent of carrier voicemail support, based on the intercepted communication request. |
| US08417219B2 |
Pre-authentication method for inter-rat handover
A pre-authentication method for an Inter-RAT handover is disclosed. This pre-authentication method relates to a wireless access system, and provides a method for performing pre-authentication in case of an inter-RAT handover managed by different administrative domains. The method for performing pre-authentication before a handover in order to quickly perform an Inter-Radio Access Technology (Inter-RAT) handover, includes, transmitting a message having terminal information needed for the pre-authentication to a target authentication server, receiving security-associated information of a target network from the target authentication server, wherein the target network security-associated information is generated by the mobile terminal information, and generating security-associated information, which will be used by the mobile terminal in the target network, using the security-associated information of the target network, and performing the pre-authentication. |
| US08417217B2 |
Portable information terminal, security method, and program storage medium
A mobile phone, when it is stolen or lost, autonomously detecting and protecting by itself the data held inside, wherein a security managing unit performs a predetermined security operation based on the above detection results wherein when it judges there is “no user presence reaction” by a user presence monitoring unit and it judges the power is on by a power monitoring unit or when it judges that the power is being turned off and the power is turned back on, it locks the access to data, evacuates the data outside, or deletes the data in accordance with the results of judgment whether the phone is in range or out of range by a radio status monitoring unit. |
| US08417216B2 |
Anonymous electronic transactions
Techniques are disclosed for protecting privacy of parties to electronic transactions, such as transactions conducted through a GSM network. An anonymity service provider receives orders directed from its subscriber to a recipient for goods or services, along with information about its subscriber. The anonymity service provider relays the order to the recipient but withholds information about the subscriber, as the subscriber directs. The recipient receives payment for the good or service by way of a voucher from the anonymity service provider. |
| US08417209B2 |
Image frequency rejection mixer
An image frequency rejection mixer has a first differential transconductor that receives a differential mixer input signal, a second differential transconductor that receives the differential mixer input signal and cross-coupled to the first differential transconductor, a first mixing circuit that generates a first differential mixing circuit output signal by mixing a first differential information signal with a first local oscillation signal, a second mixing circuit that generates a second differential mixing circuit output signal by mixing a second differential information signal with a second local oscillation signal, with the first local oscillation signal and the second local oscillation signal being in quadrature, and an image rejection circuit that generates a differential mixer output signal from the first and second differential mixing circuit output signals. |
| US08417206B2 |
Methods and systems for blending between stereo and mono in a FM receiver
Methods and systems for blending the audio output from a received FM signal between stereo and mono in which the L−R (left-minus-right) gain of the FM MPX may be adjusted as a function of RF signal to noise ratio (SNR) and the L+R (left-plus-right) noise level. During blending, the L−R gain based on the RF SNR and L+R noise may be reduced in a manner such that the total noise is kept substantially constant throughout the stereo-to-mono blend region. |
| US08417203B2 |
Receiver and gain control method
A receiver capable of performing optimum automatic gain control responsive to a peak factor of an input signal before subjected to A/D conversion is provided in a simple configuration. A peak detector 104 is placed at the later stage of a variable gain amplifier 102, two power determiners 107 and 108 different in threshold value are used, and the amplitude density is determined in three areas separated by two threshold values PDETL and PDETH, whereby it is made possible to identify the input signal having a peak factor different in modulation system and perform optimum gain control without A/D conversion of the input signal. |
| US08417202B1 |
Circuits, architectures, apparatuses, systems, algorithms, methods and software for on-chip gain calibration
Circuits, architectures, a system and methods for providing on-chip gain calibration. The circuit generally includes a receiver comprising (i) a resistor on a semiconductor substrate, the resistor configured to provide a signal having a noise component that varies with temperature, and (ii) an amplifier circuit on the semiconductor substrate coupled to the resistor, the amplifier circuit configured to receive the signal and provide a second signal having an amplitude greater than the first signal. The architectures and/or systems generally include those that embody one or more of the inventive concepts disclosed herein. The method generally includes (i) providing a noise signal from a resistor to an amplifier, the resistor being on a common semiconductor substrate with the amplifier, (ii) determining a resistance value of the resistor, (iii) determining an impedance at an input of the amplifier, and (iv) determining a gain of the amplifier. |
| US08417201B1 |
Dual path multi-mode power amplifier routing architecture
The present disclosure relates to multi-mode RF power amplifier (PA) circuitry that may include a first PA path and a second PA path, each of which is fed from a common RF input. During a first operating mode, the first PA path receives and amplifies a first RF input signal via the common RF input, and during a second operating mode, the second PA path receives and amplifies a second RF input signal via the common RF input. To facilitate sharing of the common RF input, during the first operating mode, the second PA path is substantially de-coupled from the common RF input, and during the second operating mode, the first PA path is substantially de-coupled from the common RF input. By sharing the common RF input, size and costs of the multi-mode RF PA circuitry may be reduced. |
| US08417200B1 |
Wideband power efficient high transmission power radio frequency (RF) transmitter
Embodiments provide transmitter topologies that improve the power efficiency and bandwidth of RF transmitters for high transmission power applications. In an embodiment, the common-emitter/source PA of conventional topologies is replaced with a current-input common-base/gate PA, which is stacked on top on an open-collector/drain current-output transmitter. The common-base/gate PA protects the output of the transmitter from large output voltage swings. The low input impedance of the common-base/gate PA makes the PA less susceptible to frequency roll-off, even in the presence of large parasitic capacitance produced by the transmitter. At the same time, the low input impedance of the common-base/gate PA reduces the voltage swing at the transmitter output and prevents the transmitter output from being compressed or modulated. In an embodiment, the DC output current of the transmitter is reused to bias the PA, which results in power savings compared to conventional transmitter topologies. |
| US08417197B2 |
Pre-distortion method and device to enhance the power utility of power amplifiers in wireless digital communication applications
The present invention concerns the field of power amplifiers and in particular the enhancement of the performance of the amplifier by a feedback loop acting on the input signal. We present a method for linearizing a power amplifier circuit having as input signal a digital base-band input signal, (x), a power output signal 8z), a power amplifier (PA) and a linearizer module (LM). |
| US08417196B2 |
Apparatus and method for directional coupling
Apparatuses and methods for directional coupling are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a directional coupler, a termination impedance, a switch, and a control block. The directional coupler includes a power input terminal, a power output terminal, a couple terminal and a terminate terminal. The power input terminal can receive a radio frequency signal from a power amplifier, and the power output terminal can be electrically connected to a load. The switch has an ON state and an OFF state, and includes an input electrically connected to the terminate terminal and an output electrically connected to the termination impedance. The switch is configured to provide a relatively low impedance path between the input and the output when in the ON state and to provide a relatively high impedance path between the input and the output when in the OFF state. The control block can set the state of the switch. |
| US08417193B2 |
Transmitting device and method for determining target predistortion setting value
The present invention provides a transmitting device and a method for determining a target predistortion setting value. The transmitting device comprises: a setting value control unit, a predistortion unit, a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit, and a determining unit. The present invention can predistort signals before a power amplifier in a transmitting device by a method of determining a target predistortion setting value (i.e. an optimal predistortion setting value) from a plurality of candidate predistortion setting values. In this way, signals outputted by the power amplifier in the transmitting device can be adjusted to an optimal state, so as to solve the distortion problem of the outputted signals of the power amplifier. |
| US08417191B2 |
Method and system for beamforming communication in high throughput wireless communication systems
A method and system for beamforming communication in high throughput wireless communications. Analog beamforming involves constructing analog beamforming coefficients for beamforming communication on a wireless channel. Constructing analog beamforming coefficients includes selecting a signal tap from a multi-tap wireless channel for beamforming communication, wherein the selected signal tap has a higher signal quality relative to other signals taps, and determining beamforming coefficients for the selected tap by iterative acquisition of the coefficients based on power iteration. |
| US08417190B2 |
Uplink feedback channel reporting mechanism in wireless systems
An uplink feedback channel reporting method is disclosed for using the primary and secondary fast feedback channels to efficiently report the channel quality, MIMO feedback, and CQI types of data from a mobile station to a base station. The reporting method reports regular information periodically and non-regular information on demand. |
| US08417189B2 |
Frequency-scalable shockline-based VNA
A high-frequency VNA system is provided using non-linear transmission line (NLTL or shockline) based samplers configured to provide scalable operation characteristics. Scaling to adjust noise performance vs. frequency is accomplished as follows: (1) increasing or decreasing the fall time of a shockline's output voltage waveform. This is accomplished by changing the number of Schottky varactors in a shockline, as well as changing the shockline's Bragg cutoff frequency by setting the spacing between Schottky varactors; (2) changing the structure of the pulse-forming network connected with the sampler by changing the length of the differentiator arms in the sampler pulse-forming network; and (3) changing the LO signal frequency applied to the shockline. Multiple NLTL based samplers are multiplexed to form a broadband reflectometer with the multiplexing circuitry selectively connecting one of the NLTL based sampler segments at a time to allow user selection of a desired performance vs. frequency response for each segment. |
| US08417188B1 |
Systems and methods for inspection and communication in liquid petroleum product
A method for communicating in liquid petroleum product includes providing a first communications device disposed in the liquid petroleum product, providing a second communications device remote from and separated from the first communications device by the liquid petroleum product, and transmitting radiofrequency (RF) communication signals embodying data between the first communications device and the second communications device through the liquid petroleum product to enable wireless communications between the first communications device and the second communications device. |
| US08417187B2 |
Methods and apparatus for wireless device coexistence
Methods and apparatus for compensating for the effects of interference between multiple wireless communication apparatus. In one embodiment, the method comprises providing a first wireless communication apparatus operating in a first band and a second wireless communication apparatus operating at least partly in the first band, where the second wireless communication apparatus operates according to a different communication protocol than the first wireless communication apparatus. Interference is compensated for between the first wireless communication apparatus and the second wireless communication apparatus by selecting and operating according to one of a plurality of operational protocols. In another embodiment, the first wireless communication apparatus and the second wireless communication apparatus operate in a closed-loop relationship to cooperatively compensate for communication interference. |
| US08417185B2 |
Wireless headset and method for robust voice data communication
A wireless device for use with speech recognition applications comprises a frame generator for generating successive frames from digitized original audio signals, the frames representing portions of the digitized audio signals. An autocorrelation circuit generates a set of coefficients for each frame, the coefficient set being reflective of spectral characteristics of the audio signal portion represented by the frame. In one embodiment, the autocorrelation coefficients may be used to predict the original audio signal to be subtracted from the original audio signals and to generate residual signals A Bluetooth transceiver is configured for transmitting the set of coefficients and/or residual signals as data to another device, which utilizes the coefficients for speech applications. |
| US08417183B2 |
Underwater data transfer system
The present invention relates to a system that provides underwater data transfer between two remote client systems via an underwater cabled network operable. The cabled network includes at least two data access points each having an access point electromagnetic transceiver; and each remote client system comprising a client electromagnetic transceiver. Each data access point is operable to transfer data between said cabled network and one of said client electromagnetic transceivers via one of inductive magnetic and electromagnetic signals carried through the water. |
| US08417181B2 |
Polarization reuse and beam-forming techniques for aeronautical broadband systems
Aeronautical broadband communication is enhanced by providing an apparatus having a first antenna configured to communicate using a signal orientation corresponding to a first polarization, and a second antenna configured to communicate using a signal orientation corresponding to a second polarization, where the second polarization has at least one characteristic difference from the first polarization. Additional antennas may be used, where multiple antennas share one polarization, and multiple other antennas share a different polarization, and signals from like-polarized antennas are combined for beam-formation. |
| US08417175B2 |
Unit for cleaning edge portion of recording material or image forming apparatus
A toner image formed on an image bearing member is transferred onto a recording material so as to overflow from an edge portion of the recording material, thereby enabling the toner image to be formed so as to extend to the edge portion of the recording material. To suppress the deposition of the toner in the edge portion of the recording material, a cleaning member for cleaning the edge portion of the recording material obtained after the fixing is provided. In order to make a trailing edge of the recording material come into contact with the cleaning member, the recording material which has passed through a fixing apparatus is temporarily switched back, thereby allowing the trailing edge portion of the recording material to collide with the cleaning member. |
| US08417169B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus incorporating same
A fixing device includes a hollow, open-sided stationary heat roller, a flexible fuser belt, a fuser pad, a rotatable pressure member, a reinforcing member, and a sealing mechanism. The heat roller defines an elongated longitudinal side opening that opens into a hollow interior thereof. The fuser belt is looped for rotation around the heat roller to transfer heat radially outward from the roller circumference. The fuser pad is held substantially stationary along the roller opening outward from the roller interior and inward from the loop of the fuser belt. The pressure member is pressed against the fuser pad through the fuser belt to form a fixing nip. The reinforcing member is disposed within the roller interior to thrust against the fuser pad through the roller opening. The sealing mechanism is disposed on the roller opening to prevent foreign matter from entering the roller interior through the roller opening. |
| US08417168B2 |
Fixing device having a thermal-insulation member provided on a plate portion for guiding recording medium, and image forming apparatus
A fixing device includes: a fixing member that fixes a toner image on a recording medium; a pressure member that comes into pressure-contact with an outer peripheral surface of the fixing member and thereby forms a fixing pressure portion between the pressure member and the fixing member, the fixing pressure portion allowing the recording medium carrying an unfixed toner image to pass therethrough; a tension member that is arranged to face the pressure member with the fixing member interposed therebetween, and tensions the fixing member; a peeling member that is arranged at a position downstream of the fixing pressure portion in a recording medium transport direction and adjacent to the tension member, and peels the recording medium from the fixing member; and an exit guide member that guides the recording medium while keeping a temperature of the recording medium, after the recording medium passes through the fixing pressure portion. |
| US08417164B2 |
Transfer device and image forming apparatus using same
A transfer device includes a plurality of rollers, a rotatable intermediate transfer belt wound around and stretched between the rollers, a transfer member disposed in the inner loop of the belt and facing an image bearing member of an image forming apparatus disposed at an outer circumference of the belt, to transfer an image formed onto the surface of the image bearing member when contacting the intermediate transfer belt, and a position adjuster to adjust the position of the intermediate transfer belt at different positions relative to the image bearing member. The positions include a contact state in which the intermediate transfer belt applied with a predetermined tension contacts the image bearing member, a first separation state in which the tensioned intermediate transfer belt separates from the image bearing member, and a second separation state in which the intermediate transfer belt separates further away from the image bearing member. |
| US08417162B2 |
Image forming apparatus for setting a velocity difference between a photosensitive drum and an intermediate transfer belt
An image forming apparatus detects a plurality of times by changing velocity of a photosensitive drum, color misregistration generated when a developing roller separates from a photosensitive drum and calculates a relation between the velocity of the photosensitive drum and the color misregistration. A velocity of the photosensitive drum is changed and an arbitrary peripheral velocity difference is set between the photosensitive drum and the intermediate transfer belt based on the calculated result. |
| US08417156B2 |
Image forming method, process cartridge and image forming apparatus
An image forming method includes charging an image holding member; forming an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the image holding member; developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image holding member with a toner or an electrostatic image developer to form a toner image; transferring the toner image formed on the surface of the image holding member onto a surface of a transfer-receiving material; fixing the toner image by pressurization without heating; feeding at least one photoreactive component to the toner or toner image; and irradiating the toner image with ultraviolet rays, wherein the toner satisfies the relationship of the following relational expression (1): TB(30)≦100 |
| US08417153B2 |
Light guide and charge eliminating unit, image forming apparatus and image reading apparatus having the same
Disclosed are a light guide member, a charge eliminating unit and an image forming apparatus and/or an image reading apparatus having the same. The light guide member may include an incidence face through which light is introduced, an irregular reflection portion arranged along a longitudinal direction of the light guide member for irregular reflection of the light introduced through the incidence face and an emission face arranged opposite the irregular reflection portion for emission of the light. At least one recess may be formed in the incidence face for diffusion of the light introduced through the incidence face. |
| US08417152B2 |
Process cartridge and image forming apparatus
A process cartridge is detachably mountable to a main assembly of an image forming apparatus. The process cartridge includes an image bearing member, a cleaning member for removing a developer from the image bearing member, a frame provided with an opening, and a developer accommodating portion for accommodating the developer which was removed by the cleaning member and passed through the opening. A sheet member is also provided, contacting the image bearing member, for preventing the developer from leaking out of the developer accommodating portion. A supporting portion is provided to the frame, for supporting the sheet member. A reinforcing portion, provided to the frame, connecting one end side portion of the frame located upstream of the opening with the other end side portion of the frame located downstream of the opening, with respect to a rotational direction of the image bearing member. |
| US08417149B2 |
Image forming apparatus with guiding portion for transfer unit
A transfer unit has a belt unit having a belt and a cleaning unit for cleaning the belt. The belt unit and the cleaning unit are integratedly provided. The cleaning unit is movable for the belt unit. The transfer unit is detachable for an apparatus main body. A position of the cleaning unit for the belt unit before the transfer unit is attached to the apparatus main body is different from a position of the cleaning unit for the belt unit after the transfer unit is attached to the apparatus main body. |
| US08417142B2 |
Image forming apparatus having developing device cooling mechanism, and control method therefor
An image forming apparatus includes a latent image carrier, a latent image forming unit to form an electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier, at least one developing device disposed to contact the latent image carrier to develop the latent image with developer stored therein, a cooling mechanism including at least one cooling device disposed close to the developing device to cool the developing device, a developer amount detector electrically connected to the developing device to detect an amount of the developer remaining in the developing device, and a cooling mechanism controller connected to the cooling mechanism to change a cooling power of the cooling mechanism according to a detection result generated by the developer amount detector. The developing device includes a rotary member whose shaft is rotationally supported by at least one bearing and is not to be supplied with new developer while any developer remains therein. |
| US08417141B2 |
Image forming apparatus
The present invention provides a configuration in which an electrically connected condition can further be stabilized in electrical-connection zones between a body of an image-forming apparatus, and an image-forming unit and a plurality of image-forming cartridges. Developing electrode members and wire power-feed electrodes are attached to a slide frame. Each of the developing electrode members has a first body-side contact. The developing electrode members are electrically connected with the developing-roller output terminals. The wire power-feed electrodes are electrically connected with wire output terminals through contact with the wire output terminals. The developing electrode members are elastically deformed as a result of their first body-side contacts being pressed in a direction, which is along a slide direction, by the developing-roller output terminals. The wire power-feed electrodes are pressed in a paper width direction by the wire output terminals. |
| US08417137B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus employing the fixing device
A fixing device includes a rotary fixing member, a counter member to contact the rotary fixing member, a first heater to heat the rotary fixing member, a driving unit to rotate the rotary fixing member, a temperature detector to detect a temperature of the rotary fixing member, and a contact-and-separation unit to switch between contact and separation states of the rotary fixing member relative to the counter member. In a temperature-raising operation, the driving unit causes the rotary fixing member to rotate when the temperature detector detects that the temperature of the rotary fixing member has reached a first setting temperature. The contact-and-separation unit causes the rotary fixing member in rotation and the counter member to contact each other when the temperature detector detects that the temperature of the rotary fixing member has reached a second setting temperature that is higher than the first setting temperature. |
| US08417135B2 |
Methods to control appearance of gloss levels for printed text and images
A method for adjusting gloss appearance of images using a printer, includes: receiving a gloss selection input; correlating the gloss selection to a toner density setpoint value; adjusting one or more actuator controls such that the printer is configured to print using the toner density setpoint value; and rendering an image on a substrate using the one or more adjusted actuator controls. A printer configured to adjust gloss appearance of images is also disclosed. |
| US08417134B2 |
Electrophotographic color image forming apparatus
A color electrophotographic image forming apparatus, in which a plurality of cartridges each including an electrophotographic photosensitive drum are detachably mountable to a main assembly of the apparatus, includes an exposure device for forming an electrostatic latent image on the drum; a cartridge supporting member capable of demountably supporting the cartridges and movable between an inside position and an outside position; a driving device for driving the drum; an intermediary transfer belt onto which an image provided by developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the drum is transferred; and a controller for controlling execution of image formation in response to print jobs received by the apparatus. The controller causes the exposure device to expose the drum to light after completion of a last print job, and the controller stops drive of the drum by the driving device in a state that the exposed area is opposed to the intermediary transfer belt. |
| US08417129B2 |
Method of reading individual information of a detachable unit, individual information reading device, apparatus having the individual information reading device, and a detachable unit
In an apparatus including the detachable unit, when reading individual information of the detachable unit, a first label for generating a reference signal for reading individual information and a second label representing the individual information are arranged on a surface of the detachable unit, with a first label reading unit, the reference signal is generated while reading the first label in a predetermined direction, and with a second label reading unit, the individual information of the detachable unit contained in the second label is read in synchronous with the generated reference signal. Read individual information is stored, and whether a mounted detachable unit is new or used is recognized based on a comparison of individual information read from the detachable unit with stored individual information. |
| US08417128B2 |
Monitoring apparatus and method for monitoring an image forming apparatus
A monitoring apparatus receives, according to an occurrence of an event (e.g., error or jam) at an image forming apparatus, a notification of information regarding the event that has occurred. The notification is sent with use of address information of the monitoring apparatus registered in the image forming apparatus. The monitoring apparatus stores the received information in a memory unit thereof. Then, the monitoring apparatus acquires the information regarding the event that has occurred at the image forming apparatus by periodically inquiring to the image forming apparatus, and determines whether the acquired information is stored in the memory unit. According to determination that the acquired information is not stored in the memory unit, the monitoring apparatus re-registers the address information of the monitoring apparatus into the image forming apparatus. |
| US08417123B2 |
System and method for shaping a waveform
An optical transmission system for transmitting an optical pulse in a dielectric waveguide, the system including a filter for altering a shape of the optical pulse in both amplitude and phase with respect to time so as to substantially suppress the generation of third-order nonlinearities and increase a power level of the optical pulse, the filter further providing a secure encrypted optical waveform that may be decrypted by a matching optical filter, the system allowing for energy sharing of the pulses to substantially increase system bandwidth. |
| US08417122B2 |
Apparatus for visible light communication indicating communication quality using RGB color mixing and method thereof
A visible light communication apparatus of the present invention includes: a target signal receiver filtering only a signal having a target wavelength from a visible light received signal received from a transmitting terminal; a signal generator judging a reception quality of the visible light received signal by using characteristics of the signal having the target wavelength and generating a visible signal by using at least one light source having a wavelength different from the target wavelength in accordance with the reception quality; and an optical signal transmitter transmitting the signal having the target wavelength for transmitting data together with the visible signal and changing a light emitting color of a visible light transmitted signal. |
| US08417121B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing communication using a terahertz link
A method and apparatus for establishing a terahertz link using a multi-element lens array that comprises a liquid lens are disclosed. For example, the method receives detected terahertz signals from one or more detectors, where a liquid lens is deployed with each of the one or more detectors. The method determines, for each of the detected signals, if the detected signal is out of focus, and applies a corrective voltage to each liquid lens that corresponds to a detected terahertz signal that is out of focus, wherein the corrective voltage adjusts a focus of the detected signal. The method measures a signal-to-noise ratio of the detected signals, and establishing a terahertz link via at least one of the detected terahertz signals with a highest signal-to-noise ratio. |
| US08417118B2 |
Colorless dense wavelength division multiplexing transmitters
An apparatus comprising a plurality of laser transmitters each comprising a polarization rotator, a polarization rotator mirror coupled to the laser transmitters, and a multiplexer positioned between the laser transmitters and the polarization rotator mirror. Also included is an apparatus comprising a first rotator configured to rotate light polarization by about 45 or about −45 degrees, a second rotator configured to rotate light polarization by about 45 or about −45 degrees, a mirror coupled to one side of the second rotator and configured to reflect at least a portion of the light, and a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) filter positioned between the first rotator and the second rotator. |
| US08417115B2 |
Quantifying link quality in an optoelectronic module
In one example embodiment, an optoelectronic module includes an optical receiver and a post-amplifier. The optical receiver is configured to receive an optical signal and generate an electrical data signal corresponding to the optical signal. The post-amplifier is electrically connected to the optical receiver and is configured to amplify the electrical data signal. The optoelectronic module further includes means for quantifying a quality of the optical signal from which the amplified electrical data signal is derived. |
| US08417111B2 |
Optical network in-band control plane signaling, virtualized channels, and tandem connection monitoring systems and methods
The present disclosure provides improvements with respect to in-band control plane signaling, virtualized channels, and tandem connection monitoring in optical networks utilizing Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH), Optical Transport Network (OTN), and the like. In an exemplary embodiment, the present disclosure includes an optical network operating a control plane with in-band signaling utilizing SONET/SDH path level overhead. In another exemplary embodiment, the present disclosure includes an optical network operating virtualized SONET/SDH or OTN channels with manually cross-connections at intermediate line terminating elements. In yet another exemplary embodiment, the present disclosure includes a tandem connection monitoring selection method across multiple operator domains. |
| US08417109B2 |
Photographing device and photographing control method
A photographing device, which includes a photographing section; a display section that displays a photography image taken by the photographing section; a person indicator setting section that sets a person indicator prepared beforehand on the display screen; an operation section that operates a target position and/or a target size of the person indicator; a person detection section that detects a position and/or a size of a person in the photography image; a comparison section that compares the detected position and/or size of the person in the photography image with the target position and/or size; a guiding instruction section that generates an instruction for the person to be photographed to guide toward a direction coinciding with the compared result; and a control section that controls the photographing section such that, when a predetermined condition is satisfied after the compared result falls within a predetermined allowable error, a shutter is activated. |
| US08417097B2 |
Screen recording device, screen recording method, and information storage medium
Provided is a method capable of suppressing generation of data that needs to undergo a complicated copyright process for redistribution thereof. The method includes: executing a program and outputting and displaying a screen generated by the program; reproducing and outputting user-acquired audio acquired arbitrarily by a user; recording the screen output during a specified period along with the user-acquired audio, as video data; and restricting recording of the video data while the user-acquired audio is being output. |
| US08417091B2 |
IPTV receiver and method for performing a personal video recorder function in the IPTV receiver
An IPTV receiver and a method for performing a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) function in the IPTV receiver are disclosed. Herein, the method can include downloading a widget application from a server, receiving a first request for executing the downloaded widget application from a user, executing the downloaded widget application according to the first request at a browser, receiving a second request for performing a specific PVR function through the executed widget application from the user and performing the specific PVR function according to the second request. |
| US08417087B2 |
Video data processing system, video server, gateway server, and video data management method
A system includes a reading unit reading first management information including a first item specifying video data and the video data from a storage medium, a storage unit recording second management information including the first item obtained from the first management information and the video data transferred from the reading unit, a memory storing third management information including the first item and a second item specifying a transfer or no transfer of the video data, and a controller transferring the first management information to the memory from the reading unit, updating the second item of the third management information in response to the transfer of the video data, and controlling the transfer of the video data in the video content which is designated by a read request from one of the reading unit and the storage unit to the outside based on the second item of the third management information. |
| US08417083B2 |
Fibre optic network installation
A fiber optic network system for a multi-staged installation to a plurality of present and future user locations includes an aggregation point, a trunk line with a plurality of optic fiber cables leading from the aggregation point and at least one branch junction location to serve a future cable user. The trunk line includes at least one dark cable having a free end for removal from the branch junction location. The trunk line includes a trunk conduit having opposing side walls defining an interior space between the side walls for housing the cables. The conduit is configured to permit withdrawal of the length of dark cable from the conduit at a stage subsequent to installation of the trunk line to form a branch leading to the future user location. The dark cable stored within the interior of the conduit has sufficient length to reach the location of the future user. |
| US08417081B2 |
Organic electroluminescent optocouplers
An optocoupler including: a substrate comprising a photodetector; a transparent electrically-insulating layer disposed over the photodetector; and an organic electroluminescent device having an organic electroluminescent layer disposed between a first and a second electrode disposed over the transparent electrically-insulating layer; the photodetector arranged to detect light emitted from the organic electroluminescent device; wherein the optocoupler comprises a second current path between the first and second electrodes in addition to a first current path between the first and second electrode which in operation causes the organic electroluminescent layer to emit light. |
| US08417080B2 |
Nonlinearity compensation in a fiber optic communications system
An optical communications link is described, comprising first and second fiber lines in substantial scaled translational symmetry by a common scaling factor with respect to a second-order dispersion coefficient profile (oppositely signed) and with respect to at least one of a loss/gain coefficient profile and a nonlinear coefficient-power product profile for facilitating progressive compensation along the second fiber line of at least one nonlinearity introduced along the first fiber line. For other described embodiments, the first and second fiber lines are in substantial scaled translational symmetry by a common scaling factor with respect to a second-order dispersion coefficient profile and with respect to at least one of a loss/gain coefficient profile and a nonlinear coefficient-power product profile for facilitating progressive compensation along the second fiber line of at least one nonlinearity introduced along the first fiber line. |
| US08417074B2 |
Fiber optic telecommunications module
A telecommunications module includes a main housing with an optical component within an interior of the main housing and a fiber optic adapter block coupled to the main housing, the adapter block including a one-piece main body including a top wall and a bottom wall, the adapter block defining a plurality of openings extending from a front end to a rear end of the main body, each opening defining a separate adapter, each opening defining a longitudinal axis, the adapters being configured to receive connectorized cables extending from the optical component within the interior of the main housing, the adapter block including at least one guide rail extending generally between the top wall and the bottom wall of the main body, the guide rail configured for slidably mounting the fiber optic telecommunications module to a telecommunications device once the adapter block has been coupled to the main housing, wherein the main housing includes an integrally formed pivotable latching arm configured to pivot for selectively latching and unlatching the telecommunications module for slidable movement with respect to the telecommunications device. |
| US08417073B2 |
Circuit architecture for electro-optic modulation based on free carrier dispersion effect and the waveguide capacitor structures for such modulator circuitry using CMOS or bi-CMOS process
New circuit architecture for electro-optic modulator based on free-carrier dispersion effect is invented, in which the waveguide capacitor of the modulator is embed in the circuits and physically layout together with transistors, the switching of the modulator occurs in transistors, and as the result, the electro-optical modulation occurs in the waveguide capacitor. The invented modulator is not one physical device, it is actually a circuit. Several circuit design techniques are imported, leading to several new modulator circuits that have very high operation speed and very small power consumption. Several new waveguide capacitor structures are also invented that allow high efficient modulator circuits to be built. |
| US08417071B2 |
Data storage system, a modular printed circuit board, a backplane and a backplane component
The invention provides a component electro-optical printed circuit board backplane for assembly in a modular electro-optical backplane, the component electro-optical printed circuit board backplane comprising: optical channels for the propagation and transmission of optical data signals and electrical channels for the propagation and transmission of power and control signals; connectors for connection in-plane to at least one other component electro-optical printed circuit board; and, at least one socket for receiving, in use, a user circuit. The invention also provides a modular backplane made up of plural such component backplanes. |
| US08417069B2 |
Multi dimension high security communication over multi mode fiber waveguide
A system may comprise a single wavelength laser; a modulator optically coupled to said laser; a length of multi-mode fiber optically coupled to said modulator; and a phase mask optically coupled to said fiber. The phase mask may be configured to filter out modes other than a selected mode. |
| US08417067B2 |
Imaging apparatus, image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer program
An imaging apparatus, an image processing method and a computer program are provided. An imaging apparatus includes: an imaging part; and a data processing part which executes a process to create a RAW image file that stores RAW data acquired through the imaging part and a plurality of parameter sets to be applied to a development process of the RAW data and which executes a process to store the file in a storage part. |
| US08417063B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing system
According to one embodiment, an image processing apparatus connected to an external memory and a cache memory. The apparatus includes a counter, a coordinate calculator, a tag checker, a pixel referring module, a pixel value calculator and an outputting module. The counter determines a converted coordinate according to a predetermined execution sequence. The coordinate calculator calculates a unconverted coordinate used to calculate a converted pixel value located at the converted coordinate. The tag checker generates a conversion request to calculate the converted pixel value with reference to an unconverted pixel located at the unconverted coordinate. The pixel referring module reads the unconverted pixel from the cache memory based on the conversion request when the unconverted pixel is stored in the cache memory. The pixel value calculator calculates the converted pixel value with reference to the read unconverted pixel. The outputting module writes the converted pixel having the calculated converted pixel value into the external memory. |
| US08417061B2 |
Methods and systems for provisioning energy systems
The invention provides consumers, private enterprises, government agencies, contractors and third party vendors with tools and resources for gathering site specific information related to purchase and installation of energy systems. A system according to one embodiment of the invention remotely determines the measurements of a roof. An exemplary system comprises a computer including an input means, a display means and a working memory. An aerial image file database contains a plurality of aerial images of roofs of buildings in a selected region. A roof estimating software program receives location information of a building in the selected region and then presents the aerial image files showing roof sections of building located at the location information. Some embodiments of the system include a sizing tool for determining the size, geometry, and pitch of the roof sections of a building being displayed. |
| US08417058B2 |
Array of scanning sensors
An array of image sensors is arranged to cover a field of view for an image capture system. Each sensor has a field of view segment which is adjacent to the field of view segment covered by another image sensor. The adjacent field of view (FOV) segments share an overlap area. Each image sensor comprises sets of light sensitive elements which capture image data using a scanning technique which proceeds in a sequence providing for image sensors sharing overlap areas to be exposed in the overlap area during the same time period. At least two of the image sensors capture image data in opposite directions of traversal for an overlap area. This sequencing provides closer spatial and temporal relationships between the data captured in the overlap area by the different image sensors. The closer spatial and temporal relationships reduce artifact effects at the stitching boundaries, and improve the performance of image processing techniques applied to improve image quality. |
| US08417055B2 |
Image processing method and apparatus
A method and apparatus for providing image processing. For one embodiment of the invention, an image processing apparatus is arranged to process a first relatively underexposed and sharp image of a scene, and a second relatively well exposed and blurred image, nominally of the same scene, the first and second images being derived from respective image sources. The apparatus provides a portion of the relatively first underexposed image as an input signal to an adaptive filter; and a corresponding portion of the second relatively well exposed image as a desired signal to the adaptive filter. The adaptive filter produces an output signal from the input signal and the desired signal; and an image generator constructs a first filtered image from the output signal, relatively less blurred than the second image. |
| US08417052B2 |
Instruction system, instruction apparatus, and computer readable medium
An instruction system including: a capture device; a projection device; a control device including: a judgment portion that judges visibility of an annotation image; a specifying portion that specifies a projection mode of the annotation image from projection modes of the annotation image stored into a storage portion, based on a result of the judgment; a notification portion that notifies the projection mode specified by the specifying portion; and a projection control portion that causes the projection device to project the annotation image corresponding to an instruction on the basis of the projection mode notified from the notification portion; and a terminal including: a reception portion receiving the captured image, and the projection mode notified from the notification portion; and a transmission portion transmitting the instruction on the basis of the received captured image, and the instruction on the basis of the notified projection mode, to the control device. |
| US08417049B2 |
Fast image resolution enhancement with de-pixeling
An output image that corresponds to a higher-resolution version of a source image is produced. In this process, source pixels of the source image are processed with a set of linear non-separable filter kernels to produce the output image with a corresponding output pixel block of constituent output pixels for each of the source pixels. The set of filter kernels has a mean substantially equal to an identity filter such that a downscaling of the of the output image to a resolution level of the source image produces a downscaled image that is substantially identical to the source image. For each of the source pixels, each of the filter kernels in the set is applied to a local neighborhood of the source pixel to produce a respective value of each of the constituent output pixels of the corresponding output pixel block. |
| US08417045B2 |
Mechanism for processing order-16 discrete cosine transforms
A computer generated method is disclosed. The method includes receiving data values and performing a 1-D 16×16 discrete cosine transform (DCT) on the data values by replacing each irrational constant used in multiplication operations with a rational dyadic constant that approximates the irrational constant. The output of the DCT is then scaled by a set of scale factors that refine the precision of the approximations used for the 16×16 DCT. |
| US08417043B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program product for normalizing and processing medical images
A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided to normalize DICOM image data such that normalized images may be efficiently transmitted to client devices and processed thereby. A method may include converting a DICOM image to a normalized image having a different file format, such as JPEG-XR format. The conversion of the DICOM image may include compressing the DICOM image and converting each of a plurality of pixels of the DICOM image to a grayscale pixel format and a color pixel format. The method may also create a set of related images having the different file format based upon the normalized image. The creation of the set of related images may include creating a plurality of images having different pixel dimensions that are smaller than the pixel dimensions of the normalized image. The method may also transform ancillary information related to the DICOM image to a human readable format. |
| US08417042B2 |
Image processing apparatus, control method and computer-readable medium
An image processing apparatus comprises: a resolution compression unit that performs resolution compression by thinning out pixels of a unit block image that has a second size that is larger than a first size; a registration unit that registers the block image generated by the resolution compression unit in a block management table; and an encoding compression unit that performs an encoding compression process on each block image registered by the registration unit; wherein the resolution compression unit determines a compression level for unit block images having the second size and compresses each unit block image having the second size with a compression rate according to the determined compression level, and the registration unit divides the block image compressed according to the determined compression level into block images having the first size and registers the divided block images in the block management table in units of the second size. |
| US08417038B2 |
Image processing apparatus, processing method therefor, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium
An image processing apparatus extends the edge portion of an image in a prescribed range, detects, from the image, a plurality of feature points that each indicate a setting position of a local region, sets a local region corresponding to each of the feature points in the image on which region extension has been performed, and calculates a local feature amount corresponding to each feature point based on image information in the local region. |
| US08417036B2 |
Method for selecting a designation
Presented is a method for selecting a label from a multiplicity of labels stored in a memory element. The method includes inputting a handwritten character into a handwritten input apparatus, associating an alphanumeric character with the handwritten input character using a character recognition apparatus, adding the associated alphanumeric character to an already input character string to produce an extended character string, comparing the extended character string with the labels stored in the memory element, and selecting one or more of the stored labels using the comparison. The alphanumeric character is selected from a dynamically alterable character set which contains only characters which, in addition to the already input character string, produce an extended character string, which is an initial component of at least one of the stored labels. Also presented is a motor vehicle navigation system in which address database entries are selected by the above described method. |
| US08417035B2 |
Generating cohorts based on attributes of objects identified using video input
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for generating video based cohorts. Digital video data is processed to identify a set of size and shape based attributes associated with the set of objects. The digital video data comprises metadata describing the set of objects. A size and shape attribute comprises an attribute describing a shape associated with a portion of an object or a size measurement of the portion of the object. The set of size and shape based attributes are analyzed using cohort criteria to form a result. The cohort criteria specify attributes that are associated with members of a given cohort. A set of cohorts is generated based on the result. Each cohort in the set of cohorts comprises a subset of objects from the set of objects that share at least one size and shape based attribute in common. |
| US08417032B2 |
Adjustment of image luminance values using combined histogram
A first conversion characteristic is calculated from image information of a first image region including target pixel of an input image, a second conversion characteristic is calculated from image information of a second image region including the first image region, and a third conversion characteristic is calculated using the first and second conversion characteristics and a weighted coefficient. Then, a luminance value of the target pixel is converted and outputted based on the third conversion characteristic. |
| US08417027B2 |
Document color determining apparatus, image processing apparatus, document color determining method and computer readable medium stored document color determining program
A color determining apparatus which determines whether an document is a color document or a monochrome document based on image data of the document including a plurality of pixel data, includes a pixel color determination part which performs color determination of pixels based on a luminance component value and a color component value of the pixel data; a pixel color re-determination part which set one of the pixels determined to be a color pixel by the pixel color determination part a target pixel in turn, and at a time when a plurality of filters having different outline shapes are applied to the target pixel, performs color re-determination of the target pixel according to whether all of the pixels included in the filter are determined to be color pixels or not by the pixel color determination part; and a first document color determination part that determines whether the document is color or monochrome by comparison of a number of the pixels determined to be color pixels by the pixel color re-determination part and a reference value set in advance. |
| US08417024B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing three-dimensional images
A three-dimensional sense adjusting unit displays three-dimensional images to a user. If a displayed reaches a limit of parallax, the user responds to the three-dimensional sense adjusting unit. According to acquired appropriate parallax information, a parallax control unit generates parallax images to realize the appropriate parallax in the subsequent stereo display. The control of parallaxes is realized by optimally setting camera parameters by going back to three-dimensional data. Functions to realize the appropriate parallax are made into and presented by a library. |
| US08417023B2 |
Image playback device
Conventionally, there has been a problem that a viewer is tired when playing back images mixedly including 2D images and 3D images, because images change frequently. A storage part stores 2D images and 3D images, an image conversion part that converts the 2D image stored in the storage part into a new 3D image, and an image output part that outputs the 3D image stored in the storage part and the new 3D image converted by the image conversion part. Consequently, it is possible to prevent a viewer from tiring when playing back images mixedly including 2D images and 3D images. |
| US08417022B2 |
Stereo-image processing apparatus
A stereo-image processing apparatus includes a stereo-image taking means configured to take a plurality of images from different viewpoints, a parallax detecting means configured to detect a parallax of a subject on the basis of the images taken by the stereo-image taking means, an object detecting means configured to detect objects on the basis of the parallax detected by the parallax detecting means and a parallax offset value, and a parallax-offset-value correcting means configured to correct the parallax offset value on the basis of a change in a parallax corresponding to an object whose size in real space does not change with time, of the objects detected by the object detecting means, and a change in an apparent size of the object. |
| US08417019B2 |
Image correction system and method
In an image correction method, an image of an object is captured, and a standard image of the object is obtain from a storage system of a computing device. A target area contains most image characteristics of the object is determined from the standard image of the object, and a standard pixel block having N×N pixels is extracted from the target area. The captured image is divided into M pixel blocks having N×N pixels. Each of the pixel blocks of the captured image are analyzed with the standard pixel block. A pixel value of each pixel of the captured image is corrected according the analysis, and the corrected image is output to a display device of a computing device for display. |
| US08417018B2 |
Method for inspecting and judging photomask blank or intermediate thereof
A photomask blank having a film on a substrate is inspected by (A) measuring a surface topography of a photomask blank having a film to be inspected for stress, (B) removing the film from the photomask blank to provide a treated substrate, (C) measuring a surface topography of the treated substrate, and (D) comparing the surface topography of the photomask blank with the surface topography of the treated substrate, thereby evaluating a stress in the film. |
| US08417012B2 |
Non-linear histogram segmentation for particle analysis
Systems and methods for non-linear histogram segmentation for particle analysis are provided. In one embodiment, a method for analyzing particles comprises creating an initial two-dimensional histogram based on two selected parameters of the particles, filtering the initial two-dimensional histogram to generate a filtered two-dimensional image, detecting a plurality of seed populations in the filtered two-dimensional image, generating one or more linear contour lines, each having a plurality of contour points, to separate the detected seed populations, and adjusting the contour points in at least one of the linear contour lines to separate the detected seed populations. |
| US08417010B1 |
Digital x-ray diagnosis and evaluation of dental disease
A method for diagnosis and evaluation of tooth decay comprises: locating in an x-ray image the contour of the dento-enamel junction (DEJ); measuring optical density along contours substantially parallel to and on either side of the DEJ contour; and calculating at least one numerical decay value from the measured optical densities. A method for diagnosis and evaluation of periodontal disease comprises: measuring in an x-ray image a bone depth (BD) relative to the position of the cemento-enamel junctions (CEJs) of adjacent teeth; measuring bone density along a contour between the adjacent teeth; and calculating a numerical crestal density (CD) value from the measured bone density. Calibration standards may be employed for facilitating calculation of the numerical values. A dental digital x-ray imaging calibration method for at least partly correcting for variations of the optical densities of images acquired from the dental digital x-ray imaging system. |
| US08417009B2 |
Apparatus, method, and computer readable medium for assisting medical image diagnosis using 3-D images representing internal structure
A lesion area detection unit detects an abnormal peripheral structure (lesion area), a pulmonary blood vessel extraction unit extracts a branch structure (pulmonary blood vessel) from the three-dimensional medical image, an associated blood vessel identification unit identifies an associated branch structure functionally associated with the abnormal peripheral structure based on position information of each point in the extracted branch structure, and an associated lung parenchymal area identification unit identifies an associated peripheral area (lung parenchyma) functionally associated with the identified associated branch structure based on the position information of each point in the extracted branch structure. |
| US08417006B2 |
System and method for improved viewing and navigation of digital images
A system and method for improved viewing and navigation of large digital images, such as whole slide images used in microscopy. The system and method displays the digital image along with movable navigation and field of view boxes that enable a viewer to pan the digital image in an accurate manner, and also performs automatic absolute reorientation of the digital image and automatic relative reorientation of subsequent digital images in relation to the first digital image. |
| US08417004B2 |
System and method for simulated linearization of curved surface
In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include mapping an ellipse with its center at the origin of an xy-coordinate plane to a circle with its center at the origin of the xy-coordinate plane. The method may also include transforming a three-dimensional subject image including a curved profile in the xy-coordinate plane to an intermediate image based at least on the mapping of the ellipse to a base circle. The method may further include transforming the intermediate image to a transformed image having a linear profile by distorting each of one or more points of interest of the intermediate image based at least on a dimension of the circle and a coordinate of such point. |
| US08417000B1 |
Determining the location at which a photograph was captured
To determine a location at which a photograph was captured using a camera, a time at which the photograph was captured is determined using an image depicted in the photograph. User location data indicative of respective locations of a user at a plurality of instances of time during a time period is received. The time period includes the determined time and a location of the user at the time the photograph was captured corresponds to the location of the camera at the time the photograph was captured. The location at which the photograph was captured is determined using the determined time and the user location data. |
| US08416999B2 |
Image-capturing apparatus and method, expression evaluation apparatus, and program
An image-capturing apparatus for capturing an image by using a solid-state image-capturing device may include a face detector configured to detect a face of a human being on the basis of an image signal in a period until an image signal obtained by image capturing is recorded on a recording medium; an expression evaluation section configured to evaluate the expression of the detected face and to compute an expression evaluation value indicating the degree to which the detected face is close to a specific expression in relation to expressions other than the specific expression; and a notification section configured to notify notification information corresponding to the computed expression evaluation value to an image-captured person. |
| US08416997B2 |
Method of person identification using social connections
A method for automatically identifying persons in digital media assets associated with a database of individual user accounts, comprising: providing access to a database of individual user accounts, wherein the database includes connections between the individual user accounts; receiving a digital media asset associated with a first individual user account; analyzing the received digital media asset to detect an unidentified person; designating collections of digital media assets associated with the first individual user account and other connected individual user accounts; training person identifiers for the previously identified persons by analyzing digital media assets containing the previously identified persons; using a processor to identify the detected unidentified person using the trained person identifiers; and associating metadata providing an indication of the one or more identified persons with the received digital media asset. |
| US08416996B2 |
Image-capturing apparatus and method, expression evaluation apparatus, and program
An image-capturing apparatus for capturing an image by using a solid-state image-capturing device may include a face detector configured to detect a face of a human being on the basis of an image signal in a period until an image signal obtained by image capturing is recorded on a recording medium; an expression evaluation section configured to evaluate the expression of the detected face and to compute an expression evaluation value indicating the degree to which the detected face is close to a specific expression in relation to expressions other than the specific expression; and a notification section configured to notify notification information corresponding to the computed expression evaluation value to an image-captured person. |
| US08416995B2 |
Electronic manifest of underground facility locate marks
Methods and apparatus for generating a searchable electronic record of a locate operation in which a locate technician, using one or more physical locate marks, identifies a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. A digital image of a geographic area comprising the dig area is electronically received, and at least a portion of the received digital image is displayed on a display device. Location information regarding an identified location of the at least one physical locate mark is also electronically received and, based at least in part on the received location information, one or more digital representations of the identified location of the physical locate mark(s) is/are included in the displayed digital image so as to generate a marked-up digital image. Information relating to the marked-up digital image is electronically stored and/or electronically transmitted so as to generate the searchable electronic record of the locate operation. |
| US08416990B2 |
Hierarchical video sub-volume search
Described is a technology by which video, which may be relatively high-resolution video, is efficiently processed to determine whether the video contains a specified action. The video corresponds to a spatial-temporal volume. The volume is searched with a top-k search that finds a plurality of the most likely sub-volumes simultaneously in a single search round. The score volumes of larger spatial resolution videos may be down-sampled into lower-resolution score volumes prior to searching. |
| US08416986B2 |
Methods and systems for processing data using non-linear slope compensation
Systems and devices for processing image or other data using non-linear methods to compensate for localized slopes are described. In one implementation, the slope of the sample values in an image or other dataset is estimated in one or more directions using a non-linear filter, such as a median filter. The values of at least some of the samples of interest are compensated using the estimated slope values to remove the effects of the slope. The compensated values may then be processed to determine if the target is present in the samples of interest, or for any other purpose. |
| US08416983B1 |
Method and apparatus for establishing an accurate low bit time stamp in a remotely created watermark
A method and apparatus for placing a time stamp in a remotely applied watermark is disclosed. The method permits a time stamp of high resolution to be added remotely while minimizing the number of bits necessary in the time stamp. |
| US08416980B2 |
Sensory signal output apparatus
A sensory signal output apparatus is provided. The sensory signal output apparatus, includes: a magnetic circuit vibrating in response to an alternating signal flowing through a coil; and an elastic support means elastically supporting the magnetic circuit to surround the circumferential outer surface of the magnetic circuit from one side direction thereof, in which coupling recesses are formed at the circumferential outer surface of the magnetic circuit to be spaced apart from each other, and a coupling piece is provided at a periphery of the elastic support means to be coupled to the coupling recess, the coupling piece is attached to and inserted into the coupling recess. In the sensory signal output apparatus, an elastic support means is inserted into and coupled to a magnetic circuit without using a curling operation to provide easy coupling. |
| US08416978B2 |
Vibration pickup microphone
[Problem to be Solved] To provide a high-sensitive compact vibration pickup microphone, suitably used as a talking microphone in high ambient noise environments or as a speech recognition input microphone, with high microphone sensitivity, resistance to sliding noise, and insensitivity to external noise and vibration.[Solution] A vibration pickup microphone comprising a housing 1 provided with a first space 5 and a second space 6, an external diaphragm 2 disposed over the first space 5, and a microphone unit 3 that is contained in a rear end portion of the second space having an air gap 8 maintained 6, wherein by disposing the external diaphragm 2 over it, an air chamber 7 formed in the first space 5 and an air gap 8 formed in the second space 6 are communicated via a thin passageway 4, so that vibration of voice picked up by the external diaphragm 2 is transmitted to the microphone unit 3 as sound waves, and then frequency components higher than voice frequencies within frequency components of the sound waves are attenuated in its transmitting path. |
| US08416971B1 |
Loudspeaker driver
A loudspeaker driver that includes a suspended diaphragm and at least one voice coil disposed lateral to the suspended diaphragm, suspended in a magnetic field and coupled to the diaphragm. |
| US08416964B2 |
Vehicular automatic gain control (AGC) microphone system and method for post processing optimization of a microphone signal
A method for processing signals for reducing noise components in a vehicular microphone system (500A) compares (517) a plurality of noise component values (511, 513, 515) for at least one frequency band of plurality of frequency bands. At least one frequency band is then downwardly expanded (521) by a predetermined expansion ratio (523) for providing a noise reduced signal (535) when determining a value is below a predetermined threshold (519). |
| US08416961B2 |
Detecting the repositioning of an earphone using a microphone and associated action
A system detects the repositioning of an earphone that is worn by a user, and changes an operation mode of a host coupled to the earphone. Within the earphone is a pressure transducer that detects a pressure change caused by the repositioning of the earphone. A signaling mechanism sends a repositioning detection signal to the host in response to a signal from the pressure transducer indicating the detection of the pressure change. |
| US08416953B2 |
Data protection system that protects data by encrypting the data
A data protection system includes terminals, and an encryption device that encrypts distribution data distributed to each terminal. Each terminal corresponds with one node on a lowest level of a tree structure having hierarchies. A data protection system excludes nodes on the lowest level, determines a plurality of combination patterns that include combinations of two or more of all four nodes that are reached one level below the node, decides an individual decryption key for each determined combination pattern, and decides an individual decryption key for each node on the lowest level. The data protection system prescribes nodes that are reached from the node on the lowest level and a terminal to the node on the highest level that is an invalid node. For invalid nodes, the data protection system designates an encryption key that corresponds to the decryption key determined in correspondence with the combination pattern that combines all nodes, excluding invalid nodes, and encrypts distribution data that uses each of the designated encryption keys. |
| US08416948B2 |
System for secure variable data rate transmission
Secure Variable Data Rate Transceivers and methods for implementing Secure Variable Data Rate are presented. An efficient and systematic method and circuit for implementing secure variable data rate transceivers are presented. The SVDR method is based on block ciphers. An index method is presented for minimizing transmission overhead. This allows SVDR to achieve higher security by using the full ciphermode stream. |
| US08416946B2 |
System and process for regression-based residual acoustic echo suppression
A regression-based residual echo suppression (RES) system and process for suppressing the portion of the microphone signal corresponding to a playback of a speaker audio signal that was not suppressed by an acoustic echo canceller (AEC). In general, a prescribed regression technique is used between a prescribed spectral attribute of multiple past and present, fixed-length, periods (e.g., frames) of the speaker signal and the same spectral attribute of a current period (e.g., frame) of the echo residual in the output of the AEC. This automatically takes into consideration the correlation between the time periods of the speaker signal. The parameters of the regression can be easily tracked using adaptive methods. Multiple applications of RES can be used to produce better results and this system and process can be applied to stereo-RES as well. |
| US08416945B2 |
Adaptive duplexing for amplified telephone
Systems and methods for reducing squealing or feedback on amplified telephones are disclosed. The telephone system generally includes a receiver in communication with a receive signal path, a transmitter in communication with a transmit signal path, a receiver gain detector configured to detect a receiver gain on the receive signal path, and a controller configured to operate the telephone system in full duplex when the receiver gain is approximately less than a receiver stability level and to operate the telephone system in adaptive duplex when the receiver gain is approximately above the receiver stability level. The adaptive duplex mode is such that an adaptive attenuation level alternately applied on the receive and transmit signal paths is dependent upon the level by which the receiver gain exceeds the receiver stability level. |
| US08416943B2 |
System and method for distributing customer contacts
Disclosed is a method for distributing customer contacts to a transaction processing entity of a transaction processing system. The method includes determining a media type for a customer contact in the transaction processing system and finding a transaction processing entity that is capable of handling the media type. In addition, the method includes routing the customer contact to a transaction processing entity that is capable of handling the media type. In one embodiment, a transaction routing table is used to perform the distribution of customer contacts. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. 37 CFR 1.72(b). |
| US08416942B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer program products for implementing a custom, interactive call flow
A method, system, and computer program product for implementing a custom, interactive call flow are provided. The method includes receiving a sequence of user inputs provided as part of an interactive call. The sequence of user inputs includes data path inputs, security inputs, administrative inputs, and a termination input. The method also includes identifying placement of the security inputs in the sequence, removing the administrative inputs and the security inputs from the sequence, and creating a custom sequence including the data path inputs, a placeholder representing the placement of the security inputs, and the termination input. The method also includes invoking a custom call flow from the custom sequence. |
| US08416939B1 |
System and method for providing seamless music on hold
A method of using a computer to provide music on hold, including receiving a telephone call from a caller; determining that the telephone call is to be put on hold at a computer at a first location; using the computer to retrieve from a memory coupled to the computer a music genre corresponding to a telephone number for the telephone call, wherein the telephone number corresponds to a second location; sending a request to a media server for a music file containing music fitting the music genre corresponding to the second location, wherein the media server has stored therein music files for a plurality of genres for a plurality of locations; and streaming via the media server the music file containing music fitting the music genre corresponding to the second location to the caller. |
| US08416937B2 |
System and method for changing conference moderators during a conference call
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for changing moderators during a e-conference. To change moderators during an e-conference, a system identifies a departure of the original moderator from the e-conference. A moderator can indicate his intention to leave an e-conference through the conferencing system. A participant to replace the original moderator is identified and subsequently promoted to replacement moderator while maintaining the e-conference. Additionally, changing moderators during an e-conference is accomplished by creating a new conference bridge and transferring each participant to the new conference bridge. This method allows for a seamless transfer between moderators during an e-conference without the inconvenience of reconnecting. |
| US08416936B2 |
Conference call management
A conference call management method and system. The method includes receiving by a computer processor from a conference call administrator, a command for enabling a first conference call. The computer processor enables the first conference call thereby allowing telecommunications between the conference call administrator and a first participant. The computer processor locks the first conference call such that additional participants are unable to access the first conference call. The computer processor receives from a second participant, a conference call request for accessing a second conference call and routes the second participant to a virtual holding area. The computer processor enables the second conference call and routes the second participant from the virtual holding area to the second conference call. |
| US08416934B2 |
Call management system for a mobile telephone
A call management system, comprising: a call monitor operable to identify an attempt, in use, by a user to call a predetermined number attributed to a first entity; a processor, configured to derive at least one alternative number, attributed to another entity, based on the predetermined number attributed to the first entity; and a router to provide a user with an opportunity to route a or the call to at least one of the derived at least one alternative numbers. |
| US08416930B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling an amount of concurrent calls
The present invention discloses an apparatus and a method for controlling an amount of concurrent calls. The apparatus for controlling the amount of concurrent calls comprises a background processing module, a cooperation module and a core module, wherein the background processing module is arranged to provide an information configuration interface, configure a threshold for each of amounts of concurrent calls classified according to call characteristics, and send the threshold to the core module; the cooperation module is arranged to provide a variable for each of amounts of concurrent calls classified according to call characteristics and send the variable to the core module; and the core module is arranged to receive the threshold and the variable and control the cooperation module to release a current call when determining the variable is no less than the threshold. The present invention could limit the amount of concurrent calls corresponding to specific call characteristic under the threshold and thus improve the control of user calls. |
| US08416925B2 |
Device independent text captioned telephone service
A method and apparatus for commencing a caption assisted telephone call using a combination of a first party telephone terminal and a first party Network appliance, the method comprising the steps of connecting the first party Network appliance to a relay, using the first party Network appliance to specify a first party call back telephone number, using the relay to dial the first party call back telephone number, specifying a confirmation activity that must be performed via the first party telephone terminal in order to continue a telephone call process, when the first party telephone terminal is answered, monitoring activities via the first party telephone terminal and when the confirming activity occurs, continuing the telephone call process. |
| US08416922B2 |
Line loss tester
A signal testing apparatus includes a transmitter, a first receiver, a second receiver, a first indicator and a second indicator. The transmitter transmits over a wired communications link a first signal having a corresponding first frequency representative of a first frequency range of the wired communications link, and that transmits over the wired communications link a second signal having a corresponding second frequency representative of a second frequency range of the wired communications link. Signal losses for the first signal and second signal are measured, and indicators indicate whether the signal losses are acceptable. |
| US08416918B2 |
Apparatus and method pertaining to radiation-treatment planning optimization
A radiation-treatment planning apparatus accesses information regarding a treatment target and at least one operational parameter pertaining to a physical characteristic of a given radiation-treatment platform. The apparatus also accesses information regarding a candidate treatment plan using the given platform. The apparatus then optimizes the candidate treatment plan by permitting, temporarily, discontinuities of the at least one operational parameter as between adjacent ones of a plurality of control points to thereby yield an optimized treatment plan. By one approach, this operational parameter can comprise a speed at which a collimator aperture can be changed. In such a case, the aforementioned discontinuities can comprise discontinuities with respect to the speed at which this aperture can be changed. So configured, these teachings will accommodate temporarily permitting speeds that are too fast to be actually performed by the given radiation-treatment platform. |
| US08416917B2 |
Radiation therapy using predictive target tracking and control points
A system includes determination of a model of a trajectory of a target volume, determination of a treatment plan identifying a portion of the trajectory of the target volume and an irradiation field corresponding to the portion of the trajectory, the portion of the trajectory commencing at a control point of the trajectory, control of a collimator to restrict a treatment beam to the irradiation field, monitoring of the trajectory of the target volume until it is determined that the trajectory is at the control point, and delivery of the treatment beam to the irradiation field in response to determining that the trajectory of the target volume is at the control point. |
| US08416916B2 |
Method and apparatus for representing an x-ray image
In a method and an apparatus for representing an x-ray image of an examination subject, a measurement field is determined in the image field of the x-ray image, the measurement field being dependent on the position of a subject image region representing the examination subject in the image field and being essentially situated within this subject image region grey scale values for the image rendering are determined exclusively from the intensities measured within this measurement field. |
| US08416914B2 |
System and method of iterative image reconstruction for computed tomography
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program having instructions, which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to acquire a set of projection data corresponding to a plurality of image voxels and to calculate coefficients of a regularizing function configured to penalize differences between pairs of the plurality of voxels that are not immediate neighbors. The instructions also cause the computer to iteratively reconstruct an image from the set of projection data based on the regularizing function. |
| US08416913B2 |
X-ray CT system, object-outline estimating method, and image reconstructing method
X-ray transmission data of a specific direction is extracted from X-ray transmission data obtained by rotating an X-ray tube irradiating an X-ray around an object. The outline of the object is calculated based on the X-ray transmission data of the specific direction. Then, based on this outline, the X-ray transmission data is corrected, and an image of the inside of the object is reconstructed from the corrected X-ray transmission data. |
| US08416904B2 |
Base station synchronization
A method and apparatus of time synchronizing a plurality of base stations in a wireless communication system includes receiving an indication of a timing associated with a synch burst, where the synch burst is from a mastercell having a better time synchronization quality than other cells and measured by at least one cell other than the mastercell. A request is sent to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) for a measurement of a base station time of arrival (BSTOA) value of the at least one cell other than the mastercell. The BSTOA value from the WTRU is received and a timing adjustment is sent to the at least one cell other than the mastercell. |
| US08416903B1 |
Signal edge detection circuitry and methods
Double data rate (“DDR”) circuitry or the like is modified or enhanced to include edge detection capability. During edge detection mode the circuitry is supplied with serial training data that includes successive pairs of equal-valued bits. Several, differently-phased, candidate clock signals are used one after another in order of increasing phase to clock the DDR circuitry. Adjacent bits in the training data that should be equal-valued are captured by the DDR circuitry and compared. Any candidate clock signal that causes the bits thus compared to be unequal is flagged as having phase close to edges in the data. The approximate phase of data edges is thereby indicated by the phase (or phases) of the candidate clock signal (or signals) causing the bits compared as described above to be unequal. |
| US08416901B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting clock frequency deviation
The embodiment of the present disclosure discloses a method and apparatus for detecting frequency deviation of a clock. The method includes: counting the clock to be detected to acquire current counting information; filtering the current counting information to acquire filtered data; and acquiring the frequency deviation of the clock to be detected from the filtered data. According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the detection accuracy of frequency deviation is improved by filtering the counting information acquired by counting the clock to be detected, and appropriately increasing an amount of information after the filtering, so as to perceive the occurrence of any abnormal dithering, and avoid neglecting of any abnormal condition in periodic or aperiodic queries. |
| US08416900B2 |
Method and circuit for dynamically changing the frequency of clock signals
A method and circuit for dynamically changing the frequency of clock signals. The method including: detecting an edge of a first clock signal operating at a first frequency using a second clock signal operating at a second frequency; detecting an edge of the second clock signal using the first clock signal; detecting coincident edges of the first and the second clock signals; and changing the second frequency to a third frequency different from the second frequency upon detection of the coincident edges. |
| US08416896B2 |
Method and system for channel estimation in a single channel MIMO system with multiple RF chains for WCDMA/HSDPA
Aspects of a method and system for channel estimation in a MIMO communication system with multiple RF chains for WCDMA/HSDPA may comprise receiving a plurality of communication signals from a plurality of transmit antennas. A plurality of vectors of baseband combined channel estimates may be generated based on phase rotation of the received plurality of communication signals. A matrix of processed baseband combined channel estimates may be generated based on the generated plurality of vectors of baseband combined channel estimates. A plurality of amplitude and phase correction signals may be generated based on the generated plurality of vectors of baseband combined channel estimates. An amplitude and a phase of at least a portion of the received plurality of communication signals may be adjusted based on the generated plurality of amplitude and phase correction signals, respectively. |
| US08416892B2 |
Method and apparatus of transmitting a random access preamble
Method and apparatus are provided for transmitting a random access preamble in a mobile communication system. The preamble is selected from a set of random access preambles provided with Zero Correlation Zones of length NCS−1, where NCS is a cyclic shift increment selected from a set of cyclic shift increments {0, 13, 15, 18, 22, 26, 32, 38, 46, 59, 76, 93, 119, 167, 279, 419}, and transmitted. |
| US08416889B2 |
Method of estimating transmission channel response and difference of synchronization offsets introduced in a received stream of packets of OFDM data and relative receiver
An OFDM receiver includes a sampling circuit configured to sample an incoming signal received through a transmission channel and an estimation circuit configured to receive samples of the incoming signal and to estimate transmission channel response and eventual differences of synchronization offsets introduced at a receiver side. An equalizer may be coupled to the estimation circuit and configured to compensate an effect of the transmission channel response and of the differences of synchronization offsets on the received samples and to generate equalized samples. An OFDM detector may be configured to generate a stream of demodulated digital symbols based upon the equalized samples. |
| US08416887B2 |
Managing spectra of modulated signals in a communication network
Information is modulated onto frequency components of a signal. The resulting modulated signal includes at least some redundancy in frequency enabling a portion of the information modulated onto selected frequency components to be recovered from fewer than all of the selected frequency components. Controlling the spectrum of the modulated signal includes enabling the amplitude of at least some frequency components of the modulated signal to be set below a predetermined amplitude used for modulating the information. |
| US08416886B2 |
Receiver
A receiver is provided that has reduced power consumption and seldom operates erroneously. The receiver generally includes: an input circuit or photoreceptor that receives a modulated digital signal that can includes a preamble; a detector that detects the received digital signal and outputs a baseband signal; a comparator that compares baseband signal and a reference signal; an integration circuit that integrates baseband signal; hysteresis circuits that generates voltage signals based on an average value signal from integration circuit; a multiplexer that selects between the signals from the hysteresis circuits based on a digital output signal from comparator; and a pulse detection counter that counts the number of pulses of the digital signal from comparator and outputs a count signal to one of the hysteresis circuits. |
| US08416882B2 |
Digital amplitude control of vector generator
In an exemplary embodiment, an active vector generator is configured to generate a composite vector with controlled phase and amplitude, where the active vector generator generates the composite vector with independent variable phase control and independent variable amplitude control. Furthermore, in another exemplary embodiment, an active vector generator is configured to generate a unique number of phase states and configured to generate a unique number of amplitude states. Specifically, an exemplary active vector generator comprises a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) configured to set the phase of the composite vector, a current multiplying switch network configured to control the amplitude of the composite vector, a variable current multiplier configured to adjust the amplitude of the composite vector, and a differential adder configured to control the quadrant of the composite vector and generate the composite vector. |
| US08416880B2 |
Digital modulator
The application relates to a digital modulator comprising at least one input terminal configured to receive at least one signal, at least one symbol generating unit comprising a first output terminal and at least a second output terminal, wherein the symbol generating unit is configured to generate a first symbol waveform for the first output terminal depending on the received signal, and wherein the symbol generating unit is configured to generate at least a second symbol waveform for the second output terminal depending on the received signal, wherein the first symbol waveform comprises at least one different parameter value compared to the second symbol waveform, at least one third output terminal connectable to at least the first output terminal and/or second output terminal via a switching unit, a controlling unit configured to control the switching unit depending on the received signal such that a modulated output signal is generated. |
| US08416876B2 |
Transmitter/receiver for controlling multiuser multiple input multiple output system and method thereof
Provided are a method of controlling a multi-user multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system and a transmitter/receiver used in the method. In the method, it can be determined whether feedback information is fed back according to the feedback information type rather than being indiscriminately provided to a transmitter, and then only a necessary feedback information type is transmitted, thereby increasing system capacity while reducing feedback load. |
| US08416872B2 |
Radio communication apparatus and a radio communication method
The radio communication apparatus includes two or more antennas, a receiving unit for receiving a notice signal from a communication partner, two or more units for changing the number of data sequences and for coupling to the antennas according to two or more transmitting methods out of a MIMO multiplexing method, a MIMO diversity method, and an adaptive array antenna method, a selecting unit for selecting at least one out of the two or more units based on the notice signal, and a transmitting unit for notifying the communication partner of the transmission method corresponding to the selected unit. |
| US08416867B2 |
Interference cancellation with MU-MIMO scheme in SC-FDMA system
An apparatus and a method for interference cancellation using a multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) scheme in a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) system are disclosed. Received data of every terminal are classified into first received data and second received data. The first received data has lower reliability and the second received data has higher reliability than the first received data. The second received data is transmitted to an upper layer. Interference signals are formed with the second received data based on a channel estimation value. The interference signals are removed from the first received data, and the interference signal free first received data is transmitted to the upper layer. |
| US08416864B2 |
Initialization of and modem for an OFDM data transmission
A method and modem are provided for obtaining an optimized efficiency of an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) data transmission, such as for power line communication, for example. The length or duration of a guard interval or cyclic prefix in an OFDM symbol is newly selected at each start-up of a modem while initializing or preparing the OFDM data transmission. The length of the guard interval can be given by the number of samples in a time-discrete representation, and the value of such number of samples that is retained for the subsequent data transmission can be selected from a plurality of pre-determined possibilities based on an evaluation of a channel quality of a communication channel including a physical line to which the modem is connected. Hence, the selected value depends on actual transmission conditions, and the optimization potential offered by a more flexible handling of system parameters is exploited to meet changing conditions on the physical line. |
| US08416862B2 |
Efficient feedback of channel information in a closed loop beamforming wireless communication system
A method for feeding back transmitter beamforming information from a receiving wireless communication device to a transmitting wireless communication device includes a receiving wireless communication device receiving a preamble sequence from the transmitting wireless device. The receiving wireless device estimates a channel response based upon the preamble sequence and then determines an estimated transmitter beamforming unitary matrix based upon the channel response and a receiver beamforming unitary matrix. The receiving wireless device then decomposes the estimated transmitter beamforming unitary matrix to produce the transmitter beamforming information and then wirelessly sends the transmitter beamforming information to the transmitting wireless device. The receiving wireless device may transform the estimated transmitter beamforming unitary matrix using a QR decomposition operation such as a Givens Rotation operation to produce the transformer beamforming information. |
| US08416858B2 |
Signalling picture encoding schemes and associated picture properties
Systems and methods that provide a video stream, the video stream comprising a sequence of plural compressed pictures corresponding to a video program, the plural compressed pictures having plural sets of compressed pictures, each of the plural sets adhering to one or more picture interdependencies, properties, or a combination of the picture interdependencies and properties, and provide auxiliary information in the video stream, the auxiliary information comprising plural data fields, the plural data fields comprising a first data field corresponding to one of multiple possible coding scheme, the coding scheme comprising a set of tiers that uniquely define the one coding scheme, the plural data fields further comprising a second data field different from the first data field, the second data field comprising an indication of whether the one or more picture interdependencies, properties, or a combination of both corresponding to the set of tiers is valid for use in decoding. |
| US08416857B2 |
Parallel or pipelined macroblock processing
A video processing system. In a specific embodiment, the system implements a system for processing macroblocks that includes a first module for processing a macroblock. A controller provides a first macroblock to the first module and provides a second macroblock to the first module, without waiting for the first module to complete processing of the first macroblock, when information is available to the first module to process the second macroblock. The first module may implement a pipelined processor that is adapted to process macroblocks simultaneously. Alternatively, the first module includes a first engine and a second engine, which may run in parallel as parallel engines. In a more specific embodiment, an entire image frame is treated as a single slice and processed by the system via a pipelined engines or parallel engines. |
| US08416853B2 |
Method of deriving a motion vector of a bi-predictive block based on a motion vector of a co-located block in a reference picture
In one embodiment, the method includes selecting a list 0 motion vector of the co-located block in a first reference picture as the motion vector if the co-located block has the list 0 motion vector and a list 1 motion vector. The first reference picture is a type of reference picture permitted to be located temporally before or after the current picture. The method further includes selecting the list 1 motion vector of the co-located block in the first reference picture if the co-located block only has the list 1 motion vector, scaling the selected motion vector based on temporal distance between the current picture and the first reference picture, and deriving at least one motion vector of the bi-predictive block based on the scaled motion vector. |
| US08416852B2 |
Video signal coding system and method of coding video signal for network transmission, video output apparatus, and signal conversion apparatus
A video signal coding system for network transmission includes a video output apparatus and a signal conversion apparatus. The video output apparatus includes a decoding unit decoding an video signal encoded by a coding method using a motion vector and a superimposing unit superimposing reference control information containing at least a motion vector on a blanking period of the video signal, and outputs the video signal with the reference control information superimposed. The signal conversion apparatus includes a separating unit separating the reference control information from the blanking period, an encoding unit encoding the video signal by the coding method using the motion vector, and a motion vector converting unit converting the motion vector in the reference control information into a motion vector corresponding to the coding method in the encoding unit, and the encoding is performed using the converted motion vector. |
| US08416850B2 |
Image encoding method, device using the same, and computer program
When entropy-encoding a converted quantized amount obtained by converting an image into a frequency region and quantizing it, if the output code bit quantity of the entropy encoding exceeds a predetermined amount, an image obtained by rebuilding the converted quantized value is outputted from an image encoding device. This guarantees an encoding delay caused by re-encoding to be a constant time without increasing the circuit size of the encoding device and provides an image encoding device of a subjectively high quality. |
| US08416848B2 |
Device adaptive video transmission system for use with layered video coding and methods for use therewith
A video transmission system includes a transceiver module that receives a device parameter from a remote device and that transmits a video signal to the remote device, wherein the video signal is transmitted as at least one separate video layer stream chosen from, an independent video layer stream and at least one dependent video layer streams that require the independent video layer for decoding. A control module chooses the at least one separate video layer stream based on the device parameter. |
| US08416846B1 |
Systems, circuits and methods for adapting taps of a decision feedback equalizer in a receiver
A receiver is optimized by adapting the taps of a decision feedback equalizer component within the receiver. Data decisions and error decisions are generated. These data decision and error decisions are used to derive an error rate of data by measuring the number of margin hits that occur. A balance value is also calculated from the data decisions and the error decisions. The balance value is used to update a tap of the decision feedback equalizer. The updating of the tap continues until the number of margin hits has been minimized. |
| US08416841B1 |
Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) decoding with subcarrier grouping
Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) receiver circuitry is described. In one circuit, input circuitry provides a matrix of unresolved symbols received from a plurality of receive antennas. Channel estimation circuitry constructs a plurality of channel matrices including at least two channel matrices corresponding first and second subcarriers, respectively. A preprocessing circuit receives input from the plurality of channel matrices and interleaves retrieved input into an input matrix. A first systolic array includes boundary cells and internal cells. The boundary cells and internal cells are configured to perform triangulation and back-substitution on the input matrix to produce an output matrix. A second systolic array performs right and left multiplication operations and cross-diagonal transpose on the output matrix to produce a weighted matrix. An output circuit multiplies the weighted matrix by the matrix of unresolved symbols from the input circuitry to produce an estimate of isolated symbols corresponding to the unresolved symbols. |
| US08416840B2 |
Duobinary transceiver
The present invention relates to a duobinary transceiver. Specifically, the duobinary transceiver circuit proposed by the invention provides a new circuit configure of a precoder in a typical transceiver and a decoder in a typical receiver, based on a conventional transceiver including a transmitter, a transmission medium, and a receiver. |
| US08416839B2 |
Method of reception and receiver for a radio navigation signal modulated by a CBOC or TMBOC spread waveform
To receive a radio navigation signal modulated by a modulation waveform, the modulation waveform comprising a component BOC(n1,m) and a component BOC(n2,m), n2 being strictly less than n1, a correlation is performed between a prompt local waveform and the modulation waveform and a correlation is performed between a shifted (forward or backward) local waveform and said modulation waveform, over a time interval of duration T. The prompt local waveform is generated in the guise of a binary waveform comprising over said time interval at least one waveform segment BOC(n2,m) of a total duration of (1−αA)T over said time interval, αA being a parameter greater than or equal to 0 and strictly less than 1. The shifted local waveform is generated in the guise of a binary waveform comprising over said time interval at least one waveform segment BOC(n1,m) of a total duration of αBT over said time interval, B being a parameter strictly greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1, and αA being different from αB. |
| US08416838B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing finger resources in a communication system
In a communication system, a method and an accompanying apparatus determine a number of available fingers (110A-N) in a receiver (100). A controller (121) adjusts a threshold based on the determined number of the available fingers (110). The adjusted threshold may be one of, or any combination of, a pilot signal search threshold, a lock/unlock threshold, and a combine/un-combine threshold. The number of available fingers (110) may change after the threshold is adjusted. |
| US08416836B2 |
Using OFDM to correct distortions in ultra-wide-band radios operating over flat millimeter-wave channels
A Point-to-Point communication system includes (i) a millimeter-wave channel having a substantially flat channel transfer function between a first frequency of millimeter-waves and a second frequency of millimeter-waves, the two frequencies are separated by at least 500 MHz, (ii) a transmission system configured to transmit an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signal having a bandwidth of at least 100 MHz over the millimeter-wave channel as a millimeter-wave signal located between the first frequency and the second frequency, and (iii) a reception system comprising a radio receiver having a substantially non-flat reception transfer function over the bandwidth of the OFDM signal, configured to receive the millimeter-wave signal via the millimeter-wave channel and down-convert the millimeter-wave signal into a reconstruction of the OFDM signal having a bandwidth of at least 100 MHz, and an OFDM de-modulator configured to compensate for the substantially non-flat reception transfer function, by de-modulating the reconstruction of the OFDM signal. |
| US08416832B2 |
Switchable dual wavelength solid state laser
The present invention relates to a switchable dual wavelength solid state laser with a solid state gain medium (1) which is selected to emit optical radiation at a first wavelength with a first polarization and of at least a second wavelength with a second polarization different from said first polarization when optically or electrically pumped. A polarizing device (7) is arranged within the laser cavity, said polarizing device (7) being adjustable at least between said first and said second polarization. The two end mirrors (2, 3) of the laser cavity are designed to allow lasing of the solid state laser at the first wavelength when the polarizing device (7) is adjusted to the first polarization, and to allow lasing of the solid state laser at the second wavelength when the polarizing device (7) is adjusted to the second polarization. The proposed solid state laser allows an easy switching between two emission wavelengths. |
| US08416828B2 |
Catalyst module for high repetition rate CO2 lasers
An array of discrete catalyst elements is contained in a heated module external to the main laser vessel with an auxiliary gas flow loop connecting them so as to provide independent control of catalyst temperature and gas flow rate to achieve high CO+1/2O2 to CO2 recombination under high pulse repetition frequency operation for a sealed laser. Catalyst elements in the form of cylinders with holes through their centers are mounted on multiple parallel rods or catalysts in the form of small spherical or cylindrical elements are contained in multiple packets arranged in the module so as to minimize flow impedance and maximize laser gas recycling throughput. The cylindrical catalyst module is constructed so as to allow for rapid heating to operating temperature while withstanding atmospheric differential pressures during laser processing. |
| US08416827B2 |
Gas laser oscillator
An oscillator housing includes a main body unit that is shaped into a frame and formed of a metallic material and a cover unit that is formed of a metallic material to cover openings of the main body unit, and has an outer wall that has an arc cross section perpendicular to the optical axis and extends in the optical axis direction and side walls that are connected to the both ends of the outer wall in the optical axis direction. When the cover unit is fixed to the main body unit with a fixing member, the outer wall having an arc shape is configured such that force is generated in the height direction towards the outside of the oscillator housing on the connecting portion of the cover unit with the main body unit. |
| US08416826B2 |
Photonic crystal surface emitting laser
The present invention provides a photonic crystal surface emitting laser with which an arbitrary beam shape can be obtained and which enables design with a high degree of freedom. The surface emitting laser including a photonic crystal having a resonance mode in an in-plane direction parallel to a substrate includes a reflecting mirror for reflecting light emitted from the photonic crystal in a normal direction of the substrate and a spacer layer interposed between the reflecting mirror and the photonic crystal, wherein a nonuniform in-plane distribution is provided to the characteristics of one of the reflecting mirror and the spacer layer, so that a Q-value, which is a resonator characteristic in the normal direction of the substrate in the surface emitting laser, has a nonuniform in-plane distribution. |
| US08416821B2 |
Surface emitting laser element, surface emitting laser array, optical scanning unit, image forming apparatus and method of manufacturing surface emitting laser element
A surface emitting laser element includes a light emission part having a mesa structure. The light emission part includes a lower reflector; a resonator structure including an active layer; and an upper reflector. The lower reflector, the resonator structure and the upper reflector are laminated on a substrate. A peripheral part of a top surface of the mesa structure is covered by a dielectric layer that has a tapered surface such that a thickness decreases in a direction toward an outermost part, a taper angle of the tapered surface with respect to a surface of the substrate is smaller than a slope angle of a side wall of the mesa structure with respect to the surface of the substrate, and an end part of the dielectric layer coincides with an end part of the upper reflector. |
| US08416819B2 |
Method and device for generating a self-referenced optical frequency comb
The present disclosure relates to a method and to a device (1) by which a train (2, 2) of short laser pulses of a mode-coupled laser (3) is compensated with respect to the carrier envelope offset frequency of the individual lines contained in the associated frequency comb. The aim of the disclosure is to determine the carrier envelope offset frequency and to utilize said frequency to operate an acousto-optical frequency shifter (13). In said shifter, the uncompensated train of temporally equidistantly short laser pulses is diffracted in a first order such that the individual lines of the frequency comb are shifted by the carrier envelope offset frequency. The resulting compensated train of short laser pulses has a frequency comb, the individual lines of which are integral multiples of the repetition frequency of the individual light pulses in the train of short laser pulses. |
| US08416817B2 |
All-normal-dispersion femtosecond fiber laser
A modelocked fiber laser is designed to have strong pulse-shaping based on spectral filtering of a highly-chirped pulse in the laser cavity. The laser generates femtosecond pulses without a dispersive delay line or anomalous dispersion in the cavity. |
| US08416815B2 |
Method of transmitting uplink control signals in wireless communication system
A method and device for transmitting uplink control signals in a wireless communication system, the method including: reserving a preassigned scheduling request (SR) physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource used for transmission of a SR; determining a frequency domain sequence and an orthogonal sequence based on the preassigned SR PUCCH resource; spreading an ACK/NACK for Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) with the frequency domain sequence and the orthogonal sequence to generate a mapped sequence; and transmitting the mapped sequence. |
| US08416811B2 |
Coordinated timing network having servers of different capabilities
Communication and processing within a timing network that supports servers having different capabilities are facilitated. Individual servers of the network are dynamically updated without disrupting the operational characteristics of the timing network. New capabilities are not utilized between two servers until it is known that both servers are capable of supporting the new features. One server communicates to another server at an acceptable level of the another server. |
| US08416810B2 |
Radio communication base station apparatus and pilot transmission method
Provided is a base station capable of giving a pilot appropriate for both of multicast data and unicast data which are frequency-multiplexed. In a pilot generation unit (105) of the base station, an insertion unit (1051) inserts a pilot (common pilot) common to a plurality of cells to generate an orthogonal pilot sequence (2). In accordance with the insertion process in the insertion unit (1051), an insertion unit (1052) inserts a sequence (common sequence) common to a plurality of cells to a unique scrambling sequence to generate a scrambling sequence. A scrambling unit (1053) performs a scrambling process for multiplying the orthogonal pilot sequence (2) by the scrambling sequence. This scrambling process generates, in a part of pilot sequences different for respective cells, a pilot sequence containing a pilot common to the cells. |
| US08416801B2 |
Distribution of data to multiple recipients
In a trading system market data from a matching engine is distributed by a broker to a plurality of trading floors repeatedly every T seconds, typically one second. This one second distribution period is divided into a plurality of time slots and each trading floor is randomly assigned to a slot. Data for a given trading floor is calculated and distributed during the time slot assigned to that floor. The position of a trading floor relative to others is varied by swapping a pair of adjacent time slots every J distribution periods. |
| US08416800B2 |
Multi-carrier allocation using reciprocal nature of uplink and downlink in time division duplex to use just uplink pilots
In order to improve efficiency for sub-carrier allocation in a TDM multi-carrier system, the invention provides a novel frame structure and corresponding method and apparatus. During a centralized short period, each terminal sends a probe message including a predefined sequence to a network device and the network device estimates the channel characteristics for each sub-carrier with respect to each terminal by estimating the received probe message. In this way, sub-carrier allocation can be improved and sub-carriers with good channel characteristics are allocated to appropriate terminals. |
| US08416799B2 |
Systems, methods and apparatuses for wireless communication
Systems and methods directed towards improving reliability for wireless networks. Selective polling techniques are utilized to selectively poll stations within a wireless network in order to ensure that a station failing to properly transmit data is given an opportunity to rectify the transmission failure. The selective polling techniques can be applied to any polling-based system, thus maintaining backwards compatibility with legacy systems. |
| US08416796B2 |
Systems and methods for managing virtual switches
Network switches that are controlled by a controller server may contain ports through which network packets are received and forwarded. An architect may configure the controller server to create virtual switches. Each virtual switch may be formed from a subset of the ports of the network switches. The architect may assign administrators to the virtual switches. The administrators may configure the virtual switches. An administrator may use a command line interface to configure a virtual switch. The administrator may use commands such as a show port command, an access list command, a show access list command, and a membership rule command to manage the virtual switch. The controller server may prevent the administrator from logging on to virtual switches that have been assigned to other administrators. |
| US08416790B1 |
Processing Ethernet packets associated with packet tunnels
Packet switch operating methods and packet switches receive an Ethernet packet from an Ethernet provider network and create a plurality of duplicates of the received Ethernet packet. The methods and switches then modify the duplicates by assign a same service instance identifier and a different packet tunnel identifier to each of the duplicates and then forward the modified duplicates to packet tunnels associated with the packet tunnel identifiers. Other methods and packet switches receive an Ethernet packet including a service instance identifier from a packet tunnel and prevent the received Ethernet packet from being forwarded to another packet tunnel associated with the service instance identifier. Packet tunnel networks including Ethernet provider networks and edge bridges fully connected by packet tunnels. The edge bridges are configured to prevent packets received from one of the tunnels from being forwarded to other tunnels. |
| US08416788B2 |
Compression of data packets while maintaining endpoint-to-endpoint authentication
Contiguous data packets of a single communication session between endpoints are gathered for compression, and at least the payloads are compressed collectively via a single compressible buffer. The original headers, which may or may not be compressed, and the compressed payloads are transmitted from a sending packet compression device to a receiving packet compression device that performs decompression to the compressed payload and may also decompress headers if they have been compressed at the sending end. The original contiguous data packets including headers and payload may be reconstructed at the receiving packet compression device by matching the headers to the corresponding payloads. The reconstructed data packets are injected back into the single communication session, and the presence of the original headers in the reconstructed data packets may thereby maintain the endpoint-to-endpoint authentication protocols. |
| US08416787B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for implementing L2VPN between autonomous systems
A method, a system, and an apparatus for implementing a layer-2 virtual private network (L2VPN) between autonomous systems (ASs) are disclosed. The method includes: receiving a first L2VPN mapping packet from a first AS; parsing the first L2VPN mapping packet to obtain a first label carried in the first L2VPN mapping packet, applying for a second label which is different from the first label carried in the first L2VPN mapping packet, and generating a second L2VPN mapping packet according to the second label; and sending the second L2VPN mapping packet to a second AS. When multiple VPN users need to establish a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) L2VPN between ASs, the MPLS L2VPN can be established between ASs through the technical solution under the present invention as long as a link exists between the ASs, thus providing high extensibility, high security, and convenient management of the inter-AS L2VPN. |
| US08416783B2 |
VLAN protocol
A switch includes a plurality of ports including at least one bus port associated with ports connected to other switches in a network and a memory to store a hash table including MAC addresses and VLAN ids of ports in the network. For each one of the VLAN ids, one of the MAC addresses identifies one of the other switches having ports belonging to the one of the VLAN ids without identifying the ports of the one of the other switches that belongs to the one of the VLAN ids. |
| US08416782B2 |
Method of exchanging messages and source devices
A method of exchanging messages, which are intended for streaming connection with a source device, in a sink device of a wireless network comprises transmitting a connect request message for data streaming to the source device; receiving a connect response message from the source device, the connect response message including connection information indicating the possibility of connection with the source device; and outputting a user interface indicating at least one of the connection information included in the connect response message and wait time information required for connection with the source device, on a display module. |
| US08416779B2 |
Stored transmission packet intended for use in new link-adaptaton mechanism, and apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving transmission packet using the same
A stored transmission packet having a structure intended for use in a new link-adaptation mechanism, and a method and an apparatus for transmitting the transmission packet using the same are disclosed. The structure includes a payload composed of a plurality of transmission data units, a MAC header appended to the payload, and a PHY header appended to the MAC header, wherein the payload includes a link recommendation command in which information on a transmission mode is recorded, among a link-adaptation mechanism including Link Assessment, in which the state of a channel used to transmit and receive the transmission packet and the quality thereof is assessed, Link Recommendation, in which a transmission mode suitable for a current channel state is recommended using the result of Link Assessment, and Link Adjustment, in which the channel state is adjusted using information on the recommended transmission mode. |
| US08416778B2 |
Method for managing multicast traffic in a data network and network equipment using said method
The invention relates to a method for managing multicast traffic in a data network, and network equipment using said method. Hosts receive from a network interface of a router traffic sent by sources in a multicast group. The hosts and the router communicate with one another by using a multicast host-router communications protocol by which the hosts send to the router messages to request multicast traffic from sources in a multicast group. The router receiving one of said messages obtains in said message identifying data which identify the host that has sent said message, and said router stores in specific records for each network interface of the router, host and multicast group information about the sources the traffic of which has been requested by said host in said messages sent to the router. |
| US08416777B2 |
Method for managing multicast traffic in a data network and network equipment using said method
The invention relates to a method for managing multicast traffic in a data network, and network equipment using said method. Hosts receive from a network interface of a router traffic sent by sources in a multicast group. The hosts and the router communicate with one another by using a multicast host-router communications protocol by which the hosts send to the router messages to request multicast traffic from sources in a multicast group. The router receiving one of said messages obtains in said message identifying data which identify the host that has sent said message, and said router stores in specific records for each network interface of the router, host and multicast group information about the sources the traffic of which has been requested by said host in said messages sent to the router. |
| US08416776B2 |
Communication channel building device and N-tree building method
Disclosed is a communication channel building device which can guarantee a fair bandwidth allocation and exhibit a preferable perception AV quality in an ALM application. A transfer table building controller controls building of a distribution type optimal channel table over a plurality of communication nodes. A group constructor distributes communication nodes to a group dedicated for a specific source in accordance with the communication node display resolution and the content type and assigns a priority to the group for the specific source. A bandwidth allocator temporarily allocates a bandwidth which can be used for a logic stream between communication nodes. A transfer table constructor builds a distribution type optimal channel table according to the priority of the group for the specific source. |
| US08416775B2 |
Systems and methods for equal-cost multi-path virtual private LAN service
A provider edge (PE) device, associated with a virtual private local area network service (VPLS) system, receives a first data frame from a source customer edge (CE) device associated with the VPLS system. The PE device further incorporates the first data frame into a first VPLS packet and determines whether the source CE device is a single-homed CE device or a multi-homed CE device. The PE device incorporates, into the first VPLS packet, a first pseudowire label when the source CE device is the single-homed CE device. The PE device incorporates, into the first VPLS packet, a second pseudowire label, when the source CE device is the multi-homed CE device. The second pseudowire label is different from the first pseudowire label. |
| US08416772B1 |
Data storage system having optical/non-optical communication LCC
A link control card for disk drives. The link control card includes: a first connector for carrying relatively high frequency user data and low frequency signals; a diplexer connected to the connector, such diplexer having a first port for the high frequency user data and a second port for the low frequency signals; an optical connector for carrying the relatively high frequency user data; and a high frequency user data communication channel disposed between the diplexer and the disk drives for selectively connected either the first port of the diplexer or the optical connector to the disk drives. |
| US08416768B2 |
Method and system for transparent TCP offload with best effort direct placement of incoming traffic
Certain aspects of a method and system for transparent transmission control protocol (TCP) offload with best effort direct placement of incoming traffic are disclosed. Aspects of a method may include collecting TCP segments in a network interface card (NIC) processor without transferring state information to a host processor every time a TCP segment is received. When an event occurs that terminates the collection of TCP segments, the NIC processor may generate a new aggregated TCP segment based on the collected TCP segments. If a placement sequence number corresponding to the generated new TCP segment for the particular network flow is received before the TCP segment is received, the generated new TCP segment may be transferred directly from the memory to the user buffer instead of transferring the data to a kernel buffer, which would require further copy by the host stack from kernel buffer to user buffer. |
| US08416763B1 |
System and method for providing quality inter-domain network time transport
A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes providing a time protocol assistant associated with a time-synchronized domain (TSD). The TSD includes a set of nodes that are synchronized to a same time source. The TSD has defined egress and ingress edge points where bidirectional measurements can be made and the egress and ingress edge points are coupled to the time protocol assistant. The method also includes synchronizing one or more packets flowing through a network that includes the TSD through the same time source. In more specific embodiments, the nodes are synchronized to the same time source via the network and the same time source is a grandmaster clock that synchronizes one or more transparent clocks. In yet other embodiments, the transparent clocks manipulate precision time protocol (PTP) packets sent by the grandmaster clock. |
| US08416755B2 |
Digital broadcasting system and method for transmitting and receiving digital broadcast signal
The disclosed method for processing a digital broadcast signal in a transmitter comprises encoding signaling data including transmission parameter channel data, wherein the transmission parameter channel data includes transmission parameter for mobile service data, forming data groups including the mobile service data, the encoded signaling data and known data sequences, formatting mobile service data packets including data in the data groups, and transmitting the digital broadcast signal including the formatted mobile service data packets during slots, the slots including first type slot and second type slot. |
| US08416749B2 |
Transmission of MBMS in an OFDM communication system
The invention provides for a method of identifying a cyclic prefix to UEs in an OFDM communication system. The cyclic prefix has a dynamically variable length. The method includes, within an OFDM cell, transmitting MCCH scheduling information in a system information block in an OFDM broadcast channel, and using the MCCH scheduling information to receive the MCCH, wherein the MCCH contains MTCH scheduling information to indicate to the UE which sub-frame carries MTCH. |
| US08416748B2 |
Radio communication system, radio communication method, base station device, and terminal device
A wireless communication system capable of removing a transmission signal to a different terminal space division multiplexed, an interference signal, in a terminal when wireless communications are conducted using space division multiple access is provided. A base station apparatus sends a notification of dedicated data transmission to a space division multiplexed terminal MSm and also sends a notification of information concerning a transmission beam used in a different terminal space division multiplexed and information concerning signal power used in the different terminal normalized in the terminal MSm. Based on the sent information, each terminal MSm calculates interference cancel weight according to MMSE criterion as the weight to maximize SINR and a reception signal is multiplied by the obtained interference cancel weight for decreasing the interference component and then the signal is detected by maximum likelihood estimation based on information of signal constellation transmitted for receiving spatially multiple-transmitted signal. |
| US08416745B2 |
Open-loop power adjustment for CQI repointing based on RL quality indicators
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate performing scalable transmission power offsets for an access terminal to ensure that a listening base station can hear a signal transmitted from the access terminal. The power offset is generated as a function of a reverse link channel quality indicator feedback loop to permit the access terminal to adjust transmission power sufficiently without excessive power boosting, such as can occur under a static power-boosting scheme. Monitored parameters associated with channel quality indications may comprise erasure rate indicators provided by base stations in response to CQI signals from the access terminal, as well as mean received power levels associated with superframe preamble received at the access terminal. |
| US08416741B2 |
Machine-to-machine communications over fixed wireless networks
One or more devices determine uplink signal strength for a machine-to-machine (M2M) device using a wireless access network. The one or more devices identify a default uplink transmission mode that requires the M2M device to employ transmission time interval (TTI) bundling, when the uplink signal strength is below a particular threshold, and identify a default uplink transmission mode that requires the M2M device to not employ TTI bundling, when the uplink signal strength is not below the particular threshold. The one or more devices store, in a memory, the default transmission mode for the M2M device. The one or more devices retrieve, from the memory and during a wake-up time window associated with the M2M device, the default transmission mode for the M2M device and construct, for the M2M device, an uplink scheduling grant based on the stored default transmission mode. |
| US08416740B2 |
Grouping of users onto traffic channels in multiple-users-per-channel transmission schemes
A method includes transmitting downlink signals to at least first and second mobile communication terminals over respective first and second traffic channels. Reception quality measures are obtained from the first and second mobile communication terminals for at least one of the traffic channels. Based on the reception quality measures, an expected downlink performance is estimated for simultaneous transmission to the first and second mobile communication terminals on a candidate shared traffic channel. |
| US08416739B2 |
Apparatus and method for feeding back data receiving status
An apparatus and a method for feeding back data receiving status, applied to a system, are provided. The method includes sequencing, by a User Equipment (UE), downlink subframes for transmitting data with respect to each Component Carrier (CC), generating receiving status feedback information for the first X downlink subframes with respect to each CC according to the result of the sequencing, where X≦M, wherein M is the number of downlink subframes on each CC, and transmitting the receiving status feedback information generated with respect to each CC to a base station. Accordingly, the UE will not misinterpret the receiving status for the downlink subframes due to inconsistencies with the base station between transmitting and receiving feedback. This affects the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) transmission, saves the uplink overheads occupied by the receiving status feedback information, and increases the uplink coverage area. |
| US08416738B2 |
Communication system using joint leakage suppression scheme with low complexity
A communication method for at least one mobile station that includes a target mobile station that performs a Cooperative Multi-Point (CoMP) communication with at least two base stations, is provided. The communication method includes determining a beamforming vector used by the at least two base stations based on channel vectors and at least one channel matrix such that a signal-to-leakage-plus-noise-ratio (SLNR) for a target antenna from among antennas of a target mobile station is maximized. A Cholesky factorization may be used to determine an optimal beamforming vector with a low complexity. |
| US08416736B2 |
Candidate set management in a heterogeneous network
Techniques for managing candidate sets for a user equipment (UE) are described. In an aspect, multiple candidate sets of cells of different classes may be maintained for the UE. Each candidate set may include cells of a particular class. As some examples, the multiple candidate sets may be for cells of different transmit power levels, cells of different association types, cells associated with different resources, etc. The multiple candidate sets may be maintained separately based on applicable criteria and rules. The multiple candidate sets may be used to select a serving cell for the UE and/or for other communication purposes for the UE. In another aspect, one or more candidate sets may be maintained for the UE and may be used for multiple communication purposes for the UE. The multiple communication purposes may include server selection, interference management, measurement reporting, etc. |
| US08416735B2 |
Personal area networks
A system is provided with mobile units that are arranged to conduct wireless data communications with access points following a first protocol, such as IEEE standard 802.11. The mobile units are further arranged for modified protocol communications with peripheral devices that permanently associate with a mobile unit. |
| US08416732B2 |
Radio communication system for ACARS messages exchange
A radio communication system for ACARS messages exchange between an aircraft (2) and a ground center (20) includes in the aircraft a communication management unit (4) having a plurality of interfaces for connecting communication equipments among VHF, HF and SATCOM communication equipments (6, 10, 14), the communication equipments being adapted via respective bi-directional channels to each communicate independently with the ground center (20). The radio communication system further includes a communication unit (24) including emulating elements (44) for emulating a communication equipment when communicating with the communication management unit (4) and wireless access elements (50) for communication with a wireless access point (28) of a ground communication network (30). |
| US08416729B2 |
Optimizing downlink throughput with user cooperation and scheduling in adaptive cellular networks
User cooperation is an emerging transmission framework where users act as relays of each other to provide extra diversity paths for better overall performance. In various embodiments, systems and methods for transmitting data from a basestation to a mobile device in an adaptive communications network including user cooperation are provided. Among various embodiments, relaying is performed according to a time division duplex (TDD) system according to either a downlink-assisted relaying (DAR) which performs a relaying operation in a defined supplemental downlink timeslot or according to an uplink-assisted relaying (UAR) which performs a relaying operation in a defined supplemental uplink timeslot. Among other embodiments, relay transmissions according to a max-throughput scheduling algorithm which achieves a maximum system throughput without imposing any fairness constraints on users or according to a round-robin scheduling algorithm which achieves absolute fairness in terms of delays among the considered users. The downlink throughput is optimized from the basestation to the mobile device utilizing either amplify-and-forward (AF) or decode-and-forward (DF) cooperation protocols. |
| US08416726B2 |
Low power wireless network for logistics and transportation applications
Techniques are disclosed for reducing power of network devices in a low-power wireless network. Embodiments generally include, for a network device that periodically toggles between high-power and low-power modes, increasing the relative amount of time the network device operates in a low-power mode under certain conditions that may otherwise cause the network device to consume more power. Such conditions include when the network device fails to join the low-power wireless network and/or when the network device fails to communicate with the low-power wireless network with an accuracy above a certain threshold level. |
| US08416725B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmit power savings
An apparatus and method for transmit power savings comprising determining a rate of a previous frame; determining if a current frame is an ALWAYS-ON frame, wherein the current frame temporally succeeds the previous frame; and either ignoring every other reverse link power control (RLPC) bits received on a forward power control subchannel (F-PCSCH) or applying every RLPC bits received on the F-PCSCH. In one aspect, the apparatus and method for transmit power savings comprising using a rate determination algorithm (RDA) to determine a rate of a previous frame; detecting a pilot gating pattern at the end of the previous frame; comparing the rate of the previous frame to a threshold; determining if a current frame is an ALWAYS-ON frame; and declaring the current frame to be a 0 bps frame and puncturing the F-PCSCH to a predetermined frequency. |
| US08416723B2 |
Method, system, and device for establishing association-control relations
A method for establishing association-control relations includes these steps: An access adapting unit acquires subscription information of the user through a mobile application part (MAP) message, an SH interface message, or a Cx interface message; and acquires information indicating that the user is an ICS user from the subscription information of the user. A system, an access adapting unit, and an IMS CS control function (ICCF) for establishing association-control relations are also provided. In embodiments of the present invention, an access adapting unit such as a local-CS access adaptation function-network (L-CAAF-n) may know whether a user is an IMS centralized service (ICS) user and acquire the ICCF address information so that association-control relations may be established between the L-CAAF-n and the ICCF. |
| US08416719B2 |
Generating an estimated non-linear echo signal
Embodiments of a method and apparatus for generating an estimated non-linear echo signal are disclosed. One method includes receiving a plurality of data inputs. The plurality of data inputs are partitioned into subsets. A weight vector is computed for each of the subsets. A vector of addresses to memory locations is computed for each of the subsets. Values of interpolants are accessed at the memory locations (interpolation sites) based on the vector of addresses for each of the subsets. The estimated non-linear echo signal based is calculated on the values of the interpolants and the weight vector corresponding to each subset. |
| US08416716B2 |
Communication device and method using cooperative transmission and network coding transmission scheme
A communication device and method using a cooperative transmission and network coding transmission scheme are provided. A mobile station (MS) includes a data receiving unit to receive network coding data transmitted from at least one relay station (RS) and downlink data transmitted from a base station (BS), and a data transmission unit to transmit uplink data to the BS and the at least one RS, wherein the BS transmits the downlink data to the at least one RS. |
| US08416715B2 |
Interest determination for auditory enhancement
Gaze tracking or other interest indications are used during a video conference to determine one or more audio sources that are of interest to one or more participants to the video conference, such as by determining a conversation from among multiple conversations that a subset of participants are participating in or listening to, for enhancing the audio experience of one or more of the participants. |
| US08416714B2 |
Multimodal teleconferencing
Multimodal teleconferencing including receiving, by a multimodal teleconferencing module, a speech utterance from one of a plurality of participants in the multimodal teleconference; identifying the participant making the speech utterance as a current speaker; retrieving, by the multimodal teleconferencing module from accounts for the current speaker, content for display to the current speaker; retrieving, by the multimodal teleconferencing module from accounts for the current speaker, content for display to one or more other participants in the multimodal teleconference; providing, by the multimodal teleconferencing module to a multimodal teleconferencing client for display to the current speaker, an identification of the speaker and the content retrieved for the speaker; and providing, by the multimodal teleconferencing module to one or more of multimodal teleconferencing clients for display to the other participants, an identification of the current speaker with the content retrieved for the one or more other participants in the multimodal teleconference. |
| US08416709B1 |
Network data transmission analysis management
Network computing systems may implement data loss prevention (DLP) techniques to reduce or prevent unauthorized use or transmission of confidential information or to implement information controls mandated by statute, regulation, or industry standard. Implementations of network data transmission analysis systems and methods are disclosed that can use contextual information in a DLP policy to monitor data transmitted via the network. The contextual information may include information based on a network user's organizational structure or services or network infrastructure. Some implementations may detect bank card information in network data transmissions. Some of the systems and methods may be implemented on a virtual network overlaid on one or more intermediate physical networks that are used as a substrate network. |
| US08416705B2 |
User profile or user account association with multiple computers
Embodiments herein relate to associating an account of a user of a handheld computer with at least a second computer. A request is sent by the second computer to associate the second computer with the account of the user. Whether the second computer is authorized to be associated with the account is determined. The second computer is allowed to access resources on a network if the second computer is authorized to be associated with the account. |
| US08416704B2 |
Radio communication system and communication method
A radio communication system of a frequency hopping system, which carries out time division multiplex by TDMA and carries out communications while changing over two or more frequencies with respect to a radio link, wherein radio resources are efficiently utilized by establishing a plurality of radio links. A first communication apparatus periodically transmits control data by a frame cycle and a second communication apparatus which is a communication partner thereof receives the above-described control information during standby and secures synchronization in timing of frames and slots and timing of frequency hopping. Communication signals between both communication apparatuses and control information are overlapped in a slot to establish radio links. Once radio links are established in a plurality of slots other than a slot for transmitting control information, control is performed such that the control information is overlapped in the slots in which a radio link is established. |
| US08416699B1 |
Cable tester
A physical layer device for a network interface, in which the physical layer device includes a cable-test module and a data processing module. The physical layer module is configured to selectively test a cable connected to the physical layer device and to generate test data. The data processing module includes a first processor configured to process the test data and to generate test results indicating a cable status of the cable. The first processor is configured to selectively communicate the cable status to a second processor of a medium access controller. |
| US08416697B2 |
Identification of a fault
An apparatus, method, and system are provided for determining a location of an error source. Equalization coefficients may be retrieved and an average period of time between localized peak amplitudes may be determined. The average period of time may be multiplied by a velocity of propagation associated with a communication channel to determine an approximate location of the error source. The equalization coefficients may correspond to the inverse of the frequency response associated with the communication channel and may be updated over time using replacement or combination (e.g., convolution) techniques. |
| US08416694B2 |
Network feedback method and device
A network feedback method and appropriate devices are described, in which a node connected to a link can perform a remote flow control adjustment procedure for adjusting the flow control of a sender of data units being forwarded by node over the link. |
| US08416687B1 |
Adjusting transmission rates during packet expansion using in band signaling
Various embodiments provide a way to adjust transmission rates of a medium access controller (MAC) to a physical layer (PHY) to accommodate for packet expansions due to encryption that takes place in the PHY. In at least some embodiments, a communication interface between different MACs in a system is re-purposed to allow the PHY to communicate to a system MAC to notify the system MAC to pause and then resume, at an appropriate time, its packet transmissions. |
| US08416680B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling data communication
In a communication apparatus, a receive data processor receives data and retrieves a group data record corresponding to the received data out of a group data memory. A forwarding processor forwards the received data according to the group data record retrieved by the receive data processor. The group data memory stores group data records which associate protection group identifiers with path selection data. The protection group identifiers each identify a protection group that provides logical paths constituting a redundant logical path for transporting a group of data, and their corresponding path selection data specifies which logical path to use to forward data in that protection group. |
| US08416675B2 |
Tone reservation techniques for reducing peak-to-average power ratios
Embodiments of the present disclosure describe closed loop scheduled peak-to-average power (PAPR) reduction systems and methods to facilitate desired PAPR reduction. Other embodiments describe weighted tone reservation (WTR) methods and systems for PAPR reduction. Still other embodiments may be described and claimed. |
| US08416673B1 |
Canceling far end cross-talk in communication systems
A method and system are described for canceling far end cross-talk in communication systems. A first transmitter transmits the first effective data source signals across the first channel. A second transmitter transmits the second effective data source signals across the second channel. In one embodiment, a receiver unit receives first and second effective data source signals across a first channel and a second channel, respectively, and also one or more cross-talk signals. A far end cross talk (FEXT) canceller located in the receiver unit receives second estimated effective data source signals based on the second effective data source signals. The receiver unit cancels the one or more cross-talk signals using the second estimated effective data source signals. |
| US08416668B2 |
Information recording apparatus, information reproducing apparatus and recording media
An apparatus for recording information in an optical-information recording media by holography includes a signal-light irradiation unit, a reference-light irradiation unit, a reference light angle adjustment unit, and a positioning unit for positioning irradiation positions of the signal light and the reference light. The optical-information recording media is divided into N (N≧2) recording regions, M multiplexed information can be recorded in the respective recording regions by the reference light angle adjustment unit which changes the angle of the reference light at M angles (θ1, θ2, . . . , and θM) corresponding to a multiplexing number (M≧2), management information for the M multiplexed information is multiplexed and recorded in the same recording region as a-th information (1≦a≦M) with a reference light angle θa, and the management information on all the N recording regions are recorded at a common reference light angle. |
| US08416667B2 |
Optical storage medium with optically detectable marks
Optically detectable marks readable by a wide range of optical systems are included on an optical storage medium. Among other uses, the marks may be used to determine the type of the optical storage medium in an optical device capable of reading multiple types of optical storage media. |
| US08416663B2 |
Overwrite control for data in a tape recording apparatus
A data-overwriting technique that facilitates determining whether data is new or old, when reading thereof. A tape recording apparatus includes: a receiving unit for receiving information on overwrite starting position and an overwrite request; a trying unit for trying to determine a beginning position of a data unit based on the information on an overwrite starting position, wherein the data unit is a unit of writing data recorded on a tape medium; an overwrite executing unit for executing overwriting from the determined overwrite starting position in response to a success of the determination by the trying unit; and a type judging unit for judging whether the data unit that is recorded at the overwrite starting position is a null data unit or not in response to a failure of the determination by the trying unit. The trying unit responds to judgment that the data unit is the null data unit by trying to determine a beginning of a data unit following the data unit as the overwrite starting position. |
| US08416660B2 |
Recording quality evaluation method of optical disk and optical disk storage system
There is provided a method of calculating the degradation over time of the quality of data recorded on an optical disk in a short time. In the method, when user data is recorded on a data area, a test signal including a component in which the signal level is smaller than a reference value, is recorded on a test area. Then, the test signal is reproduced from the test area when a predetermined time has passed, to calculate the quality degradation of the user data from the evaluation result. Alternatively, every time when the user data is recorded/reproduced on/from the data area, the test signal is recorded/reproduced repeatedly on/from the test area. Then, the test signal is reproduced from the test area at a predetermined timing, to calculate the quality degradation of the user data from the evaluation result. |
| US08416653B2 |
Disc access apparatus and disc access method
The directory information on a file system recorded on an optical disc is cached onto a hard disk as a directory table. When accessing a file on the optical disc, a processor references the directory table so as to obtain information related to a position, on the disc medium, where the file to be accessed is located, without accessing the directory information on the optical disc. A disc I/O controller moves a pickup unit to the location indicated by the positional information on the file to be accessed and reads the data on the file. The pickup unit is used to detect signals from the optical disc. |
| US08416651B2 |
Servo control using digital signal processing for optical disk drive
A servo processor for an optical disk drive is provided that includes: an analog-to-digital converter for converting versions of photodetector output signals into digital signals; and a digital signal processor configured to receive the digital signals, the digital signal processor being further configured to determine a focus error signal (FES) and a tracking error signal (TES) from the digital signals, the digital signal processor being further configured to process TES and FES through servo algorithms to produce tracking and focus control signals. |
| US08416649B2 |
Main pole design for thermally assisted magnetic recording
Improved spatial resolution during TAMR has been achieved by shaping the write pole to have a lower surface that slopes away from the surface of the recording medium, starting at, or near, the pole's leading edge. The approach may be used for simple or compound (stitched) poles. |
| US08416647B1 |
Optical transducers and methods of making the same
A near field transducer (NFT) that includes a disk, the disk having a top surface, a side surface, and a center; a peg, the peg positioned adjacent the side surface of the disk; and a heat sink, the heat sink positioned on the top surface of the disk, and the heat sink having an effective center, wherein the NFT has a peg axis, which is defined by the location of the peg adjacent the side surface of the disk, and a non-peg axis, which is perpendicular to the peg axis, and wherein the effective center of the heat sink is positioned at about the center of the disk. |
| US08416646B2 |
Magnetic recording disk drive with shingled writing and rectangular optical waveguide for wide-area thermal assistance
A thermally-assisted recording (TAR) disk drive uses “shingled” recording and a rectangular waveguide as a “wide-area” heat source. The waveguide generates a generally elliptically-shaped optical spot that heats an area of the recording layer extending across multiple data tracks. The waveguide core has an aspect ratio (cross-track width to along-the track thickness) that achieves the desired size of the heated area while locating the peak optical intensity close to the trailing edge of the write pole tip where writing occurs. The large cross-track width of the waveguide core increases the volume of recording layer heated by the optical spot, which reduces the rate of cooling. This moves the peak temperature point of the heated area closer to the write pole tip and reduces the temperature drop between the peak temperature and the temperature at the trailing edge of the write pole tip where writing occurs. |
| US08416645B2 |
Time zone on demand on the main hands of a timepiece
The invention concerns a mechanism (100) for displaying, on demand, the time in a time zone, on the hands of a timepiece.It is characterized in that it includes: two memory wheels (30), each including a heart-piece (40) that pivots relative to a toothed wheel (31) between indexing positions (34) thereon, with which it cooperates via a finger-piece (41) radially returned to said positions by a spring (43), support means (50), which, between two actions by the user, connectably cooperates with a support surface (45) of a memory wheel (30) and is then disconnected from a support surface (45) of the other memory wheel (30), a differential gear (12) with a first input formed by a motion work wheel set, a second input formed by a crown (12A) of said differential gear (12) with which each memory wheel (30) meshes, and an output consisting of an hour hand (25). The invention concerns a timepiece incorporating a mechanism (100) of this type. |
| US08416642B2 |
Signal processing apparatus and method for removing reflected wave generated by robot platform
Disclosed herein is a signal processing apparatus and method for removing a reflected wave generated by a robot platform. The signal processing apparatus includes a transfer function measuring unit for measuring an inter-channel transfer function (IcTF) from signals of a plurality of channels; an impulse response obtaining unit for obtaining an inter-channel impulse response (IcIR) from the IcTF measured by the transfer function measuring unit; and reflected wave removing unit for removing the reflected wave by differentiating a direct wave directly generated by a sound source and the reflected wave with a time delay from the IcIR obtained by the impulse response obtaining unit. The signal processing method of removing a reflected wave includes measuring an IcTF from signals of a plurality of channels; obtaining an IcIR from the measured IcTF; and removing the reflected wave by differentiating a direct wave directly generated by a sound source and a the reflected wave with a time delay from the obtained IcIR. |
| US08416640B2 |
Methods for optimizing offset distribution of cross spread 3-D seismic surveys using variable shot line length
A method for acquiring three-dimensional seismic data for sub-surface geologic features wherein a seismic source array is moved along a survey pattern having a plurality of source lines of unequal lengths that are substantially parallel to each other and intersect a receiver line. The survey pattern can be repeated in an overlapping and interleaved fashion to survey a larger area. |
| US08416637B2 |
Semiconductor memory apparatus, and circuit and method for controlling faulty address therein
A faulty address control circuit comprises a variable resistance fuse unit configured to be driven in response to an address signal, a resistance value of the variable resistance fuse unit being determined based on an amount of an applied current; a driving unit configured to output a driving signal based on the resistance value of the variable resistance fuse unit in response to a faulty address control signal; and an address storage and determination unit configured to receive the address signal, be driven by the driving signal to output the address signal or an inverted signal of the address signal. |
| US08416636B2 |
Techniques for controlling a semiconductor memory device
Techniques for controlling a semiconductor memory device are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for controlling a semiconductor memory device including applying a plurality of voltage potentials to a plurality of memory cells arranged in an array of rows and columns. Applying the plurality of voltage potentials to the plurality of memory cells may include applying a first voltage potential to a first memory cell in a row of the array via a first respective bit line and a first switch transistor, applying a second voltage potential to a second memory cell in the row of the array via a second respective bit line and a second switch transistor, and applying a third voltage potential to at least one third memory cell in the row of the array via at least one third respective bit line and at least one third switch transistor, wherein the at least one third memory cell may be located between the first memory cell and the second memory cell in the row of the array. |
| US08416633B2 |
SRAM leakage reduction circuit
A method and system are provided for maintaining a virtual ground node of an SRAM memory array at a minimum level sufficient for maintaining data retention. A circuit can maintain the virtual ground node at a virtual ground reference voltage of VDD−(1.5*Vth), or maintain 1.5*Vth across the memory cells, where Vth is a threshold voltage of an SRAM memory cell transistor and VDD is a positive supply voltage. By tracking the Vth of the memory cell transistors in the SRAM array, the circuit reduces leakage current while maintaining data integrity. A threshold voltage reference circuit can include one or more memory cell transistors (in parallel), or a specially wired memory cell to track the memory cell transistor threshold voltage. The value of the virtual ground reference voltage can be based on a ratio of feedback chain elements in a multiplier circuit. |
| US08416632B2 |
Bitline precharge voltage generator, semiconductor memory device comprising same, and method of trimming bitline precharge voltage
A bitline precharge voltage generator comprises a leakage trimming unit and a bitline precharge voltage providing unit. The leakage trimming unit applies a leakage current to an output node to place a bitline precharge voltage at an edge of a dead zone. The bitline precharge voltage providing unit provides the bitline precharge voltage to the output node, and sets the bitline precharge voltage to a target level. The bitline precharge voltage generator generates the bitline precharge voltage having a distribution including the dead zone. |
| US08416628B2 |
Local sensing in a memory device
Methods for sensing, memory devices, and memory systems are disclosed. In one such memory device, a local sense circuit provides sensing of an upper group of memory cells while a global sense circuit provides sensing of a lower group of memory cells. Data sensed by the local sense circuit is transferred to the global sense circuit over local data lines or a global transfer line that is multiplexed to the local data lines. An alternate embodiment uses the local sense circuit to sense both upper and lower groups of memory cells. |
| US08416626B2 |
Detecting the completion of programming for non-volatile storage
A set of non-volatile storage elements are subjected to a programming process in order to store data. During the programming process, one or more verification operations are performed to determine whether the non-volatile storage elements have reached their target condition to store the appropriate data. Programming can be stopped when all non-volatile storage elements have reached their target level or when the number of non-volatile storage elements that have not reached their target level is less than a number or memory cells that can be corrected using an error correction process during a read operation (or other operation). The number of non-volatile storage elements that have not reached their target level can be estimated by counting the number of non-volatile storage elements that have not reached a condition that is different (e.g., lower) than the target level. |
| US08416622B2 |
Driving method of a semiconductor device with an inverted period having a negative potential applied to a gate of an oxide semiconductor transistor
A period (inverted period) in which a high negative potential is applied to a gate of the transistor is provided between a writing period and a retention period. In the inverted period, supply of positive electric charge from the drain of the transistor to the oxide semiconductor layer is promoted. Thus, accumulation of positive electric charge in the oxide semiconductor layer or at the interface between the oxide semiconductor layer and a gate insulating film can converge in a short time. Therefore, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the positive electric charge in the node electrically connected to the drain of the transistor in the retention period after the inverted period. That is, the temporal change of data stored in the semiconductor device can be suppressed. |
| US08416621B2 |
Non-volatile memory storage apparatus, memory controller and data storing method
A non-volatile memory storage apparatus having a connector, an energy storage circuit, a power regulator and supply circuit, a non-volatile memory module, a memory controller and a buffer memory is provided. The power regulator and supply circuit is configured for transforming an output voltage from the energy storage circuit into a first voltage used for the non-volatile memory module and a second voltage used for the memory controller and the buffer memory. The memory controller is configured for writing data stored temporarily in the buffer memory into the non-volatile memory module with a special writing mode when receiving a detecting signal indicating that an input voltage is continuously smaller than a predetermined voltage for a predetermined period or receiving a detecting signal indicating that an inactive status of the connector or receiving a suspend mode signal, a warm reset signal or a hot reset signal from a host system. |
| US08416619B2 |
Magnetic memory with phonon glass electron crystal material
A magnetic memory unit includes a tunneling barrier separating a free magnetic element and a reference magnetic element. A first phonon glass electron crystal layer is disposed on a side opposing the tunneling barrier of either the free magnetic element or the reference magnetic element. A second phonon glass electron crystal layer also be disposed on a side opposing the tunneling barrier of either the free magnetic element or the reference magnetic element to provide a Peltier effect on the free magnetic element and the reference magnetic element. |
| US08416618B2 |
Writable magnetic memory element
The invention relates to a writable magnetic element comprising a stack of layers presenting a write magnetic layer, wherein the stack has a central layer of at least one magnetic material presenting a direction of magnetization that is parallel or perpendicular to the plane of the central layer, said central layer being sandwiched between first and second outer layers of non-magnetic materials, the first outer layer comprising a first non-magnetic material and the second outer layer comprising a second non-magnetic material that is different from the first non-magnetic material, at least the second non-magnetic material being electrically conductive, wherein it includes a device for causing current to flow through the second outer layer and the central layer in a current flow direction parallel to the plane of the central layer, and a device for applying a magnetic field having a component along a magnetic field direction that is either parallel or perpendicular to the plane of the central layer and the current flow direction, and wherein the magnetization direction and the magnetic field direction are mutually perpendicular. |
| US08416617B2 |
Semiconductor device, semiconductor system having the same, and method for operating the semiconductor device
A semiconductor device includes phase-change memory cells and an access circuit. The access circuit generates a plurality of bitwise comparison signals indicating different comparison events for respective write and read bit groups. At least a portion of the write data is then written to the phase-change memory cells according to a number of activated comparison signals for each comparison event, as well as according to a ratio of a set current pulse width and a reset current pulse width as applied to the of phase-change memory cells. |
| US08416614B2 |
Spin-transfer torque memory non-destructive self-reference read method
A method of self-reference reading a spin-transfer torque memory unit includes applying a first read current through a magnetic tunnel junction data cell and forming a first bit line read voltage. The magnetic tunnel junction data cell has a first resistance state. Then the method includes applying a second read current thorough the magnetic tunnel junction data cell having the first resistance state. The first read current is less than the second read current. Then the first bit line read voltage is compared with the second bit line read voltage to determine whether the first resistance state of the magnetic tunnel junction data cell was a high resistance state or low resistance state. |
| US08416613B1 |
Magnetoresistive bridge nonvolatile memory device
A magnetoresistive bridge nonvolatile memory device having a flat, continuous folded closed magnetic loop, the magnetic loop having a side for holding four sense metal terminated magnetic shunts, and four planar central parallel rectangular giant magnetoresistive GMR resistors, each of the four central parallel rectangular giant magnetoresistive GMR resistors being located on the side of the continuous folded closed magnetic loop between each of two of the sense metal terminated magnetic shunts, each two of the four sense metal terminated magnetic shunts electrically connected to adjacent ends of a central parallel rectangular giant magnetoresistive GMR resistor. |
| US08416612B2 |
Memory and data processing method
A memory includes: memory devices that each store data of one bit; and a read unit that, by using one predetermined memory device of the memory devices that are included in a memory block having a predetermined unit number of the memory devices as an inversion flag device, reads out data of (the predetermined unit number −1) bits that is written in the other memory devices with the bits being inverted in a case where the data of one bit written in the inversion flag device is a first value representing any one of “0” and “1” and directly reads out the data of (the predetermined unit number −1) bits that is written in the other memory devices in a case where the data of one bit written in the inversion flag device is a second value other than the first value. |
| US08416611B2 |
Magnetoresistance effect element and magnetic random access memory
A magnetoresistance effect element includes: a magnetization free layer; a spacer layer provided adjacent to the magnetization free layer; a first magnetization fixed layer provided adjacent to the spacer layer on a side opposite to the magnetization free layer; and at least two second magnetization fixed layers provided adjacent to the magnetization free layer. The magnetization free layer, the first magnetization fixed layer, and the second magnetization free layers respectively have magnetization components in a direction substantially perpendicular to film surfaces thereof. The magnetization free layer includes: two magnetization fixed portions; and a domain wall motion portion arranged between the two magnetization fixed portions. Magnetizations of the two magnetization fixed portions constituting the magnetization free layer are fixed substantially antiparallel to each other in directions substantially perpendicular to the film surface. The domain wall motion portion is provided with magnetic anisotropy in a direction perpendicular to the film surface. |
| US08416610B2 |
Systems and devices including local data lines and methods of using, making, and operating the same
Disclosed are methods, systems and devices including local data lines. In some embodiments, the device includes a local data line connected to a plurality of access devices, at least a portion of a capacitor plate connected to the plurality of access devices, and a global data line connected to the local data line by the capacitor plate. |
| US08416609B2 |
Cross-point memory cells, non-volatile memory arrays, methods of reading a memory cell, methods of programming a memory cell, methods of writing to and reading from a memory cell, and computer systems
Cross-point memory cells, non-volatile memory arrays, methods of reading a memory cell, methods of programming a memory cell, and methods of writing to and reading from a memory cell are described. In one embodiment, a cross-point memory cell includes a word line extending in a first direction, a bit line extending in a second direction different from the first direction, the bit line and the word line crossing without physically contacting each other, and a capacitor formed between the word line and the bit line where such cross. The capacitor comprises a dielectric material configured to prevent DC current from flowing from the word line to the bit line and from the bit line to the word line. |
| US08416601B2 |
Phase change random access memory apparatus for controlling data transmission
A phase change memory apparatus includes: a plurality of sub blocks; a latch block connected in common with the sub blocks through a read bus and configured to latch data from one of the sub blocks; and a comparator connected in common with the sub blocks to receive data from a write bus, and configured to compare data of the latch block with the data of the write bus to generate a comparison signal, which is effective in improving areal efficiency by sharing the latch block among the sub blocks in the unit mat. |
| US08416597B2 |
Control device for rectifiers of switching converters
A control device for a rectifier of a switching converter, the converter powered by an input voltage and suitable for providing an output current. The rectifier is suitable for rectifying an output current of the converter and includes at least one transistor. The control device is suitable for driving the at least one transistor. The control device has a first circuit suitable for identifying the start and the end of every converter switching half-cycle and measuring the duration thereof, a second circuit suitable for generating a signal for turning on the transistor after a given number of measured converter switching half-cycles and when the output current of the converter becomes greater than a reference current. |
| US08416591B2 |
DC-DC converter with soft start circuit
Provided is a DC-DC converter including a soft start circuit capable of prolonging a soft start time without increasing a capacitance used in the soft start circuit. A soft start is implemented by gradually increasing a limiting level of an inductor current or a reference voltage. The soft start time is adjusted by varying a frequency of CLOCK signals supplied to switch circuits. The soft start time may be prolonged without increasing a chip size because the capacitance does not need to be increased to prolong the soft start time. |
| US08416590B2 |
Power supply device
The present power supply device includes a microcomputer that detects a current input to an active filter, a voltage input to the active filter, and a voltage output from the active filter, decreases a target voltage as the input current increases, and controls an IGBT to turn on/off the IGBT to match the input current and the input voltage in phase with each other and also match the output voltage to the target voltage. Thus, as the input current increases, the target voltage is decreased. A power supply terminal can have a voltage with a low noise level. |
| US08416583B2 |
Energy output circuit and its control method
An energy output circuit and its control method includes a switch device (2), a transformer (4) and a controller (1). The switch device (2) is connected between a primary of the transformer (4) and an input power source in series. The controller (1) calculates an energy output waveform and sends a command according to a request or a level to control the switch device (2), to control the on/off time of the primary of the transformer (4). The transformer (4) is an ordinary low-frequency transformer. |
| US08416577B2 |
Coreless substrate and method for making the same
The present invention relates to a coreless substrate and a method for making the same. The method for making the coreless substrate includes: (a) providing a carrier and a first conductive layer, wherein the carrier has a first surface and a second surface, and the first conductive layer is disposed on the first surface of the carrier; (b) forming a first embedded circuit on the first conductive layer; (c) forming a first dielectric layer so as to cover the first embedded circuit; (d) removing the carrier; (e) removing part of the first conductive layer so as to form at least one first pad; and (f) forming a first solder mask so as to cover the first embedded circuit and the first dielectric layer and to expose the first pad. Therefore, the coreless substrate of the present invention has high density of layout and involves low manufacturing cost. |
| US08416573B2 |
Fluid cooling
A fluid cooling system comprising a pipe unit through which coolant fluid flows. The pipe unit is provided with one or more actuators at least a part of which is formed of shape memory alloy. The actuators are configured to extend by applied heat. |
| US08416571B2 |
Storage apparatus and method of controlling cooling fans for storage apparatus
A storage apparatus includes: a storage drive providing a physical storage area for creating a logical storage area used by an external apparatus; a storage controller including a plurality of central processing units (CPUs) executing data write processing from the external apparatus to the storage drive, and data read processing from the storage drive; a plurality of cooling fans cooling the storage drive; a temperature sensor detecting a temperature of air introduced or discharged by the cooling fans; and a revolving speed sensor detecting a revolving speed of each cooling fan. Any of the CPUs executes operation control processing in which, through a data network path to the storage drive for the data write and read processing, measurement values of the temperature and revolving speed sensors are acquired and a revolving speed setup value of the fans is calculated and is transmitted to the cooling fans. |
| US08416570B2 |
Open frame electronic chassis for enclosed modules
An open frame chassis has a top opening and a bottom opening permitting ambient airflow. A plurality of modules, each enclosing electrical components in thermal contact with a heat sink area of their corresponding module, can each be inserted in the chassis. Ambient air may flow from the bottom opening across the heat sink area of each module to the top opening to passively cool the modules and electrical components. Key pins guide the modules into place and prevent incorrect insertion of a different type of electrical module not corresponding to the electrical connection of the chassis for that slot. Guide pins on corners of the modules mate with guide holes in the chassis to secure the module to the chassis and decrease vibration. Both sides of the chassis have side openings through which the fins of the modules in the end slots of the chassis may be exposed. |
| US08416568B2 |
Removable portable computer device
The present invention provides a removable portable computer device. In an embodiment, the portable computer device includes: a flat panel computer; a base; a back plate; a first connection structure through which the base is connected with the back plate; a second connection structure through which the back plate is connected with the flat panel computer. The flat panel computer is removably connected onto the back plate through the second connection structure. In the present invention, the flat panel computer is removably mounted on the back plate through the second connection structure. When the computer is required to be used at other location and a mass of keyboard input is not needed, it only requires to take off the flat panel computer from the back plate so as to easily carry the computer from one location to another location for use, thus the portability is greatly increased. |
| US08416563B2 |
Swapping apparatus of electronic device
A swapping apparatus of an electronic device is installed on the electronic device, and the swapping apparatus includes two shift handles and a latch base, and the two shift handles are respectively and pivotally to two opposite sides of the electronic device, and each shift handle includes a handle bar and a shift button, and an end of the handle bar is a pivot portion pivotally coupled to the electronic device, and the other end of the handle bar is a connecting portion, and the shift button is elastically sheathed on the connecting portion, and the latch base is fixed to the electronic device and disposed between the two shift buttons, and each of the two shift buttons has a first latch portion and a corresponding second latch portion disposed separately on both sides of the latch base for latching onto the first latch portion. |
| US08416557B2 |
Solid electrolytic capacitor and method for manufacturing the same
A solid electrolytic capacitor includes an anode foil, a solid electrolyte provided on the anode foil and made of conductive polymer, and a cathode foil provided on the solid electrolyte and facing the anode foil across the solid electrolyte. The anode foil includes an anode base made of aluminum, a rough surface layer made of aluminum and provided on a surface of the anode base, and a dielectric oxide layer provided on the rough surface layer and contacting the solid electrolyte. The cathode foil includes a cathode base made of aluminum, and a nickel layer provided on a surface of the cathode base and contacting the solid electrolyte. The nickel layer faces the dielectric oxide layer of the anode foil across the solid electrolyte. The nickel layer is made of nickel and nickel oxide. This solid electrolytic capacitor has a large capacitance and a low equivalent series resistance while being inexpensive and highly reliable. |
| US08416553B2 |
Bias and discharge system for low power loss start up and input capacitance discharge
A power supply including an AC input, a filter, a full wave rectifier, a converter, a second rectifier, and a bias system. The filter includes at least one differential capacitor coupled to the AC input. The full wave rectifier develops a DC bus voltage on a DC bus node. The converter includes a controller and operates to convert the DC bus voltage to a regulated output voltage. The second rectifier is coupled to the AC input for developing a DC bias voltage on a DC bias node. The bias system is coupled between the DC bias node and a reference node and provides at least one start-up voltage to the controller, such as a supply voltage or a sense voltage or the like. The bias circuit includes at least one current discharge path for discharging each differential capacitor within a predetermined time period when AC line voltage is removed. |
| US08416547B2 |
Short circuit protection with reduced offset voltage
Described herein is technology for, among other things, short-circuit protection. The technology involves sensing a current that is based on an output current and generating a current sense signal in response. The technology further involves buffering the current sense signal. The technology further involves limiting the output current when it exceeds a threshold value. |
| US08416543B2 |
Apparatus and method for electronic circuit protection
Apparatuses and methods for electronic circuit protection are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises an internal circuit electrically connected between a first node and a second node, and a protection circuit electrically connected between the first node and the second node and configured to protect the internal circuit from transient electrical events. The protection circuit comprises a bipolar transistor having an emitter connected to the first node, a base connected to a third node, and a collector connected to a fourth node. The protection circuit further comprises a first diode electrically connected between the third node and the fourth node, and a second diode electrically connected between the second node and the fourth node. The first diode is an avalanche breakdown diode having an avalanche breakdown voltage lower than or about equal to a breakdown voltage associated with the base and the collector of the bipolar transistor. |
| US08416542B2 |
Electronic device
Disclosed is an electronic device capable of controlling a power supply interrupt according to the state of water leakage. A portable telephone (1) is equipped with a water leakage detection unit (60) that detects a physical quantity which changes according to the state of water leakage and a CPU (49) that interrupts a power supply in response to the detection result from the water leakage detection unit (60). When the electrostatic capacity detected by the water leakage detection unit (60) is greater than or equal to a threshold value A and less than a threshold value B, the CPU (49) continues to interrupt the power supply until a time T1 elapses, and when the electrostatic capacity detected by the water leakage detection unit (60) is equal to or greater than the threshold value B, said CPU continues to interrupt the power supply until a time T2 which is longer than the time T1 elapses. |
| US08416537B2 |
Recording head with tilted orientation
In one embodiment, a read sensor for a recording head for a magnetic media storage system, has first and second shields, and a magneto-resistive sensor disposed between and shielded by the first and second shields in which the sensing axis of the sensor is tilted with respect to the recording surface of the head. In one embodiment, the sensing axis is oriented at an angle between 10 and 60 degrees with respect to the normal of the recording surface. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08416536B2 |
Head suspension and method of manufacturing the head suspension with particular electrical connection arrangement between a piezoelectric element and a wiring member
A head suspension has a base, a piezoelectric element, a load beam, and a wiring member to supply electric power to the piezoelectric element so that the piezoelectric element deforms to move the load beam relative to the base. The wiring member has a conductive base layer, an insulating layer, and a wiring layer layered in this order. The wiring layer has a wiring electrode. The piezoelectric element has an element electrode. A through hole is formed through the conductive base layer and insulating layer, to expose the wiring electrode to the element electrode. A projection is formed on at least one of the wiring electrode and element electrode, to face the other electrode through the through hole. The projection brings the electrodes into contact with each other and a conductive adhesive joins the electrodes and together. |
| US08416531B2 |
Head suspension load beam with stiffening features
Embodiments provide head suspension load beams formed from a sheet of material with one or more stiffening members molded on the sheet. In some cases the sheet material includes an out-of-plane portion extending out at a nonzero angle, and the stiffening member includes a rib formed on the sheet material about the out-of-plane portion of the sheet material. In some cases a void extending through the sheet material connects portions of a stiffening member on opposite surfaces of the sheet material. Ribs of stiffening material may also provide flow pathways for directing moldable material to portions of the sheet, such as for forming a rib about the sheet edge. A method of making a load beam includes placing a sheet material within an injection mold and bending a portion of the sheet material during the molding process. |
| US08416529B2 |
Magnetically damped return pole in a magnetic head
A magnetic head comprises a main pole, a return pole and a magnetic damper. The main pole is configured to emit flux and the return pole is configured to return the flux to the main pole. The magnetic damper is inductively coupled to the return pole and comprises a first conductor spaced from a first side of the return pole, a second conductor spaced from a second side of the return pole and a third conductor connecting the first conductor to the second conductor. |
| US08416523B2 |
Disk drive device with versatile shaped core for rotating a disk
A disk drive device comprises a hub on which a magnetic recording disk is to be mounted; a base rotatably supporting the hub through a bearing unit; a sintered core fixed to the base, the sintered core having a ring portion and nine teeth that extend radially from the ring portion; coils wound around nine teeth; and a cylindrical magnet fixed to the hub. The sintered core is formed by heat-treating an iron powder. At least one of (a) the surfaces of particles of the iron powder and (b) the surfaces of the sintered core is insulated. |
| US08416513B1 |
Book holding apparatus with a magnifying visible area
A book holding apparatus with a magnifying visible area is configured with a bottom section, a left support arm, a right support arm, an upper section, a power supply plug, and a plurality of accessories. The bottom section is attached to the upper section by the left support arm and the right support arm. The upper section includes at least two light-emitting diode (LED) light strips and a fresnel lens. The power supply plug is electrically connected to the at least two LED light strips, and the at least two LED light strips provides the necessary illumination to the upper section. When the users place reading materials on the bottom section, they are able to see a magnified view of the reading materials through the fresnel lens, and the plurality of accessories provides additional functionality for the book holding apparatus with a magnifying visible area. |
| US08416510B2 |
Imaging lens
An imaging lens includes a first lens group having a first lens that directs a concave surface to an image plane side and is negative; a second lens group having a second lens that directs a concave surface to an object side and is positive; an aperture; a third lens group having a third lens that is positive; and a fourth lens group having a joined lens that is composed of a fourth lens that is positive and a fifth lens that is negative. In the configuration, when the whole lens system has a focal length f and a composite focal length of the first lens group to the third lens group is Fa, the imaging lens satisfies the following relation: 0.3 |
| US08416494B2 |
Screen, projector, and image display device
A screen includes; a plurality of layers including a diffusion layer that diffuses incident light; an elastic member that movably supports the diffusion layer with respect to an arbitrary holding part; and a driving unit that moves the diffusion layer in a direction perpendicular to an optical axis of light that is incident to the diffusion layer. |
| US08416487B2 |
Photonic MEMS and structures
An interference modulator (Imod) incorporates anti-reflection coatings and/or micro-fabricated supplemental lighting sources. An efficient drive scheme is provided for matrix addressed arrays of IMods or other micromechanical devices. An improved color scheme provides greater flexibility. Electronic hardware can be field reconfigured to accommodate different display formats and/or application functions. An IMod's electromechanical behavior can be decoupled from its optical behavior. An improved actuation means is provided, some one of which may be hidden from view. An IMod or IMod array is fabricated and used in conjunction with a MEMS switch or switch array. An IMod can be used for optical switching and modulation. Some IMods incorporate 2-D and 3-D photonic structures. A variety of applications for the modulation of light are discussed. A MEMS manufacturing and packaging approach is provided based on a continuous web fed process. IMods can be used as test structures for the evaluation of residual stress in deposited materials. |
| US08416485B2 |
Designing the host of nano-structured optoelectronic devices to improve performance
A nanostructured optoelectronic device is provided which comprises a nanostructured material and a host material intermingled with the nanostructured material. The host material may have a higher index of refraction than the nanostructured material. The host material's index of refraction may be chosen to maximize the effective active area of the device. In an alternative embodiment, the host material comprises scattering centers or absorption/luminescence centers which absorb light and reemit the light at a different energy or both. |
| US08416484B2 |
Vibrating mirror element
This vibrating mirror element includes a pair of first beam portions supporting a mirror portion in a vibratile manner, a pair of second beam portions connected with the pair of first beam portions respectively, and a pair of driving portions connected with the pair of second beam portions respectively. The mirror portion is arranged in a region surrounded by the pair of second beam portions and the pair of driving portions. The width of the pair of first beam portions and the width of the pair of second beam portions are rendered smaller than the width of the pair of driving portions. |
| US08416482B2 |
Micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) based high definition micro-projectors
In one aspect, a system for facilitating short depth projection is shown and described. In brief overview, the system comprises a MEMS scanner that produces a ray of light in communication with an illumination source. An oscillating micromirror receives the ray of light from the illumination source and reflects the ray to one or more points on a curved reflective surface. The micromirror comprises a silicon mirror reinforced by a high-stiffness material. The system further comprises a screen on which the curved reflective surface projects the ray of light received from the micromirror. |
| US08416467B2 |
Fixture structure, optical device, image reading device and image forming device
A fixture structure is disclosed that is able to independently adjust relative positions of constituent components in different directions and able to reduce workload of the relative position adjustment. The fixture structure includes plural members fixed with each other by screws, a first adjustment unit for adjusting relative positions of two or more of the members in a first direction and arranged on surfaces of the two or more members parallel to the first direction, and a second adjustment unit for adjusting relative positions of two of more of the members in a second direction intersecting with the first direction and arranged on surfaces of the two or more members parallel to the second direction. |
| US08416464B2 |
Document processing apparatus and document processing method
Line spacing values in a document image are extracted and a variance is calculated for fluctuations in the line spacing values. When the calculated variance is higher than a preset threshold value, the document image is determined as having watermark information embedded therein. Such use of the variance in the line spacing values enables high-speed determination of the presence or absence of line-spacing watermark information. At this time, it is possible to speed up the determination by using only some line spacing values in the document, instead of using all line spacing values. |
| US08416462B2 |
Information processing apparatus, method, program, and storage medium
An information processing apparatus includes a first information acquisition unit, a second information acquisition unit, a third information acquisition unit, and an information embedder. The first information acquisition unit obtains target information. The second information acquisition unit obtains given information to be embedded in the target information. The third information acquisition unit obtains control information for accessing the given information. The information embedder generates embed information from the given information and the control information and embeds the embed information in the target information. |
| US08416456B2 |
Scanning apparatus achieving boundary localization and method for achieving boundary localization thereof
The present invention relates to a method for achieving boundary localization in a scanning apparatus, as well as to a scanning apparatus, which is capable of achieving intelligent judgement on boundary localization of the scanned file by means of this method, through an effective combination of optical, electronical and mechanical techniques. Said method comprises: a regular ribbon, a sensor module capable of detecting the ribbon, and the file to be scanned is placed between the ribbon and the sensor module; said sensor module first scans the ribbon information and stores it in the storage module of the scanning apparatus; said file to be scanned is placed between the sensor module and the ribbon, through the measured ribbon portion covered by the file to be scanned, the sensor is capable of deriving the boundary position of the file to be scanned by means of contrast measurement. With the scanning apparatus capable of achieving boundary localization. |
| US08416455B2 |
Image processor for correcting image data
An image-processor includes an acquiring unit and a correcting unit. The acquiring unit acquires image data and ambient light data indicating a degree of a first color temperature with respect to a second color temperature. The first color temperature represents a color temperature for a first ambient light. The second color temperature represents a color temperature for a second ambient light. A first image, which corresponds to the image data, is perceived in the first ambient light as an image having one color appearance. The first image is perceived in the second ambient light as an image having another color appearance. The correcting unit corrects the image data such that a color appearance of the first image under the first ambient light are reproduced under the second ambient light. The correcting unit corrects the image data based on the ambient light data such that an image based the corrected image data is brighter as the second color temperature is higher than the first color temperature and such that the image corresponding to the corrected image data is darker as the second color temperature is lower than the first color temperature. |
| US08416451B2 |
Natural language color communication and system interface
A method and system for controlling color output includes receiving a document containing a color image, producing a first output copy of the document using a first color processing path, receiving at least one natural language request to adjust the color output of the device, adjusting the color output of the device, and producing a second output copy of the document. The method and system further includes presenting natural language descriptions of the effects of color processing paths with or without sample palettes to the user either to solicit a suggestion from the user or present the user with choices based upon the natural language request received. |
| US08416450B2 |
Turn-bar document handling apparatus for utilization with a lazy-portrait document printing system
For use with lazy-portrait narrow-end to narrow-end (LPEE) formatted document pages printed on a continuous web of material, a system and method for assembling correctly page-sequenced document sets that utilizes a slitter for separating the LPEE formatted document pages into two separate streams of continuous sheets, a turn-bar assembly positioned to flip only one of the continuous sheet streams, a cutter that produces separates pages from both the flipped stream of sheets and non-flipped stream of sheets, a collator for collating all of the separate pages into the correctly page-sequenced document sets, and a controller for tracking the LPEE formatted document pages and overseeing the assembly of the correctly page-sequenced document sets. |
| US08416448B2 |
Printing apparatus
A printing apparatus is disclosed, which includes: a printing unit including print sheets having different sizes, the printing unit being able to print selectively on any of the print sheets; an original document size determining unit to determine the size of an original document; a scanning unit to scan the original document; a region recognizing unit to recognize a region to be printed in the original document; a deciding unit to decide a print sheet size being larger than the region to be printed and smaller than the size of the original document by comparing the sizes of the print sheets with the size of the original document and the size of the region to be printed; and a controlling unit to cause printing of the image of the region to be printed at 100% magnification on the print sheet of the decided size. |
| US08416446B2 |
Image forming apparatus having printing log management function and method thereof
An image forming apparatus and a method thereof has a printing log management function. An image forming apparatus allows a connection with an external memory device such as a mobile memory card, and prints out an image in accordance with the image data file which is stored in the external memory device. Among many files stored in the external memory device, the image forming apparatus memorizes and stores the information about the files which have been printed at least once, or specifically selected by a user. Accordingly, the user is enabled to print once-printed images or specific images without endeavoring cumbersome processes such as search or selection of a desired image data file. As a result, printing operations can be carried out faster and more efficiently. |
| US08416445B2 |
Method and apparatus for connecting image forming apparatus with multiple host devices
A method and an apparatus for connecting an image forming apparatus with multiple host devices. The method includes: displaying a user interface in which the image forming apparatus and the host devices are arranged; setting an area in the user interface in which the host devices are to be connected to the image forming apparatus; and connecting host devices positioned in the set area to the image forming apparatus. |
| US08416443B2 |
Apparatus, method, and system of printing document for distribution, and medium storing program of printing document for distribution
A plurality of sets of a printed document for distribution to a plurality of destinations is generated. For each one of the plurality of destinations, whether to perform conceal processing to document data is determined, and destination-specific print data is generated by performing conceal processing to the document data when it is determined that conceal processing is to be performed and by adding each one of the destination identification information identifying each one of the plurality of destinations to the document data. |
| US08416440B2 |
Facsimile apparatus, and control method and storage medium therefor
A mechanism for reserving a line for use in facsimile transmission before issuance of a user's instruction to execute facsimile transmission is provided. To accomplish this, when a user has initiated settings for facsimile transmission (step S601), a line that is in the “open” state is reserved with reference to a line-use status table (step S603). Then, upon receipt of a user's instruction to execute facsimile transmission (step S605), the reserved line is acquired and facsimile data is transmitted using the acquired line (step S606). |
| US08416438B2 |
Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus includes an input control unit, a processing unit, an output control unit, a first sending unit, and a second sending unit. When an output request including a unique identifier and a data generation condition of image data is received, the first sending unit writes the image data corresponding to the unique identifier in the processing unit. The processing unit compares the image data written by the first sending unit with the data generation condition thereby determining a processing condition, processes the image data based on the processing condition, and outputs the processed image data to the output control unit via the second sending unit. |
| US08416435B2 |
Installation location management system and installation location management method
There is provided an installation location management system includes a management device (MD) and an information processing device (IPD). A MD includes a map information memory storing map information associating coordinate information with character string information, a map image information output unit outputting the information to the IPD, a coordinate information receiving unit receiving IPD'S coordinate information from the IPD, a character string information obtaining unit using the map information and the coordinate information and a character string information transmitting unit sending the information to the IPD. A IPD includes a map image information receiving unit, a map image output unit using the map image information, a coordinate information receiving unit receiving an input of the coordinate information about the IPD, a coordinate information transmitting unit sending the information to the MD, a character string information receiving unit and a character string information memory. |
| US08416430B2 |
Information processing apparatus
Disclosed is an information processing apparatus in which various kinds of information are processed in either the real time processing mode or the non-real time processing mode. The apparatus includes an operation display section to accept an inputted instruction, an image processing section to apply a processing to image information and a processor provided with a plurality of same cores. The real-time processing unnecessary process that is related to the operation display section, is fixed onto one of the plurality of same cores so that the one of the plurality of same cores is in charge of controlling the real-time processing unnecessary process, while, the real-time processing necessary process that is related to the image processing section, is fixed onto another one of the plurality of same cores so that the other one of the plurality of same cores is in charge of controlling the real-time processing necessary process. |
| US08416427B2 |
Three-dimensional surface measuring scanner
There is described a scanner having a frame with a support, two lasers attached to the frame and two optical sensors attached to the frame, the lasers and optical sensors being positioned and oriented to reduce shadowing effects for the cameras and for the laser lines while covering close to 100% of the surface of an object to be imaged and reducing the scanning time. |
| US08416422B2 |
Lightwave interference measurement apparatus used to measure optical path length or distance
A lightwave interference measurement apparatus includes a phase detector configured to detect a phase of a signal of an interference between light from a distance-measurement light source and reflected on a reference surface and light from the distance-measurement light source and reflected on a target surface, an intensity detector configured to detect an intensity of light from a non-distance-measurement light source having a wavelength different from that of the distance-measurement light source and reflected on the reference surface and an intensity of light from the non-distance-measurement light source and reflected on the target surface, and an analyzer configured to calculate a geometric distance based on an optical path length calculated from the phase and a wavelength of the distance-measurement light source, and an average value of a vapor pressure distribution between the target surface and the reference surface calculated from intensity information of the light from the non-distance-measurement light source. |
| US08416412B2 |
Method for determination of residual errors
There is provided a method for determining residual errors, compromising the following steps: in a first step, a test plate comprising a first pattern is used, and in a second step, a test plate comprising a second pattern which is reflected and/or rotated with respect to the first step is used. |
| US08416408B1 |
Terahertz-infrared ellipsometer system, and method of use
The present invention relates to ellipsometer and polarimeter systems, and more particularly is an ellipsometer or polarimeter or the like system which operates in a frequency range between 300 GHz or lower and extending to higher than at least 1 Tera-hertz (THz), and preferably through the Infra-red (IR) range up to, and higher than 100 THz, including: a source such as a backward wave oscillator; a Smith-Purcell cell; a free electron laser, or an FTIR source and a solid state device; and a detector such as a Golay cell; a bolometer or a solid state detector; and preferably including a polarization state generator comprising: an odd bounce image rotating system and a polarizer, or two polarizers; and optionally including least one compensator and/or modulator, in addition to an analyzer. |
| US08416405B2 |
Raman chemical imaging of implantable drug delivery devices
A system and method of determining an attribute of a biological tissue sample or a drug delivery device. A sample is illuminated with substantially monochromatic light to thereby generate Raman scattered photons. The Raman scattered photons are assessed to thereby generate a spectroscopic data set wherein said spectroscopic data set comprises at least one of: a Raman spectra and a spatially accurate wavelength resolved image. The spectroscopic data set is evaluated to determine at least one of: an attribute of a biological tissue sample and a drug delivery device. In one embodiment, the biological tissue comprises arterial tissue. In another embodiment, the drug delivery device is a drug-eluting stent. In another embodiment, Raman chemical imaging can be used to evaluate a sample and identify at least one of: the tissue, a drug, a drug delivery device, and a matrix associated with a drug delivery device. |
| US08416404B2 |
Method and system for measurement and correction of thermally induced changes of boresight, effective focal length, and focus
A method and system are for measuring and correcting shifts in the boresight, effective focal length, and focus of an optical system that are caused by temperature variations. The method can be used for systems which can be expected to operate in situations where the temperature variations are large, e.g. a FLIR system of a fighter plane, and also where the temperature variations can be very small however high accuracy is needed. The invention is based on placing radiation emitting sources before and as close as possible to the first optical element of the optical system and measuring the thermally induced shifts of the locations of the images of the radiation emitting sources on the surface of the detector of the optical system. |
| US08416399B2 |
Optical measuring instrument using both reflectometry and white-light interferometry
A method for determining the surface topography of a coated object and for the simultaneous spatially resolved determination of the thickness of the layer on the coated object. It is provided that the surface topography is measured with the aid of white-light interferometry, the thickness of the layer is measured by the principle of reflectometry, and by using, for both measurements, a shared radiation source having an electromagnetic radiation spectrum, which is reflected from the layer surface in a first wavelength range contained in the radiation spectrum and which penetrates into the layer in a second wavelength range contained in the radiation spectrum. Also described is a corresponding optical measuring instrument. The method and the optical measuring instrument make simultaneous highly accurate surface measurement of the surface topography and of the layer thickness of coated objects possible. |
| US08416397B2 |
Device for a motor vehicle used for the three-dimensional detection of a scene inside or outside said motor vehicle
An apparatus in a motor vehicle for spatial detection of a scene inside and/or outside the motor vehicle has a LIDAR sensor, which is coupled to an electronic detection device, and an image sensor, which is connected to an image processing device for recording and evaluation of images of the scene. The detection device and the image processing device are coupled to a computer in order to determine spatial data of the scene. |
| US08416393B2 |
Cross quadrupole double lithography method and apparatus for semiconductor device fabrication using two apertures
Provided is a lithography system operation to include a first aperture or a second aperture. Each of the first and second apertures has two pairs of radiation-transmitting regions where one pair of radiation-transmitting regions are larger than a second pair. For an aperture, each pair of radiation-transmitting regions are on different diametrical axis. In an embodiment, one aperture is used for x-dipole illumination and the second aperture is used for y-dipole illumination. |
| US08416392B2 |
Optical imaging arrangement
There is provided an optical imaging arrangement comprising: a mask unit comprising a pattern, a substrate unit comprising a substrate, an optical projection unit comprising a group of optical element units, the optical projection unit being adapted to transfer an image of the pattern onto the substrate, a first imaging arrangement component, the first imaging arrangement component being a component of one of the optical element units, a second imaging arrangement component, the second imaging arrangement component being different from the first imaging arrangement component and being a component of one of the mask unit, the optical projection unit and the substrate unit, and a metrology arrangement. The metrology arrangement captures a spatial relationship between the first imaging arrangement component and the second imaging arrangement component. The metrology arrangement comprises a reference element, the reference element being mechanically connected directly to the first imaging arrangement component. |
| US08416389B2 |
Exposure apparatus and method of manufacturing device
An apparatus, which scans an original and a substrate relative to light slit-shaped on the original and on the substrate, comprises an adjusting device configured to adjust a distribution of a width of the light slit-shaped, the width being a width in a scanning direction, the distribution being a distribution in a perpendicular direction perpendicular to the scanning direction, and a controller. The controller is configured to obtain information representing a relationship between a position on the substrate and a target dose, calculate a distribution of the target dose in the perpendicular direction with respect to each of the shot regions based on the relationship represented by the obtained information, and control the adjusting device so as to achieve the calculated distribution of the target dose with respect to each of the shot regions. |
| US08416384B2 |
Exposing apparatus for fabricating process of flat panel display device
An exposing apparatus for a fabricating process of a flat panel display device includes a light source emitting a light; a beam edge cutter for improving an uniformity of the light from the light source; an exposing mask under the beam edge cutter and including a pattern; a gas jetting unit between the beam edge cutter and the exposing mask and jetting a gas through a space between the beam edge cutter and the exposing mask; and a stage, where a substrate for the flat panel display device is disposed, under the exposing mask. |
| US08416383B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and method
A lithographic apparatus is disclosed that includes a seal provided in a substrate table, the seal being actuatable from an open configuration to a closed configuration, the closed configuration being such that when a substrate is located on the substrate table, the seal closes a gap between the substrate and the substrate table. |
| US08416381B2 |
Anti-glare film with concave-convex structure
The present invention provides an anti-glare film which has not only <1> sufficient anti-reflection property but also <2> a high level of contrast and <3> strong anti-glare properties and can be applied on a surface of various display devices such as a note PC, a desktop PC and a TV monitor. The anti-glare film of the present invention includes an anti-glare layer which has concavities and convexities on the surface, a haze according to JIS-7105-1981 in the range of 1.0-5.0%, and an average interval between concavities and convexities on the anti-glare layer surface Sm according to JIS-B0601-1994 in the range of 10-150 μm. |
| US08416380B2 |
Liquid crystal display panel
Disclosed is a liquid crystal display panel which causes no gray scale inversion, even when obliquely viewed, and which realizes suppression of a gamma characteristics change and a chromaticity change. The liquid crystal display panel is made of a pair of substrates, at least one of which includes a plurality of pixel electrodes containing red, green and blue pixel electrodes, and a liquid crystal layer arranged between the pair of substrates. The liquid crystal layer is divided for each pixel into a first region and a second region, which have liquid crystal molecules different in the directions of inclination from each other. Both of the liquid crystal molecules positioned in the first region and the second region are oriented either vertically or horizontally when the pair of substrates is viewed in the front direction, and are oriented obliquely with respect to the substrate surface and symmetrically of each other when the pair of substrates is viewed in the cross-sectional direction. The liquid crystal layer has a smaller thickness in the regions corresponding to the blue pixel electrodes than those in the regions corresponding to the green and red pixel electrodes. |
| US08416378B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
An LCD device comprises a liquid crystal display panel. The liquid crystal display panel comprises a first substrate that has a plurality of pixels divided into a reflective portion and a transmissive portion therein, respectively. The liquid crystal display panel further comprises a second substrate that faces the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer between the first substrate and the second substrate. Light introduced into the reflective portion of the first substrate through the second substrate is reflected to the second substrate from the reflective portion, and light introduced into the transmissive portion of the first substrate transmits the first substrate. |
| US08416376B2 |
Compensated in-plane switching mode liquid crystal display
An in-plane switching type liquid crystal display comprising (a) first and second polarizing plates facing each other and spaced from each other; (b) a liquid crystal cell situated between said first and second polarizing plates; and (c) a compensation structure located between the liquid crystal cell and the first polarizing plate; wherein the director orientation of the liquid crystal layer being controlled by an electric field parallel to the polarizing plates; one said compensation structure is positioned between the liquid crystal cell and the first polarizing plate; the polarizing plates have transmission axes perpendicular to each other, and the compensation structure comprises at least one retardation layer of supramolecules involving at least one polycyclic organic compound with a conjugated π-system and functional groups which are capable of forming non-covalent bonds between said supramolecules. |
| US08416370B2 |
Liquid crystal display device having patterned alignment fiducial mark and method for manufacturing the same
A liquid crystal display device includes a polarizer plate attached to at least one of outer surfaces opposed to the inner surfaces of a counter substrate and an array substrate between which a liquid crystal layer is interposed. Active areas are formed on the respective array and counter substrates to form a pixel matrix. A shield element surrounds the active area on the counter substrate and extends to a corner portion of the counter substrate where a polarizer plate fiducial mark is formed to check alignment error of the polarizer plate attached to each of the respective outer surfaces of the array substrate and the counter substrate, the fiducial mark formed by patterning of the material of the shield layer to produce a pattern defined by retained portions of the material of the shield layer and aperture portions where the material of the shield layer has been removed. |
| US08416365B1 |
Diffusive display device
A diffusive display, such as a polymer network liquid crystal display (PNLCD) and a visible wavelength light polarizer are combined to form a diffusive display device. The diffusive display device may provide black and white or color presentation with refresh rates suitable for playback of animation or full motion video using ambient or emitted light. By altering a state of the diffusive material, such as polymer network liquid crystals, between a scatter state and a clear state an image may be generated. |
| US08416364B2 |
Display device and planar light source device
The present invention relates to a technique which makes a backlight used in a liquid crystal display device thin and light-weight. The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device which includes a display panel and a backlight arranged behind the display panel, wherein the backlight includes a film-like light guide member, a film-like light semi-transmissive member adhered to a first surface of the light guide member which faces the display panel in an opposed manner, a film-like reflective member adhered to a back surface of the light guide member opposite to the first surface, and a spot light source arranged at a position of the light guide member at which light is incident on the light guide member from the first surface or the back surface. A refractive index of the light semi-transmissive member is set smaller than a refractive index of the light guide member. |
| US08416357B2 |
Display device and method thereof
A display device includes a pixel electrode disposed on a first substrate, and including a first portion, a second portion and a connection portion disposed between the first portion and the second portion, a capacitor line disposed on the first substrate and between the first substrate and the connection portion, a nonsymmetrical shaped capacitor electrode disposed on the first substrate and overlapping the pixel electrode and the capacitor line, and electrically connected to the pixel electrode through contact holes, and a common electrode disposed on a second substrate and including first and second opening patterns disposed overlapping the first portion and the second portion of the pixel electrode, respectively. |
| US08416354B2 |
Display apparatus with display switching modes
The present invention discloses a display apparatus with display switching modes, the display apparatus includes a display device; an image mode switch device formed corresponding to the display device, wherein the image mode switch device includes: a liquid crystal layer; a first electrode set on a side of the liquid crystal layer; a second electrode set between the first electrode and the liquid crystal layer; a third electrode set on another side of the liquid crystal layer; and a voltage providing device electrically coupled to the image mode switch device to supply different voltage to the first electrode, the second electrode and the third electrode for switching displaying mode; the display apparatus may display the 2D, 3D and IP stereo image by using the electrodes with different pattern and voltage on the first electrode, the second electrode and the third electrode. |
| US08416353B2 |
Backlight frequency-modulation controlled 3D display
A 3D display system has a timing control device for synchronizing the opening and closing of shutters on a viewing apparatus. The display system comprises a display unit configured to alternately show a right image and a left image in a sequence. The display unit has a backlight unit to illuminate a display panel. The light output from the backlight unit is frequency-modulated with one frequency when a right image is displayed and another frequency when the left image is displayed. The viewing apparatus has a photo-detector and a frequency discrimination circuit to detect the modulation frequencies in the light output. Based on the detected modulation frequencies, the shutters on the viewing apparatus can be opened and closed in a coordinated way. |
| US08416351B2 |
Liquid crystal display screen
A liquid crystal display screen includes a resistance-type touch panel and a liquid crystal display panel. The touch panel includes a first electrode plate and a second electrode plate opposite to the first electrode plate. The first electrode plate includes a first substrate and a first transparent conductive layer located on the first substrate. The second electrode plate includes a common substrate and a second transparent conductive layer. The liquid crystal display panel includes an upper optical polarizer, an upper substrate, an upper electrode, an upper alignment layer, a liquid crystal layer, a lower alignment layer, a thin film transistor panel, and a lower optical polarizer, from top to bottom in sequence. The upper substrate is the same with the common substrate. The upper optical polarizer is sandwiched between the second transparent conductive layer and the common substrate. |
| US08416350B2 |
Detachable screen guard assembly and method for securing a screen protector
A detachable screen guard assembly mounted on a screen frame of a monitor comprising a screen protector and a fastening apparatus. The screen protector is transparent and made of glass, acrylic, or plastic having excellent transparency.The fastening apparatus includes at least one couple of a hooking member and a bracket member. The bracket member is mounted on the screen frame and the hooking member is mounted on the screen protector. The hooking member attaches mechanically to the bracket member. Because the hooking member can be disengaged from the bracket member, the screen protector can be detached from the screen frame to be cleaned or mounted on another monitor that has a bracket member installed.The invention also includes a method for securing a screen protector to a monitor by strapping the screen protector to the monitor support. |
| US08416349B2 |
Broadcast reception device and antenna connection detection method for broadcast reception device
The present invention discloses a broadcast reception device including a connection section for connecting to a smart antenna that switches directivity or a unidirectional antenna with fixed directivity connected; a first channel search section for executing channel search in the smart antenna; a second channel search section for executing channel search in the unidirectional antenna; a communication section for providing the connected smart antenna with power and a control signal; and a connection detection section for detecting a voltage of the communication section varied by voltage drop caused by the communication section connected to the smart antenna, and detect one of presence and absence of connection of the smart antenna based on a result of the detection, the first channel search section is selected to execute the channel search when the connection detection section detects the connection of the smart antenna, and the second channel search section is selected to execute the channel search when the connection detection section does not detect the connection of the smart antenna. |
| US08416347B2 |
Method and apparatus of automatically selecting audio format for output signal of a tuner in a television system
In a method of automatically selecting audio format for output signal of a tuner, a SAW filter is configured to a bandwidth of 5.5 MHz for filtering IF signal so as to generate CVBS signal and SSIF signal. Then, band-pass filters are used to detect a back porch of the CVBS signal thereby determining whether signal amplitude at a center frequency of 4.43 MHz is greater than that at a center frequency of 3.58 MHz. Finally, a bandwidth of 4.5 MHz is assigned to the SAW filter for filtering the intermediate frequency signal to re-generate the CVBS signal when the amplitude at 4.43 MHz is smaller than that at 3.58 MHz. Further, a video decoder decodes the CVBS signal to determine a video format from NTSC, PAL-M, and PAL-N formats, and an audio decoder decodes the SSIF signal to determine an audio format from MN, BG, DK, and I formats. |
| US08416346B2 |
Display apparatus capable of moving image and control method thereof
A display apparatus capable of moving an image and a control method thereof are provided. The display apparatus includes a display unit, an interface which receives image coordinate information and image source information from an external device that displays the image, and a controller which controls the display unit to display the image using the image coordinate information and image source information. Therefore, the image can continue to move between display apparatuses while being displayed, thereby increasing user convenience. |
| US08416344B2 |
Iterative method for interpolating video information values
The invention relates to an iterative method for determining an interpolated video information value in an image that exhibits a number of image regions arrayed for example in matrix fashion, at least one of which is an image region to be interpolated, and that is disposed temporally between a first image and a second image of an image sequence. |
| US08416343B2 |
Signal processing apparatus and method, program, and recording medium
A signal processing device and method, a program, and a recording medium configured so as to be able to detect 2-3 pulldown sequences, from various types of input, in a precise manner. A state estimation unit determines whether or not still positions between 10 fields to be handled fit the still positions of a 2-3 pulldown pattern configured of 12 fields including one sequence, using a difference evaluation value, a threshold value, and feature quantity, calculated by an evaluation value feature quantity calculating unit from the field of an 60I signal from an input terminal, and a field positioned temporally two fields earlier in the field memory, determination is made regarding whether or not a pattern regarding which determination has been made to fit has repeated transition in a transition order which the 2-3 pulldown pattern has for a predetermined number of times or more, and processing of an inverse 2-3 pd conversion unit is controlled according to the results of determination. |
| US08416342B1 |
Implantable imaging device
An imaging device for in vivo medical applications that enables minimally invasive surgical procedures. The imaging device includes an elongated frame having a base, a module housing, and a helical member interposed between the base and module housing. The imaging device further includes an actuation unit positioned within the frame that engages the module housing causing the frame to bend at the helical member. The module housing includes an imaging module and may include other modules including tools used for laparoscopic surgery. |
| US08416340B2 |
Camera system, camera body, and interchangeable lens unit
A camera body includes a body mount, a first imaging sensor, an information acquisition section, and an imaging sensor selector. The information acquisition section is configured to acquire imaging sensor information from the interchangeable lens unit. The imaging sensor selector selects a first imaging sensor as the selected imaging sensor on the basis of the imaging sensor information when an interchangeable lens unit that guides an optical image to the first imaging sensor is mounted to the body mount, and selects a second imaging sensor as the selected imaging sensor on the basis of the imaging sensor information when an interchangeable lens unit having this second imaging sensor is mounted to the body mount. |
| US08416334B2 |
Thick single-lens extended depth-of-field imaging systems
An extended depth of field (EDOF) imaging system (10) is disclosed that has an optical system (20) consisting of a single lens element (22) having a focal length (F), a thickness (TH) between 0.25F and 1.2F, and an objectwise aperture stop (AS). The optical system has a select amount of spherical aberration (SA) that allows for correcting coma by positioning the aperture stop. The optical system has an amount of field curvature (FC) such that 20 microns≦FC≦300 microns, which is made possible by the thickness of the single lens element. The imaging system has an image sensor (30) and an image processing unit (54) adapted to process raw images to form contrast-enhanced images. |
| US08416331B2 |
Imaging device and method for processing image data of a large area array
An imaging device is capable of on-chip processing data output by a series of pixels 1, 2, 16. The pixels 1, 2, 16 are arranged into a series of super pixels or tiles that together form a large area array. The pixels 1, 2, 16 are arranged into two groups, nominally group A (odd pixels) and group B (even pixels). Data from the individual pixels 1, 2, 16 is read out according to the relative position of the pixel within each group. The technique employed by the device allows the array data rate to be controlled dynamically by the super pixel information content. The output data bandwidth is increased at the expense of image spatial resolution where scene content contains large uniform areas (e.g. desert, sea, sky) that would otherwise generate huge amounts of similar data that carries little additional information. |
| US08416328B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method for processing bayer pattern image data
According to the embodiments, there is provided an image processing apparatus including: an acquisition section configured to acquire 3×3 pixel block data to have one red pixel at a center; an estimation section configured to compute blue value differences between blue values of diagonal pairs of blue pixels in the block data, and to estimate a direction of a contrast boundary based on the blue value differences; and a processing section configured to compute a computed blue value based on the blue values of the four blue pixels within the block data according to the estimated direction of the contrast boundary, to compute a computed green value based on green values of two green pixels within the block data, and to output a color image pixel to have a red value of the red pixel and the computed blue and green values. |
| US08416326B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing a pixel signal
An NchMOS transistor Q71 on the input side of a current mirror 70 is made function as a voltage operating-point setting portion so that a pixel signal line potential (voltage of a horizontal signal line 20) would be constantly stable nearly at the GND. Then, an amplification factor and linearity become good in an amplification transistor in the solid imaging device 3. A current copier 90 is made function as a current sampling portion so as to receive a signal current IIN of the solid imaging device 3 through the current mirror 70 to carry out sampling of a pixel signal in a resetting period in the shape of current component as the pixel signal is. Calculating differential between a current component in a detecting period and an offset current, which is the current component in a resetting period in sampling, allows an offset component included in the pixel signal to be removed and only pure signal Isig to be picked up at an output terminal Iout, so that the FPN restraining function can be fulfilled. |
| US08416324B2 |
Imaging device having pixels and A/D conversion elements
An A/D conversion section (11) counts clocks whose frequency corresponds to the size of output signals from pixels (10a), and digitalizes the result so as to create count values, and also calculates a difference between a first count value that relates to the output signal during a reset period of a pixel, and a second count value that relates to the output signal during an exposure period of the pixel, and then outputs this difference as an imaging signal for this pixel. A control unit (12) controls the A/D conversion section such that the length of the counting period of the first count value is equal to the length of the counting period of the second count value. |
| US08416320B2 |
Image processing method and apparatus for generating and displaying screen nail images
An exemplary image processing method and apparatus, and an exemplary digital photographing apparatus, may develop and display a screen nail image and a face screen nail image rather than a full resolution image. The screen nail image may be generated using RAW data output from an image sensor, a predetermined face region of the screen nail image may be detected, and the face screen nail image may be generated from the screen nail image using coordinates of the detected face region. Thus, power consumption and processing time delay caused by processing all parts of a full resolution image may be minimized, and a quality of the full resolution image may be conveniently checked. As a result, a user may conveniently select and store an image in high-speed still picture photographing. |
| US08416316B2 |
Apparatus and method for adjusting white balance in a digital imaging device
A method and apparatus for adjusting a white balance in a digital imaging device. The method including the steps of: analyzing a histogram of an image to which a white balance algorithm is to be applied; classifying the image, to which the white balance algorithm is to be applied, according to color distribution determination criteria; and the white balance algorithm is applied to the image in a customized manner based on results of the classification based on color distributions. The apparatus includes an image sensor unit for photographing a subject and for creating an original image; and an image processing unit for finding an achromatic color region through estimation of a color temperature of the original image, for extracting a white point of the achromatic color region, and for adjusting a white balance of the original image. |
| US08416307B2 |
Camera image stabilization
A method of motion compensation in a camera may include deriving a motion signal representative of a motion of the camera, processing video frames of a video signal from an image sensor of the camera during a viewfinder mode to derive motion vectors between pairs of frames, and processing the motion signal with a number of combinations of gain and offset factors during the viewfinder mode. The method may also include determining combinations for producing threshold motion vectors, and applying the combination producing the threshold motion vectors for processing the motion signal during a still capture mode to produce a control signal for a motion compensating element for optics of the camera. |
| US08416304B2 |
Input device of apparatus using dot pattern, receiver of controlled apparatus, terminal, and paper controller
A paper remote controller system capable of registering and controlling a plurality of apparatuses with an easy manipulation and superior in convenience and flexibility is provided. The input system for an apparatus using a dot pattern comprises a reading unit for reading out a dot pattern formed based on a predetermined rule on a medium surface, a converting unit for analyzing a dot pattern from image information of the dot pattern read out by the reading unit and converting the dot pattern into a dot code corresponding to the dot pattern, an infrared code table for registering one or a plurality of infrared codes that are related with the dot code, and a control unit for causing an infrared code read out from the infrared code table to be irradiated from an infrared emission unit to a control-subject apparatus. |
| US08416299B2 |
Directional surveillance camera with ring of directional detectors
A motion detector consisting of multiple motion detector elements each having a preset field of view. An alarm signal generated by a motion detector element when movement is detected is sent to a detector controller which converts the alarm signal to a control signal for an associated camera to direct the field of view of the camera to match the preset field of view of the motion detector element that generated the alarm. |
| US08416294B2 |
Positioning device, positioning method, storage medium and image capturing device
A positioning device comprising: a movement measurement unit that measures relative position variation; a positioning unit that enables measurement of positional information; and a control unit that starts continuous measurement of position variation by the movement measurement unit and measurement of positional information by the positioning unit at each predetermined timing for at least a specified position, and determines a position determination spot based on positional information of any of the at least two positions in a case that the difference between the amount of position variation and the amount of relative position variation is determined by the determining unit to be within a predetermined range, and calculates positional information of the specified position based on positional information of the position determination spot and information of position variation that has been continuously measured by the movement measurement unit. |
| US08416290B2 |
Method and system for digital pulse recognition demodulation
In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method for recognizing a broadcast digital pulse recognition tone in a beacon-based light positioning system. In some embodiments, the method includes capturing a digital image using an imaging sensor of an imaging device, identifying one or more regions of the digital image illuminated by one of one or more beacon light sources, determining a frequency content of each of the one or more regions, and determining a particular tone broadcast by the beacon light source illuminating a particular region using the frequency content of the particular region. In some embodiments, the imaging sensor has a frame rate and includes a rolling shutter, the rolling shutter having a sampling rate greater than the frame rate of the imaging sensor. |
| US08416289B2 |
Light-field display
A light-field display is provided that renders a light-field at one or more viewing apertures through a microlens array. The light-field display includes a display such as a monitor that is positioned behind the microlens array. The monitor and the microlens array are positioned so that light emitted from a pixel of the monitor reaches the one or more apertures through at most one microlens from the microlens array. For each microlens in the microlens array, the pixels of the monitor visible through that microlens of the microlens array at the one or more apertures is determined, and a light-field is then rendered at each of the one or more viewing apertures by rendering the determined pixels corresponding to each microlens. |
| US08416287B2 |
Display device and terminal unit using the same
A display device reduces the image quality degradations by suppressing the effect of the defective alignment regions caused by the spacers while minimizing the aperture ratio lowering, and prevents the image quality change dependent on the observation positions. The display device has a display panel and a lenticular lens. Each unit pixel of the display panel includes the sub-pixel for the left eye and the sub-pixel for the right eye. To keep the pair of substrates at a predetermined gap, spacers are arranged at predetermined positions in the gap. The spacers are stripe-shaped and extended along a direction perpendicular to the image separation axis of the lenticular lens. The spacers are equally overlapped with the sub-pixels for the left eye and those for the right eye. The spacers may be isolated for the respective unit pixels, or the first or second sub-pixels. |
| US08416281B2 |
Multipoint conference scalability for co-located participants
A terminal device associated with a participant of the multipoint session can be identified. The multipoint session can be associated with a video and an audio stream. The terminal device can be a computing device comprising of an audio and video input, and a video output. The multipoint session can be a conference associated with a telephony session. The location of the terminal device and a conferencing device can be determined. The conferencing device can be associated with an audio input and output. If the terminal device is proximate to the conferencing device, a terminal device audio stream can be terminated and a conference device audio stream can be received. A video stream and an audio stream can be simultaneously presented upon the audio and video output of the conferencing device and terminal device. The video and the audio stream can be a synchronized stream of the session. |
| US08416277B2 |
Face detection as a metric to stabilize video during video chat session
A handheld communication device is used to capture a video and stabilize the video during a video chat session. The device has a camera to capture a video during a video chat session that is conducted between a user of the device and a far-end user. The video includes images frames, each of the image frames containing an image of a face of the user. The device detects the position of the face in each image frame. Based on the detected position of the face, a boundary area of each image frame is cropped to produce an output video while the video is being captured. The image of the face stays substantially stationary in the output video. The output video is transmitted to the far-end user during the video chat session. Other embodiments are also described and claimed. |
| US08416274B2 |
System and apparatus for voice/video communication and method thereof
A voice/video communication system is disclosed. The system includes a caller having a first PSTN subsystem and a first data subsystem, and a callee, wherein the first data subsystem encodes the caller's public IP address/port into a first key sequence and triggers the first PSTN system to send first audio coding representing the first key sequence to the callee. |
| US08416272B2 |
Methods and apparatus for ascertaining sensor signal delay in an electrophotographic device
In an electrophotographic (EP) device, methods and apparatus include determining a delay of one or more sensors (hsync) to accurately know when to start the process of scanning latent images. In one aspect, the sensor includes a leading and trailing edge defined along a direction of laser beam scan travel. Determining the delay includes learning a position of a laser beam on the sensor at a time when a controller connected to the sensor receives a signal from the sensor indicating the sensor is being sufficiently impinged upon by the laser beam. It also includes learning a latest possible position of the laser beam along the direction of laser scan travel where the laser beam can be turned on and still have the sensor assert a signal indicating it has been sufficiently impinged upon by the laser beam. Bi-directionally scanning EP devices are also disclosed, including controllers, photoconductors, sensors, etc. |
| US08416268B2 |
Image display device
In an image display device, an image controller controls a floating image and a direct view image so as to be linked to each other. The image controller displays a given object as the floating image, and displays the floating image such that the given object displayed as the floating image is shifted in a specified first direction from a displayed position of the floating image to a second image screen. The image controller executes a process associated with the given object during or after the shift of the given object, and displays, on the second image screen, a two-dimensional image on which the executed process is reflected. |
| US08416267B2 |
Adaptive video processing apparatus and method of scaling video based on screen size of display device
Provided are an apparatus for processing adaptive video and a method of scaling video, which generate a graphical user interface (GUI) so that a GUI suitable for the screen size of a display device can be displayed according to the screen size of the display device. The apparatus can realize a GUI most suitable for the screen size of an external display device connected to the apparatus by enlarging or reducing the size of the GUI according to the screen size of the external display device, or by changing the arrangement of items arranged on the GUI. |
| US08416266B2 |
Interacting with detail-in-context presentations
A method for generating a presentation of a region-of-interest in an original image for display on a display surface, the method comprising: establishing a lens for the region-of-interest, the lens having a focal region with a magnification for the region-of-interest at least partially surrounded by a shoulder region across which the magnification varies to provide a continuous transition from the focal region to regions outside the lens; receiving a first signal for selecting the shoulder region; while receiving the first signal, receiving a second signal for selecting the focal region and for adjusting a position of the focal region relative to the shoulder region to define a degree and a direction of a folding of the focal region over the shoulder region for the lens; and, applying the lens to the original image to produce the presentation. |
| US08416257B2 |
Video signal processing circuit, display device, mobile terminal, and program
Shown is a diagram showing input-output characteristics for color adjustment. The horizontal axis represents an input, and the vertical axis represents an output. In this color adjustment technique, first, so as to prevent degradation the luminance of white after white correction, correction coefficients are determined so that the smallest value thereof may be 1. Note that “1” here is not a strict value. To be more specific, in contrast to the conventional technique in which correction is performed with the largest value being made equal to about “1,” the present embodiments sets the smallest value at about “1.” This idea itself is a first point which makes the embodiments different from the conventional technique. When doing so, all the correction coefficients are “1” or larger. In the case where a correction coefficient is “1” or larger, when the input is large, the output is saturated. To prevent the saturation, the saturation suppressed using an n-degree curve (Xucurve) which is, for example, a quadratic curve or a cubic curve. If doing so, degradation in the maximum luminance due to correction processing can be suppressed while the hue of white is maintained in a practical luminance range (0 to 70%) for video images of a television receiving set (TV), or the like. Thereby, degradation in the maximum luminance due to correction processing can be suppressed while the hue of white is maintained. |
| US08416254B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing enhanced visibility in mobile terminal
A screen display apparatus and method of measuring an ambient brightness by adjusting color quality of an output screen in a mobile terminal according to the ambient brightness, so that the visibility of the screen can be ensured in various environments. The includes measuring an ambient brightness of the mobile terminal, and generating a visibility adjustment event when a measured ambient brightness value is equal to or greater than a preset specific external brightness value. The received RGB signal is converted into first tristimulus values, then to L, a, b color space valueslightness (L), chroma (C), and hue (H) values using a predetermined equation. The brightness of an entire region of the image is adjusted and output on the display screen of the mobile terminal, and the chroma of each pixel region is adjusted by using the L, C, and H values. |
| US08416251B2 |
Stream processing in a video processor
A stream based memory access system for a video processor for executing video processing operations. The video processor includes a scalar execution unit configured to execute scalar video processing operations and a vector execution unit configured to execute vector video processing operations. A frame buffer memory is included for storing data for the scalar execution unit and the vector execution unit. A memory interface is included for establishing communication between the scalar execution unit and the vector execution unit and the frame buffer memory. The frame buffer memory comprises a plurality of tiles. The memory interface implements a first sequential access of tiles and implements a second stream comprising a second sequential access of tiles for the vector execution unit or the scalar execution unit. |
| US08416250B1 |
Simulating vertex attribute zero
Aspects of the invention relate generally to enforcing elements of the OpenGL ES specification when emulating on top of OpenGL. More specifically, systems and methods herein allow a user to simulate the features of VertexAttrib #0 of OpenGL ES while using OpenGL. For example, by tracking a user's use of various functions, the use may be able to set VertexAttrib #0 to a constant value and query OpenGL for this value. |
| US08416248B2 |
Methods and device for display device in-system programming through displayable signals
Methods and device for in-system firmware update in an information output device are provided. In one aspect, a method of firmware update in a display device receives a set of data in an image format through a video signal input channel of an input port of the display device. The set of data is converted from the image format to an instruction set format that is different from the image format. A first set of instructions that is used to operate the display device is updated with the set of data in the instruction set format. |
| US08416246B2 |
Generating a surface representation of an item
Among other disclosed subject matter, a computer-implemented method for generating a surface representation of an item includes identifying, for a point on an item in an animation process, at least first and second transformation points corresponding to respective first and second transformations of the point. Each of the first and second transformations represents an influence on a location of the point of respective first and second joints associated with the item. The method includes determining an axis for a cylindrical coordinate system using the first and second transformations. The method includes performing an interpolation of the first and second transformation points in the cylindrical coordinate system to obtain an interpolated point. The method includes recording the interpolated point in a surface representation of the item in the animation process. |
| US08416241B2 |
Efficient tile-based rasterization
An apparatus and method for rasterizing a primitive in a graphics system is disclosed in one example of the invention as including scanning a first row of tiles, one tile at a time, starting from a first point and scanning in a first direction. Immediately after scanning the first row of tiles, the method includes moving from the first point to a second point in an orthogonal direction relative to the first row. Immediately after moving from the first point to the second point, the method includes scanning a second row of tiles, one tile at a time, starting from the second point and scanning in the first direction. By scanning rows in the same direction immediately prior to and after moving from one row to another, cache utilization is improved. |
| US08416237B1 |
Perspective aware automatic guide generation
Methods and apparatus provide for a perspective guide. The perspective guide identifies a first object displayed on a graphical user interface rendered on a display device. An edge of the first object includes an anchor point. The anchor point is positioned on a vector that extends from the vanishing point towards the anchor point, where the predefined vanishing point is placed in a perspective drawing on the graphical user interface. The perspective guide associates a graphical pointer to the anchor point, and the perspective guide draws a new object relative to the anchor point on the graphical user interface while maintaining at least one edge of the new object in forced perspective alignment with the vector. |
| US08416233B2 |
Display driver with charge pumping signals synchronized to different clocks for multiple modes
A display driver generates a respective charge pumping signal and respective driving signals synchronized to a respective same clock signal for each of the CPU and video interface modes. Because such respective signals are synchronized to a respective same clock signal, the noise superimposed on the driving signals applied on a display panel is regular and uniform across the whole display panel, for each of the CPU and video interface modes. Accordingly, affects of such regular noise are advantageously not noticeable to the human eye, for both the video and CPU interface modes of operation. |
| US08416230B2 |
Embedded display power management
An integrated circuit is disclosed that includes a display management circuitry configured to control the operation of a display panel in combination with a power management circuitry configured to control the power consumption of a panel backlight. |
| US08416224B2 |
Method of operating an array of electromechanical pixels resulting in efficient and reliable operation of light modulating elements
Operating methods of an array of electromechanical pixels resulting in efficient and reliable operation of light modulating elements. The invention simplifies the design of electromechanical light modulators and permits the construction of large size displays with greater mechanical tolerances on glass substrates. |
| US08416223B2 |
Interconnection line device, image display apparatus, and method for manufacturing interconnection line device
An interconnection line device includes an insulating layer for electrical insulation; an external connection terminal which is formed on one surface of the insulating layer: an interconnection line which is formed on another surface of the insulating layer and whose one end portion area is connected to a predetermined signal line; and a connection portion which is arranged so as to penetrate through the insulating layer and connects another end portion area of the interconnection line to the external connection terminal. |
| US08416220B2 |
Semiconductor device
A rectifier circuit configured with a conventional configuration using an operational amplifier and a diode by a thin film transistor over an insulating substrate cannot exhibit the performance of a rectifier circuit due to the low stability of operational amplifier and the low high-frequency characteristic. Therefore, the rectifier circuit requires to be configured by using an IC outside of the insulating substrate in order to rectify a high-frequency signal. According to the invention, an amplifier circuit and a waveform shaping circuit are configured with a thin film transistor and a non-rectified signal is switched by a signal thereof, so that a rectifier circuit with the excellent high-frequency characteristic can be realized. |
| US08416219B2 |
Operating device and operating system
An annular switch (SW) for detecting contact is provided on an operating lever (R6), and when the annular switch detects contact, an operation screen (104) pre-associated with the annular switch (SW) is displayed on a display (104) screen of a display unit (104). Operation mode images representing functions included in an operation subject are displayed on the display screen of the display unit in association with a rotation direction and a sliding direction of the annular switch (SW). A function is selected by rotating and sliding the annular switch, and the selected function is executed when the annular switch (SW) ceases to detect contact. |
| US08416215B2 |
Implementation of multi-touch gestures using a resistive touch display
A system based on a standard resistive touch screen that is capable of detecting double point or finger taps or gestures, and districting them from single point or finger taps or gestures. The system uses either a standard analog touch controller capable of four measurement types or a modified analog touch controller capable of six or more measurement types, and the fixed known resistance ratio of the touch film layers, to calculate an approximation of the location of up to two separate touch points on the screen. A collection of the location samples is used to detect different single and double finger gestures. |
| US08416213B2 |
Sensing apparatus and associated sequential scan driving method
A sensing apparatus and a scan driving method thereof are provided. The sensing apparatus includes first and second electrodes, a sensing element array, first and second electrode scan driving circuits and a control circuit. The sensing element array outputs at least one first inductive voltage after being touched. The first electrode scan driving circuit sequentially scans and drives the first electrodes, wherein the driven first electrode is set to a high level output state and the first electrode not being driven is set to a low level output state or a grounding state. The second electrode scan driving circuit sequentially scans and drives the second electrodes, wherein the driven second electrode is set to high impedance (input) state, and the second electrode not being driven is set to a low level output state or the grounding state. The control circuit controls the first and second electrode scan driving circuits. |
| US08416209B2 |
Multipoint touchscreen
A touch panel having a transparent capacitive sensing medium configured to detect multiple touches or near touches that occur at the same time and at distinct locations in the plane of the touch panel and to produce distinct signals representative of the location of the touches on the plane of the touch panel for each of the multiple touches is disclosed. |
| US08416197B2 |
Pen tracking and low latency display updates on electronic paper displays
A system and a method are disclosed for fast pen tracking a low latency display updates on an electronic paper display. Pen input information is received on an electronic paper display that updates at a predetermined display update rate. A line drawing module of the electronic paper display driver determines at least one pixel to activate based on the received pen input information. The at least one pixel is updated independent of the display update rate of the electronic paper display. Active pixel state information is maintained separately for each pixel in real time until the pixel update is complete and the pixel is deactivated. In some embodiments, a future pixel to activate is determined based on the received pen input information. The future pixel is deactivated if pen input information is not received on the activated pixel for a predetermined amount of time. |
| US08416191B2 |
Large depth of field navigation input devices and methods
Disclosed are various embodiments of a navigation input device, and methods, systems and components corresponding thereto. According to some embodiments, the navigation input device has a large depth of field associated therewith and employs time- and/or frequency-domain processing algorithms and techniques. The device is capable of providing accurate and reliable information regarding the (X,Y) position of the device on a navigation surface as it is moved laterally thereatop and thereacross, notwithstanding changes in a vertical position of the device that occur during navigation and that do not exceed the depth of field of an imaging lens incorporated therein. According to one embodiment, the navigation input device is a writing instrument that does not require the use of an underlying touch screen, touch pad or active backplane to accurately and reliably record successive (X,Y) positions of the writing device as it is moved across and atop an underlying writing medium. |
| US08416187B2 |
Item navigation using motion-capture data
A system and method is provided for using motion-capture data to control navigating of a cursor in a user interface of a computing system. Movement of a user's hand or other object in a three-dimensional capture space is tracked and represented in the computing system as motion-capture model data. The method includes obtaining a plurality of positions for the object from the motion-capture model data. The method determines a curved-gesture center point based on at least some of the plurality of positions for the object. Using the curved-gesture center point as an origin, an angular property is determined for one of the plurality of positions for the object. The method further includes navigating the cursor in a sequential arrangement of selectable items based on the angular property. |
| US08416183B2 |
Surface light source device and display device
There is provided a surface light source device capable of making appearance of a boundary between partial lighting areas more natural than related art. In each of unit light-source sections 10 capable of mutually independent lighting, uneven light-emission intensity distributions that are mutually independent are to be formed within a light emission surface. Thus, in the light emission surface of each of the unit light-source sections 10, an arbitrary light-emission intensity distribution is able to be formed. Therefore, by adjusting a light-emission intensity distribution of each of the unit light-source sections 10, the appearance in the boundary between the partial lighting areas becomes more natural than related art. |
| US08416181B2 |
Back light apparatus and liquid crystal display apparatus
A back light apparatus includes an external light quantity detecting unit having a first and second light quantity detecting sections, both of which are provided at a predetermined position of the housing, a first polarizing plate provided on a light receiving surface of the first light quantity detecting section, which first polarizing plate has a polarizing axis perpendicular to that of a polarizing plate provided on the rear surface side of the liquid crystal panel, a second polarizing plate provided on the light receiving surface of the second light quantity detecting section, which second polarizing plate has the same polarizing axis as that of the polarizing plate provided on the rear surface side of the liquid crystal panel, and an external light quantity calculating section to calculate the external light quantity based on the difference value between light quantities detected by the first and second light quantity detecting sections. |
| US08416179B2 |
Methods and systems for color preservation with a color-modulated backlight
Elements of the present invention relate to systems and methods for compensating an image for backlight color variation. Some embodiments comprise compensation for color variation in RGB backlights when backlight color channels use differing gain functions. |
| US08416177B2 |
Light emission control driver, light emitting display device using the same, and method for driving light emission control signal
A light emission control driver includes a first logic unit configured to receive a plurality of clock signals and a first input signal and generate a first output signal; a second logic unit configured to receive a plurality of clock signals and a second input signal and generate a second output signal; and an output controller configured to receive the first output signal, the second output signal, a first control signal, and a second control signal, and generate a light emission control signal. When a driving scheme of a display unit is a simultaneous light emission mode, the light emission control signal is controlled according to driving of the output controller, and, when the driving scheme of the display unit is a progressive light emission mode, the light emission control signal is controlled according to driving of the first logic unit, the second logic unit, and the output controller. |
| US08416175B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and method for driving the same
The liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel including a common voltage correction unit that obtains predominant-polarity data based on polarities of image data to be supplied to pixel cells arranged in an nth one of pixel rows, obtains predominant-polarity data based on polarities of image data to be supplied to pixel cells arranged in an (n+1)th one of the pixel rows adjacent to the nth pixel row, obtains a sum of the two predominant-polarity data, and selects and outputting any one of a plurality of predetermined correction values based on the sum, and a common voltage output unit that corrects a common voltage based on the correction value from the common voltage correction unit and supplies the corrected common voltage to a common electrode. |
| US08416174B2 |
Display apparatus
A display apparatus includes a substrate having a metal layer, a display device disposed on the substrate, with the display device including a display portion and a driving portion, and a sensor portion for detecting a coordinate using electromagnetic induction. The sensor portion is arranged on an opposite side of the substrate from where the display device is disposed, and the metal layer of the substrate has an electromagnetic wave transmissive structure. |
| US08416171B2 |
Display device and television system including a self-healing driving circuit
In one embodiment of the present invention, a liquid crystal driving semiconductor IC for driving a display panel includes an output terminal connected to the display panel, an output circuit block including a DAC circuit, and a spare output block including a DAC circuit, the DAC circuits and being connectable to the output terminal. The IC includes an op amp for comparing output signal from the DAC circuit with that of the DAC circuit, and judging circuit for judging, based on the comparison result of the op amp, whether the DAC circuit is defective, and switches and for, if the DAC circuit is defective, connecting the spare DAC circuit to the output terminal in replacement of the defective DAC circuit. This provides an IC for driving a display device, which IC has concrete measures to easily detect a defect in an output circuit, and can perform self-healing for the defect in the output circuit. |