| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08433951B1 |
Method and system for providing high availability to distributed computer applications
Method, system, apparatus and/or computer program for achieving transparent integration of high-availability services for distributed application programs. Loss-less migration of sub-programs from their respective primary nodes to backup nodes is performed transparently to a client which is connected to the primary node. Migration is performed by high-availability services which are configured for injecting registration codes, registering distributed applications, detecting execution failures, executing from backup nodes in response to failure, and other services. High-availability application services can be utilized by distributed applications having any desired number of sub-programs without the need of modifying or recompiling the application program and without the need of a custom loader. In one example embodiment, a transport driver is responsible for receiving messages, halting and flushing of messages, and for issuing messages directing sub-programs to continue after checkpointing. |
| US08433950B2 |
System to determine fault tolerance in an integrated circuit and associated methods
A system to determine fault tolerance in an integrated circuit may include a programmable logic device carried by the integrated circuit. The system may also include a configurable memory carried by the programmable logic device to control the function and/or connection of a portion of the programmable logic device. The system may further include user logic carried by said programmable logic device and in communication with a user and/or the configurable memory. The user logic may identify corrupted data in the configurable memory based upon changing user requirements. |
| US08433949B2 |
Disk array apparatus and physical disk restoration method
The invention provides a disk array apparatus and a physical disk restoration method for managing a used area and an unused area of a faulty physical disk and shortening the time required for the physical disk to become usable by an external unit. The disk array apparatus includes: a unit for determining whether block areas of the physical disk are used areas or unused areas; a unit for recovering data in relation to block areas determined to be used areas and writing the recovered data to block areas of a spare disk corresponding to the used areas; a unit for transmitting a notification that the physical disk is usable to a host apparatus when data recovery is completed; and a unit for writing zero data to block areas of the spare disk corresponding to block areas determined to be unused areas after transmitting the notification. |
| US08433944B2 |
Clock divider system and method with incremental adjustment steps while controlling tolerance in clock duty cycle
In a particular embodiment, a single step increment calculation module is responsive to a first ramp control value and a second ramp control value. The single step increment calculation module generates a single step frequency adjustment as an output. The generated single step frequency adjustment is applied to a system clock signal having a first frequency to change the system clock signal to a second clock signal having a second frequency. The first frequency is different from the second frequency and the system clock signal has a first duty cycle that is within a tolerance range of a second duty cycle of the second clock signal. |
| US08433943B2 |
Power-supply expansion system and method thereof
A power-supply expansion system includes a primary power-supply unit for providing a main power supply, a secondary power-supply unit for providing an auxiliary power supply, a power unit having a first and a second input terminal and an output terminal, and a control unit connected to the primary and the secondary power-supply unit. The control unit, based on a load value of the primary power-supply unit, selectively performs a power-supply expansion process for the secondary power-supply unit to feed the auxiliary power supply to the second input terminal. In the power-supply expansion process, the first input terminal receives the main power supply and the second input terminal receives the auxiliary power supply, and the power unit integrates the main and the auxiliary power supply into an output power supply, which is output via the output terminal. A power-supply expansion method applicable to the power-supply expansion system is also disclosed. |
| US08433942B2 |
Storage apparatus and power consumption estimation method
Proposed are a storage apparatus and a power consumption estimation method capable of easily and accurately estimating the power consumption of a physical drive without having to use a wattmeter. Operational information concerning a seek amount and a data transfer amount in the relevant hard disk drive which are internally recorded and retained by the respective hard disk drives is collected from each of the hard disk drives, and power consumption of each of the hard disk drives is estimated based on the acquired operational information of each of the hard disk drives. |
| US08433937B1 |
Automated transitions power modes while continuously powering a power controller and powering down a media controller for at least one of the power modes
A data storage device comprising a storage media, a media controller, a power system and a power controller is disclosed. The media controller is configured to read data from and write data to the storage media. The power system is configured to controllably power the media controller, and the power controller is configured to autonomously transition the data storage device between a plurality of power modes, wherein the power system continuously powers the power controller through the power modes and powers down the media controller for at least one of the power modes. |
| US08433932B2 |
Power circuit, information processing apparatus, and power control method based on fixed frequency characteristic of control signal
A power circuit, information processing apparatus, and power control method are provided. The power circuit includes a determining unit configured to determine whether a control signal provided to control a power source has a fixed frequency characteristic, and an adjusting unit configured to randomly change time when a voltage transmitted to the power source is changed within a prescribed range when the determining unit determines that the control signal has the fixed frequency characteristic. |
| US08433929B2 |
Data management device, stored data management method and computer program
Provided is a data management device for managing data recorded onto a readable and writable recording medium by an application that is verified based on a digital certificate. The recording medium has a plurality of areas and access to each area is restricted to a different application. The data management device includes an application authentication module, a mapping module, and a local storage display module. The application authentication module verifies that an application is an authentic application based on a digital certificate attached to the application. The mapping module associates, if the application is verified, an area accessible by the application with a subject name described in the digital certificate used for the verification. The local storage display module displays information regarding the area accessible by the application, with the use of the subject name associated with the area. |
| US08433925B2 |
Cryptographic system for performing secure computations and signal processing directly on encrypted data in untrusted environments
Disclosed embodiments include a cryptographic system implemented in at least one digital computer with one or more processors or hardware such as FPGAs for performing secure computations, analysis, and signal processing directly on encrypted data in untrusted environments. According to a basic embodiment, the proposed cryptographic system comprises: (a) at least one secure protocol for performing matrix multiplications in the encrypted domain, and (b) at least one secure protocol for solving systems of linear equations in the encrypted domain. According to a particular embodiment, the system comprises a plurality of privacy-preserving protocols for solving systems of linear equations (SLE) directly based on homomorphic computation and secret sharing. More specifically, according to a particular embodiment, the system uses a protocol whereby systems of linear equations are solved securely by direct Gaussian elimination using a secure protocol without imposing any restrictions on the matrix coefficients. |
| US08433923B2 |
Information processing device having activation verification function
An information processing device having an activation verification function comprises: a module recording portion which stores plural system programs, a security chip having the function of checking the validity of the system programs and a verification portion which inspects the activation states of the system programs. The security chip executes validity checking processing using verification data provided by the system programs. If the security chip cannot confirm the validity of the system programs, the verification portion acquires activation-state information about activated system programs from the activated system programs. If pre-stored verification-information initial values for valid system programs and the acquired activation-state information match with each other, the verification portion determines that the current activation states of the system programs are valid, and the subsequent activation processing for the system programs is advanced. |
| US08433919B2 |
Two-level authentication for secure transactions
A system and method provide efficient, secure, and highly reliable authentication for transaction processing and/or access control applications. A Personal Digital Key stores one or more profiles (e.g., a biometric profile) in a tamper-proof memory that is acquired in a secure trusted process. Biometric profiles comprise a representation of physical or behavioral characteristics that are uniquely associated with an individual that owns and carries the PDK. The PDK wirelessly transmits the biometric profile over a secure wireless transaction to a Reader for use in a biometric authentication process. The Reader compares the received biometric profile to a biometric input acquired at the point of transaction in order to determine if the transaction should be authorized. |
| US08433912B2 |
Authentication device, authentication method, program, and signature generation device
Provided is an authentication device including a key setting unit for setting a multi-order polynomial ui(t) (i=1 to n−1) to a secret key and setting a multi-order polynomial f that satisfies f(u1(t), . . . , un-1(t),t)=0 to a public key, a message transmission unit for transmitting a message c to a verifier, a verification pattern reception unit for receiving information on one verification pattern selected by the verifier from k (k≧3) verification patterns for one message c, and a response transmission unit for transmitting, to the verifier, response information, among k types of response information, corresponding to the information on the verification pattern received by the verification pattern reception unit. The response information is information that enables calculation of the secret key ui in a case all of the k verification patterns for the message c performed by using the k types of response information have been successful. |
| US08433909B1 |
One-to-many electronic signature process
Aspects of the invention include methods and systems for electronically signing a plurality of documents, such as an insurance application, a loan application, a set of mortgage papers, a bank application, or the like. A customer, or multiple customers, electronically submits the signature once and the customer's one signature is applied to all of the areas where the customer signature is required. The electronic signature may include initials and/or a graphical representation of the customer's handwritten signature. Aspects of the invention include an apparatus comprising a display, a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and programmed with computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method for electronically signing a plurality of documents. |
| US08433908B2 |
Card issuing system, card issuing server, card issuing method and program
The present invention provides a service providing server including an authentication ticket creating unit for encrypting access authentication information and creating an authentication ticket, and an authentication ticket transmitting unit for transmitting the authentication ticket to a card issuing server; where the card issuing server includes an authentication ticket verifying unit for decrypting the authentication ticket and verifying the authentication ticket, a verification result notifying unit for notifying the verification result of the authentication ticket to the service providing server, a connection information transmitting unit for transmitting connection information for connecting to the card issuing server to the service providing server along with the verification result of the authentication ticket, and an authentication information verifying unit for comparing and verifying the access authentication information of the authentication ticket and access authentication information stored in the IC chip of the information processing terminal. |
| US08433907B2 |
Application server, control method thereof, program, and computer-readable storage medium
An application server (100) includes: receiving means (101) for receiving a request for a media object from a user equipment; verification means (102) for verifying the authenticity of the received request; first generation means (103) for generating a session key that is associated with an existing session if the authenticity of the request is successfully verified; first sending means (104) for sending the session key to a media server so that said media server encrypts the requested media object with the session key and sends the encrypted media object toward the user equipment; second generation means (105) for generating a one-time player in which the session key is embedded; and second sending means (106) for sending the one-time player to the user equipment, which enables said user equipment to decrypt and decode the encrypted media object that is sent from the media server. |
| US08433906B2 |
Method and system for microlocking web content
A method and system for ensuring the authenticity of server returned information displayed at a client browser is provided. The method comprises receiving the server returned information at a client computer; storing a copy of the server returned information at the client computer; inspecting the server returned information for one or more locked objects; allowing the client browser to operate one or more client installed scripts; inspecting the server returned information for any modifications to the one or more locked objects; and in response to determining that the one or more client installed scripts have made modifications to the one or more locked objects, replacing the modified locked objects with unmodified versions of the locked objects from the stored copy of the server returned information. |
| US08433904B2 |
Portable smart card reader having secure wireless communications capability
A reader device includes a housing for receiving a smart card, a processor in electronic communication with an integrated circuit chip of the smart card when the smart card is received in the housing, a wireless communications device in electronic communication with the processor for enabling the reader device to transmit first encrypted information wirelessly and to receive second encrypted information wirelessly, and a memory in electronic communication with the processor that includes one or more routines executable by the processor. The one or more routines include a cryptographic module adapted to encrypt first information to create the first encrypted information and decrypt the second encrypted information to obtain second information. In addition, a communication system that includes the reader device and a computing device, wherein the reader device and computing device are able to wirelessly exchange information in a secure manner. |
| US08433902B2 |
Computer system with dual operating modes
A system switches between non-secure and secure modes by making processes, applications, and data for the non-secure mode unavailable to the secure mode and vice versa. The process thread run queue is modified to include a state flag for each process that indicates whether the process is a secure or non-secure process. A process scheduler traverses the queue and only allocates time to processes that have a state flag that matches the current mode. Running processes are marked to be idled and are flagged as unrunnable, depending on the security mode, when the process reaches an intercept point. The scheduler is switched to allow only threads that have a flag that corresponding to the active security mode to be run. |
| US08433901B2 |
System and method for wiping encrypted data on a device having file-level content protection
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for erasing user data stored in a file system. The method includes destroying all key bags containing encryption keys on a device having a file system encrypted on a per file and per class basis, erasing and rebuilding at least part of the file system associated with user data, and creating a new default key bag containing encryption keys. Also disclosed herein is a method of erasing user data stored in a remote file system encrypted on a per file and per class basis. The method includes transmitting obliteration instructions to a remote device, which cause the remote device to destroy all key bags containing encryption keys on the remote device, erase and rebuild at least part of the file system associated with user data, and create on the remote device a new default key bag containing encryption keys. |
| US08433900B2 |
Secure transport of multicast traffic
A request to receive multicast data, associated with a multicast group, may be transmitted. The request may be transmitted via a tunnel. Group keys may be received in response to the request. The group keys may be based on the multicast group. An encapsulated packet may be received via another tunnel. The encapsulated packet may be processed, using the group keys, to obtain a multicast packet associated with the multicast data. The multicast packet may be forwarded to at least one multicast recipient. |
| US08433899B2 |
System and method for authenticating data using incompatible digest functions
A system for authenticating data of interest includes a digest locator engine capable to locate a first and a second digest result in a data file, including a set of data; a first digest creator capable to create, using a first digest function, a first digest of the set of data, the first digest function being identical to a digest function used to create the first digest result; a second digest creator capable to create, using a second digest function that is incompatible with the first digest function, a second digest of the set of data, the second digest function being identical to a second digest function used to create the second digest result; and a digest comparator engine, communicatively coupled to the digest locator, first digest creator and the second digest creator, capable to compare the first and second created digests with the first and second located digest results respectively. |
| US08433896B2 |
Simplifying addition of web servers when authentication server requires registration
An aspect of the present invention simplifies addition of new server systems which serve web pages to client systems, when an authentication server requires registration before providing authentication services. In an embodiment, a backend server is provided, which is registered with an authentication server. The server systems are implemented to redirect unauthorized access requests to the backend server, and the configurations performed during registration of the backend server system are used for authenticating a user and receiving an authentication result. The backend server communicates the authentication result and other information received from the authentication server to the server system. According to another aspect, such simplification is performed in a single sign-on (SSO) environment. |
| US08433891B2 |
Accessing multiple user states concurrently in a configurable IC
Some embodiments of the invention provide a configuration/debug network for configuring and debugging a configurable integrated circuit (IC). The configurable IC in some embodiments includes configurable resources (e.g., configurable logic resources, routing resources, memory resources, etc.) that can be grouped in conceptual configurable tiles that are arranged in several rows and columns. Some embodiments allow tiles to be individually addressed, globally addressed (i.e., all addressed together), or addressed based on their tile types. The configurable IC includes numerous user-design state elements (“UDS elements”) in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the configuration/debug network has a streaming mode that can direct various circuits in one or more configurable tiles to stream out their data during the operation of the configurable IC. Accordingly, in the embodiments where the configuration/debug network connects to some or all of the UDS elements, the configurable/debug network can be used in a streaming mode to stream out data from the UDS elements of the tiles, in order to identify any errors in the operation of the IC. In other words, the streaming of the data from the UDS elements can be used to debug the operation of the configurable IC. In some embodiments, the configuration/debug network has a broadcasting mode that can direct various resources (e.g., memories, storage elements, etc.) in one or more configurable tiles to store the same data. For instance, the broadcasting mode can be used to initialize the memory blocks in the configurable memory tiles. |
| US08433889B2 |
Operating system context switching
A technique for quickly switching between a first operating system (OS) and a second OS involves deactivating the first OS and booting the second OS from memory. The technique can include inserting a context switching layer between the first OS and a hardware layer to facilitate context switching. It may be desirable to allocate memory for the second OS and preserve state of the first OS before deactivating the first OS and booting the second OS from memory. |
| US08433888B2 |
Network boot system
To minimize network access to a server in a network boot system. A server which stores an OS operating on a client terminal and a client terminal which includes a physical storage device are connected to each other over a network. The client terminal includes a physical memory and a network interface, and the OS includes a network driver for driving the network interface, a filter driver for converting access to a local bus of the client terminal into access to the network, and a read cache driver for driving the storage device. The read cache driver caches data which is read out from the server by the filter driver in the storage device. |
| US08433880B2 |
System and method for storing data in a virtualized high speed memory system
A system and method for providing high-speed memory operations is disclosed. The technique uses virtualization of memory space to map a virtual address space to a larger physical address space wherein no memory bank conflicts will occur. The larger physical address space is used to prevent memory bank conflicts from occurring by moving the virtualized memory addresses of data being written to memory to a different location in physical memory that will eliminate a memory bank conflict. |
| US08433879B1 |
RFID tag semiconductor chip with memory management unit (MMU) to make only one time programmable (OTP) memory appear multiple times programmable (MTP)
Memory management units (MMUs) are disclosed. In one aspect, an MMU may have a first interface to a component. The first interface may receive one of a read of updated data from, and a write of updated data to, a virtual memory address. The virtual memory address may initially correspond to a first physical memory location in an only one time programmable (OTP) non-volatile memory (NVM). The MMU may have a remapping unit to remap a correspondence of the virtual memory address from the first physical memory location to a spare physical memory location. The MMU may also have a second interface to the OTP NVM. The second interface may allow the updated data to be read from or written to the spare physical memory location of the OTP NVM. Methods performed by the MMUs, and methods and articles useful for manufacturing MMUs, are also disclosed. |
| US08433877B2 |
Storage scalability management
Storage scalability management is provided by adding storage in a data processing environment. A new storage subsystem is added automatically to an available storage provider only if doing so will not reduce the performance of the storage provider to an unacceptable level. If no such storage provider is available, a new storage provider is added automatically. The new storage provider is added automatically to the server and operating system that is best able to handle the additional work. Thus, a new storage subsystem is added automatically in a data processing environment in a manner that provides for system scalability while minimizing any adverse impact on system performance. |
| US08433874B2 |
Address assignment and type recognition of serially interconnected memory devices of mixed type
A memory system architecture is provided in which a memory controller controls operations of memory devices in a serial interconnection configuration. The memory controller has an output serial interface for sending memory commands and an input serial interface for receiving memory responses for those memory commands requisitioning such responses. Each memory device includes a memory, such as, for example, flash memory (e.g., NAND- and NOR-type flash memories). In an initialization phase, the memory devices are assigned with consecutive number addresses. The memory controller sends a target address and can recognize the type of the targeted memory device. A data path for the memory commands and the memory responses is provided by the interconnection. |
| US08433869B1 |
Virtualized consistency group using an enhanced splitter
In one aspect, a method includes forming a virtualized grid consistency group to replicate a logical unit, running a first grid copy on a first data protection appliance (DPA) replicating a first portion of the logical unit, running a second grid copy on a second DPA replicating a second portion of the logical unit, sending IOs to the first DPA if the IOs are to a first set of offsets and sending IOs to the second DPA if the IOs are to a second set of offsets. |
| US08433868B2 |
Concurrent copy of system configuration global metadata
Method, system, and computer program product embodiments for concurrent copy of system configuration global metadata in a data storage system are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a global data rank is quiesced, followed by an unquiesce of the global data rank except for a global metadata area. The global metadata area is updated in memory, and then unquiesced. A current range of the global metadata area to be copied is quiesced. The current range of the global metadata area is copied from a source area to a target area. The current range is unquiesced. The steps of quiescing an additional current range, copying the range from a source area to a target area, and unquiescing the current range continue until the entire global metadata area has been copied. |
| US08433865B2 |
Consistency without ordering dependency
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to maintaining consistency in a storage system. In aspects, one or more objects may be updated in the context of a transaction. In conjunction with updating the objects, logical copies of the objects may be obtained and modified. A request to write the updated logical copies is sent to a storage controller. The logical copies do not overwrite the original copies. In conjunction with sending the request, a data structure is provided for the storage controller to store on the disk. The data structure indicates the one or more objects that were supposed to be written to disk and may include verification data to indicate the content that was supposed to be written to disk. During recovery, this data structure may be used to determine whether all of the object(s) were correctly written to disk. |
| US08433863B1 |
Hybrid method for incremental backup of structured and unstructured files
An incremental backup service may be configured to backup structured files and unstructured files on a client system. A filter driver 130 may be configured to monitor write operations on the client system and log changed cluster address information for structured files. The backup service may backup changed clusters of structured files to a backup storage device. For each of the unstructured files, the backup service may compare the file size to a threshold size. If the unstructured file is smaller than the threshold size, the backup service may backup the entire unstructured file. If the file size is larger than the threshold size, the backup service may determine the ratio of changed clusters to unchanged clusters. If the ratio is below a ratio threshold, the backup service may backup the changed clusters. If the ratio is above the ratio threshold, the backup service may backup the entire file. |
| US08433858B1 |
Multi-interface and multi-bus structured solid-state storage subsystem
A solid-state storage subsystem, such as a non-volatile memory card or drive, includes multiple interfaces and a memory area storing information used by a data arbiter to prioritize data commands received through the interfaces. As one example, the information may store a priority ranking of multiple host systems that are connected to the solid-state storage subsystem, such that the data arbiter may process concurrently received data transfer commands serially according to their priority ranking. A host software component may be configured to store and modify the priority control information in solid-state storage subsystem's memory area. |
| US08433847B2 |
Memory drive that can be operated like optical disk drive and method for virtualizing memory drive as optical disk drive
The present invention relates to a memory drive that can be virtualized as an optical disk drive and a virtualizing method thereof. One embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for virtualizing a memory drive as an optical disk drive, the memory drive comprising a storage memory and a storage memory controller, which reads or writes data from and to the storage memory. Therefore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a solid-state which comprises a flash memory and a flash memory controller can be used like an optical disk. |
| US08433845B2 |
Data storage device which serializes memory device ready/busy signals
A data storage device may include a command bus, a status bus, multiple memory devices that are operably coupled to the command bus and to the status bus, and a controller including multiple channel controllers, where the channel controllers are operably coupled to the command bus and to the status bus and each of the channel controllers is arranged and configured to control one or more of the memory devices. The data storage device may include multiple programmable logic devices that are operably coupled to the status bus, where each of the programmable logic devices is configured to retrieve a ready/busy signal from each of the memory devices under control of one of the channel controllers using the status bus, serialize the ready/busy signals and communicate the serialized ready/busy signals to the channel controllers. |
| US08433841B2 |
Providing a peripheral component interconnect (PCI)-compatible transaction level protocol for a system on a chip (SoC)
In one embodiment, the present invention includes an apparatus having an adapter to communicate according to a personal computer (PC) protocol and a second protocol. A first interface coupled to the adapter is to perform address translation and ordering of transactions received from upstream of the adapter. The first interface is coupled in turn via one or more physical units to heterogeneous resources, each of which includes an intellectual property (IP) core and a shim, where the shim is to implement a header of the PC protocol for the IP core to enable its incorporation into the apparatus without modification. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08433834B2 |
Manufacturing device and module for controlling integrity properties of a data stream input into the manufacturing device
A module for controlling integrity properties of a data stream input into a device, such as a machine for manufacturing or a management system related to such machines. A plurality of control items are registered in a database. At least one activable control means executes a control of one integrity property according to one of several registered control items. A list is attached to the database with selectable links for activating at least one of the control means. Configuration means perform on at least one of the links a chronological selection according to a predefined management profile on integrity properties of the data stream in order to introduce a selectable relative time delay between activations of control items. Due to that configuration, the integrity control thus obtained is provided with high reliability as well as in a very flexible manner. |
| US08433830B2 |
Systems and methods for using a shared buffer construct in performance of concurrent data-driven tasks
Disclosed herein are techniques to execute tasks with a computing device. A first task is initiated to perform an operation of the first task. A buffer construct that represents a region of memory accessible to the operation of the first task is created. A second task is initiated to perform of an operation of the second task that is configured to be timed to initiate in response to the buffer construct being communicated to the second task from the first task. |
| US08433828B2 |
Accessory protocol for touch screen device accessibility
Techniques for controlling a touch input device using an accessory communicatively coupled to the device are disclosed. In one aspect, an accessibility framework is launched on the device. An accessory coupled to the device is detected. Receipt of input from the accessory is enabled. An accessibility packet is received from the accessory. The accessibility packet includes an accessibility command and one or more parameters. The accessibility packet is processed to extract the first accessibility command and the one or more parameters. Input is generated for the accessibility framework based on the accessibility command and the one or more parameters. In some implementations, the device also sends accessibility commands to the accessory, either in response to accessibility commands received from the accessory or independent of any received accessibility commands. |
| US08433827B2 |
Method for configuring fieldbus stations
A method for configuring fieldbus stations, wherein station names and addresses for the fieldbus stations are executed by reading in a parameter over a first network port of a coupling element, which acts as a topology anchor so as to assign a unique addressing in a subnetwork, i.e., a unique name and a unique IP address, in a PROFINET-IO, such as a fieldbus based on Ethernet. |
| US08433825B2 |
Operating device for exchanging data with a process device in an automation system
An operator panel having a state unit is provided, wherein individual states of the state unit correspond to states of a state machine contained in a field device and which are synchronized by the state machine in such a way that the actual state of the operator panel corresponds to the actual state of the field device. The operator panel is in the same state as the field device such that the operator panel knows the actual state of the field device. |
| US08433821B2 |
Communication system, terminal device and communication control device
A communication system including a communication control device connecting to an external network, a NAT device connecting to the external network, and a terminal device connecting to an internal network under control of the NAT device, the terminal device including a NAT information identification portion, a NAT information transmitting portion that transmits NAT type information to the communication control device, a type request transmitting portion, a type response receiving portion that receives the NAT type information transmitted from the communication control device in response to the type request signal, and a first communication portion that performs communication with another terminal device using the received NAT type information, the communication control device including a NAT information receiving portion, a storage control portion that stores the received NAT type information in a storage device, a type request receiving portion, and a type response transmitting portion that transmits the stored NAT type information. |
| US08433819B2 |
Facilitating download of requested data from server utilizing virtual network connections between client devices
A method of reducing server overhead in responding to requests for downloads from devices includes the steps of receiving, at a first device, a communication from a server regarding a request for download that the server has received from a second device; in response thereto, using virtualized network capabilities of a virtual machine of the second device, establishing a network connection with the first device using connection information received from the server; fulfilling the request for download by transferring data via the established network connection; and communicating an indication of fulfillment of such request to the server. |
| US08433812B2 |
Systems and methods for managing multimedia operations in remote sessions
Techniques relating to managing multimedia transmissions in terminal services scenarios are described. In an example, a method sends a user-interface component from a server to a remote client. The exemplary method further streams a media component for presentation on the remote client in combination with the user-interface component and the media presentation is tracked but not displayed by the server. |
| US08433810B2 |
Probing-based auto moding
A method for selecting a mode of operation for at least two modems is described. First, a handshake procedure is performed in order to determine a set of possible modes of operation supported by said modems. From said set of possible modes of operation, a set of favorable modes of operation is derived. In case there exist two or more favorable modes of operation, a probing-based selection is performed that comprises evaluating respective performances of said favorable modes of operation. The favorable mode of operation with the best performance is selected as a resultant mode of operation. |
| US08433809B2 |
Method and system for providing a session involving a plurality of software applications
A computer-implemented method for providing a user with a consistent view of user session. The method includes providing application servers with data storage means for storing part of the user context for that user session, defining for each user session a set of application servers having each an affinity with the user session. At a routing means, receiving a request and routing transactions of the user session toward the application servers, assigning to the user session a correlation record (DCX) arranged to comprise Affinity Keys, each Affinity Key indicating an application server that has an affinity with the user session for a given software application, and propagating the correlation record with transactions, allowing thereby the routing means to target the application servers that are linked to the user context of that user session and that process the software application relevant to process the transaction. |
| US08433806B2 |
Method for refusal of 1x page delivery in a high rate packet data system
A method for rejecting the 1× paging transferred in the High Rate Packet Data network is provided, in which the Secondary Color Code mechanism is applied so that the AN which a MS/AT registers transmits A13-paging request messages to the other neighboring ANs, these ANs page a cell phone together and some new messages are added to improve the rejection flow. When the SC/MM is in the AN of HRPD system, for the MS/AT on the multiple edges of AN, the invention can be ensured that the MS/AT in the idle or dormant state can effectively receive the service paging from 1× network in the multiple edge regions of AN in HRPD and can reject the 1× service according to selection of users, which ensures the ability of dual network operation. |
| US08433805B2 |
Method and system for facilitating contacting people using electronic devices
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using improved approaches to contact users that can be contacted in a variety of different ways are disclosed. According to one aspect, one user is able to be automatically informed of an appropriate (e.g., preferred) way to contact another user. Once informed of the appropriate way, another user can be contacted (automatically or on user request) using the appropriate way. |
| US08433802B2 |
System and method for fair and economical resource partitioning using virtual hypervisor
A system and method for allocating resources in a cloud environment includes determining permitted usage of virtual machines and partitioning resources between network servers in accordance with a virtual hypervisor generated in accordance with an abstraction layer configured as an interface between a solution manager and an interface to a cloud network. Resource usage limits are determined for each virtual machine associated with the virtual hypervisor, and the servers are analyzed through the virtual hypervisors to determine if the virtual machines need to be migrated. If reallocation is needed, virtual machine migration requests are issued to migrate virtual machines into a new configuration at the virtual hypervisor abstraction level. The servers are reanalyzed to determine if migration of the new configuration is needed. Shares are computed to enforce balance requirements, and virtual machine shares and limits are adjusted for resources according to the computed shares. |
| US08433798B2 |
Altering software behavior based on internet connectivity
A system, a method, and computer-readable media are provided for altering behavior of software based on detection of an Internet connection. The system, method, and media detect when a computer has connected to the Internet or is capable of connecting to the Internet. This detection may include analyzing a connection history of the computer to the Internet, reporting in real-time when the computer establishes a connection to the Internet, or attempting to actively establish a connection with an Internet resource using the computer. A first set of software functionality may be disabled when a previously established connection with the Internet is identified, a real-time report of a connection with the Internet is generated, or a connection with the Internet resource is established. In addition, a second set of software functionality may be enabled when the first set of software functionality is disabled. |
| US08433793B2 |
Dispatching method, dispatching apparatus and dispatching system
A dispatching method, a dispatching apparatus and a dispatching system are disclosed according to embodiments of the present invention. The dispatching method includes receiving a request initiated by a user terminal, where the request carries address information of the user terminal; obtaining the address information carried in the request and obtaining key information of an access server associated with the address information; searching for a corresponding node based on the key information of the access server and treating the node as a redirected serving node. A dispatching apparatus and a dispatching system are also disclosed according to embodiments of the present invention. The technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention may well solve the dispatching issue and has a more flexible application. |
| US08433786B2 |
Selective instrumentation of distributed applications for transaction monitoring
Systems and methods provide a selective instrumentation strategy for monitoring the progress of transactions in a distributed computing system. The monitoring of the transactive processing of jobs is considered through a collection of computer operating stages in a distributed system, using limited information. The monitoring is performed by observing log records (or footprints) produced during each stage of processing in the system. The footprints lack unique transaction identifiers resulting in uncertainties in monitoring transaction instances. The processing stages are selective instrumented to reduce monitoring uncertainty under the given constraints such as limited budget for instrumentation cost. |
| US08433785B2 |
System and method for detecting internet bots
Apparatuses, methods, and systems directed to detect Internet bots in communication networks. Some embodiments of the present invention allow an agent of a server to periodically record interaction events on a client system. The recorded interaction events are sent to a server and validated by a statistical test. Some embodiments of the present invention may be used to detect bots using server logs. In other embodiments, an agent of a server is able to detect and validate interaction events on a client system and the server periodically polls the agent to determine whether bots are detected on the client system. |
| US08433782B2 |
Simplifying determination of dependencies among SOA services
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, artifacts representing SOA services are statically inspected to determine a set of dependencies among the SOA services. The determined set of dependencies is provided to users to facilitate analysis of dependencies among the SOA services. According to another aspect of the present disclosure, such set of dependencies are displayed in the form of a graph. |
| US08433780B2 |
Systems and methods for automatically configuring a client for remote use of a network-based service
Disclosed are systems and methods for configuring a client for remote use of a network-based service. In one embodiment, a system and a method include automatically discovering a network-based service supported on a local network to which the client is also connected, communicating with the service via the network, and automatically receiving security information from the service that enables use of the service by the client from a remote location. |
| US08433776B2 |
Method and arrangement for spread of applications
It is provided a mechanism for improving the procedure for a first communication device to send a message to a second device, the message including a link to an application server where the second device is requested to perform down load an application. A method in a first communications device (first device) including sending a message to a second communication device (second device), the message including a link to an application server from where an application can be downloaded into the second device; obtaining first information from the application server whether the second device has activated the link received in the message, and started to download the application, the first information indicating whether the second device has started to download the application, and indicating whether the second device downloads the application when the first information is obtained. |
| US08433772B2 |
Automated tape drive sharing in a heterogeneous server and application environment
An approach for automatically sharing a tape drive in a heterogeneous computing environment that includes a first computer and second computer is presented. The first computer receives a message that includes a shared tape drive identifier, a source port identifier of the second computer, and a reservation status change for the tape drive. Based on the tape drive identifier, the first computer determines that the tape drive is connected to the first computer. The source port identifier is determined to not identify any host bus adapter installed in the first computer. In response to the first computer determining that the reservation status change indicates a reservation or a release of the tape drive for the second computer, the first computer sets the tape drive offline or online, respectively, in an application executing in the first computer. |
| US08433767B2 |
Intelligent processing in the context of away and offline instant messages
An electronic assistant handles instant messages sent to a user when the user is away or offline. The electronic assistant may respond intelligently and helpfully to inquiries regarding the user's away or offline status, may take messages for delivery to the away or offline user, and may intelligently forward messages to the user, as appropriate. |
| US08433763B2 |
Fault tolerant distributed messaging architecture for computer-aided dispatch system
In one embodiment, a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system includes a database for storing data originated at a plurality of CAD stations; a manager that manages access to the data stored in the database; and the plurality of CAD stations communicatively connected to the manager and to each other. While the manager is available, each CAD station transmits the critical data and the non-critical data originated at the CAD station to the manager and receives the critical data and the non-critical data originated at one or more other CAD stations from the manager. While the manager is unavailable, each CAD station transmits the critical data originated at the CAD station directly to all other CAD stations and receives the critical data originated at the one or more other CAD stations directly from the one or more other CAD stations. |
| US08433760B2 |
Inter-node communication scheme for node status sharing
A gossiping scheme for sharing node status in a cluster of nodes provides a robust mechanism for determining node status within the cluster. Nodes transmit gossip messages to each other nodes, the gossip messages listing other nodes in the cluster that are operational. When a node does not receive a gossip message from a particular node within a predetermined time period, then the node transmits messages to the other nodes indicating that the particular node is down. However, if another node has received a packet from the particular node within the predetermined time period and receives the node down message, then the other node responds with a node alive message. |
| US08433751B2 |
System and method for sharing notes
Systems, methods and techniques are provided in which pens capable of capturing and transmitting information representative marks made by them, e.g., wireless-enabled digital pens, are used. In one representative implementation, notes taken during a meeting automatically are wirelessly transferred (i.e., copied and/or moved) among devices used by the participants, thereby providing for automatic sharing of notes among the meeting participants. |
| US08433745B2 |
Scalable cost function generator and method thereof
A cost function generator circuit includes memory terms each receiving one or more input signals, and each providing inphase and quadrature output current signals. The inphase and quadrature output currents of the memory terms are summed to provide combined inphase and quadrature output currents, respectively. Transimpedance amplifiers are provided to transform the combined inphase and quadrature output currents into an inphase output voltage and a quadrature output voltage. |
| US08433744B1 |
Programmable multiply accumulate (MAC) circuit
A multiply-accumulate (MAC) circuit including a queue circuit programmable at runtime is described. In one embodiment, the queue circuit includes a main queue that is programmable at runtime and a supplementary queue. In one embodiment, the queue circuit further includes M multiplexers coupled to the main queue and the supplementary queue, where M is an integer greater than or equal to one. In one embodiment, the MAC circuit further includes M multiplier elements coupled to the queue circuit and an accumulator circuit coupled to the M multiplier elements. The M multiplier elements receive multiplicands from the queue circuits and provide results of multiplications to the accumulator circuit. The accumulator circuit maintains a running sum of the results of the M multiplications performed by the M multiplier elements. In one embodiment, the accumulator circuit includes two adder circuits. A first adder circuit maintains a running sum of the multiplications between multiplicands of the current word being processed. A second adder circuit is used to accumulate the results of multiplications between multiplicands of the next data word to be processed when the MAC circuit is transitioning from one word to the next. |
| US08433742B2 |
Modulus-based error-checking technique
During a method, a modulus circuit determines a modulus base p of a first number and a modulus base p of a second number. Also, the modulus circuit performs the operation using the modulus base p of the first number and the modulus base p of the second number, and calculates a modulus base p of the result of the operation involving the first number and the second number. Next, the modulus circuit compares the result of the operation carried out on the modulus base p of the first number and the modulus base p of the second number with the modulus base p of the operation performed on the first number and the second number to identify potential errors associated with the operation. Moreover, the modulus circuit repeats the method to identify additional potential errors associated with the operation, where the determining and calculating operations are repeated using moduli base q. |
| US08433741B2 |
Methods and apparatus for signature prediction and feature level fusion
A system for signature prediction and feature-level fusion of a target according to various aspects of the present invention includes a first sensing modality for providing a measured data set. The system further includes a processor receiving the measured data set and generating a first k-orthogonal spanning tree constructed from k orthogonal minimal spanning trees having no edge shared between the k minimal spanning trees to define a first data manifold.A method for signature prediction and feature-level fusion of a target according to various aspects of the present invention includes generating a first manifold by developing a connected graph of data from a first sensing modality using a first k-orthogonal spanning tree, generating a second manifold by developing a second connected graph of data from a second sensing modality using a second k-orthogonal spanning tree, and aligning the first manifold and the second manifold to generate a joint-signature manifold in a common embedding space. |
| US08433738B2 |
Filtering apparatus, filtering method, program, and surround processor
A filtering apparatus for obtaining an output in a case where a discrete-time signal having a length of N (N is an integer) is input to an FIR filter with a filter coefficient having a length of M (M is an integer, N≧M−1), including: a division unit for dividing the discrete-time signal; a first zero padding unit for padding zero after the discrete-time signals; a first fast Fourier transform unit for performing FFT on the zero padded data; a second zero padding unit for padding zero after the filter coefficient; a second fast Fourier transform unit for performing FFT on the zero padded data; a multiplication unit for multiplying the frequency domain data by the frequency domain data; an inverse fast Fourier transform unit for performing IFFT on the multiplication results; and an adder unit for adding the discrete-time signals. |
| US08433737B1 |
Spurious DDS signal suppression
A technique for the suppression of spurious Direct Digital Synthesis (“DDS”) signals includes a method and an apparatus that equally and oppositely dithers a pair of complementary input digital words from which a pair of analog signals are direct digital synthesized and then mixes the generated analogy signals. |
| US08433733B2 |
Web application record-replay system and method
A web application includes a record-replay library component to record sessions into a log file and subsequently replay the recorded session based upon the log file. The record-replay library interacts with the runtime environment of the web application to intercept events that correspond to data inputs received by the web application, such as user inputs, remote server inputs and inputs from the computer system on which the runtime environment is executing. On replay, the log file is read by the record-replay library and events are programmatically dispatched to the runtime environment by the record-replay library based on the log entries in order to simulate the various data input events that occurred during the recorded session. |
| US08433732B2 |
System and method for storing data and accessing stored data
In one example of a method to access data, selected data stored in a virtual tape library (“VTL”) maintained in a selected format in a first non-tape storage medium is examined. One or more first directories and one more first files are identified within the selected data. One or more second directories, and one or more second files, comprising information identifying at least one of the one or more first files, are generated and stored in a second non-tape storage medium. A request specifying at least one of the one or more second files is received from a device, and information identifying at least one of the one or more first files is retrieved from the specified second file. The at least one first file is accessed based on the information, and data from the at least one first file is provided to the device. Systems are also disclosed. |
| US08433727B2 |
Method and apparatus for restricting access to writable properties at runtime
A processing device executing an application receives a user command to update a specified writeable property of the application. The processing device determines whether the specified writeable property has metadata that distinguishes the specified writeable property as a user updateable property. In one embodiment, this is determined by using a reflection mechanism to examine metadata of the specified writeable property. In another embodiment, this is determined by examining a dynamic changeable properties list that was created and populated at runtime of the application. If the specified writeable property has the metadata that distinguishes the specified writeable property as a user updateable property, the processing device updates the specified writeable property in accordance with the user command. |
| US08433726B2 |
Personal profile data repository
A personal profile data repository is disclosed. The personal profile data repository stores information about a user. The user has complete control over the content of the profile and over what third parties may access information stored in the repository. |
| US08433721B2 |
Apparatus and method for managing images based on user preferences
Disclosed herein is an apparatus and method for managing images based on user preferences. The apparatus includes a database for storing images, an image search module for searching the images stored in the database, an image output module for outputting at least one image retrieved by the image search module, a preference input module for, when the retrieved image is output through the image output module, receiving a user preference for the output image from a user, and an image path database for storing a storage path of the image, output through the image output module, based on the user preference received through the user preference input module. The image search module searches images whose storage paths are stored in the image path database or images whose storage paths are not stored in the image path database according to the user's selection. |
| US08433719B1 |
Accelerating find in page queries within a web browser
Techniques for extending the functionality of a search field within a web browser to include a user-selectable accelerator option to invoke a find in page feature of the web browser are provided. A search query option for the find in page functionality of the browser may be displayed in association with the search field of the web browser. The search query option may include a user-selectable graphical component enabling the user to invoke find in page based on a search term entered into the search field of the browser. The user may select the graphical component to initiate a search for the term within a web page that is either displayed or will be displayed to the user via the web browser. The displayed web page may include a visual indication of each occurrence of the search term within the web page. |
| US08433714B2 |
Data cell cluster identification and table transformation
Various embodiments may operate to access individual lines of information included in a file stored in an electronic storage medium, to detect the existence of data clusters in the file based on neighboring cell content in a horizontal direction (corresponding to the individual lines), and in a vertical direction (orthogonal to the horizontal direction), to identify at least some of the data clusters as being associated with predefined table types (comprising vertical tables, horizontal tables, or cross tables), to merge some of the data clusters into section tables having common properties, and to transform the tables resulting from the merging activity, as well as remaining un-merged data clusters, into a single flat table. The stored file may comprise a spreadsheet file. |
| US08433713B2 |
Intelligent job matching system and method
A job searching and matching system and method is disclosed that gathers job seeker information in the form of job seeker parameters from one or more job seekers, gathers job information in the form of job parameters from prospective employers and/or recruiters, correlates the information with past job seeker behavior, parameters and behavior from other job seekers, and job parameters and, in response to a job seeker's query, provides matching job results based on common parameters between the job seeker and jobs along with suggested alternative jobs based on the co-relationships. In addition, the system correlates employer/recruiter behavior information with past employer/recruiter behavior, parameters and information concerning other job seekers, which are candidates to the employer, and resume parameters, and, in response to a Employer's query, provides matching job seeker results based on common parameters between the job seeker resumes and jobs along with suggested alternative job seeker candidates based on the identified co-relationships. |
| US08433708B2 |
Methods and data structures for improved searchable formatted documents including citation and corpus generation
Computer searchable annotated formatted documents are produced by correlating documents stored as a photographic or scanned graphic representations of an actual document (evidence, report, court order, etc.) with textual version of the same documents. A produced document will provide additional details in a computer data structure that supports citation annotation as well as other types of analysis of a document. The computer data structure also supports generation of citation reports and corpus reports. A computer method of creating searchable annotated formatted documents including citation and corpus reports by correlating and correcting text files with photographic or scanned graphic of the original documents. Data structures for correlating and correcting text files with graphic images. Generation of citation reports, concordance reports, and corpus reports. Data structures for citation reports, concordance reports, and corpus reports generation. |
| US08433706B2 |
Preference stack
Systems and methods for customizing the display of a set of data using a preference stack interface. The preference stack interface allows a user to interact with an ordered list of criterion objects. Each criterion object corresponds to an attribute of the data set to be presented to the user. In response to a change in the order of the criterion objects in the preference stack, a rendering of the dataset can be updated to differently and visually emphasize items according to which criterion objects each item meets. |
| US08433702B1 |
Horizon histogram optimizations
Values that occur above a threshold frequency for certain characteristic(s) of a data set are identified. A limited number of count buckets are allocated based on the threshold. Buckets store proxy counts for identifying candidate sets of values rather than actual counts. The data set is divided and each portion is analyzed separately, by iterating through each item in that portion. During each iteration, depending on an item's value(s), a bucket is incremented, all buckets are decremented, or a bucket is assigned or reassigned to count different value(s). A candidate set of values and associated counts is selected for a portion based on the buckets. The candidate sets for each portion are merged and, in some embodiments, filtered based on the associated counts. Actual frequencies are then determined for the values that remain in the merged candidate set. |
| US08433701B2 |
System and method for optimizing pattern query searches on a graph database
An embodiment of the system and method for optimizing pattern query searches on a graph database uses a pattern query optimizer to optimize execution of the search plan for any sequence of SQL expressions by separating or breaking a pattern query into multiple subpattern queries before converting the subpattern queries into SQL expressions. An embodiment of the pattern query optimizer algorithmically, without intervention by an analyst, decomposes any pattern query into a set of subpattern queries by first identifying branches and cycles within a pattern query and then decomposing each identified branch and cycle into equivalent straight line paths, i.e., straight line nodes joined by edges. Cardinality may be used to improve the performance of pattern searches. |
| US08433698B2 |
Matching and recommending relevant videos and media to individual search engine results
A computer-implemented system and process for generating video search engine results page is disclosed. The system provides a query term and retrieves a collection of search results. Tags are generated for each search result and used to match media objects to each search result. The search results and video objects related to each search result are returned as a video search engine results page. |
| US08433697B2 |
Flexible metadata composition
Various embodiments provide an ability to abstract type resolution between multiple type systems. At least one type can be described in one or more programmatically accessible file(s). In some embodiments, an application using a different type system can programmatically access and resolve a type of the at least one type system without knowledge of a location of where a description of the type resides. Alternately or additionally, type descriptions contained in the one or more programmatically accessible file(s) can be analyzed and restructured into one or more new programmatically accessible file(s) based, at least in part, upon the type descriptions. |
| US08433694B1 |
File cache optimization using element de-prioritization
A medium, system, and method are disclosed for implementing an in-memory inode cache. The cache stores inodes that include respective file metadata. The system includes a replacement module that prioritizes the inodes for replacement according to retention priorities for the inodes. The system also includes a prioritization module that is configured to respond to a file close operation by determining whether the file is unlikely to be reopened. If so, the prioritization module responds by decreasing the respective retention priority of one of the inodes, where the one inode stores file metadata for the closed file. |
| US08433693B2 |
Locking semantics for a storage system based on file types
Techniques for implementing locking semantics for a storage system based on file types are described. An apparatus or system may include a database to store multiple data files, and a cache manager to manage the data files, the cache manager having a client lock manager to receive a request to modify a data file, determine a file type for the data file, access a set of locking semantics based on the file type, and determine whether the data file can be modified based on the locking semantics. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08433688B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing a near-instantaneous restore of a database
Some embodiments provide methods and apparatuses for performing a near-instantaneous restore of a database. During operation, the system intercepts a database management system restore request to restore a database from a backup file to a data file, wherein the backup file comprises a first number (e.g., N1) of data pages. Next, in response to intercepting the database management system restore request, the system sends information to the database management system indicating that the backup file comprises a second number (e.g., N2) of data pages, wherein the second number of data pages is less than the first number of data pages (e.g., N2 |
| US08433679B2 |
Modular systems and methods for managing data storage operations
The invention is a modular backup and retrieval system. The software modules making up the backup and retrieval system run independently, and can run either on the same computing devices or on different computing devices. The modular software system coordinates and performs backups of various computing devices communicating to the modules. At least one module on one of the computing devices acts as a system manager for a network backup regimen. A management component acts as a manager for the archival and restoration of the computing devices on the network. It manages and allocates library media usage, maintains backup scheduling and levels, and supervises or maintains the archives themselves through pruning or aging policies. A second software module acts as a manager for each particular library media. |
| US08433678B2 |
Method and device for editing composite content file and reproduction apparatus
A composite content file editing method includes the steps of dividing each media data included in the composite content file on the time base so as to generate a first composite content file to be reproduced first on the time base and a second composite content file to be reproduced later, and adding, as synchronizing information, information about a position shift on the time base at reproduction start of each media data included in the second composite content file to the second composite content file. |
| US08433677B2 |
Extending cluster allocations in an extensible file system
An extensible file system format for portable storage media is provided. The extensible file system format includes the specification of primary and secondary directory entry types that may be custom defined. The primary and secondary directory entry types can be further classified as critical and benign directory entries. The directory entry types can define whether a cluster chain corresponding to a file can be contiguously allocated. |
| US08433675B2 |
Optimization and staging
An optimization method and system. The method includes receiving by a computing system a data footprint associated with data and a human resource model. The data footprint comprises a primary data section, a secondary data section, and an archive data section. A plurality of data storage strategies are associated with the primary data section, said secondary data section, and said archive data section. The plurality of data storage strategies are compared to each other. A data staging orchestrator software module is executed. The computing system determines based on results of executing the data staging orchestrator software module, an optimal migration time, an optimal migration speed, and an optimal migration cost for managing storage for portions of the data. The computing system executes a risk modulation software module and determines a risk associated with the managing. |
| US08433661B2 |
Artificial vision system and method for knowledge-based selective visual analysis
Generally the background of the present invention is the field of artificial vision systems, i.e. systems having a visual sensing means (e.g. a video camera) and a following processing stage implemented using a computing unit. The processing stage outputs a representation of the visually analysed scene, which output can then be fed to control different actors, such as e.g. parts of a vehicle (automobile, plane, . . . ) or a robot, preferably an autonomous robot such as e.g. a humanoid robot. |
| US08433659B2 |
Systems and methods for determining estimated lead times
Embodiments of the invention may provide systems and methods for determining estimated lead times based on delivery history information to a same or similar geographical area. According to one example embodiment, a method is provided. The method can include identifying a payee and determining that the payee is associated with a geographical area for mailpiece delivery. The method can further include identifying multiple delivery methods for mailpiece delivery to the geographical area, wherein each of delivery methods is associated with (a) a distribution center, (b) a delivery agent, and (c) an estimated lead time determined at least in part by analyzing the delivery history information associated with multiple mailpieces mailed from the respective distribution center to the geographical area via the respective delivery agent. The method can further include selecting one of the delivery methods for mailpiece delivery to the payee and associating the selected delivery method with the payee. |
| US08433657B2 |
Secure and mobile financial transaction
A portable device is configured to transmit a first encrypted message to an account database server. The first encrypted message may comprise a request to get information about a financial account. The portable device receives a second encrypted message comprising the financial account information. The portable device wirelessly receives a signal from a merchant machine and wirelessly transmits a response message to the merchant machine. The response message comprises account related information for the merchant machine to trigger a financial transaction. |
| US08433656B1 |
Group licenses for virtual objects in a distributed virtual world
A group licensing scheme for validating groups of virtual objects within a distributed virtual world is provided. Each of a number of distributed virtual world servers hosts a cell, or virtual space, of the virtual world. In operation, a first virtual world server categorizes virtual objects into a number of groups. Either before or after creating the groups, the first virtual world server validates each virtual object individually. Once the virtual objects are validated and the groups are formed, the first virtual world server generates a group license for each of the groups. When a group of virtual objects or an avatar associated with one or more groups of virtual objects moves to a virtual space hosted by a second virtual world server, the corresponding group licenses are provided to the second virtual world server, which validates the one or more groups of virtual objects based on the group licenses. |
| US08433648B2 |
Method and system for engaging in a transaction between a consumer and a merchant
Disclosed is a method for engaging in a transaction between a consumer and a merchant. In particular, the present invention is directed to a method and system for providing instant credit by a credit issuer to the consumer at a point-of-sale of the merchant. In addition, the present invention is directed to a method and system for identifying at least one optimal credit product from a plurality of credit products of at least one credit issuer to a consumer. |
| US08433645B1 |
Methods and systems related to securities trading
At least one exemplary aspect comprises a method comprising: (a) receiving electronic data describing a trading order for a market-traded security; (b) checking the data describing the trading order against one or more sets of conditions, and identifying one or more of the one or more sets of conditions that is satisfied; (c) based on the identified one or more of the one or more sets of conditions that is satisfied, identifying a class of trading algorithms appropriate for execution of the trading order; (d) selecting with a processing system one or more trading algorithms from the identified class of trading algorithms, for execution of the trading order; and (e) commencing with the processing system execution of the trading order via the selected one or more trading algorithms; wherein the processing system comprises one or more processors. Other aspects and embodiments comprise related computer systems and software. |
| US08433641B2 |
Financial data processing system and method
To process financial articles of trade, real time data is collected from a plurality of liquidity destinations in trading at least one of securities, commodities, options, futures and derivatives, the real time data including information on submitted transactions of financial articles of trade. The real time data collected from the plurality of liquidity destinations is aggregated. The real time data is streamed in a standardized form. User criteria are established to identify relevant portions of the streamed real time data. The streamed real time data is analyzed according to the user criteria. The analyzed real time data is consolidated into a computer data base. |
| US08433639B2 |
Process for comprehensive financial and estate planning with life insurance product
A process for generating a financial and liquidity estate plan for a client and a life insurance product for use therewith. The process includes determining the client's assets and defining a plurality of asset categories based on type and purpose of asset. The process also includes categorizing the client's assets in the defined categories. By performing liquidity analyzes of the categorized assets, the process determines current estate liquidity and projected future estate liquidity of the client. The process further includes generating a plan for re-allocating the client's assets among the defined categories based on the liquidity analyzes. The product defined by the process is a pre-paid, variable life insurance product having a death benefit that varies daily as a function of gains and losses on the invested cash value of the product. |
| US08433631B1 |
Method and system for assessing loan credit risk and performance
A method and system for evaluating the performance of a study group of loans relative to the performance of a control group of loans is presented. The described method includes determining a study group and a control group from a portfolio of individual loans, determining a set of control variables associated with each of the individual loans included in the study group and the control group, partitioning the control group into one or more cells based on the set of control variables, calculating an estimated performance value for each of the individual loans in the study group based on the cells; and calculating a performance difference for the study group. The performance difference has a standard normal distribution with zero mean which allows statistical significance to be estimated using standard probability tables. The control group may either include or exclude the individual loans in the study group to eliminate inaccuracies. |
| US08433628B2 |
Real-time trade forecaster
Forecasting financial market activity includes a host system and a graphical processing unit in data communication with the server. Forecasting financial market activity also includes a computer program product residing on the host system, the computer program product including instructions for causing the host system to send one or more financial models to the graphical processing unit; and a computer program product residing on the graphical processing unit for causing the graphical processing unit to: receive the financial models and a list of types of market data associated with each financial model; generate one or more engine instances; structure the received market data; receive instructions, from the host system, to run an identified financial model; clone at least part of the structured market data; run the engine instances; and generate, in real time, forecast data indicative of an expected market performance. |
| US08433625B1 |
Geographical preferences
Disclosed are various embodiments for using geographic areas to filter items in an electronic commerce system. A catalog of items is stored in a data store accessible by one or more computing devices. A geographical filtering process is provided that is executable in the one or more computing devices. The geographical filtering process comprises logic that obtains a specification of at least one geographical area, and logic that identifies a subset of the items based at least in part upon a plurality of past commercial transactions associated with the items occurring within the at least one geographical area. |
| US08433621B2 |
Discovery of behavior-based item relationships
Various processes are disclosed for discovering item relationships between particular items, such as products represented in an electronic catalog, based on monitored user behaviors (e.g., item viewing activities, item purchases, shopping cart activities, etc.). The discovered item relationships may, for example, be used to generate personalized item recommendations for users, and/or to supplement item detail pages of an electronic catalog with lists of related items. Also disclosed are processes for generating personalized item recommendations based on users' search activities and browse node visits. |
| US08433618B2 |
Systems and methods for streamlining the provisioning of wireless applications in an organization
Systems and methods for streamlining the procurement and provisioning of devices, services, and applications are described. At least one embodiment includes a method comprising receiving a request from a member associated with an organization, the request operable to select at least one application to be executed on at least one device, the at least one device configured to operate at least one service; receiving a device selection based on the at least one requested application; receiving a service selection based on the device selection; generating orders to one or more entities, the one or more entities operable to fulfill the device request, service selection, and the application selection; and procuring the at least one device, the at least one device being provisioned with the selected service and the selected application. |
| US08433617B2 |
Systems and methods for identifying third party products and services available at a geographic location
Systems and methods for identifying third party products and services available to geographic location. Generally, the system identifies a subject address or location at which services are desired. Next, the system parses, standardizes, and verifies the subject address as a valid physical location. Then, the system identifies relevant market(s) corresponding to the subject address, and determines product and service offerings in the relevant market(s). Further, the system determines capabilities required to effectuate the determined service offerings at the location, and identifies capabilities available at the geographic location. Subsequently, the system compares the required capabilities of the services to the available capabilities at the location to generate serviceability information corresponding to services actually available at the location. Finally, the system provides the serviceability information to a user for selection of particular products and services, or stores the information for further processing within the system. |
| US08433616B2 |
System and method for constructing and displaying active virtual reality cyber malls, show rooms, galleries, stores, museums, and objects within
A system and method for virtually displaying on-line a gallery, a showroom, a store, a mall or any other room or space and the objects contained in said room or space, wherein the data displayed is comprised of a virtual reality data packet. The system displays still photographs of virtual reality shots and textual materials, and plays virtual reality video clips and audio stories about the room and/or the objects contained therein. Links are associated with each object so that detailed information in graphical, video, audio and/or textual forms that are related to the object and are stored external to the virtual reality data packet can be retrieved on demand from an external database for presentation to the viewer. The system also provides on-line controls that enable the viewer to move around the space, and a feature that enables a viewer to view an object from 360° around the object. |
| US08433611B2 |
Selection of advertisements for placement with content
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for selecting advertisements. A request for sponsored content for presentation with a content item in a document is received. One or more candidate sponsored content items are identified based on one or more criteria. The criteria includes information related to the content item independent of the document, and information related to the document. One or more of the candidate sponsored content items are selected. The selected sponsored content items are transmitted for presentation with the content item. |
| US08433610B2 |
Reward exchange method and system for executing a trading agreement between merchants and issuers
An online reward exchange system including an exchange computer that interoperates with user computers, reward point issuer computers, and merchant computers. The merchants' products may be purchased by a user by requesting via a user computer, merchant's point of sale device, or mobile device an issuer(s) to redeem reward points in exchange for payment to the merchant. The exchange computer is the gateway to the system and manages various transactions such as providing online product catalogs to users that list the merchants products, as well as displaying to the user the reward points available in his reward programs with the issuers. Once a user selects a desired product the exchange computer can mediate or manage the purchase transaction in which reward points are redeemed by the selected issuer and consideration is conveyed to the merchant in exchange for the merchant providing the product to the user. |
| US08433601B2 |
Workflow system, information processor, and method and program for workflow management
A workflow system is provided in which one person in charge efficiently processes each activity assigned to successive nodes. When a client request management program execution unit 330 of a workflow server 30 receives a request to terminate processing for a node from a user's computer terminal for operation 20, a definition for the node is referred to by a project management program execution unit 310. If processing of a process management program execution unit 320 is completed within a consecutive processing standby time t1 defined for the node, and it is determined that a next node can be processed by the user, a client request management program execution unit 330 requests a computer terminal for operation 20 to start processing of a next node. |
| US08433598B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for providing future job information
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media provide for providing future job information. According to embodiments, a method for providing future job information is provided. According to the method, a number of non-dispatched jobs within a future time frame for a plurality of buckets and a plurality of turfs is determined. A numeric indicator indicating the number of non-dispatched jobs associated with at least one turf and at least one bucket is displayed. |
| US08433596B2 |
System and method for service parts planning
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a system and method for service parts planning in a network having one or more service parts. For at least a subset of the one or more service parts, a calculation is performed to determine a location within the network at which allocating the service part provides the greatest gain in system availability per item cost. In an embodiment, the calculations are based, at least in part on machine-specific information. In one embodiment, inventory position is determined based, at least in part, on a unique identifier associated with a service part. |
| US08433592B2 |
Method and system for determining buffer inventory size
A method for determining an optimum buffer inventory size by generating a time-based demand pattern that is based on processing discreet demand data through a sliding time window and summing the demand quantity in that time window, and repeating that process as the time window then moves through the time-line of discrete demand, thereby establishing a pattern of cumulative demand in windows-of-time along a time-line. The process moves along the demand time-line from one demand point to the next demand point, summing up all of the demand in a window of time that corresponds to the Time-to-Reliably Replenish (TRR). The method plots each summation of demand for its corresponding window of time (TRR) on a time-line at a point in time coinciding with the first demand data element in each summation. The resulting buffer size is based on the conversion of discrete demand data into time-based demand patterns. |
| US08433591B2 |
Methods and systems for investment appraisal for manufacturing decisions
A computer implemented method for deciding and justifying make or buy decisions in which it is determined whether to make an item in-house or to buy the item from outside suppliers. Also disclosed are computer implemented methods of determining and justifying an optimal timing to implement an engineering change order in which a more expensive item is replaced with a less expensive item. |
| US08433590B2 |
System and method for providing healthcare-related services
A system and method for providing healthcare-related services according to which the healthcare-related services include, but are not limited to, health insurance benefit activation services and/or healthcare-related education services. |
| US08433589B2 |
System and method for pricing and issuing level pay death benefit policies
Pursuant to some embodiments, a computer system for pricing a paycheck term policy is provided which includes a processor, a communication device in communication with the processor the communication device configured to receive an input data set, the input data set including at least an issue age of an insured associated with the policy, a desired death benefit payment amount, an underwriting class associated with the insured, and an interest rate factor. |
| US08433583B2 |
Audio decoding
An audio decoder comprises a receiver (801) for receiving input data comprising an N-channel signal corresponding to a down-mixed signal of an M-channel audio signal, M>N, having complex valued subband encoding matrices applied in frequency subbands and parametric multi-channel data. A subband filter bank (805) generates real-valued frequency subbands for the N-channel signal. A matrix processor (809) determines real-valued subband decoding matrices for compensating the application of the encoding matrices in response to the parametric multi-channel data. A compensation processor (807) generates down-mix data corresponding to the down-mixed signal by a matrix multiplication of the real-valued subband decoding matrices and data of the N-channel signal in the at least some real-valued frequency subbands. The down-mix data can be used to regenerate the down-mixed signal and the M-channel audio signal. The decoder may compensate for MPEG Matrix Surround Compatibility operations performed at the encoder using real-valued frequency subbands. |
| US08433582B2 |
Method and apparatus for estimating high-band energy in a bandwidth extension system
A method (100) includes receiving (101) an input digital audio signal comprising a narrow-band signal. The input digital audio signal is processed (102) to generate a processed digital audio signal. A high-band energy level corresponding to the input digital audio signal is estimated (103) based on a transition-band of the processed digital audio signal within a predetermined upper frequency range of a narrow-band bandwidth. A high-band digital audio signal is generated (104) based on the high-band energy level and an estimated high-band spectrum corresponding to the high-band energy level. |
| US08433579B1 |
Voice-activated motorized remote control device
The voice-activated motorized remote control device relates to a motorized remote control, for consumer electronics, with wheels that will drive itself over to an end-user in response to the sound of his or her voice. The voice-activated motorized remote control device will also feature a beeping noise during normal operation and also a high pitched beeping noise that will alert the user if the device has become stuck against an object. The voice-activated motorized remote control device comprises a plurality of wheels; a remote control; a plurality of axles; a microphone; a speaker, a central processing unit with a voice recognition system, and a drive motor. |
| US08433575B2 |
Augmenting an audio signal via extraction of musical features and obtaining of media fragments
A system and method is described in which a multimedia story is rendered to a consumer in dependence on features extracted from an audio signal representing for example a musical selection of the consumer. Features such as key changes and tempo of the music selection are related to dramatic parameters defined by and associated with story arcs, narrative story rules and film or story structure. In one example a selection of a few music tracks provides input audio signals (602) from which musical features are extracted (604), following which a dramatic parameter list and timeline are generated (606). Media fragments are then obtained (608), the fragments having story content associated with the dramatic parameters, and the fragments output (610) with the music selection. |
| US08433571B2 |
User speech interfaces for interactive media guidance applications
A user speech interface for interactive media guidance applications, such as television program guides, guides for audio services, guides for video-on-demand (VOD) Services, guides for personal video recorders (PVRs), or other suitable guidance applications is provided. Voice commands may be received from a user and guidance activities may be performed in response to the voice commands. |
| US08433570B2 |
Method of recognizing speech
A method for recognizing speech involves presenting an utterance to a speech recognition system and determining, via the speech recognition system, that the utterance contains a particular expression, where the particular expression is capable of being associated with at least two different meanings. The method further involves splitting the utterance into a plurality of speech frames, where each frame is assigned a predetermined time segment and a frame number, and indexing the utterance to i) a predetermined frame number, or ii) a predetermined time segment. The indexing of the utterance identifies that one of the frames includes the particular expression. Then the frame including the particular expression is re-presented to the speech recognition system to verify that the particular expression was actually recited in the utterance. |
| US08433568B2 |
Systems and methods for measuring speech intelligibility
A method for measuring speech intelligibility includes inputting a speech waveform to a system. At least one acoustic feature is extracted from the waveform. From the acoustic feature, at least one phoneme is segmented. At least one acoustic correlate measure is extracted from the at least one phoneme and at least one intelligibility measure is determined. The at least one acoustic correlate measure is mapped to the at least one intelligibility measure. |
| US08433562B2 |
Speech coder that determines pulsed parameters
Methods for estimating speech model parameters are disclosed. For pulsed parameter estimation, a speech signal is divided into multiple frequency bands or channels using bandpass filters. Channel processing reduces sensitivity to pole magnitudes and frequencies and reduces impulse response time duration to improve pulse location and strength estimation performance. These methods are useful for high quality speech coding and reproduction at various bit rates for applications such as satellite and cellular voice communication. |
| US08433558B2 |
Methods and systems for natural language understanding using human knowledge and collected data
Disclosed herein are systems and methods to incorporate human knowledge when developing and using statistical models for natural language understanding. The disclosed systems and methods embrace a data-driven approach to natural language understanding which progresses seamlessly along the continuum of availability of annotated collected data, from when there is no available annotated collected data to when there is any amount of annotated collected data. |
| US08433548B2 |
Method and device for detecting collision between two numerically simulated objects
In the system for detecting collision between rigid or deformable polyhedral objects simulated numerically and represented by simplicial complexes (K1, K2), there is effected in a pre-processor module (110) at least one step (111) of calculating a geometrical description of the polyhedral cone corresponding to the normals in the strong sense (n|K| (Int σ)) associated with the faces (σ) of the simplicial complexes, and at least one step (113) of constructing trees of encompassing volumes. From information obtained from the pre-processing step, the modules (121, 122) calculate local minimum distances (LMD) and quasi local minimum distances (quasi-LMD). The system for implementing the method can be coupled to a mechanical solver (130) and to one or more peripherals (140). |
| US08433546B2 |
Response surface modeling device, response surface modeling method, and response surface modeling program
A response surface model is created without a drawback of creating a linear model that does not approximate to samples belonging to a partitioned region. Provided are: an input unit 1 that inputs samples composed of factor values and a response value; a sample placement unit 21 that places the samples in spaces, the samples being input by way of the input unit 1; a linear modeling unit 230 that creates the linear model for each region, based on coordinate values of the samples belonging to the region; a region partition unit 22 that partitions the linear model, based on the samples belonging to the region; a partition region determination unit 221 that determines whether it is possible to partition the region, based on the samples belonging to the region to be partitioned; and a modeling unit 23 that creates a response surface model by placing each linear model in the spaces when the partition region determination unit 221 has determined that partition is impossible in all the regions. |
| US08433538B2 |
Method and device for balancing production-related inaccuracies of the magnetic wheel of an electromotive drive of a vehicle
In a method and a device for balancing production related inaccuracies of the magnetic wheel of an electromotive drive of a vehicle, correction factors are used, the initial value of which is factory preset, and which are modified in the course of an adaption process until the production-related inaccuracies of the magnetic wheel have been balanced as much as possible. |
| US08433537B2 |
Identifying mobile devices
A method of identifying mobile devices (1,1′) capable of communicating (C) with each other comprises the steps of deriving, for each mobile device, movement information from movements (M) made by the mobile device within a respective time period, and communicating the movement information. The method comprises the further steps of comparing the movement information of the mobile device (1) with the movement information of at least one other mobile device (T), and identifying mobile devices having matching movement information. The step of deriving movement information is carried out using sensors mounted in the mobile device, such as acceleration sensors and/or optical sensors. The step of comparing the movement information may be carried in a mobile device (1) or in a central unit. |
| US08433536B2 |
Method to determine thermal profiles of nanoscale circuitry
A platform that can measure the thermal profiles of devices with nanoscale resolution has been developed. The system measures the local temperature by using an array of nanoscale thermometers. This process can be observed in real time using a high resolution imagining technique such as electron microscopy. The platform can operate at extremely high temperatures. |
| US08433534B2 |
Electronic device and method for testing multiple features of the electronic device
A method for testing multiple features of an electronic device sets a global timer and a series of feature test timers. The feature test timers are arranged in a sequence. The global timer is firstly activated. The feature test timers are then activated one by one according to the sequence and one or more features of the electronic device corresponding to each of the feature test timers are tested until the global timer times out. |
| US08433533B2 |
High resolution sensor with scalable sample rate
Apparatus and methods of providing a selected sample rate for sensor measurements are provided, which in one aspect may include a circuit configured to receive sensor signals as a first series of count rates corresponding to sensor the sensor measurements, each count rate representing a value of a parameter of interest, at least two accumulators configured to alternately accumulate the count rates in the series of count rates over a time period that corresponds to a selected sample rate and a controller configured to control the time periods for the at least two accumulators. |
| US08433530B2 |
System and method for monitoring and management of utility usage
A system and method is provided to enable consumers to intelligently manage their consumption of energy. In one embodiment, waveform data is collected for a plurality of appliances which may be found in a residential or commercial setting using a plurality of multi-port outlet monitoring devices. The collected waveform data is processed and analyzed to obtain power consumption profiles that indicate power consumption on a per-appliance and/or per-outlet basis and/or per user basis. |
| US08433528B2 |
Ground fault detection system and method
A ground fault detection system is provided. The ground fault detection system includes a magnetic core having first and second primary legs and a secondary leg disposed between the first and second primary legs. The ground fault detection system also includes first and second primary windings disposed around the first and second primary legs respectively and configured to introduce current in the first and second primary legs. Further, the ground fault detection system includes first and second secondary windings disposed around the first and second primary legs respectively and configured to detect a ground fault based upon a magnetic flux generated in response to the introduced current. |
| US08433527B2 |
Electromagnetic flow meter
There is provided an electromagnetic flow meter that applies magnetic fields with a first frequency and a second frequency, to a fluid to be measured, calculates a first flow rate, calculates a second flow rate, performs low-pass filtering on the first flow rate to calculate a first low-pass filtered flow rate, and performs low-pass filtering on the second flow rate to calculate a second low-pass filtered flow rate, the electromagnetic flow meter including: an abnormality detecting unit that detects an abnormal state in which, the fluid is at non-full level on the basis of at least one of the first flow rate and the second flow rate; and an abnormality removing unit that removes the abnormal state on the basis of the first low-pass filtered flow rate and the second low-pass filtered flow rate, when the abnormality detecting unit does not determine that the fluid is in the abnormal state. |
| US08433524B2 |
Low perfusion signal processing systems and methods
In some embodiments, systems and methods for identifying a low perfusion condition are provided by transforming a signal using a wavelet transform to generate a scalogram. A pulse band and adjacent marker regions in the scalogram are identified. Characteristics of the marker regions are used to detect the existence of a lower perfusion condition. If such a condition is detected, an event may be triggered, such as an alert or notification. |
| US08433518B2 |
Multilevel workflow method to extract resistivity anisotropy data from 3D induction measurements
A method is provided for determining formation resistivity, anisotropy and dip from wellbore measurements includes moving a well logging instrument through subsurface formations. The instrument includes longitudinal magnetic dipoles and at least one of tilted and transverse magnetic dipoles. Formation layer boundaries and horizontal resistivities of the formation layers are determined from longitudinal magnetic dipole measurements. Vertical resistivities of the formation layers are determined by inversion of anisotropy sensitive measurements. Improved vertical resistivities of the formation layers and dips are determined by inverting symmetrized and anti-symmetrized measurements. Improved vertical resistivities, improved boundaries and improved dips are determined by inversion of the all dipole measurements. Improved horizontal resistivities, further improved layer boundaries and further improved dips are determined by inversion of all dipole measurements. |
| US08433516B1 |
Apparatus for analysis and control of a reciprocating pump system by determination of a pump card
An instrumentation system for assessing operation of a reciprocating pump system which produces hydrocarbons from a non-vertical or a vertical wellbore. The instrumentation system periodically produces a downhole pump card as a function of a directly or indirectly measured surface card and a friction law function from a wave equation which describes the linear vibrations in a long slender rod. A control signal or command signal is generated based on characteristics of the downhole pump card for controlling the pumping system. It also generates a pump and well analysis report that is useful for a pump operation and determination of its condition. |
| US08433513B2 |
System and method for storing and providing routes
In one aspect, a system and method is provided whereby map-related requests from mobile devices are used to store and aggregate routes. The routes are then used to determine optimum directions in response to subsequent requests. |
| US08433512B1 |
Enhanced identification of interesting points-of-interest
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for identifying points-of-interest. In one aspect, a method includes accessing, by a mobile device, two or more search results, each of the search results identifying a respective point-of-interest (POI), and determining a distance between the mobile device and each POI. The method may also include selecting a directional icon for each POI based on the distance to the respective POI, and displaying, by the mobile device, information identifying the POIs and, for each POI, the directional icon selected for the respective POI. |
| US08433509B2 |
Position determination apparatus and method
A method of determining a location of a User Equipment (UE) is provided. The method includes generating, by the UE, a database of location data for a plurality of locations; receiving at least one navigation signal at a particular area; determining an identity of a cell in which the UE is currently located at the particular area; and determining the location of the UE at the particular area using the at least one navigation signal, the identity of the current cell, and at least a portion of the data stored in the database. |
| US08433507B2 |
Usage monitoring of shopping carts or other human-propelled vehicles
A vehicle tracking system includes a wheel containing sensor circuitry capable of sensing various types of conditions, such as wheel rotation, wheel vibration caused by skidding, and specific electromagnetic and/or magnetic signals indicative of particular wheel locations. The sensor circuitry is coupled to an RF transceiver, which may but need not be included within the wheel. The wheel may also include a brake mechanism. In one embodiment, the wheels are placed on shopping carts and are used to collect and monitor shopping cart status and location data via a wireless network. The collected data may be used for various purposes, such as locking the wheel of an exiting cart if the customer has not paid, estimating numbers of queued carts, stopping wheel skid events that occur during mechanized cart retrieval, store planning, and providing location-based messaging to customers. |
| US08433505B2 |
System and method for faster detection of traffic jams
Devices located with moving objects (e.g., people or cars) can function as probes of traffic conditions. One way that such probes can operate is by making sporadic reports (e.g., for example, after a given road segment is traversed, a report can be made). However, in such a reporting scheme, a traffic incident that prevents or delays completion of that road segment would go unreported until the probe finished the segment. Thus, these aspects provide methods and systems to detect unexpected conditions that prevent/delay completion of such road segments, and responsively generate an out-of-cycle report that can be used in alerting others of such condition. Progress on that segment can continue to be monitored, with periodic updates, when the segment ultimately is finished, the probe can send a final report for that segment. The report can contain data indicative of an average speed on the road segment (or the portion of it completed, when detecting an unexpected condition). |
| US08433504B2 |
Traffic information generation method, traffic information generation device, and navigation system
A traffic information generation method for generating traffic information for each link includes a vehicle speed detection step of detecting a vehicle speed at predetermined distance intervals or at predetermined time intervals using a vehicle speed sensor; and a traffic jam degree detection step of referring to a specified speed and a specified distance prescribed in association with a traffic jam degree representing a level of a traffic jam and a connection determination distance prescribed in accordance with a road type to detect the traffic jam degree corresponding to the vehicle speed. When a link length falls within a predetermined range, information on the traffic jam degree corresponding to a fastest vehicle speed within a prescribed starting point distance from a beginning of the link is allocated to the link. |
| US08433502B2 |
Control method and control device for engine
One example method for an engine having an automatic stopping function in which the engine is automatically stopped when a predetermined engine stopping condition is satisfied, and then the engine is automatically restarted when a predetermined engine restarting condition is satisfied, includes the following: a first step for driving a motor so as to increase an engine rotating speed of the engine up to a predetermined rotating speed and maintain the engine rotating speed, in a case in which a predetermined first condition is satisfied when the engine rotating speed is below the predetermined rotating speed during automatic engine stopping; and a second step for restarting a fuel supply into the engine in a case in which a predetermined second condition is satisfied after the first step is executed. |
| US08433501B2 |
Internal combustion engine fuel injection control method
In an internal combustion engine provided with a fuel injection valve for injecting fuel into an intake air flow path for each cylinder, there is performed a plurality of fuel injections during one cycle for each cylinder, one injection thereof being performed in synchronization with a period during which an intake valve is being opened and reverse flow of in-cylinder gas into the intake air flow path occurs. In accordance with a measurement quantity that changes as the temperatures of the surface, at the intake air flow path, of the intake valve and the inner wall face of the intake air flow path change, there is set the proportion of the amount of fuel injected in synchronization with the period during which reverse flow occurs to the total amount of fuel injected in one cycle for each cylinder. |
| US08433500B2 |
System and method for improved transitions between engine combustion modes
A control system for a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine includes a timing adjustment module and a combustion control module. The timing adjustment module, per combustion event, advances timings of N fuel injections and retards timings of M fuel injections and spark during a transition from HCCI combustion to mixed-mode combustion. The combustion control module subsequently retards the timings of the N fuel injections and advances the timings of the M fuel injections and the spark to desired timings, respectively, wherein the N fuel injections and the M fuel injections occur sequentially during each combustion event of the HCCI engine, and wherein N and M are integers greater than or equal to zero. |
| US08433498B2 |
Method and system for controlling fuel pressure
Methods, a fuel supply system, and a computer readable medium embodying a computer program product are provided for controlling rail pressure in a fuel supply system comprising a fuel pump, an injector and a rail connecting the injector to the pump. At least one of the methods includes, but is not limited to establishing a relationship between said rail pressure and a leak rate of the injector, estimating a fuel drain rate from said rail based on a fuel injection rate, the rail pressure and said rail pressure/leak rate relationship, estimating a desired intake flow rate of said pump based on said fuel drain rate, and controlling the pump to operate at said desired intake flow rate. |
| US08433494B2 |
Operating device for a cruise control system in a vehicle with regenerative braking capability
A method for controlling the speed of a vehicle having a regenerative or active braking capacity when the vehicle is traveling downhill using a cruise control system on the vehicle. When brake pedal is applied and the cruise control is set, the vehicle is put into a controlled braking mode. The cruise control system controls are then used inversely to the normal operation where decreases in vehicle speed are provided by applying motoring torque. For the inversed cruise control, increasing the vehicle speed is prohibited by applying more regenerative braking torque. |
| US08433493B2 |
Vehicle motion control system
There is provided a vehicle motion control system which carries out acceleration and deceleration of a vehicle which satisfies driving feeling of a driver even in the state where a lateral motion of the vehicle is not involved. The vehicle motion control system includes a curve shape acquisition section 2 for acquiring a curve shape ahead of an own vehicle, an own vehicle position acquisition section 3 for acquiring a position of the own vehicle, and a vehicle motion control calculation section 4 for calculating a command value of a longitudinal acceleration generated for the vehicle based on the curve shape and the position of the own vehicle. The vehicle motion control calculation section 4 calculates a plurality of negative longitudinal acceleration command values during travel of the own vehicle from before a curve to a point where a curve curvature becomes constant or maximum after the vehicle enters into the curve. The longitudinal acceleration command values are changed based on at least one of: an estimate of the maximum lateral acceleration which is presumably generated during traveling a curve ahead of the own vehicle; a grade of the road ahead of the own vehicle, pedal operation by the driver, and a turning direction. |
| US08433492B2 |
Accelerator-pedal reaction force control apparatus
A utility vehicle comprising a cab which houses a steering wheel assembly is provided wherein a steering wheel (22) is rotatably mounted to a support body (24). The support body, or steering console, is mounted on an armrest assembly (40) or control console positioned to one side of a driver's seat (18). By providing an asymmetric mounting arrangement for the steering console, the space underneath is left clear of any supporting structure thus providing improved legroom for the driver. |
| US08433483B2 |
Method and system for vehicular guidance with respect to harvested crop
A discriminator identifies windrow pixels associated with a windrow within a collected image. A definer defines a search space with respect to a vehicle. An evaluator determines respective spatial correlations between the defined search space and the windrow pixels for different angular displacements of the search space. An alignment detector or search engine determining a desired vehicular heading as a preferential angular displacement associated with a generally maximum spatial correlation between the defined search space and the windrow pixels. An offset calculator estimates an offset of the vehicle to a central point of the windrow or a depth axis to achieve the desired vehicle heading and desired position of the vehicle with respect to the windrow. |
| US08433480B2 |
Method and device for triggering personal protection means during a rollover accident
A device and a method for triggering personal protection devices, characterized in that a roll rate sensor generates a roll rate while an acceleration sensor detects the transverse acceleration and the vertical acceleration. An integrator is provided to integrate the roll rate to yield an angle. The integrator starts integrating the roll rate when the roll rate exceeds a first threshold value and it stops the integration when the roll rate falls below a second threshold value. In addition, a threshold value controller is provided, adjusting the first and/or second threshold value according to the transverse and/or vertical acceleration. A processor triggers personal protection devices according to the angle and other criteria. |
| US08433478B2 |
Rear wheel steering control device
Generally, the toe angle target speed limiting unit (84A) adds a toe angle target value αT2P subjected to the primary delay to the result of a min-max processing the tracking error ΔαT1A by an adder (58A) to output it as a toe angle target value αT2A to a target current calculating unit (86). However, in this toe angle target speed limiting unit (84A), a switching control (steering direction change control) for generating a maximum value ΔαTmax as the toe angle target change quantity ΔαT2 and a hold control are made when a neutral position of the toe angle target value αT2A which is prior to the toe angle command value αT1 which is reached. |
| US08433477B2 |
Steering control apparatus
In a steering control apparatus, a worm gear is configured to have a lead angle for a self-lock operation, by which a worm wheel is allowed to rotate by rotation of a worm but the worm is not allowed to rotate by rotation of the worm wheel. Thus, a lock mechanism need not be provided separately from a gear mechanism and the apparatus is reduced in entire size. A VGRS control part checks whether the worm gear has a self-lock failure, which disables the self-lock operation. If the worm gear has the self-lock failure, idling suppression processing is performed to suppress idling of a steering wheel. Thus, even when the self-lock failure arises, the steering wheel is suppressed from idling. |
| US08433473B2 |
System and method for indicating an efficiency level of energy usage by an automotive vehicle
A system and method is provided for indicating an efficiency level of energy usage by an automotive vehicle to a passenger in the vehicle. The system includes a computer-readable storage medium, a controller, an interior-lighting system, and a display unit. The controller processes energy usage signals to obtain the given operating mode of the vehicle as well as indications of energy usage amounts that the passenger can control. The controller determines the efficiency level of energy usage by the vehicle based on the energy usage amounts and the given operating mode. The interior-lighting system illuminates at least a portion of the passenger compartment with ambient light having defined characteristics including a luminance and a color, the ambient light indicating the efficiency level. The display unit displays a graphical representation of the efficiency level. |
| US08433470B1 |
User interface for displaying internal state of autonomous driving system
A passenger in an automated vehicle may relinquish control of the vehicle to a control computer when the control computer has determined that it may maneuver the vehicle safely to a destination. The passenger may relinquish or regain control of the vehicle by applying different degrees of pressure, for example, on a steering wheel of the vehicle. The control computer may convey status information to a passenger in a variety of ways including by illuminating elements of the vehicle. The color and location of the illumination may indicate the status of the control computer, for example, whether the control computer has been armed, is ready to take control of the vehicle, or is currently controlling the vehicle. |
| US08433469B2 |
Communication technique by which an autonomous guidance system controls an industrial vehicle
A propulsion drive system is operated by a controller to propel an industrial vehicle along a path in an unmanned mode. An autonomous processor module sends commands to the vehicle controller in response to messages received via a communication network from a guidance and navigation system. The guidance and navigation system transmits a message over the communication network, wherein that message contains a first numerical value specifying the velocity and a second numerical value specifying an amount that the propulsion drive system is to turn a wheel of the industrial vehicle. The message also specifies a maximum speed limit and indicators commanding that a load carried by the industrial vehicle be raised and lowered. The autonomous processor module transmits a feedback message indicate actual vehicle operating parameters to the guidance and navigation system. |
| US08433465B2 |
Transitioning between series-drive and parallel-drive in a hybrid-electric vehicle powertrain
A method for operating a powertrain includes determining maximum and minimum series-drive power limits of powertrain electric components; operating in parallel-drive if vehicle speed exceeds a reference, demanded wheel power is between said limits, or demanded engine power exceeds a reference demanded engine power; and operating in series-drive if vehicle speed is less than a reference, demanded wheel power is between said limits, and demanded engine power is less than a reference engine power. |
| US08433464B2 |
Method for simplifying torque distribution in multiple drive systems
A method is provided for monitoring the torque distribution in multiple drive systems, e.g., in hybrid drives. The hybrid drive includes at least two individual drives which are controlled via an engine control unit, in which a torque distribution of a setpoint torque MSETPOINT to the at least two individual drives takes place. After the torque distribution, the formation of a resulting torque MRES takes place which is compared continuously with a torque before the torque distribution. |
| US08433459B2 |
Aircraft guidance system for assisting in airport navigation
An aircraft guidance system for assisting in airport navigation includes: at least one airport database comprising topology data of an airport, called airport DB; at least one configuration database comprising aircraft configuration data and the position of a guidance point; a positioning system delivering aircraft kinematic and attitude parameters; at least one computer generating a 2D view of the representation of the airport notably comprising navigation indications and a representation of the aircraft; and at least one display for displaying the representation of the airport. In the system, a first symbol is generated on the display indicating the position of an early guidance point, corresponding to the position of the guidance point at a future time. |
| US08433454B2 |
Method and system for modifying operation according to detected orientation
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) mountable within a vehicle receives input power and produces a first output in response to the received input power even in the absence of the input power. A detector is coupled to the UPS and detects a situation parameter associated with the vehicle and/or the UPS. The detected situation parameter is either an incline angle relative to a reference plane, an applied force, an acceleration or a vibration. The first output of the UPS is then modified as a function of the detected situation parameter with respect to either a threshold value or a range of values. |
| US08433442B2 |
Methods for repurposing temporal-spatial information collected by service robots
Robots and methods implemented therein implement an active repurposing of temporal-spatial information. A robot can be configured to analyze the information to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the primary service function that generated the information originally. A robot can be configured to use the information to create a three dimensional (3D) model of the facility, which can be used for a number of functions such as creating virtual tours of the environment, or porting the environment into video games. A robot can be configured to use the information to recognize and classify objects in the facility so that the ensuing catalog can be used to locate selected objects later, or to provide a global catalog of all items, such as is needed for insurance documentation of facility effects. |
| US08433441B2 |
Fuel dispenser having FM transmission capability for fueling information
A fuel dispenser is configured to transmit fueling information to a receiver associated with a vehicle at a first fueling position adjacent the fuel dispenser. The fuel dispenser comprises a control system configured to generate first fueling information associated with a first transaction at the fuel dispenser. The fuel dispenser also comprises first transmitter electronics in electronic communication with the control system. The first transmitter electronics are configured to produce first RDS information based on the first fueling information. Also, the first transmitter electronics comprise modulator circuitry to modulate a radio frequency (RF) carrier signal carrying the first RDS information. The RF carrier signal has a predetermined frequency. The fuel dispenser further comprises an antenna in electrical communication with the first transmitter electronics to radiate the modulated RF carrier signal over the first fueling position for receipt at the vehicle receiver. |
| US08433439B2 |
Targeted product distribution system and method
A targeted product distribution system is described herein with respect to an exemplary management of product flow through a distribution center. Specifically, the system and method described herein is directed to the management and display of direct and easily-understood instructions, such that average individuals, as well as those with mental disabilities, will be able to contribute equally to the overall process. |
| US08433438B2 |
Method and system for tracking mail items during processing
The present application relates to a system and related method for processing a mailpiece through the steps associated with its manufacture and post processing. The present system and method allow for mailpiece item tracking data collection at each step in the mailpiece manufacturing and processing. The present system and method allow for the integration of mailpiece item data from a postage device by utilizing information based barcode data included as part of the postage evidence, together with the production and sorting processes. |
| US08433437B1 |
Method and apparatus for sensing correct item placement for multi-destination picking
Method and apparatus for multi-destination pick using motes. In embodiments, each receptacle may be assigned to a destination and may have a sensor that detects when an item is placed in the receptacle to deactivate the indicator and/or to verify that the item was placed in the correct receptacle. The sensor may be coupled via a wired or wireless connection to a mote that may include a communication interface for communicating with a control system and with other motes in an ad-hoc network. In some embodiments, each mote may also include an indicator that may be activated by a control system to indicate to the agent that the receptacle is the destination receptacle for a picked item. The agent may then place the item in the indicated destination receptacle. In one embodiment, the mote on the destination receptacle may be activated when the picked item is scanned by the agent. |
| US08433435B2 |
Method and system for eliminating external piercing in NC cutting of nested parts
This invention pertains to machinery and methods for cutting a workpiece utilizing a cutting tool into at least two parts having prescribed shapes from a metal plate comprising the steps of: identifying each of the parts by one or more contour lines; cutting a workpiece along one of the identifying contour lines into one of the parts; creating at least one path diversion, wherein the diversion has an associated bounded region or opportunity; cutting the workpiece along a contour line associated with the opportunity; resuming the cutting of the part along the identifying contour line with minimal damage to the part being cut; finishing the cutting of the part and then moving the cutting tool to the opportunity and then to an associated adjacent identifying contour line and then repeating the process until all parts have been manufactured. |
| US08433429B2 |
Method for controlling a device and machine module arrangement as well as an engineering system and runtime system for implementing the method
There is described an engineering systems and generating projects. The projects are used by runtime systems for the control of device and machine modular arrangements. The projects are not completely unmodifiable, instead an individualization layer is provided: particular data input possibilities for base data used by the runtime system are provided with an attribute, which gives whether the data entry in the project shall be unmodifiable or whether said entry may be optionally modifiable by the runtime system. A change is correspondingly optionally carried out with the runtime system. The actual core of the project, however does not need to be re-programmed such that a reversion to the engineering system is not necessary. |
| US08433428B2 |
Systems and methods for managing machine tools
Systems and methods for managing machine tools are provided. When a current abnormality occurs in one of at least one machine tool, a specific failure category is determined according to the current abnormality, and at least one suggested combination of parameters is generated according to the specific failure category and a transaction database, wherein the specific failure category is one of a plurality of predefined failure categories, and each suggested combination of parameters includes a plurality of associated parameters, which are commonly retrieved for the specific failure category. Each transaction data in the transaction database records a plurality of parameters corresponding to a failure category, wherein the parameters are the parameters whose parameter values are retrieved from the at least one machine tool, having the abnormality according to the failure category. |
| US08433425B2 |
Method, system and computer program product for dynamic rule engine for a wind turbine farm
In one aspect, embodiments of a method of configuring rules for SCADA data of a wind farm are described. One embodiment comprises receiving supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data for a wind farm comprised of one or more wind turbines. The SCADA data includes parameters for the wind farm. At least a portion of the SCADA data for a selected group of the wind farm parameters is dynamically configured using a graphical user interface (GUI) that interfaces with a rules engine. The SCADA data is configured using one or more operators. At least a portion of the dynamically configured data is output. |
| US08433424B2 |
Implantable retention system and method
An implantable anchor for anchoring a lead or catheter relative to biological tissue, implantable system including such an anchor and a lead or catheter, and a method of use of such anchor. The anchor comprises a body having a channel adapted to receive a catheter or lead, and a cover mounted on the body for pivoting motion along a lateral axis, that is an axis that extends generally in the lateral direction perpendicular to the catheter or lead, between an open position in which the anchor is adapted to allow a lead or catheter to be placed in or moved along the channel, and a locked position in which the anchor is adapted to retain a lead or catheter within the channel. |
| US08433419B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling neurostimulation according to physical state
A neurostimulation system senses a signal indicative of a patient's physical state such as posture and/or activity level. In various embodiments, a stored value for each of stimulation parameters controlling delivery of neurostimulation is selected according to the patient's physical state. In various embodiments, values of the stimulation parameters are approximately optimized for each of a number of different physical states, and are stored for later selection. |
| US08433412B1 |
Muscle and nerve stimulation
A lead system for an implantable medical device and applications for the lead system. Also includes therapeutic systems, devices, and processes for detecting and treating disordered breathing and treating cardiac and breathing issues together with an implantable device. |
| US08433411B2 |
Header design for implantable pulse generator
In one embodiment, an implantable pulse generator for electrically stimulating a patient comprises: a metallic housing enclosing pulse generating circuitry; a header mechanically coupled to the metallic housing, the header adapted to seal terminals of one or more stimulation leads within the header and to provide electrical connections for the terminals; the header comprising an inner compliant component for holding a plurality of electrical connectors, the plurality of electrical connectors electrically coupled to the pulse generating circuitry through feedthrough wires, wherein the plurality of electrical connectors are held in place in recesses within the compliant inner component, the header further comprising an outer shield component adapted to resist punctures, the outer shield component fitting over at least a portion of the inner compliant component. |
| US08433409B2 |
Implantable medical device battery
A battery comprises a tubular housing. An external surface of the tubular housing comprises a biocompatible material. The battery further comprises a battery header secured to an open end of the tubular housing, and the tubular housing and the battery header combine to form a substantially sealed enclosure. The battery also comprises one or more voltaic cells within the substantially sealed enclosure, and a feedthrough electrically connected to the voltaic cells and extending through the battery header to form a battery terminal. The battery header includes a radial groove opposite the tubular housing, and the radial groove is configured to receive a mating snap-fit electronic component subassembly of an implantable medical device. |
| US08433407B2 |
Defibrillator that monitors CPR treatment and adjusts protocol
An apparatus and method is provided for a defibrillator that specifies treatment protocols in terms of number of chest compressions instead of time intervals. The defibrillator includes a connection port that is configured to attach with a plurality of electrodes that are capable of delivery of a defibrillation shock and/or sensing one or more physical parameters. An energy storage device capable of storing a charge is attached to the plurality of electrodes. A controller is coupled to the plurality of electrodes and the energy storage device, the controller is configured to provide CPR chest compression instructions in terms of the numbers of CPR chest compressions. |
| US08433402B2 |
Hermetic wafer-to-wafer bonding with electrical interconnection
An implantable medical device (IMD) is disclosed. The IMD includes a first substrate having a front side and a backside. A first via is formed in the front side, the via extending from a bottom point in the front side to a first height located at a surface of the front side. A first conductive pad is formed in the first via, the first conductive pad having an exposed top surface lower than first height. A second substrate is coupled to the first substrate, the second substrate having a second via formed in the front side, the via extending from a bottom point in the front side to a second height located at a surface of the front side. A second conductive pad is formed in the second via, the second conductive pad having an exposed top surface lower than second height. The coupled substrates are heated until a portion of one or both conductive pads reflow, dewet, agglomerate, and merge to form an interconnect, hermetic seal, or both depending on the requirements of the device. |
| US08433397B2 |
Methods and systems to correlate arrhythmic and ischemic events
Systems and methods for determining whether there is a correlation between arrhythmias and myocardial ischemic episodes are provided. An implantable system (e.g., a monitor, pacemaker or ICD) is used to monitor for arrhythmias and to monitor for myocardial ischemic episodes. When such events are detected by the implantable system, the implantable system stores (e.g., in its memory) data indicative of the detected arrhythmias and data indicative of the detected myocardial, ischemic episodes. Then, for each detected arrhythmia, a determination is made based on the data, whether there was a myocardial ischemic episode detected within a specified temporal proximity of (e.g., within a specified amount of time of) the arrhythmia. Where a myocardial ischemic episode occurred within the specified temporal proximity of an arrhythmia, data for the two events can be linked. Additionally, when a log of arrhythmias is displayed, for each arrhythmia there is an indication of whether a myocardial ischemic episode was detected within the specified temporal proximity of the arrhythmia. This abstract is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. |
| US08433396B2 |
Methods and apparatus for atrioventricular search
In general, the invention provides for commencing an atrioventricular (AV) search in response to an indicator of an autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. An implantable medical device (IMD) may be configured to apply this technique, and also to apply rate adaptive ventricular pacing. In response to ANS activity such as an abrupt increase in cardiac sympathetic nervous activity, the IMD performs an AV search to find the intrinsic AV interval of the patient. The invention includes selection of a maximum AV delay so that the AV search will not adversely affect hemodynamic function. |
| US08433386B2 |
Subdermal needle electrode cable assembly having movable needle safety cover integral therewith
An apparatus for monitoring neurological and/or neurophysiological signals of a patient has a signal conductor, an electrode, and a safety cover. The signal conductor has a first end portion and a second end portion. The electrode has a first end portion and a second end portion. The first end portion is a skin piercing portion of the electrode and the second end portion is electrically connected to the first end portion of the signal conductor. The safety cover has an electrode shrouding space therein. The electrode shrouding space is configured in a manner allowing the first end portion of the electrode to be positioned within the electrode shrouding space as a result of the safety cover being moved along a length of the signal conductor toward the first end portion of the electrode. |
| US08433382B2 |
Transmission mode photon density wave system and method
Present embodiments are directed to a monitor system, such as a pulse oximetry system. The system may include a detection feature, an emission feature capable of emitting light into tissue and arranged relative to the detection feature such that the detection feature is capable of detecting the light from the tissue after passing generally through a portion of the tissue, a modulator capable of modulating the light to generate photon density waves at a modulation frequency generally in a range of 50 MHz to 3 GHz, a detector communicatively coupled with the detection feature, wherein the detector is capable of detecting characteristics of the photon density waves comprising amplitude changes and phase shifts, and a processor capable of making determinations relating to a value of a physiologic parameter of the tissue based at least in part on the detected characteristics. |
| US08433378B2 |
Audio driver housing with expandable chamber for portable communication devices
A portable communication device includes an audio driver movable within an audio driver housing which forms an expandable chamber. The portable communication device includes at least two portions that are moveably connected to each other allowing the device to be in at least a closed position and an open position. The audio driver can be maintained in a compressed position when the portable communication device is in an open position. Accordingly, the volume of the chamber is independent of the relative position between the portions forming the portable communication device. |
| US08433377B1 |
Expendable and collapsible sound amplifying cellular phone case
A case is for a mobile device. The mobile device case comprises a body, a pop-up plate, an outer support plate, an inner support plate, wedge-shape bellow sound amplifier, first magnets, and a spring device. The pop-up plate has an edge hinged to a portion of the body so as to cover the cut-out opening of the body. The inner support plate is provided on an inner surface of the base groove so as to cover the cut-out opening, and the inner support plate comprises sound-guiding holes for guiding sound from the mobile device into a gap inside. The wedge-shape bellow sound amplifier is provided between the outer support plate and the inner support plate configured for amplifying the sound through the one or more sound-guiding holes from the mobile device. |
| US08433373B2 |
Mobile terminal with multiple batteries
Embodiments of the present invention are related to a mobile terminal, the mobile terminal including: first and second batteries for supplying driving power to parts of the mobile terminal; a display for displaying an operational state of the mobile terminal to a user; and a controller for notifying the user of charged levels of the first and second batteries. |
| US08433367B2 |
Mobile communication terminal including menu that can be constructed by using mobile flash
A mobile communication terminal having a menu that can be constructed using a mobile flash includes an input device section for inputting a reproduction request of a flash movie; a Man Machine Interface (MMI) loading a corresponding movie file based on the reproduction request; a bridge module performing a communication with the MMI to monitor navigation events; a memory section for storing a Extendible Markup Language (XML) document having information about a handset configuration and a menu tree configuration of the terminal; an engine section parsing the XML document read from the memory section to map the XML document with the flash movie and analyzing the parsed XML document according to the navigation events; and a play section for outputting the analyzed XML document contents through a display section. |
| US08433364B1 |
Communication device
The communication device which includes a TV phone pausing visual data selecting implementer, a TV phone implementer, a TV phone pausing visual data transferring implementer, and a caller's information displaying implementer. |
| US08433363B2 |
Memory device in mobile phone
A memory device for a mobile phone is provided. The memory device includes a flash memory for storing program data and user data; an interface circuit for copying program data stored in the flash memory according to whether data stored in the flash memory is valid; a first Random Access Memory (RAM) for providing an operation area to store and execute the copied program data; and a second RAM for storing data generated during the execution of program data, wherein the first and second RAMs are independent memories. |
| US08433361B2 |
Digital modulator and method for initiating ramp power transitions in a mobile handset transmitter
A digital modulator for a portable handset using 8PSK or EDGE modulation with a direct launch transmitter is used to controllably adjust the transmit power of the portable handset. The digital modulator includes a controller coupled between a memory and an accumulator. The controller is responsive to an indication that the transmit power should be transitioned. The controller temporarily alters the data transferred from the memory to the accumulator during transitions of the transmit power level. |
| US08433360B2 |
Transmission power control method, and mobile communication system
A transmission power control method for controlling a transmission power of an E-HICH for uplink user data transmitted from a cell controlled by a radio base station to a mobile station, includes: notifying, from a radio network controller to at least one radio base station controlling a first cell and a second cell, offsets between the transmission power of the E-HICH and a transmission power of a DPCH, when a mobile station is performing a soft-handover with the first and second cell; determining, at the first cell, a transmission power of a first E-HICH based on a notified offset, and transmitting the first E-HICH to the mobile station using the determined transmission power; and determining, at the second cell, transmission power of a second E-HICH based on a notified offset, and transmitting the second E-HICH to the mobile station using the determined transmission power. |
| US08433359B2 |
Uplink power control scheme
An uplink power control technique may include a simplified maximum sector throughput (SMST) and a generalized maximum sector throughput (GMST). The SMST and GMST techniques may be used to determine a maximum sector throughput and cell-edge throughput to enhance the overall efficiency of the communication system. The uplink power control technique may determine the optimal uplink power value without collecting interference over thermal noise and without computing the individual channel losses in each neighboring sector. |
| US08433355B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating loud packets to estimate path loss
In a wireless communication system, (e.g., a wireless local area network (WLAN)), including a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) and a coordinating node, (e.g., an access point (AP)), path loss is estimated by transmitting a loud packet from a first one of the WTRUs to a second one of the WTRUs. The coordinating node transmits a loud packet generation request message. A first one of the WTRUs receives the loud packet generation request message and transmits at least one loud packet at a transmission power specified by the loud packet generation request message. Optionally, the first WTRU transmits a loud packet generation response message. A second one of the WTRUs receives the loud packet and determines a path loss between the first WTRU and the second WTRU by subtracting the signal strength of the loud packet from the determined transmission power of the loud packet. |
| US08433354B2 |
Reporting cell measurement results in a cellular communication system
The present invention relates to reporting cell measurement results associated with a plurality of cells of a cellular communication system. The reporting is transmitted from a station via a radio interface to receiver element of a cell serving the station. The cells are arranged in a reporting order that is to be used by the station for the reporting. The cell measurements are performed by the transceiver station for getting cell measurement results associated with a number of the cells. Relevant cell measurement results are then selected and the selected results are transmitted in the defined reporting order. |
| US08433353B2 |
Method of communication, emitter and receiver stations and associated computer programs
Method of communication, on a radio channel in a network comprising a plurality of telecommunications nodes with which are associated respective values of a metric, including emitting, from a first node, a request on the radio channel, and subsequent to the receipt of the request by at least one second node, emitting a response message with a delay determined as a function of the metric value associated with said second node. |
| US08433351B2 |
Communications systems
A method of controlling spectrum use in a first wireless communications system, the first wireless communications system being operable to take part in a spectrum assignment process involving at least the first wireless communications system and one or more other wireless communications systems, the method comprising in a single instance of the spectrum assignment process, exchanging a first portion of spectrum for a second, different portion of spectrum, by assigning the first portion of spectrum from the first wireless communications system to the one or more other wireless communications systems and accepting the assignment of the second portion of spectrum from the one or more other wireless communications systems to the first wireless communications system. |
| US08433350B2 |
Method for controlling inter-cell interference in a mobile communication system
A method for controlling inter-cell interference (ICI) in a mobile communication system by transmitting uplink control information from a base station in a home cell to a terminal of a neighboring cell based on ICI amount information measured at the base station. The ICI control method includes receiving an uplink signal at a base station and extracting inter-cell interference amount information from the uplink signal, generating uplink control information based on the extracted inter-cell interference amount information, and transmitting the uplink control information to a terminal in a neighboring cell. The terminal schedules an uplink resource including selecting frequency bands for an uplink signal by referring to the uplink control information. |
| US08433347B2 |
Method and apparatus for verifying network management short message of wireless public phone
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for verifying a network management short message of a wireless public phone. The method comprises: receiving a network management short message containing a sending party number, a sending party short message center number and a short message content; comparing the sending party number with a pre-stored number; when the sending party number is consistent with the pre-stored number, comparing the sending party short message center number with a pre-stored short message center number; when the sending party short message center number is consistent with the pre-stored short message center number, comparing the short message content in the network management short message with a pre-stored short message content; and when the short message content in the network management short message is consistent with the pre-stored short message content, confirming that the verification of the network management short message succeeds. |
| US08433341B2 |
System and methods for distributed tracking of public transit vehicles
A system and methods are provided for collecting and aggregating the movements of location-aware wireless devices and corroborating them with the routes of public transit vehicles. Individual public transit agencies transmit details of their covered routes, including scheduled times and stop locations, to a central processing system. Individual end users of public transit systems carry their own mass-produced, location-aware wireless devices that transmit their location and other relevant information to the central processing system for analysis. The central processing system assigns the specific devices to transit vehicles, uses their locations to determine the actual locations of the vehicles they are traveling on, and communicates this information to the end user of the device, and other users. |
| US08433337B2 |
RSS-based DOA indoor location estimation system and method
Method for received signal strength-based direction-of-arrival location estimation for wireless target in an indoor environment is disclosed. The method can use just one DOA sensor node with three antennas, configured substantially in the center of a predetermined confined indoor space. Packet signals can be transmitted by DOA sensor node to the wireless target, and vice versa, where each packet comprising of a fixed sensor node cover range. RSSI values are obtained for the respective RSSI states received from the wireless target at incident angles φ using the triangular antenna array, a 1P2T switch, and a vector signal deconstructor (VSD). A location (θ, φ) of the localized object is calculated using a RSS-based DOA algorithm. A RSS to DOA localization system using the above method is also disclosed. |
| US08433336B2 |
Method for guiding route using augmented reality and mobile terminal using the same
Disclosed are a method for guiding a route by using augmented reality and a mobile terminal using the same. The method for guiding a route by a mobile terminal includes: receiving route source information from a first terminal; displaying a surrounding image of the first terminal including augmented reality (AR) information by a second terminal based on the received route source information; and providing, by the second terminal, a real time route guidance to the first terminal according to a user input with respect to the displayed surrounding image. |
| US08433331B2 |
Initial connection establishment in a wireless communication system
A method, user equipment, network equipment and a system for initiating a wireless connection and subsequent communication over a shared physical resource in a wireless communication system between user equipment and network equipment comprising: processing a UE-derived temporary identifier; determining a set of channels that the user equipment will monitor; implicitly or explicitly communicating this channel set; communicating the temporary identifier as an identifier to the network equipment; communicating a downlink message on a channel belonging to the determined channel set conveying the temporary identifier and a description of a scheduled resource on a shared channel, the scheduled resource comprising a resource allocated to the user equipment by the network equipment; and communicating data on the scheduled resource in response to the downlink message. |
| US08433328B2 |
Base station apparatus, user apparatus, and method of allocating reference signal sequences
A base station apparatus is disclosed which communicates with a user apparatus which transmits an uplink signal using a single-carrier scheme. The base station includes a sequence-identifier determining unit which performs scheduling to allocate a frequency based on an uplink channel reception state of the user apparatus, and which determines a second sequence identifier for use by the user apparatus based on a first sequence identifier in a length of a reference signal sequence for transmitting in a maximum bandwidth in which the user apparatus can transmit, and a frequency bandwidth allocated to the user apparatus. |
| US08433324B2 |
Portable electronic device and position tracking method of the device
A location tracking method using a portable electronic device utilizes communication with a server through access points. The portable electronic device creates a database to restore information of the access points and scans the access points which can communicates and searches the information of the access points scanned from the database. The portable electronic device logs onto the access points and transmits transmitter packages including the access points scanned and scanning time of the access points to the server for tracking locations of the portable electronic device. |
| US08433320B2 |
Method and a device for determining a wireless telecommunication device to which a hand-over of a mobile terminal has to be conducted
The present invention concerns a method for determining a wireless telecommunication device to which a hand-over of a mobile terminal has to be conducted, wherein plural wireless cellular telecommunication devices transfer the same physical cell identity to mobile terminals. The method comprises the steps of: receiving at least one measurement report, determining, from the received measurement report that a hand-over of the mobile terminal has to be conducted to a wireless telecommunication device which transfers the same physical cell identifier as the one transferred by at least another wireless telecommunication device, obtaining a list of wireless telecommunication devices which transfer the same physical cell identifier, reducing, using a fingerprint table, the list of wireless telecommunication devices which transfer the same physical cell identifier, starting the hand-over of the mobile terminal. |
| US08433315B2 |
Wired cellular telephone system
Telephone apparatus, including a cable television (CATV) network interface, which is adapted to be connected to a CATV network so as to receive downstream cellular telephone communication signals transmitted at a downstream intermediate frequency (IF) via the CATV network from a base-station transceiver system (BTS) operative in a cellular telephone network. The apparatus includes a telephone interface, which is adapted to connect to a cellular telephone operative in the cellular telephone network via a physical connection.The apparatus also includes signal conversion circuitry, which is adapted to convert the downstream communication signals received at the downstream IF via the CATV network interface to downstream radio-frequency (RF) cellular telephone signals compatible with the cellular telephone network, and to convey the downstream RF cellular telephone signals to the cellular telephone via the physical connection. |
| US08433313B2 |
Mobile communication method and mobile communication system
A mobile communication method according to the present invention includes the steps of: transmitting, from a higher-level node to a macro radio base station, an “INIT(SCTP)”, when the higher-level node detects that no SCTP connection is established with the macro radio base station; and transmitting, from a home radio base station to a higher-level node, an “INIT(SCTP)”, when the home radio base station detects that no SCTP connection is established with the higher-level node. The higher-level node does not transmit “INIT(SCTP)” to the home radio base station, even when detecting that no SCTP connection is established with the home radio base station. |
| US08433311B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling response to service notifications in a network environment
A method of providing content notifications to devices in a wireless communication system includes obtaining notification information comprising an identifier that defines a subset of a plurality of devices on a network configured to be responsive to content notifications; generating a notification message based on the obtained notification information to cause the subset of the plurality of devices to retrieve content from a network; and broadcasting the notification message over the network to the plurality of devices. The method also includes receiving content notifications in a wireless communication system, including receiving, in a wireless network, a notification message comprising an identifier that defines a subset of a plurality of devices on a network configured to be responsive to content notifications; and retrieving content from a network in response to being one of the subset of the plurality of devices as defined by the identifier of the received notification message. |
| US08433310B2 |
Systems, methods, and computer program products for providing device updates to a mobile device operating in a wireless telecommunications network
Systems, methods, and computer program products are for generating a file including a set of instructions for handling a device update for the mobile device and a uniform resource locator (URL) of a server configured to host the device update and handle the device update in accordance with the instructions for handling the device update, and sending the file to the mobile device, whereat the file is redirected by the mobile device to the server based upon the URL included in the file. |
| US08433307B2 |
Method of controlling a PDA phone and PDA phone using the same
A method for controlling a PDA (personal digital assistant) phone is provided. A first interface configuration file and a second interface configuration file are provided. An interface selection command is received, designating the first or second interface configuration file. A first boot procedure is performed. The first or second interface configuration file is loaded and displayed as an operation interface of the PDA phone. |
| US08433305B2 |
Picture caller ID systems, methods and apparatus
A communication system is provided that enables automated retrieval of caller ID picture information and association with contact information, while still allowing security control over information or images that are sent to the requesting device. The communication system has a wireless device communicating with a picture server. The wireless device receives an incoming call with caller ID information, and determines if a picture is locally stored for the caller. If no picture is locally stored for the caller, then a request is made to retrieve a picture from the picture server. If the picture server has the requested picture, and the wireless device is authorized to receive the picture, then the picture is downloaded to the wireless device, where the picture is associated with contact information for the caller. The picture of the caller will then be automatically displayed when the caller places future calls. |
| US08433303B2 |
Systems and methods for user sessions with dynamic service selection
Under one aspect, a system generates dynamic call models within a network, allowing different user entities (UEs) to have different service experiences. The network includes application servers (ASs) and a switch that receives and then forwards UE service requests. The system includes storage media storing hierarchically organized data, which defines potential call models that map potential UE service requests onto ASs. At least two potential call models map a specified potential UE service request onto different ASs that can provide different service experiences. The system includes control logic for providing session control, which receives UE service requests from the switch, receives the hierarchically organized data from the storage media, generates a call model for each UE based on potential call models defined by the hierarchically organized data and on the requested service, and invokes a specified AS based on the generated call model. |
| US08433302B2 |
System and method for downloading and activating themes on a wirelesss device
A wireless device receives a list of available themes and premium content from an activation server. The wireless device may select a theme for download and activation. The activation server verifies that the wireless device has access to the theme or premium content and then authorizes the wireless device to activate the theme or premium content. If the theme or premium content is not resident on the wireless device, the activation server may transmit the theme or premium content to the wireless device. |
| US08433301B2 |
Method and system for automatically providing contents from a service provider to a mobile telephonic terminal
A method and a system are adapted to automatically provide contents, particularly multimedia contents, to mobile telephonic terminals of service subscribers; service subscription agreements information are stored in a repository of a service provider for each subscriber; and this information includes service conditions desired by each subscriber; such service conditions including specification of contents desired by each subscriber. Contents are provided to mobile telephonic terminals in push mode according to the conditions desired by each subscriber. |
| US08433298B2 |
Enabling mid-call services to be added to a communication session by a wireless device
Mid-call services may be added to a communication session such as a telephone call (call session) by a wireless device on a mobile telephone network by causing the wireless device associated with the communication session to invoke a second call session directed to a vertical service code. The second call session is established on the wireless communication network and terminated on the PSTN to an application server associated with the vertical service code. The application server on the PSTN instantiates the service and matches the service associated with the vertical service code on the second call session with the first call session. The application server then applies the mid-call service associated with the vertical service code to the first call session to thus enable mid-call services to be applied to the first call session by the wireless device. |
| US08433297B2 |
System for targeting advertising content to a plurality of mobile communication facilities
A system for targeting advertising content includes the steps of: (a) receiving respective requests for advertising content corresponding to a plurality of mobile communication facilities operated by a group of users, wherein the plurality includes first and second types of mobile communication facilities with different rendering capabilities; (b) receiving a datum corresponding to the group; (c) selecting from a first and second sponsor respective content based on a relevancy to the datum, wherein each content includes a first and second item requiring respective rendering capabilities; (d) receiving bids from the first and second sponsors; (e) attributing a priority to the content of the first sponsor based upon a determination that a yield associated with the first sponsor is greater than a yield associated with the second sponsor; and (f) transmitting the first and second items of the first sponsor to the first and second types of mobile communication facilities respectively. |
| US08433295B2 |
Server-coordinated ringtones
An apparatus and methods are disclosed for enabling multiple telecommunications terminals that are associated with a common user to notify their user of the arrival of an incoming message via a ringtone, where the ringtone is: (i) coordinated across the terminals, and (ii) customized for each terminal based on one or more attributes of the terminal. In particular, in the illustrative embodiments a network infrastructure element (e.g., a switch, a wireless base station, a server, etc.) that receives a message directed to a telecommunications terminal sets the values of one or more properties of a ringtone (e.g., tempo, timbre, pitch, rhythm, etc.) based on one or more attributes of the telecommunications terminal (e.g., terminal type, etc.). |
| US08433289B2 |
Communication apparatus
A communication apparatus in a radio access network relays data transmission to and from a remote network. The communication apparatus includes a monitoring unit to monitor an authentication procedure performed when a mobile station makes a connection of a link to the remote network, as well as when the mobile station disconnects the link to the remote network. The communication apparatus also includes a producing unit to produce information for disconnecting a session of the mobile station based on progress of the authentication procedure monitored by the monitoring unit. For example, the producing unit produces information for disconnecting a session of the mobile station when the monitoring unit has observed deauthentication of the mobile station. |
| US08433288B2 |
Multilevel authentication
In an exemplary embodiment, a system includes a memory operable to store a user account identifier associated with a user account and store a mobile device identifier associated with a mobile device. The memory is also operable to store a first user credential and store a second user credential, the second user credential, wherein the second user credential comprises a peripheral device identifier. The system includes a network interface operable to receive a request to authenticate a requesting user. The system also includes a processor operable to determine information included in the request to facilitate authentication of the requesting user and whether the information included in the request matches the information associated with the user account. The processor is further operable to authenticate the requesting user if the request is associated with the user account and information included in the request matches the information associated with the user account. |
| US08433287B2 |
Femtocell authentication system and authentication method employing the same
A femtocell authentication system includes a femtocell in communication with an Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) network. The IMS network includes a gateway and a first server. The femtocell includes a global positioning system (GPS) module to obtain geolocation information of the femtocell and transmit the geolocation information to the first server. The first server includes a storage unit and a signal processing unit, the signal processing unit compares the geolocation information with a predetermined geolocation range value in the storage unit and allows the femtocell access to the IMS network according to a determination by the signal processing unit that the femtocell is within the predetermined geolocation range of the IMS network. |
| US08433286B2 |
Mobile communication network and method and apparatus for authenticating mobile node in the mobile communication network
A method and apparatus for performing device authentication and user authentication in a mobile communication network are provided. A connection is established between an MS and an SRNC that controls communications of the MS through a BS. The SRNC receives a D-MSK for device authentication of the MS from an AAA server that has completed an EAP negotiation with the MS and stores the D-MSK by the SRNC, when the BS triggers an EAP authentication after the connection establishment. The SRNC receives an R-MSK from an AG and stores the R-MSK after the connection establishment. The R-MSK is generated using a U-MSK for user authentication of the MS received from the AAA server by the AG. The SRNC generates a PMK for use during a session using at least one of the D-MSK and the R-MSK, and one of the BS and the SRNC generate a key set using the PMK, for use in at least one of data encryption, data integrity check, and session management during the session. |
| US08433283B2 |
Computer-related devices and techniques for facilitating an emergency call via a cellular or data network using remote communication device identifying information
A device includes a transceiver and control logic. The control logic (a) receives one or more first signals carrying corresponding one or more cellular tower identifiers that each identifies a cellular tower, (b) determines signal strengths of the one or more first signals and a location of the device based on the one or more cellular tower identifiers, (c) receives a second signal corresponding to an emergency call, and (d) transfers, via a cellular network or a packet switched network, a third signal carrying an indicator of the location of the device to a remote device to aid emergency personnel in identifying the location of the device, the control logic implementing the emergency call as one of a cellular-based call via the cellular network or a VoIP call via the packet switched network. |
| US08433280B2 |
Method of managing reception of natural disaster warning notification messages for a wireless communication system and related communication device
A method of managing notification message reception of a user equipment corresponding to natural disaster warning for a wireless communication system includes managing the notification message reception according to a reception property of the notification message reception, configuration information broadcasted or paged by a network of the wireless communication system, or a connection state of the user equipment, where the connection state of the UE includes the connection state of the UE corresponding to radio resource control, to a radio access technology, and to cell selection or cell reselection. |
| US08433279B2 |
Method of sending and receiving call with specific request
A specific code indicative of a specific request is used to provide a communication device with an ability to send specific calls, such as emergency calls and silent calls, and the ability to distinguish the specific calls from the received calls. A method of sending a call includes generating a specific code indicative of a specific request, adding the specific code to a call, and then sending the call to a receiver for notifying the receiver of the specific request. A method of receiving a call includes determining whether a received call comprises a specific code indicative of a specific request, and generating an indication in response to the specific request when the received call is determined to comprise the specific code. |
| US08433275B2 |
System and method for DC correction in wireless receivers
A system and method for minimizing a DC component of a received signal are disclosed. As one example, a system for minimizing a DC component of a signal in a wireless receiver is disclosed, which includes a programmable filter operable to filter the signal with at least one of a low cutoff frequency and a high cutoff frequency, and a transition unit coupled to the programmable filter, the transition unit operable to transition the programmable filter between the high cutoff frequency and the low cutoff frequency. |
| US08433270B1 |
Method for tuning an oscillator frequency and device implementing the method
A method for tuning an oscillator frequency produced in a radio-receiver chain is based on a slope analysis of a residual difference between the oscillator frequency and a carrier frequency of a radio-received signal. Depending on the slope value calculated, a bandwidth of a low-pass time-filtering that is effective for the frequency difference is increased or set back to a default value. The method provides an improved trade-off between tuning precision and dynamic behavior when the frequency difference drifts rapidly. |
| US08433264B2 |
Multiple input single output (MISO) amplifier having multiple transistors whose output voltages substantially equal the amplifier output voltage
Methods and systems for vector combining power amplification are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a plurality of signals are individually amplified, then summed to form a desired time-varying complex envelope signal. Phase and/or frequency characteristics of one or more of the signals are controlled to provide the desired phase, frequency, and/or amplitude characteristics of the desired time-varying complex envelope signal. In another embodiment, a time-varying complex envelope signal is decomposed into a plurality of constant envelope constituent signals. The constituent signals are amplified equally or substantially equally, and then summed to construct an amplified version of the original time-varying envelope signal. Embodiments also perform frequency up-conversion. |
| US08433258B2 |
Rate-adaptive multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) systems
A rate-adaptive method of communicating over a multipath wireless communication system uses multiple links such that each end of a link uses multiple transmit and receive antennas. A number of independent streams that are to be transmitted for each link is determined based on an overall system performance measure. In addition, the system may also jointly determine the best modulation, coding, power control, and frequency assignment for each link, based on an overall system performance measure. In OFDM systems, the number of independent streams, as well as the modulation, coding, and power control, may be determined on a tone-by-tone basis based on an overall system performance measure. |
| US08433256B2 |
Communication devices with integrated thermal sensing circuit and methods for use therewith
A communication device includes an integrated circuit having an on-chip thermal sensing circuit that generates a temperature signal based on a temperature of the integrated circuit. A processing module processes the temperature signal to generate temperature information that can be transmitted to a remote device or processes the temperature signal to generate control for adjusting transmit and/or receive characteristics of an RF transceiver. |
| US08433254B2 |
System and method for frequency offsetting of information communicated in MIMO-based wireless networks
A communications system includes a multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) architecture for high capacity switched mesh networks. The MIMO architecture has a plurality of radio frequency chains. One of the plurality of radio frequency chains is configured to apply a first frequency offset to a base frequency of an output signal to generate a first transmitting frequency; and another of the plurality of radio frequency chains being configured to apply a second frequency offset to the base frequency to generate a second transmitting frequency. The system uses the carrier frequency offset to lock the clock of the master subsystem to the clock of the slave subsystem, thereby enabling bandwidth expansion to be employed on the MIMO data streams. |
| US08433251B2 |
Control information signaling
Methods, systems, apparatus and computer program products are provided to facilitate the configuration and allocation of control information associated with transmissions of a wireless communication system. In systems that utilize multiple component carriers, cross-carrier signaling may be used to carry the control information associated with one component carrier on a different component carrier. By allowing control information messages to share their allocated search spaces, the number of decoding attempts needed to obtain control information can be kept within desirable limits while improving scheduling and resource allocation flexibility. This Abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the Abstract requirement rules that allow a reader to quickly ascertain the disclosed subject matter. Therefore, it is to be understood that it should not be used to interpret or limit the scope or the meaning of the claims. |
| US08433250B2 |
Estimating whether a wireless terminal is indoors using pattern classification
A method and apparatus for estimating whether or not a wireless terminal is indoors are disclosed. The illustrative embodiment employs a pattern classifier that is trained on a plurality of input/output mappings, where each mapping corresponds to a respective location, the output of the mapping is a Boolean value that indicates whether the location is indoors, and the input of the mapping is based on empirical and predicted signal data for the location. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, a computer-executable program is generated based on the trained pattern classifier. The computer-executable program estimates whether or not a wireless terminal is indoors based on empirical data reported by the terminal, and on a location estimate for the terminal that might be crude or inaccurate (e.g., based on Cell Identifier [Cell-ID], GPS, etc.). |
| US08433243B2 |
Wireless earphone for use in bluetooth piconets
An audio device includes a Bluetooth receiver, a Bluetooth transmitter, a speaker and a housing. The Bluetooth receiver is capable of wirelessly receiving signals in at least two audio channels. The Bluetooth transmitter is capable of wirelessly retransmitting at least a first one of the two audio channels. The speaker plays the second one of the two audio channels. The housing contains the Bluetooth receiver, the Bluetooth transmitter, and the ear phone. The housing is shaped to fit in or on an ear of a user. |
| US08433240B2 |
Apparatus for viewing of content contained therein on a nearby display screen
An apparatus is provided for viewing content on a display screen. The apparatus includes a portable device adapted to allow viewing of content on a nearby display screen which is not physically connected to the portable device. The portable device includes a memory that stores the content, or a portion thereof, and an electronic address of the content; a display screen which displays the content, or a portion thereof; a button which facilitates communication of the content between the portable device and a local control device connected to the nearby display screen; and a wireless transmitter that communicates the electronic address of the content from the portable device to the local control device via a signal sent by the wireless transmitter upon selection of the button. The local control device retrieves the content from a remote location and provides the content to the nearby display screen for display thereon. |
| US08433237B2 |
Assessable natural interactions in formal course curriculums
A natural interactions academic course designer system and method that allows an educator to integrate a natural interactions forum (such as discussion boards, blogs, and collaborative wikis) into a formal curriculum. Embodiments of the system and method include a natural interactions integration module, which allows an educator to select a type of natural interaction forum and attaches a rubric, and a natural interactions provisioning module that creates the forum, determines the participants, and the learners to be assessed. Embodiments of the system and method also include an assessment module that assesses a validated learner using one or more of three different metrics. These metrics include a participation metric, a tagging metric, and a natural language processing metric. The assessment module then creates a raw score from the metrics used. Embodiments of the system and method also include a learner tracking module that generates a single final score for the assignment. |
| US08433236B2 |
Paper processing apparatus and image forming apparatus
A paper processing apparatus includes: a discharging unit that discharges the paper onto a staple tray; a paper returning unit that reverses the paper discharged by the discharging unit and performs alignment in a conveying direction by abutting the paper against a rear end reference fence; a supporting unit that supports the discharging unit in a state capable of coming in contact with or separating from the paper; a contact and separation unit by which the discharging unit comes in contact with or separates from the paper; and a pressurizing unit that is moved by the contact and separation unit, does not load the discharging unit in a standby state where the discharging unit is held apart from the paper, and applies contact pressure in a state where the discharging unit is in contact with the paper. |
| US08433234B2 |
Image forming apparatus and method thereof
An image forming apparatus includes a housing formed with a discharge port, a printing device mounted in the housing, a discharge reverse unit to reversely move paper passing through the printing device, and a discharge unit to convey the paper, moving reversely by the discharge reverse unit, to the discharge port. The discharge reverse unit includes a guide member to guide the paper passing through the printing device to the discharge unit, and a lifting part to lift the guide member up and down. The image forming apparatus can prevent jams in a paper discharge device even when increasing a discharge speed in a discharge path, through which a printed printing medium is discharged in such a state that a printed surface of the printing medium is directed in a down direction. |
| US08433233B2 |
Image forming apparatus and sheet conveying method that correct for skew of sheet conveyed to image forming unit
An image forming apparatus that can reliably correct for skew of a sheet being conveyed. The amount of skew of the sheet is detected, and the amount of toner used for an image formed on a first surface of the sheet is determined. When the sheet with the image formed on the first surface thereof is conveyed so as to form an image on a second surface of the sheet, a skew correction roller unit is controlled so as to correct for the skew of the sheet based on the detected amount of skew and the determined amount of toner used. |
| US08433231B2 |
Laser fixing device and image forming apparatus including the laser fixing device
A defective laser element detector gives a fault detection of every laser element in each laser array. A controller determines whether the fault can be compensated for by the other laser elements, taking into account the arrangement, variation and other factors of available laser elements. If it is determined that the fault can be compensated, the controller increases the power of other laser elements individually based on comprehensive evaluation from the parameters such as irradiation areas, amounts of irradiation, irradiation timing and the like of the other adjacent laser elements in the same array including the fault and in the other arrays, so as to compensate the area of irradiation to be irradiated by the defective laser element as a whole. |
| US08433230B2 |
Image forming apparatus
A disclosed image forming apparatus includes an image carrier; a developing device configured to form a toner image on the image carrier; a compressed air generating unit configured to generate compressed air; an air nozzle configured to eject the compressed air; a fixing device configured to fix the toner image on a sheet, the sheet being separated from the fixing device by the compressed air ejected from the air nozzle to the sheet; a pressure regulation unit provided between the compressed air generating unit and the air nozzle; and a guide path connected to the pressure regulation unit and configured to guide excess air generated by a pressure regulation of the pressure regulation unit to at least one part in the image forming apparatus. |
| US08433228B2 |
Method and apparatus for stripping media from a surface in an apparatus useful for printing
Apparatuses useful for printing and methods of stripping media from surfaces in apparatuses useful for printing are provided. An exemplary embodiment of an apparatus useful for printing comprises a first roll; a belt including an inner surface and an outer surface, the first roll and the outer surface of the belt forming a nip; and a stripping member located internal to the belt. The stripping member includes at least a first stripping surface and a second stripping surface having a smaller curvature than the first stripping surface. The stripping member is rotatable to selectively position one of the first stripping surface and the second stripping surface in contact with the inner surface of the belt. The one of the first stripping surface and the second stripping surface facilitates stripping of a medium fed to the nip from the outer surface of the belt. |
| US08433227B2 |
Backup roll with capacitive coating and an imaging device transfer station employing the backup roll
A toner transfer station of an electrophotographic imaging device employs a backup roll having an inner electrically grounded cylindrical metal base core and an outer surface layer disposed about the inner base core. The outer surface layer may be formed of a polyurethane elastomer material to provide a capacitive coating with a thickness greater than 15 microns, a dielectric constant less than 12 and a resistivity of less than 3.00E+13 Ohm-cm. |
| US08433224B2 |
Development device, process cartridge including same, and image forming apparatus including same
A development device includes a developer carrier, a supply compartment having a downstream end portion positioned outside the development area in the axial direction of the developer carrier, a collection compartment disposed lower than the supply compartment, first and second communication ports respectively formed in the downstream end portion and an upstream end portion of the supply compartment, a developer circulation unit including first and second developer conveyance members respectively provided in the supply compartment and the collection compartment, a toner supply port formed in an upper portion of the downstream end portion of the supply compartment, and an airflow path limiter provided in the downstream end portion of the supply compartment, closer to the development area than the toner supply port in the axial direction of the developer carrier, to restrict an airflow path above the developer in the downstream end portion of the supply compartment. |
| US08433219B2 |
Cartridge, mounting method for coupling member, and disassembling method for coupling member
A cartridge includes a coupling member for receiving a rotational force for rotating a developing roller. A cylindrical member movably supports one end portion of the coupling member inside of the cylindrical member. A cylindrical member side force receiving portion is provided inside the cylindrical member, with the cylindrical member side force receiving portion receiving the rotational force received by the coupling member. A first regulating portion is provided inside of the cylindrical member for preventing one end portion of the coupling member from disengaging in an axial direction of the cylindrical member. The first regulating portion is deformable outwardly in a radial direction of the cylindrical member so as to allow the one end portion of the coupling member to disengage in the axial direction of the cylindrical member. |
| US08433216B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus that has a monochrome mode and a full color mode as image forming modes, includes: a power supply unit configured to supply power thereto; a main power switch configured to turn on and off the power supply unit; a mode switching unit configured to selectively and manually be switched between the monochrome mode and the full color mode, wherein the main power switch and the mode switching unit are integrally formed as one mode switch; a power supply interrupting unit configured to interrupt power supply to a part that is necessary to form an image in a mode other than the monochrome mode, when the mode switch is set to the monochrome mode. |
| US08433208B2 |
Image forming apparatus that only prompts an inspection request after a predetermined number of failures of a rotary guide member
An image forming apparatus has a rotary guide including a path for a sheet being conveyed. The guide is rotatable so that an exit of the path faces one of at least two conveyance destinations. A motor rotates the guide, and a detector outputs a detection signal when a predetermined posture of the guide is detected. An instructing section outputs instruction signals to the motor to rotate the guide toward the predetermined posture. A judging section judges whether a detection signal has been received in response to the instruction signal, and a notifying section counts a consecutive occurrence number of a judgment result to the effect that no detection signal was received in response to the instruction signal this time and gives a notification prompting an inspection request of the image forming apparatus when the consecutive occurrence number reaches a set number. |
| US08433206B2 |
Burst-mode optical receiver and timing control method
A burst-mode optical receiver and a timing control method are provided. The receiver receiving the burst-mode optical signal includes a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) for receiving a single current information signal and converting the single current information signal into a single voltage signal, a differential signal converter for converting the single voltage signal, received from the TIA, into differential signals, and an automatic offset control limiting amplifier (AOC-LA) for automatically controlling and amplifying an offset of the differential signals. The receiver further includes a gain controller for generating a gain value control signal based on an intensity of a burst packet of the single voltage signal to control a gain value of the TIA, and a burst detector for receiving the differential signals, detecting burst packets, and generating a burst detection signal for the start timing of each of the burst packets. |
| US08433205B2 |
Crosstalk-free high-dimensional constellations for dual-polarized nonlinear fiber-optic communications
A method reduces time-varying polarization crosstalk due to XPolM by transmitting multi-dimensional orthogonal constellations. Three variants of crosstalk-free constellations are provided: Grassmann constellations, unitary constellations, and rotation codes. The method uses the Grassmann constellations and the unitary constellations to deal with fiber nonlinearity by applying as a polarization-time coding. The rotation codes exploit a fiber channel characteristic to improve performance and to reduce computational complexity. The underlying orthogonality behind those constellations enables the receiver to decode it as if there is no polarization crosstalk. Moreover, the required computational complexity at the receiver is significantly reduced because neither crosstalk cancellers nor channel estimators are needed. |
| US08433204B2 |
DQPSK demodulator
A phase shift keyed demodulator includes first and second beam splitters, a first optical path, a second optical path, and a wavelength tuner. The first beam splitter splits an input signal into first and second output signals. The second beam splitter splits each first and second output signal into a transmitted signal and a reflected signal. The first optical path includes an optical path of each transmitted signal from a beam splitting surface to a reflector and back to the beam splitting surface. The second optical path includes an optical path of each reflected signal from the beam splitting surface to a mirror surface and back to the beam splitting surface. A path difference introduces a delay between the transmitted signal and the reflected signal. The wavelength tuner tunes the demodulator to a predetermined central wavelength and introduces a phase shift between first and second transmitted signals. |
| US08433197B2 |
Methods and systems for implementing a universal set top box
A system is disclosed. The system has a first receiver, a second receiver, and an input device configured to transmit a command signal in response to user input. The system also has an input waveguide having a first end in communication with the input device and terminating at the first receiver, and a second end in communication with the second receiver. The input waveguide is arranged to receive and route the command signal to the second receiver. The system also has an output waveguide having a first end in communication with the first receiver, and a second end in communication with the second receive. The second receiver is configured to determine whether the command signal is directed to the first receiver and/or the second receiver based a code contained in the command signal. The second receiver is further configured to execute the command signal when it is determined that the command signal is directed to the second receiver, and relay the command signal through the output waveguide to the first receiver for execution when it is determined that the command signal is directed to the first receiver. |
| US08433194B2 |
Communications network
A PON in which parallel optical fiber paths are provided between dual OLTs and the ONTs, one of the optical fiber paths providing an active connection and the other optical fiber path providing a standby connection. Respective VLANs may be formed over the parallel optical fiber paths. If performance indicators, for example Ethernet continuity check messages, indicate that an ONT is no longer in communication with the OLT then data may be sent via the VLAN associated with the standby connection. |
| US08433192B2 |
Dynamic performance monitoring systems and methods for optical networks
The present disclosure provides dynamic performance monitoring systems and methods for optical networks to ascertain optical network health in a flexible and accurate manner. The present invention introduces accurate estimations for optical channel performance characteristics based either on existing channels or with a dynamic optical probe configured to measure characteristics on unequipped wavelengths. Advantageously, the dynamic performance monitoring systems and methods introduce the ability to determine physical layer viability in addition to logical layer viability. |
| US08433185B2 |
Multiple anti-shake system and method thereof
A multiple anti-shake system and a method thereof applied to a camera device. The system comprises a sensing module, a first anti-shake module and a second anti-shake module. The sensing module detects the vibration signal of the camera device and the first anti-shake module is actuated to perform a first vibration compensation according to the vibration signal, therefrom calculates a residual vibration amount according to said first vibration compensation. The second anti-shake module thereby further performs a second vibration compensation to determine the set parameter of multi-frame blending. Thereby, the user can obtain a clear image by immediately processing a blurred image through a compensation process. |
| US08433181B2 |
Apparatus and method for recording digital multimedia broadcasting
A broadcasting recording apparatus including a broadcasting communication unit configured to request and receive a broadcast from a broadcasting system, and a recording unit configured to record the broadcast received by the broadcasting communication unit at an image quality set at the broadcasting communication unit. |
| US08433180B2 |
Search tool
A method of selecting a starting image at which to start displaying an image stream comprises the iterative steps of displaying a plurality of candidate images from within the image stream for selection by a user of the closest candidate image, and displaying a plurality of candidate images from within a time range of the image stream close to the candidate image selected by the user in response to the first step. This allows very fast and effective selection of a starting image. It can be used to quickly skip advertisement break within a recorded television program. |
| US08433177B2 |
Information recording method, information recording medium, and information reproducing method, wherein information is stored on a data recording portion and a management information recording portion
With this invention, at least one of a video file containing video information, a still picture file containing still picture information, and an audio file containing audio information and a management file having management information on a control method of reproducing the information in the file are recorded on an information storage medium. This realizes a data structure that causes the recording and deleting places on the information storage medium to correspond spuriously to places on a single tape, such as a VTR tape. Use of the data structure provides users with an easy-to-use interface. |
| US08433173B2 |
Portable media player system
An object is to provide a content reproduction system in which matching of a content reproduction apparatus and a device is performed flexibly and efficiently. For this purpose, the content reproduction system includes a content reproduction apparatus which reproduces a content including at least one of audio and an image, and a device connected to the content reproduction apparatus, in which the content reproduction apparatus is provided with acknowledging unit which acknowledges a driving condition of the device and a controlling unit which operates according to the acknowledged driving condition. |
| US08433170B2 |
All-optical control of THz radiation in parallel plate waveguides
The invention relates to control of THz radiation in parallel plate waveguides (PPWG) by forming components in the waveguide by use of optical radiation pulses. Patterns of excited regions induced in the PPWG by an optical excitation pulses changes the electromagnetic properties of the waveguide medium in the THz regime, thereby forming transient passive and active components for controlling THz radiation signals. The excitation can be generation of free charge carriers in a semiconductor material in the PPWG, to create metallic regions that form mirrors, lenses or photonic crystal structures in the PPWG. The photo-induced pattern can be modulated in time in response to an incoming signal, to frequency-, phase- or amplitude-modulate the THz signal. The systems can be integrated on chip-scale components and can be applied in e.g. THz communication, digital computing, sensors, and lab-on-a-chip applications. The optical and THz radiation can be ultrashort pulses with picosecond or femtosecond pulse durations. |
| US08433167B2 |
Fused array preform fabrication of holey optical fibers
This invention pertains to a holey fiber and to a fabrication method for making the fiber. The holey fiber can transmit light by total internal reflection or by Bragg diffraction, can be single mode or multimode and can have solid core or a hollow core. The holey fiber has outside diameter typically of 20 microns to 5 mm, a hollow core of a diameter typically of 0.2 micron to 150 microns and longitudinal channels therethrough of a diameter typically of 0.1 micron to 150 microns. The channels are disposed in a desired arrangement with center-to-center distance variation of less than about 2% along the length of the fiber and the cross-section thereof is round that varies less than about 2%. |
| US08433166B2 |
Multi-core optical fibre
A multi-core optical fiber 1A in which a plurality of cores can easily be identified even in the case where they are symmetrically arranged in its section has seven cores 10 to 16, a visual recognition marker 20, and a shared cladding 30 enclosing the seven cores 10 to 16 and the visual recognition marker 20. The cores 10 to 16 and the visual recognition marker 20 extend along the fiber-axis direction. The respective refractive index of the cores 10 to 16 is higher than the refractive index of the cladding 30. The refractive index of the visual recognition marker 20 differs from that of the cladding 30. In the cross-section perpendicular to the fiber-axis, the cores 10 to 16 are arranged such that they have 6-fold rotational symmetry and line symmetry. The visual recognition marker 20 is arranged at a position which breaks such symmetry. |
| US08433165B2 |
Optical-electrical hybrid transmission cable
An optical-electrical hybrid transmission cable (100), comprises: an insulative layer (2); a shielding layer (3) located on an inner side of the insulative layer; an optical cable (4) disposed in the shielding layer and comprising two optical fibers (41) and an insulative sheath (42) enclosing the two optical fibers; two coaxial cables (5), a power wire (6) and a grounding wire (7) disposed in the shielding layer; and a filler (8) disposed in a center of the optical-electrical hybrid transmission cable and surrounded by the two coaxial cables, the power wire, the grounding wire and the optical cable which are arranged along a circumferential direction. |
| US08433162B2 |
Method and system for coupling optical signals into silicon optoelectronic chips
A method and system for coupling optical signals into silicon optoelectronic chips are disclosed and may include coupling one or more optical signals into a back surface of one or more of a plurality of CMOS photonic chips comprising photonic, electronic, and optoelectronic devices. The devices may be integrated in a front surface of the chips and optical couplers may receive the optical signals in the front surface of the chips. The optical signals may be coupled into the back surface of the chips via optical fibers and/or optical source assemblies. The optical signals may be coupled to the optical couplers via a light path etched in the chips, which may be refilled with silicon dioxide. The chips may be flip-chip bonded to a packaging substrate. Optical signals may be reflected back to the optical couplers via metal reflectors, which may be integrated in dielectric layers on the chips. |
| US08433160B2 |
Smart fastener and smart insert for a fastener using fiber Bragg gratings to measure strain and temperature
A measurement device including a fastener for use in attaching a first member to a second member, in which the fastener has an aperture extending through a length of the fastener, and a first optical fiber located within the aperture, in which the first optical fiber includes at least one fiber Bragg grating sensor. At least a portion of the first optical fiber can be secured within the aperture. A first end of the first optical fiber can be connected to an associated first optical connector and a second end of the first optical fiber can be connected to an associated second optical connector. |
| US08433158B2 |
Optical superresolution using multiple images
An imaging system is provided. The imaging system includes a point spread function (PSF) module producing a diffraction-limited image of a sample. A convolution module performs convolution of the diffraction-limited image with a first image of a focal spot having a first wavelength to produce a first simulated image. The convolution also performs convolution of the diffraction-limited image with a second image of a focal ring having a second wavelength to produce a second simulated image. A difference module subtracts said first simulated image and said second simulated image to produce said high resolution composite image. |
| US08433152B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program
An information processing apparatus includes a first generating unit, a second generating unit, and an updating unit. The first generating unit generates a point spread function representing the degree of blurring generated in the input image. The second generating unit generates a plurality of corrected block images obtained by correcting blurring of structure components of plural input block images based on the point spread function. The updating unit executes one or more times an updating process to update the corrected block images, followed by making structure components of the updated corrected block images into new corrected block images. |
| US08433151B2 |
Image coding apparatus, image coding method and computer readable medium storing program
An image coding apparatus includes: a transformation unit that transforms spatial domain image data having plural pixels, by a pixel block including plural pixels as a unit, into plural coefficient groups each including plural frequency domain coefficients; a grouping unit that classifies the plural coefficient groups into plural groups for classification of values in these coefficient groups; a quantization coefficient calculation unit that calculates a quantization coefficient used for quantizing plural coefficients included in the respective plural coefficient groups based on the number of coefficient groups classified in the plural groups and the values of the coefficient groups classified in the plural groups; a quantization unit that quantizes the respective plural coefficients included in the respective plural coefficient groups obtained by the transformation by using the calculated quantization coefficient; and a coding unit that encodes the plural coefficients included in the plural quantized coefficient groups to generate codes. |
| US08433149B2 |
Image transmitter and image receiver, for transmitting/receiving image data to/from a device connected by a signal data line
A system LSI serving as an image transmitter is a device for transmitting image data to a display device LCD connected by a data signal line. The system LSI comprises: an output image memory for storing the image data to be transmitted; a subtraction processing unit for reading the image data from the output image memory and obtaining the data of the difference between mutually adjacent pixels of the image data; and a data transmission unit for sequentially outputting a data signal, which expresses the difference data corresponding to the pixels as a binary number, to the data signal line in accordance with the arrangement of the pixels; wherein the data signal of the difference data in which the number of signal changes is reduced more than the case of outputting the pixel data to the data signal line is output. |
| US08433148B2 |
Method for compressing textured images
A method compresses an image partitioned into blocks of pixels, for each block the method converts the block to a 2D matrix. The matrix is decomposing into a column matrix and a row matrix, wherein a width of the column matrix is substantially smaller than a height of the column matrix and the height of the row matrix is substantially smaller than the width of the row matrix. The column matrix and the row matrix are compressed, and the compressed matrices are then combined to form a compressed image. |
| US08433144B2 |
Systems and methods for detecting red-eye artifacts
Systems and methods for detecting red-eye artifacts in a digital image are provided. In this regard, a representative system, among others, includes a processing device that facilitates execution of programs stored in the image processing device and memory that is electrically coupled to the processing device. The memory is configured to store the programs that include a red-eye detection manager, which is configured to detect a red-eye in the digital image based on the detection of excited state of normal-eye that causes the red-eye. |
| US08433140B2 |
Image metadata propagation
Methods and computer-readable media for propagating content category information to images stored in a database are described. A seed image that is associated with a known content category is received. A content-based image retrieval is conducted using the seed image as a search query image. A number of search result images are identified. The content category is propagated to the search result images. Metadata associated with the search result images is aggregated and analyzed to identify domains that should also be associated with the content category. Additional images that are associated with the domain are identified and the content category propagated thereto. The process is iterated using the additional images as search query images for the content-based image retrieval. |
| US08433139B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method and program for segmentation based on a degree of dispersion of pixels with a same characteristic quality
An image processing apparatus is provided which includes a characteristic quantity calculation unit that calculates a characteristic quantity for each pixel of image data from the image data, a tightness determination unit that determines tightness indicating a degree of dispersion of pixels in image data for tightness determination by extracting the pixels having a same characteristic quantity by using the characteristic quantity and generating the image data for tightness determination composed of the pixels having the same characteristic quantity, and a pixel set calculation unit that calculates a set of the pixels from the pixels in the image data for tightness determination in accordance with a determination of the tightness. |
| US08433136B2 |
Tagging video using character recognition and propagation
In one example, video may be analyzed and divided into segments. Character recognition may be performed on the segments to determine what text appears in the segments. The text may be used to assign tags to the video and/or to the segments. Segments that appear visually similar to each other (e.g., segments that appear to be different views of the same person) may be grouped together, and a tag that is assigned to one segment may be propagated to another segment. The tags may be used to perform various types of tasks with respect to the video. One example of such a task is to perform a search on the video. |
| US08433134B2 |
Image processing device and image processing method for generation of color correction condition
Included are determining a position of a pixel serving as an extraction subject by using first image data photographed under a first light source; determining an extraction range corresponding to the determined position, by using a color value of the pixel at the determined position and a color value of a pixel at a peripheral position around the determined position in the first image data; calculating a first representative color value from the first image data and a second representative color value from second image data photographed under a second light source, on the basis of the position of the pixel serving as the extraction subject and the extraction range; and generating a color correction condition for converting a color value depending on the first light source into a color value depending on the second light source. |
| US08433133B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting objects in an image
A method of detecting generally rectangular objects in an image comprises determining candidate rectangles in the image based on detected corners in the image, ranking the candidate rectangles on the basis of a set of differentiating factors and detecting objects in the images based on the ranked candidate rectangles. |
| US08433128B2 |
Method of creating three-dimensional model and object recognizing device
A polygonal mark M having a shape in which a direction can be uniquely specified is attached to a predetermined area of an actual model WM of a work to be three-dimensionally recognized. A process of changing the orientation of the actual model WM such that a state in which the mark M is contained in the view of each camera is maintained, and then performing the three-dimensional measurement is executed over a plurality of times. A predetermined number of, or two or more pieces of three-dimensional information is selected from the three-dimensional information restored by each measurement, these pieces of three-dimensional information are aligned and integrated, the information corresponding to the mark is deleted or invalidated from the integrated three-dimensional information, and the three-dimensional information after such a process is set as a three-dimensional model. |
| US08433126B2 |
Check and U.S. bank note processing device and method
A check and U.S. bank note processing device configured to process both checks and U.S. bank notes. The device comprises an input receptacle configured to receive checks and U.S. bank notes and an output receptacle. The device further comprises a transport mechanism configured to transport the checks and U.S. bank notes from the input receptacle past an image scanner. The image scanner is configured to obtain an image of each check and U.S. bank note transported past the image scanner. The device is configured to determine the serial numbers of U.S. bank notes transported past the image scanner. The device further comprises a memory configured to store the determined serial numbers of U.S. bank notes. |
| US08433124B2 |
Systems and methods for detecting an optically variable material
Systems and methods for detecting an optically variable material are provided. According to an illustrative embodiment, a method for detecting an optically variable material includes capturing a first image of at least a portion of a document while the at least a portion of the document is subjected to a first electromagnetic radiation from a first angle of incidence, and capturing a second image of at least a portion of the document while the at least a portion of the document is subjected to a second electromagnetic radiation from a second angle of incidence. The first angle of incidence is different from the second angle of incidence. The first and second images are captured by an imaging device that has substantially fixed position. The method also includes comparing the first image to the second image to determine whether an optically variable material is present on the document. |
| US08433121B2 |
Method for brightness level calculation in the area of interest of the digital X-ray image for medical applications
The invention relates to methods for evaluation a level of brightness in the area of interest of the digital x-ray image for medical applications by means of the image histogram using a neural network. The calculations comprise of: image acquisition, image histogram calculation, converting histogram values into input arguments of the neural network and output values of the neural network acquiring. As input arguments of the neural network the histogram values calculated with the given bin width and normalized to unity are used. The level of brightness is calculated as a linear function of the output value of the neural network. Neural network learning is performed using a learning set calculated on the base of the given image database; as a set of target values the levels of brightness calculated for each image over the area of interest and scaled to the range of the activation function of a neuron in the output layer of the neural network are used. |
| US08433120B2 |
Method for image processing of mammographic images
A method for rendering a mammography image. Mammography image data is obtained and stored in a computer-readable electronic memory. A mapping transforms the data to an output data space by estimating a relative amount of dense tissue from the image data; identifying at least a first control point that delineates tissue from non-tissue image content and a second control point that delineates a fatty from a dense tissue region; allocating output image data values in the output data space for the identified fatty and dense tissue content according to the estimated relative amount of dense tissue; and mapping image data values to the allocated output image data values according to the first and second control points. The mammography image is rendered on a display according to the mapping. |
| US08433119B2 |
Extension of the field of view of a computed tomography system in the presence of interfering objects
A method and system for generating a field of view extension of a CT scan and minimizing the effect of interfering objects is described. The system is configured and the method carries out the steps of generating a full sinogram based upon CT scan data of a scanned object and any interfering objects within the scanning field; determining the location of any interfering objects within the CT data based on physical and geometrical properties of the interfering objects; generating an ideal sinogram of any interfering objects based on their location and physical properties; subtracting the ideal sinogram from the full sinogram; extending a sinogram free of any interfering objects; and adding the ideal sinogram of interfering objects to the extended sinogram of the scanned object. Speeding up the computation of the extended sinogram by creating a look-up table of the tunable parameter of the extension function. |
| US08433117B2 |
Computer controlled system for laser energy delivery to the retina
An embodiment of the invention provides a method that captures a diagnostic image of a retina having at least one lesion, wherein the lesion includes a plurality of spots to be treated. Information is received from a user interface, wherein the information includes a duration, intensity, and/or wavelength of treatment for each of the spots. A real-time image of the retina is captured; and, a composite image is created by linking the diagnostic image to the real-time image. At least one updated real-time image of the retina is obtained using eye tracking and/or image stabilization; and, an annotated image is created by modifying the composite image based on the updated real-time image. A localized laser beam is delivered to each of the spots according to the information, the composite image, and the annotated image. |
| US08433116B2 |
Showing skin lesion information
Among other things, on a two-dimensional electronic display, a representation is shown of a scanned image of a lesion on the skin of a real human. On the two-dimensional electronic display, a recommendation is indicated of a next diagnostic or treatment step to be taken, based on a computer-implemented analysis of the scanned image. |
| US08433115B2 |
System and method for multi-image based stent visibility enhancement
A method for enhancing stent visibility in digital medical images includes providing a time series of 2-dimensional (2D) images of a stent in a vessel, estimating motion of the stent in a subset of images of the time series of images, estimating motion of clutter in the subset of images, where clutter comprises anatomical structures other than the stent, estimating a clutter layer in the subset of images from the estimated clutter motion, estimating a stent layer in the subset of images from the clutter layer and the estimated clutter motion, and minimizing a functional of the estimated stent motion, the estimated stent layer, the estimated clutter motion, and the estimated clutter layer to in calculate a refined stent layer image, where the refined stent layer image has enhanced visibility of the stent. |
| US08433112B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing chest X-ray images
A method for processing each of chest X-ray images photographed by an X-ray imaging apparatus, includes the steps of: analyzing characteristics of lung images in the chest X-ray images; sorting the chest X-ray images, based on said result of analysis; and displaying the result of sorting. |
| US08433111B2 |
Method for image data recording with a medical modality designed for image data recording and associated medical modality
A method for image data recording with a medical modality is provided. Protocols for image data recording using the at least two different image recording techniques are provisioned in a common database. The protocols are organized on the basis of body regions and/or clinical pictures. A body region and/or a clinical picture are selected and at least one protocol is displayed as a function of the selection. At least one display protocol for image data recording from the database is selected by a user and/or automatically, and image data is recorded as a function of the at least one selected protocol. |
| US08433110B2 |
Pulse-rate detection using a fingerprint sensor
Provided is a fingerprint sensor configured for detecting a pulse of a human or other mammal. A time series of fingerprint images is analyzed to identify time-based variations in spatial location and/or pressure from ridges of a finger, where the variations result from time-based variations in the flow of blood. Based on the analysis, a determination is made if the time-based variations are indicative of a pulse in a digit of the person, and if so, a determination is made as to the pulse rate based on the variations. Imaging sensitivity of the digit at the fingerprint sensor is optimized for determination of the pulse. The time series of fingerprint images is also analyzed to determine if there is bulk motion of the digit, in which case pulse rate analysis is temporarily suspended. |
| US08433105B2 |
Method for acquiring region-of-interest and/or cognitive information from eye image
The present invention provides a method for acquiring region-of-interest and/or cognitive information from an eye image, comprising the steps of: preprocessing, standardizing, and coding the group of eye images for region-of-interest information or cognitive information to create eye image codes and to build a characteristic eye library in a memory in order to improve an iris recognition rate; grouping and partitioning or covering eye codes for eye images stored in the characteristic eye library into a plurality of groups, and obtaining a representative eye code of each of the eye code groups, preprocessing, standardizing, and coding a new eye image not assigned region-of-interest information or cognitive information in the same way as the above-described step to create a test eye code, matching the test eye image to the most similar eye image in the characteristic eye library, and transferring the region-of-interest information or cognitive information assigned to the matched eye image to the test eye image. The transferred information is utilized in the preprocessing of the eye image. |
| US08433101B2 |
System and method for waving detection based on object trajectory
A system and method for detecting a waving motion from a sequence of ordered points is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprising receiving a sequence of ordered points, selecting a subset of the sequence of ordered points, determining if the subset defines a circular shape, and storing an indication of whether or not the subset defines a waving motion. Various metrics for determining if the subset defines a waving motion, which allow for a trade-off between accuracy and complexity, are disclosed. |
| US08433100B2 |
Lane recognition device
The lane mark recognition device is equipped with a lane mark detecting unit which executes a lane mark detection process in each predetermined control cycle, and adds a detection presence/absence data to a ring buffer, a detection presence/absence data addition inhibiting unit which inhibits addition of the detection presence/absence data to the ring buffer when the vehicle is traveling in the intersection, and a lane mark position recognizing unit which recognizes a relative position of the vehicle and the lane mark, when the lane mark is detected in the situation where a lane mark detection rate calculated from the data of the ring buffer is higher than a reliability threshold value. |
| US08433099B2 |
Vehicle discrimination apparatus, method, and computer readable medium storing program thereof
The pixels located at equal intervals in a shot image are converted into intensity components and applied with a differential filter. The number of the obtained variations that have values larger than or equal to a certain value among the obtained variations is counted. Then discrimination of a vehicle shot in the target image is executed on the basis of the counted value. The counted value varies depending on a size of a shot object in a shot image. The counted value is large when an occupied area of the object is large, and the counted value is small when the occupied area of the object is small. By so doing, it is advantageously possible to properly discriminate a vehicle. |
| US08433098B1 |
Method and system for generic object detection using block features
Disclosed is a method and system for generic object detection using block-based feature computation and, more specifically, a method and system for massively parallel computation of object features sets according to an optimized clock-cycle matrix. The method uses an array of correlators to calculate block sums for each section of the image to be analyzed. A greedy heuristic scheduling algorithm is executed to produce an optimized clock cycle matrix such that overlapping features which use the same block sum do not attempt to access the block at the same time, thereby avoiding race memory conditions. The processing system can employ any of a variety of hardwired Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) chips such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). |
| US08433093B2 |
System and method for automated address directory updating
A system and method for automated address directory updating. A method includes receiving a parcel having a destination address and determining address information from the destination address. The address information includes a digitized address and an address image. The method includes determining if a previous address entry proposal exists in a database, and if not, then storing the address information in a new address entry proposal and initializing a counter. If so, then incrementing the counter for the previous address entry proposal. The method includes, when the counter has reached a threshold, adding the address information and an address image to the first addressing database, updating a wide-area address management system to include the address information, and propagating the address information to a plurality of local addressing databases. Only one address image corresponding to a destination database is stored as an address entry proposal. |
| US08433086B2 |
Hearing apparatus with passive input level-dependent noise reduction
A hearing apparatus and in particular a hearing device is to be provided, in which interference noises are to be reduced however as natural an acoustic image as possible is consequently retained. To this end, a hearing apparatus with a first signal processing channel, into which a noise reduction device is integrated and a second signal processing channel, which has the same input as the first signal processing channel and into which no noise reduction device, but instead a level limitation device is integrated, is proposed. An adding device adds the output signals of both signal processing channels to form an overall output signal. A passive input level-dependent noise reduction can thus be realized, with which quiet signals can be heard again despite the noise reduction. |
| US08433085B2 |
Video and audio output system
An acoustic signal output control section extracts, from an acoustic signal, a low-frequency-component acoustic signal and a high-frequency-component acoustic signal. A sound image localization processing filter section performs a sound image localization process on the low-frequency-component acoustic signal. The low-frequency-component acoustic signal having been subjected to the sound image localization process is outputted from loudspeakers in an AV rack loudspeaker apparatus. A television sound image localization processing filter section performs a sound image localization process on the high-frequency-component acoustic signal. The high-frequency-component acoustic signal having been subjected to the sound image localization process is outputted from loudspeakers in a television via HDMI communication sections. |
| US08433080B2 |
Bone conduction hearing device with open-ear microphone
Systems and methods for transmitting an audio signal through a bone of a user includes receiving an audio signal from a first microphone positioned at an entrance or in a first ear canal; and vibrating a first transducer to audibly transmit the audio signal through the bone. A second microphone can be positioned in a second ear canal and the two microphones preserve and deliver inter-aural sound level and phase differences that naturally occur so that the user can perceive directionality. |
| US08433079B1 |
Modified limiter for providing consistent loudness across one or more input tracks
A modified limiter of the present invention produces a consistent loudness level across one or more input tracks. The modified limiter has a target threshold, wherein signal levels below the target threshold are adjusted. The signal levels below the target threshold are adjusted by using an upward expander, which is not a time-based parameter but, instead, is based on signal levels only. A release target of the modified limiter is a highest peak within a look-ahead delay. The modified limiter is highly optimized as compared to other look-ahead limiters. As such, its processing footprint on an application such as audio management software like iTunes™, or a consumer music playback device like an iPod™, is minimal. The modified limiter is also able to be used in other technologies, such as but not limited to cell phones like an iPhone™ and set-top boxes like an Apple TV™. |
| US08433077B2 |
Noise removal device and noise removal method
The invention provides a noise removal device and method capable of more proper interpolation on an input signal. The noise removal device is for removing noise in an input signal and includes: a noise detector detecting noise in an IF signal and outputting a noise detection signal; an interpolation controller determining a period and amount of interpolation for noise correction processing, based on the IF signal and the noise detection signal; and a noise gate processor performing the noise correction processing on the IF signal, based on the interpolation period and amount supplied from the interpolation controller. The interpolation controller sets a predetermined first interpolation period, based on a first noise detection signal inputted from the noise detector, and redefines a second interpolation period longer than the first interpolation period when a second noise detection signal is detected within the first interpolation period. |
| US08433075B2 |
Audio system based on at least second-order eigenbeams
A microphone array-based audio system that supports representations of auditory scenes using second-order (or higher) harmonic expansions based on the audio signals generated by the microphone array. In one embodiment, a plurality of audio sensors are mounted on the surface of an acoustically rigid sphere. The number and location of the audio sensors on the sphere are designed to enable the audio signals generated by those sensors to be decomposed into a set of eigenbeams having at least one eigenbeam of order two (or higher). Beamforming (e.g., steering, weighting, and summing) can then be applied to the resulting eigenbeam outputs to generate one or more channels of audio signals that can be utilized to accurately render an auditory scene. Alternative embodiments include using shapes other than spheres, using acoustically soft spheres and/or positioning audio sensors in two or more concentric patterns. |
| US08433074B2 |
Echo suppressing method and apparatus
Converter 100 uses either the output signal of a sound pickup device or the signal obtained by subtracting the output signal of an echo canceller from the output signal of the sound pickup device as a first signal, uses an estimated crosstalk value indicative of an estimated value of the amount of crosstalk of an echo leaking into the first signal to correct the first signal, and limits the corrected first signal not to be smaller than estimated near-end noise. |
| US08433073B2 |
Adding a sound effect to voice or sound by adding subharmonics
In a sound effect applying apparatus, an input part frequency-analyzes an input signal of sound or voice for detecting a plurality of local peaks of harmonics contained in the input signal. A subharmonics provision part adds a spectrum component of subharmonics between the detected local peaks so as to provide the input signal with a sound effect. An output part converts the input signal of a frequency domain containing the added spectrum component into an output signal of a time domain for generating the sound or voice provided with the sound effect. |
| US08433072B2 |
Hearing instrument using receivers with different performance characteristics
The invention regards a hearing aid comprising a receiver and a signal processing device, wherein the signal processing device is electrically coupled to a connection socket operable to detachably connect the receiver to the socket and whereby the signal processing device further comprise a detector operable to detect a characteristics of the receiver which is connected to the signal processing device through the connection socket. The present invention addresses the problem of identification of individual receiver properties as well as of identifying different types of receivers. |
| US08433068B2 |
Method and apparatus for communication based on pseudo-contact information
The disclosure discloses a method for communication based on pseudo-contact information, which including: when a call is received, acquiring contact information of a calling party, and encrypting the contact information by using a preset encryption algorithm to acquire pseudo-contact information; when the pseudo-contact information does not match locally stored pseudo-contact information, displaying real contact information of the calling party, wherein the locally stored pseudo-contact information represents the pseudo-contact information generated by encrypting the contact information to be stored according to the preset encryption algorithm and locally stored; and when the pseudo-contact information matches the locally stored pseudo-contact information, displaying a substituted contact information generated by substituting a plurality of bits of the real contact information of the calling party with an identifier. The disclosure further discloses another method for communication based on pseudo-contact information and an apparatus for communication based on pseudo-contact information. The disclosure can solve the problems of higher operation complexity and lower safety performance of the method for protecting contact information stored on a terminal mentioned in the related art. |
| US08433067B2 |
Device, method, and program for image encryption/decryption
In order to encrypt a part of an input image in such a manner that the encrypted part can be located for decryption, means for regularly converting pixel values in the area to be encrypted and generating a pattern unique to the pixel value conversion in order to encrypt the area to be encrypted; means for setting a specified positioning marker for locating an encryption position at two or more of the four corners of the area to be encrypted; and means for setting one or more checking marks for verifying appropriateness of a decrypted image in the encrypted area before the decryption are included. |
| US08433064B2 |
Secret encryption with public or delegated comparison
Described is a technology comprising a system in which two distrusting parties can submit sets of encrypted keywords using two independent secret keys to a third party who can decide, using only public keys, if the underlying cleartext message of a cryptogram produced by one distrusting party matches that of a cryptogram produced by the other. The third party (e.g., a server) uses generator information corresponding to a generator of an elliptic curve group to determine whether the sets of encrypted keywords match each other. Various ways to provide the generator information based upon the generator are described. Also described is the use of one-ray randomization and two-way randomization as part of the system to protect against dictionary attacks. |
| US08433062B2 |
Tilting portable electronic device
A tilting portable electronic device includes a housing, a cover, a sliding mechanism connecting to the housing and the cover, and at least one swing rod rotatably connecting to the cover and the housing. The sliding mechanism includes a fixing plate, a sliding plate, and an elastic member connecting the fixing plate and the sliding plate. The fixing plate is secured to the housing, the sliding plate rotatably connects to an end of the cover, the cover is pushed, the sliding plate slides to the end of the cover, the swing rod rotates to lift the other end of the cover, after the sliding plate slides over a predetermined distance. The elastic member releases energy to drive the sliding plate slide automatically, and the cover opens slantingly relative to the housing. |
| US08433059B2 |
Echo canceller canceling an echo according to timings of producing and detecting an identified frequency component signal
An echo canceller includes an initial delay estimator producing a reference signal containing an identified frequency component masked by means of frequency masking effect to output the reference signal on an echo path, and detecting, from a sending voice signal, an echo component of the identified frequency component derived from the reference signal. The estimator finds an initial delay amount on the echo path on the basis of a forming timing of the reference signal containing the identified frequency component and a detection timing of the echo component in the identified frequency component in the sending voice signal. The echo canceller includes a delay circuit for delaying a received voice signal by the initial delay amount on the echo path obtained from the estimator to supply a resulting signal to a pseudo echo generator. |
| US08433056B2 |
Validated signal resumption in DSL systems
An apparatus includes a DSL transceiver configured to transit to a DSL wait state in which a power transmitted from the DSL transceiver to a local-end line is substantially reduced in response to an interruption or substantial stop at the DSL transceiver of reception of DSL communications from the local-end line. The DSL transceiver is configured to transmit to the local-end line a DSL acknowledge signal in response to receiving from the local-end line a DSL wait signal. The DSL transceiver is configured to resume to transmit DSL communications to the local-end line at a power substantially higher than the power transmitted thereto in the DSL wait state in response either to receiving from the local-end line DSL transmissions at a substantially higher power than received there from in the DSL wait state or to receiving from the local-end line a second DSL acknowledge signal. |
| US08433055B2 |
Services and transactions in a telephony network
A telecommunication method and system are described. A request in a telephony network is received for a communication connection between a caller and a call recipient. A call connect command is received from the caller. In response to the call connect command and before conventional routing to connect the communication, the caller is notified of at least one offering. The communication connection is routed between the caller and the call recipient after the caller is notified of the at least one offering. |
| US08433051B2 |
Method and apparatus for busy override in an internet protocol-based telephone system
Method and apparatus for busy override in an internet protocol-based telephone system are described. In some examples, a first communication attempt of a third party to a first party is received, the first party being in an established communication session with a second party. A busy operation is performed with respect to the third party in response to the first communication attempt. At least one additional communication attempt by the third party is received. A busy override operation is performed with respect to the first party in response to the first communication attempt and the at least one additional communication attempt satisfying at least a threshold pattern of communication attempts. |
| US08433050B1 |
Optimizing conference quality with diverse codecs
The present invention is directed toward a method and system for maintaining a high quality teleconference. The system provides a way of allowing participants of a conference call to experience the call according to the highest quality codec that their endpoint supports. |
| US08433045B2 |
Computer telephony system, method and server
A computer telephony system allows a user to control different communications terminals at different times via a second system, external to the computer telephony system. The computer telephony system comprises a plurality of communications terminals each of which has an identifier. The computer telephony system further comprises means for generating a key and for recording internally a mapping linking the key and the identifier of a first communications terminal and means for changing the mapping, on a request by the user, so as to link the key with a second communications terminal. In operation, the key is provided to a second system, external to the computer telephony system and accessible by the user. According to one aspect, the computer telephony system further comprises means for issuing a computer telephony message comprising the identifier of the first communications terminal to a communications controller in response to receiving from the second system the key and a computer telephony command provided to the second system from the user. |
| US08433044B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing messaging services
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a voicemail device having a controller to detect a recording of a voicemail message, generate a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message, wherein the SIP message contains visual voicemail data associated with the recorded voicemail message, and transmit the SIP message to a cordless phone system, wherein the SIP message is received by the cordless phone system over a data port of the cordless phone system, wherein the cordless phone system comprises a base station and at least one cordless communications device, wherein the visual voicemail data is retrieved by the base station, and wherein the visual voicemail data is transmitted by the based station to the at least one cordless communications device by utilizing a cordless wireless access protocol. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08433043B2 |
Telephonic voice message transmission control method
The present invention is directed to a method of controlling transmission of voice messages or information via telephonic voice message systems, which are sometimes referred to as Voice Mail Systems. Users of the system selectively specify voice message transmission instructions for controlling transmission of voice messages directed to them. Upon receipt of a user's voice message address, the voice message system determines whether the destination voice message address has a specified voice message transmission instruction previously selected by the recipient and processes the voice message in accordance with the instruction. |
| US08433041B2 |
Method and system to enable touch-free incoming call handling and touch-free outgoing call origination
A system for enabling a user of a communication device to both handle an incoming call and originate an outgoing call without having to touch the communication device, by way of exchange of voice messages with the communication device. The system is operative for receiving a signal produced by a microphone associated with the communication device and for processing this signal in an attempt to detect at least one of a plurality of spoken commands potentially contained therein. The plurality of spoken commands comprises at least one spoken call handling command and at least one spoken call origination command. In response to detecting a spoken call handling command, the system causes handling of an incoming call destined for the communication device in accordance with the detected spoken call handling command. In response to detecting a spoken call origination command, the system causes an attempt to establish an outgoing call using the communication device in accordance with the detected spoken call origination command. |
| US08433039B1 |
Gamma-ray microscopy methods
This invention teaches a method of performing gamma-ray microscopy and how to build a gamma-ray microscope. While the beam of gamma rays can not be manipulated like a beam of light or a beam of electrons, magnification is possible using a single-point source of gamma radiation. With this design, gamma rays originate from a tiny point in space and radiate outward as they travel away from the source. This results in magnification when a sample is placed between this single-point source and a detector array. The magnification factor is equal to the source-to-detector distance divided by the source-to-sample distance. A single-point source of gamma rays can be made by crossing a beam of positrons with a beam of electrons. The finer and more focused these beams are, the smaller the single-point source can be, and the higher the resolution can be. Methods of making and focusing electron beams are known in the art of making electron microscopy. These methods can be adapted to accelerate and focus positrons into a fine beam. Positrons can be harvested from radioactive isotopes that emit positrons and trapped by electric fields and magnetic fields for use when necessary. Mini versions of particle accelerator can trap positrons in an orbit for regulated or pulsed beam of positrons to be generated. |
| US08433035B2 |
X-ray fluorescence analyzing method
An X-ray fluorescence analyzing method includes irradiating a liquid sample (3A) containing hydrogen and at least one element of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen with primary X-rays (2); measuring the intensity F of fluorescent X-rays (4) from each of elements in the sample (3A) and having the atomic number 9 to 20, and the intensity S of scattered X-rays (12) from the sample (3A) caused by continuous X-rays in the primary X-rays; and calculating the concentration of each of the elements, based on the ratio between the measured intensity F, and the measured intensity S. The wavelength of the scattered X-rays (12) is so chosen as to be shorter than that of the fluorescent X-rays (4) and is so set that the measured intensity S and the mass absorption coefficient thereof are inversely proportional to each other within the range of variation of a composition of the sample (3A). |
| US08433034B2 |
Localization of an element of interest by XRF analysis of different inspection volumes
An apparatus and method are disclosed for localizing an element of interest in a sample by comparing XRF spectra acquired from at least two distinct but overlapping inspection volumes. The inspection volumes are varied by changing the geometry of the exciting x-ray and/or fluoresced x-ray beam(s), which may be accomplished by repositioning multi-apertured collimators. Comparison of the XRF spectra acquired from different inspection volumes provides an indication as to whether the element of interest (e.g., lead) is present in a coating layer, in the underlying bulk material, or in both. |
| US08433032B2 |
Arrangement and method in digital mammography imaging
The invention relates to an arrangement and method in digital mammography imaging especially for use for imaging of small breasts. In the invention, a so-called full-field sensor and an upper compression plate substantially equal in width with this sensor are used. According to the invention, the beam is limited to a width narrower than the width of the sensor and the compression plate and directed for oblique imaging non-centrally relative to the center of said sensor and the upper compression plate, while the automatic exposure system of the imaging apparatus is caused to adapt itself for imaging in accordance with this imaging position non-central relative to the sensor and the upper compression plate. |
| US08433030B2 |
Crystal habit modifiers for nuclear power water chemistry control of fuel deposits and steam generator crud
Crystal habit modifiers (CHM) are provided to ameliorate deposit-related concerns in nuclear plant systems. The principal targets for utilization of crystal habit modifiers are Pressure Water Reactor (PWR) primary-side fuel rod crud and secondary-side steam generator deposits and Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) coolant system deposits. |
| US08433027B2 |
Digital controller for automatic rate detection and tracking of audio interface clocks
Systems and methods to achieve a digital audio interface having automatic rate detection and tracking of digital audio streams have been achieved. The system comprises a digital controller working in conjunction with an analog phase-locked loop (PLL). It removes the need to know or communicate in advance the rate at which the interface will be operating, so allowing asynchronous switching between different audio streams. The digital controller acts as a phase-lock loop by modifying the feedback divide ratio of the PLL in order to minimize the phase error between the device clock and an arbitrary audio interface clock. |
| US08433026B2 |
Multi-rate digital phase locked loop
A Digital Phase-Locked Loop (DPLL) involves a Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) that receives a Digitally Controlled Oscillator (DCO) output signal and a reference clock and outputs a first stream of digital values. The TDC is clocked at a high rate. Downsampling circuitry converts the first stream into a second stream. The second stream is supplied to a phase detecting summer of the DPLL such that a control portion of the DPLL can switch at a lower rate to reduce power consumption. The DPLL is therefore referred to as a multi-rate DPLL. A third stream of digital tuning words output by the control portion is upsampled before being supplied to the DCO so that the DCO can be clocked at the higher rate. In a receiver application, no upsampling is performed and the DCO is clocked at the lower rate. |
| US08433022B2 |
Clock data recovery circuit and clock data recovery method
A clock data recovery circuit includes a receiving circuit that takes in input data based on a sampling clock, a demultiplexer that converts serial data output from the receiving circuit into parallel data, a clock/data recovery part that detects phase information from the parallel data output from the demultiplexer and generates the sampling clock by adjusting the phase of a reference clock based on the phase information, a data pattern analyzer that carries out frequency analysis of the parallel data output from the demultiplexer, and an aliasing detector that detects a clock recovery state based on the analysis result of the frequency of the parallel data. |
| US08433017B2 |
System and method for transmit signal pulse shaping in automotive applications
A system and method for transmit signal pulse shaping in automotive applications. Automotive vehicle manufacturers that incorporate electronic components into an automotive vehicle must consider emission requirements masks that can be dependent on particular geographic markets as well as the other electronic components contained within a particular automotive vehicle design. A physical layer device is provided that can be configured to operate in multiple emissions configurations using configurable parameters specified for the modulation and wave shaping modules. |
| US08433016B2 |
Narrow-band interference canceller
The disclosure is directed to a receiver, and methods therefor, including an automatic gain control circuit with a first digital variable gain amplifier that outputs digital samples based on a modulated wireless signal, an interference canceller configured to filter the digital samples using a least mean squares algorithm to reduce narrowband interference, and a second DVGA configured to amplify the filtered digital samples. |
| US08433015B2 |
System for and method of removing unwanted inband signals from a received communication signal
A system for and method of removing one or more unwanted inband signals from a received communications signal is described. The inband signal or signals may comprise noise, interference signals, or any other unwanted signals that impact the quality of the underlying communications. A receiver receives a communication signal, the received communication signal including the desired communication signal and one or more inband signals. A signal processor processes the received signal to form an estimate of the desired communication signal and an estimate of the inband signals. The estimate of the inband signals is thereby removed from the received signal. The estimate of the desired communication signal and the estimate of the inband signals are formed without prior knowledge of characteristics of the inband signals and without obtaining a copy of any of the inband signals from any source other than the received signal. |
| US08433014B2 |
Receiving apparatus and receiving method
The steps and corresponding structures include: extracting at least K+N pieces of data corresponding to one symbol including a guard interval from a frequency-transformed received signal to generate 2N pieces of data, as expanded time axis data, by adding zero before and after the extracted data; shaping, by utilizing a window shaping part, a waveform by multiplying the expanded time axis data by a window coefficient; performing DFT (discrete Fourier transform), by utilizing a DFT part, with respect to output of the window shaping part; performing a demodulation of a sub-carrier by extracting a sub-carrier component; calculating an inter-carrier interference component from output of the DFT part; and selecting a window coefficient based on the inter-carrier interference component to output to the window shaping part. |
| US08433013B2 |
Receiver and electronic device using the same
A receiver includes an oscillator for generating a local oscillator signal, a frequency converter for heterodyning a received signal of one frequency band or a plurality of frequency bands into an intermediate frequency (IF) signals with using the local oscillator signal, a filter connected to an output of the frequency converter and having a cut-off frequency changeable, an analog-digital (AD) converter connected to an output of the filter to convert an analog signal of one frequency band or a plurality of frequency bands into a digital signal, a pre-stage detector connected to an output of the AD converter or connected between the filter and the AD converter to detect a signal level, and a controller for controlling the cut-off frequency of the filter based on the signal level detected by the pre-stage detector. |
| US08433011B2 |
Signal processing device, method and receiving device
A signal processing device includes: a first correlator that sequentially multiplies a first receive signal including a pattern in a receive signal and a first reference pattern signal including a complex conjugate of a first partial signal of the first receive signal at a sampling timing to generate a first correlation voltage; a second correlator that sequentially multiplies the first receive signal and a second reference pattern signal including a complex conjugate of a second partial signal, which is behind the first partial signal, at a sampling timing to generate a second correlation voltage; and a phase difference generation circuit that generates a first phase difference between the first partial signal and the second partial signal based on a first correlation peak voltage obtained when the first correlation voltage has a peak value and a second correlation peak voltage obtained when the second correlation voltage has a peak value. |
| US08432996B2 |
Transmitter
A transmitter includes an OFDM symbol generator for generating an effective symbol including a plurality of sub-carriers orthogonal to each other in frequency and sequentially generating an OFDM symbol in which a signal in a first period from a first end of the effective symbol is added to a second end of the effective symbol as a guard interval, and a convolution filter for performing an convolution operation on data strings at a plurality of sampling points of the OFDM symbol, wherein when the convolution filter performs a convolution operation on the first data strings including a data string at the first end of the effective symbol, the convolution filter performs the convolution operation on the first data strings in which a data string at the second end of the effective symbol is cyclically added to a data string at the first end. |
| US08432984B2 |
Adaptive scheme to determine the sub-carrier spacing for multi-carrier systems
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a typical multi-carrier technique that has been applied by many advanced wireless communication systems, e.g., 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMAX. In order to support high mobility transmission, the sub-carrier spacing of multi-carrier systems is made large enough to overcome the Doppler frequency offset. However, this large sub-carrier spacing results in lower transmission efficiency since the CP (Cyclic Prefix) consumes a considerable of radio resources. The present invention provides an adaptive scheme to determine the sub-carrier spacing in which the default sub-carrier spacing is set to support lower mobility, while the adaptively adjusted sub-carrier spacing based on User Equipment (UE) mobile velocities is set to support higher mobility. |
| US08432981B1 |
High frequency and idle communication signal state detection
Various techniques are provided to detect a state of a communication signal. In one example, a method of detecting a state of a signal includes receiving a differential communication signal comprising a positive portion and a complementary negative portion. The method also includes generating a common mode voltage signal from the positive portion and the negative portion of the communication signal. The method also includes rectifying the positive portion and the negative portion of the communication signal to provide a rectified signal. The method also includes comparing the common mode voltage, signal with the rectified signal. The method also includes generating a high frequency detect signal in response to the comparing. The method also includes determining whether the communication signal is in an idle state or a high frequency state based on the high frequency detect signal. |
| US08432979B2 |
Coordinated cyclic shift and sequence hopping for Zadoff-Chu, modified Zadoff-Chu, and block-wise spreading sequences
A cyclic shift of a reference signal is quantized as a combination of a cell specific cyclic shift with an outcome of a pseudo-random hopping, and an indication of the cell specific cyclic shift is broadcast in the cell. In one embodiment the cyclic shift is quantized as a modulo operation on a sum of the cell specific cyclic shift, the outcome of the pseudo-random hopping, and a user specific cyclic shift, in which case an indication of the user specific cyclic shift is sent in an uplink resource allocation and a user sends its cyclically shifted reference signal in the uplink resource allocated by the uplink resource allocation. The cyclic shift may also be quantized according to length of the reference signal as cyclic_shift_symbol=(cyclic_shift_value*length of the reference signal)/12; where cyclic_shift_value is between zero and eleven and cyclic_shift_symbol is the amount of cyclic shift given in reference signal symbols. |
| US08432977B2 |
Information processing apparatus and signal transmission method
There is provided an information processing apparatus including an encoding unit that represents input data containing mutually different first and second bit values by a plurality of first amplitude values for the first bit value and a second amplitude value that is different from the first amplitude values for the second bit value, does not take an identical value consecutively, and perform encoding so that polarity of the amplitude value is reversed for each cycle, and a transmission unit that transmits a signal encoded by the encoding unit through a predetermined transmission line. |
| US08432976B2 |
System and method for detecting field order of video sequences
The invention provides a method, system and computer program product for detecting field order of a video sequence. The method includes processing a top and bottom field picture of a first frame and a second frame, in which the first and second frames are consecutive frames of a video sequence. Difference frames are obtained by calculating the difference of the top and bottom field pictures of the first and second frames. Thereafter, field order is detected using the difference frames. |
| US08432975B2 |
Apparatus and method for processing a picture frame
Apparatuses and methods for processing a picture frame are provided. The apparatus comprises a decoder, a memory, and an image processing unit. The decoder decodes blocks of the picture frame and deblocks decoded blocks to generate deblocked blocks. The memory stores the decoded blocks and deblocked blocks. The image processing unit acquires decoded or deblocked blocks through different paths, for example, from the decoder or from both the decoder and memory depending on whether a next MB row is required for deblocking. |
| US08432968B2 |
Scalable video coding techniques for scalable bitdepths
This disclosure describes video coding techniques that are executed in a bitdepth-based scalable video coding (SVC) scheme. Base layer video data and enhancement layer video data may be defined at different bitdepths. The techniques of this disclosure concern the coding of enhancement layer video blocks using a unique combination of inter-layer predictive coding modes after determining that inter-layer prediction should be used. In particular, two or more different inter-layer predictive coding modes may be utilized block corresponding to inter base layer blocks, and one of these inter-layer predictive coding modes may also be utilized for blocks corresponding to intra base layer blocks. Syntax information can be generated at the encoder and communicated with the bitstream, so that a decoder can use the proper inter-layer predictive coding mode in the decoding. |
| US08432965B2 |
Efficient method for assembling key video snippets to form a video summary
A method for forming a video summary for a digital video sequence. The method includes capturing a digital video sequence with a digital video capture device, wherein the digital video sequence includes a plurality of video frames. At least one of the video frames in the digital video sequence is analyzed at the time the digital video sequence is captured to determine one or more feature values. The digital video sequence; is compressed and stored in a processor-accessible memory. The feature values are analyzed, without decompressing the stored compressed digital video sequence, to identify one or more key video snippets, each key video snippet corresponding to a set of video frames from the digital video sequence. The key video snippets are assembled to form a video summary which is stored in a processor-accessible memory. |
| US08432959B2 |
Method and apparatus for equalization using one or more qualifiers
Methods and apparatus are provided for equalizing a received signal. A received signal is equalized by updating one or more equalization parameters; and discarding the updated equalization parameters if one or more predefined qualifier conditions are detected during the equalizing step. The received signal can optionally be equalized using the updated equalization parameters if the predefined qualifier conditions are not detected during the equalizing step. The updated equalization parameters can optionally be stored if the one or more predefined qualifier conditions are not detected during the equalizing step. |
| US08432956B2 |
Multicarrier modulation messaging for power level per subchannel information
Upon detection of a trigger, such as the exceeding of an error threshold or the direction of a user, a diagnostic link system enters a diagnostic information transmission mode. This diagnostic information transmission mode allows for two modems to exchange diagnostic and/or test information that may not otherwise be exchangeable during normal communication. The diagnostic information transmission mode is initiated by transmitting an initiate diagnostic link mode message to a receiving modem accompanied by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). The receiving modem determines, based on the CRC, if a robust communications channel is present. If a robust communications channel is present, the two modems can initiate exchange of the diagnostic and/or test information. Otherwise, the transmission power of the transmitting modem is increased and the initiate diagnostic link mode message re-transmitted to the receiving modem until the CRC is determined to be correct. |
| US08432953B2 |
Method and apparatus for efficient gold code generation and management in WCDMA systems
A method and an apparatus for efficient Gold code generation and management in WCDMA systems are presented. Aspects of the method may include simultaneously generating, based on the codeword sequence, a plurality of scrambling code segments associated with a scrambling code. A plurality of scrambling code segments, where each is associated with a corresponding one of a plurality of scrambling codes, may also be simultaneously generated. The plurality of scrambling codes may form a scrambling code group. Based on the codeword sequence, a plurality of time shifted versions of at least one scrambling code segment associated with a scrambling code may also be simultaneously generated. |
| US08432951B2 |
Methods for transmitting and receiving a multicarrier spread-spectrum signal, corresponding signal, computer program products and transmission and reception devices
A method and apparatus are provided for transmitting a multicarrier spread-spectrum signal formed by a temporal succession of multicarrier symbols, using OQAM modulation and a plurality of inter-orthogonal spreading codes. The method includes spreading at least one complex-value data symbol, representative of a source data signal to be transmitted, over a set of sub-carriers of at least one multicarrier symbol, each of the sub-carriers modulating a complex value. |
| US08432950B2 |
Radio control transmitter and method for communication in the same
A maneuvering signal for controlling a radio-controlled object is transmitted using 2.4 GHz band frequency hopping techniques. In a trainer mode, an instructor's radio control transmitter is configured to transmit the maneuvering signal and receive a trainer signal in each of frame periods by which a frequency is switched in accordance with the frequency hopping scheme. A trainee's radio control transmitter is configured to transmit the trainer signal for each of the frame periods by which a frequency is switched in accordance with the frequency hopping scheme. |
| US08432949B2 |
High-power, high-throughput microwave discharge singlet oxygen generator for advanced electrical oxygen-iodine lasers
A laser device includes an optical resonator, a microwave driven discharge device, and a source for a second gas. The microwave driven discharge device is disposed relative to the optical resonator. The microwave driven discharge device operates at a discharge power and gas flow rate to produce a selected amount of energetic singlet oxygen metastables flowing in the direction of the optical resonator. The second source for the second gas is disposed between the optical resonator and the microwave driven discharge device. The second gas reacts with the selected amount of energetic singlet oxygen metastables to form an excited species in an amount sufficient to support lasing of the excited species in the optical resonator. |
| US08432945B2 |
Laser diode combiner modules
In a laser module (310), single-emitter laser diode chips (110) are positioned at different heights on opposite sides of the module's combined output beam (114). Each laser diode chip (110), and its corresponding fast and slow axis collimators (130, 134), and turning mirror (140) are positioned on a corresponding heat-dissipating surface region (340). High thermal stability and output power are obtained in some embodiments even if the modules are combined to obtain higher-level modules (310-2). Other features and embodiments are also provided. |
| US08432943B2 |
Monolithic fiber laser beam combiner
A compact, light weight laser beam combiner includes a pair of concentric annular shells defining an annular cavity of an annular ring resonator having an annular solid laser gain medium disposed therein. The output ends of a plurality of low power and brightness fiber lasers are coupled into the cavity of the resonator such that fiber laser beams cause the gain medium in the resonator cavity to lase and produce an annular beam of laser light. Optical elements of the resonator are operable to feed a first portion of the laser light back through the resonator cavity to support regenerative lasing of the laser medium and to couple off a second portion of the laser light in the form of a circular beam of high power and high brightness laser light. A fluid may be circulated through the resonator cavity to cool the laser medium. |
| US08432942B1 |
Providing a timing source for multiple nodes coupled to a circuit-switched network
A communications network includes multiple distributed nodes that are coupled by a circuit-switched network. To improve efficiency, a plurality of the nodes are associated with a single source synchronization block that injects timing messages over circuits in the circuit-switched network to the plurality of nodes. Each of the plurality of nodes is associated with a timing extraction and recovery block that extracts information from the timing messages injected by the source synchronization block to synchronize a local clock in each node to the frequency and phase of a clock received by the source synchronization block. |
| US08432929B2 |
Multi-beam cellular communication system
A cellular communication system comprising a plurality of geographically spaced base stations (2) each of which comprises an antenna arrangement (4, 6, 8) per base station sector, each of which antenna arrangements has an antenna element for generating an array of narrow beams (10, 12, 14) covering the sector. Timeslots are simultaneously transmitted over each of the beams so as to generate successive sets of simultaneously transmitted timeslots per sector. The timeslots are each split into multiple orthogonal codes, for example Walsh codes. The communication system additionally comprising a scheduling device (31) for allocating for successive sets of timeslots common overhead channels, including a common pilot channel, which are allocated to the same sub-set of codes of each timeslot in the set. For successive sets of timeslots different data traffic is allocated to the same sub-set of codes of each timeslot in the set. This effectively generates a sector wide antenna beam carrying the common overhead channels and a plurality of narrow beams each of which carry different data traffic. Inter-beam interference is addressed by the application of Adaptive Modulation and Coding and by an inter-beam handoff scheme. The handoff scheme ensures that when an end user equipment is located in a cusp region between adjacent beams the antenna arrangement simultaneously transmits data traffic to that mobile station on at least both of the adjacent beams. |
| US08432920B2 |
Direct link setup mechanisms for wireless LANs
Apparatus having corresponding methods and computer programs comprise a communication circuit to establish an infrastructure mode wireless connection with a wireless client through a wireless access point, and to establish a direct link setup (DLS) mode wireless connection with the wireless client; and a control circuit to select either infrastructure mode or DLS mode for communication with the wireless client based on at least one characteristic of the infrastructure mode and DLS mode wireless connections; wherein the communication circuit exchanges frames of data with the wireless client using the selected mode. |
| US08432917B2 |
System and method for concurrent sessions in a peer-to-peer hybrid communications network
An improved system and method are disclosed for peer-to-peer communications. In one example, the method provides for concurrent sessions to be maintained by multiple endpoints. |
| US08432916B2 |
Method and router for implementing mirroring
A method and router for implementing mirroring, said method including: configuring a remote mirroring port on a source router, establishing a corresponding layer two virtual interface, and specifying a data stream requiring mirroring and a corresponding physical egress port; establishing a layer two virtual interface corresponding to the layer two virtual interface of said source router on a destination router; forming one VPWS tunnel between the layer two virtual interfaces of said source router and said destination router; filtering out the mirroring data stream from the packet received at the remote mirroring port of said source router, and sending obtained mirroring packet from the physical egress port on said source router to said destination router; searching the layer two virtual interface on said destination router after receiving mirroring packet, and sending mirroring packet without a label from its corresponding physical port to a monitoring port, thereby implementing router remote mirroring. |
| US08432912B2 |
Router packet filtering and mapping
A method includes determining in a router whether a test portion of a received packet matches test data specified in a filter. The test portion is specified in the filter by a first offset parameter and a first length parameter. The received packet is modified by the router replacing data in a map portion of the packet with map data specified in the filter if the test portion matches the test data. The map portion is also specified in the filter by a second offset parameter and a second length parameter. |
| US08432910B2 |
Transmission information transfer apparatus and its method
A transmission information transfer apparatus includes: an FDB that manages IP addresses in association with a plurality of respective input/output sections; an IP packet recognition section that determines whether input transmission information includes an IP address indicating the destination of the input transmission information; an FDB reference section and output port determination section that determine, in the case where the input transmission information includes an IP address, whether the IP address included in the input transmission information and predetermined IP address associated with any one of the plurality of input/output sections different from an input/output section coincides with one another; and an output port determination section that sets, in the case where it has been determined that the IP address included in the input transmission information as the destination of the input transmission information and the predetermined IP address coincides with one another, any one of the plurality of input/output sections. |
| US08432909B2 |
Methods and systems for using a link management interface to distribute information in a communications network
In various exemplary embodiments, the present invention provides a low-cost, low-processing overhead mechanism for distributing routing, topology, reachability, and recovery information across the interface between two nodes that may then be used by a network or client device to populate a topology database, route a connection, recover from a connection failure, etc. Specifically, the methods and systems of the present invention use a link management interface and the associated link management protocol(s) to distribute this routing, topology, reachability, and recovery information, adding it to the normal link management protocol(s). |
| US08432908B2 |
Efficient packet replication
Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for efficient packet replication. In an embodiment, a packet is stored as a linked list of at least one page. Replicating the packet comprises creating a new header page and linking it to the first page of the linked list. Each replica packet may be transmitted independently and concurrently. In an embodiment where packets are stored in queues, each replica packet may be dequeued for transmission independently and concurrently. After all references to a page have been transmitted (or dequeued), the page may be freed. |
| US08432900B2 |
Hybrid type telephony system
A hybrid type telephony system capable of establishing a connection between conventional type telephone sets contained in an exchange unit and LAN type telephone sets contained in an IP network, the system comprising: a gateway circuit connected between the exchange unit and the IP network and performing voice data format conversion, and a central control unit connected to the LAN of the IP network for establishing a communication path to the exchange unit via a control bus, controlling switching of IP packets of the IP network, managing IP address information of the LAN type telephone sets and the gateway circuit via the LAN, and controlling connection between the LAN type telephone sets and connection between the LAN type telephone sets and the gateway circuit. |
| US08432895B2 |
Intelligent routing of VoIP traffic
A method of routing communications traffic includes receiving, at a switch or server of an originating service provider, incoming communications traffic including a terminating number or address. The switch or server is programmed to send a query to a transaction server for a carrier routing. The transaction server determines whether the terminating number or address matches a number in an ENUM database in communication with the transaction server. If a match is found, the carrier associated with the matched number is added to a routing matrix generated by an offline routing matrix generation process to form a supplemental routing matrix. The transaction server then generates using the supplemental routing matrix a list of available route options for delivering the communications traffic to the terminating number or address. |
| US08432891B2 |
Method, apparatus, and system for mitigating pilot signal degradation by employing cell-specific pilot subcarrier and common pilot subcarrier techniques in a multi-carrier cellular network
A multi-carrier cellular wireless network (400) employs base stations (404) that transmit two different groups of pilot subcarriers: (1) cell-specific pilot subcarriers, which are used by a receiver to extract information unique to each individual cell (402), and (2) common pilots subcarriers, which are designed to possess a set of characteristics common to all the base stations (404) of the system. The design criteria and transmission formats of the cell-specific and common pilot subcarriers are specified to enable a receiver to perform different system functions. The methods and processes can be extended to other systems, such as those with multiple antennas in an individual sector and those where some subcarriers bear common network/system information. |
| US08432884B1 |
System and method for increased bandwidth efficiency within microwave backhaul of a telecommunication system
An apparatus for transmitting information in a wireless communication system includes a first interface for receiving a plurality of input data streams. Signal processing circuitry transmits and receives the plurality of input data streams on at least one frequency. Each of the plurality of input data streams on the at least one frequency have a different orbital angular momentum imparted thereto. |
| US08432883B2 |
Base station apparatus and communication control method
A base station apparatus capable of communicating with user equipment terminals using an uplink shared channel includes a selection unit configured to select a user equipment terminal to which the base station apparatus allocates the shared channel among the user equipment terminals other than a user equipment terminal where a time frame in which a control channel for the shared channel is transmitted in downlink, a time frame in which the shared channel is received, or a time frame in which acknowledgement information for the shared channel is transmitted overlaps a time interval for measuring a cell with a different frequency; and an allocation unit configured to allocate the shared channel to the user equipment terminal selected by the selection unit. |
| US08432874B2 |
Estimation of signal to interference ratio in conjunction with interference cancellation
A node (2) for use in a cellular communication system having interfering signals and employing interference cancellation techniques for mitigating the interfering signals comprises means (24) for obtaining a signal value representing power of a first signal. The node (2) further comprises means (25) for obtaining a precancellation interference value representing powers of signals interfering with the first signal before the interference cancellation is employed. A predictor (23) is arranged for predicting a postcancellation interference value after the interference cancellation as a function of the precancellation interference value. An estimator (29) is connected to the predictor (23) and the means (24) for obtaining a signal value. The estimator (29) is arranged for estimating a signal-to-interference ratio as a ratio between the signal value representing the power of the first signal and the predicted postcancellation interference value. |
| US08432870B2 |
Handover techniques between legacy and updated wireless networks
According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may include a processor. The apparatus may be configured to transmit a handover request message from a legacy serving base station to a target updated base station, the request message including an indication that a mobile station is compliant with an updated specification; and receive a handover response message at the legacy serving base station from the target updated base station, the handover response message including one or more updated system parameters assigned to the mobile station for an updated time zone of the target base station. |
| US08432867B2 |
Method and apparatus for receiving code transmissions over timeslots and antennas
A plurality of antennas transmit a first spread spectrum signal having an associated code. The first spread spectrum signal is received at the wireless user. For each received first spread spectrum signal, a second spread spectrum signal is transmitted having an associated code having a same phase as that received first spread spectrum signal. The second spread spectrum signals are received at the plurality of antennas. A distance measurement is determined between each antenna and the wireless user based on in part a received timing of the second signals. The wireless user's location is determined based on in part the distance determinations. |
| US08432866B1 |
Channel quality
Measures for obtaining channel quality indicator (CQI) in a communication system. Such measures may comprise receiving a first transmission, acquiring a number indicative of a size of a subsequent second transmission, estimating a signal to interference ratio based on said received first transmission, and determining transmission parameter information including at least one of a transport block size indicating a number of bits per packet, a modulation scheme and a code rate based on said signal to interference ratio and said number. |
| US08432865B2 |
Method for transmitting and receiving signals in consideration of time alignment timer and user equipment for the same
A method for transmitting and receiving signals in consideration of a time alignment timer and user equipment (UE) for the same are provided. In this method, a UE performs initial transmission or retransmission of an uplink signal using wireless resources corresponding to an uplink grant signal received from a base station only when a time alignment timer of the UE is running. The UE does not transmit a HARQ feedback signal for a downlink signal received from the base station to the base station when the time alignment timer of the UE is not running. |
| US08432862B2 |
Method for transmitting and receiving data using pilot structure
A method for efficiently transmitting and receiving data in a wireless access system and a pilot allocation structure for the same are provided. In one aspect of the present invention, a method for transmitting and receiving data in a wireless access system, the method including transmitting data using a resource block constructed taking into consideration channel estimation capabilities and data transfer rate, and receiving data using the resource block. Here, the resource block may have a 6×6 structure constructed with 6 OFDM symbols and 6 subcarriers, and one or more first pilot symbols may be allocated to prescribed OFDM symbols of a first subcarrier and a fifth subcarrier of the resource block. Moreover, the first pilot symbols may be allocated to the resource block at a predetermined allocation rate taking into consideration a number of transmit antennas. |
| US08432858B2 |
Radio network controller and channel assignment method of simplifying and curtailing the channel switching time
To provide a technique of making it possible to shorten a time taken by channel switching. Further, to provide a technique of enabling simplification of a channel switching procedure.A radio network controller for assigning, to each wireless terminal connected to a wireless network, one of an individual channel exclusively used by the wireless terminal and a common channel shared with at least one wireless terminal different from the wireless terminal as a communication channel, includes: a determination portion for determining that an individual channel is to be assigned to a wireless terminal; and an assignment portion for, when the assignment of the individual channel has been determined, assigning an individual channel resource secured and held before the determination to the wireless terminal. |
| US08432850B2 |
Method of synchronising nodes of a network, and system and device therefor
A method of and a system for synchronizing a plurality of spaced apart nodes of a network to a reference time of a control center, the method comprising receiving measurement data from each of the plurality of nodes; ranking the plurality of nodes with respect to one another according to the measurement data; selecting one or more master nodes from the plurality of nodes according to the ranking; assigning each of the plurality of nodes to a corresponding master node; determining a first time offset between the local time measured at each node and the local time measured at its corresponding master node and determining a second time offset between each of the master nodes and the reference time such that the time offset between the local time measured at each node and the reference time can be determined. |
| US08432849B2 |
Wireless system performance modeling
An arrangement is provided for modeling the performance of a communication network. One or two sigmoid functions may be used to model the performance of a physical layer versus the SINR of a transmission channel across all of the available modulation and coding schemes. The sigmoid function(s) abstract(s) away all of the available modulation and coding choices to provide an estimate for the PHY throughput. This estimate can then be utilized by higher network layers to obtain the network throughput at the application level, which may then be used to produce a data stream by an application source. Based on the data stream thus produced, the quality of information to be transmitted via a channel, when received, may be estimated. |
| US08432848B2 |
Queued cooperative wireless networks configuration using rateless codes
A system using cooperative communication with rateless codes is presented that uses communication transmission aspects of cooperative communication with rateless codes over Rayleigh fading channels and queuing aspects for buffering messages at intermediate relays. The system transmits a subsequent message while a current message is en route to the destination by receiving and buffering the current message in queues at intermediate relays. A relay with a best instantaneous communication link to the source may receive a message first and forward the received message to the destination. Alternatively, if inter-relay communication links are strong, all relays may cooperate simultaneously. |
| US08432839B2 |
Bidirectional wireless communication system, wireless communication apparatus, and bidirectional wireless communication method
A bidirectional wireless communication system includes: a first wireless communication apparatus for bidirectional communication configured to multiplex a modulated signal obtained by modulating an input signal by a reference carrier signal having a predetermined carrier frequency, and transmit a resultant transmission signal; and a second wireless communication apparatus, having an oscillator configured to oscillate a signal having a free-running oscillation frequency, configured to inject a reception signal received from the first wireless communication apparatus into the oscillator, receive the reception signal while variably controlling the free-running oscillation frequency of the oscillator of the second wireless communication apparatus, detect whether the free-running oscillation frequency of the signal of the oscillator of the second wireless communication apparatus has entered the frequency range up to the injection locking to be frequency-locked with a carrier frequency of the injected reception signal, and generate a communication enable signal. |
| US08432836B2 |
Wireless circuitry with simultaneous voice and data capabilities and reduced intermodulation distortion
An electronic device has wireless communications circuitry that includes transmitters and receivers. The transmitters and receivers may share an antenna. Transmitted signals from multiple transmitters may be merged using a combining circuit. Merged signals from the transmitter may be conveyed to the antenna through a circulator. The circulator may route incoming signals from the antenna to receivers. The receivers may be coupled to the circulator through a filter. An additional filter may be interposed between the circulator and the antenna. An additional transmitter may transmit signals through the antenna using the additional filter. An additional receiver may receive some of the incoming signals that are received by the antenna through the additional filter. |
| US08432833B2 |
Auto MEP ID assignment within CFM maintenance association
A device may include a maintenance association endpoint configured to select a maintenance association endpoint identifier, transmit the maintenance association endpoint identifier to one or more other maintenance association endpoints, and automatically assign the maintenance association endpoint identifier to the maintenance association endpoint if it is determined that the maintenance association endpoint identifier is available based on a conflict message received from one of the one more other maintenance association endpoints. |
| US08432824B2 |
Method and apparatus for selecting a receiving apparatus for co-channel operation
A method of selecting a receiving apparatus for co-channel operation, the method comprising: transmitting a first and a second data at predetermined respective power levels on a single first channel comprising a single frequency and time slot; receiving the data; measuring a characteristic of the data; transmitting a signal indicating the measured characteristic; receiving the indicating signal; and responding to the received indicating signal by selecting the receiving apparatus for co-channel operation depending on the measured characteristic. |
| US08432823B2 |
Wireless communications method and apparatus
The invention relates to a method of accessing a channel in a wireless network having a plurality of communication nodes, the method comprising identifying a first channel available for use, forming a cognitive network to manage utilization of said first channel, said cognitive network comprising a leader node and at least one of said plurality of said communication nodes, managing said cognitive network by means of said leader node including identifying a second channel available for use in an event that said first channel being no longer available for use, and switching to said second channel upon said second channel being identified. |
| US08432819B2 |
Method for transmitting feedback information
There is provided a method for enabling a user equipment to transmit feedback information. The method includes generating feedback data representing the feedback information, the feedback data expressed by a binary number having N bits, where N is an integer, the N bits comprising 2 levels, the feedback information represented by one of the 2 levels, wherein different types of the feedback information are assigned to different levels and transmitting the feedback data. Overheads incurred by transmission of feedback information can be reduced. |
| US08432817B2 |
Integrated self-optimizing multi-parameter and multi-variable point to multipoint communication system
The invention provides a method and system for adaptive point to multipoint wireless communication. The wireless physical layer and the wireless media-access-control (MAC) layer collectively include a set of parameters, which are adaptively modified by a base station controller for communication with a plurality of customer premises equipment. The base station controller adjusts communication with each customer premises equipment individually and adaptively in response to changes in characteristics of communication, including physical characteristics, amount of communication traffic, and nature of application for the communication traffic. |
| US08432815B2 |
Optimization of the data throughput of a mobile radio connection by efficient packet type changing
A packet-oriented mobile radio transmission system takes account of a packet utilization level that indicates how much of the maximum amount of payload information that can be transmitted is used for transmission. Such packet utilization level is a function of the packet type. A packet type that is suitable in the respective reception conditions is selected at the receiving end as a function of a variable that is characteristic of the integrity of the received data, and of the packet utilization level. At the transmission end, the packet type is switched as a function of the selection result. |
| US08432813B2 |
Microwave radio communications device and related method of operation and network arrangement
The present invention provides for a microwave radio communications user device arranged for communication with a base station and for receiving and decoding an MPDU for use in initial ranging signalling with said base station, the device being further arranged to retrieve data in a downlink-sub-frame from the base station serving to discriminate between MPDUs intended for different user devices. |
| US08432806B2 |
Data transmission control method and data transmission device
The embodiments relate to the wireless communication field, and a data transmission control method and a data transmission device are provided. The method includes: receiving from a sender and buffering data in a buffer, and then forwarding the buffered data to a receiver; receiving an acknowledgement (ACK) returned by the receiver, where the ACK indicates that the data is received; adding or reducing the ACK returned by the receiver according to a volume of data unsent in the buffer; and sending the processed ACK to the sender. The data sending rate of the sender is controlled by the processed ACK. This makes the data transmission be reliable and highly efficient. |
| US08432802B2 |
Encapsulating frame of graphics data for replay
An application renders a visual simulation to a display as a series of visual frames according to a plurality of calls. Each frame contains objects. A particular frame n of the simulation is captured for re-rendering. An identification of the frame n to be captured is received, a run file for the identified frame n is created, and for the frame n each call issued in connection with such frame n by the application is captured. For each issued call in order, all establishing calls necessary to establish state for the issued call are firstly written to the run file, and the issued call is then secondly written to the run file. Thus, the run file as produced represents an ordered list of calls that may be executed by an executable on any of a plurality of computing devices to re-render the frame independent from the application. |
| US08432800B2 |
Systems and methods for stochastic-based quality of service
Systems and methods for utilizing transaction boundary detection methods in queuing and retransmission decisions relating to network traffic are described. By detecting transaction boundaries and sizes, a client, server, or intermediary device may prioritize based on transaction sizes in queuing decisions, giving precedence to smaller transactions which may represent interactive and/or latency-sensitive traffic. Further, after detecting a transaction boundary, a device may retransmit one or more additional packets prompting acknowledgements, in order to ensure timely notification if the last packet of the transaction has been dropped. Systems and methods for potentially improving network latency, including retransmitting a dropped packet twice or more in order to avoid incurring additional delays due to a retransmitted packet being lost are also described. |
| US08432794B2 |
Method and apparatus for selecting multiple transport formats and transmitting multiple transport blocks simultaneously with multiple H-ARQ processes
A method and apparatus for selecting multiple transport formats and transmitting multiple transport blocks (TBs) in a transmission time interval simultaneously with multiple hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) processes in a wireless communication system are disclosed. Available physical resources and H-ARQ processes associated with the available physical resources are identified and channel quality of each of the available physical resources is determined. Quality of service (QoS) requirements of higher layer data to be transmitted are determined. The higher layer data is mapped to at least two H-ARQ processes. Physical transmission and H-ARQ configurations to support QoS requirements of the higher layer data mapped to each H-ARQ process are determined. TBs are generated from the mapped higher layer data in accordance with the physical transmission and H-ARQ configurations of each H-ARQ process, respectively. The TBs are transmitted via the H-ARQ processes simultaneously. |
| US08432792B2 |
Node apparatus, ring network, and protection path bandwidth control method
A node apparatus in a ring network in which a protection path is provided that cycles around the ring network and transports a signal in a direction opposite to a signal transporting direction of the working path and in the event of a failure of the working path, a node apparatus adjacent to the failure loops back the signal flowing on the working path onto the protection path, the node apparatus comprising: allowable bandwidth storing unit which stores a maximum total bandwidth value, which represents the largest value among per-link total values of bandwidths that a plurality of working paths use on respective links connecting between the node apparatuses, as an allowable bandwidth for a shared path; and bandwidth control unit which controls the bandwidth of traffic flowing on the protection path, in accordance with the allowable bandwidth. |
| US08432790B2 |
Hierarchical protection switching framework
A hierarchical protection switching framework uses detectors and protectors. A protector registers with a detector to receive notifications. A detector identifies a condition and the interested protector, and notifies the interested protector. The protector in response to the notification, typically either performs protection switching or notifies another protector of the condition. This protection switching is an extensible operation, and typically may include, but is not limited to switching traffic to a backup facility from a facility corresponding to the condition and switching traffic to a backup component from a component corresponding to the condition. The decision of a protector whether to notify another protector of the condition can be made based on different factors, such as, but not limited to a failure of the protection switching by the protector, a database lookup operation to identify whether notification of another particular condition has been received or not received, etc. |
| US08432788B2 |
Intelligent failback in a load-balanced networking environment
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a method for failing back network connections to a network interface card (NIC) within a computing device. The method includes the steps of monitoring a failed or unreliable NIC within the computing device, determining that the failed or unreliable NIC has recovered, determining that a functional NIC within the computing device is overloaded, selecting a first connection set communicating through the overloaded NIC, and transferring the first connection set to the recovered NIC. With this approach, intelligent decisions can be advantageously made regarding whether to fail back a network connection set to a recovered NIC based on the traffic loads on the overloaded NIC and the recovered NIC. Such an approach to balancing network traffic across the functional NICs within a computing device may substantially improve overall performance relative to prior art techniques. |
| US08432784B2 |
Information recording medium, and recording method and reproducing method thereof
An information recording medium in which bottoms of a guide groove and a pit array formed on a disc substrate are allocated on a same flat plane and shaped in flat. Further, in a transition area from a pit array to a guide groove or from a guide groove to a pit array, the information recording medium is provided with an intermediate area composed of a pit array of which height changes from a height between a bottom and a side of a groove to another height between the bottom and a side of the pit array. |
| US08432782B2 |
Objective lens, optical head, optical disk apparatus, and information processing apparatus
An objective lens, an optical head, an optical disk apparatus and an information processing apparatus which can suppress deterioration of a focal spot caused by a drop in the diffraction efficiency. Inner and outer circumference areas converge a laser beam, out of laser beams having a wavelength λ1 which are diffracted by the inner and outer circumference areas, on a first information recording medium; the inner circumference area and a mid-circumference area converge a laser beam, out of the laser beams having a wavelength λ2 which are diffracted by the inner circumference area and the mid-circumference area, on a second information recording medium; and the diffraction efficiency of the laser beam having the wavelength λ2 is greater than the diffraction efficiency of the laser beam having the wavelength λ1. |
| US08432776B2 |
Quick access to disc management information
The invention relates to a method and a recording device for easy and quick access to record carrier management information stored on the record carrier itself. The invention further relates to a record carrier for use in such a method and recording device. |
| US08432775B2 |
Motor driving circuit
An SPM driver drives a spindle motor. A VCM driver drives a VCM. A DC/DC converter (switching regulator) receives a power supply voltage from an external circuit, and generates a stabilized voltage. Linear regulators each receive a power supply voltage from an external circuit, and each generates a stabilized voltage. A shock detection circuit detects vibration of a device mounting the driving circuit. A power monitoring circuit monitors the power supply voltage, and generates a power-on reset signal which is switched to a predetermined level whenever the power supply voltage is cut off. An ADC converts the back electromotive voltage that occurs at the VCM into a digital signal. A serial interface receives data from an external host processor, which is used to control the driving circuit. Cutoff circuits are arranged between the capacitors, which are to be charged using the induced current that occurs at the SPM, and the power supply terminal. When the power supply voltage is cut off, each cutoff circuit disconnects the corresponding capacitor from the power supply terminal. |
| US08432774B1 |
Tracking servo and method for tracking optical disc and optical disc device using the tracking servo
A tracking method executed by an optical disc device. The optical disc device includes an optical head for emitting light to read or write data from or to an optical disc. The tracking method includes steps of: providing a table for listing a plurality of predetermined track classes, and a plurality of tracking errors; calculating the number of tracks between a current track in which the optical head is currently positioned and a target track from or to which the optical head reads or writes data; determining whether the number of tracks reaches a predetermined number; searching the table for the corresponding tracking errors when the number of tracking error reaches a predetermined number; calculating second jumping tracks based on the first jumping tracks and the found tracking errors; and driving the optical head to move to the second jumping tracks for tracking. |
| US08432773B2 |
Thermally-assisted magnetic head having bank layer between magnetic pole and plasmon generator
A thermally-assisted magnetic head that has an air bearing surface (ABS) facing a recording medium and that performs magnetic recording while heating the recording medium includes: a magnetic recording element that includes a pole of which an edge part is positioned on the ABS and which generates magnetic flux traveling to the recording medium; a waveguide that is configured with a core through which light propagates and a cladding, surrounding a periphery of the core, at least one part of which extends to the ABS; a plasmon generator that faces a part of the core and that extends toward the ABS side; and a bank layer that is positioned between the plasmon generator and the pole, and of which an edge part on the ABS side protrudes relative to the plasmon generator. |
| US08432771B2 |
Electronic timepiece
An electronic timepiece has a reception unit that executes a search process to search for satellite signals that can be captured from among satellite signals transmitted from a plurality of positioning information satellites, and from among the satellite signals captured by the search process receives a satellite signal with signal strength greater than or equal to a specific signal reception threshold value; an information acquisition unit that acquires specific information including at least time information based on a satellite signal received by the reception unit; and a display that displays acquired information. A threshold value changing unit lowers the signal reception threshold value according to a search count, which is the number of times the search process has been applied to the satellite signals of all positioning information satellites. |
| US08432769B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and memory system having the same
A semiconductor memory device includes an internal clock signal generator configured to generate an internal clock signal by dividing a frequency of an external clock signal; a default latency determiner configured to determine a default latency in outputting a signal; and a latency reflector configured to, for each of consecutive commands, selectively add a half latency equal to a half cycle of the internal clock signal to the default latency in response to a half latency selection information signal. |
| US08432763B2 |
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit includes a plurality of data lines on which data aligned by a plurality of pulse signals are loaded, a plurality of transfer lines, a data transfer unit configured to transfer the data of the plurality of data lines to the plurality of transfer lines in response to a correlation signal, a data output unit configured to output the data of the transfer line corresponding to a transmission signal activated among a plurality of transmission signals, a correlation signal generation unit configured to generate the correlation signal using a latency value and a logic value of one of the plurality of transmission signals when a command is inputted to the correlation signal generation unit, and a pulse signal generation unit configured to sequentially activate the plurality of pulse signals when the command is inputted. |
| US08432761B2 |
Data bus control scheme for and image sensor and image sensor including the same
A memory system including a plurality of memory cells configured to receive digital signals includes an address decoder, a data bus, and a sense amplifier configured to receive data output from memory cells activated by addresses from the address decoder. The pre-charging the data bus and evaluating previous data by the sense amplifier occurs substantially simultaneously during a first period. The data bus and the sense amplifier are isolated from each other during the first period. |
| US08432759B2 |
Measuring electrical resistance
A circuit having a first circuit configured to receive an input voltage and generate a first voltage that generates a first current flowing through a resistive device and a second voltage that generates a second current; a node electrically coupled to the resistive device and having a third voltage that generates a third current; and a second circuit configured to generate a fourth voltage having a logic state indicating a logic state of the resistive device. |
| US08432756B1 |
Collision prevention in a dual port memory
A dual port memory includes a mechanism for preventing collisions. The memory includes dual port bit cells arranged in rows and columns and each bit cell stores a data bit. The memory also includes a wordline unit that may provide a respective write wordline signal and a respective read wordline signal to each row of bit cells. The wordline unit may also selectively inhibit the read wordline signal for a given row based upon address information that is indicative of whether a write operation will be performed to the given row. |
| US08432753B2 |
High speed interface for multi-level memory
A memory chip including a plurality of storage elements, a receiver and a program module. Each of the storage elements has a measurable parameter. The receiver receives N target values from a memory controller, where N is an integer greater than zero. The programming module adjusts corresponding measurable parameters of N storage elements of the plurality of storage elements to the N target values. |
| US08432749B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit
A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a boost circuit configured to boost a power supply voltage so as to generate first and second voltages, the second voltage being lower than the first voltage, a load circuit supplied with the first voltage, and a capacitor. The capacitor has first and second diffusion regions, a first insulating film formed on a channel region, a first electrode formed on the first insulating film, a second insulating film formed on the first electrode, and a second electrode formed on the second insulating film. The second voltage is applied to the first electrode. The first voltage is applied to the second electrode. The power supply voltage is applied to at least one of the first and second diffusion regions. |
| US08432748B2 |
Semiconductor memory device capable of memorizing multivalued data
In a memory cell array, a plurality of memory cells connected to word lines and bit lines are arranged in a matrix. A data storage circuit is connected to the bit lines and stores write data. The data storage circuit includes at least one static latch circuit and a plurality of dynamic latch circuits when setting 2k threshold voltages (k is a natural number equal to 3 or more) in each memory cell in the memory cell array. A control circuit refreshes data by moving the data in one of the plurality of dynamic latch circuits to the static latch circuit and further moving the data in the static latch circuit to one of the plurality of dynamic latch circuits. |
| US08432747B2 |
Static random access memory (SRAM) and test method of the SRAM having precharge circuit to prepcharge bit line
A method of testing a static random access memory (SRAM), the method including writing a data into the SRAM cell to store a first potential level at a first node and a second potential level greater than the first potential level at a second node, supplying a power supply voltage from a power supply terminal to first and second bit lines by activating first and second transistors and deactivating first and second transfer gates, and supplying the power supply voltage to the first bit line by activating the first transistor and activating the first and second transfer gates. |
| US08432737B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and method testing the same
When performing a word line leak test to determine a leak state of the word lines, the control circuit applies, from the voltage control circuit to the word lines connected to the memory cell array written with test pattern data, voltages corresponding to the test pattern data. Thereafter, it switches the transfer transistors to a nonconductive state, thereby setting the word lines in a floating state. After a lapse of a certain time from switching of the transfer transistors to a nonconductive state, it activates the sense amplifier circuit to perform a read operation in the memory cell array. Then it compares a result of the read operation with an expectation value corresponding to the test pattern data. |
| US08432735B2 |
Memory system and related method of programming
A method of programming a nonvolatile memory device comprises counting a number of state pairs in a unit of input data, modulating the unit of input data to reduce the number of state pairs contained therein, and programming the modulated unit of input data in the nonvolatile memory device. Each state pair comprises data with a first state and designated for programming in a memory cell connected to a first word line, and data with a second state and designated for programming in a memory cell connected to a second word line adjacent to the first word line. The memory cell connected to the first word line is adjacent to the memory cell connected to the second word line. |
| US08432734B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device and system and related method of operation
A nonvolatile memory device detects a first memory cell to be successfully programmed in a program operation for multiple memory cells connected to a wordline, and then detects a number of program loops required to successfully program the remaining memory cells connected to the wordline. An initial program voltage of subsequent program operations is then adjusted based on the detected number of loops. |
| US08432732B2 |
Detection of word-line leakage in memory arrays
Techniques and corresponding circuitry are presented for the detection of wordline leakage in a memory array. In an exemplary embodiment, a capacitive voltage divider is used to translate the high voltage drop to low voltage drop that can be compared with a reference voltage to determine the voltage drop due to leakage. An on-chip self calibration method can help assure the accuracy of this technique for detecting leakage limit. |
| US08432730B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for driving the same
A transistor includes first and second control gates, and a storage gate. The storage gate is made to be a conductor, supplied with a specific potential, and then made to be an insulator, thereby holding the potential. Data is written by making the storage gate a conductor, supplying a potential of data to be stored, and making the storage gate an insulator. Data is read by making the storage gate an insulator, supplying a potential to a read signal line connected to one of a source and a drain of the transistor, supplying a potential for reading data to the first control gate, and then detecting a potential of a bit line connected to the other of the source and the drain. |
| US08432728B2 |
Magnetic recording element
A magnetic recording element is disclosed for which current density required for writing is low and structure of the element is simple. It comprises a ferromagnetic fine wire formed on a Si substrate, current electrodes that contact ends of the ferromagnetic fine wire, and voltage electrodes joined to the ferromagnetic fine wire and current electrodes to measure voltage across part of the ferromagnetic fine wire in cooperation with the current electrodes. A magnetic domain wall is induced in the ferromagnetic fine wire when the element is manufactured. A depression is formed in the surface on top of the ferromagnetic fine wire between the voltage electrodes, and between one of the current electrodes and one of the voltage electrodes. Voltage is measured between the two voltage electrodes when reading current is applied, to determine whether the magnetic domain wall is present between the two voltage electrodes, whereby recorded data can be identified. |
| US08432725B2 |
Static random access memory structure and control method thereof
A static random access memory (SRAM) is provided. The SRAM structure includes an SRAM array, a word line decoder, and a reference bit line device. The SRAM array comprises at least one SRAM bit cell made up of six transistors. The word line decoder is used for decoding a word line of the SRAM bit cell array such that the word line is activated at a starting time and is deactivated at a ending time. The reference bit line device is connected between the SRAM array and the word line decoder and is used for pre-deactivating the word line at a predetermined time before the ending time such that a voltage difference between a bit line and a bit line bar of the SRAM bit cell is equal to a predetermined voltage. |
| US08432723B2 |
Nano-electro-mechanical DRAM cell
A DRAM cell and method for storing information in a dynamic random access memory using an electrostatic actuator beam to make an electrical connection between a storage capacitor and a bit line. |
| US08432721B2 |
Method of programming variable resistance element, method of initializing variable resistance element, and nonvolatile storage device
Programming a variable resistance element includes: a writing step of applying a writing voltage pulse to transition metal oxide comprising two stacked metal oxide layers to decrease resistance of the metal oxide, each metal oxide layer having different oxygen deficiency; and an erasing step of applying an erasing voltage pulse, of different polarity than the writing pulse, to the metal oxide to increase resistance of the metal oxide. |Vw1|>|Vw2|, Vw1 representing voltage of the writing pulse for first to N-th writing steps, and Vw2 representing voltage of the writing pulse for (N+1)-th and subsequent writing steps, N being at least equal to 1, te1>te2, te1 representing pulse width of the erasing pulse for first to M-th erasing steps, and te2 representing pulse width of the erasing pulse for (M+1)-th and subsequent erasing steps. M>1. The (N+1)-th writing step follows the M-th erasing step. |
| US08432720B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device
A memory cell array having a 1R structure is composed of nonvolatile variable resistive elements each including a variable resistor formed of a metal oxide film whose resistance changes depending on an oxygen concentration in the film, and first and second electrodes sandwiching the variable resistor. The first electrode and the variable resistor form a rectifier junction through a rectifier junction layer composed of an oxide layer and a layer (oxygen depletion layer) of the metal oxide film having an oxygen concentration lower than a stoichiometric composition. The oxygen moves between the first electrode and the metal oxide film when a voltage is applied, and a thickness of the oxygen depletion layer changes, so that the resistance of the metal oxide film changes and the rectifying properties are provided. A thickness of the oxygen depletion layer is set to allow the variable resistive element to show the sufficient rectifying properties. |
| US08432716B2 |
Semiconductor device with non-volatile memory and random access memory
A semiconductor device including a large capacity non-volatile memory and at least one random access memory, said the access time of said device being matched to the access time of each random access memory. The semiconductor memory device is comprised of: a non-volatile memory FLASH having a first reading time; a random access memory DRAM having a second reading time which is more than 100 times shorter than the first reading time; a circuit that includes a control circuit connected to both the FLASH and the DRAM and enabled to control accesses to those FLASH and DRAM; and a plurality of I/O terminals connected to the circuit. As a result, FLASH data is transferred to the DRAM before the DRAM is accessed, thereby matching the access time between the FLASH and the DRAM. Data is written back from the DRAM to the FLASH as needed, thereby keeping data matched between the FLASH and the DRAM and storing the data. |
| US08432710B2 |
Power conversion apparatus
A power conversion apparatus has a rectification circuit provided for converting AC power supplied from an AC power supply into DC power. The rectification circuit has a configuration in which series circuit whose number corresponds to the number of phases of an input AC are connected in parallel between a positive-side line and a negative-side line. The AC power supply is connected to AC input points, each corresponding to a connection point between a rectifying device and a semiconductor switching device in each of the series circuits, and connected to a point having ground potential through noise suppressing series circuits respectively. In each of the noise suppressing series circuits, a switch unit and a capacitor are connected in series. In this manner, it is possible to provide a power conversion apparatus which can reduce a noise terminal voltage while solving problems in volume and cost simultaneously. |
| US08432709B2 |
DC-to-AC power inverting apparatus for photovoltaic modules
The disclosure provides a DC-to-AC power inverting apparatus for photovoltaic modules, which comprises two stages: a first stage including a resonant circuit in series, an isolating transformer with three windings, a full-bridge DC-to-AC converting unit operating in a high-frequency switch mode so as to reduce the transformer volume, and a full-wave rectifier; while a second stage including a half-bridge single-phase inverter unit with two active switches. In the first stage, any high-frequency AC signal produced from the primary winding of the isolating transformer is converter into a DC signal by the full-wave rectifier at the secondary winding of the isolation transformer. Moreover, the switching of the two active switches in the second stage is controlled to operate in a low-frequency mode using a switching frequency synchronized with the frequency of the public electrical supply to control the AC output, and thus to reduce the switching loss of the active switches. |
| US08432708B2 |
Motherboard assembly having serial advanced technology attachment dual in-line memory module
A motherboard assembly includes a motherboard having an expansion slot and a storage device interface, and a serial advanced technology attachment dual in-line memory module (SATA DIMM) with a circuit board. A control chip and a storage chip are arranged on the circuit board. Two voids are defined in a top side of the circuit board. A first extending board is formed on the top side of the circuit board between the voids. An edge connector is arranged on the first extending board and connected to a power supply. The edge connector includes power pins connected to the control chip and the storage chip. A second extending board is extended from an end edge of the circuit board and includes a connector connected to the storage device interface of the motherboard. A bottom side of the second extending board is in alignment with a bottom side of the circuit board. |
| US08432701B2 |
Storage device and storage system including storage device
A storage device for storing units includes, a housing, wherein selective insertion of one of a first unit and a second unit that respectively have different shapes is possible, a stopper positioned such that movement is possible between an initial position, a first position wherein insertion of the first unit is allowed and insertion of the second unit is prevented, and a second position wherein insertion of the second unit is allowed and insertion of the first unit is prevented, wherein insertion of the first unit moves the stopper from the initial position to the first position and insertion of the second unit moves the stopper from the initial position to the second position, and a lock capable of locking the stopper into one of the first position and the second position. |
| US08432700B2 |
Storage apparatus
A storage apparatus includes: a front disk unit for receiving a first modular inserted from the front face of a general purpose chassis into a space with a plurality of first cooling devices in an opened state; and a rear disk unit for receiving a second modular inserted from the back face of the general purpose chassis into a space with a plurality of second cooling devices in an opened state. Furthermore, the storage apparatus includes a regulating member for regulating, according to an open-close state of at least one cooling device from among the plurality of openable first cooling devices and the plurality of openable second cooling devices which are provided to face the front face and back face of the general purpose chassis, respectively, an open-close state of the remaining cooling devices. |
| US08432697B2 |
Circuit board
A circuit board provided with a control circuit and an optical module placed at a close distance and configured to be capable of effectively cooling the control circuit and the optical module is provided. A circuit board placed inside the housing of electronic equipment and provided with an optical module and a control circuit, which are mutually connected, has: a fan-assisted heat sink mounted on the control circuit and configured to ventilate the control circuit and cool the control circuit; and a fresh air feeding duct placed on the circuit board and configured to distribute fresh air taken in from outside the housing through the intake of the fan-assisted heat sink. The optical module is placed in a predetermined position along a site in which the fresh air feeding duct is formed. |
| US08432696B2 |
Using a battery pack to facilitate thermal transfer in a portable electronic device
The disclosed embodiments relate to techniques for facilitating thermal transfer in a portable electronic device. This portable electronic device may include a battery pack, which includes a battery cell and enclosure material for enclosing the battery cell. This enclosure material extends beyond the enclosure for the battery cell to facilitate thermal transfer within the portable electronic device. |
| US08432695B2 |
Cooling device
When the side of a surface of the board on which the device to be cooled is mounted is defined as the upper side while the side of the other surface is defined as the lower side in a substantially vertical direction to the board, a cooling device includes a heat receiving portion arranged on the upper side the device to be cooled for performing heat exchange with the device to be cooled; a columnar portion standing substantially perpendicularly on the board; a base having a through hole which the columnar portion passes through, and arranged on the upper side of the heat receiving portion; and biasing means for biasing the base along the columnar portion to thereby press the heat receiving portion against the device to be cooled. |
| US08432693B2 |
High power band pass RF filter having a gas tube for surge suppression
A high power band pass RF filtering device having a housing for containing a printed circuit board with filtering components for achieving strong attenuation of out-of-band signals. An input port and an output port on the housing electrically connect to a respective input node and output node on the printed circuit board. Surge protection elements are connected at the input port and at the output port for dissipating surge conditions present at the input port or the output port to the housing before the surge travels through the printed circuit board. A non-surge signal present on the input port can travel through the filtering components on the printed circuit board towards the output port. An oil or other fluid is disposed and completely contained within the housing and contacts the printed circuit board for cooling the printed circuit board or the filtering components. |
| US08432690B2 |
Data center cooling
A system for restricting mixing of air in a data center includes a plurality of racks, each of the racks having a front face and a back face. The system includes an enclosure for collecting air released from the back faces of the plurality of racks, the enclosure configured to substantially contain the air in an area between the first row and the second row and having a roof panel coupled to the first row of racks and the second row of racks configured to span a distance between the first row of racks and the second row of racks. The enclosure is configured to maintain a first air pressure inside of the enclosure that is substantially equal to a second air pressure outside the enclosure. |
| US08432688B2 |
IHS securing system
A securing system includes a base member. A display member is rotatably coupled to the base member by a shaft. A locking member is operable to move axially relative to the shaft and engage the display member in order to restrict the display member from rotating relative to the base member. The base member and the display member may be part of an information handling system (IHS). A lock including a cable that is coupled to a stationary object may be used to secure the IHS to the stationary object and prevent the use of the IHS by positioning the lock in the base member in order to move the locking member such that it engages the display member. |
| US08432687B2 |
Answer bracelet
An answer bracelet with a circular bracelet band suitable for wearing an a person's wrist. A hollowed out area in the top of the bracelet band houses a digital display, a microprocessor, a printed circuit board, a start switch, a tilt switch, a battery power supply and an audio emitting device. A top cover panel covers the hollowed out portion and the embedded electronics. The battery can be accessed by removing a bottom cover located on the underside of the hollowed out area. When a user presses the start button and shakes the bracelet, the tilt switch sends a signal to the microprocessor whereupon the microprocessor causes the audio device to produce a short burst of sound and then randomly selects one of a plurality of messages stored in the microprocessor and displays the message on the digital display for a predetermined period of time. Then the message disappears making the bracelet display ready for the next use. |
| US08432683B2 |
Computer enclosure
A computer enclosure includes an enclosure, a mounting board, a device mounted to the mounting board, and a latching member pivotably mounted to the mounting board. The enclosure includes a bottom plate, and a number of mounting tabs extend from the bottom plate. The mounting board is detachably mounted to the bottom plate. A number of clamping hooks extend from the mounting board, to fix the mounting tabs. The latching member includes an elastic hook. The latching member is rotated, with the elastic hook received in or withdrawing from the enclosure. When the hook engages with the enclosure, the latching member prevents the clamping hooks from disengaging from the mounting tabs. |
| US08432682B2 |
Electronic device with slot cover ejection mechanism
An electronic device includes a housing defining a slot, a card socket, a slot cover moveably received in the slot, and an elastic piece. The card socket is capable of ejecting an electronic card out when pressed. The cover defines a through hole and an elastic hook engaging the slot to retain the cover in the slot. The elastic piece includes a base facing the first through hole, and a pair of arms connected to opposite ends of the base and abutting against the cover. The elastic piece is urged to be deformed to push the cover when the base is pushed by an object passing through the through hole, causing the hook to disengage from the slot. Then the base pushes the card to move inwardly, causing the card socket to push the card and the cover to move out of the slot in union. |
| US08432678B2 |
Component assembly
A portable computing device is disclosed. The portable computing device can take many forms such as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, and so on. The portable computing device can include at least a single piece housing. The single piece housing including a plurality of steps. The plurality of mounting steps are formed by at least removing a preselected amount of housing material at predetermined locations on the interior surface. At least some of the mounting steps are used to mount at least some of the plurality of internal operating components to the housing. |
| US08432676B2 |
Display for notebook computer and method of making a display for a notebook computer
A display for a notebook computer can include a display panel and a frame configured to house the display panel. The frame can have a one-piece construction from a rear surface of the frame to a front surface of the frame. A method of making a display for a notebook computer is also provided. The method can include the steps of providing a frame and inserting a display panel into the frame. The frame can have a one-piece construction from a rear surface of the frame to a front surface of the frame. |
| US08432675B2 |
Integrated lighting for use with computer cameras
In one embodiment, a computer display includes a display screen, an outer housing that surrounds the display screen, and a light integrated into the outer housing. |
| US08432672B2 |
Flat panel display
A flat panel display device including a display panel, a bezel having a substrate to support the display panel and configured to receive the display panel, and a bonding agent disposed between the substrate of the bezel and the display panel. Further, the substrate of the bezel and the display panel may be bonded and fixed to each other. Therefore, it is possible to provide a flat panel display device having a small thickness and capable of improving strength against an external pressure. |
| US08432670B2 |
Disk drive assembly
A tray assembly for mounting a disk drive includes an enclosure; and a tray mounted to the enclosure. The tray includes a tray body configured to receive the disk drive, a handle pivotably mounted to the tray body, and a securing member pivotably mounted to the tray body. The handle is configured to secure the tray body to the enclosure as the handle rotates. The securing member is configured to engage the handle as the tray body is in a secured state. |
| US08432669B2 |
Signal receiving apparatus and electronic device using the same
A signal receiving apparatus includes a main body for receiving control signals, and a cover covering the main body. The cover includes a receiving portion and at least one fixing portion. The receiving portion receives the main body, and the at least one fixing portion fixes the signal receiving apparatus to a housing of an electronic device. An electronic device using the signal receiving apparatus is also provided. |
| US08432668B2 |
Portable electronic device
A portable electronic device includes a main body, at least one first rotary arm rotatably connected to the main body, and at least one second rotary arm rotatably connected to the main body. At least one connection port is located on at least one of the first rotary arm and the second rotary arm. When the at least one first rotary arm and the at least one second rotary arm are flush with the main body, the at least one connection port is hidden. By rotating the at least one first rotary arm or the at least one second rotary arm until the at least one first rotary arm or the at least one second rotary arm is not flush with the main body, the at least one connection port is exposed. |
| US08432667B2 |
System, method and apparatus for supporting and providing power to a music player
An audio device supports a variety of digital music players and includes a cradle that physically holds any of a plurality of digital music players. A power port on the audio device provides power to a selected one of the digital music players, through a cable that is specific to the selected digital music player through a cable that connects between the power port and the selected digital music player while the selected digital music player is held within the cradle. |
| US08432666B2 |
Method of manufacturing a switchgear panel
A method of making a panel for a switchgear cabinet is provided. In accordance with the method one or more base plates, a plurality of main cover plates of different types and a plurality of auxiliary cover plates of different types are provided. One or more main cover plates and one or more auxiliary cover plates are selected and mounted to the base plate. One or more electrical devices are mounted to at least one of the selected main cover plate and the selected auxiliary cover plate. |
| US08432665B2 |
Solid electrolytic capacitor and manufacturing method thereof
An object of the present invention is to provide a solid electrolytic capacitor having reduced leakage current and a manufacturing method thereof. The solid electrolytic capacitor of the present invention includes a capacitor element including: an anode 3 composed of a sintered body of metal particles; an anode lead 2 provided so that one end thereof is embedded in the anode 3; a dielectric layer 4 formed on the surface of the anode 3; an electrolyte layer 5 formed on the dielectric layer 4; and a cathode layer 6 formed on the electrolyte layer 5 so that an exposed face 50 of the electrolyte layer 5 exists around the anode lead 2, wherein an anode terminal 1 electrically connected to the other end of the anode lead 2 and a cathode terminal 7 electrically connected to the cathode layer 6 are attached to the capacitor element, and a first resin part 10 is provided to cover a part of the anode lead 2 extending from the exposed face 50 of the electrolyte layer 5 of the capacitor element to the anode terminal 1, and a second resin part 8 is provided to cover at least the above capacitor element and the first resin part 10. |
| US08432664B2 |
Sealing member for capacitor and aluminum electrolytic capacitor using the same
A cylindrical sealing member for a capacitor has a circular first plane and a circular second plane placed oppositely to the first plane, and is provided with two lead holes that penetrate the first and second planes. This sealing member for a capacitor contains butyl rubber, and inorganic material oblate particles having flat surfaces. The sealing member includes a first portion, and a second portion in the vicinity of an outer circumference of the sealing member as well as in the vicinity of the two lead holes. In the first portion, the inorganic material oblate particles are scattered such that flat surfaces thereof are oriented substantially in parallel with the first plane. In the second portion, the inorganic material oblate particles are scattered such that the flat surfaces thereof are oriented substantially perpendicularly to the first plane. |
| US08432663B2 |
High permittivity low leakage capacitor and energy storing device and method for forming the same
A method is provided for making a high permittivity dielectric material for use in capacitors. Several high permittivity materials in an organic nonconductive media with enhanced properties and methods for making the same are disclosed. A general method for the formation of thin films of some particular dielectric material is disclosed, wherein the use of organic polymers, shellac, silicone oil, and/or zein formulations are utilized to produce low conductivity dielectric coatings. Additionally, a method whereby the formation of certain transition metal salts as salt or oxide matrices is demonstrated at low temperatures utilizing mild reducing agents. Further, a circuit structure and associated method of operation for the recovery and regeneration of the leakage current from the long-term storage capacitors is provided in order to enhance the manufacturing yield and utility performance of such devices. |
| US08432661B2 |
Microstructural body and production method therefor
A microstructural body includes a substrate such as an electrode substrate, a support portion, one post that fixes the support portion to the substrate, a frame-shaped movable portion provided around outer periphery of the support portion, and an elastic support portion that elastically connects the movable portion and the support portion. The elastic support portion supports the frame-shaped movable portion such that the movable portion is movable relative to the support portion. The elastic support portion includes torsion springs and an elastically deformable connecting portion. |
| US08432656B2 |
Method for feedback control and related feedback control loop and voltage regulator
A feedback control method of a pulse width modulator (PWM) voltage converter may include generating a control voltage as a sum of an offset voltage and an error signal representing a difference between a scaled replica of a regulated output voltage of the voltage converter and a reference voltage, comparing the control voltage with a ramp signal, the comparing operation generating PWM driving signals for the voltage converter, comparing the regulated output voltage of the voltage converter with an overshoot threshold, and reducing the control voltage when the overshoot threshold is exceeded. |
| US08432654B2 |
Multi-voltage electrostatic discharge protection
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) clamp, coupled across input-output (I/O) and common (GND) terminals of a protected semiconductor device or integrated circuit is provided. One ESD clamp comprises an ESD transistor (ESDT) with source-drain coupled between the GND and I/O terminals, a first resistor coupled between the gate and source and a second resistor coupled between the ESDT body and source. Paralleling the resistors are control transistors with gates coupled to one or more bias supplies Vb, Vb′. The main power rail (Vdd) of the device or IC is a convenient source for Vb, Vb′. When the Vdd is off during shipment, handling, equipment assembly, etc., the ESD trigger voltage Vt1 is low, thereby providing maximum ESD protection when ESD risk is high. When Vdd is energized, Vt1 rises to a value large enough to avoid interference with normal circuit operation but still protect from ESD events. |
| US08432651B2 |
Apparatus and method for electronic systems reliability
Apparatuses and methods for protecting electronic circuits are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus for providing protection from transient signals comprises an integrated circuit, a pad on a surface of the integrated circuit, and a configurable protection circuit within the integrated circuit. The configurable protection circuit is electrically connected to the pad. The configurable protection circuit comprises a plurality of subcircuits arranged in a cascade, and selection of one or more of the plurality of the subcircuits for operation determines at least one of a holding voltage or a trigger voltage of the configurable protection circuit. |
| US08432647B2 |
Power distribution arrangement
An arrangement and a method for distributing power supplied by a power source to two or more of loads (e.g., electrical vehicular systems) is disclosed, where a representation of the power taken by a particular one of the loads from the source is measured. The measured representation of the amount of power taken from the source by the particular one of the loads is compared to a threshold to provide an overload signal in the event the representation exceeds the threshold. Control signals dependant on the occurring of the overload signal are provided such that the control signal decreases the output power of the power circuit in case the overload signal occurs. |
| US08432646B2 |
Magnetic detection element
Embodiments of the present invention help to reduce etching damage at end parts of a magnetoresistive sensor in ion beam etching. According to one embodiment, ion beam etching (IBE) is used in a magnetoresistive sensor track width forming step. This IBE irradiates Ar ion beam to a substrate in a state that the substrate is inclined and further rotates the substrate about its normal as a rotational axis. In a conventional track width forming step, the IBE irradiates the Ar ion beam to the substrate all the time while the IBE is rotating the substrate. By contrast, the IBE according to embodiments of the present invention irradiates the Ar ion beam to the substrate only in a predetermined specific angular range. |
| US08432645B2 |
Magneto-resistive effect element, magnetic head, magnetic head slider, head gimbal assembly and hard disk drive apparatus
An MR element includes a stack, being a pillar or trapezoidal stack, including first and second magnetic layers in which a relative angle formed by magnetization directions changes according to an external magnetic field, and a spacer layer that is positioned between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer, and that is provided with a main spacer layer that is composed of gallium oxide, zinc oxide or magnesium oxide as a primary component, wherein, one part of side surfaces of the stack forms a part of an air bearing surface; and a cover layer that covers at least another part of the side surfaces of the stack and that is composed of gallium oxide as a primary component. |
| US08432640B2 |
Tape drive having a flangeless roller
A tape drive comprising a head configured to read data from a tape and to write data to the tape, a pair of flanged guide rollers arranged one on either side of the head to guide the tape longitudinally over the head, and a flangeless inertial roller arranged between a flanged guide roller and the head to add inertia to the tape so as to limit speed and movement of the tape as it passes over the head. |
| US08432639B2 |
PMR writer with π shaped shield
A perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) head is fabricated with a pole tip shielded laterally by a pair of symmetrically separated side shields that extend from an edge of a trailing edge shield to form a shield with the shape of a π. The easy axis direction of the side shields is in the in-track direction. As a result, the side shields effectively shield the fringing fields of the magnetic pole tip from causing adjacent track erasures, while not adding their own fringing fields that could cause erasures even beyond adjacent tracks. |
| US08432638B2 |
Shielded perpendicular magnetic recording head
A magnetic recording head for perpendicular magnetic recording includes energizing means, a recording pole, and a return pole. The recording pole narrows to a tip region with leading and trailing write edges separated by first and second side edges. The tip region provides a low reluctance path for magnetic flux generated by the energizing means. The return pole has a shield flare projecting towards the trailing write edge. A gap separates a leading edge of the shield flare from the trailing write edge. The shield flare diverts magnetic flux from reaching the tip region, thereby shielding the recording medium beneath the shield flare from the magnetic field while the side edges of the tip region and the recording medium beneath the gap are unshielded. A rear flare smoothes the discontinuity at the trailing edge of the return pole, thus reducing the peak magnetic field under the return pole. |
| US08432633B2 |
System, method and apparatus for storage architecture for bit patterned media using both erase band and shingled magnetic recording
Storage architecture for bit patterned media uses both erase band and shingled magnetic recording. A hard disk drive may comprise a disk having bit patterned media with a plurality of data tracks arrayed in architecture pages having at least one of erase band mode (EBM), shingled mode (SM) and unallocated space. An actuator has a head for writing data to the data tracks of the bit patterned media. A control system monitors, reallocates and reconfigures the architecture pages from EBM, SM or unallocated space to a different one of EBM, SM or unallocated space to enhance performance of the hard disk drive. |
| US08432632B2 |
Magnetic disk drive using a non-volatile storage device as cache for modified tracks
Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for a magnetic disk drive. The disk drive has at least one disk platter having at least one recordable disk surface having an areal density of at least 200 gigabits per square inch. Either a diameter of the at least one disk platter is greater than 3.5 inches or the at least one disk platter rotates at less than 5400 RPMs. A read/write head reads and writes tracks of data with respect to the at least one disk surface. Modified tracks from write requests to write to the at least one disk surface on the at least one disk platter are cached in a non-volatile storage device for caching modified tracks. Modified tracks are cached in the non-volatile storage device to later destage to the at least one disk surface. |
| US08432631B1 |
Disk spindle assembly cartridge
A disk spindle assembly cartridge is described. The disk spindle assembly cartridge includes a base, a spindle motor attached to the base, a disk seated on the spindle motor, a disk clamp attached to the spindle motor, wherein the disk clamp secures the disk to the spindle motor, and a cover attached to the base. The base is configured to detachably mount a head stack assembly cartridge, where the disk is accessible to a head stack assembly pivotally mounted in the head stack assembly cartridge via an opening defined by the base and the cover. |
| US08432629B1 |
Disk drive centering sync frames on sync marks of a spiral track
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of spiral tracks. A first sync frame is first opened in response to a first frame offset during a first revolution of the disk, wherein the first sync frame corresponds to the head approaching a first sync mark in a first spiral track crossing. A first sync frame position error signal (PES) is generated representing a difference between a target framing of the first sync frame around the first sync mark and a detected framing of the first sync frame around the first sync mark. The first frame offset is adjusted in response to the first sync frame PES, and during a second revolution of the disk the first sync frame is second opened in response to the adjusted first frame offset. |
| US08432625B2 |
Lens and method for manufacturing same
In a method for manufacturing a lens, a substrate is provided which includes recess in a first surface thereof. A lens structure having a first desired lens surface and a second desired lens surface is formed in the substrate's recess. |
| US08432623B2 |
Zoom lens and imaging apparatus using the same
A zoom lens comprises, in order from an object side, a first lens group with a negative refracting power; a second lens group with a positive refracting power; a third lens group with a positive refracting power; and a fourth lens group with a refracting curved surface. Upon zooming from a wide-angle end to telephoto end, at least the first lens group, second lens group, and third lens group move, and a spacing between the respective lens groups are changed. The first lens group comprises; in order from the object side to an image side, a negative lens component with a negative refracting power and a positive lens component with a positive refracting power which are arranged on an optical axis with a predetermined spacing therebetween. The total number of the lens components in the first lens group is two. The second lens group comprises at least three lenses including at least one negative lens and at least one positive lens and comprises a plurality of cemented surfaces, at least two of which are obtained by cementing two face-to-face refracting surfaces of two lenses each having different curvature on the object side surface and image side surface. |
| US08432622B2 |
Image capturing lens system
An image capturing lens system includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element and a fourth lens element. The first lens element with negative refractive power has a convex object-side surface and a concave image-side surface. The second lens element with positive refractive power has a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface. The third lens element with negative refractive power is made of plastic material, and has a concave image-side surface, wherein an object-side surface and the image-side surface of the third lens element are aspheric. The fourth lens element with positive refractive power is made of plastic material, wherein an object-side surface and an image-side surface of the fourth lens element are aspheric. |
| US08432614B2 |
Substrate-guide optical device utilizing polarization beam splitters
An optical device including a light waves-transmitting substrate having two major surfaces and edges, has optical means for coupling light into the substrate by total internal reflection, and a plurality of partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) carried by the substrate. The partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) are parallel to each other and are not parallel to any of the edges of the substrate. One or more of the partially reflecting surfaces (22a, 22b) is an anisotropic surface. |
| US08432609B2 |
Photo-pumped semiconductor optical amplifier
An edge photo-pumped semiconductor slab amplifier including an undoped semiconductor slab. A first gain structure is formed on an upper surface of the slab and a second gain structure is formed on a lower surface of the slab. The gain structures can be resonant periodic gain structures including a plurality of stacked quantum well layers. Confining layers are coupled to the gain structures to confine a signal beam within the semiconductor slab. Heat sinks are thermally coupled to the confining layers. Optical pump sources are provided along the side edges or coupled to the end edges of the slab so that pump light is introduced into the slab through the edges to provide gain for the quantum well layers. |
| US08432607B2 |
Electrophoretic display device and method for manufacturing the same
An electrophoretic display device includes a lower substrate having pixel electrodes thereon to define a plurality of pixel areas; partition walls formed on the lower substrate to surround the pixel electrodes; electrophoretic dispersion liquid having a plurality of charged particles colored to display colors, the electrophoretic dispersion liquid filled into the plurality of the pixel areas defined by pixel electrodes and surrounding the partition walls; a membrane layer disposed on the partition walls and covering the electrophoretic dispersion liquid, the membrane layer comprising a plurality of hole patterns at portions corresponding to the plurality of the pixel areas; and an upper substrate bonded with the lower substrate such that the membrane layer is disposed therebetween. |
| US08432605B2 |
Electrophoretic indication display device
An electrophoretic display device comprises: a first substrate including a first electrode; a first insulation layer provided on the first electrode; a fluid layer provided on the first insulation layer and having fluid and charged particles; a second substrate facing the first substrate with the fluid layer therebetween and including a second electrode facing the first electrode; and a second insulation layer provided between the second electrode and the fluid layer and facing the first insulation layer. |
| US08432604B2 |
Methods of forming transparent structures and electrochromic devices
Transparent structures, electrochromic devices, and methods for making such structures/devices are provided. A transparent structure may include a transparent substrate having a plurality of micro- or nano-scale structures, at least one substance configured to block near-infrared or infrared radiation and partially cover at least substantial portions of the substrate and the plurality of micro- or nano-scale structures, and at least one photocatalyst configured to at least partially cover an outermost surface of the transparent structure. |
| US08432601B2 |
Electrochromic display module and composition with improved performance
An electrochromic display module employing a unique combination of architecture and electrochromic composition to provide an extended life to the module. The architecture may involve the use of an extended seal about a perimeter of a display portion where the composition is located. In this manner, the rate of solvent leakage from the composition may be substantially reduced. Additionally, the electrochromic composition itself may make use of particular low volatility solvents and constituent combinations so as to discourage the amount particle generation therein. Ultimately, an electrochromic display module having a useful life of more than about 3 years may be provided. |
| US08432597B2 |
Micro-mirror hinge
According to one embodiment of the present invention a digital micro-mirror device is taught that includes a pixel occupying an area of the device and a hinge coupled to the pixel and positioned such that at least a portion of the hinge falls outside the area of the pixel. |
| US08432595B2 |
Scanning image displayer, mobile phone, mobile information processor, and mobile imager
A scanning image displayer, including a beam provider emitting a laser beam; a beam scanner including a two-dimensional drive deflecting mirror, deflectively scanning the beam in a main scanning direction and a sub-scanning direction; and an optical element including a reflection surface before the two-dimensional drive deflecting mirror, deflecting the beam in a direction of the two-dimensional drive deflecting mirror such that the beam obliquely enters a mirror thereof. The two-dimensional drive deflecting mirror deflectively scans the beam to project the beam onto a surface to be projected, and the light intensity of the beam is controlled according to image information to form an image. A flat surface of a substrate where the mirror is formed is located parallel or almost parallel to an optical axis of the beam, and the reflection surface is located so as not to receive the beam deflectively scanned by the two-dimensional drive deflecting mirror. |
| US08432589B2 |
Multi-layer body having optical-action elements for producing an optical effect
A multi-layer body having a carrier substrate and a transparent layer at least partially arranged in a window or in a transparent region of the carrier substrate. The transparent layer has at least a first subregion and a second subregion with a varying refractive index, which are arranged in mutually juxtaposed relationship in the layer plane defined by the transparent layer, and are at least partially arranged in the window or in the transparent region of the carrier substrate. Each of the subregions has a plurality of periodically arranged nodes which form an optical-action element for producing an optical effect which is different in the front view and in the rear view in the incident light mode. |
| US08432587B2 |
Line printing device and method performing color conversion and halftoning on image data subjected to correction based on correction vectors associated with a pixel row and reference color
For each of a plurality of reference colors located at prescribed coordinates in a first color space (e.g., the RGB color space), there are associated, on an individual pixel row basis, correction vectors indicating correction amounts in the first color space. For each pixel datum of image data of first tone values (e.g., 256 tone values) of the first color space prior to a color conversion process, a correction process is carried out on the basis of the correction vector that has been associated with the pixel row to which a given pixel belongs, the correction vector also being associated with the reference color of a location surrounding the coordinates that indicate the pixel data in the first color space. The color conversion process and the halftoning process are carried out on image data composed of the pixel data that has been subjected to the correction process. |
| US08432583B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image-data acquiring unit acquires image data of an image. An image processing unit performs a predetermined image processing on the image data. A signal generating unit generates a scanning signal for determining a section of the image data for performing the image processing. A signal control unit stores waveform information of a scanning signal in a normal operation as a control signal, compares the control signal with the scanning signal generated by the signal generating unit, and detects an abnormality of the scanning signal. A scan control unit determines whether the image processing is to be continued based on a result of detection by the signal control unit. |
| US08432573B2 |
Printer, dedicated USB flash drive and printing system
A printer includes a processor configured to execute, when a dedicated USB flash drive is plugged in a second USB port, a process of (i′) making a USB ordinary storage region in the dedicated USB flash drive recognized as a removable drive while managing an access to the USB ordinary storage region in the dedicated USB flash drive, with respect to a host connected to a first USB port, and to further execute, when the execution file of a second application program is read and executed by the host, processes of (a′) renewing a command file in a command-purpose memory region with a command file received from the host; (b′) analyzing the command file currently renewed and taking out print data therefrom, and (c′) making a printing device execute printing based on the print data currently taken out. |
| US08432563B2 |
Systems and methods for dynamically re-configuring imager and caching modules to optimize raster image processing performance
Systems and methods for generating a dynamic re-configuration with a DFE imager and caching modules to optimize RIP performance by analyzing pages within the job that collect page with job heuristics and statistics. Enabling the functionality to assess the information, thereby re-configuring a digital printer's imager and caching module dynamically during the job RIP to achieve improved overall RIP performance. Accordingly, a system collects and assesses job statistics across multiple jobs to enable optimum performance over time. |
| US08432561B2 |
Image forming system with image forming device prioritization function and method thereof
In a system in which a plurality of image forming devices are connected on one or more image processing devices through a network, efficiency of image formation is improved by assigning priority, or by ordering, the image forming devices according to power consumption and wait time. An image forming device is selected according to one of the power consumption and the wait time. |
| US08432555B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, computer-readable medium and computer data signal
An image processing apparatus includes a document image acquiring unit, a first specifying unit and a second specifying unit. The document image acquiring unit acquires a document image representing a document. The first specifying unit specifies positions, in the document image, of a plurality of areas in interest which are arranged in a specific direction and which correspond to each other. The second specifying unit specifies a start position of an item in the document, based on the positions of the areas in interest. |
| US08432553B2 |
Phase from defocused color images
Phase differences associated with a defocused wavefront can be determined from a single color image. The color image, which is a measurement of intensity as a function of wavelength, is used to calculate the change in intensity with respect to wavelength over the image plane. The change in intensity can then be used to estimate a phase difference associated with the defocused wavefront using two-dimensional fast Fourier transform solvers. The phase difference can be used to infer information about objects in the path of the defocused wavefront. For example, it can be used to determine an object's shape, surface profile, or refractive index profile. It can also be used to calculate path length differences for actuating adaptive optical systems. Compared to other techniques, deriving phase from defocused color images is faster, simpler, and can be implemented using standard color filters. |
| US08432552B2 |
High intensity Fabry-Perot sensor
A sensor assembly having an optical fiber, a lens in optical communication with the optical fiber, a reflective surface spaced from the lens, for reflecting light from the beam back to the lens, a partially reflective surface positioned between the reflective surface and the lens, the partially reflective surface for reflecting light from the beam back to the lens, and an alignment device for aligning the lens and reflective surface with respect to one another, such that light from the beam of light transmitted from the lens reflects from the reflective surface back to the lens. The alignment device can have a rotational component and a base component, where the rotational component rotates to align a beam of light transmitted from the lens. The rotational component can also cooperate with the base component to move axially with respect to the reflective surfaces to align the beam for optimum power. |
| US08432550B2 |
Method and a system for determination of particles in a liquid sample
A method for the assessment of quantity and quality parameters of biological particles in a liquid analyte material. The method comprises applying a volume of a liquid sample to an exposing domain from which exposing domain electromagnetic signals from the sample in the domain can pass to the exterior, and exposing, onto an array of active detection elements such as CCD-elements, a spatial representation of electromagnetic signals having passed from the domain, the representation being detectable as an intensity by individual active detection elements, under conditions permitting processing of the intensities detected by the array of detection elements during the exposure in such a manner that representations of electromagnetic signals from the biological particles are identified as distinct from representations of electromagnetic signals from background signals. |
| US08432548B2 |
Alignment for edge field nano-imprinting
Systems and methods for alignment of template and substrate at the edge of substrate are described. |
| US08432544B2 |
Method for detecting BPA by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy
A detection method of bisphenol A by the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy includes: soaking and extracting bisphenol A present in a sample with an organic solvent to form an extraction solution, adding methanol to the extraction solution to cause a polymer to precipitate from the extraction solution and leaving a filtrate behind, filtering and concentrating the filtrate, diluting the concentrated filtrate to volume with methanol, filtering the diluted filtrate through a filter with a pore size of 0.45 μm to obtain a pretreated sample; detecting bisphenol A present in the sample by Raman spectroscopy under an incident laser power of 100 to 300 mW, and a scan time of 2 to 20 seconds; mixing the pretreated sample with the colloidal gold in an appropriate ratio, followed by adjusting pH value, and then carrying out the detection of bisphenol A present in the sample by Raman spectroscopy. |
| US08432541B2 |
Optical system for a flow cytometer with an interrogation zone
The optical system of the preferred embodiments includes a first light source that creates a first beam of a first wavelength, a first collimating element that collimates the first beam, a second light source 102 that creates a second beam of a second wavelength, a second collimating element that collimates the second beam, a beam combining element that combines the collimated beams, and a focusing element that focuses the combined collimated beam to a single point. |
| US08432534B2 |
Holding apparatus, position detection apparatus and exposure apparatus, moving method, position detection method, exposure method, adjustment method of detection system and device manufacturing method
By a force generation device which can generate a magnetic attraction and gas static pressure between a detection system provided on a lower surface side of an FIA surface plate and a surface plate, a predetermined clearance is formed between the detection system and the surface plate, and in a state where the clearance is formed (a floating state), the detection system is driven by a drive device in at least an uniaxial direction within a horizontal plane. Therefore, because the detection system is in a non-contact state to the base platform, movement (positioning) of the detection system with high precision becomes possible. Further, by setting an attraction larger than a repulsion generated by the force generation device, the detection system can be fixed (landed) in a state positioned with high precision. |
| US08432527B2 |
Light guide device
Light guide devices comprising an intermediate layer of low refractive index between higher refractive index elements are described. The light guide devices are suitable for use in backlights. |
| US08432526B2 |
Electro-optical device and electronic apparatus including the same
An electro-optical device includes a pair of substrates, an electro-optical material sandwiched between the pair of substrates, an electrode on one of the pair of substrates, an inorganic alignment layer disposed on the one of the pair of substrates, and a heat-dissipating layer disposed between the electrode and the inorganic alignment layer on the one of the pair of substrates. |
| US08432524B2 |
Illuminating device and liquid crystal display device provided with the same
Provided is an illuminating device wherein replacement of a light source is facilitated and generation of luminance nonuniformity is suppressed. An illuminating device (10) is provided with a light source module (5) which is attached to a bottom section (1a) from a rear surface side of a case member (1). On a prescribed section on the bottom section (1a), a through hole (1b) is formed, and a prescribed section of the through hole protrudes to the side of a storing space (10a). An LED (6) is arranged to face a light incoming surface (3a) of a light guide plate (3) by having the LED (6) protrude to the side of the storing space (10a) through the through hole (1b). |
| US08432523B2 |
Display substrate, display panel having the display substrate, and display device having the display panel
A display substrate includes a base substrate, a gate line portion, a data line portion, and a pixel portion. The base substrate includes a display area divided into first to fourth divided display areas, and first to fourth peripheral areas. The gate line portion includes a plurality of first gate lines, and a plurality of second gate lines. The data line portion includes a plurality of first data lines, and a plurality of second data lines. The pixel portion is disposed in the display area to be electrically connected to the first and second gate lines and the first and second data lines, respectively. |
| US08432522B2 |
Display device
The present invention is intended to control the color temperature of white exhibited by a liquid crystal display device. White is produced when light waves emitted through pixels associated with three colors of red, green, and blue have maximum intensities. The amounts of light emitted through the respective pixels are controlled by differentiating the shapes of the pixel electrodes disposed at the respective pixels from one another. Thus, the color temperature of white is controlled. Otherwise, the shapes of interceptive films disposed at the respective pixels are differentiated from one another in order to control light waves emitted through the respective pixels. Thus, the color temperature of white is controlled. The interceptive film may be shaped like the pixel electrode. Otherwise, the interceptive film may be realized with an interceptive pattern other than that of the pixel electrode or one of openings bored in a black matrix. |
| US08432516B2 |
Resin composition and image display device
An image display device has an image display part and a protective part on the image display part. The image display device suppresses image unevenness and cured resin peeling caused by internal stress generated due to curing shrinkage of a cured resin between the protective part and the image display part or external stress applied on the image display part due to warping of the protective part. A cured resin layer is arranged between the image display part and the protective part. The cured resin layer has a light transmittance in the visible region of 90% or more, an elongation ratio of 700% or more at 25° C. and 400% or more at 80° C., and an adhesive force with respect to the protective part of 0.4 N/cm or more at 25° C. and 0.3 N/cm or more at 80° C. |
| US08432513B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device according to the present invention (100) includes: a liquid crystal panel (200) having a front transparent substrate (210), a rear transparent substrate (220), and a liquid crystal layer (230) provided between the front transparent substrate (210) and the rear transparent substrate (220); a sidelight unit (300) mounted to the liquid crystal panel (200), the sidelight unit (300) including a light source (320) provided on a lateral side of the liquid crystal panel (200) and a light guide plate (330) provided between the liquid crystal panel and the light source; and a frame (310) to which the light source (320) and the light guide plate (330) are mounted. |
| US08432512B2 |
Backlight assembly and display device having the same
A backlight assembly includes a light source part, a total reflection plate and an array sheet. The light source part generates light. The total reflection plate totally internally reflects or transmits the light selectively according to an incident path of the light. The array sheet disposed on the total reflection plate includes a plurality of units having an incident surface making contact with the total reflection plate and an emitting surface facing the incident surface, refracts the totally internally reflected light at a contact surface between the incident surface and the total reflection plate to emit the refracted light, and emits the transmitted light as a non-refracted light. Accordingly, luminance of the display device is enhanced. |
| US08432511B2 |
Plane light source and LCD backlight unit having the same
There are provided a plane light source and an LCD backlight unit having the same. A plane light source having a plurality of light emitting devices arranged in a light emitting device matrix having rows and columns at a substrate according to an aspect of the invention includes a first matrix having a plurality of light emitting devices arranged in rows and columns; and a second matrix having a plurality of light emitting devices arranged in rows and columns, each of the light emitting devices located within a quadrangle formed by four neighboring light emitting devices included in the first matrix, wherein a pitch S between one light emitting device included in the light emitting device matrix and another light emitting device most adjacent to the one light emitting device satisfies the following equation to obtain uniform luminance distribution at a position distant from a light emitting surface of the light emitting device by an optical length l, S .ltoreq. l 2 .times. tan(.theta. 2+.alpha.), Equation where −.pi./18.ltoreq..alpha..ltoreq..pi./18 is satisfied, and .theta. is an orientation angle of the light emitting device. |
| US08432510B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and light detector having first and second TFT ambient light photo-sensors alternatively arranged on the same row
Provided is a liquid crystal display device including: a liquid crystal display panel; a light detector which is mounted on the liquid crystal display panel and has a plurality of TFT ambient light photo-sensors composed of thin-film transistors (TFTs) for detecting external light; an illumination unit which illuminates light on the liquid crystal display panel; a detection circuit connected to the light detector; and a control unit which controls the brightness of the illumination unit on the basis of the output of the detection circuit, wherein the plurality of TFT ambient light photo-sensors include first and second TFT ambient light photo-sensors for detecting lights of different systems, and, among source wires or drain wires of the first TFT ambient light photo-sensors and the second TFT ambient light photo-sensors, wires which are not connected to the detection circuit are formed by a single wire. |
| US08432509B2 |
Portable computer display housing
A display housing for a portable computing device that utilizes a plastic cover bonded to an internal metal frame is described. To account for thermal cycling issues and in particular to prevent bond slippage, multiple types of adhesives are employed to join the metal frame and the plastic cover. In particular, a very high bond (VHB) adhesive material is used in certain areas to bond the metal inner frame to the plastic cover and a liquid adhesive is used in other areas. The plastic cover can be translucent to light. A method of coating the plastic cover to block light, such as from a backlight used for the display, is described. |
| US08432506B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and related repairing methods
The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device and methods for repairing defects in the same. The liquid crystal display includes a display driver, an active area of the display panel, and a first signal line. The first signal line, connected to the display driver and the active area, has a defect. A repair line is disposed above the first signal line between the display driver and the active area, wherein the repair line and the first signal line have at least two overlaps without electrical connection there between. The repair line is continuous between two overlaps which are located at the two sides of the defect. Then the repair line and the first signal line are shorted at the two overlaps. And the first signal line is cut at the locations between the defect and the two overlaps. |
| US08432504B2 |
Backlight unit, display unit and television receiver
A backlight unit in which warping in a diffusion plate can be sufficiently prevented includes a light source, a diffusion plate arranged to diffuse light emitted from the light source and including a catching portion in a peripheral portion thereof, a support pedestal arranged to support the diffusion plate, an optical sheet arranged on the diffusion plate, and a diffusion-plate presser member arranged to engage with the catching portion of the diffusion plate and to sandwich the diffusion plate between the support pedestal. |
| US08432503B2 |
Method of manufacturing an array substrate for LCD device having doubled-layered metal structure
A method of forming an array substrate for a LCD device includes patterning a first metal layer and a first barrier metal layer to form a gate electrode, a gate line and a gate pad; forming a gate insulation layer to cover the gate electrode, line and pad; forming an active layer, an ohmic contact layer, a second barrier metal layer and a second metal layer including a copper (Cu) layer on the gate insulation layer; patterning the second metal layer and the second barrier metal layer by a first etching process; patterning an exposed portion of the second metal layer and the second barrier metal layer and ohmic contact layer to form source and drain electrodes each having a double layered structure of the second barrier metal layer and the second metal layer; and forming a pixel electrode on a passivation layer formed on the source and drain electrodes. |
| US08432498B2 |
Automatic frequency selection for peaking
An automatic frequency selection circuit includes a base filter for receiving a video input, a peaking filter for receiving the video input, a first energy computation unit coupled to an output of the base filter, a second energy computation unit coupled to an output of the peaking filter, an automatic frequency control unit to compare relative measured energies of the first and second energy computation units and to output a temporarily stable selected frequency for a targeted attenuation, and a frame delay feedback unit for receiving the temporarily stable selected frequency coupled to the peaking filter. |
| US08432496B2 |
Auto channel assignment for live productions
A method for auto channel assignment in a live television production system allows the user to assign physical play out channels to an auto pool of channels. The user need only create a single transition macro event (TME) template, which at the time of playout, causes the production system to assign an available channel from the auto pool of channels, without requiring any further user intervention. |
| US08432495B2 |
Video processor and video processing method
A motion compensator includes a video data selector, a video data editor, a vector reference data editor, a delay unit, a region data editor, and a delay unit. The video data editor outputs present frame video data and average video data. The vector reference data editor outputs previous compensation video data and present compensation video data. The region data editor outputs present frame region data, previous compensation region data, and present compensation region data. The video data selector selects one of four video data pieces based on the three pieces of region data and outputs the selected data to the video output unit. |
| US08432493B2 |
Method and apparatus for composition of subtitles
Embodiments of the invention include a subtitling format encompassing elements of enhanced syntax and semantic to provide improved animation capabilities. The disclosed elements improve subtitle performance without stressing the available subtitle bitrate. This will become essential for authoring content of high-end HDTV subtitles in pre-recorded format, which can be broadcast or stored on high capacity optical media, e.g. the Blue-ray Disc. Embodiments of the invention include abilities for improved authoring possibilities for the content production to animate subtitles. For subtitles that are separate from AV material, a method includes using one or more superimposed subtitle layers, and displaying only a selected part of the transferred subtitles at a time. Further, colors of a selected part of the displayed subtitles may be modified, e.g. highlighted. |
| US08432485B1 |
Optimized designs for embedding webcam modules with superior image quality in electronics displays
The present invention is an apparatus and method of manufacture for providing image capturing modules which can be embedded into thin displays (e.g., in laptop computers) while providing for improved image quality. In accordance with several embodiments, a webcam module embedded in a display has multiple positions. A first position (or a “rest” or “park” position) is the position of the webcam module when it is not in use. In this first position of the webcam module, it is in its most compact configuration, and lends itself to integration into a very thin display. In other positions, the webcam module has a more expanded configuration, thus leading to better image quality. Such an expanded configuration leads, amongst other things, to a larger depth of focus. In one embodiment, a stepped PCB is used to provide good image quality while maintaining a compact form factor as well as structural rigidity. |
| US08432484B2 |
Camera modules
A camera module may include a mount and a barrel coupled to the mount. One of the barrel and the mount may include a polycarbonate material and the other of the barrel and the mount may include a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) material. |
| US08432481B2 |
Image sensing apparatus that controls start timing of charge accumulation and control method thereof
An image sensing apparatus has an image sensing element which accumulates received light as a charge, a mechanical shutter which travels to shield the image sensing element, and a scan unit which makes a scan for starting charge accumulation. The image sensing apparatus executes the scan for starting charge accumulation prior to traveling of the mechanical shutter and controls the scan for starting charge accumulation and traveling of the shutter to serve as a front curtain and a rear curtain of a shutter. Note that a scan pattern setting unit (113b) sets the scan pattern of the charge accumulation start scan based on information associated with a mounted photographing lens. |
| US08432480B2 |
Interchangeable lens, camera body and camera system
A camera body to which an interchangeable lens is mountable includes a receiving unit operable to receive speed information, a first controller unit operable to select a shooting mode from a moving image shooting mode and a still image shooting mode, a second controller unit capable of setting whether to operate in a silent mode provided for a situation where a drive sound of a drive unit in the interchangeable lens is desired to be at a low level during the moving image shooting mode, a third controller unit operable to generate a control signal for changing light amount which is changed by a diaphragm in the interchangeable lens, at a constant speed based on the speed information, when the moving image shooting mode is selected and the silent mode is not set, and a body transmitting unit operable to transmit the generated control signal to the interchangeable lens. |
| US08432476B2 |
Media viewing
A portable electronic device comprises a display facing in a first direction, a video camera facing in a second direction substantially opposite to the first direction, and a wireless communications receiver operable to receive supplementary image data from a remote image source, the supplementary image data comprising an indication of where a supplementary image is positioned with respect to a reference image. The portable electronic device is arranged in operation to display a captured image from the video camera on the display of the portable electronic device. When the captured image comprises all or part of the reference image as displayed on a separate display associated with the remote image source, the portable electronic device is arranged in operation to display the supplementary image positioned with respect to the reference image, instead of the corresponding part of the captured image. |
| US08432469B2 |
Photoelectric conversion device
A photoelectric conversion device may include a plurality of A/D converters each of which receives a pixel signal from a pixel array that includes pixels arranged two-dimensionally. Each of the pixels may have a photoelectric conversion element. The pixel array may output the pixel signal in accordance with an incident light amount to the photoelectric conversion element. The plurality of A/D converters may convert the pixel signal to a digital value based on a reference voltage. The plurality of A/D converters may output the digital value. A reference voltage wire, which supplies the reference voltage to each of the plurality of A/D converters, may be branched into a plurality of branched reference voltage wires each of which is corresponding to one of the plurality of A/D converters. Each of the plurality of branched reference voltage wires may be connected only to constituent components in a corresponding A/D converter. |
| US08432463B2 |
Array-camera motion picture device, and methods to produce new visual and aural effects
A system and method for creating special effects comprising capturing an image of an object or objects in motion from each of a plurality of cameras aligned in an array, assembling the images from each camera into a series of images in a manner providing a simulation of motion from a perspective along the array with respect to the object or objects within the images when a series of images is displayed in sequence, wherein certain object or objects appear substantially stationary in time during the simulation of motion. |
| US08432455B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program product for automatically taking photos of oneself
A method for capturing an image may include receiving a start command, determining whether one or more predefined conditions are satisfied, and capturing an image when the predefined conditions are satisfied. The start command and/or the predefined conditions may be dependent on an audible signal. The predefined conditions may include predetermined reception angles of the audible signal, ratios of foreground to background, and/or reception of a remote control signal. The method may also require that no visual feature is occluded. Individualized feedback may be provided which can direct a specific person within an image to correct a failed predefined condition. An apparatus and computer program product corresponding to the method are also provided. |