| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08480048B2 |
Fascia attachment system
A fascia mounting system for a window covering includes a bracket having a front flange with a removable spring clip at the bottom of the front flange. A fascia member of the system includes structure engaging the upper end of the flange and the spring clip at the bottom of the flange. |
| US08480047B2 |
Flexible adjustable storage system for Sea-Land shipping containers
A flexible and adjustable storage system for inside a Sea-Land shipping container provides at least two hangers, each hanger having a releasable anchor for attachment to a lashing ring, a flexible member of a vertical support depending from the releasable anchor, at least one rigid horizontal support member having a first end portion and a spaced apart second end portion, each end portion carrying an adjustable fastener for adjustable attachments to the flexible member for vertical support. |
| US08480046B2 |
Bracket for mounting expansion card to different slots
A bracket for mounting an expansion card to different slots of enclosures is disclosed. The bracket includes a base for attaching the expansion card thereon, a pair of rails attached on the base, a sliding element being slidably connected between the rails, a connecting element fixed to the sliding element and a locking element slidably connected to the sliding element. The sliding element is movable on the base between at a first position where the connecting element is received in the base and a second position where the connecting element is spaced from the base. The locking element is movable relative to the sliding element to fix the sliding element to the base or release the sliding element from the base. |
| US08480045B2 |
Slotted suction cup with transverse bore and holding device
A suction cup has a generally cylindrical neck integral with and extending outwardly from the cup portion outer surface. The neck is formed of a pair of legs separated by a slot opening to an exposed end of the neck. The neck also has a transverse bore passing through the legs along an axis that intersects the slot. Preferably the axis is normal to the slot. The suction cup may have a support or hook having a curved portion. The hook or support has a straight portion and a cross member attached to the straight portion. At least part of the straight portion is within the slot of the suction cup and at least part of the cross member is within the bore. |
| US08480042B2 |
Infant item holder
An infant item holder for holding one or more infant items. The infant item holder may include a base with a passage. The infant item holder may also include an elongated member that is longer than the passage and includes first and second ends. The elongated member may be positioned in the passage with the first end extending from a first side of the passage and the second end extending from a second side of the passage. The elongated member may be movably positioned within the passage and adjustable between a first orientation with the first end in closer proximity to the base than the second end, and a second orientation with the second end in closer proximity to the base than the first end. Infant items may be positioned at the ends of the elongated member. A first infant item may be positioned in proximity to an infant in the first orientation, and a second infant item may be positioned in proximity to the infant in the second orientation. |
| US08480039B2 |
Bracket of electronic device
A bracket is provided for fixing an electronic device therein. The bracket includes a main frame and a fixing member. The main frame has a connecting portion and two sideboards. The two sideboards are disposed to two ends of the connecting portion respectively and the two sideboards are disposed in parallel. A distance is kept between the two sideboards to accommodate the electronic device therein, and one of the two sideboards has a plurality of assembling holes. The fixing member is detachably mounted to the sideboard having the assembling holes. A plurality of connecting members are disposed to one side of the fixing member, for passing through the assembling holes respectively and being fixed on the electronic device, so as to fix the electronic device between the two sideboards. |
| US08480037B2 |
Device for determining the position of a throttle lever in an aircraft
A device for determining a position of a throttle lever includes position sensors each connected to a primary flight control computer, position sensors each connected to an engine management computer, the position sensors being split into at least three groups of sensors with no common simple failure mode, and at least one interface computer, that includes at least one input to receive measurement information emitted by the computers connected to the position sensors and outputs leading to the engine management computer. |
| US08480032B2 |
Aircraft de-icing device and engine nacelle of an aircraft gas turbine with de-icing device
An aircraft de-icing device and an engine nacelle of an aircraft gas turbine is provided with a de-icing device, with the engine nacelle 1 in the inflow area being provided with an annular air duct 2, into which heated air is introduced. At least one oil cooler 3 is arranged in the engine nacelle 1, to which engine oil is fed and which is supplied with ambient air, with the heated airflow leaving the oil cooler 3 being passed through the air duct 2. |
| US08480027B2 |
Movable storage unit for an accommodation module of an aircraft
According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a storage module is stated that is positioned in a region between two frame elements of an aircraft and that can be moved to a folded-out state. The storage unit forms part of a crew rest compartment in an aircraft. |
| US08480025B2 |
Rear part of an aircraft including an engine support structure assembled so as to oscillate on the fuselage
A rear part of an aircraft including two connecting rods positioned symmetrically on either side of a median vertical plane, wherein each connecting rod has an end mounted on a support structure of the engines and another end mounted on the fuselage, wherein this part is configured to allow, by rotation of the connecting rods around their axes of rotation, an oscillating movement of limited amplitude of the assembly formed by the support structure and the engines, relative to the fuselage, through the first and second fuselage openings. |
| US08480024B2 |
Corrugated paper reel
A collapsible reel having a high strength to weight ratio is provided. The collapsible reel comprises a core, around which a flexible media is wound, and flanges which prevent the wound flexible media from migrating axially off of the core. The core is formed of first and second blanks having hub portions and a plurality of spaced apart tabs projecting from the hub portions. To form the core, the tabs of each blank are folded and the tabs of the first blank are secured to the corresponding tabs of the second blank. The flanges are then adhered to the outer surface of the hub portions. |
| US08480019B1 |
Rolls for use with crop processor, system and method for processing crops
A roll for use in processing crop materials in a crop processor apparatus is disclosed. The roll has a generally cylindrical cross-section and a plurality of alternating longitudinal ridges and longitudinal grooves on a surface of the roll. The longitudinal ridges having outer edges interrupted by gaps between the ends of the roll, forming tooth segments between the ends of the roll. |
| US08480016B2 |
Device for processing feedstock
A device for mixing, grinding, drying, deagglomeration, crushing, or coating of feedstock with a rotor is provided, rotating around an axis within a housing, and a stator, fixed relative to the housing, encompassing the rotor with maintenance of a radial working gap. The rotor has rotor tools, which are distributed over its outer surface and whose active edges for crushing the feedstock work together with the stator tools on the inner circumference of the stator. In this regard, the feedstock is supplied in the carrier gas stream to the working gap. For effective processing of the feedstock, it is proposed according to the invention that in the outer surface of the rotor a plurality of indentations is introduced, whereby areas between two adjacent indentations form webs, which form the active edges of the rotor tools. |
| US08480010B2 |
Surface acoustic wave atomizer
A surface acoustic wave atomizer includes a piezoelectric substrate which has a pattern electrode on a surface and a liquid supply member for supplying a liquid to the surface and atomizes the liquid supplied to the surface by surface acoustic wave, and between the liquid supply member and the surface of the piezoelectric substrate, a small gap is provided in an area which is designed to hold and guide the liquid and a large gap is provided in an area which is not designed to supply the liquid, so that the liquid is supplied to an atomizing area in an area away from the pattern electrode in the surface of the piezoelectric substrate by using a difference in surface tension due to sizes of the gaps. The liquid can be supplied stably by the small gap and a distribution of the liquid can be limited by the large gap. |
| US08480008B1 |
Rail controller mounting apparatus
An apparatus for supporting a switch controller to a rail tie utilizing a frame. The frame extends along the rail tie and includes a platform which is spaced from one rail and cantilevered relative to the tie. A mount positions the switch controller to the platform and a clamp connects the frame relative to the rail tie to permit the proper positioning of the platform relative to the one rail. |
| US08480005B2 |
Cabin heating control system
A system described is for providing improved cabin heating. The system may include a vehicle cabin heating system having a first and second heating system receiving coolant flow from the engine; and a control system for operating the engine at a first engine idle speed upon entering idle speed control operation from previous drive operation, maintaining said first idle speed for a duration, and then increasing engine speed to increase coolant flow to the second heating system during cold ambient conditions when the second heater system is in operation. |
| US08480000B2 |
Packing bag with radio frequency identification function and manufacturing method thereof
The present invention is to provide a packing bag with a RFID function, which comprises a bag body, two conductive films and a RFID chip. The metal layer includes a first slot formed at a position proximate to an edge of the bag body and is used as a slot antenna. A second slot is formed between the two conductive films, and has a size capable for fixing the pins on two corresponding sides of the RFID chip onto the two conductive films respectively. The two conductive films are fixed on an external surface of an insulating layer of the bag body at a position corresponding to the first slot, such that the two conductive films can be coupled to two feed-in points of the slot antenna respectively, and the RFID chip can receive and transmit electromagnetic signals through the slot antenna (or the metal layer) accordingly. |
| US08479990B2 |
Portable data collection apparatus
A portable data collection apparatus includes an apparatus body and a retaining element arranged for connecting said apparatus body to a hand of a user, the retaining element being so shaped as to enable said apparatus body to rotate between a position in which the apparatus body is in contact with the palm of the hand and a further position in which the palm is free of the apparatus body, in the further position the apparatus body being supported by the hand by means of the retaining element. |
| US08479988B2 |
System for pharmacy tracking and customer id verification
A method of distributing a filled prescription order from a worker of a pharmacy to a customer includes providing a computer-readable memory device having saved thereon a first identifier of the customer and a second identifier of the customer. The method also includes requesting the first identifier from the customer and requesting the second identifier from the customer. Also, the method includes inputting the first and second identifiers into an input device by at least one of the worker and the customer. Moreover, the method includes confirming an identity of the customer by confirming that the first and second identifiers input correspond satisfactorily with the first and second identifiers saved on the memory device. Still further, the method includes limiting transfer of the filled prescription order from the worker to the customer until confirming the identity of the customer. |
| US08479985B1 |
Banking system controlled responsive to data bearing records
An automated banking machine operates to cause financial transfers responsive to data read from data bearing records. The automated banking machine includes a card reader operative to read card data from user cards corresponding to financial accounts. The automated banking machine includes a display and a printer to produce records of financial transactions carried out with the machine. The automated banking machine may also include a portal device that is operative to cause the display, card reader and other devices in the machine to operate in response to communications through the portal device. |
| US08479977B2 |
Method of receiving and paying out bills
A method of receiving and paying out bills including the steps of providing a bill passage in about the central portion of an elongate casing that extends along one side of a bill receiving chamber having a bill payback: outlet; providing a bill conveying apparatus for conveying a bill delivered to said bill passage to a predetermined position for receiving it; utilizing a bill pushing member being capable of moving in a reciprocating motion across said passage to bill receiving chamber when the bill located at said predetermined position in said passage to be received, effects receiving of the bill by pushing it with a surface of said bill pushing member across from said passage; disengaging the rearmost bill from said bill receiving chamber by operating bill extracting apparatus in the reverse direction by a predetermined amount while said bill pushing member is activated causing it to extract away and pull out from a rearmost bill leading edge retainer which holds the remaining bills in position; and, operating the extracting apparatus in the forward direction to transport said extracted rearmost bill through said bill payback outlet to said bill conveying apparatus which is operated in reverse to direct it to the customer. |
| US08479967B2 |
Surgical stapling apparatus with powered retraction
A surgical stapling apparatus comprises a handle assembly, an actuation shaft having a connector, and a retraction mechanism positioned within the handle assembly. The retraction mechanism includes a motor coupled to a transmission shaft, a first gear rotatably mounted on the transmission shaft, the first gear configured to engage a second gear, a clutch operatively attached to the second gear, a main shaft rotatably connected to the clutch, and a pulley coupled to the main shaft, the pulley being operatively attached to the connector. The connector and the pulley may be attached via a cable. The retraction mechanism may include a spring motor for maintaining the cable in tension. The spring motor may have a spring element wrapped around and interconnecting at least two arbors. |
| US08479965B2 |
Auto hammer
An auto hammer has a housing, a grip portion and a striking device. The striking device has a striking rod that can strike a fastening element using a liner reciprocating motion. The striking device also has an associated clamping mechanism for clamping the fastening element. The clamping mechanism includes a clamping member, a driving part and a sliding member, wherein the clamping member is pivotally arranged in the sliding member and is connected to the driving part, and the driving part can rotate relative to the sliding member so as to cause the clamping member to rotate pivotally in the sliding member. The clamping mechanism may thus firmly clamp the fastening element in a manner that is convenient for users. |
| US08479963B2 |
Pneumatic driving machine
The nailing machine (1) comprises an air passage (510) allowing communication between a cylinder (200) and a return air chamber (500) in which compressed air for returning a piston (300) to the initial position is accumulated. The air passage (510) is provided with a control valve (520) controlling entry of compressed air into the return air chamber (500) from the cylinder (200). The control valve (520) opens the air passage 510 and allows entry of compressed air into the return air chamber (500) in the case wherein the nailed object produces a small reaction force upon driving the nail, namely when the upward moving distance of the body (100) relative to the push lever (700) is smaller than a predetermined distance. The compressed air that has entered the return air chamber (500) further enters a below-the-piston chamber and serves as air damper, reducing excess energy absorbed by a piston bumper (360). |
| US08479960B2 |
Portable telephone holder for sun visor
The present invention may be used for positioning portable telephones on sun visors in vehicles. The holder may be in the general form of a rectangular box structure with a back side wall with a hanger attached, a right and a left side wall attached to the back side wall, a front side wall attached to the two side walls, and a bottom wall to form an open top interior chamber. The front side wall may have at least one opening therein. |
| US08479959B2 |
Device for lifting, supporting, transporting and unloading a kayak or canoe
A device for lifting, supporting, transporting and unloading a kayak, comprising, engagement means for releasably and securely engaging the coaming of the kayak support means for stably supporting the engagement means and engaged kayak on an individual's shoulders and rotation means in engagement with the support means and the engagement means adapted to rotate the engagement means relative to the support means. |
| US08479958B1 |
Carrying bag
A carrying bag including an adjustable shoulder strap as well as an adjustable secondary strap that fits across a wearer's back and around an arm opposite the shoulder strap and that has a pouch integrally attached to a carrier body thereof, the pouch accessible by both a zipper and through an opening having a flap thereover. A waist belt is also provided as an additional way to secure the carrying bag to a wearer. |
| US08479954B2 |
System for identifying fluid pathways through a fluid carrying device
A beverage dispensing system is disclosed, typical of prior art beverage dispensing systems, in that it is designed to dispense fluids, such as syrup and/or soda and water, from a bar gun. The bar gun is connected by a multiplicity of lines to a manifold and flow control assembly. The manifold and flow control assembly, in turn, receives a number of different fluids, typically syrup, water and soda, under pressure from a number of different pressurized containers. Applicants' novel system includes schematics, typically in the form of adhesive labels, applied to the dispensing system, typically on the manifold and flow control assembly, which schematics illustrate the button arrangement on the handle, and the inlet port layout on the handle, and relate the same, using words, symbols or a combination, to indicia identified ports on the manifold and flow control assembly. |
| US08479952B2 |
Closure unit with cap and pour spout for container neck finish
A package includes a pour spout and a closure cap. The pour spout is adapted to fit into a neck finish associated with a container. |
| US08479951B2 |
Pressure activated automatic source switching dispenser system
A dispenser includes a housing that holds first and second refill units, each including a product container and a valve assembly that receives product from the product container. An actuator mechanism associates with the first refill unit and is actuated to force air into the associated valve assembly and dispense product from the valve assembly until such time as the product container associated with that valve assembly is empty. When empty, a float valve of the valve assembly prevents the actuation of the actuator mechanism and forces the actuator mechanism to associate with the second refill unit. While so associated, the first refill unit can be replaced, thus, helping to ensure that the dispenser does not run out of product. |
| US08479946B2 |
Portable drip containment device apparatus and method
A portable drip containment device comprises a tray formed of fuel and chemical resistant fabric. Side walls of the tray are supported by removable bolster segments formed of resilient open cell foam members enclosed within sleeves. The bolster segments are wrapped within a flap of material extending from under the side wall of the tray and around the bolster segments to secure them to the side walls. The outer edge or end of the flap is secured to the side wall. The bolstered side walls may be repeatedly driven across by industrial vehicles without harming the bolster or side wall. The modular bolster segments may be removed and easily stacked, and the tray folded and rolled into a compact modular form, for transport, storage, and reuse of the portable containment tray. |
| US08479939B1 |
Transportable storage device
A transportable storage device having three compartments wherein a main compartment is configured to maintain a temperature dissimilar to that of its environment. The transportable storage device includes two opposedly mounted storage compartments that are hingedly attached so as to have a first position and a second position. The two opposedly mounted storage compartments are secured utilizing a pair of support arms. A first container is disposed within the main compartment and is superposed a plurality of support brackets. An access hatch is further included being mounted within the main compartment and operable to cover a second opening in the wall of the main compartment. A second container is included and is rotatably mounted within one of the two opposedly mounted storage compartments. A sliding transport member is further included and is configured to slidably traverse the storage device across a terrain. |
| US08479933B2 |
Removable truck-mounted crane
A truck-mounted crane is disclosed. The truck-mounted crane may include an elongated pole member, a pivoting arm pivotally attached to the elongated pole member, a support member secured to the elongated pole member, an extension member secured to the support member, an elongated securing member, and an anchoring member. When secured to a truck, the support member may rest on the rim of a truck bed with the secured extension member being positioned within a socket of the truck bed rim. In such configuration, one end of elongated pole member may be pivotally attached to the pivoting arm and the other end of the elongated pole member may be secured to a cargo loop of a truck using the elongated securing member and an anchoring member. |
| US08479931B1 |
Multi-purpose drapery rod system
Multi-purpose drapery rod system uses unique rod and bracket construction to provide superior platform for single and layered drapery. A single-drapery rod cooperates with bracket to attach to surfaces at nearly any angle to the rod. The single-drapery rod is easily converted to a Type 1 dual-drapery rod which layers accent drapery to the side and in front of primary drapery without a view-obstructing front rod, or to a Type 2 rod which layers fully-drawable primary drapery in front and to the sides of secondary drapery. Both types are easily converted to the other due to their modular construction, and both display drapery from the back, front, and along the sides by connecting the back and front with curved sections between them. System also includes a unique motorized assembly which easily mounts to a wall, connects to an existing traverse rod, and converts to a dual-drapery rod when desired. |
| US08479925B2 |
Display system
A display for a shelving unit of the type having a bay defined in part by lower and upper horizontal supports that comprises a first rail mounted on the lower horizontal support and a second rail mounted on the upper horizontal support. A body is disposed between the first and second rails. The body is in free moving contact with the first rail and the second rail such that the body is freely movable along the length of the rails. The body supports a user interface device. The display of the invention may be used where the user interface controls the functions of a co-located machine. |
| US08479923B2 |
Process for selective separation and for the simultaneous increase in purity, of spent, fragmented, organic materials by means of aqueous media having chosen densities
Process for the selective separation, and for the simultaneous increase in purity, of two spent, fragmented, synthetic organic materials having different densities, mixed together or mixed with various contaminating materials to be eliminated, by means of dense aqueous media, each aqueous medium of which has a chosen density “ds” as threshold for separating said organic materials and contaminants, characterized in that the process comprises: a) a step of separating the mixture into two streams, a supernatant stream (a1) and a settled stream (a2); b) a step of separating the components of the supernatant stream (a1), by eliminating the supernatant fraction and collecting the settled fraction formed from the fragments of the first recyclable spent synthetic organic material; c) a step of separating the components of the settled stream (a2) by collecting the supernatant fraction and eliminating the settled fraction; and d) a step of separating the components of the supernatant stream by eliminating the supernatant fraction and collecting the settled fraction formed from the fragments of the second recyclable spent synthetic organic material. |
| US08479922B2 |
Shieldable bag system and devices
One embodiment of the present disclosure provides a shielding apparatus including a double-lined container having an outer pocket and an inner pocket mounted within the outer pocket. The inner and outer pockets each form an enclosure having a continuous closed edge interrupted by an opening. The continuous closed edge of the outer pocket is adjacent the continuous closed edge of the inner pocket, and the opening of the outer pocket is adjacent the opening of the inner pocket. The adjacent openings are interconnected and include a device for simultaneously opening and closing the interconnected adjacent openings. A first plurality of stitches and folds are included in the continuous closed edge of the inner pocket and a second plurality of stitches and folds are included in the continuous closed edge of the outer pocket. |
| US08479921B2 |
Child resistant blister package
A child and bite resistant package having a tray and a plurality of spaced apart cavities that are formed therein is provided. A sheet material overlies the tray such that a product disposed in a cavity is enclosed and sealed therein. The sheet material includes a plurality of zones of weakening that are each disposed above a corresponding cavity. Each of the zones of weakening is formed by a plurality of microperforations that are formed in the sheet material. The plurality of microperforations, and hence, each zone of weakening covers from about 5 to 90% of the surface area of the sheet material that overlies each of the individual compartments. To access a product, the product is pushed against the lidding in the zone of weakness with sufficient force to rupture the lidding. Since the majority of the surface area above each compartment is non-rupturable, the compartments are difficult to access by a child by either hand manipulation or biting. |
| US08479919B2 |
Injectable fluid vial housing
A container for housing an injectable fluid vial. The container includes a calculation aid formed specific to the injectable fluid vial. The container is formed from a bottom, a top, and an inset side wall therebetween with a resealable lid. The top includes an opening constructed and arranged to receive the fluid vial housing. Alternatively, the container is formed from two half sections that are hinged together for holding the fluid vial housing therebetween. An inner label is permanently attached to the sidewall having at least one row of dosing indicia coordinated with a base line indicia selected from the group of weight, age, fluid volume or area. An outer label is rotatably secured over said inner label with at least one transparent window allowing selective viewing of the dosing and base line indicia and predetermined dosing rate. |
| US08479915B2 |
Adjustable protective cover for electronic device
The present invention relates to an adjustable protective cover for electronic device that is consists of a front cover and a back cover; wherein the front cover and the back cover are connected and are capable of folding to cover and contain an electronic device. The inner surface of the back cover is a surface capable of being stuck and fixed that allows at least two independent corner covers to be fixed thereon. The independent corner cover has a base seat, whereon a fixing strip is disposed to fit with a corner of electronic device body. The independent corner cover is capable of adjusting the sticking position according to the size of electronic device in order to contain and protect electronic device bodies of different sizes. |
| US08479914B2 |
System and method for dispensing additives to a container
A method and system for liquid dispensing provides an additive to a base liquid in a container. The additive may be enclosed by an additive bladder that is contained in a container cap and supported by a retaining element having an additive dispensing hole. When the cap is screwed down, a concave element in the cap may press the additive bladder and dispense the additive. |
| US08479904B2 |
Torque setting device
A device for setting the torque transferred from a primary shaft to a secondary shaft by a friction clutch comprises a supporting element and an axially displaceable adjusting element which is rotatable with respect to the supporting element and which is operatively connected to the friction clutch for the actuation of the latter, the adjusting element comprising a toothed ring, and the supporting element and adjusting element cooperating via coupling elements in such a way that a rotation of the adjusting element in relation to the supporting element brings about an axial displacement of the adjusting element in relation to the supporting element. The device comprises a linearly displaceable rack element which is in engagement with the toothed ring of the adjusting element, and an electrically activatable linear drive arrangement for the controlled displacement of the rack element. |
| US08479901B2 |
Hydrodynamic torque converter
A hydrodynamic torque converter with an impeller connected on the drive side arranged in housing and a turbine driven by the latter, connected with the driven side of the torque converter, with a turbine damper actively disposed between the turbine and driven side. To improve the vibration damping on the driven side of the torque converter, the turbine damper with a first damper part is formed out of an input part connected with the turbine and an intermediate flange, limited and rotatable opposite and against the action of at least a first energy accumulator and a second damper part with the intermediate flange and an output part limited and rotatable oppositely and against the action of at least a second energy accumulator. An adaptive-speed vibration absorber is arranged on the intermediate flange. |
| US08479896B2 |
Hydrodynamic retarder
A hydrodynamic retarder having a first blade wheel and a second blade wheel concentric thereto, forming a hydrodynamic circuit grouped about a common rotary axis. Each blade wheel includes a base body and a blade arrangement fixed thereto including a plurality of blades each connected to receptacles in the base body. A first ring segment of at least one blade wheel includes at least one first blade having a flow edge facing the other blade wheel in each case, said edge having at least one extension running in a substantially straight line between the radial outer end thereof and the radial inner end thereof, and at least one second blade is provided in a second ring segment of the blade wheel, the blade having a retraction both opposite the flow edge facing the other blade wheel in each case, and opposite a protrusion protruding in the direction of the other blade wheel. |
| US08479895B2 |
Vibration damper with stroke-dependent damping force
A vibration damper with stroke-dependent damping force includes a cylinder in which a piston rod with a piston is axially movable. The piston divides the cylinder into two work spaces filled with damping medium. A bypass between the work spaces is opened or closed depending on the piston position. The piston has a damping valve for at least one through-flow direction formed by a valve body that partially covers a through-flow channel in the damping valve. The valve body has first and second pressure-actuated surfaces on opposite sides of the valve body. The action of the second pressure-actuated surface depends on the position of the piston in relation to the bypass. The first pressure-actuated surface exerts a lifting force and the second pressure-actuated surface exerts a closing force on the valve disk. The second pressure-actuated surface is connected to a control space and a connection channel that overlaps with the bypass depending on the stroke position of the piston. |
| US08479892B2 |
Aircraft braking actuator
An aircraft wheel brake assembly has a housing for attachment to the landing gear of an aircraft, a friction plate in non-rotational sliding engagement with the housing, an actuated plate for non-rotational sliding engagement with an aircraft wheel, an aircraft brake actuator comprising, a first shaft for connection to a drive source, the first shaft defining a first axis, and, a second shaft for connection to, and actuation of, the brake assembly, the second shaft defining a second axis substantially perpendicular to the first axis, in which the first shaft and second shaft are connected in driving engagement by a ball-worm gear. |
| US08479884B2 |
Automatic locking device for track mounted gangway
A locking device and apparatus is disclosed. The locking device is particularly suitable for use in combination with a device such as a track mounted gangway and safety cage to reduce the ability to reposition the gangway and safety cage along a track surface while in the lowered access position. The locking device preferably includes a lever assembly and a pivot assembly having a friction pad connected to the lever assembly. When the lever assembly and/or gangway device is adjusted in a first direction, the friction pad applies pressure on the track surface and moveability between the gangway and the track surface is reduced. |
| US08479878B2 |
Channeling gas flow tube
A tube for moving gas between an entry end into which gas is introduced and an exit end through which gas exits the tube, the tube comprising a plurality of adjoining adjacent□ guides, each guide comprising an outer half of a smoothly-curved, modified torus, and an outer rigid tube wall. Each guide forms an internal cavity with a cavity mouth opening into an inner portion of the tube, the cavities shaped such that a vortex forms within each of the cavities as gas passes through the tube, and the flow of fluid in the tube is unidirectional and axial from the entry end to the exit end. |
| US08479875B2 |
Acoustic isolation mechanism
A rigid removable case for a portable electronic device may have an acoustic isolation mechanism between the rigid removable case and an acoustic component on the electronic device. The acoustic isolation mechanism may be a compressible component that may provide an air seal between an interior surface of the removable case and an exterior surface of the electronic device. The acoustic isolation mechanism may be constructed of several different materials and several different manufacturing processes. |
| US08479874B2 |
Acoustic enclosure for loudspeakers
Acoustic enclosure for mounting loudspeakers (1) that contains a certain number of curved-profile guides (8) arranged radially beside one another at a specific distance and forming a ring (7), between which the sound from the loudspeaker is propagated from the central space (6) to the outer ring (9), which it enters obliquely as a result of the curvature of the guides. Since said ring (9) contains no elements against which the sound can be reflected back into the conduits, it works like a closed circuit or track that the sound passes through until it is exhausted, keeping the inner face of the membrane of the loudspeaker free of disturbances that, in conventional enclosures, are caused by the reflected sound when it hits the membrane during the lifetime of the sound, thereby eliminating the distortion and alterations of the natural response linearity of the loudspeaker from this source. |
| US08479873B2 |
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker comprising a horn waveguide having a throat and a waveguide surface; an acoustic radiator assembly, located at the throat of the waveguide, comprising a diaphragm having a rigid acoustically radiating surface shaped as a section from a toroidal surface for generating acoustic wavefronts, the waveguide surface being adapted to match the shape of the wavefronts coming from the assembly. |
| US08479870B2 |
Power steering system
Disclosed is a power steering system comprising: a control valve disposed in the steering mechanism to selectably supply a working liquid supplied from a first pump or a second pump to a pair of pressure chambers of a power cylinder providing a steering force for at least one steered wheel in accordance with a rotational steering operation of a steering wheel; a first switching valve disposed between the first pump and the control valve to switch a communication and an interruption of the working liquid between the first pump and the control valve; and a second switching valve disposed between the second pump and the control valve to switch the communication and the interruption of the working liquid between the second pump and the control valve, a communication state and an interruption state being selectably formed in the second switching valve when the first switching valve is in the communication state. |
| US08479862B2 |
Motorcycle exhaust device
A branch joint is provided at the rear portion of an exhaust pipe. Second exhaust pipes with a small diameter arranged one above the other are branched at a position forward of an intersecting position P with a pivot plate. The second exhaust pipes are made to intersect the inside of the pivot plate. The gap between the pivot plate and the engine can be narrowed while ensuring a smooth exhaust. The exhaust path lengths of the second exhaust pipes are made to be offset from each other so as not to be the integral multiple of the wavelength of the exhaust sound in the operating area. This allows exhaust gases to interfere with each other in the muffler. Thus, the exhaust sound can be reduced and the muffler can be downsized. This allows for the slimming of the vehicle body without lowering the output of the engine. |
| US08479859B1 |
Energy regeneration device for either hybrid vehicle or electric automobile
The motive power of a hybrid vehicle is the driving power of a gasoline engine, the electric power produced by a generator coupled to the engine, and the electric power obtained by conversion from kinetic energy into electric energy through a regeneration brake during deceleration. Also, an electric vehicle uses the electric power of a battery as its motive power by converting kinetic energy into electric energy through a regeneration brake during deceleration and storing the electric energy. However, the regenerated energy is little. While keeping intact the damping effect of shock absorbers conventionally mounted on the suspension of a vehicle, an oil pump function is added. The electric power produced by storing, in an accumulator, oil pressure-fed from the shock absorbers, driving a hydraulic motor under increased oil pressure, driving a generator coupled to the hydraulic motor is used as part of the motive power. |
| US08479856B2 |
Arrangement for attaching a first cooling device on a second cooling device in an internal combustion engine
An arrangement for attaching a first cooling group for cooling an internal combustion engine of an automobile, the group including a first device for cooling an engine coolant and a second device for cooling supercharging air. The first device is capable of interacting with the second device through shape cooperation so that the second cooling device assumes an intermediate retaining position on the first cooling device, and the first device can be automatically locked onto the second device by elastic fitting so that the second device assumes a final locked position on the first device. |
| US08479855B2 |
Cooling apparatus for vehicle
A cooling apparatus for a vehicle includes a cooling module connected to the cooling apparatus through a cooling line to cool a driving system. The cooling module includes, according to the amount of heat transfer and operation temperature, an aircon condenser disposed behind of a radiator grill. A radiator for an electromotive device is disposed in parallel under the aircon condenser behind of a bumper hole through which a large amount of outside air is introduced. A radiator for a stack is disposed behind of the aircon condenser, and a radiator for an electromotive device is disposed in parallel. A cooling fan is disposed behind of the radiator for a stack. The cooling apparatus includes an air guide unit mounted in front of the aircon condenser and the radiator for an electromotive device, the air guide unit preventing the bypassing of outside air introduced during operation of a vehicle while distributing and introducing the outside air. Accordingly, to improve the cooling performance of the cooling module, the aircon condenser and the radiator for an electromotive device are configured in parallel, and the radiator for a stack is disposed behind, according to the amount of heat transfer and operation temperature, so that outside air introduced from the outside of the vehicle is efficiently distributed and supplied and is then cooled, thus improving cooling efficiency and ensuring the cooling performance. |
| US08479853B2 |
Control of an airstream flow rate through a covered compartment by an adjustable shutter
A system for controlling a flow rate of an airstream through a compartment includes a panel configured to cover the compartment. The system also includes a first opening defined by the compartment and configured to permit the airstream to enter the covered compartment from the ambient when the compartment is covered by the panel. The system also includes a second opening defined by the panel and configured to permit at least a portion of the airstream to exit the covered compartment to the ambient. The system additionally includes a selectable position shutter assembly configured to control the size of the second opening and adjust a flow rate of the airstream through the covered compartment. A vehicle employing the shutter assembly to vary a flow rate of at least a portion of an airstream through the vehicle's under-hood area is also disclosed. |
| US08479852B2 |
Vehicle component air flow ducting system
A vehicle transmission fluid cooler system includes a transmission fluid cooler and an airflow ducting assembly engaged therewith. The airflow ducting assembly is provided to increase the amount of airflow directed toward the transmission fluid cooler so as to improve the cooling performance thereof, and includes a dam member, a duct member, and air guides. The duct member forms a passage communicating an airflow inlet opening with an airflow outlet opening. The dam member operates to scoop and direct airflow into the airflow inlet opening, and the air guides cooperate with the dam member to increase the amount of airflow scooped by the dam member which is directed into the airflow inlet opening. The airflow outlet opening is positioned to direct the airflow which has passed through the duct member to the transmission fluid cooler. |
| US08479849B2 |
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
A vehicle propulsion system and a method of its operation are described. As one example, the vehicle propulsion system includes a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The method may include starting the engine responsive to different criteria, including criteria related to potential degradation effects that may occur due to excessive durations of engine off vehicle operation. |
| US08479843B2 |
System for drilling a wellbore
A system for drilling a wellbore into an earth formation comprises an expandable tubular element extending into the wellbore, wherein a lower end portion of the wall of the tubular element extends radially outward and in an axially reverse direction so as to define an expanded tubular section extending around a remaining tubular section of the tubular element. The expanded tubular section is extendable by downward movement of the remaining tubular section relative to the expanded tubular section whereby said lower end portion of the wall bends radially outward and in an axially reverse direction. A drill string extends through the remaining tubular section into the wellbore, such that a space is formed between the drill string and the remaining tubular section, and the system further comprises sealing means arranged to seal said space from an open-hole lower section of the wellbore. |
| US08479837B2 |
Weed stomping tool
The invention is a method and apparatus for weed elimination using a manually operable weed stomping tool that is comprised of a handle, an elongated shaft, a footrest, and a weed stomping bit that has a cutting edge. When the weed stomping bit is positioned on the ground over the center of a weed and downward pressure is applied, either by pushing on the handle or stepping on the footrest, the weed stomping bit is forced into the ground while simultaneously the cutting edge of the weed stomping bit severs the weed's foliage from the stem and the weed stomping bit crushes the weed stalk and attendant root structure to a depth below grade. |
| US08479831B2 |
Flow path control based on fluid characteristics to thereby variably resist flow in a subterranean well
A system for variably resisting flow of a fluid composition can include a flow passage and a set of one or more branch passages which intersect the flow passage, whereby a proportion of the composition diverted from the passage to the set of branch passages varies based on at least one of a) viscosity of the fluid composition, and b) velocity of the fluid composition in the flow passage. Another variable flow resistance system can include a flow path selection device that selects which of multiple flow paths a majority of fluid flows through from the device, based on a ratio of desired fluid to undesired fluid in the composition. Yet another variable flow resistance system can include a flow chamber, with a majority of the composition entering the chamber in a direction which changes based on a ratio of desired fluid to undesired fluid in the composition. |
| US08479830B2 |
Deployment of a wireline tool
Apparatus and a method for deploying a wireline tool in a borehole. The apparatus comprises a wireline cable which is connected at a first end at the surface and is releasably connected at a second end to a first end of an umbilical cable via a first connection means. A second end of the umbilical cable is releasably connected to the logging head of a wireline tool via a first latching means, wherein the logging head provides for mechanical and electrical connection between the wireline tool and the wireline cable via the umbilical cable. The umbilical cable is surrounded by umbilical pipe downhole, and the logging head also provides for mechanical and hydraulic connection between the umbilical pipe and the wireline tool. The wireline tool is releasable from connection with the umbilical cable by a release means in the first latching means, and is capable of being pulled through the first latching means and through the umbilical pipe so that it is retrievable from the borehole. |
| US08479829B2 |
Alignment of BOP stack to facilitate use of a rotating control device
An alignment system can include at least one alignment device positioned between two flanges, the alignment device having a greater thickness on one side of the alignment device than on an opposite side of the alignment device, and the alignment device having circumferential slots through which the two flanges are coupled. A method of producing a relative angular offset between two flanges can include positioning at least one alignment device in a desired azimuthal orientation between the flanges, the alignment device including pre-formed circumferential slots which permit the alignment device to align with a bolt hole pattern of the flanges, and securing the alignment device between the flanges, thereby producing the angular offset. |
| US08479828B2 |
Wellhead control line deployment
Wellhead control line deployment involves replacing the seat/retainer plate of a master valve of the wellhead with a modified retainer plate. The retainer plate defines a first port communicating from a central opening of the plate to outside the plate. A modified bonnet installs on the master valve, and the bonnet has two ports, one communicating with the first port in the retainer plate and the second communicating with a needle valve port. The communication ports are linked by a tube with outside diameter seals that inserts between the retainer plate and the bonnet. A control line hanger can be retained by locking into an adapter sleeve or directly in the back-pressure valve threads of a tubing hanger. The adapter sleeve can be attached to the retainer plate or have a collet to snap into the back-pressure valve threads of the tubing hanger. |
| US08479825B2 |
Crane device and method
Method, crane system and crane for moving a component of a device. The crane includes a supporting mechanism configured to be fixedly attached to the device, an arm mechanism connected to the supporting mechanism and configured to move in a horizontal plane, a sliding mechanism connected to the arm mechanism and configured to move substantially perpendicular to the horizontal plane, and a grabbing mechanism configured to be removably attached to the sliding mechanism and configured to grab the component of the device. |
| US08479824B2 |
Power slip assembly for wellhead casing and wellbore tubing
A power slip extends a joint from tubing disposed in casing at a well so that a casing head can install on the casing and the tubing can be packed-off from the casing. The joint attaches to an inner sleeve having collet members that fit onto the inner tubing so that the joint extends thereabove. An outer sleeve and interlocking collet assemble together and install onto the inner sleeve. The collet threads onto the inner sleeve and forces the outer sleeve downward onto the inner sleeve. Being forced, the outer sleeve causes the collet members to engage around the inner tubing. The casing head then installs on the casing with the joint extending up through the head's bowl. An H-plate installs in the open bowl around the extended joint, and another pack-off installs on the joint to pack it off from a spool attaching to the casing head. |
| US08479823B2 |
Plug counter and method
A plug counter including a j-slot sleeve; a helix sleeve in operable communication with the j-slot sleeve such that axial movement of the j-slot sleeve causes rotational movement of the helix sleeve; an anti-rotation sleeve disposed about the helix sleeve and having a keyway therein; and a key disposed in the keyway and responsive to movement of the helix sleeve and method. |
| US08479822B2 |
Downhole tool with expandable seat
A downhole tool comprising a housing having at least one flow port disposed providing a communication path between the interior and exterior of the sleeve. A sleeve assembly has an expandable seat and an inner sleeve, and is moveable within the housing between a first position and a second position, wherein in the first position the sleeve assembly is radially positioned between the flow ports and the flowpath to substantially prevent fluid communication. Shearable port inserts are positioned within the flow ports, with each port insert having a shearable portion extending into the interior of the housing and engaging the sleeve assembly when the inner sleeve is in said first position. |
| US08479820B2 |
Dissipating heat from a downhole heat generating device
In one embodiment, a heat dissipating apparatus includes a chassis positionable within a housing of a downhole tool. The heat dissipating apparatus also includes a heat sink coupled to the chassis and a displacement mechanism coupled to the heat sink. The displacement mechanism is actuatable to move the heat sink, with respect to the chassis, between a first position and a second position such that in the first position the heat sink is radially retracted toward the chassis to form a gap between the heat sink and the housing and such that in the second position the heat sink is radially extended from the chassis to contact the housing. |
| US08479818B2 |
Method and apparatus to cement a perforated casing
The invention discloses an apparatus (40) comprising: a setting section (1) surrounded by a first sleeve (2), said first sleeve being expandable and impermeable to a material; an inflating means (1a, 3a) for inflating said first sleeve, said inflating means ensuring that the first sleeve can be in contact with a first zone (60a) of a tube (10) which is permeable to said material, so that said first zone of said tube becomes impermeable to said material; and further comprising a second sleeve portion (4) partially permeable to said material on a second zone (60A′) and attached to said first sleeve so that: a path (2a) is provided between said first sleeve and said second sleeve portion and so that, when the first sleeve is inflated the second zone can be in contact with said tube allowing the material to flow in the path and through the second zone. Also, the invention discloses the associated method for treatment of a near zone and/or a far zone of a well with the disclosed apparatus. |
| US08479814B2 |
Zero emission liquid fuel production by oxygen injection
An enhanced oil recovery method is provided. This method includes; introducing a first essentially pure oxygen stream into a subterranean hydrocarbon-bearing formation traversed by at least one injection well and at least one production well, and initiating and sustaining in-situ combustion in the vicinity of the injection well. This method also includes introducing a second essentially pure oxygen stream and a hydrocarbon-containing fuel gas stream into the combustion device of a power generation system, wherein the combustion device produces an exhaust gas stream comprising water and carbon dioxide. This method also includes separating the exhaust gas stream into a stream of essentially pure water, and a stream of essentially pure carbon dioxide, and introducing at least a portion of the essentially pure carbon dioxide stream into the subterranean hydrocarbon-bearing formation prior to initiating the in-situ combustion. |
| US08479812B2 |
Method and system for accessing subterranean deposits from the surface and tools therefor
According to one embodiment, a system for accessing a subterranean zone from the surface includes a well bore extending from the surface to the subterranean zone, and a well bore pattern connected to the junction and operable to drain fluid from a region of the subterranean zone to the junction. |
| US08479809B2 |
Anti-extrusion backup system, packing element system having backup system, and method
An antiextrusion backup system includes an inner expandable backup ring having a first set of slots. An outer expandable backup ring having a second set of slots wherein the outer expandable back up ring is rotationally locked to the inner expandable backup ring to prevent an extrusion gap in an expanded condition of the backup rings. A method for operating within a tubular is also included. |
| US08479807B2 |
Well fluid leak detection and response apparatus and method
Embodiments of the inventive technology may provide a leaked fluid detection and response system in one aspect, and in another aspect, an environmental enclosure for at least a component of such leaked fluid detection system. Various embodiments of the leaked fluid detection and response system may provide wireless communication of detected leaks and a PLC that automates response and provides information regarding the presence of a leak. Enclosures may, in various embodiments, comprehensively surround enclosed components, thermally insulate enclosed components, include a leaked fluid capture basin, be aerodynamically streamlined, and/or be vermin-tight. |
| US08479806B2 |
Two-phase cross-connected micro-channel heat sink
An improved two-phase micro-channel heat sink has a plurality of flow micro-channels extending in parallel in a longitudinal direction for accommodating a flow of liquid coolant therein, and a plurality of cross-connected micro-channels extending in parallel in a transverse direction formed at regular intervals along the longitudinal direction for cross-connecting with the flow micro-channels. The cross-connected micro-channels enable a uniform pressure field to be maintained for two-phase flow boiling of liquid coolant in the heat sink. In a preferred embodiment, the heat sink contains flow micro-channels with width of 100 μm, wall thickness of 100 μm, and height of 600 μm, and cross-connected micro-channels of similar width and height cut at 1 mm intervals along the flow direction. |
| US08479802B1 |
Apparatus for casting aluminum lithium alloys
Direct chill casting that allows for the continuous or serial introduction of an inert fluid into the coolant stream during casting while allowing for stoppage of the coolant flow and introduction of only inert fluid as the coolant in the event of a “bleed out” or “run out”. |
| US08479800B2 |
Systems and methods for deployment of curtains
A curtain system is described which includes a curtain having a plurality of rod engaging members attached thereto, a plurality of rods each having a first end, and a curtain release mechanism attached to each rod at the first end thereof. The rod engaging members each include a stem having a first end and a second end, the first end of the stem configured for engagement with the curtain release mechanism, and a keyway formed in the stem and proximate the first end of the stem. |
| US08479799B2 |
Louver blind having magnetic mount
The invention relates to a louver blind having louvers (1) that can be pivoted about a vertical axis, displaceably held at both ends thereof by louver holders (2) extending beyond the louver width between an upper and a lower guide track (3). The louver holders (2) are hereby connected to each other by carriages (4) displaceable in the guide tracks (3) and aligned in parallel to each other, and can be pivoted by synchronously driven drive device disposed in the carriages (4). In order to make the installation of the louver blind—or optionally the removal thereof—easier, according to the invention, decoupleable permanent magnets (16, 18) are provided for connecting between the louver mounts (2) and the carriages (4). Said arrangement has the further advantage that the connections can automatically release when critical tension or rotational forces are exceeded, so that damage can be prevented in the connecting parts. |
| US08479795B2 |
System and method for rapid fabrication of arbitrary three-dimensional objects
A three-dimensional object fabrication apparatus is disclosed. A housing encloses a work area having at least two distinct zones including a fabrication zone and an assembly zone. Digital data defining geometry for a three-dimensional object to be fabricated is passed via an interface to a processor within the housing. A fabrication mechanism in the fabrication zone to fabricates sub-elements where each sub-element corresponds to a portion of the object substantially consistent with the digital data. An assembly mechanism in the assembly zone joins the sub-elements in relative alignment to form the object defined by the geometry. |
| US08479794B2 |
Locking tape dispenser
A tape dispenser adapted to dispense lengths of adhesive tape from a roll of adhesive tape wound upon a cylindrical tape core having a first sidewall, a second sidewall generally parallel to the first sidewall, a hub structure and a tape retaining tab extending inwardly from at least one of the first and second sidewalls. A rearwardly extending tongue is supported between the sidewall front portions, the tongue includes a rear edge approaching the tape retaining tab and defining therewith a gap. An unwound portion of the tape passes through the gap between the retaining tab and the tongue, and the tongue is movable between a first position for holding the unwound portion of the tape against the tape retaining tab and a second position allowing the unwound portion of the tape to separate from the retaining tab. |
| US08479790B2 |
Hub bore mounted central tire inflation valve system
A central tire inflation system. The system includes a central tire inflation valve and a hub bore manifold. The hub bore manifold is connected to and surrounds the central tire inflation valve. The hub bore manifold defines first and second air passageways which are in communication with the central tire inflation valve. The hub bore manifold is configured for removable connection to a hub of a vehicle and is also configured to fit within a central opening of a wheel of the vehicle. |
| US08479787B1 |
Motor vehicle snow and ice cover with hand grips
A vehicle cover having a plurality of handles with tethers disposed along its longitudinal meridian for easy manipulation of said handles and attached cover so as to lift the cover and dislodge accumulated snow and/or ice. Additionally the present invention has a plurality of fastening clips for increased sustainment of the covers positioning against wind and environmental elements. |
| US08479779B2 |
Method and a device for filling a reservoir of variable working volume
A filling method for filling a reservoir (10) of variable working volume with a fluid, the method being characterized in that the reservoir (10) is firstly emptied of any content, such that its working volume is substantially zero, and the fluid is then injected into the reservoir, thereby increasing the working volume of the reservoir (10). |
| US08479778B2 |
Weaving machine and method for three-dimensional weaving
A weaving machine and a weaving method for direct three-dimensional weaving, wherein the weft thread (32) is imparted with its desired two-dimensional course already when the weft thread is being input. The position of the warp threads (12) is adapted to the weft thread path (23). The weft thread path (23) is defined by the lamellae (44) that extend into the shed (21) in between the warp threads (12). The lamellae (44) are arranged on a common bar (45) so that they can be individually adjusted, thus enabling the adjustment of the desired weft thread path (23) by positioning the lamellae (44). The lamellae (44) and the bar (45), at the same time, form the reed (43) that is used for casting on the weft thread (32) at the fabric edge (16). |
| US08479777B2 |
Low temperature, high pressure rubber hose
Flexible reinforced rubber hose adapted for conveying fluids under low temperatures and high pressures. The hose includes a inner tube formed of an acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) or other low temperature rubber compound having an elastic modulus of not greater than about 8.4 MPa (1200 psi), and an outer jacket formed of a chloroprene rubber (CR) or other low temperature rubber compound having a durometer of not greater than about 75 Shore A. |
| US08479774B2 |
Accumulator with single direction seal
A depth compensated subsea accumulator with a cylinder with a cylinder end, a first larger bore, a cylinder shoulder and a second smaller bore, a piston sealingly and slidably engaging the first large bore with a single direction seal and having a rod attached to a first side, the rod sealingly and slidably engaging the second smaller bore, the piston having a working fluid on the first side and a compressed gas on the second side, the working fluid on the first side of the piston having a higher pressure than the gas on the second side of the piston while the piston is moving between the cylinder end and the cylinder shoulder, when the piston sealingly engages the cylinder shoulder, a portion of the working fluid on the first side of the piston within a seal diameter having a lower pressure than the gas on the second side of the piston and a portion of the working fluid on the first side of the piston outside the seal diameter having a higher pressure than the gas on the second side of the piston, such that the single direction seal always encounters pressure from the same direction. |
| US08479773B2 |
Hydraulic unit
A hydraulic unit comprises a solenoid valve group with at least two solenoid valves having each a valve cartridge and a solenoid subassembly arranged around the valve cartridge. According to the invention, a positioning unit is arranged between at least two adjacent solenoid valves and applies a force to at least two adjacent solenoid valves in such a way that the corresponding solenoid subassembly of the solenoid valve takes a defined radial position relative to the corresponding valve cartridge of the solenoid valve. |
| US08479772B2 |
Rotary three-way diverter valve
A diverter valve receives fluid from an inlet port. A camshaft is rotated within a housing to slide a cam follower along an axis to regulate fluid flow to an outlet port when the camshaft is rotated. The housing provides an inlet port and first and second outlet ports. The camshaft includes a cam lobe that is offset relative to a rotational axis of the camshaft. The cam follower is supported on the cam lobe and is movable along a longitudinal axis to selectively block at least one of the first and second ports. In one embodiment, first and second cam followers are used to selectively block outlet ports that are arranged approximately 90 degrees from one another. The first and second cam followers move in first and second directions transverse to one another. In another embodiment, a single cam follower is used to regulate flow through two outlet ports that are arranged approximately 180 degrees from one another. |
| US08479770B2 |
4-way valve system
The invention relates to valve system made up of multiple three way valves mechanically coupled together to produce the functionality of a four way valve. |
| US08479767B2 |
Combined fill and safety vent plug
A combined fill and safety vent plug adapted to being mounted in a port in a pressure tank. A valve housing member is adapted to being mounted in a port in a pressure vessel. A fill valve is located in a fill valve socket in the valve housing member. A vent valve and an overflow system are also provided in the valve housing member. All of the functions of filling, venting, dispensing, and overflow protection are provided by elements contained in one single plug in one single port in a pressure vessel. For safety purposes, the vent valve dumps excess fluid generally laterally of the valve housing member. |
| US08479763B2 |
Electronic venting and mechanical roll over valve
A valve including a mechanical part, e.g. a float, for performing a ROV function (Roll Over Valve) and an electronic part, e.g. an electronically controlled solenoid valve, for performing a venting function. |
| US08479756B1 |
Canopy assembly
A canopy assembly is provided for shading a person while riding a bicycle. The assembly includes a pair of spaced side members and a pair of spaced end members. The end members are coupled to and extend between the side members defining an open frame. A cover is coupled to the frame. A connecting bar has an upper end and a lower end. The upper end of the connecting bar is coupled to the frame. A clamp is coupled to the lower end of the connecting bar frictionally engaging a bicycle whereby the frame is coupled to the bicycle. |
| US08479749B2 |
Hair debraider
This invention is a cylindrical device placed on your finger or thumb and contains a 3 piece apparatus that can be detached coming out of the cylinder wither vertically at the apex, or on the sides. There is a pick sticking directly upwards from the finger and a mini comb and a brush between 90 to 180 degrees on each end of the pick (alternative manufacturing methods). The pick is pushed into the center of the braid and will break the braid apart. The comb or brush is used to straighten the hair as the pick breaks the braid apart.The entire process, while usually performed with two hands, can be accomplished with one hand thus making the device easier, less tiring and less expensive than alternative devices currently on the market. |
| US08479748B1 |
Hair styling accessory
Accessory for use in hair styling includes two rectangular panels, attachment structure that enables each panel to be brought into and maintained in a tubular form, a connecting part that connects the panels together and at least one hair styling implement or attachment, each arranged in connection with one of the panels. For use, the panels are brought into and maintained in their tubular form and arranged around a respective one of a pair of adjacent fingers of a user. The user can then pass hair between the panels while the implement interacts with the hair. If the accessory is used in conjunction with ironing hair, then the panels include thermally insulative material to prevent heat transfer from the hot hair to the user's fingers. |
| US08479747B2 |
Method for preparing tobacco extract for electronic smoking devices
A method and a system for preparing a tobacco extract for use in an electronic smoking device are provided. A tobacco extract and an electronic smoking device are also provided. The method includes grinding tobacco into granulated particles, and heating purified water. The method further includes injecting the heated purified water through the granulated particles of the tobacco for a predetermined period of time to produce an aqueous solution, and adding purified water to the aqueous solution. Further, the method includes heating the aqueous solution, and injecting the heated aqueous solution through ground tobacco for the predetermined period of time to produce a tobacco extract for use in the electronic smoking device. |
| US08479745B2 |
Methods and devices for treating presbyopia
Architectures and techniques for treating conditions of the eye, such as presbyopia, utilize sources of treatment energy, such as electromagnetic energy emitting devices, to implement non-corneal manipulations. According to these devices and methods, the sources of treatment energy are activated to direct energy onto parts of the eye, such as the conjunctiva and sclera, to treat presbyopia. The treatments can affect at least one property of the eye and enhance an accommodation of the eye. |
| US08479744B2 |
Fin earplug
An earplug with a stem (22) and with fins (31-34) extending at rearward and radially-outward inclines from the stem, is constructed for comfort and for high noise blocking. The stem has a multiplicity of air pockets (60) lying in an imaginary band (62) that lies on the earplug axis (20). The band has opposite band sides (64, 66) spaced radially inward of the periphery (40) of the stem, the air pockets helping to block the passage of noise. A plurality of the fins are of constant thickness with parallel front and rear surfaces (50, 52), and with the fins being stubby with a fin thickness (T) at least 20% of the fin length (E), and with the front surface (50) of each fin being at least 20% longer than the fin length (E), all as seen in a sectional view taken along the earplug axis (20). Stem peripheral parts (80) that lie between adjacent fins, extend continuously at rearward and radially inward inclines of more than 15°. |
| US08479742B2 |
Constant rate delivery device
Medical devices and related methods are disclosed for delivering an implant into the body of a patient. The devices include a damping assembly having an internal chamber with a varying inner diameter, and a piston slideably disposed therein. The piston is operably connected with a catheter portion such that movement of the piston is associated with concurrent movement of the catheter for implant delivery. The varying inner diameter of the damping assembly results in a decrease in damping force during implant delivery, thus providing a substantially constant velocity of implant delivery. |
| US08479741B2 |
Breathing assistance apparatus
Headgear for use with a respiratory mask is described. The headgear includes a continuous and substantially curved elongate member extending in use below a user's nose and at least two headgear straps capable of attachment to the ends of the elongate member. A mask attachment on the elongate member is disposed to sit below or on one of said user's nose, mouth, upper lip and an inlet to the mask. The attachment is capable of receiving the mask. |
| US08479739B2 |
System and method for managing difficult airways
A system and method for endotracheal intubation of airways are disclosed. A malleable stylet having a distal end and a proximal end, a charged coupled device (CCD) at the distal end and a transmitter, at or near the proximal end or connected to the proximal end of the stylet with connectors, transmits video to a visualization device comprising a receiver means, a display means, and a display support adapted to be worn on an operator in a position so that the operator can view the display with one eye while simultaneously viewing the airway directly. The display support is typically worn on the head of a physician. A second display can be worn by a student or observer. In some instances, the transmitter means and receiver means are wireless. |
| US08479738B2 |
Breathing mask arrangement as well as an application device and a forehead support device for same
A forehead support device for a breathing mask includes a forehead support portion adapted to contact a forehead region of a user, a conduit element adapted to couple a respiratory gas conduit to the breathing mask, and a coupling structure provided between the forehead support portion and the conduit element and structured to support the conduit element at a predetermined spacing from the forehead support portion. The forehead support portion is displaceably engaged with the coupling structure such that the forehead portion can be selectively displaced relative to the coupling structure. |
| US08479736B2 |
Respiratory mask assembly
A respiratory mask assembly for delivering breathable gas to a patient includes a frame having a main body and a side frame member provided on each lateral side of the main body. Each side frame member includes an integrally formed first connector portion. A headgear assembly is removably attachable to the frame. The headgear assembly has a second connector portion adapted to be removably coupled with the first connector portion provided on the frame. The second connector portion is manually movable to a releasing position to detach the headgear assembly from the frame. The headgear assembly is rotationally adjustable with respect to the frame. |
| US08479730B2 |
Inhaler device
An inhaler device (1) for powdered medicaments. The device (1) has a body (5) that has a recess (50) for holding a capsule containing a powdered medicament to be inhaled, at least one air passage (90) that is tangentially disposed to the recess (50) , and a mouthpiece (30) that includes a coaxially disposed inhalation passage (70) that communicates with the recess (50) of the body (5). The body (5) has a pair of opposed spring (105) biased push-buttons (40) that each include at least one piercing element (95) for piercing the capsule when loaded in the recess (50). The medicament is released from the pierced capsule when air is drawn through the air passage(s) (90) into the recess (50) and swirled about therein. The mouthpiece (30) is pivotally attached to the edge of the body (5) so that it is pivotable between an open loading position and a closed dispensing position about an axis that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the inhaler (1). |
| US08479729B2 |
Device and method for deaggregating powder
A device for inhalation of at least one air stream carrying a dose of medicament powder is provided. The device includes a flow passage passing a powder-containing cavity. A part of said flow passage propagates along a generally flat surface region. The flat surface region includes a cavity opening into said powder-containing cavity. The passing of an air stream along said flat surface region and outside said cavity generates an eddy in the cavity and the generated eddy contributes to deaggregation of the powder in said cavity and emptying of the powder from said cavity. Furthermore, a shear driven cavity principle is used in conjunction with such a device and a method of releasing medicament powder. |
| US08479726B2 |
Breathing assistance apparatus
The breathing assistance apparatus has a patient interface with a body section adapted to cover the nose, or nose and mouth of the patient. The apparatus includes a sealing interface, including at least an outer sealing member. The outer sealing member has a periphery that is attached to the body section in a sealing manner. The periphery is substantially rigid compared to the remainder of the outer sealing member. The outer sealing member is adapted to substantially seal around the facial contours of the patient to provide a sealed fluid communication to the respiratory tract of the patient. The sealing interface may also include an inner sealing member. |
| US08479723B2 |
Low-emission fireplace assembly
A fireplace assembly is disclosed and includes a smoke chamber, a firebox, a throat in fluid communication with and linking the smoke chamber and the insulated firebox and a divider positioned within said throat and defining a front air channel and a rear air channel within the throat. The fireplace assembly of the present invention offers reductions in particulate emissions when compared to traditional open-burning fireplaces and has comparable particulate emissions to wood stoves and built-in wood stoves. |
| US08479720B1 |
Heating device and method
A new and useful heating device is provided, that is particularly characterized by the efficient way it provides combustion of a carbon based fuel (e.g. wood). A vertically oriented combustion chamber is configured with a relatively narrow, lower portion, a relatively wider upper portion, and a vertically oriented wall structure defining the combustion chamber. |
| US08479719B2 |
Narrow crossbow with large power stroke
A crossbow may include a main beam; a compound bow assembly mounted to the main beam; and, a trigger mechanism mounted to the main beam for use in holding a bowstring in a cocked position. The crossbow may include wheels at opposite ends of the bow that operatively receive the bowstring. The wheels may be separated by a wheel distance (WD) when the crossbow is in an un-cocked position. The crossbow may also have a power stroke distance (PD) and the ratio WD/PD may be less than 2.0. |
| US08479716B2 |
Exhaust gas re-circulation control unit for a diesel engine
An EGR control unit for enhancing the performance as to the EGR rate and the engine acceleration, the unit being configured so as to control the EGR valve and the intake air valve with a simple control command signal that makes both the valves be operated in a coupled mode, whereby the response performance as to the engine speed during acceleration as well as the EGR gas flow rate is enhanced by means of compensation regarding the dead zones inherent in the intake air throttle valve and the EGR valve. An EGR control unit including; a dead zone evaluating means 64 that calculates the estimation excess air ratio λ in consideration of the residual air in the EGR gas; thereby, it is judged that at least one of the EGR valve 27 and the intake air throttle valve 29 is operated in the dead zone based on the rate of change of the calculated estimation excess air ratio λ when the rate of change of the ratio λ is smaller than a prescribed level; and a dead zone compensating means 66 that makes the revisions regarding the opening command signals as to the EGR valve and the intake air throttle valve so that the dead zones do not hinder the coupled operation between the valves when the dead zone evaluating means judges that at least one of the EGR valve and the air throttle valve is operated in the dead zone, and the engine is under a transient response condition. |
| US08479715B2 |
Internal combustion engine with a first and second cooling system
A cooling structure for cooling a liquid-cooled internal combustion engine is provided where the engine includes an EGR passage interposed between an exhaust manifold structure and an inlet manifold structure of the engine. The cooling structure includes a first cooling system and a second cooling system. The first cooling system includes at least one radiator and a liquid coolant circulatable through the radiator and the internal combustion engine for cooling the internal combustion engine. A flywheel housing for the internal combustion engine is provided with at least a portion of the second cooling system. |
| US08479713B2 |
Method for avoiding and/or reducing pollutant percentages in the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine
The present application is directed to a method and an apparatus for avoiding and/or reducing pollutant percentages in the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine. Before fuel passes into the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine, it is exposed to electromagnetic signals. The electromagnetic signals including at least two signals at two preset frequencies, and are above 20 kHz. The electromagnetic signals are delivered by way of a transmission member that is disposed in a fuel treatment unit, which has a fuel feed line to a fuel tank and a fuel discharge line to the internal combustion engine. |
| US08479711B2 |
Piezoelectric direct acting fuel injector with hydraulic link
A piezoelectric-actuated fuel injector for injecting fuel into a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine is provided which includes a piezoelectric actuator movable to expand in a first direction and movable to contract in a second direction opposite the first direction, and a hydraulic link assembly disposed within a nozzle cavity formed in a nozzle housing containing a nozzle valve element. The hydraulic link assembly is positioned close to the injector orifices to minimize needle valve element length and mass, thereby reducing seat impact forces and enhance response time. A refill valve operates to move into an open position to refill a hydraulic link chamber. An actuator power source operates to vary voltage to cause multiple injection pulses and to selectively maintain the voltage above a predetermined lower level between injection pulses to maintain the refill valve in a closed position to prevent refilling of the hydraulic link chamber. |
| US08479710B2 |
Injector to fuel rail coupling structure for high pressure direct injection engines
Coupling structure (10) for coupling a fuel injector to a fuel rail (16) includes a fuel injector receiving cup (14) having an outer wall (22) and an interior space (24). The cup includes slot structure (26, 28) through the outer wall. Clip structure (30, 32) has a base (31) and a wall (40) extending transversely from the base. The base is received in the slot structure and extends into the interior space so that a portion of the base engages the fuel injector to limit movement thereof both axially and radially with respect to the receiving cup, with the wall being disposed adjacent to a portion of the outer wall of the receiving cup. A retainer (41) engages the wall of the clip structure to secure the clip structure to the receiving cup. |
| US08479709B2 |
Automotive line bundling system
A system of alternate hose line bundling allows for exclusion of a higher pressure hose line from fasteners directly attached to a vehicle body. Alternatively to mounting to the vehicle body, the higher pressure hose line is coupled to a lower pressure hose line via fasteners which lack mounting features. Eliminating attachment of higher pressure hose lines to the vehicle body reduces noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) experienced by passengers in the vehicle. |
| US08479697B2 |
Glow plug having coking-optimized design
Glow plug, particularly for operation in a combustion engine, comprising at least one heating rod (1) and at least one body (2) and at least one annular gap (3) between the heating rod (1) and the body (2) and at least one chamber (4) primarily arranged between the heating rod (1) and the body (2). |
| US08479693B2 |
Flexible rotary disc actuator for inlet and exhaust-valve arrangement for an internal-combustion engine
An inlet and exhaust valve arrangement for an internal combustion engine with a valve disk has at least one passage opening and is arranged in a cylinder head drivable by a shaft in a rotating manner and having a valve seat assigned to a top of the valve disk and at least a port that during rotation of the valve disk is cyclically exposed and closed again by at least one passage opening. The valve disk and the assigned valve seat starting from the shaft run in curve or taper at an angle toward a bottom of the valve disk. The valve disk is elastically bendable such that during rotation the valve disk is deflected and an edge of the valve disk is moved toward the valve seat to define therewith a self-sealing valve arrangement. |
| US08479692B2 |
Valve cooling device of internal combustion engine
A valve cooling device of an internal combustion engine in which engine oil is circulated in a valve that faces a combustion chamber, the valve includes a valve umbrella portion and a valve stem. An inside of the valve stem is formed with an oil introduction channel and an oil lead-out channel, a jet portion that includes a jet oil passage coaxially disposed with the oil introduction channel is provided in the extended direction of the valve stem, and the engine oil is injected from an orifice provided on a tip portion of the jet oil passage to an inner portion of the oil introduction channel. |
| US08479691B1 |
Method for cooling a four stroke marine engine with multiple path coolant flow through its cylinder head
A cooling system for a marine engine is provided with various cooling channels which allow the advantageous removal of heat at different rates from different portions of the engine. A split flow of water is conducted through the cylinder head, in opposite directions, to individually cool the exhaust port and intake ports at different rates. This increases the velocity of coolant flow in the downward direction through the cylinder head to avoid the accumulation of air bubbles and the formation of air pockets that could otherwise cause hot spots within the cylinder head. A parallel coolant path is provided so that a certain quantity of water can bypass the engine block and avoid overcooling the cylinder walls. |
| US08479690B2 |
Advanced internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine power cycle wherein a combustion chamber is fitted with an inlet valve, an outlet valve, and movable piston coupled to perform work, includes an generator to form a stream of greater than about 95% molecular oxygen from atmospheric air and a nitrogen waste gas stream; a source of fuel; and a source of liquid water. The power cycle includes admission of the molecular oxygen into the chamber, injection of the fuel into the chamber with combustion, and injection of atomized water into the chamber for generation of steam. |
| US08479688B2 |
Brake mechanism for a rope pulley of a leash that can be mechanically wound and unwound for leading animals
A brake mechanism for a rope pulley of a leash. A rope is unwound from a pulley against the force of a spring and wound onto the pulley due to the force. The brake mechanism includes a brake button movable from an idle position, in which the pulley is freely rotatable, into a functional position, in which the brake button blocks unwinding of the rope. The brake button has an actuatable upper part protruding from the leash housing and a lower part cooperating with the pulley. The lower part is pivotable in the winding direction such that unwinding of the rope from the pulley is prevented, but can be wound onto the pulley in the functional position. The lower part engages brush bristles in the functional position to pivot the lower part due to pulley rotational movement in the winding direction. |
| US08479685B2 |
Magnetically coupled wall attachment device
A magnetically coupled device for an aquarium wall. The device may include an inner member and an outer member. The inner member may include a main body portion and an inner magnetic or magnetically attractable element coupled to or disposed within the main body portion. The outer member may include an outer magnetic or magnetically attractable element and a polymer static cling layer. The outer magnetic or magnetically attractable element may be magnetically attracted to the inner magnetic or magnetically attractable element. The polymer static cling layer may be configured to allow the outer member to be removably attached to an outer surface of the aquarium wall. The inner member may be removably attached to an inner surface of the aquarium wall by magnetic attraction with the outer member. The device may provide, for example, a feeding point for aquatic life contained in the aquarium. |
| US08479684B2 |
Substance-distribution system for an egg injection device
A distribution system for distributing dosed amounts of a treatment substance to a plurality of injectors of an egg injection device, and to an injection device equipped with such a distribution system. The distribution system comprises at least one syringe pump comprising an actuator for actuating the piston of a syringe, a discharge tube connected to the outlet orifice of the syringe, feed tubes connected in parallel to the discharge tube via a valve system, each feed tube being intended to be connected to an injector, and a controller capable of controlling the actuator and the valve system for distributing dosed amount of substance contained in the chamber through the feed tubes, to injectors. |
| US08479683B2 |
Apparatus including a plasma chamber and controller including instructions for forming a boron nitride layer
A method of forming a boron nitride or boron carbon nitride dielectric produces a conformal layer without loading effect. The dielectric layer is formed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of a boron-containing film on a substrate, at least a portion of the deposition being conducted without plasma, and then exposing the deposited boron-containing film to a plasma. The CVD component dominates the deposition process, producing a conformal film without loading effect. The dielectric is ashable, and can be removed with a hydrogen plasma without impacting surrounding materials. The dielectric has a much lower wet etch rate compared to other front end spacer or hard mask materials such as silicon oxide or silicon nitride, and has a relatively low dielectric constant, much lower then silicon nitride. |
| US08479682B2 |
Apparatus for applying adhesive to the surface of expanded resin panels superimposable to form layered mattresses
An apparatus for applying adhesive to the surface of expanded resin panels by means of a gluing roller, comprising a conveyor for feeding a panel, which is arranged upstream of the gluing roller, and a conveyor for receiving the panel, which is arranged downstream of the gluing roller, the conveyors being mutually aligned on a supporting framework so as to have adjacent ends, and means for moving the conveyors between a lowered position and a raised position, the means being controlled by an element for detecting a panel conveyed by the feeding conveyor so as to lift or lower the conveyors to a level at which the surface of the gluing roller is substantially in tangent contact with the panel in order to apply thereon a layer of adhesive. |
| US08479677B2 |
Lift mechanism for lifting a swim platform above and over a rear deck of a boat
A swim platform lift mechanism is disclosed, the mechanism mounted between the transom of a boat and a bottom surface of a swim platform. The lift mechanism provides a powered lifting/lowering of the swim platform from a retracted position that is level with the deck of the boat to a deployed position in which the swim platform is below the surface of the water surrounding the boat and from the retracted position to an up-and-over position in which the swim platform and its contents are positioned above and forward of the rear edge of the deck. The up-and-over position provides for an improved center of gravity when transporting a dingy on the swim platform. |
| US08479672B2 |
Sewing machine
A sewing machine includes a needle thread tension control device including a fixed portion, a shaft having an external thread portion, a thread tension dial, first and second thread tension discs, and a spiral movement member. The spiral movement member includes an internal thread portion meshed with the external thread portion while being movable relative to the external thread portion in a spiral direction relative to the axis, and a scale including marks arranged serially and side by side in the spiral direction. The spiral movement member adjusts the needle thread tension by moving towards or away from the second thread tension disc while rotating in a circumferential direction by meshing between the external thread portion and the internal thread portion. The needle thread tension control device also includes a thread tension spring applying respective biasing forces to the spiral movement member and the second thread tension disc. |
| US08479665B2 |
Rear seat table assembly for vehicle
An rear seat table assembly for a vehicle, the rear seat table assembly may include a rear seat table placed in front of a rear seat console, wherein the rear seat table includes an upper table and a lower table which may be selectively foldable around a table hinge portion pivotally connecting the upper table and the lower table, a locking unit arranged in the rear seat console and selectively lock the rear seat table to the rear seat console so as to maintain or release a locking state of the rear seat table, a rotation unit rotatably connecting the rear seat table and the rear seat console for allowing the rear seat table to be fixed after the rear seat table may be rotated upward centering around a rotation axis (axis X) which may be fixed to an upper side of the rear seat console, and a swiveling unit connected between the rotation unit and the rear seat table for allowing the rear seat table to swivel centering around a swiveling axis (axis Z). |
| US08479664B2 |
Barricade attachable activity surface
An apparatus attachable to a barricading structure and method for providing an activity surface are provided. The barricading structure may be, for example, a railing. The apparatus comprises a mountable backsplash attached to the barricading structure, a foldable support platform attached to the mountable backsplash via multiple connectors, and a locking system for locking the mountable backsplash to the barricading structure. The foldable support platform comprises a first inlay fitted into a support structure for providing an activity surface to hold objects. The connectors are accommodated in slots provided on the mountable backsplash. The accommodated connectors are hinged to the mountable backsplash using a hinge pin to facilitate pivotal connection of the foldable support platform to the mountable backsplash. The apparatus may comprise leg supports for supporting weight of the foldable support platform. The apparatus is made of a weather resistant material and a heat resistant material. |
| US08479661B2 |
Railroad car center sill structure
A rail road car such as a double tub coal gondola car has a center sill that is narrow in the middle between the two tubs, and wider at the draft arms. The center sill has a transition section that provides a smooth, gradual transition between the respective bottom flange portions of the two without sharp changes in direction in the stress fields in tension and compression, and with little or no out of plane eccentricities in load path, and with a tendency to minimize or avoid local stress concentrations. The center sill includes a set of access apertures and corresponding bridges or ties that maintain the lateral halves of the center sill flange main portion in appropriate relationship to each other with respect to resistance to buckling. The tubs fasten mechanically to the sides of the center sill. |
| US08479658B2 |
Covering for a bogie of a rail vehicle and rail vehicle having a covered bogie
A covering for a bogie of a rail vehicle lends the entire rail vehicle a low aerodynamic tractive resistance in the region of the bogie. The novel covering has a peripheral wall for surrounding the bogie and a fastening device for rotationally guiding the peripheral wall at the upper edge thereof on a superstructure of the rail vehicle. The covering is covered at the lower edge of the peripheral wall by an underbody-like end member that has fastening means for attaching the same to the bogie. |
| US08479649B2 |
Imprinter including a roller with an elastic member being radially deformed during an imprinting operation
An imprinter includes a printing base for mounting a card and a print paper to be imprinted on a predetermined area thereof, a carriage that is movable above the printing base, a roller shaft arranged at a position of a predetermined height from the card mounting surface of the printing base, a roller including an outer periphery of hard material a center boss that is in rotational engagement with the roller shaft and elastic members provided between the outer periphery and the center boss of the roller. The elastic members are radially deformed during imprinting operation to cause the outer periphery of the roller to radially move relative to the center axis of the roller shaft into a state of eccentric circle in vertical section, so that the embossed information of the card may be transcribed onto the print paper. |
| US08479646B2 |
Drawer-type cooking device and method for controlling door thereof
A drawer-type cooking device and a method for controlling opening and closing of a door thereof, in which an opening/closing direction and an absolute position of a door by a manual opening/closing operation by a user can be detected with a simple structure even when the door is in a door-open state in an intermediate position, is provided. A rotation sensor 26 is disposed in relation to an output shaft of a motor 25 for driving a door capable of opening and closing an opening of a cooking device body in an opening/closing direction. A microcomputer 20 controls drive of the motor 25 including a rotation direction by receiving an input of a detection signal of the rotation sensor 26,which is a sensor for generating two rotation pulses having different phases (for example, pulse train signals with a 120-degree difference) from the motor. A control device can determine the rotation direction of the motor 25 based on the two rotation pulses therefrom. |
| US08479644B2 |
Assembly structure of rigid body and elastic body
An assembly structure of a rigid body and an elastic body is provided. The rigid body made of glass or ceramics has a chamber and an opening exposing the chamber. The elastic body made of plastics has an indentation and a through hole inside the indentation. The assembly structure further contains an interface element attached to a bottom side of the chamber and has an extension element corresponding to the opening of the chamber. The interconnection between the rigid and elastic bodies is achieved by joining the extension element with the indentation so that the rigid and elastic bodies could be easily put together and separated. The advantages of the rigid body such as robust to deformation and fine surface finish are thereby combined with the advantages of the elastic body such as easy shaping and assembly. |
| US08479638B2 |
Tamping device
A tamping device for applying a tamping force to ground coffee in a portafilter. The tamping device has a tamper and a guard. The tamper has a reciprocating tamping base. The guard defines a passageway through which the tamping base reciprocates. The passageway fits closely around the tamping base. |
| US08479636B2 |
Valve arrangement
A valve arrangement has an adjustable control valve (10) including a control slide (12) for actuating at least one consumer connection (A, B) and an LS control line. The differential pressure of two actuating pressures (xa, xb) serves for the actuation of the control slide (12). Since the actuating pressures (xa, xb) also actuate a logic valve, which in turn influences an additional valve, and/or actuates a pressure compensator connected upstream to the control valve (10), the difference of the two actuating pressures (xa, xb) initially displaces the control slide of the control valve. The higher or the lower of the two actuating pressures (xa, xb) either actuate the further valve in the form of the additional valve, and/or influences the pressure compensator. |
| US08479630B2 |
Saw guide
A saw guide for guiding the blade of a saw during cutting of a workpiece comprises a housing having a basal surface and a guide surface adapted to be positioned on a workpiece to be cut, such that with the basal surface engaging a surface of the workpiece, the guide surface extends across the surface to be cut at a forward position of the housing, such that a cutting member in face to face contact with the guide surface may be guided during cutting of the workpiece, and measuring means for measuring a position of the guide surface with respect to the workpiece such that, in use, the position of the guide surface may be monitored by reference to said measuring means, during a cutting operation of the workpiece. The saw guide enables a cut to be made with continual reference to the measuring means. |
| US08479624B2 |
Skin-heating shaving apparatus and method
A shaver that includes a cartridge with one or more razor blades and a source of RF energy operative to apply RF energy to one or more of the blades. The cartridge can be attached to a handle for moving the cartridge along the surface of the skin. The cartridge may include a variety of configurations including one or more electrodes and one or more blades with the RF current conducting through any subset of the electrodes and blades, through the skin, thereby heating the skin to help facilitate the engagement of the blade with the hair on the skin surface. |
| US08479620B2 |
Torque-setting device
A torque-setting device includes a shank, a handle provided on the shank, a driving unit attached to the shank, a strain gauge connected to the driving unit, a spring abutted against the strain gauge, a pusher abutted against the spring, an axle engaged with the pusher, a restraining element connected to the axle, a C-clip provided on the restraining element, and a knob. The knob is operable to rotate the axle relative to the pusher, thus moving the pusher relative to the spring to set a value of torque. The knob is movable between a position where teeth thereof are in grooves of the handle to avoid rotation of the axle and another position where the tooth are out of the grooves to allow rotation of the knob and the axle. The C-clip is located against an annular rib formed on an internal face of the knob. |
| US08479611B2 |
Corkscrew with unidirectional clutch drive
An improved corkscrew includes a unidirectional clutch mechanism that enables the user to grasp the corkscrew handle, place the screw tip impinging on the cork, and to rotate the handle reciprocally to advance the screw unidirectionally and embed it in the cork. The mechanism features a clutch spring that transfers rotation of the handle to the screw in one direction only, and rotates freely in the opposite direction. |
| US08479610B2 |
Right crank arm assembly for a bicycle and crank arm and front sprocket
A right crank arm assembly for a bicycle, comprises a right crank arm and at least one front sprocket coupled with the crank arm at least one coupling portion of the crank arm. The front sprocket has an inner side adapted, in use, to face towards the frame of the bicycle and an outer side opposite the inner side. The assembly comprises at least one first crank arm element which acts in contact with the front sprocket on one of said sides and at least one second crank arm element which acts in contact with the front sprocket on the other of said sides. The contact action of the crank arm elements on the two opposite sides of the front sprocket prevents the twisting deformation of the front sprocket during pedaling. Such a deformation would cause a reduction in the transmission efficiency of the right crank arm assembly. |
| US08479608B2 |
Servo brake
A brake booster for a motor vehicle brake system of the brake-by-wire type, which can be activated both by means of a brake pedal and as a function of a driver's request, as well as independently of the driver's wish by means of an electronic control unit, wherein the coupling of the brake pedal, or of a force transmitting part which is permanently connected to the brake pedal, to an input member of the brake booster is embodied in such a way that the brake pedal or the force transmitting part can carry out a limited relative movement with respect to the input member. In order to minimize the friction which occurs between the force transmitting part and the input member when the brake booster is activated, the force transmitting part, and/or the input member of the brake booster are/is provided in the region of the relative movement of the two parts with respect to one another with means which reduce friction which occurs during the relative movement of the parts with respect to one another. |
| US08479606B2 |
Self-locking gear
The present invention pertains generally to a self-locking gear that includes an input shaft, a collar, a locking mechanism, and an output member. The collar is positioned eccentrically about the input shaft, and the locking mechanism prevents the collar from rotating. As a result, rotation of the input shaft causes the collar to gyrate about the input shaft, and the gyrating collar engages with the output member to turn the output member in the same direction as the input shaft. Torque applied to the output member with cause the output member to attempt to rotate the collar. However, the locking mechanism prevents the collar from rotating, thus locking the output member from rotation. |
| US08479604B2 |
Powertrain for an automotive vehicle with multiple-ratio gearing and a dual power input clutch
A multiple-ratio transmission with countershaft gearing with dual power input clutches. Ratio changes are made from each of several ratios to a preselected ratio by alternately engaging and disengaging the power input clutches. A robust bearing arrangement provides high torque transmitting capacity. An optimum number of transmission ratios are available with a minimum number of gear meshes. |
| US08479601B2 |
Gearless transmission mechanism
A gearless transmission mechanism includes a plurality of identical linkages, each having an off-center center of rotation, an input end and an output end. The linkages being connected to each other such that the input end of one linkage is connected to the output end of another linkage. When force is applied to the input end of one linkage an output force results in the output end of the other linkage, which is not connected thereby resulting in force reduction. |
| US08479600B2 |
Bi-directional rotary actuator
A bi-directional rotary actuator causing the output shaft thereof to output two or more kinds of bi-directional and rotational driving forces. A bi-directional rotary actuator includes a rotary solenoid (101) serving as a driving source, a link body (104) engaged with a shaft (132) such that a rotational force can be transmitted to the shaft, an output element (105) connected to the link body, and switching operation means (106) for selecting connection between the link body and the output element. Transmission of a rotational force between the link body and the output element can be appropriately switched to either gear drive performed by meshing of gears or link drive based on a link ratio, and this allows the actuator to output bi-directional rotary driving forces having two or three rotational angles. The switching described above is performed by movement, in the direction of the axis of the shaft, of the link body by utilizing the repulsive or attractive action of an electromagnetic force. The movement of the link body is performed by direct application of the electromagnetic force, or alternatively, by utilizing the principle of leverage through an arm. |
| US08479592B2 |
Field strength test devices and methods for installed engineered material arresting systems
Embodiments of the present invention provide field test devices and methods for testing the compressive gradient strength of installed vehicle arresting systems, such as those installed on airport runways. Current methods of testing such arresting systems are conducted on sample materials in-house, and these methods are not applicable or useful when tests need to be conducted on currently-installed systems in the field. |
| US08479591B2 |
Apparatus for testing fuselage panels
Gripping claws and pairs of arched angular profiles are arranged along the perimeter of a cylindrical surface segment so as to grip the edges of a fuselage panel, closing the opening of a pressurizable chamber. |
| US08479588B1 |
Method for crack and fracture modeling in directed surfaces
A method for three-dimensional crack propagation, morphology, and initiation suited to directed surfaces, or stacks of directed surfaces. An external damage measure and failure criteria can be incorporated, as well as a rule-based crack direction and morphology capability. This method is ideal for laminated composites. Further, the use of external damage and failure, and rule-based crack propagation, this method is ideal for multi-scale modeling and use in applications where knowledge and rules are necessary or desirable for guiding, driving, or influencing failure modes, directions, or other situations that are not directly incorporated into the governing mechanical equations. |
| US08479580B2 |
Pressure transducer arrangement
A pressure transducer arrangement and method of operation is provided. The pressure transducer and methods of operation reduce error in determining an offset value by eliminating error relating to fluid flow through the transducer arrangement when the offset value is determined. In a particular embodiment, the apparatus and method includes a lockout valve that prevents fluid flow between first and second fluid pressure sources when the offset value is determined. |
| US08479576B2 |
MEMS device and deformation protection structure therefor and method for making same
The present invention discloses a MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System, MEMS) device with a deformation protection structure. The MEMS device is located on a substrate, and it includes: a movable part; and a deformation protection structure, which has: a fixed plug, which is fixed on the substrate; multiple metal layers, including a top metal layer; and multiple plugs connecting the multiple metal layers. From top view, the top metal layer overlaps a portion of the movable part, and from cross section view, the bottom surface of the top metal layer is higher than the top surface of the movable part by a predetermined distance. |
| US08479575B2 |
Microgyroscope for determining rotational movements about an X and/or Y and Z axis
The invention relates to a microgyroscope for determining rotational movements about an x-axis and/or a y-axis and a z-axis. Oscillating masses are fastened to a substrate by springs. Drive elements vibrate individual masses in an oscillatory manner in the x-y plane in order to produce Coriolis forces when the substrate is rotated, and sensor elements detect deflections of the masses on account of the Coriolis forces produced. The Individual masses are arranged in two groups that are jointly induced by the drive elements to carry out an oscillating primary movement in the plane of the x-y axis. The masses of the first group allow movements starting from the x-y plane, and the masses of the second group allow movements perpendicular to the oscillating primary movement in the plane of the x-y axis. |
| US08479571B2 |
Christmas tree with internally positioned flowmeter
A measurement device is disclosed which includes a structure adapted to be removably coupled to a Christmas tree, a sleeve operatively coupled to the structure and a flowmeter positioned at least partially within the sleeve. |
| US08479568B1 |
Apparatus for measuring variations in flatness
An apparatus for measuring variations in the flatness of an Almen strip holding surface includes a gaging block having opposing parallel surfaces defining an aperture extending between said parallel surfaces and substantially conforming to the size of the holding surface. A plunger is mounted in a cross member which extends across the aperture and is moved along opposite sides thereof. A dial indicator responds to displacement of the aperture to permit detection of any variation in flatness as the plunger is moved over the holding surface and along and between the side and end edges thereof. Placement of the Almen strip holding screws is verified to be in tolerance by the gaging block in that the gaging block cannot be mounted on the holding surface if the distance between the openings is out of tolerance. |
| US08479567B2 |
Device and method of particle focusing
A method of focusing a plurality of discrete particles. The method comprises establishing a flow of a fluid medium carrying a plurality of discrete particles within a capillary having a plurality of separate walls and a longitudinal axis. The method further includes vibrating the plurality of separate walls to apply an acoustic field having a central axis substantially along the longitudinal axis to focus the plurality of discrete particles substantially along the longitudinal axis. |
| US08479564B2 |
Air-micrometer calibration device
The present invention aims to provide an air-micrometer calibration device capable of securely causing an axis of a measuring-head tip portion and an axis of a master hole to coincide with each other. To this end, the air-micrometer calibration device (91) includes a small-diameter master hole (95); a large-diameter master hole (96); and positioning means for causing an axis of the measuring-head tip portion and an axis of the small-diameter master hole to coincide with each other when a measuring-head tip portion (43) is inserted in the small-diameter master hole (95), and for causing the axis of the measuring-head tip portion and an axis of the large-diameter master hole to coincide with each other when the measuring-head tip portion is inserted in the large-diameter master hole, where the positioning means includes: a pressure oil supply passage (98); a clamping sleeve (93); and a hydraulic pressure chamber (97) surrounding a periphery of the clamping sleeve, and the clamping sleeve clamps a measuring-head body portion (42) (a case (46)) in association with a pressure of a pressure oil supplied from the pressure oil supply passage to the hydraulic pressure chamber. |
| US08479563B2 |
System and method for measuring permeability of materials
Systems and methods are provided for measuring the permeance of a material. The permeability of the material may also be derived. Systems typically provide a liquid or high concentration fluid bath on one side of a material test sample, and a gas flow across the opposing side of the material test sample. The mass flow rate of permeated fluid as a fraction of the combined mass flow rate of gas and permeated fluid is used to calculate the permeance of the material. The material test sample may be a sheet, a tube, or a solid shape. Operational test conditions may be varied, including concentration of the fluid, temperature of the fluid, strain profile of the material test sample, and differential pressure across the material test sample. |
| US08479560B2 |
Differential resonant sensor apparatus and method for detecting relative humidity
A differential resonant sensor apparatus and method for detecting relative humidity in an ambient air. The apparatus generally includes a sensing loop, a reference loop and a mixer. A hydrophilic sensing layer can be deposited on a sensing resonant beam and a corresponding hydrophobic reference layer can be deposited on a reference resonant beam for detecting water vapor concentration in the ambient air. The hydrophobic reference layer possesses similar visco-elastic properties as the hydrophilic sensing layer with no water absorption properties. A differential reading electronic circuit may be interconnected with each resonant beam for signal processing. The absorbed humidity with respect to the sensing resonant beam changes the mechanical resonance frequency, which can be detected as a change in the electric resonance frequency of the associated electronic circuit. |
| US08479557B2 |
Shock simulation method and apparatus
A shock simulation test apparatus and method utilize a test plate and formed explosive charges to sever or penetrate one or more portions of a suspended test plate in order to subject any attached test item(s) to a realistic pyroshock stimulus. One or more shock measurement sensors, such as accelerometers, may be attached to the test plate or the test item(s) to measure the response to this shock stimulus. The apparatus and method is flexible in that many different scenarios can be simulated from different test plate materials, charge sizes and types. This method replicates actual end-use source shock environments typical in aerospace applications, but can be extended to any industry having a pyroshock environment and test requirement. |
| US08479555B2 |
Method for compensating for quadrature
A method for compensating for the quadrature of a micromechanical structure, the micromechanical structure having a substrate having a main extension plane, a seismic mass that is attached by spring elements to the substrate, and first and second compensation electrodes anchored to the substrate; in response to application of a first quadrature voltage between the first compensation electrode and the seismic mass, a first compensation force being produced on the seismic mass and, in response to application of a second quadrature voltage between the second compensation electrode and the seismic mass, a second compensation force being produced on the seismic mass and, in addition, the second quadrature voltage being adjusted as a function of the first quadrature voltage. |
| US08479553B2 |
Method for fabricating wings of bicycle pedals
A method for fabricating wings of bicycle pedals includes, first, stamping a plate to form a preformed body which includes an opening and a body with a preset working surface. The working surface has a preset force receiving zone. The body has a first expanded portion and a second expanded portion and two arched portions bridging two sides of the first and second expanded portions; then applying a punching force to the force receiving zone to bend the first expanded portion, second expanded portion and arched portions to become a product; finally performing a bending process and a hole forming process on the product to obtain the wings. |
| US08479540B2 |
Method and apparatus for heating glass
Glass is heated from above and below while the glass resides on rolls (3) in a tempering furnace (1). The upper surface of the glass (4) is heated by hot air jets formed by sucking air from inside the furnace (1) and pressurizing the hot air and recycling it back to the upper surface of the glass. Air which has been taken from outside the furnace (1) and pressurized by a compressor (17) and heated is blown to the lower surface of the glass. |
| US08479535B2 |
Method and apparatus for producing high purity oxygen
A method and apparatus of producing high purity oxygen in connection with low purity liquid oxygen produced by a plurality of cryogenic air separation plants. The low purity liquid oxygen from the air separation plants is introduced into a distillation column of an auxiliary cryogenic rectification plant that is reboiled by nitrogen also produced by the air separation plants. Nitrogen is separated from the low purity liquid oxygen to produce high purity liquid oxygen from residual liquid located in a bottom region of the distillation column that can be taken as a product. Optionally, an argon column can be connected to the distillation column to produce a liquid argon product stream. |
| US08479534B2 |
Beverage dispenser
To provide a beverage dispenser capable of appropriately and smoothly supplying a supercooled beverage.[Solving Means] The present invention provides a beverage dispenser 1 which supplies a beverage brought into a supercooled state at a solidifying point or less and which releases the supercooled state in the outside, and the beverage dispenser includes a primary cooling device 13 which cools the beverage to an ice point or so, a beverage supply circuit 7 which supplies the beverage cooled by the primary cooling device 13 to the outside, a brine circuit 31 through which an antifreezing liquid cooled to the solidifying point or less of the beverage is circulated, and a heat exchanger 16 for supercooling the beverage, which performs heat exchange between the beverage flowing through the beverage supply circuit 7 and the antifreezing liquid flowing through the brine circuit 31. |
| US08479521B2 |
Gas turbine combustor with liner air admission holes associated with interspersed main and pilot swirler assemblies
A combustor for a gas turbine engine having an annular combustion chamber includes a plurality of main fuel injection and air swirler assemblies and a plurality of pilot fuel injection and air swirler assemblies disposed in a circumferential ring extending about the circumferential expanse of a forward bulkhead. The plurality of pilot fuel injection and air swirler assemblies are interspersed amongst and disposed in the circumferential ring of main fuel injection and air swirler assemblies. Fuel being supplied to the combustor is selectively distributed between the plurality of main fuel injection and air swirler assemblies and the plurality of pilot fuel injection and air swirler assemblies in response to the level of power demand on the gas turbine engine. |
| US08479520B2 |
Gas turbine combustor
A low cost gas turbine combustor has main nozzles having a cylindrical central tube using an interior as an oil fuel path, a cylindrical outer tube disposed on an outermost periphery of the main nozzle, and a support tube disposed between the central tube and the outer tube, the central tube, the outer tube and the support tube each being formed independently. The support tube has such an internal diameter as to form a clearance becoming an insulating air layer between the support tube and an outer periphery of the central tube, and includes supporting portions formed on an axially upstream side and radially contacting an inner periphery of the outer tube groove portions formed along an axial direction between the supporting portions, and a cylindrical portion formed on an axially downstream side and having an external diameter equal to or smaller than an external diameter of the groove portions. |
| US08479519B2 |
Method and apparatus to facilitate cooling of a diffusion tip within a gas turbine engine
A method and apparatus for a diffusion tip for use with a fuel nozzle is described. The diffusion tip has a substantially circular body including an outer surface and an opposite inner surface. The diffusion tip body extends from a discharge end to an inlet end. The diffusion tip includes an inlet surface adjacent to the discharge end and defined within the body. A discharge surface is defined opposite the inlet surface. A plurality of diffusion apertures each extend between the discharge surface and the inlet surface, each aperture is oriented relative to the body to discharge a diffusion flow outward therefrom at an angle γ (gamma) measured in an X-Z plane between a centerline of the aperture and an X-axis extending tangentially to the outer surface, and at an angle θ (theta) measured in a Y-Z plane between the centerline of the aperture and a Y-axis extending radially outward from the centerline. |
| US08479513B2 |
Control device for drive unit of rotary motor for electrically assisted turbocharger
A driver (41) for driving a rotary motor (20) directly connected to a rotating shaft member of a supercharger is mounted on a board (39) together with a control device (51) and a heat sink (39a) and is housed in an engine room. Even when a temperature (ambient temperature) in the engine room detected by a temperature sensor (47b) rises up to an upper limit temperature (upper limit ambient temperature) of the ambient temperature, if a temperature (driver temperature) of a portion of the driver (41) that has a highest temperature detected by a temperature sensor (47a) is yet to rise to an upper limit temperature (upper limit internal temperature) of the driver temperature, the control device (51) causes the rotary motor (20) to continue to drive as the motor while lowering an upper limit of an output current. |
| US08479512B2 |
Internal combustion engine comprising an exhaust gas recirculation system
An internal combustion engine includes a plurality of cylinders, an air intake line and an exhaust line collecting exhaust gas. The engine also includes an EGR line for rerouting a part of the exhaust gas from the exhaust line towards the air intake line and at least a first turbocharger comprising a first turbine driven by the exhaust gas flowing towards the atmosphere, linked to a first compressor located on the air intake line. The engine further includes a variable geometry EGR turbine located on the EGR line, driven by the EGR gas flowing in the EGR line. Thus, thanks to the pressure reduction occurring in the turbine, the EGR gas temperature is lowered, and less cooling power from the engine cooling system is required to cool down the EGR. |
| US08479506B2 |
Piston engine
A Stirling engine is provided with a fluid passage that connects a low temperature-side actuating fluid space and a crankcase inner space, and a passage opening/closing valve that is provided in the fluid passage and that opens and closes the fluid passage. Upon stopping of the Stirling engine, the passage opening/closing valve enables communication through the fluid passage, at a region at which the piston floats in the cylinder. This region is determined based on the pressure of an actuating fluid in the actuating fluid space and the rotational speed of a crankshaft of the Stirling engine. |
| US08479505B2 |
Systems and methods for reducing dead volume in compressed-gas energy storage systems
In various embodiments, dead space and associated coupling losses are reduced in energy storage and recovery systems employing compressed air. |
| US08479501B2 |
Exhaust cooling module for SCR catalysts
An exhaust aftertreatment system having a NOX absorber-catalyst and an ammonia-SCR reactor. During regenerations, the NOX absorber-catalyst generates ammonia. The ammonia-SCR reactor captures this ammonia and later uses it to reduce NOX. A Venturi is provided in an exhaust conduit connecting the NOX absorber-catalyst to the ammonia-SCR reactor. The Venturi draws sufficient air to keep the ammonia-SCR reactor under lean conditions throughout the NOX absorber-catalyst regenerations. Maintaining lean conditions for the ammonia-SCR reactor in this manner mitigates poisoning of the ammonia-SCR reactor by hydrocarbons slipping from the NOX absorber-catalyst during the regenerations. Mitigating this poisoning improves the performance of the exhaust aftertreatment system and reduce the loss of useful ammonia to oxidation. |
| US08479496B2 |
Selective catalytic reduction system using electrically heated catalyst
An exhaust system includes N heating elements and a particulate matter (PM) filter. The N heating elements heat N portions of an exhaust gas. At least one of the N heating elements is coated with a first selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst. The PM filter has an inlet that receives the N portions of the exhaust gas heated by the N heating elements. Each of the N portions of the exhaust gas heats a corresponding region of the inlet. N is an integer greater than 1. |
| US08479493B2 |
Oxidation catalysts for engines producing low temperature exhaust streams
The oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) in an oxygen-containing gas stream, such as the exhaust stream from a diesel engine, or other lean-burn engine, may be catalyzed using a combination of mixed oxide particles of cerium, zirconium and copper, and discrete particles of an alumina-supported platinum group metal catalyst. The catalyzed oxidation of CO and HC by this combination of oxidation catalyst particles is effective at temperatures below 300° C. |
| US08479489B2 |
Turbine exhaust recirculation
An exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system and a method for recirculating an exhaust gas stream from an outlet to an inlet of a turbomachine are provided. The EGR system includes a guide element to channel the exhaust gas stream from the inlet to the outlet and a Rankine cycle system through which a working fluid is circulated. The Rankine cycle system including serially a high temperature heat exchanger in heat exchange relationship with the guide element; an expansion device coupled to a generator; a low temperature heat exchanger in heat exchange relationship with a cooling medium; and a pump. The exhaust stream at the outlet has a first temperature and the exhaust stream downstream of the high temperature heat exchanger has a second temperature that is lower than the first temperature. |
| US08479488B2 |
Oxyfuel gas turbine system and method
A gas turbine includes a compressor with a plurality of pressure plates, a combustor downstream from the compressor, and a turbine downstream from the combustor and axially aligned with the compressor. The combustor produces combustion gases that flow to the turbine. A first manifold connected to the combustor contains a first process gas for combustion in the combustor. A second manifold connected upstream of the turbine contains a second process gas, and a portion of the second process gas flows to the plurality of pressure plates. |
| US08479481B2 |
Aquatic plant harvester
An aquatic harvester for use with an aquatic craft, the aquatic craft including sides, a bow and a stern, the aquatic harvester including a frame which includes one or more arms, the or each arm having a forward end portion and the or each arm being pivotally connected to the aquatic craft at a position spaced from the forward end, said forward end of the or each arm being adapted for connection with an implement, the apparatus further including means for controlling the pivotal position of the or each arm relative to the aquatic craft. |
| US08479478B2 |
Surface-treated multi-layered polymer film
A sealable polymeric film structure comprising (a) a core layer including a thermoplastic polymer, the core layer having a machine side and a product side that is on a side of the film opposite from the machine side; and (b) a sealable skin layer positioned on the product side of the core layer, the sealable skin layer including a thermoplastic polymer, wherein an exterior surface of the sealable skin layer has a receding Cahn value of at least about 0.48; and wherein in some heat—sealable embodiments, the sealable skin layer sealed to itself has a MST of from about 175° F. to about 220° F., with a jaw pressure of 20 psi for 0.75 seconds and a minimum acceptable seal strength of 200 g/in at 175° F., on a Wrap-Ade™ Crimp Sealer Model J or K. |
| US08479476B2 |
Unit for supplying products
The unit for supplying and inserting products (2) to and into container elements (3, 3A) advancing along a line of a packing machine (M) comprises a flat element (8) provided with a through-slit (10), and a disc (4) affording through-holes (6). The unit (1) is positionable with respect to the line of the packing machine (M) such that the slit (10) is arranged above the container elements (3, 3a). Products (2) are supplied onto the disc (4) which products (2) are to be inserted in the container elements (3, 3a), each through-hole (6) being of such a size as to be able to receive and house internally thereof a product (2). The disc (4) is mounted above the flat element (8) such that the products (2) housed in the through-holes (6) rest on the flat element (8). The disc (4) is also activatable in rotation with respect to the flat element (8), and with respect to the container elements (3, 3a) advancing long the line, in order to bring the products (2) received in the through-holes (6) above the slit (10), contemporaneously with a transit of the container elements (3, 3a) below the slit (10) such that the products (2) fall directly internally of the container elements (3, 3a). |
| US08479473B2 |
Supporting arch structure construction method
In a method of constructing a supporting structure (e.g. of a bridge or the roof of a building) in arched form, an initially straight or pre-curved frame structure, having a first end and a second end opposite to the first end, is pivotally supported at the first and second ends, whereupon the first and second ends are pushed towards one another to achieve a displacement of the first and second ends relative to one another, where the reduction of the distance between the first and second ends causes them to pivot and the frame structure to progressively and flexibly bend, against its resiliency, into a final arched form, the displacement of the first and second ends relative to one another is chosen to amount to at least 1% of the initial distance between the first and second ends, where the first and second ends are then fixed relative to one another in their displaced position so as to preserve the final arched form of the frame structure. |
| US08479470B2 |
Building wall for resisting lateral forces
This invention relates to an improved wall for resisting lateral forces imposed on a building that incorporates the wall. Specifically, this invention relates to a wall in a light-frame building having within it a sub-component specifically designed to resist lateral forces imposed on the building such as those caused by an earthquake or by wind loading. The wall is formed with a bottom plate that rests on the underlying structural component of the building. A plurality of vertically-disposed studs connect to the bottom plate, and a top plate is supported by and connects to the vertically-disposed studs. A shear-resisting assembly connects to the top plate and the underlying structural component. The shear-resisting assembly has top and bottom struts and first and second chords and a planar shear resisting element connected thereto. |
| US08479467B2 |
Prefabricated roofing panel composite
A prefabricated roofing panel composite includes a prefabricated cover board having a high-density polymer or predominantly polymer material core layer having a density between 6 lbs/ft3 and 25 lbs/ft3 and an insulation board that has a low-density polymer or predominantly polymer material foam core layer having a density less than or equal to about 2 lbs/ft3. The cover board may have a waterproofing membrane forming the top major surface of the cover board. The low-density foam core layer of the insulation board may be formed with the high-density core layer of the cover board being currently or subsequently formed over and bonded to a top major surface of the low-density foam core layer in the same operation or preformed insulation boards may be fed into a production line with the high-density core layer of the cover board being formed over and bonded to top major surfaces of the low-density foam core layers of the insulation boards. |
| US08479466B2 |
Blockouts for concrete molds
A blockout mold is mountable on an anchor bolt to enable a recess to be formed around the anchor bolt when concrete is poured, and is easily stripped from the recess after the concrete has set. The blockout mold has a body and a neck portion with an elongate bore therethrough to receive the shank of the anchor bolt. Pairs of vertically spaced slots in the neck portion enable a releasable clip to selectively secure the neck portion to the shank; while the body has a sleeve of compressible material to enable the blockout mold to be stripped from the recess. |
| US08479465B2 |
Skirting board having a rail
A skirting has a profiled rail which forms an accommodating area for a covering. The accommodating area has an opening, through which a visible side of a covering can be seen. The profiled rail has stops on both sides of the opening which are drawn towards said opening. In this case, the opening is dimensioned so as to be smaller than the width of the covering. The covering is pressed against the stops by a spring. In order that it is also possible to use flexible coverings, such as those made of textile materials, for example, at least one plate is provided between the spring and the covering. This plate keeps the covering in a flat configuration. |
| US08479457B2 |
Branched spike bird deterrent
A bird deterrent has a base and at least one branched spike extending from the base. The branching can occur anywhere along the spike, and a single branch point can give rise to multiple branches. Spikes can have multiple branches. The various branches can be of any suitable length(s), and can be oriented in any suitable direction(s). |
| US08479455B2 |
Flashing assembly
A flashing assembly comprising a base plate, flashing, flashing adapter and O-ring is disclosed. The flashing assembly components fit tightly together, creating a waterproof seal. The flashing assembly has no exposed rubber pieces, which prevents erosion and extends the life of the assembly. The waterproofing and durability of the disclosed flashing assembly make it ideal for enclosing electrical wires and running plumbing needs through the roof or wall membrane. The disclosed flashing assembly is capable of attaching to a number of products, including, but not limited to junction boxes, combiners, and service panels. |
| US08479449B2 |
Sealing, trimming and guiding strip
A sealing, trimming or guiding strip (15) for windows of a motor vehicle comprises a loop formed around the fixed quarter light (11) of the vehicle and a further loop formed around the sliding main window (9) of the rear door of the vehicle. This strip comprises an extruded part (19) extending along both loops to provide a pleasing continuous appearance for the exterior of the vehicle. A portion of the extruded material (19) is cut away and replaced by molded material molded onto the extruded part (19) for the portion of the strip into which the quarter light (11) is mounted. |
| US08479447B2 |
Drive system for driving and for guiding a wall element for a room partitioning wall system
A drive system for driving and for guiding a wall element, in particular for a room partitioning wall system, with a carriage unit, which is guided to be longitudinally movable in a guiding rail. The carriage unit has a roller carriage disposed within the guiding rail, and a drive unit disposed below the guiding rail. A guiding device is provided in the transition area between the roller carriage and the drive unit that cooperates with the guiding rail for guiding the carriage unit. |
| US08479432B2 |
Non-lethal weapon mount system with modular weapon components
The present invention is a non-lethal weapon mount system with modular weapons components comprising at least two personal protection components capable of independent activation, and a means to increase or decrease the intensity level of at least one of the personal protection components. |
| US08479431B2 |
Firearm camouflage system
The present invention provides a pre-packaged kit and a method for creating unique multi-toned custom patterns or camouflage on a surface, and in particular the surfaces of a firearm. The multi-toned custom patterns or camouflage are created by separating or peeling off pre-cut stencil/templates from sheet or roll stock adhesive backed masking material and applying the stencil/templates to a surface. The surface is subsequently sprayed with coatings, finishers and sealants. Additional layers of stencil/templates are then added and sprayed with various colors or tones of coatings, finishers and sealants to complete the desired effect on the firearm surface. |
| US08479430B1 |
Shell storage system for gunstocks
An ammunition carrier that is attached to a gun in apposition that does not interfere with the operation of the gun. The carrier is attached to the gun using a locking slider system. Once in place, it allows a shooter to carry up to 24 shells simply and easily. The carrier can be made in a straight-line design or a pistol grip type design. The carrier has Velcro patches that allow the shell holders to be attached. The shell holders have elastic bands that hold the shells. One or two shell holders can be attached to the carrier as desired. A user can keep several carriers available, each with a different type of shot or load so that the user simply has to select the desired ammunition for a particular purpose and attach it to the gun. It can also be used to carry ammo clips for rifles. |
| US08479423B2 |
Advanced photoluminescent components and formulation/fabrication methods for production thereof
A photoluminescent device and a photoluminescent exit sign. The photoluminescent device includes a polymer matrix having a light-emitting exterior surface for emission of photoluminescent light therefrom. The photoluminescent device has a plurality of UV or visible-light excited phosphor particles included in the polymer matrix. The phosphor particles have a concentration greater in an exterior region of the polymer matrix proximate the light-emitting exterior surface than in an interior region of the polymer matrix. The exit sign includes at least two plates interlocked together with at least one typographical character disposed on the plates. The typographical character is formed from the polymer matrix containing the phosphor particles. |
| US08479422B1 |
Electronic shelf label with internal information
An electronic shelf label with internal information which may be used all locations, including wet locations. The electronic shelf label includes a housing including a substantially transparent portion containing an aperture and an inner surface, a display in the housing for displaying information about an item associated with the electronic shelf label, wherein the display is visible through the aperture, and a layer of material adjacent the inner surface for conveying information about the item. |
| US08479417B2 |
Article of footwear with vertical grooves
An article of footwear with a sole that includes a plurality of vertical grooves is disclosed. The plurality of vertical grooves may be disposed on a sidewall and a lower portion of the sole. The vertical grooves can facilitate twisting of the sole. |
| US08479416B2 |
Footwear component for an article of footwear
A footwear component and a method of making the footwear component are disclosed. The footwear component includes a first portion and a second portion that are joined at a transition zone. The first portion and the second portion have different flexibility characteristics. The footwear component can bend at the transition zone to accommodate the natural bending of a foot. |
| US08479415B2 |
Article of footwear with a detachable wrap
An article of footwear with a detachable wrap is disclosed. The detachable wrap removably attaches to a lacing area of an upper and extends under the article of footwear through a channel in a midsole of the sole structure. The detachable wrap may change the appearance of the article of footwear and additionally provide support to a foot of the wearer. |
| US08479412B2 |
Tethered fluid-filled chambers
An article of footwear may incorporate a chamber with an outer barrier and a tether element. The barrier may be formed from a polymer material that defines an interior cavity, and tether element may be located within the interior cavity and joined to opposite sides of the barrier. Upon pressurization of the chamber, the tether element may extend across the interior cavity and be placed in tension by the outward force of a pressurized fluid within the interior cavity. The tether element may have a variety of configurations. For example, the tether element may have a diagonal orientation, or different tether elements may have different lengths. A tether element may also have plates or tie pieces secured to opposite sides of the chamber, with one or more tethers extending between. Also, the tether element may include one of more sheets that extend across the interior cavity. |
| US08479410B2 |
Dryer and a control method thereof
A dryer control method includes: a first dry step of drying a dry item with strong hot wind while tumbling a drum in which the dry item is placed; and a second dry step of drying the dry item with mild hot wind while tumbling the drum. Because the dry process is repeatedly performed on the dry item according to a proposed dry algorithm, the dry item made of wool fiber can be prevented from being shrunken or creased in the dry process. |
| US08479404B1 |
Firearm tool
A tool for a firearm provides a member including a curved edge forming a comparison template adapted for comparison with feed slot elements of an ammunition magazine suitable for use with the firearm, for determining curvature corrections needed for the feed slot elements. |
| US08479398B2 |
Shaving assembly
A shaving assembly having plural independent flexibly mounted cartridges. The assembly comprises a cartridge support including two flexible cross members at opposing ends of a bridge member each at one of a pair of attachment points. The cross member is flexible into either a convex or a concave orientation about the respective attached point. The assembly further comprises a plurality of cartridges each including a carrier and at least one blade, each cartridge independently coupled to the cross members in a parallel relation to each other cartridge to the cross members. |
| US08479397B2 |
Electric shaver
In an electric shaver moving inner blades reciprocally and linearly, outer blades which are elongated in longitudinal direction are respectively held on outer blade frames and the outer blade frames are further held in floatable in floating direction on a frame holder. An outer blade mounting base has a pair of protrusions formed at positions near to both ends thereof in the longitudinal direction to protrude in the floating direction and the frame holder has a pair of end walls arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction and a pair of engaging rims formed at both ends in the longitudinal direction. The engaging rims enclose the protrusions so as to position the frame holder to the outer blade mounting base when the frame holder is attached to the outer blade mounting base. |
| US08479396B2 |
Method for hardening running surfaces of roller bearing components
A method for hardening running surfaces of roller bearing components, in particular outer bearing rings. In order to provide the edge area (functional layer) of the roller bearing components with a deep layer which is particularly hard and resistant to corrosion, the roller bearing component undergoes nitration for a long period of time at a temperature of between 450 and 650° C. for at least 25 hours. During treatment no carburizing and subsequently no quenching takes place. |
| US08479392B2 |
Anti-vibration bar clamping tool and method
An automated tool and method for spacing a gap between the anti-vibration bars and the flow tubing in the bend region of a tube bundle of a U-tube steam generator, prior to welding, during manufacture. The tool comprises two toggle clamp elements attached to a scissors assembly, which are actuated by a linear drive motor in line with a force gauge, and coupled to a distance measuring device. The tool is operated by first attaching the toggle clamps respectively to two adjacent anti-vibration bars. A linear drive motor on the tool is then cycled and readouts of force and distance are plotted on a curve to determine the point of contact between the anti-vibration bar and the tube. The computer then automatically cycles the drive motor to adjust the gap to a desired range of position coordinates adjacent the point at which the curve markedly changes slope. |
| US08479390B2 |
Method for producing connector
A method for producing a connector has first to fifth processes. In the first process, a contact unit having a plurality of contacts and a tying part, is formed with the contacts tied at each axial direction middle part of the contacts by the tying part and with the contacts arranged parallel to each other. In the second process, a plating layer is formed on a part of the contact unit by soaking the contact unit in a plating bath from an axial direction one end side of the contact unit to an axial direction middle part of the tying part. In the third process, the contacts are isolated by cutting the tying part. In the fourth process, a part where the plating layer is formed, of the contact is inserted into a hole of a circuit board. In the fifth process, the contacts are soldered to the circuit board. |
| US08479389B2 |
Method of manufacturing a flex-rigid wiring board
A method of manufacturing a flex-rigid wiring board including disposing a flexible board comprising a flexible substrate and a conductor pattern formed over the flexible substrate and a non-flexible substrate adjacent to each other, covering a boundary between the flexible board and the non-flexible substrate with an insulating layer comprising an inorganic material, providing a conductor pattern on the insulating layer, forming a via hole opening which passes through the insulating layer and reaches the conductor pattern of the flexible board, and plating the via hole opening to form a via connecting the conductor pattern of the flexible board and the conductor pattern on the insulating layer. |
| US08479387B2 |
Method of manufacturing three-dimensional circuit device
In a method of manufacturing a three-dimensional (3D) circuit device, conducting circuits are formed on a non-conductive base through electroplating. The non-conductive base, and a circuit pattern section, at least one conducting junction and at least one current-guiding junction provided on the base are formed through double injection molding process. An electrically conductive interface layer is formed on the circuit pattern section and the junctions; and then, metal circuits are formed on the circuit pattern section through electroplating. By providing the conducting junction and the current-guiding junction, when forming metal circuits through electroplating, electroplating current can be evenly distributed over the circuit pattern section to form metal coating with uniform thickness, which enables upgraded production efficiency and reduced cost in manufacturing a 3D circuit device. |
| US08479379B2 |
Roots-type blower rotor alignment apparatus
Roots-type blowers with helical cycloidal rotors exhibit variation in leakback flow with angular position intrinsic to these rotor geometries. Calibration of individual blowers using a combination of high-resolution alignment and enhanced detection of residual noise phenomena permits noise in as-produced blowers to be significantly attenuated. Intrinsic lower limits of noise induced by leakback variation are associated with manufacturing tolerances, necessary clearances, and particular geometric considerations. Gross alignment errors (excluding contact between rotors) produce a characteristic noise pulse rate that is three times the shaft rate. Proper alignment suppresses this and reveals a pulse sequence at double this rate and at about half of the amplitude of faulty alignment. The novel process explains the error mechanisms and defines repeatable calibration methods for a mass-production environment, introducing appropriate gauges and methods for the task. |
| US08479375B2 |
Method of making an embedded electromagnetic device
A photostructurable ceramic is processed using photostructuring process steps for embedding devices within a photostructurable ceramic volume, the devices may include one or more of chemical, mechanical, electronic, electromagnetic, optical, and acoustic devices, all made in part by creating device material within the ceramic or by disposing a device material through surface ports of the ceramic volume, with the devices being interconnected using internal connections and surface interfaces. |
| US08479373B2 |
Apparatus for the production of caps
An apparatus for the production of caps comprises a first operating turntable device associated with a first operating arrangement and a further operating turntable device associated with a further operating arrangement, between said first operating turntable device and said further operating turntable device a transferring turntable device being interposed such as to transfer said caps between said first operating turntable device and said further operating to turntable device; a device for positioning a tool in relation to an object to be processed comprises a toolholder element suitable for bearing said tool, an adjustable member operationally associatable with said toolholder element and an abutting member suitable for pressing said toolholder element against said adjustable member. |
| US08479371B2 |
Process for treatment of porous substrates
A process and an associated assembly for supporting a porous media during a treatment which exposes the media to a fluid that modifies at least one property of the media. The assembly includes a supporting core. The media is wrapped in a plurality of layers about the core to form a first roll of the media. The assembly includes first securement mechanisms exerting diametrical pressure on the ends of the first roll to prevent fluid flow axially out of the ends of the first roll. An additional amount of the media is being wrapped in a plurality of layers about the first roll to form a second roll of the media. The assembly includes second securement mechanisms exerting diametrical pressure on the ends of the second roll to prevent fluid flow axially out of the ends of the second roll. The assembly may be part of equipment. |
| US08479369B2 |
Device and method for mounting vehicle instrument panel
A device for mounting a vehicle instrumental panel has an assist machine and work robots. The assist machine has an instrument panel holding mechanism for holding an instrument panel, conveys the instrument panel, and has an assist function for holding the weight of the instrument panel. The work robots have connection mechanisms removably connected to the instrument panel holding mechanism and operate the instrument panel holding mechanism to place the instrument panel in a vehicle interior. |
| US08479365B2 |
Syringe assembly device
A barrel support device supports a barrel rotationally about an axis of the barrel with the axis being arranged vertically and an opening of the barrel through which a plunger rod is inserted being directed upward. A chuck of a plunger rod support device holds the plunger rod in a first holding state in which the plunger rod is prevented from rotating about and sliding along its axis and inserts it into the barrel. Then, the chuck enters a second holding state in which the plunger rod is prevented from rotating about its axis but is not prevented from sliding along its axis. A load application device places a load acting downward on the plunger rod, and a rotation application device rotates the barrel in a direction in which the plunger rod is screwed into a gasket in the barrel. |
| US08479363B2 |
Methods for wafer level trimming of acoustically coupled resonator filter
A method of manufacturing an acoustically coupled device including a stack having a first resonator, a second resonator and a decoupler, the decoupler formed between the first and second resonators, and each resonator having a piezoelectric layer sandwiched between a bottom electrode and a top electrode, includes providing a substrate having a first sacrificial layer formed in or on a selected portion of the substrate, forming the first resonator of a first stack over the sacrificial layer on the selected portion of the substrate and the first resonator of a second stack on the substrate, respectively, such that the first resonators of the first and second stacks are distanced, forming a gap underlying the second stack, performing a measurement on the second stack, trimming the top electrode of the first resonator of the first stack, and forming the second resonator over each of the first and second stacks, respectively. |
| US08479362B2 |
Body security in non-horizontal burials
A method whereby a body is held securely in a dignified position within a non-horizontal burial container so as to not crumple downward when interred. |
| US08479361B2 |
Flexible strap fastener
A flexible strap fastener includes a head portion having a passage and a locking pawl disposed within the passage. The flexible strap fastener further includes a strap portion connected to the head portion. The strap portion includes a first surface and a plurality of locking ridges disposed on the first surface. Additionally, cushioning material is disposed adjacent the plurality of locking ridges on the first surface. |
| US08479360B2 |
Clamps for fabrics
A clamp that attached to fabrics is provided that includes a tubular member and a locking member. The tubular member has an elongated tubular shape with a lengthwise slot disposed therein between a first end and a second end longitudinally opposite the first end, and a protrusion that extends out of an inner surface of a lengthwise cavity within the tubular member. The protrusion is disposed within the tubular member biased toward one side of the slot to create an asymmetrical cross section in the tubular member. The locking member has thickness smaller than a width in the slot and a width greater than the width in the slot allowing the locking member to be inserted into and out of the slot in a first orientation but not in at least one other orientation. |
| US08479357B2 |
Moquette carpet cleaning machine operable in pull-back mode
A moquette carpet cleaning machine (10) having a machine body (11) with main rear wheels (12) and a suction mouth (14) placed at the front of the machine body. A support (19) with an auxiliary wheel is attached to the machine body (11). At least one of the main wheels (12), the suction mouth (14), the auxiliary wheel (16) and the support (19) being movable with respect to the machine body (11) between at least a first position (A) and a second (B) position such that, the auxiliary wheel (16) is in the first position (A), the suction mouth (14) is maintained against the ground (20). When the auxiliary wheel is in the second relative position (B), the suction mouth (14) is maintained in a position that is substantially raised from the ground (20). |
| US08479351B2 |
Windshield wiper assembly
A windshield wiper assembly includes a pair of leaf spring elements supported generally parallel to each other with a space therebetween, a flexible blade supported within the space between the leaf spring elements, a bracket fixed to the intermediate portion of the pair of leaf spring elements and supporting said pair of leaf spring elements to provide the space therebetween, the bracket including a pair of pressure distribution tabs, and a bracket cover connected at opposite sides of the bracket, the bracket cover having a skirt extending below the bracket to cover a portion of the pair of leaf spring elements at the intermediate portion. |
| US08479350B2 |
Automobile wiper-blade
A wiper device for vehicles is disclosed. The wiper device (1) for vehicles according to the present invention provides compatible standardized parts, such that the wiper device can be applied to various kinds of drive arms having different shapes and sizes. Therefore, the degree of freedom in design for the standardization of products can be increased, thus markedly reducing the production costs. Furthermore, thanks to the standardization of products, the present invention can be easily adapted for mass production. Hence, there are industrial effects in that products can be economically produced, distributed and spread. |
| US08479343B2 |
Rotatable container interior cleaning mechanism
A hand-held, collapsible, self-adjusting mechanism, which is an improvement to the Spatula, for removing the remaining contents inside a plurality of containers. The device consists of three attached arms, two lower arms geared around their pivot ends to each other to keep their rotation symmetrical in relation to a drive arm, and pressurized with a double torsion spring to rotate towards said drive arm to apply pressure to a swiveling attachment receiver at the opposite end which makes contact with the inside walls of a container. The drive arm has a foldable crank arm assembly which allows you to quickly rotate and slide the mechanism in and out within a container with one hand while the other hand supports said container thus removing the contents from the walls of the container without difficulty or a mess. References Cited U.S. Patent Documents 2,065,866 A * December 1936 Clift15:245 7,182,377 B2294/7 5,674,042 B65B 69/00414/420 6,424,812 B1399/262 3,934,300 15/244 5,626,683134/8 5,732,434 15/93.1 5,491,868 15/236.09 D262,428 D7/150 4,106,193 30/172 2,188,114 2,065,886 1,228,437, 1,184,606, 1,180,23015/104.18 US 2005/0264017 A1 Foreign Patent Documents SU001774860* November 1992 294:7 EP0854099 (A1)B65D88/68 |
| US08479340B2 |
Toothbrush with powered head
A powered toothbrush includes a handle having a neck. A head is mounted to the neck and has a first surface and an opposed second surface. At least one fixed tuft block is mounted to the head in a fixed orientation and has a plurality of tooth cleaning elements extending outwardly away from the first surface. A movable tuft block is flexibly connected to each fixed tuft block and has a plurality of tooth cleaning elements extending outwardly away from the first surface. A drive assembly is operably connected to the movable tuft block to move the movable tuft block with respect to each fixed tuft block. |
| US08479338B2 |
Cleaning device
Provided is a cleaning device having a compact structure.A recovery unit (17) is configured such that dust collection boxes (76, 77) are disposed with respect to a cleaning brush (6) and a metallic roller (7), respectively. A cleaning blade (9) is fixed to a blade holder (79) via a bolt (78). When the recovery unit (17) is incorporated in a frame unit, the recovery unit (17) is moved in a predetermined direction so as to be brought into contact with a positioning section (14Bbb) of a side plate 14B of the frame unit (11). When the recovery unit (17) is moved, a fixing bolt (85) is loosened so that a straight portion (86a) of a fixed washer (86) is aligned with the vertical direction, and then, the fixing bolt (85) is tightened so that the recovery unit is fixed. On the other hand, when the recovery unit (17) is fixed, the fixing bolt (85) is loosened so that the straight portion of the fixed washer (86) is aligned with the horizontal direction, and then, the fixing bolt is tightened so that the recovery unit is fixed. |
| US08479334B1 |
Pillow for supporting a baby at play
A pillow for supporting a baby at play. The pillow comprises a compressible, shape-sustaining, endless bolster having a center opening sized to receive the baby in a sitting position. Preferably, the bolster is toroidal in shape. The pillow includes a removable, washable cover with a center panel that spans the bottom of the center opening forming a seating area for the baby. The bottom of the cover has an elastic border that it grips the bottom of the bolster. In this way, downward tension on the center panel of the cover pulls the bolster portion of the cover inwardly, restraining the pillow around the baby. |
| US08479333B2 |
Foot/leg cradle cushion for cardio circulation enhancement
A foot/leg cradle cushion prevents crossing of ankles or legs for long periods of time, which has been associated with circulatory problems related to cardiac or stroke episodes. The cradle cushion is a soft yet sufficiently supportive device whereby the feet and/or lower legs are held separated from each other and prevented from being crossed. The cradle cushion has a pair of outer flange walls extending upward from a base with a taller middle wall that separates the feet or lower legs of the user. Thus is formed a U-shaped recess on either side of the central wall which would receive each foot and/or leg separated by the width of the central wall. This effectively prevents leg crossing which causes compression of the user's circulatory system in both lower legs and ankle regions. |
| US08479332B2 |
Support device which is adjustable by an electric motor
Support device, adjustable by electric motor, for supporting cushioning of a piece of furniture for sitting or lying on, in particular a bed mattress, has base body with first adjustable support part, in particular pivotable, relative to second support part. Electric motor adjusting device adjusts first support part, and has first and second adjusting unit provided on opposite longitudinal sides of base body. Rotationally supported component of first adjusting unit is connected, rotationally fixed, to similar component of second adjusting unit by a connecting shaft, and axial ends of connecting shaft engage in recesses in rotatably supported components. Connecting shaft is axially movable between a first position in which rotatably supported components are connected rotationally fixedly by connecting shaft, and a second position in which one end of the connecting shaft is released from recess, and connecting shaft is pretensioned in first position by a spring. |
| US08479325B2 |
Spa tub cover and lifter system
A spa cover includes first and second spa cover portions that are rotatable along a pivot axis. The first spa cover portion has a first length traverse to the pivot axis, and the second spa cover portion has a second length extending in the same direction as the first length. The first length is longer than the second length. When the cover is moved from a closed configuration into an open configuration, lower surfaces of the first and second spa cover portions, which face the water at the interior of the spa tub when in the closed configuration and can become unsightly, are moved into a position in which they face each other, whereas the upper surface of the second spa cover portion faces the users in the tub. A lifter is provided for moving the spa cover between the closed and an open configurations. |
| US08479323B2 |
Spring-mounted vertically held toilet seat
A mounting mechanism for toilet seats is provided which includes an easy accessible pull handle, connected to a mechanism associated with the seat that holds the seat in a vertical rest position. The handle is the only part that needs to be maneuvered by the toilet user when the user desires that the seat be in horizontal position. After using the seat in such horizontal position, the provided mechanism automatically moves the seat back up into the vertical rest position. This mechanism eliminates handling of potentially unsanitary toilet seats with hands. Thus, the handle is the only part which the person using the toilet is touching. Since the handle is positioned away from the seat and outside of the area where typically splashing occurs, an utmost sanitary and hygienic state is accomplished by the current invention. |
| US08479321B2 |
Suspenders
Suspenders have a generally U-shaped or V-shaped padded connector that has a base portion with first and second legs extending therefrom. The first and second legs of the padded connector are configured to be located on respective shoulders of a wearer, and the base portion configured to lie on a back of a wearer and is shaped and sized to align with the center of the back of the wearer when the suspenders are worn. The suspenders also include a first front strap portion connected to the first leg, a second front strap portion connected to the second leg, and a first and second rear strap portions connected to the base portion of the padded connector. The first and second rear strap portions are spaced apart from and arranged generally parallel to each other when the suspenders are worn. |
| US08479320B2 |
Clothing article facilitating a wearer's ability to use the bathroom while wearing the clothing article
The present invention discloses a clothing article that facilitates a wearer's ability to use the bathroom while wearing the clothing article. Such a clothing article may include a garment that covers a pelvis region of a wearer. The garment may have a front side and a rear side such that the front side covers the front portion of the pelvis region and such that the rear side covers the rear portion of the pelvis region. The rear side includes a rear flap that, when closed, covers the rear portion of the pelvis region. When opened, the rear flap may expose the rear portion of the pelvis region and is capable of extending around the pelvis region and being secured at attachment points on the garment. |
| US08479318B2 |
Lacrosse glove having reinforced fingers
A sports glove, such as a lacrosse or hockey glove, includes reinforced finger regions for protecting a wearer's fingers. The back side of each of the finger regions includes a reinforcing element or other protective feature. A thumb protector may optionally be attached to a thumb region of the glove to provide additional protection for a wearer's thumb, as well. |
| US08479313B2 |
Protective garments
A garment, such a jacket or pair of pants, affords protection from ballistic impacts. The garment comprises at least two tubular sections of strong fabric, the sections overlapping such that said sections can telescope to allow flexing of a body part enclosed thereby without exposing any part of the body part. A set of protective clothing comprises the ballistic protective garment and an outer garment of heat and blast protective material. |
| US08484761B2 |
Method for cost-efficient manufacturing diamond tips for ultra-high resolution electrical measurements and devices obtained thereof
An atomic force microscopy probe configuration and a method for manufacturing the same are disclosed. In one aspect, the probe configuration includes a cantilever, and a planar tip attached to the cantilever. The cantilever only partially overlaps the planar tip, and extends along a longitudinal direction thereof. The planar tip is of a two-dimensional geometry having at least one corner remote from the cantilever, which corner during use contacts a surface to be scanned. |
| US08484758B2 |
Apparatus and method for the functionalisation of AFM tips
The present invention includes an apparatus that holds the probes to a solid support throughout the passages of the functionalization process, thus avoiding user-dependent breakage or damage of the fragile AFM cantilevers. The apparatus allows the tips of the AFM probes to be placed face-down, which avoids the deposition of contaminants on their functional side. The device also allows functionalizing the tips with small liquid volumes and cleaning. The present invention includes a functionalization process preventing non-specific adsorption of molecules on the tip. |
| US08484756B2 |
Tip-mounted nanowire light source instrumentation
A scanning probe microscopy instrument includes a cantilevered tip that has a nanowire light emitting diode (LED). |
| US08484755B2 |
Microprobe, measurement system and method
A microprobe, measurement system and method are disclosed. The microprobe includes a probe tip mounted at a meeting point of a plurality of flexures. The probe tip is moveable upon flexing of one or more of the flexures, each flexure further comprising one or more actuators controllable to flex the flexure and one or more sensors arranged to sense flexing of the flexure. |
| US08484754B2 |
Output control method
An output control method for controlling copy operation for a digital broadcast program permitted to be recorded for one generation (copy one generation) with an improved operating convenience. A digital content and a plurality of types of copy control information for controlling the copies of the digital content are received, and in accordance with the copy control information, the digital content is output to a plurality of recording media connected through a network. If first information contained in the copy control information received indicates copy generation information to permit copies for one generation and second information contained in the copy control information indicates “limited number of copies permitted” mode permitting a predetermined number of copies, then the digital content is output to only one of the recording media in a state permitting copying up to the predetermined number. |
| US08484753B2 |
Hooking nonexported functions by the offset of the function
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for obfuscated malware. In one aspect, a method includes accessing offset data associated with a binary executable, the offset data including an offset of a nonexported function; and modifying instructions at the offset. In another aspect, a method includes analyzing a reference generated for a binary executable, identifying a unique identifier for the binary executable, determining an offset of a nonexported function in the binary executable, and generating offset data that includes the offset and the unique identifier. |
| US08484749B2 |
System and method for controlling access to an electronic message recipient
A system and method for selectively allowing or denying access to a user coupled to an electronic communications network includes a receiver that receives an inbound message over the electronic communications network from a sender. The inbound message includes an identifier that is associated with a sender and an identifier that is associated with a recipient. The system also includes a processor that determines if the identifier associated with the recipient was previously generated by the user and is absent from a plurality of proxy identifiers associated with the recipient. The processor is further determines one of at least three security states associated with the inbound message. A first security state is indicative of allowing delivery of the inbound message to the user. A second security state is indicative of denying delivery of the inbound message to the user. A third security state is indicative of conditionally allowing delivery of the message to the user. Each of the three security states are associated with the sender identifier and the recipient identifier included in the inbound message. |
| US08484748B2 |
Method and device for classifying and processing data in instant messaging system
The embodiment of this invention provides a method for classifying and processing data in an instant messaging system, which includes: classifying the data of every service included in the instant messaging system into confidential data and non-confidential data; obtaining and processing the non-confidential data of every service after a first authentication is passed successfully; and obtaining and processing the confidential data of every service after a second authentication is passed successfully. The embodiment of this invention also provides a device for classifying and processing data in an instant messaging system. According to the embodiment of the present invention, the security requirements of the instant messaging system are met, and the user is facilitated to use various services provided by the instant messaging system. |
| US08484747B2 |
Method and system for managing electronic messages
A computer implemented method, computer program product and a data processing system for managing electronic messages is disclosed. The contents of an electronic messages are segmented based on the recipients receiving the message and access control authorizing access to the segmented contents is provided to the segmented contents and transmitted to a list of recipients. |
| US08484746B2 |
Method and system for managing electronic messages
A computer implemented method, computer program product and a data processing system for managing electronic messages is disclosed. The contents of an electronic messages are segmented based on the recipients receiving the message and access control authorizing access to the segmented contents is provided to the segmented contents and transmitted to a list of recipients. |
| US08484743B2 |
Image forming apparatus and computer-readable storage medium for computer program
An image forming apparatus includes a first authentication portion performing a first authentication process on a user, a second authentication portion that performs a second authentication process on the user successfully authenticated by the first authentication portion, and thereby determines whether or not the user is permitted to log onto the apparatus, and a cooperative setting portion performing setting therethrough, on a user-by-user basis, whether or not the first authentication process and the second authentication process are performed in combination with each other. If the user for whom setting is performed such that the first authentication process and the second authentication process are performed in combination with each other is successfully authenticated by the first authentication portion, then the second authentication portion determines that the user is to be permitted to log onto the apparatus based on the associated information and ends the second authentication process. |
| US08484741B1 |
Software service to facilitate organizational testing of employees to determine their potential susceptibility to phishing scams
A software system and service for facilitating organizational testing of employees in order to determine their potential susceptibility to phishing scams is disclosed to evaluate their susceptibility to e-mail and Internet cybercrimes such as phishing. The e-mail addresses of a client organization's employees are provided to the system, a phishing e-mail is created and customized, and a phishing e-mail campaign in which the phishing e-mail message is sent and the responses to the phishing e-mail is monitored, and the results of the e-mail campaign are provided for evaluation. The phishing e-mail may optionally contain attachments and various types of probes and “call home” mechanisms. |
| US08484738B2 |
System and method for providing application penetration testing
A system and method provide application penetration testing. The system contains logic configured to find at least one vulnerability in the application so as to gain access to data associated with the application, logic configured to confirm the vulnerability and determine if the application can be compromised, and logic configured to compromise and analyze the application by extracting or manipulating data from a database associated with the application. In addition, the method provides for penetration testing of a target by: receiving at least one confirmed vulnerability of the target; receiving a method for compromising the confirmed vulnerability of the target; installing a network agent on the target in accordance with the method, wherein the network agent allows a penetration tester to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the target; and executing the arbitrary operating system commands on the target to analyze risk to which the target may be exposed. |
| US08484733B2 |
Messaging security device
In one embodiment, a system can comprise an interface that receives data related to a communication session and a messaging security device component that evaluates the data and enables a security measure for preventative monitoring of a threat based on the evaluation, the security measure can be universally applied to two or more messaging formats. |
| US08484729B2 |
Security operation management system, security operation management method, and security operation management program
Provided is a security management system for managing the security of a managed system including during operation of the managed system, the security management system comprising: state changing means for determining a state that satisfies a state rule, which defines a desired state of the managed system, as a target state if the state of the managed system does not satisfy the state rule; and action determining means for determining a predetermined process, which is for changing the difference between the state of the managed system when the target state is determined and the target state, as a countermeasure that needs to be carried out in the state of the managed system when the target state is determined. |
| US08484726B1 |
Key security indicators
Systems, methods and apparatus for a distributed security system that provides security processing for security customers external to network edges of external systems. Each security customer is associated with one or more external systems. The security system can monitor data communications originating from or destined to the external systems and generate security-related information based on the monitored communications. For each security customer, the system can aggregate the system information from each external system associated with that customer, regardless of the geographical location of the system. |
| US08484719B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and media storing a program therefor
A disclosed information processing apparatus makes it possible for a user to perform a desired operation easily by displaying operation candidates based on an operation history. The apparatus comprises a storage unit in which an operation history table is stored, the table associating tasks with operations. A user who performs an operation is authenticated by a user authentication unit. Task information concerning the authenticated user is acquired by a task acquisition unit. Based on the acquired task information, an operation candidate presenting unit presents operation candidates by referring to the operation history table. The operation history table is updated by a history management unit in accordance with an operation designated by the user. |
| US08484714B2 |
Method and rule-repository for generating security-definitions for heterogeneous systems
A method for generating a system specific security-definition for a heterogeneous subsystem of a computing system is provided. A natural-language security-definition is stored in a rule-repository. A machine-readable security-definition is stored and a first mapping of a natural-language security-definition onto a machine-readable security-definition is stored in the rule-repository. A system-specific security-definition is generated from a machine-readable security-definition by a rule-converter that corresponds to a heterogeneous subsystem. The generation is based on a second mapping of each machine-readable security definition onto indications of system-specific security-definitions. |
| US08484711B1 |
System and method for providing access to a software application
System and method configured to provide an access management system configuration that provides the benefits of single sign-on while reducing internal hardware and administration maintenance costs. The system is reconfigured to provide an access control module that directs authentication network traffic such that access management agents are not required to be installed on the application server for each protected application. The system provides a redirection of a login request from the application server to an external security gateway that authenticates the user via policy and sends authenticated user credentials on a back channel to the access control module to obtain a session cookie which is redirected back to the user so the user can establish a session with the application. The solution reduces the plethora of agents to be maintained and upgraded in order to remain compatible with the evolving hosting software, reducing both hardware and administration maintenance costs. |
| US08484708B2 |
Delegating authentication using a challenge/response protocol
A method for delegating authentication using a challenge/response protocol is provided. The method may initiate with a challenge/response sequence between a client application and a server application to authenticate the client application. Then the server application authenticates to a second server application using the credentials associated with the client application by acting as a conduit between the client application and the second server application. |
| US08484707B1 |
Secure changing auto-generated keys for wireless access
A method for granting secure network access comprising requesting, by a mobile device, access to a network via an access point; receiving a passcode from the access point; sending a message including the passcode and an indicia back to the access point; and generating, by the access point, a secure key based on the indicia, the secure key providing network access to the mobile device. |
| US08484706B2 |
System for, and method of, providing the transmission, receipt and content of a reply to an electronic message
A server transmits a message from a sender to a recipient. The server receives from the recipient an attachment relating to the message route between the server and the recipient. The server transmits to the sender the message and the attachment and their encrypted digital fingerprints and expunges the transmitted information. To subsequently authenticate the message and the attachment, the sender transmits to the server what the server has previously transmitted to the sender. The server then prepares a digital fingerprint of the message and decrypts the encrypted digital fingerprint of the message and compares these digital fingerprints. to authenticate the message. The server performs the same routine with the attachment and the encrypted digital fingerprint of the attachment to authenticate the attachment the recipient replies to the sender's message through the server. The server records proof of the delivery and content of the reply to the sender and the recipient. |
| US08484705B2 |
System and method for installing authentication credentials on a remote network device
A method for installing authentication credentials on a remote network device. A remote network device without valid authentication credentials may be connected to a port of an authenticating network switch, and the authentication protocols of the port may be enabled. A Network Access Control (NAC) credential service validates the remote network device comparing a received remote device identifier against a previously stored remote device identifier. The received remote device identifier may be received from the remote network device using a network when the remote network device attempts to access a private network. The NAC credential service disables the authentication protocols of the port in response to validating the received remote device identifier. The NAC credential service installs authentication credentials on the remote network device using encrypted data, so an untrusted entity cannot view the authentication credentials. |
| US08484698B2 |
Multichannel device utilizing a centralized out-of-band authentication system (COBAS)
A multichannel security system is disclosed, which system is for granting and denying access to a host computer in response to a demand from an access-seeking individual and computer. The access-seeker has a peripheral device operative within an authentication channel to communicate with the security system. The access-seeker initially presents identification and password data over an access channel which is intercepted and transmitted to the security computer. The security computer then communicates with the access-seeker. A biometric analyzer—a voice or fingerprint recognition device—operates upon instructions from the authentication program to analyze the monitored parameter of the individual. In the security computer, a comparator matches the biometric sample with stored data, and, upon obtaining a match, provides authentication. The security computer instructs the host computer to grant access and communicates the same to the access-seeker, whereupon access is initiated over the access channel. |
| US08484695B2 |
System and method for providing access control
A control device may be configured to monitor a network connection. An application running on a client device may send a first network communication destined for a network communicatively connected to the control device. Depending upon whether the client device is authorized to access the network, different global rules may be applied. The first application or a second application running on the client device may send a second network communication. The control device may process the second network communication according to a plurality of stages. Specifically, the control device may extract information associated with the client device from the second network communication and associate user specific rules at a client discrimination stage. The control device may, at a user specific rule stage, access these rules and apply accordingly to the second network communication as governed by user specific provisioning rules. |
| US08484694B2 |
Systems and methods for performing remote configuration compliance assessment of a networked computer device
The disclosed principles describe systems and methods for assessing the policy compliance of a target device, wherein the assessment is performed by a scanning computer in communication with the target device via a communication network. By employing a system or method in accordance with the disclosed principles, distinct advantages are achieved. Specifically, conducting such a remote scan allows for the scanner computer to perform a remote scan of the remote device without installing client software to the remote device. Also, conducting a compliance assessment according to the disclosed principles allows for the target device to be assessed after policy updates and changes, without requiring the target device to be re-scanned. Thus, the disclosed principles reduce the need for internal IT resources to manage the assessment and updates of client configuration settings on the target device. |
| US08484685B2 |
System for presenting media content
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a communication device having a controller element to receive a tout message associated with a media content item, and present the tout message with a selectable Internet link having one or more instructions for directing a set-top box (STB) receiver of a subscriber of the communication device. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08484683B2 |
Information descriptor and extended information descriptor data structures for digital television signals
A digital television (DTV) data stream includes PSIP data including a virtual channel table (VCT) and an event information table (EIT), the EIT including a descriptor including a descriptor tag identifying the descriptor as a genre descriptor, a descriptor length; and at least one category selection code for an associated event in a DTV data stream. |
| US08484681B2 |
Image display apparatus and method for operating the image display apparatus
A display method of an image display apparatus that includes receiving a broadcast signal, displaying a first number of thumbnail images when the image display apparatus is in a first position (the thumbnail images being based on the received broadcast signal), rotating the image display apparatus from the first position to a second position, and displaying a second number of thumbnail images when the image display apparatus is rotated to the second position, and the second number is different than the first number. |
| US08484679B1 |
System for processing program guide information items for the creation of a program guide
A system provides an intra-program event guide for display. The intra-program event guide enables a User to identify the events (e.g. scenes, episodes, alternative scenes, program portions etc.) occurring within a program and to initiate viewing (or initiate other functions associated with the event) via the guide. A method for processing information concerning intra-program events (e.g. comprising particular MPEG compatible groups of pictures (GOPS)) occurring within a program involves receiving signal data and identifying in the signal data information items describing intra-program events occurring during a program. The information items describing intra-program events are processed to provide processed data representative of intra-program events sequentially ordered by time and the processed data is communicated to a device. Generation of an intra-program event guide of the information items is initiated in response to user command. The guide shows other types of information items describing intra-program events scheduled for occurrence during a program. Such other types of events include, for example, (a) web page display, (b) software download, (c) PIP (Picture-in-Picture) image display, and (d) peripheral operation. |
| US08484678B2 |
Image display apparatus and operating method therefore for updating thumbnail images in a thumbnail list
A method and apparatus are provided for updating thumbnail images in a thumbnail list. A plurality of thumbnail images may be generated based on television channels. A thumbnail list including a portion or all of the plurality of the generated thumbnail images may be provided for output to a display. The thumbnail list may be updated such that an image of at least one thumbnail image is changed. A frequency of change in the image of the at least one thumbnail image is greater than other thumbnail images in the thumbnail list during a prescribed time period. The updated thumbnail list may be provided for output to a display. |
| US08484677B1 |
Advertisement monitoring system
An advertising monitoring system is presented in which subscriber selections including channel changes are monitored, and in which information regarding an advertisement is extracted from text related to the advertisement. The text related to the advertisement is in the form of closed caption text, data transmitted with the advertisement, or other associated text. A record of the effectiveness of the advertisement is created in which measurements of the percentage of the advertisement which was viewed are stored. Such records allow a manufacturer or advertiser to determine if their advertisement is being watched by subscribers. The system can be realized in a client-sever mode in which subscriber selection requests are transmitted to a server for fulfillment, in which case the advertisement monitoring takes place at the server side. |
| US08484673B2 |
Method for the allocation and management of subscriptions for the reception of broadcast products
A method to reduce bandwidth necessary for renewal of subscriptions for reception of broadcast services including: defining a plurality of sets of subscriber identification numbers, each set being associated with a product; splitting a set of subscriber identification numbers into groups of subscribers; searching for an available subscriber identification number related to the desired product at the time of initialization of a new subscriber; confirming that an inhibit duration has elapsed between the end of the previous subscription and the start of the new subscription; sending an initialization message to the new subscriber addressed with his unique identification address and containing the subscriber identification number of, and rights to, his product; preparing a group rights renewal message for the product to the group containing the subscriber identification number, this message comprising the group header containing this subscriber and a compressed bitmap allowing to individually address each of the group members. |
| US08484672B2 |
Method and device for updating regional rating table
A method performed by a digital television receiver associated with a television includes storing in a memory a first rating configuration, including a region identification of the first rating configuration and a version identification of the first rating configuration, for rating a television program in accordance with a rating scheme, and storing in the memory an identification of a first television channel as a default channel for the rating scheme. The method further includes receiving a subset of a group of transport packets via a receiving channel, comparing the region identification and the version identification of the first and the second rating configurations, and if the region identifications are the same, and the version identifications of the first and the second rating configurations indicate that the second configuration is not newer than the first rating configuration, not storing the second configuration. |
| US08484669B2 |
Motor and optical disc drive using the same
A motor in which a coupling structure between a sleeve holder and a base plate is improved. The motor may include a base plate including at least one protrusion supporting part formed therein; and a sleeve holder including a cylindrical shaped body part to which a sleeve is fastened in an inside of the sleeve holder, an extension part protruded such that an outer diameter is extended along an outer circumferential surface of the body part, and a flange part vertically protruded in an outer diameter direction from a lower end portion of the extension part so as to make surface contact with an upper surface of the base plate, where the sleeve holder is fastened to the base plate while an outer circumferential surface of the protrusion supporting part is brought into contact with an inner circumferential surface of the extension part. |
| US08484667B2 |
Recording and/or reproducing apparatus
A recording and/or reproducing apparatus includes a recording medium accommodation table including recording medium accommodation portions each capable of accommodating a recording medium, a recording medium drive unit on which the recording medium is removably mounted and which is capable of performing recording and/or reproduction of an information signal onto and/or from it, a mechanical chassis that supports the recording medium accommodation table to freely rotate and also support the recording medium drive unit to be movable, a drive-moving unit that moves the recording medium drive unit closer to and away from the recording medium accommodation table, and a recording medium transport unit that transports the recording medium between a recording medium mounting and removing position of a recording medium-mounting portion and a recording medium accommodation position of the recording medium accommodation portions. |
| US08484660B2 |
Event queuing and consumption
Techniques are described to provide event queuing and consumption. In an implementation, events received at an event router are queued after determining that a switch is to be performed from a first event consumer to a second event consumer. Events previously queued at the first event consumer are communicated to the second event consumer, and when completed, the events queued at the event router are communicated to the second event consumer. |
| US08484659B2 |
Distributed processing of binary objects via message queues including a failover safeguard
A system and method for distributing processing utilizing message queues as a method of distributing binary objects as “messages” and invoking the embedded logic of the received message to perform a portion of a distributed application is disclosed. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, a system and method for the integrated distribution and execution of objects as they are retrieved or extracted from a message queue on a remote system to provide executable functionality portions of a distributed application. In one embodiment a failed processing step results in the message being retained in the message queue to allow for subsequent retry processing. |
| US08484646B1 |
System and method for managing process flows within a computing device based on user behavior
Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that manages process flows based on user behavior. During operation, at least one available user input selection in a first process flow is designated as being associated with an optional process flow segment. Next, at least one input that has been designated as an available user input selection is received from a user, and information associated with that input is stored in a data set. The data set is then analyzed to determine whether local criteria associated with the optional process flow segment has been satisfied. If so, the optional process flow segment is scheduled to be performed. |
| US08484643B2 |
CPU usage time counting method and job control system using this CPU usage time
A method of counting an actual usage time of each CPU in a computer system using a plurality of computers for distributed processing of jobs comprising first counting a CPU usage time used for each job, then counting a processing wait time in memory access of each CPU whenever executing each job, subtracting the processing wait time of each CPU from the CPU usage time for every job, and setting the thus calculated corrected CPU usage time as the actual CPU usage time. A job control system has a means for realizing this method and uses the CPU usage time and the corrected CPU usage time obtained by this means to control the jobs and charge the users. |
| US08484641B2 |
Implementing a versioned virtualized application runtime environment
A workload partition, associated with a legacy operating system, is created on an instance of a base operating system implemented on a machine. The legacy operating system is an earlier version of the base operating system. An indication is detected to execute a first command associated with a process of the workload partition associated with the legacy operating system. It is determined that the first command associated with the process of the workload partition associated with the legacy operating system was overlaid with a reference to a runtime execution wrapper associated with the base operating system. The runtime execution wrapper is executed to access a runtime execution environment associated with the base operating system. The first command is executed using the runtime execution environment associated with the base operating system. |
| US08484639B2 |
Fine-grained cloud management control using nested virtualization
A computer implemented method, a computer program product and a data processing system allocate resources within a computing organization. A hypervisor layer is implemented on an underlying hardware. The hypervisor layer comprises a set of virtual machines. A first pseudo-hypervisor layer is then implemented within a first one of the set of virtual machines of the hypervisor layer. The first pseudo-hypervisor layer comprises a second set of virtual machines. A first software component is located within a first virtual machine of the second set of virtual machines of the first pseudo-hypervisor layer. A second software component is collocated within a second virtual machine of the second set of virtual machines of the first pseudo-hypervisor layer. |
| US08484638B2 |
Infrastructure for the automation of the assembly of schema maintenance scripts
A method and apparatus to build a migration package. According to one embodiment of the invention, a plurality of programming elements are developed and stored in a configuration repository. The configuration repository also includes metadata used to describe each of the programming elements. Selected programming elements are placed in a set of one or more migration scripts to be stored in the migration package. The set of migration scripts may include a master configuration file and a driver file. |
| US08484634B2 |
System for signaling an application to a host device and method therefor
An application is signaled to a host device using descriptors incorporated into an application information table. Only applications intended for a certain host device are downloaded to that host device. The descriptors allow the host to identify applications that are addressed to the host based on attributes of the host. When addressing is performed at the level of an application, the application signaling is accomplished using a single application information table and the evaluation of logical parameters against selected host attributes to identify all of the applications addressed to the host. When addressing is performed at the level of a table, multiple tables are evaluated using logical parameters applied to selected host attributes to determine which table is addressed to the host. Addressing conflicts are resolved using priority measures assigned to selected host attributes. |
| US08484632B2 |
System for program code execution with memory storage controller participation
System for application program code execution is provided. The system includes, a host system having a processor for executing a first segment of the application program code; and a memory storage device that stores application program code, such that the first segment of the application program code is loaded to a host system memory from the memory storage device and then executed by the host system processor, and the memory storage device executes a second segment of the application program code to participate in application program code execution. |
| US08484625B2 |
Method and apparatus to vet an executable program using a model
A network infrastructure element (300) can be configured to, upon determining (101) that an end-user platform (305) seeks to download an executable program, execute (103) the program to develop a corresponding model that represents corresponding operating system call-based behavior. The network infrastructure element can then use (104) this model to vet the operating system call-based behavior of the program with respect to end-user platform policies. When the operating system call-based behavior vets acceptably with respect to these policies, the end-user platform can then be permitted to download (106) the executable program. If desired, the network infrastructure element can provide (107) the model to the end-user platform to permit vetting of the modeled behavior with respect to locally-maintained policies. The model provided to the end-user platform can comprise a size-reduced sliced model. |
| US08484624B1 |
Test integration tool
A method of test integration for early application development is provided. The method comprises defining a business case, identifying a plurality of systems to enable the business case, identifying at least one control document including handshakes for the systems, and generating test cases for each of the systems, the test cases including the handshakes useful to test applications. A testing integration system for early application development is also provided. The system comprises an input module operable to permit selection of a plurality of systems defining a business case, a control document defining handshakes between the systems, a template operable to receive information related to the control document and further operable for arranging the systems to enable the business case, and a generator operable to generate test cases including the handshakes based on the arrangement of the systems in the template. |
| US08484622B2 |
Defect predicate expression extraction
A defect predicate expression extraction device. The device extracts, as candidates for predicate expressions representing defects, predicate expressions occurring in the neighborhood of predicate modifying expressions representing suddenness or predicate modifying expressions representing repeatability. The defect predicate expression extraction device further extracts, as predicate expressions representing normality, predicate expressions occurring in the neighborhood of predicate modifying expressions representing normality and extracts predicate expressions representing defects by removing the predicate expressions representing normality from a list of the candidates for predicate expressions representing defects. |
| US08484620B2 |
Implementing performance impact reduction of watched variables
A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for implementing performance impact reduction of watched variables. Source code is parsed and a variable in the source code to be watched is identified. The identified variable is allocated to a predefined page of storage. The predefined page of storage is separated from frequently accessed variables, such as, a page containing least frequently modified variables, a last page associated with a static storage, and a separate page added for receiving the identified variables to be watched. |
| US08484619B2 |
Multi-view debugging
Debugging an executing process. A method includes accessing a unique key that is common to two or more different representations of a same function in the process. A runtime for the executing process is annotated with the unique key. The method further includes detecting that the function is executing. The unique key is used to provide an indication in one or more of the two or more different representations that the function is executing. |
| US08484617B2 |
Process-driven feedback of digital asset re-use
Methods, systems and computer program products for process driven feedback of digital asset reuse. Exemplary embodiments include a method for process-driven feedback for a digital asset, the method including identifying the asset downloaded in a computer system from a repository operatively coupled to the computer system, and for a current project within the computer system for the current project, determining whether the asset has been consumed within the current project, determining feedback and changes between the asset prior to the current project and after the current project, consolidating the feedback and the changes associated with the asset and automatically generating feedback for the asset repository so that the feedback and changes are associated with the asset for comparison in a future project similar to the current project. |
| US08484616B1 |
Universal module model
Described are techniques for processing a module. A module is generated for execution on a target operating system. The module includes four entry points and code portions associated with each of said four entry points. The four entry points correspond to four handlers invoked at different processing points in connection with a state associated with said module. The four handlers include a load handler, an unload handler, a start handler, and a quiesce handler. First processing is performed in connection with the module. The first processing including at least one of dynamically loading the module, dynamically unloading the module, starting module-specific processing performed by the module, and issuing a request to commence preparation for unloading the module. An appropriate one or more of the four handlers are invoked in accordance with the first processing performed. |
| US08484615B2 |
Software framework to build an executable scheme in a GUI environment
A software framework comprises at least one software tool and at least one parameter associated with each tool. The framework is arranged to (i) allow the selection of at least one software tool from a plurality of tools, (ii) allow the selection of at least one parameter from a parameter set, (iii) associate the parameter with a selected tool, and (iv) associate the selected tools and parameters together in a scheme such that they can be executed as a batch. |
| US08484614B2 |
Fast late binding of object methods
An apparatus and a method for managing class properties in a computer program is described. Classes are declared. Each class is associated with a corresponding method with at least one class inheriting one or more method corresponding to one or more other classes. A table generator forms a table of methods and references associated with each class. The table is copied forward with each inheritance declaration. A reference to a method of a class is resolved by retrieving the table associated with a current instance's class and resolving from the table associated with the class corresponding to an object from which the method is referenced. |
| US08484612B2 |
Application generator for a dynamic medical object information base
Methods and systems are provided for generating source code from XML formatted device data sheets. Information is accepted from a user regarding whether data definitions, string tables and/or link tables are needed in a software project. Files are created corresponding to the data definitions, string tables and/or link tables. The files are then collected and compiled into resultant source code. An application generator performs the compilation of the input files into source code. The resultant source code may be incorporated into a software development project and may be updated when needed. |
| US08484611B2 |
Method and system for simplified assembly of information processing applications
A method for automatic composition of an information processing flow based on a user-specified processing goal, includes: selecting tags from a first plurality of tags, wherein the selected tags specify a processing goal; composing a processing graph in accordance with the processing goal; and displaying a second plurality of tags, wherein the second plurality of tags includes tags that are only relevant to the selected tags. |
| US08484607B1 |
Decomposing layout for triple patterning lithography
An approach for decomposing a layout for triple patterning lithography is described. In one embodiment, a triple patterning conflict graph is built from a layout having pattern features specified as shapes. The triple patterning conflict graph represents the shapes in the layout and coloring constraints associated with the shapes. The shapes represented by the triple patterning conflict graph are decomposed into three colors to avoid color conflict, while balancing the color density among the three colors and minimizing a number of stitches used to represent the shapes in the layout. Color conflicts in the decomposition are resolved by selectively segmenting the shapes in the decomposition that are associated with the color conflict. |
| US08484603B2 |
Circuit design library optimization
A method co-optimizes a design and a library in such a way to choose the best set of cells to implement the design. The method takes into account the idea of limiting the number of new cells while reducing target costs and respecting design constraints. The method chooses a minimum nearly optimum set of cells to optimize a design. This involves the simultaneous optimization of a cell-based design and a cell library used to implement it. The invention can produce only an optimized library for a specific application, when the circuit is disregarded. The method takes into account a set of new cells described as finalized cells or as virtual cells, possibly having different transistor topologies, different sizes, different logic functions, and/or different cell template than the original library. |
| US08484595B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device, design method, design apparatus, and program
An antenna ratio calculation section extracts components from which two or more independent metal wires are coupled to one of diffusion layer regions based on layout data read from a layout data accumulation section, determines, for each of the components, the area of each of the two or more independent metal wires and electrodes coupled to the respective metal wires, determines an antenna ratio between the area of each of the metal wires and the area of the electrode coupled to the metal wire, and determines a moderation value for moderating a design standard associated with plasma charge damage related to one of the metal wires based on the ratio of the total area of all the metal wires coupled to the one of the diffusion layer regions to the area of the one of the metal wires. |
| US08484588B2 |
System, architecture and micro-architecture (SAMA) representation of an integrated circuit
Systems and methods are disclosed to automatically generate a custom integrated circuit (IC) design by receiving a specification of the custom IC including computer readable code to be executed by the custom IC; generating an abstraction of the IC as a system, processor architecture and micro-architecture (SAMA) representation; providing the SAMA representation to a data model having at least an architecture optimization view, a physical design view, and a software tool view; optimizing the processor architecture by iteratively updating the SAMA representation and the data model to automatically generate a processor architecture uniquely customized to the computer readable code which satisfies one or more constraints; and synthesizing the generated architecture into a computer readable description of the custom integrated circuit for semiconductor fabrication. The foregoing can be done with no or minimal human involvement. |
| US08484583B2 |
Operator control panel having a replaceable default screen
Storage apparatus and related methods wherein an operator control panel that controls functions and displays information regarding the storage apparatus and its storage devices is configured to have or display a selectable thumbtack function. The operator control panel is configurable to show a number of operational screens for managing the storage apparatus, show a default screen after a period of inactivity at the operator control panel, receive a designation that an operational screen should replace the default screen, and if designated, show the designated operational screen instead of the default screen after a period of inactivity. |
| US08484582B2 |
Entry selection from long entry lists
A method, device, and computer program product for locating a desired entry in a list containing multiple list entries for use with a limited text display is described. A list of entries is partitioned into a number of sub-parts such that the desired entry is contained in one of the list sub-parts. At least one of the sub-parts is characterized within a limited text display to prompt a user for feedback regarding the location of the desired entry in the sub-parts. The user feedback is received from a view input element. In response to the user feedback, the sub-part containing the desired entry is selected. The partitioning, characterizing, receiving, and selecting steps are re-performed one or more times until a final sub-part is generated that contains a limited number of entries including the desired entry. |
| US08484580B2 |
Content presentation device, content presentation method, and information storage medium
A content presentation device including a presentation screen production unit for producing display data related to a presentation screen on which images representative of a subset of contents among a plurality of contents together with a mutual relationship among the subset are shown, based on presentation data stored in a presentation data storage memory, the presentation storage memory storing plural kinds of presentation data based on any of which display data about the presentation screen is produced; and an instruction determination unit for determining whether a switching instruction for switching the presentation screen is input while the presentation screen is displayed, the switching instruction designating one of the contents represented by one of the images shown on the presentation screen, where the presentation screen production unit displaying an image representative of the one of the contents designated by the switching instruction at a predetermined position of the presentation screen. |
| US08484577B2 |
Window grouping
A framework is provided for obtaining window information. The window information can be applied to different assignment models to assign windows to different groups. A group may correspond to a task being performed by a user. The window information can be semantic or temporal information captured as window events and properties of windows whose events are captured. Temporal information can be information about switches between windows. Semantic information can be window titles. Temporal information, semantic information, or both, can be used to assign windows to groups. |
| US08484572B2 |
Cell image display apparatus, cell image display method, and computer program product
A cell image display apparatus comprising: a parameter value obtainer for obtaining characteristic parameter values based on a plurality of cell images obtained by imaging a sample including the plurality of cells, wherein each of the characteristic parameter values respectively indicates characteristic of each of the cells; a type determiner for determining types of the cells based on the characteristic parameter values obtained by the parameter value obtainer; a display; and a display controller for controlling the display so as to display the cell images in a sequence based on the types of the cells obtained by the type determiner and the characteristic parameter values obtained by the parameter value obtainer. A method and a computer program product are also disclosed. |
| US08484571B2 |
Appliance with theme selection
An appliance includes one or more control boards having control software to control a cycle of operation of the appliance, a graphical user interface in communication with the control boards for allowing a user to observe and interact with the appliance regarding the cycle of operation, and a software framework configured to run in a processor having memory in communication with the graphical user interface. The software framework has theme definitions and access to builder content containing information with which it associates a theme definition with one or more resources. The software framework dynamically renders the graphical user interface at runtime based on the resources in response to selection of a theme so that a user can cause the control board to control the cycle of operation via the selected theme in the graphical user interface. |
| US08484567B2 |
Systems and methods for personalizing software programs
Systems and methods are provided for personalizing software programs in a computer system. In accordance with one implementation, default values for personalization data adapted to or harmonized with the individual needs or preferences of the end-user are provided to a plurality of end-users at start-up of a program. Further, two personalization levels are provided, including a first personalization level containing administrative personalization data which can be set by a system administrator, and a second personalization level containing individual personalization data, which can be set by the end-user. A data filing system for this personalization data may be of a hierarchical structure. |
| US08484564B1 |
Method, system, and graphical user interface for personalized online sports team charts
A method, system, and graphical user interface for personalized online sports team charts are disclosed. One aspect of the invention involves a graphical user interface on a computer that includes a graphic of an athletic playing field or a portion thereof, and a plurality of player positions on the athletic field. At least some of the player positions contain thumbnail images selected by a first user. The thumbnail images provide links to corresponding profiles in an online social network. |
| US08484563B2 |
View confirmation for on-demand multimedia content
A computer implemented method and system is provided for confirming that a viewer viewed multimedia content on a client device. A server provisioned with the multimedia content is provided. The viewer creates a viewer account and accesses the server by supplying the viewer credentials. The viewer receives a list of multimedia content on the client device from the server, on demand for selection, and selects viewing parameters and multimedia content from the list. The client device receives and plays the selected multimedia content based on the selected viewing parameters. Viewing of the selected multimedia content is confirmed using a random challenge that is random in content, presented at random times during and/or after the play, and/or presented at random physical locations on the selected multimedia content. A response report is generated and the viewer is compensated if the response report confirms that the viewer has viewed the selected multimedia content. |
| US08484562B2 |
Dynamic text adjustment in a user interface element
This is directed to efficiently identifying alternative display attributes for displaying text in a display region when default display attributes are inadequate for displaying the text. Many electronic device user interfaces are designed based on text in a default language. When interfaces are translated for use in other languages, the translated interfaces can include words or phrases that are longer than the corresponding text in the initial language. To quickly find an adequate, alternate display attribute for the longer text (e.g., a new font size), the electronic device can calculate assumed reduced text box sizes for displaying the text should display attributes of the text be reduced. The electronic device can select an adequate reduced text box, and reduce the display attributes by an amount corresponding to the reduced text box. |
| US08484561B1 |
System and method for updating an object instance based on instructions received from multiple devices
A first instruction specifying a first change to an object instance associated with a document is received from a first device, and a second instruction specifying a second change to the object instance is received from a second device. A transformed operation is determined based on the first change and the second change, and the object instance is updated based on the transformed operation. For example, a visual representation of the object instance may be updated based on the transformed operation. |
| US08484559B2 |
Device and method for the magnification of content having a predetermined layout
A user terminal has two screens. One screen displays content in a state intended by the creator of the content. The displayed content is composed of a plurality of bocks, and each block can be enlarged. Content corresponding to a block for which enlargement is directed is displayed on the other screen. The content displayed in the other screen has an enlarged form. Regarding the enlargement, rules are set. For example, an image or the like that is the subject of processing to be enlarged is processed without changing vertical and horizontal ratios. |
| US08484553B2 |
System and method for defining specifications for outputting content in multiple formats
A system and method for defining specifications for outputting content to multiple formats. More specifically, a system and method for creating a single multi-purpose stylesheet file from a single user interface, the single multi-purpose stylesheet being capable of designing multiple output media formats. For example, the multi-purpose stylesheet may convert input XML content to HTML, PDF, PostScript, WML, or other output formats. The method may include creating or modifying a multipurpose stylesheet containing formatting rules corresponding to various properties of different output media formats. A user can configure the multi-purpose stylesheet by selecting different formatting properties for different output media formats. |
| US08484550B2 |
Automated table transformations from examples
Described herein are mechanisms for automatically generating a computer-executable program that transforms a first table in a first format to a second table in a second format by way of user-provided examples. A user provides an exemplary input table of a first format, where the input table may be a portion of the first table. The user also provides an exemplary output table of a second format, wherein contents of the output table correspond to contents of the input table. Based upon these user-provided examples, a table transform program is automatically generated, wherein the table transform program, when executed over the first table generates the second table. |
| US08484548B1 |
Anchor tag indexing in a web crawler system
Provided is a method and system for indexing documents in a collection of linked documents. A link log, including one or more pairings of source documents and target documents is accessed. A sorted anchor map, containing one or more target document to source document pairings, is generated. The pairings in the sorted anchor map are ordered based on target document identifiers. |
| US08484546B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information transmitting method, and information receiving method
A transmitting-side device is connected with a receiving-side device via a parallel bus that carries transmit data and an error-correcting code based on this transmit data in parallel. The transmitting-side device includes a signal inversion unit for inverting a signal to be sent to the parallel bus. The receiving-side device includes a signal inversion unit for inverting a received signal from the parallel bus, and an error detection unit for performing error detection and error correction based on a signal output from the signal inversion unit. The signal inversion unit inverts a signal to be sent to all bus lines of the parallel bus and the signal inversion unit inverts the signal received from the all bus lines, which enables the error detection unit to perform error check on the parallel bus. |
| US08484544B2 |
High-performance ECC decoder
Methods for Error Correction Code (ECC) decoding include producing syndromes from a set of bits, which represent data that has been encoded with the ECC. An Error Locator Polynomial (ELP) is generated based on the syndromes. At least some of the ELP roots are identified, and the errors indicated by these roots are corrected. Each syndrome may be produced by applying to the bits vector operations in a vector space. Each syndrome is produced by applying vector operations using a different basis of the vector space. The ELP may be evaluated on a given field element by operating on ELP coefficients using serial multipliers, wherein each serial multiplier performs a sequence of multiplication cycles and produces an interim result in each cycle. Responsively to detecting at least one interim result indicating that the given element is not an ELP root, the multiplication cycles are terminated before completion of the sequence. |
| US08484542B2 |
Data recovery using additional error correction coding data
A method in a data storage device receiving data including a data block and main error correction coding (ECC) data for the data block. The data block includes a first sub-block of data and a second sub-block of data. The method also includes initiating an ECC operation to process the data block using the main ECC data. In response to the ECC operation indicating uncorrectable errors in the data block, first additional ECC data that is external to the data block is retrieved and a second ECC operation is initiated to process the first sub-block of data using the first additional ECC data. |
| US08484537B1 |
Systems and methods for data-path protection
A system including a first buffer module, a first encoder module, a control module, and a second buffer module. The first buffer module receives (i) a first block and (ii) a first logical block address (LBA) for the first block from a host, where the first block includes first data. The first encoder module generates a first checksum based on (i) the first data and (ii) the first LBA. The control module generates a second block, where the second block includes (i) the first data, (ii) the first LBA, and (iii) the first checksum. The second buffer module receives a third block from the first buffer module, where the third block includes a second LBA. The second buffer module determines whether the third block is different than the first block depending on whether the second LBA in the third block is different than the first LBA in the second block. |
| US08484536B1 |
Techniques for data storage, access, and maintenance
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, featuring generating a plurality of error-correcting code chunks from a plurality of data chunks. The error-correcting code chunks can be used to reconstruct one or more of the data chunks. The data chunks are allocated to a local group of storage nodes. The error correcting code chunks are allocated between the local group of storage nodes and one or more remote groups of storage nodes. Each remote group of storage nodes is allocated one or more unique error-correcting code chunks from the error-correcting code chunks. Any of the error-correcting code chunks not allocated to a remote group of storage nodes are allocated to the local group of storage nodes. |
| US08484535B2 |
Error-floor mitigation of codes using write verification
Executed when a channel input (e.g., LDPC) codeword is written to a storage medium, a write-verification method (i) compares the channel input codeword to the written codeword, (ii) identifies any erroneous bits, and (iii) stores the erroneous-bit indices to a record in a table. At some later time, the written codeword is read and sent to a decoder. If the decoder fails with a near codeword, a write-error recovery process searches the table and retrieves the erroneous-bit information. The codeword bits at those indices are adjusted, and the modified codeword is submitted to further processing. |
| US08484534B2 |
MLC self-RAID flash data protection scheme
In a multiple level cell flash memory data storage device, a flash memory array has a plurality of blocks, where each block is an erase unit and has a plurality of pages, and a respective block includes a plurality of groups of pages. Each group of pages in the respective block includes an assigned parity page, and each page of the respective block has a plurality of sectors, including an assigned parity sector. The storage device is operable to program and erase data on a page at a predetermined speed, and detect an error rate for each page of a block and identify a group of high error pages based on the error rates. Further, the storage device is configured to apply a speed slower than the predetermined speed in programming and erasing data on the identified high error pages. |
| US08484530B2 |
Multi-antenna configuration signaling in wireless communication system
A wireless communication infrastructure entity including a transceiver coupled to a controller configured to generate parity bits based on an information word. The controller is also configured to encode the parity bits based on a communication configuration, e.g., symbol information, wherein the encoded parity bits are combined with the information word for transmission by the transceiver. A user terminal in receipt of the information word includes a controller configured to determine the communication configuration based on a set of configuration indicator bits used to encode the parity bits. |
| US08484528B2 |
Receiving apparatus, receiving method and program, and receiving system
Disclosed herein is a receiving apparatus, including: a decoding section configured to receive and decode a low density parity check code; and a decoding control section configured to control a frequency of the decoding on the basis of conditional information that is an index indicative of a communication condition that influences power consumption in the decoding section. |
| US08484526B2 |
Encoder, decoder, encoding method, and decoding method
A decoder that includes a receiving unit that receives a packet containing a new part corresponding to an information bit not yet received and a retransmission part corresponding to an information bit received in past; a combining unit that combines a part of a previously received packet corresponding to the retransmission part with the packet received by the receiving unit; and a new-part decoding unit that decodes the combined packet combined and obtained by the combining unit, and obtains a decoded result of the new part. |
| US08484520B2 |
Processor capable of determining ECC errors
A processor has an ALU, a load/store unit, a timer, an ECC calculator, and a plurality of ECC registers. When the load/store unit writes data in a main memory, the load/store unit writes written data and a count value of a timer in the main memory, and sets ECC status flag which indicates that an ECC about the written data is not correct in the main memory, and causes the ECC calculator to calculate the ECC about the written data after setting the ECC status flag, and writes the calculated ECC in the main memory and resets the ECC status flag after the ECC is calculated. |
| US08484519B2 |
Optimal programming levels for LDPC
The subject disclosure describes a method for reducing a sector error rate in a flash memory device, the method comprising, identifying a first program verify level having a first value, selecting an adjustment value for the first program verify level and programming the adjustment value to the first program verify level to replace the first value and to shift a first programming distribution associated with the first program verify level, wherein the shift in the first programming distribution is associated with a decrease in a sector error rate, wherein the shift in the first programming distribution is associated with an increase in a bit error rate. A flash storage device and computer-readable media are also provided. |
| US08484517B2 |
High compression program flow trace
A system and method provides for generating high compression program flow trace data by generating first program flow trace data whenever a conditional branch instruction of a program is executed by a CPU, generating second program flow trace data whenever an indirect branch instruction of a subset of indirect branch instructions is executed by the CPU, and generating third program flow trace data whenever a stack for storing instruction addresses of the program is manipulated, the manipulation occurring after a CALL instruction to a function or subroutine of the program is executed by the CPU and before a RET instruction is executed by the CPU. The subset of indirect branch instructions excludes RET indirect branch instructions of any function or subroutine for which the stack is not manipulated after a CALL instruction to the functions or subroutines is executed by the CPU and before the RET instruction is executed by the CPU. |
| US08484515B2 |
Methods and systems for monitoring quality of a video/audio playback device
A computer-implemented method, executable software product, and system for performing a test of an audio/video playback device are described. The audio/video playback device includes at least one main processor, interfaces, and additional processors. The main processor(s) communicate with the additional processors through the interfaces. The method, software product, and system include monitoring at least part of the interfaces for communications between the main processor(s) and the additional processors. The method, system and software product also include storing the communications in a raw format during the test. The method, software product and system also include translating the communications from the raw format to human-readable format after the test concludes and displaying the human-readable format of the communications. In some aspects, the method and system also include reading and storing run time data during the test such that the reading and storing is Heisenberg-friendly. |
| US08484514B2 |
Fault cause estimating system, fault cause estimating method, and fault cause estimating program
A fault cause estimating system includes: an initial model generating section which creates an initial fault derivation model indicating a derivation among faults and an initial event derivation model indicating a derivation among the faults and events, based on a basic model definition; an extended Baum-Welch calculating section which creates a fault derivation model which is a transition of a combination of device classes and faults and an event derivation model which is a transition of a combination of device classes and events, based on a instance definition, a class definition, the initial fault derivation model, the initial event derivation model and an event sequence for learning; an instance derivation probability calculating section which creates an instance deviation model of a derivation of an occurrence device based on the event sequence for learning; and an extended Viterbi calculating section which estimates an event cause fault based on the instance definition, the fault occurrence location class definition, the fault derivation model, the event derivation model, the instance derivation model, and the fault cause estimation event sequence. |
| US08484512B2 |
Throttling non-delivery reports based on root cause
A root cause for a failed attempted delivery of a message is attempted to be determined before sending a non-delivery report (NDR) for the failed message. When a message fails without a known cause, the root cause is determined using the context of the message. For a given context, the root cause may be determined by a single failure or it may be determined by the relative number of failed messages delivery are deferred from being delivered, as is generation of the corresponding same context. While determining the root cause of the problem, any messages failing NDR(s), to allow time for corrective action to occur. If the problem is resolved within a predetermined time period, the deferred messages are delivered without having to issue NDR(s). |
| US08484511B2 |
Apparatus and methods for data collection, analysis and validation including error correction in a content delivery network
Methods and apparatus for collection, validation, analysis, and automated error correction of data regarding user interaction with content. In one embodiment, statistical methods are used to arrive at expected values for the collected data. The data is compared to the expected value and must meet one or more acceptance criteria (e.g., be within a prescribed range) to be considered valid. The prescribed range is determined by the network operator, or a computer program adapted to generate this value. The invention enables a network operator to assess a large volume of data without requiring significant amounts of manual monitoring and/or error correction. The ability to collect, validate and analyze data across multiple platforms is also provided. Still further, an automated system capable of learning evaluation and error correction patterns is disclosed. |
| US08484508B2 |
Data processing apparatus and method for providing fault tolerance when executing a sequence of data processing operations
A data processing apparatus and method provide fault tolerance when executing a sequence of data processing operations. The data processing apparatus has processing circuitry for performing the sequence of data processing operations, and a redundant copy of that processing circuitry for operating in parallel with the processing circuitry, and for performing the same sequence of data processing operations. Error detection circuitry detects an error condition when output data generated by the processing circuitry differs from corresponding output data generated by the redundant copy. Shared prediction circuitry generates predicted data input to both the processing circuitry and the redundant copy, with the processing circuitry and redundant copy then performing speculative processing of one or more data processing operations in dependence on that predicted data. Each of the processing circuitry and the redundant copy include checking circuitry for determining whether the speculative processing was correct, and initiating corrective action if the speculative processing was not correct. By sharing the prediction circuitry rather than replicating it within both the processing circuitry and the redundant copy, significant area and power consumption benefits can be achieved without affecting the ability of the apparatus to detect faults. |
| US08484507B2 |
Disaster recovery failback
Pursuant to execution of a predetermined failback policy, if a storage device is not preexistent in a source storage system operable in the computing environment, and an owner of the storage device is one of a DR storage system and a storage system having previously withdrawn from a replication grid, and the DR storage system has authorization to transfer ownership of the storage device by a replacement operation, an instance of the storage device is replicated to the source storage system to generate a replicated instance of the storage device on the source storage system, and ownership of the storage device is designated as the source storage system for each of the instance and the replicated instance of the storage device. |
| US08484504B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing communication services for user endpoint devices
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an edge device having a controller to receive a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message from a user endpoint device (UE) requesting communication services, forward the SIP message to a network element of a Server Office, receive from the network element a first error message indicating communication services at the Server Office are unavailable, replace the first error message with a second error message, the second error message indicating a temporary unavailability of communication services, and transmit the second error message to the UE. Additional embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08484501B2 |
System for delay locked loop control that provides delay interval stabilization
The delay locked loop (“DLL”) delay interval can be locked to stop the DLL from wasting power in unnecessarily switching to synchronize the device with the DLL is associated to the system clock. This is achieved by adding logic sensing when a DRAM device will not imminently be called upon to output data and when the device has stabilized. Waiting for the DLL delay interval to stabilize before locking the delay interval still allows the DLL to immediately and effectively resume operations when the DLL is needed to synchronize the output of the DRAM device with the system clock. The DLL delay interval can be locked, together with the DLL clock, after the DRAM device is deselected by the chip select control line, after a number of no operation commands have been received, and/or after any command issued to the DRAM device has been completed. |
| US08484497B2 |
Power supply control within an integrated circuit
An integrated circuit 2 is provided with a first power supply conductor 8 coupled via header transistors 14 to 26 to a second power supply conductor 10. Logic circuitry 4, 6 draws its power supply from the second power supply conductor. When switching from a sleep mode to an operating mode the header transistors 14 to 26 are divided into a plurality of sets of transistors which are switched on in a predetermined sequence using controller circuitry 28. The controller circuitry 28 senses the voltage of the second power supply conductor 10 to determine when each set of header transistors should be switched on. In this way, the in-rush current within the integrated circuit 2 associated with the switch from the sleep state to the operating state can be held within a predetermined range of a target in-rush current. |
| US08484496B2 |
Method and system for thermal management of battery charging concurrencies in a portable computing device
A method and system for reducing thermal load by monitoring temperatures within a portable computing device and, based on those temperatures, controlling a battery charge function are disclosed. The method includes monitoring a power management integrated circuit (“PMIC”) to determine if it is generating excess thermal energy that is contributory to an elevated temperature in a physically proximate application specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”). If so, and if the excess thermal energy is attributable to an ongoing battery recharge operation executed by the PMIC, a thermal policy manager module may execute a thermal mitigation technique algorithm to override the PMIC battery recharge function. One exemplary thermal mitigation technique may include a reduction of current sent to the battery, thus slowing the charge cycle and reducing the generation of excess thermal energy. |
| US08484492B2 |
Electronic device and power control module for controlling a starting process of the electronic device utilizing a delay latch circuit and an inverse logic unit
This invention provides an electronic device and a power control module thereof. The electronic device is used for being connected with an external power source, and the electronic device includes a system unit, a power supply unit, a power control module, and a control unit coupled with the system unit and the power control module. When the power supply unit is connected with the external power source, the power supply unit provides a first operating voltage for the power control module, the power control module provides a first control signal for the control unit, and the control unit receives the first control signal and provides a second control signal for the power supply unit according to the first control signal, allowing the power supply unit to sequentially provide a plurality of system working voltages for the system unit. |
| US08484489B2 |
Power signal detecting system, method and a portable electronic device thereof
A power signal detecting system and method thereof are disclosed. The power signal detecting system comprises a power supply and a portable electronic device. The portable electronic device is electrically connected with the power supply to receive a power signal. The portable electronic device comprises a sensing element, a detecting module and a power management module. The sensing element is used to connect the power signal. The detecting module is electrically connected to the sensing element and is used for detecting the power signal. The power management module electrically connects to the detecting module and is used for executing a power management for the portable electronic device by identifying the power signal. |
| US08484488B2 |
Dynamic core swapping
An embodiment of the present invention is a technique to dynamically swap processor cores. A first core has a first instruction set. The first core executes a program at a first performance level. The first core stops executing the program when a triggering event occurs. A second core has a second instruction set compatible with the first instruction set and has a second performance level different than the first performance level. The second core is in a power down state when the first core is executing the program. A circuit powers up the second core after the first core stops executing the program such that the second core continues executing the program at the second performance level. |
| US08484485B2 |
Encryption device and encryption system
An encryption apparatus prevents plaintext data from leaking even if accumulated data is analyzed, while preventing the size of encrypted data from increasing. The encryption apparatus encrypts a data piece that is smaller than a unit length and stores management information indicating a used area within an encryption area defined based on the unit length. The used area is an area already used for encryption. When encrypting a new data piece that is smaller than the unit length, the encryption apparatus generates encrypted data by adding the new data piece to an unused area within the encryption area with reference to the management information. The unused area is an area not yet used for encryption. The encryption apparatus updates the management information to include an area for the new data piece into the used area, after generating the encrypted data. |
| US08484482B1 |
Password generation and validation system and method
A password generation and validation system is provided. The system comprises a server system and an at least one memory. The system also comprises a password component stored in the at least one memory that, when executed by the server system, receives a plurality of inputs, generates a first password for a computer system based on the plurality of inputs contemporaneously with receiving the plurality of inputs, receives a second password, generates at least one candidate password based on some of the plurality of inputs, and validates the second password when the second password matches the at least one candidate password. |
| US08484477B2 |
Document management system and method
A document management system includes a number generator and/or a secure controller, and a document. The document includes a map-file for each participant in a workflow of the document. Corresponding, randomly generated nonces and/or complementary workflow assurance tokens are distributed within the respective map-files of neighboring participants by the number generator or the secure controller. The system includes a private key that recovers the respective corresponding, randomly generated nonce of a receiving one of the neighboring participants and/or the respective complementary workflow assurance token of the receiving one of the neighboring participants. A communication mechanism enables transmission of the recovered corresponding, randomly generated nonce of the receiving one of the neighboring participants or a signature generated by the receiving one of the neighboring participants to a sending one of the neighboring participants for verification. |
| US08484475B2 |
Data transmission method, and tachograph system
In a data transmission method for a tachograph system, digital messages are transmitted between a speed transmitter (MS) and a recording unit (RU). The digital messages contain a pair of keys including a public key (KMP, KRP) and a private key (KMS, KRS), as well as a certificate (ZM, ZR) derived from the respective pair of keys. The public keys (KMP, KRP) and the certificates (ZM, ZR) are mutually verified between the recording unit (RU) and the speed transmitter (MS). If the verification is positive, the speed transmitter (MS) detects sensor data, and a digital message is generated therefrom. In addition, the speed transmitter (MS) generates authentication data for the message in accordance with the pair of keys (KMP, KMS) thereof. The message and the authentication data are transmitted to the recording unit and are processed there in accordance with a validity of the authentication data verified by the recording unit (RU). |
| US08484474B2 |
Methods for firmware signature
A method for installing embedded firmware is provided. The method includes generating one or more firmware file instances and generating one or more digital certificate instances that are separate instances from the firmware file instances. The method includes associating the one or more digital certificate instances with the one or more firmware file instances to facilitate updating signature-unaware modules with signature-aware firmware or to facilitate updating signature-aware modules with signature-unaware firmware. |
| US08484473B2 |
Inter base station interface establishment
A method of establishing a peer-to-peer IPSec security association between a pair of base stations located within the same or different radio access networks. The base stations communicate with a core network via the same or different security gateways of the core network using respective pre-established IPSec security associations. The method comprises exchanging peer-to-peer IKE security association initiation request and initiation response messages between the base stations using said pre-established security associations. |
| US08484472B2 |
System and method of filtering unsolicited messages
A secure correlation identifier (SCID) for authentically correlating notifications received from event sources with subscriptions, a SCID authentication system and method of filtering unsolicited messages are provided. The SCID comprises a correlation identifier for making the SCID unique, a sequence of bits concatenated with the correlation identifier and a secure tag concatenated with the concatenation of the correlation identifier and the sequence of bits. The system comprises a SCID generator for generating a SCID to be used in a message and a SCID authenticator for authenticating the SCID. The method comprises the steps of receiving a notification message having a SCID, verifying that that SCID is authentic, accepting the message if the SCID is authentic and rejecting the message if the SCID is not authentic. |
| US08484471B2 |
Multi-party distributed multiplication device, multi-party distributed multiplication system and method
A multi-party variance multiplication device includes: an initial setting device which generates a first public key by using an inputted system parameter; a commitment generation device which generates a commitment of a first input value based on the system parameter and a random number; an encryption device which generates an encrypted text of the first input value based on the system parameter, the random number, and the first public key; an authentication device which generates a certificate that authenticates a range of the first input value based on the system parameter, the random number, the first public key, and the second public key already public; a decryption device which generates a decrypted text by decrypting a noisy encrypted text based on the system parameter, the first public key, and a private key; and a noise removal device which generates a product variance by removing a noise from the decrypted text. |
| US08484469B2 |
Method, system and equipment for key distribution
A method, system and equipment for key distribution are disclosed. During the course of computing a shared key Kab between a client node and a third party equipment, a serial number is introduced into keying materials to compute the Kab, instead of just using constant parameter, thus once the Kab is leaked, the Kab can be simply and duly updated by updating the variable parameter, and hence the security of message transmission is improved. Furthermore, in the implementations, methods for security protection and security verification for message are used, so as to effectively prevent threats to message security such as message forgery or replay attack, and hence further improve the security of message transmission. |
| US08484468B2 |
Process and system for selectable data transmission
The present invention relates to a process and a system for selectable data transmission. Authentication data and an electronic key are generated, whereby the electronic key is stored as assigned to the authentication data. Data are encrypted into encrypted data by means of an encryption module of a central module and by means of at least part of the electronic key. A signaling message is transmitted to a first communications terminal. A second communications terminal is selected by means of the first communications terminal. On the identification of the selected second communications terminal, the encrypted data are transmitted to the second communications terminal. At least part of the electronic key is transmitted to the second communications terminal by means of an authentication module of the central module. The encrypted data are decrypted by means of a decryption module of the second communications terminal and by means of at least the part of the electronic key. |
| US08484466B2 |
System and method for establishing bearer-independent and secure connections
A system and method for efficiently enabling local security connectivity between electronic devices over multiple bearers. Electronic devices are configured to advertise, over each bearer, their respective configuration parameters for each bearer. After a connection has been established between the electronic devices over a first bearer, the two electronic devices use the first bearer to establish connections over the other bearers using the configuration parameters contained in the advertisements and advertised over the first bearer. Shared keys are established for the other bearers either using keys derived from the first shared key or by using the first secure connection as an out-of-band channel. The present invention also provides for the creation of an ad hoc WLAN connection once a Bluetooth connection has been established. |
| US08484465B1 |
Heterogeneous virtual machines sharing a security model
Methods and systems for sharing a security model with heterogeneous virtual machines (VMs) are provided. A method for sharing a security model with heterogeneous VMs may include making a direct function call to an object model from each of two or more heterogeneous VMs using a direct binding generated for the respective VM based on the respective VM and a security policy. The direct bindings of the two or more heterogeneous VMs share the security policy. The method may also include ensuring only one of the two or more heterogeneous VMs interacts with the object model at a time. A system for sharing a security model with heterogeneous VMs may include a heterogeneous VM manager and a heterogeneous VM scheduler. The system may further include a principal tracker and a proxy component. |
| US08484461B2 |
Method and apparatus for external organization path length validation within a public key infrastructure (PKI)
A method and apparatus for external organization (EO) path length (EOPL) validation are provided. A relying party node (RPN) stores a current EO path length constraint (EOPLC) value, and an EOPL counter that maintains a count of an actual external organization path length. The RPN obtains a chain of certificates that link a subject node (SN) to its trust anchor, and processes the certificates in the chain. When a certificate has a lower EOPLC than the current EOPLC value, the RPN replaces the current EOPLC value with the lower EOPLC. When the certificate currently being evaluated includes an enabled EO flag, the RPN increments the EOPL counter by one. The EOPL validation fails when the EOPL counter is greater than the current EOPLC value, and is successful when the last remaining certificate in the chain is processed without having the EOPL counter exceed the current EOPLC value. |
| US08484460B1 |
Post attack man-in-the-middle detection
Technologies are described herein for post attack man-in-the-middle detection. A first computer receives and stores public key certificates when connections are established. The first computer also uploads the stored public key certificates associated with a domain to a second computer each time a connection is established with the domain. The second computer receives the public key certificates from the first computer. The second computer then determines whether any of the public key certificates provided by the first computer are fraudulent certificates by comparing the received certificates to known valid certificates. If the second computer determines that the first computer has received one or more fraudulent certificates, the second computer may cause action to be taken with regard to the fraudulent certificates. |
| US08484459B2 |
Secure transfer of information
Disclosed is a method for secure transfer of information through a centralized system. The method comprising: maintaining user account information, a user account of a certain user comprising at least a user id and associated public and private keys, the private key being retrievable by means of a password of said certain user; receiving (411) identification information relating to a recipient; retrieving public key of said recipient from said user account information by means of said identification information; receiving (412) information content addressed to said recipient; storing (415) said information content for said recipient in encrypted form, said retrieved public key having been used in connection with encrypting said information content; and notifying (416) said recipient of the stored information content. |
| US08484456B2 |
Trusted electronic messaging system
An electronic messaging system, including: a first message transfer server for receiving a message for a party, mapping the destination address of the message to a trusted address for the party, and substituting the trusted address for the destination address; and a second message transfer server for establishing an authenticated transport session with the first message transfer server to receive the message and transfer the message to a location corresponding to the trusted address. |
| US08484454B2 |
Secure offline relocation of portable software licenses
A method for the secure offline relocation of portable software licenses. The portable software license has an associated time limit. A license relocation record can be generated including the portable software license and limit information for the time limit for relocation to a second computing device operating in an offline state. The license relocation record is temporarily securely stored on a removable security device attached to a first computing device that is connected to a licensing network. The removable security device can be disconnected from the first computing device and subsequently connected to the second computing device. Provided the time limit is not exceeded, the portable software license can then be installed upon the second computing device. Upon successful installation of the portable software licenses, the license relocation record can be removed from the removable security device. |
| US08484448B2 |
Information processing device
Information processing system including a first and a second operation mode with operating current lower than the first, a register holding an address of an instruction executed by a processing unit first when a boot address register returns from second to first operation mode, wherein the address is output to the processing unit when second to first operation mode shifting, wherein the boot address register is rewritable, an information holding circuit holding a value of a peripheral circuit module register, wherein the information holding circuit holds, in the second operation mode, information about the peripheral circuit module register, and, transfers information held in the information holding circuit to the peripheral circuit module register regarding a second-to-first operation mode shift, and wherein when an interrupt request is posted from outside the system in the second operation mode, the information processing system performs interrupt processing corresponding to the interrupt request. |
| US08484435B2 |
Method for updating data in memories using a memory management unit
A method for updating, in the background, data stored in physical memories without affecting the current operations performed by the microprocessor. When the update is completely terminated, the application switches from an old version to a new version. This switching occurs by a reconfiguration of the page table during which a first sub-tree structure of pointers accessing the old version of data stored in memories is replaced by a second sub-tree structure of pointers thus allowing access to the new version of data. This update method prevents incoherent transitory states of the system as the latter works with the previous data version until the installation of the new version becomes usable. In the case of an interruption to the update process, the application can always reinitialize the update since the old version of data can be reactivated by returning to the previous configuration of the page table. |
| US08484433B2 |
Dynamic detection and reduction of unaligned I/O operations
Detection and reduction of unaligned input/output (“I/O”) requests is implemented by a storage server determining an alignment value for data stored by the server within a storage system on behalf of a first client, writing the alignment value to a portion of the volume that stores the data for the first client, but not to a portion of the volume that stores data for a second client, and changing a location of data within the portion of the volume that stores the data for the first client, but not a location of data in the portion of the volume that stores data for the second client, to an alignment corresponding to the alignment value. The alignment value is applied to I/O requests directed to the portion of the volume that stores the data blocks for the first client after the location of the data blocks has been changed. |
| US08484427B1 |
System and method for efficient backup using hashes
A method for data backup including (a) forming an image of the storage device; (b) for each block to be backed up to the image, generating a hash; (c) for each block stored in the image, storing a hash in a hash table; (c) for each additional block of the storage device to be backed up, generating a hash; (d) sorting all the generated hashes and deleting duplicate hashes; (e) comparing the hashes to identify candidate blocks that might have identical contents with contents of blocks stored in the image; (f) if the hashes are not coincident, then backing up, to the image, contents of unidentified blocks and blocks that do not have identical hashes, and (g) otherwise, storing links in the image instead of the contents of the blocks, (h) after checking all the hashes for those blocks that need to be backed up, writing only unique hashes to the hash table; (h) links for multiple blocks with identical contents point to a single block in the image, (i) the image contains a bitmap of the backup; (j) the bitmap contains indicators for the links that define if a block contains the content or if the block points to another block, (k) also indicators that reflect used and unused blocks such that an indicator whether contents are shared with another block vs. contents are unique to every other block in the image. |
| US08484424B2 |
Storage system, control program and storage system control method
There is provided a storage system including one or more LDEVs, one or more processors, a local memory or memories corresponding to the processor or processors, and a shared memory, which is shared by the processors, wherein control information on I/O processing or application processing is stored in the shared memory, and the processor caches a part of the control information in different storage areas on a type-by-type basis in the local memory or memories corresponding to the processor or processors in referring to the control information stored in the shared memory. |
| US08484420B2 |
Global and local counts for efficient memory page pinning in a multiprocessor system
Embodiments of the disclosure relate to the management of memory pages available for pin operations by groups of processors in a multiprocessor system to reduce cache contention and improve system performance. An exemplary embodiment comprises a system that may include interconnected processors, a global count of the number of pages available for pinning, and a plurality of local counts of pages available for pinning by groups of processors. Each local count may be in proximity to a processor group and include a subset of the pages allocated from the global count that are available for pinning by processors in the group. The local counts are adjusted accordingly in response to page pinning and unpinning by processors in the respective processor groups. |
| US08484419B2 |
Systems and methods for backing up storage volumes in a storage system
Systems and methods for backing up storage volumes are provided. One system includes a primary side, a secondary side, and a network coupling the primary and secondary sides. The secondary side includes first and second VTS including a cache and storage tape. The first VTS is configured to store a first portion of a group of storage volumes in its cache and migrate the remaining portion to its storage tape. The second VTS is configured to store the remaining portion of the storage volumes in its cache and migrate the first portion to its storage tape. One method includes receiving multiple storage volumes from a primary side, storing the storage volumes in the cache of the first and second VTS, migrating a portion of the storage volumes from the cache to storage tape in the first VTS, and migrating a remaining portion of the storage volumes from the cache to storage tape in the second VTS. |
| US08484417B2 |
Location updates for a distributed data store
Version indicators within an existing range can be associated with a data partition in a distributed data store. A partition reconfiguration can be associated with one of multiple partitions in the data store, and a new version indicator that is outside the existing range can be assigned to the reconfigured partition. Additionally, a broadcast message can be sent to multiple nodes, which can include storage nodes and/or client nodes that are configured to communicate with storage nodes to access data in a distributed data store. The broadcast message can include updated location information for data in the data store. In addition, a response message can be sent to a requesting node of the multiple nodes in response to receiving from that node a message that requests updated location information for the data. The response message can include the requested updated location information. |
| US08484416B2 |
High availability raid using low-cost direct attached raid controllers
A method and storage controller for providing active-active RAID functionality within storage controller device(s). An embodiment may utilize zoning capabilities to assign a subset of physical storage devices with each storage controller. One or more storage controllers may detect that a storage controller/server has failed and may reconfigure zoning of the physical storage devices originally zoned in with the failed storage controller such that the physical storage devices of the failed zone are zoned out of the failed zone and zoned in with at least one of the remaining functional storage controllers. A reverse process may be used on recovery. An embodiment may further represent each of the physical devices zoned in with a storage controller as at least one virtual storage device and configure an additional comprehensive zone incorporating the storage controllers such that each storage controller has access to all physical storage devices through the virtual storage devices. |
| US08484415B2 |
Hybrid storage system for a multi-level raid architecture
The present invention relates to semiconductor storage systems (SSDs). Specifically, the present invention relates to a switch-based hybrid storage system. In a typical embodiment, a set of double data rate semiconductor storage device (DDR SSD) RAID controllers is coupled to a system control board, and a set of DDR SSD modules to the set of DDR SSD RAID controllers. The set of DDR SSD modules typically comprises a set of DDR SSD units. In addition, a set of HDD/Flash SSD RAID controllers is also coupled to the system control board, and a set of hard disk drive (HDD) modules are coupled to the set of HDD/Flash SSD RAID controllers. The set of HDD modules typically comprises a set of HDD/Flash SDD units. |
| US08484414B2 |
Storage system having plurality of flash packages
The storage system comprises a plurality of flash packages configuring one or more RAID groups, and a controller coupled to the plurality of flash packages. Each flash package comprises a plurality of flash chips configured from a plurality of physical blocks. The controller identifies a target area related to an unnecessary area, unmaps a physical block allocated to a logical block belonging to this target area from this logical block, and manages the unmapped physical block as a free block. |
| US08484413B2 |
Recording medium storing control program for decentralized data, storage management program, control node, and disk node
A number-of-slices collector collects number-of-slices information indicating the number of free slices, which are not assigned to a storage areas of a logical disk, from each of a plural disk nodes, divides the storage area of the corresponding storage device in units of slice, and stores an assignment relation of the slices with respect to the storage areas of the logical disk. A disk node selector selects a source disk node from among the disk nodes having the free slices, and requests a slice identifier to identify the free slice for the selected source disk node. The source disk node serves as a source providing the slice to be assigned. A slice assigner receives the slice identifier from the source disk node, and determines an assignment relation of the free slice, which is denoted by the received slice identifier, with respect to the storage areas of the logical disk. |
| US08484408B2 |
Storage system cache with flash memory in a raid configuration that commits writes as full stripes
Embodiments of the invention relate to a storage system cache with flash memory units organized in a RAID configuration. An aspect of the invention includes a storage system with a storage cache that includes flash memory units organized in an array configuration. The storage system further includes an array controller that manages data access and data operations for the flash memory units and organizes data as full array stripes. The storage system also includes a storage cache controller, that includes a block line manager that buffers write data to be cached for a write operation until the storage cache controller has accumulated an array band, and commits write data to the array controller as full array stripes. The storage cache controller determines whether to store write data for a write in the storage cache and/or in the primary storage device and whether to access read data from the storage cache or from the primary storage device. |
| US08484407B2 |
Flash memory timing pre-characterization
This disclosure provides a method of accurately determining expected transaction times associated with flash memory subdivisions, such as devices, blocks or pages. By performing a test transaction to program each bit of each such unit, the maximum expected programming time of each unit may be determined in advance and used for scheduling purposes. For example, in a straightforward implementation, a relatively accurate, empirically measured time limit may be identified and used to efficiently manage and schedule flash memory transactions without awaiting ultimate resolution of attempts to write to a non-responsive page. This disclosure also provides other uses of empirically-measured maximum flash memory transaction times, including via multiple memory modes and prioritized memory; for example, if a high performance mode is desired, low variation in flash memory transaction times may be tolerated, and units not satisfying these principles may be marked relatively quickly. A mechanism is also provided for recalibrating memory previously marked. By minimizing variability, flash memory can be applied to a broader range of designs and potentially to a broader set of main memory applications. |
| US08484400B2 |
Raid-based storage control board
Embodiments of the invention relate to a (e.g., hybrid) redundant array of independent disks (RAID)-based storage control board. Specifically, the present invention relates to a storage control board having a RAID controller with a peripheral component interconnect express (PCI-e) interface. In one embodiment, the RAID controller is coupled to an input/output (I/O) hub and a set (at least one) of PCI-e slots, which themselves can receive cards such as a fiber channel (FC) add-on card, a serial attached small component system interface (SAS) add-on card, or a PCI-e bridge add-on card. The I/O hub can be coupled to a set (at least one) of processors, each of which can be coupled to a main memory module or the like. |
| US08484399B2 |
System and method for configuring expansion bus links to generate a double-bandwidth link slot
A system and method for configuring expansion bus links to generate a double-bandwidth link slot are disclosed. An information handling system includes a central processing unit (CPU) and memory operable to store program instructions executable by the CPU. A chip set operably couples the CPU and the memory to a first slot and a second slot. The chipset includes a root port that generates a first link coupled to the first slot and a second link coupled to the second slot. An adapter card is inserted into either of the first or second slots such that the adapter card routes either the first or second link to the slot not populated by the adapter card. |
| US08484395B2 |
System and method for dynamically configuring processing resources and memory resources of wireless-enabled components
Disclosed herein is a configurable system of wireless-enabled components (WECs) and applications thereof. The system includes a plurality of WECs and a controller. Each WEC comprises a functional resource and is adapted to wirelessly communicate with other WECs. The controller is adapted to dynamically configure the functional resource of each WEC and wireless communications among the plurality of WECs to form a field-programmable communications array. The controller may be one of the plurality of WECs. The plurality of WECs may be located on a single chip, on multiple chips of a single device, or on multiple chips of multiple devices. |
| US08484394B2 |
USB device election of becoming a host after receiving information about device capability of the host
In the case of a universal serial bus (USB) connection, a host detects a connection of a peripheral to the host via a USB interface of the host. The host then generates an informative command, which includes information on capabilities of the host. This informative command is provided for transmission via the USB interface to the peripheral. The peripheral receives the informative command and may for instance evaluate the included information for selecting a suitable USB mode that is to be entered or for deciding on becoming a host itself. Alternatively or in addition, the host may generate a request command for retrieving information on all classes offered in all USB modes of a peripheral. |
| US08484392B2 |
Method and system for infiniband host channel adaptor quality of service
A method for allocating resources of a host channel adapter includes the host channel adapter identifying an underlying function referenced in the first resource allocation request received from a virtual machine manager, determining that the first resource allocation request specifies a number of physical collect buffers (PCBs) allocated to the underlying function, allocating the number of PCBs to the underlying function, determining that the first resource allocation request specifies a number of virtual collect buffers (VCBs) allocated to the underlying function, and allocating the number of VCBs to the underlying function. The host channel adapter further receives command data for a command from the single virtual machine, determines that the underlying function has in use at least the number of PCBs when the command data is received, and drops the command data in the first command based on the underlying function having in use at least the number of PCBs. |
| US08484391B2 |
Configurable buffer allocation for multi-format video processing
Systems and methods are described including dynamically configuring a shared buffer to support processing of at least two video read streams associated with different video codec formats. The methods may include determining a buffer write address within the shared buffer in response to a memory request associated with one read stream, and determining a different buffer write address within the shared buffer in response to a memory request associated with the other read stream. |
| US08484390B2 |
Message handler and method for controlling access to data of a message memory of a communications module
A method for controlling access to data of a message memory, and a message handler of a communications module having a message memory, in which data are input or output in response to an access; the message memory being connected to a first buffer configuration and a second buffer configuration, and the data being accessed via the first or the second buffer configuration; in the message handler, at least one first finite state machine being provided which controls the access to the message memory via the first buffer configuration, and at least one second finite state machine being provided which controls the access via the second buffer configuration, the at least one first finite state machine and the second finite state machine making access requests; and a third finite state machine being provided which assigns access to the message memory to the at least one first and the second finite state machine as a function of their access requests. |
| US08484389B2 |
AV renderer peripheral with dual inerrupt lines for staggered interrupts
An audio-video (AV) playback chain and rendering peripheral device 300 for generating two or more interrupts 306, 308 with a programmable delay 304 between them. Such are configured to prevent two processors 310, 314 from racing to access the same system resources in their respective interrupt service routines. |
| US08484387B2 |
Detection of cable connections for electronic devices
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to detection of cable connections for electronic devices. An embodiment of an apparatus includes a port for the connection of a cable, the port being compatible with a first protocol and a second protocol, the port including multiple pins including a first pin for a first line and a second pin for a second line. The apparatus further includes a processor to determine a type of source device connected to the cable, where determination of the type of source device includes the apparatus detecting a low signal on the first line and a high signal on the second line, and, upon detecting the low signal on first line and the high signal on the second line, the apparatus initiates a discovery sequence, the discovery sequence including transmitting a signal sequence on the second line and attempting to receive the signal sequence on the second line. If the signal sequence is successfully received on the second line, the apparatus determines that a source device compatible with the first protocol is connected to the cable. |
| US08484386B2 |
Systems, methods and devices for monitoring environmental characteristics using wireless sensor nodes
A wireless sensor node may be wirelessly registered with a first central node and may be automatically configured based at least in part on wireless communications with the first central node. The same wireless sensor node may subsequently be wirelessly registered with a second central node and may be automatically reconfigured based at least in part on wireless communications with the second central node. Environmental characteristics are detected using the wireless sensor node. |
| US08484384B2 |
ACARS router for remote avionic applications
An ACARS message communications system including at least one on-board piece of equipment harbouring an application adapted for transmitting and/or receiving ACARS messages, and a router adapted for routing, via a plurality of subnetworks, ACARS messages from and/or to the application. The piece of equipment and the router are connected to an AFDX network and the application is adapted for dynamic registration at the router, via the network, the router only routing the messages if the application is actually registered thereat. |
| US08484380B2 |
Text-based system for exchanging commands between devices, services and applications
A method, computer program product, and computer system is provided for exchanging text-based commands between clients, services, and/or applications. The method includes receiving, in a processor, a text-based command assigned to a service command configured to control at least one service of a computing device. The method also includes translating the text-based command into the service command based on a look-up table. The service command is provided to the service. The service is controlled based on the service command. |
| US08484377B1 |
Systems and methods for prepending nonce labels to DNS queries to enhance security
A method for prepending nonce labels to DNS queries includes determining whether a log contains a past entry of a domain name resolution query (“query”) to a name server for a full domain name that resulted in a positive reply indicating that the full domain name exists. It is determined whether the log contains a recent entry of the query that resulted in a negative reply indicating that the full domain name did not exist. The server is then queried with a nonce-less query for the full domain name. The server is queried again with a nonce label prepended query for the full domain name to determine if it currently results in the negative reply. The full domain name is flagged as inappropriate for nonce prepending upon determination that querying with a nonce prepended query results in a negative reply and a nonce-less query results in a positive reply. |
| US08484375B2 |
Systems and methods for removing stale mapping entries for network element
A method may include updating a routing table on a first network element based on a shortest path first calculation in response to a network change event. For each deletion from the routing table, a message may be broadcasted to a second network element adjacent to the first network element indicative of such deletion, the message including a target identifier (TID) associated with such deleted entry, wherein the second network element is configured to invalidate its associated TID address resolution protocol (TARP) cache in response to receiving the message. For each deletion from the routing table, a local TARP cache of the first network element may be searched to determine if an entry exists in the local TARP cache mapping the TID associated with such entry to a NASP associated with such entry. The local TARP cache may be invalidated in response to determining that the entry exists. |
| US08484369B2 |
Management and prioritization of media items downloading
The disclosed embodiments relate generally to the downloading of media items. The media items may include, for example, audio, video, image, or podcast data. In accordance with one embodiment, two or more media items may be concurrently downloaded. In accordance with another embodiment, a user may control the downloading of each of the media items, as desired. More particularly, the user may choose to download, pause, or resume downloading one or more media items identified in the list of media items. In other words, the user may alter the download status of any of the items in the list of media items. In addition, the user may re-prioritize the order in which the media items in the list or a subset thereof are to be downloaded. |
| US08484368B2 |
Method and system for optimizing download and instantaneous viewing of media files
Methods and arrangements for replacing segments or portions of a media file that was received via adaptive streaming or other transfer mechanism, to obtain a media file for local storage and further playback as if it came from a download. This maximizes the experience of both instant viewing and delayed viewing, and additionally provides a capability to extend the viewing experience to in-home streaming and copying to other devices. Accordingly, there is provided herein a capability to take advantage of adaptive streaming to provide a highly reliable mechanism for consumers to view media in real-time transmission, and also to obtain a resultant, locally stored media file of high quality. There is further provided herein a capability to obtain complete copies of media at different quality levels. Moreover, embodiments of the present invention facilitate adaptive streaming and copying within the home environment. |
| US08484366B2 |
Hierarchical service management
A service management system includes data storage storing a hierarchy of a network in a user premises. The hierarchy includes virtual network layers and devices in each layer. The storage device also stores service profiles for services associated with levels in the hierarchy, and the levels include one or more of the virtual network layers. The system receives information for creating a service for a device in a layer. The information includes service functions and attributes. The system also stores a service profile for the service in the storage device, and the service profile includes the received information. The system determines whether to trigger the service based on the received data and information in the service profile. |
| US08484362B2 |
Method and apparatus for accessing a remote location by sensing a machine-resolvable code
A method for controlling a computer wherein one or more remote locations disposed on a network are accessed in response to sensing a machine-resolvable code. A computer disposed on a network is operably connected to an input device for sensing a machine-resolvable code. A software application which includes a software identification code runs on the computer. In response to sensing a machine-resolvable code with the input device, the computer accesses at least one remote location corresponding to the software identification code. The one or more remote locations accessed may then return remote information to the computer for presentation. |
| US08484361B1 |
Tuning of SSL session caches based on SSL session IDS
Methods, systems, and apparatus are directed towards managing a network communication. A Secured Socket Layer (SSL) session identifier (ID) is received within an SSL handshake protocol message for establishing an SSL connection. The SSL session ID is combined with a pre-determined ID associated with a network device to generate another ID. The other ID may comprise a plurality of information associated with an operation for caching the SSL session ID and/or for caching other information usable in re-establishing an SSL session over the SSL connection. The plurality of information may comprise an expiration time, a cache line, a cache ID, and a unique ID. Based on at least a portion of the other ID, a failure statistic associated with re-establishing the SSL session for the SSL connection is determined. A session cache and/or the operation for caching are tuned based on the failure statistic. |
| US08484358B2 |
Real-time video detector
A request to retrieve data from a client device is intercepted by a video detector. The video detector determines if the request is for retrieving a video file. If the request is for a video file, and the video file is deemed to be transcoded to be displayed on the client device, the video detector forwards the request to a video optimizer along with encoding parameters. Encoding parameters are selected by the video detector based on properties of the client device, networks accessible by the client device, conditions of those networks, properties of the requested video and the type of video requested. The encoding parameters also include a file format type to which the requested video is to be transcoded. |
| US08484354B2 |
Distributed resource management
A distributed resource management mechanism allocates transmission resources by distributing the resources among a plurality of service nodes each responsible for a portion of the resources according to a hash function. A data center receives resource allocation requests from applications, such as video services applications, including a computed hash value based on the desired resource and indicative of the service node for providing the requested resource. A remote resource management client identifies the resource and computes the hash based on a request from the application, and transmits the request to a resource management server on the service node having the resource indicated by the hash, thus avoiding centralized queuing or caching of the resource requests and instead delegating to the service nodes. Service nodes may redundantly share responsibility for the resources through a root node or a cluster arrangement, providing failover if a service node becomes inoperational. |
| US08484352B2 |
Emergency information services
A method for providing user data to an emergency service provider includes enrolling a user in an emergency information system, including configuring a communication device associated with the user to deliver an access identifier to an emergency service provider when the user contacts the emergency service provider using the communication device. The method also includes maintaining, in a data storage module of the emergency information system, a database including user data associated with the user. The user data is associated with the access identifier. The method further includes receiving, via a communication network linked to the emergency information system, an access request from the emergency service provider, the access request including the access identifier; and providing, via the communication network, at least some of the user data associated with the requested access identifier to the emergency service provider. |
| US08484350B2 |
Messaging service
A messaging service is described which provides application agnostic and cross-platform messaging. Senders compile message content components and specify message preferences. The messaging service calculates a utility and cost of sending the message over different types of communication channel. A communication channel is selected using the cost and utility information and the message service formats the message content components for the particular communication channel. The message is then sent for example, as email, SMS, MMS or other suitable type depending on the selected channel. The utility is calculated using the sender message preferences, communication channel attributes, sending and recipient device attributes and preferably also, but not essentially, preferences of the recipient. |
| US08484348B2 |
Method and apparatus for facilitating fulfillment of web-service requests on a communication network
Fulfillment of web-service requests may be facilitated by intelligently load balancing the web-service requests between servers or server clusters configured to perform the requested web-service. Load balancing may be based on the type of request, target class of server, whether the request is likely to spawn any subsequent requests, relevant historical information, other requests, current and anticipated work load on the servers, the current ability of the servers to handle additional requests, the numbers type and schedule of requests in a queue waiting to be allocated to one or more of the servers, and numerous other factors that may affect the servers' ability to process the request. Requests may be classified to enable historical correlation between how servers have handled previous requests and the present request. Additionally, requests may be scheduled for future execution and monitored during execution. |
| US08484345B2 |
Communication control apparatus, communication control system, and communication control method
A communication control system includes a terminal apparatus and a maintenance terminal apparatus. The terminal apparatus includes a determining unit that selects an address of the terminal apparatus from addresses other than an address of a communication destination to determine the address used for the transmission and reception of data, the communication destination defining network positional information of the maintenance terminal apparatus; a discarding unit that discards an address resolution request; and a communication unit that transmits data only to the address of the communication destination and receives only the data from the address of the communication destination. The maintenance terminal apparatus includes a communication unit that provides maintenance data through the communication with the terminal apparatus; and a setting unit that stops an address resolution process for the address of the terminal apparatus during the communication with the terminal apparatus. |
| US08484341B2 |
Organizing individual java client request flows into a single server transaction
An information handling device detects that multiple flows each include a common transaction-specific identifier. The transaction-specific identifier corresponds to a transaction and is generated in response to receiving a request over a computer network. The information handling device, in turn, logs data pertaining to each of the detected plurality of flows in a storage area. When the information handling device identifies a completion of the transaction, the information handling device calculates a total cost of the transaction using the logged data pertaining to each of the plurality of flows. |
| US08484340B2 |
Server array capacity management calculator
Server array capacity calculator systems and methods are provided for estimating capacity based on diagnostic data. For example, a system comprising a database and an estimator computing device comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) and a capacity management module stored in memory and executed on a processor comprising instructions to receive diagnostic data from a plurality of servers of different server types, receive user input via the GUI, and in response to the user input, and for each of the server types, compute a current reference number of servers from current server efficiency estimates and a current number of utilized servers; calculate a growth multiplier from a ratio of the projected number of users and a count of the current concurrent users; generate a projected number of servers by multiplying the current reference number of servers with the growth multiplier, and display the projected number of servers on the GUI. |
| US08484338B2 |
Application detection architecture and techniques
An application detection architecture and related techniques are provided for detecting, identifying, and managing network-based applications. In various embodiments, a combined layered approach to application detection and various application-detection techniques provide for quick assessments that move from simplest to complex for rapid detection of unauthorized or misbehaving applications in communication with one or more computer networks. This layering, in some embodiments, further provides scalability and speed for determining and implementing policies that may be applicable to detected network-based application, users, groups, or devices associated with unauthorized network-based applications sending or receiving data via a computer network. |
| US08484335B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer products for download status notification
Methods, systems, and computer products for download notification including identifying content for download, requesting a download of the content to a device and requesting a notification related to the status of the download. |
| US08484334B2 |
Allocating resources based on rules and events
A method of providing an application with a resource of a computer system includes storing a set of rules for assigning resources of the computer system, identifying an event, and assigning the resource to the application based on the event and at least rule in the set of rules. The method may also include receiving an event message that corresponds to the event, where the event is identified from the event message. |
| US08484332B2 |
Network management
A tool for managing a computer network includes a gateway service module that identifies a gateway for a network and a network information service module. The network information service module identifies devices in the network, determines at least one property for each of the identified devices, and creates a network information data structure for storing device properties. A communication agent service module transmits at least one determined device property to other agent service modules associated with the network, receives at least one device property from another agent service module associated with the network, and provides the received at least one property device to the network information service module. A method of monitoring a computer network is also provided. The method includes identifying devices in a network, determining at least one property for each of the identified devices, receiving at least one determined device property from another device the network, and creating a network information data structure for storing the determined device properties. |
| US08484331B2 |
Real time protocol packet tunneling
In one embodiment a method and apparatus are provided that automatically establish an real time protocol (RTP) tunnel between an originator node or router and a terminator node or router, wherein the terminator node is close to a remote RTP peer. A method includes detecting a new flow of RTP packets wherein the RTP packets are encoded with a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address. Responsive to detecting the new flow, a probe is sent towards a same IP address as the destination IP address of the RTP packets. A response to the probe is received, the response including an identifier of a node that generated the response. Then, using the identifier, a tunnel is established with the node that generated the response, and thereafter compressed packets (compressed headers, compressed payloads, or both) are passed via the tunnel. |
| US08484330B2 |
Information processing system and control method thereof
A transmission destination when transmitting data stored in the first information processing apparatus to the second information processing apparatus is registered in the first information processing apparatus. When the registered transmission destination has a transfer setting of transferring data transmitted to the transmission destination, the first information processing apparatus displays, in association with a button for transmission to the transmission destination, information representing the transfer destination of data transferred in accordance with the transfer setting. |
| US08484328B2 |
Apparatus and method for stateful web services enablement
A web services enablement system includes a computer adapted to send and receive information to and from a first service, to send and receive information to and from a second service, which may not be a web service, to manage a connection with a third, stateful, service and to send and receive information via the stateful service based on information received from the first service or the second service. Also a method of enabling two-way web services and stateful transactions that includes steps of providing an architecture of base services and meta-services, defining a first base service comprising a core component and an extension component, combining the first base service and a meta-service to create a first usable service, managing a relationship between the first usable service and a second service through dependency or binding or utility, and performing a stateful transaction using the first usable service. |
| US08484321B2 |
Network evaluation grid techniques
Network evaluation grid techniques are presented. Local specifications for traffic patterns are evaluated for local traffic on local grids of a grid computing environment and reported out. The local traffic reported out is then evaluated in response to global traffic pattern specifications and a global traffic policy in order to identify one or more remedial actions to take or to recommend in response to that evaluation. |
| US08484319B2 |
Content delivery network (CDN) content server request handling mechanism with metadata framework support
To serve content through a content delivery network (CDN), the CDN must have some information about the identity, characteristics and state of its target objects. Such additional information is provided in the form of object metadata, which according to the invention can be located in the request string itself, in the response headers from the origin server, in a metadata configuration file distributed to CDN servers, or in a per-customer metadata configuration file. CDN content servers execute a request identification and parsing process to locate object metadata and to handle the request in accordance therewith. Where different types of metadata exist for a particular object, metadata in a configuration file is overridden by metadata in a response header or request string, with metadata in the request string taking precedence. |
| US08484318B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for upgrading through multicast
A method for upgrading a device through multicast is disclosed. The method includes: monitoring a common channel of a multicast server, where information about all subfiles of a current packaged mirror file is multicast in the common channel; obtaining information about a subfile required for upgrading the device from packets in the common channel, where the information includes an address of a subchannel that bears the subfile on the multicast server; and switching to the subchannel according to the address of the subchannel that bears the subfile required for upgrade, receiving the subfile multicast in the subchannel, and validating the subfile. Further, an apparatus and system for upgrading a device through multicast are disclosed. The technical solution under the present invention can upgrade both a single-system or single-module device and a multi-system or multi-module device through multicast, the time required for upgrading the devices is reduced, and the upgrade status of the devices can be tracked in real time. |
| US08484313B2 |
Using a closed caption stream for device metadata
A video stream including closed captions is received. A set of information is determined from the closed captions. A request including the set of information is sent to a server remotely located from the client for additional processing. A set of instructions is received from the server. The set of instructions is determined based on the additional processing of the set of information. One or more applications are executed in accordance with the set of instructions in response to receiving the set of instructions. |
| US08484311B2 |
Pruning an aggregate media collection
Systems and methods are provided for aggregating a local media collection of a user with one or more shared media collections shared with the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. In general, one or more shared media collections shared with the user are first discovered. Optionally, the user may select one or more of the shared media collections for aggregation with the local media collection of the user. The shared media collections selected by the user, or alternatively all of the shared media collections, are then aggregated with the local media collection of the user to provide an aggregate media collection for the user. The aggregate media collection of the user may then be pruned or filtered based on user preferences of the user. |
| US08484310B2 |
Method of supplying advertising content
A method of supplying advertising content, a method comprising the steps of receiving content data, the data comprising metadata identifying an advertisement service, transmitting a data request to the advertisement service in accordance with the metadata, transmitting an authentication request to an authentication server, receiving an authentication response, the authentication response comprising user information, and transmitting advertisement information in accordance with the user information. |
| US08484305B2 |
Method for activating and deactivating client-side services from a remote server
A system, apparatus, and method for controlling the operation of a service in a client device. The invention uses an existing protocol which is used for communications between an application resident in the device and a remote server to convey information about the service to the application. The information may be relevant to a service specific function, such as configuration or provisioning, or an activation or de-activation instruction, for example. The application receives the service related information, processes the information and then provides the information to the service via a notification channel. The service related information may be incorporated into a message sent from the remote server to the client device by using an element of the protocol, for example, by appending a text string to a header. |
| US08484301B2 |
Using distinguishing properties to classify messages
A system and method are disclosed for classifying a message. The method includes receiving the message, identifying in the message a distinguishing property; generating a signature using the distinguishing property; and comparing the signature to a database of signatures generated by previously classified messages. |
| US08484300B2 |
Methods, apparatus and systems for communicating information relating to the performance of underground facility locate and marking operations to excavators and other entities
Methods, apparatus, and systems for providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. At least one notification indicating a status of the locate and/or marking operation is electronically transmitted and/or stored so as to inform at least one party associated with requesting the operation (a “requesting party,” e.g., an excavator, a property owner, a facility owner, a regulatory authority, a damage investigator, etc.) of the status of the operation. In one aspect, a requesting party may designate a preferred format, content, and/or method of receiving notifications regarding the locate and/or marking operation. In another aspect, a computer-generated GUI is provided to facilitate submission of requests, generation of “virtual white line” images to indicate one or more dig areas on a digital image of a work site, and/or selection of notifications and preferences for same. In yet another aspect, a requesting party may provide an acknowledgement of receipt (e.g., a “return receipt”) for one or more received notifications. |
| US08484299B2 |
Content delivery system, delivery server, receiving terminal, and content delivery method
A transmitting terminal can transmit a content held by itself to a specific receiving terminal having no email software as if using a mailer. The transmitting terminal (10) and the receiving terminal (20) are connected to a delivery server (30) via a network (4). The delivery server (30) comprises: a database (36) for registering the device ID that specifies the receiving terminal (20); a content storage (39) for temporarily storing a content transmitted from the transmitting terminal (10); and table (33, 37) for managing contents separately on a per device ID basis of the receiving terminal. The delivery server (30), when receiving a request from the receiving terminal (20), refers to the tables (33, 27) and transmits to the receiving terminal (20) a content, the transmission destination of which corresponds to the device ID of the receiving terminal (20). |
| US08484291B1 |
Method and apparatus for selecting commands for transmission from an updated queue
Commands associated with an update allow a presenter display to be recreated by a viewer. The commands are delineated by end of update markers. Commands are transmitted to viewers in viewer updates to allow viewers to see information that was shown on the presenter display as it existed at a particular point in time. A target end of update marker will be selected for a viewer update and all commands necessary to recreate the presenter display at that point in time will be transmitted to the viewer. Since the target end of update marker may cause several presenter updates to be included in a given viewer update, some of the commands in the update queue may not need to be transmitted to the viewer. Prunability indicators are therefore added to commands to allow commands to be selected for transmission to a viewer based on the target end of update marker. |
| US08484283B2 |
Method and system for mitigating automated agents operating across a distributed network
A content delivery network (CDN) service provider extends a content delivery network to gather information on atomically identifiable web clients (called “user agents”) as such computer-implemented entities interact with the CDN across different domains being managed by the CDN service provider. In one embodiment, a set of machines, processes, programs, and data comprise a data system. The data system tracks user agents, preferably via cookies, although one or more passive techniques may be used. A user agent may be a cookie-able device having a cookie store. As the user agent navigates across sites, a CDN-specific unique identifier used by the system to correlate user agents is generated. Preferably, the unique identifier is stored as an encrypted cookie. The unique identifier represents one user agent (and, thus, one cookie-able device's store). The system tracks user agent behavior on and across customer sites that are served by the CDN, and these behaviors are classified into identifiable “segments” that may be used to create a profile. CDN customers use the data system to obtain information that characterizes the user agent. |
| US08484278B2 |
Digital architecture for DFT/IDFT hardware
Embodiments of the present invention can provide circuits and systems for computing a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) or an inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT). An embodiment includes an input circuit, an intermediate circuit, an output circuit, and an accumulator circuit. The input circuit can receive a set of input values, and can use a first set of degenerate rotators to generate a first set of intermediate values. The intermediate circuit can receive the first set of intermediate values, and can use a set of CORDICs (coordinate rotation digital computers) to generate a second set of intermediate values. The output circuit can receive the second set of intermediate values, and can use a second set of degenerate rotators to generate a third set of intermediate values. The accumulator circuit can receive the third set of intermediate values, and can use a set of accumulators to generate a set of output values. |
| US08484274B2 |
Optimal padding for the two-dimensional fast fourier transform
Padding or adding data to a data signal can increase the speed with which a signal processor can process the data. Methods are provided herein that can accurately predict the optimal pad size of a two dimensional array of data, which can be used to increase the processing speed of a signal processor by optimizing run-time for a two-dimensional (2-D) fast Fourier transform (FFT) operation. |
| US08484270B2 |
System and method for adaptive stimulus-response signal filtering
A system and method for filtering a signal comprising: receiving a signal of interest; receiving a signal indicating that a stimulus has been applied; receiving the synchronized stimulus signal and signal of interest; recursively selecting a portion of the signal of interest associated with a stimulus being applied and assign the selected portion of the signal of interest to one of the plurality of buffers; combining all responses in each of said plurality of buffers; transforming the combination of all responses in each buffer to a transform space; comparing the transform components of the buffers to determine a scaling factor; applying the scaling factor to the spectral components of the buffers; performing an inverse transform on the result of combining the buffers to return to the time domain to produce a filtered signal, and outputting the filtered signal received from the processor. |
| US08484268B2 |
Random wave envelope derived random numbers and their use in generating transient keys in communication security applications part II
A random wave envelope is created from a set of bounded random numbers by additively combining a triangle, a square and a sine wave. The random wave envelope is then used to create a sequence of wave random numbers from the wave envelope, which are used to generate random-variant keys for encryption in place of the pre-placed encryption key. An ambiguity envelope is thus created over the transmission of data packets as random-variant-keys are used that are distinct and separate for each packet and may also be distinct and separate for each incoming and outgoing packet. The random-variant keys are only created at the time of the actual use for encrypting or decrypting a data packet and not before and then discarded after one time use. The random-variant keys may be used in wireless network using wireless access points, cellular phone and data networks and ad hoc mobile wireless networks. |
| US08484264B2 |
Exploitation of topological categorization of chaotic and fractal functions including field line calculations
A topological categorization method, based on inclusive intervals, provides a general method of analyzing escape topologies for discrete dynamic systems, in complex and higher dimensions, including the calculation of both potential for complex and hypercomplex and field lines for complex iterations. |
| US08484263B2 |
Method for keyless protection of data using a local array of disks
A method secures data in a network. The data includes a data message that has a first bit length. A random number is generated and transformed to create a first pseudo random number. The first pseudo random number is mixed with the data message to create an encrypted message. The encrypted message is transformed into a second pseudo random number. The second pseudo random number is mixed with the random number to produce a key. The encrypted message is placed side-by-side with the key to produce an output message. The output message is dispersed into a plurality of fragments. The plurality of fragments is stored in a plurality of data storage devices. |
| US08484261B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing system, information processing method, and storage medium
In a system, in order to allow transfer of information relating to image data and the like to a desired directory in a directory structure in a host information processing apparatus, without performing an operation at the host information processing apparatus, in a first apparatus, a directory-information management unit acquires and manages directory information of a storage unit managed by a filing system of a second apparatus, and a display unit displays the directory information managed by the directory-information management unit. The user assigns a directory to which the image data and the like are to be transferred in the storage unit of the second apparatus, using an assignment unit. |
| US08484252B2 |
Generation of a multidimensional dataset from an associative database
Techniques are described of applying on-line analytical processing (OLAP) to associative databases. For instance, a database adapter implemented in computer hardware or software may automatically create dimensions in a multidimensional dataset for data types in an associative database. The database adapter may then query the associative database for metadata that describes index values of each dimension of the multidimensional dataset. The database adapter may then query the associative database for data values to populate individual cells of the multidimensional database. |
| US08484248B2 |
Web-based asset management
The method and system of the present invention provides an improved technique for replacing, implementing and managing computer-related assets. A technician accesses the World Wide Web through a user's computer. The information resident on the computer, including information regarding the computer and the user's preferences, are downloaded to a remote storage medium through the World Wide Web. Once downloaded, all information may be removed from the user's computer. Subsequently, the technician accesses another computer such as, for example, a new computer that has been assigned to the same user. The technician accesses the World Wide Web through the new computer and downloads the information previously stored on the remote storage medium. This information can then be used to install the user's prior applications, settings and preferences on the new computer. |
| US08484243B2 |
Order-independent stream query processing
In a system and method for order-independent stream query processing, one or more input streams of data are received, and the one or more input streams are analyzed to determine data which is older than an already emitted progress indicator. The data which is older than the already emitted progress indicator is partitioned into one or more partitions, and each of the one or more partitions are independently processed using out-of-order processing techniques. A query is received, rewritten and decomposed into one or more sub-queries that produce partial results for each of the one or more partitions, where each of the one or more sub-queries correspond to a partition. A view is also produced that consolidates the partial results for each partition. The partial results are consolidated at a consolidation time specified by the query to produce final results, and the final results are provided. |
| US08484242B1 |
Method and system for transparent database connection pooling and query queuing
Roughly described, a database accelerator is installed transparently in a network between database client and server systems. It maintains a pool of connections to the database server(s) for re-use as needed. Connection requests from client systems are received and completed by the accelerator, and queries received on such client-side connections are forwarded through pool connections toward the database servers. If no appropriate connections are available when needed for a particular query, the accelerator forms one by emulating a client system requesting a connection to the desired database server. If the maximum number of connections has already been reached, then the query is queued until a connection becomes available in the pool. By installing the accelerator transparently in the network, no modifications are required to the software in either the client systems or the database servers to add connection pooling functionality to an existing client/server database environment. |
| US08484233B2 |
Facet, logic and textual-based query composer
Described is a technology for composing queries by user interaction with objects and facets. A facet-based user interface allows users to select facets for use as filtering criteria, and a logic-based user interface allows users to logically combine object data. Query logic that processes the filtering criteria and/or logically combines the object data into a query. The facet-based user interface and logic-based user interface may be accessed via a unified user interface. The unified user interface may also provide a text editor for composing a text-based query. |
| US08484232B2 |
Method, computer arrangement, computer program and computer program product for checking for the presence of control statements in a data value
The invention relates to a method for checking for the presence of control statements in a data value, comprising providing at least one first data value (8) from a trustworthy source (3), receiving at least one second data value (9) from an untrustworthy source (4) and marking the second data value (9) as untrustworthy, performing a computation on the first and second data value (8, 9) resulting in a third data value (10) and marking all parts (11) of the third data value (10), which are derived from the second data value (9), as untrustworthy, and checking the parts (11) of the third data value (10) marked as untrustworthy for the presence of control statements.The invention further relates to a computer arrangement, a computer program, and a computer program product adapted to perform a method in accordance with the invention. |
| US08484230B2 |
Dynamic parsing rules
Methods, program products, and systems implementing dynamic parsing rules are disclosed. Log data from a variety of log producers can be parsed using parsing rules to generate information about an information system. The parsing rules can include system parsing rules and custom parsing rules. A state machine can be used to detect conflicts between various parsing rules. A central server can distribute the system parsing rules and custom parsing rules to one or more remote servers for distributed processing. In a hierarchical parsing system, a first tier parser can be used to identify types of sources generating the log data. Log data from each type of log source can be sent to a second tier parser that corresponds to the type of log source. |
| US08484228B2 |
Extraction and grouping of feature words
Various embodiments of systems and methods for extraction and grouping of feature words are described herein. Feature words are obtained from a first corpus of text bodies comprising a plurality of reviews. A second corpus is created using a combination of the obtained feature words, verbs and adjectives from the first corpus. The second corpus comprises filtered reviews and each of the filtered reviews pertains to a review. Topics are preliminarily assigned for words in the filtered reviews of the second corpus. For each of the feature words in the second corpus, a topic count is determined for every preliminarily assigned topic. After determining the topic count, one or more of the topics are finally assigned to the feature words based on a topic count value. At least one topic is presented as a group of the feature words for which the at least one topic is assigned based on the topic count value. |
| US08484226B2 |
Media recommendations for a social-software website
Collaborative-filtering software creates a neighborhood using a map-reduce architecture by pair-wise application of a similarity measure to a sparse matrix of users and items of media designated by the users. The collaborative-filtering software then generates recommendations for a particular user by rating items of media designated by other users in the neighborhood (but not the particular user). The collaborative-filtering software rates the item of media, using a weighted vote of the users in the neighborhood. The weighted vote depends at least in part on the mean similarity of the users in the neighborhood who have designated the item of media. Then the collaborative-filtering software records the item of media as a recommendation for subsequent presentation to the other user, if the rating of the item of media is among the highest in comparison to the ratings of other items of media designated by users in the neighborhood. |
| US08484218B2 |
Translating keywords from a source language to a target language
In one implementation, a method includes receiving a request for translation of one or more first keywords from a source language to a target language; and translating, using a machine translation process, the first keywords from the source language into a plurality of second keywords in the target language. The method can also include determining, by a computer system, frequencies with which each of the second keywords occur in a corpus associated with the target language. The method can further include selecting, by the computer system, a subset of the second keywords to use in the target language based on the determined frequencies of occurrence. |
| US08484216B2 |
Conversation persistence in real-time collaboration system
Previously conducted conversations in real-time collaboration messages are persistently stored, either by client or a server, and then are associated with conversational items presented to a user (e.g. contact names, topics, etc.). An icon is provided near each listed item, which when selected, displays to the user summaries or titles of all transcripts to which the selected item pertains or relates. The user may select one or more summaries or titles for which the conversation is to be resumed, causing the system to retrieve the stored transcript and resume appending new conversational entries to it, so that the user recovers conversational context effortlessly and accurately. Enhanced versions of the invention include sharing of transcripts so that all participants receive the context of the conversation, and server-side or client-side implementations. |
| US08484215B2 |
Fuzzy data operations
A method for clustering data elements stored in a data storage system includes reading data elements from the data storage system. Clusters of data elements are formed with each data element being a member of at least one cluster. At least one data element is associated with two or more clusters. Membership of the data element belonging to respective ones of the two or more clusters is represented by a measure of ambiguity. Information is stored in the data storage system to represent the formed clusters. |
| US08484214B2 |
Record compression using incremental reverse templating
In one embodiment, a method for compression is disclosed, including receiving source data, creating at least one template based upon common data, and creating a compressed record including a reference to the at least one template and a template delta that represents a difference between the at least one template and source data. |
| US08484212B2 |
Providing reconstructed data based on stored aggregate data in response to queries for unavailable data
In an embodiment, a method comprises dividing collected data into data clusters based on proximity of the data and adjusting the clusters based on density of data in individual clusters. Based on first data points in a first cluster, a first average point in the first cluster is determined. Based on second data points in a second cluster, a second average point in the second cluster is determined. Aggregate data, comprising the first average point and the second average point, are stored in storage. Upon receiving a request to provide data for a particular coordinate, the reconstructed data point is determined by interpolating between the first average point and the second average point at the particular coordinate. Accordingly, aggregated data may be stored and when a request specifies data that was not actually stored, a reconstructed data point with an approximated data value may be provided as a substitute. |
| US08484211B2 |
Batch entity representation identification using field match templates
Techniques may be used to match records of a batch file to an entity representation in a universal database. Inputs may include, but are not limited to, a batch file and a universal (or other) database. The technique may compare the records of the batch file to the records of the universal database, and may attempt to create matches between the records in the batch file and the entity representations or records in the universal database. One possible output may include one or more tables that include foreign record IDs of the batch file records, each in association with an entity representation of the universal database. The techniques may include a batch style processing of records. |
| US08484209B2 |
Method, system and computer-readable recording medium for recommending other users or objects by considering at least one user's preference
The present invention relates to a method for recommending other users who have similar preference with a user. The method includes the steps of: acquiring information on objects selected by a user and other users; acquiring information on topics; determining to which topic the user and the other users respectively correspond; evaluating a degree of user similarity by each other user, the degree of user similarity being relevant to sum of probabilities of the specific object appearing in the state of a topic while k-th other user and the user have the topic as a probability of the k-th other user and the user having selected the specific object, by referring to correspondence relationships; and recommending specific other users who have a high degree of user similarity, wherein the degree of user similarity is evaluated by multiplying the sum by a probability of the specific object appearing independently. |
| US08484206B2 |
Generating report of identifiers and time values
Among other disclosure, a computer-implemented method for business process reporting includes receiving, at a server device, a first identifier of a business document, the business document being an instance of a business document type and having a first timestamp. The method includes polling multiple systems with the first identifier using the server device, the polling requesting (i) second identifiers for related objects of the business document according to a relationship model that is local to the system being polled, and (ii) metadata associated with the second identifiers, including second timestamps associated with the related objects; performing polling of at least some of the multiple systems with the second identifiers and any subsequently received identifiers using the server device, until the polling has been performed for all received identifiers. The method includes generating a report regarding the business document, the report including at least the received identifiers and all received timestamps. |
| US08484200B2 |
System and method for the centralized management of a document ordering and delivery program
A system and method for managing the ordering, maintenance, and delivery of documents (e.g., technical publications, journals, etc.) in a copyright-compliant manner. A company having a plurality of users having a significant need to order a large number of documents, may utilize the system and method to centrally manage the company's document ordering needs. The system and method provides for the end-to-end management of the entire document delivery supply chain from the publisher to the user. Use of the system and method enables a company to efficiently control the automated distribution of content in compliance with copyright restrictions set forth by document publishers. |
| US08484193B2 |
Look-ahead document ranking system
A method and system is provided for calculating importance of documents based on transition probabilities from a source document to a target document based on looking ahead to information content of target documents of the source document. A look-ahead importance system generates transition probabilities of transitioning between any pair of source and target documents based on analysis of links to target documents of the source document. The system may calculate the transition probabilities based on the number of links on documents a look-ahead distance away. The system then solves for the stationary probabilities of the transition probabilities. The stationary probabilities represent the importance of the documents. |
| US08484192B1 |
Media search broadening
A computer-implemented method includes receiving a search request at a central information provider, generating a query containing media-related terms relating to the search request, and submitting the query to a search engine having access to media-related search results, wherein the query is broader than the received search request, and transmitting media-related search results generated in response to the query by the search engine, to a remote device. |
| US08484191B2 |
On-line social search
Example methods, apparatuses, or articles of manufacture are disclosed that may be implemented using one or more computing devices to facilitate or otherwise support one or more processes or operations in connection with performing information searches, such as, for example, domain-specific on-line searches using social survey-type queries. |
| US08484190B1 |
Prompt for query clarification
Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for query clarification. In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in computer-implemented methods that include the actions of receiving in a search interface a user input associated with a search query; determining whether the associated search query is a trigger query, the trigger query being a query identified for clarification; when the search query is a trigger query, prompting the user for additional information to form a clarified search query, the clarified search query including the additional information, the prompting occurring prior to submission of the search query to a search system; and submitting the clarified search query to the search system. |
| US08484186B1 |
Personalized people finder
Methods and systems are provided for determining a person that matches a user request. A user request may be received that includes identification information at least partially identifying a person other than the requesting user, the request including a name of the person. Personal information regarding the requesting user and validated personal information regarding individuals potentially matching the request may be retrieved. A score may then be determined for each potentially matching individual, where the score is determined by comparing the personal information regarding the requesting user and the validated personal information regarding the given individual. A matching individual may then be determined based on the determined scores. |
| US08484185B2 |
Context-based communication service
Providing a context-based service to a terminal, including: a) receiving a query from a service application, the query indicating that a context server should perform an action when a query condition is fulfilled, the query condition referring to one or more attributes of derived context information indicative of a context of the terminal; b) generating a query evaluation trigger indicating that the query condition should be evaluated; c) identifying raw context information to derive the derived context information; d) generating a calculation trigger indicating that the derived context information should be calculated when the raw context information is updated; e) receiving an update of the raw context information and, according to the calculation trigger, calculating a new value of the derived context information; and f) according to the query evaluation trigger, evaluating the query condition by using the new value and, if the query condition is fulfilled, performing the action. |
| US08484181B2 |
Cloud matching of a question and an expert
Methods, systems, apparatus, and machine-readable media for matching a question with an expert are provided herein. Information regarding a plurality of experts may be received. The received information may be analyzed and processed and an expertise cloud may be generated for each expert of the plurality of experts using the received information and results of the analysis and processing. In some cases feedback regarding an expert may be received and associated with the expert. Also disclosed herein is a system, method, apparatus, and machine-readable media for matching an expert with a requested area of expertise. |
| US08484179B2 |
On-demand search result details
Search results and associated search-result details are provided in response to user queries. Embodiments include identifying a number of search-result details for different indexed search results, identifying one or more detail-attributes for each search-result detail, and identifying one or more user-attributes for a particular user. These search results, associated search-result details, and associated detail-attributes may be stored in a database. Upon receiving a search query from the user, search results may be generated. Search-result details specific to each search result and specific to the end-user may also be generated by identifying the detail-attributes associated with each search-result detail and the user-attributes associated with the end-user. These search results may then be presented to the end-user. Upon receiving an indication of interest in a particular search result, the search result details may then be presented to the end user. |
| US08484171B2 |
Duplicate filtering in a data processing environment
A data processing method is provided. The method comprises collecting a stream of data records received from one or more data sources connected in a communications network; dividing the stream of data records into sets of data records for parallel processing by a plurality of concurrently running tasks, wherein a first task loads a persistent index associated with a first set of data records into memory to generate an in-memory version of the first persistent index for the first set of data records; and identifying duplicate and non-duplicate data records in the first set of data records, based on searching the in-memory version of the first persistent index. |
| US08484170B2 |
Scalable deduplication system with small blocks
For scalable data deduplication working with small data chunks in a computing environment, for each of the small data chunks, a signature is generated based on a combination of a representation of characters that appear in the small data chunks with a representation of frequencies of the small data chunks. The signature is used to help in selecting the data to be deduplicated. |
| US08484169B2 |
Configuration information management device, computer-readable storage medium, and configuration information management method
When receiving a change of property information that is a key for performing property information integration, a FCMDB refers to the information stored in a property management information DB. Then, when property information that is a key after change is identical with the property information before change in the same configuration item, the FCMDB maintains the property information of the property information DB with respect to the configuration item. On the other hand, when the two property information data are not identical to each other, the FCMDB integrates property information for each configuration item on the basis of the key after change and registers the result in a property information storage unit. |
| US08484167B2 |
Data verification systems and methods based on messaging data
Embodiments consistent with the present invention relate to methods and systems for verifying data of an application system. Consistent with exemplary embodiments, such methods and systems may send a message including data copied from a first data set processed by a first processing component and then store outbound messaging data describing the sent message. A second processing component may receive the sent message and store inbound messaging data describing the received message. The methods and systems may then verify a consistency of the data of the first and second processing components according to a comparison of the outbound and inbound messaging data. |
| US08484159B2 |
Managing metadata for graph-based computations
Determining metadata associated with a graph-based computation includes functionally transforming metadata associated with a first portion of a graph to generate transformed metadata associated with a second portion of the graph; determining a third portion of the graph related to the second portion of the graph; and propagating the transformed metadata from the second portion of the graph to the third portion of the graph. |
| US08484155B2 |
Hair evaluation method and system
A relation equation between wave information on unpermed hair strands and evaluation values of appearance of whole hair selected from among gloss of the whole hair, order of alignment of the hair strands, and frizziness of the hair strand is acquired from a plurality of subjects. Based on the relation equation, the appearance of whole hair of an arbitrary subject is evaluated from wave information on a hair strand of the arbitrary subject. This allows an objective evaluation of the gloss of whole hair, the order of alignment of hair strands, or the frizziness of the hair strand by a simple technique, and also allows an objective evaluation corresponding to cosmetic specialists' evaluations in terms of equivalent age. |
| US08484149B1 |
User interface for entering and viewing quantitatively weighted factors for decision choices
An interface facilitates user input of quantitatively weighted recommendations, including weighted factors in support of decision choices. A user input mechanism allows a user to specify a factor in support of a choice, and to specify values for quantitative parameters associated with the factor along two or more axes. An overall quantitative weight for the factor is generated based on the specified quantitative parameters.In one embodiment, a graphical user interface is presented, wherein the user specifies the values for the weighting parameters by dragging a movable indicator within an N-dimensional space. Each axis of the N-dimensional space corresponds to a weighting parameter. An overall quantitative weight for the factor is calculated, for example, as the product of the specified values along each of the axes. A visual indication of this calculation is presented, so as to provide an intuitive sense of the overall weight assigned to the factor. |
| US08484147B2 |
Pattern matching
A method and apparatus to perform pattern matching is provided. The apparatus includes a first storage to store data representing a first set of pattern components, and a second storage to store data representing a second set of pattern components each corresponding to one or more components of the first set of pattern components. A first pattern matcher is configured to detect in an input stream a first component of one or more patterns and to generate a signal indicative of the detection of the first component. A second pattern matcher is configured to receive the signal from the first pattern matcher and to detect if a second component of the one or more patterns of the set of patterns immediately follows the first component in the input stream. |
| US08484146B2 |
Interaction device implementing a bayesian's estimation
The present invention provides an interaction device adapted for setting own controller for maximizing expectation of information defined between a hypothesis about an interaction object and own input/output. Thus, the social robot can judge by using only simple input/output sensor whether or not the human being is present or absent at the outside world. |
| US08484145B2 |
Standardizing data used for monitoring an aeroengine
A method and a system for standardizing data used for monitoring an aeroengine, and including: operating over time to collect time-series measurements from the aeroengine; calculating from the time-series measurements a set of indicators Y=(y1, . . . , yj, . . . , ym) specific to elements of the engine; identifying from the time-series measurements an exogenous data set X=(x1, . . . , xn) representative of external context acting on the set of indicators Y; defining a conditional multidimensional model simultaneously handling the indicators of the set of indicators Y while taking account of the exogenous data set X to form a set of estimators Ŷ=(ŷ1, . . . , ŷj, . . . , ŷm) corresponding to the set of indicators Y=(y1, . . . , yj, . . . , ym); and normalizing each estimator ŷj as a function of a reference value for the corresponding indicator yj and of a difference between each estimator ŷj and corresponding indicator yj so as to form a set of standardized values {tilde over (Y)}=({tilde over (y)}1, . . . , {tilde over (y)}j, . . . , {tilde over (y)}m). |
| US08484144B2 |
Activity-dependent generation of simulated neural circuits
A simulated neural circuit includes a plurality of simulated neurons. The simulated neurons have input branches that are configured to connect to a plurality of inputs and activate in response to activity in the inputs to which they are connected. In addition, the simulated neurons are configured to activate in response to activity in their input branches. Initial connections are formed between various input branches and various inputs and a set of the inputs are activated. Thereafter, the stability of connections between input branches and inputs to which they are connected is moderated based on the activated set of inputs and a pattern of activity generated in the input branches and simulated neurons in response to the activated set of inputs. |
| US08484140B2 |
Feature vector clustering
One goal of computer services (e.g., email, web pages, blogs, advertisements, etc.) is to provide a user with Kinds (digital representations of everyday things) that may be relevant and interesting to the user. Users and Kinds may be plotted within a multidimensional matrix as feature vectors based upon their respective characteristics. An unsupervised clustering technique may be executed upon the matrix to create a mathematical cluster of feature vectors having similar characteristics. For example, a clothing cluster may comprise a dress Kind, a shoe Kind, a wool Kind, a watch Kind, etc. because the unsupervised clustering technique may determine these Kinds are plotted within the matrix in such a way that they have similar characteristics relating to clothing. The unsupervised clustering technique may also be utilized in determining which Kinds may be relevant to a user given a particular context with which a user is engaged with a computer resource. |
| US08484139B2 |
Data classification method and apparatus
A data classification apparatus for classifying plural input data into plural categories, in which the apparatus includes a prototype select unit for selecting the prototype of the category nearest to the input data that has been read, a prototype evaluation unit for evaluating whether the selected prototype is proper, a prototype addition unit for adding a prototype in the case where the selected prototype is not proper and an internal data correcting unit for correcting at least one of the prototype and an area determining parameter specifying the size of the category area for each category in the case where the selected prototype is proper. The size of the category area can be set for each category, and therefore, the data can be properly classified and the judgment accuracy is improved in an application to fault detection and fault diagnosis. |
| US08484137B2 |
Telemetry system
Disclosed are apparatus and related methodologies for transmitting data in a gas AMI network. Data may be transmitted bi-directionally between selected endpoint devices and data collection devices to central or head end equipment. Transmitted data may include parameter updating data for selected endpoint devices, and collected data from selected endpoint devices. Endpoint physical area conditions may be monitored for selected of the endpoint devices including monitoring for and reporting of physical changes in the area surrounding cathodic protection systems. The present concepts may be extended to implementation in conjunction with water and electricity metering environments. |
| US08484131B2 |
Methods and systems for processing a financial transaction
A method for processing a financial transaction such as an electronic bill payment is provided. The method includes receiving an electronic bill payment wherein the bill payment is submitted on behalf of a consumer in response to a bill associated with a biller, determining using a computer system that the received electronic bill payment is an exception payment wherein the exception payment includes the electronic bill payment submitted by the consumer having consumer entered information not matching a criterion for accepting electronic payment required by the biller, creating an exception addenda record for the exception payment using data stored within a database wherein the addenda record identifies the consumer submitting the exception payment, and posting the exception payment to an appropriate consumer account for the biller based on the addenda record. |
| US08484124B2 |
Fuel offering and purchase management system
The present disclosure is directed to facilitating pricing, sales and delivery of a commodity. In one embodiment, a Fuel Offer Generator facilitates the purchase and management of fuel offerings. The Fuel Offer Generator allows Customers interested in securing fuel to obtain an offer for fuel at lock-in prices for various tenors. Fuel Customers may later exercise the fuel offers so their fuel costs are locked-in at desired levels. The Fuel Offer Generator may generate hedges to counteract fuel related risks stemming from fuel offer purchases. Ultimately, a customer that purchases a fuel offering can exercise their fuel offering order at a specified price and redeem any difference between the market price for their purchased fuel and the price specified in their fuel offering order. The Fuel Offer Generator employs a redemption condition based on a retail fuel pump price metric to establish the pricing of fuel offerings. |
| US08484122B2 |
System and method for apportioning trading orders based on size of displayed quantities
An apparatus comprises a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The memory stores first and second orders. The first order is associated with a product and comprises a displayed quantity and a reserved quantity. The second order is associated with the product and comprises a displayed quantity and a reserved quantity. The processor receives a counterorder associated with the product. The processor fills the displayed quantity of the first order with a corresponding portion of the counterorder, and fills the displayed quantity of the second order with a corresponding portion of the counterorder. The processor allocates a first additional portion of the counterorder to the first order. The first additional portion is based at least in part on a ratio of the displayed quantity of the first order to a sum of the displayed quantity of the first order and the displayed quantity of the second order. |
| US08484121B2 |
System and method for execution delayed trading
A method and system for trading financial instruments with an execution delay. According to one embodiment, a trading system receives from a first party an order to trade a financial instrument, the order specifying timing information for delaying completion of the order, determines a current market value of the financial instrument upon matching the order with a contra order of a second party, and completes the order only if the determined market value of the financial instrument remains unchanged for an amount of time based on the timing information specified in the order. |
| US08484119B2 |
System and method for visualization of results of multi-criteria financial optimizations
Described is a system including a memory arrangement and a processor for graphically representing in a space data representing at least one portfolio. The memory arrangement stores a Multi-Criteria Financial Optimization (“MCFO”). The processor solves the MCFO to generate data corresponding to a set of portfolios. The processor selects vertex points corresponding to a set of components of the portfolios. The processor defines coordinates of the vertices on a chart and plots the vertices as points on the chart. The processor defining a projection vector-function using coordinates of the vertices and selecting a subset of the portfolios on the chart. The processor computing coordinates for the portfolios in the subset using the projection vector-function and a weighting corresponding to the portfolios. The processor plotting points corresponding to the portfolios in the subset on the chart using the computed coordinates. |
| US08484116B2 |
Structured financial products
A method of assembling a structured financial instrument, including electronic methods of pricing, selling, and administering the structured financial instrument are provided. A minimum deposit and a specified term are specified. The structured financial instrument is indexed to at least one economic indicator. A percentage of the original deposit may be withdrawn at a specified interval without penalty, with interest calculated at the end of the term reduced to reflect any prior partial withdrawals. The structured financial instrument is insured from the FDIC. In the event of death, a death benefit is provided equal to the value of the structured financial product on the date of death. At a specified time, a structured financial product holder has an option of choosing to lock in a specified percentage of the index gains to date, in exchange for re-upping the structured financial product into a new structured financial product of equal or greater term length and using a similar return framework as the original structured product. In additional embodiments, nursing home liquidity and required minimum distributions liquidity can be provided. |
| US08484113B2 |
Incentivized adoption of time-dependent insurance benefits
System(s) and method(s) to incentivize adoption of time-dependent customized insurance benefit(s) are provided. A provider of insurance benefit(s) incentivizes adoption of the insurance benefit(s) in exchange for knowledge of operation characteristics of an insured entity. Knowledge is cumulative and collected from the insured entity and environment in which the entity operates. Incentivation is accomplished at least in part through generation of incentive offer(s) based on available knowledge, which is associated with an operator of the insured entity rather than with the entity itself. The operator can regulate the scope of exchanged knowledge, and received incentive offer(s) and related content. Incentive offer(s) can be directed to provision of insurance benefit coverage that is adequate to current or nearly current operation condition(s); discounted real-time or nearly real-time insurance benefits; or subsidized service(s). Offered incentives can be afforded at least in part through monetization of available knowledge via commercialization thereof or targeted advertisement. |
| US08484109B1 |
Systems and methods for improved financial calculators
In various embodiments, financial calculators with improved data security and data integration, collecting, managing and sharing data generated by a user are described. Selected financial data is accessed and shared with various financial tools in a centralized data store to provide a faster, easier calculator with fewer inputs. In one embodiment, a retirement calculator advises a user on how much to save in a corporate retirement plan, IRA and other investments, and the priority order in which to save. In another embodiment, a college savings calculator is disclosed that pre-fills anticipated college costs when a user selects a college. |
| US08484108B2 |
Tracking entities during identity resolution
A method of tracking entities for identity resolution in database systems comprises assigning each account of a plurality of accounts a unique entity belonging only to the account and in which the account is contained; keeping track of the age of each account of the plurality of accounts; and assigning an identifier to any entity as the identifier of the unique entity of the oldest account contained in the entity. This simple method of assigning identifiers to accounts and entities solves a number of identity resolution problems known in the art including: lost entity identifier problem, lost entity version problem, entity switched warm bodies/accounts problem, and account drift problem. |
| US08484103B2 |
Network and method for trading derivatives
A computer network and method for electronically trading derivatives. The system includes networks and methods where a control or network managing station in the network acts as a facilitator for the market makers and subscribers to make a trade at an Exchange. In another embodiment the network managing station consummates the trade between a market maker and a subscriber by matching binding quotes and orders and clears the trade at an Exchange. The computer network for electronically trading derivative comprises: (a) network managing station; (b) one or more market maker stations; (c) one or more subscriber stations; (d) one or more Exchanges. The network managing station connects market makers and subscribers for making real time indicative quotes, issuing requests for quotes, obtaining binding quotes and wherein the market maker and subscriber are in communication with an Exchange for sending binding quotes and orders to the Exchange for clearing and confirming transactions. |
| US08484098B2 |
System for information delivery facilitating partner rating of users and user ratings of partners
A method for enabling a user to view information filtered to align with the user's life state includes enabling the user to register and become a member of an information delivery system. The user provides the information about the user's life state. This information may include at least demographic information, ethnic information, social information and psychological information. The user may grant partners permission to access the information about the user's life. The granting of the permissions is performed and controlled by the user and may be limited to some information about the user's life. The partners are also members of the information delivery system. The partners are evaluated using a set of criteria before they become members of the information delivery system. The partners may use the information about the user's life to filter its information according to the information about the user's life. The method also enables the partner to participate in a marketplace to procure the information about the user's life, to rate the user according to the user's behavior, and to enable search engines to filter search results according to the information about the user's life. |
| US08484095B1 |
Supplier approval and activation in a supplier network
A supplier for commerce is approved of. In the event activity in a buyer operated application occurs, authorization of the supplier is initiated. Via a supplier network, information about the supplier with respect to a buyer is received. The received information includes a structured commerce profile for the supplier. The received information is made available to the buyer to make a decision regarding whether to approve of the supplier. The decision is received from the buyer. In the event the received decision is to approve of the supplier, an indication associated with adding the supplier to an approved supplier list in a buyer operated application is sent. |
| US08484094B2 |
System and method for a data driven meta-auction mechanism for sponsored search
Apparatuses, methods, and systems directed to deriving optimal parameters of a learning algorithm to maximize an objective function of online keyword auctions for bidded terms. Some embodiments of the invention simulate online keyword auctions based on historical data for the bidded terms, wherein the parameters of the simulated auctions such as market reserve prices of the bidded terms are determined by an adaptive learning algorithm. The values of the parameters of the learning algorithm are optimized by a stochastic optimization method to maximize an objective function for the auctions of the bidded terms. |
| US08484090B2 |
List-based coupon system and methods
A list-based coupon system that enables users to create a list of items to obtain, purchase or locate within a store or other geographic area, and provides users with coupons under a variety of different conditions. |
| US08484085B2 |
Systems and methods for predicting healthcare risk related events
A system for predicting healthcare financial risk including the process of accessing patient data associated with one or more patents, accessing geographic and healthcare system data, filtering the patient data, geographic data, and healthcare system data into clean data, and applying a predictive risk model to the clean data to generate patient profile data and to identify a portion of the patients associated with a level of predicted financial risk. |
| US08484081B2 |
Analysis of marketing and entertainment effectiveness using central nervous system, autonomic nervous system, and effector data
Central nervous system, autonomic nervous system, and effector data is measured and analyzed to determine the effectiveness of marketing and entertainment stimuli. A data collection mechanism including multiple modalities such as Electroencephalography (EEG), Electrooculography (EOG), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), etc., collects response data from subjects exposed to marketing and entertainment stimuli. A data cleanser mechanism filters the response data. The response data is enhanced using intra-modality response synthesis and/or a cross-modality response synthesis. |
| US08484080B2 |
System and method for social product information sharing
A system for electronic commerce, comprising a portal server executing on a digital computer, coupled to a digital packet network and an analysis software executing on a server or another digital computer(s), adapted to receive information from a user via the digital packet network, said information including at least a plurality of data elements pertaining to products owned, used, or sought by the user, wherein the received information is made available to the analysis software, which computes a maturity score for the user based at least in part on the received information, and wherein the portal server uses at least a maturity score to order a selection of information be provided to the user, and wherein at least some of the received information is made available to a plurality of external systems based at least in part on privacy settings established by or for the particular user, is disclosed. |
| US08484073B2 |
Method of distributing targeted internet advertisements
A method of distributing Internet advertisements at the websites of a number of different publishers operating web sites. An advertising entity collects lists of user identifiers from each of several advertisers. In response to a user visiting one of the websites, the user identifier associated with the user is determined. It is determined if the user identifier is on one of the list. If the user identifier is on a list, an unembedded advertisement associated with the advertiser whose list contains the user's identifier is served to the user. The advertisement may be a pop-up, pop-under, or dynamic html advertisement, and if the user is not on the list, no such an ad may not be served. |
| US08484066B2 |
System and method for risk detection reporting and infrastructure
A method, a system, and a device for monitoring risks associated with at least one business process, including: evaluating at least one of a plurality of document instances, wherein each of the document instances includes, in association therewith, a plurality of document values, against a plurality of risk categories; implementing the plurality of risk categories pursuant to at least one acceptable risk policy approved for the at least one business process; and qualifying at least one of the at least one of the plurality of documents pursuant to an approval rating of the at least one document in at least one risk category. The system, method, and device efficiently monitor risk, and allow for flexibility in modifying or updating risk policy. |
| US08484063B2 |
System and method for computerized resource optimization for insurance related tasks
Disclosed herein are computer-implemented methods, computing systems, and related technologies that may be used for determining the optimal number of Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) that should be engaged by a service provider in order to provide a service to an insurance company. Multiple service level agreements (SLAs) exists between the service provider and the insurance company, each of which indicates that the service provider must complete a given percentage of assigned tasks for the service within a given time period. A resource optimization application (ROA) determines how many FTEs the service provider should employ, in order to complete assigned tasks as required by the SLAs. The ROA determines the number of FTEs based on factors such as an average handling time (AHT) for the tasks, the capacity of the service provider, historical data that describes tasks previously assigned to the service provider, and other factors. |
| US08484061B2 |
Scheduling sessions of multi-speaker events
A method of scheduling events includes receiving event data specifying sessions for an event, an event duration that encompasses a plurality of time slots, a respective duration for each session, a respective start time for the event and the sessions, and information describing a plurality of attendees; generating a first list of each possible set of time slots within which each session can be scheduled based upon the respective start times; generating a second list by removing each possible set of time slots for each session that is less than the duration specified for the session; performing a scheduling process for each session; and sending a respective electronic message presenting the schedule to each attendee. |
| US08484060B2 |
Project estimating system and method
A system and method for calculating task times for a project. A project estimating system is disclosed that allocates time to a list of tasks, comprising: a system for determining a total project time to complete a project; and a time allocation system that generates a task time for each task based on the total project time and an estimating factor associated with each task, wherein the time allocation system includes an iterative algorithm that iteratively calculates an adjustment factor to be applied to each task. Finally, the calculated adjustment factor can be compared against preset levels and provide an indication of project risk and the likelihood that the project will complete on time. |
| US08484048B2 |
Automated system and method for prioritization of waiting patients
The present invention provides an automated triage system performs a computerized method that includes the steps of: (1) for plurality of patients, gathering medical factor(s) associated with each patient's medical condition, where the medical condition may be (a) a type of injury, (b) a symptom, (c) a condition of a patient, and/or (d) a demographic statistic of the patient; (2) for the same plurality of patients, gathering subjective perception(s) associated with each patient's medical condition, which may be (a) the anxiety of the patient, (b) the anxiety/concern of the referring physician, and/or (c) the anxiety of the reviewing attendee; and (3) ordering, by a computerized algorithm, the plurality of patients for medical treatment and/or medical assessment, based upon the medical factors and subjective perceptions gathered for each of the plurality of patients. The method may also include the step of gathering operational aspect(s), such as (a) waiting time of the patient, (b) medical treatment facilities availability, (c) medical treatment staff availability, (d) medical assessment facilities availability, and/or (e) medical assessment staff availability; where the ordering step includes the step of ordering, by the computer algorithm, the plurality of patients for medical treatment and/or medical assessment, based at least upon the medical factors, subjective perceptions and operational aspects gathered for each of the plurality of patients. |
| US08484045B1 |
Adaptive direct transaction for network client group
Internet-based software and associated database provide group analysis overlay to monitor client-server web traffic and provide direct marketing to client group. Client car, patient, office or school sensor and interface provides overlay attribute for database comparison to classify usage pattern, location, timing, or family for targeted messaging for enhanced service from server source. Database group registry tracks client classification and provides adaptive context mapping according to set attribute relative to targeted on-line transaction. |
| US08484044B2 |
Service identification and decomposition for a health care enterprise
In embodiments, a health insurance computer application enterprise system is provided employing a service oriented architecture (SOA) with a service granularity component that dynamically customizes a reusable service based on one or more of user identity element, service data elements, and service action elements parsed from service request parameters. The health insurance enterprise system includes a plurality of applications making use of functionality provided by a reusable service. In an embodiment, the health insurance enterprise system includes a customer service application, a consumer web portal application, and an integrated voice response (IVR) application. The applications provide different channels of communicating health insurance data to various health insurance system constituents by presenting customized views of the data tailored to a given communications method, user access rights, as well as other factors. |
| US08484043B2 |
Method and system for medical procedure activity-based costing and margin analysis
The invention provides a method and system for performing activity-based costing and procedure margin analysis for medical practices. Medical practice costs are allocated across relevant production activity based on procedure-specific, location-specific, modifier-adjusted Relative Value Units. Procedure production volumes, production costs and Payer fees are integrated and analyzed to determine such values as Procedure volumes, Procedure costs, Procedure Margins, Payer Margins and Percent Payer Margins. The results are presented in meaningful reports, tables and graphs, including representations by Practice, Provider, Procedure, and Payer. |
| US08484040B2 |
Social analysis in multi-participant meetings
Methods and systems for social analysis in multi-participant meetings provide for receiving a data stream of a multi-participant meeting, wherein multiple topics are discussed. The data stream is analyzed to detect topics and to define topical sub-activities that are performed by at least a portion of the participants. Contributions to a topic by two of the participants in the topical sub-activities are identified and evaluated. A connection weight between the two participants is calculated based on the evaluation of their respective contributions. |
| US08484039B2 |
Apparatus for efficiently mixing narrowband and wideband voice data and a method therefor
A voice mixing apparatus decodes input encoded narrowband voice data and encoded voice data for narrowband region of input encoded wideband voice data, and detects a speaker in accordance with the decoded voice signals of the entire narrowband. When encoded voice data from a speaker is included in the narrowband, a signal in a region outside the narrowband of the expanded data is encoded. When the data is included in the wideband, encoded voice data of the region outside the narrowband is extracted for output. When the destination terminal is compatible with the encoded narrowband voice data, the narrowband voice signal mixed is encoded and output. When the destination terminal is compatible with wideband, the narrowband voice signal mixed is encoded for the narrowband region, and the voice data of the speaker is used as the encoded voice data for the region outside the narrowband. |
| US08484035B2 |
Modification of voice waveforms to change social signaling
A method of altering a social signaling characteristic of a speech signal. A statistically large number of speech samples created by different speakers in different tones of voice are evaluated to determine one or more relationships that exist between a selected social signaling characteristic and one or more measurable parameters of the speech samples. An input audio voice signal is then processed in accordance with these relationships to modify one or more of controllable parameters of input audio voice signal to produce a modified output audio voice signal in which said selected social signaling characteristic is modified. In a specific illustrative embodiment, a two-level hidden Markov model is used to identify voiced and unvoiced speech segments and selected controllable characteristics of these speech segments are modified to alter the desired social signaling characteristic. |
| US08484032B2 |
System and method for operating a security system
A system and method for operating a security system include a device control module configured for electronic communication with a plurality of devices and a user interface coupled in electronic communication with the device control module. The user interface includes a voice memory and a first speaker. The user interface is configured to receive a first system event from the device control module identifying a first condition detected by the security system. The user interface is further configured to retrieve a voice message from the voice memory corresponding to the first system event and transmit the voice message via the first speaker. |
| US08484031B1 |
Automated speech recognition proxy system for natural language understanding
An interactive response system mixes HSR subsystems with ASR subsystems to facilitate overall capability of voice user interfaces. The system permits imperfect ASR subsystems to nonetheless relieve burden on HSR subsystems. An ASR proxy is used to implement an IVR system, and the proxy decides, based on a set of rules, to route an utterance solely to one ASR, to route it to an HSR in addition to at least one ASR, to route it solely to one or more HSR subsystem, to reroute an utterance originally sent to an ASR over to an HSR, to use HSRs to help tune and train one or more ASRs, and to use multiple ASRs to increase reliability of results. |
| US08484029B2 |
Device and method for booting handheld apparatus by sound detection
A device for booting a handheld apparatus by sound detection includes a base, a power-on device, a trigger switch, and an acoustic sensor. Upon the handheld apparatus being placed at the base to trigger the trigger switch, the trigger switch controls the power-on device to power on the handheld apparatus. After the handheld apparatus is powered on, the acoustic sensor detects a sound of the handheld apparatus and then controls a pressure head of the power-on device to move away. The device and its method for booting a handheld apparatus by sound detection come with the advantages of a simple and easy operation and a high efficiency. |
| US08484028B2 |
Systems and methods for document navigation with a text-to-speech engine
A system for visually navigating a document in conjunction with a text-to-speech (“TTS) engine presents a visual display of a region of interest that is related to the text of the document that is being audibly presented as speech to a user. When the TTS engine converts the text to speech and presents the speech to the user, the system presents the corresponding section of text on a display. During the presentation, if the system encounters a linked section of text, the visual display changes to display a linked region of interest that corresponds to the linked section of text. |
| US08484025B1 |
Mapping an audio utterance to an action using a classifier
Disclosed embodiments relate to mapping an utterance to an action using a classifier. One illustrative computing device includes a user interface having an input component. The computing device further includes a processor and a computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause the computing device to perform a set of operations including: receiving an audio utterance via the input component; determining a text string based on the utterance; determining a string-feature vector based on the text string; selecting a target classifier from a set of classifiers, wherein the target classifier is selected based on a determination that a string-feature criteria of the target classifier corresponds to at least one string-feature of the string-feature vector; and initiating a target action that corresponds to the target classifier. |
| US08484024B2 |
Phonetic features for speech recognition
Techniques are disclosed for using phonetic features for speech recognition. For example, a method comprises the steps of obtaining a first dictionary and a training data set associated with a speech recognition system, computing one or more support parameters from the training data set, transforming the first dictionary into a second dictionary, wherein the second dictionary is a function of one or more phonetic labels of the first dictionary, and using the one or more support parameters to select one or more samples from the second dictionary to create a set of one or more exemplar-based class identification features for a pattern recognition task. |
| US08484023B2 |
Sparse representation features for speech recognition
Techniques are disclosed for generating and using sparse representation features to improve speech recognition performance. In particular, principles of the invention provide sparse representation exemplar-based recognition techniques. For example, a method comprises the following steps. A test vector and a training data set associated with a speech recognition system are obtained. A subset of the training data set is selected. The test vector is mapped with the selected subset of the training data set as a linear combination that is weighted by a sparseness constraint such that a new test feature set is formed wherein the training data set is moved more closely to the test vector subject to the sparseness constraint. An acoustic model is trained on the new test feature set. The acoustic model trained on the new test feature set may be used to decode user speech input to the speech recognition system. |
| US08484022B1 |
Adaptive auto-encoders
A method and system for adaptive auto-encoders is disclosed. An input audio training signal may be transformed into a sequence of feature vectors, each bearing quantitative measures of acoustic properties of the input audio training signal. An auto-encoder may process the feature vectors to generate an encoded form of the quantitative measures, and a recovered form of the quantitative measures based on an inverse operation by the auto-encoder on the encoded form of the quantitative measures. A duplicate copy of the sequence of feature vectors may be normalized to form a normalized signal in which supra-phonetic acoustic properties are reduced in comparison with phonetic acoustic properties of the input audio training signal. The auto-encoder may then be trained to compensate for supra-phonetic features by reducing the magnitude of an error signal corresponding to a difference between the normalized signal and the recovered form of the quantitative measures. |
| US08484021B2 |
Apparatus for encoding/decoding multichannel signal and method thereof
Provided is an encoding/decoding apparatus and method of multi-channel signals. The encoding apparatus and method of multi-channel signals may encode phase information of the multi-channel signals using a quantization scheme and a lossless encoding scheme, and the decoding apparatus and method of multi-channel signals may decode the phase information using an inverse-quantization scheme and a lossless decoding scheme. |
| US08484018B2 |
Data converting apparatus and method that divides input data into plural frames and partially overlaps the divided frames to produce output data
An input frame data producing unit produces from data stored in an input buffer input frames each including a predetermined number of sub-frames of a first hopsize determined based on the first frame size and the overlapping rate. A frame processing unit executes a window function on the input frames and shifts the windowed input frames by the first hopsize and overlaps the shifted input frames, storing the overlapped frames in an output frame. An output buffer data producing frame unit stores data from the output frame to an output buffer including a predetermined number of sub-frames of a second hopsize. A CPU sets the first hopsize and overlapping rate in a slow-speed reproduction when the reproducing speed ratio is set lower than 1 different from in a high-speed reproduction when the reproducing speed ratio is set larger than 1. |
| US08484016B2 |
Locating paraphrases through utilization of a multipartite graph
A method is described herein that includes acts of receiving a selection of a first phrase in a first language and executing a random walk over a computer-implemented multipartite graph, wherein the multipartite-graph includes a first set of nodes that are representative of phrases in the first language, a second set of nodes that are representative of phrases in a second language, and edges between nodes that are representative of relationships between the respective phrases. The random walk includes traversals over edges of the graph between nodes. The method also includes the act of indicating that a second phrase in the first language is a paraphrase of the first phrase based at least in part upon the random walk. |
| US08484015B1 |
Entity pages
An answer engine determines an entity related to a query from a user in a system designed for computation, search, or other activities involving the processing of queries. The system determines whether an entity page for the entity is stored in an answers database and, if so, retrieves and displays the stored entity page. If there is no stored entity page for the entity, the answer engine generates and displays an answer to the query and may optionally store the answer as an entity page. Additionally, the answer engine may pre-generate and store entity pages according to algorithmic variation of received queries and/or according to information received from external sources. |
| US08484014B2 |
Retrieval using a generalized sentence collocation
A method and system for identifying documents relevant to a query that specifies a part of speech is provided. A retrieval system receives from a user an input query that includes a word and a part of speech. Upon receiving an input query that includes a word and a part of speech, the retrieval system identifies documents with a sentence that includes that word collocated with a word that is used as that part of speech. The retrieval system displays to the user an indication of the identified documents. |
| US08484013B2 |
Interactive conversation-learning system and a method thereof
A method of an interactive conversation-learning system includes the steps of: selecting at least one conversation topic provided with at least one conversation target and a plurality of conversation sentences; inputting a first conversation sentence into the interactive conversation-learning system; defining at least one conversation route according to the first conversation sentence, and providing a correlation among the conversation target, the conversation sentences and the conversation route to form a relationship model; and outputting a second conversation sentence connecting with the first conversation sentence via the designated conversation route. Accordingly, the interactive conversation-learning system of a preferred embodiment is provided with a plurality of relationship models. |
| US08484010B2 |
Method for designing an aptamer
Disclosed in this specification is a method for identifying at least one aptamer that can bind to a bio-molecular target. The aptamer is designed in silico based on the structure of the target molecule. The process includes the steps of determining a first seed residue and growing an oligomer, one residue at a time, while maximizing the entropy of target-oligomer complex or minimizing the binding energy after the addition of each oligomer. |