最新美国发明专利第2013-07-23期 - 专利汇|PatentHub专利检索|专利查询网|发明专利查询分析

Document	Document Title
US08494864B2	Multi-mode scheme for improved coding of audio The present invention relates to an improved scheme for coding of audio. In particular, the present invention relates to an encoder device and a method for coding an input signal in an encoder system. The method comprises applying a first mode to the input signal to form a first output and applying a second mode to the input signal to form a second output. A first processed output is then formed from at least a part of the first output, and a second processed output is formed from at least a part of the second output. Forming a second processed output comprises estimating a part of the input signal from at least a part of the second output. Then, an optimum mode is determined based on the first processed output and the second processed output, and the output according to the optimum mode is selected.
US08494863B2	Audio encoder and decoder with long term prediction The present invention teaches a new audio coding system that can code both general audio and speech signals well at low bit rates. A proposed audio coding system comprises a linear prediction unit for filtering an input signal based on an adaptive filter; a transformation unit for transforming a frame of the filtered input signal into a transform domain; a quantization unit for quantizing a transform domain signal; a long term prediction unit for determining an estimation of the frame of the filtered input signal based on a reconstruction of a previous segment of the filtered input signal; and a transform domain signal combination unit for combining, in the transform domain, the long term prediction estimation and the transformed input signal to generate the transform domain signal.
US08494862B2	Method for triggering at least one first and second background application via a universal language dialog system At least one transaction and at least one transaction parameter that is allocated thereto are determined based on at least one user statement in order to trigger at least one first and second background application via a universal language dialogue system, first transactions and first transaction parameters being assigned to the first background application and second transactions and second transaction parameters being associated with the second background application. The first and second transactions as well as the first and second transaction parameters are linked together via a universal dialogue specification which is evaluated to determine the at least one transaction and at least on associated transaction parameter in order to trigger at least one of the background application via the universal language dialogue system.
US08494861B2	Movable barrier control system component with audible speech output apparatus and method An automated movable barrier control system component (11) as comprises a part of a movable barrier control system (10) has an audible speech output device (21) operably coupled thereto. These elements can share a common housing (22). The audible speech output device (21) can audiblize one or more items of stored speech content relating to one or more aspects of the component itself, other components within the system, and/or the system itself.
US08494860B2	Voice output device, information input device, file selection device, telephone set, and program and recording medium of the same A device, computer program and method for outputting linguistic information. The voice output device, for example, includes an output information acquisition unit acquiring linguistic information and attribute information. Attribute information includes an attribute added to each linguistic element included in the linguistic information. A tactile pattern storage unit stores a predetermined tactile pattern corresponding to each linguistic element. A tactile pattern acquisition unit acquires the tactile pattern from the tactile pattern storage unit. A voice output unit reads aloud the linguistic elements and a tactile pattern output unit outputs, in parallel with reading aloud each linguistic element, the tactile pattern corresponding to the attribute added to the linguistic element, thereby allowing a user to sense the tactile pattern by the sense of touch.
US08494856B2	Speech synthesizer, speech synthesizing method and program product According to one embodiment, a speech synthesizer includes an analyzer, a first estimator, a selector, a generator, a second estimator, and a synthesizer. The analyzer analyzes text and extracts a linguistic feature. The first estimator selects a first prosody model adapted to the linguistic feature and estimates prosody information that maximizes a first likelihood representing probability of the selected first prosody model. The selector selects speech units that minimize a cost function determined in accordance with the prosody information. The generator generates a second prosody model that is a model of the prosody information of the speech units. The second estimator estimates prosody information that maximizes a third likelihood calculated on the basis of the first likelihood and a second likelihood representing probability of the second prosody model. The synthesizer generates synthetic speech by concatenating the speech units on the basis of the prosody information estimated by the second estimator.
US08494855B1	Method, system, and computer readable medium for comparing phonetic similarity of return words to resolve ambiguities during voice recognition In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for a speech recognition system to select a return value corresponding to a spoken input. The method comprises generating a dictionary comprising return values associated with data provisioned in the speech recognition system; generating a grammar for each return value in the dictionary; analyzing the grammar to determine a subset of return values from the dictionary that are likely alternatives for each return value in the dictionary, based on the grammar; selecting a return value corresponding to the spoken input based on the grammar; and if the selected return value is not confirmed by a user, then presenting the likely alternative for the selected return value to the user.
US08494850B2	Speech recognition using variable-length context Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for recognizing speech using a variable length of context. Speech data and data identifying a candidate transcription for the speech data are received. A phonetic representation for the candidate transcription is accessed. Multiple test sequences are extracted for a particular phone in the phonetic representation. Each of the multiple test sequences includes a different set of contextual phones surrounding the particular phone. Data indicating that an acoustic model includes data corresponding to one or more of the multiple test sequences is received. From among the one or more test sequences, the test sequence that includes the highest number of contextual phones is selected. A score for the candidate transcription is generated based on the data from the acoustic model that corresponds to the selected test sequence.
US08494847B2	Weighting factor learning system and audio recognition system A weighting factor learning system includes an audio recognition section that recognizes learning audio data and outputting the recognition result; a weighting factor updating section that updates a weighting factor applied to a score obtained from an acoustic model and a language model so that the difference between a correct-answer score calculated with the use of a correct-answer text of the learning audio data and a score of the recognition result becomes large; a convergence determination section that determines, with the use of the score after updating, whether to return to the weighting factor updating section to update the weighting factor again; and a weighting factor convergence determination section that determines, with the use of the score after updating, whether to return to the audio recognition section to perform the process again and update the weighting factor using the weighting factor updating section.
US08494845B2	Signal distortion elimination apparatus, method, program, and recording medium having the program recorded thereon Provided is a signal distortion elimination apparatus comprising: an inverse filter application means that outputs the signal obtained by applying an inverse filter to an observed signal as a restored signal when a predetermined iteration termination condition is met and outputs the signal obtained by applying the inverse filter to the observed signal as an ad-hoc signal when the predetermined iteration termination condition is not met; a prediction error filter calculation means that segments the ad-hoc signal into frames and outputs a prediction error filter of each frame obtained by performing linear prediction analysis of the ad-hoc signal of each frame; an inverse filter calculation means that calculates an inverse filter such that a concatenation of innovation estimates of the respective frames becomes mutually independent among their samples, where the innovation estimate of a single frame (an innovation estimate) is the signal obtained by applying the prediction error filter of the corresponding frame to the ad-hoc signal of the corresponding frame, and outputs the inverse filter; and a control means that iteratively executes the inverse filter application means, the prediction error filter calculation means and the inverse filter calculation means until the iteration termination condition is met.
US08494842B2	Vibrato detection modules in a system for automatic transcription of sung or hummed melodies The technology disclosed relates to audio signal processing. It includes a series of modules that individually are useful to solve audio signal processing problems. Among the problems addressed are buzz removal, selecting a pitch candidate among pitch candidates based on local continuity of pitch and regional octave consistency, making small adjustments in pitch, ensuring that a selected pitch is consistent with harmonic peaks, determining whether a given frame or region of frames includes harmonic, voiced signal, extracting harmonics from voice signals and detecting vibrato. One environment in which these modules are useful is transcribing singing or humming into a symbolic melody. Another environment that would usefully employ some of these modules is speech processing. Some of the modules, such as buzz removal, are useful in many other environments as well.
US08494840B2	Ratio of speech to non-speech audio such as for elderly or hearing-impaired listeners The invention relates to audio signal processing and speech enhancement. In accordance with one aspect, the invention combines a high-quality audio program that is a mix of speech and non-speech audio with a lower-quality copy of the speech components contained in the audio program for the purpose of generating a high-quality audio program with an increased ratio of speech to non-speech audio such as may benefit the elderly, hearing impaired or other listeners. Aspects of the invention are particularly useful for television and home theater sound, although they may be applicable to other audio and sound applications. The invention relates to methods, apparatus for performing such methods, and to software stored on a computer-readable medium for causing a computer to perform such methods.
US08494839B2	Apparatus, method, and recording medium for morphological analysis and registering a new compound word Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus for analyzing text data, including: acquisition means for acquiring the text data; morpheme information registration means for registering morpheme information for use in analyzing the text data morphologically; morphological analysis means for analyzing the text data acquired by the acquisition means; compound word processing rule registration means for registering compound word processing rules for creating a compound word not registered in the morpheme information registration means; and compound word processing means, by use of the compound word processing rules registered in the compound word processing rule registration means, for combining the morphemes included in the morphological analysis information created by the morphological analysis means, into the compound word not registered in the morpheme information registration means and detecting the created compound word.
US08494838B2	Systems, methods and apparatus for dynamic content management and delivery Systems, methods and apparatus are disclosed for linking virtual content to various types of object, such a static physical objects, through the use of triggers of varying formats. The virtual content can be updated by a content curator over time. The virtual content can be translated into a plurality of languages and can be selectively transmitted to a mobile communications device upon receipt of the trigger.
US08494837B2	Active learning systems and methods for rapid porting of machine translation systems to new language pairs or new domains Systems and methods for active learning of statistical machine translation systems through dynamic creation and updating of parallel corpus. The systems and methods provided create accurate parallel corpus entries from a test set of sentences, words, phrases, etc. by calculating confidence scores for particular translations. Translations with high confidence scores are added directly to the corpus and the translations with low confidence scores are presented to human translations for corrections.
US08494832B2	Method and apparatus for software simulation A software simulation method and program storage device for software defect detection and obtaining insight into software code is disclosed, where simulation consists of executing target software program code for multiple input values and multiple code paths at the same time, thus achieving 100% coverage over inputs and paths without actually running the target software. This allows simulation to detect many defects that are missed by traditional testing tools. The simulation method runs a plurality of algorithms where a plurality of custom defined and pre-defined rules are verified in target software to find defects and obtain properties of the software code.
US08494829B2	Sensor fusion and probabilistic parameter estimation method and apparatus A probabilistic digital signal processor using data from multiple instruments is described. Initial probability distribution functions are input to a dynamic state-space model, which operates on state and/or model probability distribution functions to generate a prior probability distribution function, which is input to a probabilistic updater. The probabilistic updater integrates sensor data from multiple instruments with the prior to generate a posterior probability distribution function passed (1) to a probabilistic sampler, which estimates one or more parameters using the posterior, which is output or re-sampled in an iterative algorithm or (2) iteratively to the dynamic state-space model. For example, the probabilistic processor operates on fused data using a physical model, where the data originates from a mechanical system or a medical meter or instrument, such as an electrocardiogram or pulse oximeter to generate new parameter information and/or enhanced parameter information.
US08494825B2	Computer-guided system for orienting the acetabular cup in the pelvis during total hip replacement surgery A method for determining the orientation of a first object in space, wherein the first object is interactive with a second object, the method comprising the steps of: using kinematic action to generate a first data set reflective of the current spatial relationship between the first object and the second object; and comparing the first data set with a database of known data sets reflective of known spatial relationships between the first object and the second object in space so as to identify the current orientation of the first object in space.
US08494822B2	Method for joint modeling of mean and dispersion The present invention describes a system and a computer program product for joint modeling of a mean and dispersion of data. A computing system derives a loss function taking into account distributional requirements over the data. The computing system represents separate regression functions for the mean and the dispersion as stagewise expansion forms. At this time, the stagewise expansion forms include undetermined scalar coefficients and undetermined basis functions. Then, the computing system chooses the basis functions that maximally correlate with a corresponding steepest-descent gradient direction of the loss function. The computing system obtains the scalar coefficients based on a single step of Newton iteration. The computing system completes the regression functions based on the chosen basis functions and obtained scalar coefficients.
US08494820B2	Computing device and method for analyzing scattering parameters passivity A computing device and a method measures scattering parameters (S-parameters) values at ports of a circuit at different signal frequencies, and creates a non-common-pole rational function of S-parameters by applying a vector fitting algorithm to the S-parameters. A matrix of the non-common-pole rational function is converted to a state-space matrix, and the state-space matrix is substituted into a Hamiltonian matrix. The device and method further analyzes if eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian matrix have pure imaginaries, to determine if the non-common-pole rational function of the S-parameters satisfies a passivity requirement.
US08494809B2	Tool for calculating the performance of progressive lenses The invention relates to a method for computer-assisted evaluation of the performance of progressive lenses, specifically while taking into account individual parameters of a given eyeglass wearer, the individual parameters including at least personal prescription data, in particular, additional spherical, astigmatic, and/or prismatic power, and/or personal wearer data for the eyeglass wearer, in particular, forward inclination, horizontal frame inclination, corneal vertex distance, and/or interpupillary distance. The method includes the following steps: determining the individual parameters; calculating a total performance factor P in each case for at least two quality classes of progressive lenses as a function of the individual parameters, the total performance factor P being correlated with the quality of the monocular visual acuity and/or binocular visual impression; and outputting the calculated total performance factor P for the quality classes.
US08494803B2	Device for testing an electrical component A device for testing an electrical component is provided, having a simulation device for generating a simulation signal, a testing device for connecting the electrical component, at least two connecting devices, and a selection device for selecting the connecting device, wherein the simulation device and the testing device can be connected in an electrically conducting manner to at least one of the connecting devices by the selection device and the individual connecting devices differ from one another in at least one electrical property. Thus, a device for testing an electrical component is provided with which in a simple manner the testing accuracy can be increased by minimizing the signal corruption due to a parasitic property of the connecting device.
US08494793B2	Structure of a magnetic-field gradient sensor and process for fabricating it in integrated technology A process for measuring the gradient or an n-th order derivative, in which n is greater than 1, in a direction z, of a component Hx of a magnetic field, the component being invariant, at least locally, in a direction y. The method includes: a) positioning of N (N>n+1) elementary field sensors, each sensor being offset, relative to the neighboring sensors, along y by a distance Ty and along the z axis by a distance Δz, b) measurement of the field by each of the N sensors, and c) calculation of the desired gradient, or the desired nth-order derivative, as a function of the measurements of the field obtained during b).
US08494791B2	Methods and systems for improved correlation of shear displacement waveforms Methods and systems for improving correlation of shear displacement waveforms are presented. The method includes delivering one or more reference pulses to a plurality of target regions to detect corresponding initial positions. Further, a plurality of pushing pulse segments are delivered to one or more pushing locations, where one or more parameters corresponding to the plurality of pushing pulse segments are adapted for generating a shear displacement waveform with a desired wave shape. Additionally, one or more tracking pulses may be delivered to the plurality of target regions for detecting displacements of at least a subset of the target regions as a function of time. Particularly, the displacements are determined as time samples of the shear displacement waveform. Subsequently, a shift between the shear displacement waveform detected at least two different target regions in the subset of the plurality of target regions is detected.
US08494787B2	Magnetic ink for marking defective parts or assemblies during manufacturing Magnetic ink is used to mark defective parts or assemblies during manufacturing, thereby allowing the defective parts or assemblies to be detected in products following manufacturing, even if they are concealed or hidden in the final product. An example of such a defect-containing product is a laminated microfluidic device which contains a defective capillary.
US08494783B2	Method and apparatus for storing and processing molecular information The molecular information providing system of the invention has the terminal units to including molecular structure input/output means, and a molecular information providing apparatus connected via a network to the terminal units and including a database storing a molecular structure, an intermediate representation generated from the molecular structure, and a characteristic decided depending on the molecular structure. The molecular information providing apparatus comprises a coordinate system transforming part for calculating the principal axes of inertia from an atomic arrangement notation specifying the molecular structure, and registering in the database an intermediate representation that is a coordinate transformation of the atomic coordinates into a coordinate system in the directions of the principal axes of inertia, and a retrieval executing part for retrieving the molecular structure stored in the database, employing the intermediate representation.
US08494782B1	Rapid polymer sequencer Method and system for rapid and accurate determination of each of a sequence of unknown polymer components, such as nucleic acid components. A self-assembling monolayer of a selected substance is optionally provided on an interior surface of a pipette tip, and the interior surface is immersed in a selected liquid. A selected electrical field is impressed in a longitudinal direction, or in a transverse direction, in the tip region, a polymer sequence is passed through the tip region, and a change in an electrical current signal is measured as each polymer component passes through the tip region. Each of the measured changes in electrical current signals is compared with a database of reference electrical change signals, with each reference signal corresponding to an identified polymer component, to identify the unknown polymer component with a reference polymer component. The nanopore preferably has a pore inner diameter of no more than about 40 nm and is prepared by heating and pulling a very small section of a glass tubing.
US08494780B2	Data transformation methods for multiplexed assays Methods to improve the performance of an array assay are described. A correlation between fluorescence intensity-related parameters and negative control values of the assay is determined. The parameters are then adjusted as a function of the correlation. As a result, sensitivity of the assay is improved without changes in its specificity.
US08494773B2	Environmental sensing and communication One apparatus embodiment includes an electronic assembly, equipped to sense one or more changes in an environmental condition. The assembly includes a logic circuit coupled to: one or more environmental sensors, memory that provides data storage, and a wireless communicator. The logic circuit is configured to perform time measurement, perform environmental measurement with the one or more environmental sensors, store time-stamped environmental data in the memory, and communicate with particular other electronic assemblies, equipped to sense one or more changes in an environmental condition, via the wireless communicator. The logic circuit is also coupled to a power source that provides power to at least one of the logic circuit and the wireless communicator.
US08494772B2	Method for calculating hydrogen storage inventory Methods for accurately and conveniently calculating the inventory of hydrogen storage in a stationary storage vessel using the external ambient temperature and the internal pressure are disclosed in the present invention. To account for the delay in the heat transfer from the ambient air to the storage vessel and then to the hydrogen gas a first order filter can be used on the external ambient temperature. Following the application of the first order filter on the external ambient temperature, an empirical equation is used to calculate the mass of hydrogen in the stationary storage vessel.
US08494770B2	Method and system for generating savings routes with a portable computing device A method and system for calculating savings routes for display on a portable computing device (PCD) are described. The method includes receiving at least one of a product category and a service category from an operator of a PCD. The PCD may also receive a destination address. With this information, circle of influence data based on an offer for at least one product or service corresponding to the product category or service category may be generated and provided to the PCD. The circle of influence data may impact edge weights of a graph search algorithm. The graph search algorithm solves a single-source shortest path problem for a graph with non-negative edge path costs. The circles of influence in combination with the graph search algorithm allow a PCD to calculate one or more savings routes based on a start point and the desired destination address provided by the operator of the PCD.
US08494769B2	Information system, terminal device, and information center device An information center device computes a guided route. It selects a newly opened road connecting to the guided route and traces the newly opened road from the connection point to a point at which the newly opened road intersects another road. Then, it determines block maps containing the traced newly opened road as those to be transmitted to the automobile navigation system. Therefore, the automobile navigation system can utilize block maps containing the newly opened road connected to the guided route as well as block maps associated with the guided route. As a result, the user can get information on where the newly opened road leads and connects, and easily deviate from the guided route and select a route going through the newly opened road at his/her own will.
US08494762B2	Sub room level indoor location system using wideband power line positioning An indoor location system uses an electrical power line, power line signal injection devices, and portable position receivers (tags) to generate location data relating to positions of the tags in a structure such as a residence or business. The indoor location system fingerprinting of multiple signals transmitted along the power line to achieve sub-room-level localization of the positioning receivers. In one embodiment, the fingerprinting techniques utilizes wideband power line positioning (WPLP) that injects up to 44 different frequencies into the power line infrastructure of a structure. The WPLP technique improves upon overall positioning accuracy, improved temporal stability and may be implemented in commercial indoor spaces.
US08494761B2	Method and device for aiding the evaluation of a flight trajectory intended to be followed by an aircraft in a constrained environment A device and method aids the evaluation of a flight trajectory that is intended to be followed by an aircraft within a constrained environment. The method includes receiving information from a processing unit regarding stationary and moving obstacles, implementing a collision trial based on this information, and displaying any collision risks to the pilot on a display device in the cockpit. Consequently, a pilot can know within the constrained environment whether a flight trajectory needs to be modified to avoid potential collisions.
US08494759B2	Vehicle speed indication using vehicle-infrastructure wireless communication An example traffic control system includes a vehicle unit associated with a vehicle on a highway, one or more roadside units proximate the highway, and a traffic controller. The vehicle unit transmits a vehicle speed to the roadside unit, when in wireless communication range. The roadside unit transmits the vehicle speed to the traffic controller. The traffic controller receives vehicle speed data from a plurality of vehicles, and determines a suggested speed for each vehicle. The suggested speed may be correlated with an average speed of vehicles on a portion of the highway, for example the same highway portion on which vehicle is located, or a highway portion towards which the vehicle is heading.
US08494755B2	Apparatus and method for controlling the speed of an internal combustion engine The apparatus according to the invention comprises a controller for forming a speed signal arranged to receive speed measurement data of the internal combustion engine as well as speed reference data. The apparatus additionally comprises a module for forming the internal speed reference value instead of the speed reference value set to be used when forming the control signal.
US08494753B2	Method and device for operating an internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine can be operated by a fuel mixture consisting of a base fuel and an alternative fuel. Concentration values (ETH_PERC) of the alternative fuel are determined in at least two different ways for operating the internal combustion engine. A reliable concentration value of the alternative fuel is determined depending on the various determined concentration values (ETH_PERC).
US08494750B2	Engine control system This disclosure relates to a method of configuring an engine control system for controlling the engine of a vehicle. The method involves displaying one or more graphical representations of functional elements to be performed by the engine control system and then modifying the one or more functional elements by making changes to the displayed graphical representations. This allows the engine control system to be readily reconfigured by a user. This disclosure also relates to an apparatus for configuring an engine control system and a new engine control system. A computer program product including a computer readable medium having a computer program recorded on it for configuring an engine control system is also disclosed.
US08494747B2	Method and device for stabilizing a single-track motor vehicle A method for stabilizing an unstable driving state in a single-track vehicle, in particular a motorcycle, wherein a prespecified driving situation, in particular braking, particularly while driving in a straight trajectory or a nearly straight trajectory, is detected; at least one yaw rate ({dot over (ψ)}) and/or one side slip angle (β) of the vehicle is determined for the detection of an unstable driving state of the vehicle; the determined yaw rate ({dot over (ψ)}) and/or the determined side slip angle (β) is/are evaluated; and when an unstable driving stat is detected, the braking torque of one wheel, in particular the front wheel, is reduced. A device for stabilizing an unstable driving state in a single-track vehicle is also disclosed.
US08494746B2	Inverted pendulum type vehicle A desired travelling velocity of a representative point of a vehicle 1 is set under such a condition that it does not exceed a velocity permissible range which is defined to have anisotropy according to a posture of an occupant seated on a seat 3. An operation of a travelling motion unit 5 is controlled by controlling an operation of an actuator 7 on the basis of the desired travelling velocity.
US08494739B2	Slip operation of a clutch in hybrid drive devices A method for operating a hybrid drive device of a motor vehicle that has at least two different drive aggregates, in particular an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, and having a clutch, the drive aggregates being capable of being operatively connected using the clutch. It is provided that, in a diagnostic and/or adaptation operating mode; the clutch is operated with a slippage. In addition, the present system relates to a hybrid drive device, a control device for a hybrid drive device, and a motor vehicle aggregate that has both the control device and the hybrid drive device.
US08494738B2	Control of selectable one-way clutch in a transmission A powertrain in a vehicle includes an electro-mechanical transmission having a selectable one-way clutch mechanically-operatively coupled to an internal combustion engine and configured to selectively transmit mechanical power to an output member. A control method includes monitoring a vehicle speed, monitoring a transmission gear state, comparing the vehicle speed to a threshold low speed range, transitioning a selectable one-way clutch into an engaged mode when said vehicle speed is not in a forward direction in excess of the threshold low speed range, and maintaining the selectable one-way clutch in the engaged mode based upon the transmission gear state remaining in a first gear state and the vehicle speed remaining within said threshold low speed range, a neutral state, or a reverse state.
US08494736B2	Method and device for vehicle driving assistance A method and device for driving assistance for a propulsion unit of a vehicle with manual control of the transmission gear ratio, using a control system with a calculator controlling an indication to a driver of a recommended gear ratio based on a request information from the driver and depending on driving conditions of the vehicle at any moment, and a mapping of the gear change rules from which the ratio to be recommended is determined, depending on the vehicle speed at each moment, for an optimal fuel consumption and a minimized pollutant emission. The recommended ratio for an optimal consumption is corrected in successive steps by taking into account, one after the other, a set of constraints concerning the driving safety and comfort, each step having priority over the previous one so that the ratio finally recommended is an optimal balance between the different constraints while putting an emphasis on driving safety.
US08494734B2	Shifting control device for vehicle It is provided a shifting control device for vehicle for electrically controlling a switching of a transmission to a parking range for performing a parking lock in response to an operation by a driver, the shifting control device for vehicle configured to determine the switching to the parking range when the driver performs a predetermined operation for switching to the parking range, based on whether plural vehicle speed signals different in response relative to an actual vehicle speed satisfy a predetermined condition; and the switching to the parking range being determined (i) using a corrected value obtained by correcting a vehicle speed signal having a slower response such that a difference in a vehicle speed based on the vehicle speed signal having the slower response and a vehicle speed signal having a quicker response is suppressed, or (ii) using a corrected value obtained by correcting a predetermined vehicle-speed threshold value associated with the vehicle speed signal having the quicker response such that the slower the response of the vehicle signal having a slower response is, the larger is the corrected value than the corrected value associated with the vehicle speed signal having the quicker response.
US08494733B2	Prime mover rotation speed control system for hydraulically driven vehicle A prime mover rotation speed control system for hydraulically driven vehicle includes: a hydraulic pump driven by a prime mover; a hydraulic motor for traveling driven with pressure oil supplied from the hydraulic pump; an operation member that outputs a travel command in accordance with an amount of operation by the operation member; a flow control device that controls one of a flow of the pressure oil from the hydraulic pump to the hydraulic motor and a flow rate of the pressure oil discharged from the hydraulic motor, based on the travel command that is output in accordance with the amount of operation by the operation member; a target rotation number outputting device that outputs a target rotation number of the prime mover based on a command; a rotation number control device that controls a rotation number of the prime mover to be the target rotation number; a vehicle speed detection device that detects a vehicle speed; and a vehicle speed calculation device that calculates a target vehicle speed in accordance with the amount of operation by the operation member. The rotation number control device includes a correction device that adjusts the target rotation number based on the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detection device and the target vehicle speed calculated by the vehicle speed calculation device.
US08494725B2	Stabilization of a mast for vehicles and ships A system and a method are disclosed for stabilization of a mast (3) on a moving carrier, for example a vehicle. An actuator device (6′) is connected to the mast and allows the mast (3) to pivot with its longitudinal direction relative to the carrier (2), about at least one pivoting axis. A mast sensor device determines the position of the mast (3) relative to a predetermined absolute spatial direction, and supplies this to an electronic control device, which compares the position of the mast with a predetermined set value and derives a manipulated variable for the actuator device from this, in order to stabilize the longitudinal direction of the mast. A securing device (7) blocks the mast if a predetermined acceleration value is exceeded.
US08494720B2	Vehicle motion stability control system Provided is a vehicle motion stability control system that combines the VSA and RTC devices in a favorable manner, and is able to effectively control the behavior of the vehicle over an entire operating range including an extreme operating region and a normal operating region. An output of the RTC is transformed by a certain transfer function, and the front wheel steering angle δf inputted to the actual vehicle model for the first control device (VSA) is modified according to the output of the transfer function. It means that the input front wheel steering angle is modified according to the thrust angle or toe angle of the RTC. Thereby, a harmonized control of the VSA and RTC is enabled, and such a harmonized combination can be effected without making changes to the structure of an existing VSA.
US08494718B2	Steering device for adjusting a wheel steering angle A steering device for adjusting a wheel steering angle of a wheel of a motor vehicle is disclosed, which steering device has a wheel guide member and a steering control unit. The steering control unit includes a basic steering function and an actuator travel control system for adjusting travel of the wheel guide member on the basis of a steering angle setpoint value.
US08494715B2	Vehicle steering apparatus A motor is driven based on an axis current value in a rotating coordinate system that rotates in accordance with a control angle that is a rotational angle used in a control. The control angle is calculated by adding an addition angle to an immediately preceding value of the control angle in each predetermined calculation cycle. A command steering torque is set based on a predetermined steering angle-torque characteristic. The addition angle is calculated based on the deviation of a detected steering torque from a command steering torque. The addition angle based on the deviation is changed when a predetermined condition is satisfied.
US08494711B2	Automated start-stop systems and methods for internal combustion engines An automated start/stop system for a vehicle comprises an auto-stop module, a diagnostic module, and an auto-start module. The auto-stop module selectively initiates an auto-stop event and shuts down an engine while the vehicle is running. The diagnostic module selectively diagnoses a fault in a clutch pedal position sensor of the vehicle. The auto-start module, while the vehicle is running and the engine is shut down, selectively initiates an auto-start event after the fault has been diagnosed when current drawn by a starter motor is less than a predetermined maximum starting current.
US08494709B2	On-vehicle communication device An on-vehicle communication device capable of suppressing a delay in providing information, avoiding congestion, and sufficiently securing transmission power, includes a communication controller to controls a transmission cycle and transmission power when data is transmitted from a transmitting/receiving device. The communication controller uses its own vehicle information and surrounding vehicle information to estimate a degree of risk and a safe distance of its own vehicle. The communication controller controls the transmission cycle of its own vehicle based on a communication channel utilization rate of its own vehicle, a communication channel utilization rate of a surrounding vehicle and the degree of risk of its own vehicle, and controls the transmission power of its own vehicle based on the communication channel utilization rate of its own vehicle, the communication channel utilization rate of the surrounding vehicle and the safe distance.
US08494706B2	Electric fuel pump tester and method The system and method for determining the operational condition of an electric fuel pump (16). The test apparatus (22) is configured to perform first, second and third tests. During the first test, a low voltage, low current signal is applied to produce an inductive reflectance from the pump armature winding. During the second test, continuity is assessed in the coil winding circuit. During the third test, a higher power, short duration pulse is applied to create rotational movement of the pump armature for the purpose of detecting mechanical and/or electrical issues not otherwise discerned from the prior tests. An optional fourth test may be conducted in which the pump (16) is run for a short period of time at standard operating power to generate a current waveform. Collected test data is compared to stored reference data sets using a processor contained within the test apparatus (22). If collected test data corresponds within an acceptable threshold range to the reference data, a PASS signal is generated.
US08494701B2	Method and device for operating a hybrid vehicle In a method and a device (8) for operating a hybrid vehicle (1), the internal combustion engine (2) of the hybrid vehicle is started automatically in case the hybrid vehicle (1) is in a ready-to-drive mode and an opening of an engine covering (4) of the hybrid vehicle is detected.
US08494700B2	Derivative-based hybrid drive motor control for driveline oscillation smoothing A method minimizes driveline disturbances in a vehicle having a motor generator unit (MGU) and a controller, which may be a motor control processor or a hybrid control processor. The method includes determining a set of motor values of the MGU, including a change in motor speed, a derivative of the change in motor speed, and a motor jerk value; calculating a corrective final torque value for the MGU as a function of the set of motor values; and commanding the corrective final torque value from the MGU during a predetermined event, e.g., engine restart. Calculations and commanding the corrective final torque value are conducted by the controller within a calibrated minimum processing loop time. A vehicle includes first and second MGUs, and a controller electrically connected to the second MGU. The controller has the algorithm for minimizing driveline disturbances as noted above.
US08494696B2	System, method, and computer software code for improved fuel efficiency emission output, and mission performance of a powered system A method is provided including determining a first power level required from a diesel powered system. The first power level corresponds to a first proportion of a maximum power. The method also includes determining an emission output for a mission based on the first power level. The method further includes determining a second power level corresponding to a second proportion of the maximum power, wherein alternate use of the second power level and at least one of the first power level or a third power level results in a lower emission output for the mission, with the overall resulting power being proximate the minimum power required. The method also includes automatically controlling operation of the diesel powered system by using the second power level alternately with at least one of the first power level or the third power level.
US08494695B2	Communications system and method for a rail vehicle A rail vehicle includes of one or more locomotives and may further include one or more rail cars, and the rail vehicle further includes a locator element, a communications device and a control module located on the rail vehicle. The locator elements provide a location information of the rail vehicle to a control module. The control module is coupled to the communications device and the locator element. The control module determines control settings for controlling the operations of the communications device based on the location of the rail vehicle. The communications device sends and/or receives data, including communications data, off-board the rail vehicle.
US08494687B2	Method for enhancing a three dimensional image from a plurality of frames of flash LIDAR data A method for enhancing a three dimensional image from frames of flash LIDAR data includes generating a first distance Ri from a first detector i to a first point on a surface Si. After defining a map with a mesh Θ having cells k, a first array S(k), a second array M(k), and a third array D(k) are initialized. The first array corresponds to the surface, the second array corresponds to the elevation map, and the third array D(k) receives an output for the DEM. The surface is projected onto the mesh Θ, so that a second distance Rk from a second point on the mesh Θ to the detector can be found. From this, a height may be calculated, which permits the generation of a digital elevation map. Also, using sequential frames of flash LIDAR data, vehicle control is possible using an offset between successive frames.
US08494684B2	Substation automatic control system According to one embodiment, there is provided a substation automatic control system. An automatic power adjusting apparatus activates an automatic voltage adjusting apparatus when a phase tap is controlled. The automatic voltage adjusting apparatus activates the automatic power adjusting apparatus when a voltage tap is controlled. The automatic power adjusting apparatus suppresses the effective power on a transmission line to the value smaller than the prescribed value while the automatic voltage adjusting apparatus is performing an automatic control, thereby maintaining transmission-side system voltage within a tolerant system voltage range.
US08494683B2	Hybrid irrigation controller The present invention is directed to a system, method and software program product for detecting and counteracting a temperature sensor failure with an irrigation controller operating in auto adjust watering mode. A plurality of pseudo temperature data are created from solar radiation for a particular location using unique pseudo temperature conversions for each temperature parameter. The pseudo temperature values can be compared to corresponding measured temperature values from the sensor to validate the integrity of the measurement. These pseudo temperature values are used in place of the measured temperatures for calculating a potential evapotranspiration water deficit for the site. Furthermore, if some valid measured temperature data existed prior to the sensor failure, the measured temperature data is compared to the corresponding pseudo temperature data. Any differences detected between the two values can be used to correct the pseudo temperature toward the measure temperature. The accuracy of the potential evapotranspiration water deficit using the corrected pseudo temperature values approach that of using measured temperature values.
US08494681B2	Controller for a climate control system A system is provided for controlling at least one climate control apparatus for conditioning a space. The system includes a controller mountable to a climate control apparatus that is segregated from the space to be conditioned. The controller has a plurality of selectable setting parameters for configuring the controller to operate at least one of a plurality of climate control apparatus, and a plurality of visual indicators for visually indicating the selection of at least one selectable setting parameter. A user interface is adapted for installation in the space, and has a display for displaying selectable setting parameters for configuring the controller. The user interface includes user input controls for enabling selection of at least one displayed selectable setting parameter, where the controller responsively activates at least one visual indicator for indicating the selection of at least one selectable setting parameter by the user-interface.
US08494679B2	Control of the converter process by means of exhaust gas signals Modern steel production processes require precise knowledge of the current composition and temperature of the liquid metal being processed. In particular during steel production in a converter, high match rates for final carbon content and bath temperature are required. Quantitatively precise blowing of oxygen corresponding to the final target carbon content, and the metal temperature, are decisive factors affecting the economic efficiency of the process and the quality of the steel produced. In order to allow relatively precise process monitoring, various processes and procedures are known, the application thereof being based on measuring exhaust gas composition and on mass flow balances. All models work at an exactness that depends on the precision of the input data, particularly with respect to the weight data of the raw materials and the chemical properties of the metal used. In order to allow control of the converter process for producing steel independently of the predefined process model, in particular when blowing oxygen, the invention proposes that detected values for the critical decoking point (t′crit) and for the end of O2-blowing (t′EoB) are obtained by means of a submodel operating as a process monitor based on the exhaust gas analysis and independent of the process model, by sensibly combining the constituent signals obtained, by means of which values the oxygen content predicted by the process model is corrected at the start of the process and matched to the actual conditions near the end of the decoking period.
US08494674B2	Fast-access self-repairing tape library using mobile robots In some embodiments, a system includes a plurality of tape reels positioned on a lower surface, a tape drive for reading data from a tape on one of the plurality of tape reels, and at least one mobile robot configured for selectively retrieving at least one of the plurality of tape reels and transporting the at least one retrieved tape reel to the tape drive.
US08494673B2	Warehouse system and method for operating the same The invention relates to a warehouse system and a method of operating the same, whereby a plurality of different packaging units (2) are placed in storage on delivery pallets as storage units in a goods-in store (4). The properties of the packaging units are detected in a data bank and a conveying property is determined from the packaging unit properties, and a classification group is assigned to the packaging units (2) by a computer. The packaging units (2) are distributed, temporarily stored and loaded onto despatch pallets in the warehouse system in accordance with the classification group.
US08494671B2	Grinding machine having the function of measuring distance The invention relates to a grinding machine for grinding a workpiece, which has been set on a chuck top surface, by moving a rotating grinding wheel in relation to the workpiece. The grinding machine includes: a microscope configured to be vertically movable; a CCD camera configured to take an image viewed through the microscope; and an image processor configured to process the image taken by the CCD camera to measure a vertical distance between a reference plane of the microscope and an object of the microscope. The image processor is adapted to measure the vertical distance between the reference plane of the microscope and the object of the microscope based on sharpness of the image, which corresponds to how clear the microscope is focused.
US08494667B2	Apparatus for encoding and decoding audio signal and method thereof A method and/or apparatus for encoding and/or decoding an audio signal is disclosed, in which a downmix gain is applied to a downmix signal in an encoding apparatus which, in turn, transmits, to a decoding apparatus, a bit stream containing information as to the applied downmix gain. The decoding apparatus recovers the downmix signal, using the downmix gain information. A method and/or apparatus for encoding and/or decoding an audio signal is also disclosed, in which the encoding apparatus can apply an arbitrary downmix gain (ADG) to the downmix signal, and can transmit a bit stream containing information as to the applied ADG to the decoding apparatus. The decoding apparatus recovers the downmix signal, using the ADG information. A method and/or apparatus for encoding and/or decoding an audio signal is also disclosed, in which the method and/or apparatus can also vary the energy level of a specific channel, and can recover the varied energy level.
US08494666B2	Method for generating and consuming 3-D audio scene with extended spatiality of sound source A method of generating and consuming 3D audio scene with extended spatiality of sound source describes the shape and size attributes of the sound source. The method includes the steps of: generating audio object; and generating 3D audio scene description information including attributes of the sound source of the audio object.
US08494665B2	Method for processing board game move record information The present invention comprises a method for processing move information obtained from a board game move-recording device in order to produce an accurate record of the moves of the game. In particular, the present invention is intended for use with board games such as chess in which the game pieces move between fixed locations. Further, the present invention is intended for use with a simpler and less expensive class of board game move-recording devices that are capable of detecting the presence or absence of a game piece on any one of the game board's fixed locations, but which are not further capable of determining the identity of the detected piece. The objective of the present invention is to resolve any ambiguities found in the move information produced by those devices and, thereby, enable those devices to produce complete and accurate game records.
US08494657B2	Resorbable anchor arrangements for implantable devices and methods of making and using An implantable device includes a device body and at least one anchoring unit configured and arranged for anchoring the device body in a patient upon implantation. The anchoring unit includes a resorbable material that resorbs into the patient over a period of time after implantation.
US08494655B2	Electrode devices with resistive elements Apparatus is provided for applying current to a nerve. A cathode is adapted to be placed in a vicinity of a cathodic longitudinal site of the nerve and to apply a cathodic current to the nerve. A primary inhibiting anode is adapted to be placed in a vicinity of a primary anodal longitudinal site of the nerve and to apply a primary anodal current to the nerve. A secondary inhibiting anode is adapted to be placed in a vicinity of a secondary anodal longitudinal site of the nerve and to apply a secondary anodal current to the nerve, the secondary anodal longitudinal site being closer to the primary anodal longitudinal site than to the cathodic longitudinal site.
US08494653B2	Paddle lead configurations for electrical stimulation systems and methods of making and using A paddle lead includes a paddle body with a plurality of electrodes disposed on the paddle body. The plurality of electrodes includes a first electrode and a second electrode. The first electrode and the second electrode are disposed laterally around the circumference of the paddle body. At least one connecting wire is disposed on, or within, the paddle body to electrically couple the first electrode and the second electrode.
US08494644B2	Systems and methods for implantable leadless bone stimulation Systems and methods are disclosed to enhance bone growth by stimulating bone sites for bone regrowth, fusion, or grafts. The invention uses electrical stimulation of the bone site, where vibrational energy from a source is received by an implanted device and converted to electrical energy and the converted electrical energy is used by implanted electrodes to stimulate the bone site. The vibrational energy is generated by a controller-transmitter, which could be located either externally or implanted. The vibrational energy is received by a receiver-transmitter, which could be incorporated into an orthopedic device, such as pin, cage, plate or prosthetic joint used for bone healing.
US08494642B2	Systems and methods for implantable leadless spine stimulation Systems and methods are disclosed to stimulate spine tissue to treat medical conditions such as pain and spinal injury. The invention uses electrical stimulation of the spine, where vibrational energy from a source is received by an implanted device and converted to electrical energy and the converted electrical energy is used by implanted electrodes to stimulate the pre-determined brain site. The vibrational energy is generated by a controller-transmitter, which could be located either externally or implanted. The vibrational energy is received by a receiver-stimulator, which could be located in the various regions on around the spine. The implantable receiver-stimulator stimulates different locations in the spine region to provide therapeutic benefit.
US08494641B2	Implantable neurostimulator with integral hermetic electronic enclosure, circuit substrate, monolithic feed-through, lead assembly and anchoring mechanism An implantable medical device is provided for the suppression or prevention of pain, movement disorders, epilepsy, cerebrovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases, sleep disorders, autonomic disorders, abnormal metabolic states, disorders of the muscular system, and neuropsychiatric disorders in a patient. The implantable medical device can be a neurostimulator configured to be implanted on or near a cranial nerve to treat headache or other neurological disorders. One aspect of the implantable medical device is that it includes an electronics enclosure, a substrate integral to the electronics enclosure, and a monolithic feed-through integral to the electronics enclosure and the substrate. In some embodiments, the implantable medical device can include a fixation apparatus for attaching the device to a patient.
US08494639B2	Systems and methods for implantable leadless brain stimulation Systems and methods are disclosed to stimulate brain tissue to treat medical conditions such as movement disorders, pain and epilepsy. The disclosed invention uses electrical stimulation of the brain tissue, where vibrational energy from a source is received by an implanted device and converted to electrical energy and the converted electrical energy is used by implanted electrodes to stimulate the pre-determined brain site. The vibrational energy is generated by a controller-transmitter, which could be either implanted or located externally. The vibrational energy is received by a receiver-stimulator, which could be located under the skull, within the brain, on the dura, or in the cranial space close to the brain. As a therapeutic treatment, the implantable receiver-stimulator stimulates the brain sites that are effective in altering brain activity.
US08494637B2	Systems and methods for implantable leadless gastrointestinal tissue stimulation Systems and methods are disclosed to stimulate gastrointestinal tissue to treat medical conditions such as eating disorders, gastroparesis, and gastric reflux. The invention uses electrical stimulation of the nerve, where vibrational energy from a source is received by an implanted device and converted to electrical energy and the converted electrical energy is used by implanted electrodes to stimulate the pre-determined gastrointestinal tissue site. The vibrational energy is generated by a controller-transmitter, which could be implanted or located externally. The vibrational energy is received by a receiver-stimulator, which could be located in the various regions on or around the gastrointestinal tissue that needs to be stimulated. The implantable receiver-stimulator stimulates different gastrointestinal tissue to provide the desired therapeutic benefit.
US08494636B2	Feed-through connector assembly for implantable pulse generator and method of use A connector assembly for a medical device for connecting the medical device to a relatively large plurality of electrodes that can support, in some cases, 24 or more stimulation channels for stimulating one or more stimulation regions of a patient. Also the medical device and the stimulation system and the stimulation therapy utilizing the connector assembly.
US08494635B2	Method for sintering electrical bushings One aspect relates to a method for producing an electrical bushing for an implantable device, a corresponding electrical bushing, and a corresponding implantable device. The method according to one embodiment is characterized in that a green blank is produced and sintered from an electrically insulating base body green blank made of a ceramic slurry or powder and at least one electrically conductive bushing body green blank made of a cermet material. The at least one bushing body green blank is inserted into a bushing opening of the base body green blank to form a composite green blank, a shape of the at least one bushing body green blank and a shape of the at least one bushing opening are complementary to each other at least in sections thereof and prevent slippage of the bushing body green blank through the bushing opening. The composite green blank is sintered while applying a force that keeps the bodies together.
US08494634B2	Vector configuration detection and corrective response systems and methods In one aspect a system includes an external communication device configured to interrogate a pulse generator, an external programmer device communicatively coupled to the external communication device; the external programmer device configured to receive a listing of valid electrode pairs from the pulse generator through the external communication device, the external programmer device configured to prevent a pacing, sensing, or shocking vector from being programmed by the user if a pair of electrodes needed for the vector are not included within the listing of valid electrode pairs. In another aspect a system includes an implantable medical device configured to detect the presence or absence of electrodes on an implanted stimulation lead coupled to the implantable medical device and to generate a valid electrode pair listing and compare the programmed electrode pairs with the valid electrode pair listing. Other embodiments are also included herein.
US08494629B2	Apparatus and method for automatic optimization of atrioventricular delay for an active medical device An active medical device such as pacemaker, defibrillator and/or resynchronizer with automatic optimization of atrioventricular delay is disclosed. The active medical device is adapted for analyzing a signal delivered by a hemodynamic sensor such as an endocardial acceleration sensor, whose variation according to the AVD is represented by a sigmoid function. An optimal AVD is searched by: applying a reference AVD (XC), at least one left AVD (XL, XLL) and at least one right AVD (XR, XRR); measuring the corresponding hemodynamic parameters (Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5); evaluating the second derivative of the function at the respective points (XC, Y3; XL, Y2, XR, Y4) of the characteristic corresponding to the reference AVD, to the left AVD and to the right AVD; estimating from these values of second derivatives, the position of an intermediate point of the characteristic for which the second derivative is zero or minimum, and determining the corresponding AVD for that intermediate point as the optimal AVD.
US08494626B2	Implantable neurostimulators having reduced pocket stimulation Neurostimulators and methods of using neurostimulators are provided. The neurostimulator is implanted within a tissue pocket of a patient, and electrical energy is conveyed from the neurostimulator to stimulate a target tissue site remote from the tissue pocket. The neurostimulator has a case with which one or more electrodes are associated. The electrical energy is returned to the electrode(s) in a manner that prevents, or at least reduces, pocket stimulation that may otherwise occur due to the return of electrical energy to the case of the neurostimulator.
US08494625B2	Methods and apparatus for electrical stimulation of tissues using signals that minimize the effects of tissue impedance A tissue stimulation system that generates an electrical tissue stimulation signal configured to reduce tissue impedance and increase depth of signal penetration. The use of leads is dynamically controlled and altered between conducting biopotential voltages, conducting electrical tissue stimulation signals, and grounding, in response to a computational analysis of biopotential data acquired from a region of tissue to be stimulated.
US08494624B2	Method and apparatus for reducing noise in brain signal measurements A method and apparatus for reducing noise in brain signal measurements. The method provides an array of sensors providing for spatial oversampling, and multiple samplings over time to produce measurement data. The measurement data have a variance common to the sensors, and a remaining variance that can be safely assumed to be sensor or channel specific noise and that is accounted for by a suitable modification of the measurement data. The apparatus provides clusters of the sensors positioned in correspondence to the vertices of substantially equilateral triangles that are defined by tensile elements connecting the clusters.
US08494620B2	Electrocardiograph for magnetic resonance imaging and electrode patch for same An electrode patch (40, 40′) enables securing five electrodes (E′, A′, S′, I′, N′) or six electrodes (V1′, V6′, LA′, RA′, LL′, RL′) in a predefined pattern. The electrode patch is configured for disposal as a unit on a subject (SUBJ) in a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner (8), and has a maximum electrodes separation (dmax) of at least 20 centimeters and not more than 50 centimeters. The predefined pattern enables 12-lead electrocardiographic signals to be synthesized from signals acquired by the five or six electrodes in the predefined pattern. A method that can use the electrode patch comprises: acquiring magnetic resonance data with a subject disposed in a MR scanner; securing a plurality of electrodes to the subject in the magnetic resonance scanner, the plurality of electrodes comprising fewer than ten electrodes; and synthesizing twelve leads corresponding to a conventional 12-lead electrocardiograph from electrocardiographic signals acquired by the plurality of electrodes with the subject disposed in the MR scanner.
US08494618B2	Intracardiac impedance and its applications A system to measure intracardiac impedance includes implantable electrodes and a medical device. The electrodes sense electrical signals of a heart of a subject. The medical device includes a cardiac signal sensing circuit coupled to the implantable electrodes, an impedance measurement circuit coupled to the same or different implantable electrodes, and a controller circuit coupled to the cardiac signal sensing circuit and the impedance measurement circuit. The cardiac signal sensing circuit provides a sensed cardiac signal. The impedance measurement circuit senses intracardiac impedance between the electrodes to obtain an intracardiac impedance signal. The controller circuit determines cardiac cycles of the subject using the sensed cardiac signal, and detects tachyarrhythmia using cardiac-cycle to cardiac-cycle changes in a plurality of intracardiac impedance parameters obtained from the intracardiac impedance signal.
US08494615B2	Apparatus and method for doppler-assisted MIMO radar microwave imaging A method and apparatus for enhanced microwave imaging of an object collects microwave responses for multiple combinations of transmit antennas, receive antennas, and object movement states. The responses are grouped into sets of responses corresponding to at least two object movement states. An image is reconstructed from the set of responses for each movement state, and a differential image representative of object movement is generated from the reconstructed image for each of the at least two object movement states. The differential image is overlaid on a reconstructed image to obtain an enhanced composite image of the object.
US08494611B2	Cardiac diagnostics using time compensated stress test cardiac MRI imaging and systems for cardiac diagnostics Methods of cardiac diagnostics of a patient are provided that include administering a stress test to the patient, acquiring a plurality of MRI cine loops of the heart of the patient at a plurality of heart rates, adjusting the plurality of MRI cine loops based on a heart rate associated with respective ones of the MRI cines so as to compensate for differences in heart rate and evaluating the compensated MRI cine loops so as to assess a state of coronary physiology of the patient. Furthermore, the administration of the stress test may be adjusted based on the evaluated compensated MRI cine loops. Also, the evaluation of the compensated MRI cine loops may determine a presence or absence of coronary artery disease based on the compensated cine loops.
US08494608B2	Method and apparatus for mapping a structure An volume of a patient can be mapped with a system operable to identify a plurality of locations and save a plurality of locations of a mapping instrument. The mapping instrument can include one or more electrodes that can sense a voltage that can be correlated to a three dimensional location of the electrode at the time of the sensing or measurement. Therefore, a map of a volume can be determined based upon the sensing of the plurality of points without the use of other imaging devices. An implantable medical device can then be navigated relative to the mapping data.
US08494607B2	Handheld diabetes management device having a database management system A handheld diabetes management device having a database management system is disclosed. The device comprises a plurality of input modules, including a blood glucose reader, a user interface, a communications interface, and a continuous blood glucose input module. The input modules output data used to generate data records of different record types. The device further comprises N databases, each database having a different frequency range associated thereto, wherein the new record is stored in a particular database of the N databases based on the frequency range of the particular database and the frequency of the particular record type, and N is an integer greater than 1. The device further includes a database operation module that performs database operations on the N databases. The database management system provides increased reliability in the keeping of records on which medically important decisions are made.
US08494606B2	Photoplethysmography with controlled application of sensor pressure Systems, methods, and devices for obtaining consistently reproducible diagnostic measurements with a photoplethysmographic sensor are provided. In one embodiment, a method for obtaining such a diagnostic measurement includes applying a pressure between a photoplethysmographic sensor and a patient, increasing the pressure until the photoplethysmographic sensor outputs a plethysmographic waveform of minimal amplitude, decreasing the pressure by a predetermined fraction, and obtaining a diagnostic measurement using the photoplethysmographic sensor. The pressure may be applied using a pressure device that includes, for example, a clip, a wrap, an inflatable balloon or bladder, or an inflatable cuff or any combination thereof.
US08494605B2	Non-invasive blood component measuring device and a computer program product A noninvasive blood component measuring device configured so as to resolve the variance of measuring results depend on the fixing position to the living body. Concretely, a non-invasive blood component measuring device comprising a light source section for illuminating a living body which includes a blood vessel, an imaging section for imaging the living body illuminated by the light source, and a controller is disclosed. The controller includes a memory under control of a processor. The memory stores instructions enabling the processor to carry out following operations: calculating a blood component concentration based on a blood vessel in a living body image obtained by the imaging section imaging a living body; determining the position of the blood vessel in the living body image; preparing at least a first luminance distribution which is distributed along the blood vessel based on the position of the blood vessel; obtaining an index which reflects the amount of blood contained in the peripheral tissue of the blood vessel based on the first luminance distribution; and correcting the blood component concentration based on the index. Non-invasive blood component measuring method and a computer program product capable of achieving above mentioned function are also disclosed.
US08494604B2	Wavelength-division multiplexing in a multi-wavelength photon density wave system Multi-wavelength photon density wave medical systems, methods, and devices are provided. In one embodiment, a multi-wavelength photon density wave patient monitor includes multiple light sources, a driving circuit, a fiber coupler, a sensor cable connector, a wavelength demultiplexer, detectors, and data processing circuitry. The driving circuit may modulate the light sources to produce several single-wavelength input photon density wave signals, which the fiber coupler may join into a multi-wavelength input signal. The sensor cable connector may provide this multi-wavelength input signal to a sensor attached to the patient and receive a multi-wavelength output signal. The wavelength demultiplexer may separate the multi-wavelength output signal into single-wavelength output signals for detection by the detectors. Based on a comparison of one of the single-wavelength output signals to a corresponding one of the single-wavelength input signals, the data processing circuitry may determine a physiological parameter of the patient.
US08494601B2	Communication device The communication device includes: a first body; a second body; a connecting portion that connects the first body and the second body, so as to be capable of switching between a closed state in which the first body and the second body are superimposed with each other, and an opened state in which a degree of mutual superimposition is smaller than that of the closed state; a first conductive portion that is disposed in the first body; a second conductive portion that is disposed in the second body; a signal line that electrically connects the first conductive portion and the second conductive portion via the inside of the connecting portion; a first antenna, which is disposed in at least one of the first body and the second body, and which is electrically connected to the first conductive portion or the second conductive portion; and a second antenna, which is disposed in at least one of the first body and the second body, and which is capacitively coupled with the first conductive portion or the second conductive portion.
US08494594B2	Method for controlling power saving mode of UE in the mobile communication system A method for controlling, a power saving mode of a mobile station (MS) in a mobile communication system is disclosed. The method differently defines operations of power saving modes of individual cases in association with message traffic distinguished from user traffic of a service, so that it can effectively reduce power consumption of the mobile station (MS). Firstly, the listening window of the power saving mode is used. Secondly, a method for transmitting a request message for pending the sleep mode is used. If the sleep-mode pending is requested, the sleep-mode resume message may be used in the case of a reactivation, or the reactivation can be automatically performed if a current time reaches a predetermined time.
US08494593B2	Method and system for wireless coverage redundancy Devices and methods are provided for providing wireless coverage redundancy in case, for example, the backhaul of an access point (AP) base station is not available. In one embodiment, the method involves monitoring the backhaul, and in response to the backhaul being available, facilitating communication between an access terminal (AT) and the macro network via the backhaul. In addition, or in the alternative (e.g., when the backhaul is not available), a communication signal between the AT and a macro base station (or another AP base station) may be boosted.
US08494591B2	Disabling operation of features on a handheld mobile communication device based upon location Methods and devices for implementing subsystem or functional aspect restrictions on a wireless handheld communication device. Data defining geographical boundaries of a restricted operating area is stored on the device. The present position of the device is ascertained and a determination is made whether the device is located within the restricted operating area. A restriction on the subsystem or functional aspect is imposed when it is determined the device is within the restricted operating area. The subsystem or functional aspect restriction can be communicated to the device via a wireless communication network. Additionally, the restrictions and boundaries can be communicated to the device as part of an IT security policy.
US08494589B2	Service discovery via mobile imaging systems and methods A method of receiving content associated with media includes using a mobile device to acquire an image from media. The image has corresponding content. The method also includes using the mobile device to process the image to thereby produce the content and displaying at least a portion of the content on a display of the mobile device.
US08494587B2	Architecture, devices and methods for supporting multiple operators in a wireless basestation Devices, systems, and methods are presented for a wireless Base Station (BS) capable of simultaneously providing service to subscribers of multiple Operators. Depending upon the particular deployment requirements or equipment capabilities, each Operator may be operating on the same or different frequencies (in which different frequencies may be adjacent, closely separated, or widely separated). The wireless BS will distinguish and logically separate and route the traffic between each subscriber device and its relevant Operator's Core Network, potentially supporting different logical or even different physical interfaces between the wireless BS and each Operator.
US08494574B2	System and method for controlling a feature of a telecommunications device based on the body temperature of a user A method for controlling a feature of a telecommunications device includes determining a proximity of a user to the telecommunications device by detecting the body heat of the user. In response to determining proximity of the user, a feature of the telecommunications device is toggled between an activated state and a deactivated state.
US08494567B2	Method for selecting an effective angle of reception of a directional antenna of a receiver node, corresponding storage means and receiver node It is proposed a method for selecting an effective angle of reception of a directional antenna of a receiver node, the receiver node belonging to a wireless communications network comprising a plurality of emitter nodes.The method is implemented by the receiver node and comprises steps of: determining at least two possible angles of reception associated with a first emitter node, and for each of said at least two possible angles of reception, determining a difference between that angle and an angle of reception associated with a second emitter node different from said first emitter node, and selecting the effective angle of reception from among said at least two possible angles of reception associated with said first emitter node as a function of the determined differences.
US08494563B2	Dead spot prediction method for wireless vehicular applications A wireless communication method includes providing a plurality of vehicles, and sensing a plurality of dead spot regions encountered by the vehicles while traveling. The sensing is performed within the vehicles. Locations of the sensed dead spot regions are recorded within the vehicles. The dead spot region locations sensed by the vehicles are transmitted from the vehicles to a central controller. The dead spot region locations transmitted by the vehicles are sent back to the vehicles such that each vehicle has access to ones of the dead spot region locations sensed by other ones of the vehicles. The dead spot regions are mitigated, within the vehicles, by use of the sent dead spot region locations.
US08494559B1	Method and system for selecting a wireless access technology using location based information A method and apparatus is disclosed whereby location based information (LBI) is used to make access and routing decisions within a network. Such LBI is sent from mobile devices to the core network when the mobile device registers with the network and is updated periodically. Over time, this collected LBI data represents the position of mobile devices over time and periodic patterns of usage in different geographic areas. When a network receives an indication that a mobile device requires registration with the network, the network determines as a function of said LBI, a desired network access technology to use to connect said mobile device with the network. Instructions are then transmitted to the mobile device to establish a connection using said desired network access technology and the device is registered with the network. Dynamically updated LBI information from mobile devices is also used for IP network routing optimization.
US08494557B2	Timed fingerprint locating in wireless networks Systems and techniques for determining the location of user equipment (UE) in a wireless network are disclosed. These techniques leverage geometric calculations for an overlaid bin grid framework mapping the wireless network area to store differential values for each frame of the bin grid framework for each pair of relevant NodeBs. A timing offset can be determined, such that when a time value from a target UE is accessed, the location can be quickly determined with minimal real time computation. In an aspect, the target UE time value can be search for in the pre-computed differential value data set indexed by a relevant NodeB site pair to return a set of frames (forming a hyperbola between the site pair) that can be intersected with a second set of frames for a second NodeB site pair for the same UE. The intersecting frames can represent the location of the UE in the wireless network. Further, the data can be leveraged to correct timing in the network.
US08494555B2	Mobile communication circuit reporting location information and methods thereof Mobile communication circuit reporting location information and methods thereof are provided. The circuit comprises a receiver, a transmitter, and a control circuit. The receiver receives first and second location information requests comprising respective first and second timing periods at first and second reference times respectively. The transmitter transmits first location information at a first reporting time having a first timing lapse from the first reference time in response to the first location information request and the second location information at a second reporting time in response to the second location information request. The control circuit, coupled to the receiver and the transmitter, calculates a timing difference between the first reporting time and the second reporting time, and determines second location information according to the first location information when the timing difference is less than or equal to a predetermined timing difference threshold.
US08494547B2	Self-learning transceiver The invention pertains to a transceiver (10) used in a determined geographical zone (100), comprising a learning module (123) for adapting its operating characteristics, bound by the regulations and/or by the specifications of the said geographical zone A, by other regulations and/or specifications of other geographical zones B, characterized in that it comprises means of identification (125) of the geographical zone B, and means (122) of checking the said characteristics as a function of the said zone.The user can thus check that he is using a permitted frequency band and adapt his transceiver to suit if necessary.
US08494546B2	Method of inter-system communications dynamic spectrum access network systems-logical control connections This invention relates to cognitive radio based wireless communications of dynamic spectrum access networks, and more particularly to a method of addressing inter-systems (cells) communications for coexistence and spectrum sharing. A method, called Logical Control Connections, is described for reliable connection-based inter-system coordination and communications, which can be established and maintained either over the air or over the backhaul with very low incurred communications overhead in terms of spectrum bandwidth, messaging latency, and hardware/software complexities.
US08494545B2	Method, apparatus, and system for acquiring load information The present invention discloses a method, an apparatus and a system for acquiring load information. In one method, a source access controller and a target access controller can interact through inter-Radio Access Technology (RAT) handover related messages so that a source RAT system can acquire load information of a target RAT system when an inter-RAT Packet Switched (PS) handover is performed. This enables load balancing between different RAT systems so as to guarantee communications quality of the systems. In another method of the present invention, the source access controller and the target access controller interact through a Radio Access Network (RAN) Information Management (RIM) based load information request message and an RIM based load information response message, so that the source RAT system can acquire load information of the target RAT system before an inter-RAT PS domain handover is performed.
US08494541B2	VoIP service threshold determination by wireless router A wireless router establishes a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) that supports wireless communications within a WLAN service area. The wireless router establishes broadband communications via a broadband connection with a Voice over IP (VoIP) service accumulator. The wireless router receives a query from the VoIP service accumulator requesting information regarding the prior servicing of, or ability to service, VoIP calls by the wireless router. In response, the VoIP service accumulator receives information regarding the prior servicing of, or ability to service, VoIP calls. The wireless router and the VoIP service accumulator subsequently service VoIP calls within the WLAN based upon the information regarding the prior servicing of, or ability to service, VoIP calls by the wireless router.
US08494540B2	Methods and apparatus for channel selection in a peer to peer network Various embodiments relate to using available spectrum for peer to peer communications and for selecting which of several possibly available channels should be used. Various methods and apparatus are well suited to peer to peer networks in which channel usage decisions are made in a decentralized manner. A wireless terminal generates a list of potential available channels to be used for peer to peer communications, e.g., based on FCC information and/or local sensing. Channels are filled in accordance with a predetermined channel ordering. A wireless terminal migrates between the channels in accordance with changes in the number of peer devices using a channel. The network, in a distributed manner, changes the number of channels in use at a location in response to changes in numbers of active peer devices at a location.
US08494533B2	Beamforming for cell edge capacity improvement in a heterogeneous network The present disclosure relates to providing a method of improving data rates in a heterogeneous network which is composed of macro cells and pico cells. User equipment is connected to the network via a macro base station serving a macro cell or a low power node serving a pico cell. A signal strength indicator is received from one or more UEs located in a macro cell and adjacent one or more pico cell. The location of a UE within a region of a macro cell or a pico cell is identified according to the signal strength indicator. Then, a weak coverage area of macro cell is identified according to the signal strength indicator and a beam forming antenna of a macro base station serving the macro cell where the UE is located, is directed to steer the antenna beam to an area of the cell requiring an improved signal strength indicator.
US08494532B2	Method to filter unauthorized mobile devices in code division multiple access networks A method for managing an attempted connection between a home base station (HBS) and a device not registered with the HBS is provided. The method includes transferring the connection when the attempted connection can be transferred to a traditional base station. When the attempted connection cannot be transferred to a traditional base station, it is determined whether a portion of the resources of the HBS can be used by the device not registered with the HBS. When a portion of the resources can be used, the portion is used. When a portion of the resources cannot be used, the attempted connection is not completed.
US08494529B2	Server for control plane at mobile communication network and method for controlling SIPTO based session Disclosed is a method of controlling a session in a serving server taking charge of the control plane within a mobile communication network. The control method may include receiving, by the serving server, a tracking area update (TAU) request message of a terminal from a target base station; retrieving, by the serving server, a previous server that has taken charge of the control plane for the terminal; receiving, by the serving server and from the retrieved previous server, a context response message comprising information indicating that a session for the terminal had been established to be passed through a path over the nodes within a fixed network different from a mobile communication network; deciding, by the serving server, whether gateway relocation is needed; releasing, by the serving server, the established session; transmitting, by the serving server, an accept message comprising information for the processing result to the terminal through the target base station; and establishing, by the serving server a session passing through a path over the nodes within a fixed network different from a mobile communication network based on the information.
US08494528B2	Method, apparatus and computer program product for priority based cell reselection in a multi-RAT environment A method, apparatus and computer program product are therefore provided that may enable a network sending broadcast and/or dedicated priorities to a mobile terminal to also include priorities with respect to a RAT that does not support the priority algorithm. As such, for example, priority parameters for a legacy network that does not support the priority algorithm may be supplied to a mobile terminal to enable the mobile terminal to make cell reselection decisions without running two different cell reselection algorithms in parallel (e.g., a ranking based algorithm and a priority based algorithm). The provided method includes the steps of receiving an indication of a plurality candidate cells with respect to said cell reselection of a mobile terminal; assigning, toward each of said plurality of candidate cells, a priority, wherein at least one candidate cell of the plurality of candidate cells does not support priority based cell reselection; and providing said priorities to said mobile terminal.
US08494524B2	Method for collecting interference status information of subscriber station by coexistence base station A method and a system for collecting interference status information of a subscriber station by a coexistence base station includes: during an initialization process of a neighbor base station, after a broadcast contact message containing contact information received from the neighbor base station, a subscriber station in an overlapping area of the neighbor base station and a coexistence base station sending a report message to the coexistence base station, wherein the report massage comprises interference status information of the subscriber station, and the coexistence base station is a serving base station of the subscriber station; and collecting and saving, by the coexistence base station, the interference status information of the subscriber station according to the report message. By the present invention, the coexistence base station may collect the interference status information of all subordinate subscriber stations in time during the initialization process of a neighbor base station, and update and save the collected information in a coexistence database.
US08494519B2	Method for solving conflict between network searching and mobile phone traffic and a multi-card multi-by mobile phone A method for solving conflict between network searching and mobile phone traffic of a multi-card multi-standby mobile phone is provided. The method comprises storing network searching information of a first user card and processing the mobile phone traffic of a second user card, when conflict occurs between the network searching of the first user card and the mobile phone traffic of the second user card, and continuing to perform the network searching according to the stored network searching information of the first user card after completing the mobile phone traffic, when processing time of the mobile phone traffic of the second user card is less than or equal to a time threshold value. A multi-card multi-standby mobile phone is provided too. The mobile phone comprises a RAM for storing the network searching information, a timer unit for measuring the processing time of mobile phone traffic, a comparing unit set with the time threshold value for comparing the processing time of the mobile phone traffic with the time threshold value, and a MCU for continuing to perform the network searching according to the stored network searching information of the first user card when the processing time of the mobile phone traffic is less than or equal to the time threshold value. The present invention promotes the efficiency of the network searching.
US08494518B1	Interfrequency access handoff in home carrier network Disclosed herein is a method and corresponding system to help a wireless communication device (WCD) stay within a home system's network coverage after an access attempt failure. According to one embodiment of the method, a WCD receives a channel list message (CLM) in a given coverage area and transmits an access attempt on a carrier listed in the received CLM. Upon the failure of such an access attempt, the WCD may transmit an additional access attempt on another carrier listed in the received CLM, rather than switching over to a roaming system. According to another embodiment, a WCD receives a channel list message (CLM) in a given coverage area and transmits an access attempt on a carrier listed in the received CLM. Upon the failure of such an access attempt, the WCD may transmit an additional access attempt on another carrier not listed in the received CLM, rather than switching over to a roaming system. According to yet another embodiment, a WCD receives a CLM from a first coverage area and thereafter moves into a second coverage area and subsequently receives a CLM from the second coverage area. The WCD transmits an access attempt on a carrier listed in the second CLM and upon the failure of such an access attempt, transmits an additional access attempt on a carrier listed in the first CLM.
US08494513B2	Spatio-temporal random voting scheme for cognitive networks A spatio-temporal random voting scheme is provided that incorporates location distribution, spatial randomness, and temporal randomness in the collection of information from a plurality of sensing devices within the cognitive network. The region is divided into a plurality of sectors, where each sector is a portion of the region. A subset of sectors is selected from the plurality of sectors in the region to provide spatial randomness. A device is randomly selected from each sector in the subset of sectors to provide additional spatial randomness to the information collection process. Temporal randomness may be introduced by randomly selecting a timeslot within a sensing window period in which devices are to scan a frequency spectrum band to determine if a signal energy above a threshold is detected. Sensing reports are then collected from the selected sensing devices and used to determine whether the frequency spectrum band is available or in use.
US08494512B2	Communication terminal, mobile communication system, and communication control method A communication terminal includes a first wireless communication unit that communicates with a base station; a second wireless communication unit that communicates with another communication terminal including an equivalent of the first wireless communication unit; a temperature measurement unit; and a control unit that selects one of the first wireless communication unit and the second wireless communication unit according to a temperature measured by the a temperature measurement unit.
US08494510B2	Provisioning applications for a mobile device Methods and systems for provisioning an application for a mobile device are provided. A user may request an application. A request concerning the application is sent to a provisioning device. The request includes information concerning the mobile device and/or the user of the mobile device. The information is used to determine the requirements for operating the requested application on the mobile device. A hyperlink for downloading the requirements information is sent to the user of the mobile device via text messaging and/or email. The requirements information may be provided directly to the mobile device, to a personal computing device associated with the user of the mobile device, or a combination.
US08494504B2	Methods and systems for telephony processing, including location based call transfers The present invention provides flexible call processing. In one embodiment, an inbound call from a calling party is received at a call processing system. The inbound call is intended for a called party. A determination is made that a first condition has occurred and/or is occurring. The called party's location is determined via a location based service associated with the mobile device of the called party. Based at least in part on the called party's mobile device location, a phone number stored in computer readable memory is selected. The calling party is connected to a communication device associated with the selected phone number.
US08494495B2	Mobile information terminal A mobile information terminal with improved operability, having a display part and a control part. The display part has a first display region and a second display region. In the first display region, information for specifying a function is displayed. In the second display region, information on conditions of a function executed by a function execution section is displayed. The control part displays the function specifying information in a standby state where the display of the execution information in the second display region of the display part is suppressed and also displays standby information, different from the execution information, in the second display region. In the standby state, when function specifying information is selected in response to the operation detected by an operation detection part, the control part displays execution information of the function specified by the function specifying information selected while the display of the function specifying information on the first display region is maintained.
US08494493B2	Mobile machine Among other things, generating a dynamic digital data file for transferring to a mobile communication device includes receiving from a user a phone number associated with a mobile communication device. Also, a user selected digital data file is received. Authorization to access the received digital data file is verified. When detected that the received digital data file is verified as an authorized file, the user is able to edit the received digital data file to generate mobile content. A data connection with the mobile communication device associated with the received phone number is also established. Further, one or more operational parameters of the mobile communication device based on the established data connection are determined. The generated mobile content is transcoded into a format compatible to the determined operational parameters, and the transcoded mobile content is delivered to the mobile communication device.
US08494487B2	Method and apparatus for authenticating mobile terminal on handover A method and apparatus for authenticating a mobile terminal are provided. A list of potential Network Access Servers (NASs) corresponding to a NAS are maintained in a backend authentication server, authorization information corresponding to each of the potential NASs is transmitted, from the backend authentication server to each of the potential NASs, when the mobile terminal is authenticated via the NAS. The mobile terminal detects whether a new NAS is pre-authenticated, when the mobile terminal moves to a domain of the new NAS, the new NAS detects whether the mobile terminal is pre-authenticated, and the new NAS authenticates the mobile terminal via a Pre-Shared Key (PSK) method, when the mobile terminal and the new NAS are pre-authenticated.
US08494479B2	System and method for optimizing power supplies in a wireless transceiver Different components in a wireless transceiver are powered using different power supplies. For example, one or more first tasks in the wireless transceiver can be powered with a Galvanic cell, and one or more second tasks in the wireless transceiver can be powered with a fuel cell. The one or more first tasks could represent higher-current or intermittent tasks, and the one or more second tasks could represent lower-current or continuous tasks. The one or more first tasks could include transmission of a radio frequency (RF) signal, which may involve RF signal modulation or RF signal amplification. The one or more second tasks could include RF signal tuning, RF signal reception, RF signal demodulation, analog-to-digital conversion, digital-to-analog conversion, digital signal processing, operation of a controller, illumination of a display, operation of an audio speaker, operation of a microphone, or operation of a keypad.
US08494477B2	Power management for an electronic device A control device includes a selector and a controller. The selector is to select power signals to be supplied to respective power domains of an electronic product. The controller is to compare a level of a first power signal selected by the selector to a first target level, and to generate a first setting signal to reduce a difference between the first power signal level and the first target level. The controller, selector, and power domains may be located on a same chip different from a power manager chip from which the power signals are generated or otherwise output.
US08494475B2	Direct mixer with transistor and sample-and-hold module A direct mixer includes a transistor and sample-and-hold module and uses a transposition of an RF signal into baseband with a configuration with high dynamic range and low noise factor.
US08494473B2	Processing a radio frequency signal Circuitry and a method for use in a radio frequency receiver for processing a radio frequency signal are provided. The circuitry comprises a mixer arranged to receive the radio frequency signal and down-convert the received radio frequency signal to a lower frequency. The received radio frequency signal has an interference component and the interference component in the down-converted signal is within an interference frequency range. The circuitry also comprises an LC based notch filter arranged to receive the down-converted signal from the mixer, filter the down-converted signal, and output the filtered signal for processing by a baseband processing block. The LC based notch filter has a notch centered within said interference frequency range, such that the LC based notch filter is arranged to attenuate the interference component in the down-converted signal.
US08494468B1	Mobile wireless communications device including sensing transistor and hysteretic comparator and related methods A mobile wireless communications device may include a portable housing, and a supply modulator carried by the portable housing. The supply modulator may include an output node, a linear amplifier coupled to the output node, and a switching amplifier also coupled to the output node. The switching amplifier may include at least one sensing transistor configured to sense current output from the linear amplifier and generate a drive voltage, and a hysteretic comparator coupled to the at least one sensing transistor and configured to be driven by the drive voltage. The mobile wireless communications device may also include a radio frequency (RF) power amplifier coupled to the output node of the supply modulator, and a wireless transceiver carried by the portable housing and coupled to the RF power amplifier.
US08494457B2	Systems, methods and transceivers for wireless communications over discontiguous spectrum segments Methods of transmitting a plurality of communications signals over a plurality of discontiguous bandwidth segments in a frequency band include defining a plurality (NFFT) of orthogonal subcarriers across the frequency band, defining a plurality (N) of available physical subcarriers from among the orthogonal subcarriers. The available physical subcarriers are distributed among the plurality of discontiguous bandwidth segments. The methods further include multiplexing the plurality of communications signals onto the plurality of available physical subcarriers. Multiplexing the plurality of communications signals onto the plurality of available physical subcarriers may include assigning the communications signals to respective ones of a plurality (N) of logical subcarriers, and mapping the plurality of logical subcarriers to corresponding ones of the plurality of available physical subcarriers. Related transmitters, receivers and communications systems are also disclosed.
US08494452B2	Apparatus and methods for determining network access performance of a wireless device Apparatus, methods, processors and computer readable media for determining the wireless network access performance or capability of a wireless device. Embodiments include a wireless device having a computer platform with a processing engine operable to generate a plurality of network access performance data during processing activities on the wireless device. The wireless device further includes a network access performance module operable to collect selected ones of the plurality of network access data associated with a predetermined data processing capability of the wireless device, and based on a predetermined collection configuration. The embodiments may also include an apparatus operable to generate the predetermined collection configuration, and operable to receive the collected network access data and to generate a performance report characterizing the network access performance or capability of the wireless device.
US08494450B2	Method and system for managing communication in a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) communication network The present invention provides method and system for managing communication in a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) communication network. The method comprises reserving a first segment downlink time slot and/or a first segment uplink time slot for a first segment in the FDMA communication network. The first segment belongs to a plurality of segments used in the FDMA communication network. Thereafter, a communication is scheduled between a base station and one or more mobile stations based on the first segment downlink time slot and/or the first segment uplink time slot. The base station uses the first segment at a high power level for the communication. Further, the one or more mobile stations can be scheduled for an uplink transmission, based on a location of the one or more mobile stations. A mobile station can be located in one of a plurality of sectors of a cell area of a base station.
US08494449B2	Wireless communications system and method A system for communicating information facilitates wireless communication between electronic devices. The system includes a transceiver provided in a vehicle. The transceiver communicates with an electronic device located external to the transceiver.
US08494446B2	Transmitting circuit for a contactless communicating communication partner device In a communication partner device (1) intended for the contactless transmission of digital data to be transmitted having a transmission circuit (2), the transmission circuit (2) comprises a modulation circuit (17) for the amplitude modulation of a carrier signal (CS), which modulation circuit (17) comprises a circuit stage (20, 20′) for producing a plurality of different resistance values (RW 1, RW 1′) that act on a signal output (TX1, TX2), which resistance values (RW1, RW1′) can be transformed, by means of a signal processing circuit (3) arranged to transform resistance values that belongs to the communication partner device (1), into transformed resistance values (RW2, RW2′), which transformed resistance values (RW2, RW2′) are responsible for damping a transmission coil (7) of the communication partner device (1) when modulated low-level carrier signal sections are generated in a modulated carrier signal.
US08494444B2	Assembly of a low-noise block converter and a filter for a satellite antenna system, and connecting component thereof An assembly of a low-noise block converter and a filter for a satellite antenna includes a low-noise block converter, a filter, and a connecting component. The low-noise block converter includes an output circuit, and the filter includes a filtering circuit. The connecting component includes a sleeve part for engaging threadedly the low-noise block converter and the filter, and a core extending through the sleeve part and interconnecting electrically the output circuit and the filtering circuit. By virtue of the sleeve part of the connecting component, connection between the low-noise block converter and the filter can be reinforced to reduce interference. The sleeve part can also serve as a ground circuit between the low-noise block converter and the filter so as to shorten a ground path, thereby reducing signal loss.
US08494439B2	Application state and activity transfer between devices A method of operating a personal electronic device and an in-vehicle infotainment system includes running an application on one of the personal electronic device and the in-vehicle infotainment system. It is sensed that the personal electronic device has been, or soon will be, moved into or out of a proximity of the in-vehicle infotainment system. Information regarding a state of the one of the personal electronic device and the in-vehicle infotainment system is transferred to the other of the personal electronic device and the in-vehicle infotainment system. An application is selected for the other of the personal electronic device and the in-vehicle infotainment system. The selected application is used to replicate the state of the one of the personal electronic device and the in-vehicle infotainment system on the other of the personal electronic device and the in-vehicle infotainment system.
US08494435B2	Image forming system and image forming device Disclosed is an image forming system including an image forming device to form an image on a paper and a plurality of post processing devices, and the image forming device includes an ejecting place information informing unit, a comparing unit and a stopping permission information informing unit, and the post processing devices include a determination unit, a permission request unit and an actuation determination unit.
US08494433B2	Recording-medium positioning device and image forming apparatus employing the device A recording-medium positioning device includes a gate, a roller pair, a roller-pair shift unit, a recording-medium detector, and a drive control device. The gate is disposed at an upstream side of a fixing device in a conveyance direction of a recording medium. The roller pair includes two roller members disposed at an upstream side of the gate. The roller-pair shift unit moves the roller pair in accordance with a first position of the recording medium in the conveyance direction to shift the recording medium in a width direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction. The recording-medium detector is disposed between the fixing device and the gate to detect a second position of the recording medium in the width direction. The drive control device moves the recording medium to a reference position by driving the roller-pair shift unit in accordance with the second position and cyclically shifts the reference position.
US08494430B2	Apparatus and method for the registration and de-skew of substrate media According to aspects described herein, there is disclosed an apparatus and method for de-skewing substrate media in a printing system. The apparatus includes at least one sensor for measuring skew of the substrate media being transferred relative to a process direction, and a nip assembly for moving the substrate media in the process direction. The nip assembly includes a nip having a drive roller and an idler roller for engaging the substrate media. The nip assembly is pivotal from a default position an amount responsive to the measured media skew. The drive roller is selectively stopped to permit a leading edge of the substrate media to engage the stopped drive roller.
US08494422B2	Transfer belt driving controller and electrophotographic image forming apparatus having the same A transfer belt driving controller includes an idle roller that is installed on a rotating shaft of one of a plurality of supporting rollers in such a way that the idle roller may freely rotate, and is wrapped and rotated by a transfer belt, where the plurality of supporting rollers are arranged in the transfer belt and to be a predetermined distance apart from each other; an encoder wheel that rotates with the idle roller; an encoder that detects information regarding rotation of the encoder wheel; and a control unit that controls a linear velocity of the transfer belt by feedback controlling a driving source for driving the supporting rollers based on the information regarding rotation of the encoder wheel detected by the encoder.
US08494419B2	Processing unit including developing roller having roller body and covering layer covering circumferential surface of roller body, and supporting member that supports developing roller A processing unit is provided. The processing unit includes: a housing; a developing roller that carries developer on a surface thereof, the developing roller including, a roller body, and a covering layer covering an outer circumferential surface of the roller body; a photosensitive drum that contacts the developing roller, wherein an end face of the photosensitive drum at a first side in an axial direction of the developing roller is located at an outer side in the axial direction compared to an end face of the developing roller at the first side in the axial direction, and wherein the developer on the developing roller is supplied to the photosensitive drum; and a supporting member that contacts an inner circumferential surface of the roller body at the first side in the axial direction, and supports the developing roller rotatably in the housing.
US08494418B2	Development device and image forming apparatus having the same The development device includes a developer storage part storing a developer, a developer carrier having a carrying surface for carrying the developer and a first magnet, and receiving the developer from the developer storage part on the carrying surface while rotating in a predetermined direction, and supplying the developer to a predetermined image carrier, a magnetic member formed from a magnetic material, forming a predetermined regulatory gap with the carrying surface, and arranged opposite to the first magnet, a second magnet disposed more upstream than the magnetic member when viewed from the rotating direction of the developer carrier, and having a magnetic pole of the same polarity as the first magnet, and a deterioration suppressing part suppressing deterioration of the developer transported to the regulatory gap along with the rotation of the developer carrier.
US08494416B2	Image forming apparatus and image forming system An image forming apparatus includes a first development unit, a second development unit, and a control unit. The first development unit forms a first developer image with a first developer absorbing a light having a prescribed wavelength. The second development unit forms a second developer image with a second developer permeating the light having prescribed wavelength therethrough. The control unit controls print of a background design image by the first development unit and print of a print image by the second development unit.
US08494415B2	Light emitting element array, light emitting device, and image forming apparatus A light emitting element array that can perform a time-division driving operation with a small number of driving ICs is provided. A light emitting element array chip (1) includes n switch thyristors (S) (wherein n is an integer equal to or greater than 2), n signal transmission lines (GH) connected to N-gate electrodes (d) of the switch thyristors (S) individually, a plurality of light emitting thyristors (T) having N-gate electrodes (b) connected to one of the n signal transmission lines (GH). Anodes (e) of selection thyristors (U) are connected to the N-gate electrodes (d) of the n switch thyristors (S), and N-gate electrodes (f) of the selection thyristors (U) are connected to a common selection signal transmission line (CSL).
US08494414B2	Driving device and image forming apparatus A drive device has a drive source; a rotatable member gear rotated by a driving force from the driving source; a follower gear, including a pair of gears which are coaxially disposed with each other and are rotatable at the same rotational speed and including an urging device for urging the pair of gears in rotational directions opposite from each other, for being rotated at the rotational speed higher than that of the rotatable member gear; a rotation detecting device for detecting rotation of the follower gear and including a flag rotatable together with said follower gear and provided coaxially with said follower gear and includes a detecting portion for detecting passing of the flag; and a driving source control portion for controlling said driving source on the basis of the computation result stored in the storing portion.
US08494408B2	Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a chassis, a cover, photosensitive members, an intermediate transfer belt, primary-transfer members, a secondary-transfer roller, a first feed roller, a cleaner device, a waste toner container, which is movable along the predetermined direction to be removably installed in the chassis through a first opening and stores residual toner, a connector, a first feeding path, a second feeding path being a path for a recording sheet inserted through a sheet inlet and includes a sheet guide to guide the recording sheet, and a second feed roller. The second feed roller is movable along with at least a part of the sheet guide. The waste toner container is movable through space, which is occupied by the second feed roller in an upper position, and the first opening when the second feed roller is in a lower position.
US08494407B2	Laser printer cartridge with increased toner storage capacity Remanufactured laser printer toner cartridges and methods of manufacture by which predetermined structures internal to the toner hopper section are removed preferably by a robotic laser cutter, a volume increasing cap is provided for the modified toner hopper section and the cartridge is re-assembled to yield a remanufactured toner cartridge that has a capacity to store toner that is significantly increased in comparison to the storage capacity of the OEM toner cartridge.
US08494403B2	Developing device and image forming apparatus using the same A developing device includes an image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, a developing member facing the image carrier to supply a developing agent to the electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier, a rotary member facing the outer circumference of the image carrier in a non-contact state to collect toner scattered from the developing member, and a gear train to drive the rotary member. An effect that the developing member is subjected to by the driving of the rotary member is minimized, thereby preventing deterioration of image quality. Also, the scattering of the developing agent is effectively prevented by adjusting the drive rotational velocity of the rotary member.
US08494400B2	Developing device with moveable flexible sheet for preventing toner deposition on developing device casing and image forming apparatus including the same A developing device includes: a developer carrying member for supplying a developer to an image bearing member at an opposing region opposing to the image bearing member, the developer carrying member being arranged so as to be opposed to the image bearing member on which an electrostatic latent image is to be formed; a blade for regulating an amount of the developer carried on the developer carrying member; a casing for housing the developer carrying member and the blade, the casing including a wall portion opposed to the developer carrying member between the blade and the opposing region; a sheet member that is flexible, provided on the wall portion, has a free end, forms a part of an inner wall surface of the wall portion, and is movable in a direction perpendicular to the inner wall surface; and a moving portion provided on the wall portion, for moving the sheet member.
US08494396B2	Fixing device and image forming apparatus A fixing device for fixing a toner image onto a recording sheet, the fixing device comprising: a fixing belt including, on an inner circumference side thereof, a resistance heating layer, extending over entire circumference of the fixing belt, operable to emit heat upon flowing of an electric current therethrough; a pressing member operable to press an outer circumference of the fixing belt to form a fixing nip therebetween so that, while the recording sheet passes through the fixing nip, the toner image is fixed onto the recording sheet; and a pair of power supply members arranged inside the fixing belt along the circumferential direction with a predetermined distance therebetween, the power supply members being in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the resistance heating layer in an electrically conductive state along a direction perpendicular to the circumferential direction.
US08494393B2	Information processing apparatus, information processing method and computer readable medium An information processing apparatus includes: a display unit that displays a screen including at least one operation target item constituting a target of an operation; a recording unit that records pieces of information depicting operations performed by a user on operation target items displayed on the display unit as pieces of operation history information; and a screen reproducing unit that reproduces screens displayed at points in time at which the respective operations were performed on the basis of the pieces of operation history information recoded in the recording unit.
US08494388B2	Image forming apparatus with controlled heating width Provided is an image forming apparatus, including: a heating section; a coil that is opposed to the heating section, for heating the heating section; a core that has a circumferential surface covered with a magnetic shielding plate having different lengths in an axis direction in a plurality of steps according to a position in a circumferential direction; a rotary section for causing the core to rotate; a plurality of temperature sensing elements for sensing temperatures of the heating section; and a control section for controlling a heating width by controlling the rotary section to control a rotation angle of the core, setting the heating width corresponding to a size of a paper sheet at a start of a print job, and setting the heating width wider than at the start of the print job midway through the print job.
US08494386B2	Image forming apparatus featuring control of toner supply between image bearing member and cleaning blade An image forming apparatus includes a first drum for bearing an electrostatic latent image and a cleaning blade of a first cleaning device when formation of the toner image to be transferred onto a sheet is not carried out. The control device selects between a toner supply process using the toner accommodated in a first developing device and a toner supply process using the toner accommodated in a second developing device, in accordance with an amount of the toner accommodated in the first developing device or the second developing device.
US08494385B2	Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus including a color toner image forming unit that forms a color toner image on a recording medium; a first colorless transparent toner image forming unit that forms a first colorless transparent toner image on the color toner image; a first fixing unit that fixes the image on the recording medium; a gloss level increasing device that increases a gloss level of the entire image on the recording medium that has been fixed; a second colorless transparent toner image forming unit that forms a second colorless transparent toner image on the image whose gloss level has been increased; and a second fixing unit that fixes the second colorless transparent toner image on the recording medium.
US08494384B2	Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus includes a forming section that forms an image on a side of paper; a fixing section that applies heat to fix the image onto the side of the paper; a paper reversing section that reverses a front and back of the paper having the image fixed onto a first side in the fixing section; a first measuring section that is provided between a registration roller and the forming section to measure a first moisture content of the paper before an image is formed on the first side, and a second moisture content of the paper before an image is formed on a second side, after the image is fixed on the first side; and a calculating section that calculates amount of change of the size of the paper on the basis of the difference between the first moisture content and the second moisture content.
US08494382B2	Switching mode power supplying apparatus, fusing apparatus to prevent a flicker phenomenon from occurring, and image forming apparatus including the same A switching mode power supply apparatus includes an alternating current (AC) power input unit to receive an AC voltage from an AC power supply source, a first rectifier to output a direct current (DC) voltage by rectifying the received AC voltage, a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal generator to output a PWM signal, a transformer to transform the DC voltage output from the first rectifier into an AC voltage according to a turn ratio and outputting the AC voltage according to the PWM signal, a second rectifier to output a DC voltage by rectifying the AC voltage output from the transformer, a feedback unit to provide as feedback a change of the DC voltage output from the second rectifier to the PWM signal generator, a DC power input unit to receive a DC voltage from a DC power supply source, a DC voltage input detector to detect whether a DC voltage is input to the DC power input unit based on connectivity with the DC power input unit, and an AC power input controller to stop input of the AC voltage from the AC power supply source based on whether a DC voltage is input to the DC power input unit.
US08494376B2	Method and apparatus for testing transmitters in optical fiber networks An eye mask is provided that is defined at least partially in terms of absolute, or non-relative, optical power level values. In essence, the eye mask of the invention is a hybrid of the traditional eye mask in that the eye mask of the invention includes power level values on the optical power axis that are based on the minimum OMA set forth in the applicable standard or data sheet specification rather than on measured power level values obtained from the part being tested. Using the hybrid eye mask of the invention obviates the need to perform at least some of the tests often used to measure transmitter attributes. In addition, using the hybrid eye mask of the invention reduces the possibility that a transmitter may fail the eye mask test even though the transmitter operates satisfactorily.
US08494374B2	Portable light providing illumination and data A system may comprise a portable light and a receiver therefor. The portable light for illuminating may comprise: a light source, a housing supporting the light source, a processor selectively energizing the light source from an electrical power source to produce illumination, a switch controlling the processor, and a memory storing data relating to the portable light, wherein the processor modulates the light source responsive to the stored data. The receiver receiving data transmitted by the portable light may comprise: a receiver housing including a light sensitive receiver receiving data emitted by the light source; and a receiver processor reproducing a representation of the data stored in the memory and providing the decoded received data for perception by a human and/or for use by a computing device.
US08494366B2	Wavelength division multiplexing-passive optical network using external seed light source Provided are a wavelength division multiplexing-passive optical network (WDM-PON) in which a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) is used as each optical transmitter of an optical line termination (OLT) and an optical network unit (ONU) and additional spectrum-sliced light is injected into RSOAs of each of the OLT and the ONU, and a WDM-PON that is combined with time division multiple access (TDMA) technology, by which the number of included ONUs increases and conventional TDMA ONUs can be used.
US08494365B2	Random gap insertion in an optical ring network The invention provides a burst transmission optical fiber wavelength routed ring network and method comprising a plurality of nodes on a network ring where each node can drop and add a wavelength. The network has a control means to control the wavelength to be transmitted on the network ring in a burst transmit mode from each node over a scheduling interval. The invention provides a random generator for generating a plurality of gap intervals over the scheduling interval, such that the gap intervals allow for wavelengths from different nodes to transmit wavelengths in said gaps to achieve a fair access to bandwidth and fair latency in the ring network.
US08494359B2	Imaging apparatus An imaging apparatus having a protection ring which protects a supporting device coupling section such that it is difficult for a user to touch the supporting device coupling section is provided. A supporting device can be coupled to a camera body, and the camera body includes a supporting device coupling section and a protection ring. The supporting device coupling section has a screw hole to which the supporting device can be coupled, and a supporting device coupling surface which is formed and exposed around the entrance of the screw hole. The protection ring includes a return spring which restricts the position of the protection ring, a return spring stopper which supports the return spring, and a supporting device contact surface which protrudes outward of the exposed surface formed around the entrance of the screw hole of the supporting device coupling section, in a direction toward a housing outside.
US08494354B2	Focus adjusting apparatus and focus adjusting method There is provided an apparatus that includes a receiving unit configured to receive instructions for focus adjustment; an image-pickup unit configured to perform image-pickup of an object image input through a focus lens; a setting unit configured to set a focus detecting area to be used at a time of detection of a focus state of the focus lens; a light control unit configured to control an amount of light incident on the image-pickup unit; and a focus adjusting unit configured to detect a focus signal representing the focus state in the focus detecting area to move the focus lens based on the focus signal and a position of the focus lens corresponding to the focus signal.
US08494351B1	Decorative lighting with scent dispensers A fragrance generator provides a scent dispenser for mounting on a light emitter of a decorative light, such as those used at holidays. A silicone rubber scented sleeve is placed over and around a cylindrical light emitter. Upon energizing the decorative light, the heat generated by the light emitter warms the scented sleeve and thereby enhances the rate of scent emission from the scented sleeve. An optional scent reservoir formed at one end of the scented sleeve enables the retention of additional amounts of liquid fragrance oil(s). Placement of the light emitter within and extending it throughout the sleeve, and into the fragrance reservoir, results in a further enhancement in amount and duration of scent emission.
US08494346B2	Identifying a performer during a playing of a video An apparatus capable of, and a method comprising the steps of: receiving, from a user, during a playing of a video, a request for information identifying a performer of a character that is depicted during the playing of the video; pausing the playing of the video in response to the request for information; providing, the user, the name and a visual depiction of the depicted character, and the name and a visual depiction of the performer of the depicted character; and providing, the user, the option to obtain a filmography corresponding to the performer of the depicted character.
US08494345B2	Video reproducing device and video reproducing method A television personal computer 40, when saving video data 43 by recording a video content, extracts a section including a predetermined type of scene from within the video content, then specifies, when accepting a skip instruction from an operator during reproduction of the video content, a resuming point based on a relationship between the section extracted from the video content and the reproducing point, and resumes the reproduction of the video content from the resuming point.
US08494339B2	Combining material and data A method of generating a file at a header metadata creator apparatus, the method including: generating, at the header metadata creator apparatus, a file, the file including: a file header, a file body, and a file footer, wherein the file header includes at least KLV encoded header metadata, the KLV encoded header metadata including at least a universal label, length data and variable length data, the variable length data including a plurality of KLV encoded metadata sets, each one of the KLV encoded metadata sets includes a predetermined universal label, essence length data and a plurality of KLV encoded metadata items, and each KLV encoded metadata item includes at least an item universal label, variable item length data and item value data.
US08494337B2	Light guide A light guide is provided. The light guide has an uneven light input face and even side faces, which are arranged directly downstream of the light input face. Furthermore, an optoelectronic component with such a light guide is provided.
US08494333B2	Dispensing cable from an internal cable spool of a fiber optic enclosure A fiber optic enclosure assembly includes a housing having an interior region and a bearing mount disposed in the interior region of the housing. A cable spool is connectedly engaged with the bearing mount such that the cable spool selectively rotates within the housing. A termination module disposed on the cable spool so that the termination module rotates in unison with the cable spool. A method of paying out a fiber optic cable from a fiber optic enclosure includes rotating a cable spool, which has a subscriber cable coiled around a spooling portion of the cable spool, about an axis of a housing of the fiber optic enclosure until a desired length of subscriber cable is paid out. A termination module is disposed on the cable spool.
US08494328B2	Armored fiber optic assemblies Armored fiber optic assemblies and methods are disclosed that include a dielectric armor and at least one bend-resistant multimode optical fiber. The dielectric armor has an armor profile, thereby resembling conventional metal armored cable to the craft. The dielectric armor provides additional crush and impact resistance and the like for the optical fibers and/or fiber optic assembly therein. The dielectric armor is advantageous to the craft since it provides the desired mechanical performance without requiring the time and expense of grounding like conventional metal armored cables. Additionally, the armored fiber optic assemblies can have any suitable flame and/or smoke rating for meeting the requirements of the intended space. The use of at least one bend-resistant multimode optical fiber allows for improved bend performance for the armored fiber optic assemblies, allowing for tighter cable routing as compared to armored fiber optic assemblies having conventional multimode optical fiber.
US08494326B2	Telecommunication cable equipped with tight-buffered optical fibers A telecommunication cable is equipped with at least one optical fiber coated by a tight buffer layer made from a polymeric material having an ultimate elongation equal to or lower than 100% and an ultimate tensile strength equal to or lower than 10 MPa. The above combination of features of the polymeric material forming the buffer layer provides an optical fiber which is effectively protected during installation operations and during use, and at the same time can be easily stripped by an installer without using any stripping tools, simply by applying a small pressure with his fingertips and a moderate tearing force along the fiber axis.
US08494323B2	Optical system having a symmetrical coupling region for coupling light between waveguides including an optically resonant element A system having an optical-coupling region for evanescently coupling light between first and second optical-waveguiding structures is disclosed. Within the optical-coupling region, the first and second optical-waveguiding structures exhibit mirror symmetry with respect to each other across or about at least one of a plane and an axis and include a segment that is not straight.
US08494322B2	Side-hole cane waveguide sensor A side-hole optical cane for measuring pressure and/or temperature is disclosed. The side-hole cane has a light guiding core containing a sensor and a cladding containing symmetrical side-holes extending substantially parallel to the core. The side-holes cause an asymmetric stress across the core of the sensor creating a birefringent sensor. The sensor, preferably a Bragg grating, reflects a first and second wavelength each associated with orthogonal polarization vectors, wherein the degree of separation between the two is proportional to the pressure exerted on the core. The side-hole cane structure self-compensates and is insensitive to temperature variations when used as a pressure sensor, because temperature induces an equal shift in both the first and second wavelengths. Furthermore, the magnitude of these shifts can be monitored to deduce temperature, hence providing the side-hole cane additional temperature sensing capability that is unaffected by pressure. Additionally, the side-hole cane can be used to measure a differential pressure between a first pressure ported to the side-holes and a second external pressure.
US08494321B2	Diode laser having a device for beam forming A diode laser having a beam-forming device and a method for producing it are described. The diode laser includes at least one diode laser bar, the diode laser bar having a multitude of emitters, the emitters being disposed next to each other in the direction of their longitudinal axes. The diode laser includes a beam-forming device assigned to the diode laser bar, for the laser beam emerging from the diode laser bar, the beam-forming device having a light-guide device having a plurality of fibers, into which the laser beam is coupled. The maximum thickness of the optical fibers at their end facing the diode laser bar is considerably smaller than their width.
US08494320B2	Optical element and method for manufacturing the same An optical device includes: an optical waveguide; and a plurality of diffraction grating layers, provided along the optical waveguide, each including a diffraction grating defined by a discontinuous first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer having a refractive index different from a refractive index of the first semiconductor layer and burying the first semiconductor layer, one diffraction grating layer of the plurality of diffraction grating layers including a third semiconductor layer being continuous with the diffraction grating and made from a material different from materials of the first and the second semiconductor layers.
US08494319B2	Arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) with different radii in the input and output slab regions Arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) circuits are disclosed, having different radii in the slab regions to supplement and/or replace other mechanical techniques which enable athermal AWGs. Dual band, interleaved pairs of athermal AWGs are also disclosed, with improved cost, space and center wavelength properties, for, e.g., optical line terminal (OLT), and remote node (RN) applications.
US08494314B2	Fabrication tolerant polarization converter The present invention provides a polarization converter, and a method for fabricating the same. The polarization converter includes a geometric shape which induces rotation of a polarization of an optical signal from a first polarization state to a second polarization state as the optical signal propagates along the polarization converter. The performance of the polarization converter is maintained in light of inconsistencies in fabrication processes resulting in improved manufacturability.
US08494307B2	Method and apparatus for determining misalignment A method of determining misalignment between a first image and a second image, the first and second images being viewable stereoscopically, the method comprising: determining a feature position within the first image and a corresponding feature position within the second image; defining, within the first image and the second image, the optical axis of the cameras capturing said respective images; and calculating the misalignment between at least one of scale, roll or vertical translation of the feature position within the first image and the corresponding feature position within the second image, the misalignment being determined in dependence upon the location of the feature position of the first image and the corresponding feature position of the second image relative to the defined optical axis of the respective images is described. A corresponding apparatus is also described.
US08494303B2	Image processing apparatus and image processing method for adaptively processing an image using an enhanced image and pixel values of an original image An image processing apparatus for automatically improving the contrast of an input image that is obtained from a digital camera or the like, and obtaining a sharper and clearing image. A contrast improvement unit performs a contrast improvement process on the input image by comparing an object pixel in the input image with pixels in the surrounding area. An image combination unit combines the enhanced image obtained by the contrast improvement process with the input image. The combined image is then output to a desired device such as a printer by an image output unit.
US08494302B2	Importance filtering for image retargeting A content-aware image retargeting technique uses an “importance filtering” technique to preserve important information in the resizing of an image. The image saliency is first filtered, guided by the image itself to achieve a structure-consistent importance map. The pixel importance is then used as the key constraint in computing the gradient map of pixel shifts from the original resolution to the target resolution. Finally the shift gradient is integrated across the image by a weighted filtering process to construct a smooth pixel shift-map and render the target image. The weight is again controlled by the pixel importance. The two filtering processes enforce the maintaining of structural consistency while preserving the important contents in the target image. The simple nature of the present filter operations allow for real-time applications and easy extension to video retargeting, as the structural constraints from the original image naturally convey the temporal coherence between frames.
US08494296B2	Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding image by using rotational transform Disclosed are a method and apparatus for encoding and decoding an image. The image encoding method includes: generating a first frequency coefficient matrix by performing spatial transform (e.g. discrete cosine transform (DCT) on a current block; determining an angle parameter based on whether the current block is intra or inter predicted; generating a second frequency coefficient matrix by performing a partial switch between at least one of rows and columns of the first frequency coefficient matrix based on the determined angle parameter; and encoding the second frequency coefficient matrix and information about the angle parameter.
US08494292B2	Image processing apparatus An apparatus calculates a change predicted value of a value of an interest pixel included in an interest field. The apparatus calculates a change predicted value before correcting the value of the interest pixel based on the interest field and at least one of fields which neighbors the interest field and is stored in the plurality of field memories, respectively calculates interframe difference coefficients based on any of two fields having a field interval of 2 of a plurality of fields stored in the plurality of field memories, and a field which is being input, calculates a correction value of the change predicted value based on the interframe difference coefficients calculated, and corrects the change predicted value before correction calculated by the change predicted value calculator based on the correction value calculated by the correction value calculation unit and output a change predicted value after correction.
US08494289B2	Information processing apparatus, image compression method, and storage medium If reusable data is included in a record of VDP data, a compression level used in compressing page data including the reusable data is associated with the reusable data and stored together with the reusable data. If, after that, a record of VDP data including reusable data similar to the stored reusable data is generated, the page data is compressed according to the record based on the compression ratio associated with the stored reusable data.
US08494282B2	Blur estimation A method and apparatus for removing blur in an image is disclosed. The blur in the image is caused by relative motion between the imaging device and the object being imaged. A set of differences between the pixel values in the image is calculated. The set of differences in pixel values are divided into two groups, wherein the first group of differences in pixel values corresponds to differences in pixel values due to noise, and the second group of differences in pixel values corresponds to differences in pixel values due to noise and motion. An estimate of the motion blur is determined using the second group of differences in pixel values. The estimate of the blur is then used to remove the blur from an image.
US08494273B2	Adaptive optical character recognition on a document with distorted characters A computer implemented method for adaptive optical character recognition on a document with distorted characters includes performing a distortion-correction transformation on a segmented character of the document assuming the segmented character to be a candidate character. The method further includes comparing the transformed segmented character to the candidate character by calculating a comparison score. If the calculated score is within a predetermined range, the segmented character is identified with the candidate character. The method may be implemented in either of computer hardware configured to perform the method, or in computer software embodied in a non-transitory, tangible, computer-readable storage medium. Also disclosed are corresponding computer program product and data processing system.
US08494272B2	Image processing device, image processing method, and computer readable medium for judging if images are matched An image processing device including: an image acceptance unit accepting a first image and a second image; a perimeter measurement unit measuring a perimeter of an object image within the first image or an object image within the second image; an area measurement unit measuring an area of the object image within the first image or the object image within the second image; a first reference area generation unit generating a first reference area based on the perimeter and area measured; a datum point extraction unit extracting datum points from the first image and the second image; and a first match judgment unit making the datum points coincide with each other, and judging whether or not the object image within the first image and the object image within the second image are matched, based on densities of the first and second image within the first reference area.
US08494263B2	Image processing system for skin detection and localization An image processing system provides faster than real-time skin detection and localization. The system uses the highly optimized architecture of a graphics processing unit to quickly and efficiently detect and locate skin in an image. By performing skin detection and localization on the graphics processing unit, the image processing system frees the main system processor to perform other important tasks, including running general purpose applications. The speed with which the image processing system detects and localizes skin also facilitates subsequent processing steps such as face detection and motion tracking.
US08494261B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer-readable medium An image processing apparatus comprises: an unit configured to sequentially determine, as a processing object, each of blocks, and to compare color data of respective pixels in the block that is the processing object, thereby specifying a pattern flag indicating an arrangement pattern of color data; an unit configured to extract first color data from a pixel, and further to extract second color data to fourth color data corresponding to the arrangement pattern; an unit configured to hold the pattern flag of each of the blocks, the first color data, and the second color data to fourth color data; and an unit configured to specify addresses in a memory, at which the first color data and the second color data to fourth color data in a block to be composed are held.
US08494257B2	Music score deconstruction Data set generation and data set presentation for image processing are described. The processing determines a location for each of one or more musical artifacts in the image and identifies a corresponding label for each of the musical artifacts, generating a training file that associates the identified labels and determined locations of the musical artifacts with the image, and presenting the training file to a neural network for training.
US08494256B2	Image processing apparatus and method, learning apparatus and method, and program The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method, a learning apparatus and method, and a program which allow reliable evaluation of whether or not the subject appears sharp.A subject extraction unit 21 uses an input image to generate a subject map representing a region including the subject in the input image, and supplies the subject map to a determination unit 22. The determination unit 22 uses the input image and the subject map from the subject extraction unit 21 to determine the blur extent of the region of the subject on the input image, and calculates the score of the input image on the basis of the blur extent. This score is regarded as an index for evaluating the degree to which the subject appears sharp in the input image. The present invention can be applied to an image capture apparatus.
US08494255B2	System and method for linking real-world objects and object representations by pointing A system and method are described for selecting and identifying a unique object or feature in the system user's three-dimensional (“3-D”) environment in a two-dimensional (“2-D”) virtual representation of the same object or feature in a virtual environment. The system and method may be incorporated in a mobile device that includes position and orientation sensors to determine the pointing device's position and pointing direction. The mobile device incorporating the present invention may be adapted for wireless communication with a computer-based system that represents static and dynamic objects and features that exist or are present in the system user's 3-D environment. The mobile device incorporating the present invention will also have the capability to process information regarding a system user's environment and calculating specific measures for pointing accuracy and reliability.
US08494253B2	Three-dimensional (3D) image processing method and system A three-dimensional (3D) image processing method is provided. The method includes receiving from an image source a 3D image containing compressed first image pixel data and compressed second image pixel data, and storing the received compressed first image pixel data and compressed second image pixel data in a line register group. The method also includes determining a relationship between lines of the compressed first image pixel data and compressed second image pixel data, and using reading and writing operations on the line register group based on the relationship and a predetermined timing sequence to decompress the compressed first image pixel data and compressed second image pixel data.
US08494251B2	System and method for measuring image quality The present invention provides an improved system and method for measuring quality of both single and stereo video images. The embodiments of the present invention include frequency content measure for a single image or region-of-interest thereof and disparity measure for stereo images or region-of-interest thereof.
US08494248B2	Noise suppression in cone beam CT projection data A method for suppressing noise in a diagnostic 3-D image, executed at least in part on a logic processor, captures, at each of a number of projection angles, 2-D image projection data, wherein each 2-D image projection has a central pixel and arranges the 2-D image projection data to form a 3-D data set. Each of the 2-D image projections is processed by performing a diffusion filtering process that obtains a homogeneity value for the 3-D data set, generates a diffusion conductance function according to an intensity gradient between adjacent digital image elements, and applies the diffusion filtering process to digital image elements according to the obtained homogeneity value, the generated diffusion conductance function, and a weighting value that relates to the distance of each pixel in the projection from the central pixel. The diagnostic 3-D image is reconstructed from the processed 2-D image projections.
US08494240B2	Vessel centerline determination A method of centerline determination for a tubular tissue in a medical image data set defined in a data space, comprising receiving at least one start point and one end point inside a tubular tissue volume; automatically determining a path between said points that remains inside said volume; automatically segmenting said tubular tissue using said path; and automatically determining a centerline for said tubular tissue from said segmentation, wherein said receiving, said determining a path and said segmenting, said determining a centerline are all performed on a same data space of said medical image data set.
US08494239B2	Image processing device, method and program A second order partial derivative matrix and at least one first order partial derivative value of a pixel value at each pixel position in an image are calculated. Based on values of the calculated second order partial derivative matrix, an evaluation value of a likelihood of being a line-like structure and/or an evaluation value of a likelihood of being a plate-like structure for the pixel position are calculated, such that the larger the first order partial derivative value, the smaller the evaluation values.
US08494237B2	Method and apparatus for processing digital image representations of a head shape A method for processing digital image representations representative of a subject head shape comprises: providing a database library of a first plurality of first digital image representations of subject head shapes captured directly from corresponding subjects, and a second plurality of second digital image representations of corresponding modified head shapes. The method includes proving a support vector machine and utilizing the database library plurality of said first and second digital image representation to train the support vector machine to operate on new digital image representations. The method further includes receiving a new digital image representation of a subject head shape captured directly from a new subject; and operating the support vector machine such that the support vector machine operates on the new first digital image representation to generate a corresponding new second digital image representation that replicates a corresponding modified head shape.
US08494236B2	System and method for cardiac segmentation in MR-cine data using inverse consistent non-rigid registration A method for cardiac segmentation in magnetic resonance (MR) cine data, includes providing a time series of 3D cardiac MR images acquired at a plurality of phases over at least one cardiac cycle, in which each 3D image includes a plurality of 2D slices, and a heart and blood pool has been detected in each image. Gray scales of each image are analyzed to compute histograms of the blood pool and myocardium. Non-rigid registration deformation fields are calculated to register a selected image slice with corresponding slices in each phase. Endocardium and epicardium gradients are calculated for one phase of the selected image slice. Contours for the endocardium and epicardium are computed from the gradients in the one phase, and the endocardium and epicardium contours are recovered in all phases of the selected image slice. The recovered endocardium and epicardium contours segment the heart in the selected image slice.
US08494235B2	Automatic detection of lymph nodes A method for detecting lymph nodes in a medical image includes receiving image data. One or more regions of interest are detected from within the received image data. One or more lymph node candidates are identified using a set of predefined parameters that is particular to the detected region of interest where each lymph node candidate is located. The identifying unit may identify the one or more lymph node candidates by performing DGFR processing. The method may also include receiving user-provided adjustments to the predefined parameters that are particular to the detected regions of interest and identifying the lymph node candidates based on the adjusted parameters. The lymph node candidates identified based on the adjusted parameters may be displayed along with the image data in real-time as the adjustments are provided.
US08494233B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program A feature point detection unit (153) and feature amount extraction unit (154) extract a plurality of features of an object from input image data. When there are unextracted features of the plurality of features, a weight setting unit (155) sets weights for the extracted features. A facial expression determination unit (156) executes recognition processing of the object based on the features weighted by the weight setting unit (155).
US08494229B2	Device and method for determining gaze direction An eye tracker device (200) comprises a diffractive beam expander (207) to provide two substantially collimated illuminating light beams (B11, B12). The collimated light beams (B11, B12) provide two reflection spots (G1, G2) appearing in the image of the eye. The gaze direction (GZD) is calculated from the positions of the reflection spots (G1, G2) with respect to the pupil (P) of the eye (E1). The two illuminating beams (B11, B12) are provided by splitting an infrared laser beam (B4) into two in-coupled beams (B5, B6), which propagate in different directions in the substrate (7) of the beams expander. The in-coupled beams (B5, B6) are expanded and their light is subsequently coupled out of the substrate (7) by an out-coupling grating (230) to illuminate the eye (E1). The same substrate (7) may also be used to implement a virtual display device (100) for displaying virtual images to said eye (E1).
US08494227B2	System and method for using three dimensional infrared imaging to identify individuals Calibrated infrared and range imaging sensors are used to produce a true-metric three-dimensional (3D) surface model of any body region within the fields of view of both sensors. Curvilinear surface features in both modalities are caused by internal and external anatomical elements. They are extracted to form 3D Feature Maps that are projected onto the skin surface. Skeletonized Feature Maps define subpixel intersections that serve as anatomical landmarks to aggregate multiple images for models of larger regions of the body, and to transform images into precise standard poses. Features are classified by origin, location, and characteristics to produce annotations that are recorded with the images and feature maps in reference image libraries. The system provides an enabling technology for searchable medical image libraries.
US08494226B2	Systems, methods and devices for use in assessing carcass grading Methods, systems and devices are implemented in connection with measuring the relative content of intramuscular fat (IMF) in a portion of muscle tissue. Consistent with one such method a probe is presented to the portion of muscle tissue. The probe produces a response-provoking signal in the muscle tissue. A resulting signal is used to determine the relative content of IMF in the portion of muscle tissue as a function of the pressure being exerted between the probe and the portion.
US08494225B2	Navigation method and aparatus An automated guidance system for a moving frame. The automated guidance system has an imaging system disposed on the frame; a motion sensing system coupled to the frame and configured for sensing movement of the frame; and a processor communicably connected to the vision system for receiving image data from the vision system and generating optical flow from image data of frame surrounding. The processor is communicably connected to the motion sensing system for receiving motion data of the frame from the motion sensing system. The processor is configured for determining, from kinematically aided dense optical flow correction to frame kinematic errors, due to errors in motion data from the motion sensing system.
US08494224B2	Perspective improvement for image and video applications A system and method for reducing distance-based distortion in a camera image of an object, where the distanced-based distortion is due to differences in distance from the camera to different parts of the object. In one approach, the distortion is reduced by estimating distances to different parts of the object and then generating a reprojected image of the object dependent upon the estimated distances and upon a virtual viewpoint that is more distant than the camera from the object. In a further approach, the image is warped such that points in the image match corresponding points in one or more stored templates. In a still further approach, if excessive distortion is present in the image, the camera zoom is increased and a magnified image is displayed, prompting a person to move farther from the camera thereby reducing the distortion.
US08494222B2	Classifier anomalies for observed behaviors in a video surveillance system Techniques are disclosed for a video surveillance system to learn to recognize complex behaviors by analyzing pixel data using alternating layers of clustering and sequencing. A combination of a self organizing map (SOM) and an adaptive resonance theory (ART) network may be used to identify a variety of different anomalous inputs at each cluster layer. As progressively higher layers of the cortex model component represent progressively higher levels of abstraction, anomalies occurring in the higher levels of the cortex model represent observations of behavioral anomalies corresponding to progressively complex patterns of behavior.
US08494219B2	Image extraction device and image extraction method An image extraction device for extracting an image showing a document from an image of the document shot by an imaging device includes a document table on which a document is placed, a side detection unit, an opposing side estimator, and an image extraction unit. The side detection unit detects a side of the document on the document table based on the shot image of the document. The opposing side estimator estimates a position of a side opposite the side detected by the side detection unit. The image extraction unit segments the image of the document from the shot image of the document based on the side detected by the side detection unit and the opposite side estimated by the opposing side estimator.
US08494217B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program There is provided an image processing apparatus including a dynamic body detecting unit for detecting a dynamic body contained in a moving image, a dynamic body region setting unit for, during a predetermined time from a time point the dynamic body is detected by the dynamic body detecting unit, setting a region containing the dynamic body at the detection time point as a dynamic body region, and a fluctuation removable processing unit for performing a fluctuation removal process on a region other than the dynamic body region set by the dynamic body region setting unit.
US08494210B2	User interface for use in security screening providing image enhancement capabilities and apparatus for implementing same An apparatus, method and system for facilitating visual identification of a prohibited object in an image during security screening are provided. Data derived from an apparatus that scans the receptacle with penetrating radiation conveying an image of the contents of a receptacle is received. Information from an automated threat detection processor is also received and indicates an area of interest in the image potentially containing a prohibited object. The image is then processed to generate an enhanced image. In a first example, portions of the enhanced image outside the area of interest are visually de-emphasized. In a second example, features appearing inside the area of interest are visually emphasized. The enhanced image is then displayed on a display device. Optionally, thumbnail images associated with previously screened receptacles are displayed and a user is enabled to select one or more thumbnail images. An enhanced image corresponding to the selected thumbnail image is then displayed. In alternative implementations, an apparatus, method and system for use in screening a person for facilitating visual identification of a prohibited object thereon is provided.
US08494209B2	Low axial vibration receiver armature and assembly An armature apparatus includes a first tine member, a second tine member, a center tine member, and a connecting portion. The first tine member has a first length and a first width and these define a first surface. The second tine member has a second length and a second width and these define a second surface. The first surface generally faces the second surface and the first surface is generally parallel relation to the second surface. The center tine member has a third length and the third length is generally parallel to the first length and the second length. The connecting portion couples the center tine member to the first surface along the first length and to the second surface along the second length. The center tine member is generally disposed in a plane extending between the first tine member and the second tine member and the plane divides the first surface of the first tine member and the second surface of the second tine member.
US08494206B2	Electronic device and method thereof An electronic device includes a host and an earphone. The host includes a application module, the earphone includes at least one speaker, and at least one vibrator. The host generates a first vibration signal according to an original audio signal from the application module, and sends the original audio signal and the first vibration signal to the earphone. The earphone generates a second vibration signal according to the original audio signal, sends the first vibration signal and the second vibration signal to the at least one vibrator, and sends the original audio signal to the at least one earphone speaker. The electronic device may also generate audio signals according to an original vibration signal from the application module.
US08494205B2	Base station, wireless headset and headband thereto A base station, wireless headset and headband, the headset being powered by a rechargeable battery, the base station having a cradle with charging output points, and the headset having a cradle-neck with charging input contact points. The headset may be cradled in a charging position to ensure electrical connection between the base station and the rechargeable battery through the electrical contact points. The wireless headset includes attachment sites for releasable attachment thereto of the headband to form a headband-headset assembly.
US08494202B2	Replaceable hearing protection membrane for hearing devices A device as hearing aid to be worn in the ear or in or at the auditory canal comprises at least a sound or acoustic exit opening with a protection element (10) to prevent the contamination of the device. The protection element (10) comprises a thin, at least almost flexible or elastic membrane (15) made out of a thermoplastic polymer.
US08494201B2	Hearing aid with occlusion suppression A hearing aid includes an ambient microphone configured to receive and convert environmental sound into an electronic input signal, a hearing loss processor configured to process the electronic input signal in accordance with a hearing loss of a user, and generate an electronic output signal, a receiver, an ear canal microphone configured for converting ear canal sound pressure into an ear canal signal, an occlusion suppressor for reception and processing of the ear canal signal and for transmitting an occlusion suppression signal, and a signal combiner configured for combining the occlusion suppression signal and the electronic output signal to form a combined signal, and for transmitting the combined signal to the receiver, wherein the receiver is configured to receive the combined signal, and convert the combined signal into an acoustic output signal, and wherein the receiver has a frequency response with a lower cut-off frequency that is less than 40 Hz.
US08494200B2	Hearing aid microphone protective barrier Embodiments of the invention provide microphone assemblies for hearing aids which are resistant to moisture and debris. An embodiment provides a microphone assembly for a CIC hearing aid comprising a microphone housing including a housing surface having a microphone port, a fluidic barrier structure coupled to the housing surface, a protective mesh coupled to the barrier structure and a microphone disposed within the housing. The microphone housing can be sized to be positioned in close proximity to another component surface such as a hearing battery assembly surface. At least a portion of the housing surface and/or the barrier structure are hydrophobic. The barrier structure surrounds the microphone port and is configured to channel liquid and debris away from entry into the microphone port including matter constrained between the housing surface and another surface.
US08494199B2	Stability improvements in hearing aids A hearing aid includes an input transducer for provision of an input signal, a high pass filter configured for providing a high pass filtered part of the input signal, a low pass filter configured for providing a low pass filtered part of the input signal, a synthesizing unit configured for generating a synthetic signal from the high pass filtered part using a model based on a periodic function, wherein a phase of the synthetic signal is at least in part randomized, a combiner configured for combining the low pass filtered part with the synthetic signal for provision of a combined signal, a hearing loss processor configured for processing the combined signal for provision of a processed signal, and a receiver coupled to the hearing loss processor, wherein the receiver is configured for converting an audio output signal into an output sound signal.
US08494198B2	Method for operating a hearing system, hearing system and audio gateway devices A body-worn audio gateway device transmitting audio signals comprised in close-range electromagnetic signals may be used outside a car, where it may provide for hands-free mobile telephony and listening to music streamed directly to hearing devices worn by a user. When the user enters the car, he or she may want to use a corresponding in-car audio gateway device for the same purposes. This typically requires manual interaction e.g. to trigger the switch-over and to maintain hands-free operation of a carried mobile phone. Furthermore, the audio gateway devices may disturb each other, which may lead to malfunction, more troublesome interaction and/or reduced audio quality. To overcome this, the invention foresees means for detecting when the user enters and/or leaves the car and for automatically disabling functions of the first audio gateway device when the user is in the car.
US08494191B2	Neckloop for teleloop hearing aid system The invention relates to a neckloop for being coupled with a transformer element and for generating an electromagnetic signal for being received by a telecoil of a hearing device or by an induction receiver. In order to avoid strangulation of the person wearing the neckloop the neckloop comprises a teleloop cable having a first end and a second end, and a first magnet and a second magnet for forming a clasp of the neckloop. The first and second magnets are of opposite polarity. The first magnet is provided with a first plating and the second magnet is provided with a second plating. The first plating is in direct contact with the first end and the second plating is in direct contact with the second end.
US08494189B2	Virtual sound source localization apparatus In a virtual sound source localization apparatus, a distance between two loudspeakers and a shortest distance between a line connecting the loudspeakers and a listening position are set beforehand, and a listener operates an operating section to localize a Cch sound source at an approximately center of the loudspeakers, thereby adjusting a sound balance of the loudspeakers. In addition, a controller calculates a difference in distance from the loudspeakers to the listening position, sets a delay amount of delay correctors such that sound emitted from the loudspeakers substantially reaches the listening position simultaneously, and adjusts sound output timing of the loudspeakers. In this way, even though the listening position is changed, the listener can operate the operating section to optimize a virtual surround effect.
US08494183B2	Audio processing apparatus A switching section causes the first amplification section to amplify the expansion left audio signal and supply the amplified expansion left audio signal to the first speaker terminal and causing the second amplification section to amplify the expansion right audio signal and supply the amplified expansion right audio signal to the second speaker terminal when the Bi-Amp function is not used. The switching section causes the first amplification section to amplify the left audio signal for Bi-Amp and supply the amplified left audio signal for Bi-Amp the first speaker terminal and causing the second amplification section to amplify the right audio signal for Bi-Amp and supply the amplified right audio signal for Bi-Amp to the second speaker terminal when the Bi-Amp function is used.
US08494182B2	Feedback limiter with adaptive time control The invention relates to a compressor and method for amplifying an input signal with a controlled gain. An output signal representing the input signal is amplified by an initial gain and a signal level of the input signal or of the output signal is compared with a threshold level. If the signal level is below the threshold level, the initial gain value is updated using an adaptive control characteristic, and if the signal level is above the threshold level, the initial gain value is updated using a fixed control characteristic or an adaptive control characteristic respectively. The adaptive control characteristic is dependent on the signal level and the fixed control characteristic is independent from the signal level.
US08494181B2	Method for providing a mute control function for multiple microphones connected to a computer A method for providing a mute control function in a computer having multiple microphones is disclosed. A set of mute state information is stored in a control table of a portable computer. The mute state information is for controlling a mute state. Device identifiers (IDs) of all microphones that are connected to the portable computer are registered with the control table. The microphones corresponding to the device IDs registered in the control table are controlled to be in the same mute state based on the mute state information. In response to a detection of an activation of the mute button, the mute state information are inverted. The device IDs registered in the control table are to be controlled in the same mute state based on the inverted mute state information.
US08494179B2	Mixer with adaptive post-filtering A noise reduction system includes multiple transducers that generate time domain signals. A transforming device transforms the time domain signals into frequency domain signals. A signal mixing device mixes the frequency domain signals according to a mixing ratio. Frequency domain signals are rotated in phase to generate phase rotated signals. A post-processing device attenuates portions of the output based on coherency levels of the signals.
US08494170B2	Redundant key server encryption environment Provided are a computer program product, system and method for a redundant key server encryption environment. A key server receives from at least one remote key server public keys associated with the at least one remote key server. The key server receives a request for an encryption key from a requesting device and generates the encryption key for use by the requesting device to unlock a storage. The key server generates a first wrapped encryption key by encrypting the encryption key with a requesting device public key, a second wrapped encryption key by encrypting the encryption key with a public key associated with the key server, and at least one additional wrapped encryption key by encrypting the encryption key with the at least one public key provided by the at least one remote key server. The key server transmits the generated keys to the requesting device.
US08494168B1	Locating cryptographic keys stored in a cache Example embodiments provide various techniques for locating cryptographic keys stored in a cache. The cryptographic keys are temporarily stored in the cache until retrieved for use in a cryptographic operation. The cryptographic key may be located or found through reference to its cryptographic key identifier. In an example, a particular cryptographic key may be needed for a cryptographic operation. The cache is first searched to locate this cryptographic key. To locate the cryptographic key, the cryptographic key identifier that is associated with this cryptographic key is provided. In turn, the cryptographic key identifier may be used as an address into the cache. The address identifies a location of the cryptographic key within the cache. The cryptographic key may then be retrieved from the cache at the identified address and then used in the cryptographic operation.
US08494166B2	Use of indirect data keys for encrypted tape cartridges A method, system and program are provided for enabling selective access to multiple users' encrypted data in a single storage cartridge. A unique, derived key is generated for each user's data by performing cryptographic operations on a combination of a common base key and metadata related to the data to be encrypted (e.g. its total block count). The base data key is wrapped with one or more encryption keys to form one or more encryption encapsulated data keys (EEDKs). The base key and the derived key are wrapped to create a session encrypted data key (SEDK), which along with the EEDKs, are conveyed to the tape drive, where the SEDK is decrypted. The EEDKs are then stored in one or more places on the storage cartridge. The base key and the derived key are used to encrypt a predetermined user's data, with the derived key stored on the cartridge with the encrypted data. The encrypted data may be subsequently decrypted by retrieving the EEDK and decrypting it with a decryption key to extract the base data key. The extracted base data key can then be used with other information to calculate the derived key. Once calculated, the derived key is used to decrypt its associated encrypted data.
US08494161B2	Content protection message extraction A system for extracting a video-watermark embedded in a video sequence, comprising a decryption and decoding engine to receive the video sequence in a video-codec-encoded format and encrypted, then decrypt the video sequence yielding a decrypted video sequence, then decode the decrypted video sequence yielding a decrypted decoded video sequence, and then output the decrypted decoded video sequence to a display device for rendering thereon, a measurement module to measure memory usage utilized by the engine decoding at least part of the video sequence yielding measurements of memory usage, a memory usage analyzer to analyze the measurements to determine an arrangement of video frames of at least one frame type in the video sequence, and an encoding feature analyzer to analyze the arrangement of the video frames to extract the video-watermark from the video sequence. Related apparatus and methods are also described.
US08494160B2	Method and apparatus for decrypting encrypted content The present invention provides a method for decrypting encrypted content transmitted from an operator to a plurality of users where said operator further provides security information allowing for the decryption of said content. The method has the advantage of satisfying the goal of providing the capability for detecting a fraudulent user who retransmits control words extracted from the security information to other users. The method provides for the achievement of the goal without incurring extra overhead in addition to the transmitted content and security information. The method makes use of control words which are based on multiple solutions provided by collisions in mathematical functions and involves the observation of choices of control words retransmitted by the fraudulent user.
US08494156B2	System, architecture and method for secure encryption and decryption There is disclosed a system, architecture and method for encryption and decryption of a record. In an embodiment, a method comprises identifying a target record to be encrypted; analyzing one or more clear text linguistic attributes of the target record; generating a linguistic encryption key based on the analysis of one or more clear text linguistic attributes; and encrypting the target record with the linguistic encryption key, the linguistic encryption key operable to decrypt the encrypted target record in a reverse operation.
US08494151B2	System and method for balancing call session assignments on an agent console A system and method for balancing call session assignments on an agent console is provided. Incoming call sessions and one or more agent consoles, each managed by an agent, are monitored. An absolute upper limit on a number of the call sessions allowed at each agent console at any given time is assigned. A load of call session assignments is balanced on each agent console. Objective conditions regarding call sessions already assigned to each agent are collected. Subjective conditions regarding the agent's opinion of a current call session are also collected. The objective and subjective conditions are evaluated against the absolute upper limit to determine a load factor. Each incoming call session is assigned to one such agent console based on the load factor.
US08494149B2	Monitoring device, evaluation data selecting device, agent evaluation device, agent evaluation system, and program It is possible to efficiently evaluate utterance while ensuring the effectiveness of the result of the evaluation. A selection unit 4 selects recognition data, which is used in agent evaluation from a data storage unit 7, from recognition data generated by a voice recognition unit 6 on the basis of voice data of utterance by applying a selection operation corresponding to evaluation viewpoint information with reference to an evaluation viewpoint management table 2 through an evaluation viewpoint management unit 3. An evaluation unit 5 displays recognition data and plays the voice data by an evaluation viewpoint management unit 3 by applying an output operation corresponding to evaluation viewpoint information with reference to an evaluation viewpoint management table 2.
US08494148B2	Dynamic IVR dialog based on analytics data A method comprising receiving, at a call-processing switch, a call from a calling entity in which the calling entity is a natural person and a telecommunications terminal, and, wherein the call received at the call-processing switch comprises (i) the identity of the caller telecommunications terminal, (ii) the identity of the caller, and (iii) the geo-location of the calling entity. Upon receiving the call, the call-processing switch identifies (i) global contextual information, (ii) contextual information at the calling entity, and (iii) contextual information at the call-processing switch, wherein the temporal order and the hierarchical order of menu items in a menu are reconfigured for presentation to the calling entity based on (i) the identity of the caller telecommunications terminal, (ii) the identity of the caller, (iii) the geo-location of the calling entity, (iv) global contextual information, (v) contextual information at the calling entity, and (vi) contextual information at the call-processing switch.
US08494146B2	Ringback replacement insertion system A ringback replacement insertion system for customizing a communication network is disclosed. The system includes a first communication station associated with a first network service provider and a second communication station associated with a second network service provider. A network gateway is provided for connecting a call placed from the first communication station to the second communication station. The first network service provider receives information regarding a proximity location of the first communication station. The storage device transmits at least a portion of the at least one announcement to the first communication station that is related to information within a predefined geographical distance from the first communication station, where at least a portion of the at least one announcement is delivered as a call signal after establishing contact with a communication network.
US08494145B2	Method and system for managing a call request in a network A method and system for managing a call request in a network (100) is disclosed. The network (100) includes a plurality of call servers. The method includes a call request being received (304) by a central server (120) from a call server of the plurality of call servers (114 and 116) corresponding to a request from a source terminal. The central server (120) manages the call request received from the call server. Further, the method includes determining (306) the status of the called party. Moreover, the method includes processing (308) the call request, based on the status determined for the called party.
US08494142B2	Methods to improve fraud detection on conference calling systems based on observation of participants' call time durations An embodiment of the invention includes a method for detecting fraudulent use in a conference calling system. One or more time duration thresholds are received for a conference call. The conference call is monitored to determine an attendee duration, a participants duration, and/or a conference call duration. The attendee duration represents the call duration of an attendee of the conference call; the participants duration represents the total call duration of all of the attendees combined; and, the conference call duration represents the call duration of the conference call. The time duration thresholds are compared to the attendee duration, participants duration, and/or conference call duration. Actions are performed by a processor if the attendee duration, participants duration, and/or conference call duration exceeds the time duration thresholds.
US08494141B2	Rules-based teleconferencing Rules-based teleconferencing that may include receiving criteria regarding invitees to a teleconference call, generating rules based on the criteria, and generating a notification regarding the invitees to the teleconference call based on the rules. The criteria may include a quorum of a minimum number of invitees that must be in attendance at the teleconference call or a list of specific invitees required to be in attendance at the teleconference call. A processing device may include a network interface, one or more second interfaces configured to establish a connection between at least three telephones, and a controller configured to establish a teleconference call between the at least three telephones, receive criteria regarding invitees to the teleconference call, generate rules based on the criteria, and generate a notification regarding the invitees to the teleconference call based on the rules.
US08494140B2	System and method for voice activated provisioning of telecommunication services A system and method for provisioning communications services. A remote device controlled by a user is linked with a provisioning system. A verbal selection of a menu associated with a library is received for performing one or more actions within the provisioning system. One or more verbal commands associated with the menu are received. A determination is made of an action within the library associated with the one or more verbal commands. The action associated with the one or more verbal commands is performed in the provisioning system to provision the communications services.
US08494138B2	Profile management system including user interface for accessing and maintaining profile data of user subscribed telephony services Subscriber profile data is managed. The subscriber profile data is associated with a communications service subscribed to by a subscriber. A request to retrieve the subscriber profile data is received based upon a client sending a request for the subscriber profile data. The client hosts a user interface configured to allow the subscriber to obtain and update the subscriber profile data. The subscriber profile data is retrieved from the communications network in response to the request to retrieve the subscriber profile data. A request to update the subscriber profile data is received based upon the client sending a request to update the subscriber profile data. An update for the subscriber profile data is forwarded to the communications network based upon receiving the request to update the subscriber profile data.
US08494132B2	Tethered digital butler consumer electronic remote control device and method The present invention relates to a tethered digital butler consumer electronics product and method. The tethered digital butler, of a price and form factor suitable for consumer electronics markets of developed and developing countries, includes a communications and multi-media console and a wireless remote. The remote may resemble a handheld personal computer (HPC), a palm-held personal computer (PPC or PDA) or a smart phone, but has a low cost and feature set supported by the console that is novel in the consumer electronics market. In particular, this disclosure relates to combining telephone service, device control and, optionally, a fingerprint reader for easy user identification/authorization and personalization. As another option, a camera can be incorporated into the remote, thereby enabling video conferencing and other visual features. Alternatively, the remote may be packaged separately from a console and sold to interact with capabilities of a communications and console, set-top box, multi-media PC or other consumer electronics device from a different source, such as one running on a Windows, OS X or Linux platform, with or without telephone capabilities. The remote may include a media reader and remote USB port.
US08494130B2	Facsimile device A facsimile device may be capable of sending and receiving facsimile data by utilizing a first communication line. The facsimile device may comprise an information input device configured to input information, a line connecting device that connects the first communication line in a case where predetermined information is input to the information input device, a line disconnecting device that disconnects the first communication line in a case where facsimile sending instruction information is input to the information input device when the first communication line is in a state of having been connected by the line connecting device, and a facsimile sending device that re-connects the first communication line disconnected by the line disconnecting device and sends facsimile data by utilizing the first communication line in accordance with the facsimile sending instruction information.
US08494128B2	Performance monitoring in a telephone network A method of monitoring performance of a telephone network, wherein the telephone network includes at least one exchange configured for collecting signaling messages, which are received at the at least one exchange and/or which are generated at the at least one exchange. The method includes acquiring from the exchange a set of signaling messages indicating unsuccessful call setup procedures relative to calls addressed to a plurality of destinations associating with each signaling message of the set of signaling messages respective destination information which is indicative of the destination of the unsuccessful call which generated the signaling message; and processing the set of signaling messages and the corresponding associated destination information, thus obtaining information relative to the unsuccessful call setup procedures according to call destinations.
US08494122B2	Interactive voice response (IVR) system call interruption handling Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to interactive voice response (IVR) system session management and provide a method, system and computer program product for call interruption handling in an IVR data processing system. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for call interruption handling in an IVR data processing system can include detecting a call interruption of a telephone call between a caller and an IVR system during an established IVR session for the caller. The method also can include saving state information for the established IVR session in connection with the caller in response to detecting the call interruption.
US08494116B2	Methods and devices for orthovoltage ocular radiotherapy and treatment planning A method, code and system for planning the treatment a lesion on or adjacent to the retina of an eye of a patient are disclosed. There is first established at least two beam paths along which x-radiation is to be directed at the retinal lesion. Based on the known spectral and intensity characteristics of the beam, a total treatment time for irradiation along each beam paths is determined. From the coordinates of the optic nerve in the aligned eye position, there is determined the extent and duration of eye movement away from the aligned patient-eye position in a direction that moves the patient's optic nerve toward the irradiation beam that will be allowed during treatment, while still maintaining the radiation dose at the patient optic nerve below a predetermined dose level.
US08494111B2	System and method for image reconstruction for helical cone beam computed tomography with factorized redundancy weighting A method and system for computed tomography were weighted data is used to reconstruct an image. The apparatus includes an x-ray source producing a cone-beam of x-rays, an x-ray detector disposed to receive x-rays from the x-ray source, a data collection unit, and a processing unit for processing the data using a weighting function using contributions from fan-beam and cone-beam weighting functions. The apparatus can produce images with reduced artifacts.
US08494110B2	X-ray imaging method and device with three-dimensional processing X-ray imaging method, in which the data (c(a), ρ(b)) are processed by a programmed computer using the following formula: C = ρ ( b ) n + c ( a ) n - 1 2 n 2 ⁢ ( ∑ k = 1 n ⁢ c k ( a ) + ∑ u = 1 n ⁢ ρ u ( b ) ) to calculate a value (C) of the attenuation coefficient at a point (P0) of a set of points {P0}, for a given pair of said angular positions θa and θb, in order to obtain an image representing an X-ray attenuation coefficient for said set of points {P0} of the body (3). According to the invention, the computer is programmed to perform the following stages: (1) pre-calculate the positions on the detector (9) of a first impact point T(a) of a ray i and a second impact point R(b) of a ray j, (2) pre-calculate the positions on the detector of first and second load calculation lines, along detection points Tp,k; k=1→n; p=1→m and Rq,u; u=1→n; q=1→m, and (3) calculate the value of the attenuation coefficient at point P0 in the volume irradiated by using the pre-calculated positions of the first and second impact points T(a); R(b) and the pre-calculated first p and second q load calculation lines Tp,k(a); k=1→n; Rq,u(b); u=1→n that pass closest to the first and second impact points (T(a); R(b)) respectively.
US08494108B2	Switch device and shift register circuit using the same A shift register circuit includes plural shift register stages for providing plural gate signals. Each shift register stage includes an input unit and a pull-up unit. The pull-up unit is utilized for pulling up a gate signal according to a system clock and a driving control voltage. The input unit is employed for outputting the driving control voltage according to a control signal and an input signal. The input unit includes a switch device having a first transistor and a second transistor. The first transistor has a first end for receiving the input signal, a gate end for receiving the control signal, and a second end. The second transistor has a first end electrically connected to the second end of the first transistor, a gate end electrically connected to the first end of the first transistor, and a second end for outputting the driving control voltage.
US08494102B2	Methods and apparatus for orthogonal modulated signals Methods and corresponding systems for providing and demodulating an orthogonal modulated signal where demodulation includes separating a sampled orthogonal modulated signal into in phase and quadrature samples, deriving first and second equalizer coefficients based on corresponding in phase and quadrature samples and further, respectively, based on a first and second training sequence, programming a first plurality of equalizer filters with the first equalizer coefficients and a second plurality of equalizer filters with the second equalizer coefficients; and processing, after programming with first and second coefficients, the in phase samples and the quadrature samples through a first and second plurality of equalizer filters to provide demodulated symbols.
US08494101B2	System and method for multiple signal carrier time domain channel estimation The present invention provides a method of characterizing a frequency response of a transmission channel between a transceiver and a subscriber unit. The method includes once per predetermined interval of time, the transceiver transmitting a signal including multiple carriers, a plurality of the carriers including training symbols, a plurality of the carriers including information symbols. The subscriber unit generates frequency response estimates at the frequencies of the carriers including training symbols, each interval of time. The frequency response estimates are converted into a time domain response generating an impulse response once per interval of time. The impulse responses are filtered over a plurality of intervals of time. A channel profile is determined from the filtered impulse responses. The channel profile is converted to the frequency domain generating a channel interpolator. The characterized frequency response is generated from the channel interpolator and the frequency response estimates. The filtering can include averaging the impulse responses over a plurality of intervals of time, accumulating the impulse responses over a plurality of intervals of time, or weighted averaging of the impulse responses over a plurality of intervals of time. The weighted averaging can be dependent upon a phase error between the impulse responses, and/or an amplitude error between the impulse responses.
US08494096B2	Automatically setting an operative state of a wideband amplifier A multi-channel receiver (200) comprises: an input (111) for receiving a wideband signal potentially comprising multiple channels, a tuner stage (110), a wideband amplifier (201) connected between the input (111) and the tuner (110), a controllable switch (202) bridging the amplifier (201) and a switch controller (203) designed to generate a switch control signal (BSC).For controlling the switch, the switch controller (203) is designed to measure at least one signal quality parameter and to generate its switch control signal (BSC) on the basis of the measured parameter. The decision of switching the switch (202) to its open state (amplifier active) is exclusively taken during at least one time interval when the receiver is switched to a channel.
US08494094B2	Demodulation of data collected prior to bit edge detection An apparatus and method begin creation and storage of correlation sums to be demodulated (“early-collected sums”) prior to determination of a location of a bit of data in a wireless signal relative to a local clock. Such early storage allows demodulation of these early-collected sums at a later time, specifically on determination of the data's location in the wireless signal, thereby to yield early-collected data bits. Additionally, after determination of the data bit's location in the wireless signal, additional data bits are further generated in the normal manner, by demodulating the wireless signal, thereby to yield normally-collected data bits. Use of early-collected data bits in generating navigation data reduces the time to start data demodulation, and enables fewer normally-collected data bits to be used to generate navigation data, in several aspects of the invention.
US08494092B2	CDR with sigma-delta noise-shaped control In described embodiments, a receiver includes a clock and data recovery (CDR) module with a voltage control oscillator (VCO) and a Sigma-Delta modulator in an integral loop control of the VCO. Providing finer resolution by the Sigma-Delta modulator reduces quantization noise in the integral control loop when compared to a loop without a Sigma-Delta modulator in the integral loop. Sigma-Delta modulation within the integral loop control of a VCO-based CDR reduces effective quantization of the VCO integral word control, allowing the proportional loop control compensation to i) reduce effective quantization of the VCO integral word control and, ii) enhance receiver jitter tolerance in presence of periodic-jitter, serial data whose frequency is offset from the nominal rate and serial data whose nominal frequency is modulated by a spread spectrum clock.
US08494088B2	Transmitting/receiving apparatus and method thereof in codebook based multiple antenna system A transmission/reception apparatus and a method thereof in a codebook-based multiple antenna system is provided. In a transmission method in a codebook-based Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system, feedback information is received from a receiver. A downlink Open-Loop Single User MIMO (OL SU-MIMO) codebook subset is determined within a base cookbook based on the feedback information. At least one data stream is transmitted via at least one antenna using the determined downlink OL SU-MIMO codebook subset.
US08494087B2	Method and system to reduce PAPR in single carrier and SCBT communications systems The system (800), transmitter (600), receiver (700), and method of the present invention provide a technique to reduce the Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) for the single carrier and single carrier block transmission (SCBT) modulations, especially when non-symmetric constellations (e.g. BPSK) are used. The constellation used for the modulation of each symbol, is rotated by a phase. Only the constellation is rotated, and the mapping of the bits into each constellation may or may not be similar. Further, in alternative embodiments the modulated bits are either encoded or not encoded. In a further alternative embodiment, a Trellis Coded Modulation (TCM) is used. Because the phase rotation is known a priori, or can be determined from a priori known information, it can easily be corrected at the receiver.
US08494084B1	Reuse of a matrix equalizer for the purpose of transmit beamforming in a wireless MIMO communication system A beamforming technique used in a MIMO wireless transmission system determines a transmitter beamforming steering matrix using a matrix equalizer of a transmitter or a receiver within the MIMO communication system, to thereby increase the speed and/or to decrease the processing needed to implement effective beamforming within the transmitter of the communication system. While this beamforming technique may not provide the best possible set of steering coefficients that obtain the best possible transmission and reception in the communication system, this technique can provide increased performance over no beamforming without significantly increasing the processing overhead of the transmission system. This beamforming technique can used when a transmitter, with multiple transmitter antennas, is used to communicate with one or with multiple receivers within the communication system.
US08494082B2	Apparatus for transmitting layered data A transmission apparatus, including: a first encoding unit to encode first layer data based on a first encoding scheme and generate first encoded data; a second encoding unit to encode both the first encoded data and second layer data based on a second encoding scheme and generate second encoded data; and a transmission unit to transmit the second encoded data to a receiving apparatus.
US08494080B2	Radio communication system, reception device, and reception method A reception device which receives a signal transmitted by a transmission device which changes at least one of a modulation scheme and a coding rate. The reception device includes an equalization unit which equalizes a received signal in frequency domain, a reliability calculation unit which calculates the reliability of a transmitted bit from the received signal after equalization, a mutual information amount calculation unit which calculates a mutual information amount based on the reliability of the transmitted bit calculated by the reliability calculation unit, and a notification signal generation unit which sets at least one of a modulation scheme and a coding rate based on the mutual information amount calculated by the mutual information amount calculation unit to generate a signal to be reported to the transmission device.
US08494075B2	Single stream phase tracking during channel estimation in a very high throughput wireless MIMO communication system In a multiple-input, multiple-output system, the wireless node's receive chain demodulation function is enhanced to include phase tracking. Instead of performing phase tracking during the data symbols which is cumbersome for very high throughput wireless networks, the VHT Long Training Fields (LTFs) embedded in the preamble of a frame are used for phase tracking. Single stream pilot tones are added during the transmission of VHT-LTFs. This is exploited on the receive side to be able to estimate the channel using the pilot tones in the first set of the Long Training Fields. Second set of the Long Training Fields are then used to estimate the phase of the pilot tones using the estimated channel. The phase estimation so obtained is continuously applied to other received data tones throughout the VHT-LTFs of the data symbols. The phase errors due to PLL mismatches and phase noise are reduced at reception, leading to better signal to noise ratio for different levels of parts per million drift and offset in frequency. Further, MIMO channel estimation is more accurate, which improves the overall wireless network when this accurate MIMO channel estimation data participates in calibration and handshake between wireless nodes.
US08494074B2	Multiple-input multiple-output communication system using explicit feedback A multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication system using an explicit feedback is provided. In the MIMO communication system using the explicit feedback, a receiver may generate an explicit feedback vector by calculating an explicit channel matrix, and by vectorizing the explicit channel matrix or an explicit channel matrix processed using a predefined function. Feedback information generated based on the explicit feedback vector may be provided to a transmitter. The transmitter may reconfigure the explicit channel matrix or the processed explicit channel matrix based on the feedback information. The transmitter and the receiver may share the explicit channel matrix or the processed explicit channel matrix using an adaptively transformed codebook.
US08494071B2	Device and method for correcting a data error in communication path There are provided a transmission and reception device having a function for correcting a data error in a communication path. In the transmission device, a redundant bit addition unit adds a redundant bit to each data bit which has been divided by one bit by a division unit; and an interleaver performs interleave. The transmission device transmits a signal which has been subjected to FM modulation by an FM modulation unit. In the reception device, a symbol decision unit performs a symbol decision at a Nyquist point for a signal which has been FM-demodulated by an FM demodulation unit; a bit conversion unit performs bit conversion according to the result of symbol decision; and a frame recovery unit deletes the redundant bit added by the redundant bit addition unit of the transmission device, from the bit string de-interleaved by a de-interleaver. Thus, it is possible to surely perform an error correction with a simple configuration even when the communication state is not in a preferable environment.
US08494070B2	Channel impulse response (CIR)-based and secondary synchronization channel (SSC)-based (frequency tracking loop (FTL)/time tracking loop (TTL)/channel estimation Methods and systems are disclosed for channel estimation and frequency tracking in mobile communication systems. Particularly, various ways of using the time domain impulse channel response based on the staggered frequency domain pilot tones are presented that enable rapid frequency error estimation and frequency tracking control. A mathematical model is developed that provides a convenient metric for evaluating tolerable frequency error, as well as modes for switching between channel impulse response (CIR)-based and secondary synchronization channel (SSC)-based frequency tracking.
US08494069B2	Phase correcting apparatus and distortion compensating apparatus for radio transmitter A phase correcting apparatus, for a radio transmitter which obtains a first radio signal (RS1) based on a first baseband signal (BB1), includes a demodulator which demodulates a feedback signal from which a part of RS1 is extracted by a first carrier signal (CS1) and which generates a second baseband signal (BB2), a modulator which modulates a difference signal between BB1 and BB2 by a second carrier signal (CS2) and which outputs a second radio signal (RS2), a power amplifier which amplifies RS2 to obtain RS1, a detector which detects a phase difference between BB1 and BB2, and a phase rotator which rotates any phase of BB1, BB2, CS1, or CS2 as a target phase correction amount, wherein the detector converts a desired analog signal obtained by multiplying BB1 and BB2 into a digital signal, and which detects the phase difference based on digital data.
US08494068B1	Method and apparatus for equalization and decoding in a wireless communications system including plural receiver antennae A method and apparatus for processing a frequency domain digital Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol. The method includes generating an estimate of a channel for each sub carrier of the OFDM symbol, generating channel state information corresponding to each sub carrier of the OFDM symbol, and generating a plurality of demodulated symbols based, at least in part on, the estimate of the channel for each sub carrier of the OFDM symbol. Each demodulated symbol corresponds to a given sub carrier of the OFDM symbol. The method further includes performing a soft decision decoding on each demodulated symbol to generate a corresponding soft decision decoded symbol. The soft decision decoding of each demodulated symbol is based, at least in part, on the channel state information corresponding to the given sub carrier associated with the demodulated symbol.
US08494066B2	Method and system for low complexity channel estimation in OFDM communication networks using circular convolution A mobile device in an OFDM system receives an OFDM signal comprising a plurality of RS tones and data OFDM symbols. The received RS tones are extracted for channel estimation, which is performed by masking channel responses of the extracted RS tones. Pointers of the extracted RS tones are shifted so that the extracted RS tones are spaced in a subcarrier at regular intervals. Pointers of associated positive counted or indexed subcarriers are shifted one subcarrier lower while no pointer shifting on associated negative counted or indexed subcarriers. IFFT operation is applied to the resulting pointer shifted RS tones to determine the channel impulse responses. Desired channel taps are weighted using non-zero masking values, while undesired channel taps and/or channel tap replicas are weighted using zero. The masked channel impulse responses are back shifted in subcarrier prior to channel equalization.
US08494061B2	Methods and devices for re-synchronizing a damaged video stream The invention concerns methods and devices for concealing artefacts induced by transmission errors in a video sequence transmitted over a network between a server and a client making it possible to avoid abrupt resynchronization following a transmission error. When an error is detected, a video stream is created from a first video stream not containing any error and data representing artefacts induced by that error. The influence of the data representing the artefacts diminishes with time such that the created video stream converges towards the video stream not containing any error. The creation of the video stream in which the effects due to a transmission error are progressively removed may be carried out by the server or by the client.
US08494060B2	Inter-layer prediction method for video signal The present invention relates to a method for conducting interlayer texture prediction in encoding or decoding of video signal. The present method constructs a pair of frame macro blocks from vertically-adjacent two field macro blocks of a base layer, selectively applies a de-blocking filter to the constructed pair of frame macro blocks, and uses texture information of the pair of frame macro blocks in interlayer texture prediction of a pair of frame macro blocks of a current layer.
US08494057B2	Video encoding apparatus and method A video encoding apparatus includes a motion estimation module, an information providing module, a filtering module, a motion compensation module, and a converting module. The motion estimation module performs a plurality of modes of motion estimations on macro-blocks included in an input frame and provides a motion-estimated frame which conforms to a predetermined standard. The information providing module receives motion vectors and mode information of the plurality of modes of motion estimations to provide an encoding information signal. The filtering module filters the motion-estimated frame to provide a filtered frame based on the encoding information signal. The motion compensation module performs motion compensation on the filtered frame to provide a motion-compensated frame. The converting module performs a spatial conversion on the motion-compensated frame.
US08494056B2	Method and system for efficient video transcoding A method and system for an efficient transcoding of a sequence of input images in a first format to a sequence of output images in a second format are described. The method utilizes the encoding block mode, the motion vectors and the residual information extracted during the decoding of the input image that are effectively reused to select an optimal transcoding block mode and to perform selective refinement of motion vectors. A corresponding system for video transcoding is also provided.
US08494054B2	Motion vector computation for video sequences Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for computing motion vectors in a digital video sequence are disclosed. A recursive hierarchical method is used to determine a motion vector by using multiple resolution levels of the image frames. A best motion vector is first determined for the lowest resolution level. The best motion vector is propagated to a higher resolution level, where some adjustments are made and a new best motion vector is determined. The new best motion vector is propagated to yet another higher resolution level, where more adjustments are made and another new best motion vector is determined. This process is repeated until the highest, original, resolution level has been reached and a best motion vector has been identified. The identified best motion vector at the original resolution level is used for performing motion compensation.
US08494053B2	Method and apparatus of temporal filtering for side information interpolation and extrapolation in Wyner-Ziv video compression systems A method (and system) for video coding includes receiving a first reference frame having a first pixel value at a first pixel position, a second reference frame having a second pixel value at a second pixel position, and a third reference frame having a third pixel value at a third pixel position, determining a first motion vector between the first pixel position and the second pixel position, determining a second motion vector between the second pixel position and the third pixel position, and determining a fourth pixel value for a fourth frame based upon a linear or nonlinear combination of the first pixel value, the second pixel value, and the third pixel value.
US08494052B2	Dynamic selection of motion estimation search ranges and extended motion vector ranges Techniques and tools for selecting search ranges and/or motion vector ranges during motion estimation are described. For example, a video encoder performs motion estimation constrained by a first search range, which results in multiple motion vectors. The encoder computes motion vector distribution information for the motion vectors. To compute the distribution information, the encoder can track the motion vectors in a histogram and count how many of the motion vectors fall within each of multiple intervals for the distribution information. The encoder then selects a second search range and performs motion estimation constrained by the second search range. Selecting the second search range can include selecting a motion vector range, which in some cases in effect determines the second search range.
US08494051B2	Method and system for estimating global motion in video sequences Global motion between frames of a motion-compensated inter-frame encoded video sequence is estimated directly from the motion vectors encoded within the frames. For any particular frame, the motion vectors are first decoded, and a finite number of sets of vectors are selected. An affine or other geometrical transform is then used to generate a motion estimation for each set, and then the least median squared error present in each motion estimation is calculated for each estimation. The motion estimation with the smallest least median squared error is then selected as being representative of the global motion in the image of the frame. A panoramic image generating method and system makes uses of the global motion estimations thus obtained.
US08494049B2	Long term reference frame management with error video feedback for compressed video communication An apparatus, software encoded in tangible media, and a method at an encoder. The method includes sending compressed video data including a reference frame message to create a long term reference frame to a plurality of decoders at one or more destination points, receiving feedback from the decoders indicative of whether or not the decoders successfully received the reference frame message, and in the case that the received feedback is such that at least one of the decoders did not successfully receive the reference frame message or does not have the indicated recent frame, repeating sending a reference frame message to create the long term reference frame. Using the method can replaces I-frame error recovery with long term reference frames, even in the case where the reference frame management messages are lost to at least one decoder.
US08494044B2	Video-information encoding method and video-information decoding method A video-information encoding apparatus and decoding apparatus with a guarantee of a fixed processing time. By limiting the amount of data to be input into/output from a CABAC encoding unit and decoding unit on a unit-of-encoding basis, such as one picture, slice, macroblock or block, and by encoding uncompressed video data, it is possible to provide a video-information encoding apparatus and decoding apparatus with a guarantee of a fixed processing time. Thereby, an apparatus with a guarantee of the processing time can be mounted.
US08494043B2	Video-information encoding method and video-information decoding method A video-information encoding apparatus and decoding apparatus with a guarantee of a fixed processing time. By limiting the amount of data to be input into/output from a CABAC encoding unit and decoding unit on a unit-of-encoding basis, such as one picture, slice, macroblock or block, and by encoding uncompressed video data, it is possible to provide a video-information encoding apparatus and decoding apparatus with a guarantee of a fixed processing time. Thereby, an apparatus with a guarantee of the processing time can be mounted.
US08494042B2	Inter-layer prediction method for video signal The present invention relates to a method for conducting interlayer motion prediction in encoding or decoding of video signal. The present method checks whether at least one of vertically-adjacent two macro blocks on a base layer is intra mode, and if only one of the two macro blocks is identified to intra mode, motion information of an inter-mode macro block of the two macro blocks is copied to the other intra-mode macro block in order to set the intra-mode macro block to a macro block having motion information.
US08494040B2	Method for testing a radio frequency (RF) receiver and related methods A method for testing a radio frequency (RF) receiver may include measuring a plurality of bit error levels for the RF receiver at a given RF frequency. The method may further include applying a Huber function to the measured plurality of bit error levels to generate a bit error ratio (BER) estimate for the RF receiver. The method would also include using the BER estimate to generate a sensitivity for the RF receiver.
US08494038B2	Common mode noise reduction within differential signal A receiver circuit detects an eye margin within a differential signal having a true component and a complement component. A transmitter circuit adjusts a phase between the true component and the complement component of the differential signal, based on the eye margin, to improve the eye margin. Improving the eye margin results from a reduction in common mode noise within the differential signal.
US08494031B2	Protocol operation and message design for SDMA data transmission to a plurality of stations An apparatus including a processing system configured to construct a coding matrix from channel state information and encode a plurality of spatial streams with the coding matrix for transmission to one or more nodes. A method for performing the process is also disclosed herein.
US08494022B2	Surface emitting laser, surface emitting laser array, light source and optical module A surface emitting laser is formed of a composition in which bandgap energy of layers from immediately above a current confinement layer to a second conductivity type contact layer is reduced towards the second conductivity type contact layer in a stacking direction, and a composition in which bandgap energy of layers from immediately below the current confinement layer to a first conductivity type contact layer is reduced towards the first conductivity type contact layer in a stacking direction while bypassing a quantum well layer or a quantum dot of an active layer, and includes a second conductivity type cladding layer including a material for reducing the mobility of carriers.
US08494021B2	Organic laser device To provide a small and lightweight organic laser device which can be manufactured in a reproductive manner and from which laser light with a desired wavelength can be obtained. A first substrate provided with a light-emitting element having a light-emitting layer between a pair of electrodes and a second substrate provided with a laser medium including a laser dye face each other and one of the pair of electrodes, which is placed between the light-emitting layer and the laser medium, has a light transmitting property. With such a structure, a laser device with which a laser medium and a light source are integrated can be provided.
US08494019B2	Multi-beam semiconductor laser device Within a semiconductor laser device, mounting a semiconductor laser element array of multi-beam structure on a sub-mount, the semiconductor laser element array of multi-beam structure comprises one piece of a semiconductor substrate 11; a common electrode 1, which is formed on a first surface of the semiconductor substrate; a semiconductor layer 2, which is formed on the other surface of the semiconductor substrate, and has a plural number of light emitting portions 7 within an inside thereof; a plural number of anode electrodes 3 of a second conductivity type, which are formed above the plural number of light emitting portions, respectively; and a supporting portion 25, which is provided outside a region of forming the light emitting portions, wherein on one surface of the sub-mount is connected an electrode 3 of the semiconductor laser element array through a solder 4, and that solder 4 is formed to cover a supporting portion and an electrode neighboring thereto, and further on the electrode 3 is formed a groove portion 9 between the supporting portion 25 neighboring and the light emitting portions 7.
US08494016B2	Mode locked laser system A laser resonator cavity is presented. The laser resonator cavity comprises an optical manipulator of different longitudinal modes propagating along different optical paths. The optical manipulator is configured for adjusting a difference in optical lengths of the different optical paths thereby adjusting a frequency spacing between the different longitudinal.
US08494014B2	Laser device A laser apparatus for producing mode locked pulses includes a closed optical system adapted to connect to a fiber grain medium to form a laser cavity. The fiber gain medium is adapted to receive pulses characterized by a first state and to output pulses characterized by a second state. The closed optical system is adapted to receive the pulses in the second state and output pulses in a state similar to the first state.
US08494013B2	Photodarkening resistant optical fibers and fiber lasers incorporating the same Photodarkening resistant optical fiber lasing media and fiber lasers incorporating the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, an optical fiber lasing medium includes a core portion formed from silica-based glass comprising a rare-earth dopant and deuterium, the core portion having an index of refraction nc, a numerical aperture NAc. A concentration of defect color centers in the core portion is less than 1×1016/cm3. Deuterium is combined with the defect color centers to form reacted defect color centers that do not absorb ultraviolet and visible wavelengths of light. A first cladding portion is formed from silica-based glass, the first cladding portion surrounding and directly contacting the core portion and having an index of refraction n1, wherein the index of refraction n1 of the first cladding portion is less than the index of refraction nc of the core portion. Methods of forming the photodarkening resistant optical fiber lasing media are also disclosed.
US08494003B2	Method and apparatus for transmitting data packets and method and apparatus for receiving data packets The invention relates to a data packet structure for conveying data of service data units (SDU) using protocol data units (PDU). The data packet comprise a data packet payload comprising at least one protocol data unit (PDU), wherein a protocol data unit (PDU) comprises a service data unit (SDU) or a fragment of a service data unit; and a data packet header comprising an indicator (FFF,SFF) indicating whether or not the data packet payload begins with a protocol data unit (PDU) being a fragment of a service data unit and whether or not the data packet payload ends with a protocol data unit (PDU) being a fragment of a service data unit.
US08494001B2	Concatenated frame structure for data transmission A method of transmitting data frames over a data network with a MAC protocol, such as a wireless network using IEEE 802.11 protocol, in which a plural number of MAC (Media Access Control) data frames are transmitted with only a single PLCP (Physical Layer Control Procedure) overhead including PLCP preamble and header. In the frame structure used in the method, a single concatenated MAC header is added to the plurality of MAC data frames.
US08493999B2	System and method for using resources in a communication system In a method for using resources in a communication system, a communication region is divided into inter-sector boundary regions, sector central regions, and a sector common region, and predetermined resources are allocated to the divided regions.
US08493998B2	Method and apparatus for scheduling forward data bursts in wireless network In a 3G CDMA2000 network, permanent virtual pipes of different data rates (153.6 kbps, 76.8 kbps, 38.4 kbps and 19.2 kbps, for example) are provisioned at a base station on the Forward Supplemental Channel (F-SCH) for the transmission of data bursts to requesting mobile terminals by allocating and grouping together a set of resources (i.e., contiguous Walsh codes, contiguous ASIC real estate, etc.). Data bursts arriving from the network are scheduled onto timeslots on all the pipes in a manner such that at least one burst segment of each active burst is scheduled into a timeslot on the highest data rate pipe. The other burst segments of a burst are scheduled onto all the pipes so they migrate through the various rate pipes in order to give all bursts opportunities on the higher rate pipes.
US08493997B2	Providing a network node with service reference information Service reference information is added to an IP telephony signaling protocol message and the IP telephony signaling protocol message is then sent to the network node in order to provide a network node using the IP telephony signaling protocol, e.g., SIP, with service reference information needed for billing purposes.
US08493986B2	Service gateways for providing broadband communication Systems, methods, and apparatus for providing broadband communication are described. A service gateway may be situated outside of one or more households. The service gateway may include a termination component and a broadband modem. The termination component may be configured to connect to a source of a broadband data signal and receive the signal from the source. The broadband modem may be configured to receive the signal from the termination component and output at least a portion of the signal for receipt by a remote device situated within a household. Additionally, the service gateway may optionally include a router in communication with the broadband modem. The router may be configured to function as an intermediary between the modem and the remote device.
US08493985B2	Network message transformation device and methods thereof A method of transforming messages for communication via a network includes receiving a message from an application being executed at a processor. The message is received at a connection object, which transforms the received message based on characteristics of the connection object. The characteristics can be determined via a negotiation between the source and target of the message. The connection object provides the transformed message to a protocol layer, which forms packets based on the message. The connection object thus transforms each message independent of the transmission protocol used to communicate the message to the target, thereby improving communication bandwidth and efficiency.
US08493984B2	System and method for establishment of a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) tunnel In one embodiment, a method for receiving a request from a first interface to establish a session with at least a second interface in a communication network is provided. The request is transmitted to an application layer signaling device via an application layer signaling protocol dialog, wherein the application layer signaling protocol dialog is configured to facilitate communication between the first interface and the application layer signaling device. The method further includes communicating parameters for establishing a session tunnel to a first edge router via the application layer signaling protocol dialog, wherein the first edge router is configured to dynamically establish the session tunnel between the first edge router and at least a second edge router, wherein the second edge router is positioned proximate to the at least second interface in the communication network.
US08493982B2	Two and three-stroke discovery process for 10G-EPONs The invention relates to a method to discover Optical Network Units (ONU) with different speed capabilities in an Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) by an Optical Line Termination (OLT), where logical links in the network are identified by Logical Link IDs, and the OLT can transmit and receive data with 1 Gbit/s-speed (1 G) and 10 Gbit/s-speed (10 G), and the discovery process is handled in the OLT by a Multi Point Control Process (MPCP), which exchanges messages as Data Units (MPCPDU) with the ONUs. This is achieved by extending the standard MPCPDUs in a way, that backward compatability is assured.
US08493981B2	Switch module A switching module can route packets between a network fabric and a local network, both of which form a closed network such as a vehicular network. The switching module provides local network management functions, and handles packet transfers between the local network and the network fabric. The switching module uses network information, which can include information about packet content type and network topology, to determine a packet's priority, and an appropriate switching protocol to use for processing and routing packets.
US08493976B2	Multi-stage switch system A multi-stage switch system includes a line card chassis (LCC) and a fabric card chassis (FCC). The LCC is configured with multiple line cards (LCs) and the FCC is configured with a stage-2 switch element (S2). The multi-stage switch system further includes a first switch combination and a second switch combination. The first switch combination and the second switch combination are configured on the LCC and the FCC respectively, and multiple LCs establish cross communication through the first switch combination, the second switch combination, and the S2. The first switch combination includes a stage-1 switch element (S1) and a first buffer area and the second switch combination includes a stage-3 switch element (S3) and a second buffer area. The multi-stage switch system can forward packets within the chassis by means of buffering the packets when guaranteeing the three-stage packet forwarding, and thus reducing the bandwidth occupancy of the FCC.
US08493975B2	Communication system A communication system is provided with a plurality of FlexRay network nodes (FRK) by which respective data packets are provided in an IP data packet format or an Ethernet data packet format, and a FlexRay bus system (FRB), by whose physical layer, data are transmitted between the FlexRay network nodes (FRK). The IP data packet format or the Ethernet data packet format each has a plurality of bit positions. The FlexRay network nodes (FRK) each include a media access layer (MAC) which is set up such that the data packets provided in an IP data packet format or Ethernet data packet format are converted into a preset media-independent data format (MII), and an adaptation layer (ANP) which is set up such that the data provided in the media-independent data format (MII) are converted onto corresponding signals of the physical layer of the FlexRay bus system (FRB).
US08493972B2	Systems and methods for detecting denial of service attacks A method for detecting malicious packets includes comparing a sequence number of an input packet with sequence numbers of one or more previously input packets and detecting a malicious packet when the sequence number of the input packet matches at least one of the sequence numbers of the previously input packets.
US08493971B2	Path calculation system A network management system (NMS) maintains topology information of a network allowing coexistence of PDH network and SDH network. The network management system (NMS) generates a topology data for path calculation in a path calculation device in accordance with the topology information of the network after converting topology information of the PDH network into topology information of an SDH network. The path calculation device calculates the optimum path in answer to a path calculation request from the network management system (NMS) on the basis of the topology data for path calculation generated therein, and returns the calculation result. The network management system (NMS) reverts the SDH network topology information generated through conversion from the PDH network topology information among the SDH network topology information included in the calculation result received from the path calculation device to the PDH network topology information before the conversion.
US08493969B2	Internet telephony system with automated call answering A system and method for automatically answering a call from a calling party to a called party that originates via the Internet, includes and involves a data storage system and processor that is coupled to the data storage system. The processor is operative to initiate an automated call answering service in response to an Internet telephony call from the calling party which is intended to be received by the called party, to receive a message from the calling party via the Internet in accordance with the automated call answering service, and to store the message in the data storage system for processing by the processor in accordance with the automated call answering service.
US08493965B2	H.323 to SIP interworking for call transfers In one embodiment, a first end device associated with a first user and a second end device associated with a second user may be participating in a call. During the call, the second user may wish to transfer the call to a third user. The second user has the choice of using a blind transfer or a consult transfer. In one embodiment, a gateway determines interworking information that is needed to interwork an H.450.2 message for the H.323 protocol to a SIP REFER message, and vice versa, to allow the call transfer.
US08493964B2	Method of performing cell search in wireless communication system A method of performing cell search includes receiving a primary synchronization signal (PSS) comprising a primary synchronization code (PSC) and receiving a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) comprising a first secondary synchronization code (SSC) and a second SSC, wherein the SSS includes a first SSS and a second SSS, the first SSC and the second SSC are arranged in that order in the first SSS, and the second SSC and the first SSC are arranged in that order in the second SSS. Detection performance on synchronization signals can be improved, and cell search can be performed more reliably.
US08493963B1	Multiple time accurate strobe (TAS) messaging An apparatus includes Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry, multiple message sources and strobe multiplexing logic. The RF circuitry is configured to synchronize communication of RF signals based on reception of strobe messages. The multiple message sources are each configured to generate respective ones of the strobe messages for synchronizing the RF circuitry. The strobe multiplexing logic is configured to multiplex the strobe messages originating from the multiple message sources, and to send the multiplexed strobe messages over a single digital interface to the RF circuitry.
US08493962B2	Method and device for selecting and transmitting variable frame formats A network includes a first transceiving station and a further transceiving station. In one arrangement the data is transmitted from the first transceiving station to the second transceiving station according to a frame structure having a payload portion for payload data and a synchronization portion for synchronization data. The frame structure is selected from candidate frame structures having differing durations of the synchronization portion, according to a data loading factor which depends on the amount of data that is required to be transmitted. The payload capacity may be optimised by reducing the duration of the synchronization portion when a large amount of data is required to be transmitted.
US08493959B2	Multiple media access control (MAC) addresses A method for providing multiple media access control (MAC) addresses in a device of a master/slave system may include providing a first MAC address in a MAC address storage of the device. The method may also include providing a second MAC address in a multicast table entry of a multicast hash filter of the device.
US08493948B2	Method of exchanging message and devices in wireless network A method of exchanging messages at a device in a wireless network comprises transmitting a change request message for requesting a change of a beacon position among configuration parameters of the wireless network to a coordinator; and receiving a response message in response to the request message from the coordinator.
US08493938B2	Processing circuit switched services in an evolved packet network The present invention discloses for the ability for processing circuit switched (CS) services in an evolved packet network. For example, embodiments provide a method that includes: by a mobility management entity (MME), receiving a mobile terminated (MT) service indication from a mobile switching center (MSC); sending the MT service indication to user equipment (UE); and receiving an MT service response returned by the UE and performing subsequent operations according to the MT service response. In the method of the present invention, when an MT service arrives, the MME does not trigger the evolved NodeB (eNodeB) to hand over the packet switched (PS) services of the UE but notifies the UE of the MT service and performs subsequent operations according to the MT service response returned by the UE, thus avoiding the waste of network resources caused by a meaningless handover of PS services.
US08493933B2	Providing session-based services to event-based networks using partial information A method for communication includes, during a call conducted among two or more subscribers in a circuit-switched network, which operates in accordance with a first communication protocol that manages calls among the subscribers by exchanging discrete events among elements of the circuit-switched network, receiving from the circuit-switched network an incomplete subset of the events related to the call. Based on the incomplete subset of the events, at least one emulated communication session is generated in a packet-switched network that operates in accordance with a second communication protocol. Using the emulated session, a service platform in the packet-switched network is caused to provide a communication service to the call conducted in the circuit-switched network.
US08493930B2	Communication system, base station and mobile station used in the communication system, and base station switching method There are provided an OFDMA communication system capable of reducing a time necessary for a handover without releasing a wireless communication with a base station as a handover source to search base stations, a base station and a mobile station used in the communication system, and a base station switching method.In an OFDMA communication system in which data communication is performed between a plurality of base stations 10 and a plurality of mobile stations, each base station 10 includes subchannel assignment setting unit 15-1 which sets assignment of subchannels including a first subchannel and a second subchannel for each of the mobile stations, the first subchannel including information indicating usable or unusable subchannels of the respective mobile stations and being assigned to the respective mobile stations, the second subchannel including actually-used data. When a request for switching the first subchannel is received from one of the mobile stations 20, the second subchannel is collected and assigned to a same slot as the first subchannel assigned to the one of the mobile stations 20.
US08493929B2	Handover method and apparatus employed by mobile node to reduce latency in internet protocol configuration A method and apparatus perform a handover of a mobile node with a decreased latency that occurs when the mobile node performs an Internet protocol (IP) configuration. The method of performing a handover of a mobile node includes: when the mobile node is connected to a network before the handover is performed, receiving first information on an IP configuration method to be used in a new network after the handover is performed from an information server (IS); when the mobile node is connected to the new network, receiving second information on the IP configuration method of the new network from a point of attachment (PoA) of the new network; determining whether the first information and the second information are identical; and, if it is determined that the first and second information are identical, performing an IP configuration according to the first information.
US08493928B2	Wireless system, for packet communication between base station and mobile stations Disclosed herewith is a wireless system capable of reducing packet sending delay occurrence and packet sending delay jittering at the time of hand-over processing executed therein. In the wireless system, upon estimating occurrence of a hand-over event, a subject mobile station and its base station extend the packet buffering period respectively and furthermore, the base station changes the current burst scheduling method for another. The base station and the mobile station then exchanges messages required to execute the hand-over procedure in a period between when sending of a burst ends and when sending of the next burst begins.
US08493927B2	Control apparatus, control method and control program In a control apparatus which transmits/receives data from a central processing unit via a serial transfer channel to a communication control unit, and groups/distributes data of input/output units from the communication control unit via a parallel transfer channel, the control apparatus initiates a diagnosing unit of the parallel transfer channel in response to an instruction issued from the central processing unit, and diagnosis the input/output units subsequent to the diagnosis of the transmission channel. Data input/output timing of the input/output unit is also instructed from the central processing unit, so that the central processing unit can suppress lowering of response speeds caused by the diagnoses, and can maintain the periodicity of the data input/output.
US08493924B2	Preamble generation method for random access in a wireless communication system A method for generating a preamble for a random access in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: dividing a preamble sequence into sequence subsets each corresponding to each of a plurality of antennas; and generating a preamble by using the sequence subsets corresponding to each of the plurality of antennas. A method for generating a preamble for a random access supporting multiple antennas in a wireless system can be provided.
US08493922B2	Method and apparatus for supporting frequency division multiplexing or time division multiplexing in wireless peer-to-peer networks A method of operating a wireless device includes determining a preferred subset of bands of a set of bands for communicating with a first node, communicating a scheduling request with the first node, and determining whether to schedule a data transmission on each band of the set of bands based on the preferred subset of bands and the scheduling request.
US08493918B2	Communication system and method for discovering end-points that utilize a link layer connection in a wired/wireless local area network Aspects of the invention provide a communication system and method in a hybrid wired/wireless local area network. At least one discovery message may be broadcasted to at least one of a plurality of access points. A response may be received from one or more of the access points. The response may report a presence of at least one access device located within a coverage area of one or more of the access points. A status of at least one access device located within a coverage area of one or more of the access points may be requested from the access points.
US08493916B2	MIMO transmission device and MIMO transmission method Provided are a MIMO transmission device and a MIMO transmission method which can improve reception quality of a response signal. A terminal (100) as the MIMO transmission device maps a first and a second element of the ACK/NACK signal vector formed from ACK/NACK signals onto a first and a second stream, respectively, and transmits the elements contained in a 2SC-FDMA symbol in a single slot. In the terminal (100), a response signal vector formation unit (140) forms [aSack, O] as the ACK/NACK signal vector in a first SC-FDMA symbol and [O, aSack] as an ACK/NACK signal vector in a second SC-FDMA symbol. A precoding unit (165) uses a unitary matrix to precode the ACK/NACK signal vector formed in the response signal vector formation unit (140).
US08493914B2	Method and apparatus for transmitting recording information for uplink transmission in multi base station MIMO system A PMI combination ratio (PCR) being used for generating a uplink precoding matrix W is transmitted by a base station to a mobile station. Using the PCR, a PMI maximizing transmission performance and PMIMin minimizing interference to a neighboring base station are combined into the uplink precoding matrix W. Overall operations of a system can be simplified and the load of calculation for generating the uplink precoding matrix W in the mobile station can be reduced, because the PCR is provided by the base station.
US08493913B2	Providing session-based service orchestration to event-based networks A method for communication includes, during a call conducted among two or more subscribers in a circuit-switched network, which operates in accordance with a first communication protocol that manages calls among the subscribers by exchanging discrete events among elements of the circuit-switched network, receiving from the circuit-switched network a sequence of the events related to the call. Based on the sequence of the events, at least one emulated communication session is generated in a packet-switched network that operates in accordance with a second communication protocol. Multiple call services are provided to the call conducted in the circuit-switched network from the packet-switched network by cascading multiple service sessions, each providing a respective one of the call services, in the packet-switched network responsively to the emulated communication session.
US08493911B2	Method of restricting scheduling request for effective data transmission Disclosed is the radio (wireless) communication system providing a radio communication service and the terminal, and more particularly, to a method for restricting a use of particular control channel in an Evolved Universal Mobile telecommunications System (E-UMTS) evolved from the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) or a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system.
US08493907B2	Frequency offset estimation scheme in scheduled based wireless system A technique to provide frequency offset estimation for packets transmitted during a service period allocated strictly for designated source and destination devices. The destination device obtains coarse and fine frequency offset estimation from the short and long preambles. A residual frequency offset is tracked for the data blocks and combined with the coarse and fine frequency offset to obtain a total frequency offset to apply to the data blocks. The total frequency offset value at the end of the first packet is saved and, instead of again estimating the coarse and fine frequency offset values with the short and long preambles of the second packet, the saved total frequency offset value is used as the initialization value to add to the residual frequency offset in the second packet. The saved offset value at the end of each packet becomes the initialization value for the subsequent packet.
US08493905B2	Wireless clone mode display Wireless sinks, such as displays, may receive wirelessly transmitted audio/video information in clone mode. In one embodiment, the same audio/video stream may be provided to a plurality of sinks daisy chained from a wireless receiver.
US08493904B2	Method and apparatus for supporting short messaging service of mobile station during idle mode in wireless communication system A method and apparatus for supporting a Short Message Service (SMS) of a Mobile Station (MS) during an idle mode in a wireless communication system are provided. An MS operation method for supporting an SMS in a wireless communication system includes receiving an SMS message from a Base Station (BS) through a ranging message in an idle mode, upon receiving the SMS message from the BS, starting a timer, while the timer operates, waiting UpLink (UL) resource allocation for transmission of an ACKnowledge (ACK) message about the SMS message, and, upon being allocated a UL resource for the ACK message transmission, transmitting the ACK message using the UL resource.
US08493902B2	Opportunistic listening system and method A system and method for using multiple peer listeners in order to improve the ability to receive a transmitted signal. A peer link is established between the peer listeners. At least some of the peer listeners also have a data link to a sender communicating with an outside source. In the simplest embodiment, a peer listener receiving data over the sender data link communicates that data to one or more other peers which may have an impaired ability to presently utilize its own data link to the sender. In more complex embodiments, multiple peer listeners can receive and process portions of needed data over the data link to the sender, then communicate portions of the data to other peer listeners on an as-needed basis.
US08493898B2	Macro diversity in a mobile data network with edge breakout Macro diversity is managed at the edge in a mobile data network with edge data Macro diversity is managed at the edge in a mobile data network with edge data breakout with a component in a Mobile Internet Optimization Platform (MIOP) referred to as MIOP@NodeB. A set of NodeBs that are in simultaneous communication with user equipment are defined as an active set. One of the MIOP@NodeBs of the active set is selected as a master, with the remaining MIOP@NodeBs in the active set being designated slaves. During uplink of signaling data, the signaling data is sent from the UE to all the NodeBs in the active set, which send the signaling data to each of their corresponding MIOP@NodeBs. Each slave MIOP@NodeB sends its data to the master MIOP@NodeB, which combines the data from all into a best packet.
US08493897B2	Systems and methods for providing categorized channel reservation A wireless communications system for categorized channel reservation is provided with a first wireless communications module and a second wireless communications module. The first wireless communications module transmits or receives a plurality of first wireless signals. The second wireless communications module transmits a first control packet according to an activity schedule of the first wireless communications module to disable a plurality of wireless communications stations from data transmissions, and transmit a second control packet to enable a predetermined number of the wireless communications stations to perform the data transmissions.
US08493896B2	Switching between two communication modes in a WLAN Method and system for switching a network application operating in a first communication mode to a second mode within a wireless local area network, comprising: judging whether mobile nodes are neighboring according to location information; when nodes are neighboring inquiring whether mobile nodes want to switch to second mode to run network applications; when all mobile nodes agree to switch to second mode, downloading and installing network application provided by the application server to one of the mobile nodes; configuring each of the mobile nodes with the communication parameters under the second mode; and switching all mobile nodes to the second communication mode to continue the previous network application. The invention dynamically switches between Infrastructure mode and Ad-hoc mode to balance system resources, improve QoS, reduce the communication traffic, waiting time and the cost of the users, and increase the income of the provider of the network service.
US08493895B2	Method for transmitting sub-frame designation information to a downlink in a radio communication system A method of transmitting subframe designating information in downlink in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The present invention includes generating the subframe designating information for designating a subframe of a specific type in a radio frame and transmitting the generated subframe designating information to a user equipment, wherein the subframe designating information includes initial location information indicating an initial location of the subframe of the specific type on the radio frame and period information indicating a period for the subframe of the specific type to be repeated.
US08493889B2	Backhaul fabric for wireless network A managed surface-space network fabric is presented. The surface-space network fabric can include a spaced-based network fabric and a surface-based network fabric integrated together to form a single fabric managed by a global fabric manager. The global fabric manager cooperates with other fabric managers local to each fabric to establish a communication topology among all the nodes of the fabric. Preferred topologies include paths from any port on a node to any other port on another node in the fabric. The surface-space fabric, and each individual fabric, can function as a distributed core fabric operating as a single, coherent device.
US08493887B2	Centralized control of peer discovery pilot transmission Techniques for centralized control of peer discovery pilot transmission are described. In an aspect, a designated network entity (e.g., a base station or a network controller) may control transmission of peer discovery pilots by stations located within its coverage area. In one design, the network entity may receive signaling triggering peer discovery pilot transmission. The network entity may direct each of at least one station to transmit a peer discovery pilot to allow one or more stations to detect the at least one station. The peer discovery pilot may include at least one synchronization signal or at least one reference signal. The network entity may receive pilot measurements from the one or more stations for peer discovery pilots from peer stations and/or reference signals from base stations. The network entity may determine whether or not to select peer-to-peer communication for two stations based on the pilot measurements.
US08493882B2	Optimization evaluation system, optimization evaluation device, optimization evaluation method, and optimization evaluation program Provided is an optimization evaluation system, wherein the effect of the optimization of traffic characteristic in a communication network is quantitatively evaluated. An optimization evaluation system which evaluates effects of optimization done by an optimization function in a communication network that has the optimization function for optimizing a communication traffic characteristic, including: a communication traffic analyzing module which acquires a communication traffic variation distribution based on measured communication traffic data; and a communication traffic evaluation module which executes processing for quantitatively evaluating the effects of the optimization of the communication traffic characteristic executed by the optimization function based on a fact whether or not the variation distribution calculated by the communication traffic analyzing module is a power function.
US08493879B2	Node apparatus, route control method, route computation system, and route computation apparatus A node apparatus wherein when a topology change occurs on a network used for packet transfer between node apparatuses, the node apparatus performs dynamic route control for establishing a new normal route. The node apparatus has a device that receives, from another node apparatus, a route control message which includes information required for route determination; a device that computes a route on the network based on the received route control message; a device that sends another node apparatus a route control message which includes information required for said another node apparatus to determine a route on the network; a device wherein when receiving the route control message, this device computes an operation start time for route control operation by the route computation and the message sending, based on a distance between a topology change part and said node apparatus of oneself; and a device that controls the execution of the route control operation based on the computed operation start time.
US08493878B2	Flexible parameter cache for machine type connections The present invention relates to a method for improving parameter cache in a communication system, the system enabling Machine Type Communication, MTC, connection between at least one MTC device (10) and at least one MTC server (11), via a Packet Data Network, PDN, connection. The communication system for at least a first MTC connection performing the steps of: a Gateway, GW (17), in the communication system establishing (23) a new Gx session with a Policy Control Node, PCN (15), the PCN (15) performing (24) session binding with the GW (17), The method is particularly characterized in that the communication system further performs the step of: when the first MTC connection has been inactive for a certain time period, the GW (17) as part of a cache upload procedure sends (25) a first set of PDN connection parameters to the PCN (15) and releases memory resources associated with this first set of PDN connection parameters.
US08493875B2	System and method for estimation of round trip times within a TCP based data network A system and method for estimation of round trip times (RTTs) within a TCP based data network is described. The system provides for a passive monitoring of the network round-trip latency by simply observing existing TCP connections in operation. In this way, it is possible to measure RTT out to a remote site without having to send any traffic to that site with the result that there is no impact on the network, and it is possible to estimate what production traffic is experiencing.
US08493874B2	Method and apparatus for providing channel quality feedback in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing communication system In an OFDM communication system, a mobile station provides a radio access network (RAN) a channel quality metric second order statistic, in one embodiment a signal to noise plus interference power ratio (SINR) second order statistic and in particular an SINR standard deviation and/or variance, along with a mean channel quality metric, that is, a mean SINR. By providing both a mean channel quality metric and a channel quality metric second order statistic, the communication system permits the RAN to create a more accurate fading profile of an associated air interface, and in particular a downlink of the air interface, thereby facilitating an improved scheduling decision over the prior art and assuring that a packet has a higher probability to go through a downlink channel without too many retransmissions.
US08493869B2	Distributed constraints-based inter-domain network traffic management A distributed inter-domain constraints-based routing technique is provided herein. A problem solving request is sent to nodes in a plurality of network domains that have a potential path between a source node and the destination node. The problem solving request includes one or more constraints associated with a routing function for traffic between the source node and destination node. Local path solutions are generated at nodes in domains that receive the problem solving request, where the local path solutions representing possible paths from a previous neighbor network domain to a next neighbor network domain that satisfy the one or more constraints. Based on the local path solutions, a determination is made as to whether there is at least one path from the source node to the destination node that satisfies the one or more constraints.
US08493867B1	Retransmission and flow control in a logical network tunnel A system includes a network tunnel, an ingress network device coupled to send packets via the network tunnel, and an egress network device coupled to receive packets sent via the network tunnel. The egress network device is configured to provide information to the ingress network device. The information indicates whether a packet transmitted from the ingress network device to the egress network device was dropped in the network tunnel. The ingress network device can retransmit the packet to the egress network device if the packet is dropped in the network tunnel.
US08493865B2	System for permitting control of the purging of a Node B by the serving radio network controller A system and method which permit the RNC to control purging of data buffered in the Node B. The RNC monitors for a triggering event, which initiates the purging process. The RNC then informs the Node B of the need to purge data by transmitting a purge command, which prompts the Node B to delete at least a portion of buffered data. The purge command can include instructions for the Node B to purge all data for a particular UE, data in one or several user priority transmission queues or in one or more logical channels in the Node B, depending upon the particular data purge triggering event realized in the RNC.
US08493862B2	System and method for lost packet recovery with congestion avoidance Devices and techniques for overcoming lost packets and avoiding congestion when conducting media conferences over packet switched networks are described herein. To avoid the problem of lost packets, redundant information is inserted into the media stream that permits the receiver to reconstruct any lost packets from the redundant information. Congestion avoidance techniques include adjusting the bitrate of the media stream to find the highest bitrate that can be supported without packet loss due to congestion. When increasing the bitrate to a higher rate, the additional bits can come from the redundant information used for lost packet recovery so that any lost packets caused by network congestion will not adversely affect the bitstream.
US08493861B2	Method and transmitting unit for reducing a risk of transmission stalling The present invention relates to a method and a transmitting unit for reducing a risk of transmission stalling between a transmitting unit and a receiving unit in a communication network system comprising said transmitting unit arranged to transmit data blocks to said receiving unit. Each data block comprises a block sequence number and transmitted data blocks are stored in a transmission buffer. A transmission buffer window is arranged to control the flow of retransmission of said transmitted data blocks. When the block sequence number has been acknowledged in a piggybacked acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement field, it is only set as acknowledged upon receipt of a packet uplink acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement message or a packet downlink acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement message comprising an acknowledgement for said block sequence number.
US08493860B2	Fair congestion detection for transport network layer WCDMA communications Congestion is detected in a radio access transport network including one or more radio network controllers each coupled to one or more radio base stations. Multiple data packet flows are each associated with a mobile radio terminal communication, and each flow is controlled in the radio access transport network by a corresponding flow control entity. They are monitored for congestion in the transport network. If a congestion area in the transport network is detected for one of the monitored data packet flows, then a determination is made whether other monitored data packet flows share the detected congestion area. Congestion notification information is communicated to the flow control entities corresponding to the other monitored data packet flows that share the detected congestion area. Based on the congestion notification information, the informed flow control entities may take a flow control action, e.g., to enable fair sharing of communications resources in the transport network.
US08493856B2	Energy efficiency with rate adaptation A system and method of rate adaptation is disclosed for energy efficiency. The system and method of rate adaptation for energy efficiency provides for parsing a heterogeneous network into rate-adaptation domains that are fully isolated with respect to the control of their operating states. The system and method is particularly useful for creating the conditions for the incremental introduction of rate-adaptive devices in existing networks; combining the best properties of sleep-state exploitation and rate scaling techniques by defining a class of state-setting policies for rate adaptation schemes that enforce tight deterministic bounds on the extra delay that the schemes may cause to network traffic at every node where they are deployed.
US08493843B2	System and method for using an alternative wire pair for communication on initial wire pair failure A system and method for using an alternative wire pair for communication on initial wire pair failure. Upon detection of a failure in a wire pair, an alternative set of one or more wire pairs can be used to support the Ethernet communication. In one embodiment, the alternative wire pairs are kept in a hot standby mode to enable almost instantaneous switching. In another embodiment, an enhanced autonegotiation process is used to automatically identify the alternative set of wire pairs that can support the Ethernet communication.
US08493841B2	Wireless communication system and nodes A wireless communication system includes a first node, multiple second nodes, and multiple third nodes that communicate with the first node through the second nodes. The second and third nodes transmit control information to their neighboring third nodes, which calculate link costs from the reception status of the control information. The control information transmitted by each node includes a path cost indicating the cost of a path between the transmitting node and the first node. From the path costs in received control information, each third node selects a second node through which to communicate with the first node, and selects a parent node as the destination of the first hop on the path through the selected second node to the first node. Routing is thereby accomplished autonomously without having the second nodes flood the system with routing requests.
US08493834B2	Content-adaptive multimedia coding and physical layer modulation This disclosure describes content-adaptive coding and modulation techniques. In particular, this disclosure describes techniques in which both a multimedia coding mode and a physical layer modulation scheme are adaptively selected based on content of a multimedia sequence. When the content changes such that either the coding or the modulation scheme can be improved, the coding and/or modulation may be changed to better optimize to the changed content. In one aspect, this disclosure provides a method of processing multimedia data, the method comprising selecting a multimedia coding mode for an encoder to encode the multimedia data and a physical layer modulation scheme for transmission of the multimedia data based on content of the multimedia data.
US08493828B2	Media recording/reading device and media recording/reading method Disclosed are media recording/reproducing method and device in which recording stop due to over retrials during replacement process and wasteful conversion processing in the recording/reproducing device are suppressed when a method of managing the spare area of a write-once medium by the use of an NAP is employed to manage the spare area of a rewritable medium. During format or replacement process of the medium, the NAP is so updated that defective blocks registered as unusable clusters or as usable cluster type 2 within DFL entries in the spare area are not shown.
US08493827B2	Optical disc and optical disc apparatus An optical disc recording method for recording disc information to be used in recording/reproducing control on an optical disc, comprises the following steps of: providing a first disc information unit and a second disc information unit, each having a predetermined data size, in a predetermined management information area of the optical disc; the disc information includes write strategy information; separating the write strategy information into first write strategy information and second write strategy information; recording the first disc information into the first disc information unit; and recording the second disc information into the second disc information unit.
US08493823B1	Variable data transfer rate optical tape drive system and method An optical tape drive system includes n total optical pickup units and a controller. The controller writes readable data in logical wraps each having less than n physical tracks to the optical tape via at least some of the optical pickup units such that for each of the logical wraps that contain readable data, all physical tracks within the logical wrap contain readable data.
US08493822B2	Methods, systems, and program products for controlling the playback of music Methods, systems, and program products for controlling the playback of music are disclosed. In an embodiment a method for controlling the playback of music includes the steps of: initiating the playback of a first music track; stopping the playback of the first music track; initiating the playback of alternative audio content; stopping the playback of the alternative content; and determining whether to initiate the playback of the first music track or to initiate the playback of a second music track.
US08493821B1	Thermally-assisted magnetic recording head including a shield A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head includes: a main pole having an end face located in a medium facing surface; a waveguide; a plasmon generator having a near-field light generating part located in the medium facing surface; and a shield located on the rear side in the direction of travel of a recording medium with respect to the main pole. The shield has an end face located in the medium facing surface and lying on the rear side in the direction of travel of the recording medium with respect to the end face of the main pole. The end face of the main pole and the end face of the shield are at a distance of 50 to 300 nm from each other. The near-field light generating part is located between the end face of the main pole and the end face of the shield in the medium facing surface.
US08493820B1	Matched CTE drive A thermally compensated fluid dynamic bearing motor includes a stationary member and a rotatable member rotatable about the stationary member. A hub is coupled with the rotatable member and includes ceramic material with a first coefficient of thermal expansion, wherein the hub is operable to be coupled with a data storage disk. Further the first coefficient of thermal expansion is substantially equal to a second coefficient of thermal expansion of the data storage disk.
US08493816B2	Electronic timepiece, time adjustment method for an electronic timepiece, and control program for an electronic timepiece An electronic timepiece includes a reception unit that receives satellite signals transmitted from a positioning information satellite; an information acquisition unit that processes the received satellite signals to acquire time information and positioning information; a time difference information acquisition component that acquires time difference information based on the acquired position information; a time difference information display that displays as time difference candidates the acquired time difference information; an external input device; a time difference information selection component that selects time difference information from the displayed time difference candidates; a time calculation component that calculates current time based on the acquired time information and the selected time difference information; and a time display that displays the current time.
US08493815B2	Streamer cable with enhanced properties The present invention relates to streamer cables. One embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for preparing a streamer cable. The method may comprise retrofitting the streamer cable with a solid void-filler material, where the streamer cable was configured as a liquid-filled streamer cable. The retrofitting may comprise introducing a void-filler material into the streamer cable when the void-filler material is in a liquid state and curing or otherwise solidifying the void-filler material to a solid state. In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a streamer cable comprising an outer skin and-at least one sensor positioned within the outer skin. The streamer cable may also comprise a solid void-filler material positioned between the outer skin and the at least one sensor, wherein the solid void-filler material is coupled to the at least one sensor.
US08493807B2	Semiconductor device having hierarchically structured bit lines and system including the same A system includes a first circuit and a second circuit that are constituted by a semiconductor device, the second circuit controlling the first circuit. The first circuit includes an interface unit that performs communication with the second circuit, a plurality of sense amplifiers including a first sense amplifier, each of the plurality of sense amplifiers performing communication with the interface unit, a first global bit line, a dummy global bit line, a plurality of first memory blocks, each of the first memory blocks including a first hierarchy switch that is connected to the first global bit line, a dummy memory block including a dummy hierarchy switch that is connected to the dummy global bit line, and a first dummy local bit line connected to the dummy global bit line, and a control circuit that controls the first hierarchy switches and the dummy hierarchy switch.
US08493804B2	Memory cell array latchup prevention An embodiment includes configuring a current-limiting device to place along a power-supply bus to limit current through a first complimentary-metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuit coupled to the power-supply bus so that current does not exceed a trigger current level of a pnpn diode in a second CMOS circuit coupled to the power bus.
US08493802B1	Memory controller having a write-timing calibration mode A memory controller outputs address bits and a first timing signal to a DRAM, each address bit being associated with an edge of the first timing signal and the first timing signal requiring a first propagation delay time to propagate to the DRAM. The memory controller further outputs write data bits and a second timing signal to the DRAM in association with the address bits, each of the write data bits being associated with an edge of the second timing signal and the second timing signal requiring a second propagation delay time to propagate to the DRAM. The memory controller includes a plurality of series-coupled delay elements to provide respective, differently-delayed internal delayed timing signals and a multiplexer to select one of the delayed timing signals to be output as the second timing signal based on a difference between the first propagation delay time and the second propagation delay time.
US08493798B2	Apparatus and method for outputting data in semiconductor integrated circuit An apparatus for outputting data in a semiconductor integrated circuit includes a clock generation block configured to activate a first clock signal for outputting a data signal and a second clock signal for outputting a data strobe signal based on a predetermined timing, and a data output block configured to latch a pre-data signal and a pre-data strobe signal in response to the first clock signal and the second clock signal, respectively.
US08493796B2	Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells arranged therein, each of the memory cells having a charge storage layer and a control electrode; and a control unit configured to execute a write cycle multiple times, the write cycle including a write operation and a write verify operation, the write operation being an operation for applying a write pulse voltage multiple times to the control electrode selected for data write, and the write verify operation being an operation for determining whether data write is completed or not. During one time of the write operation, the control unit makes a voltage value of a finally applied write pulse voltage larger than a voltage value of an initially applied write pulse voltage.
US08493794B2	Non-volatile memory cell and methods for programming, erasing and reading thereof A non-volatile memory cell and methods for programming, erasing and reading thereof are provided. A non-volatile memory cell includes a well region having a first conductive type. A first transistor and a second transistor having a second conductive type are disposed on the well region, wherein a first gate of the first transistor is coupled to a second gate of the second transistor. The first transistor and the second transistor share a drain region, coupling to a bit line. A first source region of the first transistor and a second region of the second transistor are coupled to a first select line and a second line, respectively. A bit is stored in the first and second gates by controlling the first select line and the second line. A bit stored in the first and second gates is erased by controlling the first select line or the second line.
US08493789B2	Nonvolatile memory devices, channel boosting methods thereof, programming methods thereof, and memory systems including the same Non-volatile memory device channel boosting methods in which at least two strings are connected to one bit line, the channel boosting methods including applying an initial channel voltage to channels of strings in a selected memory block, floating inhibit strings each having an un-programmed cell among the strings, and boosting channels of the floated inhibit strings.
US08493785B2	Page-buffer and non-volatile semiconductor memory including page buffer A non-volatile memory device includes a memory cell array which includes a plurality of non-volatile memory cells, a plurality of word lines, and a plurality of bit lines. The memory device further includes an internal data output line for outputting data read from the bit lines of the memory array, and a page buffer operatively connected between a bit line of the memory cell array and the internal data output line. The page buffer includes a sense node which is selectively connected to the bit line, a latch circuit having a latch node which is selectively connected to the sense node, a latch input path which sets a logic voltage of the latch node in the programming mode and the read mode, and a latch output path which is separate from the latch input path.
US08493782B2	Memory device and program method thereof Provided are a flash memory system and a driving method thereof. A flash memory device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells, and a control logic. The control logic performs control for one-bit information to be stored in the plurality of memory cells. The control logic controls storing data in the plurality of memory cells multiple times without an erasion operation. Accordingly, the flash memory device does not execute an erasion operation, increasing an operation speed.
US08493770B2	Non-volatile semiconductor storage device with concurrent read operation A semiconductor storage device includes a memory cell array including memory cells arranged at respective intersections between first wirings and second wirings. Each of the memory cells includes a rectifier element and a variable resistance element connected in series. A control circuit is configured to apply a first voltage to a selected first wiring and a second voltage lower than the first voltage to a selected second wiring so that a certain potential difference is applied to a selected memory cell positioned at an intersection between the selected first wiring and the selected second wiring. The control circuit performs a concurrent read operation to perform a read operation from plural memory cells concurrently by applying the first voltage to a plurality of the first wirings concurrently. It is possible to switch the number of the first wirings to be applied with the first voltage concurrently in the concurrent read operation.
US08493767B2	One-time programmable device having an LDMOS structure According to one embodiment, a one-time programmable (OTP) device having a lateral diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor (LDMOS) structure comprises a pass gate including a pass gate electrode and a pass gate dielectric, and a programming gate including a programming gate electrode and a programming gate dielectric. The programming gate is spaced from the pass gate by a drain extension region of the LDMOS structure. The LDMOS structure provides protection for the pass gate when a programming voltage for rupturing the programming gate dielectric is applied to the programming gate electrode. A method for producing such an OTP device comprises forming a drain extension region, fabricating a pass gate over a first portion of the drain extension region, and fabricating a programming gate over a second portion of the drain extension region.
US08493765B2	Semiconductor device and electronic device All interface pins for transmitting and receiving a signal having a predetermined function of a semiconductor integrated circuit element are formed on an outer periphery of the semiconductor integrated circuit element along one side of the semiconductor integrated circuit element. The one side of the semiconductor integrated circuit element is adjacent to two of sides of a BGA substrate, the two sides being not parallel to the one side. Of balls provided on the BGA substrate, balls electrically connected to the interface pins for transmitting and receiving a signal having a predetermined function are provided between the one side of the semiconductor integrated circuit element and the two sides of the BGA substrate.
US08493763B1	Self-timed match line cascading in a partitioned content addressable memory array A CAM array includes a plurality of regular rows and a reference row. Each regular row is partitioned into a plurality of row segments, with each row segment including a number of CAM cells coupled to a corresponding match line segment. The reference row generates self-timed control signals for corresponding segments of the regular rows. Control circuits selectively enable a respective row segment in response to a logical combination of match results in a previous row segment and an associated one of the self-timed control signals.
US08493761B2	Inverter circuit having relatively higher efficiency The configurations of an inverter circuit are provided in the present invention. The proposed circuit includes a first bridge arm having a first sub-bridge arm with a first switch and a first middle point coupled to the first switch, and a second sub-bridge arm with a second switch and a second middle point coupled to the second switch, a first inductor having a first terminal coupled to the first middle point and a second terminal, and a second inductor having a first terminal coupled to the second middle point, and a second terminal coupled to the second terminal of the first inductor and outputting an AC voltage.
US08493760B2	Electric circuit for converting direct current into alternating current Electric circuit for converting direct into alternating current specially designed for photovoltaic systems connected to the electrical grid without a transformer, and enabling the earthing of one of the input terminals (2) of the photovoltaic generator, thereby working with a wide range of input voltages and having a high efficiency.
US08493754B1	Method of and apparatus for power factor correction in a power supply A converter can include at least two power stages. Each power stage can include a power factor control circuit. An active shared control circuit for a three power stage system receives at least three sense signals. Each of the sense signals is associated with a parameter of the respective one of the power stages. The control circuit provides at least three control signals. Each of the control signals being associated with the respective power factor control circuit of the power stages. The active share control circuit balances the current supplied by the power stages via the control signals.
US08493747B2	Flex-rigid wiring board and method for manufacturing the same A flex-rigid wiring board including an insulative substrate, a flexible wiring board positioned beside the insulative substrate, an insulation layer positioned over the insulative substrate and the flexible wiring board and exposing a portion of the flexible wiring board, and a wiring layer made of a conductor and formed on the insulation layer. The insulation layer has a tapered portion which becomes thinner toward an end surface of the insulation layer in the direction of the portion of the flexible wiring board exposed by the insulation layer. The wiring layer has a sloping portion formed on the tapered portion of the insulation layer.
US08493733B2	Mobile measurement device A mobile measurement device, particularly for temporary use in or on vehicles, on stationary engines, or on test benches, consists of individual components (2) that might have different working temperatures, disposed in a common housing (1). Furthermore, at least one fan (6) is provided. In order to allow a very broad range of use with regard to the outside temperature range, at the smallest and lightest possible construction, in order to guarantee simple transport and great mobility, and reliable measurements within this range, the housing (1) is structured essentially in gastight manner. Furthermore, compartments for the individual components (2) that are separated from one another by means of air baffles (3) and a conditioning drawer (4) that extends over an entire housing side are provided, which conditioning drawer (4) is provided with the single air inlet (5) and in which at least one fan (6), preferably having a variable throughput, at least one conditioning block (7), and at least one temperature sensor (8) are disposed. Outlets (9) having defined cross-sections lead from the conditioning drawer (4) to at least some compartments for the individual components (2), and the conditioning block (7), the fan (6), and the temperature sensor (8) are connected with a control system integrated into the measurement device, which system controls the conditioning block (7) and the fan (6) in accordance with the desired working temperature of the individual components (2).
US08493732B2	Shielded heat-dissipating lap cushion A lap cushion, for supporting an electronic device on a users lap, provides thermal insulation and cooling airflow between the electronic device and the user. The cushion further includes a shield positioned between the top surface and the electronic device where the shield is electrically-conductive and electrically-grounded so as to provide radiation absorption of RF electromagnetic radiation emanating from the electronic device.
US08493730B2	Portable terminal A portable terminal is provided, in which a hinge device provides a pair of hinge axes extended in parallel, a pair of folding cases are engaged with the hinge device and rotate upon the hinge axes, respectively, and sliding housings are installed in the respective folding cases. The folding cases rotate in a folding direction or in an unfolding direction via the hinge device, and when the folding cases rotate, the sliding housings slide on the folding cases. When the sliding housings are opened at 180° with respect to each other, one end of the sliding housing is in a close relationship with one end of another sliding housing.
US08493728B2	Disk unit and disk array apparatus To reduce vibration in the rotation direction acting on the hard disk drive with a part of the hard disk drive as the rotation center. The disk unit comprises a hard disk drive comprising a drive mechanism which rotates and drives a plurality of disk media, an arm rotatably supported on a pivot and placed as movable in the rotation area of the disk media, and an actuator which performs positioning control of the magnetic head fixed to the arm to a target position on the disk media, a frame supporting the hard disk drive, and a dynamic absorber placed in the hard disk drive or in the frame, wherein the dynamic absorber absorbs vibration in the rotation direction acting on the hard disk drive with a part of the hard disk drive as the rotation center.
US08493725B2	Sliding module for electronic device A sliding module includes a first section, a second section, a hinge module, a sliding member and a pivot plate. The first section includes a connecting member. The hinge module is positioned on the second section. The sliding member is slidably engaged with the second section, and is rotatably connected to the connecting member of the first section. Two ends of the pivot plate are respectively connected to the first section and the hinge module. When the sliding member slides relative to the second section, the pivot plate brings the first section to move and rotate relative to the second section in a tilted orientation.
US08493721B2	Fixing mechanism and computer therewith A fixing mechanism includes a base whereon at least one buckling portion is formed. The fixing mechanism further includes a bracket connected to an electronic module. The bracket includes a bottom plate, at least one lateral plate connected to the bottom plate and being buckled inside the buckling portion, and a baffle connected to the bottom plate. The fixing mechanism further includes a cover portion including a board, at least one hook connected to a side of the board for hooking the base, a constraining portion connected to the side of the board for laterally constraining the at least one lateral plate, and a resilient structure connected to the constraining portion for contacting against the baffle of the bracket so as to support the electronic module resiliently.
US08493720B2	Quick mounting system and media with compatibility and access control Functionality and control of the media module using a method and apparatus for access and compatibility control is disclosed. The media module interfaces with a camera or other device to store image and audio data from the camera on memory. Access to the media module is controlled by method and system for data encryption or authentication. Encryption or authentication controls access and compatibility with particular camera, camera line, or camera manufacture. The encryption or authentication may also control access to features or functions of the media module. An authentication module comprising an input/output controller, processor and memory processes an authentication request or command to determine if the media module and camera are compatible. The processor may execute software stored on the memory to perform any type of authentication including a hash operation, symmetric key operation, or asymmetric key operation.
US08493718B2	Server A server including a chassis, a motherboard, a panel, a transfer plate and a circuit board is provided. The motherboard is disposed in the chassis. The panel is disposed pluggably in the chassis and is located at a front end of the chassis. The transfer plate is fixed at a rear end of the chassis, and is electrically connected to the motherboard. The circuit board is fixed on the panel and is located in the chassis, and the circuit board includes at least one electronic device and a connector. The panel exposes the electronic device, and the circuit board is electrically connected to the transfer plate through the connector.
US08493716B2	Locking cage for electronic modules A cage assembly for supporting electronic modules includes first and second support positions for first and second electronic modules, a detector for reacting to the presence of the first electronic module in the first support position and a locking mechanism configured to lock the second electronic module in the second position, wherein the presence of the first electronic module in the first position blocks premature actuation to release the locking mechanism.
US08493714B2	Electronic device with a cleaning unit for a flexible display An electronic device is disclosed comprising a housing (1) and a retractable display (3) conceived to be alternated between an at least partially extended state and a retracted state, the device comprising a cleaning unit (6) integrated in the housing and being arranged for removing contamination from at least a front surface of the display. The flexible display (3) can be retracted by sliding the side members (4a, 4b, 4c, 5a, 5b, 5c) into the housing using, for example, a grip (7). Preferably, in the electronic device 10 the display is provided with edge members 8a, 8b for guiding the bar (6).
US08493713B2	Conductive coating for use in electrolytic capacitors A dispersion that contains an intrinsically conductive polythiophene formed via poly(ionic liquid)-mediated polymerization is provided. Without intending to be limited by theory, it is believed that a thiophene monomer can polymerize along the chains of a poly(ionic liquid). In this manner, the poly(ionic liquid) may act as a template for polymerization to provide a particle dispersion that is substantially homogeneous and stable. Such dispersions may be employed in an electrolytic capacitor as a solid electrolyte and/or as a conductive coating that is electrical communication with the electrolyte. Regardless, the dispersion may be more easily and cost effectively formed and incorporated into the structure of the capacitor. Moreover, due to the presence of the ionic liquid, the dispersion is conductive and does not require the addition of conventional dopants, such as polystyrene sulfonic acid. For example, the dispersion may have a specific conductivity, in the dry state, of about 1 Siemen per centimeter (“S/cm”) or more, in some embodiments about 10 S/cm or more, in some embodiments about 20 S/cm or more, and in some embodiments, from about 50 to about 500 S/cm.
US08493709B2	Method of forming capacitor structure In a capacitor structure and method of forming the same, a first electrode, a second electrode, and a first insulation layer are sequentially formed on a substrate. The first and second electrodes and the first insulation layer are covered with a second insulation layer on the substrate. A first plug is in contact with the second electrode through the second insulation layer. A second plug is in contact with the first electrode through the first and second insulation layer. A third insulation layer is formed on the second insulation layer. Third and fourth comb-shaped electrodes are formed in the third insulation layer. The third electrode is contact with the first plug and the fourth electrode is contact with the second plug while facing the third electrode. Thus, the teeth of the comb-shaped electrodes are alternately arranged and spaced apart in the third insulation layer.
US08493704B2	Circuit protection device and method of manufacturing the same In one embodiment, a circuit protection device includes a common mode noise filter having a plurality of sheets, each of the sheets being formed to optionally include a coil pattern, an internal electrode, a hole filled with a conductive material, and a hole filled with a magnetic material; and an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device having a plurality of sheets, each of the sheets being formed to optionally include an internal electrode and a hole filled with an ESD protection material.
US08493698B2	Electrostatic discharge protection circuit It is desired to achieve a high ESD protection performance by a small area circuit. An electrostatic discharge protection circuit includes: protection circuits, wherein each protection circuit includes a MOS transistor; and a trigger circuit configured to supply a trigger signal to a gate electrode of the MOS transistor of each protection circuit in response to a surge voltage between a low potential node and a high potential node. Each protection circuit is configured to electrically connect the low potential node and the high potential node to one another when the trigger signal is supplied to the gate electrode. The gate electrode of each protection circuit is connected to a resistive element having larger resistance value than Rmax, supposing that Rmax is a largest parasitic resistance between each of the plurality of protection circuit and an output of the trigger circuit.
US08493690B1	Load-unload ramp structure with cantilevered fin portion configured to reduce drop shock in a hard-disk drive A load-unload ramp structure with a cantilevered fin portion to reduce drop shock in a hard-disk drive (HDD). The load-unload ramp structure includes a first load-unload ramp, a fin, and a bracket portion. The first load-unload ramp is configured to lift a first head-slider away from a magnetic-recording disk. The fin is coupled to the first load-unload ramp and is disposed below a first parking position of the first head-slider. The fin includes a fin base portion and a first cantilevered fin portion. The first cantilevered fin portion is coupled to, and extends outward from, the fin base portion. The bracket portion is integrally attached to the first load-unload ramp, and is configured to allow affixing the load-unload ramp structure in a static position in a disk-enclosure base of the HDD. A HDD including the load-unload ramp structure and a method for providing protection from drop shock are also provided.
US08493689B2	Protective layer on gimbal for scratch mitigation A head gimbal assembly includes a gimbal, a slider, and a polymer layer. The gimbal comprises a metal layer, and the metal layer of the gimbal defines a gimbal mounting portion for attachment to a metallic load beam and a gimbal tongue extending from the gimbal mounting portion. The slider comprises a ceramic material for carrying a transducing head, and at least a portion of the slider is secured to the gimbal tongue. The polymer layer is positioned adjacent to the gimbal and configured for limiting ceramic-to-metal and metal-to-metal contact.
US08493688B2	Head slider and hard disk drive A head slider for a disk drive storage device. The head slider is adapted to fly at the target height above the disk, reduce contamination by preventing particles from being trapped under the head slider, fly well in helium at low velocity and obtain a manufacturing tolerance so that multiple head sliders may be produced and function properly. The head slider has an internal cavity that is substantially enclosed by the air bearing surface. There are two gaps in the air bearing surface that are misaligned relative to the leading edge. The gaps aid in preventing particles from entering the cavity.
US08493687B2	Magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording with shield around main pole A magnetic head includes a shield, and first and second return path sections. The shield has an end face that is located in a medium facing surface to wrap around an end face of a main pole. The shield includes a bottom shield, two side shields, and a top shield. The first return path section includes a yoke layer, and first and second coupling layers that magnetically couple the bottom shield and the yoke layer to each other. The first coupling layer is magnetically connected to the bottom shield. The second coupling layer magnetically couples the first coupling layer to the yoke layer. No end faces of the second coupling layer are exposed in the medium facing surface. The second return path section magnetically couples the top shield and the main pole to each other.
US08493681B1	Disk drive generating map of margin rectangles around defects A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of segments. A cluster of defective segments is identified, and a margin rectangle of segments is defined around each defective segment in the cluster. A margin map representing the margin rectangles is generated. The margin map may comprise start and end segment numbers, or run-length encoding, or any other suitable encoding for identifying consecutive segments that extend across multiple, overlapping margin rectangles.
US08493679B1	Disk drive implementing a read channel optimization process A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk including a plurality of tracks, a head actuated over the disk, and control circuitry. The control circuitry is operable to: write a target track including a plurality of data wedges; determine optimization metrics for the data wedges of the plurality of data wedges as the data wedges are read; store the optimization metrics for the data wedges from the target track; and remove a first portion and a second portion of the optimization metrics such that a remaining portion of the optimization metrics remains. Further, the control circuitry is operable to calculate an average optimization metric value for the remaining portion of optimization metrics for use in read channel optimization.
US08493677B2	Lens unit and method of making the same A lens unit includes a lens holder of stainless steel and a converging lens fixed to a lens holding hole of the lens holder. The lens holder is formed by pressing, or stamping from a metal plate, made of a compressed stainless steel plate material, having a predetermined thickness with a narrow tolerance. Upon stamping, the metal plate is fractured, thus forming an outer tapered surface at one end of the outer surface of the lens holder. When the outer surface and the rear end surface of the lens holder are allowed to abut against a positioning recess in order to position the lens holder, the outer tapered surface is opposed to the corner of the positioning recess.
US08493676B2	Camera lens assembly and producing method thereof A camera lens assembly is provided, including a holder, a lens module, and a metal frame. The lens module is fixed in the holder by an adhesive and includes a lens, a substrate connected to the lens, and a plurality solder balls disposed on the substrate. The metal frame is disposed around the lens module and fixed to the holder, wherein the metal frame forms an opening with the solder balls exposed thereto, and the lens module and the metal frame form a gap there between.
US08493673B2	Lens module A lens module includes a barrel, a first lens, a second lens, and a spacer. The first lens and the second lens are received in the barrel from an object side to an image side of the lens module. Each lens includes an optical portion and a non-optical portion around the optical portion. The spacer is positioned between the non-optical portion of the first lens and the non-optical portion of the second lens. The second lens includes an image-side surface. The non-optical portion on the image-side surface includes a contact portion. The contact portion defines a triangular notch.
US08493672B2	Imaging lens, image pickup device and portable terminal An imaging lens (LN) of an imaging device (ID) is composed of an aperture stop (ST) and a lens unit (LU) having positive power. Even when the object side surface of the lens unit (LU) has a shape convexed to the side of the object, and a lens whose image side surface is concaved to the image side is used, excellent aberration performance with a short optical total length, a small sensor incidence angle and a small distortion are achieved at low cost.
US08493670B2	Large-field unit-magnification catadioptric projection system A unit magnification projection optical system includes, listed in order along a system axis, a mirror, a lens group having negative power and a lens group having positive power. The optical system is a symmetric system, with an object plane on one side of the system axis and an object plane on an opposite side of the system axis. The object and image planes are spaced apart from the positive lens group by a working distance greater than 100 millimeters.
US08493668B2	Micro-projection lens The present invention provides a micro-projection lens including first lens group, a second lens group, and a third lens group arranged in sequence along an optical axis from a screen side to a light modulator side. The first lens group has positive refractive power and includes at least an aspheric lens. The second lens group has negative refractive power and includes at least a glass tablet. The third lens group has positive refractive power and includes at least an aspheric lens. Therefore, the micro-projection lens of the present invention has a small size and high optical performance.
US08493662B2	Waveguides A waveguide 60 formed of material 62 allows propagation of image bearing light along a light pathway 64 by total internal reflection of the image bearing light. The layer of material 62 is a light transparent material arranged to allow an observer, not illustrated, to look through the layer of material 62 whilst also arranged to carry image bearing light. A grating element 66 carried within the layer of material 62 is arranged such that impinging image bearing light following the light pathway 64 is either diffracted out of the layer of material 62 as a pupil of image bearing light 68a to 68n or is reflected by either surface 70 or surface 72. The efficiency of the grating element 66 is varied along the length of the layer of material 62 to achieve the desired pupils of image bearing light 68a to 68n along the length of the layer of material 62. This results in a more even brightness of pupils of image bearing light 68a to 68n, as perceived by the observer looking through the layer of material 62.
US08493661B2	Contiguous microlens array The present disclosure provides a contiguous microlens array, which consists of a plurality of touching microlenses, wherein the adjacent microlenses are connected to each other to form a contiguous microlens array and curvatures of every angle cross section of each microlens are the same. The shape of the curved surface of a microlens in the microlens array is selectively adjusted according to its position in the array and the incident angle of light incident thereto.
US08493660B2	Optical layered body comprising a light-transmitting substrate and antiglare layer, polarizer and image display device An optical layered body including a light-transmitting substrate and an antiglare layer provided on the light-transmitting substrate. The antiglare layer has a surface roughness on the outermost surface. In the optical layered body, a mean spacing of tops of local peak of profile S is 0.045 mm or more and 0.10 mm or less determined by the procedure disclosed in the specification. The optical layered body can attain properties such as an antiglare property, scintillation prevention and black color reproducibility such as gloss blackness simultaneously.
US08493658B2	Polarizer and display device including polarizer A polarizer in which parallel transmittance TP is increased and crossed transmittance TC is provided. Instead of arranging a plurality of all metal wires on one plane, a plurality of metal wires is separately formed on at least two different parallel planes, and adjacent meal wires among the plurality of metal wires are staggered in the polarizer. The heights of a first group of metal wires formed on a first plane and a second group of metal wires formed on a second plane, from a surface of the light-transmitting substrate are different. Further, a metal wire of the second group is provided to be more distant from the light-transmitting substrate than the first group of metal wires by distance D, and the distance D is smaller than the thickness of the first group of metal wires.
US08493657B2	Light source switching device adapted for a projection system A light source switching device for use in a projection system is provided. The light source switching device comprises at least two light guiding devices and at least one phase switching device. The phase switching device is disposed between the two light guiding devices and adapted to be in one of a first status and a second status. When the first light travels into the light source switching device, the phase switching device is capable of being in the first status such that the first light is adapted to emit out from the outlet surface. When the second light travels into the light source switching device, the phase switching device is capable of being in the second status such that the second light is adapted to emit out from the outlet surface. With the switching operation of the phase switching device, the plural lights provided by plural light sources would be selected and uniformized by the light source switching device.
US08493647B2	Compensation method, optical modulation system, and optical demodulation system An optical modulation system has a function to compensate an operating point drift, which occurs in an MZ optical modulator, by carrying out feedback control with use of a low frequency signal. A judgment section judges stability of feedback control. In a case where the feedback control is determined to be unstable, a low frequency signal generating section switches a frequency of the low frequency signal from a first frequency to a second frequency.
US08493645B2	Optically powered optical modulator An optically powered optical modulator comprises an optical modulation component, such as an electro-optical modulator, acousto-optic modulator or magneto-optic modulator, in combination with one or two lens assemblies positioned at one or both apertures of the optical modulation component, so that the optical modulator formed by the combination of the lens assembly or assemblies and the optical modulation component has optical focus power.
US08493644B2	Optical writing device To provide an optical writing device that outputs image light to be recorded to a display recording medium. An optical element thereof includes a two-dimensional periodic structural body including periodic structure sections sectioned along a direction orthogonal to the direction along which transparent layers and light absorption layers are arranged alternately in a repeated manner. At least a part of the periodic structure sections is in a periodic structure in which the transparent layers and the light absorption layers are arranged alternately by varying phases of spatial frequencies of the transparent layers neighboring in the orthogonal direction. Repeated period pitches of the transparent layers and the light absorption layers in the two orthogonal directions of the two-dimensional periodic structural body are set to match with each other, and the repeated period pitches are set to be narrower than a layout pitch of the pixels of the spatial light modulating element.
US08493642B2	Method for generating video holograms for a holographic display device with random addressing A method for generating video holograms for a holographic reproduction device with at least one light modulation means, wherein a scene split into object points is encoded as a whole hologram and can be seen as a reconstruction from a visibility region, which is located within a periodicity interval of the reconstruction of the video hologram. The visibility region, together with each object point of the scene to be reconstructed, defines a subhologram and the whole hologram is generated from a superposition of subholograms, wherein in a sequence of image contents the difference subholograms of object points are preferably generated for each picture, differing in regards to the visibility according to the viewer position in sequential images of the sequence. The display device comprises means that provide high-quality video holograms in spite of the data amount being significantly reduced.
US08493639B2	Image recording device An image recording device having a recording unit to record an image on a sheet is provided. The image recording unit includes a feed guide defining a first conveying path; an arm disposed between the recording unit and the tray, the arm having a feed roller rotatably disposed at a free end and configured to feed the sheet in the tray to the first conveying path. The arm pivots between a first arm position, and a second arm position. The return guide pivots between a first return guide position, and a second return guide position. A space occupied by the return guide in the first return guide position overlaps a space occupied by the arm in the second arm position. The return guide is in the second return guide position when the arm is in the second arm position which is retracted from an insertion space occupied by the tray.
US08493635B2	Optical reading device, control method for an optical reading device, and computer-readable recording medium storing a control program for an optical reading device Unintended image inversion is prevented when an optical reading device processes images captured by an optical reading device that uses a linear image sensor having the photodetectors arrayed in a line. An optical reading unit has a linear image sensor with photodetectors arrayed perpendicularly to the transportation direction of the recording medium S to be scanned, optically reads the conveyed recording medium by means of the linear image sensor, and sequentially outputs the detection values of the photodetectors from an end of the linear image sensor. A gate array and CPU generate scanned image data based on the detection values read by the optical reading unit, add thereto information describing the relationship between the scanning sequence of the photodetectors of the linear image sensor and the pixel order of the scanned image data, and output to another device.
US08493634B2	Method for automatically identifying scan region boundary A method of automatically identifying a scan region boundary, used for scanning a document under a non-unified background, includes: reading a reference linear scan data by a scanning device, the scanning device analyzing brightness values in each row of the reference linear scan data and determining a reference range value according to the brightness values in each row; and during scanning a document, the scanning device comparing brightness values of a linear scan data with the reference range value so as to determine the scan region boundary. The method confirms the scan boundary of a document and is not subjected to a backlight element or a document carrier. The method identifies the boundary of a document under a non-unified background, is applicable to scanning transparent and reflective documents and has strong resistance against environmental interference, not only simplifying the scanning device but also enhancing the automatic performance.
US08493627B2	Method for the digital screening of halftone images A method for the digital screening of a halftone image by using a first screen having an arbitrary desired screen width and an arbitrary desired screen angle. For the method, the threshold value matrix of a second screen with a different screen angle and width is read out and compared with the color values of a halftone image presented. In order also to approximate screens having a particular irrational tangent and to avoid unpleasant sudden exposed device pixels in clear regions, it is proposed to provide at least one second threshold value matrix having X3Y3 addresses, the X3Y3 addresses of the second threshold value matrix are displaced by a factor 1/B in relation to the X2Y2 addresses of the first threshold value matrix, and to read out the second threshold value matrix as soon as an error D between the first and the second screen exceeds a predefined limiting value.
US08493622B2	Printing apparatus, method for creating lookup table, lookup table, printing method, and printed matter A printing apparatus for performing printing with the use of a special gloss material and a coloring material is provided. The printing apparatus includes: an inputting unit that receives or acquires image data as an input; and a printing unit that controls the arrangement of the special gloss material and the coloring material on a print target medium on the basis of the inputted image data to print the image data. The printing unit changes the amount of use of the special gloss material depending on an index value that is related to the lightness of a color represented by the coloring material.
US08493619B2	Hardware-accelerated color data processing Methods for mapping color data having at least one color associated therewith to an output device based on an input-device profile and an output-device profile, each profile having a tone curve and a color matrix, are provided. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving color data from an input device and determining whether the color data is in a linear space. If it is determined that the color data is not in a linear space, the method further includes applying the tone curve of the input device profile to the color data to convert it into a linear space. The method further includes converting the color(s) associated with the color data from the input linear space to an output linear space by applying the color matrix of the input device profile and the inverse color matrix of the output device profile to create color-converted image data.
US08493617B2	Image forming apparatus having a function for adjustment of image forming conditions An image forming apparatus includes a forming portion, an adjusting portion and a control portion. The forming portion is configured to form an image, while the adjusting portion is configured to execute an adjustment for correcting a pre-selected adjustable image forming condition based on a measurement of an image formed by the forming portion. The control portion is configured to control execution of the adjustment achieved by the adjusting portion. Specifically, the control portion obtains a plurality of kinds of variation values, which individually indicate a different state variation capable of involving a state change in the pre-selected adjustable image forming condition. The control portion calculates a complex evaluation of the current state of the pre-selected adjustable image forming condition based on the plurality of kinds of variation values, and determines a starting time for execution of the adjustment based on the complex evaluation.
US08493615B2	Image-processing device, image-reading device, and image-forming device An image-processing device includes: a first detection unit that, based on a predetermined color component, detects a first pixel value that satisfies a predetermined first base color condition from among the pixel values of pixels included in image data which is to be processed; a pixel determination unit that determines pixels with the first pixel value detected by the first detection unit; a second detection unit that, based on color components other than the predetermined color component, detects a second pixel value that satisfies a predetermined second base color condition from among the pixel values of the pixels determined by the pixel determination unit; and a base color determination unit that determines pixel portions with both the second pixel value detected by the second detection unit and the first pixel value as a base color of an image represented by the image data.
US08493614B2	Methods and systems for calibrating a source and destination pair At least certain embodiments of the disclosures relate to methods and data processing systems for matching a source profile to a destination profile. In one embodiment, a method includes providing a destination test chart and a corresponding first source test chart with each test chart having color patches. The method includes adjusting the source profile to substantially match a known or an unknown destination profile in response to receiving an input for visually matching an adjustable white color patch of the first source test chart to a corresponding white color patch of the destination test chart. The method includes progressively generating a second source test chart having modified at least some and possibly all color patches compared to the first displayed test chart based on applying a first transformation to the source profile in response to visually matching the white color patch.
US08493612B2	Predicting an expansion difficulty and an expansion time required to perform a rendering operation A method and system for predicting expansion difficulty and an expansion time required to perform print-time imaging operations. A print-ready compressed file may be generated by raster image processing of a job description file associated with a rendering job provided by a digital front end. The expansion time with respect to one or more expansion processes may be predicted by a linear equation during assembly of the compressed file. The linear equation may be formulated based on measured compression statistics that relate to profile data within the compressed file. The total expansion time with respect to the rendering job may be then computed by summing the results of the linear equations. The expansion time to perform the print-time imaging operations may be compared with an available time based on an image output terminal speed to improve performance of raster image processing.
US08493609B2	Method for generating simulated insert sheets for a print job A printing method is described where, when a print job requires printing multiple copies of a document and a simulated insert sheet option is selected as a part of the print job requirements, simulated insert sheets are automatically generated and inserted between the printed copies that are outputted to the output tray of the printer. The simulated insert sheets are printed using the same paper as the document. The simulated insert sheets may be numbered, and may include a printed pattern extending to an edge of the sheets. The layout and content of the simulated insert sheets may be specified by the printer driver or the printer itself. The method can also be used with copiers when making multiple copies of an original document. Further, simulated insert sheets can be used to separate groups of pages within a single document, such as chapters or sections.
US08493607B2	Control apparatus of non-volatile memory and image forming apparatus An apparatus has an external memory control apparatus for controlling rewriting of a memory. The external memory control apparatus allows the memory to store the number of formed monochromatic images and changes a rewriting frequency of the memory according to the number of formed monochromatic images.
US08493601B2	Techniques for performing actions based upon physical locations of paper documents According to one set of embodiments, techniques are provided for performing actions based upon physical locations of one or more paper documents. According to another set of embodiments, techniques are provided for tracking the physical locations of paper documents. According to another set of embodiments, techniques are provided for determining electronic document information for paper documents. According to another set of embodiments, techniques are provided for determining and tracking the contents of a container. According to another set of embodiments, a document security system is provided. According to another set of embodiments, techniques are provided for tracking documents in a workflow.
US08493588B2	Method of identifying user of scanning apparatus A method of operating a scanning apparatus including a transparent platen, a memory, a lid to cover the transparent platen, and a door in the lid, the method includes exposing a portion of the transparent platen through the door in the lid; placing a user identifier into the door in the lid; providing a user identification initiation signal; emitting light from a light source to illuminate the exposed portion of the transparent platen; moving a photosensor array to scan the user identifier through the exposed portion of the transparent platen; providing a digitized image of the user identifier from the scan by the photosensor array; comparing the digitized image to a stored pattern; and authorizing a function of the scanning apparatus if it is determined that the digitized image of the user identifier adequately matches the stored pattern.
US08493585B2	Image processing system including a first image processing apparatus for transmitting a job and a second image processing apparatus for receiving and executing the job The execution of an image processing job is limited using a printing amount by an image processing job that has already been executed and a printing amount that is scheduled to be printed by an image processing job that has already been transmitted but not yet executed. To accomplish this, a multi-function peripheral manages a first printing amount that has already been printed by a executed print job and a second printing amount that is scheduled to be printed by a print job that has been transmitted from the multi-function peripheral to a printer and that has not yet been executed in association with a user ID, and determines, before transmitting the print job, whether or not the total of a third printing amount that is scheduled to be printed by the print job, the first printing amount and the second printing amount exceeds an upper limit amount.
US08493583B2	Image forming apparatus and method for controlling the same An image forming apparatus and a method for controlling the same are disclosed. The image forming apparatus supports the printing management function, such that it can continue or cancel the printing operation when a printing-operation change factor occurs during the printing operation established by the user. In the case of using the printing management function, the user can easily stop the printing operation when the erroneous data occurs or he or she desires to cancel the remaining printing operations during the printing operation, such that an amount of resources required for the printing operation can be minimized, resulting in the implementation of increased operation efficiency. The method for controlling the image forming apparatus includes: determining whether the number of printed papers is equal to a predetermined printing-check paper number during a printing operation; and if the number of printed papers is equal to the predetermined printing-check paper number, comparing printing information for each page of printed data with the other printing information for each actually-applied page, and determining the presence or absence of a printing error.
US08493580B2	Generation of executables for a heterogeneous mix of multifunction printers A computer-implemented method that includes incorporating an entity specification into a business process in response to an input by a user is described. The entity specification describes an element of a document and is associated with the business process. The computer-implemented method also includes determining a multifunction printer (MFP) from a heterogeneous mix of MFPs for implementation of the business process. The MFP has an associated executable language and a graphical user interface (GUI) specification. The computer-implemented method also includes associating the entity specification with an element of the GUI specification. The computer-implemented method also includes generating, from the entity specification and the business process, an executable that conforms to the executable language and the GUI specification and performs the business process when executed by the MFP. The computer-implemented method also includes deploying the executable to the MFP.
US08493577B2	Control device, image forming apparatus, printing system, control method, and control program In order to reduce power consumption and shorten the waiting time until printing, the PC, controlling the MFP that is maintained in a sleep mode instead of being switched to a standby mode when a print job having a printing method set to confidential printing is received while it is in the sleep mode, includes a setting accepting portion to accept setting for printing, a job generating portion to generate a print job based on the accepted setting, a job transmitting portion to transmit the generated print job to the MFP, and a command transmitting portion to transmit a wake-up command to switch the MFP to the standby mode when the setting of the confidential printing as the printing method is accepted and when there is a wake-up instruction.
US08493574B2	Imaging shape changes in ear canals The attenuation and other optical properties of a medium are exploited to measure a thickness of the medium between a sensor and a target surface. Disclosed herein are various mediums, arrangements of hardware, and processing techniques that can be used to capture these thickness measurements and obtain dynamic three-dimensional images of the target surface in a variety of imaging contexts. This includes general techniques for imaging interior/concave surfaces as well as exterior/convex surfaces, as well as specific adaptations of these techniques to imaging ear canals, human dentition, and so forth.
US08493565B1	Small volume cell A small internal volume cell having fluid entry, and exit ports wherein at least one bubble trap is present in a fluid pathway which is continuous with the fluid exit port. There further being present an input/output aperture, for entering and exiting electromagnetic radiation, positioned to allow causing an input beam of electromagnetic radiation to impinge on a sample substrate at a location thereon at which, during use, fluid contacts; and a mirror for directing electromagnetic radiation which reflects from said sample substrate, toward and out of said input/output aperture; as well as methodology of its use.
US08493561B2	Device for on-site measurement of concentration of uranium in high temperature molten salts A device for on-site measurement of concentration of uranium in high temperature molten salts is provided. More particularly, this device can be directly applied to a pyroprocess for reusing spent nuclear fuel and determine concentration of uranium 3+ and 4+ chemical species using ultraviolet-visible light absorption spectrometry. The device includes first and second optical waveguides submerged in molten salts including uranium through a port formed at an upper side of a pyrochemical process apparatus; a lengthwise driver installed at the port to be operated to adjust a distance between the optical waveguides; a light source for supplying light to the second optical waveguide as any one of the optical waveguides; and a spectrometer connected to the first optical waveguide as the other one of the optical waveguides to analyze the light emitted from the second optical waveguide and introduced through the first optical waveguide via the molten salts.
US08493555B2	Distributed Brillouin sensing systems and methods using few-mode sensing optical fiber A distributed Brillouin optical fiber sensing system employs a sensing optical fiber that supports two or more (i.e., few) guided modes. Pump light supported by one of the guided modes is used to form a dynamic Brillouin grating (DBG). Probe light supported by at least one of the other guided modes interacts with the DBG to form reflected probe light that is received and analyzed to determine a Brillouin frequency shift and a reflection location, which in turn allows for making a measurement of at least one condition along the sensing optical fiber. Supporting the pump and probe light in different guided modes results in the optical fiber sensing system having a higher spatial resolution than sensing systems where the pump light and probe light share a common guided mode.
US08493551B2	Scanning exposure apparatus, control apparatus and method of manufacturing device A scanning exposure apparatus includes a first feedback loop including a first controlled object including an original stage and controlling a position of the original stage, a second feedback loop including a second controlled object including a substrate stage and controlling a position of the substrate stage, and a feedback unit including a first calculator and feed backing a synchronization error between the original stage and the substrate stage to the first feedback loop and the second feedback loop via the first calculator, wherein a transfer function from a first target value for the first controlled object to a first controlled value of the first controlled object and that from a second target value for the second controlled object to a second controlled value of the second controlled object are equal, and the exposure is performed at least during a period in which the original and the substrate are accelerated.
US08493547B2	Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and device manufacturing method An exposure apparatus is equipped with an encoder system which measures positional information of a wafer stage by irradiating a measurement beam using four heads installed on the wafer stage on a scale plate which covers the movement range of the wafer stage except for the area right under a projection optical system. Placement distances of the heads here are each set to be larger than width of the opening of the scale plates, respectively. This allows the positional information of the wafer stage to be measured, by switching and using the three heads facing the scale plate out of the four heads according to the position of the wafer stage.
US08493544B2	Method and apparatus for prefiring cues during a digital cinema presentation Digital cinema exhibition facilities make use of a show play list (SPL) specifying a time sequence of the events to occur during the presentation of digital cinema content. One or more cues in the show play list trigger certain activities, such as displacing the screen curtain and dimming the house lights. To achieve an aesthetic, showman-like presentation, the cues in the show play undergo re-cuing. For each cue, a determination is made automatically of the prefire interval, that is, the interval by which the cue should be advanced. The execution the cue to trigger a corresponding activity is advanced by the automatically determined pre-fire interval.
US08493543B2	Liquid crystal display device A liquid crystal display device includes: a first substrate; a second substrate which faces the first substrate; and a liquid crystal which is interposed between the first and second substrates. A plurality of scanning lines and signal lines arranged in a matrix shape, a plurality of switching elements arranged in the vicinities of intersections of the scanning lines and the signal lines in a display area, a plurality of pixel electrodes electrically connected to the switching elements, and a plurality of dummy pixels formed in a non-display area located in the periphery of the display area are formed on the first substrate close to a liquid crystal layer. Each of the plurality of dummy pixels is provided with a plurality of switching elements connected to the scanning line or the signal line, the plurality of switching elements are connected to each other in parallel, and one electrode of each of the switching elements is connected to a wiring to be supplied with a common potential.
US08493542B2	Method and system for fabricating liquid crystal cells Techniques for successively fabricating liquid crystal cells at low cost, using two resinous substrates wound on their respective rolls. A color filter and an electrode pattern are formed by printing techniques. Furthermore, an orientation film is printed. These manufacturing steps are carried out successively by rotating various rolls.
US08493541B2	Array substrate, manufacturing method thereof and liquid crystal display A manufacturing method of an array substrate comprises forming gate lines, data lines, pixel electrodes, and gate electrodes, active layer members, source electrodes, drain electrodes of thin film transistors (TFTs) in pixel units in a display region and forming the gate lines and the data lines in a pad region. A process of forming the data lines, the active layer members, the source electrodes and the drain electrodes in the display region and simultaneously forming the data lines in the pad region is performed.
US08493537B2	Liquid crystal display device A liquid crystal display includes a first substrate and a second substrate opposed to each other with a liquid crystal layer therebetween, the first substrate having a plurality of drain signal lines and a plurality of gate signal lines, and a plurality of pixel regions defined by the drain signal lines and the gate signal lines. The pixel regions include a first electrode formed of a transparent conducting layer, the first electrode being overlapped with the drain signal line and formed on a plurality of the pixel regions, a second electrode formed of a transparent conducting layer, the second electrode being overlapped with the first electrode, a first insulating layer formed between the first electrode and the second electrode, and a second insulating layer formed between the drain signal line and the first electrode.
US08493533B2	Liquid crystal display device Light leakage between pixel electrodes over a video signal line in a TN-type liquid crystal display device in which a dot inversion driving is applied with a three o'clock viewing angle is prevented. Pixel electrodes (PX) are formed on both sides of a video signal line (DL) of a first substrate (SUB1), and an end of the pixel electrode (PX) and the video signal line (DL) overlap each other. Over a second substrate (SUB2), a black matrix (BM) is formed in a portion corresponding to the video signal line (DL). By shifting the black matrix BM and the video signal line DL to the left with respect to a gap G between the pixel electrodes PX, it is possible to prevent light leakage caused by a disclination line (DS) which occurs by a horizontal electric field between pixel electrodes (PX).
US08493530B2	Panel for controlling viewing angle and liquid crystal display having the same The invention relates to a panel for controlling viewing angle and a liquid crystal display having the same. More particularly, there is provided a panel for controlling viewing angle including a first substrate; a second substrate facing the first substrate; liquid crystal layer provided between the first and the second substrate; a first electrode disposed on the first substrate; a second electrode disposed on a first side of the second substrate facing the first electrode; and a light blocking film disposed on a second side of the second electrode and a liquid crystal display having the same.
US08493525B2	Thin film transistor array panel, liquid crystal display, method for repairing the same, color filter array panel and method for manufacturing the same A thin film transistor array panel includes: a substrate; a gate line and a storage electrode that are disposed on the substrate; a data line that crosses the gate line and storage electrode line; a thin film transistor that is connected with the gate line and data line; and a pixel electrode that is connected to the thin film transistor. The storage electrode includes a first storage electrode that is parallel to the gate line, second storage electrodes that extend on opposing sides of the data line from the first storage electrode, a connection part that crosses the data line and connects pairs of the second storage electrodes, and a connection bridge that crosses the gate line and connects a second storage electrode to a second storage electrode of an adjacent pixel.
US08493519B2	Charge recovery scheme Shuttering eyewear (or shutter glasses) may be used to enable stereoscopic 3D and to provide different images to two viewers using a single display, known as Dual View. The shuttering eyewear may utilize charge recovery circuits. The charge recovery circuits may achieve high charge recovery efficiencies on the order of 80 to 90 percent resulting in a dramatic reduction in power supply battery operating current and a resulting increase in operating time. The charge recovery circuits may utilize switch mode boost conversion to recover most of the charge from a shutter that is being closed to one that is to be opened. Further, a charge recovery method for utilizing energy stored on a capacitive storage device may include closing a first active shutter, moving charge to a converter in buck mode to a capacitor, and pulling charge from the capacitor to open a second shutter.
US08493516B2	Light-emitting module, illumination device, display device, and television receiver An LED module (MJ) wherein among apertures (21A to 21C) and pins (11A to 11C) to engage each other, the apertures (21A to 21C) are formed in a mounting board (20) and the pins (11A to 11C) are formed on a lens (10). The apertures (21A to 21C) and the pins (11A to 11C) regulate the directivity direction of the lens (10) to a specific direction by engaging each other in one kind of manner.
US08493514B2	Apparatus for controlling color temperature Disclosed is the apparatus for controlling color temperature enabling the color region determiner to determine whether the inputted chroma signal value in pixels belongs to a pre-set achromatic color region or a chromatic color region, and the color temperature corrector to correct the chroma signal gains according to the determined achromatic color region or chromatic color region.
US08493513B2	Resampling and picture resizing operations for multi-resolution video coding and decoding Techniques and tools for high accuracy position calculation for picture resizing in applications such as spatially-scalable video coding and decoding are described. In one aspect, resampling of a video picture is performed according to a resampling scale factor. The resampling comprises computation of a sample value at a position i, j in a resampled array. The computation includes computing a derived horizontal or vertical sub-sample position x or y in a manner that involves approximating a value in part by multiplying a 2n value by an inverse (approximate or exact) of the upsampling scale factor. The approximating can be a rounding or some other kind of approximating, such as a ceiling or floor function that approximates to a nearby integer. The sample value is interpolated using a filter.
US08493511B2	Display system, display device, and repeater Also in a video system in which a device responding to a multiple screen display function and a non-responding device are mixedly present, a communication message for a collaboration of the device which performs a multiple screen display operation is realized without exerting an influence on operations of the non-responding device. A video device including two or more video input ports and capable of simultaneously receiving videos output from multiple video source devices connected to the video input ports is configured so as to perform a predetermined filtering operation or message conversion when transmitting to the other video input ports a communication message for video device control to be converted through the video input ports.
US08493510B2	Method and apparatus for concealing portions of a video screen A simple, cost-effective, and robust method and system to obstruct crawls, logos, and other annoying and distracting images overlaid on a video signal and displayed on a TV set or monitor is provided. The method and system may detect the presence of the unwanted images and block them automatically, or they may accept manual input from the user via a handheld control device to block or obstruct these images.
US08493506B2	Imaging device unit and imaging apparatus for removing dust from an optical device An imaging device unit completely removing dust attached to an optical device and an imaging apparatus. The imaging device includes: an imaging device including an imaging surface on which an optical image of a subject is formed and converting the optical image into an electric signal; a low pass filter (LPF) disposed between the imaging device and the subject; a plate mounted on a peripheral portion of the LPF and including arm units extending in a direction parallel to the plate; a piezoelectric device mounted on the plate and vibrating the plate and the LPF; and a support frame that surface-contacts with the arm units of the plate and supports the plate in the direction parallel to the one surface of the plate.
US08493496B2	Depth mapping using projected patterns Apparatus for mapping an object includes an illumination assembly (30, 50), which includes a single transparency (36) containing a fixed pattern (60, 70, 80) of spots. A light source (34, 52) transilluminates the single transparency with optical radiation so as to project the pattern onto the object (28). An image capture assembly (32) captures an image of the pattern that is projected onto the object using the single transparency. A processor (24) processes the image captured by the image capture assembly so as to reconstruct a three-dimensional (3D) map of the object.
US08493495B2	Media module control The technology includes processor-implemented methods, computer program products, and electronic devices for media module control. Media module zoom specifications are requested. Media module zoom specifications comprising zoom range are received. The received zoom range is divided into n discrete steps. A zoom bar is presented comprises an indicator of increasing zoom direction, an indicator of decreasing zoom direction, and a slider bar is presented. The slider bar is disposed substantially between the indicators. The slider bar displays zoom level as one of the n discrete steps from a first step equal to no zoom level, and an nth step equal to full zoom level. User input regarding a zoom level is received. Zoom is performed on the displayed image. The relative zoom level is displayed in the zoom bar.
US08493493B2	Imaging apparatus, imaging apparatus control method, and computer program An imaging apparatus includes: a control unit configured to move a focusing lens, and detect a focus position; wherein the control unit executes auto-focus (AF) scan processing in which only a part of a range of movement of the focusing lens is set as a scan range, as first scan processing, and executes auto-focus (AF) scan processing in which a region including a region differing from the scan region of the first scan processing is set as a scan range, as second scan processing, in the event that a focus point is not detected in the first scan processing.
US08493490B2	Imaging apparatus and camera An imaging apparatus including a pixel, a current source, and a signal processing circuit. The pixel outputs signal charge, obtained by imaging, as a pixel signal. The current source is connected to a transmission path for the pixel signal and has a variable current. The signal processing circuit performs signal processing on a signal depending on an output signal to the transmission path and performs control so that a current of the current source is changed in accordance with the result of signal processing.
US08493489B2	Solid-state imaging device, method for driving solid-state imaging device, and electronic apparatus Disclosed herein is a solid-state imaging device, including: a pixel array unit configured to be formed by two-dimensionally arranging unit pixels each having a photoelectric converter, a charge-voltage converter, a reset transistor to set the charge-voltage converter to a predetermined potential, and an amplification transistor to read out a signal converted by the charge-voltage converter; a signal processor configured to process a signal output from the unit pixel by using a reference voltage; and a setter configured to set a reset level obtained from a second unit pixel from which a signal level has been already read out as the reference voltage of the signal processor before readout of a signal level based on a signal charge accumulated or retained in the charge-voltage converter from a first unit pixel.
US08493487B2	Photoelectric conversion apparatus and imaging system using floating light shielding portions In a photoelectric conversion apparatus having a plurality of unit cells, wherein each of the unit cells has a photoelectric conversion element, a transfer transistor and a floating diffusion region, a light shielding portion arranged on an upper portion of the floating diffusion region is included. The respective light shielding portions are separated from one another, and are in a floating state without being electrically connected to the floating diffusion region.
US08493486B2	Image pickup apparatus, image pickup system, and driving method of image pickup apparatus In a conventional image pickup apparatus, a plurality of reset methods for resetting a photodiode cannot be set. A row selection unit is provided with a first storage unit for storing an address of a read row, a second storage unit for storing an address of a shutter row, and further a third storage unit for storing an address of a row in which potential of photodiode is fixed.
US08493483B2	Image taking device and camera system An image sensor includes a plurality of pixels, a plurality of sense circuits, and a count circuit. Each sense circuit is configured to read out electrical signals from at least one pixel associated with the sense circuit in order to generate data representing whether or not photons have been received by the sense circuit. The count circuit is in communication with a sense circuit selected from the plurality of sense circuits. The count circuit is configured to provide integration results for the pixels associated with the sense circuits based on the data received from the sense circuits.
US08493477B2	Image-capturing apparatus with automatically adjustable angle of view and control method therefor The present invention sets an auto-zooming frame that includes a plurality of selected subjects from among subjects detected from a captured image. Then, the angle of view is adjusted so that the entire auto-zooming frame is captured. Auto-zooming frame setting and angle of view adjustment are continuously performed on images that are consecutively captured, thereby providing auto-zooming control for a plurality of subjects.
US08493476B2	Image capturing apparatus, image capturing method, and computer readable medium storing therein program The present invention provides a video in which a subject image looks clear while reducing the amount of transmitted data. An image capturing apparatus includes: an image capturing section that successively captures a plurality of images under a plurality of image capturing conditions different from each other; an image generating section that generates an output image by overlapping the plurality of captured images captured under the plurality of image capturing conditions; and an output section that outputs the output image generated by the image generating section. The image capturing section may successively capture the plurality of images by means of exposure in different exposure time lengths from each other. The image capturing section may successively capture the plurality of images also by means of exposure in different aperture openings from each other.
US08493475B2	Imaging apparatus and control method thereof An imaging apparatus includes an image recording unit configured to record captured image data on a first recording medium with no wireless communication function and a second recording medium with a wireless communication function, which is detachable, a recording destination setting unit configured to set a recording destination on which to record the image data by the image recording unit, and a transmission setting unit configured to set whether to transmit the image data to an external apparatus by the wireless communication function of the second recording medium. If the transmission setting unit sets the image data to be transmitted to the external apparatus, the recording destination setting unit automatically sets the second recording medium as the recording destination of the captured image data.
US08493473B2	System and method for RAW image processing An automated RAW image processing method and system are disclosed. A RAW image and metadata related to the RAW image are obtained from a digital camera or other source. The RAW image and the related metadata are automatically processed using an Operating System service of a processing device to produce a resulting image in an absolute color space. The resulting image is then made available to an application program executing on the processing device through an application program interface with the Operating System service.
US08493472B2	Image sensing apparatus for generating image data and authentication data of the image data An image sensing apparatus generates image data corresponding to a sensed image, and generates key data which is used to generate authentication data. The authentication data is used to authenticate whether or not the image data is altered. The image sensing apparatus erases the generated key data from the image sensing apparatus if at least two image data generated by the image sensing apparatus are stored in a memory.
US08493470B2	Image recording device and image recording method According to an image recording device and an image recording method according to the present invention, images can be recorded in such a manner that even an image processing apparatus not having a function that reads a plurality of image data from an extended image file storing the plurality of image data and reproduces or edits them can read representative image data in an extended image file. Furthermore, if a basic file has been deleted or altered, the basic file can be restored using the representative image data in the extended image file, so it is possible to provide another image processing apparatus with the representative image data before the alteration any time.
US08493466B2	Red-eye filter method and apparatus A digital image acquisition system having no photographic film, such as a digital camera, has a flash unit for providing illumination during image capture and a red-eye filter for detecting a region within a captured image indicative of a red-eye phenomenon, the detection being based upon a comparison of the captured image and a reference image of nominally the same scene taken without flash. In the embodiment the reference image is a preview image of lower pixel resolution than the captured image, the filter matching the pixel resolutions of the captured and reference images by up-sampling the preview image and/or sub-sampling the captured image. The filter also aligns at least portions of the captured image and reference image prior to comparison to allow for, e.g. movement in the subject.
US08493455B2	Lens assembly alignment device for camera lens module A lens assembly alignment apparatus for a camera lens module is provided. The lens assembly alignment apparatus includes a position alignment apparatus that moves a lens assembly in a direction of an optical axis of the lens assembly and on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis. The apparatus also includes a slant alignment apparatus having first and second rotary axes which extend perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to the optical axis of the lens assembly, respectively. The lens assembly is received in a housing, and the slant alignment apparatus aligns an optical axis of an image sensor, which is mounted in the housing, parallel to the optical axis of the lens assembly by rotating the housing about each of the first and second rotary axes.
US08493452B2	Solid-state imaging device and electronic apparatus having a light blocking part A solid-state imaging device including a plurality of pixel units configured and disposed in an imaging area in such a way that a plurality of pixels corresponding to different colors are treated as one unit, the amount of shift of a position of each of the pixels in the pixel unit being set as to differ depending on distance from a center of the imaging area to the pixel unit and a color.
US08493450B2	Camera, printer, print system, control method, memory medium and program therefor The invention provides a system capable of printing in a simple manner by detecting the connection of a printer and shifting to a print mode in response to the detection of the printer.
US08493448B2	Method and system to convert 2D video into 3D video 2D/3D video conversion using a method for providing an estimation of visual depth for a video sequence, the method comprises an audio scene classification (34) in which a visual depth categorization index of visual depth (37) of a scene is made on basis of an analysis of audio information (32) for the scene, wherein the visual depth categorization index (37) is used in a 5 following visual depth estimation (38) based on video information (33) for the same scene, thereby reducing the calculation load and speeding up the processing.
US08493447B2	Image synthesis apparatus and image synthesis method An image synthesis apparatus includes an image obtainer obtaining a plurality of images taken by a plurality of cameras; a pixel value corrector which, with respect to each of the images, calculates a correction factor of an average pixel value in overlap regions located at the both ends of an image and, in the adjacent direction of the images, calculates the correction factor of a pixel value in a region other than the overlap regions by a predetermined continuous function connecting the correction factors in the overlap regions and corrects the entire image based on the calculated correction factor; a synthetic image generator synthesizing the images corrected by the pixel value corrector to generate one synthetic image; and an image output outputting the synthetic image to an external apparatus.
US08493440B2	Autostereoscopic display device A switchable autostereoscopic display device comprises a display panel having an array of display pixels for producing a display, the display pixels being arranged in rows and columns; and an imaging arrangement for directing the output from different pixels to different spatial positions to enable a stereoscopic image to be viewed. The imaging arrangement is electrically switchable between at least three modes comprising a 2D mode and two 3D modes. The imaging arrangement comprises an electrically configurable graded index lens array. The display can be switched between a number of modes to enable the display to be adapted or to adapt itself to the image content to be displayed and/or the display device orientation.
US08493439B2	Apparatus for displaying 3D image A three-dimensional image display apparatus having improved resolution and an expanded elementary three-dimensional space is disclosed. The three-dimensional image display apparatus includes a display device (22) sampling, multiplexing and displaying a plurality of parallax images so as to implement a three-dimensional image and a lenticular lens plate (24) provided on the front surface of the display device (22) and having a vertical axis (25) tilted from a vertical axis of the display device by a predetermined angle α, wherein the number of parallax images included in an elementary three-dimensional image of the three-dimensional image is a multiple of 7.
US08493436B2	Panoramic camera with multiple image sensors using timed shutters The present invention relates to the field of panoramic still and motion photography. In a first embodiment, a camera apparatus for panoramic photography includes a first image sensor positioned to capture a first image. The first image sensor has a rolling-shutter readout arranged in portrait orientation. The camera apparatus also includes second image sensor positioned to capture a second image. The second image sensor has a rolling-shutter readout arranged in portrait orientation. Finally, the camera apparatus includes a controller configured to signal the second image sensor to start capturing the second image before the first image sensor finishes capturing the first image. At least a portion of the first image is in front of the second image relative to a forward direction of the camera apparatus.
US08493435B2	Data modulation method and liquid crystal display device using the same A data modulation method, comparing left eye image data during a (4N+1)-th frame period with previous frame data, selecting a preliminary modulation value for a left eye image, preliminarily modulating the left eye image data during the (4N+1)-th frame period to reach the preliminary modulation value for the left eye image, and secondarily modulating left eye image data during a (4N+2)-th frame period to reach the preliminary modulation value for the left eye image or a modulation value smaller than the preliminary modulation value.
US08493432B2	Digital refocusing for wide-angle images using axial-cone cameras A single camera acquires an input image of a scene as observed in an array of spheres, wherein pixels in the input image corresponding to each sphere form a sphere image. A set of virtual cameras are defined for each sphere on a line joining a center of the sphere and a center of projection of the camera, wherein each virtual camera has a different virtual viewpoint and an associated cone of rays, appearing as a circle of pixels on its virtual image plane. A projective texture mapping of each sphere image is applied to all of the virtual cameras on the virtual image plane to produce a virtual camera image comprising circle of pixels. Each virtual camera image for each sphere is then projected to a refocusing geometry using a refocus viewpoint to produce a wide-angle lightfield view, which are averaged to produce a refocused wide-angle image.
US08493431B2	Video conference system, processing method used in the same, and machine-readable medium Disclosed is a processing method used in a video conference system having a local terminal device and at least one remote terminal device, comprising a feature detection step of carrying out a feature detection in the local terminal device and the remote terminal device, respectively; a conference mode setting step of setting a conference mode for the local terminal device and the remote terminal device, respectively; and a video encoding step of dividing a video frame in the local terminal device and the remote terminal device, and then pre-processing the divided areas so as to encode the pre-processed areas, respectively.
US08493429B2	Method and terminal for synchronously recording sounds and images of opposite ends based on circuit domain video telephone A method and a terminal for synchronously recording voices and images of an opposite end based on a circuit domain videophone are provided. The method includes receiving, by a terminal used by a party in a video call, a recording instruction sent by a user, taking a local time as a reference time, and performing frame analyzing for received audio and video code-streams; and writing the audio and video frames obtained by analyzing and the duration corresponding to each frame into a 3GP file. The terminal includes an audio and video frame analysis module, an audio frame write-in module, a video frame write-in module and a frame duration calculation module. With the present invention, the user can experience that the time when the user starts the recording and the actual recording time are basically the same, thus the user satisfaction is improved.
US08493422B2	Color filter layer alignment A method is provided to manufacture displays such as, for example, reflective displays, electrophoretic displays or liquid crystal displays. In one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for aligning a patterned layer of color filter elements with a display assembly. The method includes activating a first set of addressable pixel elements to change an activation state of each pixel element in the first set of the pixel elements. A required alignment of the patterned layer of color filter elements with the display assembly can be determined based at least on the activated first or a second set of the pixel elements. The patterned layer of color filter elements is aligned with the display assembly according to the required alignment.
US08493419B2	Mitigation of artifacts in PWM illumination imaging A system and method for reducing pulse width modulation contouring artifacts. Each input intensity value is translated to at least one non-binary bit pattern for display. Many of the input intensity values are translated to at least two alternate non-binary bit patterns. The alternate codes are used to smooth the transition between intensity codes as major bits are turned on. The smoothing occurs by the gradual transition from codes that do not use the major bit to codes that do use the major bit. Typically the alternate codes are selected based on the location of the pixel in a spatial pattern (100) and the alternate codes are spatially alternated from one pixel (102) to the next (104). Other embodiments temporally alternate the codes from one period—typically a frame period—to the next. Still other embodiments alternate the codes both spatially and temporally.
US08493414B2	Information display device and recording medium with control program recorded therein In a terminal device, when application screens of a plurality of types of applications are being displayed individually and the display directions thereof differ from each other, a control section selects any one of the plurality of types of applications as a reference for display control, and orients the display direction of an application that is not the control reference to the display direction of an application that is the control reference. That is, when the display direction of an application displayed on one display section is changed from a vertical direction to a horizontal direction, the display direction of an application displayed on another display section is changed from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction so as to follow the foregoing change.
US08493411B2	Methods and apparatus for extensions to directed graphs with minimal and maximal constraints are encoded by arcs in opposite directions Disclosed are apparatus and methods for generating displays based on a layout. A layout is received that specifies a set of rectangular components within a container rectangle. Each rectangular component has a size. A plurality of grid lines is determined from the layout. Each rectangular component is associated with at least two grid lines that are based on the size of the rectangular component. A system of constraints is generated that includes a minimum constraint and a maximum constraint. Each constraint is related to at least two grid lines of the plurality of grid lines. The minimum and maximum constraints respectively specify a minimum and a maximum value between at least two grid lines. The system of constraints is solved to determine a location for each grid line. A display of the rectangular components is generated based on the locations of the grid lines.
US08493409B2	Visualizing and updating sequences and segments in a video surveillance system Techniques are disclosed for visually conveying a sequence storing an ordered string of symbols generated from kinematic data derived from analyzing an input stream of video frames depicting one or more foreground objects. The sequence may represent information learned by a video surveillance system. A request may be received to view the sequence or a segment partitioned form the sequence. A visual representation of the segment may be generated and superimposed over a background image associated with the scene. A user interface may be configured to display the visual representation of the sequence or segment and to allow a user to view and/or modify properties associated with the sequence or segment.
US08493406B2	Creating new charts and data visualizations The rendering on a user interface of a potentially complex computerized scene generation system. The user interface includes visual item(s) that have associated data. In addition, another set of visual items may be driven by data provided to input parameters, and may represent elements in the scene. Through user gestures, a user may correlate data items in the data source visual items with the element visual items to thereby automatically populate the element visual items with data, affecting the rendering of the data-driven element visual items. The element visual items might be linked, once again, perhaps through user gestures, to a parent visual item. In so doing, properties of the parent visual item might change and/or input parameters of the element visual items might change. Accordingly, complex visual scenes may be created through potentially quite simple user gestures.
US08493400B2	Memory device and memory control for controlling the same A memory device includes: a memory cell array which stores two-dimensionally arranged data in a plurality of memory unit regions selected by an address; an internal address control unit which generates an internal address which selects a memory unit region according to an external address; and a decoder which decodes the internal address and selects a memory unit region. The plurality of memory unit regions store data arranged in a first direction from among two-dimensionally arranged data according to a least-significant bit group of the internal address and store data arranged in a second direction from among the two-dimensionally arranged data according to a most-significant bit group of the address. The internal address control unit successively generates an internal address corresponding to the scan direction according to a scan direction control signal which controls a plurality of scan directions including at least an oblique direction of the two-dimensionally arranged data.
US08493399B1	Multiprocess GPU rendering model Methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for rendering application content are disclosed. In one embodiment a content receiver receives application content for rendering on a display unit of a computing device. A first processing unit renders the application content onto a first frame of a plurality of frames, and a second processing unit sequentially renders the plurality of frames onto the display unit. A counter counts of a number of outstanding frames as provided by the first processing unit to the second processing unit relative to corresponding acknowledgement messages indicating that one of the outstanding frames has been rendered onto the display unit. If the count is less than a threshold, the first processing unit renders the application content onto the first frame, otherwise the first processing unit waits to render the application content until the count is less than the threshold.
US08493396B2	Multidimensional datapath processing in a video processor A multidimensional datapath processing system for a video processor for executing video processing operations. The video processor includes a scalar execution unit configured to execute scalar video processing operations and a vector execution unit configured to execute vector video processing operations. A data store memory is included for storing data for the vector execution unit. The data store memory includes a plurality of tiles having symmetrical bank data structures arranged in an array. The bank data structures are configured to support accesses to different tiles of each bank.
US08493392B2	Image display device An image display device is constructed by a display memory, a sprite attribute table, a sprite rendering processor and an animation execution engine. The display memory stores image data to be displayed on a display. The sprite attribute table stores attribute data representing a display attribute of a sprite which is a component of the image data. The sprite rendering processor executes a drawing process for reflecting image data of the sprite to the image data stored in the display memory according to the attribute data stored in the sprite attribute table. The animation execution engine reads an animation execution program including both attribute data to be transferred and a table write command of the attribute data from an external memory, and executes the animation execution program to transfer the attribute data to the sprite attribute table according to the table write command.
US08493391B2	Generating designs for product adornment Ordered pattern are generated based on an existing image by providing an isosceles right triangle-shaped first image, and creating a second image based thereon. The second image at least includes a first portion entirely formed from a plurality of mirrored or unmirrored, rotated or unrotated, and non-overlapping instances of the first image arranged in the shape of a complete rectangle. The legs of the complete rectangle are at least as long as either the legs or the hypotenuse of the isosceles right triangle. The first portion of the second image encompasses an area at least twice that of the first image. The plurality of instances of the first image are joined at their respective isosceles right triangle hypotenuses, legs, and corners. A computer system for performing various embodiments of such method is provided, as are a wide variety of products adorned with attractive examples of such ordered images.
US08493390B2	Adaptive displays using gaze tracking Methods and systems for adapting a display screen output based on a display user's attention. Gaze direction tracking is employed to determine a sub-region of a display screen area to which a user is attending. Display of the attended sub-region is modified relative to the remainder of the display screen, for example, by changing the quantity of data representing an object displayed within the attended sub-region relative to an object displayed in an unattended sub-region of the display screen.
US08493384B1	3D manipulation using applied pressure Placement by one or more input mechanisms of a touch point on a multi-touch display device that is displaying a three-dimensional object is detected. A two-dimensional location of the touch point on the multi-touch display device is determined, and the touch point is matched with a three-dimensional contact point on a surface of the three-dimensional object that is projected for display onto the image plane of the camera at the two-dimensional location of the touch point. A change in applied pressure at the touch point is detected, and a target depth value for the contact point is determined based on the change in applied pressure. A solver is used to calculate a three-dimensional transformation of the three-dimensional object using an algorithm that reduces a difference between a depth value of the contact point after object transformation and the target depth value.
US08493378B2	Polygon dissection in a geographic information system In general, the invention relates to a method for performing polygon dissections in a geographic information system. The method includes receiving a notification of a spatial update for a number of polygons, where each of the number of polygons overlaps at least one of a number of previously dissected polygons, determining that a dissection is required based on the spatial update, and obtaining an updated polygon, associated with the spatial update, and related polygons of the number of polygons, where each of the related polygons overlaps the updated polygon. The method further includes dissecting the updated polygon and the related polygons to obtain a number of dissected polygons and replacing at least one of the number of previously dissected polygons with the number of dissected polygons, where the at least one of the number of previously dissected polygons is invalid based on the spatial update.
US08493376B2	Driver circuit structure Disclosed is a driver circuit structure integrated in a display panel. The driver circuit structure includes a plurality of transistors and a backup transistor. After completing the driver circuit structure, the disclosure inspects it to find an inactive transistor. The inspection process first, isolates the electrical connection between the inactive transistor and the first electrode line and/or the electrical connection between the inactive transistor and the second electrode line. Next, the source electrode of the backup transistor and the first electrode line and/or electrically connecting the drain electrode of the backup transistor and the second electrode line are electrical connected.
US08493375B2	Driving apparatus of display device A driving apparatus for a display device includes: a reference gamma voltage generator configured to generate a reference gamma voltage according to an MTP control signal, a write control signal, and an erase control signal; and a data driver configured to convert a data signal into a data voltage corresponding to the reference gamma voltage. The reference gamma voltage generator includes: a protection unit configured to output a first voltage as a first internal voltage when the MTP control signal is at a first level, and to interrupt the output of the first voltage when the MTP control signal is at a second level; an MTP cell configured to program a bit signal by utilizing the first internal voltage and a second internal voltage according to the write control signal and erase control signal; and a gamma register configured to determine the reference gamma voltage corresponding to the bit signal.
US08493370B2	Dynamic brightness range for portable computer displays based on ambient conditions A portable computer system that comprises adjustable brightness settings and brightness control for providing improved user readability and prolonged life of the display screen is disclosed. The main processor can change the brightness range settings in response to a change in ambient light conditions. The user can also control the brightness of the display. The time required to implement a brightness change can be set to a value which can be configured by the user.
US08493364B2	Dual sided transparent display module and portable electronic device incorporating the same A dual sided transparent display module and an electronic device incorporating the same are provided. The dual sided transparent display module includes a primary transparent display having a first surface side and a second surface side. The transparent display module further includes a first side touch sensor array and a second side touch sensor array respectively located at the first surface side and the second surface side of the primary transparent display. The transparent display module still further includes a shutter element located at one of the first surface side and the second surface side of the primary transparent display.
US08493354B1	Interactivity model for shared feedback on mobile devices A system that produces a dynamic haptic effect and generates a drive signal that includes a gesture signal and a real or virtual device sensor signal. The haptic effect is modified dynamically based on both the gesture signal and the real or virtual device sensor signal such as from an accelerometer or gyroscope, or by a signal created from processing data such as still images, video or sound. The haptic effect may optionally be modified dynamically by using the gesture signal and the real or virtual device sensor signal and a physical model, or may optionally be applied concurrently to multiple devices which are connected via a communication link. The haptic effect may optionally be encoded into a data file on a first device. The data file is then communicated to a second device and the haptic effect is read from the data file and applied to the second device.
US08493353B2	Methods and systems for generating and joining shared experience A method for implementing shared experiences using mobile computing devices comprises capturing an image of a trigger along with background information associated with the trigger in a video frame using a video camera built into a first mobile computing device equipped with a display screen and a wireless communication module; identifying characteristics information of the trigger and the associated background information; transmitting the characteristics information of the trigger and the associated background information to a server computing device connected to a network using wireless communication; receiving an augmented reality corresponding to the characteristics information of the trigger and the associated background information from the server computing device; and presenting the augmented reality on the display screen of the first mobile computing device, wherein the augmented reality associated with the first mobile computing device is shared and time synchronized with an augmented reality previously transmitted by the server computing device to a second mobile computing device.
US08493352B2	Portable transmitter with push switch and touch sensor A portable transmitter is provided which transmits an operating instruction in the form of a radio wave to a controlled device which continues to operate while receiving the operating instruction. The portable transmitter includes a push switch and a touch sensor. The portable transmitter works to supply the electric power to the touch sensor for a given period of time in response to depression of the push switch. When the touch sensor senses a user's touch thereon, and the push switch is depressed, the portable transmitter transmits the operating instruction to the controlled device and continues such transmission as long as the touch sensor senses the touch thereon regardless of the depression of the push switch. In other words, once the operating instruction has been outputted to the controlled device, the user is required only to touch the touch sensor in order to make the controlled device continue the operation.
US08493351B2	Apparatus and method for reducing average scan rate to detect a conductive object on a sensing device A switch circuit and method is described. In one embodiment, the switch circuit is configured to couple each of a plurality of plurality of capacitive sense elements and a plurality of capacitance sensors in different modes. In a first mode, the switch circuit is configured to couple each of the plurality of capacitance sensors to a group of two or more of the plurality of capacitive sense elements. In a second mode, the switch circuit is configured to couple the plurality of capacitance sensors to individual ones of the two or more of the plurality of capacitive sense elements in one of the groups.
US08493348B2	Capacitive sensing apparatus A capacitive sensor apparatus comprises a first sensing element and a second sensing element. The first sensing element has a length oriented along a first axis of a contactable capacitive sensing reference surface; has a substantially constant width along its length; and is configured to have varying capacitive coupling, along the first axis, to an object proximate to the contactable capacitive sensing reference surface. The second sensing element has a length oriented along the first axis; has substantially constant width along its length; and is configured to have varying capacitive coupling, along the first axis, to the object proximate to the contactable capacitive sensing reference surface. The first sensing and second sensing elements are conductive and are configured to provide information corresponding to a spatial location of the object relative to the first axis.
US08493346B2	Morphing touchscreen keyboard interface Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to touch interfaces and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for generating touch interface displays. In one embodiment of the invention, a computer-implemented method for generating touch interface displays at a communication device with a touch interface includes initiating a set of calibration exercises, providing a set of instructions to a user of the communication device, receiving calibration data at the touch interface, analyzing the received calibration data to determine if the calibration is complete, repeating said providing and receiving steps until the calibration is complete and generating a touch interface display based on the received calibration data. The computer-implemented method can further include receiving use data for each key touch of the touch interface, defining a set of averages over time for finger skin touch area, finger size data and finger position and automatically resizing, reshaping and repositioning at least one key of the touch interface display based on the defined set of averages.
US08493345B2	Display device A highly reliable electrostatic-capacitive-type display device with a touch panel which allows a user to perform finger touch inputting and exhibits excellent detection sensitivity is provided. A transparent conductive film is formed above a back surface of an electrostatic-capacitive-type touch panel so as to block noises generated by a display device. A conductive member is provided to supply a voltage to a transparent conductive film formed above a back surface of the touch panel. An electrode which is formed on the electrostatic-capacitive-type touch panel is divided in accordance with a ratio between the number of X electrodes and the number of Y electrodes. A floating electrode is formed in a gap defined between the electrodes so as to adjust an area of the electrode. Due to the shrinkage of the area of the electrode, it is possible to lower a noise level to a level equal to or lower than a signal level. Accordingly, an S/N ratio is increased thus enhancing detection sensitivity. Further, lines are branched on a flexible printed circuit board and intersecting lines are formed on a back surface of the flexible printed circuit board, and the intersecting lines are made to orthogonally intersect with lines formed on a front surface of the flexible printed circuit board thus lowering line capacitance.
US08493344B2	Devices, methods, and graphical user interfaces for accessibility using a touch-sensitive surface An accessibility method is performed by an electronic device with a display and a touch-sensitive surface. The method includes: displaying a plurality of user interface elements on the display; in response to detecting a first user interface navigation gesture by a finger on the touch-sensitive surface, navigating in the plurality of user interface elements in accordance with a current navigable unit type; in response to detecting a first user interface navigation setting gesture on the touch-sensitive surface: changing the current navigable unit type from the first navigable unit type to a second navigable unit type; and outputting accessibility information about the second navigable unit type; after changing the current navigable unit type, in response to detecting a second user interface navigation gesture by the finger on the touch-sensitive surface, navigating in the plurality of user interface elements in accordance with the current navigable unit type.
US08493340B2	Virtual hard media imaging The presently disclosed technology teaches using a tilt-sensitive virtual marking implement to render an impression on an electronic presentation device. Further, a bearing measurement and a tilt measurement of the virtual marking implement are made with respect to the surface. The tilt and bearing are then used to vary geometry of an impression profile associated with the physical marking implement as well as an intensity of the rendering. A user may actively vary the impression profile while he or she produces strokes of the virtual marking implement across the surface without changing the physical marking implement selection or switching to a different virtual marking implement. When creating a rendering on a virtual canvas using the virtual marking implement and the surface, a user may wish to vary an orientation of the virtual marking implement so that a corresponding impression profile mimics an impression of a selected physical marking implement.
US08493337B2	Light transmission touch panel A light transmission touch panel comprises a transparent substrate, a transparent conductive layer, an insulating layer, a plurality of first metal lines, and a plurality of second metal lines. The transparent conductive layer is overlaid on a surface of the transparent substrate and comprises a plurality of first cells, a plurality of second cells and a plurality of connecting lines, wherein the plurality of first cells and the plurality of second cells are arranged in a staggered manner and the plurality of connecting lines respectively connect the adjacent second cells. The insulating layer further comprises a plurality of insulating areas, each of which is overlaid on one of the first cells. The plurality of second metal lines are respectively disposed on the connecting lines. The plurality of first metal lines are respectively disposed on the plurality of insulating areas, and respectively connect the adjacent first cells.
US08493336B2	E-paper display control based on conformation sequence status A method for one or more portions of one or more regions of an electronic paper assembly having one or more display layers includes, but is not limited to: obtaining information associated with one or more changes in one or more sequences of two or more conformations of one or more portions of one or more regions of the electronic paper assembly and controlling display of one or more portions of one or more display layers of the electronic paper assembly regarding display of second information in response to the information associated with the one or more changes in the one or more conformations of the one or more portions of the one or more regions of the electronic paper assembly. In addition to the foregoing, other related method/system aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure.
US08493335B2	Reproduction apparatus, reproduction method and program Disclosed herein is a reproduction apparatus which includes a touch panel and vibrates the touch panel, including: a reproduction circuit configured to reproduce data in a unit of a frame in response to an operation of the touch panel by a user; and a driving circuit configured to vibrate the touch panel every time the data of each frame are reproduced.
US08493327B2	Handheld electronic device with text disambiguation and selective disabling of frequency learning A handheld electronic device includes a reduced QWERTY keyboard and is enabled with disambiguation software. The device provides output in the form of a default output and a number of variants. The output is based largely upon the frequency, i.e., the likelihood that a user is likely to have intended a particular output, but various features of the device provide additional variants that are not based solely on frequency and rather are provided by various logic structures resident on the device. The device provides a learning function that allows the disambiguation function to adapt to provide a customized experience for the user. The learning function is disabled, however, when the relevant words are found to be in a special category for which frequency learning, i.e., frequency revision, is not employed.
US08493324B2	Apparatus and method generating interactive signal for a moving article An airplane model is provided with a human-sensible interactive signal source; and the moving status of the air plane model such velocity is detected to generate a movement parameter. The movement parameter is operated with a frequency-dependent conversion function to obtain a first interactive data. A second interactive data is generated when a trace of the moving article is matched with a default pattern. A third interactive data is generated when the velocity along at least one dimension exceeds a threshold value. The interactive signal source, such as loudspeaker or lamps, is selectively driven by one of the interactive data to generate a movement-dependent audiovisual effect. Therefore, the airplane model can provide enhanced amusement effect for a user.
US08493323B2	System and method for adjusting presentation of moving images on an electronic device according to an orientation of the device The invention relates to a system, method and device for changing a notional viewing location for a moving image on a device, depending on an orientation of the device. For the moving image management system, it comprises: a sensor; a movement detection module connected to the sensor providing movement data registering a notable signal from the sensor; and a moving image adjustment module determining a new viewing location of the moving image utilizing the movement data and generating a replacement moving image for the moving image representing the moving image as viewed from the new viewing location.
US08493321B2	Image display device having a thin display panel An image display device having an image display panel includes: as a casing, a base part mountable on a horizontal surface, a rising part rising from the base part at a predetermined angle, and a panel retaining part connected to an upper part of the rising part, the panel retaining part retaining the image display panel; a first circuit board for processing an image signal to be displayed on the image display panel, the first circuit board being disposed in the base part; and a second circuit board for generating a driving signal for driving the image display panel for display on a basis of the image signal processed by the first circuit board, the second circuit board being disposed in the rising part; wherein the driving signal generated by the second circuit board is supplied to the image display panel, and the image display panel displays an image.

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