Document Document Title
US08503644B2 Method of and a communications system for playing a message to a calling party
A method of and a communications system (50) for playing a message to a calling party (1) when the calling party (1) calls a called party (2) and the called party (2) is alerted to the call. The message (30) is also played after the called party (2) disconnects (26) from the call (24). The play of the message may be put on hold when the called party (2) answers the call and the play of the message may be continued (38; 30) when the called party (2) disconnects from the call. The message may be replayed when the called party (2) disconnects from the call (24). During play of the message (30) the calling party (1) may be provided connect control (47) of the play.
US08503634B1 Systems and methods for treatment of inactive accounts
Methods and systems for treating inactive accounts by designating certain accounts for either unclaimed or escheats treatment are presented. In the unclaimed treatment the remaining balance of funds associated with the account is assigned to a prepaid phone card, whereas in the escheats treatment the remaining balance of funds is remitted to an appropriate authority. In each case the account is declared inactive, and processes are made available to reactivate the account.
US08503631B2 Methods, systems, and products for locking and unlocking a lock
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for locking and unlocking a lock. A lock service manager module stores in memory, and a processor communicates with the memory. The lock service manager module includes executable code for receiving a communication from a calling telephone number. A database is queried for at least one of i) a called telephone number and ii) a calling telephone number. The database stores telephone numbers of subscribers to a lock service. The lock service allows remote locking and unlocking of the lock. If the query is successful, the communication is processed.
US08503617B2 Telephony testing
In a computer, a test script is received that includes a first set of commands to be provided to an Internet protocol (IP) telephone. The test script is parsed to obtain the first set of commands. Parameters that identify the telephone are obtained. The parameters and at least one of the first set of commands are used to obtain at least one corresponding second command from a conversion table. A command script is generated to be executed by the telephone, the command script including the at least one corresponding second command.
US08503613B2 Dose level indication
Providing an operator with information concerning radiation dose associated with an imaging operation is disclosed. In certain embodiments, the dose information may be provided in conjunction with indicators related to reference dose levels to facilitate evaluation of the dose in the context of the reference levels. The dose information may be based on real-time assessment of dose or may be an expected dose based on a proposed or planned sequence of exposure events. Further the indication may be prospective, providing an indication to the operator of when certain dose thresholds may be crossed.
US08503612B2 Radiographic apparatus
An estimation selecting unit is provided to select an estimating method based on a predetermined value. When variations due to a statistical error of each pixel concerned are enlarged by a greater extent than variations of other pixels, and hence a possibility of becoming conspicuous on the image, then the direct ray transmittance at the pixel concerned is considered less than the predetermined value, and estimated direct ray intensity is obtained for the pixel concerned by interpolating calculation of estimated direct ray intensities at pixels surrounding the pixel concerned. Therefore, even when variations due to a statistical error of the pixel concerned are enlarged by a greater extent than variations of other pixels, and hence a possibility of becoming conspicuous on the image, estimated direct ray intensity is obtained for the pixel concerned by interpolating calculation of estimated direct ray intensities at pixels surrounding the pixel concerned, whereby the error can be inhibited without the pixel value of the pixel concerned being conspicuous relative to the surrounding pixels on the image.
US08503610B1 X-ray inspection tool
A method and apparatus for identifying a response to a plurality of x-rays are provided. In one advantageous embodiment, an apparatus comprising a housing, an x-ray tube, an anode, and an x-ray detector are provided. The housing has a longitudinal axis. The x-ray tube is associated with the housing and configured to generate a plurality of x-rays. The anode is associated with the housing and configured to rotate around the longitudinal axis to a direction and direct the plurality of x-rays generated by the x-ray tube toward a surface of an object in the direction. The x-ray detector is associated with the housing and configured to detect a response to the plurality of x-rays reflected from the surface of the object.
US08503609B2 Methods and devices for detecting, controlling, and predicting radiation delivery
Embodiments provide method and systems for determining alignment of a patient's body part, such as an eye, in an external coordinate system of a treatment or diagnostic device, such as a radiotherapy device, so as to define a reference axis for guiding device operation. Additional embodiments provide image-based methods and systems for aligning, tracking and monitoring motion of a body part and a treatment target in relation to a radiation beam axis. Particular ophthalmic embodiments provide method and systems including an eye-contact guide device and imaging system for aligning and tracking motion of an eye and ocular treatment target in relation to an orthovoltage X-ray beam axis, so as to monitor application of radiation to a lesion, such as a macular lesion of the retina. Particular methods for controlling radiation in response to motion of the target during treatment are described, such as algorithms for gating or interrupting radiation emission, both to ensure treatment goals and to avoid exposure to sensitive structures.
US08503608B2 Radiotherapeutic apparatus
Apparatus comprising a radiation source which can rotate in an arc around the radiation beam axis, a multi-leaf collimator (MLC), and a controller for the source dose/time rate, the source rotation speed, and the MLC position. The controller calculates the time required for (i) an MLC leaf movement from start to end of an arc-segment at a maximum leaf speed, (ii) rotation of the source from start to end of the arc-segment at a maximum speed, and (iii) delivery of the dose at a maximum dose rate per time, selects the longest of (i), (ii) and (iii), and operates the selected one at its maximum and the others at a reduced rate matching that longest time, the time required for (i) and/or (ii) being the greater of the time to complete the segment at a continuous speed and the time to accelerate the item to that speed.
US08503607B2 X-ray imaging apparatus and control method therefor
An X-ray imaging apparatus suppresses X-ray irradiation outside an X-ray detection unit. An X-ray imaging apparatus according to this invention includes an X-ray irradiation unit which irradiates an object with X-rays, an X-ray detection unit movably provided with an imaging unit, a first irradiation field prediction unit which calculates an irradiation field by using the relative positional relationship between generation unit and imaging unit and aperture value of a collimator, a second irradiation field prediction unit which calculates an irradiation field based on the dose of X-rays generated by the generation unit and the X-ray dose distribution detected by the imaging unit, and a predicted irradiation field decision unit which decides, as a predicted irradiation field, a region including one or both of irradiation fields respectively calculated by the first and second irradiation field prediction units.
US08503606B2 Low-cost position-sensitive X-ray detector
A detector and methods for producing x-ray images, more particularly based on x-rays transmitted through an inspected object. A scintillating region is translated along a path within a cross section of a beam, the cross section taken in a plane distal to the object with respect to a source of the beam. Light emitted by the scintillator region is detected, thereby generating a detection signal, the detection signal is received by a processor which generates an image signal, and an image depicting transmitted penetrating radiation is formed on the basis of the image signal.
US08503603B2 Adjustable scanner
For dental and facial imaging, a source of x-rays (14) or other penetrating radiation and a detector (20) are mounted opposite one another on a rotatable gantry (28), so that the head of the patient can be positioned between the source (14) and the detector (20), with the axis of rotation (36) of the gantry passing through the patient's head. The detector or the source are mounted so they can translate and/or pivot horizontally or vertically. The gantry is angulated so that the source or the detector may not be at the same height relative to the patient's head. The gantry can telescope, moving the source and the detector closer together or further apart. The collimator changes dynamically with the motion of the gantry and/or the source and detector to scan a smaller portion of the scan field.
US08503600B2 Fuel element for a pressurized water reactor
A fuel element for a nuclear reactor has a fuel rod bundle, at least one spacer with cells defined by at least one web section made from a first material and several guide tubes each running through a cell and axially fixed thereto made from a second material. The first and second materials have differing thermal expansion coefficients. The connection between the guide tube and the spacer is embodied as follows: first and second projections are directly or indirectly fixed to the guide tube. The first projections are disposed in a first axial position and the second projections are arranged at a second axial position and the projections each engage in an opening through the web section to give an axially-acting undercut.
US08503599B2 Optical gamma thermometer
An optical gamma thermometer includes a metal mass having a temperature proportional to a gamma flux within a core of a nuclear reactor, and an optical fiber cable for measuring the temperature of the heated metal mass. The temperature of the heated mass may be measured by using one or more fiber grating structures and/or by using scattering techniques, such as Raman, Brillouin, and the like. The optical gamma thermometer may be used in conjunction with a conventional reactor heat balance to calibrate the local power range monitors over their useful in-service life. The optical gamma thermometer occupies much less space within the in-core instrument tube and costs much less than the conventional gamma thermometer.
US08503589B2 Wireless communication apparatus and wireless reception method
A wireless communication apparatus, having a plurality of antennas 11-1 to 11-M and for diversity-combining signals received by the plurality of antennas 11-1 to 11-M, is provided with a combining information calculation unit 14 for calculating antenna combined amplitude and combining weights based on received power of the plurality of antennas 11-1 to 11-M, a combining unit 15 for weighting and combining the signals received by the plurality of antennas 11-1 to 11-M based on the combining weights calculated, and a decoding processing unit 16 for decoding a combined reception signal generated by the combining unit 15. It thereby improves fading durability of the decoding process by reducing influence of multipath fading caused by arrival waves with delays, even in a case of using only a small number of reception antennas, and maintains a stable reception condition consistently, as well as achieving downsizing of and reduction in cost of hardware.
US08503587B2 Adaptive channel tracking using peak fade depth estimation over a slot
Peak fade depth is measured (202) over a period of time, and a bandwidth of a channel filter (104) is then determined (206) according to the measured peak fade depth (202). In preferred embodiments the average peak fade depth over two or more time slots is used. In a specific embodiment, an α filter (206) is used to determine the bandwidth of the matched filter (104), in which α is determined based upon the measured peak fade depth (204). In various embodiments, peak fade depth is correlated to the Doppler shifting of the channel, which in turn is used to determine the bandwidth of the matched filter by way of the α parameter. Hence, a non-linear equation can be used to determine the value of α which yields a minimum bit error rate for the matched filter (104). More specifically, a matched filter (104) is matched to a received signal r(t) having k states according to a plurality of matched filters Mk and outputs a signal given by |r(t)−Ck(t)*Mk(t)|2, in which Ck(t) is a channel estimate provide by a channel tracker (106) for a state k at time period t that is given by Ck(t)=α*ck(t)+(1−α)*Ck(t−1), ck(t)=Mk*r(t)/(Mk*conj(Mk)), and conj(Mk) is the complex conjugate of Mk. For each time slot, α is computed from the running average of the peak fade depth (202) according to a predetermined equation (204).
US08503582B2 Receiver
A receiver is provided to receive a secondary bitstream which is transmitted by a secondary signal together with a primary signal. The receiver includes a down-converter configured to convert an input signal containing the primary and secondary signals, to a baseband complex symbol stream, A first processing unit processes the baseband complex symbol stream and provides a primary bitstream transmitted by the primary signal or a decoded primary log-likelihood ratio stream. A symbol reconstructing unit is configured to process the primary bitstream or the decoded primary log-likelihood ratio stream and to provide a reconstructed primary symbol stream. A subtraction unit is configured to provide a difference symbol stream by substracting the baseband complex symbol stream and the reconstructed primary symbol stream from each other. A second processing unit is provided to process the difference symbol stream and to provide the secondary bitstream transmitted by the secondary signal.
US08503578B2 Time delay measurement
A method of processing first and second corresponding signals having a delay therebetween. The method includes introducing a plurality of different delays between the first and second signals, successive delay amounts differing from each other by less than the interval between chip boundaries, and for each introduced delay, summing samples of the second signal which are obtained at the times of, at least, chip boundaries between bits of the first signal which have the same state, to obtain a value; thereby to obtain a representation of how the value varies according to the introduced delay, which representation contains a level change associated with an introduced delay which bears a predetermined relationship to the delay between the first and second signals.
US08503577B2 Signal quality estimation in a wireless communication system
In a wireless system including a wireless communication channel, a method for estimating a signal quality of a received signal includes the steps of receiving a signal from the wireless communication channel, the received signal including at least one field that is modulated and encoded in a substantially fixed manner, and generating at least one reference field based, at least in part, on the at least one field and on a channel estimation signal. The channel estimation signal is representative of at least one characteristic of the wireless communication channel. The method further includes the step of generating a signal quality estimate as a function of the at least one field in the received signal and the generated at least one reference field.
US08503568B1 Differential encoding for multiplexed data streams
A differential encoding and decoding system and method for multiplexed data is disclosed. The multiplexed data is formed from a plurality of input data sources. The differential encoding and decoding uses a delay proportional to the number of input data streams in the plurality. In this fashion, errors that propagate from an error in one of the input data sources does not interfere with other input data sources upon de-multiplexing.
US08503567B2 Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission with rank-dependent precoding
Techniques for performing rank-dependent precoding for a Mulitple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) transmission are described. Each rank may be associated with a set of at least one precoding vector or matrix that can provide good performance for that rank. A transmitter may obtain a precoding vector for a rank-1 transmission from a first set containing at least one column vector of a unitary matrix, e.g., a Fourier matrix. The transmitter may perform precoding for the rank-1 transmission based on the precoding vector. The transmitter may obtain a precoding matrix for a rank-2 transmission from a second set containing an identity matrix. The transmitter may perform precoding for the rank-2 transmission based on the precoding matrix. For the rank-2 transmission, the transmitter may select the identity matrix as the precoding matrix if a MIMO channel resembles a diagonal channel (which may be determined based on antenna configurations) and may select the unitary matrix otherwise.
US08503565B2 Multi-antenna communication method and system thereof
A multiple antenna communication method and a multiple antenna communication system are provided. The multiple antenna communication method includes: determining a weighting vector with respect to a plurality of transmit antennas, using a spread spectrum code; determining a target transmission rate of each of the transmit antennas using the determined weighting vector; transmitting information associated with the target transmission rate to a multiple antenna reception apparatus; receiving, from the multiple antenna reception apparatus, channel information including information regarding whether to accept the transmitted target transmission rate information; and transmitting data to the multiple antenna reception apparatus using the received channel information.
US08503564B2 Method and system for data transmission
A data transmission method, a communications system and related apparatuses are disclosed. The data transmission method includes the following steps: a transmitter obtains channel information corresponding to channels between the transmitter and several receivers; the transmitter obtains a control vector corresponding to a receiver according to the channel information; the transmitter modulates data to be transmitted by means of one-dimensional modulation to obtain modulated symbols; the transmitter processes the modulated symbols and the control vector to obtain transmitted data of each antenna; the transmitter transmits the transmitted data to the receiver; the receiver receives the transmitted data in a predetermined spatial direction of received symbol. The present invention also discloses a communications system and related apparatuses.
US08503563B2 Transmitter for reducing channel selectivity
A transmitter for reducing time selectivity and/or frequency selectivity in a wireless communication system includes a plurality of transmit antennas, a phase shifter which is disposed for each transmit antenna and is configured to shift a phase of data transmitted through the transmit antenna by a phase shift value, and a channel selectivity processor configured to obtain the phase shift value by using a channel phase value fed back from a receiver.
US08503560B2 System and method for performing precoding in a wireless communication system
A base station capable of performing precoding in a wireless communication system is provided. The base station includes a plurality of codebooks and a codebook selector. Each codebook comprises a plurality of composite precoding matrices that are generated based on a corresponding diversity precoding matrix. The codebook selector is operable to select one of the codebooks for use in a communication session with a subscriber station.
US08503556B2 Channel estimation method
A channel estimating method is provided for a signal transmitted in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system, wherein an OFDM symbol of the signal has at least one null subcarrier set in its defined bandwidth. The method includes: obtaining at least one initial channel estimate over at least one OFDM symbol of a received signal; processing the at least one initial channel estimate for delivering at least one soft information in a form of a complete matrix; and updating the at least one initial channel estimate by performing a truncated singular value decomposition of a partial FFT matrix. The partial FFT matrix includes only the first LDP columns and the rows NDP of an FFT matrix of the complete matrix, the NDP rows corresponding to modulated subcarriers of received signal, including data and pilot symbols and excluding the at least one null subcarrier, delivering an improved channel estimate.
US08503555B2 Feedback of differentially encoded channel state information for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and subband scheduling in a wireless communication system
Techniques for efficiently sending channel state information using differential encoding are described. Differential encoding may be performed across space, across frequency, across space and frequency, across space, frequency and time, or across some other combination of dimensions. In one design, spatial state information may be determined for multiple spatial channels on multiple subbands. The spatial channels may correspond to different antennas, different precoding vectors, etc. Channel quality indicator (CQI) values may be obtained for the multiple spatial channels on the multiple subbands. The CQI values may be differentially encoded across the multiple spatial channels and the multiple subbands to obtain differential CQI information. In another design, CQI values may be obtained for multiple spatial channels on the multiple subbands in multiple time intervals and may be differentially encoded across space, frequency and time. The differential CQI information and the spatial state information may be sent as feedback.
US08503552B2 Method and digital communication device for receiving data using QAM symbols
A digital communication system which applies channel coding and QAM modulation, where in QAM, at the transmitter, a number Q of bits is mapped to one QAM symbol, which is transmitted over the channel, at the receiver side, for each QAM symbol, a de-mapping is performed in order to obtain an L-value for each bit which corresponds to the QAM symbol, such that these L-values provide not only an estimation of the transmitted bits but also give information about their reliability.
US08503550B2 Apparatus for transmitting and receiving a signal and method of transmitting and receiving a signal
The present invention relates to method of transmitting and receiving signals and a corresponding apparatus. One aspect of the present invention relates to a method of receiving a signal, which includes interleaving in an appropriate manner for a channel bonding system. The interleaving can allow decoding a user requested service at a random tuner window position.
US08503549B2 Apparatus for transmitting and receiving a signal and method of transmitting and receiving a signal
The present invention relates to method of transmitting and receiving signaling and a corresponding apparatus. One aspect of the present invention relates to a method of receiving a signal, which includes a preamble, where a bandwidth of the preamble is identical with a bandwidth of a tuner of a receiver.
US08503548B2 Turbo channel estimation for OFDM systems
A system and method for estimating a channel in a wireless receiver is disclosed. The method preferably applies to a communication system using the OFDM standard. The method comprises receiving a block of “n” transmitted symbols, the symbols including pilot symbols and “d” data symbols, estimating a channel using the pilot symbols to create a channel estimate, choosing a group of “m” strongest symbols from the “d” received symbols, compensating the “m” strongest symbols using the channel estimate to create a group of “m” compensated symbols, re-estimating the channel using the group of “m” compensated symbols and pilot symbols; and either (1) repeating the steps of choosing a group of “m” strongest symbols, compensating the group of “m” strongest symbols and re-estimating the channel, or (2) using a latest channel estimate to compensate all symbols within the block. The system comprises a wireless receiver having an estimator programmed, for example, using DSP or ASIC and imbedded into the wireless system design software for accomplishing the steps set forth according to the method.
US08503547B2 Scrambling codes for secondary synchronization codes in wireless communication systems
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate employing a scrambling code from a set of scrambling codes, which is indexed by primary synchronization codes (PSCs), to scramble or descramble a secondary synchronization code (SSC). The scrambling codes in the set can be designed to optimize peak-to-average power ratios and/or mitigate cross correlation. For example, the scrambling codes can be based on different M-sequences generated from disparate polynomials. In accordance with another example, the scrambling codes can be based on different cyclic shifts of the same M-sequence. According to another example, the scrambling codes can be based upon binary approximations of possible primary synchronization codes utilized in a wireless communication environment. Pursuant to a further example, the scrambling codes can be based on different Golay complementary sequences.
US08503543B2 Systems and methods for compression, transmission and decompression of video codecs
Embodiments of this invention include computer-implemented mathematical methods to develop software and/or hardware implementations that use wavelet transforms (WT) to pre-process video frames that can then be compressed using a variety of codecs to produce compressed video frames. Such compressed video frames can then be transmitted, decompressed, post-processed using the post-processing methods disclosed in the invention and displayed in their original size and quality using software and/or hardware implementations of embodiments of the invention, thereby producing real-time high-quality reproduction of video sequences. Embodiments of devices that can implement the methods of this invention include mainframe computers, desktop computers, personal computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, wireless computers, television sets, set top boxes, cellular telephones, and computer readable media.
US08503540B2 Low density parity check (LDPC) encoded higher order modulation
A method and apparatus is disclosed to map a sequence of data to Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) constellation symbols. The method and apparatus encodes only a portion of the sequence of data and leaves a remaining portion of the sequence of data unencoded. The encoded portion of the sequence of data and the remaining unencoded portion of the sequence of data are then mapped into modulation symbols of the QAM constellation. The encoded portion of the sequence of data selects subsets of the QAM constellation, and the remaining unencoded portion of the sequence of data determines a specific modulation symbol within each subset of the QAM constellation.
US08503539B2 High definition personal computer (PC) cam
A video system includes a central processing unit (CPU) and a graphic processing unit (GPU) including a plurality of processors therein. The system also includes a high definition (HD) imager; a serial bus controller coupled to the imager, the CPU and the GPU to communicate data between the HD imager and the CPU or the GPU over a serial bus having a transmit differential signal pair, a receive differential pair and a compatibility differential signal pair for interoperability with another serial bus version; and computer code executable by the processors in the GPU to encode in parallel the video transmitted over the serial bus controller and to minimize high definition encoding workload on the CPU.
US08503537B2 System, method and computer readable medium for decoding block wise coded video
An apparatus and associated method are provided for decoding of block wise coded video pictures. Implementing a de-blocking filter algorithm or the like in a single instruction multiple data (SIMD) environment, especially for processors with 128-bit vector registers. Parallelism between the SIMD and the register size fits the macroblock size disclosed in the H.264 and MPEG-4 standards is exploited by using transpositions and transformations of luminance and chrominance macroblocks in vertical de-blocking filter operations.
US08503536B2 Quantization adjustments for DC shift artifacts
A video encoder identifies one or more portions of a video picture that contain DC shift blocks and adjusts quantization (e.g., by selecting a smaller quantization step size) to reduce contouring artifacts when the picture is reconstructed. The encoder can identify the portion(s) of the picture that contain DC shift blocks by identifying one or more gradient slope regions in the picture and analyzing quantization effects on DC coefficients in the gradient slope region(s). The encoder can select a coarser quantization step size for a high-texture picture portion.
US08503535B2 Rounding noise shaping for integer transform based encoding and decoding
An integer-reversible MDCT transformation is split into consecutive lifting steps, each introducing considerable rounding errors to the signal. Without noise shaping the rounding error noise will impact all frequency bins of the transformed signal equally. This is a particular problem for low signal level frequency bins. The invention limits the impact of rounding error noise coming with each lifting step in the integer-reversible transformation on the data rate of a lossless audio codec. The filter coefficients of an adaptive noise shaping filter for transform coefficients are adapted in individual lifting steps according to the current time domain signal characteristics. As an alternative, an auto-regressive pre-filter can be added in front of the lossless transformation, for raising the level of frequency regions with low power to decrease the dominance of rounding errors in these areas. Both processes can be combined to further improve lossless codec compression ratio.
US08503531B2 Image processing apparatus and method, recording medium, and program
With regard to a subject block including a subject pixel and four adjacent blocks vertically and horizontally adjacent to the subject block, respective motion vectors of these blocks are considered as candidates of a pixel motion vector of the subject pixel. The block motion vectors are actually applied to the subject pixel, and one of the motion vectors that minimizes difference between pixel values of pixels used for inter-field interpolation is selected as the pixel motion vector of the subject pixel.
US08503527B2 Video coding with large macroblocks
Techniques are described for encoding and decoding digital video data using macroblocks that are larger than the macroblocks prescribed by conventional video encoding and decoding standards. For example, the techniques include encoding and decoding a video stream using macroblocks comprising greater than 16×16 pixels. In one example, an apparatus includes a video encoder configured to encode a coded unit comprising a plurality of video blocks, wherein at least one of the plurality of video blocks comprises a size of more than 16×16 pixels and to generate syntax information for the coded unit that includes a maximum size value, wherein the maximum size value indicates a size of a largest one of the plurality of video blocks in the coded unit. The syntax information may also include a minimum size value. In this manner, the encoder may indicate to a decoder the proper syntax decoder to apply to the coded unit.
US08503524B2 Methods and systems for inter-layer image prediction
Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for predicting image elements, comprising extracting a low dynamic range (LDR) image value from a received LDR image data; modifying the LDR image value based on prediction data of a received high dynamic range (HDR) image data; and predicting an HDR image element based on the modified LDR image value and an HDR residual image element of the received HDR image data.
US08503523B2 Forming a representation of a video item and use thereof
Functionality is described for forming a summary representation of a video item to help a user decide whether to obtain a full version of the video item. The functionality operates by: (a) receiving a video item; (b) dividing the video item into a plurality of segments; (c) extracting at least one key frame from each of the plurality of segments to form a plurality of key frames; and (d) organizing the video segments into one or more groups corresponding to one or more respective scenes based on the plurality of key frames, to thereby form the representation of the video item. The functionality can be used to communicate search results to a user, to provide a sample of the video item in a message, etc.
US08503520B2 Method and apparatus for encoding a flash picture occurring in a video sequence, and for decoding corresponding data for a flash picture
When video sequences are obtained from e.g. news, interviews, conferences and sports matches, flashlight often appears in the video due to photographing. When encoding the video sequence, the intensity changes a lot so that the motion estimation can not find a well-matching block in a previous picture. Accordingly, the video encoder will encode in intra mode and thereby generate much more bits than for the neighboring non-flash pictures. According to the invention, not the real flash picture is encoded in the video sequence but an artificial non-flash or de-flashed picture, and some indications and parameters are inserted into the bit stream to model the flash effect. The decoder can regenerate the flash picture by reconstructing the non-flash picture and then adding the flash effect. The number of bits required for coding flash pictures is thereby significantly reduced.
US08503510B2 Communication device, noise removing method, and program
A communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a communication antenna that receives a transmission signal where a spectrum spread signal subjected to a spectrum spread is modulated; an intermediate frequency converting unit that converts the transmission signal received by the communication antenna into an intermediate frequency signal having a predetermined frequency; an analog to digital converting unit that discretizes the intermediate frequency signal and outputs a discretization signal; a noise removing unit that detects a noise other than a normal thermal noise included in the discretization signal and removes the detected noise from the discretization signal; and a demodulating unit that demodulates the spectrum spread signal, based on the discretization signal that is output from the noise removing unit.
US08503509B2 Method and system for managing, controlling, and combining signals in a frequency selective multipath fading channel
A maximum signal energy level among a plurality of individual distinct path signals in a wirelessly received signal cluster is detected. An early aggregate power level associated with at least a portion of the plurality of individual distinct path signals received at time instants preceding a first moment time, and a late aggregate power level associated with at least a portion of the plurality of individual distinct path signals received at time instants subsequent to the first moment time are computed. The first moment time, which corresponds to the detected maximum signal energy level, is adjusted based on the early aggregate power level and the late aggregate power level. At least a portion of the plurality of individual distinct path signals is received at a corresponding plurality of time instants within a duration comprising a delay spread of the wirelessly received signal cluster based on the adjusted first moment time.
US08503506B2 Method and system for interference suppression in WCDMA systems
Aspects of a method and system for interference suppression in WCDMA systems may include one or more circuits that are operable to receive a plurality of multipath signals via one or more receiving antennas. A plurality of weighting factor values may be computed based on the received multipath signals. Estimated signals may be based on the weighting factor values. Residual signals may be generated based on received signals and the estimated signals. Addback signals may be generated based on the estimated signals and the residual signals. Updated estimated signals may be generated based on the addback signals and the weighting factor values. Incremental signals may be generated based on the updated estimated signals and addback signals. Updated residual signals may be generated based on the incremental signals and previous residual signals. The interference suppressed signals may be generated based on the updated residual signals and updated estimated signals.
US08503502B2 Radio communication system, transmission device, reception device, and communication method
A clipping rate is controlled in spectrum shaping according to a propagation path to thereby improve transmission characteristics and perform communication at a stable transmission rate.Propagation path characteristics are detected by a propagation path information detection unit 5 for detecting propagation path information fed back from a base station device and a water filling principle for distributing energy by a primary spectrum shaping unit 6 according to the propagation path characteristics is applied to transmission spectrum obtained by a DFT unit 4. Clipping information in secondary spectrum shaping fed back from the base station device is detected by a clipping information detection unit 7 to perform the secondary spectrum shaping by a secondary spectrum shaping unit 8. At this time, with the clipping rate by the secondary spectrum shaping unit 8, clipping rates of all transmission devices multiplexed in a scheduling unit 26 of the base station device are controlled adaptively.
US08503494B2 Thermal management system
Various embodiments are disclosed for a thermal management system and related method for selectively thermally isolating and thermally connecting a target component. One embodiment of a system includes a first component having a first surface proximate to a target component, and an electromagnet between the first surface and the target component. A second component is spaced apart from the first component to form a gap that serves as a thermal boundary between the first component and the second component. A carrier fluid disposed within the gap includes multiple thermally conductive, ferrous particles. The carrier fluid is configured to align at least a portion of the thermally conductive, ferrous particles when the electromagnet generates a magnetic field that attracts the particles, and to displace at least a portion of the particles when the electromagnet generates a magnetic field that repels the particles.
US08503493B1 System and method for cooling a semiconductor light source bar during burn-in testing
A system for cooling a semiconductor light source bar during burn-in testing includes a fixture for holding the semiconductor light source bar, and the fixture including a housing having a water inlet channel and a water outlet channel communicated with the water inlet channel; a first water tank with coolant connected with the water inlet channel; a second water tank connected with the water outlet channel; and a pumping device at least connected with the water outlet channel for pumping the coolant from the first water tank to the second water tank, thereby rushing a bottom of the semiconductor light source bar to lower the temperature thereof. The system can disperse the local heat generated during burn-in testing and uniform the local temperature of the semiconductor light source bar, thereby maintaining a proper temperature during burn-in testing and improving the heat stability of the heat assist magnetic recording head.
US08503492B2 Mode-locked solid-state laser apparatus
In a mode-locked laser-diode-excited laser apparatus: a solid-state laser medium is arranged at a distance of at most twice the Rayleigh range from a saturable absorbing mirror with a depth of absorbing modulation of at least 0.4%; the total intracavity dispersion is smaller than zero and makes oscillating light have such a pulse bandwidth that the saturable absorbing mirror can suppress a background pulses other than soliton pulses repeated with a fundamental repetition period, and the magnitude of the total intracavity dispersion has a predetermined relationship with a pulse width of the oscillating light; and an output mirror is a negative-dispersion mirror in which high-index layers and low-index layers, having optical thicknesses randomly varying in the range of one-eighth to half of the predetermined wavelength, are alternately laminated, and the negative-dispersion mirror causes a mirror dispersion of −1000 fsec2 to −100 fsec2 and realizes a reflectance of 97% to 99.5%.
US08503491B2 Fiber optic multiplex modem
A fire alarm network fiber optic multiplex modem includes plural local interfaces, a fiber optic interface, a multiplexor, a fiber optic modem, and a demultiplexor. The multiplexor combines data received at the local interfaces into an outgoing data stream. The fiber optic modem transmits, at a first wavelength, the outgoing data stream to the fiber optic interface and receives, at a second wavelength, an incoming data stream via the fiber optic interface. The demultiplexor separates the incoming data stream into separate data streams, and forwards each of the separate data streams to its corresponding local interface.
US08503489B2 Devices for transmitting digital video and data over the same wires
A method of transmitting a data stream over a communication channel, the method comprising: providing symbol sets having different numbers of symbols; modulating data in the data stream that warrant different degrees of protection against noise onto symbols from symbol sets having different numbers of symbols, wherein which symbol set given data in the stream is modulated onto is independent of symbol sets onto which other data in the data stream is modulated onto; and transmitting the symbols.
US08503487B2 Communication methods and apparatuses
Communication methods and apparatuses are provided.
US08503486B2 Synchronizing wireless local area network access points
In a wireless local area network, a first and second access point in which the RF coverage areas overlap are synchronized by positioning a monitor station within the overlap area. The monitor station receives beacon frames from both access points and records the arrival times. A manager in communication with both access points and the monitor station calculates a retardation interval and issues a control command to the second access point to retard transmission of its beacon frame. The retardation interval is calculated such that the contention-free period of the second access point does not overlap the contention-free period of the first access point. The manager may also issue control commands to the first and second access points to adjust their contention-free periods.
US08503485B2 Method and apparatus for processing primary and secondary synchronization signals for wireless communication
Techniques for facilitating cell search by user equipments (UEs) in a wireless communication system are described. In an aspect, a primary synchronization code (PSC) sequence may be generated based on a Frank sequence and a constant amplitude sequence that is repeated multiple times. In another aspect, a set of PSC sequences may be generated based on complementary sequences having good aperiodic correlation properties and efficient implementations. In one design, PSC sequences A+B and B+A may be formed based on Golay complementary sequences A and B, there “+” denotes concatenation. In yet another aspect, a set of secondary synchronization code (SSC) sequences may be generated based on a set of base sequences and different modulation symbols of a modulation scheme. Each base sequence may be modulated by each of M possible modulation symbols for the modulation scheme to obtain M different SSC sequences.
US08503483B2 Synchronizing media data from multiple data channels for IP network transport
In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving by a gateway a plurality of data streams via respective data channels; identifying by the gateway, from among the data streams, selected data streams for aggregation based on the selected data streams each having a same encoding type and destined for a same destination gateway; and synchronizing the selected data streams by the gateway based on: successively sampling a prescribed group of bits from each of the selected data streams at a corresponding sampling time interval, aggregating the sampled groups of bits, having been sampled from the selected data streams at the corresponding sampling time interval, into an IP media packet payload, and outputting a corresponding IP media packet, containing the IP media packet payload for the corresponding sampling time interval, to the destination gateway via an IP network.
US08503482B2 Interconnects using self-timed time-division multiplexed bus
A method of sending signals, including data and timing information, between transportation units on a communication bus of an integrated circuit, by generating clock triggers for every transportation unit on the bus, thereby initiating each preceding one of the transportation units to start sending the signals in a wave-front to an adjacent succeeding one of the transportation units, where the wave-front is initiated at each of the transportation units at a common point in time, and every transportation unit applying a timing adjustment to at least one of the data and timing information that it receives in the signals from the preceding transportation unit, to at least one of (1) capture the data from the preceding transportation unit, (2) relay the data without modification from the preceding transportation unit to the succeeding transportation unit on the communication bus, and (3) load new data to the communication bus, with updated timing information in a succeeding wave-front.
US08503478B2 Receiving apparatus, receiving method and program thereof
A receiving apparatus is to receive data by use of a second protocol data unit, which stores first protocol data units of a first layer set for each of multiple radio bearers and which is based on a second layer corresponding to a lower layer of the first layer. The apparatus includes a providing unit that provides the first protocol data unit, which is stored in the second protocol data unit with specific information specifying the second protocol data unit in the second layer. The apparatus includes a discarding unit that provides another first protocol data unit, which is stored in the second protocol data unit storing the erroneous first protocol data unit with reference to the specific information in the case that a predetermined first protocol data unit includes an error in the first layer.
US08503474B2 System and method for enhanced physical layer device interface capability for backward support of fast retrain
A system and method for enhanced physical layer device interface capability for backward support of fast retrain. The enhanced physical layer device is configurable in its leveraging of an identified legacy signaling mechanism. The identified legacy signaling mechanism can be used by the enhanced physical layer device to suspend transmission by the media access control device to facilitate the fast retrain.
US08503470B2 System and method for performing concatenation of diversely routed channels
A system and method are provided for performing Local Centre Authorization Service (LCAS) in a network system, the system having a data aligner configured to align bytes of input data according to groups of members. The system also including an LCAS control manager configured to generate de-sequencing control commands in response to data input from the data aligner. The system further including a de-sequencer configured to de-sequence the input data input from the data aligner according to de-sequencing control commands received from the LCAS control manager.
US08503468B2 PCI express load sharing network interface controller cluster
Embodiments provide load balancing in a virtual computing environment comprising a plurality of PCI-Express switches (the PCIe switching cloud) coupled to a plurality of network interface devices (NICs). An NIC cluster is added between the PCIe switching cloud and the NICs. The NIC cluster is configured to hide NICs from system images and allow the system images to access functions across multiple NICs. The NIC cluster of an embodiment dynamically load balances network resources by performing a hashing function on a header field of received packets. The NIC cluster of an embodiment performs load balancing and state management in association with driver software, which is embedded in the system image. The driver software adds a tag for flow identification to downstream data packets. The NIC cluster distributes data packets based on information in the tag.
US08503467B2 Methods and devices for generating a reorganized transport datastream
Methods and devices are disclosed for generating a reorganized transport datastream from transport data packets of an original transport datastream displaces the first transport data packets contained in an original transport datastream into determined new positions within the reorganized transport datastream. The new positions are determined dependent upon a first data rate at which the first transport data packets of the reorganized transport datastream are stored in second buffers and a second data rate at which the first transport data packets of the reorganized transport datastream are read out from the second buffers.
US08503466B2 Network on chip input/output nodes
The present invention relates to a torus network comprising a matrix of infrastructure routers, each of which is connected to two other routers belonging to the same row and to two other routers belonging to the same column; and input/output routers, each of which is connected by two internal inputs to two other routers belonging either to the same row, or to the same column, and comprising an external input for supplying the network with data. Each input/output router is devoid of queues for its internal inputs and comprises queues assigned to its external input managed by an arbiter which is configured to also manage the queues of an infrastructure router connected to the input/output router.
US08503463B2 Heterogeneous media packet bridging
Methods and systems for bridging network packets transmitted over heterogeneous media channels are provided. According to one embodiment, a network-computing device comprises multiple network interfaces (netmods) and a shared processing resource. The shared processing resource executes a virtual bridging application representing a single bridging domain for all network packets received by the network-computing device. A translation data structure defines translations between a first framing media format and an intermediate format and between the intermediate format and a second framing media format. If the virtual bridging application determines a network packet is to be relayed between a netmod operable to receive network packets encapsulated within the first framing media format and a netmod operable to transmit network packets encapsulated within the second framing media format, then it uses the translation data structures to translate the network packet before relaying the network packet.
US08503461B2 Media path optimization for multimedia over internet protocol
Methods for optimizing the media path between multimedia endpoints in a network are described. One embodiment allows avoiding having to relay the media traffic through a central device, such as a border controller's media controller element, and lets endpoints communicate directly under various conditions.
US08503459B2 Systems and methods for providing a multi-core architecture for an acceleration appliance
The present solution is related to a method for distributing flows of network traffic across a plurality of packet processing engines executing on a corresponding core of a multi-core device. The method includes receiving, by a multi-core device intermediary to clients and servers, a packet of a first flow of network traffic between a client and server. The method also includes assigning, by a flow distributor of the multi-core device, the first flow of network traffic to a first core executing a packet processing engine and distributing the packet to this core. The flow distributor may distribute packets of another or second flow of traffic between another client and server to a second core executing a second packet processing engine. When a packet for the flow of traffic assigned to the first core is received, such as a third packet, the flow distributor distributes this packet to the first core.
US08503450B2 TCP receiver acceleration
A method for processing network information may include performing by one or more processors and/or circuits integrated within a single chip, classifying a header portion of a received packet based on connection context information within the received packet. The connection context information may be acquired by the single chip from a memory external to the single chip. The connection context information for the received packet may be updated based on the classifying. At least a payload portion of the received packet may be communicated to a destination, based on the updated connection context information. The classifying, updating and communicating may be performed asynchronously. The header portion of the received packet may be parsed and/or validated. The connection context information of the received packet may be evaluated.
US08503446B2 Multicast host authorization tracking, and accounting
Instead of implementing per flow measurement at every interface of every IGMP Router or Snooping Proxy in the aggregation network, as in the prior art “per flow measurement” approaches, the present invention relates to a scheme where the IGMP Router or Snooping Proxy tracks the multicast subscription of each host (for IGMPv3) or subnet (for IGMPv1 and IGMPv2) and stores the information such as host id, the time the host joined a channel, the duration of the channel delivery, etc. in a database. This database (MIB) can then be pulled by a network management tool using SNMP or WSDM MUWS. According to the invention a mechanism for multicast host authorization is also provided.
US08503445B2 Source specific multicast layer 2 networking device and method
Bridge domain communication methods and devices are presented for efficiently communicating information in a bridge domain based upon group indications and source indications. Packets with a source and destination indication are received. A bridge domain communication process is performed at the bridge level wherein a packet is selected for forwarding based upon a source and group indication. For example, a determination is made if a particular bridge domain corresponds to the group destination indication in the received packet. The source indication in the packet is compared with a tracked source designation indication. Output ports associated with the tracked source designation indication are identified if the tracked source designation indication matches the received source indication. The communication packet is forwarded on identified ports.
US08503440B2 Crossbar switch and recursive scheduling
A crossbar switch has N input ports, M output ports, and a switching matrix with N×M crosspoints. In an embodiment, each crosspoint contains an internal queue (XQ), which can store one or more packets to be touted. Traffic rates to be realized between all Input/Output (IO) pairs of the switch are specified in an N×M traffic rate matrix, where each element equals a number of requested cell transmission opportunities between each IO pair within a scheduling frame of F time-slots. An efficient algorithm for scheduling N traffic flows with traffic rates based upon a recursive and fair decomposition of a traffic rate vector with N elements, is proposed. To reduce memory requirements a shared row queue (SRQ) may be embedded in each row of the switching matrix, allowing the size of all the XQs to be reduced. To further reduce memory requirements, a shared column queue may be used in place of the XQs. The proposed buffered crossbar switches with shared row and column queues, in conjunction with the row scheduling algorithm and the DCS column scheduling algorithm, can achieve high throughout with reduced buffer and VLSI area requirements, while providing probabilistic guarantees on rate, delay and jitter for scheduled traffic flows.
US08503438B2 Method and system for selectively bypassing packet core network within a session based on traffic type
According to one aspect of the invention, packets of a first type within a first data flow are routed to a destination through a packet core network. In response to a detection that packets of a second type are to be routed while routing the first data flow, a second data flow is created which is a sub-flow of the first data flow. Packets of the second type are routed via the second data flow to the destination without traversing the packet core network, while packets of the first type are routed via the first data flow traversing the packet core network.
US08503437B2 Integrated customer premises equipment device
A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) device includes one or more voice ports configured to provide voice services; one or more data ports configured to provide data services; firewall logic configured to filter incoming traffic; and quality of service (QoS) logic configured to provide QoS services for traffic transmitted from the SIP device.
US08503429B2 Processing requests and generating responses in session initiation protocol (SIP)
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a SIP network element, for processing messages received from other SIP elements in a network of SIP elements, wherein the element is adapted for receiving a predetermined type of SIP request, the request comprising a plurality of headers and data associated with each of the headers, the element further comprising: a message search function adapted for extracting data from a predetermined selection of said headers, processing logic for processing the extracted data; means for creating a predetermined type of response message associated with the received request, the response message comprising data extracted from the received message; and means for sending the created message to a destination identified in the created response message.
US08503428B2 Customized classification of host bound traffic
A network device component receives traffic, determines whether the traffic is host bound traffic or non-host bound traffic, and classifies, based on a user-defined classification scheme, the traffic when the traffic is host bound traffic. The network device component also assigns, based on the classification, the classified host bound traffic to a queue associated with network device component for forwarding the classified host bound traffic to a host component of the network device.
US08503425B2 Method for allocating phich and generating reference signal in system using single-user MIMO based on multiple codewords when transmitting uplink
The present invention relates to a method for generating an uplink reference signal in a system supporting plural uplink-access transmission modes. The method comprises: a step for transmitting the reference signal configuration information about the configuration of a reference signal from a base station to a user device through an uplink grant PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), and a step for receiving from the user device a sub-frame including the reference signal that is generated based on the reference signal configuration information. The reference signal configuration information is prepared for plural uplink access transmission modes and includes a cyclic shift value for the sequence of the reference signal. The reference signal is supposed to be transmitted to an uplink, and the user device is set up to be operated in the uplink-access transmission mode that corresponding to the reference signal configuration information.
US08503421B2 Enhanced frequency division multiple access for wireless communication
Enhanced frequency division multiple access (EFDMA) is a multiplexing scheme that sends modulation symbols in the time domain and achieves a lower PAPR than OFDM. An EFDMA symbol occupies multiple subband groups that are spaced apart in a frequency band, with each subband group containing multiple adjacent subbands. To generate an EFDMA symbol, multiple modulation symbols are mapped onto a first sequence of symbols. A transform (e.g., a DFT) is performed on the first sequence to obtain a second sequence of values. The values in the second sequence corresponding to the subbands used for the EFDMA symbol are retained, and the remaining values are zeroed out to obtain a third sequence of values. An inverse transform (e.g., an IDFT) is performed on the third sequence to obtain a fourth sequence of samples. A phase ramp may be applied on the fourth sequence, and a cyclic prefix is appended to form the EFDMA symbol.
US08503420B2 Physical structure and design of sounding channel in OFDMA systems
In wireless OFDMA systems, sounding channels are allocated within predefined resource blocks. In a distributed sounding channel allocation scheme, a sounding channel is allocated to meet various design considerations. First, sounding signals do not collide with original pilots transmitted in the same resource block by other mobile stations to achieve good quality channel estimation. Second, sounding pattern does not affect data transmission behavior of other mobile stations in the same resource block. Third, sounding pattern consistency among multiple tiles within each resource block is maintained so that mobile stations do not need to implement additional data mapping rules. In a symbol-based sounding channel allocation scheme, a sounding channel is allocated in the first or the last OFDM symbol of a resource block, while the remaining consecutive OFDM symbols are used for data transmission. The symbol-based sound channel naturally satisfies all design considerations.
US08503415B2 Wireless access point and data transmission method thereof
In a data transmission method of a wireless access point (WAP), the WAP determines whether a probe request frame transmitted from a mobile device is present in a wireless network. The WAP further transmits a beacon frame in response to the probe request frame when the probe request frame is present in the wireless network.
US08503414B2 RSVP/SBM based up-stream session setup, modification, and teardown for QoS-driven wireless LANs
A method and system is disclosed for setting up, modifying and tearing down an up-stream communication session in a basic service set (BSS) in a wireless local area network (WLAN), so that the communication session has a defined Quality of Service (QoS). Regarding setting up an up-stream communication session, a first Path message and a first Resv message (Path/Resv message) of a RSVP protocol are detected at a designated subnet bandwidth manager (DSBM) in a station having a point coordinator (PC). The first Resv message originates from a RSVP agent of a host outside the BSS, and is a request for setting up an up-stream session between a source non-PC station in the BSS and the PC station. A QoS parameter set and a classifier from the first Path/Resv message for the session are extracted at the DSBM. The DSBM determines whether to admit the up-stream session to the network based on the QoS parameter set defining the session and a channel status report on a medium access control (MAC) sublayer of the BSS. When the up-stream session is admitted, a QoS management entity (QME) of the PC station sets up a virtual up-stream (VUS) between the source non-PC station and the PC station for transporting the up-stream session traffic. The DSBM is part of the QME in the PC station.
US08503410B2 Communication apparatus and method of controlling same
The distance to a communicating party is detected using whether or not an electromagnetic-coupled RF field formation is achieved or not as simple measurement means. If the distance to the communicating party is short, i.e., if it is possible to form an RF field, then transmission power is reduced. As a result, power consumption is reduced. Since a reduction in transmission power is accompanied by restriction of the zone in which communication is possible, leakage of information is prevented and security is enhanced.
US08503409B2 Method for direct mode channel access
A method for direct mode channel access in a time division multiple access (TDMA) system includes: assigning a radio operating in the TDMA system to transmission on a first time slot of a direct mode channel; initiating a request for a direct mode transmission on the direct mode channel; determining, by the radio, whether there is communication activity present in the first time slot or a second time slot of the direct mode channel; aligning, by the radio, to a selected slot timing based on the determining step; and transmitting, by the radio, with the selected slot timing on the first time slot.
US08503406B2 Radio communication equipment
Radio communication equipment performs radio communication with a first radio terminal group in a first period by using a frequency commonly for use by an adjacent base station, and with a second radio terminal group in a second period by using a frequency not commonly for use by the adjacent base station. The radio communication equipment includes a control unit to adjust time allocation of the first period and the second period; and a radio communication unit to perform radio communication with the first radio terminal group and the second radio terminal group according to the time allocation adjusted by the control unit.
US08503405B1 Variation in session setup mode based on latency of target device
A method and corresponding device are disclosed for varying setup mode based on reported latency at a target device. The target device or its serving network may report a latency characteristic associated with the target device, such as an indication of the air interface protocol and/or slot cycle being used by the target device, and an initiating device or communication server may use the reported latency as a basis to decide whether to operate in (i) a normal setup mode when setting up a communication session with the target device or (ii) an optimistic setup mode when setting up a communication session with the target device.
US08503404B2 Uplink synchronization request method in mobile communication system, CDMA allocation IE thereof, and apparatus using the same
The present invention relates to an uplink synchronization request method in a mobile communication system, a CDMA allocation information element structure thereof, and an apparatus using the same. For this purpose the uplink synchronization request method includes: when uplink traffic is generated, determining whether an uplink synchronization error occurs; when the uplink synchronization error occurs, calculating a timing adjustment value; and transmitting a bandwidth request code including the calculated timing adjustment value to a base station and performing a bandwidth request. According to the present invention, the PSS compares a reference adjustment value and an arrival time of a downlink preamble to calculate uplink synchronization timing and synchronize an uplink of the PSS that requests bandwidth allocation through a bandwidth request ranging process to thereby maximize resource use efficiency in the uplink synchronization.
US08503401B2 Handover method and user equipment
A method and user equipment for performing a handover between a MBSFN and non-MBSFN areas in a communication network is provided. The communication network comprises a first cell constituting a MBSFN area, a second cell constituting the non-MBSFN area, and a reserved cell between the first and second cells and subordinate to the MBSFN area. Reserved cell indication information being broadcast in the reserved cell. The method including: receiving the reserved cell indication information to learn that a user equipment is located in the reserved cell; measuring in the reserved cell, for a preset service, a first signal strength based on MBMS transmission and a second signal strength based on a single-cell transmission; and selecting the first or second cells as a target cell during a period in which a difference between the first and second signal strengths is lower than a preset threshold.
US08503400B2 Systems and methods for closed subscriber group cell reselection
A method for base station reselection in a wireless communications system is disclosed. The method may determine a first indication of signal strength for a first signal sent from a first base station and received by a user equipment (UE). The method may also determine a second indication of signal strength for a second signal sent from a second base station and received by the UE. The method may further determine a relative signal strength based on the first indication of signal strength and the second indication of signal strength. The method may also determine a Q factor based on the relative signal strength. The Q factor may be an indication of when base station reselection should be performed.
US08503398B2 Radio communication system, radio communication terminal and communication controlling method
A video streaming client (105) transmits an MIH_Get_Service_Quality.request which requests a report about service quality which is used in the video streaming client (105) at regular intervals to an MIHF (Media Independent Handover Function) (203). When the MIHF (203) acquires the MIH_Get_Service_Quality.request, on the basis of the communication quality of a radio link which is notified from a link control unit (205), the MIHF (203) calculates a prediction value of the service quality in the future in the regular intervals and notifies the video streaming client (105) of the calculated prediction value by an MIH_Get_Service_Quality.response.
US08503397B2 Multi-mode multi-band mobile communication terminal and mode switching method between asynchronous and synchronous mobile communication networks
Disclosed is a multi-mode multi-band mobile communication terminal and a mode switching method thereof wherein a mode switching can be performed between an asynchronous network and a synchronous network by minimizing interruption in communication. According to the switching method of a multi-mode multi-band mobile communication terminal, the power of a signal received from an asynchronous network or a synchronous network is measured and the measured power of the received signal drives a modem portion, thereby switching the mode of the mobile communication terminal.
US08503396B2 Network apparatus enabling roaming across subnets
To enable a network apparatus to detect L3 roaming users and to take appropriate forwarding actions, L3 knowledge is introduced inside an L2 bridge forwarding table in the network apparatus. As a client moves from a subnet associated with a first network element to a subnet associated with the network apparatus, a determination is made regarding whether the client is roaming by evaluating a source IP address within a L3 packet header within a first frame received at the network apparatus. If, as a result of the evaluating step, it is determined that the client is roaming, the L2 bridge forwarding table is configured to include a source MAC address of the client together with information identifying a destination interface for use in directing client data traffic back towards the subnet associated with the first network element.
US08503394B2 Method of fast uplink data transmission for handover
A fast uplink data transmission method for a handover is disclosed. This method effectively uses a handover signal when there is data to be transmitted to an uplink during an Intra Radio Access Technology (I-RAT) handover, such that it quickly transmits and receives uplink data. The method of transmitting uplink data in a wireless access system includes, transmitting a message including an information bit to a target base station by a mobile station during a handover, wherein the information bit indicates whether the uplink data is present, and receiving a radio resource for transmitting the uplink data from the target base station, if the information bit indicates the uplink data is present, wherein the radio resource is allocated by the target base station. So, uplink user data can be quickly transmitted to a destination while the UE performs the handover.
US08503386B2 Communications apparatus and communications system using multicarrier transmission mode
A communications system for exchange of information between a base station and a terminal by a multicarrier transmission mode using a plurality of subcarriers. The communication system includes a base station, a transmission data generator configured to generate frequency band information indicating which frequency band is to be used for transmission of data between said communication apparatuses; and a transmitter configured to transmit the frequency band information, using a specific frequency band, set from among a plurality of frequency bands assigned to the communications system, and to transmit data by using at least one frequency band set from among said plurality of frequency bands, and at the time of establishing the wireless channel, the frequency band usable by the communications apparatus is restricted, and said specific frequency band and said at least one frequency band set, other than the specific frequency band, are assigned within that restricted frequency band.
US08503385B2 Method of transmitting scheduling request in mobile communication system and terminal apparatus for the same
A method is provided for transmitting an uplink scheduling request in a mobile communication system. A terminal compares a lowest priority for permitting transmission of the scheduling request notified from a radio resource controlling node with a highest priority among service priorities corresponding to generated data or control signals, if data or control signals to be transmitted in the uplink are generated from an upper layer. The terminal transmits the scheduling request to the radio resource controlling node to thereby request the radio resource controlling node to allocate radio resources for transmitting the data or control signals, when the highest priority is greater than or equal to the lowest priority.
US08503384B1 Precoding with multi-user codebooks
A base station including a plurality of codebooks embodied on a computer readable storage medium. The base station further includes a transceiver configured to i) notify a first receiver of a first codebook of the plurality of codebooks to be used for transmissions between the base station and the first receiver, ii) notify a second receiver of a second codebook of the plurality of codebooks to be used for transmissions between the base station and the second receiver, iii) receive, from the first receiver, a first precoding vector from the set of precoding vectors in the first codebook, iv) receive, from the second receiver, a second precoding vector from the set of precoding vectors in the second codebook, v) transmit, in accordance with the first precoding vector, first data to the first receiver, and vi) transmit, in accordance with the second precoding vector, second data to the second receiver.
US08503383B2 Method of inter-system coexistence and spectrum sharing for dynamic spectrum access networks-on-demand spectrum contention
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) coexistence and spectrum sharing. The described method of spectrum sharing called On-Demand Spectrum Contention, integrates Dynamic Frequency Selection and Transmission Power Control with iterative on-demand spectrum contentions and provides fairness, adaptability, and efficiency of spectrum access for dynamic spectrum access systems using active inter-system coordination.
US08503381B2 Apparatus and method for configuring radio connection in multiple component carrier system
A method of a Mobile Station (MS) configuring radio connection in a multiple component carrier system is provided. The method includes receiving distribution information from a Base Station (BS) through a first Component Carrier (CC), selecting a second CC for radio connection to the BS on a basis of the distribution information, and performing the radio connection through the second CC.
US08503379B2 Apparatus and method for precoding by midamble in multiple input multiple output wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for performing codebook-based precoding in a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) wireless communication system are provided. In a method for operating a Base Station (BS) in a MIMO wireless communication system, a reference signal including pilot signals, which are divided by a predefined number of bands and are multiplied by respective codes in a codebook, is transmitted. One or more Mobile Stations (MSs) destined for spatial multiple access are selected using an index of a band and CQI of the band corresponding to the index, which are fed back from one or more MSs. A precoding matrix is generated to process data streams of the selected one or more MSs.
US08503374B2 Method for scheduling orthogonally over multiple hops
An apparatus, method, and computer-program product are provided for wireless communication between uplink and downlink nodes via a relay. The relay is configured to simultaneously communicate with the uplink and downlink nodes on a common channel. For simultaneous communication, radio resources may be allocated to the relay to maintain orthogonality on both the uplink and downlink.
US08503373B2 Localized and distributed allocation multiplexing and control
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate multiplexing of localized transmissions and distributed transmissions to reduce overhead transmission costs. According to various aspects, systems and/or methods are described that enable selection of an optimal transmission scheme in order to accommodate various traffic services, user abilities and channel properties.
US08503372B2 Method and apparatus for compressing and transmitting ultra high speed data
Voiceband compression techniques are employed in order to enable an RF telecommunications base station to accommodate data signals of high speed voiceband modems and FAX machines. An Ultra-High Speed Codec supports voiceband modem and FAX transmissions up to 14.4 kb/s and operates using four 16-phase RF slots. Because these codecs transmit information over several RF slots which can be contiguous, the slots within RF communication channels are dynamically allocated. The Dynamic Time slot/Bandwidth Allocation feature detects and monitors the data transmission and forms a data channel from the necessary number of slots.
US08503365B2 Apparatus and method for detecting cell in wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for detecting a cell in a mobile communication system such as an LTE (Long Term Evolution) system are provided. In the method, when a signal is received from at least one base station, a primary synchronization channel (PSCH) detector detects a PSCH symbol in the signal. Then a PSCH validity determiner ascertains a valid value of the PSCH symbol and determines whether the valid value is greater than a given threshold. If the PSCH symbol is greater than the threshold, a secondary synchronization channel (SSCH) allocator estimates a position of an SSCH symbol in the signal using the PSCH symbol. Then an SSCH detector detects the SSCH symbol at the estimated position, so that a neighboring cell can be found through the detected SSCH symbol.
US08503362B2 Speaker synchronization technique for wireless multichannel sound data transmission system
The present invention relates to sound data transmission between a wireless sound transmitter that transmits sound data received from a multimedia source, and a wireless sound speaker that outputs sound signal by receiving the sound data, and more particularly, to a method for compensation of a play time delay between the wireless sound speakers occurring when the multichannel sound data is distributed and transmitted from the wireless sound transmitter to the multiple wireless sound speakers. The differences in the play time points occurring between the speakers in a TDMA based multichannel wireless transmission system, are pre-compensated through the delay of the sound data in the WSDT.
US08503356B2 Wireless communication method and apparatus for selecting cells in an OFDMA system
A wireless communication method and apparatus for selecting cells in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system are disclosed. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) measures a downlink path loss of a current serving cell and at least one other cell. The WTRU determines whether a path loss difference between the serving cell and the other cell is below a threshold. If the path loss difference is below the threshold, the WTRU measures a channel quality indicator (CQI) for each of the plurality of subcarrier blocks in the downlink of the current serving cell and the other cell, respectively. The WTRU reports the CQIs to a serving Node-B which selects a new cell based on the CQIs. Alternatively, a centralized access gateway (aGW) may select the new serving cell/Node-B, or the cell selection decision made by the serving Node-B may be forwarded to another Node-B via the centralized aGW.
US08503354B2 Control signaling techniques for wireless networks
Various example embodiments are disclosed relating to wireless networks, such as relay networks or multi-hop networks, and also relating to control signaling techniques for wireless networks. In an example embodiment, a method or technique may include transmitting (e.g., data or control) frames in a downlink direction and control frames in an uplink direction during a first phase, and transmitting (e.g., data or control) frames in an uplink direction and control frames in a downlink direction during a second phase.
US08503352B2 Method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving reference signal for positioning in wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving a reference signal for positioning in a wireless communication system are provided. In the method, a BS locates a PA preamble in a second frame among frames constituting each of multiple superframes, locates a SA preamble in first symbols of first and third frames among the frames constituting each of the multiple superframes, determines multiple consecutive first superframes belonging to an LBS zone from among the multiple superframes, includes a reference signal for LBS in a first symbol of a first subframe of a last frame among frames constituting each of the first superframes, includes data in a first symbol of a first subframe of a last frame among frames constituting each of second superframes that correspond to the multiple superframes excluding the first superframes when the data is to be transmitted, and communicates with an MS by using the first and second superframes.
US08503351B1 Base station, relay, system and method for packet re-transmission in a multi-hop network
Systems and methods for packet re-transmission in multi-hop wireless networks are provided. RLP packet retransmission only starts from the hop where L1 ARQ fails. This may result in an increased efficiency of radio resource utilization. In particular, the benefit may be greatest for implementations where the last hop is more unstable than the remaining hops. This is the case for the cellular downlink where the last hop is between a relay and a mobile terminal, and this hop is typically the most unstable. However, applications are not limited to this particular case. Any improvement in RLP recovery delay may be translated into an improvement in system capacity and per-terminal throughput.
US08503349B2 Wireless LAN relay apparatus
The relay apparatus includes a wireless communication unit configured to carry out wireless communication with the base station, and capable of direct wireless communications respectively with other relay apparatuses belonging to the wireless LAN, without going through the base station, and a path search unit configured to compare the throughput of a wireless communication path for carrying out data transfer to a destination apparatus without going through the base station, with the throughput of a wireless communication path for carrying out data transfer to a destination apparatus going through the base station; and select the path having higher throughput.
US08503346B2 Wireless network using network coding scheme based on overhearing channel
A wireless network using a network coding scheme is provided. The wireless network may include at least two source nodes, at least two destination nodes, and a relay node. The at least two source nodes may divide source messages into partial source messages, and transmit the partial source messages to the relay node. The relay node may generate a network-coded message using the network coding scheme. The at least two destination nodes may overhear the partial source messages using overhearing channels and obtain the source messages based on the received network-coded message.
US08503345B2 Method and related apparatus of handling point-to-multipoint MBMS service in a wireless communications system
A method of handling a point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) service in a wireless communications system includes the following step of receiving a message used for carrying information of the p-t-m MBMS service via a first channel when a radio resource control (RRC) state of the receiving terminal is a dedicated state. The message includes an instruction utilized to indicate the receiving terminal to release resources used for receiving the p-t-m MBMS service. Otherwise, the method includes the step of adding an instruction into a message used for carrying information of the p-t-m MBMS service when the message is transmitted to a receiving terminal via a dedicated channel. The instruction is utilized to indicate the receiving terminal to release resources used for receiving the p-t-m MBMS service.
US08503343B2 Wireless communication system, communication control method and communication node
A technique is disclosed, by which it is possible to achieve the reduction of power consumption of each wireless node and to perform efficient access control in wireless communication system. According to this technique, a given period with a beacon transmitted from a gateway (GW) 100 at the foremost position is divided to an active period where each wireless node (P2P tag) transmits and receives a frame and a sleep period where transmitting and receiving of the frames are stopped. Further, the active period is divided to a plurality of timeslots each with a fixed length, and the period is partitioned to sub-periods where each type of a GW, a fixed node (P2P-S tag), and a mobile node (P2P-M tag) can transmit frames respectively. Each of the P2P tags selects a timeslot at random from the period for each type, and after waiting for a waiting period at random at the selected timeslot, it transmits a frame including information to identify the selected timeslot or the waiting period in addition to its own ID.
US08503342B2 Signal transmission method from a local network node
A transmitter is provided having transmission methods that minimize the power needed to ensure reliable reception in a coverage area. In one aspect, data that requires re-transmission as acknowledged mode data is re-transmitted when the power level of the transmission link is higher than a pre-determined level set for reliable reception. The data rate of the re-transmitted data is set according to the difference in the actual power and the pre-determined level. In a second aspect, two transmitting antennae are used to transmit the same signals with a frequency off-set. The frequency off-set can be used to determine the phase of the signals being received at the receiver, so that a phase off-set can be introduced to optimise the effect of interference at the receiver.
US08503337B2 Physical uplink control signal transmitting method for time division duplex system
A method for transmitting a physical uplink control signal in a time division duplex system, wherein the uplink control signal is more than 2 bits. The method comprises the following steps of: a base station distributing a plurality of uplink channel code resources of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for a user equipment, and making an agreement with the user equipment to transmit different contents represented by the uplink control signal using different uplink channel code resources; the user equipment selecting one or more uplink channel code resources from the distributed uplink channel code resources according to the content of the uplink control signal to be transmitted, and transmitting the uplink control signal on the physical uplink control channel.
US08503336B2 System and method for design, tracking, measurement, prediction and optimization of data communication networks
A system and method for design, tracking, measurement, prediction and optimization of data communications networks includes a site specific model of the physical environment, and performs a wide variety of different calculations for predicting network performance using a combination of prediction modes and measurement data based on the components used in the communications networks, the physical environment, and radio propagation characteristics.
US08503333B2 Reestablishment of an interface between nodes in a network using a backoff time
Methods of initializing an association between a first node and a second node include detecting an event indicating that the first node should establish an association with the second node. After detecting the event, the methods include waiting at least a certain amount of time before attempting to establish the association, and attempting to establish the association between the second node and the first node only after waiting the certain amount of time.
US08503331B2 Wireless communication device, wireless communication system, program and wireless communication method
A first station for communicating with a second station is disclosed. The first station may include a storage unit configured to store relationship information defining a communication relationship between the first station and the second station. The first station may also include a communication unit configured to communicate with the second station and with an access point. The communication relationship may be maintained when the communication unit begins communicating with the access point.
US08503330B1 Wireless system commissioning and optimization
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for commissioning and optimizing a wireless network. In one aspect, a method includes a wireless network configuration and optimization engine receives configuration data for a wireless network and monitors performance of the wireless network. The engine processes the data to perform on or more automated commissioning operations, and one or more automated optimization operations, thus simplifying commissioning and maintenance of the wireless network.
US08503329B2 Signaling of attachment circuit status and automatic discovery of inter-chassis communication peers
In an embodiment, a method of signaling status at a routing device is provided. In this method, the routing device establishes an inter-chassis control plane channel session with a remote routing device. Here, the routing device and the remote routing device are linked to a multi-homed routing device. The routing device then synchronizes with the remote routing device by way of the inter-chassis control plane channel session to identify a state of a link from the routing device to the multi-homed routing device. The state of the link is thereafter advertised by way of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). Additionally, a method of discovering inter-chassis communication peers via BGP between the first and remote routing devices is provided.
US08503328B2 Methods and apparatus for transmission of configuration information in a wireless communication network
Methods and apparatus for transmission of configuration information in a wireless communication network. A method is provided for transmitting a configuration message to a plurality of terminals in a wireless network. The method includes assigning a slot in a transmission to contain the configuration message, and transmitting a marker to identify the slot in the transmission to the plurality of terminals. The method also includes transmitting the configuration message in the slot of the transmission using a high data rate so that air-link resources are conserved.
US08503324B2 Controlling interference in a wireless communication system using a parameter upper bound based on a maximum allowable noise rise
A method and apparatus for controlling interference in a wireless communication system includes a first step of performing 500 a handoff measurement of a signal parameter for a current site and for nearby sites, and performing 502 a comparison of the signal parameters to select the nearby site having the strongest signal parameter. A next step 504 includes defining a target maximum allowable noise rise for the selected nearby site. A next step 506 includes calculating an upper bound for at least one operating parameter in the current site. A next step 508 includes determining whether a maximum for the at least one operating parameter exceeds 510 the upper bound. A next step 514 includes constraining the at least one operating parameter to no more than the upper bound if the maximum for the at least one operating parameter exceeds the upper bound.
US08503322B2 IQ imbalance image compensation in multi-carrier wireless communication systems
A method in a wireless communication terminal includes receiving an aggregated carrier including a first component carrier and a second component carrier, measuring leakage of a reference signal from the first component carrier onto the second component carrier, receiving a signal on the aggregated carrier, and compensating for leakage of the signal from the first component carrier to the second component carrier based on the measurement of the leakage of the reference signal.
US08503319B2 Data processor and communication system
A data processor which can flexibly control bandwidth settings and setting changes is provided. The data processor controls bandwidth allocation to electronic devices participating in a communication network. The data processor has a communication section used to communicate with the electronic devices and a bandwidth management section which performs control to variably allocate, based on requests from the electronic devices, bandwidths to be used for communication by the electronic devices. In cases where an additional device is added to the communication network and an adequate bandwidth cannot be allocated to the additional device, the bandwidth management section requests another electronic device transmitting video data of a resolution higher than corresponding to the user's intention to change its data format so as to allow an adequate bandwidth to be allocated to the additional device.
US08503318B2 Estimating endpoint performance in unified communication systems
Performance of endpoints, client devices and servers within a communication system, is determined by collecting call quality data from each endpoint by a quality monitoring server/application. Call quality data includes predefined metrics based on network and end device characteristics during each call. Calls include voice, video, and data exchanges. Collected metric values are then aggregated according to a formula for consistency and scaled based on factors such as traffic volume. Resulting performance values are used to order the endpoints such that those with degraded quality and prioritized based on factors like traffic volume can be attended to first.
US08503317B2 Method of controlling network in wireless network and device
A method of controlling a network at a coordinator of a wireless network comprises receiving a beacon, which includes at least one of transmission coverage information associated with signal transmission coverage of the wireless network and ACK packet information indicating a type of an ACK packet transmitted from a plurality of devices for acknowledgement during reception of data packets, from a coordinator of the wireless network; receiving the data packets from a transmitting device of the wireless network; and transmitting an ACK packet having an ACK packet type determined based on the ACK packet type information included in the beacon to the transmitting device as a signal for acknowledgement of the data packets.
US08503314B2 Diversity monitoring for communication network circuits
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media are provided for monitoring circuit diversity within a communications network. Information is gathered regarding circuits within the communications network. Diversity rules for the circuits are received. The diversity rules may limit the sharing of network resource between primary and secondary circuit pairs. The information regarding the circuits is analyzed to identify violations of the diversity rules. A report on the violations of the diversity rules is generated.
US08503311B2 Method for measuring processing delays of voice-over IP devices
A system and method for recording analog signals exchanged between a telephone device and a VoIP device, capturing packets exchanged between the VoIP device and an IP network, determining analog time values corresponding to analog characteristics of the analog signals, determining digital time values corresponding to digital characteristics of the packets, determining a common reference time for the analog time values and digital time values and determining a processing delay based on the analog time values and the digital time values.
US08503310B2 Technique for policy conflict resolution using priority with variance
In one embodiment, a value for a option for a particular policy of a plurality of policies that are ranked in a priority order is ascertained. A variance to the value associated with the option for the particular policy is applied to define a range of acceptable values for the particular policy. A determination is made whether one or more other options exist that have values within the range of acceptable values for the particular policy. If no other options exist that have values within the range of acceptable values for the particular policy, the option is selected If other options exist that have values within the range of acceptable values for the particular policy, the ascertaining, applying and determining is repeated for a next lower priority policy of the plurality of policies to consider the other options, the repeating to occur successively until an option is selected.
US08503307B2 Distributing decision making in a centralized flow routing system
Local rules for managing flows devolved from a central controller are received at a switch. The central controller determines a global set of rules for managing flows. The switch receives a packet from a flow from a network and determines whether a metric for the flow satisfies a dynamic condition to trigger a metric report to the central controller. In response to a determination that the metric for the flow at the switch satisfies the dynamic condition to trigger a metric report to the central controller, the switch sends a metric report to the central controller, and the switch then receives an instruction to manage the flow from the central controller. In response to a determination that the metric for the flow at the switch does not satisfy the dynamic condition to trigger the metric report to the central controller, the switch manages the flow using the local rules for managing flows.
US08503298B2 Applying quality aware volume reduction to communication networks
A method of applying a quality-aware volume reduction to communication networks is provided herein. The method includes the following stages: deriving, from the network: a bandwidth capacity limit of the links of the network, and an initial flow rate for each flow transmitted via nodes through the network; obtaining from each one of the nodes, a gain value which corresponds to a quantitative data demand requested by the node and given in terms of data quality; and calculating, for each one of the nodes, a data reduction ratio, that achieves: (i) a maximal overall revenue associated with the network, wherein the revenue for a node is calculated with respect to the quality of the data that arrives to the node, and (ii) an optimal bandwidth allocation over the links with respect to the gains and the data quality at each node, and to the limited bandwidth capacity of the links.
US08503297B1 Adaptive rate control based on battery life
A method and system is disclosed for adaptive rate control based on battery life. An access terminal in a wireless communication system that includes a base station will operate in a first state in which, at least, the access terminal responds to receiving reverse-noise messages from the base station by making adjustments to a data transmission rate on a reverse-link traffic channel to the base station in accordance with the received reverse-noise messages. Upon receiving a first threshold number of reverse-noise messages from the base station indicating that the reverse-link noise measured by the base station is alternating above and below the threshold level, and in response having a battery power level below a threshold power level, the access terminal will transition to operating in a second state in which, at least, the access terminal does not make the adjustments to the data transmission rate on the reverse-link traffic channel in response to receiving reverse-noise messages from the base station.
US08503295B2 Base station and access control method for cellular wireless communication
A base station is connected to wired and wireless networks to send a call that is received from the wired network to the wireless network at a predetermined quality of service (QoS), select one or more combinations of a set of modulation and coding scheme, and a radio resource amount that are associated with a QoS set in a newly incoming call, determine the radio resource amount that is equal to or less than a amount of the unassigned radio resources, assign, to the newly incoming call, the combination that is associated with the determined radio resource amount and the QoS set in the newly incoming call, reduce the radio resources assigned to the ongoing call without changing the QoS, and assign, to the newly incoming call, an amount of radio resources released from the ongoing call and modulation and coding scheme associated with this released radio resource amount.
US08503294B2 Transport layer relay method, transport layer relay device, and program
Relay units (1002-1-1002-n) terminate a plurality of transport layer connections from terminals in a transport layer and relay each of these connections to other transport layer connections (relay connections). A transmission rate control unit (1003) determines the total transmission rate of the relay connections according to the number of connections that are being relayed and network congestion conditions such that a desired effective rate is obtained, and moreover, allots the total transmission rate as transmission rates to each of relay units (1002-1-1002-n) in accordance with the results of the analysis of information of the applications being carried on the transport layer connections during relay.
US08503284B2 Pilot arrangement method in mobile radio communication system and transmitter/receiver adopting same
A pilot arrangement method in a mobile communication system in which a working frequency band is divided into a plurality of predetermined bands, and time division multiplexing is performed, the method comprising, inserting a known pilot symbol into the plurality of predetermined frequency bands at a predetermined reference interval; and inserting to arrange the known pilot symbol into at least one of the plurality of predetermined frequency bands at a smaller interval than the predetermined reference interval, wherein a pattern inserting the known pilot symbol into a at least the one of the plurality of predetermined frequency bands at the smaller interval is changed according to a predetermined pattern.
US08503283B2 Channel access protocol for wireless communication
Method, apparatus, and computer program product embodiments are disclosed to enable an access point in a wireless network to use Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) reserve subcarriers of OFDM symbols for transmitting high priority voice data and video data to particular wireless devices, while the access point allocates the remaining available subcarriers for contention-based access by other wireless devices.
US08503279B2 Six-dimensional optical storage method and apparatus
The invention relates to a method of optical six-dimensional data storage and the apparatus based on it. This invention uses multiple beams with different wavelengths, encoded intensities and polarizations to create each group of multiple wavelength selective, reflectivity specified and polarization sensitive tiny plane or quasi-plane Bragg reflectors in a small volume crossing through multiple storage medium layers as each storage cell. The maximum storage capacity can over 10 Terabytes per disk with fast data write, read and erase speeds. In addition, the apparatus based on this method has no interlayer noise and disk rotation caused data recoding and reading quality loss, and has good compatibility with existing CD and DVD disks.
US08503278B2 Information reproducing device
A recording parameter setting device setting parameters of pulse sequences forming recording marks on recording media. The device includes a storage section storing first and second look-up tables, and a recording parameter setting section for obtaining from the tables and setting parameters corresponding to recording information. The pulse sequences form at least marks equal to or longer than a first predetermined length but not longer than a maximum mark length, and include top and last sections. Also, the first lookup table stores parameters for top sections that control heat of front edges of marks classified into a same group. The second lookup table stores parameters for last sections for controlling heat of rear edges that are equal to or longer than a second predetermined recording mark length, that is longer than the first predetermined recording mark length, through the maximum recording mark length and classified into a same group.
US08503276B2 Optical disk drive and method for determining type of a blu-ray disk
The invention provides a method for determining the layer type of a blu-ray disk. First, a laser beam is focused on a target layer of the blu-ray disk. Reflection of the laser beam from the target layer is the detected to obtain a reflection signal. The reflection signal is then processed to generate a first tracking error signal and a second tracking error signal. Magnitudes of the first tracking error signal and the second tracking error signal are then measured. The magnitude of the second tracking error signal is then subtracted from the magnitude of the first tracking error signal to obtain a difference value. Finally, the layer type of the target layer is determined by comparing the difference value with the first predetermined threshold.
US08503273B2 Optical disc device and recording method
An optical disc device and a recording method is provided in which information can be additionally recorded on an optical disc, which has a servo layer and recording layers separately formed, by accurately correcting a relative angle between a light beam and the optical disc used in the previous recording without providing an area where recording is not performed while maintaining the stability of tracking servo. The above subject can be solved by studying with high accuracy the relative angle between the optical disc and the optical axis used in the previous recording by applying a radial tilt servo according to a signal from the recording layers with the tracking servo applied by the servo layer. Further, the additional recording can be performed stably by fixing the radial tilt at the previously studied angle when the recording is performed.
US08503271B2 Method of forming a plasmon antenna with magnetic core for thermally assisted magnetic recording
A method of forming a TAMR (Thermal Assisted Magnetic Recording) write head that uses the energy of optical-laser generated edge plasmons in a plasmon antenna to locally heat a magnetic recording medium and reduce its coercivity and magnetic anisotropy. The method incorporates forming a magnetic core within the plasmon antenna, so the antenna effectively becomes an extension of the magnetic pole and produces a magnetic field whose maximum gradient overlaps the region being heated by the edge plasmons generated in the conducting layer of the antenna surrounding the antenna's magnetic core.
US08503269B2 Time dependent-temperature independent color changing label
A timing device for indicating a passage of a duration of time is disclosed. The timing device in accordance with the embodiments of the invention has a grid array architecture. The grid array architecture includes an electrode structure with an anode layer, a cathode layer and a thermistor layer. The anode layer and the thermistor layer are electrically coupled through a plurality of cathode trace structures. In operation the timing device is actuated through a suitable mechanism to initiate depletion of the anode layer and, thereby, indicate a passage of a duration time. As the anode layer depletes, sequential cathode trace structures are exposed and the thermistor layer acts as a temperature dependent resistor through a plurality of exposed cathode trace structures.
US08503267B2 Calendar display device and calendar watch
A calendar display device for a mechanical watch piece, including a first disk, the disk of days, carrying multiple series of inscriptions symbolizing the seven days of the week, a second disk, the disk of dates, carrying inscriptions symbolizing the date of the month, a third disk, the disk of months, carrying 12 inscriptions symbolizing the months of the year. One of the disk of days and the disk of dates acts as a dial by being fixed, whereas the other acts as a rotary disk by being arranged concentrically and rotatably in relation to the dial. The dial includes an aperture making it possible to see the inscription of the current month. A hand indicates simultaneously the date and the day of the week; and a direct kinematic link between the disk of months and the rotary disk provides automatic indexing.
US08503263B2 Memory module and power supply system
A memory module includes a ground terminal, a power terminal, a voltage regulator down, and a storing unit. The power terminal and the ground terminal are connected to a power source that supplies a first direct voltage. The voltage regulator down is connected to the power terminal and configured for converting the first direct current voltage to a second direct current voltage. The storing unit is connected the voltage regulator down for storing data and reading or writing data when the storing unit receives the second direct current voltage.
US08503257B2 Read disturb scorecard
Systems and methods are disclosed for handling read disturbs based on one or more characteristics of read operations performed on a non-volatile memory (“NVM”). In some embodiments, a control circuitry of a system can generate a variable damage value determined based on one or more characteristics of a read operation. Using the damage value, the control circuitry can update a score associated with the block. If the control circuitry determines that the score exceeds a pre-determined threshold, at least a portion of the block can be relocated to a different memory location in the NVM. In some embodiments, portions of the block may be relocated over a period of time.
US08503256B2 Column command buffer and latency circuit including the same
A column command buffer includes a variable delay section configured to determine a delay time based on a frequency of a clock, and output a column command after delaying it by the delay time; and a buffering section configured to receive an output of the variable delay section and generate internal column commands.
US08503255B2 Semiconductor storage device including plural clock oscillator circuits operating at different frequencies
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor storage device includes a memory cell array and a control circuit. The memory cell array has memory cells arranged therein at respective intersections between a plurality of first wirings and a plurality of second wirings. Each of the memory cells has a variable resistance element. The control circuit is configured to apply a voltage to a selected one of the first wirings and to a selected one of the second wirings. The control circuit includes a plurality of charge pump circuits and a plurality of clock oscillator circuits. The charge pump circuits generate a voltage applied to the first and second wirings. Each of the clock oscillator circuits is configured to supply a clock signal to a certain number of the charge pump circuits to control the timing of operation thereof. The clock oscillator circuits are configured to output clock signals at different frequencies.
US08503254B2 Semiconductor memory device, semiconductor system including the semiconductor memory device, and method for operating the semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor memory device includes a first data input/output unit configured to receive a normal training data, whose data window is scanned based on an edge of a source clock, in response to a training input command, and output a data in a state where an edge of the data window is synchronized with the edge of the source clock in response to a training output command, and a second data input/output unit configured to receive a recovery information training data, whose data window is scanned based on the edge of the source clock, in response to the training input command, and output a data in a state where an edge of a data window is synchronized with the edge of the source clock in response to the training output command.
US08503250B2 High speed DRAM architecture with uniform access latency
A Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) performs read, write, and refresh operations. The DRAM includes a plurality of sub-arrays, each having a plurality of memory cells, each of which is coupled with a complementary bit line pair and a word line. The DRAM further includes a word line enable device for asserting a selected one of the word lines and a column select device for asserting a selected one of the bit line pairs. A timing circuit is provided for controlling the word line enable device, the column select device, and the read, write, and refresh operations in response to a word line timing pulse. The read, write, and refresh operation are performed in the same amount of time.
US08503244B2 Fabricating and operating a memory array having a multi-level cell region and a single-level cell region
Techniques are disclosed herein for applying different process steps to single-level cell (SLC) blocks in a memory array than to multi-level cell (MLC) blocks such that the SLC blocks will have high endurance and the MLC blocks will have high reliability. In some aspects, different doping is used in the MLC blocks than the SLC blocks. In some aspects, different isolation is used in the MLC blocks than the SLC blocks. Techniques are disclosed that apply different read parameters depending on how many times a block has been programmed/erased. Therefore, blocks that have been cycled many times are read using different parameters than blocks that have been cycled fewer times.
US08503243B2 Flash memory device and reading method thereof
A flash memory device and reading method of the flash memory device. The reading method includes determining a read voltage set of memory cells corresponding to a first word line from at least one of flag cell data of the first word line and flag cell data of a second word line adjacent to the first word line, and reading the memory cells corresponding to the first word line according to the determined read voltage set.
US08503241B2 Electronic apparatus and data reading method
In one embodiment, there is provided an electronic apparatus. The apparatus includes: a storage device including a plurality of blocks that are units of data erasure. Each of the blocks includes a plurality of pages that are units of data reading or writing. Each of the pages includes: a data area storing a data; and a redundant area storing order information indicating an order of the data stored in the data area. The apparatus further includes: a reading module configured to read the data stored in the data area of each of the pages, in order from a last page to a head page, wherein, in reading each of the pages, the reading module is configured to read the order information stored in the redundant area prior to reading the data stored in the data area; a determining module configured to determine whether currently-read order information coincides with already-read order information; and a reading controller configured to control the reading module such that a data is not read from a data area of a page storing the currently-read order information, when the determining module determines that the currently-read order information coincides with the already-read order information.
US08503239B2 Device for controlling lock state of block in a semiconductor memory and method for controlling the same
A block control device for a semiconductor memory and a method for controlling the same are disclosed, which relate to a technology for controlling a block operation state of a Low Power Double-Data-Rate 2 (LPDDR2) non-volatile memory device. A block control device for use in a semiconductor memory includes a block address comparator configured to compare a first block address with a last block address, and output a same pulse or unequal pulse according to the comparison result, a block address driver configured to output a lock state control signal for driving a block address in response to the same pulse, a block address counter configured to count block addresses from the first block address to the last block address in response to the unequal pulse, and generate a block data activation pulse, and a block address register configured to store a lock state of a corresponding block in response to the lock state control signal and the block data activation pulse.
US08503238B1 Error recovery for flash memory
A system for error recovery for flash memory comprises a receiver and an interface. The receiver is configured to receive a portion of data. The receiver is further configured to identify a logical type of the portion of data. The receiver is further configured to adjust a threshold for error recovery of the portion of data based at least in part on the logical type. The receiver is further configured to read the portion of data using the adjusted threshold. The interface is coupled to the receiver.
US08503230B2 Access method of non-volatile memory device
Disclosed is an access method of a non-volatile memory device which comprises detecting a threshold voltage variation of a first memory cell, the a threshold voltage variation of the first memory cell being capable of physically affecting a second memory cell; and assigning the second memory cell to a selected sub-distribution from among a plurality of sub-distributions according to a distance of the threshold voltage variation of the first memory cell, the plurality of sub-distributions corresponding to a target distribution of the second memory cell.
US08503228B2 Data cells with drivers and methods of making and operating the same
Disclosed are methods and devices, among which is a device that includes a first semiconductor fin having a first gate, a second semiconductor fin adjacent the first semiconductor fin and having a second gate, and a third gate extending between the first semiconductor fin and the second semiconductor fin. In some embodiments, the third gate may not be electrically connected to the first gate or the second gate.
US08503223B2 Semiconductor storage device
In a memory, the MTJ elements respectively have a first end electrically connected to any one of a source and a drain of one of the cell transistors. First bit lines each of which is electrically connected to the other one of the source and the drain of one of the cell transistors. Second bit lines each of which is electrically connected to a second end of one of the MTJ elements. Word lines each of which is electrically connected to a gate of one of the cell transistors or functions as a gate of one of the cell transistors. A plurality of the second bit lines correspond to one of the first bit lines. A plurality of the MTJ elements share the same word line and the same active area. The active area is continuously formed in an extending direction of the first and second bit lines.
US08503222B2 Non-volatile logic circuit
A non-volatile logic circuit includes an input section, a control section and an output section. The input section has perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and has a ferromagnetic layer whose magnetization state is changeable. The control section includes a ferromagnetic layer. The output section is provided in a neighborhood of the input section and the control section and includes a magnetic tunnel junction element whose magnetization state is changeable. The magnetization state of the input section is changed based on the magnetization state. A magnetization state of the magnetic tunnel junction element of the output section which state is changed based on the magnetization state of the ferromagnetic material of the control section and the magnetization state of the ferromagnetic material of the input section.
US08503221B1 SRAM cell with common bit line and source line standby voltage
A high threshold five transistor SRAM bit cell with cross-coupled inverters has a single BIT line, a common logic 1 supply voltage, and two logic 0 virtual ground source voltages. The BIT line is coupled to the bit cell by a pass transistor. When BIT line and virtual ground lines are not otherwise being used, they are connected to a common standby voltage that substantially lowers bit cell standby leakage. Writing is performed by driving a data signal through the pass transistor and is facilitated by creating a voltage differential on the virtual ground lines. Reading is also performed through the pass transistor wherein the BIT line is initially at the standby voltage, and is then driven lower or higher depending upon the data value stored in the bit cell.
US08503220B2 Semiconductor device and method of sensing data of the semiconductor device
In one example embodiment, the semiconductor device includes a memory cell array having at least one memory cell disposed in a region at which at least one bit line and at least one word line cross. A sensing unit senses data stored in the at least one memory cell. The sensing unit includes a connection control unit configured to control a connection between the at least one bit line and a sensing line based on a control signal, the control signal having a voltage level that varies based on a value of data being sensed by the sensing unit.
US08503218B2 Nonvolatile memory device using resistance material and memory system including the nonvolatile memory device
A nonvolatile memory device includes: a memory array including a plurality of memory banks which are arranged in a first direction; a write global bit line and a read global bit line extending in the first direction to be shared by the memory banks; a write circuit connected to the write global bit line and disposed on a first side of the memory array; and a read circuit connected to the read global bit line and disposed on a second side of the memory array opposite the first side of the memory array, wherein each of the memory banks extends in a second direction different from the first direction and comprises a plurality of nonvolatile memory cells, each of the nonvolatile memory cells having a variable resistive element whose resistance value varies according to data stored therein.
US08503217B2 Reconfigurable crossbar memory array
A two-dimensional array of switching devices comprises a plurality of crossbar tiles. Each crossbar tile has a plurality of row wire segments intersecting a plurality of column wire segments, and a plurality of switching devices each formed at an intersection of a row wire segment and a column wire segment. The array has a plurality of lateral latches disposed in a plane of the switching devices. Each lateral latch is linked to a first wire segment of a first crossbar tile and a second wire segment of a second crossbar tile opposing the first wire segment. The lateral latch is operable to close or open to form or break an electric connection between the first and second wire segments.
US08503205B2 AC/DC converter with a PFC and a DC/DC converter
Disclosed is a power converter including a power factor corrector and a DC/DC converter and a power conversion method.
US08503203B1 Pre-charge of switched capacitor circuits with cascoded drivers
An apparatus for voltage conversion includes a switched capacitor circuit, a pre-charge circuit, a voltage divider stage, and a driver stage. The switched capacitor circuit has pump capacitors to transfer energy and a steady-state operating mode and a pre-charge mode. The pre-charge circuit initially charges the pump capacitors when the switched capacitor circuit operates in the pre-charge mode. It includes a voltage divider stage having one or more nodes, each of which provides voltage at one of a corresponding one or more voltage levels, and a driver stage having one or more cascoded drivers, each of which comprises a first terminal for receiving a drive signal that depends at least in part on a voltage level at a corresponding one of the nodes, and a second terminal for coupling to a pump capacitor and to another of the drivers.
US08503201B2 Transient clamping circuitry for voltage converter
Systems and methods of operating a voltage converter are provided. The converter includes an output inductor and an output capacitor coupled to a rectifier circuit. The converter also includes a clamp circuit having a clamping diode and a clamping capacitor coupled in series, with the serial combination in parallel with the output inductor. The clamp circuit can also include a recovery inductor coupled to the output capacitor, and a switch configured to selectively couple and decouple the recovery inductor in parallel with the clamping capacitor.
US08503200B2 Quadrature-corrected feedforward control apparatus and method for DC-AC power conversion
An apparatus and method for controlling the delivery of a pre-determined amount of power from a DC source to an AC grid includes an inverter and an inverter controller. The inverter includes an input converter, an energy storage capacitor, and an output converter. The inverter controller includes an input converter controller and an output converter controller. The input converter controller includes feedforward controller configured to perform a calculation to determine a value for the duty cycle for the input converter such that: (1) the input converter delivers the pre-determined amount of power and (2) the magnitude of a ripple signal reflected into the input source is attenuated toward zero. The input converter controller may also include a quadrature corrector configured to determine the effectiveness of the calculation in attenuating the ripple and to adaptively alter the calculation to improve the effectiveness.
US08503195B1 System and method for zero volt switching of half bridge converters during startup and short circuit conditions
An open loop half-bridge power converter is provided for effective zero volt switching during all operating conditions, the converter including: an oscillating inverter circuit having a pair of switches coupled to a load circuit; an inverter drive circuit effective to provide driver signals to the inverter circuit; and a control circuit for providing control signals to the drive circuit. The control circuit is configured to increase a switching frequency of the switching devices in response to a predetermined condition such as startup or short circuit conditions. The inverter as a result continues to operate at a full duty cycle in response to the increased switching frequency, and zero volt switching is ensured throughout the duration of the predetermined condition.
US08503194B2 Bidirectional signal conversion
An embodiment of a multidirectional signal converter includes first and second converter nodes, a transformer, and first and second stages. The transformer includes first and second windings, and the first stage is coupled between the first converter node and the first winding of the transformer. The second stage includes a first node coupled to the second converter node, a second node coupled to a node of the second winding of the transformer, and a filter node, is operable as a boost converter while current is flowing out from the second converter node, and is operable as a buck converter while current is flowing out from the first converter node. For example, in an embodiment, such a multidirectional signal converter may be a bidirectional voltage converter that handles power transfer between two loads. Such a voltage converter may have improved conversion efficiency and a smaller size and lower component count as compared to a conventional multidirectional voltage converter. Furthermore, such a voltage converter may be operable with a common switching scheme regardless of the direction of power transfer, and without the need for an indicator of the instantaneous direction of power flow.
US08503189B2 Pb-free solder-connected structure and electronic device
Provided are a bonded structure by a lead-free solder and an electronic article comprising the bonded structure. The bonded structure has a stable bonding interface with respect to a change in process of time, an enough strength and resistance to occurrence of whiskers while keeping good wettability of the solder. In the bonded structure, a lead-free Sn—Ag—Bi alloy solder is applied to an electrode through an Sn—Bi alloy layer. The Sn—Bi alloy, preferably, comprises 1 to 20 wt % Bi in order to obtain good wettability of the solder. In order to obtain desirable bonding characteristics having higher reliability in the invention, a copper layer is provided under the Sn—Bi alloy layer thereby obtaining an enough bonding strength.
US08503186B2 System-in packages
System-in packages, or multichip modules, are described which can include multi-layer chips and multi-layer dummy substrates over a carrier, multiple through vias blindly or completely through the multi-layer chips and completely through the multi-layer dummy substrates, multiple metal plugs in the through vias, and multiple metal interconnects, connected to the metal plugs, between the multi-layer chips. The multi-layer chips can be connected to each other or to an external circuit or structure, such as mother board, ball grid array (BGA) substrate, printed circuit board, metal substrate, glass substrate, or ceramic substrate, through the metal plugs and the metal interconnects.
US08503184B2 Modular computer chassis system and method
Provided in some embodiment is a module locking device including a first member coupled to a computer chassis during use, a second member coupled to the first member via a hinge. The hinge enables the second member to move between a first position that inhibits removal of one or more modules from the computer chassis during use and a second position that facilitates removal of one or more modules from the computer chassis during use. The module locking device also includes a locking mechanism that selectively locks the second member in the first position to inhibit removal of one or more modules from the computer chassis during use.
US08503179B2 Cooling system
A cooling system including several air jet elements, a heat exchange assembly and a frame is provided. The cooling system is applied to a rack server configured to receive a plurality of electronic assemblies. The air jet elements receive a high-pressure air and convert the high-pressure air into a low-temperature air. The heat exchange assembly is disposed in the frame and is connected to the air jet elements so as to perform a heat exchange between the low-temperature air and a high-temperature air generated by the rack server so as to lower the temperature of the high-temperature air. The frame is applied to accommodate the heat exchange assembly.
US08503176B2 Fan system with switching module connecting PWM device and fan
A switching module is for connecting a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) device to a plurality of fans under test. The switching module includes a print circuit board (PCB), and a plurality of groups of signal connectors arranged on the PCB. Each group of signal connectors includes a first port, a second port, and a third port interconnected with each other. The first port is for connecting to a testing port of an external PWM device. The second port is for connecting one corresponding fan of the plurality of fans. The third port is for connecting an interface of a server motherboard.
US08503172B2 Supplementary cooling system
A supplementary cooling system is provided for cooling a computing system. An apparatus may comprise a computing system and a docking system. The computing system has a cooling area and a fan area which is partionable from the cooling area. The docking system has a fan and an airflow outlet which is operably connected to the fan.
US08503169B2 Appliance control panel
An appliance control panel is described. The control panel includes a front metal panel, a rearwardly positioned polymeric decorated film and an adhesive layer disposed between the panel and the decorated film. The film overlies an electronic control module which typically includes various displays and press-type switches. Various markings and indicia on the decorated film are visible through openings in the panel and the adhesive layer. The appliance control panel includes one or more capacitance touch switches.
US08503166B2 Solid electrolytic capacitor
A solid electrolytic capacitor includes a capacitor element, an anode terminal, and a cathode terminal. The capacitor element includes an anode body, and an anode member buried in the anode body. The anode member includes first and second anode components. At least a lower end portion of the first anode component is exposed at a lower surface of the anode body. The second anode component communicates with the first anode component and extends inside the anode body. The second anode component has a width greater than the width of the first anode component at least in a direction along the lower surface of the anode body. The anode terminal is electrically connected to the lower end portion of the first anode component. The cathode terminal is electrically connected to a cathode layer of the capacitor element at a position below the lower surface of the anode body.
US08503165B2 Solid electrolytic capacitors with improved reliability
A capacitor with an anode, a dielectric on the anode and a cathode on the dielectric. A blocking layer is on the cathode. A metal filled layer is on said blocking layer and a plated layer is on the metal filled layer.
US08503161B1 Supercapacitor cells and micro-supercapacitors
This invention provides a micro-supercapacitor with high energy density and high power density. In some variations, carbon nanostructures, such as carbon nanotubes, coated with a metal oxide, such as ruthenium oxide, are grown in a supercapacitor cavity that contains no separator. A lid is bonded to the cavity using a bonding process to form a hermetic seal. These micro-supercapacitors may be fabricated from silicon-on-insulator wafers according to the disclosed methods. An exemplary micro-supercapacitor is cubic with a length of about 50-100 μm. The absence of a separator translates to higher energy storage volume and less wasted space within the supercapacitor cell. The energy density of the micro-supercapacitor may exceed 150 J/cm3 and the peak output power density may be in the range of about 2-20 W/cm3, in various embodiments.
US08503158B2 Key button mechanism and portable electronic device using same
A key button mechanism and a portable electronic device using same are provided. The key button mechanism includes a base body, a protective piece and a key button. The protective piece is assembled to the base body and includes two actuating portions. The key button is partially attached to the base body and aligns with the protective piece. The key button includes a key body and two resisting blocks formed on the key body. The two resisting blocks are configured to align with and abut against the corresponding two actuating portions of the protective piece.
US08503153B2 Lightning protection sheet with patterned discriminator
A lightning protection system is provided, typically for use on an outer surface of an aircraft, which includes the use of a lightning protection sheet that includes an electrically conductive film and at least one patterned, electrically non-conductive discriminator layer.
US08503151B2 Plasma arrestor insert
A dielectric arrestor insert for use in a chamber wafer processing system having a gas input line, an arrestor housing and a wafer processing space. The input line is able to provide gas to the arrestor housing. The arrestor housing is able to house the dielectric arrestor insert. The dielectric arrestor insert comprises a gas entry portion, a non-linear channel and a gas exit portion. The gas entry portion is arranged to receive the gas from the input line. The non-linear channel is arranged to deliver the gas from the gas entry portion to the gas exit portion. The gas exit portion is arranged to deliver the gas from the non-linear channel to the wafer processing space.
US08503148B2 Circuit breaker with fault indication and secondary power supply
An electronic circuit breaker includes controllable contacts adapted to connect a power source to at least one load, and a microcontroller for monitoring the flow of power to the load, detecting different types of fault conditions and automatically opening the contacts in response to a fault. A primary power supply of the breaker receives power from the line source when the contacts are closed, and supplies power to the control circuitry. Fault indicators in the microcontroller indicate the type of fault that caused the contacts to open. A secondary power supply provides power to the control circuitry when the contacts are open and a switch is closed.
US08503147B2 ESD protection device
An ESD protection device includes a ceramic multilayer substrate including a plurality of laminated insulating layers, an external electrode, at least one of an in-plane connecting conductor and an interlayer connecting conductor, and a mixture portion. The mixture portion is provided along a principal surface of one of the insulating layers and includes a dispersed material including at least one of metal and semiconductor; metal and ceramic; metal, semiconductor, and ceramic; semiconductor and ceramic; semiconductor; metal coated with an inorganic material; metal coated with an inorganic material and semiconductor; metal coated with an inorganic material and ceramic; and metal coated with an inorganic material, semiconductor, and ceramic. The mixture portion is connected to the external electrode and at least one of the in-plane connecting conductor and the interlayer connecting conductor.
US08503143B2 Battery state monitoring circuit and battery device
Provided is a battery state monitoring circuit which detects that a voltage of a secondary battery has decreased abruptly because of an overcurrent, thereby being capable of protecting a battery device from an abrupt decrease in voltage of the secondary battery caused by the overcurrent. The battery state monitoring circuit includes a voltage comparator circuit and a power supply voltage detection circuit for detecting an abrupt decrease in power supply voltage, in which the voltage comparator circuit detects a normal overcurrent while the power supply voltage detection circuit detects the abrupt decrease in power supply voltage caused by load short-circuit.
US08503138B2 Hybrid circuit breaker
A hybrid circuit breaker, including a first circuit that includes: a main current path which includes a mechanical switch element, a commutation path arranged in parallel with the main current path and including a controllable semi-conductor switch element. The breaker also includes a first capacitor provided in the commutation path in series with the controllable semi-conductor switch element, and a second circuit, arranged in series with the first circuit and including a second capacitor and an inductance-generating element arranged in series with each other.
US08503137B2 Arc fault protection circuit and method
An arc fault protection circuit and method, provides arc fault protection in a multiphase power system by actuating a plurality of disconnect switches to disconnect the source from the load in response to detecting arcing proximate the load. As well, in response to detecting the arc, a plurality of impedances are introduced into the current path between said source and said load, with each of the impedances increasing the impedance between the source and the load along one phase, prior to the plurality of disconnect switches disconnecting the source from the load.
US08503134B2 Wiring substrate with a torsion restrictor for a terminal
A wiring substrate comprises a conductor pattern embedded in an insulating layer, the insulating layer having an opening to expose top and bottom faces of the conductor pattern and define a terminal of the wiring substrate, a torsion restrictor formed in the conductor pattern at a location passing over an edge of the opening, the torsion restrictor restricting torsion of the terminal, and an easily extensible part formed on at least one of the torsion restrictor and a portion of the terminal adjoining the torsion restrictor, the easily extensible part allowing the conductor pattern to longitudinally extend toward the opening.
US08503133B2 Flexure to be secured to a load beam of a disk drive suspension
A flexure with conductors is provided with a flexure tail portion. The flexure tail portion includes a metal base, an electrically insulating layer, and a conductive member. The metal base is formed with a plurality of apertures. A damper is attached to the flexure tail portion. The damper includes a viscoelastic member and a metallic constrained plate. The viscoelastic member has first and second surfaces. The first surface of the viscoelastic member is secured to the flexure tail portion. The constrained plate is secured to the second surface of the viscoelastic member. The constrained plate extends longitudinally relative to the metal base along the conductive member. The conductive member and the constrained plate face each other with the viscoelastic member therebetween.
US08503121B2 Lens driving device capable of suppressing a reduction of magnetic efficiency of a magnetic circuit
A lens driving device includes a ring-shaped driving coil fixed to a lens holder so as to position around a tubular portion thereof and a rectangular hollow cylindrical yoke including a plurality of flat-shaped permanent magnets opposite to the driving coil. Each flat-shaped permanent magnet has both ends in a horizontal direction which extend in the proximity of opposed two sides of the yoke. The driving coil is disposed so as to extend up to the vicinity of the both ends in the horizontal direction of each flat-shaped permanent magnet.
US08503115B2 Lens drive control device and image pickup device
A lens drive control device for a lens barrel, which controls at least a part of a plurality of lens groups respectively including at least one lens, wherein a state of the lens barrel transits from a retracted state to a photographing extended state, the lens drive control device comprising: a detection device which detects that the at least one lens group reaches a reference position, and a determination device which determines an abnormal actuation based upon a detection by the detection device, upon actuation when the at least one lens group is moved from the retracted position to the position on the optical axis, wherein the determination device determines that the actuation is abnormal when the detection device detects that the at least one lens group reaches the reference position for a plurality of times.
US08503113B2 Wide-angle relay lens and imaging system having same
A relay lens is used for an imaging system having a main lens. The main lens has a pupil plane. The relay lens, in the order from the subject side to the image side thereof, includes a first lens of negative refractive power, and a second lens of positive refractive power. The first lens has a first principal plane and a second principal plane. The second lens has a third principal plane and a fourth principal plane. The relay lens system satisfies the following formulas: 0.53<|ƒ1/ƒ2|<0.57; 1.54<ν1/ν2<3.11; 0.22
US08503110B2 Lens system, wide-angle lens, optical apparatus equipped with lens system, and method for manufacturing lens system
With comprising, in order from an object side: a first lens L1 constructed by a negative meniscus lens having a convex surface facing the object side; a cemented lens component CL1 having positive refractive power as a whole constructed by a second lens L2 having positive refractive power and a third lens L3 having negative refractive power; a fourth lens L4 having negative refractive power; a fifth lens L5 having positive refractive power; and a sixth lens L6 having positive refractive power, and the following expression being satisfied: 0.01
US08503109B2 Optical system and imaging device
An optical system includes: a main mirror (11) having a shape of a portion of a convex paraboloid which includes an opening in a center and is rotationally symmetric; a second-reflection mirror (12) which further reflects light reflected by the main mirror (11), and has a shape of a portion of a concave paraboloid which is rotationally symmetric; at least one lens which forms an image of the light reflected by the second-reflection mirror (12); and a lens barrel (14) holding the at least one lens, and a position of a front principal point of the at least one lens coincides with a focal position of the second-reflection mirror (12), and an optical axis of the at least one lens is tilted with respect to a rotational axis of each of the convex paraboloid and the concave paraboloid.
US08503108B2 Photographing optical lens assembly
A photographing optical lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side: a first lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface, a second lens element with negative refractive power, a third lens element with positive refractive power having a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface, and a fourth lens element with negative refractive power having a concave object-side surface.
US08503107B2 Optical lens system for taking image
An optical lens system for taking image comprises, in order from the object side to the image side: a first lens element with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface; a second lens element with negative refractive power having a concave image-side surface and an object-side surface cemented to an image-side surface of the first lens element; a third lens element with negative refractive power; a fourth lens element with positive refractive power having a concave image-side surface and at least one inflection point; and an aperture stop located between an object to be photographed and the third lens element. In the optical lens system for taking image, the number of the lens elements with refractive power being limited to four. A focal length of the optical lens system for taking image is f, a focal length of the first lens element is f1, they satisfy the relation: 0.8
US08503105B2 Zooming adjustment mechanism and projection lens module
A zooming adjustment mechanism including a holder, a zoom ring, at least two rollers, a first resilient sheet, and a second resilient sheet is provided. The zoom ring is confined to the holder and coupled to a zoom bar. The rollers are respectively confined to a groove of the holder and in contact with a bottom surface of the zoom ring. The first resilient sheet is disposed on a first side of the holder, and each end of the first resilient sheet leans against a roller. The second resilient sheet is disposed on a second side of the holder, and each end of the second resilient sheet leans against a roller. A projection lens module including the zooming adjustment mechanism is also provided.
US08503103B2 Lens barrel
A lens barrel is provided that includes a zoom optical system, a zooming unit, and a light adjusting mechanism. The zoom optical system is configured to form an optical image of a subject and includes a first, a second, and a third lens group. The third lens group is movable and configured to move the optical image. The zooming unit causes the zoom optical system to perform a zooming operation. The light adjusting mechanism is configured to adjust the light passing through the zoom optical system. The lens barrel is configured to change between an imaging state and a retracted state. In the imaging state, the zooming operation is performed, and the first, the second, and the third lens groups are in alignment. During the zooming operation, the second lens group moves integrally with the third lens group along the optical axis, and the light adjusting mechanism and the second lens group move independently of one another along the same axial direction. In the retracted state, the second lens group is disposed off center from the first lens group.
US08503101B2 Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus equipped with zoom lens
A zoom lens includes a first lens unit having a positive refractive power, a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, a third lens unit having a positive refractive power, and a fourth lens unit having a positive refractive power in order from an object side to an image side. The second and fourth lens units move during zooming, and the first and third lens units do not move for zooming. A focal length fw of the entire zoom lens at a wide-angle end, a focal length ft of the entire zoom lens at a telephoto end, a focal length f1 of the first lens unit, a focal length f2 of the second lens unit, and a focal length f4 of the fourth lens unit are appropriately set.
US08503096B2 Inner focus lens, interchangeable lens apparatus and camera system
An inner focus lens, in order from an object side to an image side, comprising: a first lens unit having positive optical power; a second lens unit having negative optical power; and a third lens unit having positive optical power, wherein the second lens unit is moved along an optical axis so that focusing from an infinite-distance object side to a short-distance object side is achieved, the first lens unit includes a bi-convex air lens, and the following conditions: 0.65<|f2/f|<5.00 and 0.5
US08503084B2 Optical arrangement and method for controlling and influencing a light ray
An optical arrangement and a related method for operating this optical arrangement are suggested, particularly in microscopes, for use as at least one of a main beam splitter and a beam combiner. One or more light beams can be coupled into the arrangement and at least one of the light beams that were coupled in can be coupled out again after having passed through the optical arrangement. In the path of the coupled in light beams at least one controllable microstructured element is provided, allowing to switch beam paths within the optical arrangement. This allows controlling or influencing the one or more light beams that are coupled out.
US08503080B2 Diffractive optical element and use of an optical adhesive for producing the same
A diffractive optical element is provided, which includes a first layer having a material of a refractive index n1(λ), a second layer, adjacent to the first layer, having a material of a refractive index n2(λ) and a diffraction structure formed at the interface between the first layer and the second layer. The material of at least one of the two layers is obtained by curing an optical adhesive.
US08503079B2 Parallax barrier 3D image display method
A parallax barrier 3D image display method is provided. Particularly, a vertical strip parallax barrier design method is provided to avoid transverse ghost images generated by a conventional parallax barrier and directed to arrangement of sub-pixels on a screen of a flat panel display, which displays multi-view 3D images with minimal ghost images, thereby achieving the purpose of optimum 3D image display.
US08503077B2 Tube unit for microscopes
A tube unit for microscopes which has a tube lens, including two components with an intermediate, large air separation, and an overall positive refractive power. The air separation is at least half the size of the focal length f of the tube lens. A roof edge mirror or another suitable deflection element is arranged between the two components of the tube lens. The roof edge mirror includes two mirrors, which can be tilted with respect to one another, and which is able to be tilted around its roof edge. The tilting movement or the tilting angle of the tiltable mirror or deflection element corresponds to half the tilt or half the tilting angle of the tube or eyepiece viewing system.
US08503076B2 Apparatus for the detection of light in a scanning microscope
A light detector for use in a line scanning microscope and a microscope comprising such a light detector are described. The light detector comprises a line array of avalanche semiconductor detectors; and an electronic trigger circuit that is adapted to operate the avalanche semiconductor detectors in at least one of a Geiger mode with internal charge amplification and in a linear mode. The trigger circuit further comprises a parallel counter that is designed to read out in parallel light pulses detected by the avalanche semiconductor detectors. The parallel counter is adapted to accumulate the light pulses detected by the avalanche semiconductor detectors over a preset counting time.
US08503074B2 Imaging system with an optical mirror arrangement and self righting housing
A multi-wavelength band imaging system including a beam splitter is provided, allowing image capturing means adapted to specific wavelength bands to be used such as from visible to near infrared, intermediate infrared and far infrared. The system may have a field of view of substantially (360) degrees about an optical axis of the system and may fit into a golf ball sized housing. The imaging system includes a first convex mirror and a second concave mirror. Some embodiments for imaging single or close wavelength bands and not requiring a beam splitter are equally provided. Also provided is a self-righting housing for an imaging system, for example as described above, which self-rights under the action of gravity, thereby disposing the imaging system in an appropriate orientation.
US08503069B2 All-fiber chirped pulse amplification systems
By compensating polarization mode-dispersion as well chromatic dispersion in photonic crystal fiber pulse compressors, high pulse energies can be obtained from all-fiber chirped pulse amplification systems. By inducing third-order dispersion in fiber amplifiers via self-phase modulation, the third-order chromatic dispersion from bulk grating pulse compressors can be compensated and the pulse quality of hybrid fiber/bulk chirped pulse amplification systems can be improved. Finally, by amplifying positively chirped pulses in negative dispersion fiber amplifiers, low noise wavelength tunable seed source via anti-Stokes frequency shifting can be obtained.
US08503067B2 Display sheet, display device, and electronic apparatus
A display device includes a substrate that is provided on a display face side, an opposed substrate that is provided opposing the substrate, a display layer that is provided between the substrate and the opposed substrate and is filled with a dispersion liquid in which white particles and black particles are dispersed in a dispersion medium, and a particle constrained layer that is provided in the display layer to allow the particles to move in a thickness direction of the display layer and to prevent the particles from moving in an in-plane direction of the display layer. A void ratio of the particle constrained layer of the substrate side is higher than that of the opposed substrate side.
US08503063B2 Multicolor display architecture using enhanced dark state
The present invention is directed to a multicolor display comprising a plurality of microcups, wherein (a) the microcups are separated by partition walls; (b) each of the microcups is filled with a display fluid comprising white charged pigment particles dispersed in a solvent of a dark color, (c) the microcups are sandwiched between a first layer and a second layer wherein the first layer comprises a common electrode and the second layer comprises a plurality of pixel electrode, and (d) each of the microcups is capable of displaying the white color state, a dark color state and a medium color state.
US08503062B2 Rearview mirror element assembly for vehicle
A rearview mirror element assembly includes an electrochromic reflective element having a primary viewing region operable to exhibit electrically variable reflectivity, with a specularly reflective mirror reflector established at a third surface of a rear substrate at the primary viewing region. An auxiliary viewing region provides an auxiliary wide angle view of a blind spot to the side of a vehicle when the electrochromic reflective element is used in an exterior rearview mirror assembly mounted at a side of a vehicle. A specularly reflective demarcating layer is established at a second surface of a front substrate of the electrochromic reflective element and, at least in part, is visible through the front substrate to a viewer when viewing the first surface of the front substrate of the electrochromic reflective element. The demarcating layer at least partially traverses the reflective element adjacent the auxiliary viewing region.
US08503061B2 Electro-optic rearview mirror assembly for vehicle
A reflective element assembly for a vehicular mirror assembly includes a front substrate, a rear substrate, an electro-optic medium disposed between the front and rear substrates and a transmission-reducing thin film coating established at the fourth surface of the rear substrate. A window is established through the transmission-reducing thin film coating and is substantially devoid of the thin film coating at a location where a sensor is disposed behind the reflective element and having a field of view through the reflective element and through the window. A portion of the transmission-reducing thin film coating at and around the window locally varies in physical thickness, with a minimum physical thickness of the thin film coating being closest to the window and with the physical thickness of the thin film coating generally increasing to a generally maximum physical thickness of the thin film coating at a distance from the window.
US08503060B2 Vehicular blind spot mirror assembly
A vehicular mirror assembly (100) includes a first bezel (107) for housing an electrochromic (EC) glass element and a second bezel (109) for housing a spotter glass (111) element. A spotter glass heating element (113) is positioned behind the spotter glass element (111) for heating the spotter glass (111) above an ambient temperature.
US08503059B2 Electrochromic thin film transistors with lateral or vertical structure using functionalized or non-functionalized substrates and method of manufacturing same
The presently disclosed subject matter can include or consist of the creation and manufacture of electrochromic thin film transistors, either self-sustaining or not, with lateral or vertical structure, deposited on any kind of functionalized substrate, referred to as electrochromic substrate, or non-functionalized substrate. The electrolyte material and the presence or not of an ultra-thin membrane can act as dielectric element. The electrochromic material can act as active semiconductor of the channel region. The gate, source and drain electrodes can be based on metal materials, such as Titanium, Gold, Aluminum, or degenerate semiconductive oxides, like Indium and Zinc oxide, Gallium-doped Zinc oxide. The device operation control process can be made by means of electronic and ionic current, and the off-state to on-state switch, or vice-versa, can be followed by a change of color of the device.
US08503058B2 Etalon with temperature-compensation and fine-tuning adjustment
An etalon has an effective cavity length that can be tuned to compensate for temperature-dependent frequency shift and/or for random variations in the manufacturing process. The effective cavity length of an etalon is adjusted by changing the orientation of a tuning plate positioned in the etalon cavity. A screw adjustment and bending beam spring are used to change tuning plate orientation and precisely tune the etalon resonance frequency after the manufacturing process has been completed. Orientation of the tuning plate is adjusted during operation of the etalon using a passive thermal compensation mechanism, such as a bimetal support arm, which is fixed to the tuning plate and configured to reposition the tuning plate with changing temperature.
US08503057B2 Electrically-tunable optical devices
A device comprising: two mutually immiscible conductive liquids arranged to form an interface therebetween; a plurality of nanoparticles localised at the said interface, the said nanoparticles each having a first region formed of a semiconductor having a first bandgap, the first region being surrounded by a second region having a second bandgap, the second bandgap being larger than the first bandgap; and means for applying an electric field to the said nanoparticles and thus, through the Stark effect, altering the optical absorption or emission characteristics of the nanoparticles.
US08503047B2 Image reading device and image forming apparatus, and method of controlling image reading device
A controller controls a scanner unit of an image reading device to read a section of an original document that corresponds to an image reading area specified by a user, when a user instruction for setting the image reading area is received. The controller causes the scanner unit to move to an image reading start position in a sub-scanning direction as specified by a user instruction. When a user instruction for starting image reading is received, the controller causes the scanner unit to start reading the section of the original document from the image reading start position.
US08503041B2 Scanner capable of detecting the orientation of arranged document and image reading apparatus including the same
Disclosed are a scanner and an image reading apparatus including the same. The scanner can include a transparent plate, a scanning unit configured to scan a document on the transparent plate, a first sensor and a second sensor. The first sensor is positioned in a first document zone that is associated with an area in which a first document type is to be positioned based on a first alignment reference point provided on the transparent plate. The second sensor is positioned in a second document zone that is associated with an area in which a second document type of a different size is positioned based on a second alignment reference point provided on the transparent plate. The first document zone and the second document zone are non-overlapping zones. The document type and/or orientation can be determined based on the detection signals from the first and second sensors.
US08503040B2 Image reading device having correction unit for correcting read image data
An image reading device includes a light source, a reading unit to convert received light to image data, a correction unit to correct the image data based on correction data, a storing unit storing the correction data, an illumination target switch unit to switch an illumination target between a read position and a reference position, a reflector reflecting light, a judgment unit to judge whether the image data outputted by the reading unit at the read position satisfies a predetermined condition, a correction data determination unit to determine the correction data in response to a fact that the illumination target of the light source is switched to the reference position, and a correction data update unit to store the correction data in the correction data storing unit. The illumination target switch unit switches the illumination target to the reference position if the image data satisfies the predetermined condition.
US08503035B2 Image forming apparatus and image forming system
An image forming apparatus comprises an image data generating unit configured to convert a tone of an input value which indicates a density of a pixel by using a predetermined dither matrix and generate image data. The image forming apparatus further comprises a drive source and a gear configured to transmit a drive force from the drive source to an image carrier. The dither matrix includes a plurality of sub-matrixes arranged in a predetermined rule and a dot in each of the plurality of the sub-matrixes grows from a corresponding original point. The image forming apparatus satisfies a relation of (1) a≧0.08 mm and b/a<0.80, or (2) a<0.08 mm and b/a>1.27, where “a” is a travel distance of a printing medium per tooth of the gear in a secondary scanning direction orthogonal to the primary scanning direction, and “b” is a distance between the corresponding original points of a pair of the dots formed on the printing medium apart from each other in the secondary scanning direction on the basis of a pair of the sub-matrixes adjacent to each other in the primary scanning direction in the dither matrix.
US08503033B2 Method for manufacturing printing device
A dither mask is used in a halftone process that is performed by the printer that includes the preceding and following heads. The dither mask includes preceding and following head storage regions. The preceding head storage region is used for a printing portion of the preceding head. The following head storage region is used for a printing portion of the following head. The dither mask is generated by determining, using comprehensive evaluation values, storage elements in which thresholds are to be stored under the condition that dots are permitted to be formed by the preceding and following heads at the same position in the region corresponding the overlapping regions.
US08503032B2 Printing system, printing control method, and printing control program
A printing apparatus includes an extracting section configured to extract first and second images from an original document such that the first and second images partially overlap at an overlapping portion, and a control section configured to execute printing onto a first medium based on the first image using a layout in which at least a portion of the overlapping portion of the first image extends beyond a first edge of the first medium and a margin is formed between a second edge and an image edge of the first image, and to execute printing onto a second medium based on the second image using a layout in which at least a portion of the overlapping portion of the second image extends beyond a first edge of the second medium and a margin is formed between a second edge and an image edge of the second image.
US08503030B2 Preview of a document with printable components at a printing device based on its printing capability
An apparatus, method, system and medium are described that support functionality to receive document(s) to be printed at a printing device, and enable editing the document(s) prior to printing. Modifications to the document(s) may be generated based on the user edits, and a print preview of the modified documents may be displayed and may enable further edits. In some embodiments, the print preview may be provided to the user on a display that is part of the printing device. In some embodiments, the print preview may be provided to the user through a UI presented on a client device. Display of the modified document(s) may be a rasterized image of the modified document(s), generated based on capabilities of a selected printing device. In some embodiments, modifications may be made to an intermediate version of the document(s), and that intermediate version may be cached.
US08503023B2 Image processing apparatus, image processing method and computer-readable medium
An image processing apparatus includes a spot color area detection unit, an erasing determination unit and a drawing control unit. The spot color area detection unit detects a spot color area in image information. The erasing determination unit determines, based on designation regarding drawing of the spot color area, as to whether or not a non-spot color area overlapping the spot color area is to be erased. The drawing control unit outputs an instruction of erasing the spot color area and determines a drawing range of the non-spot color area based on a determination result of the erasing determination unit.
US08503022B2 Restarting interrupted printing from external memory
An image forming apparatus includes: a connector unit to which an external memory device is connected; a detecting unit configured to detect whether the external memory device is connected to the connector unit or not and output a detection result indicating that the connector unit is in a connected state or an unconnected state; a printing unit configured to execute a printing according to data from the external memory device connected to the connector unit; and a suspending unit configured to suspend operation of the printing unit according to a predetermined timing in response to a change in the detection result from the connected state to the unconnected state.
US08503020B2 Document management system, document management method, and storage medium
In a conventional technique, it was impossible to execute processings up to an arbitrary processing among a series of registered processings depending on the situation from time to time. Thus, the only option in such a case was to newly register a new workflow depending on the need changing and depending on time. To solve this, a series of registered processings are displayed as a menu so that a user can select up to which processing in the series of processings should be executed. A not selected remaining processing can be executed by the user by allowing the user to later select a document once subjected to operations.
US08503017B2 Image forming apparatus, control method for the same, and storage medium
When attribute information for a user has been acquired by authentication using an authentication apparatus, a restriction on a useable function is imposed according to the attribute information. When a fee has been collected by a fee collection apparatus, a restriction is imposed on preset functions. In either of these cases, use of the image forming apparatus by another user is prohibited until use by the first user in the useable state is finished.
US08503013B2 Image forming apparatus
There is provided an image forming apparatus which adopts a distributed control system and suppresses generation of radiation noise without increasing the cost. To accomplish this, the image forming apparatus includes a master control unit that controls the overall image forming apparatus, a plurality of sub-master control units that control a plurality of functions for performing image formation, and a plurality of salve control units that control loads for implementing a plurality of functions. The image forming apparatus performs distributed control. The image forming apparatus determines the operating frequencies of the salve control units in accordance with loads controlled by the salve control units. The image forming apparatus compares the operating frequencies of the slave control units. Based on the comparison result, the image forming apparatus changes the operating frequency of a slave control unit that is equal to the operating frequency of another slave control unit.
US08503010B2 Display control device, display control method, image-forming device, computer readable medium, and computer data signal
A display control device includes: a request receiving unit that receives a request to display a first image, in which a stack order of images in a visual direction of a user is specified; an obtaining unit that obtains a display priority of an image group to which the first image belongs; a display layer identifying unit that identifies a display layer from among plural display layers divided from a near side to a far side in the visual direction, a position of the display layer becoming nearer in the visual direction as the obtained display priority increases; and a display control unit that causes a display unit to display a screen in which the first image and a second image belonging to an image group identical to the image group to which the first image belongs are arranged in the identified display layer in the specified stack order.
US08503009B2 Enabling communication with a print controller through multiple communication links
An image forming system includes: a print controller which generates image data based on a print job; and an image forming apparatus which controls the print controller and performs a printing operation based on the image data, wherein the image forming apparatus includes: a first interface section which connects with a first line for receiving the image data from the print controller; a second interface which connects with a second line with which a client can connect, the second line for communicating with the print controller; and a control section which executes a first control which, through the first line, executes an initial setting which enables the print controller to be used through the second line, and a second control which executes of the print controller after the initial setting is executed through the second line.
US08503006B2 Job managing apparatus performing process of passing printed material to recipient
A supplier PC transmits a print job together with information on the recipient of the print job and print setting to a printing apparatus. The printing apparatus receives the print job, transmits a notification that print preparation is completed to the recipient PC to accomplish notification. The recipient PC displays pre-print notification, based on the notification contents. The user of the recipient PC views the notification contents, and comes to know that a document addressed to him/her has been transmitted and about to be printed. The recipient PC accepts a change in print setting and the like, and starts printing. Thus, the user of the supplier PC can pass a print to the recipient.
US08503005B2 Image forming apparatus that prints combined image including image data and embedded information in image file, image printing system, image combining and outputting method, and computer product
In an image forming apparatus, when embedded information, which is information embedded into received image file, is to be printed, the embedded information is extracted from the image file, form data for preparing a form that includes an information-embedding area where extracted embedded information is to be arranged and an image-data area where the image data in the received image file is to be arranged is prepared, a combined image is generated by combining the extracted embedded information in the information-embedding area and the image data in the image-data area, and the combined image is printed.
US08503004B2 Appending restriction information to a job before transmission
A system accurately performs function restriction on a user-by-user basis, even in the case of an image processing function that is realizable with use of a plurality of apparatuses. To accomplish this, the image processing system includes a user restriction information management apparatus that has function restriction information and an image processing apparatus that has related restriction information. The image processing apparatus performs a user-designated function based on restriction content of the function restriction information and the related restriction information. There are cases where a restriction function, which is a function that is restricted by the function restriction information, can be realized by combining a plurality of other functions that are different from the restriction function, and related restriction information refers to information for restricting the usage of such other functions.
US08502995B2 Printing method to load filter dynamically and recordable medium with program to execute the printing method and host apparatus
A printing method which dynamically loads a filter, a recordable medium with a program to execute the printing method, and a host apparatus. The printing method uses filter setting information having at least one filter corresponding to a print option of a print document, the printing method can include selecting a print option, changing the filter setting information corresponding to the print option, and applying the printing option according to the changed filter setting information and transmitting print data.
US08502992B2 Image forming system and method for selecting an image for a sample paper ejection
An image forming system, comprises: an image formation unit for forming an image on a paper; a first paper ejection unit for receiving the paper; a second paper ejection unit for receiving the paper as a sample paper in a state that the sample paper is visually checked when sample paper ejection is performed; a first control section for controlling a switching section to eject the sample paper by switching a paper sending destination from the first paper ejection unit to the second paper ejection unit at a time of the sample paper ejection; a second control section for controlling a display section to display thumbnail images; and wherein the first control section performs the sample paper ejection using the image for sample paper ejection selected by a selecting section for selecting the image for sample paper ejection from the thumbnail images displayed in the display section.
US08502989B1 Tomographic optical beam irradiance sensor
A tomographic optical beam irradiance sensor is disclosed. An optical medium receives an incident beam at a plurality of incident points in the optical medium. A first angular optical sensor assembly senses a first set of ray angles and intensities of a plurality of scatter rays emitted from the incident points. A second angular optical sensor assembly senses a second set of ray angles and intensities of the scatter rays emitted from the incident points. A tomography module determines a plurality of locations and intensities of the incident points in the optical medium based on the first set of ray angles and intensities and the second set of ray angles and intensities.
US08502979B2 Methods and systems for determining a critical dimension and overlay of a specimen
Methods and systems for monitoring semiconductor fabrication processes are provided. A system may include a stage configured to support a specimen and coupled to a measurement device. The measurement device may include an illumination system and a detection system. The illumination system and the detection system may be configured such that the system may be configured to determine multiple properties of the specimen. For example, the system may be configured to determine multiple properties of a specimen including: but not limited to, critical dimension and overlay misregistration; defects and thin film characteristics; critical dimension and defects; critical dimension and thin film characteristics; critical dimension, thin film characteristics and defects; macro defects and micro defects; flatness, thin film characteristics and defects; overlay misregistration and flatness; an implant characteristic and defects; and adhesion and thickness. In this manner, a measurement device may perform multiple optical and/or non-optical metrology and/or inspection techniques.
US08502975B2 Standoff determination of the size and concentration of low concentration aerosols
A Multiple-Field-Of-View (MFOV) lidar is used to characterize the size and concentration of low concentration of bioaerosol particles. The concept relies on the measurement of the forward scattered light by using the background aerosols at various distances at the back of the sub-visible cloud. It also relies on the subtraction of the background aerosol forward scattering contribution and on the partial attenuation of the first order backscattering. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the MFOV lidar can measure with a good precision the effective diameter of low concentration bioaerosol clouds.
US08502974B2 Underwater hyperspectral imaging
An apparatus for placement on or in a body of water for hyperspectral imaging of material in the water comprises an artificial light source and a hyperspectral imager. These are arranged so that in use light exits the apparatus beneath the surface of the water and is reflected by said material before re-entering the apparatus beneath the surface of the water and entering the hyperspectral imager. The hyperspectral imager is adapted to produce hyperspectral image data having at least two spatial dimensions.
US08502973B2 Optical emission analyzer
An optical emission analyzer is provided with a circuit-closing switch (56) for changing the state of an arc-generating circuit 5 between the closed state and the open state and a reverse-blocking diode (55) for preventing a spark current from flowing into the circuit-closing switch (56). The circuit-closing switch (56) is turned on before the beginning of a spark discharge between a discharge electrode (31) and a sample (32) to initiate excitation of a coil (53). Consequently, the excitation current of the coil (53) can be increased to a target value within the duration of the spark discharge without using a low-inductance coil or increasing the switching frequency of a switching element (52).
US08502964B2 Chaotic optical time domain reflectometer method and apparatus
In a method and a corresponding apparatus for performing chaotic optical time domain reflectometer, the chaotic laser signal, generated by the chaotic laser transmitter, is split into probe signal I and reference signal II by a fiber coupler. Through an optical circulator, the probe signal I is launched into the test fiber and the echo light is converted into electrical signal by a photodetector and digitalized by an A/D converter. The reference signal II is converted into electrical signal by a photodetector and digitalized by another A/D converter. Two digital signals received from two A/D converters are correlated in a signal processing device to locate the exact position of faults in fibers. The result output is then displayed on a display device. This invention was developed to overcome the tradeoff problem between resolution and dynamic range of the pulse-based OTDR.
US08502963B2 Method and apparatus for analyzing individual cells or particulates using fluorescent quenching and/or bleaching
A method for analyzing a blood sample is provided that includes the steps of: providing a blood sample having one or more of each first and second constituents; admixing a colorant with the sample, which colorant is operative to cause the first constituents and second constituents to fluoresce and absorb light; illuminating at least a portion of the sample; e) imaging a portion of the sample; determining a fluorescence value for each the first constituents and second constituents; determining an optical density value for each of the first constituents and second constituents; and identifying the first constituents and the second constituents using the determined fluorescence and optical density values.
US08502962B2 Computer readable storage medium including effective light source calculation program, and exposure method
A storage medium includes a program which causes a computer to execute a method of calculating a light intensity distribution on a pupil plane of an illumination optical system. The method includes: determining an impulse response function of a projection optical system by performing Fourier transform on a pupil function of the projection optical system; setting a length to a second zero point of the impulse response function as a response length, extracting, from elements forming a target pattern, only elements inside am area within radius which is response length, and determining a function indicating the extracted pattern as an image function; and obtaining the light intensity distribution based on the pupil function, the determined impulse response function, and the determined image function.
US08502961B2 Exposure method, exposure apparatus, and method of manufacturing device
An exposure method comprises a calculation step of calculating a correction amount of a correction unit which corrects a change in imaging characteristics of a projection optical system based on at least one of parameters including a numerical aperture and effective light source of an illumination optical system, a numerical aperture of the projection optical system, and a size and pitch of a pattern, and an amount of change in environment condition in the projection optical system; and a correction step of making the correction unit operate in accordance with the correction amount calculated in the calculation step.
US08502959B2 Exposure apparatus and device fabrication method
The present invention provides an exposure apparatus which transfers a pattern of a reticle onto a substrate, the apparatus including a convey unit configured to convey the substrate while chucking and holding a lower surface of the substrate, and a control unit configured to control a conveyance condition of the convey unit so that a conveyance acceleration is lower when the convey unit conveys the substrate in a vertical direction with downward acceleration than when the convey unit conveys the substrate in the vertical direction with upward acceleration.
US08502957B2 Pulse to pulse energy equalization of light beam intensity
A system for equalizing pulse to pulse energy of a light beam includes a group of optical devices including an optical device configured to exhibit nonlinear properties, e.g., higher order or third order nonlinear properties. Transmission properties of an unequalized light beam passing through the group of optical devices change such that an output intensity of a resulting light beam output from the optical devices is equalized. One example configuration includes at least first and second prisms having nonlinear properties, i.e., higher order or third order, and configured as a beam steering system.
US08502955B2 Method of determining a characteristic
A plurality of targets including a second population superimposed on a first population are formed. In the first target the second population has an asymmetry with respect to the first population. In the second target the second population has a different asymmetry with respect to the first population. Reflected radiation is detected from both the targets and used to determine different characteristics of the underlying populations.
US08502949B2 Display panel and display apparatus having the same
A display panel includes a first display substrate, a second display substrate, and a liquid crystal layer. The first display substrate includes a first base substrate having a plurality of display cells, a plurality of data lines, a plurality of gate lines, and a plurality of pixel electrodes. The data lines, the gate lines and the pixel electrodes are respectively separated in each of the display cells. The second display substrate includes a second base substrate, a light blocking pattern corresponding to the data lines and the gate lines, a common electrode facing the pixel electrodes, and a common line overlapping with the blocking pattern. The liquid crystal layer is disposed between the first and second display substrate.
US08502948B2 Active device array substrate
An active device array substrate includes a substrate, first scan lines, second scan lines, data lines, and pixels. The first and the second scan lines are alternately arranged along a first direction. The data lines are arranged in parallel along a second direction. The pixels are arranged to form first pixel rows and second pixel rows alternately arranged in the first direction. The first pixel row includes first and second pixels electrically connected to the first scan lines, the second scan lines, and the data line, respectively. The second pixel row includes third and fourth pixels electrically connected to the first scan lines, the second scan lines, and the data line, respectively. The pixels between two adjacent data lines are arranged in two columns. Among the pixels in the same column, the pixels in odd rows and in even rows are electrically connected to different data lines, respectively.
US08502946B2 Array substrate of fringe field switching mode liquid crystal display panel and method of manufacturing the same
An array substrate of a fringe field switching (FFS) mode liquid crystal display (LCD) panel and manufacturing method thereof are provided. The gate electrodes and the common electrode of the FFS mode LCD panel are formed on the array substrate by the same photolithographic process, and the common electrode, the gate lines and the gate electrodes are disposed on the same layer. The passivation layer of the FFS mode LCD panel is formed on the pixel electrodes. The passivation layer has a plurality of first openings, and each of the first openings at least partially exposes the pixel electrodes.
US08502944B2 Liquid crystal display of horizontal electronic field applying type with storage capacitor covering the gate line and common line and fabricating method thereof
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device of a horizontal electric field type is disclosed. The LCD device is fabricated by a three-mask process, and has gate pad, common pad and data pad electrodes, each including a upper electrode formed of a transparent conductive material. With a lift-off process, these upper electrodes are formed within contact holes.
US08502941B2 Transflective liquid-crystal-display device with single retardation film between half-waveplate and liquid crystal layer
A LCD device has a LC layer sandwiched between a TFT substrate and a counter substrate, first and second polarizing films, a first λ/2 film between the first polarizing film and the counter substrate, and a second λ/2 film between the second polarizing film and the TFT substrate. Angle θ1 between the direction of the optical axis of the LC layer and the polarized direction of the light entering the LC layer satisfies the relationship: 0 degree<θ1<45 degrees. The resultant LCD device has lower leakage light and coloring.
US08502936B2 System, apparatus and methods for improved transmissivity of LCD panel
A gaming system includes a first display configured to display the random outcome of the wagering game, and a second display disposed to overlay at least a portion of the first display. The second display includes a transmissive liquid crystal display defining a transmissive window behind which a corresponding portion of the first display is positioned. The liquid crystal display further includes a polarizing film having a plurality of patterned features generally aligned with the transmissive window. The polarizing film is at least partially removed in the area of the patterned features to enhance transmissivity of the liquid crystal display.
US08502935B2 Liquid crystal display device comprising a light guide plate with a light radiation portion and a light incident portion joined by a joint surface and having an inclined surface and projecting portions
In a backlight which arranges light emitting diodes on a side surface of a light guide plate, even when the light guide plate is made thin by further reducing a thickness of the light guide plate and the light emitting diodes having a thickness larger than the thickness of the light guide plate are used, it is possible to manufacture the light guide plate with high accuracy in a short time. In a liquid crystal display device having a backlight which radiates light to a liquid crystal panel, LEDs are mounted on the light guide plate formed on the backlight as a light emitting element, a light radiation portion of the light guide plate is formed by molding by applying pressure and heat to a sheet-shaped resin, and a light incident portion of the light guide plate is formed by injection molding.
US08502931B2 Liquid crystal display with an increased aperture ratio
A liquid crystal display includes a pixel group including a first pixel having a first thin film transistor and a second pixel having a second thin film transistor. A gate line provides a driving signal to a gate of the first and second thin film transistors. A first storage capacitor line is arranged substantially parallel with the gate line and adjacent to one side of the first pixel. A second storage capacitor line is arranged substantially parallel with the gate line and adjacent to an opposite side of the first pixel. The liquid crystal display includes a first storage capacitor arranged in the first pixel and connected between the first thin film transistor and the first storage capacitor line. A second storage capacitor is arranged in the second pixel and is connected between the second thin film transistor and the second storage capacitor line.
US08502922B2 Multimedia device and play mode determination method of the same
A multimedia device and a play mode determination method of the same are provided. The multimedia device includes a frame difference calculation unit, a global threshold determination unit and a play mode determination unit. The frame difference calculation unit calculates the frame difference between two continuous frames to obtain a global variation. The global threshold determination unit determines a film mode threshold corresponding to a film mode and a video mode threshold corresponding to a video mode according to a current frame of the two frames and a previous global variation, and selects a global threshold from the film mode threshold and the video mod threshold. The selected threshold is smaller than the film mode threshold. The play mode determination unit compares the global variation with the global threshold, and enables the multimedia device to enter one of the film mode and the video mode according to the comparison result.
US08502920B2 Method and apparatus for extracting a desired television signal from a wideband IF input
Various embodiments are described herein for a universal television receiver that is capable of processing television channel signals, that are transmitted according to a variety of broadcast standards, to provide video and audio information for a desired television channel signal. The processing includes producing a coarse channel signal that includes a desired television channel signal and then applying resampling techniques to adjust a normalized bandwidth of the desired television channel signal to generally correspond to the normalized passband of a main filter that is used for each of the broadcast standards.
US08502917B2 Image processing circuit, image display device, and an image processing method
The present invention is arranged such that interlace image data, which has been supplied, is converted to progressive image data in an I/P conversion section, and the image data converted to progressive style in the I/P conversion section is subjected to image processing including data comparison in spatial or time series manner, in an image processing section.
US08502913B2 Video processing apparatus and video processing method
An imaging apparatus includes a histogram shape determination unit that acquires a histogram of luminance values from video captured by an image capturing unit and determines whether or not the captured video is a night scene from the shape of the histogram. The imaging apparatus also includes a point light source determination unit that acquires the maximum value of contrast for each horizontal line in the video as a line evaluation value and determines whether the captured video is a night scene based on whether or not the line evaluation value has a characteristic of an object as a point light source. If the histogram shape determination unit and the point light source determination unit determine that the captured video is a night scene, the imaging apparatus determines that the scene captured by the image capturing unit is a night scene.
US08502898B2 Method, apparatus, and system providing a rectilinear pixel grid with radially scaled pixels
Pixels in an imaging device pixel array are sized according to their geographic location in the pixel array to compensate for various optical characteristics/issues. In one example, pixel size is increased according to the distance of the pixel from the x-axis and/or the y-axis of the pixel array to correct for lens shading.
US08502896B2 Image device that accelerates reconstruction process
An imaging device includes: a lens optical system, for focusing light from a subject; a single chip color imaging element equipped with a Bayer pattern color filter, for imaging an image of the subject focused by the lens optical system; and an image processing section, for performing a filtering process in which data output by the imaging element is passed through an image reconstructing filter having properties inverse blur properties of the optical system, and then performing a synchronization process. The image processing section collects data excluding zero elements for each of R, G, and B channels, to generate reduced data arrays in which the amount of data is ¼ for the R and B channels, and ½ for the G channel, and administers the filtering process using the image reconstruction filter onto data of the reduced data array for each of the R, G, and B channels.
US08502894B2 Method and apparatus for ringing and halo control
A system is disclosed for reducing artifacts in images and video, such as ringing or halo artifacts. The system may include an edge detector and a gain controller. The edge detector may create an edge image used by the gain controller to create a gain image, and the gain image may be used to reduce artifacts in an image. The gain controller may, for a current pixel in the edge image, compute the maximum value of the edge image over a window containing the current pixel. The gain controller may also perform averaging to determine a maximum edge value and a current edge value, and may also use a ratio of the current edge value and the maximum edge value to determine a gain to be applied to a pixel of an image.
US08502893B2 Imaging apparatus, flash determination method, and recording medium
An imaging apparatus capable of increasing the accuracy of detection of an outside flash of light.The imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit that sequentially captures images using a CMOS-type image sensor, and a flash determination unit that determines the presence/absence of a flash based on the images captured by the imaging unit. The flash determination unit monitors an amount of change in the average luminance level of a predetermined region in the lower area of the screen in the images captured by the imaging unit, and determines the presence/absence of a flash based on the amount of change in the average luminance level.
US08502888B2 Image data management apparatus and method, image data search apparatus and method, and recording medium
A data management apparatus capable of managing data stored in a storage unit includes a designation unit, setting, search, management units, and a first display control unit. The setting unit sets, based on predetermined date information included in designated data, information on a date to data to be stored and is other than the designated data. The search unit searches data, from among stored data, based on a date or period search condition. The management unit manages data to add, from among the searched data, data of known predetermined date information to a first result list and data to which the date information has been set to a second result list. The first display control unit causes a display such that each displayed data is accompanied with an identifier for distinguishing whether the data is searched out from among the data of the first or second result list.
US08502887B2 Image processing apparatus and method
An image processing apparatus is provided including an acquiring unit configured to acquire information regarding a set of frames that is associated with a condition indicating a relative relationship between a set of images to be arranged in the set of frames, an extracting unit configured to extract the set of images from a plurality of images, wherein the set of images extracted satisfies the condition that is associated with the information regarding the set of frames acquired by the acquiring unit, and an arranging unit configured to arrange the set of images extracted by the extracting unit in the set of frames corresponding to the information acquired by the acquiring unit.
US08502886B2 Solid-state image sensing device
There is provided a solid-state image sensing device including a pixel section in which cells are arrayed, each cell including a photoelectric conversion unit, a reading circuit reading out, to a detection unit, signal charges obtained by the photoelectric conversion unit, an amplifying circuit amplifying and outputting a voltage corresponding to the signal charges, and a reset circuit resetting the signal charges, an exposure time control circuit controlling an exposure time and controlling the exposure time to be equal for all cells, an A/D conversion circuit A/D-converting a signal output from the pixel section by changing a resolution of a signal level, line memories storing an A/D-converted signal, and a signal processing circuit processing output signals from the line memories to have a linear gradient with respect to an optical input signal amount by controlling an amplification factor in accordance with a resolution of a pixel output signal after A/D-conversion.
US08502883B2 Photographing apparatus and photographing control method
When an interchangeable lens in which a memory that records image data is provided is mounted to a camera main body including a display section that displays an image, a signal processing and control section of the camera main body reads in a sample image that is previously stored in the memory. The sample image serves as a model with respect to an image that can be photographed by the interchangeable lens. The sample image is displayed by the display section for a predetermined time. Thereafter, the signal processing and control section performs display control that switches the display of the display section so as to display an image in which a subject is picked up by the interchangeable lens and the image pickup section.
US08502881B2 Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and electronic camera
An image processing apparatus comprising: an input visual environment acquisition unit that acquires a shooting scene viewing condition at the time of shooting an image, an output visual environment acquisition unit that acquires a shot image viewing condition, a converting unit that converts the image using a predetermined color appearance model based on the shooting scene viewing condition acquired by the input visual environment acquisition unit and the shot image viewing condition acquired by the output visual environment acquisition unit, and a correction unit that corrects a parameter of the color appearance model used by the converting unit by using at least one of a shooting condition of the image and a scene judging result based on at least one of the image and the shooting conditions of the image.
US08502874B2 Image recording apparatus and control method
In a case where a position information acquisition setting unit sets to acquire position information and in a case where a determination unit determines that the image data recorded in a recording medium is automatically transmitted to an external device, a transmission setting confirmation screen is displayed, so that the image data to which the position information is attached is prevented from being transmitted to the external device while the user does not intend to do so.
US08502872B2 Infrared solid-state imaging device
A thermal infrared solid-state imaging device includes a pixel array having pixels diodes, a vertical power supply line connected to horizontal drive lines and commonly connecting the horizontal drive lines, integrating circuits for integrating voltages at the ends of the vertical signal lines for a predetermined integration time, and current sources connected to the vertical signal lines at an opposite end to the end of the vertical signal line which is connected to the integrating circuit. The integration time is equally divided substantially into two periods, and during one divided period of the integration time, energization is performed between one end of the vertical power supply line and the current source, and during the other divided period of the integration time, the energization is performed between other end of the vertical power supply line and the current source.
US08502867B2 Synthetic aperture optics imaging method using minimum selective excitation patterns
A synthetic aperture optics (SAO) imaging method minimizes the number of selective excitation patterns used to illuminate the imaging target, based on the objects' physical characteristics corresponding to spatial frequency content from the illuminated target and/or one or more parameters of the optical imaging system used for SAO. With the minimized number of selective excitation patterns, the time required to perform SAO is reduced dramatically, thereby allowing SAO to be used with DNA sequencing applications that require massive parallelization for cost reduction and high throughput. In addition, an SAO apparatus optimized to perform the SAO method is provided. The SAO apparatus includes a plurality of interference pattern generation modules that can be arranged in a half-ring shape.
US08502865B2 Mirror and adjustment method therefor
A method for adjusting a mirror. The method includes using a time-of-flight (TOF) camera to capture an image of a scene in front of a reflecting portion of the mirror and obtaining data about distances between a number of points in the scene and the TOF camera. Building a three dimension (3D) model of the scene. Analyzing the 3D model to locate a face region in the 3D model. Obtaining a first midline between a reference eyeline in the face region and a top of the face region. Obtaining a second midline of the 3D model, comparing the first and second midlines to determine whether the two midlines overlap. Output a comparison signal upon the condition that the two midlines do not overlap; and directing a driving apparatus to move the mirror to adjust a height of the mirror according to the comparison signal.
US08502864B1 Systems, devices, and/or methods for viewing images
Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a method comprising, via a signal, triggering an illumination of a first light source and a second light source, the first light source adapted to lighten a first image, the second light source adapted to lighten a second image, the first image rendered side-by-side with the second image.
US08502863B2 Stereoscopic imaging apparatus
A cut-out process of image corresponding to an amount of optical axis deviation of left and right imaging optical systems is applied to left and right images acquired by the left and right imaging units to correct an optical axis deviation. In this case, the amount of optical axis deviation corresponding to a current focus position is acquired from the amounts of optical axis deviation detected in accordance with focus positions stored in advance in a storage unit (step S38). A cut-out process of image for stereoscopic display is applied to the left and right images based on the acquired amount of optical axis deviation (step S40). As a result, the optical axis deviation of the left and right imaging optical systems can be excellently corrected regardless of the focus position (subject distance).
US08502859B2 Determining buffer size based on forward error correction rate
Determining a buffer size in a videoconference. In some embodiments, one or more of various different error correction methods may be used in a videoconference. For example, forward error correction (FEC) may be used and/or retransmission of lost packets (ReTxLP) may be used, e.g., based on a packet loss threshold. Where FEC is used, a buffer size of a receiving videoconferencing device may be determined based on the FEC rate. Where ReTxLP is used, a buffer size of the receiving videoconferencing device may be determined based on a retransmission latency.
US08502857B2 System and method for combining a plurality of video stream generated in a videoconference
Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for videoconferencing that allows video images from two or more cameras at the same site to be displayed as a single panoramic image. Accordingly, a conferencing endpoint having a single monitor can display the panoramic image of the two or more video images from an endpoint having multiple cameras, such as a telepresence endpoint. A sliding display area can be used to manually define a zoomed portion of the panoramic image to be displayed. Alternatively, the zoomed portion may be determined automatically. The zoomed portion may be changed during the course of the conference.
US08502855B2 Codec negotiation
A method of interworking CS (Circuit Switched) video calls with video calls using IP multimedia protocols is provided. According to the method, an interworking function receives signalling comprising an indication of the codec capability of a CS terminal involved in the CS video call, as part of a MONA (Media Oriented Negotiation Acceleration) negotiation. Thereafter IP codec negotiation is initiated. And thereafter the MONA negotiation is continued and/or completed. Thus the codec capabilities and/or preferences of the CS terminal can be taken into account during the IP codec negotiation with the IP endpoint.
US08502848B2 Multicolor thermal imaging method and thermal printer
A multicolor direct thermal imaging method wherein a multicolor image is formed in a thermal imaging member comprising at least first and second different image-forming compositions and a thermal printer for use in practicing the method. Heat is applied to at least the second image-forming composition while the first image-forming composition is at a first baseline temperature (T1) to form an image in at least the second image-forming composition, and heat is applied to at least the first image-forming composition while it is at a second baseline temperature (T2) to form an image in at least the first image-forming composition, wherein T1 is different from T2.
US08502847B2 Adhesive label issuing device and printer
A printer includes: a cutter unit for cutting a label sheet to obtain an adhesive label with a desired length by allowing the label sheet to pass through the cutter unit; an adhesive strength exhibiting unit for allowing the adhesive label to exhibit adhesive strength by heating the adhesive label; a sheet loosening unit placed on a downstream side of the cutter unit and an upstream side of the adhesive strength exhibiting unit in a sheet transporting direction; and a sheet-passage direction changing unit for changing the sheet-passage direction in the upstream sheet-passage part by changing a direction of the upstream sheet-passage part from a reference position at which a sheet-passage direction in the upstream sheet-passage part is placed on the same line as a sheet-passage direction in the downstream sheet-passage part to an inclined position at which the direction is inclined from the reference position.
US08502845B2 Method for changing resolution and display apparatus and system using the same
A method for changing a resolution and a display apparatus and system using the method are provided. The method for changing a resolution includes receiving an input indicating a resolution selected from among a plurality of resolutions, transmitting information of the selected resolution to an external device, receiving an image which has been processed based on the information of the selected resolution from the external device, and displaying the received image on a screen the display apparatus.
US08502840B2 Apparatus for driving a display panel with compensation for heat caused by proximity to light source, and method thereof
A driving unit of a display panel includes a control part, a gate driving part, a grayscale compensating part, and a data driving part. The control part provides a control signal and a grayscale signal. The gate driving part provides a gate signal to the display panel. The display panel is divided into a plurality of blocks according to a distance from a light source to each of the blocks. The grayscale compensating part outputs a compensating signal of an n-th frame using look-up tables, and the look-up tables respectively correspond to the blocks of the display panel. The data driving part converts the compensating signal of the n-th frame into a grayscale voltage and provides the grayscale voltage to the display panel. Accordingly, the driving unit of the display panel may improve a response speed of liquid crystals and display quality.
US08502839B2 Transflective display device and driving method thereof
A display device includes a display panel and a driving circuit. The display panel has a pixel including red, green, blue, and white sub-pixels. The driving circuit receives a display signal and provides at least a first luminance weighting and a second luminance weighting of the red, green, blue, and white sub-pixels respectively. The display device selects one of the first luminance weighting and the second luminance weighting to drive the pixel according to the different operating modes of the display device.
US08502837B2 System and method for activating components on an electronic device using orientation data
The disclosure relates to a system and method for analyzing an orientation of a handheld electronic device. The method comprises: monitoring data from a first sensor for the device; determining an orientation of the device by analyzing at least the data from the first sensor; and activating a first component on the device in view of the orientation of the device. The method may further comprise deactivating a second component on the device in view of the orientation of the device.
US08502835B1 System and method for simulating placement of a virtual object relative to real world objects
A computer-implemented method for virtually placing a virtual object in the real world is provided. A set of virtual objects are maintained in an actions database on a mobile computing device, which each include an action associated with an identifier and coordinates for physical locations. A set of real world object models is maintained in an objects database on the device, which each include a three-dimensional model. A physical location of the device is tracked. An identification tag within range is identified. The device's physical location and the identification tag are respectively evaluated. For each coordinates and identifiers matched, the action associated with the matched virtual object is completed. Where required, the virtual object is evaluated against the real world object models and the virtual object is rendered in light of any such real world object models located within vicinity of the device. The action is performed using the device.
US08502827B1 System, method, and computer program product for outputting content during a boot-up period
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for outputting content during a boot-up period. In use, content is independently processed, utilizing a graphics processor. During a boot-up period, such content is outputted.
US08502825B2 Avatar email and methods for communicating between real and virtual worlds
A method for and system for communicating using a virtual world are disclosed. In the method an avatar may be associated with a source of an email. An email may be generated within the virtual world and one or more images of an avatar may be associated with the email. The email may be sent to a real device and the one or more images may be presented at a destination of the email. The system may comprise one or more processors configured to generate a virtual world; associate an avatar with a source of an email; generate an email within the virtual world; associate one or more images of an avatar with the email; send the email to a real device; and present the one or more images at a destination of the email.
US08502821B2 System for three-dimensional rendering of electrical test and measurement signals
The system for three-dimensional rendering of signals has a computer system having acquired, streaming, or previously stored data in its memory representing multiple channels of signals in which each channel has a value which varies over a domain, e.g., time or frequency, and a display coupled to the computer. For each channel, the computer system segments the data of the channel into segments, orders the segments, renders on the display each of the segments, in which each of the rendered segments are aligned in such order along a three-dimensional perspective with gaps between adjacently rendered segments, and lines are rendered extending from each line of each one of the rendered segments to form a three-dimensional plane in the gap to the next successive one of the rendered ordered segments to form a three-dimensional continuous or discontinuous surface characterizing the channel. The surfaces of each of the channels are aligned on the display, and may be of different color, shading, and translucency, whereby channels of overlaid surfaces are viewable on the display.
US08502819B1 System and method for performing ray tracing node traversal in image rendering
A method for performing a ray tracing node traversal operation in an image rendering process includes traversing a plurality of nodes within spatial hierarchy that represents a scene which is to be rendered, the spatial hierarchy including two or more hierarchy levels, each hierarchy level including one or more nodes. A number representing the number of nodes traversed in each one of a plurality of different hierarchy levels is stored, wherein each number is represented by at least one bit in a multi-bit binary sequence.
US08502812B2 Liquid crystal display device and driving method thereof, and mobile terminal having the same, for preventing white or black effect
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device of a mobile terminal and a driving method of the LCD device are provided, including an LCD panel for presenting images, driver ICs for driving the LCD panel, and a system controller for comparing a measured signal with a normal state signal and initializing the driver ICs according to a difference between the measured signal and the normal state signal.
US08502810B2 Display device and display method
A display device includes: a pixel array unit including a plurality of scanning lines and a plurality of signal lines; a scanning line driving unit that sequentially applies a driving voltage to the plurality of scanning lines according to a shift timing indicated by a shift clock; a signal line driving unit that drives the plurality of signal lines on the basis of an input video signal, and a clock adjusting unit that adjusts the shift clock such that there are n (n is a natural number equal to or greater than 2) shift timings within each one horizontal line period for which an image signal corresponding to one horizontal line is displayed.
US08502807B2 Signal transmission system of a flat panel device
A signal transmission system of a flat panel device includes an encoder, a transmitter, a receiver, and a decoder. The encoder converts a digital signal to a switch control signal. The transmitter includes 4n signal-lines for transmitting a current signal according to the switch control signal. The receiver includes 4n terminations, a plurality of terminal resistors, and a plurality of comparators. The receiver generates a group of voltage levels according to the current signal. Each comparator is coupled between any two terminations so as to generate a group of voltage differences. The decoder converts the group of voltage differences to the digital signal.
US08502803B2 Drift compensated optical touch screen
An optical touch screen including a display surface, an optical illumination assembly arranged along at least part of a periphery of the display surface, at least one light detector arranged to detect light distribution produced by the optical illumination assembly and changes in the light distribution produced by the presence of an object in predetermined propinquity to the display surface, detection circuitry receiving at least one output from the at least one light detector and providing an output indication of a two-dimensional location of the object relative to the display surface, calibration functionality responsive to changes in light distribution other than changes produced by the presence of an object in predetermined propinquity to a region of the display surface for calibrating the detection circuitry, at least one auxiliary illumination source, and at least one partially transmissive, partially reflective optical element disposed along a light path to the at least one light detector, providing a light transmissive optical path for light to the at least one light detector and a light reflective optical path for light from the at least one auxiliary illumination source.
US08502802B2 Display device
A touch panel includes a plurality of first electrodes, a plurality of second electrodes, and a plurality of wirings. Each of the plurality of first electrodes has a first portion formed on a layer different from that on which the second electrodes are formed and intersecting the second electrodes, and a second portion formed on the same layer as that on which the second electrodes are formed, but separated from the second electrode. The second electrode and the second portion of the first electrode are formed on a layer upper than the layer where the wiring is formed. The first portion of the first electrode is connected to the second portion in a contact hole formed on an insulating film between the first portion and the second electrode, and formed on the same layer on which the wiring is formed.
US08502801B2 Capacitive touch sensor system
A method of matrix sensing using delay-based capacitance sensing, including using X-axis lines as active lines for capacitance measurements and using Y-axis lines as a disturbance to identify the location of a touch in a key matrix is disclosed. A sensing signal is applied to the X-axis lines, and a disturbance signal is applied to the Y-axis lines. If a location is touched, cross-capacitance is reduced, which is measured by sweeping data along the X-axis lines.
US08502800B1 Method for improving sensitivity of capacitive touch sensors in an electronic device
An electronic device and method are disclosed that relate to the selection of a control algorithm for optimizing the performance of a device that is controlled by a user initiated touching of the device that creates a capacitive coupling. The device and method entail the use of a motion sensor to gather data related to the movement of the device, a means for analyzing the data to select an optimal control algorithm, and implementing the control algorithm.
US08502799B2 Integrated touch screen
Displays with touch sensing circuitry integrated into the display pixel stackup are provided. An integrated touch screen can include multi-function circuit elements that can operate as circuitry of the display system to generate an image on the display, and can also form part of a touch sensing system that senses one or more touches on or near the display. The multi-function circuit elements can be, for example, capacitors in display pixels that can be configured to operate as storage capacitors/electrodes, common electrodes, conductive wires/pathways, etc., of the display circuitry in the display system, and that may also be configured to operate as circuit elements of the touch sensing circuitry.
US08502786B2 Touch panel
A touch panel includes a substrate, a transparent conductive layer and at least two separate electrodes. The substrate has a first substrate surface and a second substrate surface opposite to the first substrate surface. The transparent conductive layer includes a carbon nanotube structure formed on the first substrate surface. The at least two separate electrodes are located on a surface of the transparent conductive layer and electrically connected thereto.
US08502781B2 3-axis trackball
An input device is disclosed. The input device can provide a control signal to a host system. The input device can include a ball and one or more sensor assemblies configured to sense the position of the ball. The input device can sense movement both in the X-Y motion of the ball, and the spin of the ball. Different control signals may be sent to a host system based upon the X-Y motion and the spin of the ball.
US08502778B2 Dual-mode input device operable in a selected one of a relative coordinate mode and an absolute coordinate mode
A dual-mode input device includes a relative coordinate generator disposed in a casing for detecting motion of the casing and for generating relative coordinate information based on detected motion of the casing, and a processing unit. The processing unit includes a coordinate storing module for storing absolute coordinate information, an absolute coordinate generator for generating updated absolute coordinate information based on the relative coordinate information received from the relative coordinate generator and the absolute coordinate information received from the coordinate storing module, and for storing the updated absolute coordinate information in the coordinate storing module, and an output selecting module operable in one of a relative coordinate mode, in which the output selecting module outputs the relative coordinate information, and an absolute coordinate mode, in which the output selecting module outputs the absolute coordinate information.
US08502766B2 Flat display panel and active device array substrate and light-on testing method thereof
A flat display panel and an active device array substrate and a light-on testing method thereof are provided. The active device array substrate comprises a plurality of first pixel units, a plurality of second pixel units, a first light-on testing circuit, a second light-on testing circuit and a plurality of sets of signal lines. The first light-on testing circuit and the second light-on testing circuit disposed in a peripheral circuit region of the active device array substrate are electrically connected with the first pixel units and the second pixel units disposed in a display region of the active device array substrate respectively. Each two adjacent sets of signal lines disposed in the peripheral circuit region of the active device array substrate are alternatively electrically connected to the first pixel units or the second pixel units respectively. When a testing signal inputted to first/second pixel units through the first/second light-on testing circuit results in any second/first pixel units being lighted-on, there are at least two adjacent sets of signal lines shorted to each other.
US08502763B2 Electronic skin having uniform gray scale reflectivity
The invention features electronic skin including an active layer formed of bistable cholesteric liquid crystal material and articles comprising the skin, the electronic skin having uniform gray scale reflectivity. Also featured is method for producing suitable reduction pulses that will provide a display (e.g., the electronic skin) with uniform gray scale reflectivity. Reduction pulses of narrow width are used to create uniform levels of gray in the electronic skin to overcome display imperfections that cause discontinuity in the gray scale reflectivity.
US08502760B2 Circuit for controlling color sequential liquid crystal display and method for scanning the same
The present invention provides a control circuit and a scanning method thereof, and can be applied to a color sequential liquid crystal display (LCD). The color sequential LCD produces a plurality of color backlights, receives a data signal, and receives a plurality of scanning signals produced by a scan driving circuit. The voltage levels of the plurality of scan signals corresponding to each of the color backlights are select levels alternately. When the voltage level of a scan signal in the plurality of scan signals is the select level, the voltage levels of the other scan signals in the plurality of scan signals are non-select levels. Because the voltage levels of the plurality of scan signals corresponding to each of the color backlights are select levels alternately to scan sequentially the same backlight, color-mixing effects on images can be reduced.
US08502758B2 Apparatus and method for mapping virtual pixels to physical light elements of a display
Methods and displays are disclosed for presenting media content on display systems. A display is configured as an array of LEDs. The array of LEDs includes a first set of rows including first LEDs in a repeating pattern of a first color LED, a second color LED, and a third color LED. A second set of rows includes second LEDs in a repeating pattern of the first color LED, the second color LED, and the third color LED, wherein the second set of rows are interleaved between the first set of rows and the second LEDs are offset relative to the first LEDs. Visual content to be presented on the display includes a repeating sequence of four frames of an array of virtual pixels such that each virtual pixel of the array comprises at least one of the first LEDs and at least one of the second LEDs.
US08502757B2 Organic light emitting display having threshold voltage compensation mechanism and driving method thereof
An organic light emitting display (OLED) includes a voltage adjustment unit for adjusting a preliminary control voltage according to a second reference voltage, a couple unit for coupling a change of the preliminary control voltage to adjust a control voltage, a driving unit for providing a driving current and a driving voltage according to the control voltage, a first reset unit for resetting the driving voltage according to a first reference voltage, a second reset unit for resetting the control voltage according to the driving voltage, an organic light emitting diode for generating output light according to the driving current, and an emission enable unit for providing a control of furnishing the driving current to the organic light emitting diode. Through the circuit operation of the reset units and the voltage adjustment unit, occurrences of image retention phenomenon and pixel brightness distortion on the OLED screen can be avoided.
US08502756B2 Image display device with imaging unit
An image display unit comprises a display area including pixels, and an imaging unit disposed at its rear side behind the display area. Light transmissive sections are located within the display area and correspond to the pixels. The light transmissive sections are configured to separately receive light incident upon the image display unit, and pass the received light to the imaging unit.
US08502755B2 Control method, display panel and electronic system utilizing the same
A control method controlling a display panel comprising a pixel unit. The pixel unit is coupled to a data line and comprises a capacitor, a transistor, and a luminiferous device. The capacitor comprises a first terminal coupled to the data line and a second terminal coupled to the transistor. The voltage of the first terminal is increased and the voltage of the second terminal is reduced during a first period. The voltage of the first and the second terminals are controlled during a second period subsequent to the first period. The luminiferous device is lit according to the voltage of the capacitor during a third period subsequent to the second period. The voltage of the data line is maintained during the third period.
US08502752B2 Electro-optical apparatus, having a plurality of wirings forming a data line driving method thereof, and electronic device
A electro-optical apparatus includes: a plurality of unit circuits arranged to correspond to intersections of scanning lines and data lines; a scanning line driving circuit; and a data line driving circuit. Each unit circuit includes: an electro-optical element which provides gradation corresponding to the data electric potential; a capacitor element which has a first electrode connected to a capacitor line and a second electrode connected to the data line; and a switching element. A second electrode of the capacitor element included in one of the plurality of unit circuits is connected to one wiring of the respective wirings included in the data line. The second electrode of the capacitor element included in another unit circuit is arranged in parallel with the one unit circuit along an extension direction of the data line and is connected to another wiring of the respective wirings included in the data line.
US08502749B2 Plasma display apparatus and driving method for plasma display apparatus
Sustain discharge is stably caused while power consumption is reduced, and image display quality is improved. A plasma display device has a plasma display panel, an electric power recovering circuit for raising or falling a sustain pulse by resonating an inductor and the inter-electrode capacity of a display electrode pair, and a sustain pulse generating circuit for alternately applying, to the display electrode pair, as many sustain pulses as the number corresponding to the luminance weight in the sustain period of a plurality of subfields that are disposed in one field and have initializing, address, and sustain periods. The sustain pulse generating circuit generates at least two kinds of sustain pulses including a first sustain pulse serving as a reference and a second sustain pulse that rises more gently than the first sustain pulse, and generates the first sustain pulse immediately after the second sustain pulse.
US08502745B2 Antenna apparatus
An antenna apparatus that may be adapted to various environments. The antenna apparatus includes a radiation unit to transmit and receive in a 360° radius including a plurality of radiators, each radiator configured to radiate a main emission pattern in different direction; and a switch unit configured to selectively operate each of the plurality of radiators.
US08502742B2 Antenna apparatus
An antenna apparatus that can suppress sensitivity degradation as much as possible to receive AM broadcasts and FM broadcasts even if an antenna height is decreased to 70 mm or less. An antenna board is vertically mounted on a planar antenna base, and a top portion is disposed to stride over the antenna board. An antenna element includes the top portion and an antenna pattern formed on the antenna board. A distance between the antenna base and a lower edge of the top portion is not less than 10 mm, and the lower edge of the top portion is bent downward. The top portion is configured such that an antenna capacitance of the antenna element becomes about 3 pF or more. A received signal from the antenna element is guided to an amplifier board through a connecting wire and amplified. An antenna case is fitted in the antenna base.
US08502730B2 Method for detecting a bird or a flying object
A method detects a bird or an object flying level with a single wind turbine, using a device for radio wave detection of at least one bird or another flying object, in the form of at least one radar. The analog image from each radar is transformed into a digital image and an outer safety area and an inner safety area is defined for the image. A safety space for each radar is defined and an action is performed in the event of a detection within the safety areas.
US08502725B2 Motion controlled vehicle power adapter
A motion controlled vehicle power adapter with a vehicle power adapter that can be plugged into the 12V vehicle power outlet and has a remote motion sensor at one end of the vehicle power adapter opposite the end that plugs into the 12 V vehicle power outlet. The remote motion sensor is operated by the operator's hand motion near the sensor without contacting the sensor. The remote motion sensor may be detachable from the vehicle power adapter. The operator's hand motions are translated into control signals and sent to a portable electronic device to control its functions. The control signals may be sent through a wire or wirelessly through a wireless transmitter.
US08502723B2 Method and apparatus for evaluating weighting of elements of DAC and SAR ADC using the same
A method and an apparatus for evaluating weighting of elements of a DAC and a SAR ADC using the same are provided. An equivalent weighting of each composed element is obtained by adding a reference element with a reference weighting, an auxiliary DAC, and a search circuit into the SAR ADC, and the equivalent weighting is represented by the reference weighting. The SAR ADC can calculate and then obtain a correct digital output by using the calibrated equivalent weighting and the successive approximation result of each input signal. The present disclosure prevents the necessity of matching each composed element of the DAC in the SAR ADC.
US08502719B2 Continuous-time oversampled converter having passive filter
A continuous-time sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter includes a first integrator stage to integrate a difference between a first differential signal derived from a differential analog input signal and a second differential signal derived from a quantized output signal, a quantizer and a low pass filter. The first integrator stage has a differential operational amplifier, first, second, third, and fourth input resistors, and a first pair of integrating capacitors. The differential analog input signal is received at first and second input nodes of the converter. The first and third input resistors are coupled in series between the first input node and a first input of the operational amplifier. The second and fourth input resistors are coupled in series between the second input node and a second input of the operational amplifier. The first and second input resistors are coupled to the third and fourth input resistors, respectively.
US08502717B2 Analog-to-digital converter, sound processing device, and method for analog-to-digital conversion
The invention provides a sound processing device. In one embodiment, the sound processing device comprises a first microphone, a first analog-to-digital converter, a second microphone, and a second analog-to-digital converter. The first microphone detects a first sound pressure to generate a first analog audio signal. The first analog-to-digital converter converts the first analog audio signal to a first digital audio signal. The second microphone detects a second sound pressure to generate a second analog audio signal. The second analog-to-digital converter converts the second analog audio signal to a second digital audio signal, encodes a third digital audio signal according to the second digital audio signal, receives the first digital audio signal and a clock signal, outputs data bits of the third digital audio signal when the clock signal oscillates to a logic low level, and outputs data bits of the first digital audio signal when the clock signal oscillates to a logic high level.
US08502713B1 Pipelined analog to digital converter and method for correcting a voltage offset influence thereof
A method for correcting a voltage offset influence of a pipelined analog to digital converter is disclosed, in which the method generates a first stage code and a first output voltage according to a first input voltage, generates a second stage code according to the first output voltage, generates a check code according to the first output voltage, determines a first correction code by referring to the first stage code and the check code, and corrects the first stage code with the first correction code when the first stage code is different from the first correction code.
US08502712B2 Analogue to digital converter and signal processing system
According to one embodiment, an analogue to digital converter converts an analogue input signal to a digital output signal. The converter includes an analogue to digital converting unit, a multiplexer, a pseudo-alias signal generator, a gain controller, and an alias signal compensator. The analogue to digital converting unit converts the analogue input signal to a plurality of digital signals. The multiplexer sequentially selects one of the digital signals and outputs the selected digital signal as a multiplexer output. The pseudo-alias signal generator generates a plurality of pseudo-alias signals from the digital signals. The pseudo-alias signal simulates an alias signal component in the multiplexer output. The gain controller generates a plurality of gain control signals by using the pseudo-alias signals. The gain control signal controls gain of the digital output signal. The alias signal compensator compensates the alias signal component by using the gain control signals.
US08502710B2 Methods and computer program products for providing a compressed circular buffer for efficient storage of network performance data
Provided are methods and computer program products for providing a circular buffer of values representing performance data that corresponds to a network application on a network device. Methods may include compressing a binary representation of a value using bit-oriented compression that is biased based on a frequency of occurrence of values and/or value ranges, and appending the compressed binary representation to a circular buffer. The bit-oriented compressed may be biased such that values and/or value ranges that occur with a higher degree of frequency are compressed to a higher degree, while values and/or value ranges that occur with a lower degree of frequency are compressed to a lower degree.
US08502709B2 Decoding variable length codes in media applications
An approach to decoding variable length code (VLC) symbols is described. In one embodiment, a method of decoding VLC symbols is detailed. This method involves obtaining a bitstream sample from a bitstream, and comparing the bitstream sample against a threshold value, to obtain a VLC group number. Information associated with a VLC group is retrieved, using this VLC group number. The current VLC symbol is extracted from the bitstream, using the VLC group information, and the corresponding symbol value is obtained, using the current VLC symbol and the VLC group information.
US08502708B2 Encoding method and decoding method, and devices, program and recording medium for the same
Information that includes first information identifying integer quotients obtained by divisions using prediction residuals or integers not smaller than 0 that increase monotonically with increases in the amplitude of the prediction residuals, as dividends, and a separation parameter decided for a time segment corresponding to the prediction residuals or a mapped integer value of the separation parameter, as a modulus, and second information identifying the remainders obtained when the dividends are divided by the modulus is generated as a code corresponding to the prediction residuals, and each piece of side information that includes the separation parameter is subjected to variable length coding.
US08502707B2 Data compression systems and methods
Systems and methods for providing fast and efficient data compression using a combination of content independent data compression and content dependent data compression. In one aspect, a method for compressing data comprises the steps of: analyzing a data block of an input data stream to identify a data type of the data block, the input data stream comprising a plurality of disparate data types; performing content dependent data compression on the data block, if the data type of the data block is identified; performing content independent data compression on the data block, if the data type of the data block is not identified.
US08502706B2 Bit allocation for encoding track information
Allocating bits in an encoding scheme to reduce the number of bits required to send starting track information. In one embodiment a joint starting track indicator is sent with a frame to indicate the starting tracks for all subframes in the frame.
US08502705B2 Hybrid keypad including full travel keys and minimal travel keys
A device for entering information securely in a customer transaction is described. The device may include a keypad comprising a set of full travel keys for transmitting a first set of data and a set of minimal travel keys for transmitting a second set of data. A subset of the full travel keys may be operable to receive numerical entries, and a subset of the minimal travel keys may be customized to perform one or more nonnumeric functions. A controller is connected to and receives data from one or more components of the keypad. The device may be used in a fuel dispenser system or another environment where a customer transaction occurs.
US08502704B2 Method, apparatus, and system of stabilizing a mobile gesture user-interface
The embodiments of the invention disclose a method, apparatus, and system for communicating via a user gesture with a mobile device having applications. The gesture acts like a user interface to a menu of applications that can be accessed while the user is in motion including while running, walking, riding, etc. In one embodiment, the method comprises determining a first multi-dimensional information for measuring motion of a first mobile device. The method further comprises receiving, by the first mobile device, a second multi-dimensional information for measuring motion of a second mobile device, the first and the second mobile devices being in motion relative to one another. The first and the second multi-dimensional information is used for filtering gesture motion from an underlying motion of the second mobile device to isolate the gesture motion from the underlying motion. The isolated filtered gesture motion is stabilized. In one embodiment, the method further comprises directing an action of the first mobile device in response to the isolated gesture motion.
US08502701B2 Runway status indicator
Technologies are described herein for displaying runway status information to a pilot in an aircraft. In one aspect of the present disclosure, a runway status display module displays a runway status indicator indicating the runway status information at a fixed scale independent of a scale of the map on a map display. In another aspect, the runway status indicator is displayed on a non-map display indicating the runway status of the runway. In another aspect, the runway status indicator is displayed at a position independent from a depiction of the runway on the aircraft display.
US08502699B2 Integrated detection and monitoring system
A method and system is provided for implementing an integrated detection and monitoring system. Aspects of the present invention include mounting at least detector into a vehicle to provide a mobile detector. The mobile detector is then transported to a security checkpoint and positioned along side a vehicle pass-through. As a vehicle passes through, the mobile detector scans the vehicles to detect levels of one or more designated materials. If any material detected exceeds a threshold alarm level, the detected level of the material is stored in a file that is associated with the vehicle, and the file is wirelessly transmitted to a command center to notify authorities.
US08502698B2 Parking lot management system
A parking lot management system comprising a computer host, a handheld device, an entrance sensor, an entrance camera, an entrance stop, an exit sensor, an exit camera, and an exit stop is disclosed. The handheld device interactively transmits data with the entrance sensor and the exit sensor by near-field communication techniques. Each of the entrance camera and the exit camera takes a photo and acquires a license plate number of a vehicle and communicates this information with the computer host. After the computer host confirms and verifies some specific data, the computer host sends instructions to the entrance stop or the exit stop for allowing the vehicle to either enter or exit a parking lot. When exiting the parking lot, the parking fee is paid by the electronic wallet of the handheld device.
US08502692B2 Motion or opening detector
An activity monitor which can be pre-programmed at the factory, the doctor's office or the pharmacist, or that can be programmed by the user. The activity monitor is affixed to a medicine bottle or container and activity associated with the bottle or container, such as movement, opening, volume changes, etc. are monitored in view to the schedule. If the schedule indicates that a dose of medicine should be taken at a particular time, but the monitored activity does not determine that the medicine has been taken, an alert signal will be issued to alert the user that it is time to take the medicine. In addition, if the monitored activity indicates that the medicine bottle has been opened prior to a scheduled time, then a tamper alert can be triggered.
US08502688B2 Standalone self-supplied numeric controlled relay
The disclosure relates to a process of configuring a standalone self-supplied numeric controlled relay for providing phase and earth over current protection to electrical systems by accurate current measurement. The arrangement for current measurement with control algorithms is provided for power control by providing amplified and conditioned current for optimization between the current to power an electronic circuit and the fidelity of a measured current waveform so that they both are at the acceptable levels at the same time. This disclosure describes the current sensing and associated algorithm for power control in a truly self-powered relay.
US08502687B2 Server and method for detecting a pipeline
A server and method detects a pipeline. The server reads pipeline data from a data collector and analyzes the pipeline data to determine if the pipeline works abnormally. An alert command is sent by the server to an alarm computer to notify a user in response to a determination that the pipeline works abnormally. The server saves the pipeline data into a database system.
US08502686B2 Tsunami warning system and method for providing tsunami warnings
A tsunami warning system (10) comprising a remote server with evaluation system with means for monitoring tsunami indicating parameters (16, 20), means for determining the possibility of a tsunami occurring and means for issuing a triggering signal, wherein the evaluation system is configured to issue a triggering signal when the possibility of a tsunami occurring is identified. The tsunami warning system (10) further comprises at least one tsunami warning device (14) arranged in a public area, the tsunami warning device (14) being configured and arranged so as to provide a tsunami warning to the general public when a triggering signal is received. The at least one tsunami warning device comprises means for also monitoring tsunami indicating parameters and means for transmitting information collected by the tsunami warning device to the remote server for integration in modelling means therein.
US08502685B2 Anti-theft alarm for a liquid storage tank
An anti-theft alarm for a liquid storage tank, said alarm comprising a housing having means for securing the housing to the storage tank, said housing containing a motion and/or vibration sensor for detecting tampering with the liquid storage tank, an alarm means and a control means for activating the alarm means in response to a signal from the motion/vibration sensor.
US08502684B2 Sensors and systems for detecting environmental conditions or changes
Sensors and systems for detecting predetermined environmental conditions or changes may include a device capable of providing information. The device may include either a shield or reconfigurable antenna. For example, in a first condition, a shield is configured to prevent communications with the device and, in a second condition, the shield is configured to enable communications with the device. Alternately, in a first condition, a reconfigurable antenna is configured to enable communications with the device and in a second condition the reconfigurable antenna is configured to prevent communications with the device. The shield or reconfigurable antenna may be configured to transition from first conditions to second conditions upon exposure to a predetermined environmental condition or change.
US08502683B2 Device and method for remote monitoring
An electronic device and a method for remote monitoring a subject calibrates a permitted activity range of the electronic device and establishes an activity range of the subject. The electronic device captures a thermal image to calculate a current location of the subject, and determines whether the current location of the subject is within the activity range of the subject. The electronic device issues an alarm message if the current location of the subject is not within the activity range of the subject.
US08502681B2 Hand cleanliness
Among other things, systems to encourage compliance with hand washing procedures can include: an infrared emitter that projects a first infrared beam with a transverse cross-section having a first axis and a second axis that is shorter than the first axis, the transverse cross-section having a maximum length along the first axis, the infrared emitter modulating the first infrared beam to transmit a first identification signal; wherein the infrared emitter projecting the first infrared beam is placed such that the first axis of the transverse cross-section of the first infrared beam is substantially parallel to a boundary.
US08502673B2 Applications for radio frequency identification systems
The present invention relates to RFID devices, including handheld RFID devices, and applications for such devices. The devices and applications may be used in connection with items that are associated with an RFID tag, and optionally a magnetic security element. The devices and applications are described with particular reference to library materials such as books, periodicals, and magnetic and optical media.
US08502672B1 Method and apparatus for performing predetermined actions by a device upon completion of given job functions
A method and apparatus is provided for initiating procedures whereby a smart device is able to analyze situational data sensed by the device, compare one or more event signatures representative of the sensed data with one or more sets of event signatures in a library of event signatures to logically determine completion of a job function and to then cause a specific action to be taken.
US08502670B2 Real-time RFID positioning system and method, repeater installation method therefor, position confirmation service system using the same
Provided are to a real-time RFID location determination system for accurately determining a location of a mobile object using radio frequency identification (RFID) in real-time, a method thereof, and a method for installing a wireless repeater such as a RFID reader or a RFID reader and an access point (AP) using the same. The location determination system includes: a wireless repeater for identifying a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag by communicating with the RFID tag attached or installed at a target object to determine a location thereof, wherein the wireless repeater is installed a urban facility and a location of the target object is determined based on a coordinate of a corresponding urban facility as a reference point.
US08502668B2 System and method for article authentication using blanket illumination
A method and apparatus for determining a digital signature from an article. A coherent light source directs a beam to illuminate the article and a detector arrangement collects data points from light scattered from many different parts of the article to collect a large number of independent data points, typically 500 or more. By collecting a large number of independent signal contributions specific to many different parts of the article, a digital signature can be computed that is unique to the area of the article that has been scanned. This measurement can be repeated whenever required to test authenticity of the article. Using this method, it has been discovered that it is essentially pointless to go to the effort and expense of making specially prepared tokens, since unique characteristics are measurable a in a straightforward manner from a wide variety of every day articles.
US08502666B1 Remote human presence detection system
Methods for remote detection of humans can include the step of transmitting vertically polarized electromagnetic signals into an area of interest (AOI) when no humans are present. A first time domain measurement of return response signal energy from the AOI can be accomplished to establish a background signal. A second time domain measurement of response signal energy from the AOI can be made when at least one human is present, to establish a background-plus-human signal. The two signals can be subtracted to yield a reference time domain human signal. The electromagnetic signal is periodically re-transmitted. The background subtracted from subsequent response energy, and the result compared to the reference time domain human signal. A visual or audible indication occurs when the resulting signal matches the reference signal. Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) of the time domain signals can be used to yield frequency responses, which can be monitored.
US08502663B2 Hospital bed obstacle detection apparatus
A hospital bed obstacle detection device and related method for detecting an obstacle between first and second components of a hospital bed is provided.
US08502659B2 Augmented reality and location determination methods and apparatus
Augmented reality and location determination methods and apparatus are disclosed according to some aspects of the description. In one aspect, a location determination method includes accessing first location information regarding a location of a user interaction device in a physical world, wherein the user interaction device is configured to generate an augmented reality representation with respect to the physical world, using the first location information, identifying a plurality of wireless communication devices which are proximately located with respect to the user interaction device, initiating wireless communications between the user interaction device and the wireless communications devices, after the initiating, accessing information regarding the wireless communications of the user interaction device and the wireless communication devices, and using the information regarding the wireless communications, determining second location information regarding the location of the user interaction device, and wherein the second location information has increased accuracy with respect to the location of the user interaction device in the physical world compared with the first location information.
US08502656B2 Displacement diagnosis sensor of brake pedal having stop lamp switch function
A displacement diagnosis sensor of a brake pedal having a stop lamp switch function is provided. According to the present invention, one sensor performs both a function of a stop lamp switch and a function of diagnosing a rotational displacement of the brake pedal simultaneously to thereby save a manufacturing cost and reduce a weight.
US08502655B2 Protocol misinterpretation avoidance apparatus and method for a tire pressure monitoring system
A determination is made as to whether a frame to be transmitted according to a first protocol is susceptible to being incorrectly interpreted by a receiver in a vehicle as being transmitted according to a second protocol. When the frame is determined to be susceptible to an incorrect interpretation, an internal value of the frame is adjusted, and the adjustment is effective to prevent an incorrect interpretation of the frame being transmitted from the tire pressure monitor to the receiver. The adjusted frame can then be transmitted.
US08502653B2 Vehicle-use object detection apparatus
The vehicle-use object detection apparatus includes a plurality of ultrasonic sensors mounted on a vehicle, each of the ultrasonic sensors being configured to receive a reflected version of an ultrasonic wave transmitted by itself and not to receive reflected versions of ultrasonic waves transmitted by the other ultrasonic sensors, a first determination means to make a determination whether an object is present around the vehicle based on the received reflected versions of the transmitted ultrasonic waves when a first detection condition is satisfied, and a second determination means to make a determination, for each of the ultrasonic sensors, whether there is adhesion of snow around the ultrasonic sensor based on an echo wave received by the ultrasonic sensor when a second detection condition different from the first detection condition is satisfied.
US08502652B2 Bicycle brake device having a warning function
A bicycle brake device includes a brake shoe, a warning device installed in the brake shoe, a power supply device electrically connected with the warning device, and two conductors separately mounted in the brake shoe and respectively electrically connected with the warning device and the power supply device. Each conductor has one end thereof exposed to the outside of the brake shoe for touching the wheel rim or brake disc of the bicycle upon a brake operation to close the circuit, causing the warning device to generate a warning signal.
US08502647B2 System for controlling user access to a machine tool
The invention relates to a machine tool 101 comprising a plurality of operation functions and a selection device 113a-113d for selecting one or more operation functions by a user. The machine tool 101 receives data from a mobile data carrier 311 via a reception device 112, on the basis of which it may be determined which operation functions may be performed by the user. In this process, an access control device 130 grants the user access to only those selected operation functions he or she is authorized to perform.
US08502646B2 Article management apparatus and its system
In an article management apparatus in which the weight of a bottle, including content, placed on a weighing scale is measured and tag data of a radio tag, indicating content of the bottle, which is affixed on the bottle is read out in a non-contact manner by a radio tag reading section through an antenna when the bottle is placed on the weighing scale, a compound data for discriminating whether or not content in a bottle is compoundable with contents in other bottles is stored. It is determined, based on the compound data stored, whether content of a first bottle on which a first radio tag is affixed can be compounded with content of a second bottle on which a second radio tag is affixed when the radio tag reading section reads out tag data of first and second radio tags.
US08502638B1 Thermistor
A thermistor includes a resistive device, a first insulation layer, a first electrode, a second electrode and a first heat-conductive layer. The resistive device includes a first electrically conductive member, a second electrically conductive member and a polymeric material layer laminated therebetween. The polymeric material layer exhibits positive temperature coefficient (PTC) or negative temperature coefficient (NTC) behavior. The first insulation layer is disposed on the first electrically conductive member. The first electrode is electrically coupled to the first electrically conductive member, whereas the second electrode is electrically coupled to the second electrically conductive member and is insulated from the first electrode. The first heat-conductive layer is disposed on the first insulation layer, and has a heat conductivity of at least 30 W/m-K and a thickness of 15-250 μm.
US08502636B2 By-pass of an electrical component
A modular by-pass device of an electrical component includes a housing possessing a movable means of sealing, and is equipped with conducting terminals, one of whose ends is connected to one of the terminals of the electrical component circuit, the other end being fastened to the wall of the housing projecting into the interior of the housing and constituting a contact post. An actuator providing transposition between two positions of a control device include a plunger shaft and a spring arranged in the space formed between the plunger shaft and the internal wall of the housing. A trigger includes a retention device of the plunger shaft held in place by a fusible material. A reversing switch includes a contact zone providing electrical continuity between two contact posts of the terminals carried by the housing. The disclosed embodiments finds application more particularly in the isolation and short-circuiting of a battery element, which has become defective.
US08502631B2 Three-phase line reactor with skew yoke core design
A line reactor is presented having a skewed core structure with three horizontally non-coplanar vertical legs and top and bottom laminated, interleaved yoke structures with corresponding horizontally non-coplanar yoke ends.
US08502629B2 Electromagnetic contactor with guide ring
The present invention relates to an electromagnetic contactor including a stationary armature which includes a housing enclosure for a coil for generating a magnetic field, the enclosure having an opening, a closing cover for the opening of the enclosure, the closing cover having an aperture, and a movable armature passing through the aperture of the closing cover for the opening of the enclosure, further including a guide ring made from non-magnetic material which is arranged in the aperture of the closing cover so as to have, between a first wall in contact with the wall of the aperture of the cover and a second wall facing towards the movable armature, a thickness corresponding to the minimal radial gap between the movable armature and the stationary armature.
US08502628B2 Magnetic chamber for electromagnetic low voltage switchgear, and electromagnetic low voltage switchgear
A magnetic chamber is disclosed for electromagnetic low voltage switchgear, especially a compact reversing starter, including two magnetic drives which are each actuated by a main slide. The magnetic chamber is designed, in at least one embodiment, to receive both magnetic drives of the electromagnetic low voltage switchgear, and a mechanical reversing locking device held in a mobile manner for the alternating mechanical locking of the two magnetic drives is arranged in the magnetic chamber, the mechanical locking device acting on the two main slides. An electromagnetic low voltage switchgear is disclosed, especially a compact reversing starter, including two magnetic drives which are each actuated by a main slide, both magnetic drives being arranged in a magnetic chamber. The mechanical reversing locking device held in a mobile manner, in at least one embodiment, engages with the main slide of one of the magnetic drives, according to the position of the locking device, in order to fix said magnetic drive.
US08502627B1 Relay with stair-structured pole faces
In an electromechanical relay the core of the relay coil and a corresponding zone of the armature are each provided with a pole face of zig-zag or stair-step configuration. A succession of corresponding edges of the core and armature pole faces concentrate the magnetic flux to increase the initial force on the armature and to limit the closing force as the armature reaches the closed position. The armature bearing is shaped to create a longitudinal wipe motion. The relay exhibits faster and quieter action with less bounce and reduced contact chatter.
US08502623B2 Band pass filter
A band pass filter includes an original circuit. An interaction of at least two of components of the original circuit produces at least a mutual capacitor or at least a mutual inductor, which constitutes a resonance circuit with the original circuit to produce at least a transmission zero for increasing the attenuation rate of the stop band.
US08502621B2 Ladder filter and duplexer
A ladder filter including a series arm resonator and a parallel arm resonator disposed on the same common piezoelectric substrate achieves improved miniaturization. The ladder filter includes series arm resonators and parallel arm resonators, which include elastic wave resonators, and are disposed on the same common piezoelectric substrate, at least one parallel arm resonator of the series arm resonators and the parallel arm resonators includes a first resonator and a second resonator electrically connected in parallel to each other, and the first resonator and the second resonator are arranged in parallel or substantially in parallel in a direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to an elastic wave propagation direction, on one side outside one series arm resonator of remaining resonators in the elastic wave propagation direction thereof.
US08502620B2 Balun system and method
A system and method for transmitting signals is disclosed. An embodiment comprises a balun, such as a Marchand balun, which has a first transformer with a primary coil and a first secondary coil and a second transformer with the primary coil and a second secondary coil. The first secondary coil and the second secondary coil are connected to a ground plane, and the ground plane has slot lines located beneath the separation of the coils in the first transformer and the second transformer. The slot lines may also have fingers.
US08502615B2 Jumpless phase modulation in a polar modulation environment
A circuit includes a phase shifter configured to selectively shift a phase of a baseband phase signal in accordance with a zero crossing signal to output a selectively phase-shifted signal, a phase modulator configured to provide a phase modulated carrier signal in accordance with the selectively phase-shifted signal, and an inverter configured to selectively invert the phase modulated carrier signal in accordance with the zero crossing signal.
US08502614B2 Variable inductor, and oscillator and communication system using the same
There are provided a variable inductor with little degradation in quality factor, and an oscillator and a communication system using the variable inductor. An inductance controller comprising a reactance device with a variable device value, such as, for example, a variable capacitor, is connected to a secondary inductor, magnetically coupled to a primary inductor through mutual inductance. The inductance controller is provided with an inductance control terminal for receiving a control signal for controlling capacitance of the variable capacitor. Inductance of the primary inductor is varied by varying the capacitance by the control signal.
US08502612B2 Method and apparatus for determining within-die and across-die variation of analog circuits
Described herein is the method and apparatus for determining frequency of an oscillator coupled with one or more analog devices, and for determining within-die or across-die variations in an analog property associated with the one or more analog devices, the determining based on the oscillator frequency. The analog property includes output signal swing, bandwidth, offset, gain, and delay line linearity and range. The one or more analog devices include input-output (I/O) buffer, analog amplifier, and delay line. The method further comprises updating a simulation model file based on the determining of the within-die and/or across-die variations of the analog property.
US08502608B2 Tunable power amplifier using laminate MEMS capacitors
For use in a wireless network, a tunable power amplifier circuit includes a power amplifier transistor and a plurality of laminate MEMS (microelectromechanical system) capacitors coupled to the power amplifier transistor. The laminate MEMS capacitors are arranged in a tunable matching network and configured to provide a matching impedance for the power amplifier transistor. In some embodiments, the laminate MEMS capacitors are arranged in a binary array.
US08502606B2 Power amplifying apparatus with dual-current control mode
There is provided a power amplifying apparatus with dual-current control mode, including: a transistor mirror circuit adjusting currents respectively flowing through a main path and a mirror path connected in parallel to a power source terminal; a resistor mirror circuit adjusting the respective currents of the main path and the mirror path; a current controlling unit controlling a control current flowing through the main path with a pre-set constant current; a voltage adjusting unit providing a bias adjustment signal that corresponds to a difference voltage between a first voltage of a first node on the main path to which a current is output from the resistor mirror circuit and a second voltage of a second node on the mirror path to which a current is output from the resistor mirror circuit; and a bias circuit unit adjusting a bias of a power amplifying unit.
US08502605B2 Acoustic pseudo-triode characteristic amplification device and acoustic pseudo-triode characteristic push-pull amplification device
An input terminal is connected to a positive-phase terminal of a differential amplification circuit. A negative-phase terminal of the differential amplification circuit is connected to an emitter electrode of a transistor, and an output terminal thereof is connected to a base electrode of the transistor. An input side resistor is connected between a collector electrode of the transistor and the input terminal, and a secondary input side resistor is connected between the input terminal and a ground conductor. An output side resistor is connected between the emitter electrode of the transistor and the ground conductor. The collector electrode of the transistor is connected to a load terminal.
US08502598B2 Digitally-scalable transformer combining power amplifier
A digitally configurable transformer that performs switched transformer combining is disclosed. The flexible transformer includes switches that are dynamically configurable to efficiently combine RF power from power amplifier cores to achieve different power levels. The disclosed transformer is efficient at a broad range of power levels, leading to high power output efficiency. The transformer may be part of any power amplifier design that uses the transformer for power combining.
US08502597B2 Low-pass filter design
Techniques for low-pass filtering with high quality factor (Q). In an exemplary embodiment, an input current is coupled to the drain of a first transistor. The drain and the gate of the first transistor are coupled together by a resistor R1, and the drain is coupled to a reference voltage by a first capacitor C1. The gate is coupled to a reference voltage by a second capacitor C2. The gate is further coupled to the gate of a second transistor, and an output current is coupled to the drain of the second transistor. In another exemplary embodiment, further passive elements may be coupled to generate an odd-order low-pass transfer characteristic. Multiple filters may be cascaded in series to synthesize a filter having arbitrary order.
US08502596B1 Filter circuitry
Embodiments provide methods, devices, circuitry and systems for supporting or implementing functionality to provide a filtering circuit, and for providing a transmitter, receiver or transceiver incorporating the same. One embodiment provides a circuit for filtering signals. The circuit outputs a plurality of signals at a plurality of frequencies, each of the signals being attenuated by an amount determined by the frequency of the signal. The circuit attenuates signals output at a first frequency by an amount which is low relative to the attenuation of signals output at frequencies other than the first frequency. The circuit further attenuates signals output at a second frequency by an amount which is high relative to the attenuation of signals output at frequencies other than the second frequency. Responsive to a change in the control signal, the circuit changes the first and second frequencies while maintaining a fixed ratio between the first and second frequencies.
US08502595B2 Power down enabled analog switch
This document discusses, among other things, apparatus and methods for passing a signal in a power down state. An example switch device can include a first depletion-mode transistor configured to pass an analog signal between a first node and a second node in a first state and to isolate the first node from the second node in a second state, a control circuit coupled to a control node of the first depletion-mode transistor and configured to isolate the control node from a first supply input in the first state and to couple the control node to the first supply input in the second state, and a tracking circuit configured to couple the control node of the first depletion-mode transistor to the first node during the first state and to isolate the control node of the first depletion-mode transistor from the first node in the second state.
US08502594B2 Bootstrap transistor circuit
A switch circuit is described, where a switch to be controlled is formed of two NMOS transistors having their source terminals connected together and their gate terminals connected together. Their drain terminals are the input and output terminals of the switch. A driver circuit controls a bootstrap circuit that is formed of a latching circuit and a capacitor. When the switch is in an off state, the driver circuit connects the capacitor to a charging voltage source for charging the capacitor to a bootstrap voltage, and applies a non-zero voltage across the latching circuit. When the driver circuit is controlled to turn on the switch, the driver circuit disconnects the capacitor from the charging voltage source, and the latching circuit becomes conductive and effectively connects the capacitor across the gate and source terminals of the switch to turn it on with the bootstrap voltage. The bootstrap voltage across the capacitor maintains the latching circuit in a latched conductive state.
US08502593B2 Balanced debounce circuit with noise filter for digital system
A circuit and method for debouncing an electrical signal are disclosed. A representative embodiment of the present invention may be set to remove (i.e., filter) noise or glitches in the low and high portions of an input signal, where the width of the noise or glitches while in the high or low state may be set using a programming interface. The filtering is done in a manner that results in a clean, debounced output signal having a low portion approximately equal to the low portion of the input signal, and a high portion approximately equal to the high portion of the input signal. Noise or glitches of less than programmable high or low glitch widths are filtered from the input signal and do not appear in the output signal.
US08502592B2 Level shift circuit
In a level shift circuit allows satisfactory operation with short delay time in the case of low-voltage setting of a low-voltage source, for example, when a state of an input signal IN transitions from a H (VDD) level to a L level, a node W2 precharged to a H (VDD3) level is discharged to ground (VSS) by a discharge circuit N2, and decreases in potential. The decrease in potential propagates to a latch circuit LA, and an output of the latch circuit LA propagates to an output circuit OC. Further, an inversion signal of the node W2 is input to the output circuit OC by bypassing the latch circuit LA. Thus, the output circuit OC starts operating prior to operation based on an output of the latch circuit LA.
US08502589B2 Signal swing trimming apparatus and method thereof
A signal swing trimming apparatus calibrates a swing level of an output signal generated from a transmitting device to a receiving device including: a comparing device coupled to the output signal for comparing the swing level of the output signal with a target swing level and generating a comparison output signal, and an adjusting device coupled to the comparing device and the transmitting device for controlling the transmitting device to adjust the swing level of the output signal according to the comparison output signal, wherein the signal swing trimming apparatus is configured to calibrate the swing level of the output signal during a hand-shake process between the transmitting device and the receiving device.
US08502587B2 Fast recovery voltage regulator
This document discusses, among other things, a voltage regulator having a plurality of switching devices, coupled in parallel, and configured to selectively provide a variable available drive current using a comparison of a regulated Dc output voltage to at least one reference voltage.
US08502586B1 Methods of clock signal generation with selected phase delay
In one embodiment of the invention, a method is disclosed to generate a clock output signal with selected phase. The method includes selecting a phase delay for the clock output signal; charging a capacitor with a first weighted current during a first phase input clock, charging the capacitor with a second weighted current during a portion of a second phase input clock, and determining if a voltage across the capacitor is greater than or equal to a threshold voltage to generate a first edge of the clock output signal with the selected phase delay. The first weighted current may have a weighting of N out of M to charge the capacitor with a predetermined rate of change in voltage in response to the selected phase delay. The second weighted current may have a weighting of M out of M to charge the capacitor with a constant rate of change.
US08502583B2 High-speed duty cycle correction circuit
A circuit for correcting a duty-cycle comprises a duty-cycle adjuster for changing a duty-rate of an input clock signal according to a duty control signal; a duty-cycle detector for detecting a duty-rate of an output clock signal based on the input clock signal and the output clock signal from the duty-cycle adjuster; and an algorithm-based digital controller for performing an algorithm according to a duty-rate detection signal outputted from the duty-cycle detector to generate the duty control signal.
US08502580B2 Semiconductor device and method for operating the same
A semiconductor device includes: an internal clock signal generation unit configured to receive an external clock signal and to generate an internal clock signal in response to a control signal; and a monitoring unit configured to monitor environmental elements reflected in a circuit response to the control signal.
US08502579B2 Delay lines, methods for delaying a signal, and delay lock loops
Locked loops, delay lines, delay circuits, and methods for delaying signals are disclosed. An example delay circuit includes a delay line including a plurality of delay stages, each delay stage having an input and further having a single inverting delay device, and also includes a two-phase exit tree coupled to the delay line and configured to provide first and second output clock signals responsive to clock signals from inputs of the delay stages of the plurality of delay stages. Another example delay circuit includes a delay line configured to provide a plurality of delayed clock signals, each of the delayed clock signals having a delay relative to a previous delayed clock signal equal to a delay of a single inverting delay device. The example delay circuit also includes a two-phase exit tree configured to provide first and second output clock signals responsive to the delayed clock signals.
US08502575B2 Fractional-N PLL using multiple phase comparison frequencies to improve spurious signal performance
A fractional spur compensation technique is implemented in a fractional-N PLL using multiple phase comparison frequencies Fpd, one of which is selected for any channel frequency Fch in a target frequency band to obtain a selected offset frequency Fos between the channel frequency Fch and its primary fractional spur throughout the target frequency band. Other features of an exemplary implementation of the fractional spur compensation technique include (a) maintaining the phase comparison frequency at less than a predetermined maximum value, (b) using a programmable reference frequency multiplier with selectable multiplication factors and/or a programmable reference frequency divider with selectable divide ratios to generate multiple phase comparison frequencies derived from a predetermined reference frequency Fref, and (c) using a programmable charge pump to select different charge pump currents for respective phase comparison frequencies to reduce loop gain variation.
US08502574B2 Device and method for generating a signal of parametrizable frequency
Device for generating a signal of parametrizable frequency comprising a phase locked loop including a generator of a reference signal, a phase-frequency comparator comprising a first input for receiving the reference signal, an oscillator controlled on the basis of the result output by the phase-frequency comparator, a fractional divider coupled between an output of the oscillator and a second input of the phase-frequency comparator, and a selector selectively linking an input of the oscillator either with an input of the generator, or with the output of the oscillator as a function of the multiplication ratio of the fractional divider.
US08502571B2 Gate driving circuit
A gate driving circuit includes a control power; a transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding; a first switching element; a second switching element; a rectifying element; and a capacitance element, wherein the first switching element is connected between the control power and one end of the primary winding, and the second switching element is connected to the other end of the primary winding, wherein one end of the capacitance element is connected to either one of the one end and the other end of the primary winding, and wherein, when one of the first switching element and the second switching element is turned on, the capacitance element is charged by the control power, and when the other of the first switching element and the second switching element is turned on, the capacitance element is discharged.
US08502569B2 Architecture for operating resonant clock network in conventional mode
An architecture for resonant clock distribution networks is proposed. The proposed architecture allows for the energy-efficient operation of the resonant clock distribution network in conventional mode, so that it meets target specifications for the clock waveform. Such an architecture is generally applicable to semiconductor devices with multiple clock frequencies, and high-performance and low-power clocking requirements such as microprocessors, ASICs, and SOCs. Moreover, it is applicable to at-speed testing and to binning of semiconductor devices according to achievable performance levels.
US08502568B2 Receiver circuit with high input voltage protection
An integrated circuit 2 includes a receiver circuit 4 for receiving an input signal PAD and converting this to an output signal OUT. Conduction path circuitry 14 couples an input 10 to a first node 16. Buffer circuitry 18 is coupled between the first node 16 and an output 12 carrying the output signal Out. The conduction path circuitry comprises a first PMOS transistor 24 and a second PMOS transistor 26 connected between the input 10 and the first node 16. A first NMOS transistor 28 is connected between the input 10 and the first node 16. The gate of the second PMOS transistor 26 is coupled to the output 12 to directly receive the output signal and thereby achieve rapid cut off of the charging of the node 16 when the input voltage rises beyond a certain level which switches the buffer circuitry 18.
US08502563B2 Non-binary decoder architecture and control signal logic for reduced circuit complexity
A decoder for sequentially enabling outputs in response to clock signal inputs is described including X number of logic stages corresponding to X number of outputs of the decoder. Each of the logic stages has a plurality of inputs, wherein each logic stage includes fewer than log2X inputs for receiving the clock signal inputs.
US08502560B2 Output circuit and output control system
An output circuit which outputs an output signal based on an input signal from an output terminal and brings the output terminal into a high impedance state in response to an impedance control signal. The output circuit includes an output pMOS transistor connected at a source thereof to a first power supply. The output circuit includes an output nMOS transistor connected between a drain of the output pMOS transistor and ground. The output circuit includes an output terminal connected between the drain of the output pMOS transistor and a drain of the output nMOS transistor. The output circuit includes a first level shifter circuit which outputs a first gate control signal from a first gate control terminal to control on/off of the output pMOS transistor. The output circuit includes a second level shifter circuit which outputs a second gate control signal from a second gate control terminal to control on/off of the output nMOS transistor.
US08502556B2 System and method for reducing input current spike for drive circuitry
A circuit includes a plurality of logic gates and a drive circuit. The plurality of logic gates are coupled between a first supply node and a second supply node. Each logic gate has at least one input and consumes a short circuit current during a logic state transition. The drive circuit is coupled to the inputs of the plurality of logic gates to deliver a copy of an input signal to each logic gate, wherein the input signal copies arrive at the inputs of the logic gates at substantially different times. The circuit may be incorporated in a touch screen panel and a display.
US08502555B1 Method of and circuit for preventing the alteration of a stored data value
According to an embodiment, a method of preventing the alteration of a stored data value is disclosed. The method comprises coupling a first electronic fuse to an output control circuit; coupling a second electronic fuse to the output control circuit; decoding the states of the first electronic fuse and the second electronic fuse after a first processing step to generate a first decoded state; and decoding the states of the first electronic fuse and the second electronic fuse after a second processing step to generate a second decoded state different from the first decoded state; wherein the output control circuit maintains the second decoded state after an attempt to alter a state of an electronic fuse of the first electronic fuse and the second electronic fuse. A circuit for preventing the alteration of a stored data value is also described.
US08502549B2 Test apparatus and driver circuit
A test apparatus includes: a driver circuit that supplies, to a device under test, a test signal corresponding to an input signal; and a judging section that judges pass/fail of the device under test, based on the load voltage or the load current supplied to the device under test when supplying a test signal of a constant current or a constant voltage to the device under test from the driver circuit, where the driver circuit includes: a driver section that outputs the test signal; a supply current detecting section that detects a supply current supplied to the driver section; and an output control section that controls a voltage or a current of the test signal outputted from the driver section to the predetermined value, based on the supply current detected by the supply current detecting section.
US08502547B2 Capacitive sensor
Method and apparatus are provided for a capacitive sensor. In an example, a capacitive sensor can include a first sensing element, a sensing channel operable to generate a first signal indicative of first capacitance between the sensing element and a system ground, and a processor responsive to a change in the first capacitance between the first sensing element and ground. The processor can be configured to adjust a parameter value based on a first duration of the change in the first capacitance.
US08502543B2 Test configuration for the impulse voltage test of electric high-voltage components
The embodiments relate to a test configuration for an impulse voltage test of electric high-voltage components with a lightning generator. The lightning generator can be moved between a first horizontal position within a cuboid container, and a vertical position relative to the container. A movement between the two positions includes a pivoting movement about a rotational axis. The proofing movement is transverse to the longitudinal direction of the lightning generator. The container can be closed at the top by at least one moveable cover.
US08502538B2 B1 and/or B0 mapping in MRI system using k-space spatial frequency domain filtering with complex pixel by pixel off-resonance phase in the B0 map
Frequency filtering of spatially modulated or “tagged” MRI data in the spatial frequency k-space domain with subsequent 2DFT to the spatial domain and pixel-by-pixel arithmetic calculations provide robust data that can be used to derive B1 and/or B0 maps for an MRI system.
US08502533B2 Combined imaging system, including a magnetic resonance system and a UWB radar
In a combined imaging system, including a magnetic resonance system and a UWB radar, interference signals in the received signal of the one imaging system can be caused by the respective other imaging system. Therefore filters which contain in particular adaptive filters are used in order to filter out the interference signals caused in the received signal of the one system by the respective other system. By eliminating the mutually negative influence, the advantages can be completely exploited when operating the different imaging systems at the same time.
US08502532B2 Magnetic resonance data acquisition system and method with recursively adapted object-specific measurement parameter adjustment during patient movement through the MRI system
In a method and a magnetic resonance (MR) system for acquisition of MR data of a measurement subject in an MR examination in the magnetic resonance system, MR data of the measurement subject (are acquired according to measurement parameters while the measurement subject is moved relative to the magnetic resonance system, the acquired MR data are analyzed, and the measurement parameters are automatically adapted.
US08502527B2 Transmission debris sensor
A debris sensor for a motor vehicle transmission includes a permanent magnet disposed on the inside bottom of the transmission pan to attract and retain magnetically attracted debris such as filings and particulates and a magnetic sensor such as a Hall effect sensor adjacent the permanent magnet. The magnetic sensor monitors, over time, the magnetic field of the debris collecting magnet. The output of the magnetic sensor is provided to a transmission control module (TCM) or similar electronic control or monitoring device. The output of the sensor is monitored and when the output changes sufficiently, relative to experimental or empirical data, a signal or alarm code is generated or stored relating to the possible need for transmission service. Alternatively, data from the sensor may be read at any time to infer the state of the transmission, the quantity of material on the magnet, a possible service issue based upon the quantity of material on the magnet and the vehicle mileage and the remaining service life of the magnet, for example.
US08502525B2 Integrated micro actuator and IVDT for high precision position measurements
A single housing with a non-ferromagnetic piezo-driven flexure has primary and secondary coil forms of different diameters, one coaxially inside the other, integrated in the flexure. The cylinders defining the planes of the primary and secondaries do not spatially overlap. The secondary coil forms may be wound in opposite directions and wired to provide a transformer device. Movement of the primary relative to the secondaries in the direction of the central axis of the coils can be differentially detected with high precision.
US08502522B2 Multi-level triggering circuit
Circuitry includes a comparator to compare an input analog signal to a threshold and to output a signal that is based on the comparison; a first circuit path to receive the signal and to detect a characteristic of the signal, where the first circuit path is configured to support triggering at a first frequency; a second circuit path to receive the signal and to detect the characteristic of the signal, where the second circuit path is configured to support triggering at a second frequency that is lower than the first frequency; and a selector to select an output of the first circuit path or an output of the second circuit path.
US08502519B2 Arrangement and approach for providing a reference voltage
A reference voltage that is consistent over various operational conditions and uses low power is provided. According to an example, an internal temperature-compensated voltage (e.g., vdd_int in 200) is generated from a power supply (e.g., vdd in 200), and a reference voltage (e.g., vref in 200) is generated from the internal voltage. The reference voltage is stored on a storage circuit (e.g., 430) that is coupled (charged) and refreshed under conditions, relative to circuit characteristics, that make low and ultra-low power operation possible.
US08502518B2 Power supply device for light sources, such as halogen lamps, and related method
In various embodiments, a power supply device for light sources may include a feed line from mains via a phase-cut dimmer, selectively switchable between a conductive state and a non-conductive state, to permit or interrupt feeding of the device from mains. The device may include a power stage to feed at least one light source from said feed line from mains; a drive stage for said power stage; and a supply stage for said drive stage, said supply stage connected to said feed line from mains. The device may further include a sensor to detect when said dimmer is non-conductive and when said dimmer is conductive. The drive stage may be coupled to the sensor to disable driving of said power stage when the sensor indicates that the dimmer is non-conductive, and enable driving of the power stage when the sensor indicates that the dimmer is conductive.
US08502514B2 Voltage regulation circuit
A voltage regulation circuit including a differential input unit, a source follower and a driving unit is provided. The differential input unit has a first input terminal and a second input terminal for receiving a reference voltage and a system voltage respectively. Further, the differential input unit compares the reference voltage and the system voltage and accordingly generates a control voltage. The source follower is electrically connected between the differential input unit and the driving unit, and generates an adjustment voltage according to the control voltage. The differential input unit, the source follower and the driving unit form a feedback loop, so that the driving unit fixes a source voltage to the system voltage according to the adjustment voltage.
US08502512B2 DC power converting circuit and method thereof
A direct current (DC) converting circuit includes a DC input end, for receiving a DC input voltage; a DC output end, for providing a predetermined DC voltage; a switch, coupled between the DC input end and the DC output end, for providing a direct path; a DC-DC step-down unit, coupled between the DC input end and the DC output end, for providing a step-down voltage path; and a control unit, coupled to the switch and the DC-DC step-down unit, for detecting the DC input voltage and selecting either the direct path or the step-down voltage path to provide the predetermined DC voltage at the DC output end. The DC power converting circuit can be applied in power supply circuits of multi-media players or TV setup boxes to convert DC input voltage including 5V, 9V or 12V DC voltages to a predetermined DC voltage.
US08502511B1 Buck switching regulator
The present invention discloses a buck switching regulator including a power stage, a driver circuit and a bootstrap capacitor. The power stage includes an upper-gate switch, a first lower-gate switch and a second lower-gate switch. The first upper-gate switch is electrically connected between an input terminal and a switching node. The first lower-gate switch is connected in parallel with the second lower-gate switch, both of which are electrically connected between the switching node and a first node. The driver circuit controls the operation of the upper-gate switch and the first lower-gate switch. The bootstrap capacitor is electrically connected between a boot node and the switching node, wherein the boot node is electrically connected to a supply voltage. When a voltage across the bootstrap capacitor is smaller than a reference voltage, the second lower-gate switch is turned on to charge the bootstrap capacitor from the supply voltage.
US08502507B1 Electro-hydrodynamic system
An electro-hydrodynamic system including an energy harvester and an adjustable member, wherein the energy harvester includes a charge source including: an injector configured to emit particles into a wind stream and an electrode configured to charge the particles to a first polarity and to generate a first electric field. The adjustable member supports the energy harvester, and is configured to control a distance between electrical ground and at least one component of the energy harvester. A method for controlling the electric field magnitude of an electro-hydrodynamic system including placing an energy harvester comprising a charge source at a distance away from electrical ground, the distance being an equilibrium distance; receiving a first measurement of a parameter indicative of electric field magnitude near the charge source; and in response to the first measurement surpassing a threshold, increasing the distance between the energy harvester and electrical ground.
US08502506B2 Portable electrical power source for incorporation with an armored garment
An apparatus may be configured to provide electrical power while incorporated in an armored garment. The apparatus may include a plate having a footprint that corresponds to a plate of body armor, a plurality of energy storage cells carried by the power plate, and a port carried by the plate. The port may be configured to output power stored in the plurality of energy storage cells from the apparatus. The apparatus may also include one or more processors configured to enhance functionalities of the apparatus.
US08502500B2 Electrical circuit sharing for electric vehicle charging stations
Electric vehicle charging stations are coupled with a circuit sharing controller. Multiple electric vehicle charging stations are wired on the same electrical circuit. The circuit sharing controller implements a circuit sharing process that dynamically allocates electric current to charging stations on the same electrical circuit such that the capacity of the electrical circuit is not exceeded while permitting each of those charging stations to draw electric current through that electrical circuit for at least some amount of time.
US08502497B2 Method of controlling a power transfer system and power transfer system
A power transfer system which includes a power transfer device as well as at least one portable device, and to a method of controlling the power transfer system specifically in case of a dead battery condition of a battery of the portable device. The power transfer device for wireless charging of the battery arranged in the portable device and the power transfer device each comprise a near field communication functionality for data communication by a data communication link between the devices. The method includes a step of starting to establish the data communication link between the power transfer device and the portable device.
US08502496B2 Power charging device for an electric vehicle
The invention relates to a power charging device (10) for an electric vehicle (12) with an electric energy store (14). The power charging device (10) comprises at least one rectifier means (16) for converting a supply voltage (18) into a charging d.c. voltage (20), a contacting means (22) for contacting a plug-in connection supply point (24) of the electric vehicle (12), and a residual current monitoring device (26) for detecting a current difference in the contacting means (22) and/or the electric vehicle (12) during a charging process of the energy store (14) of the electric vehicle (12). The invention is characterized in that the residual current monitoring device (26) is designed at least for detection of a direct current difference ΔI and comprises a cutoff element (28) which can interrupt the charging process when a predeterminable direct current cutoff difference (36) is exceeded over a predeterminable cutoff time.
US08502495B2 Method and system for managing vehicle battery charge
A method and system for protecting a vehicle battery from excessive discharge are described. The method includes monitoring vehicle conditions including determining whether safety conditions are met and whether the vehicle is stationary. Further, the method activates a power save mode based on the monitoring step. The power save mode includes simulating an ignition off condition.
US08502494B2 Battery charging apparatus and method
A method and apparatus for charging a rechargeable battery comprises determining a safe charging voltage Vsafe that is the maximum open circuit voltage of the battery which provides a minimum battery capacity for a predetermined number of charge and discharge cycles of the battery. The battery is charged with a voltage Vhv which is higher than the Vsafe. The charging voltage is removed and open circuit voltage of the battery is measured. The charging and measuring steps are repeated when the open circuit voltage is less than Vsafe, and the charging process is terminated when the open circuit voltage is substantially equal to Vsafe.
US08502493B2 Control device and control method for alternating-current motor
When instructed to switch control modes between overmodulation PWM control and sinusoidal wave PWM control, control device corrects the amplitude of a voltage command signal based on a state of power conversion operation performed by an inverter, so as to suppress a change in an influence of dead time over a voltage applied to an alternating-current motor upon switching the control modes. The state of the power conversion operation performed by the inverter includes at least one of a present value of a carrier frequency in a control mode currently employed, an estimated value of the carrier frequency to be obtained when switching the control modes, the length of the dead time, a power factor of alternating-current power exchanged between the inverter and the alternating-current motor, and a driving state of the alternating-current motor.
US08502492B2 Single phase motor energy economizer for regulating the use of electricity
A device for improving efficiency of an induction motor soft-starts the motor by applying a power to the motor that is substantially less than the rated power of the motor then gradually increasing the power while monitoring changes in current drawn by the motor, thereby detecting when maximum efficiency is found. Once maximum efficiency is found, the nominal motor current is found and operating ranges are set. Now, the phase angle between the voltage and the current to the motor is measured and power to the motor is increasing when the phase angle is less than a minimum phase angle (determined during soft-start) and power to the motor is decreased when the phase angle is greater than or equal to the minimum phase angle as long as the voltage does not fall below a minimum voltage determined during soft-start.
US08502482B1 Compact induction lamp
The present invention discloses an improved compact induction lamp, which includes a lamp bulb coated with a phosphor layer on its inner wall and contains inert gas and mercury vapor. The lamp bulb is connected to a housing and mounted to a lamp base. The housing may include a control circuit. A magnetic ring located within a ring cover surrounded the lamp bulb and enclosed one cross section of the lamp bulb. A wire coil wrapped around the magnetic ring is connected with the control circuit and to the lamp base, which generates an electromagnetic field to lighten the lamp. A double wall exhaust tube containing mercury amalgam is disposed of in the housing at the lamp base to provide mercury vapor to the inner space of the lamp bulb. The double wall exhaust tube provides a mean to prevent the amalgam from penetrating into the lamp bulb and allows the lamp to be mounted in any direction the lamp may be operated.
US08502481B2 Phase shift controller
A positive counter starts counting, starting with an initial value, upon receiving a positive edge of a dimming pulse signal. A negative edge counter starts counting, starting with an initial value, upon receiving a negative edge of the dimming pulse signal. For each i-th (2≦i≦n) channel, the phase shift amount is calculated by multiplying a period count value that indicates the period of the dimming pulse signal by (i−1)/n. When the count value matches the phase shift amount, a burst control signal is switched to a first level. When the count value matches the phase shift amount, the burst control signal is switched to a second level.
US08502478B2 Variable gate field-effect transistor and electrical and electronic apparatus including the same
Provided are a variable field effect transistor (FET) designed to suppress a reduction of current between a source and a drain due to heat while decreasing a temperature of the FET, and an electrical and electronic apparatus including the variable gate FET. The variable gate FET includes a FET and a gate control device that is attached to a surface or a heat-generating portion of the FET and is connected to a gate terminal of the FET so as to vary a voltage of the gate terminal. A channel current between the source and drain is controlled by the gate control device that varies the voltage of the gate terminal when the temperature of the FET increases above a predetermined temperature.
US08502476B2 Method and apparatus for controlling power consumption of light source in mobile projector
A method of controlling the power consumption of a light source in a mobile projector, including calculating power consumption of the light source, and comparing the calculated power consumption with a preset power value, and automatically adjusting current flowing to the light source according to a resultant value of the comparison. Calculating power consumption of the light source includes measuring a voltage applied to both terminals of the light source, measuring current flowing to the light source, and calculating power consumption of the light source by multiplication of the measured voltage and current. Adjusting the current flowing to the light source includes calculating a difference between the preset power value and the calculated power consumption of the light source, adding/subtracting the calculated difference value to/from a preset current value to output a resultant value, and changing the voltage output to the light source according to the resultant output value.
US08502471B2 Planar light-emitting module lighting circuit and illuminating device
A planar light-emitting module lighting circuit uses a lamp comprising an organic electroluminescence layer and electrodes sandwiching the organic electroluminescence layer as a load, and applies a current to the load so as to cause the organic electroluminescence layer to emit light. In the planer light-emitting module lighting circuit, a current at a lighting start time of the lamp is made small as compared with a current at a stationary lighting time at which a predetermined time period has passed since a lighting start.
US08502468B2 Light emitting bulb, luminary and illumination device using LED
A light emitting bulb, a luminary and an illumination device are provided. The light emitting bulb includes a main body and a bulb base. The main body has a plurality of the light emitting units. The bulb base has a plurality of flexible pieces. The flexible pieces are connected to the light emitting units respectively to form a plurality of electrical transmission paths. The luminary further has a lamp holder for holding the light emitting bulb. A control unit in the illumination device is connected to the light emitting bulb through the lamp holder for selectively providing a supply of a power to the light emitting units to control brightness of light emitting units, respectively. The light emitting bulb may facilitate color changing and brightness control without having a control circuit disposed within the light emitting bulb and is associated with a longer lifetime and a lower manufacturing cost.
US08502465B2 Power light emitting diode and method with current density operation
A light emitting diode device emitting at a wavelength of 390-415 nm has a bulk gallium and nitrogen containing substrate with an active region. The device has a current density of greater than about 175 Amps/cm2 and an external quantum efficiency with a roll off of less than about 5% absolute efficiency.
US08502462B2 Voltage detection module
The voltage detection module according to the invention comprises: a first electric terminal; a second ground terminal; a load resistor, connected to the first electric terminal; a main gas-filled spark gap, arranged in series between the load resistor and the second terminal; and a main capacitor, connected, on the one hand, to a first middle point situated between the load resistor and the main gas-filled spark gap and, on the other hand, to the second terminal. The voltage detection module also comprises a light source connected in series between the main gas-filled spark gap and the second terminal, the light source and the main gas-filled spark gap being separate from one another. The voltage detection module comprises an additional stage capable of limiting the voltage applied to the terminals of the gas-filled spark gap to a threshold voltage chosen so as to prevent the gas-filled spark gap from always being on.
US08502461B2 Driving circuit and control circuit
A driving circuit, comprising a power supply, a transistor unit and a feedback control circuit, is disclosed. The power supply is adaptor to provide an electric power to drive a load. The transistor unit comprises at least one load coupling end to couple to the load for adjusting an amount of current flowing through the load. The feedback control circuit controls an amount of the electric power provided by the power supply according to a voltage level of the least one load coupling end. Wherein, the feedback control circuit comprises an error amplifying circuit and a feedback control switch. The error amplifying circuit generates an error amplified signal according to the voltage level of the least one load coupling end, and the feedback control switch is coupled to an output of the error amplifying circuit and is switched between a turn-on state and a turn-off state based on a dimming signal.
US08502460B2 Fluorescent lamp appliance, and lighting control apparatus of fluorescent lamp appliance
The present Invention provides 2-lamp parallel-type and 2-lamp serial-type fluorescent lamp fixtures, in which 2-lamp lighting and 1-lamp lighting are switchable according to an ON/OFF operation of a power supply switch. In a 2-lamp parallel-type or 2-lamp serial-type fluorescent lamp fixture provided with an inverter-type stabilizer, 2-lamp lighting and 1-lamp lighting are switched by a first control circuit (19, 117) operated according to an ON/OFF operation of a power supply switch (12). In the case of the 2-lamp parallel-type fluorescent lamp fixture, the switching is performed by a switching means (18). In the case of the 2-lamp serial-type fluorescent lamp fixture, the switching is performed by light turning-off circuits (113A, 113B) electrically connecting both terminals of a fluorescent lamp. A second control circuit (20, 131) may be provided to switch the 2-lamp lighting and the 1-lamp lighting of the fluorescent lamps according to an external instruction of a PC or the like.
US08502459B2 Driver IC for electrical load and driving method thereof
A driver IC for electrical loads, suitable for regulating a driving voltage depending upon a feedback signal and supplying a regulated driving voltage to a power supply line to which load strings are connected in parallel. The driver IC includes driving current sources respectively connected to the load strings through regulated voltage nodes and configured to supply driving current to the load strings in response to a control signal; sensing units configured to sense and output a minimum voltage among voltages of the regulated voltage nodes; a sample-and-hold circuit configured to sample, hold and output the minimum voltage in response to the control signal; and a comparator configured to compare an output voltage of the sample-and-hold circuit and a reference threshold voltage and generate the feedback signal.
US08502457B2 Light assembly
Light assemblies may contain a light socket assembly powered by an alternating current source, the light socket assembly containing a female socket for threadedly or otherwise receiving a light bulb or a retrofit socket, for example. An AC/DC converter electrically communicates with the light socket assembly thereby providing direct current to the light socket assembly. A first set of direct current contacts communicating with the AC/DC converter is formed within or about the light socket assembly. A solid state lighting source contains a second set of direct current contacts contained within the solid state lighting source, whereby the second set of direct contacts electrically communicates with and corresponds to the first set of direct current contacts. When assembled, the solid state lighting source such as an annular ring coupled to at least one light emitting diode, operably engages the light socket assembly and is fixed about at least a portion of the light socket assembly.
US08502456B2 Managing light system energy use
A first lighting assembly receives a lighting profile that instructs the first lighting assembly to operate according to the lighting profile over a first period of time. The received lighting profile is implemented, including causing a light of the first lighting assembly to illuminate at a first intensity. An input acquired in proximity to the first lighting assembly and indicating activity in a region proximate the first lighting assembly is received. The received lighting profile is then deviated from, in response to the received input, by increasing the intensity of the light to illuminate at a second intensity for a predetermined period of time. A message is transmitted for receipt by the control center, the message including an indication of the increased light intensity and an identifier associated with the first lighting assembly.
US08502454B2 Solid state semiconductor LED replacement for fluorescent lamps
Various apparatuses and methods for replacing a fluorescent lamp with a non-fluorescent tube are disclosed herein. For example, some embodiments provide an apparatus for replacing a fluorescent lamp, including an electrical connector adapted to electrically connect to a fluorescent lamp fixture, a DC rectifier connected to the electrical connector, a voltage converter connected to the DC rectifier, and a non-fluorescent light source connected to the voltage converter. The DC rectifier, voltage converter and non-fluorescent light source are substantially contained within a housing that is physically configured to replace the fluorescent lamp in a fluorescent lamp fixture.
US08502453B2 Drop-in light emitting diode (LED) module, reflector, and flashlight including same
A drop-in light emitting diode (LED) module that can be used to increase the light output of a conventional flashlight includes a heat sink, a high power LED mounted on the heat sink, and an LED driver circuit. The driver circuit is designed to supply the LED with its maximum rated current so that its light output is brighter than the light output of conventional flashlights. The heat sink channels heat generated by the LED when receiving its maximum rated current into the body of the flashlight so the LED does not overheat and fail. The module is designed to be easily inserted into a conventional flashlight to increase its light output and removed when desired. The module can be used to create a modified flashlight by using the module with a conventional reflector that has been modified for use with the module.
US08502452B2 High-stability light source system and method of manufacturing
A light source system and method that generates stable optical power over time and temperature for use in laser scanning, turbidity sensing, airborne-particle analysis, fog and visibility monitoring, blood-gas analysis and applications where light source output intensity changes less than one-half percent over a 50° C. range. The system includes a miniature semiconductor light emitter that can be powered by two AAA alkaline batteries for more than 100 hours and is about 1 cm3 in size (TO-5 package). A semiconductor light emitter emits a beam of linearly polarized light through a coated optical element having first and second surfaces that meet at an acute angle, the first surface reflecting a portion of the light to a control system and transmitting the rest through the second surface in a direction normal to it and thereby enabling immunity to light interference in the reflected and transmitted beams and novel, error-canceling properties.
US08502449B2 High-pressure discharge lamp having a single socket
A high-pressure discharge lamp having a single socket, comprising: a discharge vessel (100) having two opposite sealed ends (120, 130) and a discharge chamber (110) arranged between the sealed ends (120, 130), a first sealed end (120) extending into a lamp base (400) and the second sealed end (130) protruding out of the lamp base (400), a first electrode (20) which is fixed in the first sealed end (120) of the discharge vessel (100) and has an end on the discharge side extending into the discharge chamber (110), a second electrode (30) which is fixed in the second sealed end (130) of the discharge vessel (100) and has an end on the discharge side extending into the discharge chamber; and (110), a base flange (420) arranged on the lamp base (400) and defining a plane (421) which is usable for adjusting the high-pressure discharge lamp in an optical system wherein for the distance A from the end of the first electrode (20) on the discharge side to the plane (421) of the base flange (420) and for the distance B from the end of the second electrode (30) on the discharge side to the plane (421) of the base flange (420), the following relation applies: 15.0 ⁢ ⁢ mm ≤ A + B 2 ≤ 27.0 ⁢ ⁢ mm .
US08502446B2 Organic light emitting diode display
An OLED display that is enhanced in mechanical strength by improving a structure of a bezel supporting a panel assembly. The OLED display includes a panel assembly that includes a display region, a pad region, and a plurality of OLEDs arranged in the display region and a bezel coupled to the panel assembly, the bezel including synthetic resin, wherein, when a diagonal length of the display region is in the range of 25.4 to 101.6 mm, the bezel being designed to satisfy the following inequality t≧0.0003×a, where t(mm) is a thickness of the bezel and a(mm2) is an area of the display region.
US08502444B2 Organic light emitting diode display including color filters and disparity barrier pattern
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display includes a first substrate, a plurality of organic light emitting elements on the first substrate, and a second substrate facing the first substrate and spaced apart from the first substrate. The plurality of organic light emitting elements is interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The OLED display includes a plurality of color filters in at least one of an area between the second substrate and the organic light emitting elements, and an area between the first substrate and the organic light emitting elements. The OLED also includes a disparity barrier pattern on at least one of a surface of the second substrate that opposes one surface of the second substrate facing the first substrate, and a surface of the first substrate that opposes one surface of the first substrate facing the second substrate.
US08502443B2 Organic light-emitting display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same
An organic light-emitting display apparatus and a method of manufacturing the same, the apparatus including: a substrate; a first electrode formed on the substrate; an intermediate layer formed on the first electrode, including an organic emissive layer; a second electrode formed on the intermediate layer; and an insulating member interposed between the intermediate layer and the second electrode, on an edge of the first electrode.
US08502439B2 Electrode for a discharge lamp and corresponding production method
An electrode for a discharge lamp, wherein the electrode comprises a pin and a mass arranged on an end of the pin by melting over an electrode coil. The pin consists of tungsten with microstructure-stabilizing additives, wherein the concentration of the microstructure-stabilizing additives is greater than or equal to 30 ppm. The electrode coil consists of pure tungsten, which has additives at most up to a concentration of 20 ppm.
US08502438B2 Spark plug electrode produced from an improved electrode material
A spark plug electrode, which is produced from an electrode material containing nickel as base material, 0.5 to 3 atom % of silicon, and at least 6 atom % of aluminum.
US08502421B2 Moving magnet type linear motor
The moving magnet type linear motor according to the present invention comprises a stator comprising a plurality of coils arranged in a single direction and having a both ends support structure supporting both ends of the stator in a direction perpendicular to said single direction, a pair of movers comprising a plurality of permanent magnets arranged opposing the sides of the stator respectively and capable of relative movement in said single direction with respect to each other, and guidance mechanisms guiding both the movers independently and movably in said single direction, and one of the movers is connected to a load.
US08502419B2 Medium voltage circuit breaker with capacitor bank supervisor
A Medium Voltage Circuit Breaker that has at least a pair of contact mutually coupleable and uncoupleable to carry out an opening/closing operation, a magnetic actuator operatively connected to at least one of the contacts, and a capacitor bank that has one or more capacitors that deliver power to the magnetic actuator for carrying out the opening/closing operation and a control device. The Medium Voltage Circuit Breaker further has a supervisor device of the capacitor bank which measures the Equivalent Series Resistance and/or the Capacitance of the capacitor bank system.
US08502417B2 Power source device and output voltage changing method of the power source device
A power source device includes a main power source circuit, a sub power source circuit whose output voltage is changed when the output voltage of the main power source circuit is changed, a voltage difference detecting circuit which detects whether a voltage difference between the output voltages of the main and sub power source circuits is within a predetermined voltage difference, and a voltage control circuit which controls the output voltages of the main and sub power source circuits based on a voltage changing signal and an output from the voltage difference detecting circuit. The voltage control circuit controls so that the voltage difference between the output voltages of the main and sub power source circuits is within the predetermined voltage difference by controlling output voltage changing speed when the voltage difference between the output voltages of the main and sub power source circuits is over the predetermined voltage difference.
US08502416B2 Method and circuit arrangement for connecting at least one string of a photovoltaic system to an inverter
A circuit with series-connected solar modules separated into a first and second substring, wherein each substring includes a first and a second terminal, and a solar inverter configured to supply electrical energy from the solar modules to an AC power grid. The circuit includes a first switch coupled to the first terminal of the first substring to a first power cable of the inverter, and a second switch coupled to the second terminal of the first substring to a first terminal of the second substring at a center point, thereby coupling the first and second substrings to form at least one string. The circuit further includes a third switch couple to second terminal of the second substring, and a shared actuator to open the first switch, second switch, and third switch if a current between the center point and a circuit ground exceeds a threshold value.
US08502415B2 Uninterrupted power supply unit
An uninterrupted power supply unit is provided with a straightforward switch connected between a power source and a load to supply or interrupt a power to a system. The combination of the outputs from two kinds of single phase inverters enables compensating for a variation in the system voltage in the normal condition and to supply a predetermined voltage to the load after decreasing in the system voltage and opening of a straight forward switch.
US08502410B2 Method of operating a vehicle and electric powertrain
An electric powertrain comprises a high voltage bus an electric machine, and a traction inverter is coupled between a high voltage bus and the electric machine. An electric voltage for the high voltage bus is generated with the electric machine and the traction inverter when the electric machine is driven mechanically. The generated electric voltage is limited and converted to a predetermined voltage lower than the limited voltage. A unit of the vehicle, such as a cooling pump, is powered with the predetermined voltage.
US08502405B2 Wind turbine for wind power generation
A wind turbine for wind power generation accommodated a heat-generating device therein is always properly cooled by accurately detecting clogging of a filter. A wind turbine accommodates a heat-generating device and includes a column disposed in an upright position on a foundation, a nacelle disposed on a top end of the column, and a rotor head supported by the nacelle so as to be rotatable about a substantially horizontal axis, and the wind turbine includes an intake which is provided in an outer surface of the wind turbine and through which outside air is taken into the wind turbine to cool the heat-generating device; an exhaust which is provided in the outer surface of the wind turbine and through which air inside the wind turbine is discharged outside the wind turbine; an impurity-removing mechanism disposed in a flow path of air from the intake to the exhaust to remove impurities contained in the outside air; and a control unit for determining the condition of the impurity-removing mechanism by comparing, as a parameter serving as a criterion for determining the condition of the impurity-removing mechanism, latest data obtained while a wind speed outside the wind turbine is substantially stable with reference value data input in advance and serving as a reference.
US08502404B2 Wind power generating system and control method for the same
A wind power generating system includes a unit for eliminating harmonics component of specified-order from inputted current detection value of a grid-side converter and a unit for controlling the grid-side converter using the current detection value in which harmonics are eliminated.
US08502403B2 Multiple generator wind turbine and method of operation thereof
A wind turbine has a plurality of blades mounted on a rotor, the rotor has a rotatable shaft with a drivewheel extending therefrom. A plurality of wheels are in continuous rotatable contact with the drivewheel and are connected to drive a plurality of generators to produce energy. A controller is connected to control the number of generators that are generating between zero and all of the generators based on the speed of the blades. A method of operating the wind turbine uses a controller to control the number of generators that are generating based on the speed of the rotor.
US08502390B2 De-skewed multi-die packages
A microelectronic package may have a plurality of terminals disposed at a face thereof which are configured for connection to at least one external component. e.g., a circuit panel. First and second microelectronic elements can be affixed with packaging structure therein. A first electrical connection can extend from a respective terminal of the package to a corresponding contact on the first microelectronic element, and a second electrical connection can extend from the respective terminal to a corresponding contact on the second microelectronic element, the first and second connections being configured such that a respective signal carried by the first and second connections in each group is subject to propagation delay of the same duration between the respective terminal and each of the corresponding contacts coupled thereto.
US08502384B2 Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
To provide a semiconductor device comprising a first layer that is provided on a semiconductor substrate and includes a first wiring pattern planarized by CMP and a plurality of first dummy patterns made of a same material as the first wiring pattern and a second layer that is provided above the semiconductor substrate and includes a second wiring pattern planarized by CMP and a plurality of second dummy patterns made of a same material as the second wiring pattern. A central axis of each of the second dummy patterns coincides with that of a corresponding one of the first dummy patterns in a direction perpendicular to the semiconductor substrate.
US08502383B2 Integrated circuit including detection circuit to detect electrical energy delivered by a thermoelectric material
An integrated circuit includes active circuitry disposed at a surface of a semiconductor body and an interconnect region disposed above the semiconductor body. A thermoelectric material is disposed in an upper portion of the interconnect region away from the semiconductor body. The thermoelectric material is configured to deliver electrical energy when exposed to a temperature gradient. This material can be used, for example, in a method for detecting the repackaging of the integrated circuit after it has been originally packaged.
US08502381B2 Barrier layer configurations and methods for processing microelectronic topographies having barrier layers
A microelectronic topography includes a dielectric layer (DL) with a surface higher than an adjacent bulk metal feature (BMF) and further includes a barrier layer (BL) upon the BMF and extending higher than the DL. Another microelectronic topography includes a BL with a metal-oxide layer having a metal element concentration which is disproportionate relative to concentrations of the element within metal alloy layers on either side of the metal-oxide layer. A method includes forming a BL upon a BMF such that portions of a first DL adjacent to the BMF are exposed, selectively depositing a second DL upon the BL, cleaning the topography thereafter, and blanket depositing a third DL upon the cleaned topography. Another method includes polishing a microelectronic topography such that a metallization layer is coplanar with a DL and further includes spraying a deionized water based fluid upon the polished topography to remove debris from the DL.
US08502379B2 Method for manufacturing semiconductor device, and semiconductor device
A semiconductor device includes an insulating film base member and a wiring pattern that is formed on the insulating film base member. The wiring pattern has a surface, with at least a peripheral section of the surface being a peeled surface of the wiring pattern peeled from the insulating film base member. The semiconductor device further includes a plating layer that covers the surface of the wiring pattern, and an IC chip that has an active surface with a bump bonded to the wiring pattern. The peeled surface of the wiring pattern is peeled from the insulating film base member around a bonding position of the wiring pattern bonded with the bump.
US08502377B2 Package substrate for bump on trace interconnection
A package substrate including a conductive pattern disposed on a die attach surface of the package substrate; at least one bumping trace inlaid into the conductive pattern; and at least one gap disposed along with the bumping trace in the conductive pattern to separate the bumping trace from a bulk portion of the conductive pattern. The bumping trace may have a lathy shape from a plan view and a width substantially between 10 μm and 40 μm and a length substantially between 70 μm and 130 μm, for example.
US08502375B2 Corrugated die edge for stacked die semiconductor package
A semiconductor die and semiconductor package formed therefrom, and methods of fabricating the semiconductor die and package, are disclosed. The semiconductor die includes an edge formed with a plurality of corrugations defined by protrusions between recesses. Bond pads may be formed on the protrusions. The semiconductor die formed in this manner may be stacked in the semiconductor package in staggered pairs so that the die bond pads on the protrusions of a lower die are positioned in the recesses of the upper die.
US08502373B2 3-D integrated circuit lateral heat dissipation
By filling an air gap between tiers of a stacked IC device with a thermally conductive material, heat generated at one or more locations within one of the tiers can be laterally displaced. The lateral displacement of the heat can be along the full length of the tier and the thermal material can be electrically insulating. Through silicon-vias (TSVs) can be constructed at certain locations to assist in heat dissipation away from thermally troubled locations.
US08502364B2 Semiconductor device member, production method of semiconductor-device-member formation liquid and semiconductor device member, and semiconductor-device-member formation liquid, phosphor composition, semiconductor light-emitting device, lighting system and image display system using the same
To provide a semiconductor device member that is superior in heat resistance, light resistance, film-formation capability and adhesion, and is capable of sealing a semiconductor device and holding a phosphor without causing cracks, peelings and colorings even after used for a long period of time, the weight loss at the time of heating, measured by a predetermined weight-loss at-the-time-of-heating measurement method, is 50 weight % or lower and the ratio of peeling, measured by a predetermined adhesion evaluation method, is 30% or lower, in the semiconductor device member.
US08502362B2 Semiconductor package containing silicon-on-insulator die mounted in bump-on-leadframe manner to provide low thermal resistance
Thermal transfer from a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) die is improved by mounting the die in a bump-on-leadframe manner in a semiconductor package, with solder or other metal bumps connecting the active layer of the SOI die to metal leads used to mount the package on a printed circuit board or other support structure.
US08502356B2 Organic thin film transistors
A method of forming an organic thin film transistor comprising source and drain electrodes with a channel region therebetween, a gate electrode, a dielectric layer disposed between the source and drain electrodes and the gate electrode, and an organic semiconductor disposed in at least the channel region between the source and drain electrodes, said method comprising: seeding a surface in the channel region with crystallization sites prior to deposition of the organic semiconductor; and depositing the organic semiconductor onto the seeded surface whereby the organic semiconductor crystallizes at the crystallization sites forming crystalline domains in the channel region.
US08502349B2 PN-junction varactor in a BiCMOS process and manufacturing method of the same
A PN-junction varactor in a BiCMOS process is disclosed which comprises an N-type region, a P-type region and N-type pseudo buried layers. Both of the N-type and P-type regions are formed in an active area and contact with each other, forming a PN-junction; the P-type region is situated on top of the N-type region. The N-type pseudo buried layers are formed at bottom of shallow trench field oxide regions on both sides of the active area and contact with the N-type region; deep hole contacts are formed on top of the N-type pseudo buried layers in the shallow trench field oxide regions to pick up the N-type region. A manufacturing method of PN-junction varactor in a BiCMOS process is also disclosed.
US08502345B2 Reverse-conducting insulated gate bipolar transistor
Reverse-conducting insulated gate bipolar transistor in which IGBT region and FWD region are integrated into a single body in a semiconductor substrate with a common active region is disclosed. MOS gate structure is on a first major surface side. Rear surface side structure is in a second major surface side of the semiconductor substrate and includes a plurality of recessed parts vertical to the second major surface, which are repeated periodically along the second major surface. A plurality of protruding parts are interposed between the recessed parts. Rear surface side structure includes p type collector region on a bottom surface of the recessed part, n type first field stop region at a position deeper than the collector region, n type cathode region on the top surface of the protruding part, and n type second field stop region in the protruding part at a position deeper than the cathode region.
US08502344B2 Semiconductor device
A lateral high-breakdown voltage semiconductor device is provided in which the breakdown voltages of elements as a whole are improved, while suppressing increases in cell area. A track-shape gate electrode surrounds a collector electrode extending in a straight line, a track-shape emitter electrode surrounds the gate electrode, and a track-shape first isolation trench surrounds the emitter electrode. A second isolation trench surrounds the first isolation trench. The region between the first isolation trench and the second isolation trench is an n-type isolation silicon region. The isolation silicon region is at the same potential as the emitter electrode. In the cross-sectional configuration traversing the gate electrode, the depth of the p base region in an interval corresponding to an arc-shape portion of the gate electrode is shallower than the depth of the p base region in an interval corresponding to a straight-line portion of the gate electrode.
US08502338B2 Through-substrate via waveguides
A device includes a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type, wherein the semiconductor substrate comprises a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface. A through-substrate via (TSV) extends from the first surface to the second surface of the semiconductor substrate. A well region of a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type encircles the TSV, and extends from the first surface to the second surface of the semiconductor substrate.
US08502335B2 CMOS image sensor big via bonding pad application for AlCu Process
An integrated circuit includes a substrate having a bonding pad region and a non-bonding pad region. A relatively large via, called a “big via,” is formed on the substrate in the bonding region. The big via has a first dimension in a top view toward the substrate. The integrated circuit also includes a plurality of vias formed on the substrate in the non-bonding region. The plurality of vias each have a second dimension in the top view, the second dimension being substantially less than the first dimension.
US08502329B2 Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) device and method for fabricating the same
A MEMS device includes a substrate. The substrate has a plurality of through holes in the substrate within a diaphragm region and optionally an indent space from the second surface at the diaphragm region. A first dielectric structural layer is then disposed over the substrate from the first surface, wherein the first dielectric structural layer has a plurality of openings corresponding to the through holes, wherein each of the through holes remains exposed by the first dielectric structural layer. A second dielectric structural layer with a chamber is disposed over the first dielectric structural layer, wherein the chamber exposes the openings of the first dielectric structural layer and the through holes of the substrate to connect to the indent space. A MEMS diaphragm is embedded in the second dielectric structural layer above the chamber, wherein an air gap is formed between the substrate and the MEMS diaphragm.
US08502328B2 Micro electronic mechanical system structure
A micro electronic mechanical system structure and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. A substrate has a plurality of conductive regions is provided. A dielectric layer is formed on the substrate. A plurality of openings and recesses are formed in the dielectric layer, wherein the openings expose the conductive regions. The recesses are located between the openings. A conductive layer is formed on the dielectric layer and the openings and the recesses are filled with the conductive layer. The conductive layer is patterned to form a plurality of strips of the first conductive patterns on the dielectric layer and a second conductive pattern on the sidewall and the bottom of each recess, wherein the first conductive patterns are connected with each other through the second conductive patterns. The dielectric layer is removed. The second conductive patterns between the first conductive patterns are removed.
US08502325B2 Metal high-K transistor having silicon sidewalls for reduced parasitic capacitance
A method forms a metal high dielectric constant (MHK) transistor and includes: providing a MHK stack disposed on a substrate, the MHK stack including a first layer of high dielectric constant material, a second overlying layer, and a third overlying layer, selectively removing only the second and third layers, without removing the first layer, to form an upstanding portion of a MHK gate structure; forming a first sidewall layer on sidewalls of the upstanding portion of the MHK gate structure; forming a second sidewall layer on sidewalls of the first sidewall layer; removing a portion of the first layer to form exposed surfaces; forming an offset spacer layer over the second sidewall layer and over the first layer, and forming in the substrate extensions that underlie the first and second sidewall layers and that extend under a portion but not all of the upstanding portion of the MHK gate structure.
US08502322B2 Nonvolatile memory device and manufacturing method thereof
According to the nonvolatile memory device in one embodiment, contact plugs connect between second wires and third wires in a memory layer and a first wire connected to a control element. Drawn wire portions connect the second wires and the third wires with the contact plug. The drawn wire portion connected to the second wires and the third wires of the memory layer is formed of a wire with a critical dimension same as the second wires and the third wires and is in contact with the contact plug on an upper surface and both side surfaces of the drawn wire portion.
US08502319B2 Semiconductor device and production method thereof
Disclosed is a semiconductor device wherein device characteristics are improved by applying a strong stress to a channel region. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, a gate insulating film formed over a first plane of the semiconductor substrate, a gate electrode formed over the gate insulating film, a gate sidewall insulating film formed over the sidewall of the gate electrode, source/drain diffusion layer regions into which impurities are implanted, the source/drain diffusion layer regions being adjacent to a channel region formed in the semiconductor substrate below the gate electrode, and a stress applying film formed over the source/drain diffusion layer regions except over the upper part of the gate electrode; and recesses or protrusions are formed in the region where the source/drain diffusion layer regions are formed over the first plane of the semiconductor substrate.
US08502317B2 Level shifter circuits for integrated circuits
A level shifter circuit for integrated circuits has one or more inputs that operate in a first voltage domain, and a signal output that operates in a second voltage domain. In some embodiments, the level shifter circuit receives two complementary input signals. The level shifter uses cross-coupled PMOS transistors with drain-bulk breakdown voltage less than the gate-oxide breakdown voltage of high-voltage PMOS transistors to prevent gate-oxide breakdown caused by sub-threshold leakage of auxiliary high-voltage PMOS transistors in the off state. Permanent gate-oxide breakdown is prevented through non-permanent sub-nanoamp drain-bulk junction breakdown. The level shifter circuit has the advantages of small circuit size and low static power consumption.
US08502316B2 Self-aligned two-step STI formation through dummy poly removal
An integrated circuit structure includes a semiconductor substrate including an active region. A first shallow trench isolation (STI) region adjoins a first side of the active region. A gate electrode of a MOS device is over the active region and the first STI region. A source/drain stressor region of the MOS device includes a portion in the semiconductor substrate and adjacent the gate electrode. A trench is formed in the semiconductor substrate and adjoining a second side of the active region. The trench has a bottom no lower than a bottom of the source/drain region. An inter-layer dielectric (ILD) extends from over the gate electrode to inside the trench, wherein a portion of the ILD in the trench forms a second STI region. The second STI region and the source/drain stressor region are separated from each other by, and adjoining, a portion of the semiconductor substrate.
US08502315B2 Semiconductor device with improved on-resistance
A semiconductor device includes a source, a drain, and a gate configured to selectively enable a current to pass between the source and the drain. The semiconductor device includes a drift zone between the source and the drain and a first field plate adjacent the drift zone. The semiconductor device includes a dielectric layer electrically isolating the first field plate from the drift zone and charges within the dielectric layer close to an interface of the dielectric layer adjacent the drift zone.
US08502314B2 Multi-level options for power MOSFETS
This document discusses, among other things, a semiconductor device including first and second conductive layers, the first conductive layer including a gate runner and a drain contact and the second conductive layer including a drain conductor, at least a portion of the drain conductor overlying at least a portion of the gate runner. A first surface of the semiconductor device can include a gate pad coupled to the gate runner and a drain pad coupled to the drain contact and the drain conductor.
US08502313B2 Double layer metal (DLM) power MOSFET
This document discusses, among other things, a semiconductor device including a first metal layer coupled to a source region and a second metal layer coupled to a gate structure, wherein at least a portion of the first and second metal layers overlap vertically.
US08502304B2 Semiconductor substrate and semiconductor chip
A semiconductor substrate capable of detecting operating current of a MOSFET and diode current in a miniaturized MOSFET such as a trench-gate type MOSFET is provided. A semiconductor substrate includes a main current region and a current sensing region in which current smaller than main current flowing in the main current region flows. The main current region has a source electrode disposed on a main surface, the source electrode being in contact with a p-type semiconductor region (body) and an n+-type semiconductor region (source), and the current sensing region has a MOSFET current detecting electrode and a diode current detecting electrode on a main surface, the MOSFET current detecting electrode being in contact with the p-type semiconductor region (body) and the n+-type semiconductor region (source), the diode current detecting electrode being in contact with the p-type semiconductor region (body).
US08502299B2 Strained semiconductor device and method of making same
In a method of making a semiconductor device, a gate dielectric is formed over the semiconductor body. A floating gate is formed over the gate dielectric, an insulating region over the floating gate, and a control gate over the insulating region. The gate dielectric, floating gate, insulating region, and control gate constitute a gate stack. A stress is caused in the gate stack, whereby the band gap of the gate dielectric is changed by the stress.
US08502297B2 Non-volatile memory and fabricating method thereof
A non-volatile memory having a tunneling dielectric layer, a floating gate, a control gate, an inter-gate dielectric layer and a first doping region and a second doping region is provided. The tunneling dielectric layer is disposed on a substrate. The floating gate is disposed on the tunneling dielectric layer, and has a protruding portion. The control gate is disposed over the floating gate to cover and surround the protruding portion. The protruding portion of the floating gate is fully covered and surrounded by the control gate in any direction, including extending directions of bit lines, word lines and an included angle formed between the word line and the bit line. The inter-gate dielectric layer is disposed between the floating gate and the control gate. The first doping region and the second doping region are respectively disposed in the substrate at two sides of the control gate.
US08502292B2 Semiconductor device with memory cells
A semiconductor device with a novel structure is provided, which can hold stored data even when no power is supplied and which has no limitations on the number of writing operations. A semiconductor device is formed using a material which enables off-state current of a transistor to be reduced significantly; e.g., an oxide semiconductor material which is a wide-gap semiconductor. With use of a semiconductor material which enables off-state current of a transistor to be reduced significantly, the semiconductor device can hold data for a long period. In a semiconductor device with a memory cell array, parasitic capacitances generated in the nodes of the first to the m-th memory cells connected in series are substantially equal, whereby the semiconductor device can operate stably.
US08502290B2 High full-well capacity pixel with graded photodetector implant
Embodiments of a process for forming a photodetector region in a CMOS pixel by dopant implantation, the process comprising masking a photodetector area of a surface of a substrate for formation of the photodetector region, positioning the substrate at a plurality of twist angles, and at each of the plurality of twist angles, directing dopants at the photodetector area at a selected tilt angle. Embodiments of a CMOS pixel comprising a photodetector region formed in a substrate, the photodetector region comprising overlapping first and second dopant implants, wherein the overlap region has a different dopant concentration than the non-overlapping parts of the first and second implants, a floating diffusion formed in the substrate, and a transfer gate formed on the substrate between the photodetector and the transfer gate. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.
US08502287B2 Semiconductor devices with enclosed void cavities
Field effect devices and ICs with very low gate-drain capacitance Cgd are provided by forming a substantially empty void between the gate and the drain regions. For vertical FETS a cavity is etched in the semiconductor (SC) and provided with a gate dielectric liner. A poly-SC gate deposited in the cavity has a central fissure (empty pipe) extending through to the underlying SC. This fissure is used to etch the void in the SC beneath the poly-gate. The fissure is then closed by a dielectric plug formed by deposition or oxidation without significantly filling the etched void. Conventional process steps are used to provide the source and body regions around the cavity containing the gate, and to provide a drift space and drain region below the body region. The etched void between the gate and drain provides lower Cgd and Ron*Qg than can be achieved using low k dielectrics.
US08502286B2 Etch stop layers and methods of forming the same
A semiconductor device includes a MOSFET, and a plurality of stress layers disposed on the MOSFET, wherein the stress layers include a first stress layer disposed on the MOSFET and a second stress layer disposed on the first stress layer, the first stress layer has a first stress and the second stress layer has a second stress, and the first stress is different from the second stress.
US08502278B2 Chemically-sensitive sample and hold sensors
Methods and apparatus relating to very large scale FET arrays for analyte measurements. ChemFET (e.g., ISFET) arrays may be fabricated using conventional CMOS processing techniques based on improved FET pixel and array designs that increase measurement sensitivity and accuracy, and at the same time facilitate significantly small pixel sizes and dense arrays. Improved array control techniques provide for rapid data acquisition from large and dense arrays. Such arrays may be employed to detect a presence and/or concentration changes of various analyte types in a wide variety of chemical and/or biological processes. In one example, chemFET arrays facilitate DNA sequencing techniques based on monitoring changes in hydrogen ion concentration (pH), changes in other analyte concentration, and/or binding events associated with chemical processes relating to DNA synthesis.
US08502276B2 Compact memory arrays
Embodiments of the invention describe compact memory arrays. In one embodiment, the memory cell array includes first, second, and third gate lines disposed over a substrate, the second gate lines are disposed between the first and the third gate lines. The first, the second, and the third gate lines form adjacent gate lines of the memory cell array. The memory cell array further includes first metal lines disposed over the first gate lines, the first metal lines coupled to the first gate lines; second metal lines disposed over the second gate lines, the second metal lines coupled to the second gate lines; and third metal lines disposed over the third gate lines, the third metal lines coupled to the third gate lines. The first metal lines, the second metal lines and the third metal lines are disposed in different metallization levels.
US08502275B2 Thin film transistor array panel for a liquid crystal display
A plurality of gate lines formed on an insulating substrate, each gate line including a pad for connection to an external device; a plurality of data lines intersecting the gate lines and insulated from the gate lines, each data line including a pad for connection to an external device; and a conductor overlapping at least one of the gate lines and the data lines are included. An overlapping distance of the gate lines or the data lines and a width of the conductor decreases as the length of the gate lines or the data lines increases. Accordingly, the difference in the RC delays due to the difference of the length of the signal lines is compensated to be reduced.
US08502273B2 Group III-nitride HEMT having a well region formed on the surface of substrate and contacted the buffer layer to increase breakdown voltage and the method for forming the same
The buffer breakdown of a group III-N HEMT on a p-type Si substrate is significantly increased by forming an n-well in the p-type Si substrate to lie directly below the metal drain region of the group III-N HEMT. The n-well forms a p-n junction which becomes reverse biased during breakdown, thereby increasing the buffer breakdown by the reverse-biased breakdown voltage of the p-n junction and allowing the substrate to be grounded. The buffer layer of a group III-N HEMT can also be implanted with n-type and p-type dopants which are aligned with the p-n junction to minimize any leakage currents at the junction between the substrate and the buffer layer.
US08502263B2 Light-emitter-based devices with lattice-mismatched semiconductor structures
Some aspects for the invention include a method and a structure including a light-emitting device disposed over a second crystalline semiconductor material formed over a semiconductor substrate comprising a first crystalline material.
US08502260B2 Semiconductor light emitting device and method for manufacturing same
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor light emitting device includes a semiconductor layer, a first electrode, a second electrode, an insulating layer, a first interconnect layer, a second interconnect layer, a first metal pillar, a second metal pillar, a film covering a side face of the first metal pillar and a side face of the second metal pillar, and a resin layer. The semiconductor layer includes a light emitting layer, a first major surface, and a second major surface formed on a side opposite to the first major surface. The film has a solder wettability poorer than a solder wettability of the first metal pillar and a solder wettability of the second metal pillar. The resin layer covers at least part of the film.
US08502259B2 Light emitting device
A light emitting device including a light emitting chip and a magnetic material is provided. The light emitting chip includes a first doped semiconductor layer, a second doped semiconductor layer, and a light emitting semiconductor layer disposed between the first doped semiconductor layer and the second doped semiconductor layer. The magnetic material is disposed beside the light emitting chip, wherein the magnetic material is not disposed on a conducting path of a current causing the light emitting chip to emit light.
US08502258B2 Light emitting structure and method of manufacture thereof
A semiconductor structure having an electrically conducting silicon substrate and a GaN semiconductor device separated from the substrate by a buffer layer is provided. The buffer layer electrically connects the silicon substrate with the GaN semiconductor device. In addition, a GaN LED arranged in a flip chip orientation on the buffer layer on the substrate is provided.
US08502256B2 Light emitting diode and method for manufacture of the same
Disclosed is a light emitting device. The light emitting device includes a substrate, a semiconductor layer on the substrate, and an electrode on the semiconductor layer, wherein the substrate has at least one side surface having a predetermined tilt angle with respect to a bottom surface of the substrate, wherein the predetermined tilt angle is an obtuse angle, and wherein a side surface of the semiconductor layer disposes vertically.
US08502254B2 Group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device and method of manufacturing the same, and lamp
Disclosed is a group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device which suppresses electric current concentration in a light-transmitting electrode and a semiconductor layer directly below an electrode to enhance light emission efficiency, suppresses light absorption in the electrode or light loss due to multiple reflection therein to enhance light extraction efficiency, and has superior external quantum efficiency and electric characteristics. A semiconductor layer (20), in which an n-type semiconductor layer (4), a light-emitting layer (5) and a p-type semiconductor layer (6) are sequentially layered, is formed on a single-crystal underlayer (3) which is formed on a substrate (11). A light-transmitting electrode (7) is formed on the p-type semiconductor layer (6). An insulation layer (15) is formed on at least a part of the p-type semiconductor layer (6), and the light-transmitting electrode (7) is formed to cover the insulation layer (15). A positive electrode bonding pad (8) is provided in a position A corresponding to the insulation layer (15) provided on the p-type semiconductor layer (6), on a surface (7a) of the light-transmitting electrode (7). A sheet resistance of the n-type semiconductor layer (4) is lower than a sheet resistance of the light-transmitting electrode (7).
US08502250B2 Light emitting diode package and light emitting diode module
A light emitting diode (LED) package comprising a carrier, an LED chip, a lens, and a phosphor layer is provided. The LED chip disposed on the carrier. The lens encapsulating the LED chip has a plurality of fins surrounding the LED chip and a conical indentation. The fins extending backward the LED chip radially. Each of the fins has at least one light-emitting surface and at least one reflection surface adjoining the light-emitting surface. A bottom surface of the conical indentation is served as an total reflection surface. The phosphor layer is disposed on the light-emitting surfaces of the lens. An LED package and an LED module are also provided.
US08502247B2 Solid state white light emitter and display using same
A light emitting assembly comprising a solid state device coupleable with a power supply constructed and arranged to power the solid state device to emit from the solid state device a first, relatively shorter wavelength radiation, and a down-converting luminophoric medium arranged in receiving relationship to said first, relatively shorter wavelength radiation, and which in exposure to said first, relatively shorter wavelength radiation, is excited to responsively emit second, relatively longer wavelength radiation. In a specific embodiment, monochromatic blue or UV light output from a light-emitting diode is down-converted to white light by packaging the diode with fluorescent organic and/or inorganic fluorescers and phosphors in a polymeric matrix.
US08502246B2 Fabrication of nonpolar indium gallium nitride thin films, heterostructures and devices by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition
A method for the fabrication of nonpolar indium gallium nitride (InGaN) films as well as nonpolar InGaN-containing device structures using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOVCD). The method is used to fabricate nonpolar InGaN/GaN violet and near-ultraviolet light emitting diodes and laser diodes.
US08502241B2 Method of driving a light emitting device
The present invention is characterized in that a transistor with its L/W set to 10 or larger is employed, and that |VDS| of the transistor is set equal to or larger than 1 V and equal to or less than |VGS−Vth|. The transistor is used as a resistor so that the resistance of a light emitting element can be held by the transistor. This slows down an increase in internal resistance of the light emitting element and the resultant current value reduction. Accordingly, a change with time in light emission luminance is reduced and the reliability is improved.
US08502240B2 Light-emitting device package and method of manufacturing the same
Provided are a light-emitting device package and a method of manufacturing the same. The light-emitting device package may include a plurality of light-emitting chips on one substrate (board). The plurality of light-emitting chips may produce colors around a target color. The target color may be produced by combinations of the colors of light emitted from the plurality of light-emitting chips. The colors around the target color may have the same hue as the target color and have color temperatures different from that of the target color. The plurality of light-emitting chips may have color temperatures within about ±250K of that of the target color.
US08502239B2 High power allngan based multi-chip light emitting diode
A light emitting diode chip having a substantially transparent substrate and having an aspect ratio, which defines an elongated geometry provides enhanced efficiency and brightness. Method for forming and operating the same are also disclosed.
US08502238B2 Nitride-composite semiconductor laser element, its manufacturing method, and semiconductor optical device
A nitride semiconductor laser device with a reduction in internal crystal defects and an alleviation in stress, and a semiconductor optical apparatus comprising this nitride semiconductor laser device. First, a growth suppressing film against GaN crystal growth is formed on the surface of an n-type GaN substrate equipped with alternate stripes of dislocation concentrated regions showing a high density of crystal defects and low-dislocation regions so as to coat the dislocation concentrate regions. Next, the n-type GaN substrate coated with the growth suppressing film is overlaid with a nitride semiconductor layer by the epitaxial growth of GaN crystals. Further, the growth suppressing film is removed to adjust the lateral distance between a laser waveguide region and the closest dislocation concentrated region to 40 μm or more.
US08502235B2 Integrated nitride and silicon carbide-based devices
A monolithic electronic device includes a first nitride epitaxial structure including a plurality of nitride epitaxial layers. The plurality of nitride epitaxial layers include at least one common nitride epitaxial layer. A second nitride epitaxial structure is on the common nitride epitaxial layer of the first nitride epitaxial structure. A first plurality of electrical contacts is on the first epitaxial nitride structure and defines a first electronic device in the first nitride epitaxial structure. A second plurality of electrical contacts is on the first epitaxial nitride structure and defines a second electronic device in the second nitride epitaxial structure. A monolithic electronic device includes a bulk semi-insulating silicon carbide substrate having implanted source and drain regions and an implanted channel region between the source and drain regions, and a nitride epitaxial structure on the surface of the silicon carbide substrate. Corresponding methods are also disclosed.
US08502232B2 Capacitor, semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
A highly reliable capacitor, a semiconductor device having high operating performance and reliability, and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. A capacitor formed of a first conductive film 102, a dielectric 103 made of an insulating material, and a second conductive film 104 is characterized in that a pin hole 106 formed by chance in the dielectric 103 is filled up with an insulating material (filler) 107 made of a resin material. This can prevent short circuit between the first conductive film 102 and the second conductive film 104. The capacitor is used as a storage capacitor provided in a pixel of a semiconductor device.
US08502231B2 Semiconductor device
To realize a semiconductor device including a capacitor element capable of obtaining a sufficient capacitor without reducing an opening ratio, in which a pixel electrode is flattened in order to control a defect in orientation of liquid crystal. A semiconductor device of the present invention includes a light-shielding film formed on the thin film transistor, a capacitor insulating film formed on the light-shielding film, a conductive layer formed on the capacitor insulating film, and a pixel electrode that is formed so as to be electrically connected to the conductive layer, in which a storage capacitor element comprises the light-shielding film, the capacitor insulating film, and the conductive layer, whereby an area of a region serving as the capacitor element can be increased.
US08502227B2 Active matrix substrate, display device, method for inspecting the active matrix substrate, and method for inspecting the display device
An active matrix substrate (2) is provided with first connecting wirings (641, 643, 645, 647) connected to gate terminals (51) to which extraction wirings (611, 613, 615, 617) are connected, second connecting wirings (642, 644, 646) connected to gate terminals (51) to which extraction wirings (612, 614, 616) are connected, bundled wirings (651 to 654) each composed of a mutually adjacent first connecting wiring and second connecting wiring bunched together, a first inspection wiring (66) capable of inputting an inspection signal to bunched wirings (652, 654) that are not adjacent to each other among the bundled wirings, and a second inspection wiring (67) capable of inputting an inspection signal to bundled wirings (651, 653) that are not adjacent to each other and not connected to the first inspection wiring (66) among the bundled wirings.
US08502224B2 Measuring apparatus that includes a chip having a through silicon via, a heater, and a stress sensor
A measuring apparatus including a first chip, a first circuit layer, a first heater, a first stress sensor and a second circuit layer is provided. The first chip has a first through silicon via, a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The first circuit layer is disposed on the first surface. The first heater and the first stress sensor are disposed on the first surface and connected to the first circuit layer. The second circuit layer is disposed on the second surface.
US08502218B2 Large-area, free-standing metal oxide films and transistors made therefrom
The present invention provides continuous, free-standing metal oxide films and methods for making said films. The methods are able to produce large-area, flexible, thin films having one or more continuous, single-crystalline metal oxide domains. The methods include the steps of forming a surfactant monolayer at the surface of an aqueous solution, wherein the headgroups of the surfactant molecules provide a metal oxide film growth template. When metal ions in the aqueous solution are exposed to the metal oxide film growth template in the presence of hydroxide ions under suitable conditions, a continuous, free-standing metal oxide film can be grown from the film growth template downward into the aqueous solution.
US08502215B2 Semiconductor element and display device using the same
A semiconductor having an active layer; a gate insulating film in contact with the semiconductor; a gate electrode opposite to the active layer through the gate insulating film; a first nitride insulating film formed over the active layer; a photosensitive organic resin film formed on the first nitride insulating film; a second nitride insulating film formed on the photosensitive organic resin film; and a wiring provided on the second, nitride insulating film. A first opening portion is provided in the photosensitive organic resin film, an inner wall surface of the first opening portion is covered with the second nitride insulating film, a second opening portion is provided in a laminate including the gate insulating film, the first nitride insulating film, and the second nitride insulating film inside the first opening portion, and the semiconductor is connected with the wiring through the first opening portion and the second opening portion.
US08502214B2 Organic light emitting diode display
An organic light emitting diode display includes a substrate, a display portion on the substrate, and a sealing substrate fixed on the substrate and sealingly engaging the display portion. The sealing substrate is fixed by an adhesive layer that surrounds the display portion. The sealing substrate includes a composite member, at least one conductive portion, and an insulation sheet. The composite member includes a resin base layer and a plurality of carbon fibers. The at least one conductive portion extends over inner and outer sides of the composite member and penetrates the composite member. The at least one conductive portion includes a double-layered structure having a metal foil layer and a plating layer. The insulation sheet is on the outer side of the composite member and the insulation sheet covers the at least one conductive portion.
US08502212B2 Organic light emitting diode segment
The invention relates to an organic light emitting diode segment (100) comprising two organic light emitting diodes (102; 104), wherein the organic light emitting diodes are vertically stacked with their conducting directions pointing in opposed directions, wherein in the stack the organic light emitting diodes (102; 104) are electrically connected to each other by a common shared electrode (112).
US08502204B2 Optoelectronic module
An optoelectronic module includes a layer structure having a plurality of semiconductor layers including a substrate layer, a first layer arrangement and a second layer arrangement, wherein 1) the first layer arrangement has a light-emitting layer arranged on the substrate layer, 2) the second layer arrangement contains at least one circuit that controls an operating state of the light-emitting layer, and 3) the second layer arrangement is arranged on the substrate layer and/or surrounded by the substrate layer.
US08502199B2 Blue-shifted triarylamine polymer
A semiconductive conjugated polymer comprising a first repeat unit comprising general formula I: where Ar1, Ar3, and Ar5 are the same or different and wherein each represents an optionally substituted aryl or heteroaryl group; Ar2 and Ar4 are the same or different and each represent a substituted aryl or heteroaryl group; and Ar2 and Ar4 sterically interact with one another so as to cause an increase in the bandgap of the polymer.
US08502194B2 Light-emitting device
A light-emitting device and the method for making the same is disclosed. The light-emitting device is a semiconductor device, comprising a growth substrate, an n-type semiconductor layer, a quantum well active layer and a p-type semiconductor layer. It combines the holographic and the quantum well interdiffusion (QWI) to form a photonic crystal light-emitting device having a dielectric constant of two-dimensional periodic variation or a material composition of two-dimensional periodic variation in the quantum well active layer. The photonic crystal light-emitting devices can enhance the internal efficiency and light extraction efficiency.
US08502193B2 Light-emitting device and fabricating method thereof
Disclosed are a light emitting device and a method of manufacturing the same. The light emitting device includes a support substrate, a wafer bonding layer over the support substrate, a second electrode layer, which includes a current blocking layer and a reflective current spreading layer, over the wafer bonding layer, a current injection layer over the second electrode layer, a superlattice structure layer over the current injection layer, a second conductive semiconductor layer over the superlattice structure layer, an active layer over the second conductive semiconductor layer, a first conductive semiconductor layer over the active layer, and a first electrode layer over the first conductive semiconductor layer.
US08502191B2 Semiconductor device, manufacturing method therefor, and solar cell
A semiconductor device includes: a silicon layer (12); an intermediate silicide layer (28) that is provided on the silicon layer (12), has openings, and includes barium silicide; and an upper silicide layer (14) that covers the intermediate silicide layer (28), is positioned to be in contact with the silicon layer (12) through the openings, has a higher dopant concentration than the dopant concentration of the intermediate silicide layer (28), and includes barium silicide.
US08502188B2 Electrically actuated device
An electrically actuated device includes a first electrode and a second electrode crossing the first electrode at a non-zero angle, thereby forming a junction therebetween. A material is established on the first electrode and at the junction. At least a portion of the material is a matrix region. A current conduction channel extends substantially vertically between the first and second electrodes, and is defined in at least a portion of the material positioned at the junction. The current conduction channel has a controlled profile of dopants therein.
US08502183B2 Semiconductor memory device including memory cell having rectifying element and switching element
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a first conductive line, a second conductive line, a rectifying element, a switching element, a first side wall film and a second side wall film. The first conductive line extends in a first direction. The second conductive line extends in a second direction crossing the first direction. The rectifying element is connected between the first and second conductive lines. The switching element is connected in series with the rectifying element between the first and second conductive lines. The first side wall film is formed on a side surface of the rectifying element. The second side wall film is formed on a side surface of at least one of the first and second conductive lines. At least one of a film type and a film thickness of the second side wall film is different from that of the first side wall film.
US08502180B2 Apparatus and method having dual sensor unit with first and second sensing fields crossed one another for scanning the surface of a moving article
An apparatus and method for scanning a surface of an article moving along a travel path axis provide a compact sensor configuration. A first sensor unit has a first sensing field transversely directed toward the travel path axis and defining a first scanning zone. A second sensor unit has a second sensing field transversely directed toward the travel path axis and defining a second scanning zone. The first and second sensing fields are crossing one with another at a location sufficiently remote from the first and second scanning zones so as to not adversely affect the generation of sensor output data, while providing a compact arrangement of sensor units.