| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08532269B2 |
In-band signaling in interactive communications
Architecture that employs a combination of in-band signaling (e.g., DTMF) with speech recognition to deliver usability improvements. The in-band signaling allows the user to indicate to the system when a barge-in operation is occurring and/or when to start listening to subsequent speech input and optionally, when to stop listening for further speech input. The in-band signaling can be utilized during a telephone call and using wireline and wireless telephones. Moreover, the architecture can be incorporated at the platform level requiring little, if any, application changes to support the new mode of operation. |
| US08532265B2 |
Power distribution module with monitoring and control functions
A modular form factor power module system with monitoring and control functions is disclosed. The power module system is configured to power, monitor and/or control telecommunications equipment at the circuit level. |
| US08532264B2 |
ID-programming by SELT/MELT
The present invention relates to a method and a ID-programming tool (30) for assigning a unique network entity identity number to a network entity (10). The network entity (10) is adapted to perform said method. The network entity (10) comprises a number of subscriber lines (12) and the network entity is adapted to perform at least one line condition test on said subscriber lines at a predefined occasion. Said subscriber lines are encoded to comprise a unique network entity identity number information by means of the ID-programming tool (30). Further, decoding means (42) is adapted to decode the network entity identity number information resulting from said test to gain said network entity identity number. Said network entity identity number is stored in a storage device (20) on the network entity (10). |
| US08532263B2 |
Radiation imaging system and relay station selection method
This invention includes a radiation detector to detect the radiation transmitted through an object while being in a portable state or mounted on a detector holder, a control unit to control capturing of a radiographic image using the radiation detector, and a plurality of relay stations to relay wireless communication from the radiation detector. The detector holder includes a detection unit to detect the mounting of the radiation detector. The control unit determines the usage pattern of the radiation detector or the mounting of the radiation detector on a detector holder based on detection information from the detection unit or a connection request from the radiation detector, and selects one of the relay stations based on the determination result. |
| US08532260B2 |
Mobile X-ray apparatus
A technique for aiding the determination of whether or not desired imaging can be performed by a mobile-type X-ray apparatus for X-ray imaging using a battery mounted therein as a drive source. From the imaging list showing scheduled imaging and pre-stored information about the power consumed when each region is imaged, a prediction of the consumption of the battery power of when all the imaging in the imaging list is performed is computed and presented together with the remaining battery power to the user. Various corrections can be applied to the computation. The difference between the remaining battery power and the predicted consumption of the battery power may be displayed. |
| US08532258B2 |
Method for determining the projection geometry of an x-ray apparatus
In a method for determining the projection geometry of an x-ray apparatus, an x-ray image of an object inside the patient is generated using the x-ray apparatus. A first measurement of a characteristic dimension of the imaged object is determined in the x-ray image. A second measurement of the characteristic dimension is determined using real geometry data of the object. The projection geometry is then determined using the first and second measurements. |
| US08532254B2 |
Extra-oral digital panoramic dental X-ray imaging system
An extra-oral digital panoramic dental x-ray imaging system for multi-layer panoramic and transverse X-ray imaging providing with an X-ray source and a digital imaging device providing real time frame mode output and autofocusing. The X-ray source and imaging device are mounted in a mechanical manipulator defining the trajectory of a predetermined image layer. The imaging device communicates with a processor that generates a frames memory from which an image reconstruction mechanism composes the final images. |
| US08532252B2 |
X-ray shield grating, manufacturing method therefor, and X-ray imaging apparatus
A two-dimensional X-ray shield grating which may be manufactured more easily and to a manufacturing method to provide therefor is provided. The method of manufacturing the X-ray shield grating includes: a first step of forming a plurality of columnar structures periodically arranged in two directions; and a second step of forming a film which surrounds at least side surfaces of the respective plurality of columnar structures, in which, in the second step, portions of the film formed on side surfaces of columnar structures which are adjacent to each other in the two directions among the plurality of columnar structures are connected to each other in the two directions, and in which the film is formed so that a columnar aperture is formed between columnar structures which are diagonally adjacent to each other with respect to the two directions among the plurality of columnar structures. |
| US08532250B2 |
X-ray CT apparatus and control method for X-ray CT apparatus
An X-ray CT apparatus has an X-ray source, an X-ray detector, a temperature sensor, a data acquisition unit and a controller. The X-ray source generates an X-ray. The X-ray detector detects the X-ray. The temperature sensor detects a temperature of the X-ray detector. The data acquisition unit acquires data from the X-ray detector. The controller controls a temperature of the X-ray detector through adjustment of a workload of the data acquisition unit during a non-scanning time. |
| US08532249B1 |
System and method of prior image constrained image reconstruction using short scan image data and objective function minimization
A computerized tomographic system configured to acquire short scan data of an object within a single revolution of a detector array about the object over a first angular range of rotation of the detector array about the object, define a temporal subset of the acquired short scan data over a second angular range of rotation of the detector that is less than the first angular range of rotation, generate a mathematical function that is based on the acquired short scan data and the defined temporal subset of data, minimize the mathematical function, and generate an image of the object using the minimized mathematical function and the data acquired over the second angular range of rotation of the detector. |
| US08532248B2 |
Shift register unit circuit, shift register, array substrate and liquid crystal display
Embodiments of the disclosed technical solution provides a shift register unit circuit which operates based on two clock signals and comprises input terminals, a pre-charging circuit, a level pulling-down circuit, a outputting circuit and a scan signal output terminal. Embodiments of the disclosed technical solution also provides a shift register having at least two shift register unit circuits connected in cascade, and further provides a liquid crystal display array substrate and a liquid crystal display. The disclosed technical solution stabilizes the wave output from the scan signal output terminal and has small noise by means of a design of pulling down the level, and may realize the GOA circuit utilizing less TFTs circuits, so that the circuit structure is simple and power consumption is small. |
| US08532245B2 |
Core shroud corner joints
A core shroud is provided, which includes a number of planar members, a number of unitary corners, and a number of subassemblies each comprising a combination of the planar members and the unitary corners. Each unitary corner comprises a unitary extrusion including a first planar portion and a second planar portion disposed perpendicularly with respect to the first planar portion. At least one of the subassemblies comprises a plurality of the unitary corners disposed side-by-side in an alternating opposing relationship. A plurality of the subassemblies can be combined to form a quarter perimeter segment of the core shroud. Four quarter perimeter segments join together to form the core shroud. |
| US08532244B2 |
System and method for determining coolant level and flow velocity in a nuclear reactor
A boiling water reactor includes a reactor pressure vessel having a feedwater inlet for the introduction of recycled steam condensate and/or makeup coolant into the vessel, and a steam outlet for the discharge of produced steam for appropriate work. A fuel core is located within a lower area of the pressure vessel. The fuel core is surrounded by a core shroud spaced inward from the wall of the pressure vessel to provide an annular downcomer forming a coolant flow path between the vessel wall and the core shroud. A probe system that includes a combination of conductivity/resistivity probes and/or one or more time-domain reflectometer (TDR) probes is at least partially located within the downcomer. The probe system measures the coolant level and flow velocity within the downcomer. |
| US08532242B2 |
Distributed antenna system with combination of both all digital transport and hybrid digital/analog transport
A communication system includes master host unit, hybrid expansion unit, analog remote antenna unit, and digital remote antenna unit. Master host unit communicates analog signals with at least a first service provider interface using first bands of analog spectrum. Master host unit and hybrid expansion unit communicate first N-bit words of digitized spectrum over first digital link. Hybrid expansion unit converts between first N-bit words and second bands of analog spectrum. Hybrid expansion unit and analog remote antenna unit communicate second bands over analog medium. Analog remote antenna unit transmits and receives first plurality of wireless signals over air interfaces. Master host unit and digital remote antenna unit communicate second N-bit words of digitized spectrum over second digital link. Digital remote antenna unit converts between second N-bit words and third bands of analog spectrum. Digital remote antenna unit transmits and receives second wireless signals over air interfaces. |
| US08532240B2 |
Decoupling sampling clock and error clock in a data eye
In described embodiments, a transceiver includes an eye monitor, clock and data recovery, and adaptation modules. Data sampling clock phase and error clock phase determined from a data eye are decoupled in the transceiver during a sampling phase correction process. Decoupling these clock phases during the sampling phase correction process allows relative optimization of system equalization parameters without degradation of various adaptation algorithms. Such adaptation algorithms might be employed for received signal gain and equalization such as, for example, Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) adaptation. Deriving the data sampling clock and error clock phases from the same clock generation source and with independent clock control enables an iterative sampling phase correction process that allows for accelerated clock and data recovery (CDR) without disturbing the data eye shape. |
| US08532239B2 |
Method for error compensation in an OFDM system with diversity
A method provides for an improved compensation of Fourier channel characteristics in a wireless communication embodiment. The method identifies one or more information carriers as pseudo pilot tones whose information may be realized to enhance the determination of the complex coefficient of the communication channel. |
| US08532236B2 |
Quadrature signal generation in radio-frequency apparatus and associated methods
A radio-frequency (RF) apparatus, which may reside in a receiver or transceiver, includes receive-path circuitry. The receive-path circuitry includes a poly-phase filter and a harmonic filter. The poly-phase filter accepts an input signal and generates two output signals. One output signal of the poly-phase filter constitutes an in-phase (I) signal. The other output signal of the poly-phase filter constitutes a quadrature (Q) signal. The a harmonic filter couples to the poly-phase filter. The harmonic filter accepts as input signals the in-phase and quadrature output signals of the poly-phase filter. |
| US08532235B2 |
UWB delay and multiply receiver
An ultra-wideband (UWB) delay and multiply receiver is formed of a receive antenna; a variable gain attenuator connected to the receive antenna; a signal splitter connected to the variable gain attenuator; a multiplier having one input connected to an undelayed signal from the signal splitter and another input connected to a delayed signal from the signal splitter, the delay between the splitter signals being equal to the spacing between pulses from a transmitter whose pulses are being received by the receive antenna; a peak detection circuit connected to the output of the multiplier and connected to the variable gain attenuator to control the variable gain attenuator to maintain a constant amplitude output from the multiplier; and a digital output circuit connected to the output of the multiplier. |
| US08532233B2 |
Apparatus and method for frequency offset estimation
A user terminal transmits a preamble signal generated using a Zadoff-Chu sequence. A correlation processing unit calculates autocorrelation of a received preamble signal. A preamble detection unit detects a side peak position of the autocorrelation of the preamble signal and calculates the main correlation value representing correlation at the main peak position and the side correlation value representing correlation at the side peak position. A frequency offset estimation unit estimates frequency offset that has occurred in the wireless transmission path according to the main correlation value and the side correlation value. |
| US08532231B2 |
Apparatus for transmitting and receiving data to provide high-speed data communication and method thereof
In the present invention, data generated from a source unit are distributed to at least one bandwidth; the data distributed to the respective bandwidths are encoded in order to perform an error correction; the encoded data are distributed to at least one antenna; a subcarrier is allocated to the data distributed to the respective antennas, and an inverse Fourier transform is performed; a short preamble and a first long preamble corresponding to the subcarrier are generated; a signal symbol is generated according to a data transmit mode; and a frame is generated by adding a second long preamble between the signal symbol and a data field for the purpose of estimating a channel of a subcarrier which is not used. |
| US08532222B2 |
Digital broadcasting system and method of processing data
A digital broadcast transmitter includes a block processor encoding mobile service data at a coding rate of 1/H and first interleaving the encoded mobile service data, wherein H is an integer equal to or greater than 2, a deinterleaver deinterleaving the first-interleaved mobile service data to output a first data group, an interleaver second interleaving the first data group to output a second data group including the mobile service data, a trellis encoding module trellis encoding data of the second data group, and a multiplexer multiplexing the trellis-encoded data with segment synchronization data and field synchronization data, wherein the block processor is concatenated with the trellis encoding module. |
| US08532221B2 |
Transmission protection for wireless communications
Systems and techniques relating to wireless communications are described. A described technique includes identifying devices to receive spatially steered data frames during a transmission opportunity (TXOP), the data frames being included in a multi-user frame; transmitting, during the TXOP, request to send (RTS) information to the identified devices; receiving clear to send (CTS) responses from the identified devices; determining bandwidth configurations for the identified devices based on the CTS responses; selecting a bandwidth configuration for the multi-user frame based on the bandwidth configurations to produce a selected bandwidth configuration that enables the data frames to be spatially steered and transmitted concurrently within the multi-user frame; and transmitting, during the TXOP, the multi-user frame to the identified devices in accordance with the selected bandwidth configuration. The bandwidth configuration can indicate one or more frequency bands that are available during at least a portion of the TXOP. |
| US08532220B2 |
Methods and apparatus for secure distribution and storage of data using N channels
Methods and apparatus are provided for secure distribution and storage of data using N channels. An input data sequence, X, is distributed using a plurality, N, of channels. In one embodiment, the input data sequence, X, is split into N subsequences; and the N subsequences are encoded into N bit streams using a set of Slepian-Wolf codes with N separate encoders and a joint decoder. The Slepian-Wolf codes can be selected to ensure a computational complexity to obtain a portion of the input data sequence grows exponentially with respect to a length of the input data sequence unless all of the N bit streams are compromised. In another embodiment, the input data sequence, X, is compressed using a lossless data compressing techniques; and the compressed input data sequence is split into N subsequences that are distributed. |
| US08532217B2 |
Method for transmitting data in multiple antenna system
A method of sending data in a multiple antenna system includes the steps of generating a transmission signal by applying channel-dependent precoding to a first antenna cluster and a second antenna cluster, each comprising a plurality of antennas, wherein the channel-dependent precoding is performed by a precoding weight matrix in which a precoding weight for each of the antenna clusters has a block diagonal form and the precoding weight is represented by P×V for a number of transmission antennas P, included in each of the antenna clusters, and a number of layers V applied to each of the antenna clusters (P and V are an integer greater than 0) and sending the transmission signal. |
| US08532211B2 |
Methods and apparatus for power control based antenna switching
A method for selecting an antenna is described. The method may include transmitting using a first antenna with a first metric and a radio frequency (RF) chain for a first dwelling period. The method may include switching to transmitting using a second antenna with a second metric for a first testing period. The second antenna may use the same RF chain as the first antenna. The first metric may be compared with the second metric to determine an optimal antenna. The optimal antenna may be selected. |
| US08532208B2 |
Transmission method and transmission apparatus
A transmission apparatus obtains, for each transmission to a reception apparatus, information on a per-bit transmission of a transmission bit string, and controls a per-bit transmission condition for a current transmission bit string such that a per-bit transmission quality of the transmission bit string approaches evenly based on cumulative information on the transmissions up to the last transmission. |
| US08532204B2 |
Peak-to-average power ratio (PAR) reduction based on active-set tone reservation
In an embodiment, a transmitter includes first and second processing blocks, which may each include hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The first processing block is operable to generate a first peak-reducing vector. And the a second first processing block is operable to receive a first data vector, the data vector comprising a plurality of samples, the first data vector having a first peak with a first index and a first magnitude, a second peak with a second index and a second magnitude that is less than the first magnitude, and a first peak-to-average power ratio, and to generate a second data vector having a second peak-to-average power ratio that is lower than the first peak-to-average power ratio by using the first peak-reducing vector. |
| US08532203B1 |
Communication systems and methods using blind channel estimation based on cumulants
Embodiments of the present invention include communication systems and methods using channel estimation based on cumulants. In one embodiment, the present invention includes a receiver comprising a sampler coupled to a communication channel for receiving an input signal and providing samples of the input signal at a first sample rate, a channel estimation circuit coupled to receive the sampled input signal, the channel estimation circuit estimating the amplitude response of the communication channel by autocorrelating the input signal, estimating the phase response of the communication channel using a fourth order cumulant of the input signal, and generating an estimated impulse response of the communication channel using the estimated amplitude response and the estimated phase response, and a channel initialization circuit coupled to the channel estimation circuit for configuring the receiver using the estimated impulse response. |
| US08532202B2 |
Near soft-output maximum likelihood detection for multiple-input multiple-output systems using reduced list detection
A method and apparatus for generating soft-decision output values for a set of transmitted spatial streams in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system are described. The apparatus includes a processor and memory with executable instructions. A plurality of constellation points for respective transmitted spatial streams are looped over to estimate values for other transmitted streams based at least in part on Reduced List Detection (RLD). The plurality of constellation points is a subset of all possible constellation points determined around a spatial stream where more constellation points are assigned to spatial streams with a weaker signal strength than for spatial streams with a stronger signal strength. A set of distance metrics as values of the plurality of constellation points for the respective transmitted spatial streams are determined. Soft-decision outputs for the respective transmitted streams based at least in part on the set of distance metrics are generated. |
| US08532201B2 |
Methods and apparatus for identifying a preamble sequence and for estimating an integer carrier frequency offset
In accordance with a method for identifying a preamble sequence and for estimating an integer carrier frequency offset, a signal that comprises a preamble sequence from a set of possible preamble sequences is received. A reduced set of integer carrier frequency offset (CFO) candidates may be determined. Cross-correlation operations may be performed with respect to the received signal and multiple candidate transmitted signals. Each candidate transmitted signal may include one of the set of possible preamble sequences. In addition, each candidate transmitted signal may correspond to one of the reduced set of integer CFO candidates. Multiple correlation values may be determined as a result of the cross-correlation operations. The correlation values may be used to identify the preamble sequence and to estimate the integer CFO. |
| US08532200B1 |
System and method for side band communication in SERDES transmission/receive channels
A system includes a side band transmission module configured to combine side band data with a clock signal to generate a modified clock signal. The system also includes a serializer configured to provide a waveform corresponding to serialized input data. The modified clock signal adjusts at least one of a leading edge or a falling edge of N half cycles of the waveform based on the side band data to form a modified waveform. The serializer is configured to output the modified waveform. N is greater than or equal to 1. |
| US08532198B2 |
Banding artifact detection in digital video content
A method and system for identifying and determining banding artifacts in digital video content composed of a sequence of moving video pictures includes creating a mask image corresponding to a picture from said sequence of moving video pictures based on global gradient changes to detect potential areas containing banding artifacts. The values of the mask image are scaled thereby making banding artifact detection possible using gradient operators. The banding artifacts are then identified/detected based on the local gradients. |
| US08532197B2 |
Methods and systems for detecting temporally oscillating sources in video signals using a recursive infinite impulse response (IIR) filter technique
A method for detecting a temporally oscillating source in digital video signals includes: using an imaging device to capture a sequence of input images of a scene; generating digital video signals from the sequence of input images; and processing the digital video signals using a recursive Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filter technique based on a differentiated version of Goertzel's Algorithm to detect a temporally oscillating source in the digital video signals. In various embodiments, the method also includes generating a visual display of the scene including one or more graphical elements at least one of which pertains to a detected temporally oscillating source. |
| US08532195B2 |
Search algorithms for using related decode and display timelines
A sequence of video images represented using multiple related timelines can be searched by identifying a first point on a first timeline associated with the sequence of video images, wherein the sequence of video images is comprised of one or more samples, determining a search range on a second timeline associated with the sequence of video images based on a positive offset and a negative offset associated with the one or more samples, and searching the second timeline based on the determined search range for a second point that corresponds to the identified first point. A display offset can be associated with each of the samples comprising the sequence of video images, wherein one or more of the display offsets can comprise a negative value. Additionally, the search range can be based on a maximum positive display offset and maximum negative display offset associated with the one or more samples. |
| US08532193B1 |
Block error compensating apparatus of image frame and method thereof
An apparatus and method are provided for compensating a block error in an image frame. This may include a video codec decoder for decoding an inputted image frame, and outputting a decoded image frame. An error concealment block may detect an error-generated block in the decoded image frame and compensate the detected error block through a median filter, and output the compensated image frame. |
| US08532192B2 |
Video processing apparatus and a method of processing video data
A video processing apparatus and method are provided, the video processing apparatus comprising first stage video processing circuitry and second stage video processing circuitry. The first stage video processing circuitry receives input video data and performs one or more processing operations on the input video data to generate an intermediate representation of the input video data. The intermediate representation comprises first and second separate data portions, with the first data portion containing transient data derived from the input video data and the second data portion containing long term data derived from the input video data. Transient data is only required for processing of a single video frame, while the long term data is required for processing of at least two video frames. The first stage video processing circuitry is arranged to output the first and second separate data portions for storing in a buffer, and the second stage video processing circuitry then retrieves the first and second data portions from the buffer and performs one or more further processing operations on those data portions in order to generate output video data. The transient data is compressed prior to being stored in the buffer, and then decompressed when retrieved from the buffer by the second stage video processing circuitry. Such an approach enables the operations of the second stage video processing circuitry to be decoupled from the operations of the first stage video processing circuitry, while reducing the storage capacity requirements of the buffer. |
| US08532187B2 |
Method and apparatus for scalably encoding/decoding video signal
The present invention relates to a method that uses a motion vector of a predictive video frame of a sub-layer to encode a video signal and decode encoded video data. The method encodes a video signal using a preset method to a bit stream of a base layer while encoding the video signal using a scalable MCTF method to a bit stream of an enhanced layer. When an arbitrary frame of the video signal is encoded, information, enabling at least one vector, derived from a first motion vector of a first block included in the bit stream of the base layer in the same direction as the first motion vector, to be used as a motion vector of an image block in the arbitrary frame, is recorded in the bit stream of the enhanced layer. The first motion vector is directed in the same direction as a temporal direction from the arbitrary frame to the first block. |
| US08532183B2 |
Method and apparatus for decoding/encoding a video signal with inter-view reference picture list construction
A method of decoding a video signal is disclosed. The present invention includes obtaining identification information indicating whether a coded picture of a current NAL unit is an inter-view picture group, obtaining interview reference information of the inter-view picture group, and constructing a reference picture list for inter-view prediction using the inter-view reference information according to the identification information, wherein the inter-view reference information includes view identification information of an inter-view reference picture. |
| US08532180B2 |
Method and apparatus for decoding/encoding a video signal with inter-view reference picture list construction
A method of decoding a video signal is disclosed. The present invention includes obtaining identification information indicating whether a coded picture of a current NAL unit is an inter-view picture group, obtaining interview reference information of the inter-view picture group, and constructing a reference picture list for inter-view prediction using the inter-view reference information according to the identification information, wherein the inter-view reference information includes view identification information of an inter-view reference picture. |
| US08532179B2 |
Method and device for optimizing the compression of a video stream
A method and device for compressing at least a portion of a video image such that a compressed video stream includes, or does not include, an encoding of a residual depending on whether it is advantageous to do so in terms of costs in rate and in distortion. The size of the video stream and resources needed for decompression are optimized through encoding only the most relevant data in the video stream. If the information added by the residual is insufficiently relevant or useful, the residual is not encoded. Factors associated with the residual are only encoded if use of the residual limits the distortion in a satisfactory manner and if the encoding of the associated factors does not generate too high a rate. Use of the method makes it possible to optimize resources needed for a decoder by optimizing the encoding of the residual. |
| US08532177B2 |
Motion adaptive image processing
A method of image processing for image conversion, comprises the steps of calculating a difference measure of the difference in pixel values between corresponding blocks of a current image field and a preceding image field, calculating a variability measure of the variability of pixel values from at least one of said corresponding blocks, determining whether the difference measure exceeds the variability measure, and if the difference measure exceeds the variability measure, then setting an inter-image mixing value for each pixel in the corresponding block of the current image field to indicate that the current image field should not be mixed with the preceding image field at that pixel position. |
| US08532176B2 |
Methods and systems for combining layers in a multi-layer bitstream
Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for managing and combining data contained in layers in a multilayer bitstream such that one or more transform coefficients in a first layer are used to modify one or more coefficients in a second layers that in turn is reconstructed using the modified one or more coefficients. |
| US08532173B2 |
Method and apparatus for predicting video traffic
A method and apparatus for predicting video traffic are provided. The method includes extracting the statistical properties of previous Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)-4 video traffic and predicting the size of a subsequent frame based on the statistical properties of the previous MPEG-4 video traffic. Therefore, it is possible to address such problems associated with traffic bursts as transmission delays or low throughputs and thus to improve the performance of communication and network systems that transmit video traffic. |
| US08532167B2 |
Signal processing device having feed forward equalizing units with different tap numbers utilized in communication system
The present invention provides a signal processing device. The signal processing device includes a first feed forward equalizing unit, a first data slicing unit, a second feed forward equalizing unit, and a second data slicing unit. The first feed forward equalizing unit is utilized for performing a compensation operation according to a digital input signal so as to generate a first equalized signal. The first data slicing unit is coupled to the first feed forward equalizing unit, and utilized for generating a first output signal according to the first equalized signal. The second feed forward equalizing unit is coupled to the first data slicing unit, and utilized for generating a second equalized signal according to the first equalized signal. The second data slicing unit is coupled to the second feed forward equalizing unit, and utilized for generating a second output signal according to the second equalized signal. |
| US08532161B2 |
Method and apparatus that facilitates estimating Doppler spread for uplink transmissions
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products are disclosed for performing a Doppler spread estimation. In a first embodiment, an energy associated with a communication from a wireless terminal is ascertained based on at least one pilot symbol and at least one data symbol. Each of an energy variance and a noise variance are then determined to facilitate estimating a speed of the wireless terminal based on the energy variance normalized by the noise variance. In another embodiment, a signal received from a wireless terminal is decoded and replicated. A channel estimate associated with a set of data symbols is then ascertained from the replica, which is used to estimate the speed of the wireless terminal. |
| US08532158B2 |
Melting and mixing of materials in a crucible by electric induction heel process
Apparatus and method are provided for electric induction heating and melting of a transition material that is non-electrically conductive in the solid state and electrically conductive in the non-solid state in an electric induction heating and melting process wherein solid or semi-solid charge is periodically added to a heel of molten transition material initially placed in a refractory crucible. Induction power is sequentially supplied to a plurality of coils surrounding the exterior height of the crucible at high power level and high frequency with in-phase voltage until a crucible batch of transition material is in the crucible when the induction power is reduced in power level and frequency with voltage phase shifting to the induction coils along the height of the crucible to induce a unidirectional electromagnetic stir of the crucible batch of material. |
| US08532156B2 |
Semiconductor laser with test pads
A laser diode includes a junction surface configured to interface with an integrated optics slider. Cathode and anode electrical junctions are disposed on the junction surface. The cathode and anode electrical junctions are configured for electrical and mechanical coupling to the integrated optics slider. At least one test pad is disposed on the junction surface that is physically separate from and electrically coupled to one of the cathode and anode electrical junctions. The test pad is configured to be contacted by a test probe and is not configured for electrical or mechanical coupling to the integrated optics slider. |
| US08532154B2 |
Laser diode arrangement
A laser diode arrangement having a multiplicity of laser diodes (11) arranged along side one another, comprises a heat sink (9) on which the laser diodes (11) are mounted and a cooling body (1) which is in intimate contact with the heat sink (9), wherein the cooling body (1) has two coolant channels (2; 3), which run parallel to the longitudinal axis of the heat sink (9) and are embodied as a feed channel (2) and as a discharge channel (3) for a coolant. According to the invention a multiplicity of cooling channels (5, 7; 6, 8) lying along side one another are provided, which branch off from the feed channel (2), lead past the heat sink (9), and open into the discharge channel (3), wherein cooling channels (5, 7; 6, 8) lying directly alongside one another branch off at different locations of the periphery of the feed channel (2) and of the discharge channel (3). |
| US08532153B2 |
Thermal chirp compensation in a chirp managed laser
Thermal chirp compensation in a chirp managed laser. In one example embodiment, a laser package including a laser and an optical spectrum reshaper configured to convert frequency modulated optical signals from the laser into an amplitude modulated optical signals is provided. A thermal chirp compensation device is in communication with the laser package and a laser driver. The thermal chirp compensation device includes means for generating bias condition and temperature specific thermal chirp compensation signals that each corresponds to a predetermined level of thermal chirp that is induced in the laser by operating the laser at a particular bias condition and temperature. |
| US08532151B2 |
Passively Q-switched microlaser
A passively Q-switched laser comprises a pump laser diode, a micro laser resonant cavity including a lasing medium and a saturable absorber, a filter and a photodiode. The lasing medium and saturable absorber are bonded together, and dielectric film is coated on the surfaces of the bonded body to form the laser resonant cavity. The filter reflects a portion of the Q-switched laser pulse beam. The photodiode can detect and convert the laser pulse to electric signal for triggering purpose. |
| US08532150B1 |
Generating laser light of high beam quality and high pulse quality in large mode area fiber amplifiers based on suppression of high optical modes by fiber coiling
Techniques and devices for generating laser light that use large mode area fiber amplifiers and designed coiling fiber sections to achieve desired operations in a fundamental fiber mode with high pulse quality and optical beam quality while reducing presence of high order fiber modes in continuous wave (CW) and pulsed laser devices. |
| US08532149B2 |
Updating routing and outage information in a communications network
After power is restored to a node in a utility network, that node employs one or more of its neighboring nodes as proxies to route a message to a central control facility of the utility. The message contains information about the restored node, and possibly one or more of its neighbor nodes. This information may include reboot counters, the amount of time that the node was down, momentary outages or power fluctuations, and/or the time of power restoration. The node that creates and initially sends the message can be the restored node itself, or another node that recognizes when a restored node has recently come back online. |
| US08532147B2 |
Residential gateway for voice over internet protocol communications
A method and system are provided for preventing data loss in a VoIP system. In particular, during a VoIP call, it is determined whether incoming ringing on a POTS line causes an unacceptable level of signal loss or errors. If so, for subsequent VoIP calls, the CO handling calls to the POTS line is instructed to either answer each call with a busy signal or automatically forward calls to the POTS line to the VoIP line or other selected telephone. Calling returns to normal upon ending of the VoIP call. In this manner, incoming ringing on the POTS line does not result in call dropping or lengthy retraining processes. |
| US08532145B2 |
Method and apparatus for channelizing sampled broadband signal
A system for isolating individual channels in a broadcast signal is provided. The system includes a plurality of multipliers, each having an input and an output. A summer coupled to the outputs of each of the plurality of multipliers is provided to generate an output. A multiplication factor system provides a multiplication factor to each of the multipliers to select a predetermined frequency channel of the input signal. |
| US08532143B2 |
Method and device for decoding, corresponding computer program product, storage means and destination node
A method is proposed for decoding a plurality of data packets received through a meshed communications network for the retrieval of source packets transmitted by one or more source nodes, the meshed communications network comprising relay nodes generating combined packets, each combined packet consisting of a linear combination of source packets. During the decoding by a destination node, this method consists in performing two decoding operations of which the first is a decoding by group of packets and the second is a decoding that takes account of pieces of likelihood information resulting from the first decoding. The fact of first of all carrying out a decoding with groups of packets makes it possible to exploit the repetitions (or redundancies) of packets in a meshed network to optimize the bit error rate during the decoding of source data transmitted on the communications network. |
| US08532137B1 |
Network architecture for a packet aware transport network
A method and architecture for Packet-Aware Transport Networks (PATN) which supports both packet and traditional TDM services and which leverages an assemblage of emerging technologies to provide efficient aggregation and switching of packet traffic in metro networks. The PATN provides significant cost savings to carriers by reducing the number of network elements, reducing transport costs through statistical multiplexing, and eliminating the need for redundant multiplexing operations. |
| US08532132B2 |
Communication method in a home-automation installation
The communication method applies to a home-automation installation comprising at least one sending element, a self-powered receiving element and an element for substituting for the receiving element. The method is such that, when the receiving element is in a sleep mode, the substitution element receives and records information sent by the sending element for the attention of the receiving element and such that, when the receiving element is no longer in sleep mode, the substitution element sends the information for the attention of the receiving element. |
| US08532123B2 |
Handoffs in a hierarchical mobility label-based network
A system establishes a communication path between a mobile node and a first label edge router, registers the mobile node at the first label edge router, and creates a mobility binding at the first label edge router. The system also establishes a label switched path between the first label edge router and a second label edge router by propagating the mobility binding in the system, and establishes communication between the mobile node and a corresponding node over the label switched path. The system further maintains the communication between the mobile node and the corresponding node over the system when the mobile node moves from one physical location to another physical location and causes a handoff of the mobile node between two layer 2 grooming networks. |
| US08532118B2 |
Communication technique in network including layered relay apparatuses
This method includes: obtaining first data including identifiers of selected computers for invocation of parallel processes among plural computers connected to lowest-layer relay apparatuses in a network including relay apparatuses in plural layers, wherein the network includes paths between a relay apparatus in a first layer and plural relay apparatuses in a second layer that is an immediately upper layer than the first layer; and selecting, for each of the selected computers and from network identifiers for respective communication routes, network identifiers to be used for communication with other selected computers so as to avoid coincidence of communication routes between the selected computers for which a same difference value is calculated between identification numbers, wherein the network identifiers are associated in advance with an identifier of each of the plural computers and are used for routing in the network, and the identification numbers are assigned for ordering the selected computers. |
| US08532115B2 |
Negotiated secure fast table lookups for protocols with bidirectional identifiers
During connection establishments for a protocol with bidirectional identifiers, connection data is allocated, the locally selected identifier is a pointer to the allocated connection data, and a mathematical transformation is applied to the pointer. The pointer and a result of the mathematical transformation are included in a first and second portion of the connection establishment packets respectively. Upon receipt of a data packet for that protocol, a first and second portion of the data packet (which correspond to the first and second portion of the connection establishment packets) are extracted. The same mathematical transformation used during connection establishment is applied to the data extracted from the first portion of the data packet. The result of that mathematical transformation is compared with the data extracted from the second portion of the data packet. If the values match, then the data extracted from the first portion is trusted and dereferenced to access the allocated connection data associated with that data packet. |
| US08532109B2 |
Methods and systems for reroute and generation of backward routing information
Methods and systems for reroute and generation of backward routing information are provided. When an originator node wants to transmit a packet to a destination node and cannot transmit the packet to a next node recorded in a routing table, the originator node records a backward packet tag and information of the originator node into the packet, and transmits the edited packet to a backup node recorded in the routing table. The backup node retrieves a backward routing table in response to the backward packet tag to see whether a forwarding node corresponding to the originator node and the destination node is a backward routing terminal. If not, the backup node transmits the packet to the forwarding node. If so, the backup node removes the backward packet tag and the information of the originator node from the packet, and transmits the packet to the forwarding node. |
| US08532106B2 |
Header compression mechanism for transmitting RTP packets over wireless links
A header compression method for a MAC protocol that combines contention-free and contention-based MAC protocols into a heterogeneous MAC protocol used for forwarding VoIP traffic in VoIP systems on wireless networks using multiple base stations that reduces packet overhead thus allowing for transmission of high bit-rate data to multiple users over wired and wireless means. |
| US08532104B2 |
Communication apparatus capable of traffic controlling in serial connected queues
A communication apparatus includes a plurality of first queues to which priorities or predetermined bandwidths are assigned respectively, a plurality of second queues which are corresponded to any of the plurality of first queues and to which the priorities are assigned respectively, a first writing portion which writes data blocks into any of the plurality of second queues or any of the plurality of first queues which is not corresponded to the second queues in accordance with a rule, a second writing portion which reads the data blocks stored in the plurality of second queues in order of the priorities assigned to the second queues respectively, and writes the data blocks into at least one of the first queues which is corresponded to the second queues, and a transmitting portion which reads the data blocks stored in the plurality of first queues in order of the priorities assigned to the first queues respectively or at time intervals corresponding to the bandwidths assigned to the first queues respectively, and transfers the data blocks to the communication network. |
| US08532102B2 |
Simple fairness protocols for daisy chain interconnects
A method for transmitting packets, including forwarding a first set of upstream packets and a first set of local packets by inserting at least one of the first set of local packets between subsets of the first set of upstream packets according to a first insertion rate; calculating a second insertion rate after forwarding a predetermined number of upstream packets generated by a single upstream source, by dividing a cardinality of the first set of upstream packets by a greatest common divisor of the predetermined number and the cardinality of the first set of upstream packets; and forwarding a second set of upstream packets and a second set of local packets from the local switch to the downstream switch by inserting at least one of the second set of local packets between subsets of the second set of upstream packets according to the second insertion rate. |
| US08532095B2 |
Techniques configuring customer equipment for network operations from provider edge
Techniques for configuring customer premises equipment for communication with a provider network include establishing a physical layer network connection between a particular customer node and a first provider node. The particular customer node is an intermediate network node on a customer premises. The first provider node is an intermediate network node on a first provider network of a first service provider different from the customer. Configuration data for one or more network interfaces on the particular customer node are automatically received through the physical layer network connection. The particular customer node is automatically configured based on that configuration data. The automatic provisioning of the customer node allows equipment to be more economically shipped and installed at customer premises and allows upgraded or replacement equipment to be more economically swapped in place of equipment previously installed. Traffic management data can also be automatically received and used at the particular customer node. |
| US08532093B2 |
Voice over internet protocol marker insertion
A watermark is inserted or overwritten into a packetized voice stream in a VoIP environment to characterize the voice data stream for various functions, such as providing certain in-band audible information or markers for detection. A visual type of marker can be inserted to measure delay for various applications, such as the round trip delay associated with providing directory assistance services, including measuring the delay from providing a prompt to a caller to the their response. The visual marker facilitates use of processes to detect measuring points for measuring delays. Audible markers can be used to provide various types of audible signals, including informational tones to agents, as well as announcements to callers. |
| US08532089B2 |
Call intercept for voice over internet protocol (VoIP)
A device receives, from a calling party, a call to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) subscriber, and generates a request for the calling party to record information. The device also receives information from the calling party based on the request, and provides the information from the calling party and call handling options to the VoIP subscriber. The device further receives a response from the VoIP subscriber to the call handling options, and handles the call based on the VoIP subscriber response. |
| US08532087B2 |
Optical network, optical edge router, program thereof, cut through method, and edge router
An optical network has: sections for establishing optical paths; a plurality of optical edge routers for connecting external IP networks to the optical network (1001); and a plurality of optical cross connects, for connecting the optical edge routers by the optical paths, having switching sections with respect to an optical pulse unit. In the optical network, each of the optical edge routers has both of: (1) an optical network control instance (INSp) for maintaining topology information in the optical network and switching/signaling the optical paths; and (2) an IP network instance (INSi) for maintaining a routing table in each of the external IP networks and activating routing protocols between the external IP networks and the IP network instance. By doing this, it is possible to realize a multi-layer cooperative function and provide highly safe optical networks, etc. |
| US08532086B1 |
Method and system for multi level switch configuration
Switch systems and method to configure switch systems are disclosed. A switch system includes a first leaf module and a first spine module. The first leaf module includes a plurality of internal ports and external ports. The first spine module includes a plurality of ports. A midplane is configured to couple each of the internal port of first leaf module to a port of a first spine module such that a subset of internal ports of the first leaf module are always coupled to a known subset of first spine module. Other switch systems and methods to configure switch systems are disclosed. |
| US08532085B2 |
Directory number mobility utilizing dynamic network distributed dial-peer updates
Methods, logic, apparatus, and systems are provided to support cross cluster directory number (DN) extension mobility (EM) using dynamic network distributed dial-peer updates in a communication networks, which includes a plurality of clusters or systems and each of the plurality of clusters including a call control agent (CCA). Identification data corresponding to an identity of an associated user is received into a first cluster of a multiple cluster telecommunication network. A directory number and associated first telecommunication device corresponding to the user are registered with a first call control agent of the first cluster in accordance with received identification data. Registration data corresponding to the registered directory number is communicated to at least a second cluster of the telecommunications network. An incoming connection request associated with the registered directory number is routed directly to the first CCA without redirection to any other CCAs within the multiple cluster telecommunication network. |
| US08532084B2 |
Method and system for synchronization in communication system
A method can be used for facilitating an uplink synchronization between a first transceiver and a second transceiver within a cell in a multi-user cellular communication system. The first transceiver receives a reference from the second transceiver and generates a set of signature sequences based on the reference. The first transceiver selects a first signature sequence from the set of signature sequences and incorporates the first signature sequence into a signal. The first transceiver transmits the signal to the second transceiver. The signal is used for a uplink synchronization between the first transceiver and the second transceiver. The set of signature sequences are generated from sequences with zero-correlation zone. |
| US08532083B2 |
Method for allocating dynamic transmit time interval
A method for allocating various transmit time intervals (TTIs) if a sub-frame structure is used, in a radio access system is provided. A transmitter transmits a super frame header including TTI information of a sub-frame included in a super frame to a receiver and transmits a sub-map including resource allocation information to the receiver, thereby dynamically allocating the TTI. Since the TTI information may not be received via the sub-map in every sub-frame, it is possible to prevent waste of a radio resource. |
| US08532080B2 |
Method and system for single weight (SW) antenna system for single channel (SC) MIMO
Methods and systems for processing signals in a receiver are disclosed herein and may comprise receiving WCDMA signals via M receive antennas, tracking a plurality of received clusters within the received WCDMA signals, and estimating a complex phase and amplitude of a portion of each of the received clusters. A single cluster may comprise an aggregate of received WCDMA signal paths and (M−1) phase shifters may be utilized for the estimating of the complex phase. Complex waveforms, comprising in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components for the received clusters within the received WCDMA signals, may be processed. The processed complex waveforms comprising the in-phase and quadrature components may be filtered to a WCDMA baseband bandwidth. A phase and/or amplitude for at least one of the received WCDMA signals may be adjusted utilizing the estimated complex phase and amplitude. The phase and/or amplitude may be adjusted continuously and/or at discrete intervals. |
| US08532077B2 |
Frame format techniques for non-resolvable long training fields in wireless networks
An embodiment of the present invention provides non-resolvable long training field (LTF) formatting methods used in wireless networks, comprising defining the non-resolvable LTF frame format so that a transmission of VHT-SIG-B is aligned for all users, thereby requiring that a VHT-LTF portion of a packet be of a same duration for all users. |
| US08532076B2 |
Telecommunications system and method
A telecommunications system communicates data packets to and from a mobile terminal in accordance with a mobile internet protocol. The system includes a packet radio network having a first radio access interface and a gateway support node and includes a wireless access network having a second radio access interface and a home agent The mobile terminal is arranged to connect to one of the packet radio network or the wireless access network and, when connected, to detect which of the packet radio network and the wireless access network the mobile terminal has connected. Upon detection that the mobile terminal is attached to the packet radio network, the mobile terminal and the home agent are arranged so that data packets are transmitted to and from the mobile terminal via the gateway support node, and mobile internet protocol operations through the home agent are deactivated or suppressed. |
| US08532072B2 |
System and method for adaptively setting the probability of generating a beacon broadcast in a wireless network
A system and method of operating a wireless network having a plurality of nodes. Each node determines whether to replace the beacon node. When a node determines that the beacon node is to be replaced, the node determines whether it should nominate itself as a potential replacement beacon node. The decision whether to nominate itself as a potential replacement beacon node is a function of a nomination probability associated with the node. If the node determines that it should nominate itself as a potential replacement beacon node, the node sends out one or more beacon signals. Each node then adaptively modifies the probability of nominating itself as a function of the number of beacon signals received from other nodes. Beacon signals are received by potential replacement nodes and, if the potential replacement beacon node has received a beacon signal from a higher ranking potential replacement beacon node, the node removes itself as a candidate for the replacement beacon node. |
| US08532068B2 |
Method of mobile communication and apparatus therefor
Particular orthogonal codes are transmitted from the mobile stations to the base station as alert signals indicating the presence of data to be transmitted. The base station checks whether particular orthogonal codes are contained in the alert signals, and when the particular orthogonal codes are detected in the alert signals, information representing the detected orthogonal codes and the schedules for transmitting the data from the mobile terminals to the base station are transmitted from the base station to the mobile terminals as an alert response to the alert signals. When the information representing the orthogonal codes used for the alert signals are contained in the alert response transmitted from the base station to the mobile terminals, the data waiting to be transmitted is transmitted from the mobile terminals to the base station according the data transmission schedules in the alert response. |
| US08532067B2 |
CDMA to packet-switching interface for code division switching in a terrestrial wireless system
An access radio port is provided that spreads a payload data signal, extracted from an ATM packet, with a uniquely assigned orthogonal code, transmits the spread payload data signal to one of a group of mobile subscriber terminals located within a microport cell of a wireless terrestrial network, and releases the uniquely assigned orthogonal code. In another aspect, a mobile subscriber terminal, is located within a microport cell of a terrestrial wireless network that interfaces with an access radio port. The mobile subscriber terminal receives an assignment of a unique orthogonal code, spreads a payload data signal using the unique orthogonal code, modulates and forwards the spread payload data signal to the access radio port, and releases the assignment of the unique orthogonal code. |
| US08532061B2 |
Adaptive handover mechanism for heterogeneous wireless network
The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates optimizing handover in connection with an access network. An access network can include at least one device exchanges data therewith, wherein the device communicates with at least one access station within the access network to exchange data. A rules engine can create a user-defined rule based upon at least one of a resource requirement for a device application or a user input related to a quality of service (QoS) experience with the device. The rules engine can enforce the user-defined rule to employ handover related to the device and at least one of an access station within the access network or a disparate access network. |
| US08532060B2 |
Distributed learning method for wireless mesh networks
In a wireless mesh network, an algorithm is used by mesh points in the network to predict the success of and interference created by a new transmission opportunity. In particular, it is provided a method for mesh points, in a mesh network, to determine whether to transmit to another mesh point simultaneously while another transmission is taking place on the same communication link. A mesh point should not transmit to another mesh point if the mesh point's transmission interference disturbs a simultaneous transmission from another mesh point. Furthermore, a transmitting mesh point should not transmit to a receiving mesh point if the transmission will be disturbed at the receiving mesh point from interference from a simultaneous transmission from another mesh point. |
| US08532053B2 |
Wireless communication system and method for assuring communication quality of packet flow
A base station or packet control apparatus, constituting a wireless access network system to be connected to an IP network via a node apparatus, includes a QoS authorization and admission control function for verifying a first communication quality request received from a wireless mobile station based on communication quality level information assured previously to the wireless mobile station, converting the request into a second communication quality request assured to the wireless mobile station, and converting the second communication quality request into a third communication quality request acceptable to communication resources of the wireless access network, and a QoS admission control function for converting, when a second or third communication quality request is received from another node apparatus connected to another wireless access network on account of handover of a wireless mobile station between node apparatuses, the received communication quality request into a communication quality request acceptable to the communication resources. |
| US08532051B2 |
Method and systems for conveying scheduling information of overlapping co-scheduled users in an OFDMA-MU-MIMO system
Methods and systems for conveying or transmitting to any given user in an OFDMA-MU-MIMO system scheduling information of other co-scheduled users to permit the user to perform error-correction on received data and/or interference reduction on its received signals. The scheduling information can include resource block assignment, modulation constellations employed, coding rates employed, power levels utilized and precoder matrix indices used. Further, the scheduling information can be conveyed in part through dedicated reference symbol layers or pilot streams. Moreover, a base station may transmit a preliminary estimate of the total number of users the base station expects to schedule, or an upper-bound on the total number of users, to the MU-MIMO users to permit the MU-MIMO users to determine preferred precoder matrix indices and indications of channel quality indices. |
| US08532047B2 |
Methods and apparatus for uplink control transmit diversity
A method and apparatus in a user equipment transmit a subframe shared by multiple users through a dual-antenna transmission scheme by using space-time coding. A first and a second plurality of modulation symbols are generated. A third and a fourth plurality of modulation symbols are generated by performing Alamouti coding on each pair of modulation symbols in each of the first and second pluralities of modulation symbols. A spread matrix is generated for each modulation symbol such that the first and third pluralities of modulation symbols are mapped to a first slot of the subframe, and the second and third pluralities of modulation symbols are mapped to a second slot of the subframe. The subframe is transmitted such that the first and second pluralities of modulation symbols are transmitted via a first antenna, and the third and fourth pluralities of modulation symbols are transmitted via a second antenna. |
| US08532045B2 |
Method and system for spectrum management
A method and apparatus for defining spectral usage at a base station in a wireless network. In various embodiments, the wireless network is divided into a plurality of regions, such that each of the regions may have associated with it one or more interfering adjacent regions, which are associated with different portions of a spectral allocation. |
| US08532040B2 |
Method for random access based on priority
A random access method based on priority is disclosed. A priority-based random access method for use in a random access method supporting emergency communication including selecting, by a user equipment (UE), a random access slot corresponding to priority of the UE, among several random access slots to which at least two priorities are allocated, selecting an arbitrary sequence by the UE, and transferring the selected sequence to a base station via the selected random access slot. The method minimizes a UE access delay time requesting emergency communication by assigning priority to resources, and is able to reduce an amount of wasted resources by effectively distributing resources to not only a high-priority UE but also a low-priority UE according to individual situations. |
| US08532038B2 |
Methods and apparatus for frame exchange for SDMA uplink data
Certain embodiments provide a method for scheduling simultaneous transmissions of data from multiple wireless nodes in a wireless communications system. |
| US08532030B2 |
Techniques for initiating communication in a wireless network
Techniques are described for a device to request a new service flow for best effort (BE) category traffic to assign a priority to the new service flow. For example, a Traffic Priority parameter in a media access control (MAC) message can be used to transmit the priority level for a new BE category service flow. The MAC message can be an AAI DSA-REQ message (specified in IEEE 802.16m draft 9 (2010)). Either a base station or a mobile station can request a new service flow using the MAC message. |
| US08532027B2 |
System and method for SSS detection under carrier frequency offset in an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access downlink channel
A system and method for SSS detection under carrier frequency offset in an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) downlink channel. A processor receives a signal sample that includes a transmission on a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a transmission on a one secondary synchronization signal (SSS). The processor determines a correlation “P” of a first symbol transmitted in the PSS of the signal sample to a first known symbol at each time “t” of time increments k of the signal sample and a correlation “S” of a second symbol transmitted in the a SSS to a second known symbol at each time t-.5/7 msecs. The processor receives a candidate phase rotation of θi from a set of “i” candidates and determines a correlation “Cmax” over the time increments k representing a maximum amplitude of a combined correlation of S and P, with P rotated by θi. The processor determines the cell identifier from the first and second known symbols that produced S and P of C max and an estimation of the frequency offset between a transmitter of the signal sample and a receiver of the signal sample. |
| US08532025B2 |
Signaling overhead reduction methods and systems using SUB-DL-UL-MAP and HARQ-MAP in mobile WiMAX
Certain embodiments of the present disclosure may allow WiMAX signaling overhead to be reduced by sending burst allocation information to MSs using messages that may be transmitted using more efficient modulation coding schemes (MCSs) than that allowed for DL-MAP and UL-MAP messages. For example, burst allocation information may be sent in SUB-DL-UL-MAP or HARQ-MAP messages that may be encoded with selectable MCSs that result in higher data rate than an MCS used for conventional DL-MAP and UL-MAP messages. For certain embodiments, MSs may be partitioned into groups based on CINR and the burst allocation information for each group may be transmitted using an MCS that is appropriate for that group based on the CINR for MSs in that group. |
| US08532023B2 |
Interference aware routing in multi-radio wireless mesh networks
A method and system using inter-node interference data to improve the routing of data within a wireless mesh network. |
| US08532022B2 |
Wireless station and method for controlling wireless station
A wireless station communicates with a plurality of wireless apparatuses by air and connects to other wireless stations via a network. The wireless station creates a supplementary table in which wireless apparatuses are associated with corresponding wireless stations on the basis of the status of wireless apparatuses that are connecting to the wireless station and the status of wireless apparatuses that are connecting to the other wireless stations. Before a wireless apparatus sends a connection request to the wireless station, the wireless station determines on the basis of predetermined conditions and the supplementary table whether the wireless apparatus can connect to the wireless station. |
| US08532020B2 |
Multi-hop communication setup subject to boundary values
A method controls the setup of multi-hop communications. For this purpose, boundary values for the multi-hop communications are determined, actual values of the multi-hop communications are detected and multi-hop communications to subscriber terminals are only established if the actual values do not exceed the determined boundary values. |
| US08532019B2 |
Method and system for implementing a single weight (SW) single channel (SC) MIMO system
Methods and systems for processing signals in a receiver are disclosed herein and may comprise generating at least one control signal that may be utilized to control a first received signal. A phase of the first received signals may be adjusted via the generated control signal so that the phase of the first received signal may be equivalent to a phase of a second received signal, where the phase of the first signal may be adjusted within a processing path used to process the first received signal. An amplitude of the first received signal may be adjusted via the generated control signal so that the amplitude of the first received signal may be equivalent to an amplitude of a second received signal, where the amplitude of the first signal is adjusted within the processing path used to process the first received signal. |
| US08532016B2 |
Methods and apparatus for operating a wireless communications system
A method of operating a wireless communications system comprising at least a base station, a first relay station, a second relay station and one or more subscriber stations; using at least a first wireless protocol with the first relay station, and using at least a second wireless protocol with the second relay station. Operation of the method comprises using a subframe which comprises: a first-protocol access period; a firstprotocol relay period; a second-protocol access period; and a second-protocol relay period. The subframe further comprises an idle period to avoid communications using the first wireless protocol interfering with communications using the second wireless protocol and the overall frame structure is arranged to position the idle period for the first relay station between the first-protocol access period and the first-protocol relay period, to accommodate switching of the first relay station between transmit and receive modes. |
| US08532015B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for transmitting downlink control signaling on wireless relay link
In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, a method comprises allocating a control channel resource in a wireless relay transmission frame on a wireless relay link; generating a control signaling based on at least one of a resource allocation scheme, a status of the wireless relay link and a traffic condition of the wireless relay link; mapping the control signaling to the allocated control channel resource via at least one of a time-first mapping, a frequency-first mapping, and a multiplexing mapping; and transmitting the control signaling in the allocated control channel resource on the wireless relay link to at least one associated relay node. |
| US08532013B2 |
Method and apparatus in a plurality of rendezvous points for together processing multicast traffics from mobile multicast source
The invention proposes method and apparatus in a plurality of rendezvous points for together processing multicast traffics from mobile multicast source. Wherein, a first rendezvous point and at least one second rendezvous point compose an anycast group which is used for sharing the processing task of the multicast data packets of the mobile multicast source point together, the first rendezvous point and the at least one second rendezvous point share a route forwarding table, the route forwarding table comprises corresponding relation among the care-of-address, the home address and the multicast address of one or more multicast sources. The first rendezvous point obtains the multicast data packets, forwards the multicast data packets to the at least one second rendezvous point, when needing to forward the multicast data packets to the at least one second rendezvous point; the first rendezvous point searches the route forwarding table, according to address information of the multicast packet; determines the corresponding shared multicast tree, when the address information matches the care-of address and/or home address and matches the multicast address of an candidate multicast source; and forwards the multicast data packet according to the shared multicast tree. |
| US08532008B2 |
Systems, devices, and methods of managing power consumption in wireless sensor networks
Embodiments of the present disclosure include systems, methods, and devices for managing power consumption in a wireless sensor network. Such embodiments may include a remote server, a wide area network coupled to the remote server, at least one access point device coupled to the remote server through the wide area network, one or more sensors coupled to each other and to the access point and datasinks through the network. Each datasink can be a data coordinator and receive sensor information from the one or more sensors and transmit sensor information to the at least access point. Further, a first set of sensors are configured to be routing sensors and a second set of sensors are configured end point sensors based on a graph theoretic algorithm to reduce transmitting power of each sensor and reduce overall power of the wireless sensor network, and configuring a first operational wireless sensor network. |
| US08532003B2 |
Apparatus and method for managing packet routing through internally-powered network devices in wireless sensor networks
Various embodiments provide an apparatus and method for managing packet routing through internally-powered network devices in wireless sensor networks. An example embodiment includes a hybrid network having an externally-powered node and an internally-powered node, the method includes configuring a role that the internally-powered node will take during an operations phase of the hybrid network, the role including whether the internally-powered node will act as a router or a non-router; demoting the internally-powered node to a non-router role if the internally-powered node is not needed for routing; and promoting the internally-powered node to a router role if the internally-powered node is needed for routing. |
| US08531998B2 |
Communications apparatus and method to avoid interference
A technique for time domain avoidance of communications link interference sources characterized by intermittent, periodic short bursts of energy. A transmitting source can be assigned two time slots within a time domain multiple access data frame over which each data packet can be transmitted. The time slots are separated by a duration greater than that of an interference burst, such that an interference burst does not affect both time slots in any given frame. Therefore, the data packet can be received on at least one of the two assigned time slots. Transmitter power consumption can be reduced by calculating the timing of the periodic interference bursts, and only transmitting a data packet on one of the two assigned time slots that will not coincide with an interference burst in each frame. Communications link capacity can be improved during the presence of interference by synchronizing the data frame to the timing of the interference bursts. The bursts then occupy fixed time slots in each data frame, enabling standard single time slot transmissions for the remaining communications channels in the data frame. |
| US08531997B2 |
Method of performing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) in wireless communication system
A method of performing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes receiving downlink assignments in a first subframe, a downlink assignment being transmitted based on a control channel element (CCE), the CCE being a logically indexed resource unit, receiving downlink data on a downlink shared channel in the first subframe, the downlink shared channel being assigned according to the downlink assignments, generating ACK/NACK signals which indicate successful or unsuccessful reception of the downlink data, and transmitting in a second subframe, the ACK/NACK signals by using uplink resources of a subset, the subset being mapped to the first subframe, at least one of the uplink resources being mapped to a plurality of CCEs in the first subframe. Limited resources for uplink feedback are effectively used to support HARQ operation. |
| US08531996B2 |
Communication device and remote management system
A communication device is provided in a network including a plurality of network segments to which customer devices are connected respectively, the communication device being connected through a cable or radio communication line to a central management device so that management information required for remote management of the customer devices is exchanged between the communication device and the central management device through the communication line. In the communication device, a searching unit searches customer devices connected to a predetermined network segment among the plurality of network segments in the network by predetermined timing. A transmitting unit transmits segment configuration information of the predetermined network segment as a result of device searching by the searching unit through the communication line to the central management device by predetermined timing. |
| US08531993B2 |
Floor control in a communication system
A method (400) of implementing floor control in a communications system (100). The method can include receiving a random symbol from each of a plurality of communication devices (104, 106, 108, 110, 112) or network nodes (204, 206, 208, 210, 212). From the plurality of random symbols, a random symbol that satisfies a criteria can be identified. Floor ownership can be granted to a selected one of the communication devices associated with the identified random symbol or from which the identified random symbol was received. |
| US08531991B2 |
Multi-chassis emulated switch
A solution is provided wherein the interfaces between multiple chassis (e.g., edge switches) in a network of layer 2 devices and a spanning tree device are treated as a single emulated switch. This emulated switch effectively enables two different views to the two different sides. Thus, frames from the network of layer 2 switches destined to any port of the emulated switch may take any of the links (through any of the physical switches), thereby enabling effective load-balancing for frames traveling from the layer 2 network side into the spanning tree device. Meanwhile the spanning tree device does not recognize an illegal loop in its connection to two different edge switches as it views the two links as a single logical EtherChannel. |
| US08531989B2 |
Systems and methods for implementing ad hoc wireless networking
This disclosure involves methods and systems for implementing IBSS networks between peer client devices. Devices function as registrar or enrollee in the network depending upon whether they are in configured or unconfigured mode. The WPS-PBC configuration routine allows the unconfigured enrollee device to obtain the necessary network configuration profile from the configured registrar device upon a successful WPS handshake process. Once a device has received the network configuration protocol, its status is switched to configured, allowing it to function as a registrar for the network for the subsequent addition of new devices. When both devices are initially in an unconfigured state, one is chosen to act as registrar so that it can automatically generate the necessary network configuration profile and pass it along to the other device. Following this process, both devices are set to configured mode. |
| US08531986B2 |
Network tools for analysis, design, testing, and production of services
Various embodiments are disclosed for a services policy communication system and method. In some embodiments, a network device publishes a test service profile to a group of communications devices, in which the test service profile provides for beta testing of the test service profile for a service on a network, and the test service profile includes service policy settings; and monitors use of the service by the group of communications devices based on the test service profile. |
| US08531985B2 |
System and method for configuration and management of queue sets
A network device includes port interfaces and a traffic buffer configured with queue sets for buffering packets transmitted or received on the port interfaces. The network device also includes a management module that stores one or more queue set profiles. The queue set profiles specify configuration parameters for buffering and managing traffic in the queue sets. To configure a queue set, one of the queue set profiles is associated with the corresponding port interface and the configuration parameters are applied to the queue set. This queue set is then configured in accordance with the queue set profile. Management of port interfaces is thus performed by applying a queue set profile to similar groups of queue sets. |
| US08531977B2 |
System reliability evaluation method for routing policy
A system reliability evaluation method for routing policy is disclosed. The single minimal path of the routing policy includes plural arcs between a start node and a terminal node in a flow network. The method includes the steps of providing a virtual network in a computer for simulating the flow network; inputting a transmission requirement, a budget restriction and a time restriction; distributing the transmission requirement in a first minimal path of the virtual network for getting a first feasible probability; if the first minimal path is inactive, distributing the transmission requirement in a second minimal path of the virtual network and getting a first inactive probability of the first minimal path; getting a second feasible probability of the second minimal path; and computing a system feasible probability of the virtual network by the first feasible probability, the first inactive probability and the second feasible probability, defining the system reliability. |
| US08531976B2 |
Locating tunnel failure based on next-next hop connectivity in a computer network
In one embodiment, a trigger is signaled to protect a tunnel from a head-end node to one or more tail-end nodes in a computer network via one or more intermediate nodes along the tunnel. One or more receiving nodes along the tunnel receive the trigger, and in response, establish a tunnel connectivity verification session from the receiving node to a corresponding downstream next-next-hop (NNHOP) node along the tunnel. Illustratively, the head-end node may thus recompute a new tunnel path excluding a path segment corresponding to a particular failed tunnel connectivity verification session. |
| US08531974B2 |
Technique for testing peers in multicast network domain
A technique for testing peer nodes in a multicast domain (such as an access network) interconnected with an Ethernet network via an Intermediate Bridge (IB), especially helpful when an individual MAC address of a destination peer node is unknown. The technique comprises a) issuing a Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) message from the Ethernet network, and introducing into the CFM message alternative destination data being different than the individual MAC address of the destination peer node; b) utilizing the alternative destination data, at the IB, for determining topological position or address of the destination peer node, and c) forwarding contents of the CFM message only to the destination peer node. |
| US08531971B2 |
Method for controlling charging of packet data service
A method for controlling the charging of packet data service is disclosed, which includes: monitoring a number of event triggers; and when one of the event triggers is met, a TPF requesting charging rules from a CRF. In this way, the timing that the TPF requests charging rules from the CRF becomes controllable, and redundant information caused by the unnecessary charging rule from the TPF becomes avoidable, which enables interaction between the TPF and the CRF more effective and the charging control of packet data service reasonable and perfect. |
| US08531970B2 |
Scheme for randomized selection of equal cost links during restoration
The present invention relates generally to restoration of services in a network. More particularly, the invention encompasses a scheme for randomized selection of equal cost links during restoration in a communication network. The invention further includes multiple schemes for restoring services. The network could consist of optical, ATM, FR, or IP/MPLS switches and cross-connects. |
| US08531969B2 |
Path computation systems and methods for heterogeneous multi-domain networks
The present disclosure provides path computation systems and methods operating over heterogeneous multi-domain networks. Specifically, path computation systems and methods utilize PCE mechanisms with additional functionality enabling heterogeneous domain characteristics. In an exemplary embodiment, a network includes a plurality of domains with each domain having a PCE implemented either as a separate server-based application or resident application in a network node. Different methods may be utilized for determining what PCE to access for information. Instead of a list of nodes and links given in a common format, each PCE can compute a path within its domain using a node and link address/identification format of its own, without having to ensure that it can be interpreted by nodes in other domains. This path segment can be further distinguished by a path identifier that verifies that it is created for a particular domain, and avoiding misinterpretation. |
| US08531963B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit and filter control method
A semiconductor integrated circuit of the invention comprises a plurality of cores, and an interconnecting network including adaptors connected to each of the cores and a plurality of routers connecting the adaptors to communicate therebetween. Transmission side adaptors store first delivery information, and control delivery of the request signal to be received from the first core in accordance with the first delivery information. Reception side adaptors store second delivery information, and control delivery of the request signal to be received through the interconnecting network to the second core in accordance with the second delivery information. The first delivery information and the second delivery information are hierarchically set. |
| US08531962B2 |
Assignment of ACK resource in a wireless communication system
Techniques for assigning acknowledgement (ACK) resource to a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system are described. In one design, a first parameter indicative of radio resources (e.g., the lowest index of at least one physical resource block) allocated to the UE for data transmission may be obtained. A second parameter indicative of another resource (e.g., a cyclic shift of a reference signal sequence) assigned to the UE for data transmission may also be obtained. The first and/or second parameter may be restricted, and each restricted parameter may be limited to a set of allowed values among all available values for the parameter. ACK resource assigned to the UE for data transmission may be determined based on the first and second parameters. In one design, sequential first parameter values may be mapped to sequential ACK resources indices. In another design, mirror mapping with different mapping directions may be used for different allowed values of the second parameter. |
| US08531959B2 |
Method for sending ACK
A method for sending an ACK from the receiver to the sender is disclosed. The receiver starts an ACK timer with the ACK timeout value being smaller than the RTX timeout value. The ACK timer is stopped or cancelled when an ACK is sent from the receiver to the sender. When the number of the delayed ACK for I-frames is close to the receive widow size of the receiver or the ACK timer is timeout, the receiver sends an ACK to the sender actively. When the receiver receives a Poll frame from the sender due to RTX retransmission timeout, the receiver sends an ACK to the sender passively. The receiver adjusts the ACK timeout value used next time based on the following: timeout value of a current ACK timer, RTX timeout value of the sender, the receive widow size of the receiver and the number of I-frames for which ACKs have not been sent, in order to reduce the S-frames and stops of data transmission, thus improving the data transmission speed and the bandwidth utilization. |
| US08531958B2 |
Communicating a feedback data structure containing information identifying coding to be applied on wirelessly communicated signaling
To perform wireless communications in a closed loop multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) system, a feedback data structure is communicated over a wireless channel between a first wireless node and a second wireless node, where the feedback data structure contains indicators identifying coding to be applied by the second wireless node on signaling communicated between the second wireless node and the first wireless node, where the information in the feedback data structure is based on wireless channel conditions detected at the first wireless node. The indicators identify different codings to be used for different corresponding bands in the wireless channel. |
| US08531950B2 |
Dynamically multiplexing user sessions among multiple terminal devices
Methods, systems, and devices are described for dynamically multiplexing user sessions among multiple terminal devices. A switch device establishes a session with a host device on behalf of a user logged in to a first terminal device communicatively coupled with the switch device. The switch device forwards packets received from the host device to the first terminal device, the packets associated with the session. The switch device may receive a selection of a second terminal for association with the session while maintaining the session with the host device on behalf of the user. The switch device forwards at least a portion of the packets associated with the session from the host device to the second terminal device responsive to receiving the selection of the second terminal device. |
| US08531949B2 |
Method and arrangement for transferring information in a packet radio service
A method and an arrangement for transferring information including delay sensitive data, such as speech and video data, in a packet radio service is provided. Data blocks are transmitted from a mobile station to a radio resource entity during a first active data transfer period using an uplink temporary block flow (TBF) connection. The uplink TBF connection is maintained during a passive period that follows the first active data transfer period, wherein during the passive period the mobile station does not send data blocks to the radio resource entity. |
| US08531947B2 |
Single and dual internet protocol bearer support
An apparatus operable in a communication system and having the capability to discard an internet protocol address is described. The apparatus is configured to receive an assignment of a first internet protocol address of a first type for a first application and a second internet protocol address of a second type for a second application for a data connection to a network. The apparatus is also configured to determine that the apparatus is currently not able to handle both the first internet protocol address and the second internet protocol address. The apparatus is further configured to determine an internet protocol address to discard, and discard the determined internet protocol address. |
| US08531944B2 |
Systems and methods for providing virtual fair queuing of network traffic
Systems and methods for dynamically controlling bandwidth of connections are described. In some embodiments, a proxy for one or more connections may allocate, distribute, or generate indications of network congestion via one or more connections in order to induce the senders of the connections to reduce their rates of transmission. The proxy may allocate, distribute, or generate these indications in such a way as to provide quality of service to one or more connections, or to ensure that a number of connections transmit within an accepted bandwidth limit. In other embodiments, a sender of a transport layer connection may have a method for determining a response to congestion indications which accounts for a priority of the connection. In these embodiments, a sender may reduce or increase parameters related to transmission rate at different rates according to a priority of the connection. |
| US08531941B2 |
Intra-domain and inter-domain bridging over MPLS using MAC distribution via border gateway protocol
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, by a first autonomous system border router (ASBR) of a first autonomous system (AS), a first plurality of provider-provisioned media access control (B-MAC) addresses via Interior Border Gateway Protocol (I-BGP). Each of first plurality of B-MAC addresses is associated with a provider edge (PE) device of the first AS. The first ASBR sends the first plurality of B-MAC addresses to a second ASBR of a second AS using Exterior Border Gateway Protocol (E-BGP). The first ASBR also receives via E-BGP a second plurality of B-MAC addresses each of which is associated with a PE device of the second AS. The first ASBR then distributes the second plurality of B-MAC addresses to each of the PE devices of the first AS using I-BGP. |
| US08531940B2 |
Technique for interconnecting functional modules of an apparatus
An apparatus such as a mobile telephone or a network card is described. In one implementation, the apparatus comprises a first functional module, a second functional module and a hub circuit. The hub circuit includes a first downstream port connectable to the first functional module, a second downstream port connectable to the second functional module and an upstream port adapted to be coupled to an external device. The hub circuit is configured to couple the upstream port with at least one of the first and second downstream port. Moreover, the hub circuit comprises a switching mechanism adapted to selectively couple the first downstream port internally within the hub circuit with the second downstream port to enable a data transfer between the first functional module and the second functional module. |
| US08531935B1 |
Plant gain calibration for an optical storage servo system
Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for calibrating gains of an optical storage servo system having a plant. The method includes translating a first signal of the plant from a time domain effort signal into a frequency domain effort signal, translating a second signal of the plant from a time domain error signal into a frequency domain error signal, determining a first gain of the optical storage servo system based on the first signal and the second signal, comparing a third signal from an optical disk of the optical storage servo system with a predetermined threshold, and asserting a defect flag when the third signal drops below the predetermined threshold to avoid calibrating the first gain based on the first signal and the second signal. |
| US08531932B2 |
Adjusting method for recording condition and optical disc device
In a optical disc system with constraint length equal to or greater than 5, under assumption that continuous 2T count included in a predetermined evaluation bit array is denoted by i and that length of evaluation bit array of interest is given by (5+2i), judgment is passed on whether binary bit arrays include the evaluation bit array. Previously prepared are the error vectors calculated on the basis of target signals corresponding to the evaluation bit arrays and the target signals derived from the binary bit arrays, and the selection of a desired error vector is performed depending on the result of the judgment. At the same time, an equalized error vector is calculated from the target signal derived from the binary bit array and the reproduced signal, and the inner product of the equalized error vector and the selected error vector is calculated. |
| US08531931B2 |
Optical disk inspecting apparatus and method
An optical disk inspecting apparatus 10 plays an optical disk at a high speed and determines, based on error information provided during the high-speed reproduction, whether or not errors of a number exceeding a first threshold value have occurred. Then, when it is determined that errors of a number exceeding a first threshold value have occurred, the optical disk inspecting apparatus 10 performs high-speed principal determination of executing high-speed reproduction in this segment and determining presence or absence of errors of a number exceeding a second threshold value and also performs low-speed principal determination of executing low-speed reproduction in this segment and determining presence or absence of errors of a number exceeding the second threshold value. When errors of a number exceeding the second threshold value are detected, it is determined that there is a defect, and NG is outputted. |
| US08531930B2 |
Optical pickup device and optical disc apparatus
For obtaining stable servo-signals without receiving ill influences of stray lights from other layers, on both a focus error signal and a tracking error signal, when recording/reproducing a multi-layer optical disc having small gap between layers thereof, a light beam is divided with using a first and a second diffraction gratings. The first diffraction grating is a polarization diffraction grating, and is mounted on an actuator. The second diffraction grating is disposed on a fixed portion. The first diffraction grating has a first region having a center of a light beam and other(s), and among signal lights reflecting from the disc, the light beam entering into the first region is diffracted, and the light beam entering into the second region transmits therethrough. The second diffraction grating transmits the light beam diffracting on the first region of the polarization diffraction grating therethrough, while diffracting the light beam diffracting on the second region. |
| US08531929B2 |
Recording methods and devices for recording information on dual layer recordable disks
The invention relates to recording methods for recording information on a dual layer recordable disk, and to corresponding recording devices. In one such method and recording device the OPC-area is variably located on a layer of the disk. In a preferred embodiment the OPC-area is located relative close to the radius where the data stream switches from the first layer to the second layer. This reduced additional time required for jumping to a fixed OPC-area. Furthermore, in another such method and device the information to be recorded is equally divided over both layers of the dual layer disc. This avoids additional time required for finalization. |
| US08531924B2 |
System and method for a robotic storage system organized by heat value of storage media
Provided is a system and method for a organizing a robotic storage system. The robotic storage system includes a plurality of storage locations of varying priority and varying distance to a data read/write device. The robot storage system further includes a plurality of portable data storage elements each having at least three fields, a load field, a read/write field and a user determined field. A temporary storage location within the robotic storage system for each data storage element is determined at least in part by evaluating the data storage element's load field, read/write field and user determined fields to determine a heat value and correlating the heat value to the storage locations. An associated method of use is also disclosed. |
| US08531922B2 |
Striking watch provided with a gong insulator
The striking watch (1) includes at least one gong (3) fixed to a gong-carrier (2) and at least one hammer (4) for striking the gong. The watch further includes a magnetic gong insulator arrangement (20) for preventing any inadvertent contact between the gong and a neighboring part (5, 6) of the watch. This magnetic insulator arrangement (20) includes at least one moving permanent magnet (21) arranged on one part of the gong (3) at a distance from the gong-carrier (2) and at least one fixed permanent magnet (22, 23) arranged on a watch part (5, 6) close to the gong. This fixed permanent magnet is capable of generating a magnetic field of opposite polarity to the magnetic field of the moving permanent magnet facing the fixed permanent magnet. |
| US08531918B2 |
Underwater communications
An environmental monitoring system including at least one underwater measurement device and a transmitter for transmitting data from the measurement device to an above water station using a magnetically coupled antenna. |
| US08531914B2 |
Method of imaging a target area of the subsoil from walkaway type data
A method of imaging a target area of the subsoil from “walkaway” data having application to development of oil reservoirs or monitoring of geologic storage sites is disclosed. After acquisition of seismic data of walkaway type and estimation of the rate of propagation of the seismic waves in the subsoil, p illumination angles are selected. The seismic measurements are then converted to data Dp by illumination angle. The distribution of acoustic impedances best explaining data Dp is determined within the target by using a non-linear inversion which minimizes a difference between the data Dp obtained from measurements and data by illumination angle resulting from an estimation. This estimation is performed by solving a wave propagation equation from the velocity field, an acoustic impedance distribution and a pressure distribution at the level of the top of the target for each illumination angle. |
| US08531912B2 |
Method and device to acquire marine seismic data
The invention concerns a method to acquire seismic waves by means of a streamer towed by a vessel and comprising a plurality of seismic receivers. The streamer comprises a head portion that is slanted relative to the water surface and a tail portion having at least one section with a different slant. |
| US08531907B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and method
In an embodiment, a method of operating a memory cell coupled to a first port and to a second port includes determining if a first port is requesting to access the memory cell and determining if a second port is requesting to access the memory cell. Based on the determining, if the first port and the second port are simultaneously requesting to access the memory cell, the second port is deactivated, the memory cell is accessed from the first port, and an accessed memory state is propagated from the first port to circuitry associated with the second port. |
| US08531906B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and method for operating the same
A semiconductor memory device includes first and second write driving blocks to perform a data write operation on first and second memory banks in response to first and second bank strobe signals, respectively, and a common input driving block to transmit data to the first and second write driving blocks through a common data line in response to access information of the first and second memory banks. |
| US08531905B2 |
Memory apparatus and refresh method thereof
A memory apparatus includes a memory cell array comprising a plurality of memory cells connected with a plurality of bit lines and a plurality of word lines, a page buffer unit connected to the plurality of bit lines and latch data read from a memory cell selected from the plurality of memory cells, and a control unit configured to generate a refresh signal according to a prestored current status and provide the refresh signal to the page buffer unit in order to substantially prevent loss of the data latched by the page buffer unit. |
| US08531904B2 |
Methods and apparatus for extending the effective thermal operating range of a memory
Apparatus and systems are provided for thermal regulation of a memory integrated circuit (“IC”). The apparatus and systems may include a thermal sensor on a memory IC, and a heating element coupled to the thermal sensor. The heating element is adapted to heat the memory IC in response to a signal from the thermal sensor. Other aspects are also provided. |
| US08531902B2 |
Sensing circuit
A circuit includes a degeneration p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor (PMOS) transistor, a load PMOS transistor, and a clamp transistor configured to clamp a voltage applied to a resistance based memory element during a sensing operation. A gate of the load PMOS transistor is controlled by an output of a not-AND (NAND) circuit. |
| US08531900B2 |
Techniques for increasing a lifetime of blocks of memory
Techniques are described for increasing a lifetime of blocks of memory. In operation, respective life expectancy scores for each of the blocks are calculated based at least in part on a respective number of times each of the blocks is respectively erased, and further based at least in part on at least one other factor that affects the lifetime of the blocks. An order to write and recycle the blocks is determined, based at least in part on at least some of the respective lifetime expectancy scores. A total amount of the blocks that are erased and written is minimized while lifetime expectancy score variation between the blocks is equalized. |
| US08531898B2 |
On-die termination circuit, data output buffer and semiconductor memory device
An on-die termination circuit includes a termination resistor unit connected to an external pin, and a termination control unit connected to the termination resistor unit. The termination resistor unit provides termination impedance to a transmission line connected to the external pin. The termination control unit varies the termination impedance in response to a plurality of bits of strength code associated with a data rate. |
| US08531896B2 |
Semiconductor system, semiconductor memory apparatus, and method for input/output of data using the same
A semiconductor system, a semiconductor memory apparatus, and a method for input/output of data using the same are disclosed. The semiconductor system includes a controller and a memory apparatus where the controller is configured to transmit a clock signal, a data output command, an address signal, and a second strobe signal to a memory apparatus. The memory apparatus is configured to provide data to the controller in synchronization with the second strobe signal, and in response to the clock signal, the data output command, the address signal, and the second strobe signal received from the controller. |
| US08531895B2 |
Current control circuit
A current control device is disclosed, which reduces a standby current of a semiconductor memory device and a turn-on current of a transistor. The current control device includes an input controller configured to combine a trigger signal and a set signal controlling a circuit operation status, and a drive unit configured to drive an output signal of the input controller, wherein the drive unit includes a current controller for selectively providing a ground voltage in response to an activation status of a pull-down driving signal. |
| US08531894B2 |
Semiconductor memory device having low power consumption type column decoder and read operation method thereof
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device having a low power consumption type column decoder and read operation method thereof. In accordance with the semiconductor memory device and read operation method thereof according to the present invention, one of a plurality of decoding units of a column decoder is selectively operated according to a logic value(s) of one of some of bits of a column address signal. It is thus possible to reduce unnecessary switching current. |
| US08531893B2 |
Semiconductor device and data processor
In a data processor having a bus controller that performs timing control of access from the CPU operated in synchronization with a high-speed first clock signal to a peripheral circuit operated in synchronization with a low-speed second clock signal, a timing control circuit is provided between the peripheral circuit and the bus controller, and the bus controller causes, in response to a read instruction from the peripheral circuit, the timing control circuit to output data held by the peripheral circuit to the bus controller in synchronization with the cycle of the high-speed clock signal, causes the timing control circuit to start, in response to a write instruction directed to the peripheral circuit, writing into the peripheral circuit in synchronization with the cycle of the high-speed clock signal, and terminates the writing in synchronization with the cycle of the low-speed clock signal. |
| US08531885B2 |
NAND-based 2T2b NOR flash array with a diode connection to cell's source node for size reduction using the least number of metal layers
A NAND-based NOR flash memory array has a matrix of NAND-based NOR flash cells arranged in rows and columns. Every two adjacent NAND-based NOR flash cells in a column share a common source node which is connected to a common source line through a diode. The source line may be made of a metal layer and is in contact directly with the source node or through an ohmic contact to form a Schottky barrier diode. The source line may also be made of a polysilicon or metal layer and connected to the source node through a pillar-structured polysilicon diode and a conduction layer. The diode may also be formed in the source node by enclosing a P/N+ junction diode in a heavily N+ doped region of the source node. |
| US08531876B2 |
Unipolar spin-transfer switching memory unit
A memory unit includes a magnetic tunnel junction data cell electrically coupled to a bit line and a word line. The magnetic tunnel junction data cell is configured to switch between a high resistance state and a low resistance state by passing a unipolar voltage across the magnetic tunnel junction data cell. A diode is electrically coupled between the magnetic tunnel junction data cell and the word line or bit line. A voltage source provides the unipolar voltage across the magnetic tunnel junction data cell that writes the high resistance state and the low resistance state. |
| US08531872B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit and manufacturing method thereof
High manufacturing yield is realized and variation in threshold voltage of each MOS transistor in a CMOS·SRAM is compensated. Body bias voltages are applied to wells for MOS transistors of each SRAM memory cell in any active mode of an information holding operation, a write operation and a read operation of an SRAM. Threshold voltages of PMOS and NMOS transistors of the SRAM are first measured. Control information is programmed into control memories according to results of determination. Levels of the body bias voltages are adjusted based on the programs so that variations in the threshold voltages of the MOS transistors of the CMOS·SRAM are controlled to a predetermined error span. Body bias voltage corresponding to a reverse body bias or an extremely shallow forward body bias is applied to a substrate for the MOS transistors with an operating voltage applied to the source of each MOS transistor. |
| US08531866B2 |
Nonvolatile memories and reconfigurable circuits
A nonvolatile memory according to an embodiment includes at least one memory cell including: a variable resistance memory comprising one end connected to a first terminal, and the other end connected to a second terminal, a drive voltage being applied to the first terminal; and a diode comprising a cathode connected to the second terminal, and an anode connected to a third terminal, a ground potential being applied to the third terminal. An output of the memory cell is output from the second terminal, the output of the memory cell depends on a resistance state of the variable resistance memory. |
| US08531864B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor integrated circuit for controlling sensing voltage
A nonvolatile semiconductor integrated circuit includes a memory cell array configured to include each of memory cells having a variable resistor; a current sensing unit configured to convert a current which depends on the variable resistor of a corresponding memory cell, into a sensing voltage; and a voltage control unit configured to receive the sensing voltage for a predetermined time in response to a sensing control signal, regulate the received sensing voltage, and provide a sensing output voltage. |
| US08531857B2 |
Power supply device and method for driving the same
In a reverse conducting semiconductor device, which forms a composition circuit, a positive voltage that is higher than a positive voltage of a collector electrode may be applied to an emitter electrode. In this case, in a region of the reverse conducting semiconductor device in which a return diode is formed, a body contact region functions as an anode, a drift contact region functions as a cathode, and current flows from the anode to the cathode. When a voltage having a lower electric potential than the collector electrode is applied to the trench gate electrode at that time, p-type carriers are generated within the cathode and a quantity of carriers increases within the return diode. As a result, a forward voltage drop of the return diode lowers, and constant loss of electric power can be reduced. Electric power loss can be reduced in a power supply device that uses such a composition circuit in which a switching element and the return diode are connected in reverse parallel. |
| US08531855B2 |
Power conversion apparatus
According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a controller which outputs a signal for controlling ON and OFF of a switch which changes over connection between a second input terminal and the output end of a coil. The controller includes an MPPT control unit which follows a maximum power point with a period based on a zero-cross detection signal of a system voltage based on an input signal acquired by subtracting a value obtained by multiplying a droop gain simulating drooping characteristics, a control unit which outputs a direction value in such a manner that a difference between a reference output from the MPPT control unit and the input signal becomes zero, and a PWM comparator which outputs a PWM signal based on the direction value and a triangular wave voltage. |
| US08531850B2 |
Capacitor circuit and power conversion circuit including a resonant frequency adjustment element
A capacitor circuit includes a first capacitor line including a film capacitor and a second capacitor line including a ceramic capacitor that are connected in parallel with each other. The second capacitor line includes an inductance element that is connected in series with the ceramic capacitor. The inductance element is set to a value such that a series resonant frequency of the first capacitor line and a series resonant frequency of the second capacitor line are matched. |
| US08531846B2 |
Integrated AC/DC power supply and platform for military radio
An AC/DC power supply and platform for a military radio has been developed. The apparatus includes a base that supports at least one SINCGARS RT-1523 radio. The base is connected to an AC power supply and at least one DC power supply. The AC supply and DC power supply are configured to switch automatically to the DC power supply should the AC power supply fail. |
| US08531844B2 |
Sliding portable electronic device
Provided is a sliding portable electronic device having a waterproof structure which does not restrict a circuit design. Provided is a sliding portable electronic device having a waterproof structure which does not restrict a circuit design. The sliding portable electronic device according to the present invention comprises a pair of housings engaging slidably with each other. An electric component built in one housing is connected to an electric component built in the other housing through a flexible lead. The other housing is provided with an opening, through which the flexible lead passes, and the opening is blocked by a waterproof sheet. The flexible lead, which is drawn out from the electric component of the one casing, passes between the abutment surfaces of the waterproof sheet and the other casing and is connected to the electric component of the other housing. |
| US08531843B2 |
Foldable electrical connector-housing system and method of manufacture thereof
A method of manufacture of a foldable electrical connector-housing system includes: providing a first end panel having an outer first end panel side with first end panel contacts that substantially span from one edge of the outer first end panel side to an opposite edge of the outer first end panel side; providing a second end panel having an outer second end panel side, the second end panel and the first end panel with the outer second end panel side facing away from the outer first end panel side and the first end panel contacts exposed in a folded configuration; mounting an electronic component between the outer first end panel side and the outer second end panel side; and connecting a conductor to the first end panel contacts and the electronic component. |
| US08531838B2 |
Television apparatus and electronic device
According to one embodiment, a television apparatus includes an exothermic component, a heat transfer mechanism, a plurality of heat releasing fins, a fan, and a deflecting member. The exothermic component is housed in a housing. The heat transfer mechanism is at least partially housed in the housing. The heat transfer mechanism includes a heat receiving portion that receives heat from the exothermic component, a heat releasing portion that releases heat, and a heat transferring portion that houses a medium to transfer heat from the heat receiving portion to the heat releasing portion. The heat releasing fins are thermally connected to the heat releasing portion and arranged with gaps therebetween. The fan generates an air flow flowing through the gaps. The deflecting member is located at least downstream of the gaps to cover the gaps. The deflecting member deflects the air flow toward an exhaust outlet formed in the housing. |
| US08531835B2 |
Method, apparatus, and system for a low profile computer adapter card retainer and load distribution system
A method, apparatus, and system are disclosed for a planar adapter card retainer bracket that is removably attachable to a computer chassis and is formed with a plurality of plunger openings. Each plunger opening is configured to receive a respective adapter card retainer plunger. The adapter card retainer plunger is configured to extend from the bracket into the computer chassis to engage an edge of an adapter card thereby retaining the adapter card in a selected slot even if the adapter card is a low-profile adapter card. |
| US08531832B2 |
Notebook computer device with image capture module
A notebook computer device includes an image capture module, a cover, a first magnetic element, and a second magnetic element. The image capture module is disposed on a body of the computer device, the cover is moveably disposed on the body. The image capture module is exposed when the cover is at a first position, and the image capture module is covered when the cover is at a second position. The first magnet element is disposed on the cover, and a second magnet element is disposed on the body corresponding to the first magnet element. The cover moves between a first position and a second position via the magnetic force of repulsion and attraction. |
| US08531831B2 |
Notebook computer
A notebook computer comprises a first machinery, a first latch, a second machinery, a slider, an elastic element and a push element. The first latch is disposed on an edge of the first machinery. The second machinery has one side pivotally connected to the first machinery, and the other side formed with at least one latching hole. When the computer is closed, the first latch is inserted into the latching hole. The slider includes a body and a second latch. The body is slidably disposed in the second machinery along a first moving path. The second latch, disposed on the body, suits to latch or unlatch the first latch. The elastic element has one end connected to the slider, and the other end connected to the second machinery. The push element, slidably disposed in the second machinery along a second moving path, suits to push the body. |
| US08531825B2 |
Indicator securing structure
A display securing structure includes a rectangular display 4 with thickness including a terminal, and a holder 9 assembled by the display 4; the holder 9 includes a resilient lug 91 serving as a thickness-directionally urging member, formed on a bottom plate of the holder to urge the display 4 mounted thereon in the direction of thickness; a resilient lug 92 working as a downwardly urging member, formed on an upper side plate thereof to urge the display 4 to the side of the terminal; resilient lugs 93 serving as a rightwardly and leftward urging member, formed on left and right side plates thereof so as to urge the display 4 from left and right; and resiliently engaging claws 94 and 95 working as a face pressing member, formed on a backside plate and the right and left side plates thereof to press the face of the display 4. |
| US08531820B2 |
Bus system and module body for use therein
An insulative module body for a bus system has at least two first channels, each adapted for at least partly receiving a bus bar. Each first channel extends through the body along one side thereof, and is open to the outside at one side and at both longitudinal ends thereof The body has at least two second channels, each adapted for receiving a power connection element for cooperating with a complementary circuit breaker contacting element. Each second channel extends generally transverse to the first channels and is open at one longitudinal end thereof The first and second channels respectively extend through the body in a first plane and a second plane generally parallel to the first plane and offset therefrom. The first and second channels cross each other in respective parallel, offset planes. The body includes at least one opening for each second channel to connect with one first channel. |
| US08531818B2 |
Electric double layer capacitor and method for manufacturing the same
An electric double layer capacitor 200 is configured such that a positive electrode 206, a separator 205, and a negative electrode 207 stacked in this order are contained in a container, and a portion between the positive electrode 206 and the negative electrode 207 is filled with an electrolytic solution. A polar plate of one or each of the positive electrode 206 and the negative electrode 207 includes a current collector 201, 203 and a plurality of electrically-conductive fine fibers 202, 204 formed and standing on a surface of the current collector such that one end of each of the fine fibers is electrically connected to the surface of the current collector. A surface of the polar plate is covered with the separator 205, the surface corresponding to the surface of the current collector. The polar plate and the separator 205 are pressure bonded to be integrated with each other. In the electric double layer capacitor using the electrically-conductive fine fiber, such as a carbon nanotube, as an active material, energy density can be increased by densely compressing the active material. |
| US08531814B2 |
Removal of charge between a substrate and an electrostatic clamp
An electrostatic clamp, which more effectively removes built up charge from a substrate prior to and during removal, is disclosed. Currently, the lift pins and ground pins are the only mechanisms used to remove charge from the substrate after implantation. The present discloses describes a clamp having one of more additional low resistance paths to ground. These additional conduits allow built up charge to be dissipated prior to and during the removal of the substrate from the clamp. By providing sufficient charge drainage from the backside surface of the substrate 114, the problem whereby the substrate sticks to the clamp can be reduced. This results in a corresponding reduction in substrate breakage. |
| US08531810B2 |
Over-current protection circuit and electronic device with the same
An over-current protection circuit for preventing a function module from over-current, the function module obtains power from a power source via an input port. The over-current protection circuit includes a path switch, a current detection circuit, a conductor switch, a first control module, and a second control module. The current detection circuit and the path switch form a loop with the input port and the function module. The current detection circuit detects a value of a current of the loop, and produces a first control signal when detecting the current of the loop is equal to or greater than a predetermined current value. The first control module turns off the conductor switch when receiving the first control signal. The second control module turns off the path switch when the conductor switch is turned off, thereby cutting off the loop. |
| US08531809B2 |
Surge protector
A surge protector includes a first surge suppression assembly comprising a first conductive layer comprising an arm, an extension distal to the arm and having toothed edges, and a substantially C-shaped member projecting out of the extension and having toothed edges, and a substantially circular member with toothed edges formed at an open end of the extension; a second conductive layer comprising an arm including a terminal, an extension being distal the arm, a first substantially C-shaped member having toothed edges, and a second substantially C-shaped member at an open end of the extension wherein the first substantially C-shaped member, the substantially C-shaped member, the second substantially C-shaped member, and the substantially circular member are arranged concentrically; and an overvoltage protection assembly interconnecting the arm and the terminal. The overvoltage protection assembly is electrically connected to the first surge suppression assembly. |
| US08531799B2 |
Head gimbal assembly with contact detection
An apparatus and associated method for a head gimbal assembly (HGA) that detects a contact event. Various embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to a load beam coupled to a plate via a gimbal. The plate has a cantilevered ramp limiter which extends forward from the gimbal to engage a ramp load/unload structure. A slider is affixed to a lower surface of the plate opposite the gimbal while a strain gage is affixed to the ramp limiter. |
| US08531798B1 |
Disk drive adjusting servo burst signals to compensate for radial velocity of the head
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of servo sectors that define a plurality of servo tracks, wherein the servo sectors comprise a plurality of servo bursts. A radial velocity of the head is detected relative to the servo tracks. At least two of the servo bursts are read to generate servo burst signals, and the servo burst signals are adjusted in response to the radial velocity of the head. A position error signal is generated for the head in response to the adjusted servo burst signals. |
| US08531797B2 |
Anti-shock method for head stack assembly
The present invention directs an anti-shock method for head stack assembly which carries a slider for flying on a disk for operation, and the anti-shock method includes: inputting a constant current to a head disk interface sensor which is deposited in the slider; obtaining a changing voltage of the head disk interface sensor, which is changed with the temperature of the head disk interface sensor as the slider is shocked; outputting the changing voltage to a controller with a threshold set therein; if the changing voltage is bigger than the threshold for a specified number of times, the controller is triggered to control the head stack assembly to stop operating and load on a ramp beside the disk; while if the changing voltage is small than the threshold for said specified number of times, the controller is not be triggered and the head stack assembly still operates. |
| US08531784B2 |
Imaging lens
An imaging lens includes: an aperture stop; a biconvex first lens directing convex surfaces toward an object and an image; a second lens directing a convex surface toward the object near the optical axis and having negative refractive power; a biconvex third lens directing convex surfaces toward the object and the image near the optical axis; a fourth lens directing a concave surface toward the object near the optical axis and having positive refractive power; and a fifth lens directing a convex surface toward the object near the optical axis and having negative refractive power. The aperture stop and the first to fifth lenses are arranged in this order from the object side, and a conditional expression 1 being 0.50 |
| US08531782B2 |
Emitting and focusing apparatus, methods, and systems
Apparatus, methods, and systems provide emitting, field-adjusting, and focusing of electromagnetic energy. In some approaches the field-adjusting includes providing an extended depth of field greater than a nominal depth of field. In some approaches the field-adjusting includes field-adjusting with a transformation medium, where the transformation medium may include an artificially-structured material such as a metamaterial. |
| US08531777B2 |
Zoom lens
A zoom lens includes, sequentially from an object side, a first lens group having a positive refractive power; a second lens group having negative refractive power; a third lens group having a positive refractive power; and a fourth lens group having a positive refractive power. The third lens group includes, sequentially from the object side, a front group having a positive refractive power and a rear group having a negative refractive power. Zoom is performed by moving the second lens group and the third lens group in a direction along an optical axis, and by integrally moving the front group and the rear group in a direction along the optical axis. Focusing is preformed by moving the front group in a direction along the optical axis. |
| US08531770B2 |
Diffractive optical element and optical device
A diffractive optical element includes a first optical member having a first diffraction grating with a sawtooth cross section; and a second optical member which has a second diffraction grating having a sawtooth cross section and which has a refractive index different from that of the first optical member. In the diffractive optical element, the first and second optical members are stacked so that the first and second diffraction gratings closely contact each other. Arithmetical mean roughness of a diffraction surface of the first diffraction grating is set so as to fall within a predetermined range. |
| US08531768B2 |
Zoom lens system
A zoom lens system includes a negative first lens group, a positive second lens group, and a positive third lens group, in that order from the object side, wherein upon zooming from the short to long focal length extremities, the distance between the first lens group and the second lens group decreases, and the distance between the second lens group and the third lens group increases. The second lens group includes a positive first sub-lens group and a negative second sub-lens group, in that order from the object side. In at least part of the zooming range of the zoom lens system, the second sub-lens group and the third lens group each serves as a focusing lens group that is moved along the optical axis during a focusing operation. |
| US08531767B2 |
Zoom lens
A zoom lens includes, sequentially from an object side, a first lens group having a positive refractive power; a second lens group having a negative refractive power; a third lens group having a positive refractive power; and a fourth lens group having a positive refractive power. Zoom is performed by moving the second and the third lens groups in a direction along an optical axis. The fourth lens group consists of, sequentially from the object side, a front group having a positive refractive power, an intermediate group configured by a cemented lens formed by a positive lens and a negative lens and having an overall refractive power that is negative, and a rear group having a positive refractive power. Blur is corrected by moving the intermediate group in a direction that is substantially orthogonal to the optical axis. |
| US08531765B2 |
Circularly polarizing plate and display device
The present invention provides at low cost a display device with superior visibility and high contrast ratio even in a bright room environment through a reduction in the undesired reflection, not only of the incident outside light from the normal direction, but also of the outside incident light from an oblique direction. The present invention is a circularly polarizing plate including a polarizer and a λ/4 plate, and the aforementioned circularly polarizing plate includes an anti-reflective layer, the aforementioned polarizer, a birefringent layer, and the aforementioned λ/4 plate which are laminated in this order, the NZ coefficient of the aforementioned birefringent layer satisfies NZ<0.1, the in-plane fast axis of the aforementioned birefringent layer is orthogonal to the absorption axis of the aforementioned polarizer, the NZ coefficient of the aforementioned λ/4 plate satisfies NZ>0.9, and the in-plane slow axis of the aforementioned λ/4 plate intersects the absorption axis of the aforementioned polarizer. |
| US08531764B2 |
Stereoscopic image display device using pattern retarder method and method for fabricating the same
Embodiments of the invention relate to a stereoscopic image display device using a pattern retarder method, which can widen a vertical viewing angle when watching a stereoscopic image, and a method for fabricating the same. The stereoscopic image display device comprises: a display panel having data lines, gate lines crossing the data lines, and a plurality of pixels formed in cell areas defined by the crossings of the data lines and the gate lines; and a pattern retarder having a first retarder for passing only left circularly polarized light therethrough and a second retarder for passing only right circularly polarized light therethrough, wherein a plurality of light absorption patterns are formed in a first substrate of the display panel, and the long axis direction of the light absorption patterns is the same as the long axis direction of the first retarder and the second retarder. |
| US08531763B2 |
Method of manufacturing screen and partial screen
A screen is manufactured by a partial screen manufacturing process, a cutting process, and a bonding process. In the partial screen manufacturing process, partial screens adapted to constitute the screen and each having a plurality of lens elements arranged on a surface are manufactured. In the cutting process, the partial screens are each cut. In the bonding process, the partial screens are bonded to each other on the cutting surfaces of the partial screens thus cut. Thus, since the shape of the molding die for forming the screen can be made smaller, the manufacturing process can be simplified. |
| US08531762B2 |
Confocal microscope apparatus
A confocal microscope apparatus comprises a first optical scanning system which obtains a scan image of a sample using a laser beam from a first laser light source, a second optical scanning system which scans specific regions of a sample with a laser beam from a second laser light source that is different from the first laser light source, thereby causing a particular phenomenon, and a beam diameter varying mechanism which can change the beam diameter of the laser beam of at least one of the first optical scanning system and the second optical scanning system. With this configuration, the apparatus further comprises an excitation light intensity distribution calculator which calculates and stores the excitation light intensity distribution along a depth direction on the sample surface from the beam diameter of the laser beam output from the beam diameter varying mechanism. |
| US08531759B2 |
Dielectric microstructure for use in microelectromechanical systems and method of forming same
Disclosed herein is a dielectric microstructure with a substantially unit dielectric constant K for use in microelectromechanical systems. |
| US08531756B2 |
Optical processing device
A method and apparatus is provided for processing an optical beam. The method includes spatially dispersing an optical beam received from an optical port into a plurality of wavelength components. The wavelength components are focused and at least one of the components is selectively directed to one of the optical ports by reflecting the focused wavelength component at least twice from a DMD before being directed to a selected one of the optical ports. A resolution of the focused wavelength component is optimized when it is reflected from the DMD a first or second time at the expense of the other time when it is reflected. |
| US08531754B2 |
Electrochromic display element
An electrochromic display element including a display substrate, at least one display electrode, a counter electrode, a counter substrate, at least one electrochromic layer in contact with the display electrode, and an electrolyte layer between the electrochromic layer and the counter electrode, wherein the electrolyte layer contains a matrix resin having a three-dimensionally crosslinked structure and a mixture of a liquid crystal compound and an electrolyte, and wherein the mixture of the liquid crystal compound and the electrolyte is dispersed as a continuous phase in the matrix resin. |
| US08531746B2 |
Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus is provided. The image processing apparatus includes: an acquiring unit that acquires original image data and a first color conversion profile associated with the original image data; an editing unit that edits the original image data by using the first color conversion profile to generate edited image data; a preparing unit that prepares a second color conversion profile different from the first color conversion profile in a first case where the editing unit generates the edited image data having a data size smaller than that of the original image data, wherein a data size of the second color conversion profile is smaller than that of the first color conversion profile; and a storage control unit that, in the first case, stores the edited image data and the second color conversion profile in a memory while being associated with each other. |
| US08531745B2 |
Image formation density correction in image forming apparatus
An image processing apparatus which makes it possible to correct the image density of a target color in real time and maintain highly accurate image density characteristics over a long term. In a first control, the output of a laser driver is controlled such that the gradation of an image signal coincides with that of an image to be recorded on a sheet. The density level of a developed patch to be formed on a photosensitive drum is set to a different value on a toner color-by-toner color basis. In a second control, the output from the laser driver is controlled such that the density of the developed patch coincides with a reference density. An LUT generated in the first control is corrected according to the difference between the density of the developed patch and the reference density. |
| US08531742B2 |
Sheet detecting device, double feed determining device, and image reading apparatus using the same
A sheet detecting device including: an ultrasound generator; a transmitting side opening, which includes a first opening and a second opening to transmit the ultrasound; a transmitting side propagation unit, which is connected to the ultrasound generator and each of the transmitting side openings; a receiving side opening, which includes a third opening and a fourth opening to receives the ultrasound transmitted from the first opening and the second opening; an ultrasound receiver; a receiving side propagation unit, which is connected to each of the receiving side openings and the ultrasound receiver; and a first determining unit, wherein a first distance from the ultrasound generator to the first opening is different from a second distance from the ultrasound generator to the second opening, and wherein a third distance from the ultrasound receiver to the third opening is different from a fourth distance from the ultrasound receiver to the fourth opening. |
| US08531740B1 |
Universal scanning stand for devices equipped with a digital camera
One embodiment of a scanning stand for devices equipped with a digital camera comprising two inverted-V parts. One inverted-V part includes a sliding platform serving as a holder for a device equipped with a digital camera. Inverted-V parts are connected using nylon ribbons and the distance between inverted-V parts can be adjusted to accommodate documents of various thicknesses. A sheet of transparent acrylic or glass is included to provide means to flatten wrinkles or creases on documents and to straighten pages of bound material near the binding. |
| US08531737B2 |
Scanning device, apparatus and method for image processing
A scanning device includes a first scanning unit, a second scanning unit, and a light source corresponding to each of the first scanning unit and the second scanning unit. The light sources are arranged on the same side of the first and second scanning units with respect to the main scanning direction. |
| US08531734B2 |
Cluster model for controlling color in a color marking device
What is disclosed is a system and method for improving image quality of a color of interest using a cluster model in a color printing system involving the following. First, one or more image quality attributes are selected for a target color marking device. A cluster model is received which comprises a plurality of clusters with each cluster having an associated transform. The cluster model is used to estimate an image quality parameter. The image quality parameter is used to select colorant sets and thereby to improve the image quality in the marking device. Various embodiments of the use of cluster models are disclosed. |
| US08531727B2 |
Image forming apparatus and tone characteristics correction method
An image forming apparatus includes, for example, a pattern generating unit, image processing unit, image recording unit, and correction unit. The pattern generating unit generates a test pattern signal used to form a test pattern including a plurality of tone patches differing in tonality from each other. The image processing unit performs image processing on the test pattern signal according to a predetermined image processing mode out of a plurality of image processing modes related to tone characteristics. The image recording unit records the test pattern on a recording medium according to the test pattern signal processed by the image processing unit. The correction unit corrects the image processing mode based on a result of reading the test pattern recorded on the recording medium. In particular, the image recording unit records a background pattern around periphery of the test pattern. |
| US08531724B2 |
Image forming device
A problem that setting (setting the kind of a paper or a printout method) for achieving the print effect (gloss effect or matte effect) at a maximum is very complicated and therefore, a manual setting thereof by a user is very difficult. When image data which a user desires to print and a desire for a print effect to transparent form image data are input, the paper type, conversion of the transparent form image data and a printout method for realizing the print effect are automatically set and printed out. |
| US08531722B2 |
Color compensation apparatus and method, image forming apparatus, and computer readable recording medium
A color compensation apparatus, a color compensation method, an image forming apparatus, and a computer readable recording medium are provided. The color compensation apparatus includes a color scheme analyzing unit to classify an input image into one or more objects and to compute average color values for each of the classified one or more objects, a storage unit to store a color table proposed for color compensation, and a color compensating unit to compensate the average color values computed for each of the classified one or more objects using colors of the stored color table which match the computed average color values. |
| US08531719B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming system, storage medium, and control method including recommendation information writing
An image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus into which a memory device is insertable and which performs a printing process on an image of image data stored in the memory device. The image forming apparatus includes a memory reading section for detecting insertion of the memory device into the image forming apparatus, and a display processing section for performing a notification process of warning of accidental ingestion of the memory device, when the memory reading section detects the insertion of the memory device. This makes it more surely possible to cause a user to give attention to accidental ingestion by young children. |
| US08531715B2 |
Method and system for forming image, and external device
An external device is configured to be directly connected to an image forming device. The external device includes an image storage unit configured to store therein image data. The external device further includes a setting unit configured to issue a plurality of output commands of the image data to an image forming device based on a total number of images to be output by the image forming device and a specified mode indicative of a number of images to be output onto one side of a medium. The external device further includes a communication unit configured to transmit the image data based on the plurality of output commands to the image forming device. |
| US08531714B2 |
Pharmacy printer system and method
A computer network system and method is provided for printing accompanying information and prescription labels in pharmacies. The system includes a central computer system; a pharmacy management system; and a data transmission network through which the pharmacy management system and the central computer system can communicate. The pharmacy management system may include an I/O terminal, a scanner, and a first printer. The pharmacy management system may receive and store prescription information for a prescription, and associate a prescription identification with the corresponding prescription. The pharmacy management system may print a prescription label for the prescription and an accompanying information print file. |
| US08531713B2 |
Image forming apparatus for sequentially displaying the display images in the input order and displaying the latest display image during input of the image data
An image forming apparatus includes a document reader, a storage for storing image data and a control unit. The control unit includes a display image generator, a display panel and a control unit-side controller for giving display guidance on the input status of image data from the document reader, on the display panel. The control unit-side controller has the function that, when image data is input from the document reader, displays display images generated by the display image generator, sequentially in the order of input and displaying the latest display image preferentially in the preview region during input of image data. |
| US08531709B2 |
Information-displaying system and information display method
An information-displaying system includes a server device, a printing device, and an information terminal device. The printing device includes a request-admitting part, a first generating part, and a first transmitting part. The server includes a first receiving part, a content determining part, a second generating part, a second transmitting part, and a second receiving part. The information terminal device includes a third receiving part, a display part, an operation-instructing part, and a third transmitting part. The second transmitting part is for transmitting generated link information to the information terminal device, and, in an instance in which a content transmission request regarding transmitted link information has been admitted from the information terminal device, for further transmitting content data to the information terminal device. The content data corresponds with a scope of the content to be displayed. |
| US08531706B2 |
Requesting capabilities of a printer and receiving capabilities of a printer and a print server
The systems and methods presented herein provide for delivery of a set of capabilities that encompasses system-level capabilities and device capabilities via a print protocol of a physical printer. For example, a printer object may respond to a print protocol request for capabilities of a physical printer with a set of capabilities that differs from the actual capabilities of the physical printer than would be typically delivered in response to such a request. The printer object comprises the capabilities of the physical printer. The capabilities of the physical printer are accessible via the print protocol of the physical printer. The printer object processes a request from the client system via the print protocol and in turn provides a set of capabilities that is different from the capabilities of the physical printer in response to the request. |
| US08531703B2 |
Print control program, print control method, and printing system for saving more resources than a function selected prior to the input operation
If, in the printing window displayed on the display according to the printer driver, the information processor is instructed to start printing, the control unit activates a program, displaying the main setting window at the front of the display. The main setting window shows images of resource saving buttons and a start decision button. Each of the resource saving buttons enables a user to select a printing function that can contribute to a resource saving more effectively than the already selected printing function or functions. The start decision button enables the user to decisively instruct the information processor to start the printing. |
| US08531698B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method and storage medium thereof for generating print data for form data
An object is to reduce a document generating time period of a form or the like, and to generate an appropriate document having correct calculation results even if it is necessary to calculate the aggregate of calculation target data extending over a plurality of pages. To achieve the object, the information processing apparatus is a system for generating a form by filling a plurality of insertion data into a template, which has a requesting unit configured to request one or more other apparatuses to execute processing of filling part of the plurality of insertion data into the template, wherein the requesting unit decides, according to the difference between two consecutive insertion data in the plurality of insertion data, the part of the insertion data the one or more other apparatuses are requested to fill into the template. |
| US08531694B2 |
Appending restriction information to a job before transmission
The image forming apparatus holds related restriction information associated with function restriction information for restricting the use of a function provided within the network. With the related restriction information, when the image forming apparatus receives a job that executes a reading function and a transmission function, it displays, for a transmission source user, a settings screen for setting job operation settings in which restrictions held in the function restriction information and the related restriction information have been reflected. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus generates and transmits a send file in which the restrictions imposed on the transmission destination user have been reflected by using the job operation settings set via the settings screen, the function restriction information and the related restriction information. |
| US08531692B2 |
Method and apparatus to generate color conversion profiles
Disclosed are an image forming apparatus and an image forming method thereof. The image forming method includes: selecting at least one among plural scanning profiles needed for color management at a scanning operation of a document and plural printing profiles needed for the color management at a printing operation of the document according to a user's input; and generating a printing image based on the selected scanning and printing profiles and a preset scanning or printing profile. |
| US08531687B2 |
Image formation device, display screen switching method, and program
The present invention relates to an image formation device, a display screen switching method, and a program. Excellent operability with user friendliness is realized by appropriately controlling switching of a display screen without increasing a burden on an operating system. In order to accomplish this, an image formation device 1 for example includes: a panel manager 33 for controlling switching of a display screen to be displayed on a display unit 5; a system controller 32 for controlling a hardware section; and an application section 39 for executing a specific function by putting the hardware section into operation through the system controller 32, and for creating a display screen relating to the specific function. When the system controller 32 detects the occurrence of an event with the display screen created in the application section 39 being displayed on the display unit 5, the panel manager 33 requests the application section 39 to determine whether or not switching of a display screen should be made, and controls switching of a display screen to be displayed on the display unit 5 based on a result of the determination made by the application section 39. |
| US08531683B2 |
Image forming device, image forming method and storage medium
A problem of the present invention is to provide an image forming device which can minimize density unevenness due to interpolation processing. For solving the above problem, an image forming device according to the present invention is an image forming device including printing unit for printing an image by scanning a photosensitive body comprising correcting unit for correcting a position in which the image is printed, wherein the correcting unit outputs one of a data of a line of interest, a data of a line adjacent to the line of interest, and a data of an intermediate value between the line of interest and the line adjacent to the line of interest in accordance with a pixel shift amount and a main scan pixel position, and the printing unit scans the photosensitive body based upon the outputted data. |
| US08531681B2 |
Multifunction printer, printing system, program for printing still images from movie image data
A multifunction printer includes a scanner; a still image data-extracting section which extracts a plurality of still image data from inputted movie image data; a memory which stores a correlation between the extracted still image data and time positions thereof in the movie image data; a printing head which prints, on a first printing medium, a plurality of thumbnail images corresponding to the extracted still image data and the time positions; and a selected image-extracting section which specifies the time position in the movie image data corresponding to a selection mark marked by a user when the first printing medium is read by the scanner after the selection mark is marked by the user to the first printing medium and which extracts a still image data corresponding to the identified time position based on the correlation stored in the memory. |
| US08531680B2 |
Method of detecting the width of a coated film and detection device used in said detection method
A method for inspecting the width of a coated film in accordance with the present disclosure is a method for detecting a width W1 of a coated film 20, the method including: a step of measuring a thickness profile in the transverse direction of the coated film 20; a step of creating approximating curves L1, L2 of a function of a distance X and a thickness Y in end-proximal regions 24a, 24b of both ends of the coated film 20; and a step of taking a distance Xe1 corresponding to a thickness threshold Yt determined from the approximating curve L1 of one end-proximal region 24a and a distance Xe2 corresponding to the thickness threshold Yt determined from the approximating curve L2 of the other end-proximal region 24b, and of calculating Xe1−Xe2 as the width W1. |
| US08531677B2 |
Frequency-shifting interferometer with selective data processing
A frequency-shifting interferometer is arranged for measuring an optical profile of a test object with a continuously tunable light source. A succession of the interference images of the test object are captured together with a measure of the beam frequencies at which interference images are formed. A limited number of the captured interference images of the test object are selected so that the monitored beam frequencies approximately match a predetermined beam frequency spacing pattern. Further processing proceeds based on the selected interference images. |
| US08531676B2 |
Forward-imaging optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems and probes
Provided are forward-imaging optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems and probes. In one embodiment, a scanning reflector surface is configured to be rotated about two axes in a single operating plane to direct light transmitted along the sample path to a sample to be imaged. |
| US08531674B2 |
Microscopic total reflection measuring apparatus
An object of the present invention is to provide a total reflection measuring apparatus which, while visually observing a specific minute area of a measurement object, is capable of efficiently obtaining optical data on the basis of the total reflection measurement. A microscopic total reflection measuring apparatus of the present invention comprises a Cassegrain mirror 12 having a Cassegrain primary mirror 16 and a Cassegrain secondary mirror 18, which condenses an incident light beam 30 on a measurement object 20 by making an incident light beam successively reflected by the secondary mirror 18 and the primary mirror 16, and which obtains a reflected light beam 32 from the measurement object 20 by making the reflected light beam 32 successively reflected by the primary mirror 16 and the secondary mirror 18. And, a total reflection prism 14 is arranged below the Cassegrain secondary mirror 18. And the incident light beam includes a visible light beam for visual observation and a measurement light beam for acquisition of analysis information, and present invention comprises a visible light filter which separates at least one of the incident light beam to the total reflection prism and the reflected light beam from the total reflection prism 14 into a total reflection area B and a normal reflection area A, and which removes, from the one of the incident light beam and the reflected light beam, the visible light beam in the total reflection area B. |
| US08531673B2 |
Apparatus for absolute variable angle specular reflectance measurements
An apparatus for measuring specular reflectance of a sample is provided including a light source for transmitting a beam of light at an angle of incidence onto a surface of a sample; a polarizing filter comprising a wire grid that avoids a need for collimation of the incident beam of light; a sample holder for mounting the sample; and a detector assembly for detecting a beam of light which is specularly reflected from a surface of the sample; wherein the sample holder and detector assembly are mounted for relative movement, such that the light source, the detector assembly and the sample holder are relatively positionable for a specularly reflected component of a transmitted light beam to be detected for different angles of incidence of the light beam. |
| US08531670B2 |
Optical sensor, in particular for installation in a household washing machine or dishwasher
An optical sensor to measure the turbidity of wash water in a household washing machine or dishwasher, includes a housing having a housing interior containing a measurement module having a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element, the measurement module defining a measurement light path which extends from the light-emitting element to the light-receiving element and passes outside the housing over a part of its path length. The light-emitting element and the light-receiving element are arranged together in a first subspace of the housing interior, and the measurement light path extends over a part of its path length through at least one second subspace of the housing interior, which is sealed from the first subspace. All the electrical/electronic components of the measurement module are fitted in the first subspace, so that any ingress of wash water into the second subspace does not compromise the electrical functionality of the sensor. |
| US08531668B2 |
Method for the binning of radiation-emitting, optoelectronic semiconductor components
A method for the binning of a radiation-emitting, optoelectronic semiconductor component (20) is specified, comprising the following steps: providing a radiation-emitting, optoelectronic semiconductor component (20), determining the color locus (8) of the light emitted by the radiation-emitting, optoelectronic semiconductor component (20) during operation, classifying the radiation-emitting, optoelectronic semiconductor component (20) into a predefined color locus range (6) comprising the color locus determined. |
| US08531667B2 |
Print color predicting method, print color predicting apparatus, computer-readable recording medium with print color predicting program recorded therein, and profile generating method
First spectral data (spectral reflectance) of a printed object is obtained, and second spectral data (optical material characteristic value) of a laminating film is estimated. Then, using the first spectral data and the second spectral data, fourth spectral data (spectral reflectance) is predicted. |
| US08531666B2 |
Method for positioning viewing center of parallax barrier
A method for positioning a viewing center of a parallax barrier mainly includes: disposing multiple alignment markers respectively at appropriate places of the parallax barrier and a flat panel display, and performing position measurement and alignment of the multiple alignment markers, so as to achieve a purpose of setting a viewing center at a specific and appropriate position. |
| US08531665B1 |
Small volume cell
An ellipsometer system comprising a small internal volume cell having fluid entry, and exit ports wherein bubble traps are present in a bifurcated fluid pathway continuous with the fluid exit port. There further being present input and output apertures, for entering and exiting electromagnetic radiation, positioned to allow causing a beam of electromagnetic radiation to impinge on a sample substrate at a location thereon at which, during use, fluid contacts; as well as methodology of its use. |
| US08531664B2 |
Particle number measurement method
There is provided a particle number measurement method capable of accurately measuring the number of particles generated by a specific factor. When the number of particles is measured by irradiating laser beam 25 into a main exhaust line 16 via a glass window 24, receiving lights (L1 and L2) scattered from particles (P1 and P2) crossing with the laser beam 25 by a photodetector 21, and calculating the number of particles based on the received scattered light, static particles P2 are considered as contaminants attached to the glass window 24 and the number of static particles P2 is subtracted from the measured number of particles within the main exhaust line 16. |
| US08531658B2 |
Measuring chip device using magnets for installation/removal
A measuring chip installation/removal device of the present invention secures and removes a measuring chip to and from the top surface of an SPR measurement device that measures a specimen in the measuring chip by surface plasmon resonance. The measuring chip installation/removal device includes: a chip carrier on which the measuring chip is mounted; a chip carrier guide that guides the chip carrier on the top surface; and a first magnet provided in the chip carrier, and a second magnet is provided in the chip carrier guide. Orientation of a magnetic force received by the first magnet from the second magnet is reversed by displacing the chip carrier guide, so that the chip carrier is secured to or removed from the top surface. |
| US08531653B2 |
Apparatus for the analysis of a fluid
An apparatus for the analysis of a fluid in a line or in a container, having an optoelectronic apparatus, including: at least two housing parts having housing flanges for flanging to a wall of the line or of the container so that the housing parts are disposed opposite one another; a light transmitter and a light receiver which define an optical measurement path between them within the line or the container; and an evaluation unit, the apparatus further having a temperature measurement apparatus and/or a pressure measuring apparatus, wherein, the temperature measuring apparatus is held extending parallel to the optical measurement path within the line or the container via a spacer or a dynamic pressure pipe of the pressure measuring apparatus and the spacer or the dynamic pressure pipe is fastened to an intermediate flange which can be inserted between one of the housing flanges and the wall. |
| US08531650B2 |
Multiple channel locating
Methods, systems, and apparatuses are provided for estimating a location on an object in a three-dimensional scene. Multiple radiation patterns are produced by spatially modulating each of multiple first radiations with a distinct combination of one or more modulating structures, each first radiation having at least one of a distinct radiation path, a distinct source, a distinct source spectrum, or a distinct source polarization with respect to the other first radiations. The location on the object is illuminated with a portion of each of two or more of the radiation patterns, the location producing multiple object radiations, each object radiation produced in response to one of the multiple radiation patterns. Multiple measured values are produced by detecting the object radiations from the location on the object due to each pattern separately using one or more detector elements. The location on the object is estimated based on the multiple measured values. |
| US08531647B2 |
Exposure method and exposure apparatus for photosensitive film
An exposure apparatus for a photosensitive film includes: light-emitting diodes for generating rays to expose a photosensitive film; a light shield positioned between the light-emitting diodes to prevent noise; a stage for receiving a substrate having the photosensitive film thereon; and a parallelizer positioned between the light-emitting diodes and the stage for redirecting the rays from the light-emitting diodes to be perpendicularly incident upon the photosensitive film. |
| US08531646B2 |
Tunable liquid crystal devices, devices using same, and methods of making and using same
An electro-optical device comprises a liquid crystal material disposed in a cell and electrodes configured to bias the liquid crystal material into a generally in-plane director configuration having a non-constant spatial pattern selectable or adjustable by an in-plane component of the biasing to produce a desired refractive of diffractive optical effect. |
| US08531641B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and method of manufacturing the same
A Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The liquid crystal molecules are inclined and rearranged in a radial shape by patterning upper and lower electrodes across and apart from each other on dummy pixels disposed on a black matrix formed in a non-display area of an LCD device and applying an electric field to a liquid crystal layer via the upper and lower electrodes. Thus, ion impurities in the non-display area can be prevented from dispersing to a display area, thereby improving edge part stains of the LCD device. The LCD device includes a first substrate including first pixel electrodes of the dummy pixels; a second substrate facing the first substrate and including first common electrodes formed across and apart from the first pixel electrodes; and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and having liquid crystal molecules rearranged by an electric field applied via the first pixel electrodes and the first common electrodes. |
| US08531639B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device includes a substrate, an insulating layer, an upper electrode layer, and a lower electrode layer. The upper electrode layer and the lower electrode layer are formed on the same the substrate via the insulating layer. A plurality of openings are formed in the upper electrode layer and arranged parallel to each other so that an electric field is passed therethrough. Liquid crystal molecules are driven by applying voltage between the upper electrode layer and the lower electrode layer. A minor axis of each of the openings has a width in a range in which a V-T curve, which represents a relationship between voltage and transmittance ratio, does not shift with variation in the width of the minor axis. |
| US08531635B2 |
Liquid-crystal display apparatus
Disclosed herein is a liquid-crystal display apparatus including: a pair of substrates facing each other to sandwich a liquid-crystal layer; signal and scan lines laid out in a matrix form to sandwich a first insulation film on one of the substrates; a lower electrode created in each area enclosed by the signal and scan lines; a second insulation film created on a surface of the lower electrode; an upper electrode on which a plurality of slits are created in parallel all over an entire surface of the second insulation film; and an oriented film created to cover surfaces of the upper electrode and the second insulation film. |
| US08531630B2 |
Liquid crystal panel and liquid crystal display apparatus
There is provided a liquid crystal display panel having a high contrast ratio in a front direction. A liquid crystal panel of the present invention includes: a liquid crystal cell; a first polarizing plate placed on one side of the liquid crystal cell; and a second polarizing plate placed on another side of the liquid crystal cell. A transmittance (T1) of the first polarizing plate is higher than a transmittance (T2) of the second polarizing plate. Preferably, a difference (ΔT=T1−T2) between the transmittance (T1) of the first polarizing plate and the transmittance (T2) of the second polarizing plate is 0.1% to 6.0%. |
| US08531625B2 |
Light guide plate for displaying three-dimensional image, and three-dimensional image display apparatus employing the same
A light guide plate for displaying a three-dimensional (3D) image, and a 3D image display apparatus employing the same. The light guide plate includes a transparent body formed in a flat panel shape, and for guiding light with total internal reflection in the transparent body; and a plurality of viewing zone separation units aligned inside the transparent body. Light incident on two side surfaces of the light guide plate is separated into different viewing zones by reflective surfaces of the viewing zone separation units. |
| US08531622B2 |
Liquid crystal display
A method for connecting lamps and an external power supply in a liquid crystal display is disclosed. The liquid crystal display comprises: a liquid crystal panel; a plurality of lamps for generating light to be irradiated onto the liquid crystal panel; a common board including a common electrode contacting the electrodes of the lamps; a bottom cover accommodating the lamps and the common board; and a socket connector provided at one side of the common board and electrically connecting an external power supply and the common electrode, wherein an electrical contact portion of the socket connector is exposed to the outside by a through hole passing through the common board and the bottom cover. |
| US08531621B2 |
Backlight device and liquid crystal display apparatus using same
A backlight device (100) includes: a case (1); a plurality of LED modules (2) provided in series on a bottom portion (1a) of the case (1); a reflective sheet (3); a diffusing plate (4); and an optical sheet (5). At the bottom portion (1a) of the case (1), four recessed portions (10) are formed in a horizontal direction of a display screen, and each of the LED modules 2 is fixed thereon with screws (11). At opposite ends of the recessed portion (10), opening portions (10a) and (10b) each having a lid member (13) are formed, thus making it possible to remove the LED modules (2) without disassembling the backlight device (100). |
| US08531620B2 |
Active matrix substrate, liquid crystal panel, liquid crystal display unit, liquid crystal display device, and television receiver
In each pixel region, (i) a first pixel electrode (17a) connected to a first transistor (12a), (ii) a second pixel electrode (17b) connected to a second transistor (17b), (iii) a coupling electrode (67y), and (iv) first and second capacitor electrodes (67x and 67z) provided in a layer in which a data signal line (15) is provided, being provided, a capacitor being defined by the coupling electrode (67y) and the second pixel electrode (17b), the coupling electrode (67y) being connected to the first pixel electrode (17a) via a third transistor (112), the first capacitor electrode (67x) and a retention capacitor line (18) overlapping each other via a gate insulating film, the first capacitor electrode (67x) being connected to the first pixel electrode (17a), the second capacitor electrode (67z) and the retention capacitor line (18) overlapping each other via the gate insulating film, the second capacitor electrode (67z) being connected to the second pixel electrode (17b). This allows an increase in pixel aperture ratio of a capacitively coupled active matrix substrate having three transistors. |
| US08531619B2 |
Active matrix liquid crystal display device with overlapping conductive film and pixel electrode
A first insulating thin film having a large dielectric constant such as a silicon nitride film is formed so as to cover a source line and a metal wiring that is in the same layer as the source line. A second insulating film that is high in flatness is formed on the first insulating film. An opening is formed in the second insulating film by etching the second insulating film, to selectively expose the first insulating film. A conductive film to serve as a light-interruptive film is formed on the second insulating film and in the opening, whereby an auxiliary capacitor of the pixel is formed between the conductive film and the metal wiring with the first insulating film serving as a dielectric. |
| US08531616B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and method for manufacturing the same
An LCD device includes a substrate including an active region and a dummy region; gate and data lines disposed on the substrate crossing each other to define a plurality of pixel regions in the active region; a pixel electrode disposed in each of the plural pixel regions; a common electrode which is patterned in the active region to define common electrode pattern portions, respective common electrode pattern portions and the pixel electrodes each forming an electric field; a first sensing line disposed on the common electrode and electrically connected with the common electrode to sense a user's touch; and at least one dummy electrode disposed in the dummy region adjacent one of the common electrode pattern portions. |
| US08531613B1 |
Method of controlling computer using television screen
The method includes (1) measuring with a matrix of photo-detecting elements on the television screen a position of an invisible laser spot on a television screen projected thereon from an invisible laser beam generated by a laser device on a television remote control; and (2) transmitting from the television to a computer a representation of the position of the invisible laser spot on the television screen. |
| US08531611B2 |
System and method for power management in an electronic device
There is provided a system and method for powering down particular circuits in an electronic device based on the usage habits of the user. An exemplary method comprises collecting usage data for a plurality of device functions of the electronic device, and reducing power consumption by circuitry associated with at least one of the plurality of device functions when the electronic device is in use if the usage data for the at least one of the plurality of device functions indicates that the at least one of the plurality of device functions is used less than at least another of the plurality of device functions. |
| US08531610B2 |
Arrangement and approach for image data processing
Image data is processed to produce an output using a frame insertion approach. According to an example embodiment, frames are generated for video data, based upon the video data and the presence (or absence) of artifacts in the video data. In one application, a dynamic frame insertion approach is used to selectively generate peaked and blurred video frames in a manner that mitigates undesirable display and/or enhancement of artifacts by tuning down or turning off the generation and/or insertion of video frames. |
| US08531607B2 |
Apparatus for transmitting broadcast signal, method thereof, method of producing broadcast signal and apparatus for receiving broadcast signal
An apparatus and method for transmitting a broadcast signal, an apparatus and method of reproducing a broadcast signal, and a broadcast signal data structure, are discussed. According to an embodiment, the method of transmitting the broadcast signal includes generating image modification control information for at least one image; and transmitting the image and the image modification control information as broadcast data. |
| US08531606B2 |
Broadcast receiving apparatus and control method thereof
A broadcast receiving apparatus which accumulates and stores a status value of a broadcast signal is provided. The broadcast receiving apparatus includes a signal receiver which receives a broadcast signal, a decoder which decodes the received broadcast signal, a signal detector which detects a signal status of at least one of the received broadcast signal and the decoded broadcast signal, and a storage unit which accumulates and stores a status value of the broadcast signal detected by the signal detector. Accordingly, the past signal status of the broadcast receiving apparatus can be easily recognized. |
| US08531604B2 |
Synchronization signal generating device and display apparatus
According to embodiments, a synchronization signal generating device includes: a cycle measuring unit configured to measure the vertical synchronization interval of the input video signal; a phase difference detecting unit configured to detect a phase difference between an input vertical synchronization signal based on the input video signal and the display vertical synchronization signal; and a vertical cycle determining unit configured to determine a cycle of the display vertical synchronization signal based on a measurement result of the cycle measuring unit and a detection result of the phase difference detecting unit so that the phase difference is decreased within the range of the compensation interval, and to determine 1/n of the cycle of the display vertical synchronization signal as a cycle of an n-times speed vertical synchronization signal. |
| US08531602B1 |
Audio enhancements for media
Systems and methods for audio enhancements of media items are disclosed herein. When a media item such as a video that includes suitable audio content (e.g., a musical composition) is created and/or designated for upload to a video hosting site, an audio reference (e.g., a higher quality version of the musical composition) that matches the audio content can be automatically identified. A timing offset can be automatically determined and enhanced audio can be constructed by mixing the audio reference and the audio content aligned according to the timing offset. |
| US08531600B2 |
Video signal processing apparatus and method
A frequency distribution monitor unit partitions, into a plurality of classes, a size of a vertical component of a motion vector, and detects a frequency of the number of occurrences at which the vertical component occurs in each of the classes. In a case where the vertical component of the motion vector exceeds a predetermined threshold value in predetermined specific classes, the offset control unit creates offset signals which shift read addresses in the vertical direction in delay units. A selection control unit controls to shift, in the vertical direction, pixel data selected by delay selection units. |
| US08531599B2 |
Apparatus, method and system for frame rate conversion of partial image
An image display system having a generation unit to generate a video signal which is composed of a partial image cut out from a still image; and a display unit to display a video signal inputted from said generation unit at a frame rate higher than that of said inputted video signal by creating an interpolated frame based on a motion vector, wherein said generation unit has a movement unit to move a cut-out position of said partial image, and an output unit to output movement information including at least information indicative of the direction of movement of said cut-out position together with said video signal, and wherein said display unit has a setting unit to set a motion vector used for the creation of said interpolated frame by using said movement information. |
| US08531595B2 |
Camera body to which interchangeable lens unit is mountable
A camera body allows the mounting of a lens unit configured to form an optical image of a subject, and includes a body mount, an imaging element, a capacitor, and a housing member. The body mount allows a lens unit to be mounted. The imaging element includes a light receiving face arranged to receive light passing through the lens unit, and converts an optical image of the subject into an electrical signal. The capacitor is disposed in close proximity to an outer peripheral portion of the imaging element, and stores electrical charges. The housing member accommodates the imaging element and the capacitor. |
| US08531591B2 |
Power-supply-noise cancelling circuit and solid-state imaging device
A power supply voltage containing a noise component is supplied to each pixel at the time of sampling of a reset level of a signal read out from each pixel, and a power supply voltage in which the noise component is suppressed is supplied to each pixel at the time of sampling of a read level of the signal read out from each pixel. |
| US08531588B2 |
Method for adjusting exposure condition of optical sensor module and optical sensor module thereof
A method for adjusting an exposure condition of an optical sensor module includes the following steps, (A) receiving reflected light reflected by a working surface; (B) generating an image signal by exposing the optical sensor module to the reflected light, in which the image signal includes a plurality of luminance signals and an image quality signal; (C) setting an exposure condition of the optical sensor module according to part of the luminance signals; (D) repeating Step (B) and Step (C) under different exposure conditions so that the optical sensor module generates a plurality of image quality signals; and (E) setting an optimal exposure condition corresponding to the working surface according to the image quality signals under the different exposure conditions. The optical sensor module is applicable to a pointing device. |
| US08531584B2 |
Image-pickup apparatus
The image-pickup apparatus includes an image acquiring part respectively photoelectrically converting first and second object images respectively formed by first and second light fluxes into first image data and second image data, the first and second light fluxes being formed by dividing a light flux from an image-pickup optical system by a pupil divider, and photoelectrically converting a third object image formed by a third light flux of the light flux from the image-pickup optical system into third image data, the third light flux being not divided by the pupil divider, and a split image generating part which generates split image data to be displayed in the third image data. The split image generating part generates the split image data based on the first image data and the second image data, and adds color information extracted from the third image data to the split image data. |
| US08531581B2 |
Focusing and focus metrics for a plenoptic imaging system
Metrics for characterizing the focusing of a plenoptic imaging system. In one aspect, the metric is based on the high frequency content and/or the blurring of the plenoptic image. |
| US08531576B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program
There is provided an information processing apparatus including an image obtaining unit for obtaining a captured image, generating unit for generating a graphic image for prompting a subject within the captured image obtained by the image obtaining unit to change a state, and an emission control unit for controlling emission of the graphic image generated by the generating unit onto the subject. |
| US08531575B2 |
Image production device, image production method, and program for driving computer to execute image production method
The total imaging time period and recorded volume of each image is displayed in association with the imaging date and time of the image. An imaging information acquiring section acquires information on the imaging dates and times and recorded volumes of images. The acquired information is held in an index table. A period setting part sets the period of a period display. An imaging start position deciding section decides the position corresponding to the imaging start date and time of each image in the period display. An imaging time length deciding section decides the display range of the imaging time length of each image in the period display. A recorded volume length deciding section decides the display range of the recorded volume length of each image. Based on these decision results, an imaging position display creating section creates an imaging position display in which the imaging start positions of the images and the imaging time lengths or the recorded volumes of the images are displayed relative to the period display. |
| US08531568B2 |
Image sensing apparatus with shielding for unit blocks of a common processing circuit of plural pixels
An image sensing apparatus is provided, which is provided with a plurality of image sensing elements each including a plurality of photoelectric conversion sections and an adding circuit adapted to add signals from the plurality of photoelectric conversion sections to obtain a one-pixel signal, wherein the adding circuit adds the signals such that the one-pixel signals obtained by the addition are arranged at equal intervals in an area extending over the plurality of image sensing elements. |
| US08531563B2 |
Color imaging apparatus
A color imaging apparatus comprising: a single-plate color imaging element including color filters arranged on pixels arranged in horizontal and vertical directions where all colors are arranged in each line in the directions; weighted average filters with filter coefficients set in a local area extracted from a mosaic image acquired from the color imaging element corresponding to the weighted average filters so that proportions of sums of the filter coefficients of each color in the lines in the horizontal and vertical directions are equal; a weighted average calculation unit that calculates weighted average values of each color; a demosaicking processing unit that calculates a pixel value of another color at a pixel position of a target pixel of demosaicking processing and that interpolates a pixel value of the target pixel based on a color ratio or a color difference of the calculated weighted average values to calculate the pixel value. |
| US08531560B2 |
Focus detection apparatus and method for controlling the same
A camera has a focus detection sensor that includes a plurality of first focus detection pixels and a plurality of second focus detection pixels, and that has a plurality of focus detection pixel pairs each including a first focus detection pixel and a second focus detection pixel, and stores defect information indicating a defective pixel. The camera corrects a value of the defective pixel and a value of one of the first focus detection pixel and the second focus detection pixel that forms the focus detection pixel pair with the defective pixel based on a value of a focus detection pixel of the same type that is not the defective pixel. The camera detects focusing status based on a phase difference between a first focus detection image obtained from the first focus detection pixels and a second focus detection image obtained from the second focus detection pixels after the correction. |
| US08531558B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method and electronic equipment
Disclosed herein is an image processing apparatus including: a storage section configured to store a correction matrix correcting crosstalk generated by a light or electron leak from an adjacent pixel existing among a plurality of pixels for receiving light in an imaging device; and a processing section configured to carry out processing to apply the correction matrix stored in the storage section to an image signal generated by the imaging device for each of the pixels. |
| US08531557B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for performing a zoom operation
A method of performing a zoom operation on a camera is disclosed, wherein, one or more regions of interest within a captured image of a scene are determined. Camera motion direction towards one of the regions of interest is determined. A target region of interest is determined based on the determined camera motion direction. The zoom operation is performed to the target region of interest. |
| US08531554B2 |
Image capturing apparatus, image capturing method, and storage medium storing program for image capturing
There is provided an image capturing method for use in an image capturing apparatus including an image capturing unit configured to capture an image of an object to output image data. The method includes performing a first position adjustment between the image data obtained under the first image capturing control and the image data obtained under the second image capturing control, thereby calculating a first displacement, performing a second position adjustment between the image data obtained under the second image capturing control and the image data obtained under the third image capturing control, thereby calculating a second displacement, and performing an image composition of obtaining image data representing a composite image, by performing a position adjustment between the image data obtained under the first image capturing control and the image data obtained under the third image capturing control, using the first and second displacements. |
| US08531553B2 |
Digital photographing apparatus, method of controlling the same and computer readable medium having recorded thereon program for executing the method
A method is provided for controlling a digital photographing apparatus in which a captured image is stored in a non-volatile memory card, the method including: determining whether the non-volatile memory card is available; and if the non-volatile memory card is not available, transmitting the captured image that is temporarily stored in a volatile memory in response to a request to transmit the captured image. An associated apparatus and storage media for implementing the method are also provided. |
| US08531550B2 |
Method of operating an image sensor having a digital exposure circuit
Automatic exposure adjusting device considers the image on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Each pixel is characterized according to its most significant bits. After the pixels are characterized, the number of pixels in any particular group is counted. That counting is compared with thresholds which set whether the image is over exposed, under exposed, and can optionally also determine if the image is seriously over exposed or seriously under exposed. Adjustment of the exposure is carried out to bring the image to a more desired state. |
| US08531548B2 |
Image processing method, image processing program, image processing device and camera
An image processing method for executing color conversion processing on input image data by taking into consideration chromatic adaptation so as to match a color appearance perceived under a first viewing condition and a color appearance perceived under a second viewing condition, includes: executing the color conversion processing by setting in correspondence to each of parameters representing colors, at least one of an adaptation factor indicating an extent of adaptation to the first viewing condition and an adaptation factor indicating an extent of adaptation to the second viewing condition. |
| US08531546B2 |
Image processing apparatus having a buffer memory for image data storage
Two local buffers are provided between an image processing unit and an image compression and expansion unit for compression into a predetermined format. Write and read control units serve to alternately use the two local buffers. As a result, process flow starting from the image processing unit to generate compressed image data by the image compression and expansion unit requires no main memory, whereby high-speed image processing is allowed with low power consumption. |
| US08531545B2 |
Image processing apparatus, including a filter acquisition part, and image pickup apparatus
The image processing apparatus performs image processing on an input image produced by image pickup of a scene through an optical system, the scene including plural objects whose object distances are mutually different. The apparatus includes a filter acquisition part acquiring a chromatic aberration correction filter for an out-of-focus area in the input image and an image restoration filter, and a processing part performing chromatic aberration correction processing using the chromatic aberration correction filter and image restoration processing using the image restoration filter on the input image. The filter acquisition part acquires the chromatic aberration correction filter by using information on chromatic aberration of the optical system, information on an in-focus distance of the optical system in the image pickup of the scene, and information on the distances to the respective objects. |
| US08531542B2 |
Techniques for acquiring and processing statistics data in an image signal processor
Various techniques are disclosed for processing statistics data in an image signal processor (ISP). In one embodiment, a statistics collection engine may be implemented in a front-end processing unit of the ISP, such that statistics are collected prior to processing by an ISP pipeline downstream from the front-end processing unit. In one embodiment, the statistics collection engine may be configured to acquire statistics relating to auto white-balance, auto-exposure, and auto-focus, as well as flicker detection. Collected statistics may be output to a memory and used by the ISP to process acquired image data. |
| US08531541B2 |
Display control apparatus, image capturing apparatus, display control method, and program
A user-preferred image is easily displayed for a plurality of images generated by bracketing capture. A recording control unit adds the same group identifier to a plurality of captured images generated by the same bracketing-capture operation, allocates the plurality of captured images to the same folder, and records the plurality of captured images on a recording unit as bracketing-captured images. A priority image setting unit adds priority information to a bracketing-captured image selected by a user among the bracketing-captured images recorded on the recording unit, and sets a priority image. In addition, the priority image setting unit allocates the priority image to a main folder, and allocates bracketing-captured images other than the priority image to a sub-folder. In a predetermined display mode, a display control unit displays only the priority image among the bracketing-captured images on the display unit on the basis of the priority information. |
| US08531535B2 |
Methods and systems for processing a video for stabilization and retargeting
Methods and systems for processing a video for stabilization and retargeting are described. A recorded video may be stabilized by removing shake introduced in the video, and a video may be retargeted by modifying the video to fit to a different aspect ratio. Constraints can be imposed that require a modified video to contain pixels from the original video and/or to preserve salient regions. In one example, a video may be processed to estimate an original path of a camera that recorded the video, to estimate a new camera path, and to recast the video from the original path to the new camera path. To estimate a new camera path, a virtual crop window can be designated. A difference transformation between the original and new camera path can be applied to the video using the crop window to recast the recorded video from the smooth camera path. |
| US08531524B2 |
Integrated antenna system for imaging microsatellites
Examples of imaging microsatellites are described that have an imaging system and antenna system disposed within the microsatellite body when the microsatellite is in a non-deployed state. The properties of the antenna system can be adjusted such that the antenna system does not impact, contact, or displace the imaging system when the microsatellite is in the non-deployed state. The properties of the antenna system can be adjusted such that the antenna system does not contact or impact the body of the microsatellite or any other structure when the microsatellite transitions to a deployed state. The antenna system can be configured to achieve a desired gain and/or data transmission rate by adjusting properties of the antenna system based on the radiation pattern of an antenna feed and geometric constraints imposed by the imaging system. Examples of methods for designing such imaging microsatellites are provided. |
| US08531519B1 |
Automatic multi-device localization and collaboration using cameras
Implementations relate to a computer-implemented method and a device for determining a relative posed between devices. The method can include receiving data representing first keypoint features from a first image captured by a camera of a second mobile computing device; capturing, by a camera of a first mobile computing device, a second image, wherein the first image and the second image comprise a substantially common scene having an area of overlap; computing, by the first mobile computing device, data representing second keypoint features from the second image; determining, by the first mobile computing device, based at least in part on the data representing first keypoint features and the data representing second keypoint features, a relative pose of the first mobile computing device and the second mobile computing device; and communicating the relative pose to the second mobile computing device. |
| US08531516B2 |
Imaging polar nephelometer
This invention relates to measuring the light that is scattered from particulates (aerosols) in a gas or liquid. The sample typically flows into the instrument and the particulates are measured in-situ. The intensity of the scattered light is measured at many different angles, which determines both the amount of particulates in the sample, and detailed information about the particles such as average size, shape and composition. The measurement can be applied to climate and air pollution research, and clean room monitoring. |
| US08531515B2 |
Imaging apparatus
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit for capturing a subject and generating image data of the subject, an operation input unit for receiving inputs of operation signals containing a release signal for instructing the imaging unit to shoot, an acceleration detector for detecting an acceleration of the imaging apparatus, a state detector for separately detecting a case in which the imaging apparatus is overland, a case in which the imaging apparatus is underwater and a photographer shoots while swimming, and a case in which the imaging apparatus is underwater and the photographer shoots while changing a water depth, and a control unit for performing operation control depending on an input into the operation input unit and/or into the acceleration detector according to a state detection result by the state detector. |
| US08531513B2 |
Assembly method for endoscope image pickup unit and endoscope
In an assembly method for an endoscope image pickup unit, the endoscope image pickup unit includes a distal end portion main body portion including a front opening portion, a side opening portion, a rear opening portion and an arrangement space portion, a lens section including a distal end lens having an outer diameter that generally fits in the front opening portion, and an image pickup section that fits in the rear opening portion and includes an image pickup device arranged in an image forming position by a lens system such as the lens section. The assembly method includes steps for inserting the lens section into the arrangement space portion from the side opening portion, fitting the inserted lens section in the front opening portion, and fitting the image pickup section in the rear opening portion from a rear of the rear opening portion. |
| US08531503B2 |
Imaging device, imaging method, and imaging system
The present invention is an imaging apparatus including: a receiving unit that receives information representing a first focal length from a terminal which produces an image of a first imaging area by capturing an image of a subject at the first focal length; an imaging unit that produces an image of a second imaging area by capturing an image of the subject at a second focal length; an extraction unit that extracts a characteristic area of the subject from the image of the second imaging area based on information representing the first focal length and information representing the second focal length; and a transmitting unit that transmits information regarding the image of the characteristic area to the terminal. |
| US08531502B2 |
Method, device and system for presenting virtual conference site of video conference
A method for presenting a virtual conference site of a video conference is disclosed in the present invention. The method include: receiving preset virtual conference site attributes and determining one virtual conference site attribute therefrom, where the virtual conference site includes at least two conference terminals; determining a virtual conference site control mode; acquiring, according to the determined virtual conference site attribute and the virtual conference site control mode, one virtual conference site presentation mode in preset virtual conference site presentation modes, and presenting a virtual conference site in the acquired virtual conference site presentation mode. A virtual conference site preset apparatus, a media processing device, a video conference terminal and a video conference system are also disclosed in the present invention. By utilizing the present invention, a conference control mode may be simplified, and the experience of video conference participators may be improved. |
| US08531498B2 |
Support structure and image forming apparatus
A support structure, which includes: a housing configured to store an optical element; a support unit configured to support the housing; a positioning element configured to position the housing with respect to the support unit; a vibration-proof element configured to prevent transmission of vibration from the support unit to the housing; and an extension from the housing toward the support unit. The support unit includes a first surface configured to define an opening into which the extension is inserted. The positioning element supports and positions the extension in the opening so that the extension portion is apart from the first surface. The vibration-proof element is disposed between the first surface and the extension portion. |
| US08531496B2 |
Image forming apparatus having a plurality of laser elements
An image forming apparatus has a speed range showing image forming capability per unit time that is determined in advance, and is settable to either a model set at a relatively low-speed range or a model set at a relatively high-speed range. Then, the arrangement of the laser elements is differentiated between a low-speed machine and a high-speed machine each other. Even when timing of writing for the high-speed machine is applied to the arrangement of the laser elements for the low-speed machine to write in an image, the image is not able to be written successfully, and resulting in an image which is displaced vertically. |
| US08531493B2 |
Dynamic bit sequence selection
Disclosed embodiments comprise dynamic pulse width modulation (PWM) bit sequence selection techniques for use with video display devices. By dynamically selecting and applying a bit sequence based on the display image content and the limited dynamic range of human perception, the bit sequence used to display a given scene may be optimized in order to provide for increased bit depth or increased brightness. Generally one out of a plurality of available bit sequences would be applied to a given scene, with different bit sequences designated for displaying bright scenes and dark scenes. Alternatively, different bit sequences may be applied depending upon the amount of motion in a scene. Thus, a dynamic bit sequence selection technique may allow for a display device with increased bit depth and increased brightness. |
| US08531490B2 |
Display drive apparatus and display apparatus
A display drive apparatus drives a display panel, including display pixels, to carry out gradation display in accordance with display data. First gradation data with a first number of bits corresponding to the display data is supplied to the display drive apparatus, which generates second gradation data from the first gradation data with a second number of bits less than the first number of bits, third gradation data in which the second gradation data are eliminated from the first gradation data, and fourth gradation data corresponding to a gradation different from a gradation of the second gradation data. And, in each frame period, the display drive apparatus selectively outputs one of the second gradation data and the fourth gradation data to each of the display pixels based on the third gradation data, so as to display an intermediate gradation between the second gradation data and the fourth gradation data. |
| US08531489B2 |
Display apparatus having matrix display elements
A display apparatus comprises a self-luminous device display having a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in a matrix, a drive voltage generation circuit to generate a drive voltage signal for driving light emitting elements, a blanking period control-included data line drive circuit which controls the drive voltage either according to or irrelevantly to the display data, a scan line drive circuit to determine which light emitting elements to drive, and a pixel control circuit to control voltage written to pixels. |
| US08531488B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method, content creating support apparatus and method and data structure of image file with speed map to determine speed of viewpoint change
A hard disk drive stores hierarchical image data, a speed map holding, for each tile image, an index of the processing time required to render a tile image having a predetermined image size obtained by partitioning the image, and scenario data which defines viewpoint shifting. In a control unit of an information processing apparatus having a function of displaying an image, an input information acquisition unit acquires information with respect to the user's input operation via an input device. A loading unit loads necessary data for image displaying from the hard disk drive. A shifting condition adjustment unit adjusts the viewpoint shifting speed based upon the speed map. A frame coordinate determination unit sequentially determines frame coordinates of a display area. A decoding unit decodes compressed image data. A display image processing unit renders a display image. |
| US08531487B2 |
Software for displays with different pixel densities
According to embodiments, a computer-implemented method for designing software for use on multiple devices having different display resolutions comprises determining with a computing device a display characteristic of a first display device, determining with a computing device a display characteristic of a second display device, wherein the computing device has stored in a non-transitory memory a display characteristic of one or more second display devices, calculating with a computing device a display ratio based on the display characteristic of the first display device and the display characteristic of the second display device, and rendering on the first display device a scaled display of the second display device based on the display ratio. |
| US08531486B2 |
Information presentation based on display screen orientation
A handheld device presents information on a display screen in alternate formats. The device determines its orientation relative to a device user and selects a format based on that orientation. The displayed information may also be scrolled or zoomed based on a detected motion of the device. |
| US08531485B2 |
Systems and methods for compensating for visual distortion caused by surface features on a display
Systems and methods for compensating for visual distortion caused by surface features on a display are disclosed. For example, one disclosed system includes: a display including one ore more surface features; a processor configured to: receive a display signal including graphical data; determine a location of the surface feature; transform the display signal based at least in part on the location of the surface feature; and cause the transformed display signal to be displayed. |
| US08531483B1 |
Method and system for providing virtual tour of a shopping mall via electronic maps
Techniques for navigating a real world via interactive maps are disclosed. According one aspect, at least one or more databases are maintained in one or more servers. A computing device is caused to display a first portion of the interactive map generated from a logic process based on a first database, wherein the first portion of the interactive map represents a first part of a real world (e.g., a shopping mall) and includes one or more nodes, one or more branches, and one or more of hotspots in the real world, each of the hotspots represents a point of interest that is selectable to show details about the point of interest. Auxiliary data associated with the each of the hotspots is accessed when the user selects one of the hotspots, and subsequently displayed to show a visual effect about the hotspot so that the user understands more about the hotspot. |
| US08531479B2 |
Endoscope apparatus and program
An endoscope apparatus includes: an imaging portion imaging a subject to generate image data; a designation portion designating a position in an image based on the image data; an image processing portion processing the image data such that an enlarged image obtained by enlarging an image in a second region including the designated position overlaps a first region including the designated position designated by the designation portion; a display portion displaying the enlarged image and the image of the subject based on the image data processed by the image processing portion and displays a cursor at the designated position on the enlarged image; and a measurement processing portion performing measurement on the basis of a measurement position indicated by the cursor by using the image data generated by the imaging portion. The enlarged image displayed on the display portion moves according to movement of the cursor. |
| US08531475B2 |
Computer-readable storage medium having stored therein reception status display program, information processing apparatus, information processing system, and reception status display method
An exemplary reception status display apparatus receives a series of data transmitted thereto, and displays, in a stepwise manner, a corresponding image, which is an image corresponding to the series of data, in a predetermined region in a screen, in accordance with a progression of reception of the series of data. Furthermore, during the reception of the series of data, the exemplary reception status display apparatus continuously generates, outside the predetermined region, movement objects each having a color selected from component colors of the corresponding image and moves each movement object toward the predetermined region. |
| US08531469B2 |
Media synchronization via image queue
This invention is directed to a system for processing media in an electronic device. An application operative to request the display of one or more graphics elements may be implemented on the electronic device. The application may identify graphics elements for display and organize the graphics elements in a layer tree for processing and display by a render server (e.g., a core animation render server). To coordinate the processing of graphics elements of the application or of several applications, the electronic device may include a media server operative to receive media from the application and generate an image queue that includes video frames of the media. The render server may associate a slot ID with each image queue, while the media server may provide the slot ID to the application for inclusion in the layer tree. When the render server reaches a slot ID in the layer tree, the render server may identify and display the associated image queue. |
| US08531468B1 |
Image processing apparatus having context memory controller
An apparatus for use in image processing is set forth that comprises a pixel processor, context memory, and a context memory controller. The pixel processor is adapted to execute a pixel processing operation on a target pixel using a context of the target pixel. The context memory is adapted to store context values associated with the target pixel. The context memory controller may be adapted to control communication of context values between the pixel processor and the context memory. Further, the context memory controller may be responsive to a context initialization signal or the like provided by the pixel processor to initialize the content of the context memory to a known state, even before the pixel processor has completed its image processing operations and/or immediately after completion of its image processing operations. In one embodiment, the pixel processor executes a JBIG coding operation on the target pixel. |
| US08531465B2 |
Animations
At least certain embodiments of the present disclosure include a method for animating a display region, windows, or views displayed on a display of a device. The method includes starting at least two animations. The method further includes determining the progress of each animation. The method further includes completing each animation based on a single timer. |
| US08531464B1 |
Simulating skin deformation relative to a muscle
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, are disclosed for animations that simulate skin deformation relative to a muscle. Displacement of a skin representation in response to deformation of a muscle representation and sliding of the skin representation over the deformed muscle representation can be determined quickly and interactively by monitoring changes in position and scale of defining ring elements of the muscle representation's geometry. The determined skin displacements can be constrained to prevent portions of the displaced skin representation from sinking into the underlying muscle representation's geometry. |
| US08531458B2 |
Method of determining pointing object position for three-dimensional interactive system
An exemplary method of determining a pointing object position for three-dimensional interactive system, adapted for an interaction between a pointing object and a three-dimensional interaction display with embedded optical sensors. The method includes the steps of: acquiring a two-dimensional detected light intensity distribution caused by the pointing object acting on the three-dimensional interaction display; obtaining two light-shading intensity maximum values according to the two-dimensional detected light intensity distribution; and determining a one-dimensional positional information of the pointing object on a distance direction of the pointing object relative to the three-dimensional interaction display by use of the positional distance between the two light-shading intensity maximum values. |
| US08531457B2 |
Apparatus and method for finding visible points in a cloud point
The subject matter discloses a method of determining whether a point in a computerized image is visible from a viewpoint; said image is represented as a point cloud, the method comprising: performing inversion on a the vicinity of the point thus creating a computerized inversed object, each point in the vicinity of the point is related to a parallel point in the computerized inversed object and obtaining a convex hull of the inversed object; the point is likely to be visible from the viewpoint in case it belongs to the point set composing the convex hull. The method is also useful for shadow casting and for determining the location of an image-capturing device within a volume. |
| US08531450B2 |
Using two dimensional image adjustment operations on three dimensional objects
A method, system, and computer-readable storage medium for using a two dimensional image adjustment operations to modify a three dimensional object. A first representation of a three dimensional model may be rendered using three dimensional rendering effects. A second representation of the model may be rendered without using the three dimensional rendering effects. The first representation may be displayed. Input may be received to apply an image adjustment operation to the first representation. The image adjustment operation may be applied to the second representation. At least a portion of the first representation may be re-rendered using the three dimensional rendering effects. The modified first representation may be displayed. |
| US08531443B2 |
Display driving circuit, display device, and display driving method
Provided is a display driving circuit eliminating occurrence of lateral stripes in the first frame from which display corresponding to a video signal is started in CC driving premised on line inversion driving. A source bus line drive circuit outputs a source signal whose polarity is reversed in sync with horizontal scanning period for each row and whose polarity is opposite in an adjacent horizontal scanning period on the same row. A CS bus line drive circuit outputs, after the horizontal scanning period for each row, a CS signal with potential switched along a direction according to polarity of the source signal in the horizontal scanning period concerned. The CS bus line drive circuit outputs the CS signal in a first frame so that potential of the CS signal when the switching element on one row is switched is different from potential of a CS signal on an adjacent row. |
| US08531442B2 |
Display device with personal identification function and control method thereof
A display device is provided, and which includes a display panel; a gate and a source driving circuits, both coupled to the display panel, for driving the display panel; and a timing control circuit, coupled to the gate and the source driving circuits, for controlling the operations of the gate and the source driving circuits, wherein the timing control circuit comprises a personal identification circuit, and the personal identification circuit is used for receiving an input data; decoding a stored image to obtain decoded data; accumulating the decoded data to obtain an accumulated value; adding the accumulated value to the input data to obtain a compared value; setting the display device to operate normally and output images through the display panel when the compared value is identical to an initial value; and displaying a preset frame on the display panel when the compared value is different from the initial value. |
| US08531439B2 |
Switchable display device
A switchable display device (100) which is arranged to switch between a two-dimensional view mode and a three-dimensional view mode is disclosed. The switchable display device (100) comprises: a structure (104) of light generating elements (105-108) for generating light on basis of respective driving values; and optical directory means (110) for directing the generated light in dependence of an actual view mode, the actual view mode being either the two-dimensional view mode or the three-dimensional view mode. The switchable display device (100) is arranged to alternately display two-dimensional image data and three-dimensional image data, while the optical directory means (110) are switched synchronously; the 2D/3D switching is performed at a predetermined frequency, sufficiently high so that the observer can perceive a 2D window and a 3D window simultaneously. |
| US08531438B2 |
Information providing apparatus
An information providing apparatus allowing appropriate confirmation of contents of information which assists travel of a mobile object, presented by an image display section, even when the image display section providing information which assists travel of the mobile object as an image display is placed under a condition producing vibration not smaller than a predetermined level. The equipment has an image display section (22) mounted in a vehicle and allowing image display of information which assists travel of the vehicle, a vibration sensor (44) detecting vibration not smaller than a predetermined level produced on the image display section (22) and sending a detection output signal, and an operation control section (30) modifying a display mode of information presented as an image display by the image display section (22), into the one having contents of the information are more readily recognizable, when the detection output signal from the vibration sensor (44) expresses that the image display section (22) is in a vibration-sustained state in which vibration not smaller than a predetermined level is sustained over a duration of time not shorter than a predetermined duration. |
| US08531435B2 |
Detecting multitouch events in an optical touch-sensitive device by combining beam information
An optical touch-sensitive device is able to determine the locations of multiple simultaneous touch events. The optical touch-sensitive device includes multiple emitters and detectors. Each emitter produces optical beams which are received by the detectors. The optical beams preferably are multiplexed in a manner so that many optical beams can be received by a detector simultaneously. Touch events disturb the optical beams. To determine whether a candidate touch point is an actual touch event, multiple beams that would be affected are considered together. |
| US08531429B2 |
Method and device for capacitive sensing
The disclosed capacitive sensing device has first conductive lines, second conductive lines and electrical conductors. The first conductive lines are electrically isolated from each other, the second conductive lines are electrically isolated from each other and electrically isolated from and stacked with the first conductive lines to form numerous intersecting points, and the electrical conductors are electrically isolated from each other and correspondingly crossing the first and the second conductive lines and being around the intersecting points. Herein, the electrical conductors are electrically isolated from the first and second conductive lines. When an electrical signal is driven to a first conductive line, the first conductive line is capacitively coupled to the second conductive lines which intersecting mutually, and the electrical conductors crossing the first conductive line are respectively capacitively coupled to the first conductive line and the mutually intersecting second conductive lines to provide a higher compound capacitance. |
| US08531427B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling information scrolling on touch-screen
An apparatus to control playback of multimedia contents comprising a touch screen to display an information scroll controlling bar and a scroll pointer, the information scroll controlling bar and the scroll pointer being included in an information scroll controlling region, and a controller to sense a touch at the scroll pointer on the touch screen, to sense a movement of the touch in a direction to a location outside the information scroll controlling region on the touch screen, to set a moving rate of the scroll pointer based on the sensed location outside the information scroll controlling region to control playback of multimedia contents, and to move the scroll pointer in a moving direction based on the direction of the movement. |
| US08531422B2 |
Intrinsically safe touch screen for process equipment
An intrinsically safe touch screen system includes a touch screen, a current limiting barrier coupled to the touch screen, a touch screen controller, and a voltage limiting barrier. The controller is coupled to the current limiting barrier, the voltage limiting barrier, and the touch screen, in a configuration such that signals transmitted to and from the touch screen will be within a level that ensures intrinsic safety of the touch screen. |
| US08531419B2 |
Information processing apparatus, operation input method, and sensing device
An information processing apparatus includes an operation surface, a first sense unit for electrically detecting whether the operation surface is directly touched, a second sense unit for detecting whether the position pointing device approaches or contacts the operation surface based on an electromagnetic interaction, and an approach detector for detecting whether the position pointing device approaches a detection range from the operation surface based on an output from the second sense unit. The information processing apparatus further includes a display controller for disabling display processing based on a detection output from the first sense unit and for enabling display processing based on a detection output from the second sense unit if the approach detecting unit determines that the position pointing device is within of the detection range. |
| US08531416B2 |
Liquid crystal display panel, liquid crystal display apparatus and method of driving the liquid crystal display apparatus
A liquid crystal display (LCD) panel includes an array substrate, an opposite substrate and a liquid crystal layer. The array substrate includes a plurality of data lines, a plurality of gate lines, a pixel electrode, a plurality of sensing lines and a touch sensing circuit. The gate lines cross the data lines. The number of the gate lines is double the number of data lines. The pixel electrode is connected to the data line and the gate line to define a pixel area. The sensing lines are formed substantially parallel to the data lines. The touch sensing circuit is electrically connected to adjacent gate lines in a forming direction of the data line and the sensing line, a sensing line for touch position detection being formed in one line direction. such that an aperture ratio of an LCD panel is increased. |
| US08531415B2 |
Flat panel display integrated with touch screen panel
A flat panel display integrated with a touch screen panel comprises a lower substrate, an upper substrate having a display area and first and second non-display areas corresponding to a display area, first and second non-display areas of the lower substrate, respectively, sense patterns on the display area of the upper substrate, sense lines on the first non-display area of the upper substrate, metal patterns on areas between the sense lines and on an outer side of the sense lines, pixels on the display area of the lower substrate, a driving circuit configured to drive the pixels, and sealant disposed on the second non-display area of the lower substrate so as to bond the upper substrate to the lower substrate. The first and second non-display areas of the lower substrate are outside the display area. The driving circuit is on the first non-display area of the lower substrate. |
| US08531413B2 |
Touch panel and touch display panel
A touch display panel and a touch panel therein are provided. The touch panel includes a first transparent supporter plate, a second transparent supporter plate, and a touch module. The second transparent supporter plate and the touch module are disposed over the first transparent supporter plate. The first transparent supporter plate and the second transparent supporter plate have optical anisotropy. The first transparent supporter plate has a first fast axis and a first slow axis, and the second transparent supporter plate has a second fast axis and a second slow axis. A direction of the second fast axis is substantially perpendicular to a direction of the first fast axis, and a direction of the second slow axis is substantially perpendicular to a direction of the first slow axis. The touch panel of the present invention is helpful to improve display quality of the touch display panel having the touch panel. |
| US08531410B2 |
Finger occlusion avoidance on touch display devices
System and method for creating an information-free zone (“hole”) in the content displayed in the area of the display where the finger touches it. The content previously displayed in the hole is pushed to the sides around the hole and thereby remains visible. This avoids the occlusion of the content and allows the user to place the cursor on the display accurately. |
| US08531409B2 |
Electrical capacitance input device, display apparatus with input function and electronic apparatus
An electrostatic capacitance input device having a plurality of first electrodes extending in a first direction and a plurality of second electrodes extending in a second direction intersecting the first direction in an input area, including a plurality of first lines extending in parallel to each other from the plurality of first electrodes to a plurality of first terminals, and a plurality of second lines extending in parallel to each other from the plurality of second electrode to a plurality of second terminals, the first lines and the second lines being formed outside the input area, and an auxiliary line extending outside at least one of the lines at both ends in terms of the direction of arrangement of one or both of the plurality of first lines and the plurality of second lines, the auxiliary line generating a parasitic capacitance with respect to the at least one of the lines. |
| US08531406B2 |
Transparent conductive film, electrode sheet for use in touch panel, and touch panel
A transparent conductive film comprising a transparent film base material, a resin layer having a fine uneven geometrical structure, and a transparent conductive thin film laminated on the film base material through the resin layer, wherein the surface of the transparent conductive thin film has an average centerline roughness (Ra) of 0.11 to 0.18 μm, the maximum height (Ry) of 0.9 to 1.6 μm and the average distance between peaks (S) of 0.05 to 0.11 mm. The film can prevent the formation of a Newton's ring and shows satisfactory durability (particularly, pen input durability) and satisfactory display property without buzzing. |
| US08531405B2 |
Designated keyboard for chatting in arabic
Method and system for generating letters and characters in a certain language using a standard Latin keyboard, according to which the letters of the certain language which have corresponding Latin letters are generated by pressing the corresponding Latin letter keys, using the standard ASCII code of the keyboard. The standard ASCII code is expanded to an extended code that can represent certain language letters which do not have corresponding Latin letters and certain language letters which do not have corresponding Latin letters but look similar to, or associated with, another certain language letters that do correspond to Latin letters, using the extended code. Certain language letters which do not have corresponding Latin letters are generated by typing the keys where the certain language letters are located on a standard Latin keyboard of the certain language, using the extended code. Then certain language letters which do not have corresponding Latin letters but look similar to, or associated with, another certain language letters that do correspond to Latin letters are generated using the extended code, by double clicking on the corresponding Latin letter keys. Finally, certain language letters which do not have corresponding Latin letters but look similar to another certain language letters that are generated are generated by double clicking the letters that are generated, using the extended code. |
| US08531403B2 |
Keyboard for use in computer system
A computer system having a computer and a keyboard is provided. The keyboard includes a plurality of first letter keys and respective second letter keys. Each of the first and second letter keys is associated with a respective letter. The computer system is arranged: (i) upon activation of one of the first letter keys to register the selection of the corresponding letter; and (ii) upon activation of one of the second letter keys to present to a user a predefined list of one or more words. The words of each list are associated with the corresponding letter. The computer system is further arranged to register a selection by the user of one of the presented words. |
| US08531401B2 |
Computer accessory device
A computer accessory device configured to communicate with a computer includes a two-dimensional sensor array configured to generate image data as the device is moved over a surface. A first memory is configured to store a first set of images based on a first set of the image data. A second memory is configured to store a second set of images based on a second set of the image data. The second set of images is configured to be stitched-together into a stitched-together image. At least one controller is configured to generate navigation information based on the first set of images. The navigation information is indicative of displacement and rotation of the device. |
| US08531399B2 |
Control apparatus, input apparatus, control system, control method, and handheld apparatus
[Object] To provide a control apparatus, an input apparatus, a control system, a control method, and a handheld apparatus that are capable of preventing a deviation between a display position of a pointer and a relative position of the input apparatus when the input apparatus is moved out of a screen from an end portion of the screen, and with which a user can obtain an intuitional operational feeling.[Solving Means] Not only on a real screen (95) but also on a virtual screen (105) set around the real screen (95), coordinates of a virtual pointer (2′) are generated and stored. Accordingly, by moving an input apparatus (1) only by an amount that the input apparatus has moved outside the real screen (95), in an opposite direction, for example, a user can resume a movement of a pointer (2) that has reached a boundary line of the real screen (95), on the real screen (95). As a result, since coordinate values of the pointer are generated in a pseudo absolute coordinate system without being bound by a small screen, the user can operate the input apparatus (1) intuitionally without stress. |
| US08531398B1 |
Method and apparatus for using a virtual pointer to select an object in a display
An apparatus includes first and second accelerometers, a display device implemented in a vehicle, and a controller. The display device displays, to a user, a cursor relative to one or more objects. The first accelerometer generates a first signal representing an acceleration of the vehicle due to motion of the vehicle. The second accelerometer is worn by the user and generates a second signal representing both an acceleration of the user within the vehicle and the acceleration of the vehicle due to the motion of the vehicle. The controller isolates, based on the first signal, i) the acceleration of the user within the vehicle represented in the second signal from ii) the acceleration of the vehicle represented in the second signal. The controller moves the cursor relative to the objects based on the acceleration of the user within the vehicle as isolated from the acceleration of the vehicle. |
| US08531397B2 |
Method of calibrating position offset of cursor
The present invention provides a method of calibrating a position offset of a cursor on a screen such that, when a pointing device has already been moved to a position beyond the screen boundary, virtual coordinates of the pointing device are calculated and recorded to track the physical positions of the pointing device efficiently, and then the position offset between the pointing device and the cursor on the screen is compensated and corrected, so as for the user to greatly reduce the hassle of manually operating the pointing device for controlling cursor movement and thereby operate the cursor on the screen at will. |
| US08531395B2 |
Control device, input device, control system, handheld device, and control method
A control device includes: a receiver for receiving first information regarding the movement of a casing, and second information regarding whether to reflect the first information on the movement of coordinate values; a storage unit for storing a whole-screen region including a real-screen region, and a virtual-screen region set around the real-screen region; a generator for generating the coordinate values within the whole-screen region based on the first information; a switcher for switching a first state in which the coordinate values are movable, and a second state in which the coordinate values are immovable, based on the second information; a determining unit for determining which of the real-screen region or the virtual-screen region the coordinate values belong to; and a coordinate-value control unit for controlling the coordinate values so as to move the coordinate values within the virtual-screen region to the position of predetermined coordinate values within the real-screen region. |
| US08531383B2 |
Display device with luminance variation control unit
Provided is a display device capable of producing an image of excellent quality with reduced flicker and little reduction in luminance, the display device including: a backlight having light sources such as LED devices arranged two-dimensionally, each of which may be individually modulated in luminance; a moving velocity detection unit VD1 (109) for detecting a moving velocity of an object in a video (for example, moving velocity of a foreground); and a luminance variation control unit (113) for automatically controlling luminance variations of the LED devices for each frame, in accordance with the moving velocity. |
| US08531382B2 |
White LED backlight device with color compensation and display device using the same
A backlight device (2) for emitting illumination light outward includes white light-emitting diodes (4w) for emitting white light, and red and blue light-emitting diodes (4r, 4b) for emitting red light and blue light, respectively. The backlight device (2) further includes a lighting drive circuit (lighting control portion) (11) for controlling the lighting/driving of each of the light-emitting diodes (4w, 4r, 4b). |
| US08531380B2 |
Methods and systems for area adaptive backlight management
Elements of the present invention relate to systems and methods for generating, modifying and applying backlight array driving values. |
| US08531379B2 |
Methods and systems for image compensation for ambient conditions
Elements of the present invention relate to systems and methods for compensating an image for various ambient illumination conditions. In some embodiments, an image is compensated by modifying image code values to account for ambient conditions. |
| US08531378B2 |
Monochromatic liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display comprises a back light emitting monochromatic light, a liquid crystal display element comprising, a pair of opposing substrates, a nematic liquid crystal layer placed between the pair of opposing substrates, an electrode pattern formed on a nematic liquid crystal layer side of each substrate, a pair of polarizers placed outside the pair of substrates, and a controller which controls light emission of the back light and a voltage applied to the liquid crystal display element, wherein the controller restrain change in retardation of the liquid crystal display element by lowering non-selection voltage applied to the liquid crystal display element when environmental temperature increases and increasing non-selection voltage applied to the liquid crystal display element when environmental temperature decreases. |
| US08531377B2 |
Liquid crystal display device having drive circuits with master/slave control
A liquid crystal display device used in miniaturized portable equipment includes a distribution circuit to cope with a high-definition multi-grayscale display. A distribution circuit distributes an output of a drive circuit to a plurality of video signal lines within one scanning period, the distribution circuit being divided into a plurality of distribution circuits, and control signals being supplied to each distribution circuit from both end portions of each distribution circuit. When an output part of the drive circuit is configured such that a high withstand-voltage output amplifier and a low withstand-voltage output amplifier are alternately connected with the distribution circuit, a master function and a slave function are imparted to the drive circuit so as to allow the drive circuit to cope with odd-numbered outputs. |
| US08531375B2 |
Display device
A display device includes a display panel, a control circuit and a random number generating circuit. The random number generating circuit includes a plurality of shift registers, an output circuit, and registers which holds initial values. By providing a plurality of initial values, the randomness of random numbers can be enhanced. Further, the random numbers different from each other can be outputted from the plurality of shift registers and hence, it is possible to increase the frequency and to output the increased frequency by an output circuit. Further, by adding a noise control signal which suppresses the number of inversion of a digital signal, electromagnetic wave noises generated from a liquid crystal display device can be reduced. Further, by adopting an intermittent drive clock which intermittently repeats stopping thereof as a basic clock of the plurality of shift registers, electromagnetic wave noises generated from the display device can be reduced. The basic clock may be a clock which is in synchronism with a transmission clock of the display data or a clock which is in asynchronism with a transmission clock of the display data. |
| US08531374B2 |
Compensation circuitry of gate driving pulse signal and display device
A compensation circuitry of gate driving pulse signal is adapted to receive a gate driving pulse signal and includes a pre-processing circuit, a peak detector, a discharge circuit, a voltage buffer and a charge pump circuit. The pre-preprocessing circuit performs a pre-processing operation to the gate driving pulse signal to adjust a voltage thereof. The pre-processed gate driving pulse signal then is transmitted to the peak detector for obtaining a peak voltage after a charging operation, and also is transmitted to the discharge circuit to determine whether to enable the discharge circuit so that providing the peak detector with a discharge loop when the discharge circuit is enabled. The charge pump circuit acquires the peak voltage through the voltage buffer and then modulates a waveform of the gate driving pulse signal according to the peak voltage. A display device using the above compensation circuitry also is provided. |
| US08531373B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and image display method of the same
To provide a liquid crystal display device which performs pseudo impulsive driving, ensures brightness of a screen, and can improve the contrast of the screen. An arithmetic device for generating insertion images is provided in a liquid crystal display device for realizing pseudo impulsive driving. A moving object region and a background region are extracted from first image data which is input to the arithmetic device; second image data where the moving object region is displayed as a black image or a white image is generated; and a display panel performs display where the second image data of nth frame is displayed as an insertion image in a period between the first image data of nth frame and the first image data of (n+1)th frame. |
| US08531371B2 |
Liquid crystal display and driving method thereof
A liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal layer disposed between first and second substrates. A gate line transmits gate signals; a first data line transmits data voltages; a first voltage line alternately transmits a first voltage and a second voltage that is than greater than the first voltage; a first switching element is connected to the gate line and the first data line; a second switching element is connected to the gate line and the first voltage line; a first pixel electrode is connected to the first switching element; and a second pixel electrode is connected to the second switching element. The first pixel electrode and the second pixel electrode form a liquid crystal capacitor along with the liquid crystal layer, and at least one of the first voltage and the second voltage is variable. |
| US08531370B2 |
Liquid crystal display device with pixel structure of multiple thin film transistors and operating method thereof
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device and method for operating the device including, during a first time period, applying data from a data line to a capacitor included in a pixel and applying additional data from the data line to a capacitor included in an additional pixel. During a second time period, which follows the first time period, simultaneously applying the data to a liquid crystal capacitor included in the pixel and applying the additional data to a liquid crystal capacitor included in the additional pixel. |
| US08531368B2 |
Transmissive liquid crystal display device having color saturation conversion section
In a transmissive liquid crystal display device including a liquid crystal panel and a backlight, the liquid crystal panel has pixels each divided into four subpixels, namely red (R), green (G), blue (B), and white (W) subpixels. Further, the backlight is a white backlight whose light emission luminance is controllable. Furthermore, a color-saturation conversion section performs a color-saturation reduction process on a first input RGB input signal serving as an original input signal, and then a gamma-correction section performs a gamma-correction process on the first RGB input signal. An output signal generation section calculates transmittances and a backlight value in accordance with gamma-corrected RGB input signal obtained after the gamma-correction process has been performed by the gamma-correction section. |
| US08531365B2 |
Power-saving driving method for liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device includes a plurality of pixel units. Each of the pixel units includes a first thin film transistor and a second thin film transistor, a reflective sheet, and a storage capacitor. The channel width/length ratio of the first thin film transistor and the channel width/length ratio of the second thin film transistor are both larger than 12/5. The reflective sheet is disposed adjacent to the first thin film transistor and the second thin film transistor to reflect ambient light. The storage capacitor is formed at a position overlapping the reflective sheet and has a capacitance of larger than 1 pF. |
| US08531356B2 |
Method of driving a plasma display panel to compensate for the increase in the discharge delay time as the number of sustain pulses increases
In a plasma display panel, a protective layer of a front plate is formed of a base protective layer and a particle layer. The base protective layer is a thin film of metal oxide containing at least one of magnesium oxide, strontium oxide, calcium oxide, and barium oxide. The particle layer is formed in a manner that single-crystal particles of magnesium oxide having a peak of emission intensity at 200-300 nm two times or higher than another peak of emission intensity at 300-550 nm in the emission spectrum in cathode luminescence emission are stuck on the base protective layer. A panel driving circuit drives the plasma display panel with a subfield structure in which subfields are temporally disposed so that a magnitude of luminance weight has a monotonous decrease from a subfield where an all-cell initializing operation is performed to a subfield where a next all-cell initializing operation is performed. |
| US08531354B2 |
Image generation system
An image generation system for generating an image on a display screen. The image generation system includes an eye-tracking system capable of determining a user's eye orientation and outputting a signal indicative of same. The image generation system also includes a bio-feedback sensor capable of detecting activity of one or more physiological functions of the user and outputting a signal indicative of the level of activity. A processor is included and is adapted to receive and process the output signals from the eye-tracking system and bio-feedback sensor. The processor determines an image to be generated on the display screen indicative of the signals from the eye-tracking system and bio-feedback sensor. |
| US08531353B2 |
Multiple modulator displays and related methods
A dual modulator display has a first array of pixels that illuminates a second array of pixels with a pattern of light. The second array of pixels modulates the pattern of light to yield an image. A method for determining control values for pixels of the first array of pixels begins with an initial set of control values and refines the control values. The control values may be refined one at a time. Images may be displayed in real time. |
| US08531344B2 |
Broadband monopole antenna with dual radiating structures
A broadband monopole antenna with dual-radiating elements is provided. In one embodiment, an antenna comprises a ground plane; a first radiating structure having a symmetric configuration along a central axis, comprising a first feed point electrically connected to the base of said first radiating structure along said central axis and a first slot with a corresponding first open-ended strip along said central axis; and a second radiating structure conjoined with said first radiating structure having a symmetric configuration along said central axis, comprising a second feed point electrically connected to the base of said second radiating structure along said central axis and a second slot with a corresponding second open-ended strip along said central axis; and wherein the antenna resonates and operates at a plurality of resonant frequencies. |
| US08531342B2 |
Antenna device of mobile terminal
An antenna device of a mobile terminal that can secure radiation performance is provided. The antenna device having a battery cover composed of a metal material includes a radiation unit for transmitting and receiving a signal, a feeding unit formed at an end portion of a first side of the radiation unit for electrically connecting the radiation unit to a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), and a ground part disposed a predetermined distance from the feeding unit and formed at a second side of the radiation unit. When the battery cover is fastened to the mobile terminal, the ground part contacts a first side of the battery cover. |
| US08531338B2 |
Wireless communication device
A wireless communication device includes a main body, a cover, a base board, an elastic member, and an antenna module. The cover is attached to the main body. The base board includes a feeding point and a grounding point. The elastic member is connected to one of the feeding point and the grounding point. The antenna module includes a first antenna and a second antenna connected to the other feeding point and the grounding point of the base board. The base board, the elastic and the antenna module are mounted in the cover. The elastic member selectively causes the first antenna or the second antenna to contact to the one of the feeding points and the grounding point of the base board when in an open or closed state. |
| US08531335B2 |
System and method for providing a low and narrow-profile radio frequency identification (RFID) tag
Methods and systems for wireless devices are disclosed. According to one system, a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag includes an RFID circuit packaged within a chip carrier package. The chip carrier package bonds out a first antenna connection for the RFID circuit. An antenna including a conductive lead is interfaced with the first antenna connection. The chip carrier package and the first conductive lead are coupled to a first side of a first spacer. A second spacer having a second dielectric constant greater than the first dielectric constant is coupled to a second side of the first spacer. The second spacer isolates the RFID circuit from a metal surface. |
| US08531329B2 |
Method and device for determining the thickness of material using high frequency
The present invention relates to a method for determining the thickness of material by penetrating the material, in particular a method for measuring the thickness of walls, ceilings and floors, with which a measurement signal (28) in the gigahertz frequency range emitted using a high-frequency transmitter (24) penetrates the material (10) to be investigated at least once and is detected by a high-frequency receiver (38).According to the present invention, it is provided that the thickness (d) of the material (10) is measured via at least two transit-time measurements of the measurement signal (28) performed at various positions (20, 22) of the high-frequency transmitter (24) and/or the high-frequency receiver (34).The present invention also relates to a device system (12; 40, 140, 240, 340) for carrying out the method described above. |
| US08531327B2 |
Analog to digital converter
An analog to digital converter (ADC) includes a clock control unit supplying a predetermined clock signal corresponding to luminance among a plurality of clock signals having different frequencies; and a signal conversion unit comparing a ramp signal with an inputted pixel signal to generate a comparison result signal. The ADC performs counting corresponding to the predetermined clock signal supplied by the clock control unit and stores a count value counted at a time of the generating of the comparison result signal. |
| US08531326B2 |
Method and apparatus for pulse width modulation signal processing
A signal processor (30) is provided. The signal processor (30) is configured to receive a first analog signal and convert the first analog signal into a digital signal. The digital signal is transmitted across an electrical barrier and converted into a scaled pulse width modulation signal. The scaled pulse width modulation signal is then converted into a scaled second analog signal, which is output by the signal processor (30). |
| US08531323B2 |
Pipelined analog-to-digital converter and its single redundancy bit digital correction technique
A pipeline A/D converter and its single redundancy bit digital correction are provided. The single redundancy bit digital correction includes the following steps: substages except for the last one quantizes input voltage, calculates the residual voltage, which is amplified and shifted to the middle part of the reference voltage range, and outputs to the following substage until the last one, which only quantizes the input voltage; the code and offset code of each substage corresponding to the quantized thermometer code are calculated; the offset codes of all stages are added by weight to get total offset code; and codes of all substages are added by weight, to which the total offset code is added. The comparator offset error is corrected to obtain an output code which identifies the negative or positive overflow of input signals. The A/D converter adopting the above digital correction is provided. |
| US08531317B2 |
Notification systems and methods enabling selection of arrival or departure times of tracked mobile things in relation to locations
Systems and methods are disclosed for automated notification systems. A representative method, among others, can be summarized as follows: engaging in a communication session with a personal communications device, based upon impending arrival or departure of one or more mobile things in relation to a location; during the communication session, providing a plurality of arrival or departure times in relation to a location and enabling selection of one of the times; and causing a mobile thing to arrive at or depart from the location at substantially the selected time. A representative system, among others, is a computer system that has been programmed to perform the foregoing steps. |
| US08531313B2 |
Method for operating a driver assistance system when parking a vehicle in a parking space
The invention describes a method for the operation of a driving assistance system when parking a vehicle (01) in a lateral parking space (02) along a carriageway, in which below a particular activation speed and during the search for a parking space, possible parking spaces (02) are measured and an information item indicating that a suitable parking space (02) has been found is output to the driver for a parking space (02) of sufficient length for the vehicle (01), wherein the rear area (03) of the vehicle (01) is monitored when the activation speed is undershot during the search for a parking space, and the driver of the vehicle (01) is warned of a potential shunt accident as a result of a sudden braking maneuver when there is a following vehicle (05) in the rear area (03). In addition, it describes a driving assistance apparatus for carrying out the method and a computer program product which prompts a microprocessor having associated memory means to carry out the method. |
| US08531309B2 |
Quantification indicating circuit
A quantification indicating circuit includes an indicating lamp set, a converting circuit, and an indicating lamp control circuit. The indicating lamp set has a plurality of indicating lamps. The converting circuit has a plurality of predetermined threshold values which are compared with a numerical signal of a circuit board to generate a comparison result. The comparison result is converted to be outputs of a plurality of control bits. The indicating lamp control circuit is coupled between the indicating lamp set and the converting circuit and is used for controlling the number of the indicating lamps which are brightened according to the outputs of the control bits. |
| US08531304B2 |
Device and method for measuring material level in bin using flexible resistant members
A bin level monitoring system uses one or more monitoring devices (10) to measure a material (23) level in a bin (34). The monitoring devices (10) each have a frame (11) with at least two rigid frame members (12, 13) extending in a longitudinal direction with a space (14) between the frame members. A flexible material (22) covers the frame members (12, 13) and encloses the space (14) there between. A first resistive element (24) and a second resistive or conductive element (30) extend in the longitudinal direction of the device (10) and are arranged to move into contact with each other between the first and second frame members (12, 13) when pressure is applied by bulk material (23) in the bin (34) pressing against an outer surface of the flexible covering (22). An electric circuit (35) connected to the monitoring device (10) measures a total resistance of the free, non-contacted portion of at least one of the first and second elements (24, 30) to provide a measurement of the material level in the bin (34). |
| US08531303B2 |
Method and installation for real-time inspection of the quality of water in a delivery network
Method for inspecting, in real time, the quality of water of a drinking water delivery network comprising, on the one hand, on connections for consumers, consumption meters (9a) fitted with remote-reading devices, and, on the other hand, on-line analysers (10a) distributed at supervision points on the network in order to measure at least one parameter of water quality. The meters (9a) are fitted with remote-reading devices and the consumption data of the various meters (9a), and the measurements of the analysers (10a) are transmitted to a programmed computing unit (A) with a kinetic model of decrease of the quality parameter in question; the computing unit (A) permanently updates the hydraulic model according to the consumption data received from the meters (9a, 9b etc.); the computing unit (A) establishes expected estimated values of the concentration in the water of the parameter in question at the various supervision points of the network, and a prewarning system (w) makes a comparison between the estimated values of the quality parameter and the values measured at various points of the network, a warning being triggered when the difference between the measured value and the expected estimated value exceeds a predetermined threshold. |
| US08531298B2 |
Flexible RFID label
An RFID tag includes a base having at least one fold formed therein. An integrated circuit is formed on the base. At least one antenna segment extends from the integrated circuit and crosses the fold. When the fold is creased, a portion of the antenna segment on one side of the fold is aligned to be orthogonal to a portion of the antenna segment on the other side of the fold. |
| US08531296B2 |
Acceleration-based theft detection system for portable electronic devices
A theft prevention system for protecting portable electronic devices is disclosed. An acceleration sensor detects the acceleration of a portable electronic device, and a controller analyzes this acceleration to determine whether a theft condition is present. If so, an alarm can be initiated. The theft prevention system can include a filter for attenuating irrelevant acceleration frequencies and isolating those representative of theft, and comparison hardware/software for determining whether the detected acceleration matches a known acceleration profile characteristic of theft. Various parameters of the theft prevention system can also be set by a user through mechanisms such as a graphical user interface. |
| US08531294B2 |
Moving asset location tracking
Techniques are described for moving asset location tracking and monitoring system technology. A system monitors for events related to a monitoring system that monitors a fixed property and the system detects an event related to the monitoring system based on the monitoring. The system performs an operation that leverages geographic location tracking of at least one mobile asset associated with the fixed property based on the detected event. |
| US08531287B2 |
Wireless terminal, method for operating wireless terminal, and method for operating wireless network
Provided is a method for operating a wireless terminal. In the method, an event is detected through a user interface. Location information is detected through a wireless channel in response to the event detection. The detected event information and the detected location information are outputted to the user interface. |
| US08531285B2 |
Vehicle turn signaling apparatus that projects a low divergence line onto an adjacent driving lane
A vehicle turn signaling apparatus includes a light source that is powered by a turn signal circuit of the vehicle. The light source is configured to project a low divergence visible line onto a driving lane adjacent to the vehicle in response to activation of the turn signal circuit to visibly warn other drivers where a driver of the vehicle may intend to move the vehicle. |
| US08531283B2 |
Control method for switching between scales in vehicular instrument, and vehicular instrument
A purpose of the invention is to provide a control method for switching between scales in the vehicular instrument that can prevent erroneous recognition and perform highly safety displaying. When a vehicle information display of a scale A is changed to a vehicle information display of a scale B, emission of light for displaying a scale associated with the vehicle information display of the scale A is temporarily stopped, and after that, emission of light for displaying a scale associated with the vehicle information display of the scale B is started. |
| US08531281B2 |
Device and a method for detecting motor vehicles and their approach angles
A device and a method for detecting motor vehicles and their approach angles by passive or active transponders which are provided on the motor vehicles is described, which can be triggered by a transceiver device to transfer information stored in the transponders. It is recommended that on a motor vehicle at least two transponders are arranged with a restricted emission angle range and a different emission direction, and that information suitable for identifying the motor vehicle is stored in the transponders. |
| US08531280B2 |
Multi sensor detection, stall to stop and lock disabling system
A multi sensor detection and disabling lock system includes detector cases for holding interchangeable detectors that sample for chemical, biological and radiological compounds, agents and elements, with each detector case disposed in or upon the monitored product. The detector case transmits detection information to a monitoring computer terminal and transmits a signal to a lock disabler engaged to the product to lock or disable the product's lock thereby preventing untrained, unauthorized and unequipped individual's from gaining access and entry to the product, and also preventing further contamination of the area. The detection system can be interconnected to surveillance towers scanning detector cases disposed at seaport docks, freight depots and rail terminals for monitoring containers being prepared for shipment or sitting on docks for long periods of time. |
| US08531277B2 |
Finding system
A finding system with a base charger, finder, and other functional features includes a receiving unit and a base unit. The receiving unit is recharged using the base unit. The base unit also includes a button operationally coupled to a transmitter for sending a locate signal to the receiving unit. The receiving unit includes a receiver for receiving the locate signal. In response to the locate signal, the receiving unit provides audio and visual signals to assist a user in finding the receiving unit. The receiving unit can include, but is not limited to, a remote control unit that has the capability to operate multiple devices including TVs, VCRs, satellite receivers, audio and visual receivers, stereo equipment, and the like. |
| US08531272B2 |
RFID apparatus, wireless network platform, and operating method thereof
A radio frequency identification (RFID) apparatus includes a transmitting/receiving module and a determining module. When the transmitting/receiving module receives a radio frequency (RF) signal comprising a relay command, the determining module determines whether destination information of the relay command corresponds to the RFID apparatus and selectively transmits the content of the RF signal via the transmitting/receiving module. |
| US08531271B2 |
RFID carrier sensing method and RFID system using this RFID carrier sensing method
An RFID system that is capable of increasing the probability of a spare channel being detected and reducing the influence of interference between reader/writers comprises: a reader/writer which has a reader/writer main body section and an antenna capable of polarization switching, and which sends a continuous carrier wave; and a tag which uses tag information to modulate the continuous carrier wave and sends back a response signal to the reader/writer. The reader/writer main body section judges the level of a received interference signal and determines a channel and polarization direction for which the level of the interference signal is equal to or less than a threshold value, and receives a response signal from the tag on the determined channel and in the polarization direction. |
| US08531263B2 |
Circuit protection device
A circuit protection device includes a conductive layer which is connected to first and second terminals. A spring is electrically connected to the first and second terminals. When an over-voltage or over-temperature condition occurs within a charging circuit, one or more heat generating resistive elements melts material associated with one or more of the ends of the spring thereby releasing the spring to create an open circuit. |
| US08531261B2 |
Transformer and method for using same
Method for improving the symmetry of the differential output signals of an integrated transformer of the symmetric-asymmetric type comprising an inductive primary circuit and an inductive secondary circuit, characterized in that the capacitive coupling between the primary and secondary circuits is reduced. |
| US08531259B2 |
Proportional electromagnet
A proportional electromagnet includes a cylindrical shell, first and second covers connected to two ends of the shell by riveting, a metal core inserted through an axial defined in the second cover and formed with a first section located in the shell and a second section located outside the shell, a coil unit provided between the shell and the metal core, a supporting element provided on the first section of the metal core, a bushing provided on the second section of the metal core, a copper ring provided on the first section of the metal core to improve magnetic thrust of the proportional electromagnet, a stop provided on the first section of the metal core, and a magnetic shield provided between the first section of the metal core and the coil unit to direct magnetic flux toward the supporting element and the metal core to stably drive the metal core. |
| US08531253B2 |
Serial L-C resonator with three-dimensional structure and ultra-wide bandpass filter using the same
In an ultra-wideband (UWB) band-pass filter, an equivalent circuit of a band-pass filter for direct frequency conversion is configured to have a series LC resonator and a parallel LC resonator, the parallel LC resonator is implemented as a short stub and an open stub, and the series LC resonator is implemented by modeling an inductor and a capacitor as a distributed constant circuit. The series LC resonator is implemented to have a 3D structure for effective designing of the band-pass filter by a new method of implementing a series resonator circuit. In the UWB band-pass filter, a low-pass filter for improving band-stop characteristics is additionally connected. |
| US08531238B2 |
Multi-stage fully differential amplifier with controlled common mode voltage
Disclosed are systems and methods to achieve a low noise, fully differential amplifier with controlled common mode voltages at each stage output but without the requirement of a common mode feedback loop. Common mode voltages are adjusted by adjusting the currents flowing through the load impedances (bias currents) wherein the currents are derived from one or more voltage-to-current converters based on an impedance that matches to the load impedances of the stages of the amplifier. The amplifier invented is primarily used for amplification of low frequency signals. The amplifier has one or more gain stages applying only one conduction type of transistors of an IC technology that has the lowest transition frequency between 1/f noise and white noise to achieve a low chopping or autozeroing frequency. |
| US08531235B1 |
Circuit for a current having a programmable temperature slope
A current reference circuit configured to generate a reference current with a programmable temperature slope is disclosed. The current reference circuit includes a resistor. The current reference circuit includes a bandgap voltage circuit configured to generate a bandgap voltage and coupled to the resistor. The current reference circuit includes a bias voltage circuit configured to generate a variable-polarity bias voltage and coupled to the bandgap voltage circuit. The bandgap voltage circuit is configured to add the variable-polarity bias voltage to the bandgap voltage to generate the reference current through the resistor. |
| US08531232B2 |
Inductive load power switching circuits
Power switching circuits including an inductive load and a switching device are described. The switches devices can be either low-side or high-side switches. Some of the switches are transistors that are able to block voltages or prevent substantial current from flowing through the transistor when voltage is applied across the transistor. |
| US08531230B2 |
Input circuit
An input circuit includes an inverter, a first path control circuit and a second path control circuit. An input of the inverter is connected with a first node. A target inversion potential is higher than an inversion potential of the inverter. The first path control circuit electrically connects an input terminal and the first node when the input potential is higher than the target inversion potential, and blocks off an electrical connection between the input terminal and the first node when the input potential is lower than the target inversion potential. The second path control circuit electrically connects a ground terminal and the first node when the input potential is lower than a second inversion potential which is lower than the target inversion potential and blocks off the electrical connection between the ground terminal and the first node when the input potential is higher than the second inversion potential. |
| US08531227B2 |
Level shifter
A level shifter includes an output stage transistor and a level controller. The level controller receives a selection signal and provides a reference voltage at a gate terminal of the output stage transistor based on the selection signal. The output stage transistor, on being enabled by the reference voltage, provides a first level shifted output based on a first output reference voltage. |
| US08531218B1 |
Frequency generating system
A frequency generating system including a phase-locked loop (PLL) and a control signal generation unit is provided. The PLL outputs a phase-locked clock and controls a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) therein by using a dual-path architecture. The VCO includes a varactor. The control signal generation unit is coupled to the PLL and disposed in one of the dual paths. The control signal generation unit provides an up voltage, a down voltage, or a middle voltage as a control signal to control the VCO according to an up signal and a down signal of the PLL. The control signal generation unit provides the middle voltage in response to an electrical characteristic of the varactor to compensate the control signal. |
| US08531217B2 |
Fractional-N frequency synthesizer having reduced fractional switching noise
A fractional-N frequency synthesizer having reduced fractional switching noise and spurious signals is provided. The synthesizer includes a voltage controlled oscillator for providing an output signal. A fractional-N divider is responsive to the voltage controlled oscillator for providing a divided output signal having fractional switching noise. A band pass filter is responsive to the fractional-N divider for reducing the fractional switching noise and non-linearities that result in spurious signals. A phase detector is responsive to a reference signal and the band pass filter for providing a control signal representative of the phase difference between the reference signal and the signal from the band pass filter. A loop filter is responsive to the phase detector for filtering the control signal to control the voltage controlled oscillator, the output of the loop filter having reduced fractional switching noise and spurious signals. |
| US08531216B1 |
Electronic apparatus and clock generating method thereof
The present invention discloses an electronic apparatus. The electronic apparatus comprises a reference oscillator, for generating a reference clock; a first communications module, comprising a first auto frequency control unit, for detecting a first frequency offset between the first communications module and a first communication device and generating a first detecting result; and a first frequency synthesizer, for adjusting the reference clock according to the first detecting result, to generate a first baseband clock; and a second communications module, comprising a second auto frequency control unit, for detecting a second frequency offset between the second communications module and a second communication device and generating a second detecting result; a second frequency synthesizer, for receiving and outputting the first baseband clock; and a compensation unit, for adjusting the first baseband clock according to the first detecting result and the second detecting result, to generate a second baseband clock. |
| US08531215B2 |
Voltage detector
A voltage detector includes a first input terminal, a second input terminal, a first voltage detection circuit, a second voltage detection circuit, and a logic holder circuit. The first input terminal receives a first input voltage. The second input terminal receives a second input voltage. The first voltage detection circuit outputs a first detection signal that switches a logic state thereof when the first input voltage falls below a first detection voltage. The second voltage detection circuit outputs a second detection signal that switches a logic state thereof when the second input voltage falls below a second detection voltage. The logic holder circuit retains the logic state of the first detection signal when the second detection signal indicates that the second input voltage is below the second detection voltage. |
| US08531213B2 |
CMOS-inverter-type frequency divider circuit, and mobile phone including the CMOS-inverter-type frequency divider circuit
The present invention provides a CMOS-inverter-type frequency divider circuit that can further reduce power consumption.The CMOS-inverter-type frequency divider circuit includes: a plurality of CMOS inverters that contribute to realizing a frequency division function; a frequency division control section for performing control such that some or all of the plurality of CMOS inverters are intermittently driven at the respective different timings in accordance with an input signal; and a drive power supplying section for supplying powers for driving the plurality of CMOS inverters, and for, based on state information indicating whether VCO sub band selection or normal transmission is performed, switching some or all of the powers for the plurality of CMOS inverters between the VCO sub band selection and the normal transmission. |
| US08531212B2 |
Drive circuit for voltage-control type of semiconductor switching device
A charging current is supplied to the gate (control terminal) of a driven switching device during an on-state command interval, for raising the gate voltage to an on-state value. Otherwise, discharging of the gate capacitance is enabled, for decreasing the gate voltage to an off-state value. A second switching device is connected between the gate and a circuit point held at the off-state voltage value, and is maintained in an on state while the gate discharging is enabled. At a first time point, the gate voltage rises above a threshold value. At a second time point, a voltage detection circuit detects that that the gate voltage has risen above the threshold value, causing the second switching device to be set in the off state. It is ensured that the delay between the first and second time points is shorter than a minimum duration of an on-state command interval. |
| US08531204B2 |
Testable integrated circuit and test method therefor
Disclosed is an integrated circuit (200) comprising a plurality of cores (110, 110), at least some of the cores being located in different power domains (VDD1, VDD2), each core being surrounded by a test wrapper (220) comprising a plurality of wrapper cells (128, 230), wherein each of said test wrappers are located in a single power domain (VDD3) and each plurality of wrapper cells comprises wrapper output cells (230) each arranged to output a signal from its associated core, each of said wrapper output cells comprising an output level shifter (232, 240) for shifting the voltage of said signal to the voltage of the single power domain (VDD3). A method for testing such an IC and standard library cells for designing such an IC are also disclosed. |
| US08531199B2 |
Method for testing through-silicon-via and the circuit thereof
The method and circuit for testing a TSV of the present invention exploit the electronic property of the TSV under test. The TSV under test is first reset to a first state, and is then sensed at only one end to determine whether the TSV under test follows the behavior of a normal TSV, wherein the reset and sense steps are performed at only one end of the TSV under test. If the TSV under test does not follow the behavior of a normal TSV, the TSV under test is determined faulty. |
| US08531198B2 |
Apparatus and method for electrostatic discharge (ESD) reduction
A substrate support unit adapted for a system for testing or processing of a substrate is provided. The substrate support unit includes a support table having at least one substrate carrier structure adapted to support a substrate, wherein the substrate carrier structure is electrically floating with respect to ground. |
| US08531194B2 |
Selectable threshold reset circuit
A low voltage testing circuit (125), system (100 and 200), and method for performing low-voltage testing of a circuit (127) in an integrated circuit package (104 and 204) include a selectable threshold reset circuit (125) that includes a voltage-divider ladder (320) that produces a voltage that is a fraction of a power supply voltage, a comparator (310) that compares the fraction with a reference voltage, a switch (350) that controls topology of the voltage-divider ladder thereby changing a value of the fraction, the switch controlled by a signal from a production tester (102 and 202), the signal causing a reset threshold of the selectable threshold reset circuit to be reduced below a normal reset threshold to allow testing of the circuit at a power supply voltage below the normal reset threshold. |
| US08531193B2 |
Method and device for capacitive detection of objects
Proximity of a person causes a change in a capacitance value of a sensor capacitor having a pair of capacitive plates. The change is detected by charging the sensor capacitor by coupling the sensor to a voltage supply. The supply is disconnected from a tank capacitor during the charging. The charge is transferred from the sensor capacitor to a tank capacitor. The supply is disconnected from the tank capacitor during the charge transfer. The charging and charge transfer are repeated several times. The voltage of the tank capacitor is monitored. At least one value is determined which depends on the rate of change of the voltage of the tank capacitor. The capacitance of the tank capacitor may be several orders of magnitude higher than the capacitance of the sensor capacitor. The large tank capacitor acts as a part of a low-pass filter which effectively filters out signal noise. |
| US08531191B2 |
Sensor assembly and methods of measuring a proximity of a machine component to a sensor
A microwave sensor assembly includes a signal generator for generating at least one microwave signal and an emitter coupled to the signal generator. The emitter is configured to generate an electromagnetic field from the at least one microwave signal, wherein the emitter is detuned when an object is positioned within the electromagnetic field such that a loading signal is generated. The microwave sensor assembly also includes a detector coupled to the emitter and to the signal generator. The detector is configured to calculate at least one of an amplitude, a phase, and a power of the loading signal at a primary frequency of the loading signal for use in measuring a proximity of an object to the emitter. |
| US08531186B2 |
Magnetic resonance body coil assembly and method for generating radio-frequency field using the magnetic resonance body coil assembly
A body coil assembly for a magnetic resonance apparatus has a first coil and a second coil for generating a radio-frequency field in space, and a power control apparatus connected to the first coil and the second coil for controlling the transmitting power of the first coil and the second coil. In a method for generating a radio-frequency field using such a body coil assembly, the transmitting powers of the first coil and the second coil are controlled, to provide unequal transmitting powers to the first coil and the second coil when needed to generate a required radio-frequency field distribution, so as to form a stronger field strength at a certain position, thus improving the signal to noise ratio at that position during the receiving process. |
| US08531183B2 |
Rotary encoder and control method thereof
The control method includes obtaining an assumed angle and an actual angle of each of the plurality of rotation angle detecting members, determining a first rotation angle detecting member, the assumed angle and the actual angle of which differ from each other, determining a second rotation angle detecting member having the actual angle closest to the assumed angle of the first rotation angle detecting member, resetting the given count value of the second rotation angle detecting member to a new count value of the first rotation angle detecting member, changing the actual angle of the first rotation angle detecting member via the new count value of the first rotation angle detecting member to reduce an angular error between the assumed angle and the actual angle of the first rotation angle detecting member. |
| US08531180B2 |
Determining heading using magnetometer data and angular rate data
A device coupled with a magnetometer and an angular rate sensor can determine a heading of the device using magnetometer data. When the device receives a notification that the magnetometer data may be inaccurate, the device can determine the heading of the device using angular rate data. When the device determines that the magnetometer data are accurate, the device can resume determining the heading of the device using the magnetometer data. |
| US08531179B2 |
Method and device for the detection of current asymmetries in three-phase circuits
A device (10) for the detection of current asymmetries in three-phase circuits (L1, L2, L3) is provided. This device (10) has a first current measuring mechanism (S1) for the measurement of first phase (L1) and a second current measuring mechanism (S3) for the measurement of a second phase (L3). Furthermore, the device has a computing unit (ALU) which determines a current symmetry value (N2, 3; N1, 2) of the third phase (L2) relative to the first phase (L1) or second phase (L3) from the measured first phase and from the measured second phase. Moreover, an associated method is also provided. |
| US08531178B2 |
Ultrasound probe, method for manufacturing the same, and ultrasound diagnostic apparatus
In an ultrasound probe (2) and a method for manufacturing the ultrasound probe (2) of the invention, an organic piezoelectric element (21) has a sheet-like form, and is directly or indirectly laminated on a part or the entirety of a plurality of inorganic piezoelectric elements (22). Accordingly, the ultrasound probe (2) can be manufactured with a less number of steps. An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus of the invention includes the ultrasound probe (2). Accordingly, the cost of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus can be reduced. |
| US08531174B2 |
AC-DC input adapter
An output module for providing power to a device by using power from a source includes an inlet port, an outlet port, a power conversion circuit configured to receive power from the source through the inlet port and supply converted power to the device through the outlet port, and a control circuit coupled to the power conversion circuit and configured to determine a power requirement of the device and to operate the power conversion circuit to produce converted power having a parameter based upon the power requirement. Preferably, the power requirement is a charging requirement of a battery of the device. |
| US08531171B1 |
Low power and high accuracy band gap voltage circuit
A circuit including a first circuit, a second circuit, and a calibration circuit. The first circuit is configured to generate a first reference voltage potential. The second circuit is configured to generate a second reference voltage potential based on a calibration signal. The calibration circuit is configured to generate the calibration signal, to adjust the second reference voltage potential, based on the first reference voltage potential and the second reference voltage potential. The calibration circuit includes a comparing circuit configured to compare the first reference voltage potential and the second reference voltage potential, and a counter configured to increment a counter value based on the comparison of the first reference voltage potential and the second reference voltage potential and generate the calibration signal based on the counter value. |
| US08531169B2 |
Method and circuit for low power voltage reference and bias current generator
A system and method are provided for a PTAT cell with no resistors which can operate at low power, has less sensitivity to process variation, occupies less silicon area, and has low noise. Further, a system and method are provided to scale up the reference voltage and current through a cascade of unit cells. Still further, a system and method are provided for PTAT component to be fine-tuned, advantageously providing less process variability and less temperature sensitivity. |
| US08531167B2 |
Circuit
A DC-DC converter has an error amplifier that amplifies a potential difference between a first voltage based on an output voltage at the output terminal and a reference voltage, and outputs a resultant error amplified signal; a differential detecting circuit that senses an inclination of a temporal change of the output voltage by differentiating the first voltage, outputs a control signal according to a result of the sensing; and a PWM generating circuit that compares a synthetic signal obtained by conducting computation on the amplified error signal and the control signal with a periodically changing comparison signal, and outputs a PWM signal having a duty ratio controlled according to a result of the comparison. |
| US08531162B2 |
Network based energy preference service for managing electric vehicle charging preferences
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program product is provided for managing network based preferences associated with charging transactions for electric vehicles. The network based energy preference service receives an identification of a principal associated with a first computing device using a network connection. The network based energy preference service receives a selection of preferences from the principal associated with the first computing device over the network connection to form a set of preferences for the principal. In response to receiving a request for a subset of preferences from the set of preferences for the principal from a preference requesting service, the network based energy preference service retrieves the subset of preferences from the set of preferences by the network based energy preference service and sends the subset of preferences to the preference requesting service. |
| US08531157B2 |
Charging apparatus having overcharge protection and charging method for the same
The present invention aims to suppress waste of charging power during charging and improve charging efficiency.A charging apparatus 1 for charging a cell group 24, in which a plurality of secondary cells 22 are connected in series, by supplying a charging current Ic to the secondary cells 22 is provided with an overcharge protection circuit 26 including discharge route circuits 34 provided to each of the secondary cells 22 and adapted to cause the secondary cells 22 to discharge during charging by connecting the secondary cells 22 to the discharge route circuits 34 based on cell voltages Vb of the secondary cells 22 or to stop discharging by cutting off the secondary cells 22 from the discharge route circuits 34; and a charger controller 10 for continuing charging while reducing the charging current Ic until the discharge of the secondary cell 22 having started discharging to the discharge route circuit 34 is stopped when the discharge of any one of the secondary cells 22 to the discharge route circuit 34 is started by the overcharge protection circuit 26. |
| US08531155B2 |
Portable electronic device and capacitive charger providing data transfer and associated methods
The electronic apparatus includes a portable electronic device and a charger for capacitively charging the portable electronic device when the portable electronic device is temporarily placed adjacent the charger. The portable electronic device includes a device data communication unit and an associated battery, and a pair of device capacitive electrodes, defining a device conductive footprint, to receive a charging signal to charge the battery. The charger includes a base having an area larger than the device conductive footprint and able to receive the portable electronic device thereon in a plurality of different positions, and an array of charger capacitive electrodes carried by the base. A charger controller selectively drives only the charger capacitive electrodes within the device conductive footprint with a charging signal to capacitively charge the battery. |
| US08531154B2 |
Battery system and battery system-equipped vehicle
A battery system 100 includes an upper-limit electrical quantity setting means (an ECU 120) for setting an upper limit of an electrical quantity (an upper-limit electrical quantity Da) obtainable from a battery pack 110 to a lower value than in a full charge state. This upper-limit electrical quantity setting means 120 sets the upper-limit electrical quantity Da to a value having a difference from the electrical quantity (a full-charge electrical quantity Dmax) obtainable from the full charge state so that the difference is smaller as the deterioration of the battery pack 110 progresses. Further, the battery system 100 includes a charging means (the ECU 120) for charging the battery pack 110 under the condition that the upper-limit electrical quantity Da is an upper limit. |
| US08531152B2 |
Solar battery charger
A personal solar appliance (PSA) is presented that collects and stores solar energy. A method of charging a battery from a solar cell according to some embodiments is presented that includes applying power from a bootstrap circuit when the battery has a very low state of charge or the solar cell has output below a threshold; and applying power from a maximum power point circuit when the battery and the solar cell provide power above the threshold. |
| US08531151B2 |
Portable terminal and display controlling method thereof
A portable terminal and a method for controlling a display of a mobile terminal are provided. The portable terminal includes a terminal body having a display, a solar cell disposed on at least one region of the terminal body and configured to convert sunlight into electric energy for charging a battery, a sensing unit configured to detect a quantity of electric energy generated from the solar cell, and a controller configured to control brightness of the display based upon the quantity of energy detected by the sensing unit. |
| US08531130B2 |
System, method and apparatus for brightness adjusting of an illuminated logo
An application for a logo with an adjustable internal lighting includes an illuminated logo, a sensor and a circuit that controls the illuminated logo. The brightness and/or color of the illuminated logo are controlled by the circuit based upon ambient light and optionally, a user preference, operating mode and/or time-of-day. The sensor detects ambient light and signals the circuit to increase or decrease the brightness of the illuminated logo. |
| US08531127B2 |
Computer controlled power supply assembly for a LED array
The present invention consists of a power supply and LED circuit arrangement for powering LED arrays such that single or multiple LED failures will have minimal affect on the utility of the LED array. The power supply consists of an analog or microcontroller-based feedback module with single/multiple feedback signals in series with a synchronous buck-boost converter followed by an optional filter and a LED array. The assembly utilizes the feedback signal, to modulate various parameters of the LED array, such as the output intensity, LED junction temperature, and chromaticity. The power supply can drive different circuit arrangements of LEDs including series, parallel, and combinations thereof. Typical feedback signals include LED current, temperature, and ambient luminance and contrast. |
| US08531119B2 |
Light emitting diode tube and light emitting diode lamp using the same
A light emitting diode (LED) tube and an LED lamp using the same are provided. The LED tube is suitable for direct installation in a lamp holder which has a starter and a ballast. The LED tube includes an LED array, an LED driver, and a rectification-block diplexer. When the LED array is driven by the LED driver, the rectifier-block diplexer disables the starter and the ballast and at the same time receives and converts an AC power supply. Thus the rectifier-block diplexer provides an operating voltage to the LED driver. Without removing the starter and shorting the ballast, the user can easily install the LED tube into a traditional fluorescent lamp socket, saving the cost of lamp modification, thus achieving the purpose of energy saving and environmental protection. |
| US08531117B2 |
Lighting apparatus using PN junction light-emitting element
The present disclosure discloses a lighting apparatus using a PN junction light-emitting element, the apparatus comprising: a power transmitting substrate; PN junction light-emitting elements mounted on the power transmitting substrate; circuit elements mounted on the power transmitting substrate and controlling power provided to the PN junction light-emitting elements; and a top cover covering the circuit elements and forward reflecting light emitted by the PN junction light-emitting elements. |
| US08531116B2 |
Apparatus and method of driving light source
A light source driving apparatus for implementing general purpose driving of a high-current light emitting diode (LED) and a low-current LED, and a method for driving the same are disclosed. The apparatus for driving the light source includes a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) strings, and a light emitting diode (LED) driving circuit for driving the LED strings, and having a plurality of channels commonly connected to the same LED string. |
| US08531114B2 |
Illumination beacon
An illumination beacon including a housing including a transparent top surface and a transparent bottom surface. An upper mounting member is supported within the housing proximate the transparent top surface, and a lower mounting member supported within the housing proximate the transparent bottom surface. An upper light source is supported by the upper mounting member and oriented to project light upwardly through the transparent top surface, and a lower light source is supported by the lower mounting member and oriented to project light downwardly through the transparent bottom surface. A battery is received within the housing intermediate the upper mounting member and the lower mounting member. A power management system is operably coupled to the battery. |
| US08531111B2 |
Light module
The invention relates to a light module for electrical and thermal attachment to an energy infrastructure having at least one power supply, each power supply comprising two electrodes, said light module comprising a light source to emit light, wherein the light source is a heat source when emitting light, two electrical contacts to contact the electrodes of the at least one power supply and thereby establishing the electrical attachment between the light module and the energy infrastructure, a control system arranged between the light source and the electrical contacts to control a power supplied to the light source, wherein the light module comprises a measurement system to measure a thermal resistance of the thermal attachment between the light module and the energy infrastructure when establishing the electrical attachment, and wherein the control system is configured to reduce the power supplied to the light source when the thermal resistance is above a predetermined value to protect the light module from overheating. The invention also relates to a method for protecting a light module from overheating. |
| US08531100B2 |
Deuterated compounds for luminescent applications
This invention relates to deuterated compounds that are useful in electroluminescent applications. It also relates to electronic devices in which the active layer includes such a deuterated compound. |
| US08531096B2 |
Field emission device and method of manufacturing the same
A field emission device includes; a substrate including at least one groove, at least one metal electrode disposed respectively in the at least one groove, and carbon nanotube (“CNT”) emitters disposed respectively on the at least one metal electrode, wherein each of the CNT emitters includes a composite of Sn and CNTs. |
| US08531095B2 |
Spark plug comprising enhanced contamination-resisting and heat-resisting properties
In a spark plug that has a small sized center electrode, enhancement of corruption-resisting property and heat-resisting property is promoted. The spark plug 1 includes a center electrode 5, an insulator 2 and a metal shell 3, and the insulator 2 includes a foot section 13, a tapered section 14 and a middle body section 12. The maximum outer diameter of a portion, which is arranged within the foot section 13, of the center electrode 5 becomes 3.0 mm or less. A step section 21 and a leading end side inner periphery section 51 are formed in the inner periphery of the metal shell 3 and the tapered section 14 is engaged to a step section 21. When A (mm3) is a volume of a portion of 2 mm of the insulator 2 from leading end of the insulator 2 toward the rear end side along the axis CL1 and B (mm3) is a volume of a portion of the insulator 2 from the rear end of the portion of the tapered section 14 which is engaged to the step section 21 to the leading end side and the portion is 1.5 mm or less of the diameter difference between the leading end side inner periphery section 51 and its outer periphery portion, 0.12≦A/B≦0.24 is satisfied. |
| US08531093B2 |
Discharge lamp, light source apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure apparatus manufacturing method
A light source apparatus is equipped with a discharge lamp, which has a glass tube that forms a light emitting part and a base member that is coupled thereto, and a mounting apparatus that holds the discharge lamp via the base member. Therein, the base member has a flange part that contacts positioning plate of the mounting apparatus, and a fixed part that is urged with a pressing force that presses the flange part to the positioning plate. Furthermore, the mounting apparatus has a fixing arm that urges the fixed part by a compression coil spring. |
| US08531092B2 |
Surface-mountable piezoelectric devices including eutectic-bonded packages
Piezoelectric devices are disclosed that are mountable on the surface of a printed circuit board or the like. An exemplary device comprises a piezoelectric vibrating piece enclosed and sealed within a package including at least a cover and a base-substrate formed of glass or piezoelectric material. The package includes frame-shaped metallic films formed in peripheral regions of inner main surfaces of the cover and/or the base substrate. The frame-shaped metallic films are used for sealing the package using a eutectic material (e.g., solder). At least one mounting terminal is provided on the outer (bottom) main surface of the base-substrate. At least one of the frame-shaped metallic films and mounting terminals includes a chromium foundation layer formed on the surface of the glass or piezoelectric material, a middle layer of NiW alloy formed on the surface of the chromium layer, and a gold layer formed on the surface of the middle layer. |
| US08531091B2 |
Apparatus for holding piezoelectric vibrator
A holding device for a piezoelectric vibrator including a support member (11) for separately accommodating a piezoelectric vibrator (1), a first plate spring member (13) which extends from a proximal end fixedly bonded to one side of the support member (11) so as to sandwich opposing sides of the piezoelectric vibrator (1) and is folded back to be fixedly bonded to the piezoelectric vibrator, and a second plate spring member (18) which extends from a proximal end fixedly bonded to another side of the support member (11) so as to sandwich the opposing sides of the piezoelectric vibrator (1) and is folded back to be fixedly bonded to the piezoelectric vibrator. The first plate spring member (13) and the second plate spring member (18) are integrated at portions fixedly bonded to the piezoelectric vibrator (1). |
| US08531090B2 |
Crystal microbalance holder
A piezoelectric element holder allows a piezoelectric crystal to be mounted with a single exposed surface. This permits more accurate estimates of applied coating weights and thicknesses to be obtained. The piezoelectric element is mounted via a removable cap and malleable seal that permit the element to be removed and replaced easily. |
| US08531086B2 |
Vibration actuator, lens barrel, and camera
A vibration actuator 10 comprises an elastic body 12 that generates vibration waves in accordance with driving of an element 13, and a relative movement member that is in pressure contact with the body 12 and is relatively moved with respect to the body 12 by the vibration waves. A plurality of groove 30s are formed at the relative movement member side of the body 12, and depths of the groove 30s in a direction orthogonal to a relative movement direction of the relative movement member vary along the relative movement direction of the relative movement member. |
| US08531083B2 |
Devices having a tunable acoustic path length and methods for making same
A tunable acoustic resonator device has a piezoelectric medium as a first thin film layer and a tunable crystal medium as a second thin film layer. The tunable crystal medium has a first acoustic behavior over an operating temperature range under a condition of relatively low applied stress and a second acoustic behavior under a condition of relatively high applied stress. The acoustic behaviors are substantially different and, consequently, the different levels of applied stress are used to tune the acoustic resonator device. Compared with the tunable resonator device consisting of only tunable crystal medium, a device having both the piezoelectric and tunable crystal medium has advantages such as larger inherent bandwidth and less nonlinearity with AC signals. The device also requires a smaller applied stress (i.e. bias voltage) to achieve the required frequency tuning. |
| US08531080B2 |
Rotor having a superconducting rotor winding and an integral sleeve surrounding the rotor winding
A rotor for a synchronous machine has a rotor axis which defines a rotor shaft. The rotor has a winding support which is arranged on the rotor shaft such that they rotate together, in such a way that it surrounds the rotor shaft in a center section with respect to the rotor axis. The winding support is fitted with a superconducting rotor winding. The rotor has a sleeve which at least radially surrounds the winding support and the rotor winding with respect to the rotor axis. The sleeve is formed integrally from a metal alloy, which is non-magnetic, has an electrical conductivity of at least 60% of the electrical conductivity of copper at 20° C., has a mechanical tensile strength of at least 250 N/mm2 at 200° C. and has a 0.2% proof stress of at least 200 N/mm2 at 200° C. |
| US08531078B2 |
Interspersed multi-layer concentric wound stator
A stator includes a stator support having multiple axially extending circumferentially arranged slots. Multiple phases each include multiple coils. Each of the coils has first and second opposing sides of conductor provided in the slots. A conductor in a second side of a first phase first coil is interspersed with a conductor in a second phase first coil. The conductors in a first side of the first phase first coil are arranged adjacent to one another and non-interspersed. |
| US08531077B2 |
Stator coil production method and electric motor equipped with stator coil produced by the same
A stator coil production method using a plurality of shaping press pairs. A stator coil is made up of in-slot portions to be disposed in slots of a stator core and coil-end portions each of which extends every adjacent two of the in-slot portions. Each of the shaping press pairs has a die and a punch disposed on both sides of a conductor wire travel path. The method includes a first step of moving the die and the punch close to each other to shape a portion of a conductor wire into one of the coil-end portions, and a second step of bringing adjacent two of the shaping press pairs close to each other and simultaneously moving one of the adjacent two of the shaping press pairs in a direction perpendicular to the conductor wire to shape a portion of the conductor wire into one of the in-slot portion. |
| US08531076B2 |
Stator for an electric motor
A stator for an electric motor includes first and second rows of conductors arranged concentrically around an axis inside a steel core. Each conductor includes a linking end. The stator also includes a first dielectric shim ring arranged between the two rows of conductors. Each conductor of the first row is bent in either a clockwise or a counter-clockwise direction relative to the axis and each conductor of the second row is bent in the opposite direction. The linking end of each conductor of the first row is attached to the linking end of an adjacent conductor of the second row after the conductors are bent. The first shim ring separates the first and second rows of conductors when the conductors are being bent, and is also at least partially disposed between the first and second rows of conductors when the linking ends are being attached. |
| US08531073B2 |
Heat dissipation system and fan thereof
A fan including an impeller structure, a rotor structure and a stator structure is disclosed. The impeller structure includes a hub and a plurality of blades disposed around the outer periphery of the hub. The rotor structure includes a shaft and a magnetic element. The shaft is disposed through the magnetic element and connected to the hub. The magnetic element includes at least one terminal surface in the axial direction, and at least one receptacle is formed on the terminal surface. The stator structure is disposed around the outer periphery of the magnetic element. The heat dissipation system and the fan thereof can improve the reliability of the motor at high rotating speed effectively and prolong the lifetime of the shaft. |
| US08531072B2 |
Dual-mode counter-rotating-to-traditional electric motor and system
Disclosed is a counter-rotating electric motor that includes an outer rotational component, an oppositely rotating inner rotational component, a force output system coupled to the outer rotational component, another force output means coupled to the inner rotational component, and an assembly for reversibly halting one of the rotational components, thereby converting the counter-rotating electric motor into a traditional motor. |
| US08531071B2 |
Turbine engine powered system with hybrid bearing
One embodiment of the present invention is a unique turbine engine. Another embodiment is a unique turbine engine powered system. Another embodiment is a hybrid bearing system for use in a turbine engine and/or a turbine engine powered system. Other embodiments include apparatuses, systems, devices, hardware, methods, and combinations for hybrid bearings, turbine engine systems with one or more hybrid bearings and turbine engine powered systems with one or more hybrid bearings. Further embodiments, forms, features, aspects, benefits, and advantages of the present application shall become apparent from the description and figures provided herewith. |
| US08531068B2 |
Rotation sensor and direct current motor
A direct current motor includes an armature coil having at least three phase coils, a commutator having multiple commutator segments connected to the armature coil, a pair of brushes in slidable contact with the commutator to supply power to the phase coils through the commutator, a rotation shaft, and a ring varistor coaxially fixed to the rotation shaft and having a ring-shaped varistor body and multiple electrodes that are circumferentially arranged on a surface of the varistor body. Each commutator segment is connected to a corresponding electrode of the ring varistor. The electrodes of the ring varistor are paired to form electrode pairs. Each electrode pair includes any two of the electrodes. A capacitance of one electrode pair is different from a capacitance of another electrode pair. |
| US08531064B2 |
Ultrasonically powered surgical instruments with rotating cutting implement
In one general aspect, various embodiments are directed to an ultrasonic surgical instrument that comprises a handpiece housing that rotatably supports an ultrasonic transducer assembly therein that may be selectively rotated by various motor configurations. Various slip ring arrangements are disclosed for supplying ultrasonic electrical signals and motor drive signals from a control system. Various forms of blade and cutting implements are disclosed for attachment to the ultrasonic transducer assembly such that such implements may be selectively rotatable within a hollow outer sheath. Vacuum may be applied to the cutting implement or through the outer sheath to draw tissue through an opening in the sheath and into contact with the cutting implement. |
| US08531058B2 |
Electrical appliance
A household appliance which includes an activation unit, a power supply unit, a switch that is operated by the activation unit, and a capacitor that is connected in parallel to the switch on the primary side of the power supply unit. The power supply unit is connected to a power supply network and supplies, on the secondary side of the power supply unit, power to controlled functional units of the household appliance and to the activation unit. The switch is operated by the activation unit to disconnect the power supply unit from the power supply network on the primary side of the power supply unit and in an idle state of the household appliance. |
| US08531052B1 |
Auxiliary energy generator for use with a wind energy system
A wind power generator has a frame, an axle extending horizontally and rotatably mounted relative to the frame, a plurality of arms extending radially outwardly of the axle, a plurality of panels respectively connected to the plurality of arms, and an electrical generator positioned adjacent to the arms for producing electrical energy as the arms rotate relative to the frame. The electricity generator includes an annular housing, a coil positioned in the housing so as to define a pathway through an interior of the coil, and a magnet slidably received in the pathway so as to be movable through the coil as the axle rotates. The magnet is magnetically attracted to the arm. |
| US08531050B2 |
Wirelessly powered gaming device
Embodiments of the invention provide an interactive toy or gaming device for actuating various interactive play effects within a compatible play environment. The gaming device comprises a portable housing having an internal cavity configured to receive one or more batteries or other power sources for powering the device. Optional lighting, laser or sound effects may be provided as well as one or more optionally-powered infrared (IR) or radio frequency (RF) wireless communications devices. The interactive toy or gaming device may also comprise an optional RFID (radio frequency identification device) transponder that is operable to provide relatively short-range non-battery-powered RF communications with one or more receivers or transceivers provided within a compatible play environment. The interactive toy or gaming device may further include an optional magnetic inductance energy source or motion-generated energy source for wirelessly powering the device by motion and/or using an externally applied electromagnetic field. |
| US08531045B2 |
Component packaging and assembly
A packaging layer (200) for a wafer level assembly is fabricated from a glass material comprising both inorganic and organic components. This allows matching between the coefficient of thermal expansion of the packaging layer and that of other materials in the wafer assembly, particularly electrical interconnect materials. It is also possible to introduce properties to support such methods as photolithographic and low temperature processing of the packaging layer. This can improve fabrication accuracy and allows the packaging layer to be used with structures in a wafer assembly which might be damaged by high temperature processing, such as active optoelectronic devices and integrated circuits. Another major advantage is that the glass material can be used to provide optical characteristics as well as mechanical protection. The refractive index and other optical properties can be preselected and thus the glass material can be used for instance for waveguiding and index matching. |
| US08531044B2 |
Epoxy resin composition for encapsulating semiconductor device and semiconductor device encapsulated with an encapsulant prepared from the composition
An epoxy resin composition for encapsulating a semiconductor device and a semiconductor device, the composition including an epoxy resin, a curing agent, a curing accelerator, an inorganic filler, and an additive, wherein the epoxy resin includes an epoxy resin represented by Formula 1: |
| US08531041B2 |
Semiconductor component having a plated through-hole and method for the production thereof
A connection contact layer (4) is disposed between semiconductor bodies (1,2). In the second semiconductor body (2), a recess is provided. A connection layer (7) on the top face extends as far as the recess, in which a metallization (10) is present that conductively connects the connection contact layer (4) to the connection layer (7) in an electrical manner. A polymer (8) or a further metallization is present in the recess. |
| US08531037B2 |
Semiconductor chip having power supply line with minimized voltage drop
Disclosed is a power supply line in which a voltage drop generated in a resistance component of a metal line which delivers a power voltage is minimized so that the level of the power supply voltage delivered to a semiconductor chip becomes constant in the entire area of the semiconductor chip. The semiconductor chip includes: at least two power supply pads to which a power voltage applied from an external unit of the semiconductor chip is supplied; power supply main metal lines connected to each of the power supply pads; power supply branch metal lines extended from each of the power supply main metal lines to deliver a power voltage to a circuit in the semiconductor chip; and at least an electrostatic discharge (ESD) improvement dummy pad, wherein the ESD improvement dummy pad is electrically connected to the corresponding power supply main metal line and the corresponding power supply branch metal line to minimize a voltage drop. |
| US08531035B2 |
Interconnect barrier structure and method
A system and method for forming through substrate vias is provided. An embodiment comprises forming an opening in a substrate and lining the opening with a first barrier layer. The opening is filled with a conductive material and a second barrier layer is formed in contact with the conductive material. The first barrier layer is formed with different materials and different methods of formation than the second barrier layer so that the materials and methods may be tuned to maximize their effectiveness within the device. |
| US08531034B2 |
Semiconductor package and package on package having the same
A semiconductor package and a package on package are provided. The semiconductor package includes a substrate; a semiconductor chip attached to a surface of the substrate; connecting conductors disposed on the surface of the substrate; a mold formed on the substrate and in which the connecting conductors and the semiconductor chip are provided; and connecting via holes extending through the mold and exposing the connecting conductors. With respect to a first connecting via hole of the connecting via holes, a planar distance between a first connecting conductor exposed by the first connecting via hole and an entrance of the first connecting via hole is not uniform. |
| US08531031B2 |
Integrated circuit packages
Some embodiments include methods of assembling integrated circuit packages in which at least two different conductive layers are formed over a bond pad region of a semiconductor die, and in which a conductive projection associated with an interposer is bonded through a gold ball to an outermost of the at least two conductive layers. The conductive layers may comprise one or more of silver, gold, copper, chromium, nickel, palladium, platinum, tantalum, titanium, vanadium and tungsten. In some embodiments, the bond pad region may comprise aluminum, an inner of the conductive layers may comprise nickel, an outer of the conductive layers may comprise gold, the conductive projection associated with the interposer may comprise gold; and the thermosonic bonding may comprise gold-to-gold bonding of the interposer projection to a gold ball, and gold-to-gold bonding of the outer conductive layer to the gold ball. Some embodiments include integrated circuit packages. |
| US08531030B2 |
IC device having electromigration resistant feed line structures
An integrated circuit (IC) device includes an electromigration resistant feed line. The IC device includes a substrate including active circuitry. A back end of the line (BEOL) metallization stack includes an interconnect metal layer that is coupled to a bond pad by the EM resistant feed line. A bonding feature is on the bond pad. The feed line includes a uniform portion and patterned trace portion that extends to the bond pad which includes at least three sub-traces that are electrically in parallel. The sub-traces are sized so that a number of squares associated with each of the sub-traces are within a range of a mean number of squares for the sub-traces plus or minus twenty percent or a current density provided to the bonding feature through each sub-trace is within a range of a mean current density provided to the bonding feature plus or minus twenty percent. |
| US08531026B2 |
Diamond particle mololayer heat spreaders and associated methods
Thermally regulated semiconductor devices having reduced thermally induced defects are provided, including associated methods. Such a device can include a heat spreader having a monolayer of diamond particles within a thin metal matrix and a semiconductor material thermally coupled to the heat spreader. In one aspect, the coefficient of thermal expansion difference between the heat spreader and the semiconductor material is less than or equal to about 50%. |
| US08531024B2 |
Semiconductor chip assembly with post/base heat spreader and multilevel conductive trace
A semiconductor chip assembly includes a semiconductor device, a heat spreader, a conductive trace, a substrate and an adhesive. The heat spreader includes a post and a base. The conductive trace includes a pad, a terminal, a conductive pattern and first and second vias. The substrate includes the conductive pattern and a dielectric layer. The semiconductor device is electrically connected to the conductive trace and thermally connected to the heat spreader. The post extends upwardly from the base into an opening in the adhesive and an aperture in the substrate, and the base extends laterally from the post. The conductive trace provides signal routing between the pad and the terminal using the conductive pattern and the vias. |
| US08531023B2 |
Substrate for semiconductor package and method of manufacturing thereof
Disclosed is a substrate for a semiconductor package in which leakage of radiation noise from a gap between a semiconductor element and a mounting substrate can be prevented. The substrate for the semiconductor package includes a coplanar waveguide including a signal and ground electrodes on the mounting substrate, the signal electrode flip-chip connected to the semiconductor element, the ground electrodes arranged on both sides of the signal electrode with intervals therebetween. A step part is formed in the ground electrodes in an outer circumferential part of a mounting region of the semiconductor element, the step part having a larger distance between upper surfaces of the mounting substrate and the ground electrode in the outer circumferential part of the mounting region than such distance in the mounting region, and an insulator for covering the signal electrode in the outer circumferential part of the mounting region is formed. |
| US08531022B2 |
Routable array metal integrated circuit package
An integrated circuit assembly comprises an integrated circuit die, and a routable metal layer comprising metal traces linking a plurality of wire bond pads to a plurality of external connection pads such that the metal traces are routable under the die area. An electrically nonconductive adhesive layer couples the integrated circuit die to the routable metal layer, and a plurality of wire bonds link circuitry on the integrated circuit die to the wire bond pads in the routable metal layer. An overfill material encapsulates at least the integrated circuit die and the plurality of wire bonds, and a plurality of solder balls are formed on the plurality of external connection pads. |
| US08531019B2 |
Heat dissipation methods and structures for semiconductor device
A semiconductor device with efficient heat dissipating structures is disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor chip that is flip-chip mounted on a first substrate, a heat absorption portion that is formed between the first semiconductor chip and the first substrate, an outer connection portion that connects the first semiconductor chip to an external device and a heat conduction portion formed between the heat absorption portion and the outer connection portion to dissipate heat generated by the first semiconductor chip. |
| US08531012B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of forming a shielding layer over a semiconductor die disposed in a cavity of an interconnect structure and grounded through the die TSV
A semiconductor device has an interconnect structure with a cavity formed partially through the interconnect structure. A first semiconductor die is mounted in the cavity. A first TSV is formed through the first semiconductor die. An adhesive layer is deposited over the interconnect structure and first semiconductor die. A shielding layer is mounted over the first semiconductor die. The shielding layer is secured to the first semiconductor die with the adhesive layer and grounded through the first TSV and interconnect structure to block electromagnetic interference. A second semiconductor die is mounted to the shielding layer and electrically connected to the interconnect structure. A second TSV is formed through the second semiconductor die. An encapsulant is deposited over the shielding layer, second semiconductor die, and interconnect structure. A slot is formed through the shielding layer for the encapsulant to flow into the cavity and cover the first semiconductor die. |
| US08531010B2 |
Semiconductor device including a pillar MOS transistor
A semiconductor structure may include, but is not limited to: a semiconductor substrate; a first semiconductor structure extending upwardly over the semiconductor substrate; and a second semiconductor structure extending upwardly over the semiconductor substrate, the first and second semiconductor structures being aligned in a first <100> direction. |
| US08531007B2 |
Semiconductor device and the method for manufacturing the same
A semiconductor device is disclosed which includes active section 100, edge termination section 110 having a voltage blocking structure and disposed around active section 100, and separation section 120 having a device separation structure and disposed around edge termination section 110. A surface device structure is formed on the first major surface of active section 100, trench 23 is formed in separation section 120 from the second major surface side, and p+-type separation region 24 is formed on the side wall of trench 23 such that p+-type separation region 24 is in contact with p-type channel stopper region 21 formed in the surface portion on the first major surface side and p-type collector layer 9 formed in the surface portion on the second major surface side. The semiconductor device and the method for manufacturing the semiconductor device according to the invention facilitate preventing the reverse blocking voltage from decreasing and shorten the manufacturing time of the semiconductor device. |
| US08531003B2 |
Semiconductor device and manufacturing method of the same
Provided is a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a first insulation layer on a semiconductor substrate, the first insulation layer including a lower metal line, a metal head pattern on the first insulation layer, the metal head pattern including an inclined side surface, a thin film resistor pattern on the metal head pattern, a second insulation layer on the metal head pattern and the thin film resistor pattern, an upper metal line on the second insulation layer, a first via connecting the lower metal line to the upper metal line, and a second via connecting the metal head pattern to the upper metal line. |
| US08531002B2 |
Apparatus and method for wafer level fabrication of high value inductors on semiconductor integrated circuits
An apparatus and method for wafer level fabrication of high value inductors directly on top of semiconductor integrated circuits. The apparatus and method includes fabricating a semiconductor wafer including a plurality of dice, each of the dice including power circuitry and a switching node. Once the wafer is fabricated, then a plurality of inductors are fabricated directly onto the plurality of dice on the wafer respectively. Each inductor is fabricated by forming a plurality of magnetic core inductor members on an interconnect dielectric layer formed on the wafer. An insulating layer, and then inductor coils, are then formed over the plurality of magnetic core inductor members over each die. A plated magnetic layer is formed over the plurality of inductors respectively to raise the permeability and inductance of the structure. |
| US08530998B2 |
Substrate compositions and methods for forming semiconductor on insulator devices
Methods and apparatus for producing a semiconductor on insulator structure include: subjecting an implantation surface of a donor single crystal semiconductor wafer to an ion implantation process to create an exfoliation layer of the donor semiconductor wafer; bonding the implantation surface of the exfoliation layer to a glass substrate using electrolysis, wherein a liquidus viscosity of the glass substrate is about 100,000 Poise or greater. |
| US08530996B2 |
Buck regulator structure comprising high-side and low-side voltage HEMT transistors
A semiconductor device includes a high-side field-effect transistor including a high-side drain electrode, a high-side gate electrode, and a high-side source electrode; and a first low-side field-effect transistor including a first low-side drain electrode, a first low-side gate electrode and a first low-side source electrode, wherein the high-side source electrode and the first low-side drain electrode are shared as a single source and drain electrode, and the high-side drain electrode, the high-side gate electrode, the source and drain electrode, the first low-side gate electrode and the first low-side source electrode are arranged in this order while being interposed by gaps, respectively. |
| US08530995B2 |
High operating temperature split-off band infrared detector with double and/or graded barrier
A high operating temperature split-off band infrared (SPIP) detector having a double and/or graded barrier on either side of the emitter is provided. The photodetector may include a first and second barrier and an emitter disposed between the first and second barriers so as to form a heterojunction at each interface between the emitter and the first and second barriers, respectively. The emitter may be of a first semiconductor material having a split-off response to optical signals, while one of the first or the second barriers may include a double barrier having a light-hole energy band level that is aligned with the split-off band energy level of the emitter. In addition, the remaining barrier may be graded. |
| US08530994B2 |
Method for producing solid state imaging device and solid-state imaging device
Certain embodiments provide a method for producing a solid-state imaging device including the steps of forming an interconnection layer, forming a passivation film, forming a resist layer, forming a plurality of protruding portions and an opening, and forming an electrode pad. In the step of forming the interconnection layer, the interconnection layer is formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate having a photodiode. In the step of forming the resist layer, the resist layer is formed on the passivation film such that the resist layer has a plurality of first openings above the photodiode and has a second opening above the interconnection of the interconnection layer. In the step of forming the plurality of protruding portions and the opening, the plurality of protruding portions and the opening are formed by etching the passivation film via the resist layer. |
| US08530991B2 |
Materials, systems and methods for optoelectronic devices
A photodetector is described along with corresponding materials, systems, and methods. The photodetector comprises an integrated circuit and at least two optically sensitive layers. A first optically sensitive layer is over at least a portion of the integrated circuit, and a second optically sensitive layer is over the first optically sensitive layer. Each optically sensitive layer is interposed between two electrodes. The two electrodes include a respective first electrode and a respective second electrode. The integrated circuit selectively applies a bias to the electrodes and reads signals from the optically sensitive layers. The signal is related to the number of photons received by the respective optically sensitive layer. |
| US08530989B2 |
Solid-state imaging apparatus and imaging system
A solid-state imaging apparatus comprising a plurality of pixels each including a photoelectric conversion element, and a light shielding layer which covers the photoelectric conversion element is provided. The light shielding layer comprises a first light shielding portion which covers at least part of a region between the photoelectric conversion elements that are adjacent to each other, and a second light shielding portion for partially shielding light incident on the photoelectric conversion element of each of the plurality of pixels. An aperture is provided for the light shielding layer, the remaining component of the incident light passing through the aperture. A shape of the aperture includes a cruciform portion including a portion extending in a first direction and a portion extending in a second direction that intersects the first direction. |
| US08530988B2 |
Junction isolation for magnetic read sensor
Embodiments generally relate to a magnetic read sensor and a method for its manufacture. A multi-layer insulating material may be used to cover both the first shield layer and also the sidewalls of the sensor structure in the magnetic read sensor. The first insulating layer of the multi-layer insulating material may be deposited by an ion beam sputtering process in a chamber that does not have any oxygen gas flowing into it so that oxygen diffusion into the sensor structure is reduced or eliminated. Then, a second insulating layer of the multi-layer insulating material may be deposited by atomic layer deposition such that the second insulating layer has a greater quality than the first insulating layer. The higher quality increases the breakdown voltage for the magnetic read sensor. Thus, the magnetic read sensor of the present invention has an effective insulating portion that increases the breakdown voltage without sensor damage. |
| US08530986B2 |
Manufacturing method of electronic device package, electronic device package, and oscillator
A manufacturing method of an electronic device package includes: forming concave portions that later form the cavities in one surface of a cover substrate; forming a first metal film on the cover substrate on a surface opposite to the surface in which the concave portions are formed; forming a second metal film on the cover substrate on the surface in which the concave portions are formed; bonding a base substrate and the cover substrate together via the second metal film. It thus becomes possible to provide an electronic device package in which the base substrate and the cover substrate are boned together via the metal film in a stable manner by minimizing warping of the substrate even when the substrate is made thinner. |
| US08530984B2 |
Semiconductor device structures and their fabrication
A method and structure for uncovering captive devices in a bonded wafer assembly comprising a top wafer and a bottom wafer. One embodiment method includes forming a plurality of cuts in the top wafer and removing a segment of the top wafer defined by the plurality of cuts. The bottom wafer remains unsingulated after the removal of the segment. |
| US08530983B2 |
Piezo-phototronic effect devices
A semiconducting device includes a piezoelectric structure that has a first end and an opposite second end. A first conductor is in electrical communication with the first end and a second conductor is in electrical communication with the second end so as to form an interface therebetween. A force applying structure is configured to maintain an amount of strain in the piezoelectric member sufficient to generate a desired electrical characteristic in the semiconducting device. |
| US08530982B2 |
Micromechanical structure, method for manufacturing a micromechanical structure, and use of a micromechanical structure
A micromechanical structure which includes a substrate having a main plane of extension, and a seismic mass which is movable relative to the substrate. The micromechanical structure includes a fixed electrode which is connected to the substrate, and a counterelectrode which is connected to the seismic mass. The fixed electrode has a first fixed electrode region and a second fixed electrode region which is connected in an electrically conductive manner to the first fixed electrode region. The counterelectrode is partially situated between the first and the second fixed electrode region, perpendicular to the main plane of extension. |
| US08530970B2 |
Curvilinear wiring structure to reduce areas of high field density in an integrated circuit
A method for reducing areas of high field density in an integrated circuit is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes forming a first curvilinear wiring structure in a first interconnect layer of an integrated circuit. A second curvilinear wiring structure may be formed in a second interconnect layer of the integrated circuit, such that the first and second curvilinear wiring structures are substantially vertically aligned. The first curvilinear wiring structure may then be electrically connected to the second curvilinear wiring structure. |
| US08530969B2 |
Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a gate structure, a source structure and a drain structure. The substrate includes a deep well region, and the gate structure is disposed on the deep well region. The source structure is formed within the deep well and located at a first side of the gate structure. The drain structure is formed within the deep well region and located at a second side of the gate structure. The drain structure includes a first doped region of a first conductivity type, a first electrode and a second doped region of a second conductivity type. The first doped region is located in the deep well region; the first electrode is electrically connected to the first doped region. The second doped region is disposed within the first doped region and between the first electrode and the gate structure. |
| US08530965B2 |
Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device comprising a substrate in which a first region and a second region are defined, a gate line which extends in a first direction and traverses the first region and the second region, a source region including a portion formed in the first region, a first part of a body region which is formed under the portion of the source region in the first region and has a first width, a first well which is formed under the first part of the body region in the first region and has a second width greater than the first width, a second part of the body region which is formed in the second region and has a third width, and a second well which is formed under the second part of the body region in the second region and has a fourth width smaller than the third width. |
| US08530964B2 |
Semiconductor device including first and second semiconductor elements
A semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor element including a first pn junction between a first terminal and a second terminal. The semiconductor device further includes a semiconductor element including a second pn junction between a third terminal and a fourth terminal. The semiconductor element further includes a semiconductor body including the first semiconductor element and the second semiconductor element monolithically integrated. The first and third terminals are electrically coupled to a first device terminal. The second and fourth terminals are electrically coupled to a second device terminal. A temperature coefficient α1 of a breakdown voltage Vbr1 of the first pn junction and a temperature coefficient α2 of a breakdown voltage Vbr2 of the second pn junction have a same algebraic sign and satisfy 0.6×α1<α2<1.1×α1 at T=300 K, wherein Vbr2 |
| US08530958B2 |
Semiconductor device having split gate type, non-volatile memory cells and a method of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor device having a non-volatile memory is disclosed, whose disturb defect can be diminished or prevented. A memory cell of the non-volatile memory has a memory gate electrode formed over a main surface of a semiconductor substrate through an insulating film for charge storage. A first side wall is formed on a side face of the memory gate electrode, and at a side face of the first side wall, a second side wall is formed. On an upper surface of an n+-type semiconductor region for source in the memory cell there is formed a silicide layer whose end portion on the memory gate electrode MG side is defined by the second side wall. |
| US08530954B2 |
Non-volatile memory devices including first and second blocking layer patterns
Non-volatile memory devices include a tunnel insulating layer on a channel region of a substrate, a charge-trapping layer pattern on the tunnel insulating layer and a first blocking layer pattern on the charge-trapping layer pattern. Second blocking layer patterns are on the tunnel insulating layer proximate sidewalls of the charge-trapping layer pattern. The second blocking layer patterns are configured to limit lateral diffusion of electrons trapped in the charge-trapping layer pattern. A gate electrode is on the first blocking layer pattern. The second blocking layer patterns may prevent lateral diffusion of the electrons trapped in the charge-trapping layer pattern. |
| US08530950B1 |
Methods and structures for split gate memory
A split gate memory cell comprising a substrate including semiconductor material and a first gate structure of the memory cell located over the substrate. The first gate structure includes a first side wall having a lower portion and an upper portion. The upper portion is inset from the lower portion. A charge storage structure of the memory cell is located laterally to the first side wall. A second gate structure is located over the substrate and over at least a portion of the charge storage structure. The second gate structure is located laterally to the first gate structure such that the first side wall is located between the first gate structure and the second gate structure. A dielectric structure located against the upper portion of the first side wall and has a portion located over the lower portion of the first side wall. |
| US08530940B2 |
Materials, systems and methods for optoelectronic devices
A photodetector is described along with corresponding materials, systems, and methods. The photodetector comprises an integrated circuit and at least two optically sensitive layers. A first optically sensitive layer is over at least a portion of the integrated circuit, and a second optically sensitive layer is over the first optically sensitive layer. Each optically sensitive layer is interposed between two electrodes. The two electrodes include a respective first electrode and a respective second electrode. The integrated circuit selectively applies a bias to the electrodes and reads signals from the optically sensitive layers. The signal is related to the number of photons received by the respective optically sensitive layer. |
| US08530937B2 |
Compound semiconductor device having insulation film with different film thicknesses beneath electrodes
A compound semiconductor device includes a group-III nitride semiconductor layer; an insulation film located on the group-III nitride semiconductor layer; a drain electrode located in a position which is a first distance away from an upper surface of the group-III nitride semiconductor layer; a source electrode located in a position which is the first distance away from the upper surface of the group-III nitride semiconductor layer; a gate electrode located between the drain electrode and the source electrode; and a field plate electrode located between the drain electrode and the gate electrode at a position which is a second distance away from the upper surface of the group-III nitride semiconductor layer, the second distance is shorter than the first distance. |
| US08530931B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
A gate electrode, an element isolation film and a drain region in an LDMOS transistor formation region and a gate electrode, an element isolation film and an anode region in an ESD protection element formation region are formed to satisfy relationships of A1≧A2 and B1 |
| US08530930B2 |
Semiconductor device having plural insulated gate switching cells and method for designing the same
In a semiconductor device including a plurality of insulated gate switching cells each of which has a gate electrode, an emitter electrode that is commonly provided to cover the plurality of insulated gate switching cells, and a bonding wire connected to the emitter electrode, a gate driving voltage being applied to the gate electrode of each insulated gate switching cell so that emitter current flows through the emitter electrode, mutual conductance of each insulated gate switching cell is varied in accordance with the distance from the connection portion corresponding to the bonding position of the bonding wire so that the emitter current flowing through the emitter electrode is substantially equal among the plurality of insulated gate switching cells. |
| US08530929B2 |
Melt-processable, injection-moldable thermoplastic polymer composition and semi-conductive devices fabricated therewith
A thermoplastic, hydrogenated vinyl aromatic/conjugated diene block polymer composition, especially a hydrogenated styrene/butadiene triblock composition, functions well as a LED encapsulating material in that it provides one or more of optical clarity, thermal stability, ultraviolet light resistance, melt-processability and injection-moldability. The resulting LED resists deformation after setting or hardening under typical solder reflow conditions. |
| US08530926B2 |
Light emitting device
Embodiments relate to a light emitting device, a light emitting device package, and a lighting system. The light emitting device comprises: a substrate; a light emitting structure over the substrate, the light emitting structure including a first conductive type semiconductor layer, a second conductive type semiconductor layer, and an active layer between the first conductive type semiconductor layer and the second conductive type semiconductor layer, wherein the first conductive type semiconductor layer is partially exposed; a first region having a first concentration and provided at a region of the second conductive type semiconductor layer; a second region having a second concentration and provided at another region of the second conductive type semiconductor layer; and a second electrode over the second conductive type semiconductor layer. |
| US08530921B2 |
High voltage low current surface emitting LED
A monolithic LED chip is disclosed comprising a plurality of junctions or sub-LEDs (“sub-LEDs”) mounted on a submount. The sub-LEDs are serially interconnected such that the voltage necessary to drive the sub-LEDs is dependent on the number of serially interconnected sub-LEDs and the junction voltage of the sub-LEDs. Methods for fabricating a monolithic LED chip are also disclosed with one method comprising providing a single junction LED on a submount and separating the single junction LED into a plurality of sub-LEDs. The sub-LEDs are then serially interconnected such that the voltage necessary to drive the sub-LEDs is dependent on the number of the serially interconnected sub-LEDs and the junction voltage of the sub-LEDs. |
| US08530919B2 |
Semi-conductor light-emitting device
Disclosed is a semiconductor light emitting device. The semiconductor light emitting device includes a first conductive semiconductor layer, an active layer under the first conductive semiconductor layer, a second conductive semiconductor layer under the active layer, a second electrode layer under the second conductive semiconductor layer; and an insulating layer on an outer peripheral surface of at least two layers of the first conductive semiconductor layer, the active layer, and the second conductive semiconductor layer. |
| US08530911B2 |
Semiconductor light emitting module and image reader using the same
A semiconductor light emitting module is provided with a supporting conductor including a die bonding pad, and with a plurality of semiconductor light emitting elements bonded to the die bonding pad. The semiconductor light emitting elements are arranged in series along an arrangement line extending in a first direction. The die bonding pad includes a portion overlapping alternative die-bonding positions which are symmetrical to positions of the bonded semiconductor light emitting elements with respect to a line of symmetry extending in a second direction different from the first direction. |
| US08530905B2 |
Organic light-emitting display apparatus
An organic light-emitting display apparatus for blocking or preventing an electrode of an organic light-emitting device from being shorted with another electrode of the organic light-emitting device at the bent portions of the electrode and for blocking or preventing impurities from penetrating into an organic layer through the bent portions. The organic light-emitting display apparatus includes: a first electrode; a pixel defining layer formed to have a thickness away from the first electrode and covering edge portions of the first electrode; a light-emitting layer on the first electrode; a second electrode on the light-emitting layer; and a stepheight lowering layer over a portion where the first electrode contacts the pixel defining layer, and between the first electrode and the light-emitting layer or between the light-emitting layer and the second electrode, to reduce a bend of the second electrode over the portion where the first electrode contacts the pixel defining layer. |
| US08530903B2 |
Layout design for a high power, GaN-based FET having interdigitated electrodes
A FET includes a first and second set of finger arrays that each include a source, gate and drain. A first source pad is electrically coupled to source electrodes in the first set of finger arrays. A second source pad is electrically coupled to the source electrodes in the second set of finger arrays. A common drain pad is electrically coupled to drain electrodes in the first and second set of finger arrays. A first gate pad is electrically coupled to gate electrodes in the first set of finger arrays. A second gate pad is electrically coupled to gate electrodes in the second set of finger arrays. A substrate is also provided on which are disposed the first and second set of finger arrays, the first and second source pads, the common drain pad, and the first and second gate pads. |
| US08530901B2 |
Film transistor and method for fabricating the same
A method for fabricating a thin film transistor and a thin film transistor includes a polycrystalline silicon layer formed by irradiating an amorphous silicon layer with a laser beam through an organic layer formed on the amorphous silicon layer and removing the organic layer. |
| US08530898B2 |
Display device
A display device which uses a TFT having a gate electrode film thereof arranged on a light source side can also suppress the increase of parasitic capacitance while suppressing the generation of a light leakage current. On at least one end of the TFT, between a high concentration region which constitutes a source region or a drain region and a channel region, a first low concentration region which is arranged on a high concentration region side and exhibits low impurity concentration and a second low concentration region which exhibits impurity concentration even lower than the impurity concentration of the first low concentration region are provided in this order. |
| US08530895B2 |
Thinned semiconductor components having lasered features and method of fabrication
A semiconductor component includes a thinned semiconductor substrate having a back side and a circuit side containing integrated circuits and associated circuitry. The semiconductor component also includes at least one lasered feature on the back side configured to provide selected electrical or physical characteristics for the substrate. The lasered feature can cover the entire back side or only selected areas of the back side, and can be configured to change electrical properties, mechanical properties or gettering properties of the substrate. |
| US08530879B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor memory device in accordance with an embodiment comprises first lines, second lines, and a memory cell array including memory cells. Each of the memory cells is disposed at each of intersections of the first lines and the second lines and is configured by a rectifier element and a variable resistor connected in series. The rectifier element comprises a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type including an impurity of a first impurity concentration, and a second semiconductor region of a second conductivity type including an impurity of a second impurity concentration lower than the first impurity concentration. The first semiconductor region and the second semiconductor region are formed by silicon. A junction interface of the first semiconductor region and the second semiconductor region is a pseudo-heterojunction formed by two layers that have different band gap widths and are formed of the same material. |
| US08530878B2 |
Memory arrays and methods of forming memory cells
Some embodiments include methods of forming memory cells utilizing various arrangements of conductive lines, electrodes and programmable material; with the programmable material containing high k dielectric material directly against multivalent metal oxide. Some embodiments include arrays of memory cells, with the memory cells including programmable material containing high k dielectric material directly against multivalent metal oxide. |
| US08530876B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and method of manufacturing the same
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device comprises a substrate, a lower electrode, a variable resistance film, and an upper electrode. The lower electrode is on the substrate. The variable resistance film is on the lower electrode and stores data. The upper electrode is on the variable resistance film. The variable resistance film comprises a first film, and a second film. The first film is on a side of at least one of the upper electrode and the lower electrode and contains a metal. The second film is between the first film and the other electrode and contains the metal and oxygen. A composition ratio [O]/[Me] of oxygen to the metal in the second film is lower than a stoichiometric ratio and higher than the composition ratio [O]/[Me] in the first film. The composition ratio [0]/[Me] changes between the first film and the second film. |
| US08530865B2 |
Gas field ion source, charged particle microscope, and apparatus
A gas field ion source that can simultaneously increase a conductance during rough vacuuming and reduce an extraction electrode aperture diameter from the viewpoint of the increase of ion current. The gas field ion source has a mechanism to change a conductance in vacuuming a gas molecule ionization chamber. That is, the conductance in vacuuming a gas molecule ionization chamber is changed in accordance with whether or not an ion beam is extracted from the gas molecule ionization chamber. By forming lids as parts of the members constituting the mechanism to change the conductance with a bimetal alloy, the conductance can be changed in accordance with the temperature of the gas molecule ionization chamber, for example the conductance is changed to a relatively small conductance at a relatively low temperature and to a relatively large conductance at a relatively high temperature. |
| US08530864B2 |
Optimization of control parameters for a particle irradiation system
A device for determining control parameters for a particle irradiation system that deposits different dose values at different target points in a target volume through the selection of sampling points by a particle beam is provided. The device includes an input for receiving information relating to a predefined dose distribution via target points, and a determination component for determining a particle number distribution that is to be deposited during the irradiation via sampling points. The determining takes place using the predefined dose distribution and a variable, which takes into account differences in the particle number distribution between particle numbers of different sampling points. |
| US08530863B2 |
Fluorescence notch coding and authentication
Systems and methods for document and product authentication using a variety of absorption and emission signatures are disclosed. Emission signatures in the form of florescent or phosphorescent coatings, inks and substrates are used for authentication and protection of items such as documents, currency, and secondary packaging for tobacco, luxury goods and pharmaceuticals. Spectrally overlapping absorption and emission materials are combined to provide a unique spectral fingerprint detectable by a scanner. |
| US08530862B2 |
Filters for use in dosimetry
Described is an optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) sensor comprising one or more cylindrical cup-shaped filters. |
| US08530857B2 |
Stage device
A stage device to be used in a vacuum includes: a gas supply unit for generating a gas; a base member having upper, lower, right, and left surfaces; a slider formed in a frame shape surrounding the base member and having surfaces facing the respective surfaces of the base member, and disposed to be movable; and an air bearing configured to float the slider by supplying the gas to a space between the base member and the slider. The slider includes: an air chamber provided on the surface facing the base member for accumulating air, and the base member includes thereinside a slider-moving air flow passage configured to guide the gas from an inlet port to an outlet port for supplying the gas to the air chamber of the slider. |
| US08530855B2 |
Method for producing a micro-gripper
A method is described for producing a micro-gripper, which comprises a base body and a gripping body connected integrally to the base body, which projects beyond the base body and provides a receptacle slot on a free end area in such a way that a micrometer-scale or sub-micrometer-scale object may be clamped in the receptacle slot for gripping and holding, as well as a micro-gripper according to the species. |
| US08530854B1 |
Micro gas-puff based source
Various technologies described herein pertain to a micro gas-puff based source of neutrons, x-rays, and/or energetic particles. The micro gas-puff based source can generate plasma, which can emit neutrons, x-rays, and the like. The micro gas-puff based source includes a diode, which further includes an anode and a cathode. Further, a chamber is between the anode and the cathode. Moreover, a MEMS gas supply can inject a puff of gas between the anode and the cathode within the chamber, where the MEMS gas supply shapes the puff of gas to form a quasispherical density profile of gas created in various of geometries. Further, a pulsed power supply applies a voltage across the anode and the cathode to cause compression of the puff of gas to form the plasma. |
| US08530852B2 |
Micro-cone targets for producing high energy and low divergence particle beams
The present invention relates to micro-cone targets for producing high energy and low divergence particle beams. In one embodiment, the micro-cone target includes a substantially cone-shaped body including an outer surface, an inner surface, a generally flat and round, open-ended base, and a tip defining an apex. The cone-shaped body tapers along its length from the generally flat and round, open-ended base to the tip defining the apex. In addition, the outer surface and the inner surface connect the base to the tip, and the tip curves inwardly to define an outer surface that is concave, which is bounded by a rim formed at a juncture where the outer surface meets the tip. |
| US08530851B2 |
Electron beam profile measurement system and method with optional Faraday cup
Electron beam profile testing and analysis method is introduced using the MOMS apparatus. The MOMS apparatus includes a Faraday Cup with a knife-wires scanning system which together perform simultaneous measurements. The scanning system has a five-dimensional processing mechanism for measuring different cross sections of an e-beam profile in a path of the e-beam. Measurements are conducted using the scanning system by virtually dividing each cross section into a plurality of subsections and measuring independent current values of at least one wire of the scanning system through which the electron beam passes from every pixel in each of the plurality of subsections. By providing relative movement between the scanning system and e-beam, the measured independent current values are analyzed to obtain the functional form of distribution of current density of the cross-section of the e-beam. The Faraday cup enables simultaneous measurement of the total value of the current. |
| US08530848B2 |
Radiation-sensitive substrate
A radiation-sensitive apparatus includes a first substrate, a radiation-sensitive layer, a plurality of spatially separated integrated circuits, each integrated circuit having: a second substrate, one or more electronic circuit(s) formed in or on the second substrate, and one or more electrode connection pads formed in or on the second substrate, each electrode connection pad electrically connected to at least one of the electronic circuit(s). Pixel electrodes are formed over the first substrate separate from the integrated circuit, each pixel electrode electrically connected to an electrode connection pad. An electronic control circuit is electrically connected to each electronic circuit in each integrated circuit. The electronic circuits are responsive to electrical signals formed by the interaction of electromagnetic radiation and the radiation-sensitive layer, the electrical signals conducted by the pixel electrodes and electrode connection pads. |
| US08530846B2 |
Apparatus and methods for detector scatter recovery for nuclear medicine imaging systems
Apparatus and methods for detector scatter recovery for positron emission tomography systems are provided. One method includes identifying detected gamma events in different detector units of a nuclear medicine (NM) imaging detector and determining whether the detected gamma events occurred within a predetermined time period and have a summed energy of at least a predetermined level to define gamma events for reconstitution. The method further includes reconstituting the defined gamma events into single valid gamma events. |
| US08530844B2 |
Recording of position-specific wavelength absorption spectra
The invention relates to recording of position-specific optical measurements of substances such as foodstuff, building materials, combustion products etc. The invention provides online, in-situ recording of wavelength absorption spectra in substances, performed without removing a sample from the substance. In inhomogeneous products, the position correlated to each spectrum allows for extraction of both average values for larger regions as well as specific values characteristic for smaller individual portions. In a preferred embodiment, a probe with two elongate arms has light guiding and light collecting means for recording infrared absorption spectra of portions between them, as well as means for determining an insertion distance into the product. The invention may be applied to as different substances as diary products (cheese, cream, milk), fruit, berries, seeds, meat, vegetable and animal fat, animal feed, water, wine, beer, lemonades, oils, rubber and plastic materials, gypsum and plaster, cement and concrete mixes, paints, glues etc. |
| US08530843B2 |
Method for putting a cooled infrared detector into operation
In an infrared detector provided with a photodiode, when the temperature of the photodiode is lowered to its operating temperature, the photodiode is forward biased. During forward biasing of the photodiode, injection of a majority carrier current takes place through the photodiode. The majority carriers mask a part of the defects of the photodiode. The acquisition phase is then performed by reverse biasing the photodiode. |
| US08530842B2 |
Cooking hob device
A hob device is provided that has a monitoring unit to monitor a cooking area of a hob. The monitoring unit includes a sensor array of multiple infrared sensors to record infrared light. |
| US08530840B2 |
Occupancy sensor with universal mount
An occupancy sensor may include a plurality of user-selectable mounting features that enable the sensor to be mounted to building structure in a variety of ways. The sensor may include: a nipple for engaging a connector associated with the building structure; one or more key hole slots for engaging fasteners associated with the building structure; and one or more flat side surfaces for engaging corresponding flat surfaces of a mounting plate associated with the building structure. A spring on the flat side surface may lock the sensor to the mounting plate. The nipple may be removable to allow the sensor to be flush mounted to the building structure. The sensor may also include a user-adjustable lens that enables a user to make discrete adjustments of the field of view of the sensor according to present levels. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed. |
| US08530838B2 |
Radiation detection system and method of indicating presence of radiation
A radiation detection system can include a radiation detector to detect radiation and an audio output device to produce audible sounds. The detected radiation can correspond to radiation information including energy information and energy intensity information. In an embodiment, the audio output device can produce an audio spectrum in a scanning mode, and in another embodiment, the audio output device can produce sounds at corresponding sound repetition rates depending on the energy intensity of the detected radiation. A method of using a radiation detection system can include placing an object near a radiation detector, generating a radiation signal corresponding to radiation emitting from the object, and analyzing the radiation signal to generate radiation information including energy information and energy intensity information. The method can also include filtering the radiation information to produce filtered radiation information, and outputting sounds corresponding to the filtered radiation information. |
| US08530832B2 |
Ion sources for improved ionization
Improved apparatuses and methods are provided for ionizing samples and analyzing the samples with mass spectrometry. |
| US08530831B1 |
Probability-based mass spectrometry data acquisition
An algorithm-based system and method for tandem mass spectrometry data acquisition in which multiple precursor ion attributes, such as mass, intensity, mass-to-charge ratio and charge state, as well as results from previously performed mass spectrometry scans, are used to determine the likelihood of identification for each precursor ion. This information is then used to prioritize subsequent tandem mass spectrometry events, such as which precursor ions are to be fragmented and undergo further mass spectrometry analysis. By interrogating precursor ions in order of probability of successful identification, an increase in identified proteins and peptides is achieved. |
| US08530824B2 |
Scanning microscope
A scanning microscope is provided with a scan unit that scans a sample, the scanning microscope including: a transmissive VPH grating for dispersing light from the sample; and a photodetector for detecting the light diffracted by the VPH grating. |
| US08530822B2 |
Illumination device and projection having a plurality of collimating and converging lenses
An illumination device includes: a light source which has an emission surface forming area where a plurality of emission surfaces are disposed; a plurality of converging lenses disposed in correspondence with the plural emission surfaces to converge emission lights emitted from the emission surfaces; a first fly-eye lens which divides lights converged by the plural converging lenses into a plurality of partial lights; a second fly-eye lens which converges the plural partial lights; and a condenser lens which stacks the plural partial lights converged by the second fly-eye lens on an illumination receiving area, wherein the plural converging lenses stack the emission lights on the first fly-eye lens. |
| US08530815B2 |
Imaging device with varying optical signal at a location of a multi-dimensional array of light sensitive elements
Example embodiments disclosed herein relate to an imaging device. The imaging device includes a multi-dimensional array of light sensitive elements, an illumination source that outputs an optical signal, an optical element that focuses the optical signal on the array, and an illumination controller. The illumination controller varies the output of the optical signal to control exposure at a location of the array. |
| US08530799B2 |
Fluid-heating apparatus and methods of operating the same
Systems and methods of heating an accurate quantity of a fluid. A determination is made that an event in which a relatively large quantity of hot water is used has occurred. One or more temperatures are sensed. An increase in a temperature set point is made if the sensed temperatures indicate a shortage of hot water for the event. A decrease in the temperature set point is made if the sensed temperatures indicate an excess of hot water was available for the event. No change is made to the temperature set point if the quantity of hot water available for the event was appropriate. |
| US08530795B2 |
Electric cooking apparatus
Various embodiments of a portable cooking apparatus are disclosed. For example, in one embodiment, a portable cooking system is provided comprising a cooking plate having a continuous cooking surface, a heating element assembly disposed beneath the cooking surface, a temperature controller for varying the temperature of the cooking surface, and a base that supports the cooking plate on an underlying surface. The base comprises an integrally formed drip pan located beneath the cooking surface, the integrally formed drip pan comprising a recessed portion formed in a top surface of the base. |
| US08530793B2 |
Warm window buss bar system and safety mechanism
Disclosed is a warm window system that utilizes individual buss bars that are placed within the space between an inside window pane and an outside window pane and creates sufficient physical force to create an electrical contact on the tin oxide layer on the inside surface of the inside pane of glass. The buss bars have a modulus of elasticity to ensure sufficient electrical contact with the tin oxide layer to prevent the formation of hot spots and securely hold the buss bars in place. Both a z buss bar and c buss bar are also disclosed that are capable of generating a sufficient amount of reactive force to create a secure contact with a tin oxide layer on the interior surface of an interior pane of glass in a warm window system to hold the buss bar in place and provide a large contact surface area to provide sufficient electrical contact with the tin oxide layer to prevent hot spots. A safety circuit is also disclosed that utilizes a controller that generates a control signal to apply the ac power signal to the warm window system in response to a low voltage dc signal that is applied to an isolated strip of conductive material on the inner pane of glass that detects if the glass is broken. The low voltage signal does not provide a shock hazard and safely detects the status of the inner pane of glass. |
| US08530791B2 |
Corrosion resisting joining area and method between materials of copper and stainless steel or titanium, which are the constituents of permanent cathodes for electrolytic processes and cathodes obtained
This disclosure provides a joining area and method between copper and stainless steel or titanium, as well as the permanent cathode obtained, where said joining area is made of a first zone of a copper-nickel (Cu—Ni) alloy, an intermediate zone with a mostly nickel alloy or pure nickel and a second zone made of a stainless steel-nickel alloy, which is the result of the participating materials being cast in an arc welding process, for example TIG, MIG or manual arc using electrodes of nickel as welding contributor between said materials and their space arrangement, that is to say, leaving a separation between the materials when performing the welding process, thus ensuring as follows: a) greater tensile strength, b) a substantial improvement of corrosion resistance of the joint welding, and c) improvement of conductibility, which can be improved still further by modifying the straight design of the conducting bar by providing it with the “horn”-type shape. |
| US08530788B2 |
Laser irradiation method, laser irradiation apparatus, and method of manufacturing a semiconductor device
In the present invention, each laser light emitted from a plurality of lasers is divided, and laser light including at least one laser light that is emitted from a different laser and that has different energy distribution is synthesized with another such laser light, or laser light including at least one laser light that has different energy distribution is synthesized with another such laser light through a convex lens that is set at an angle to the direction each laser light travels, to form laser light having excellent uniformity in energy distribution. |
| US08530787B2 |
Flow tester for laser drilled holes
A flow tester may use a low impedance flow meter to test a hole at a predetermined Reynolds number. The flow tester may be mounted to a robot so that testing may be fully automated. For example, the flow tester may be incorporated into a laser drilling workcell and used to test flow characteristics of a test coupon or workpiece to calibrate or verify the laser settings. Another example may be used for testing flow characteristics of a finished workpiece. The flow tester may have a testing tip that is compliant to form a seal against a workpiece, and the testing tip may be able to seal against angled, curved, or other surfaces. The flow tester may be capable of testing individual holes or groups of holes and determining an effective cross sectional area for the hole at the predetermined Reynolds number. |
| US08530785B2 |
Method for laser-marking and an article marked by such method
The present invention generally relates to a method of laser-marking. The method can include exposing a precursor to a laser creating a mark. The precursor can include a polymer or plastic loaded with a laser-marking additive in an amount of or greater than about 1 wt. %. The additive can include: at least one compound of the formula: MOCl where M is, independently, As, Sb, or Bi; or a compound of the formula BiONO3, Bi2O2CO3, BiOOH, BiOF, BiOBr, Bi2O3, BiOC3H5O7, Bi(C7H5O2)3, BiPO4, Bi2(SO4)3, Pb(OH)2.2PbCO3, or Pb(OH)2.PbCO3. |
| US08530784B2 |
Method and system of machining using a beam of photons
Some embodiments include methods, and systems of machining using a beam of photons. In some embodiments, a machining method to remove material in a machined region may include reducing transparency of the region to at least a predefined wavelength by irradiating the region with a first beam of photons to induce generation of free electrons in the region; and machining the region with a second beam of photons having the predefined wavelength. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08530778B2 |
Arrangement and method for blanket gas supply control for an electrical welding apparatus
Apparatus and method for controlling blanket gas flow in an electrical welding facility, wherein welding is performed using a welding electrode in electrical connection with a welding machine unit. The apparatus includes an electric measuring device having a current sensor for determining the magnitude of an electrical welding current carried in a circuit incorporating the welding electrode and having a current sensor output adapted to provide a I signal indicating the current magnitude, and a voltage sensor for determining the magnitude of electrical voltage applied to the welding electrode and having a voltage sensor output for providing a U signal indicating the voltage magnitude, and a control device having inputs connected to the current sensor output and the voltage sensor output, respectively, and a control signal output for providing a control signal to a blanket gas flow controller. |
| US08530777B2 |
Welding purge control using electronic flow control
Purge gas apparatus and method for a welding system uses automatic purge gas flow control function, such as an MFC, to control ID and/or OD purge gas flow rate or purge gas pressure or both at the weld site. |
| US08530769B2 |
Information processing apparatus and switch device
[Object] To provide an information processing apparatus including a small slide switch unit enabling direct slide movement to a desired position, and capable of easily and surely switching a plurality of modes with the switch unit.[Solving Means] The information processing apparatus includes a switch unit (7) and a control section. The switch unit (7) includes a movable portion (200), a cover (500), a guide portion (100), and a switch module (300). The cover (500) and the guide portion (100) support the movable portion (200) so as to be directly movable between two positions of all the combinations of three or more positions. The switch module (300) detects that the movable portion (200) has moved to each of the positions. The control section controls based on a detecting result by the switch module (300). |
| US08530767B2 |
Multi-directional switch device
In a multi-directional switch device including: an operation body which moves to be inclined in multiple directions; four actuators which are operated to be pressed by an inclination operation of the operation body so as to be moved; and three switch elements which perform switching operations by the movements of the actuators, the first actuator causes the first switch element to perform the switching operation, the second actuator causes the second switch element to perform the switching operation, the third actuator causes the third switch element to perform the switching operation, and the fourth actuator causes the first switch element to perform the switching operation, such that the plurality of actuators are disposed at positions where any of the three switch elements performs the switching operation even through the operation body is operated to be inclined in any direction. |
| US08530764B2 |
Device for weighing articles moving continuously along a conveying line
A device for continuously weighing articles in arrival from a conveyor organ, of a type comprising: a weighing device (40) arranged downstream of the conveyor organ (80), which weighing device (40) is able to detect a weight of articles transiting continuously thereon, a first conveyor (20) for abutting and engaging a side of an article (X) in arrival from the conveyor organ (80), which first conveyor (20) transfers the article (X) towards the weighing device (40); a second conveyor (30) associated to the weighing device (40) and arranged for receiving the article (X) while the article (X) is engaged to and drawn by the first conveyor (20) and being activatable so as to be able to convey the article (X) at a second advancement velocity (V2) which is greater than the first advancement velocity (V1), so as to disengage the article (X) from the action of the first conveyor (20) and to advance the article (X) freely onto the weighing device (40) in order to detect a relative weight thereof and convey the article (X) downstream of the weighing device (40). |
| US08530760B2 |
Electronic device including indium gasket and related methods
An electronic device may include electronic circuitry and a housing carrying the electronic circuitry. The housing may include first and second metallic housing members having opposing first and second mating surfaces respectively defining a projection and a corresponding recess. The projection may be spaced inwardly from a perimeter of the first housing member, and the recess may be spaced inwardly from a perimeter of the second housing member. The electronic device may further include a gasket between the opposing first and second mating surfaces and extending outwardly to perimeters of the first and second mating surfaces. The gasket may include indium. |
| US08530759B2 |
Electronic apparatus
An electronic apparatus includes a case; a circuit board mounted in the case; and a connector. The connector includes at least two connection terminals electrically connected with the circuit board, and a base portion attached to the case. The base portion holds the at least two connection terminals. An electronic component is attached to the at least two connection terminals to electrically connect the at least two connection terminals with each other through the electronic component. |
| US08530757B2 |
Water-resistant while-in-use electrical box
An electrical box may include a panel that is coupled to a top side of the electrical box. The panel may include a wall on one side of the panel, the wall surrounding a well, in the first panel, into a space in the electrical box. The panel may also include a cap to be placed over the wall and the well. The cap and the well may be configured to form a first bend and a second bend on a cable that extends from outside of the electrical box to an inside space of the electrical box. The first bend may include a locally lowest point on cable portions that are outside of an area under the cap. |