| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08606571B1 |
Spatial selectivity noise reduction tradeoff for multi-microphone systems
The present technology provides noise reduction of an acoustic signal using a configurable classification threshold which provides a sophisticated level of control to balance the tradeoff between positional robustness and noise reduction robustness. The configurable classification threshold corresponds to a configurable spatial region, such that signals arising from sources within the configurable spatial region are preserved, and signals arising from sources outside it are rejected. In embodiments, the configurable classification threshold can be automatically and dynamically adjusted in real-time based on evaluated environmental conditions surrounding an audio device implementing the noise reduction techniques described herein. |
| US08606570B2 |
Imaging apparatus, method of controlling same and computer program therefor
An imaging apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a sound collecting unit configured to collect speech in a monitored environment, a shooting unit configured to shoot video in the monitored environment, a detection unit configured to detect a change in a state of the monitored environment based upon a change in data acquired by the sound collecting unit, the shooting unit and a sensor for measuring the state of the monitored environment, a recognition unit configured to recognize the change in state with regard to speech data acquired by the sound collecting unit and video data acquired by the shooting unit, and a control unit configured to start up the recognition unit and select a recognition database, which is used by the recognition unit, based upon result of detection by the detection unit. |
| US08606566B2 |
Speech enhancement through partial speech reconstruction
A system improves speech intelligibility by reconstructing speech segments. The system includes a low-frequency reconstruction controller programmed to select a predetermined portion of a time domain signal. The low-frequency reconstruction controller substantially blocks signals above and below the selected predetermined portion. A harmonic generator generates low-frequency harmonics in the time domain that lie within a frequency range controlled by a background noise modeler. A gain controller adjusts the low-frequency harmonics to substantially match the signal strength to the time domain original input signal. |
| US08606560B2 |
Automatic simultaneous interpertation system
An interpretation system that includes an optical or audio acquisition device for acquiring a sentence written or spoke in a source language and an audio restoration device for generating, from an input signal acquired by the acquisition device, a source sentence that is a transcription of the sentence in the source language. The interpretation system further includes a translation device for generating, from the source sentence, a target sentence that is a translation of the source sentence in a target language, and a speech synthesis device for generating, from the target sentence, an output audio signal reproduced by the audio restoration device. The interpretation system includes a smoothing device for calling the recognition, translation and speech synthesis devices in order to produce in real time an interpretation in the target language of the sentence in the source language. |
| US08606559B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting errors in machine translation using parallel corpus
A method for automatically detecting errors in machine translation using a parallel corpus includes analyzing morphemes of a target language sentence in the parallel corpus and a machine-translated target language sentence, corresponding to a source language sentence, to classify the morphemes into words; aligning by words and decoding, respectively, a group of the source language sentence and the machine-translated target language sentence, and a group of the source language sentence and the target language sentence in the parallel corpus; classifying by types errors in the machine-translated target language sentence by making a comparison, word by word, between the decoded target language sentence in the parallel corpus and the decoded machine-translated target language sentence; and computing error information in the machine-translated target language sentence by examining a frequency of occurrence of the classified error types. |
| US08606556B2 |
Circuit-level validation of computer executable device/circuit simulators
A method is disclosed for evaluating a model, characterized as being a computer executable device and circuit simulator. The method includes accepting measured parameters of devices, which devices are essentially identical with, or are actually from, a simulated circuit instance. The model is executed with adjusted input parameters to generate simulated values for properties of the circuit instance. These simulated values are compared with measured values of the same properties. The goodness of the model is determined based on the degree of direct, or statistical, agreement between the simulated and measured values. |
| US08606555B2 |
System and method for modeling a geologic volume of interest
A model of a geologic volume of interest that represents the geological architecture of the geologic volume of interest is generated. The model is generated as a series of geologic events at a string of points in geologic time such that each event is deposited or eroded sequentially. A given geologic event is determined based on the topological and/or geological properties of the geologic volume of interest at the time of the geologic event, environmental conditions present at the time of the geologic event that impact geologic formation, deposition, and/or erosion, and/or other considerations. The given geologic event is further determined to honor, at least somewhat, local conditioning data that has been obtained during direct measurements of the geological parameters (and/or trends therein) within the geologic volume of interest. |
| US08606554B2 |
Heat flow model for building fault detection and diagnosis
Systems and methods are described that provide a Heat Flow Model (HFM) graph modeling methodology. Embodiments automatically translate formal HVAC system descriptions from a Building Information Model (BIM) into HFM graphs, and compile the graphs into executable FDD systems. During an engineering phase, a user interface is used to enter parameters, conditions, and switches not found in the BIM. During a runtime phase, real-time data from an HVAC control system is input to the generated FDD system (HFM graph) for fault detection and diagnosis. |
| US08606550B2 |
Autoeconometrics modeling method
A method and system allowing the ability to automatically and systematically run thousands and even millions of combinations and permutations of regression, forecasting and econometric trials to determine the best-fitting predictive model. |
| US08606548B2 |
Energy facility control system
An energy facility control system transforms the manner in which energy facilities create, modify, share, and store information during all phases of their lifecycles, from licensing through construction and decommissioning. The energy facility control system provides energy operators and their suppliers with collaborative toolsets to help improve accuracy, reliability and efficiency during every stage of an energy facility's lifecycle. |
| US08606545B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for memory configuration analysis
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for memory configuration analysis. A classification module 402 determines 1000 an overall performance of an array 706 of memory devices 500 in a computer memory 104, wherein overall performance has a substantially inverse relationship with a highest quantity of members of a subset of the array and a substantially direct relationship with an individual performance capability of the members. A counting module 404 takes a count 1110 of members of the array 706 whose individual performance capability varies 1108 in a selected direction from the overall performance of the array 706. A comparison module 406 takes a selected action such as issuing a memory configuration warning 1114 if the count crosses a predetermined threshold 1112 comprising a predetermined percentage for comparison with the count, as qualified by the individual performance capability, divided by an unqualified count of members of the array 706. |
| US08606543B2 |
Method to detect angle sensor performance degradation through dither monitoring
A method for detecting angle sensor performance degradation in a flow angle measurement device in moving platform, such as aircraft and watercraft, as well as stationary platforms. Sensor dither in a flow angle measurement device is used to detect operational performance degradation of the sensor as a result of dynamic response changes caused by damaged or degraded mechanical components. |
| US08606542B2 |
Method and system for monitoring and documenting installation of rock reinforcement bolt
A system for monitoring and documenting the installation of at least one rock reinforcement bolt in a tunnel or a mine, wherein bolt installation related information is stored and related to the identity of the bolt is distinguished by means (S1, S2, S3, 4) for registering of at least one bolt installation related parameter and means for storing the corresponding installation parameter data in a related memory (M), and means (S4, 4) for registering the installation position and means for storing the corresponding installation position data in a related memory (M). The invention also concerns a method. |
| US08606540B2 |
Hole measurement apparatuses
The present invention is directed to automated apparatuses and methods for measuring fastener hole depth, fastener length, countersink depth and/or hole diameters in a workpiece (or other object) in an automated and extremely rapid, efficient and accurate manner. The apparatuses may be operably connected with a power source and with one or a plurality of computers or other data collection devices to transmit fastener hole depth, countersink depth and/or hole diameter measurement data and/or information to them each time that a fastener hole is measured, while the apparatus is continuously measuring fastener holes (i.e., with no interruptions). Extremely advantageously, using only one hand, and by only squeezing a trigger only one time, an operator of such an apparatus may successfully and very rapidly and accurately perform more than one, or all three, of the following functions: (i) normalize the apparatus relative to one or a plurality of fastener holes and/or workpiece surfaces; (ii) make one or a plurality of accurate measurements; and (iii) transmit the one or more measurements from the apparatus to one or a plurality of computers and/or other data collection devices for, for example, recordation, storage, manipulation, other use and/or the like. |
| US08606536B2 |
Methods and apparatus for hybrid outlier detection
Methods and apparatus for data analysis according to various aspects of the present invention are configured to identify statistical outliers in test data for components, including hybrid outliers representing outliers within subsets of larger data populations. A method and apparatus according to various aspects of the present invention may operate in conjunction with a test system having a tester, such as automatic test equipment (ATE) for testing semiconductors. |
| US08606533B2 |
Battery gas-gauge circuit and method thereof
A battery gas-gauge circuit and method thereof are provided. The battery gas-gauge circuit includes a sensing resistor, a voltage-to-current conversion circuit, a subtractor, a comparator, a logic circuit and a power-management unit. In the voltage-to-current conversion circuit, two conversion circuits thereof obtain two voltage signals according to the two ends of the sensing resistor, respectively, and convert the two voltage signals to two current signals correspondingly. The subtractor generates a current difference signal according to the two current signals. The comparator outputs a comparison signal according to the current difference signal and a current dead-band. The logic circuit outputs a logic signal according to the comparison signal and a predetermined signal. The power-management unit determines battery power according to the logic signal. |
| US08606526B1 |
Pharmaco-genomic mutation labeling
Electronic label processor compares bioinformatic values to determine pharmaco-genomic mutation associated with host. Label display indicates pharmaco-genomic mutation, which is network-accessible for modified medical message. Bioinformatic values are determined preferably at different times. |
| US08606523B2 |
Method to determine current condensate saturation in a near-wellbore zone in a gas-condensate formation
The invention is related to the development of gas condensate deposits and may be used to determine current condensate saturation in the near-wellbore zone in the formation. The method for the current condensate saturation determination in the near-wellbore zone requires the measurement of the formation rock parameters and formation fluid parameters before the start of gas-condensate production and creation of the numerical model of the neutron logging signal change during the production period for the measured formation rock parameters and formation fluid parameters and expected condensate saturation value. During the production period when the well productivity decreases, neutron logging is performed and then the measured signals are matched with the model calculations and based on the provision of the best match of the measured and simulated neutron logging signals condensate saturation is determined. |
| US08606522B2 |
Method to determine current gas saturation in a near-wellbore zone in a volatile oil formation
The invention is related to the development of volatile oil deposits and may be used to determine current gas saturation in a near-wellbore zone in a volatile oil formation. The method for the current gas saturation determination in the near-wellbore zone requires the measurement of the formation rock parameters and formation fluid parameters before the gas accumulation start in the near-wellbore zone and creation of the numerical model of the neutron logging signal change during the production period for the measured formation and formation fluid parameters and expected gas saturation value. During the production period when the well productivity decreases, neutron logging is performed and then the measured signals are matched with the model calculations and based on the provision of the best match of the measured and simulated neutron logging signals gas saturation is determined. |
| US08606520B2 |
System and method for detecting volumetric soil water content
The present invention relates to a method that obtains emissivity or reflectivity based on ratios of the brightness temperature measured by a satellite and the land surface temperature, calculates two reflectivity using polarizing features of a microwave according to surface characteristics, and measures a volumetric soil water content of a land surface considering that water has different physical characteristics from those of soil. In particular, it may be possible to measure volumetric soil water contents on territories of other countries as well as regions which have many limitations and troubles in direct measurement of the volumetric soil water contents. Accordingly, valuable materials in terms of nation economy may be produced together with substantial contribution to industrial fields that have direct effects on agriculture and disaster prevention. |
| US08606519B2 |
Navigation system, particularly for a motor vehicle
A navigation system, particularly for a motor vehicle, determines the position of the navigation system or the motor vehicle and for determining a route to a destination. The navigation system includes a display for presenting variable information and a transparent touchscreen arranged above the display or a touchpad arranged independently of the display for recognizing the position of a touch on the touchscreen or the touchpad. The navigation system also includes a controller for displaying a map presentation on the display as a first operator control area and for displaying at least one second operator control area on the display. A contact-based dragging movement using the touchscreen over the first operator control area allows movement of the map presentation, rotation of the map presentation or inclination of the map presentation to be executed. A contact-based dragging movement using the touchscreen over the second operator control area allows movement of the map presentation, rotation of the map presentation and inclination of the map presentation to be executed. |
| US08606517B1 |
Travel route system and method
A method of predicting a departure time includes receiving a first location, a second location, and an activity start time corresponding to an indication of an activity stored in a personal scheduling component of a user device. A departure time from the second location is determined based on travel time between the first location and the second location by analyzing the impact of long range data on at least one travel route between the first location and the second. The departure time from the second location is updated prior to the activity by analyzing the impact of short range data on a possible travel route between the first location and the second location during the expected time of travel prior to the activity. The user is alerted if the updated departure time is different than the departure time. |
| US08606514B2 |
Transportation routing
A computer-implemented method of providing personalized route information involves gathering a plurality of past location indicators over time for a wireless client device, determining a future driving objective using the plurality of previously-gathered location indicators, obtaining real-time traffic data for an area proximate to the determined driving objective, and generating a suggested route for the driving objective using the near real-time traffic data. |
| US08606512B1 |
Route risk mitigation
A method is disclosed for mitigating the risks associated with driving by assigning risk values to road segments and using those risk values to select less risky travel routes. Various approaches to helping users mitigate risk are presented. A computing device is configured to generate a database of risk values. That device may receive accident information, geographic information, vehicle information, and other information from one or more data sources and calculate a risk value for the associated road segment. Subsequently, the computing device may provide the associated risk value to other devices. Furthermore, a personal navigation device may receive travel route information and use that information to retrieve risk values for the road segments in the travel route. An insurance company may use this information to determine whether to adjust a quote or premium of an insurance policy. This and other aspects relating to using geographically encoded information to promote and reward risk mitigation are disclosed. |
| US08606506B2 |
Route-matching method for use with vehicle navigation systems
A method for matching navigational routes that are generated by separate route generators and are used by vehicle navigation systems. According to one embodiment, a user previews a first navigational route generated by a first route generator, such as those incorporated in a navigation-related website. From this first navigational route, a variety of location markers corresponding to different points along the route are generated. The location markers are then sent to a second route generator used by a vehicle navigation system, so that it can generate a second navigational route that is similar to the first route. The second navigational route is then sent to a navigation unit located on the vehicle, so that the driver can be given directions that generally correspond to the first navigational route which they initially reviewed on the navigation-related website. |
| US08606503B2 |
Device, system and method for remotely entering, storing and sharing addresses for a positional information device
Devices, systems and methods for remotely entering, storing and sharing location addresses for a positional information device, e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) device, are provided. The present disclosure allows a user to easily and safely enter an address into a GPS device by giving that address to a remote communications link and to have that link automatically program the user's GPS device for usage. The device, system and method of the present disclosure further allows the user to use this stored address(es) on multiple GPS devices without having to manually enter the address(es). |
| US08606501B2 |
System for monitoring usage of shopping carts or other human-propelled vehicles
A vehicle tracking system includes a wheel containing sensor circuitry capable of sensing various types of conditions, such as wheel rotation, wheel vibration caused by skidding, and specific electromagnetic and/or magnetic signals indicative of particular wheel locations. The sensor circuitry is coupled to an RF transceiver, which may but need not be included within the wheel. The wheel may also include a brake mechanism. In one embodiment, the wheels are placed on shopping carts and are used to collect and monitor shopping cart status and location data via a wireless network. The collected data may be used for various purposes, such as locking the wheel of an exiting cart if the customer has not paid, estimating numbers of queued carts, stopping wheel skid events that occur during mechanized cart retrieval, store planning, and providing location-based messaging to customers. |
| US08606500B2 |
Method and device for demonstrating features of a vehicle navigation system
A demonstration method and module for demonstrating various features of a vehicle navigation system without activating the system at a back-end facility, such as a remote call center. The demonstration module comes with a variety of pre-established navigation demonstrations, each of which is designed for a particular geographic area. The demonstration module obtains a vehicle position reading from the vehicle navigation system, and then utilizes this reading to select the most appropriate demonstration experience for that area. The selected navigation demonstration is then played through one or more output devices in the vehicle, such as speakers and a graphical display. This enables a prospective customer to experience a local or familiar navigation demonstration, without taking the steps and incurring the expenses associated with activating the vehicle navigation system at the call center. |
| US08606499B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining parking area location information
An approach is provided for determining parking information for a place of interest. A travel platform processes one or more trace results associated with a device, a user of the device, or a combination there to determine one or more travel paths, one or more places of interest, or a combination thereof. The travel platform processes the one or more travel paths to determine one or more parking areas associated with the one or more places of interest. The travel platform then presents the one or more parking areas associated with the one or more travel paths, the one or more places of interest, or a combination thereof. |
| US08606494B2 |
Map generation apparatus, map generation method and computer readable medium
A map generation apparatus includes an acquisition unit, a classification unit, a tentative map generation unit and a map generation unit. The acquisition unit acquires information which is a target of an analysis process. The classification unit classifies the acquired information into a plurality of types. The tentative map generation unit selects the types provided by the classifying one by one as a type in question to generate tentative map information of the information belonging to the type in question, based on (i) the information belonging to the type in question and (ii) representative information that represents at least one type other than the type in question. The map generation unit generates a map image based on the tentative map information generated for the respective types. |
| US08606492B1 |
Driver log generation
A system for determining a driver log entry comprises a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to determine a log start time. The processor is configured to determine a driver identity after the log start time. The processor is configured to determine whether a change to the driver identity has occurred based at least in part on a sensor data. In the event that the driver identity has changed, the processor is configured to determine a log stop time and determine a driver log entry using the log start time, the driver identity, and the log stop time. |
| US08606491B2 |
Methods and systems for managing air traffic
Methods and systems suitable for negotiating air traffic trajectory modification requests received from multiple aircraft that each has trajectory parameters. The methods include transmitting from at least a first aircraft a first trajectory modification request to alter the altitude, speed and/or lateral route thereof. A first conflict assessment is then performed to determine if the first trajectory modification request poses a conflict with the altitudes, speeds and lateral routes of other aircraft. If a conflict is not identified, the first trajectory modification request is granted and the first aircraft is notified of the first trajectory modification request being granted. Alternatively, if a conflict is identified, the first trajectory modification request is not granted and the first aircraft is notified thereof. If the first trajectory modification request was not granted, the first trajectory modification request is placed in a queue, which is periodically processed to perform subsequent conflict assessments. |
| US08606487B2 |
Control device for internal combustion engine
The present invention has an object to enable a torque as required to be realized without being influenced by an operation state of an IN-VVT, which is a variable valve timing mechanism which changes a valve timing of an intake valve. For this purpose, a control device for an internal combustion engine provided by the present invention stores data that defines a relationship between an air quantity and a torque in an MBT in association with the operation state of the IN-VVT, and calculates a target air quantity for realizing a required torque based on the data. The control device calculates an actual air quantity which is actually realized by an operation of a throttle when operating the throttle to realize the target air quantity. Further, the control device for an internal combustion engine provided by the present invention stores data that defines a relationship of the air quantity and an ignition timing in a case in which the IN-VVT is in a maximum retardation position, and calculates a basic ignition timing from the actual air quantity based on the data. Further, the control device for an internal combustion engine provided by the present invention determines an advance correction amount of the ignition timing from the operation state of the IN-VVT. The control device determines a final ignition timing from the basic ignition timing and the advance correction amount. |
| US08606481B2 |
Data write device and data write method
A data write device receives power supply from a first system guided from a power source and writes data in a nonvolatile first storage unit. A request generation unit generates a write request to write data in the first storage unit under a predetermined condition. A receiving unit receives the write request from a user. A second storage unit receives power supply from a second system guided from the power source and is able to store data. A first write unit writes target data to be written, which is stored in the second storage unit, in the first storage unit in response to the write request. A second write unit writes the target data which is stored in the second storage unit, in the first storage unit if the power supply from the first system is stopped and then restarted at the time of writing by the first write unit. A display control unit causes a display device which carries out predetermined initial display when the power supply from the first system is stopped and then restarted, to display a write result of the target data in the first storage unit. The second write unit is activated when the request generation unit generates the write request and is not activated when receiving the write request from the user. |
| US08606480B2 |
Vehicle travel amount estimation device and obstacle detection device
A vehicle travel amount estimation device includes a camera, a taken image storing unit, a compensated image storing unit, a travel amount calculation unit, a vehicle speed and gyro sensor, and a travel amount determination unit. The taken image storing unit and the compensated image storing unit store images taken by the camera. The travel amount calculation unit calculates the amount of travel based on two stored images. The sensors detect the amount of travel of the vehicle. The travel amount determination unit is configured to compare a first amount of travel calculated by the travel amount calculation unit with a second amount of travel detected by the vehicle speed sensor or the like in order to determine the first amount of travel to be the amount of travel of the vehicle when the difference between the first amount and the second amount is smaller than a predetermined value. |
| US08606473B2 |
Electrically assisted variable-K control
A vehicle includes a transmission, a motor configured to provide a motor torque to the transmission, and an engine configured to provide an engine torque to the transmission. A torque converter is operably disposed between the transmission and the motor, the engine, or both. The torque converter is configured to at least partially transfer at least one of the motor torque and the engine torque to the transmission in accordance with a plurality of k-factors. The torque converter includes a clutch configured to at least partially engage to change the effective k-factor applied by the torque converter. A control processor is configured to blend the plurality of k-factors and at least partially engage the clutch based on the blended k-factor. |
| US08606471B2 |
Method and a system for operating a working machine
A method and a system for operating a working machine provided with a hydraulic system and an operator control adapted to command actuation of the hydraulic system is provided. The system includes a first control unit and a second control unit for moving an implement on the working machine and/or for steering the working machine. The method includes receiving first information regarding a status of the operator control, and determining at least one hydraulic system control information based on the first information and sending the determined hydraulic system control information to a second control unit which is adapted to control the hydraulic system accordingly. |
| US08606469B2 |
Method and device for controlling an agricultural working machine
A method for controlling an agricultural working machine includes the step of assigning a route planning system (7) to the agricultural working machine (2) for generating driving routes (8) in a territory (1). The route planning system (7) subdivides the territory (1) into a worked territory (13) and a remaining territory area (14), and at least one parameter (17) of the agricultural working machine (2) is adapted as a function of the shape of the worked territory (13) and/or the remaining territory area (14). In this manner it is ensured that the working method of the agricultural working machine (2) or its working attachments (6) is adaptable to the shape of the particular territory (13, 14) to ensure economically efficient use of the agricultural working machine (2). A device for controlling an agricultural working machine also is provided. |
| US08606467B2 |
Secure method for automatically closing a motor vehicle tailgate
The subject of the invention is a secure method for automatically closing a motor vehicle tailgate (200) fitted with at least one presence sensor (201; 202; 203; 204) of an element in a detection zone (206), the said detection zone having at least one shadow zone (207; 208; 209; 210), characterized in that it comprises the step consisting in making the automatic operation of closing the vehicle tailgate conditional upon the completion of the following various operations: —detecting (301) the presence of an element in the detection zone; —detecting (304) a departure of the said element from the detection zone. |
| US08606466B2 |
Methods and devices for controlling a precrash safety system in a motor vehicle
In a method for controlling at least one reversible occupant protection measure of a precrash safety system, in particular a reversible belt tensioner, a plurality of input signals are received, wherein the input signals indicate a potential risk of an accident. The input signals are mapped onto a plurality of different precrash severity indicators. Each precrash severity indicator indicates an expected probability and/or severity of the accident. The precrash severity indicators are additionally filtered such that upon occurrence of a precrash severity indicator, a subsequent precrash severity indicator is suppressed for a period of time. Then, the at least one reversible occupant protection measure, for example, the belt tensioning, is triggered as a function of the filtered precrash severity indicators. |
| US08606458B2 |
Navigation system having mileage mechanism and method of operation thereof
A method of operation of a navigation system having mileage mechanism includes providing a subtotal mileage for a previous location reading along a route; calculating an incremental mileage at a current location reading from the previous location reading; and calculating a total mileage based on the subtotal mileage and the incremental mileage for displaying on a device. |
| US08606453B2 |
Hybrid vehicle prime movers communication control strategy
Messaging in a controller area network is modified to hide thermal engine torque and angular velocity change requests originating with selected nodes with relatively low contention access priority from an engine controller and to route the messages instead through an intermediary controller which is an independent source of thermal engine torque and angular velocity change requests. More specifically, in a hybrid vehicle having a body controller with operational control over power take off equipment, a hybrid controller and a thermal engine controller, angular velocity and torque change requests to support power take off operation are embedded in auxiliary input/output messages. The hybrid controller operates on these auxiliary messages, conflating the embedded angular velocity and torque change requests with its own and rebroadcast in conventional form. |
| US08606448B2 |
System and method for managing power in machine having electric and/or hydraulic devices
A system for controlling power in a machine includes a controller. The controller is configured to receive request signals indicative of requested operation of at least one of an electric device and a hydraulic device. The controller is further configured to determine a requested level of power required to meet the requested operation and determine an ability of the engine to supply the requested level of power. The controller is further configured to provide control signals to the at least one device to either supply power to the engine or receive power from the engine based on the ability of the engine to supply the requested level of power. The controller is also configured to provide control signals to the engine to control speed and output of the engine, wherein the control signals provided to the engine and the at least one device result in operation of the engine within a speed range of a target engine speed. |
| US08606446B2 |
Control system of hybrid vehicle
A control system of a hybrid vehicle, includes: an engine; a motor capable of driving the engine; an oil pump for supplying a lubricant oil to a lubrication requiring portion of the engine; and an engine lubrication controller configured to make the following operations in a case that a stop state of the engine continues for more than or equal to a certain period: when a vehicle stop condition that a driver has no intention of travel is established, supplying, by the oil pump, the lubricant oil to the lubrication requiring portion of the engine, and rotating the engine by the motor without igniting the engine, thereby implementing an engine lubrication control. |
| US08606443B2 |
Motor assistance for a hybrid vehicle based on user input
A method of providing assistance for an internal combustion engine in providing driving power for a vehicle using an electric motor coupled to the engine is provided. The method comprises selectively operating the motor to provide assistance to the engine at predetermined operating conditions of the engine. The assistance provided to the engine at one or more of the predetermined operating conditions is determined based on one of a plurality of motor assistance profiles. The motor assistance profile upon which the assistance is determined is selected from among the plurality of motor assistance profiles based on an expected driving range provided by a user of the vehicle. |
| US08606437B2 |
Flight control system mode and method providing aircraft speed control through the usage of momentary on-off control
A longitudinal control law is designed to optimize the flying qualities when aircraft is set to approach configuration, i.e. when the flap lever is set to the landing position and landing gears are locked down. Under such circumstances, the effort of trimming the aircraft speed can be extremely reduced by the usage of a momentary on-off switch or other control in the sidestick, instead of or in addition to a conventional trim up-down switch, making easier the task of airspeed selection by the pilot. This control law provides excellent handling qualities during approach and landing, with the benefit of not needing or using radio altimeter information in safety-critical applications. |
| US08606436B2 |
Device and method for regulating the humidity of a fuel cell
A device and a method for controlling the air humidity in a fuel cell detect a step response in the output voltage of a fuel cell when the supply to electrical loads is interrupted, and determine parameters of the dynamic time characteristic from the detected step response, and thus calculate a capacitance of the fuel cell. As a function of any deviation from a predetermined capacitance, a humidity control unit is caused to increase or decrease the humidity. This makes in situ detection of the humidity balance of a fuel cell possible, and this can keep the electrical power thereof constant for a relatively long period, and this can increase the intervals between maintenance. |
| US08606432B1 |
Depth highlight, depth highlight range, and water level offset highlight display and systems
A digital mapping display and related system for fishing, and other applications. |
| US08606430B2 |
External presentation of information on full glass display
A method to display a graphic describing a desired communication upon a substantially transparent screen of a vehicle includes monitoring the desired communication, monitoring an external presentation mode to present the desired communication, determining the graphic describing the desired communication, registering a location of the graphic upon the substantially transparent screen to be communicated outside of the vehicle, and displaying the graphic upon a substantially transparent screen comprises one of light emitting particles or microstructures over a predefined region of the screen permitting luminescent display while permitting transmission therethrough. |
| US08606428B2 |
Cooling fan control system
In order to adequately but not excessively or unnecessarily cool heat generating electrical components and decrease the noise produced by fans used to cool the heat generating electrical components in an electrical hardware system, an environmental controller controls the speeds of the fans using at least two temperature sensors. In one example, a first temperature sensor measures a hotspot component temperature and generates a hotspot component temperature value, and a second temperature sensor measures an air inlet temperature and generates an air inlet temperature value. The environmental controller controls the speeds of the fans based on the difference between the measured hotspot component temperature value and a target hotspot component temperature value calculated based on the measured air inlet temperature value and a predefined function. |
| US08606427B2 |
Container data center and heat dissipation system thereof
A data center includes a container with a raised floor defining a number of openings, and a server system received in the container. The server system includes a rack and a number of servers received in the rack at different heights. Cooling air is released by a cooling device. A number of pressurizing fans are arranged under the raised floor aligned with the openings to drive the cooling air to flow upwards through the openings. A number of temperature sensors are mounted to the rack to sense temperatures of air flowing out of the servers. The temperatures sensed by the temperature sensors are transmitted to a computing unit. According to the temperatures, the computing unit adjusts the speeds of the pressurizing fans to make the cooling air within the container be better distributed for evenly cooling the servers. |
| US08606426B2 |
Alignment and anti-drift mechanism
A system includes a displacement sensor, an actuator connected to the displacement sensor, and a feedback unit. The displacement sensor is configured to measure at least one of a relative position and a relative orientation between the displacement sensor and the target object. The feedback unit receives a signal from the displacement sensor related to the measured relative position or relative orientation and controls the actuator to move the displacement sensor on the basis of variations in the received signal arising due to a change in environmental conditions. |
| US08606425B2 |
Adjustable UPS protection
An uninterruptable power supply (UPS) designed to switch power inputs between an alternating current mode and a battery mode by adjusting the amplitude and/or frequency windows of the input voltage so that the uninterruptible power supply accepts the unstable voltage and/or frequency. This prevents the uninterruptible power supply to switch back to the battery mode during a transfer time between the battery mode and the AC mode. The uninterruptable power supply includes a control circuit. The control circuit modifies the monitored value and/or actual amplitude and/or the frequency window when unstable amplitude and/or an unstable frequency are detected at the input terminal of the input voltage. |
| US08606423B2 |
HEG—single primary network to multiple secondary network energy management
A method and system is disclosed that includes a central controller that communicates data available from an Energy Services Interface (ESI) to devices over multiple secondary networks of a home in different communication protocols. The controller is a home energy gateway that includes multiple communication modules for binding to a meter on a primary network and to form multiple secondary networks. |
| US08606422B2 |
Application of phasor measurement units (PMU) for controlled system separation
This invention relates to a PMU-based controlled system separation method to protect against a catastrophic blackout. The method includes the steps of performing an offline analysis of an electrical transmission network to partition generators into a number of coherent groups, performing online monitoring of the transmission network to determine a separation interface and frequencies and damping ratios of dominant inter-area modes, and estimating the risk of system separation to perform real-time control. |
| US08606419B2 |
Submetering power consumption of appliances
A system and methods are provided for monitoring the power consumption of a particular energy consuming device of a plurality of energy consuming device devices and particular components thereof in real time. An energy management system can enable components of a device within a home network to power to different operational modes in order to determine different power consumption levels. The system can sort out anomalies and extract them from a power consumption profile created. |
| US08606410B2 |
Drive method for starting and operating a resonant scanning MEMS device at its resonant frequency
The resonance frequency of a forced torsionally oscillating mirror MEMS device can be controlled in the presence of perturbations by means of a closed loop feedback device and method of using it. The method is implemented through a simple algorithm, implemented in either software or hardware, that maintains the condition of resonance, or another selected frequency, by recursively determining that the center of the driving voltage pulse is positioned at a point on the measured positional waveform of the oscillating system. |
| US08606408B2 |
Control system and method for fan
A safety control method for a fan includes: capturing an image of an object next to the fan and gathering distances between a plurality of points on the object and a depth-sensing camera, obtaining the distance between the object in the scene and the fan, comparing the distance between the object and the fan against a first preset value, and cutting off power to the fan when the distance between the object and the fan is less than the first preset value. |
| US08606403B2 |
Haptic interface handle with force-indicating trigger mechanism
Method and system for telematic control of a slave device (402) includes a hand control (101) type control interface which includes a hand grip (102) having an elongated body (202). One or more sensors (208) are provided for sensing a physical displacement of a trigger (212) disposed on the hand grip. An actuator or motor (206) is disposed in the hand grip that is responsive to a control signal from a control system (401) for dynamically controlling a force applied by the trigger to a user of the hand control interface. |
| US08606399B2 |
Automated apparatus for constructing assemblies of building components
A device for constructing an assembly of building components includes an articulating arm unit and a gripper/nailer mounted on an end of the articulating arm unit. The gripper/nailer includes a gripping unit for grasping building components and positioning them in a predetermined arrangement and a nailing unit for inserting a fastener to secure the building components together. |
| US08606394B2 |
Robot and conveying system
A robot includes an arm member, a rotary actuator that swings the arm member, a hand member provided at an end of the arm member, a joint member that connects the arm member and the hand member to each other such that the arm member and the hand member are rotatable with respect to each other, a linear actuator that supports and linearly moves the rotary actuator, and a controller that operates the rotary actuator and the linear actuator in association with each other to linearly move the hand member in a forward-backward direction. |
| US08606393B2 |
Computer program products for automated clipping packaging apparatus
Computer program products that operate packaging systems with an automated product pusher and clipper for attaching at least one closure clip to a product held in a covering such as netting. |
| US08606389B2 |
Method to construct and physically join building blocks into a near-net shaped part using an interfacial reaction-activation mechanism
The disclosure provides a method to construct and physically join near-net shaped structural building blocks into a composite part using an interfacial reaction-activation mechanism. |
| US08606388B2 |
System for assembling aircraft
A system automatically moves large scale components of a vehicle such as an airplane, into final assembly alignment. A noncontact measurement system determines the locations of aerodynamically significant features on each of the components. The measured locations of the components are used to control an automated jacking system that includes assembly jacks for individually moving the components into assembly alignment. A system is provided for calculating the cruise configuration of the vehicle “as-built” and for transferring the cruise configuration into the vehicle where it is recorded in the form of a physical monument. |
| US08606385B2 |
Method for qualitative evaluation of a digital audio signal
The invention relates to a method of qualitatively evaluating a digital audio signal. It calculates a quality indicator consisting of a vector associated with each time window in real time, in continuous time, and in successive time windows. For example, the generation of a quality indicator vector calculates, for a reference audio signal and for an audio signal to be evaluated, the spectral power density of the audio signal, the coefficients of a prediction filter, using an autoregressive method, a temporal activity of the signal or the minimum value of the spectrum in successive blocks of the signal. To evaluate the deterioration of the audio signal, the method may calculate a distance between the vectors of the reference audio signal and the audio signal to be evaluated associated with each time window. |
| US08606381B2 |
Method and device for switching audio recording modes
Techniques pertaining to providing an appropriate recording mode to achieve optimum record data in accordance with the recording environment are described. In one embodiment, a current audio recording mode is initially selected to be one of a low sensitivity audio recording mode and a high sensitivity audio recording mode. A digital gain for digital audio recording data in the current audio recording mode is obtained. The current audio recording mode is automatically switched between the low sensitivity audio recording mode and the high sensitivity audio recording mode when the digital gain reaches a gain threshold. |
| US08606379B2 |
Method of generating a product recipe for execution in batch processing
A method of generating a product recipe for execution by a batch process in an automated manufacturing environment, such the product recipe is associated with a plurality of actions, a set of transitions, and a set of parameters, and such that the plurality of actions define a plurality of logical levels including a phase level at which the batch process interacts with equipment, includes receiving a procedure definition specifying the plurality of actions, receiving a transaction definition specifying the set of transitions so that each one in the set of transitions is associated with two or more of the plurality of actions, and receiving the set of parameters. Receiving the set of parameters includes receiving at least one dynamic input parameter that resolves to a value without obtaining the value from the recipe or an operator prompt associated at the phase level of the recipe. |
| US08606378B2 |
Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to identify hazardous process conditions associated with devices in a process control system
An example method to identify a hazardous process control type associated with a process control device includes automatically detecting that a process control device is coupled to a port on a controller, detecting information associated with the process control device via the port, identifying a hazardous process condition type of the process control device based on the detected information, and sending information to a computing device to cause a display to include visual indication of the identified hazardous process condition type in association with the process control device. |
| US08606376B2 |
Method of actuating a system, apparatus for modifying a control signal for actuation of a system and method of tuning such an apparatus
A method of actuating a system comprising a movable component and an actuator configured to move the movable component comprises providing a control signal representative of a desired motion of the movable component. The control signal is supplied to one or more resonators. Each of the one or more resonators has a mode of oscillation representative of at least one elastic mode of oscillation of the system. The control signal is modified by subtracting from the control signal a signal representative of a response of the one or more resonators to the control signal. The actuator is operated in accordance with the modified control signal. Thus, undesirable elastic oscillations of the system which might occur if the system were operated with the original control system can be reduced. |
| US08606373B2 |
Firefighting monitor and control system therefor
A firefighting monitor system includes a monitor, a controller selectively generating signals to the monitor for controlling the monitor, and a computer. The computer is configured to receive input from a user relative to the monitor or the controller. The computer generates an output based on the input, and the output is transmitted to the controller for controlling the monitor or the controller in accordance with the output. |
| US08606371B2 |
Uterine electrical stimulation system and method
Some embodiments of the invention provide a system and method for treating insufficient uterine contractions after labor and delivery. The system includes a control module and a current source controlled by the control module to produce stimulating current at a frequency greater than or equal to about 5.0 Hertz. The system also includes one or more stimulation electrodes to provide the stimulating current to the patient in order for the patient to produce tonic uterine contractions. |
| US08606368B2 |
Electrode unit, electrode system, electrode implanting apparatus, and electrode implanting system
An electrode system which includes: an electrode unit capable of switching at least a part of its shape between a curved shape and a stretched shape, wherein in the curved shape the electrode unit is wound around a predetermined linear tissue, and wherein in the stretched shape the electrode unit is flat; and a treatment tool that switches the shape of the at least a part of the electrode unit between the curved shape and the stretched shape, wherein the electrode unit includes: an insulating member formed in a sheet shape out of an elastic material; and an electrode that is disposed on a first surface which is an inside surface of a curvature when the insulating member has a curved shape and which applies a predetermined voltage. |
| US08606360B2 |
Systems and methods for determining volume of activation for spinal cord and peripheral nerve stimulation
This document discloses, among other things, systems and methods for determining volume of activation for spinal cord stimulation (“SCS”) using a finite element model (FEM) circuit to determine a FEM of an implanted electrode and a spinal cord in which the electrode is implanted, a Fourier FEM solver circuit to calculate a potential distribution in the spinal cord using information from the FEM circuit and a capacitive component of at least one of the implanted electrode and the spinal cord, and a volume of activation (VOA) circuit to predict a VOA using the potential distribution and a neuron model. |
| US08606359B2 |
System and method for sustained baroreflex stimulation
The present invention comprises a medical device having a baroreflex stimulator to generate a stimulation signal, the stimulation signal being adapted to stimulate a baroreflex, and a controller to communicate with the baroreflex stimulator and implement a baroreflex stimulus regimen to vary an intensity of the baroreflex stimulation provided by the stimulation signal to maintain stimulation efficacy. |
| US08606358B2 |
Muscle stimulator
An implantable medical device for treating the back of a patient. Stimulation energy is delivered to muscles or joint capsules or ligaments or nerve fibers to improve the heath of the back. |
| US08606355B1 |
Therapy system including cardiac rhythm therapy and neurostimulation capabilities
An implantable medical system is disclosed that is configured to detect a laryngeal activation response of a patient to an electrical stimulation signal. Detection of the laryngeal activation can be used to control vagal stimulation therapy to a patient. |
| US08606352B2 |
Methods and devices for monitoring myocardial mechanical stability
Embodiments of the present invention relate to implantable systems, and methods for use therewith, for monitoring myocardial mechanical stability based on a signal that is indicative of mechanical functioning of a patient's heart for a plurality of consecutive beats. Certain embodiments use time domain techniques, while other embodiments use frequency domain techniques, to monitor myocardial mechanical stability. In certain embodiments the patient's heart is paced using a patterned pacing sequence that repeats every N beats. In other embodiments, the patient's heart need not be paced. This abstract is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. |
| US08606340B2 |
Multi-display mobile device
A mobile device comprising a first portion and a second portion is provided. In at least one embodiment, the first portion comprises a first part providing at least a first display screen, and a second part providing at least a second display screen. The first part may be foldably coupled to the second part to allow the first part to fold with respect to the second part about a first folding axis. The second portion comprises a third part providing at least a third display screen. The first portion is slidably coupled to the second portion, and at least one of the first portion and the second portion comprises one or more coupling elements configured so that the second part of the first portion is foldable with respect to the third part of the second portion about a second folding axis. In one embodiment, the first, second and third parts are folded to resemble a picture frame comprising multiple digital displays. |
| US08606333B2 |
Push to lower hearing assisted device
A mechanism for switching a wireless device between normal operation and a lower-power mode is provided. A wireless device has a selection mechanism for reducing the power output of the wireless device. The wireless device then returns to a normal operation mode upon user release of the selection mechanism. |
| US08606332B2 |
Gravity axis determination apparatus and mobile terminal apparatus using the same
A gravity axis determination apparatus which can determine the gravity direction in a short time. The apparatus is low in cost and has a simple construction. Data values of acceleration data trains in a same time zone are mutually compared and one of the three axes is determined as a gravity axis. |
| US08606331B2 |
Soft keyboard display method and mobile terminal
The present invention provides a soft keyboard display method and a mobile terminal, and relates to the field of mobile terminals. The method includes: processing a picture of a soft keyboard by adopting an α blending technology according to a preset transparency parameter, so that the picture of the soft keyboard presents transparency corresponding to the transparency parameter; and displaying a processed picture of the soft keyboard on a current background picture of a mobile terminal touchscreen in a suspended manner when it is detected that the soft keyboard needs to be displayed. The mobile terminal includes: a transparency processing module and a suspended displaying module. The mobile terminal includes: a touchscreen and at least one processor. The processor is coupled with the touchscreen. The processor is configured to perform the function of the soft keyboard display method. |
| US08606329B2 |
Method and apparatus for rendering web pages utilizing external rendering rules
An approach is provided for rendering web content utilizing external rendering rules. Web content associated with a particular rendering rule is received. The web content is rendered according to a default rendering rule. The particular rendering rule is received. A viewpoint of the web content is determined. The web content is re-rendered according to the particular rendering rule at the viewpoint. |
| US08606328B2 |
Mobile communication terminal and menu display method in the same
A mobile communication terminal according to the present invention includes: a related-function associate unit that associates an function executed by a user operation with a function executed next by the user operation after executing the executed function; a weighting set unit that sets a larger weighting value to a newer combination of the executed function and the next executed function associated by the related-function associate unit, and a next function predict function that causes the next executed function having a larger weighting value set by the weighting set unit to be preferentially displayed from among the next executed functions associated with the executed function when a function is newly selected by the user. |
| US08606326B2 |
Mobile terminal and image display method thereof
A method for displaying images in a plurality of groups so as to allow a user to simultaneously preview the images on one screen, and a mobile terminal implementing such method, the mobile terminal including: a display for displaying a plurality of image groups and images included in each image group, a user input unit for receiving a user's command input about a certain position or direction so as to move the displayed plurality of image groups or images included in a specific group, and a controller for controlling the above components so as to move the displayed image groups or the images within the specific group in a commanded certain position or direction. |
| US08606313B2 |
Process for improving the determination of the SIR target in an outer loop power control mechanism of UMTS UE
In a receiver of a UMTS telecommunication system a process for performing the Outer Loop power control in a User Equipment is provided. The receiver includes an improved outer loop power control mechanism that estimates a Signal to Interference target (SIRtarg) based on a Block Error Rate target (BLERtarg) received from a base station. The outer loop control mechanism estimates a BLER value (BLERest) based on a number of received blocks and then adjusts a SIR target value (SIRtarg) based on the relationship between BLERtarg and BLERest. Meanwhile, simultaneously in parallel, the outer loop power control mechanism monitors for a potential convergence of a first SIR value with the SIRtarg and upon detection of such potential convergence applying a correction to SIRtarg. |
| US08606310B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling interference between base stations
A method for controlling interference between base stations in a radio communication system in which an indirect interface for indirectly connecting the base stations exists and an direct interface for directly connecting the base stations does not exist, the method includes: converting a first interference control message used in the direct interface into a format of a protocol of the indirect interface to thereby generate a second interference control message; and transmitting the second interference control message through the indirect interface. |
| US08606308B2 |
Method and system to facilitate interaction between and content delivery to users of a wireless communications network
A system and method of creating affinity groups of portable communication device users, and distributing targeted content to said users is disclosed. The user affinity groups may be formed by comparing user profiles with each other or with a predefined affinity group profile definition. |
| US08606307B2 |
Advanced user interface operations in a dual-mode wireless device
A system and method are provided for mobile stations for enhancing the ease of use of a mobile station. Through the system and method, a user may more easily view the phone number of a caller identification card. The user may be alerted when the user tries to send messages while out of GPRS coverage, or the mobile station may recognize extension numbers in address book user interface applications to assist with a dialing operation. |
| US08606300B2 |
Efficiency of electronic message communications between mobile communication devices
A disclosure provides mobile communication devices that receive information corresponding to users associated with target mobile communication device, via a near field communication protocol. The information is stored in a storage device either within the mobile communication device or within a separate server. If it is determined that the target mobile communication device is within a predetermined distance of the mobile communication device, data entries associated with the stored information are created and retrieved, in real time. The data entries are displayed on the mobile communication device. The data entries may include personal information or email messages from prior communication sessions, which are employed in future communications between the mobile communication devices. |
| US08606290B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing a demotion in a cellular communications network
A method, computer readable medium and apparatus for performing a demotion in a cellular communications network are disclosed. For example, the method receives a packet indicating that a batching transfer is completed, determines if a background packet was received after receiving the packet indicating that the batching transfer is completed and demotes a state of a state machine implemented by a radio network controller to a lower state if the background packet was not received. |
| US08606287B2 |
Method and system for controlling and regulating services and resources in high-performance downlink channels
Aspects of a method and system for controlling and regulating services and resources in high-performance downlink channels may include receiving, at a second communication device, from a first communication device, one or more process data packets. For one or more feedback classes, at least one feedback message may be generated from the one or more process data packets associated with a process that may be associated with the one or more feedback classes. One or more feedback messages may be generated from the at least one generated feedback message and transmitted from the second communication device to the first communication device. |
| US08606286B2 |
E-PDCCH design for reducing blind decoding
A user equipment (UE) is provided. The UE comprises a processor. The processor is configured to receive an extended physical downlink control channel (E-PDCCH) in an E-PDCCH region that has been partitioned into at least two partitions. A first partition contains control channel elements (CCEs) with a first set of aggregation levels, and a second partition contains CCEs with a second set of aggregation levels. |
| US08606283B2 |
Signalling gain factors in a communication network system
The invention relates to methods, a user equipment and a communication network entity for optimizing the radio resource utilization in a communication network system comprising a network side and a user equipment side between which data is transmitted on uplink (17) and downlink (16) channels with a transmit power and said user equipment (18) is arranged to adjust said transmit power on said uplink channels (17) according to gain factors received from said network side, wherein said user equipment (18) is located in a location area of said communication network system. The gain factors are transmitted to the user equipment (18) solely when the user equipment (18) accesses the network system instead of transmitting gain factors during every session setup as long as the user equipment (18) is in said location area. |
| US08606282B2 |
Power control of point to multipoint physical channels
A method and apparatus are used to determine an efficient transmit power for point to multipoint (PtM) transmissions by maintaining a database at a base station which specifies which of a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) are members of each PtM group. The transmit power of each WTRU's downlink dedicated channel is adjusted to the minimum required power necessary and the PtM transmit power for each PtM group is set such that the PtM transmit power of a PtM group is equal to the greatest of a WTRU in the PtM group plus a PtM power offset. |
| US08606276B2 |
Telecommunications apparatus and method
A telecommunications system provides mobile communications to mobile user equipment and includes an internet protocol access network and a cellular mobile radio network. The mobile user equipment activates a connection on the cellular mobile radio network using the packet switched communications channel whilst receiving a communications service via the internet protocol access network. The mobile user equipment communicates via the connection on the packet-switched channel of the cellular mobile radio network in response to a handover event from the internet protocol access network to the cellular mobile radio network. The mobile user equipment also establishes a connection on the cellular mobile radio network using the circuit switched channel in response to the handover event, continues to communicate via the connection on the packet-switched channel while the connection on the circuit-switched channel has been established, and then communicates via the connection on the circuit-switched channel once it has been established. |
| US08606269B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing identification information of small base station in wireless communication system
An apparatus and method select a segment for providing identification information of a small base station (BS) in a wireless communication system. A signal quality of each of a plurality of segments is determined. When at least one segment is not used by a macro BS, a segment of the worst signal quality is selected among the at least one segment that is not used by a macro BS. And the identification information is transmitted using the selected segment. The selected segment represents a resource for transmitting the identification information. |
| US08606268B2 |
Method and system for reducing the size of a paging zone in a broadband wireless network
A method reduces a paging zone for a mobile station in a wireless communication system. The wireless communication system includes a plurality of base stations capable of supporting a plurality of application types. A radius of the paging zone is determined. A location update for the mobile station is received. A call setup request for the mobile station is received. The call setup request is associated with an application type. The radius of the paging zone is reduced based on the application type, a speed of the mobile station and an amount of time elapsed since receiving the location update. |
| US08606265B2 |
Assisted system scanning with paired devices
A method in a first wireless device, the method performing wireless network scanning to discover available wireless networks; and communicating results of the scanning to a second wireless device, the results containing information to enable the second wireless device to connect to at least one of the available wireless networks without the second wireless device having to perform the same wireless network scanning or reduce the amount of scanning required to connect to at least one of the available wireless network. Also a method in a first wireless device, the method receiving results of wireless network scanning performed on a second wireless device, the results containing information enabling the first wireless device to connect to at least one available wireless network discovered during the scanning without the first wireless device having to perform the same wireless network scanning. |
| US08606263B2 |
Method and apparatus for respectively transmitting signals from a plurality of client modules that share components of a wireless network device
A network interface including a radio frequency (RF) system and a media access controller (MAC). The RF system wirelessly communicates with an access point (AP). The MAC includes client modules. A first client module transmits a first signal from a host to the AP via the RF system in accordance with a first wireless communication standard. A second client module transmits a second signal from the host to the AP via the RF system in accordance with a second wireless communication standard. The second client module determines a quality level of the second signal transmitted from the second client module to the AP, and based on the quality level of the second signal, hands off access to the RF system from the second client module to the first client module to allow the first client module to transmit the first signal to the AP via the RF system. |
| US08606260B2 |
Location-based profile
A location determination subsystem of a mobile device can determine a location of the mobile device. A monitoring subsystem of the mobile device can be configured, using a profile, to monitor states of a wireless connection between the mobile device and a communications network. When the monitoring subsystem detects an interruption of the wireless connection, a virtual geofence can be constructed around the location of the mobile device when the interruption occurred. The geofence can indicate a boundary of an enclosed geographic area. The geofence can be associated with a diagnostics profile stored on the mobile device or dynamically retrieved from a server upon occurrence of the interruption. When the mobile device enters the area enclosed by the geofence, the monitoring subsystem can be configured using the diagnostics profile in anticipation of interruptions of connections. Information relating to the interruptions can be anonymously sent to a server for analysis. |
| US08606259B2 |
Method and system for testing a software-defined radio device
A method for testing a software-defined radio (SDR) device is provided. The method includes configuring the SDR device for a first standard. A first test is performed on the SDR device under the first standard. Test data for the first test is received from the SDR device. A switching time for configuring the SDR device for the first standard is determined based on the test data for the first test. |
| US08606257B2 |
Apparatuses and methods for mobile capability signaling
A mobile communications device with a wireless module and a controller module is provided. The wireless module performs wireless transmissions and receptions to and from a service network. The controller module receives a capability enquiry message from the service network via the wireless module, and determines a first capability category indicating carrier aggregation capability of the wireless module in response to the capability enquiry message. Also, the controller module transmits a capability information message comprising the first capability category to the service network via the wireless module. |
| US08606253B2 |
Apparatus and method for setting communication service blocking mode in mobile terminal
An apparatus and method for setting and releasing a flight mode in a mobile terminal are provided in which a user of the mobile terminal is informed that the flight mode should be set or released before the flight mode is set or released in order to allow the user to determine whether to set or release the flight mode. |
| US08606251B2 |
Mobile terminals, methods and computer program products incorporating podcast link activation control
A mobile terminal includes a processor operatively associated with a radio communications circuit and configured to store a podcast including an embedded link to content outside of the mobile terminal. The processor is further configured to control activation of the embedded link responsive to a communications status of the mobile terminal and/or a configuration of a user interface of the mobile terminal. For example, the communications status may include availability of communications between the mobile terminal and a storage location of the content, or presence of a particular call and/or a message. The user interface configuration may include, for example, a current display mode or physical arrangement of the terminal. |
| US08606250B1 |
Method and apparatus for providing a mobile wireless local area network
A first mobile device includes an access point configured to control access of a plurality of second mobile devices to a wireless local area network. A conference controller is configured to control a teleconference between the plurality of second mobile devices accessing the wireless local area network via the access point. The teleconference includes a communication link compatible with the wireless local area network protocol, the communication link including a first information stream that is packet-based and a second information stream that is compatible with a mobile device network. An IP interface is configured to convert, for transmission to the plurality of second mobile devices in the second information stream, portions of the first information stream received from the wireless local area network, and convert, for transmission to the wireless local area network in the first information stream, portions of the second information stream received from the second mobile devices. |
| US08606248B2 |
Advertising server for delivering targeted advertisements to a mobile wireless device and associated methods
A communications system includes at least one mobile wireless communications device for contacting a given entity having a telephone number associated therewith and an advertising server. The advertising server is configured to identify the given entity based upon the telephone number and identifying at least one property associated with the given entity. The advertising server is also configured to selectively send a targeted advertisement to the at least one mobile wireless device based upon the at least one property. |
| US08606243B2 |
Mobile network system and guidance message providing method
A mobile network system includes a guidance message control server, a call control server and a plurality of access gateways. The call control server includes a gateway management section that determines an access gateway as a subject of call restriction, a first instructing section that transmits a message transmission instruction to the guidance message control server and a second instructing section that transmits a call restriction instruction to the access gateway. The guidance message control server includes a receiving section that receives the message transmission instruction, an acquisition section that acquires a guidance message data and a transmission section that transmits the guidance message data to a specified multicast group. Each of the access gateways includes a processing section that performs multicast group participation processing for participating in the specified multicast group and a guidance transmission section that transmits the guidance message data to a mobile terminal. |
| US08606238B2 |
User-initiated communications during multimedia content playback on a mobile communications device
A multimedia display process executing in a mobile device traps user input signals to allow switching from display of multimedia to another task without requiring manual termination of the multimedia display process by the user. |
| US08606232B2 |
Method and system for performing multi-stage virtual SIM provisioning and setup on mobile devices
A system and method for provisioning a mobile device with user preferences and settings. The user preferences and settings may be default preferences and settings selected by the various applications loaded onto the mobile device or previously user preferences and settings selected by a user. User selected preferences and settings may be stored in a remote server memory. The preferences and settings may be retrieved by new mobile device. The preferences and settings stored in the remote server memory may contain triggers which initiate a connection with various third party servers. In response to the trigger, various third party servers may transmit further instructions to the mobile device which allows the mobile device to complete the restoration of the user's preferences and settings. |
| US08606229B2 |
Integration of cellular phone detection and reporting into a prison telephone system
The present subject matter is directed to an apparatus and methodology for monitoring for the occurrence of use of unauthorized telecommunications equipment within a designated area. The present subject matter has particular utility to the corrections environment in that it discloses a methodology for detecting and reporting the unauthorized operation of cellular telephones within a corrections facility. The present technology may be used advantageously in combination with inmate telephone systems to transmit information to appropriate personnel in the form of email messages and/or voice communications by way of telephone local or corrections facility external telephone lines. The present technology also provides for recordation and storage of time, date and location information for detected events. |
| US08606227B2 |
Secure access to restricted resource
Devices, systems and methods are disclosed which relate to restricting access to a secure resource by requiring a multimodal input sequence as a passkey to access the secure resource. Certain techniques allow a user to provide simultaneous input through a plurality of input sensors on a handheld device to create a multimodal input sequence, which is used as a unique passkey required to access secure resources. Combinations of input sensors are used to complete the multimodal input sequence. Among the available input sensors are an accelerometer, a touch screen, a camera, a proximity sensor, a position sensor, etc. The secure resource can be data or materials. |
| US08606223B1 |
Group information and components for wireless devices
A group billing component may be adapted to determine whether a source wireless device and a destination wireless device may be members of a group. The group billing component may receive a group identifier, a destination device identifier, and a source device identifier from the source wireless upon initiating communication with the destination wireless device. The group billing component may compare the destination device identifier with a group list that may be indexed by the group identifier. Based on the comparison, the group billing component may determine whether to output a usage fee to a subscriber of the source wireless device. The usage fee may be output if at least one element in the group list does not match the destination device identifier. |
| US08606219B1 |
Selective suppression of access probe transmission in response to external impact event
A method and system for managing access probe transmission in a wireless communication system. Upon determining that an external impact event, such as a severe weather event, natural disaster, criminal activity, has occurred, base stations may wirelessly broadcast a control signal that causes certain wireless communication devices served by the base stations to suppress transmission of access probes, while allowing other wireless communication devices served by the base stations to still transmit access probes. In a given coverage area, suppression of access probe transmission by one or more wireless communication devices may thereby free up access channel capacity to facilitate calls or other communications by other wireless communication devices, such as first-responder devices for instance. |
| US08606217B2 |
Communication control system and method for performing a transmission of data
A communication control unit for transmitting data via a transmission pathway between a tachograph and a data processing facility. The transmission pathway contains at least one partial section for a wireless transmission. The communication control unit comprises a GSM module and/or a module for wireless data transmission with the data processing device. A system, which additionally contains a tachograph and a data processing facility. The tachograph and a communication control unit associated therewith are disposed in a vehicle and said data processing facility is disposed outside said vehicle. Using the communication control unit, a method for transmitting data via a transmission pathway between a tachograph and a data processing facility is also disclosed. |
| US08606216B2 |
Wireless device, method of operation and computer program
A wireless device has two or more radio systems and SIM channels. At least a part of the first radio system can be shut down to reduce the power consumed by the device. This occurs if the first radio system is unable to obtain suitable service for the first SIM channel and the second radio system is at least one of: (i) providing at least some service on the second SIM channel for the device, and (ii) capable of searching for service for the first radio system. |
| US08606215B2 |
Methods and systems for interference rejection for low signals
A radio device and a method to operate a non-heterodyne receiver are provided. The radio device is configured to receive a signal waveform and to provide a wake-up signal to a second communication circuit when the signal waveform is a valid communication request; wherein the second communication circuit switches from a power saving state to an operating state upon receiving the wake-up signal from the non-heterodyne receiver. The non-heterodyne receiver further including an Electromagnetic interference (EMI) rejection circuit, including a narrow band filter and a broadband filter to reject an EMI signal. A filter circuit for a narrow passband circuit is also provided. The filter including a buffer circuit; a crystal oscillator coupled to the output of the buffer circuit; and an inverting amplifier coupled in parallel to the crystal oscillator. |
| US08606211B2 |
High dynamic range receiver front-end with Q-enhancement
A preselect circuit maintains the dynamic range of a received RF input signal during bandpass filtering of the received RF input signal. The preselect circuit includes a Q-deficient passive bandpass filter for coupling to an antenna to receive a received RF input signal. The preselect circuit further includes a Q-enhancement circuit coupled to the Q-deficient passive bandpass filter, wherein the Q-enhancement circuit increases a Q-value of the Q-deficient passive bandpass filter by compensating for resistive inductive losses in the bandpass filter. |
| US08606209B2 |
Apparatus and methods for efficient implementation of tuners
Embodiments of systems and methods for the efficient implementation of tuners are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. |
| US08606208B2 |
Filter circuit and radio terminal including filter circuit
There is provided a filter circuit including a passive mixer circuit, and a passive switched capacitor circuit that is connected to a rear stage of the passive mixer and includes a flying capacitor. The passive mixer circuit generates a baseband signal by multiplying an input signal supplied from a predetermined signal source impedance by each local oscillation signal and outputs the baseband signal to the passive switched capacitor circuit, the passive switched capacitor circuit performs predetermined filtering on the baseband signal supplied from the passive mixer circuit and outputs the processed baseband signal, and a capacitance of the flying capacitor of the passive switched capacitor circuit is a capacitance by which input impedance of the passive mixer circuit is matched to the signal source impedance. |
| US08606202B2 |
Radio receiver apparatus
A radio receiver apparatus calculates all frequencies to be estimated as spurious frequencies in the reception frequency band by performing addition and subtraction operations on frequencies of repeated combinations formed from frequencies of a plurality of intensive electric field station, and controls the spurious frequency not to be preset to the radio receiver apparatus even though signal intensity of a received signal having the spurious frequency exceeds a predetermined threshold. |
| US08606200B2 |
Error vector magnitude control within a linear transmitter
In a portable radio transceiver, such as a mobile wireless telephone, conditions indicative of transmitter distortion (as represented by error vector magnitude (EVM)) are sensed, and transmitted RF power is adjusted in response, so as to reduce distortion and decrease EVM. The conditions can include high VSWR or a combination of high VSWR and low battery power. |
| US08606198B1 |
Directional coupler architecture for radio frequency power amplifier with complex load
Various embodiments may provide a circuit including a radio frequency (RF) power amplifier (PA) and a coupler (e.g., a directional coupler). The coupler may be coupled between a first impedance matching section and a second impedance matching section. The first matching section may transform a first impedance at the RF PA to a second impedance at an RF input port of the coupler. The second matching section may transform the second impedance at an RF output port of the coupler to a third impedance at an output terminal. The second impedance may be a real impedance and the third impedance may be a complex impedance. A real part of the third impedance may be greater than a real part of the second impedance. Additionally, the second impedance may be greater than the first impedance. |
| US08606195B2 |
Radio
In a mobile phone, a vibrator, arranged on a substrate, has two power supply terminals. The vibrator's first and second terminals are each connected to a control unit via a first wiring, a coil and a second wiring. A capacitor is connected between the two terminals' first wirings One end of an antenna sub-element is connected to the first terminal's first wiring and one end is connected to a radio circuit unit. An antenna unit operates at frequency λ2, corresponding to a communication frequency. The control unit and the vibrator operate at frequency λ1. The coils have a self-resonant frequency of λ2 and form a short-circuit connection at frequency λ1 and an open-circuit connection at frequency λ2. The capacitors form an open-circuit connection at frequency λ1 and a short-circuit connection at frequency λ2. This reduces the number of antenna component members mounted on a radio and an antenna's size. |
| US08606193B2 |
RF transceiver IC having internal loopback conductor for IP2 self test
An RF transceiver integrated circuit has a novel segmented, low parasitic capacitance, internal loopback conductor usable for conducting IP2 self testing and/or calibration. In a first novel aspect, the transmit mixer of the transceiver is a current mode output mixer. The receive mixer is a passive mixer that has a low input impedance. In the loopback mode, the transmit mixer drives a two tone current signal to the passive mixer via the loopback conductor. In a second novel aspect, only one quadrature branch of the transmit mixer is used to generate both tones required for carrying out an IP2 test. In a third novel aspect, a first calibration test is performed using one quadrature branch of the transmit mixer at the same time that a second calibration test is performed using the other quadrature branch, thereby reducing loopback test time and power consumption. |
| US08606184B1 |
Coexistence message processing mechanism for wireless devices
Wireless radio devices that communicate in close proximity to each other typically suffer from interference. Such interference between collocated wireless radio devices can lead to degradation in performance of either/both the wireless radio devices. Functionality can be implemented to schedule communications of the wireless radio devices so as to avoid interference between the two wireless radio devices. Coexistence messages can be exchanged, via a message based coexistence interface, between the wireless radio devices. By transmitting information such as received signal strength information, power, link information, scheduling information for a scheduling table, communication schedules, communication priorities, etc. in the coexistence message, interference between the wireless radio devices can be minimized. |
| US08606182B2 |
Bluetooth® and wireless LAN coexistence
A method and system for Bluetooth® and Wireless LAN coexistence may include controlling wireless local area network (WLAN) communication and Bluetooth® communication in a coexistence system that handles at least a WLAN communication protocol and a Bluetooth® communication protocol based on time division multiplexing (TDM) and adaptive frequency hopping (AFH). Switching may occur between the WLAN communication and the Bluetooth® communication based on the TDM and the AFH. In one embodiment of the invention, the switching may occur adaptively. Notwithstanding, in instances where it may be determined that AFH is disabled, switching to TDM may occur. WLAN communication and/or Bluetooth® communication may be disabled or enabled based on a state of at the WLAN communication and/or the Bluetooth® communication. Use of the AFH may be enabled or disabled based on a link status of the WLAN communication and/or the Bluetooth® communication. |
| US08606180B2 |
User interface for controlling a household electrical appliance remotely connected thereto
A user interface arranged at least to display, on a display unit or on a display panel, information relative to the operation of a household electrical appliance with which the interface is associated, the appliance presenting functional members controlled in their operation by a control unit, and an external housing provided with an aperture with its own closure door; the interface is positionable on and fastenable to the exterior of the housing of the electrical appliance, remote wire-less data communication and transmission means being associated with the control unit and with the interface to enable the data to be transmitted from the interior of the electrical appliance to the interface through the housing. A household electrical appliance with this interface is also claimed. |
| US08606178B2 |
Multi-directional wireless communication for a control module
An electronic control module assembly includes antenna elements and a PCB. Each antenna element communicates an RF signal in a direction that corresponds with an outer face of a housing of the assembly. The PCB is received in a cavity of the housing and has RF-energy-transfer circuits and a baseband RF device, which demodulates the signal. Each RF-energy-transfer circuit receives the signal. At least two RF-energy-transfer circuits receive the signal from the antenna elements, and at least one RF-energy-transfer circuit does not receive the signal from one of the antenna elements and is a placeholder circuit. The baseband RF device is in communication with at least two of the RF-energy-transfer circuits receiving the signal. A connector provides a connection between each of the antenna elements and the PCB and is received by an aperture of the housing. |
| US08606174B2 |
Portable radio-frequency repeater
A portable radio-frequency repeater includes a housing and a transceiver. The transceiver is disposed at least partially within the housing and configured to alternatively operate in a transmitting mode and a sleep mode. The transceiver includes an antenna and a control unit. The control unit is in electrical communication with the antenna. When the transceiver operates in the transmitting mode, the control unit is configured to receive an RFID signal from the antenna, convert the RFID signal into a converted RFID signal, and transmit the converted RFID signal to the antenna. When the transceiver operates in the sleep mode, the control unit is configured to detect an interrogation signal from the antenna and not to transmit any converted RFID signal to the antenna. |
| US08606171B2 |
Methods of suppressing GSM wireless device threats in dynamic or wide area static environments using minimal power consumption and collateral interference
Techniques for detecting wireless devices that are signaling in high proximity to a convoy or other operation and preventing messages from reaching the wireless devices. One class of the techniques uses surgical jamming methodologies that minimize power consumption and collateral interference, while being maximally inconspicuous; another class uses baiting beacons to prevent the messages from reaching the wireless devices. Still another class of techniques denies wireless devices access to a wireless network. An exemplary embodiment applies the techniques to wireless devices and beacons in a GSM network. |
| US08606170B2 |
Method and apparatus for interactive, computer-based, automatically adaptable learning
A method and apparatus interactive, computer-based, automatically adaptable education. The apparatus includes a screen visible to one or more students in a classroom and capable of accessing a network; a central computer capable of accessing the network and capable of transmitting a lesson over the network; and at least one educational module capable of accessing the network, the at least one educational module being assigned to a student, the at least one educational module being capable of receiving from the assigned student and transmitting to the central computer a response by the assigned student to the lesson, the central computer being capable of receiving the response, the central computer being further capable, based on the response, of interactively and automatically selecting and transmitting over the network for viewing on the screen, a new lesson. |
| US08606168B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus comprises: a pair of first sheet ejecting rollers and a pair of second sheet ejecting rollers that eject a sheet on which an image is formed; a guide member that guides the sheet to the pair of first sheet ejecting rollers or the pair of second sheet ejecting rollers; a controller that performs control so that, while a sheet that is to be ejected by the pair of first sheet ejecting rollers onto an ejected-sheet tray is being held by the pair of first sheet ejecting rollers in a stopped state, the pair of second sheet ejecting rollers is in a stopped state and hold an immediately subsequent sheet above the ejected-sheet tray; and a fan that moves air toward the sheet held by the pair of first sheet ejecting rollers and the immediately subsequent sheet held by the pair of second sheet ejecting rollers. |
| US08606166B2 |
Fixing device and image forming appartus
A fixing device includes a laser light source for irradiating an unfixed toner image formed on a recording sheet, and melts a toner by light from the laser light source to fix the toner image on the recording sheet. Here, where a conveyance speed of the recording sheet is p, a length of a light irradiation area in a conveyance direction of the recording sheet is q, time during which the toner of the unfixed image is subjected to light during conveyance is r, and energy per unit area given to the toner of the unfixed image is J, light output of the laser light source is controlled so that the energy during a constant time r1 from the start of a time r is differentiated from the energy during a time r2 until the end of the time r after the elapse of the r1. |
| US08606165B2 |
Extended zone low temperature non-contact heating for distortion free fusing of images on non-porous material
A system for heated gas fusing of toner on non-porous substrates is provided. The system uses (1) an extended fusing zone held at lower temperatures than needed for a roll nip or radiant fuser, and (2) a very low melt toner which can be fused at greatly reduced temperatures compared to conventional toners. In one form, the system is realized through (a) the use of heated gas as the low temperature extended zone fusing technology, and (b) the use of ultra-low melt (ULM) toner—which requires significantly reduced temperature compared to conventional toner. On non-porous packaging substrates the use of heated gas can limit the substrate temperature to 100° C. |
| US08606163B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus
Disclosed is a fixing device for thermally fixing an unfixed image onto the recording sheet, the fixing device comprising: a fixing belt; and a meander regulation member provided adjacent to an edge of the fixing belt in a width direction thereof, and operable to prevent meandering of the fixing belt, wherein the fixing belt includes: a resistive heat layer that is tubular and generates heat when an electric current is applied thereto; and first and second electrodes that are provided circumferentially on an outer circumferential surface of the resistive heat layer, and that receive and apply the electric current to the resistive heat layer, and the first electrode is provided closer to the meander regulation member than to the second electrode, and is at a distance from the edge of the fixing belt in the width direction thereof. |
| US08606162B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus in which a height difference is circumferentially provided to a pressing member
A fixing device including a fixing member to fix a toner image on a sheet by application of heat and pressure and a pressing member to press the sheet against the fixing member. The pressing member is rotatable. A height difference is circumferentially provided to the pressing member, and is tapered from an end portion toward a portion contacting an edge of a small-size sheet. The pressing member has a greater hardness than the fixing member. |
| US08606161B2 |
Image forming apparatus with induction heating type fixing unit
A fixing unit of an image forming apparatus includes a coil arranged along an outer surface of the heating member and generating a magnetic field, a first core arranged opposite the heating member with respect to the coil and forming a magnetic path, a second core so fixed between the first core and the heating member with respect to a direction in which the coil generates the magnetic field, as to form the magnetic path together with the first core, a shielding member positioned outward of the second core and shielding the magnetism in the magnetic path, and a magnetism adjusting unit moving the shielding member outward of the second core to switch the position of the shielding member between a shielding position where the shielding member shields the pass of the magnetism and a retracted position where the shielding member permits the pass of the magnetism. |
| US08606150B2 |
Toner bearer, and developing device and image forming apparatus using same
A toner bearer including an electroconductive substrate; an insulating layer located on the electroconductive substrate; multiple electrodes located on the insulating layer at regular intervals; an outermost layer located on the multiple electrodes; and a voltage applicator to apply a voltage between the electroconductive substrate and the multiple electrodes to form a periodically reversed electric field therebetween so that toner particles on the outermost layer hop, thereby forming a toner cloud above the outermost layer. The insulating layer includes a crosslinked material having a unit obtained from a fluorine-containing resin and a crosslinking agent. The fluorine-containing resin is selected from the group consisting of copolymers having a unit obtained from fluoroethylene having at least three fluorine atoms and a unit obtained from a vinyl ether monomer and copolymers including a unit obtained from tetrafluoroethylene and a unit obtained from a vinyl monomer. |
| US08606145B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming unit
Image forming apparatuses include: a casing; an image forming unit removable from the casing in a first direction; and plural developer cartridges. The cartridges may be attached and detached with respect to the image forming unit in a second direction that is inclined toward the first direction. Other image forming apparatuses include: a casing; an exposure device; a plurality of cartridges configured to be attached and detached with respect to the casing in a first direction; and a recording medium transport system for transporting recording media adjacent the photosensitive members in a second direction. The first direction may be inclined with respect to the second direction, and at least a portion of optical paths of the light emitted from the exposure device may extend parallel with the first direction. Aspects also relate to image forming units, e.g., for use in image forming apparatuses as described above. |
| US08606140B2 |
Image forming device having shutter driving member
An image forming device includes a main casing, a support member, a plurality of image bearing members supported on the support member, a plurality of developing units supported on the support member, a plurality of toner cartridges detachably mounted on the support member, and a shutter closing mechanism. Each toner cartridge includes a casing formed with an opening through which toner accommodated in the casing is supplied to the developing unit and a shutter movable between an opening position at which the shutter opens the opening and a closing position at which the shutter closes the opening. The shutter closing mechanism moves the shutter of one of the toner cartridges to be replaced from the opening position to the closing position while maintaining the shutters of the remaining toner cartridges at the respective opening positions. |
| US08606134B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus stops the intermediate transfer belt so that a wrinkle is formed at a predetermined position of an intermediate transfer belt and, by detecting a reference mark during a preparation operation for forming an image when starting image formation, the toner image is not transferred onto the wrinkle formed in the intermediate transfer belt when formation of a toner image is started immediately after the preparation operation has been completed. |
| US08606133B2 |
Image forming apparatus
A toner pattern for detecting the degree of toner deterioration is created on a photosensitive element and transferred to an intermediate transfer belt by a primary transfer unit under a transfer condition different from that at the time of image formation. A toner adhesion amount detection unit detects the toner adhesion amount of the toner pattern at multiple places. A degree-of-toner-deterioration calculation unit calculates the degree of toner deterioration on the basis of the variation in data of the toner adhesion amount at multiple places detected by the toner adhesion amount detection unit. A background potential determination coefficient in a process control unit is controlled on the basis of the degree of toner deterioration calculated by the degree-of-toner-deterioration calculation unit. |
| US08606131B2 |
Charging apparatus with AC and DC current detection
A charging device includes a charging member to charge an image bearing member; an applying device configured to apply to the charging member a charging bias voltage comprising a DC voltage component and an AC voltage component; an AC current detector; a DC current detector; and a controller. The controller determines a saturation peak-to-peak voltage V0 at which the detected DC current saturates when a peak-to-peak voltage of the AC voltage is increased, calculates a relational expression using only a detected AC current when a peak-to- peak voltage which is not more than the saturation peak-to-peak voltage V0 is applied, and determines the peak-to-peak voltage of the AC voltage applied to the charging member in an image forming operation on the basis of the relational expression and a detected AC current when a peak-to-peak voltage higher than the saturation peak-to-peak voltage V0 is applied. |
| US08606130B2 |
Toner-density calculating method, reflective optical sensor, and image forming apparatus
In a reflective optical sensor in an image forming apparatus, an output from each N number of light-receiving elements (N≧3), obtained when M number of light-emitting elements (M≧3) included in a light-emitting unit emit detecting light, is separated into an amount of specularly reflected light and an amount of diffusely reflected light. The toner density of a pattern, which is formed on a supporting member in the image forming apparatus, is calculated based on a sum of the amounts of specularly reflected light and a sum of the amounts of diffusely reflected light. |
| US08606123B2 |
Image forming device with mounted replaceable unit, method of checking operation in that image forming device, and storage medium storing operation checking program directed to that image forming device
When a unit containing a fuse is mounted, in response to detection of a potential indicating that the fuse has not been blown by a detection circuit, a current for blowing the fuse is supplied from a blowing circuit to the mounted unit containing the fuse, and operation of the blowing circuit is checked based on potentials detected by the detection circuit before current supply and after current supply, respectively. When a unit containing a non-blown component instead of a fuse is mounted, a current is supplied from the blowing circuit to the mounted unit containing the non-blown component, and operation of the blowing circuit is checked based on potentials detected by the detection circuit before current supply and during current supply, respectively, or potentials detected by the detection circuit before current supply and after current supply, respectively. |
| US08606119B2 |
Optical channel monitor
In one example, an optical channel monitor includes a tunable filter, a deinterleaver, first and second optical receivers, and a control module. The tunable filter is configured to receive an optical signal having a plurality of channels spaced at a nominal channel spacing. The deinterleaver has an input with an input channel spacing Fi, an even output, and an odd output, the input being connected to an output of the tunable filter. The nominal channel spacing is between about one and two times the input channel spacing Fi. A −20 dB bandwidth of the tunable filter is between about two and four times the input channel spacing Fi. The first and second optical receivers are coupled to the deinterleaver even and odd outputs, respectively. The control module is coupled to the tunable filter and is configured to tune the tunable filter to a desired center frequency. |
| US08606116B2 |
System and method for distortion compensation in response to frequency detection
A distortion compensation circuit with frequency detection may be used with one or more non-linear elements, such as a laser, to compensate for frequency-dependent distortion generated by the non-linear element(s), for example, in broadband multichannel RF applications. Embodiments of the distortion compensation circuit may include a frequency detector circuit that detects changes in frequency loading conditions in the distortion compensation circuit such that distortion compensation may be adjusted to compensate for distortion under different frequency loading conditions. In a multichannel RF system with multiple channel operation modes, for example, the frequency detector circuit may detect changes in the frequency loading condition as a result of changing operation modes. |
| US08606112B2 |
Pluggable module with bi-directional host-module optical interface
An apparatus for connecting a host device to an optical network, and to provide a bi-directional electro-optic interface to the host device. The apparatus comprises at least one optical network port for connection to the optical network, and a transceiver circuit configured to generate optical transmit signals for transmission via the at least one network port. The transceiver circuit is further configured to process optical receive signals received via the network port. The apparatus further comprises an optical connector configured to provide bi-directional transfer of optical data signals with the host device. |
| US08606110B2 |
Optical distributed antenna system
Optical distributed antenna systems comprising a head-end unit adapted to transmit downlink a modulated optical signal with wavelength λ0 and N un-modulated optical signals with wavelength λN and N remote units (RU) and including at least one circulator. In some embodiments, an HE unit includes an arrangement of a single circulator coupled to a single detector, the arrangement preventing beating. In some embodiments, a RU includes a reflective electro-absorption transceiver (REAT) which includes a single optical interface and a single RF port. The REAT detects the optical signal with λ0 and converts it into a RF signal, and reflects an un-modulated optical signal with wavelength λN to provide a modulated uplink optical signal. In some embodiments, a RU is configured as an optical antenna unit. In some embodiments, a plurality of RUs is combined with passive optical distribution units to provide hierarchical DAS architectures. |
| US08606109B2 |
Technique for forwarding packets in a gigabit passive optical network (GPON)
A technique for forwarding downstream packets in a GPON comprising an OLT unit having a physical PON port connected to N Optical Network Termination (ONT) units by optical fibers. The physical PON port accommodates N individual virtual GEM ports terminated with the N ONT units (ONTs) which form N:1 service. The technique comprises assigning in the physical port of the OLT unit a virtual GEM port being a shared broadcast GEM port terminated with all the N ONTs of the N:1 service. Those downstream packets applied to the physical PON port, which would otherwise be flooded—such as broadcast packets or packets having unknown destination address—will now be forwarded only via the shared broadcast GEM port. |
| US08606108B2 |
Dispersion slope compensation and dispersion map management systems and methods
The present disclosure relates to dispersion slope compensation and dispersion map management systems and methods in an optical network utilizing a reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) with a plurality of different values of dispersion compensation modules (DCMs). The DCMs form a dispersion compensation ladder at certain intermediate nodes in the optical network to provide dispersion slope compensation and dispersion map management. The reconfigurable routing structure of the ROADM enables these intermediate nodes to route individual wavelengths to any one of the DCMs as required for the particular path of the wavelength. Advantageously, the present invention removes the requirement for banded compensation at receiver nodes and allows for dispersion map management at intermediate points along a fiber route as opposed to bulk compensation at the receiver. |
| US08606106B2 |
Optical fibre network
An optical fiber network comprises a laser source (1a) configured to generate laser light of a plurality of wavelengths. A first optical fiber (4a), transmits multi-wavelength light from the laser source to a location remote from the laser source. A wavelength division multiplexer (2) at the remote location (203) is connected to a plurality of second optical fibers (8). A plurality of optical modulators (9) are each connected optically to the wavelength division multiplexer (2) via a respective second optical fiber (8). The wavelength division multiplexer (2) is arranged to de-multiplex the multi-wavelength light received from the first optical fiber (4a) into a plurality of wavelengths and to supply a respective wavelength to each of the second optical fibers (8). The optical modulators (9) are reflective optical modulators each arranged to modulate light received from the associated second optical fiber (8) with a data signal and to reflect the modulated light back along the second optical fiber (8). The wavelength division multiplexer (2) is arranged to multiplex the modulated light from all of the second optical fibers (8) into a wavelength division multiplexed optical signal for onward transmission along a third optical fiber (13). |
| US08606103B2 |
Method and a network for processing of wavelength division multiplexed data
The invention relates to a network comprising at least one host device having an interface card connected to a backplane of said host device, wherein said interface card comprises at least one cage, for receiving a pluggable module which performs signal processing of data comprised of at least one WDM channel transported via at least one optical fiber connected to said pluggable module in the optical domain. |
| US08606101B2 |
Optical channel intelligently shared protection ring
An optical ring network has one or more working wavelengths and multiple protection wavelengths adapted to support the working wavelength(s). Routing tables may be used in network nodes to assign traffic of a failed working wavelength to a protection wavelength. The protection technique may be applied to networks employing, for example, Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM). |
| US08606097B2 |
Biometric camera mount system
A system for reducing the substantially vertical extent of a wide-area biometric system and for reducing the cost and complexity of installation while maintaining high biometric performance, using a substantially horizontally configuration of cameras, preferably with an attention mechanism, and using a precision calibration system that can be used by an unskilled technician and that does not require an accurate site survey or additional materials or equipment. |
| US08606095B2 |
Camera module having auto-focus apparatus
A camera module having an auto-focus apparatus comprises a piezoelectric actuator configured to generate a force for moving a driven member, a rod connected to the piezoelectric actuator and configured to transmit the force of the piezoelectric actuator to the driven member, a lens barrel having at least one lens, and a connecting member configured to use magnetic force to couple the rod and the lens barrel together. |
| US08606094B2 |
Position controller for optical element
A position controller for an optical element of a photographing optical system, includes an advancing/retracting ring, an anti-shake moving member supported by the advancing/retracting ring, an insertable/removable moving member which holds the optical element, a rear support member fixed to the advancing/retracting ring; a removal drive member supported by the rear support member to be movable between an insertion allowance position in which the removal drive member is in noncontact with the insertable/removable moving member in the insertion position, to thereby allow the anti-shake moving member to move in a moving range thereof, and a forced removing position in which the removal drive member comes in contact with and presses the insertable/removable moving member to move the insertable/removable moving member from the insertion position to the removed position; and an insertion/removal controller. |
| US08606093B2 |
Water heater or steam generator
The water heater (2) or steam generator comprises a chamber (4) in two sections (5, 6) formed in particular by stamping. Inside this chamber a heating element (8) is arranged, which has a spiral-shaped main section (10) and two end sections (11, 12) passing through two circular openings of the chamber. The two end sections are welded to the chamber by a laser beam such that the weld obtained is continuous and ensures a good mechanical fixture of the heating element and an adequate tightness for the water heater or steam generator. For this purpose, a flange (18) is arranged at the periphery of each opening. Moreover, the two sections of the chamber have a widened edge (28) to allow them to be welded effectively. |
| US08606089B2 |
Reproduction controller, and reproduction controlling method and program
A drive unit supplies to an auxiliary information generating section a first event notice related to reproducing operation and a second event notice indicating reproducing position information, regarding content recorded on a recording medium. The auxiliary information generating section generates auxiliary information based on the first and second event notices, for storage in an information storage section. A comparison/computation section makes a comparison or a computation using the reproducing position information indicated by the auxiliary information and reproducing position information indicated by a later-supplied second event notice. A command issuing section issues a command for controlling reproduction of the content based on a result of the comparison or the computation. As a result, a reproducing operation differing from an operation according to a predetermined command can be performed. |
| US08606087B2 |
Screen recording system and method
A screen recording method computes an encoding delay for each frame of a screen of an electronic device. The frame is encoded by a first compression algorithm if the encoding delay is short. The frame is encoded by an second compression algorithm if the encoding delay is middle and a time interval between the encoding time of a previous frame and the encoding time of a current frame does not exceed a first preset time interval. The frame is encoded by a third compression algorithm if the encoding delay is long and a time interval between the encoding time of a previous frame and the encoding time of a current frame exceeds a second preset time interval. |
| US08606086B2 |
Randomly accessible visual information recording medium and recording method, and reproducing device and reproducing method
Access point pictures designated as randomly accessible positions are I pictures or P pictures. Information indicating the decoding sequence (I1, P1, B1, B2, B3, B4, P2, . . . ) of pictures functioning as access points and attribute information (picture_type) indicating whether a picture functions as an access point or is necessary for decoding of the access point following a given access point are recorded on the video information recording medium. Random access is possible even if the GOP interval is lengthened. |
| US08606084B2 |
Method and system for providing a personal video recorder utilizing network-based digital media content
An approach provides for recording and editing digital media. A digital media stream is generated from an input signal (such as a live broadcast feed). The digital media stream is transmitted to a browser application configured to concurrently record and edit the digital media stream. |
| US08606083B2 |
Systems and methods for generating multi-level hypervideo summaries
A hypervideo summary comprised of multiple levels of related content and appropriate navigational links can be automatically generated from a media file such as a linear video. A number of algorithms and selection criteria can be used to modify how such a summary is generated. Viewers of an automatically-generated hypervideo summary can interactively select the amount of detail displayed for each portion of the summary. This selection can be done by following explicit navigational links, or by changing between media channels that are mapped to the various levels of related content. |
| US08606081B2 |
Stream data recording device, stream data recording/reproducing device, stream data reproduction device, stream data editing device, stream recording method, and stream reproducing method
A stream data recording device is provided for recording stream data on a recording medium. The stream data recording device includes a stream reception/analysis unit (101), acquiring stream data from reception data, a a missing portion detection unit (102) detecting a missing packet portion in the acquired stream data, a section information generation unit (103) generating time information specifying the duration of the unreceivable section including the packets whose missing portion has been detected and position information specifying the position of the unreceivable section in the stream data, and a recording unit (105) recording the acquired stream data, the generated time information and position information on the recording medium. Thus, even if the recording-target stream data is missing a portion during reception of the stream data, the data can be correctly played back from the seek time specified by a user. |
| US08606078B2 |
Data recording method
When recording an AV stream, and carrying out a playlist editing, to carry out the editing with an accuracy of a frame unit.An editing point of a recorded AV stream file is configured with a position of a GOP and a frame quantity of the GOP, and recorded as a management file. |
| US08606075B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program
A communication apparatus notifies existence of content data in a recording medium of an image processing apparatus to an external apparatus according to a request from the external apparatus. When the content data in the recording medium includes the content data having a first format, the communication apparatus notifies existence of the content data having the second format corresponding to the content data having the first format. |
| US08606073B2 |
Broadcast management system
A broadcast management system creates, manages, and streams a broadcast of an event from videos captured from multiple cameras. A video capture system comprising multiple cameras captures videos of the event and transmits the videos to a broadcast management server. The broadcast management server generates a website or other graphical interface that simultaneously displays the captured videos in a time-synchronized manner. A broadcast manager user creates a broadcast by selecting which video to output to the broadcast at any given time. A broadcast map is stored for each broadcast that includes all of the broadcast decisions made by the broadcast manager user such that the broadcast can be recreated at a later time by applying the broadcast map to the raw videos. Using a viewer client, viewers can browse or search for broadcasts and select a broadcast for viewing. |
| US08606071B2 |
Method and apparatus for presenting interactive multimedia using storage device interface
A media-rendering apparatus for real-time streaming of audio/video (AV) data to a media-player having one or more input direct-access-storage-device (DASD) interfaces, the apparatus including a real-time AV data source unit, an input frame buffer operatively coupled with the real-time AV data unit, an AV real-time encoder, an encoded-frames buffer, a power source, a storage-device content emulator and a DASD interface device for communicating with the media-player. Preferably, power is provided through the DASD interface device. |
| US08606069B2 |
Playback device, playback method, and computer-readable recording medium for ensuring stable application execution in synchronism with video data playback
A playback device executes playback of video data in sync with an application program associated with the video data. The playback device includes an activating unit for activating the application program, a receiving unit for receiving from a user an input specifying a playback section associated with a piece of video data and an application program, and an activation control unit. If a first input is received from the user by the receiving unit and a second input is received within the predetermined time period from reception of the first input, the activation control unit discards the first input. If a third input is not received within the predetermined time period from reception of the second input, the activation control unit activates an application program according to the second input. |
| US08606067B2 |
Pedestal terminal with swing frame
A pedestal terminal includes a frame mounted to a base and a cover configured to mount to the base. The frame including a support frame and a swing frame pivotally mounted to the support frame. A splitter module mounting location is positioned on the frame. The splitter module mounting location is adapted to mount a splitter arrangement including splitter pigtails to the frame. A first termination field includes a plurality of fiber optic adapters, each being configured to couple one of the splitter pigtails to a distribution cable. A second termination field includes a plurality of fiber optic adapters, each being configured to couple one of the splitter pigtails to a drop cable. A pivoting cover arrangement can be mounted to a top of the support frame to inhibit contact between the splitter arrangement and the cover when the cover is mounted to or removed from the base. |
| US08606065B2 |
Optical fiber and method for fabricating the same
An optical fiber (10) includes: a core (11); a first cladding (12) surrounding the core (11) and having a lower refractive index than the core (11); and a second cladding (13) surrounding the first cladding (12) and having a lower refractive index than the first cladding (12). The first cladding (12) is doped with light attenuating dopant so that a concentration of the light attenuating dopant in the first cladding (12) increases from an inner surface of the first cladding (12) toward an outer surface of the first cladding (12). |
| US08606063B2 |
Manufacturing method for an optical waveguide and optical waveguide body used therefor
Provided is a manufacturing method for an optical waveguide in which, when the optical waveguide is cut and a contour thereof is processed, accuracy of a cut position is improved by improving visibility of an alignment mark. An undercladding layer, cores, and alignment marks are formed on a front surface of a substrate. Then, an overcladding layer is formed using a photomask so as to cover the cores with the alignment marks being exposed. After the substrate is separated to manufacture an optical waveguide body, a cut position is located with reference to the alignment marks from a rear surface side of the undercladding layer, and the undercladding layer and the overcladding layer are cut to manufacture the optical waveguide. |
| US08606062B2 |
Apparatus and method for mode control in a semi-guiding amplifier medium
In various examples, a semi-guiding optical fiber includes a core having a high aspect ratio including first and second wide surface interfaces, and first and second narrow edge interfaces. The core has a slow axis parallel to the first and second wide surface interfaces, and a refractive index. The fiber also includes first and second signal claddings positioned in contact with the first and second wide surfaces of the core, respectively. The first and second signal claddings have a spatial refractive index profile having: i) a minimum value at a longitudinal axis of the core, ii) a maximum value substantially equal to the refractive index of the core at the first and second narrow edge interfaces of the core, and iii) intermediate values gradually increasing from the minimum value to the maximum value as distance from the longitudinal axis increases along the slow axis of the fiber. |
| US08606060B2 |
Method and apparatus for dynamic manipulation and dispersion in photonic crystal devices
The present invention is a method and an apparatus for dynamic manipulation and dispersion in photonic crystal devices. In one embodiment, a photonic crystal structure comprises a substrate having a plurality of apertures formed therethrough, a waveguide formed by “removing” a row of apertures, and a plurality of pairs of lateral electrical contacts, the lateral electrical contact pairs extending along the length of the waveguide in a spaced-apart manner. The lateral electrical contact pairs facilitate local manipulation of the photonic crystal structure's refractive index. Thus, optical signals of different wavelengths that propagate through the photonic crystal structure can be dynamically manipulated. |
| US08606057B1 |
Opto-electronic modules including electrically conductive connections for integration with an electronic device
Opto-electronic modules include conductive wiring and connections that can facilitate integrating the modules into an external device. Some opto-electronic modules include an opto-electronic stack that includes at least one lens and an opto-electronic element. Conductive paths can extend from the bottom to the top of the module. The conductive paths can include conductive pads on the surface of the opto-electronic element, as well as wiring at least partially embedded in a substrate and walls of a housing for the opto-electronic stack. Conductive connections can be disposed between a top surface of the substrate and the bottom surface of the walls such that the conductive connections electrically connect the second wiring to the first wiring and to the conductive pads on the surface of the opto-electronic element. The modules can be fabricated, for example, in wafer-level processes so that multiple opto-electronic modules can be manufactured at the same time. |
| US08606053B2 |
Optical modulator
In an optical modulator, respective lights for where one input light has been branched, are input via a curved waveguide to a plurality of optical modulation sections arranged in parallel on the same substrate. In a Mach-Zehnder type optical waveguide, a spacing between the pair of branching waveguides of the adjacent optical modulation sections, is formed so as to become wider in the vicinity of a border of an input side polarization inversion region than in the vicinity of a start point of an interaction portion. As a result, even if a signal electrode of the optical modulation sections shifts at the boundary portion of the polarization inversion region, the spacing between the signal electrodes does not become narrow, and hence the radius of curvature of curved waveguides for guiding the input light to the respective optical modulation sections can be increased, so that it becomes possible to apply input light to the optical modulation sections at low loss. |
| US08606050B2 |
Method for processing multiple images of a same scene
In a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an automated, computerized method is provided for processing an image. According to a feature of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of providing a sequence of image files depicting images of a same scene, in a computer memory, determining correspondence information relevant to the same scene across the sequence of images, and generating individual intrinsic images for each one of the sequence of images, as a function of the correspondence information. |
| US08606048B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus for scaling an image including: an operation position determining section for determining a pixel operation position, which is either a pixel inserting or deleting position, based on a scaling ratio; an inserting/deleting section for inserting/deleting a pixel to/from the pixel operation position determined by the operation position determining section; an error calculating section for calculating a density difference as an error between densities in a vicinity of the inserted/deleted pixel via the inserting/deleting section, before and after the insertion or deletion; and an error allocating section for allocating the error, calculated by the error calculating section, to the inserted pixel and pixels in a vicinity of the inserted or deleted pixel, so that a pixel value, after allocation, of a pixel of an allocation destination, falls within an allowable range estimated from a pixel value of a pixel near the pixel of allocation destination. |
| US08606046B2 |
System and method for clean document reconstruction from annotated document images
A computer-implemented method and system for reconstructing a clean document from annotated document images and/or extracting annotations therefrom are provided. The method includes receiving a set of at least two annotated document images into computer memory, selecting a representative image from the set of annotated document images, performing a global alignment on each of the set of annotated document images with respect to the selected representative image, and forming a consensus document image based at least on the aligned annotated document images. A clean document based at least on the consensus document image is then formed which can be used for extracting the annotations. |
| US08606045B2 |
Image based registration using transform and second images of a target object
There are disclosed embodiments for image based registration. An image registration system sets image transform parameters based on pixels of registered ultrasound image and CT (or MRI) image. The image registration system transforms ultrasound images, which may be newly provided, by using the image transform parameters to thereby output transform images. The image registration system performs image based registration on the transform images and the second images. |
| US08606042B2 |
Blending of exposure-bracketed images using weight distribution functions
Systems and methods are presented for generating a new digital output image by blending a plurality of digital input images capturing the same scene at different levels of exposure. Each new pixel for the new digital output image is derived from a group of corresponding aligned pixels from the digital input images. In order to determine a weight for each pixel in each group of mutually-aligned source-image pixels, a weight distribution function is applied to values of an image characteristic for the pixels in the group of corresponding aligned pixels, and a net weight is subsequently assigned to each of the pixels in the group. Pixel values of pixels in each group of mutually-aligned source-image pixels are modified based on the net weights assigned to the pixels in order to obtain a new pixel value for a corresponding new pixel in the new digital output image. |
| US08606039B2 |
Information processing apparatus, control method for the same, and computer program
An information processing apparatus comprises: a division unit dividing input data; a processing unit performing predetermined processing for the divided data; a generation unit generating intermediate data by referencing the processed divided data, and combining the intermediate data; a temporary storage unit storing the processed divided data; and a detection unit selecting a group of divided data that includes the processed divided data, and determining whether or not all processed divided data in the selected group is stored, is provided. As a result of the determination, if it is determined that all the processed divided data is stored, the generation unit generates intermediate data and then deletes all the processed divided data in the selected group, and if it is determined that a part of the processed divided data is not stored, the processing unit preferentially generates the part of the processed divided data. |
| US08606038B2 |
Method and computer system for the reduction of artifacts in reconstructed CT image datasets
A method and computer system are disclosed with software for artifact reduction in CT image datasets for spiral scans from a CT system with an inclined gantry. In at least one embodiment, for each of at least two positions of the center of rotation, which is moved during the spiral scan, the removal of annular artifacts is carried out around these positions, during which the position concerned is used as the center point of the annular artifacts to be removed. |
| US08606030B2 |
Image correction device and method
An image correction device includes a test chart, an image capturing module, an image separating module, a processing module, a first calculating module, a second calculating module, and a correction module. The image capturing module includes an image sensor for capturing an image of the test chart. The image includes two second circular black spots. The image separating module separates the image, thus obtaining a channel image. The processing module is for binarizing the channel image, thus obtaining a binary image of the channel image. The first calculating module calculates coordinates of the centers of the two second spots of the binary image. The second calculating module calculates a rotated angle of the image. The correction module inputs the rotated angle into the image sensor so that the image sensor corrects the image. |
| US08606027B2 |
Moving picture coding method and moving picture decoding method
According to a picture coding method, a coded picture is stored, as a reference picture, into a storage unit; commands indicating correspondence between reference pictures and reference indices for designating reference pictures and coefficients used for generation of predictive images are generated; a reference picture being used when motion compensation is performed on a current block in a current picture to be coded is designated by a reference index; a predictive image is generated by performing linear prediction on a block being obtained by motion estimation within the designated reference picture, by use of a coefficient corresponding to the reference index; a coded image signal including a coded signal obtained by coding a prediction error being a difference between the current block in the current picture to be coded and the predictive image, the commands, the reference index and the coefficient is outputted. |
| US08606022B2 |
Information processing apparatus, method and program
An information processing apparatus, which creates a tree structure used by a recognition apparatus which recognizes specific information using the tree structure, including a memory unit which stores data including the information to be recognized and data not including the information so as to correspond to a label showing whether or not the data includes the information, a recognition device which recognizes the information and outputs a high score value when the data including the information is input, and a grouping unit which performs grouping of the recognition devices using a score distribution obtained when the data is input into the recognition devices. |
| US08606018B2 |
Image processing method and image processing apparatus
An image processing method includes the steps of: reading an original placed on an original platen; executing a filtering process to extract a contour on the read image; extracting a contour group in broken lines from the image having the filtering process executed; forming one contour from the contour group in broken lines; determining an area of the original from the contours obtained in the filtering execution step and the forming step; and extracting an image of the determined original area from the read image. |
| US08606016B2 |
Edge detection apparatus and computing circuit employed in edge detection apparatus
An edge detection apparatus includes a computing circuit and a determining circuit. The computing circuit includes a first multiplier block and a first adder unit. The first multiplier block includes n×m first multiplier units, wherein each first multiplier unit has a first multiplication factor. The n×m first multiplier units respectively perform multiplications on n×m pixels which are arranged as an n×m matrix to generate n×m first product values based on the corresponding first multiplication factors. The n×m pixels include a target pixel, where n is not equal to m. The first adder unit generates a first computation result according to the n×m first product values. The determining circuit determines if the target pixel is an edge pixel according to at least the first computation result. |
| US08606015B2 |
Multilevel image analysis
Disclosed is a method of bit-mapped image analysis that comprises a whole image data representation via its component objects. The objects are assigned to different levels of complexity. The objects may be hierarchically connected by spatially-parametrical links. The method comprises preliminarily generating a classifier of image objects consisting of one or more levels differing in complexity; parsing the image into objects; attaching each object to one or more predetermined levels; establishing hierarchical links between objects of different levels; establishing links between objects within the same level; and performing an object feature analysis. Object feature analysis comprises generating and examining a hypothesis about object features and correcting the concerned object's features of the same and other levels in response to results of hypothesis examination. Object feature analysis may also comprise execution of a recursive X-Y cut within the same level. |
| US08606012B2 |
Image processing method and image processor
An image processing method extracts line segment elements from grayscale captured images, so that line segments are extracted at high-speed without being influenced by contrast ratio, even if morphology processing is used. A selection processing select an area where continuous line segments possibly exist from the captured image and a morphology processing detect line segment elements in the selected area by scanning an operator. Line segments can be extracted in a plurality of directions at high-speed. Also by an extraction target area selection processing, an area of which contrast ratio is low, continuing from an area of which contrast ratio is high in the line segment growth direction is also extracted as one line segment. |
| US08606008B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method, image processing program, and integrated circuit
The grayscale of an input signal is converted without amplifying noise components thereof. A grayscale conversion portion performs grayscale conversion on an input signal IS to create a converted signal TS, a noise reduction degree determining portion determines a noise reduction degree NR that expresses a strength of noise reduction processing to be applied to the converted signal based on the input signal IS and the converted signal TS, and a noise reducing portion executes noise reduction processing on the converted signal TS based on the noise reduction degree NR. By doing this, it is possible to convert the grayscale of the input signal without enhancing the noise. |
| US08606006B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method and recording medium
An image processing apparatus including: a color mode selection receiving unit configured to receive a selection of a color mode used for printing or displaying; a color selection receiving unit configured to receive a selection of a color used for printing or displaying; a color conversion palette generation unit configured to generate a color conversion palette based on the selected color mode and the selected color, the color conversion palette being used for converting original data to be printed or displayed into colors used for printing or displaying; and a color conversion unit configured to convert the original data to be printed or displayed into output data using the color conversion palette when performing printing or displaying. |
| US08606005B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image-processing method for adjusting white balance of images
In an image processing apparatus, a white balance calculating unit is configured to calculate a first coordinate value that indicates a white balance of an image in a color space. A determining unit is configured to determine whether a first distance between the first coordinate value and a reference coordinate value is greater than a prescribed threshold distance. An adjustment amount setting unit is configured to set the adjustment amount to a first adjustment amount when the determining unit determines that the first distance is smaller than or equal to the prescribed threshold distance, the first adjustment amount corresponding to the first distance, the adjustment amount setting unit setting the adjustment amount to a second adjustment amount when the determining unit determines that the first distance is greater than the prescribed threshold distance, the second adjustment amount corresponding to a second distance smaller than the first distance. |
| US08606003B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method and image processing program
An image processing device and an image processing method provided herein are capable of achieving data compression with reduced image degradation even if the data is image data entered from an input device such as a scanner. The entered original image data is divided into 2×2 pixel blocks. Two-color-form compression processing and four-color holding compression processing are performed on a block-by-block basis. The compression result data which leads to a smaller one of the differences in gradation value between the original image data and the two-color-form compression difference data and between the original image data and the four-color compression difference data is output as the compression processing result of the block. |
| US08606002B2 |
Apparatus, method and article for evaluating a stack of objects in an image
An evaluation system to determine a value of a stack of objects preprocess a pixelated color image to produce a set of two color contour data, processes the two color contour data to identify a location of a top and a bottom of the stack, and locates, for each of the objects in the stack, a respective set of color pixels from the pixelated color image corresponding to each object based on the identified locations of the top and bottom of the stack. Each of the objects in the stack are then classified into a color classification based on the object's respective set of color pixels, and the value of the object is determined based on a known correspondence between the color classification and a value. The cumulative value of the stack is determined by summing the determined values for each of the objects in the stack. |
| US08605990B2 |
Image recognition device and image recognition method
The present invention is aimed at detecting an operator's height and position of each body part with a certain range of accuracy, which is used for calculation of a BMI value or operation of a game. An exercise assist device (101) is provided with a horizontal bar (102), a bar support (103) to support the bar, and a floor mat (104) on a surface of its body. A video camera (201) is mounted on the top of a monitor (701) as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 7 and captures the operator as well as the horizontal bar (102) and bar support (103) in one image. Since the horizontal bar (102) and bar support (103) together with the operator are captured in one image, they become a three-dimensional measurement reference, so that the operator's height can be calculated from the captured image. |
| US08605988B2 |
Image registration system and method
A method and system for registering two images is described. The method comprises synthesizing projections from two volumetric images to be registered, estimating a plurality of two dimensional (2D) deformable fields from the projections and generating a three dimensional (3D) deformable fields using a plurality of backprojections of the 2D deformable fields. |
| US08605987B2 |
Object-based 3-dimensional stereo information generation apparatus and method, and interactive system using the same
The present invention relates to an object-based 3-dimensional stereo information generation apparatus and method, and an interactive system using the same. The method comprises: obtaining at least two 2-dimensional images with respect to the same space at a first time point; extracting objects from the at least two 2-dimensional images, respectively; establishing correspondences between objects; and generating 3-dimensional stereo information according to corresponding objects. The apparatus and interactive system comprises: at least two image capturing units for respectively capturing 2-dimensional images; and processing means for generating 3-dimensional stereo information according to the captured 2-dimensional images. |
| US08605986B2 |
Burr detecting apparatus and burr detection method thereof
A burr detection apparatus includes an imaging unit and a detection unit. The imaging unit captures an original image of a stencil. The original comprises black and white pixels. The detection includes a CPU and a memory. The CPU includes an extracting module, a deciding module, a counting module, and a comparing module. The extracting module obtains a matrix image with N*N pixels, wherein N is an odd number. The deciding module decides whether the center pixel of the matrix image is a black pixel. The counting module obtains a black pixel total counted among marginal pixels which position in the margin of the matrix image in a predetermined rule. The comparing module compares the black pixel total with a predetermined threshold number, and determines that the part of the stencil corresponding to the matrix image has a burr when the black pixel total is less than the threshold number. |
| US08605983B2 |
Non-contact probe
A non-contact measurement apparatus and method. A probe is provided for mounting on a coordinate positioning apparatus, comprising at least one imaging device for capturing an image of an object to be measured. Also provided is an image analyzer configured to analyze at least one first image of an object obtained by the probe from a first perspective and at least one second image of the object obtained by the probe from a second perspective so as to identify at least one target feature on the object to be measured. The image analyzer is further configured to obtain topographical data regarding a surface of the object via analysis of an image, obtained by the probe, of the object on which an optical pattern is projected. |
| US08605976B2 |
System and method of detection of optimal angiography frames for quantitative coronary analysis using wavelet-based motion analysis
A novel and useful system and method of detecting the best candidate frames for diagnosis out of a series of coronary angiograms frames. The mechanism analyzes the motion of the visible arteries in the sequence of angiogram frames to identify the local minimas of the differences between sequential frames. Wavelet transform coefficients are generated for each frame and used to quantify the differences between every two sequential frames to detect minimal differences (which correspond to minimal motion). The optimal end-systole and end-diastole frames are selected from these local minima frames. |
| US08605975B2 |
Image reconstruction from limited or incomplete data
A system and method are provided for reconstructing images from limited or incomplete data, such as few view data or limited angle data or truncated data (including exterior and interior data) generated from divergent beams. In one aspect of the invention, the method and apparatus iteratively constrains the variation of an estimated image in order to reconstruct the image. As one example, a divergent beam maybe used to generate data (“actual data”). As discussed above, the actual data may be less than sufficient to exactly reconstruct the image by conventional techniques, such as FBP. In order to reconstruct an image, a first estimated image may be generated. Estimated data may be generated from the first estimated image, and compared with the actual data. The comparison of the estimated data with the actual data may include determining a difference between the estimated and actual data. The comparison may then be used to generate a new estimated image. For example, the first estimated image may be combined with an image generated from the difference data to generate a new estimated image. In order to generate the image for the next iteration, the variation of the new estimated image may be constrained. For example, the variation of the new estimated image may be at least partly constrained in order to lessen or reducing the total variation of the image. |
| US08605974B2 |
Apparatus for caries detection
An apparatus for obtaining an image of a tooth having at least one light source providing incident light having a first spectral range for obtaining a reflectance image from the tooth and a second spectral range for exciting a fluorescence image from the tooth. A polarizing beamsplitter in the path of the incident light from both sources directs light having a first polarization state toward the tooth and directs light from the tooth having a second polarization state along a return path toward a sensor, wherein the second polarization state is orthogonal to the first polarization state. A first lens in the return path directs image-bearing light from the tooth toward the sensor, and obtains image data from the portion of the light having the second polarization state. A long-pass filter in the return path attenuates light in the second spectral range. |
| US08605973B2 |
Graph cuts-based interactive segmentation of teeth in 3-D CT volumetric data
An interactive segmentation framework for 3-D teeth CT volumetric data enables a user to segment an entire dental region or individual teeth depending upon the types of user input. Graph cuts-based interactive segmentation utilizes a user's scribbles which are collected on several 2-D representative CT slices and are expanded on those slices. Then, a 3-D distance transform is applied to the entire CT volume based on the expanded scribbles. Bony tissue enhancement is added before feeding 3-D CT raw image data into the graph cuts pipeline. The segmented teeth area is able to be directly utilized to reconstruct a 3-D virtual teeth model. |
| US08605972B2 |
Automatic image alignment
A method for automatically aligning images includes (a) determining initial correspondent point features between a first image and a second image, (b) creating a triangular meshes for the images from the initial correspondent point features within the images, and (c) refining point correspondence between the first and second images based on affine transformation estimation using the triangular meshes. The method may also include (d) creating refined triangular meshes for the images from the point correspondence refined in (c), and (e) determining coordinate alignment within the areas of pairs of correspondent triangles in the refined triangular meshes through interpolation of affine transformation on the pairs of correspondent triangles. |
| US08605969B2 |
Method and system for multiple object detection by sequential Monte Carlo and hierarchical detection network
A method and system for detecting multiple objects in an image is disclosed. A plurality of objects in an image is sequentially detected in an order specified by a trained hierarchical detection network. In the training of the hierarchical detection network, the order for object detection is automatically determined. The detection of each object in the image is performed by obtaining a plurality of sample poses for the object from a proposal distribution, weighting each of the plurality of sample poses based on an importance ratio, and estimating a posterior distribution for the object based on the weighted sample poses. |
| US08605967B2 |
Magnetic resonance imaging relating to correction of chemical shift artifact and intensity inhomogeneity
Present invention discloses systems and methods for improvement of magnetic resonance images. Correction of a chemical shift artefact in an image acquired from a magnetic resonance imaging system is obtained by a system and a method involving iterative-compensation for the misregistration effect in an image domain. Correction of an intensity inhomogeneity in such images is obtained by a system and a method involving locating voxels corresponding to pure adipose tissue and estimating correction field from these points. |
| US08605961B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining a physiological parameter using a fingerprint sensor on a portable electronic device
A method (300) and apparatus (200) that determines a physiological parameter using a fingerprint sensor on a portable electronic device is disclosed. The method can include capturing (320) a plurality of images corresponding to an area beneath a surface of skin using a fingerprint sensor configured to capture a live scan of a fingerprint pattern from a finger on a touch surface on a portable electronic device. The method can include comparing (330) image characteristics corresponding to at least a first image of the plurality of images with image characteristics corresponding to at least a second image of the plurality of images. The method can include determining (340) a physiological parameter based on comparing the image characteristics. |
| US08605960B2 |
Fingerprint sensing device
A fingerprint sensing module for a touch screen device. The fingerprint sensing module includes a sensor, a light source, a motion detector, and an image processor. The sensor sets to capture portions for a fingerprint image as a finger is slid over the sensor. The motion detector determines a rate of the finger movement as the finger is slide over the touch screen device. The image processor reads fingerprint images from the sensor and the fingerprint motion data from the motion detector. The image processor subsequently combines portions of the fingerprint images into a complete fingerprint in accordance with the rate of the finger's movement. |
| US08605957B2 |
Face clustering device, face clustering method, and program
Provided is a face clustering device that detects a face included in an image, detects a direction of the detected face, detects, taking into account the detected direction of the face, a face with a similar feature and forms a collection of pieces of face information showing a feature of this face, narrows down, for each collection of pieces of face information which has been formed, the number of pieces of face information to a number set in advance for each face direction and sets each collection of pieces of face information for which the number has been narrowed down as a unit group, and performs, with the set unit group as a unit, clustering based on pieces of face information included in each unit group. |
| US08605955B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for half-face detection
Classifier chains are used to determine quickly and accurately if a window or sub-window of an image contains a right face, a left face, a full face, or does not contain a face. After acquiring a digital image, an integral image is calculated based on the acquired digital image. Left-face classifiers are applied to the integral image to determine the probability that the window contains a left face. Right-face classifiers are applied to the integral image to determine the probability that the window contains a right face. If the probability of the window containing a right face and a left face are both greater than threshold values, then it is determined that the window contains a full face. Alternatively, if only one of the probabilities exceeds a threshold value, then it may be determined that the window contains only a left face or a right face. |
| US08605947B2 |
Method for detecting a clear path of travel for a vehicle enhanced by object detection
Method for detecting a clear path of travel for a host vehicle including fusion of clear path detection by image analysis and detection of an object within an operating environment of the host vehicle including monitoring an image from a camera device, analyzing the image through clear path detection analysis to determine a clear path of travel within the image, monitoring sensor data describing the object, analyzing the sensor data to determine an impact of the object to the clear path, utilizing the determined impact of the object to describe an enhanced clear path of travel, and utilizing the enhanced clear path of travel to navigate the host vehicle. |
| US08605946B2 |
Moving object detection apparatus and moving object detection method
A moving object detection apparatus includes: a trajectory calculating unit which calculates a plurality of trajectories for each image subset; a subclass classification unit which classifies the trajectories into subclasses for each of the image subsets, an inter-subclass similarity calculating unit which calculates a trajectory share ratio which indicates the degree of sharing of the same trajectory between arbitrary two of the subclasses and calculates the similarity between the subclasses based on the share ratio; a moving object detection unit which detects the moving object in video by classifying the subclasses into classes such that the subclasses between which a higher similarity is present are more likely to be classified into the same class. |
| US08605945B2 |
Multi-mode region-of-interest video object segmentation
The disclosure is directed to techniques for automatic segmentation of a region-of-interest (ROI) video object from a video sequence. ROI object segmentation enables selected ROI or “foreground” objects of a video sequence that may be of interest to a viewer to be extracted from non-ROI or “background” areas of the video sequence. Examples of a ROI object are a human face or a head and shoulder area of a human body. The disclosed techniques include a hybrid technique that combines ROI feature detection, region segmentation, and background subtraction. In this way, the disclosed techniques may provide accurate foreground object generation and low-complexity extraction of the foreground object from the video sequence. A ROI object segmentation system may implement the techniques described herein. In addition, ROI object segmentation may be useful in a wide range of multimedia applications that utilize video sequences, such as video telephony applications and video surveillance applications. |
| US08605938B2 |
Motion-based image watermarking
A computer implemented method and system including providing a motion pattern to an imaging device; and acquiring an image with the imaging device, wherein the image has embedded signals representative of the motion pattern and the embedded signals provide an authenticating watermark. The embedded signals can comprise spectrum information selected from duration, dimension, acceleration and velocity. |
| US08605937B2 |
Method of adjusting brightness of illumination device and bio disk drive using the method
Provided are a method and apparatus for adjusting brightness of an illumination device that is used in photographing an analysis object in a bio disk. The method includes taking images of an analysis object in a bio disk; calculating brightness of the images of the analyzing object; and adjusting brightness of an illumination device which is used in the photographing operation of the analysis object in the bio disk based on a difference between the calculated brightness and a target brightness. |
| US08605936B2 |
In-wall loudspeaker mounting method and apparatus
A method and apparatus for mounting a loudspeaker within a cavity in the wall of a room to lessen the transmission of vibration to the wall comprises a weight support member coupled to the speaker cabinet and at least one flexible member extending from the speaker cabinet into engagement with wallboard or other wall sections forming opposite sides of the wall. |
| US08605930B2 |
Microphone unit, close-talking type speech input device, information processing system, and method for manufacturing microphone unit
A microphone unit 1 of the present invention includes a case 10 having an internal space 100, a partition member 20 which is provided in the case, and at least partially composed of a vibrating membrane 30, that splits the internal space into a first space 102 and a second space 104, and an electrical signal output circuit 40 that outputs an electrical signal on the basis of vibration of the vibrating membrane. A first through hole 12 through which the first space 102 and an external space of the case are communicated with each other, and a second through hole 14 through which the second space 104 and the external space of the case are communicated with each other are formed in the case 10. In accordance with the present invention, it is possible to provide a high-quality microphone unit whose outer shape is small and which is capable of performing thorough noise cancellation. |
| US08605928B2 |
Hook for a hearing aid
A hook (4) for a hearing aid (1) provides a sound passage for transmitting the sound emanating from an output transducer of the hearing aid. The hook is composed of different parts (4a, 4b, 4c) made from materials with different mechanical properties. This provides a damping means for damping mechanical vibrations. The invention further provides a hearing aid with a hook. |
| US08605924B2 |
Hearing apparatus including transponder detection and corresponding control method
The object of the invention is to enable a hearing apparatus and more particularly a hearing device to be controlled automatically in a more reliable manner by means of an external device. For that purpose there is provided in the hearing apparatus a transponder detection unit for detecting a transponder and providing a corresponding detection signal. Signal processing in the hearing apparatus is performed as a function of the detection signal. An external device, e.g. a telephone is physically joined to the transponder. This enables the hearing apparatus to detect the presence of the external device and control its own signal processing accordingly. |
| US08605922B2 |
Antenna system with parasitic element for hearing aid compliant electromagnetic emission
A system for production of an electromagnetic (EM) field having EM emissions mitigated at one or more predetermined locations within a Hearing Aid Compliant (HAC) measurement plane is provided. The EM field mitigation system includes a ground plane, an antenna element, and a parasitic resonator element. The antenna element is coupled to the ground plane and resonates within at least one predetermined frequency band for transmitting and receiving the radio frequency (RF) signals modulated at one or more frequencies within the at least one predetermined first frequency band. The parasitic resonator element includes at least a half-wavelength resonator portion floating above the ground plane and a second half-wavelength resonator portion floating above the ground plane, crossing an effective electric field mid-line of the ground plane, and located a predetermined distance from the antenna element for mitigation of the EM emissions of the antenna element at the one or more predetermined locations within the HAC measurement plane. |
| US08605921B2 |
Loudspeaker positions select infrastructure signal
For operating a multi-loudspeaker configuration which is audio-driven from a multi-audio-channel source system, an appropriate audio channel from the multi-audio-channel source is assigned to each loudspeaker. The loudspeakers are driven as active powered units. In particular, the method provides an overall communication structure for carrying audio data to the loudspeakers. The method locally ascertains the relative positions of various loudspeakers in the configuration. It assigns an appropriate indication to a particular loudspeaker regarding its relative position. In the particular loudspeaker, it recognizes an associated indication. It uses a recognized indication to select an audio channel appropriate to the position of the loudspeaker in question in the multi-loudspeaker configuration. |
| US08605918B2 |
Power saving system and method for loudspeaker
A power saving system includes a sensor, a processor, a timer, and a switch. The sensor senses movements in the diaphragm of the loudspeaker. The processor determines whether the loudspeaker is power-on and in use or power-on but not in use. The processor further determines whether a preset period of time has elapsed since the indication of power-on but not in use was first given. If the preset period of time has elapsed, the processor further controls the switch to disconnect the power source from the loudspeaker. |
| US08605917B2 |
Passenger control unit for an in-flight entertainment system
A hand-held passenger control unit for use by a passenger on an aircraft or any other type of vehicle is provided. The control unit may include a controller, a memory, and a display panel. The control unit may have a first and a second mode of operation. In the first mode of operation, the control unit controls its own display panel. In the second mode of operation, the control unit controls a remote video display unit that is disposed proximate to the passenger. The control unit may also have an integrated audio player, thereby permitting passengers to bring their own audio content aboard the aircraft without having to bring their own audio players. |
| US08605911B2 |
Efficient and scalable parametric stereo coding for low bitrate audio coding applications
The present invention provides improvements to prior art audio codecs that generate a stereo-illusion through post-processing of a received mono signal. These improvements are accomplished by extraction of stereo-image describing parameters at the encoder side, which are transmitted and subsequently used for control of a stereo generator at the decoder side. Furthermore, the invention bridges the gap between simple pseudo-stereo methods, and current methods of true stereo-coding, by using a new form of parametric stereo coding. A stereo-balance parameter is introduced, which enables more advanced stereo modes, and in addition forms the basis of a new method of stereo-coding of spectral envelopes, of particular use in systems where guided HFR (High Frequency Reconstruction) is employed. As a special case, the application of this stereo-coding scheme in scalable HFR-based codecs is described. |
| US08605910B2 |
Device and a method for determining a component signal with high accuracy
A device for determining a component signal for a WFS system includes a provider for providing WFS parameters, a WFS parameter interpolator, and an audio signal processor. The provider provides WFS parameters for a component signal while using a source position and while using the loudspeaker position at a parameter sampling frequency smaller than the audio sampling frequency. The WFS parameter interpolator interpolates the WFS parameters so as to produce interpolated WFS parameters which are present at a parameter interpolation frequency that is higher than the parameter sampling frequency, the interpolated WFS parameters having interpolated fractions which have a higher level of accuracy than is specified by the audio sampling frequency. The audio signal processor is configured to apply the interpolated fractional values to the audio signal such that the component signal is obtained in a state of having been processed at the higher level of accuracy. |
| US08605909B2 |
Method and device for efficient binaural sound spatialization in the transformed domain
The invention concerns a method and a system for sound spatialization of a first set of not less than one of the audio channels encoded on of a number of frequency subbands (SBk) and decoded in a transformed domain (Fl, C, Fr, Sr, SI, Ife) into a second set of not less than two (Bl, Br) sound channels in the time domain, from modelling filters converted into a gain and a delay applicable in the transformed domain involving: filtering (A) through equalization, subband delay of the signal by applying at least one gain and one delay to generate from each of said encoded channels an equalized and delayed component; adding (B) a subset of equalized and delayed signals to create a number of filtered signals corresponding to not less than two; synthesizing (C) each of said filtered signals to obtain the second set of not less than two reproduction sound channels (Bl, Br) in the time domain. |
| US08605908B2 |
Method and device for obtaining security key in relay system
A method and a device for obtaining a security key in a relay system are disclosed in the embodiment of the present invention. A node in the relay system obtains an initial key, according to the initial key, the node obtains a root key of an air interface protection key between the node and another node that is directly adjacent to the node, and according to the root key, the node obtains the air interface protection key between the node and said another node that is directly adjacent to the node. Therefore, according to the initial key, each lower-level node obtains a root key of an air interface protection key between each lower-level node, so that data of a UE on a Un interface link may be respectively protected, that is, each active UE has a set of security parameters on the Un interface link, and effective security protection is performed on data on each segment of an air interface. |
| US08605907B2 |
Method and apparatus for extending a key-management protocol
A method and apparatus for modifying the Multimedia Internet KEYing (MIKEY) protocol to support an extended key-management message (KMM), wherein the apparatus programs a computer to perform the method, which includes: determining that a KMM is directed to a target device; determining that the KMM is an extended KMM related to a key-management operation that is not supported by the standard MIKEY protocol; signaling the extended KMM in at least one field of a MIKEY message; and sending the MIKEY message to the target device. |
| US08605906B2 |
Bluetooth® device and method of connecting Bluetooth® devices using a Bluetooth® channel
Provided are a method of connecting BLUETOOTH® devices using a single BLUETOOTH® channel and a BLUETOOTH® device using the method. A public key may be exchanged via a predefined single BLUETOOTH® channel, thereby preventing a Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack. For example, when an MITM attacker intercepts the public key and attempts to perform an attack on the other BLUETOOTH® devices, other BLUETOOTH® devices may also receive the public key via the single BLUETOOTH® channel. Accordingly, the other BLUETOOTH® devices may recognize that the MITM attacker attempts to carry out the MITM attack using a disguised address. |
| US08605905B2 |
System and method for securing wireless transmissions
A system and method for securing wireless communications are provided. A method for transmitting a message by a transmitter includes partitioning the message into N sub-messages, where N is a positive integer value greater than or equal to two, encoding the N sub-messages into a plurality of packet groups with a first security code, encoding the plurality of packet groups into a plurality of output packets with a second security code, and transmitting the plurality of output packets. |
| US08605903B2 |
System, device, and method for wireless communication, apparatus and method for processing information from contactless IC cards
A communication system uniquely identifying a communication partner within a predetermined coverage area and transmitting and receiving information in a predetermined protocol, includes a device and an information processing apparatus with one performing wireless communication with the other within the predetermined coverage area. The device includes a random number generating unit, a device secret key storage unit, a communication ID transmitting unit, and a device transmitting and receiving unit. The information processing apparatus includes an apparatus encryption unit, an apparatus secret key storage unit, a communication ID storage unit, a random number acquisition unit and an apparatus transmitting and receiving unit. |
| US08605896B2 |
Device and method for processing datastreams
The invention relates to a device for processing datastreams in a communications unit with two mutually-separate data-processing regions, which provide at least two separate message paths. The message paths are connected respectively to a message transmitter and a message receiver, wherein, in each message path, an encoding module is provided, which is connected both to a first data-processing region and also to a second data-processing region. Furthermore, in the second data-processing region, a distribution unit is provided, which is connected to the message paths of the first data-processing region and to all encoding modules of the corresponding message paths in order to distribute given messages in a targeted manner. |
| US08605893B2 |
Encryption and decryption processing method, system and computer-accessible medium for achieving SMS4 cryptographic procedure
An encryption and decryption processing system for achieving SMS4 cryptographic procedure can be provided. The system includes a repeating encryption and decryption data processing device comprising a first constant array storing unit, a first data registering unit and a first data converting unit. The first constant array storing unit stores a first constant array and send it to N-data converting sub-units of the first data converting unit. The first data registering unit registers data, deliver the registered data to a first data converting sub-unit. The N-data converting sub-units perform a data conversion processing, and transmit the obtained conversion data to a next data converting sub-unit for subsequent processing until the data conversion processing processes are completed, a particular number of the completed processed being equal to a value of a data depth. |
| US08605888B2 |
Method for making status function matrix and method for controlling call connection using it
The present invention relates to a call connection control method used by defining a state function matrix when a base station controls call connection of a terminal, and a method for generating the state function matrix. In a call connection process, a call state varies and an access point control subsystem receives messages from a terminal and an access point traffic subsystem. The access point control subsystem calls a state function corresponding to the received message and a current call state among a plurality of state functions that are respectively mapped to a plurality of elements of the state function matrix when receiving the message, and operates the state function. The state function matrix may include a plurality of call states as one index among row and column indexes, and a plurality of messages as the other index. |
| US08605886B2 |
Method and system for multimedia contact routing
A system and method may include processing a task assignment request comprising a task type corresponding to a task and querying a database based on the task assignment request and on the task type to identify an agent profile and agent status information for the identified agent profile, the agent profile comprising identification information to identify an agent workstation. The system and method may further include determining whether to generate assignment information for assigning the task to the agent workstation based on the agent status information. |
| US08605884B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing access and egress uniform resource identifiers for routing
A method and apparatus for providing routing of calls in a packet network, using one or more criteria extracted from signaling information to determine the routing for the calls are disclosed. The routing criteria extracted from signaling messages comprises at least one of: an access Uniform Resource Identifier, a destination phone number, a destination URI host, a calling party number, a calling party URI host, an incoming IP address, or a requested codec. An access URI and the egress URI are used to enhance routing decisions in a VoIP network. The egress URI can be used to specify egress route selections from the egress point of a VoIP network. The access URI can be used to influence the routing decisions within the VoIP network as well as the routing decisions with regard to egress routes from the egress point of the VoIP network. |
| US08605883B2 |
Method and equipments for establishing telecommunication
The present invention relates to a method for establishing telecommunication between at least a first and a second users within a telecommunication network comprising the following steps: receiving a request from said first user to set up a telecommunication with said second user, monitoring telecommunication activity in accordance with said request to detect a telecommunication activity of said second user with a third user different from said first user, and, in case of detection of said telecommunication activity of said second user, setting up a telecommunication between said first and second users after the end of said telecommunication activity of said second user with a third user different from said first user. The invention also relates to devices for performing the method. |
| US08605882B1 |
Adding a teleconference caller to a group instant messaging chat
In a method for adding a caller to a group instant messaging chat, a computer receives an indication that the caller has joined a teleconference via a telephone call. The computer receives a characteristic of the telephone call. The computer determines that the received characteristic of the telephone call at least partially matches at least one stored characteristic of one or more invitees on a list of invitees to the teleconference. In response to determining that the received characteristic of the telephone call at least partially matches at least one stored characteristic of one or more invitees on a list of invitees to the teleconference, the computer requests an instant messaging server to add the caller to the group instant messaging chat. |
| US08605879B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for requesting confirmation of a communication handling rule change
A method, system and apparatus of requesting confirmation of a communication handling rule change is provided. A proposed change to a set of communication handling rules is determined. A time within a schedule for requesting confirmation of the proposed change is determined. The confirmation of the proposed change requested, at the time. |
| US08605878B2 |
Redirecting and mirroring of telephonic communications
Initiating a communication is disclosed. An identifier associated with an intended destination with which the calling party desires to establish communication is received from a calling party. Communication with a compliance node is established. An identifier is provided to the compliance node. The compliance node is configured to establish with the intended destination a communication session in which the compliance node, the intended destination, and the calling party are participants. |
| US08605874B2 |
Per-session dynamic charging caps in communication networks
Communication networks and associated methods and systems are disclosed that provide per-session dynamic charging caps. For a session, the communication network includes a network element adapted to serve the session, a charging system, and a subscriber server adapted to store charging criteria defined for a party to the session. In operation, the charging system receives one or more charging request messages from the network element. Responsive to a charging request message, the charging system identifies the charging criteria defined for the party as stored in the subscriber server, and determines a dynamic charging cap for the session based on the charging criteria. A charging cap is a limited or maximum amount of time and/or money that is charged for an individual session. The charging system then limits the charging for the session based on the dynamic charging cap. |
| US08605869B1 |
Method and apparatus for forcing a call to a carrier provided voice mail facility
Disclosed are systems and techniques by which a caller may specify a callee's telephone number and be connected directly to a carrier provided voice mail facility associated with the identified the telephone number, even though the callee's carrier may not be the same as the caller's carrier. In the disclosed technique, a telephony server places a “Send a call” request to a server which then sends a signaling call that busies out the channel associated with the callee. The telephony server places a second call (the actual voice message) upon confirmation that the signaling call has been initiated, forcing the second call to the carrier's voice mail facility associated with the callee, since the first signaling call busied the first channel. Prior to sending the signaling call, a database look up is performed to determine which carrier services the callee number. Once the carrier is determined, another memory look up is performed to determine the time delay associated with that carrier. The time delay is then counted upon initiation of the first signaling call and the signaling call terminated upon expiration of the delay period. A user interface is provided by which a caller may specify the number of the intended callee by either a web interface, an external telephony interface such as an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) facility, an interface mechanism internal to a caller's private telephony network, or an automated number capture mechanism. |
| US08605868B2 |
System and method for externally mapping an interactive voice response menu
An interactive voice response (IVR) mapping system (IVRMS) is used in a transaction between a waiting party and a queuing party, wherein the queuing party has a queuing calling system (QCS). The IVRMS communicates with the QCS for extracting navigational information from the QCS and generates an IVR map of the QCS. The IVRMS performs map validation by comparing the IVR map with extracted navigational information, and determines if a certain threshold of matching is not met. Optionally, a primary IVR map and a supplementary IVR map of the QCS are created. An editor corrects mistakes in an automated speech-to-text conversion process, removes text that is not relevant for visual navigation, corrects structure of an IVR map via adding, removes or changes commands, or a combination thereof. |
| US08605867B2 |
Audio message delivery over instant messaging
One preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a system and method for sending instant messages having audio recordings. Briefly described, in architecture, one embodiment of the system, among others, includes a communications client of a user that is configured to generate an instant message having an audio recording and send the instant message having an audio recording to another user. Methods and other systems are also provided. |
| US08605865B2 |
Background noise effects
Mechanisms are disclosed that allow for the use of a false background, or background tone, in voice input in a telephonic call. A voice input may have both voice from a user talking and a background noise input which may be every other noise received at the user's phone. A trigger to use a background tone is received, the background tone is selected and the associated background tone file is retrieved. Then, a combiner combines the voice input with the background tone file. A filter may be used to filter the actual background noise from the voice input. Additionally, background tones may be used in various telephonic networks, including traditional land-line and wireless cellular networks. |
| US08605863B1 |
Method and apparatus for providing state indication on a telephone call
A method and apparatus for providing a state indication on a voice communication session such as a telephone call or communication session implemented as part of a virtual environment enables the quality of the audio on the voice communication session to be altered depending on the state of the communication session. When the communication session is in a state other than normal state, the audio may be colored in a particular manner so that the user can tell, from the quality of the audio, what state the communication session is in. For example, when the client device is on Mute, the audio may be colored to enable the audio to have distinct qualities while on mute that are different than the audio qualities while not on mute. Other types of coloration may be used to indicate other states. In this way, the audio qualities presented to the user may be used to notify the user of the state the communication session. |
| US08605855B2 |
Method for the sample preparation of liquid or paste-like substances for measurements with X-ray fluorescence and sample bodies suited therefor
A process for preparing, and an analysis of, liquid or pasty substances not consisting exclusively of volatile constituents and a sample body for use in such a process. The substance to be analyzed is applied to a rigid sample body with at least one flat and smooth analysis surface formed of an absorptive material. The substance is adsorbed and absorbed by the sample body, and is analyzed using an X-ray fluorescence analysis. |
| US08605851B2 |
Rod block monitor
To provide a rod block monitor in which irrespective of the selection or non-selection of a control rod, such a process is repeatedly executed that gain adjustment is performed at fixed intervals at all times to match a local area average value of signals of neutron detectors surrounding the control rod with a nuclear reactor average power and a block level appropriate to the local area average value of the neutron detector signals after the gain adjustment is set. |
| US08605848B2 |
Arrangement for synchronizing high-frequency transmitters of a common-wave network
An arrangement for synchronizing a transmission time of a digital data stream in individual high-frequency transmitters of a common-wave network operating according to an ATSC standard and transmitting identical data at an identical frequency. The stream generated in a master station is supplied to the transmitters as a periodic succession of data frames, and a setpoint transmission time is calculated in the transmitters from a synchronizing time stamp inserted into the data frames within the master station and from a time reference used in the master station and transmitters, while the transmission of the frames by the transmitter is determined by a system clock in the transmitters. The setpoint transmission time is compared with the actual transmission time determined by the clock, and the clock frequency is regulated by a regulating circuit so that the actual transmission time determined by the clock corresponds with the calculated setpoint transmission time. |
| US08605847B2 |
Receiver training with cycle slip detection and correction
In described embodiments, a transceiver includes a clock and data recovery module (CDR) with an eye monitor and a cycle slip monitor. The cycle slip detector monitors a CDR lock condition, which might be through detection of slips in sampling and/or transition timing detection. The cycle slip detector provides a check point to sense system divergence, allowing for a mechanism to recover CDR lock. In addition, when the CDR is out-of-lock, the various parameters that are adaptively set (e.g., equalizer parameters) might be invalid during system divergence. Consequently, these parameters might be declared invalid by the system and not used. |
| US08605846B2 |
Adaptive frequency synthesis for a serial data interface
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, devices and methods of oversampling electronic components where high frequency oversampling clock signals are generated internally. The generated oversampling clock is automatically synchronous with the input clock and the input serial data in a serial data link, and is adaptive to predetermined parameters, such as bit depth and oversampling rate. |
| US08605840B2 |
Method to cancel impulsive interference from a signal processing system
A method of canceling impulsive interference from a communications signal is provided. The method includes identifying an impulse interference contained in the communications signal, generating a model of impulse interference, matching the model in at least one of amplitude, phase and envelope time delay to the identified impulse interference, and cancelling the identified impulse interference by subtracting the matched model from the identified impulse interference. |
| US08605839B2 |
System and method for reducing power consumption in a FLO-EV receiver
A method for exiting receiver processing in a FLO-EV receiver comprises receiving a communication signal comprising at least one received symbol, deriving a channel performance metric based on the received symbol, determining whether the metric exceeds a threshold, and when the metric exceeds the threshold, providing a logic signal to signal receiver processing cessation. |
| US08605836B2 |
Automatic gain control for a wireless receiver
Techniques for performing automatic gain control (AGC) at a wireless receiver are described. The total gain for the wireless receiver is achieved with discrete gain steps for analog circuitry and continuous gain for a digital variable gain amplifier (DVGA). An AGC loop is updated based on power measurements for an output signal from the DVGA. A first gain for the analog circuitry is selected from among multiple discrete gain values based on the AGC loop to maintain the average power of a baseband signal within a predetermined range at an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) input. A second gain for the DVGA is selected based on the AGC loop to maintain the average power of the output signal at a reference power level. The first gain is switched in a manner to avoid saturation of the ADC caused by the baseband signal and to provide switching hysteresis. The AGC may be performed in log domain and with multiple modes. |
| US08605835B2 |
Receiver device, integrated circuit, receiving method, and receiving program
A wideband carrier frequency error calculator that, for each of a plurality of location patterns, calculates a cumulative value through a predetermined process performed on signals output by an orthogonal transformer for a plurality of sub-carrier positions determined according to a given location pattern while simultaneously shifting the signals output therefrom by one sub-carrier unit along the carrier direction and that also calculates wideband carrier frequency error according to carrier direction discrepancies calculated as maximum values within the cumulative value, and a carrier frequency error corrector that applies corrections to carrier frequency discrepancies according to the wideband carrier frequency error so calculated. |
| US08605834B1 |
Method and system for generating information for use in detecting a signal
In a method for generating a signal quality indicator, a correlation signal is generated from a received signal and a spreading sequence. A magnitude signal is generated from the correlation signal. A time-domain averaged signal is generated based on the magnitude signal and at least a first time delayed version of the magnitude signal delayed by at least one symbol period. A peak-to-average signal is generated based on the time-domain averaged signal. |
| US08605828B2 |
Blind mechanism for demodulating offset QPSK signals in the presence of carrier phase error
A computer-implemented system and method for blind demodulation of an offset QPSK input signal, involving repeatedly performing a set of operations, including: (a) applying a phase correction to the input signal based on an estimate of a carrier phase offset of the input signal to obtain a first modified signal; (b) shifting a quadrature component of the first modified signal by half a symbol period relative to an inphase component to obtain a second modified signal; (c) extracting a first sequence of symbols from the second modified signal, where the extraction includes estimating a symbol timing offset from the second modified signal; (d) performing hard-decision demodulation on the first sequence of symbols to obtain a second sequence of reference symbols; (e) computing a phase difference between the first sequence of symbols and second sequence of reference symbols; and (f) updating the carrier phase offset estimate using the phase difference. |
| US08605827B2 |
Timing errors
A method of analyzing a sampled signal that is supplied for decimation, wherein the decimation process produces a decimated version of the signal and wherein the method comprises determining an adjustment, if any is required, to the sampling instant of the signal prior to decimation that will cause the frequency responses of the decimated signal and of a main alias to combine constructively at a given frequency. |
| US08605826B2 |
Multi-gigabit millimeter wave receiver system and demodulator system
A receiver system and a demodulator system are configured to receive and demodulate, respectively, multi-gigabit millimeter wave signals being wirelessly transmitted in the unlicensed wireless band near 60 GHz. |
| US08605822B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving data
A data transmitting apparatus performs symbol mapping on each of first and second input data to generate a plurality of first and second modulation data symbols, performs inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) on the plurality of first and second modulation data symbols to convert the same into first and second real signals of a time domain from a frequency domain, angle-modulates the first and second real signals, and transmits the same to a data receiving apparatus. Thus, a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) can be lowered, while the same data transfer amount as that of the general OFDM data transmitting apparatus is maintained. |
| US08605820B2 |
Method of transmitting data in wireless communication system
The method includes generating coded bits by encoding information bits, dividing the coded bits into a first bit-stream and a second bit-stream, generating a first data symbol by performing anti-gray mapping on the first bit-stream, generating a second data symbol by performing gray mapping on the second bit-stream, and transmitting the first data symbol and the second data symbol. |
| US08605818B2 |
Selective peak power reduction
A communication system comprising signal processing circuitry and up-conversion circuitry. The signal processing circuitry is configured to: i) generate a first signal of a first modulation type and a second signal of a second modulation type; ii) combine the first and second signals to form a combined input signal; iii) generate peak reduction distortion based on the combined input signal; iv) select a portion of the peak reduction distortion that corresponds to a first frequency band; and v) apply the selected portion of the peak reduction distortion in the first frequency band of the combined input signal to provide a combined output signal. The up-conversion circuitry up-converts the combined output signal to an RF signal for transmission. |
| US08605815B2 |
Delay amount estimating apparatus and signal transmitting apparatus
A delay amount estimating apparatus includes a delay value search section that searches for a first delay value smaller than a delay setting value at which a given correlation value between an input signal and a feedback signal is provided, and also for a second delay value greater than the delay setting value, the feedback signal coming from a signal processing apparatus that applies signal processing on the input signal, wherein respective correlation values of the first delay value and the second delay value satisfy a given condition; and a delay estimating section that estimates a delay amount of the feedback signal relative to the input signal based on the first delay value and the second delay value. |
| US08605809B2 |
Method and apparatus for using factorized precoding
According to one or more aspects, the teachings herein improve user equipment (UE) Channel State Information (CSI) feedback, by letting the precoder part of a CSI feedback report comprise factorized precoder feedback. In one or more such embodiments, the factorized precoder feedback corresponds to at least two precoder matrices, including a recommended “conversion” precoder matrix and a recommended “tuning” precoder matrix. The recommended conversion precoder matrix restricts the number of channel dimensions considered by the recommended tuning precoder matrix and, in turn, the recommended tuning precoder matrix matches the recommended precoder matrix to an effective channel that is defined in part by said recommended conversion precoder matrix. |
| US08605804B2 |
Method of channel estimation and a channel estimator
The method includes receiving a signal comprising a symbol-carrier matrix, the symbol-carrier matrix including a predetermined pattern of pilot symbols, and determining first channel estimates at pilot symbol positions of the pilot symbols in the symbol-carrier matrix. The method further includes correcting the first channel estimates at the pilot symbol positions using Bayesian estimation, and determining second channel estimates at symbol positions other than the pilot symbol positions using interpolation based on the correct first channel estimates. |
| US08605798B2 |
Power and bidirectional data transmission
Systems and methods for power and bidirectional data transmission using a plurality of wires. A multiphase digital signal is downlinked from a main unit to a remote unit over the plurality of wires and is converted to a DC power signal used to power the remote unit. Uplink data is sent from the remote to the main over one selected wire during a predetermined time period for an uplink transmission by amplitude modulating the received digital signal at the remote. During an uplink, the output impedance of the line driver in the main unit connected to the wire selected for the uplink is increased to allow for the uplink amplitude modulation. The modulated signal is maintained within the noise margins of the digital circuits in the main and remote units. |
| US08605792B2 |
Slice coding allocation method, apparatus and circuit
A coding apparatus is for performing a deblocking filter process by dividing input moving image data into frames, and coding the moving image data by dividing the frames into macroblock lines and by shifting and changing, for each frame, a refresh area in which an amount of coding information allocated to a specific macroblock line is larger than that of another macroblock line. The coding apparatus includes a determining unit that determines that a refresh area in a current frame as well as a macroblock line in the current frame corresponding to a macroblock line that will become a refresh area in a frame being subsequently subjected to the coding process becomes a next refresh area. The coding apparatus includes a coding unit that codes the refresh area and the next refresh area by allocating a larger amount of coding information than an amount allocated to the other macroblock line. |
| US08605791B2 |
Video processor using an optimized slicemap representation
A method for executing video encoding operations. The method includes encoding an incoming video stream into a plurality of macro blocks by using a video encoder and receiving a box out slice map specification for the plurality of macro blocks. The box out slice map specification is converted to a foreground-background slice map specification. The plurality of macro blocks are then processed in accordance with the foreground-background specification and by using a common hardware encoder front end. |
| US08605790B2 |
Frame interpolation apparatus and method for motion estimation through separation into static object and moving object
Provided are frame interpolation apparatus and methods in which motion estimation is performed by separation into a static object and a moving object. The frame interpolation apparatus interpolates multiple frames including an nth frame and an (n−1)th frame located adjacent the nth frame in order to generate an interpolation frame. Some embodiments of the apparatus include a static object separation unit, a motion vector (MV) estimation unit, and an interpolation frame generation unit. The static object separation unit may compare a macroblock (MB) of the nth frame with an MB of the (n−1)th frame, which may correspond to the MB of the nth frame, in order to separate each MB of the nth frame into a static object and a moving object. The MV estimation unit may search in the (n−1)th frame for an MB that matches with each of MBs of the nth frame, which may be determined to be the moving object, to estimate an MV. The interpolation frame generation unit may generate the interpolation frame using the estimated MV, the nth frame, and the (n−1)th frame. |
| US08605787B2 |
Image processing system, image processing method, and recording medium storing image processing program
Provided is an image processing system that can uniquely identify a motion vector for each pixel of an interpolation frame and accurately identify a motion vector. A motion vector candidate selection unit (301) sequentially selects predetermined motion vector candidates in an interpolation frame. A differential image generation unit (302), a binary image generation unit (303) and an area image generation unit (304) generate a differential image, a binary image and an area image, respectively, based on a selected motion vector candidate. For each pixel of the interpolation frame, a motion vector determination unit (305) identifies a motion vector candidate with which a pixel value of a pixel in the area image corresponding to the pixel is the largest as a motion vector. A pixel value determination unit (306) determines each pixel value of the interpolation frame by using the motion vector identified for each pixel, thereby generating an interpolation frame. |
| US08605784B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding video, and method and apparatus for decoding video
Disclosed are a method and a apparatus for encoding a video, and a method and apparatus for decoding a video, in which neighboring pixels used to perform intra prediction on a current block to be encoded are filtered and intra prediction is performed by using the filtered neighboring pixels. |
| US08605783B2 |
Composite video generation
Composite video generation is described. In an embodiment, mobile video capture devices, such as mobile telephones, capture video streams of a common event. A network node receives the video streams and time-synchronizes them. Frames from each of the video streams are then stitched together to form a composite frame, and these are added to a composite video sequence. In embodiments, the composite video sequence is encoded and streamed to a user terminal over a communications network. In embodiments, the common event is a live event and the composite video sequence is generated in real-time. In some embodiments, the stitching of the video streams is performed by geometrically aligning the frames. In some embodiments, three or more mobile video capture devices provide video streams. |
| US08605782B2 |
Reconstruction of de-interleaved views, using adaptive interpolation based on disparity between the views for up-sampling
Method for reconstructing interleaved views of a 3D image comprising the steps of: receiving interleaved views of a 3D image, de-interleaving said interleaved views into a first view and a second view, each de-interleaved view comprising missing pixels, at each pixel location determining an amount of disparity between said first and second views, for each view interpolating each missing pixel based on the amount of disparity determined at the associated pixel location, wherein when the determined disparity is above a predetermined disparity threshold, the missing pixel value is interpolated from the data of the view to be interpolated only (i.e. the view comprising said missing pixel value), and when the determined disparity is at or below said predetermined disparity threshold, the missing pixel value is interpolated from the data of both views. |
| US08605781B2 |
Real-time and bandwidth efficient capture and delivery of live video to multiple destinations
Disclosed is a method and system to deliver real-time video data over the Internet in a bandwidth efficient manner. A streaming processor receives raw video data from a video source and communicates a compressed version of the video data to a reflector network. The video data is compress by grouping pixels into blocks and comparing blocks of adjacent frames of video data to identify any changes. Only blocks that have been changed are transmitted to the reflector network. In addition, if a block has been changed in a manner to create a previously transmitted block, then only an identification index for the block is transmitted. The actual content of the block can then be recreated by comparing the index to a list of previously received blocks. The reflector network provides the compressed video stream to multiple clients through a series of reflectors. Each client can customize the quality of the video stream received by requesting a full-stream of a sub-stream from the reflector network. |
| US08605777B2 |
Circuit for recognizing a beginning and a data rate of data and method thereof
A circuit for recognizing a beginning and a data rate of data includes at least two data rate detecting units and a post processing unit. The at least two data rate detecting units are used for comparing at least two alignment patterns corresponding to different data rates with data simultaneously to recognize a data rate of the data. The post processing unit is coupled to the at least two data rate detecting units for recognizing a beginning of the data according to an alignment pattern corresponding to the data when the data rate of the data is recognized. |
| US08605776B2 |
Proximity contactless communication apparatus capable of selecting appropriate encoding method according to bandwidth between antennas
A comparator circuit compares a test pattern generated by a test pattern generator circuit, with a test pattern transmitted to a memory card and returned from the memory card. A control circuit determines a bandwidth corresponding to frequency components correctly transmitted between a host apparatus and the memory card, based on the returned test pattern, and selects an encoding method requiring a maximum available bandwidth. The control circuit generates a notification message indicating the selected encoding method, and encodes the notification message using the selected encoding method, and transmit the encoded notification message to the memory card. The control circuit establishes communication between the host apparatus and the memory card, when receiving a response message including an acknowledgement to the notification message, from the memory card. |
| US08605773B2 |
Apparatus and method for data communication using radio frequency
A data communication apparatus using a radio frequency and a data processing method thereof are provided. A first communication apparatus frequency shift keying and phase shift keying modulates and transmits data from a service server to a radio frequency band. A second communication apparatus modulates, demodulates, and outputs the data. The data communication apparatus using a radio frequency, includes: a data modulation module frequency shift keying and phase shift keying modulates data to a radio frequency band to generate a modulated data signal; and a data transmission module transmitting the modulated data to another communication apparatus. |
| US08605769B2 |
Semiconductor laser device and manufacturing method thereof
A semiconductor laser device includes: a substrate having a principal plane; a photonic crystal layer having an epitaxial layer of gallium nitride formed on substrate in a direction in which principal plane extends and a low refractive index material having a refractive index lower than that of epitaxial layer; an n-type clad layer formed on substrate; a p-type clad layer formed on substrate; an active layer that is interposed between n-type clad layer and p-type clad layer and emits light when a carrier is injected thereinto; and a GaN layer that covers a region directly on photonic crystal layer. Thus, the semiconductor laser device can be manufactured without fusion. |
| US08605767B2 |
Long semiconductor laser cavity in a compact chip
Long semiconductor laser cavities are placed in relative short length chips through the use of total internal reflection (TIR) surfaces formed through etched facets. In one embodiment, a laser cavity is formed along the perimeter edges of a rectangular semiconductor chip by using three 45° angled TIR facets to connect four legs of a ridge or buried heterostructure (BH) waveguide that defines the laser cavity. In other embodiments, even more TIR facets and waveguide legs or sections are employed to make even longer laser cavities in the shape of rectangular or quadrilateral spirals. These structures are limited in the spacing of adjacent waveguide sections, which if too small, can cause undesirable coupling between the sections. However, use of notches etched between the adjacent sections have been shown to decrease this coupling effect. |
| US08605764B1 |
Laser diode junction temperature compensation
A projection apparatus includes at least one laser diode and a laser diode junction temperature estimator to estimate the junction temperature of the at least one laser diode. Laser diode current drive values are modified in response to the estimated laser junction temperature. The modification of laser diode current drive values may occur as frequently as once per pixel. |
| US08605763B2 |
Temperature measurement and control for laser and light-emitting diodes
The existing diodes in an LED or laser diode package are used to measure the junction temperature of the LED or laser diode. The light or laser emissions of a diode are switched off by removing the operational drive current applied to the diode package. A reference current, which can be lower the operational drive current, is applied to the diode package. The resulting forward voltage of the diode is measured using a voltage measurement circuit. Using the inherent current-voltage-temperature relationship of the diode, the actual junction temperature of the diode can be determined. The resulting forward voltage can be used in a feedback loop to provide temperature regulation of the diode package, with or without determining the actual junction temperature. The measured forward voltage of a photodiode or the emissions diode in a diode package can be used to determine the junction temperature of the emissions diode. |
| US08605759B1 |
Device with pre-emphasis based transmission
A device is provided and includes a multiplexer that receives signals and generates an output signal based on a selected one of the signals. The output signal includes frequencies and has a respective signal magnitude at each of the frequencies. A control circuit determines gain values. A transmitter provides pre-emphasis to the output signal to offset a characteristic of a channel, and transmits the output signal with the pre-emphasis on the channel. The transmitter, in providing the pre-emphasis: provides delayed versions of the output signal, where each of the delayed versions of the output signal has a different amount of delay than other delayed versions of the output signal; and amplifies each of the delayed versions of the output signal based on a respective one of the gain values such that certain ones of the signal magnitudes are amplified, and other ones of the signal magnitudes are attenuated. |
| US08605757B2 |
Closed-loop clock synchronization
A network comprising a destination node, and a plurality of source nodes configured to transmit high-priority data and low-priority data to the destination node, wherein the source nodes correlate the transmission of the high-priority data to the destination node such that the high-priority data from each source node does not substantially contend with the high-priority data from the other source nodes upon arrival at the destination node. Also disclosed is a network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising creating a periodic time window, partitioning the time window into low-priority time-bands and high-priority time-bands, placing a plurality of high-priority packets in the high priority time-bands, and placing a plurality of low-priority packets in the low-priority time-bands. |
| US08605755B2 |
Methods, systems, and devices for bandwidth conservation
Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for conserving bandwidth. If a presence of a multimedia device is detected, then a stream of data is delivered to the multimedia device. If the presence of the multimedia device is not detected, then the stream of data is degraded to conserve bandwidth. |
| US08605752B2 |
Communication apparatus, communication method, and computer program
A communication apparatus includes: a higher-layer processing unit that starts up a retransmission process of a corresponding packet in accordance with reception of a Duplicate ACK packet; and a lower-layer processing unit that collects a plurality of the Duplicate ACKs received through a network as one ACK and sends the one ACK to a higher layer. |
| US08605751B2 |
Symbol mapping apparatus and method
In a symbol mapping apparatus, a channel coder outputs a codeword including a plurality of information bits and a plurality of redundancy bits by encoding transmission data. A symbol mapper maps the codeword to the symbol while changing a mapping scheme in the unit of the codeword. |
| US08605749B2 |
Frame-merging apparatus and method
A frame-merging method is adapted for a network that includes mesh and terminal units, in which any two units capable of communication form a communication pair, and one of the units operates as a key unit to transmit pending frames according to the frame-merging method. The frame-merging method includes: determining whether the key unit is a mesh or a terminal unit; for the communication pair recorded in each pending frame, selecting a suitable scheme from a plurality of frame-merging schemes, and extracting at least one of the pending frames from among the pending frames for use as part or all of a priority frame set; and comparing a total size of all frames included in the priority frame set with a suitable frame size, so as to determine whether the key unit is to send an aggregated frame. A frame-merging apparatus is also disclosed. |
| US08605747B2 |
Using dedicated upstream channel(s) for cable modem initialization
A system facilitates initialization of devices in a cable modem network. The system may provide downstream channels for transmitting data to the devices and upstream channels for receiving data from the devices. At least one of the upstream channels may be dedicated to providing initialization opportunities. This dedicated upstream channel(s) includes less than all of the upstream channels. The system may transmit upstream channel identifiers on the downstream channels, where each of the upstream channel identifiers identifies one of the upstream channels. The system receives initialization data on the dedicated upstream channel(s). |
| US08605743B2 |
Power line communications device transmitting at differing power levels in same communication
A power-line communications (PLC) device communicates with a second PLC device via a PLC medium and includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter transmits a Request to Send (RTS) communication to the second PLC device at a first power level. The receiver receives a Clear to Send (CTS) communication from the second PLC device. The transmitter transmits data to the second PLC device at a second power level that is less than the first power level. The transmitter transmits a TDM frame to the second PLC device that includes a preamble and header transmitted at a first power level and at least one special data symbol and a payload transmitted at a second power level that is less than the first power level. The special data symbol resides between the preamble or header and the payload and is usable by the second PLC device for processing of the payload. |
| US08605733B2 |
Method of data transmission, data transmitting apparatus, and network system
A method of data transmission that includes: transmitting first data to be transferred in a synchronous packet using a second asynchronous packet having priority higher than that of a first asynchronous packet; and requesting transmission of second data following the first data using the second asynchronous packet after a lapse of a certain time from the transmission of the second asynchronous packet. |
| US08605732B2 |
Method of providing virtual router functionality
A method of presenting different virtual routers to different end users, classes of service, or packets is provided. An incoming packet is received having a VLAN field and at least one additional field. A key is formed from the VLAN field and at least one other packet field, and mapped into a virtual router identifier (VRID) using an indirection mapping process. The VRID identifies a particular virtual router configuration from a plurality of possible virtual router configurations. A networking device is configured to have the particular virtual router configuration identified by the VRID, and the packet is then forwarded by the configured device. |
| US08605731B2 |
Network system and server
One or more LAN switches capable of accessing the contents of a MAC address table, which the LAN switch contains, from the outside; and a presence server storing in a storage device a first correspondence table between a MAC address of a network interface, which equipment contains, and its user, and a second correspondence table between a port of the above-described LAN switch, and a physical range wired therefrom, are used to thereby obtain a correspondence table between the equipment, its user, and its physical location (range), whereby making applicable also to a wired LAN at the time of determining the location of the equipment or the location of a user using the equipment in a building, and making realizable at low cost, and allowing the location to be determined accurately within a predetermined segmented area, and not being affected even if an IP address is changed. |
| US08605728B2 |
Method of implementing traversal of multimedia protocols through network address translation device
The present invention discloses a method of implementing traversal of multimedia protocols through Network Address Translation device, wherein the Network Address Translation (NAT) device establishes a mapping relationship between address of a terminal in a private network and address of a terminal in a public network, and enables the terminal in the private network to access the public network with a common address, so as to implement the interaction of media streams between the terminal in the private network and the terminal in the public network, in which the common address is a address of the private network for accessing the public network. |
| US08605723B2 |
MPLS traffic engineering for point-to-multipoint label switched paths
A method and apparatus for providing point-to-multipoint label switch paths (LSPs) in a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network is described. In one embodiment, a point-to-multipoint LSP is built in a MPLS network by using Resource Reservation Protocol Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) to signal the point-to-multipoint LSP as separate point-to-point LSPs and to merge the separate point-to-point LSPs into the point-to-multipoint LSP. |
| US08605720B2 |
Analyzing a network with a cache advance proxy
In an example embodiment described herein, there is disclosed an implementation for analyzing a network having cache advance (CA) segments, such as a session control protocol (SCTP) pipe. The path between endpoints, e.g. a client on a first local area network (LAN) and a server on a second LAN, wherein the first and second LAN are coupled by an SCTP pipe, is determined and properties of the path are acquired. |
| US08605719B2 |
Circuit with network of message distributor circuits
Source circuits (10) produce messages that may each be processed by any one of a plurality of processing circuits (14). A network of distributor circuits is provided between the source circuits and the processing circuits (14). Local decisions by the distributor circuits in the network decide for each message to which one of the processing circuits the message will be routed. Messages are supplied to at least two parallel distributor circuits. These distributor circuits (12a) select from further distributor circuits (12b) in the network on the basis of current availability of individual ones of the further distributor circuits (12b). The respective messages are in turn forwarded from the selected further distributor circuits (12b) to data processing circuits (14) along routes selected by the selected further distributor circuits (12b) on the basis of current availability of the data processing circuits (14) and/or subsequent distributor circuits (12c) in the network. |
| US08605717B2 |
Two-dimensional circulating switch
A one-dimensional circulating switch may be defined by connections between several switch modules and one or more temporal cyclic rotators. Where a switch module that is part of a first one-dimensional circulating switch is also connected one or more temporal cyclic rotators that define a second one-dimensional circulating switch, a two-dimensional circulating switch is formed. A two-dimensional circulating switch is flexible and may scale to capacities ranging from a few gigabits per second to multiple Petabits per second. |
| US08605712B1 |
Method and apparatus for distributing video with offload engine
A method and apparatus for enabling video distribution with a transport layer protocol offload engine are disclosed. The present invention provides a transport layer protocol offload engine-enabled NIC card with capabilities to classify the received packets, process transport layer protocols, and process the video packets directly on the NIC card. |
| US08605711B1 |
Small office or home office (SOHO) IP phone service
An approach for supporting telephony services for use over a data network that includes at least one of the Internet and a private Intranet is disclosed. A communications system includes a switch that is coupled to a telephone network and is configured to determine presence of a dialing prefix of a call. The system also includes a gateway that is coupled to the data network and configured to communicate with the switch. The switch selectively routes the call based upon the presence of the dialing prefix to the gateway. |
| US08605702B2 |
Maintaining a maintenance channel in a reverse link of a wireless communications system
In a reverse link of a wireless CDMA communication system, a method of maintaining an idling mode connection between a field unit and a base transceiver station is provided using various techniques to maintain the idle mode connection at a reduced power level. A preferred embodiment computes a time slot or frame offset based on modulo function using a field unit identifier in order to distribute field unit maintenance transmissions among available slots or offsets. An alternate embodiment detects explicit signaling states changes at the physical layer and causes power target changes. A further embodiment transmits maintenance data during predetermined time intervals, coordinated between the field units and BTS, allowing power levels to be adjusted accordingly. |
| US08605697B2 |
On-demand services by wireless base station virtualization
Initiating a virtual presence at a physical access point in response to a request for a service from a wireless access device is provided. A particular wireless service may be provided to a subscriber on an on-demand basis according to location and/or type of service requested. The service may be terminated when demand for the service comes to an end whereby a common wireless service infrastructure may be shared amongst service providers thus eliminating the need for radio channel coordination and otherwise enhancing service quality for those service providers. |
| US08605691B2 |
Enhanced site report by low latency roaming by passive scanning in IEEE 802.11 networks
In order to reduce the average wait time, information regarding regulatory domain, a component of channel availability, may be obtained through an apparatus and method for transmitting within available channels in a wireless network. This includes determining available channels in a wireless network by: receiving regulatory domain information within the wireless network; generating a frame with at least one component corresponding to the regulatory domain information; transmitting the frame unsolicited by a beacon; receiving the report at a station; and determining whether a channel is available for transmission based, at least in part, on the component corresponding to the regulatory domain information contained in the frame. |
| US08605684B2 |
System and method for coordinated multi-point network operation to reduce radio link failure
A system and method for implementing call handover (HO) is disclosed. A user equipment (UE) is configured to communicate with a wireless communication network. The UE is configured to transmit a measurement report to at least one of a serving cell and at least one cell of a coordinated multi-point (CoMP) cell set. The UE is also configured to listen for control channel transmissions from at least one of the serving cell and a first cell in the CoMP cell set, receive a resource allocation from at least one of the serving cell and the first cell in the CoMP cell set, and receive an HO command jointly from the serving cell and the first cell in the CoMP cell set. The HO command identifies a target cell. The UE is also configured to perform handover to the target cell identified in the HO command. |
| US08605682B2 |
Systems and methods for handoff of a mobile telephone call in a VOIP environment
When a mobile telephony device is conducting a voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) telephone call via a data network, and the mobile telephone device transitions from a first wireless data connection to a second wireless data connection, signaling between the mobile telephone device and a media relay inform the media relay how to address data packets bearing the media of the call after the transition has occurred. In some embodiments, the mobile telephone device establishes multiple simultaneous wireless data connections, and the mobile telephony device switches the media of the call between the wireless data connections depending on the quality of the wireless data connections. |
| US08605679B2 |
Method for avoiding resource being released mistakenly during tracking area update or handover process
A method for avoiding resource being released mistakenly during tracking area update or handover process comprising: determining, by a target Mobility Management Entity MME, whether to use an old System Architecture Evolution Serving GW or to reselect a new Serving GW; if the target MME determines to select a new serving GW, notifying the original MME, the original MME sending a request for deleting bearer to the old Serving GW. The technical scheme of the present invention can avoid that the original MME will still send a request for deleting subscriber context to the old Serving GW when the target MME still uses the old Serving GW rather than selects a new one during tracking area update or handover process of the subscriber, which results in the appearance of a problem that the resource related to the subscriber in the old Serving GW is released mistakenly. |
| US08605674B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving duplicate data in a multicarrier wireless communication system
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, discloses a method and an apparatus for transmitting and receiving duplicate data in a multicarrier wireless communication system. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method in which a transmitter, which supports carrier aggregation for performing communication using N (N≧2) component carriers, transmits duplicate data, comprises the steps of: generating, in a media access control (MAC) layer of the transmitter, N duplicate data using radio link control (RLC) protocol data units (PDUs) from an RLC layer, and simultaneously transmitting, to a receiver, the respective N duplicate data on the N component carriers through respective N hybrid automatic repeat and request (HARQ) entities. |
| US08605669B2 |
System and method for signaling control information in a mobile communication network
A method of wirelessly transmitting control information includes generating control information comprising a plurality of control bits and encoding the control bits using a block code that outputs an encoded bit sequence comprising encoded bits b(0), b(1), . . . , b(19). The control bits are encoded using the block code by generating a linear combination of a plurality of basis sequences. The method also includes dividing the encoded bits into a first group and a second group. The first group includes the encoded bits {b(0), b(1), b(5), b(6), b(8), b(11), b(12), b(14), b(17), b(19)} and the second group includes the encoded bits {b(2), b(3), b(4), b(7), b(9), b(10), b(13), b(15), b(16), b(18)}. Additionally, the method includes transmitting the first group of encoded bits on a first set of carriers and transmitting the second group of encoded bits on a second set of carriers. The second set of carriers have different frequencies from the first set of carriers. |
| US08605668B2 |
Common channel configuration for multipoint communications
A user equipment UE obtains channel configurations from each of a serving cell and n neighbor cells which have been determined to be suitable for data communications with the UE, from which the UE creates a combined channel configuration and utilizes it for multipoint communications with those cells. In specific embodiments: the respective channel configurations are obtained from the respective cells' system information; the n neighbor cells are determined to be suitable by the UE comparing each cell's received signal strength/quality against a threshold. The UE may get a neighbor cell list NCL and the threshold and consider each cell on the NCL as one of the n neighbor cells if its signal strength/quality exceed the threshold, then the UE may acquire system information for only those n neighbor cells instead of all cells on the NCL. The UE then reports in uplink signaling that the n neighbor cells are suitable. |
| US08605665B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmission time interval reconfiguration in a mobile communication system
An apparatus and method for Transmission Time Interval (TTI) reconfiguration in a mobile communication system are provided. The apparatus includes an ACK/NACK determiner, an ACK/NACK controller, and a TTI controller. The ACK/NACK determiner determines if a response signal to be transmitted is ACKnowledgment (ACK) or Non ACKnowledgment (NACK) depending on an error or non-error of data received from a User Equipment (UE). The ACK/NACK controller counts the ACK and NACK determined in the ACK/NACK determiner. The TTI controller identifies if number of the latest ACKs counted in the ACK/NACK controller is continuously generated by preset number of times and, if it is continuously generated by the present number of times, reconfigures a new TTI. |
| US08605664B2 |
Adaptive modulation and coding in a SC-FDMA system
A method and a system for transmitting data by a transmitter over a channel having a predetermined channel quality estimate, comprises the steps of splitting (S2P) input data stream (S40, S60, S80) to be transmitted into a plurality of data sub-streams (S40a, S40b, S40c); processing (SYM1, SYM2, SYMj) each of the plurality of data sub-streams (S40a, S40b, S40c) into a plurality of symbol subsets (S41, S42, S43) by selecting a certain scheme of coded-modulation (BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM); processing, separately, each of the plurality of symbol subsets (S41, S42, S43), via a plurality of separate Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFT1, DFT2, DFT3), herein after denoted as DFTs, to obtain a plurality of DFT-precoded data sub-streams (S44, S45, S46); allocating each DFT-precoded data sub-stream (S44, S45, S46) in a frequency resource block (RB1, RB2, RB3), via a sub-carrier mapping module (SCM), so that for each data sub-stream (S40a, S40b, S40c) the selected scheme of coded-modulation (BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM) is chosen in dependence of the values of the channel quality estimate at the frequencies of its own allocated frequency resource block (RB1, RB2, RB3). |
| US08605661B2 |
Method and system for implementing a single weight spatial multiplexing (SM) MIMO system
Certain aspects of the method may comprise generating at least one control signal that may be utilized to control at least a first of a plurality of received spatially multiplexed communication signals. An amplitude and/or phase of the first received spatially multiplexed communication signal may be adjusted via the generated control signal so that the amplitude and/or phase of the first received spatially multiplexed communication signal may be equivalent to an amplitude and/or phase of a second received spatially multiplexed communication signal. The amplitude of the first received spatially multiplexed communication signal is adjusted within the processing path used to process the first received spatially multiplexed communication signal. |
| US08605659B2 |
Method for enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH) transmission overlap detection for compressed mode gap slots
A method and apparatus for detecting an overlap of an E-DCH transmission or retransmission in TTIs that overlap with an assigned uplink compressed mode gap is disclosed. More specifically, detecting an overlap of an E-DCH transmission or retransmission in TTIs that overlap with an uplink compressed mode gap assigned by a Node B when a WTRU is configured with a 2 ms TTI is disclosed. After detecting the overlap of the E-DCH transmission or retransmission and the uplink compressed mode gap, the E-DCH transmission or retransmission is paused. |
| US08605658B2 |
Multi-antenna wireless communication method and multi-antenna wireless communication device
The wireless communication devices A and B determine the optimal diversity combining weight information that optimizes a diversity reception state at each antenna group A1, A2, . . . , AP through two-way training signal transfer between the wireless communication devices A and B. This optimal diversity combining weight information is set to each antenna of each antenna group A1, A2, . . . , AP. Wireless communication units A′, B′ perform spacial mapping of signals from antenna group A1, A2, . . . , AP using MIMO technology. Communication area can be enlarged by hierarchization MIMO using the optimal diversity combining weight information. |
| US08605654B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for a remote radio module with relay capability
Provided are an apparatus, system, and method for facilitating wireless communication between a hub and a mobile terminal via a remote radio module. The remote radio module includes a first transceiver operable to wirelessly communicate with the mobile terminal, a second transceiver operable to wirelessly communicate with the hub that is coupled to a core network, and a processor for executing instructions stored in memory. The instructions include instructions for receiving a signal from the hub at a first carrier frequency and processing the signal so that the signal can be retransmitted to the mobile terminal at a second carrier frequency different from the first carrier frequency. |
| US08605640B2 |
Network aware content pre-delivery over a radio access network
Efficient delivery of subscription content over a wireless network is described herein. In one implementation a device may receive load information regarding network traffic load at radio interfaces for a cellular network. The device may maintain subscription information relating to subscribers that have subscribed to receive content items and to availability of the content items. The device may determine whether a quantity of mobile devices, that are attached to the base station and are associated with subscribers that have subscribed to the first content item, is above a threshold. Finally, the device may transmit, when it is determined that the quantity of mobile devices is above the threshold, the first content item to the quantity of mobile devices as a multicast transmission over a radio interface associated with the base station. |
| US08605638B2 |
Voice messaging method and mobile terminal supporting voice messaging in mobile messenger service
A voice messaging method and a mobile terminal supporting the voice messaging method in a mobile messenger service are provided. The mobile terminal includes a microphone for capturing sound wave and converting the sound wave into an audio signal; an audio storage unit for storing the audio signal; an audio data generation unit for generating audio data packets with the audio signal; a packet data communication network interface unit for providing a packet data communication network; and a control unit for controlling the microphone, audio storage unit, audio data generation unit, and packet data communication network interface unit to capture the audio signal and transmit the audio signal in the form of the audio data packets in response to audio message transmission request entered in the middle of a mobile messenger service session. The voice messaging method includes recording a voice message in response to a voice message transmission request entered in the middle of the mobile messenger service session, generating audio data packets containing the voice message; and transmitting the audio data packets through a packet data communication network in a predetermined period. |
| US08605637B2 |
Throttling access points
A technique for controlling the amount of power consumed by access points (APs) of a wireless network involves implementing throttleable APs (TAPs). It would be desirable for the TAPs to be in a relatively low power mode during periods of low activity, and switch to a high power mode in response to increased wireless activity. To that end, a throttling engine can be implemented to throttle TAPs up in power in response to increases in wireless activity, and throttle TAPs down in power in response to decreases in wireless activity. |
| US08605628B2 |
Utilizing betweenness to determine forwarding state in a routed network
A set of critical nodes or links is identified on the network through which most of the shortest paths on the network occur. Each node compares their distance to end points on the network with a distance between the end points and each of the distinct critical nodes. Where the distance between the end points and the critical nodes is shorter than the distance between the end points and the node, the node is not on the shortest path and does not install forwarding state. Where the distance between the end points and the critical node is larger than or equal to the distance between the end points and the node, the node may be on the shortest path between the pair of end nodes and installs forwarding state. Installation of forwarding state may cause packet duplication, but determining forwarding state is dramatically simplified. |
| US08605627B2 |
Provider link state bridging (PLSB) computation method
A method of multicast route computation in a link state protocol controlled network. A spanning tree is computed from a first node to every other node in the network using a known spanning tree protocol. The network is then divided into two or more partitions, each partition encompassing an immediate neighbor node of the first node and any nodes of the network subtending the neighbor node on the spanning tree. Two or more of the partitions are merged when a predetermined criterion is satisfied. Nodes within all of the partitions except a largest one of the partitions are then identified, and each identified node examined to identify node pairs for which a respective shortest path traverses the first node. |
| US08605624B2 |
Methods and devices for exchanging peer parameters between network devices
Methods and devices are provided for detecting whether peer ports interconnecting two network devices can perform a novel protocol called Exchange Peer Parameters (“EPP”). If the peer ports are so configured to perform EPP, EPP services are exchanged between the peer ports. In a first phase, information is exchanged about peer port configurations of interest. In a second phase, the results of the exchange of information are applied to hardware and/or software of the respective ports, as needed. |
| US08605622B2 |
Route setup server, route setup method and route setup program
A route setup server has a storage unit, an IP routing unit and a flow management unit. A routing determination table indicating a router node assigned to an IP router among the plurality of nodes is stored in the storage unit. The IP routing unit has a software-based IP routing module having a same function as an IP router with respect to each router node. The flow management unit refers to the routing determination table to check whether or not a requestor node of a route setup request corresponds to any router node. The IP routing unit performs packet IP routing by using the software-based IP routing module associated with the corresponding router node to update a header of the packet. After that, the requestor node of the route setup request is updated to a destination node designated by a destination MAC address of the packet. Such the processing is repeated and thus the communication route is determined. |
| US08605621B2 |
Methods and devices for discovering a gateway and for routing towards said gateway in a hybrid wireless network
A gateway (25) between an ad hoc network (5) and a fixed network (2) in a hybrid telecommunications network (1) selects, from amongst candidate nodes (10) of the ad hoc network (5) that are located one hop from that gateway (25) and that have connectivity with that gateway (25) above a predetermined threshold, at least one gateway node (10′) for relaying at least part of the traffic between other nodes (10) of the ad hoc network (5) and the gateway (25). |
| US08605620B2 |
System for transmitting high quality speech signals on a voice over internet protocol network
The VoIP quality speech process is activated when a subscriber accesses a speech quality sensitive resource or in response to an activation of the feature by the subscriber, or when it is determined that the originating subscriber terminal device requires the transmission of high quality speech signals. A transmit buffer, associated with the port circuit that serves the originating device, stores a predetermined number of packets as they are transmitted from the originating device. In the case of lost or damaged packets, the VoIP quality speech system activates the transmit buffer to retransmit the missing or damaged packet to the destination device. Intelligent buffer management is provided, where the destination device can regulate the size of the transmit buffer as well as the size of its jitter buffer. |
| US08605619B2 |
Dynamic TE-LSP priority and preemption
In one embodiment, a node of a computer network receives a request to establish a traffic engineering (TE) label switched path (LSP). The node accesses a pre-defined range of preemption-priority values that may be used with the requested TE-LSP. The node determines a preemption-priority value at which adequate network resources to accommodate the requested TE-LSP would be available that is as low as possible within the pre-defined range of preemption-priority values. The node signals the requested TE-LSP with the determined preemption-priority value. The node receives notifications from one or more other nodes within the computer network indicating information about other TE-LSPs that would be preempted if the requested TE-LSP were established at the determined preemption-priority value. In response to the information regarding other TE-LSPs that would be preempted, the node determines whether to proceed with establishment of the requested TE-LSP at the determined preemption-priority value. |
| US08605617B2 |
Packet capture system, packet capture method, information processing device, and storage medium
A sharing control processing unit controls sharing of capture of packets among measuring devices connected to the same network. An aggregating unit collects the captured packets. Each measuring device notifies the sharing control processing unit of a state about its capture. The sharing control processing unit determines which measuring device is to start/stop the capture, according to a predetermined rule and the notified state. When determining that the capture is to be switched from a first measuring device to a second measuring device, the sharing control processing unit instructs the second measuring device to start the capture. After receiving a notification that the second measuring device has actually captured a packet(s), the sharing control processing unit instructs the first measuring device to stop the capture. The aggregating unit identifies a duplicate packet(s) double captured by the first and second measuring devices. |
| US08605615B2 |
Method and apparatus for multi-radio coexistence with a system on an adjacent frequency band having a time-dependent configuration
A method (500) and apparatus for multi-radio coexistence has a victim user equipment (UE) that receives (515) a sequence of subframes at a first transceiver from a serving base station, measures (520) channel state on the subframes to obtain channel state measurements, determines (530) a high-low interference pattern based on the channel state measurements, and transmits (550) to the serving base station a report that includes an indicator related to the high-low interference pattern. The method can include the victim UE receiving (610) an aggressor reference waveform (ARW) from the second transceiver, determining (620) spatial characteristics of the second transceiver from the ARW, and configuring (630) its antenna system based on the spatial characteristics. The method can have the victim UE determining (640) second transceiver characteristics from the ARW and transmitting (650) information regarding the second transceiver characteristics to its serving base station. |
| US08605613B2 |
Mobile hardware and network environment simulation
The present technology provides an ability to simulate the performance of mobile content in a more realistic testing environment than previously available. Specifically, the present technology can mimic the fluctuations in network states that mobile devices typically experience. As the mobile content is tested using the simulated network states, the present technology can record the performance of the mobile content and create a log of the performance. Further, the present technology can also analyze the mobile content performance log and recommend various optimizations to increase the performance of the content. |
| US08605612B2 |
Method and apparatus for extracting QoS parameters in mobile device
Provided are a method and an apparatus for extracting QoS parameters in a mobile device. In the method, all packets received from a terminal device are monitored, and SIP packets are filtered. When a real-time service application is executed on the terminal device, and an SIP request packet or an SIP response packet is filtered and input, QoS parameters are extracted from the SIP request packet or the SIP response packet. The extracted QoS parameters are incorporated into a wireless link data resource request and transmitted to a wireless network device. When a response to the wireless link data resource request is received, an uplink filter value for a new resource is extracted and added to a packet monitoring list. |
| US08605608B2 |
Network buffer
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with generating a network buffer are provided. A network data model is input that includes a set of network elements, such as nodes and links, and respective costs associated with respective network elements. A center network element around which to generate the network buffer and an offset cost to define a boundary of the network buffer are also input. A network buffer is generated by determining a buffer coverage and cost. The network buffer is made up of a set of buffer network elements located within the offset cost with respect to the center network element. The cost for each buffer network element is determined as the cost associated with travelling a path with minimum cost from the center network element to the corresponding buffer network element. The buffer coverage and costs are output for subsequent analysis. |
| US08605607B2 |
Method for implicit conveying of uplink feedback information
Method and apparatus for conveying feedback reports from a data receiving party (300) for data received from a data sending party (302) in a wireless connection. A plurality of feedback resources (304) assigned to different feedback information codes are allocated to the data receiving party for transmitting feedback reports. After checking whether the data was received correctly or not, the data receiving party selects a feedback resource (FR2) with a feedback information code that corresponds to one or more feedback reports on the received data. The data receiving party then sends feedback information on the selected feedback resource to the data sending party, thereby conveying the corresponding feedback information code. In this way, multiple feedback reports can be conveyed in a single feedback resource to the data sending party while still retaining single carrier properties. |
| US08605606B2 |
Method and apparatus for triggering radio link control packet discard and radio link control re-establishment
A method and apparatus for triggering radio link control (RLC) re-establishment and/or protocol data unit (PDU) discard are disclosed. An RLC entity maintains a state variable for counting a total number of transmissions and/or retransmissions of an RLC PDU and its PDU segments. If the state variable reaches a threshold, the RLC entity initiates RLC re-establishment and/or discards the RLC PDU and PDU segments. The state variable may be incremented each time a negative acknowledgement is received for at least a portion of the RLC PDU or when a retransmission is considered for the RLC PDU or a portion of the RLC PDU. The RLC entity may increase a state variable proportionate to a retransmitted data size. The RLC entity may maintain separate state variables for the RLC PDU and PDU segments and counts the number of transmissions and/or retransmissions for the RLC PDU and the PDU segments. |
| US08605605B1 |
Setting initial data transmission size based on prior transmission
A network device is configured to monitor a data size of data transmitted to a particular destination during a particular time period, determine, based on the monitored data size, an average data size for the particular destination and for the particular time period, establish a data connection toward the particular destination during the particular time period, set an initial data size for the data connection based on the average data size, and transmit data on the data connection in an amount equal to the initial data size. |
| US08605603B2 |
Route convergence based on ethernet operations, administration, and maintenance protocol
In an example embodiment, a method of route convergence is provided. In this method, a loss of connectivity is detected along a communication route by way of an Ethernet Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) protocol. Examples of Ethernet OAM protocols include Connectivity Fault Management protocol and Ethernet Local Management Interface protocol. Thereafter, a data link layer identifier associated with the communication route is identified and this data link layer identifier is mapped to a network layer address. Convergence on an alternate communication route can then be based on the mapped network layer address. |
| US08605600B2 |
Wireless communication system, access point, controller, network management device, and method of setting network identifier of access point
There is provided a wireless communication system including: a wireless terminal that communicates information; an access point that performs wireless communication with the wireless terminal; a main server that communicates with the access point through a network and manages line connection of the wireless terminal; and a survival server that communicates with the access point through the network and manages the line connection of the wireless terminal in place of the main server, wherein the access point detects a communication state between the main server and the access point and between the survival server and the access point, and sets a network identifier of the access point according to the communication state, and wherein the wireless terminal performs wireless communication with the access point using the network identifier, and communicates information with the main server or the survival server according to the network identifier. |
| US08605595B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data using multiple access links
A data receiving method in a wireless LAN system using multiple channels includes: determining whether a difference value of signal levels of first and second access points is equal to or less than a preset value; transmitting an association request frame to the first and second access points according to the determination result; and receiving association response frames from the first and second access points. |
| US08605592B2 |
Method and arrangement in a communication system
The present invention proposes a solution in the area of HSDPA flow control. It proposes an improvement to transport network congestion detection and avoidance. The improvement proposes to use a measurement of incoming bitrate to determine the reduction of bitrate after a transport network congestion event. The advantage is that high bitrate reduction is only used when it is necessary; otherwise only small bitrate reduction is used, which results in small oscillation, and consequently higher transport network utilization. |
| US08605591B2 |
System and method for optimizing packet routing in a mesh network
A method is provided in one example and includes receiving a first packet and a second packet that propagate in a mesh network and evaluating hop count metrics associated with the first packet and the second packet (e.g., evaluate the number of hops traversed in the mesh network, hop characteristics, etc.). The first packet is sent to a first queue, the second packet is sent to a second queue. The first queue is associated with a first hop count detected in the first packet, and the second queue is associated with a second hop count detected in the second packet. A buffer overflow condition can be identified. The method further includes discarding the second packet based on the second hop count being less than the first hop count. Discarding of the second packet may be performed in response to any type of congestion parameter detected in the mesh network. |
| US08605586B2 |
Apparatus and method for load balancing
Systems and methods of balancing traffic load in a wireless communication network include calculating a load metric for each of a plurality of users, wherein each of the plurality of users, in operation, are in communication with a first base station using an overloaded carrier associated with the first base station. Such load metric for each user may include a plurality of metric factors related at least to an associated communication link. Based on the calculated load metric, a transfer-deserving user from the plurality of users may be determined. The transfer-deserving user may be associated with a highest value of an associated calculated load metric. For load balancing at the first base station, the associated communication link of the transfer-deserving user may be transferred from the overloaded carrier to a target carrier, wherein the target carrier may be associated with either the first base station or a second base station. |
| US08605582B2 |
IP network system and its access control method, IP address distributing device, and IP address distributing method
An IP network system includes an IP address generating device that sets a specific area in a node identifier of an IP address as an access control area that can be filtered by a network layer control device, and generates an IP address including a communication policy of the IP network system embedded in the access control area, and the network layer control device capable of filtering the access control area, wherein the network layer control device is configured to perform filtering setting according to the communication policy and thereby performs access control. |
| US08605580B2 |
Maximization of throughput under a fairness constraint in DWDM-based optical networks
A method for enhancing the carrying capacity of a network, comprising the steps of detecting the level of traffic incident on the network, and reserving, dynamically, wavelengths for a class of traffic according to the level of traffic incident on the network. The network can be a dense wavelength division multiplexing optical network. |
| US08605576B2 |
Communication network system, data transmission method, and node apparatus
A communication network system includes a processor, and a plurality of node apparatuses using a protocol to establish paths therebetween, wherein the processor determines each of the node apparatuses to be a packet source or a packet destination, and operates to detect an occurrence of failure in two paths being established between the packet source and the packet destination in the communication network system, and wherein the processor transmits packet data including user data through one of the two paths, and when one of the node apparatuses detects an occurrence of a failure in one of the two paths, the processor changes the path to the other path. |
| US08605569B2 |
Methods for superframe/frame overhead reduction within OFDMA-based communication systems
A method for tessellating a subframe using maximal-sized bricks. A brick bandwidth and a brick time duration are computed based on the heights and widths of the bursts in the subframe. Bursts within the brick-tessellated subframe are referenced using a brick-based coordinate system in which burst location and size are specified in units of bricks. A method for assembling and disassembling brick-based superframes is also disclosed. Bricked-based superframes are assembled and disassembled using a Superframe Preamble, a Superframe Control Header (SFCH), a Superframe Downlink Map (SDL-MAP), a Superframe Uplink MAP (SUL-MAP) and brick-structured downlink and uplink frames. |
| US08605560B2 |
Storage system and storage control method
A storage system includes plural drive devices and a control device. Each of the plural drive devices reads or writes data from or to a portable recording medium. The control device performs a parallel process in which a first process and a second process are performed in parallel. The first process is to write specified data to a first portable recording medium via a first drive device of the plural drive devices. The second process is to write the specified data to a second portable recording medium via a second drive device of the plural drive devices. The control device cancels, upon completion of either one of the first process and the second process, the other one of the first process and the second process. |
| US08605557B2 |
Optical pickup
An optical pickup which excels in assembly workability and which can increase the drive force generated in a focusing coil is provided. The optical pickup has an objective lens, a lens holder holding the objective lens, and a first and a second focusing coil wound around the lens holder. The first focusing coil includes an upper part wound about a central axis extending in parallel with an optical axis of the objective lens and a lower part connected to the upper part. The second focusing coil includes an upper part wound, in a wiring system separate from the first focusing coil, about a central axis extending in parallel with the optical axis of the objective lens and a lower part connected to the upper part. |
| US08605556B1 |
Channel waveguide extending into a gap of a near-field transducer
An apparatus includes a near-field transducer that having two metal elements configured as side-by-side plates on a substrate-parallel plane with a gap therebetween. The gap is disposed along the substrate-parallel plane and has an output end at a media-facing surface, and an input end opposite the output end. A channel waveguide is configured to deliver light to the input end of the near-field transducer. The channel waveguide has a core and cladding, and a portion of the core extends into the gap of the near-field transducer. |
| US08605555B1 |
Recording media with multiple bi-layers of heatsink layer and amorphous layer for energy assisted magnetic recording system and methods for fabricating the same
An energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) system includes a magnetic recording medium including a plurality of bi-layers and a magnetic recording layer on the plurality of bi-layers, a magnetic transducer configured to write information to the magnetic recording medium, and a light source positioned proximate the magnetic transducer and configured to heat the magnetic recording medium. Each of the plurality of bi-layers includes a heatsink layer and an amorphous under-layer on the heatsink layer. |
| US08605554B2 |
Laser power management for super-RENS optical recording media
Methods for operating an apparatus for reading from or writing to a Super-RENS optical recording medium, an apparatus for reading from Super-RENS optical recording media using such methods, and a Super-RENS optical recording medium suitable for such methods are described. The super-RENS optical recording medium has location information that is readable without super-RENS effect. The location information is provided as low-frequency information. For locating a position on the super-RENS optical recording medium, a reading light beam with a power below a power necessary for achieving a super-RENS effect is generated and the location information is retrieved from the super-RENS optical recording medium. |
| US08605553B2 |
Annual calendar device for a timepiece
The annual calendar device carries a date ring (1) and a drive wheel (5) for said ring. The drive wheel (5) carries a mechanism (10) including a first finger (6) driving the ring (1) through one step each day and a second finger (7) which is inserted, at the end of the months of less than thirty-one days, into the trajectory of the teeth (4) of the ring (1) to move said ring forward one additional step. The second finger (7) is inserted into said trajectory by a kinematic chain (9) controlled by a toothing (8) carried by the ring (1). |
| US08605552B1 |
Autonomous waterproof electronic signaling device
The autonomous waterproof electronic signaling device disclosed comprises an activator; an audible signal emitter and a visual signal emitter, the audible signal emitter to emit a primary signal upon activation of the activator, the audible signal emitter comprising one or more of the following: a hydrophone, a siren, a speaker, or a transducer; and a head assembly, the head assembly positioned so as to alter at least a portion of the primary signal producing a notification signal. The visual signal emitter comprises at least one of incandescent bulbs, compact fluorescent bulbs, strobe bulbs, high intensity discharge (HID) bulbs, and light emitting diodes (LED) bulbs. The audible signal emitter and a visual signal emitter are operative singly or in combination, continuously or intermittently. |
| US08605550B2 |
Downscan imaging sonar
A downscan imaging sonar utilizes a linear transducer element to provide improved images of the sea floor and other objects in the water column beneath a vessel. A transducer array may include a plurality of transducer elements and each one of the plurality of transducer elements may include a substantially rectangular shape configured to produce a sonar beam having a beamwidth in a direction parallel to longitudinal length of the transducer elements that is significantly less than a beamwidth of the sonar beam in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal length of the transducer elements. The plurality of transducer elements may be positioned such that longitudinal lengths of at least two of the plurality of transducer elements are parallel to each other. The plurality of transducer elements may also include at least a first linear transducer element, a second linear transducer element and a third linear transducer element. |
| US08605548B2 |
Bi-directional wireless acoustic telemetry methods and systems for communicating data along a pipe
A bi-directional acoustic telemetry system is presented for communicating data and/or control signals between a first modem and a second modem along tubing. The system includes a communication channel defined by the tubing, a transducer of the first modem, and a transducer of the second modem. The transducer of each modem are configured to transmit and receive data and/or control signals, and are further configured to electrically communicate with a power amplifier characterized by an output impedance Zs and a signal conditioning amplifier characterized by an input impedance Zr. The system also includes a reciprocal response along the communication channel between the output impedance Zs and the input impedance Zr. |
| US08605546B2 |
Seismic data acquisition systems and method utilizing a wireline repeater unit
A system and methods for acquiring seismic data is provided. In one aspect, the system and methods utilize a plurality of field service units placed over a region of interest, a repeater unit that wirelessly communicates with the field service units and a remote unit for controlling and processing the seismic data acquired by the field service units. In one aspect, the system and methods determine a condition associated with each of a plurality of attributes relating to acquisition of the seismic data at each field service unit, generate messages at each field service unit when the condition of a particular attribute meets a selected criterion, transmit the generated messages, receive the messages transmitted by at least a group of field service units at a repeater unit placed in the region of interest, analyze the messages received from the group of field service units at the repeater unit and then transmit information relating to the received messages to the remote unit for further processing. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. |
| US08605544B1 |
Hybrid seismic sensor network
A system for monitoring seismicity during fluid injection at or near a hydrocarbon reservoir comprising: a first set of seismic sensors for deployment at a site for collecting seismic data; a second set of seismic sensors for sub-surface deployment at the site at a depth lower than the first set of seismic sensors for collecting seismic data, the first set of seismic sensors having a lower frequency response than that of the second set of seismic sensors; and a data collection system in communication with the first and second set of sensors. |
| US08605543B2 |
Method and apparatus for correcting the timing function in a nodal seismic data acquisition unit
A wireless seismic data acquisition unit with a wireless receiver providing access to a common remote time reference shared by a plurality of wireless seismic data acquisition units in a seismic system. The receiver is capable of replicating local version of remote time epoch to which a seismic sensor analog-to-digital converter is synchronized. The receiver is capable of replicating local version of remote common time reference for the purpose of time stamping local node events. The receiver is capable of being placed in a low power, non-operational state over periods of time during which the seismic data acquisition unit continues to record seismic data, thus conserving unit battery power. The system implements a method to correct the local time clock based on intermittent access to the common remote time reference. The method corrects the local time clock via a voltage controlled oscillator to account for environmentally induced timing errors. The invention further provides for a more stable method of correcting drift in the local time clock. |
| US08605541B2 |
Three-dimensional deghosting
The method presented accounts for three-dimensional effects when deghosting marine seismic data. The method relies on having second-order spatial derivatives in the cross-line direction available. The second-order cross-line derivative can be estimated directly or through indirect measurements of other wavefield quantities and by using wave-equation techniques to compute the desired term. The method preferably employs either a multicomponent streamer towed in the vicinity of the sea surface, a twin-streamer configuration near the sea-surface, or a configuration of three streamers that are separated either vertically or horizontally to estimate the second-order vertical derivative of pressure. |
| US08605539B2 |
Hardware-based data eye training for high speed links
Hardware-based methods and apparatus are provided for training high speed data links used in data transfer applications. A data valid window is calibrated on one or more high speed links by determining an offset delay value for at least one datapath using a finite state machine, wherein the offset delay value is based on a maximum offset delay value and a minimum offset delay value for the at least one datapath; and delaying a read data strobe signal based upon a base delay and the offset delay value for the at least one datapath. The offset delay value can be, for example, an average of the maximum offset delay and the minimum offset delay. The received pattern can be a predefined pattern or a programmable pattern. In addition, the received pattern can cover single-bit transitions and/or multi-bit transitions. |
| US08605534B2 |
Circuits, architectures, apparatuses, systems, algorithms, and methods for memory with multiple power supplies and/or multiple low power modes
Circuits, architectures, a system and methods for memories with multiple power supplies and/or multiple low power modes. The circuit generally includes peripheral circuitry operating at a first voltage, a memory array operating at a second voltage, and translation circuitry configured to receive an input from the peripheral circuitry at the first voltage and provide an output to the memory array at the second voltage, the translation circuitry further configured to prevent leakage during a standard operating mode of the memory. The method generally includes operating peripheral circuitry at a first voltage from a first power rail, operating a memory array at the first voltage or a second voltage, the memory array being coupled to a second power rail, coupling the first and second power rails during standard operating mode when the memory array operates at the first voltage, otherwise not coupling the first and second power rails, and reducing leakage in the memory array during a leakage reduction mode by reducing a voltage differential between a ground plane in the memory array and the second power rail. |
| US08605528B2 |
Sense amplifier having an isolated pre-charge architecture, a memory circuit incorporating such a sense amplifier and associated methods
Disclosed are a sense amplifier and a memory circuit that incorporates it. The amplifier comprises cross-coupled inverters, each with a pull-down transistor and a pull-up transistor connected in series. One inverter has a voltage-controlled switch controlling the electrical connection between drain nodes of the transistors. During a read operation, the pull-up transistor drain node is pre-charged high and the pull-down transistor drain node receives an input signal. The switch is tripped, thereby making the electrical connection only when the voltage at the pull-down transistor drain node is less than the switch's trip voltage. In this case, the sense node discharges to the same level as the input signal. Otherwise, the switch prevents the electrical connection and the sense node remains high. The trip voltage depends on a reference voltage, which can be variable, thereby allowing the sensitivity of the sense amplifier to be selectively adjusted. Also disclosed are associated methods. |
| US08605527B2 |
Mechanisms for built-in self test and repair for memory devices
Mechanisms for self-testing and self-repairing memories are efficient in testing and repairing failed memory cells. The self-test-repair mechanisms are based on self-test results of failed bit map (FBM) data of the entire memories and enable early determination of non-repairable memories to prevent and limit wasting time and resources on non-repairable memories. The self-test-repair mechanisms also involve identifying candidates for column and row repairs and allow repeated repair cycles until either the memories are deemed irreparable or are fully repaired. |
| US08605523B2 |
Tracking capacitive loads
A time delay is determined to cover a timing of a memory cell in a memory macro having a tracking circuit. Based on the time delay, a capacitance corresponding to the time delay is determined. A capacitor having the determined capacitance is utilized. The capacitor is coupled to a first data line of a tracking cell of the tracking circuit. A first transition of the first data line causes a first transition of a second data line of the memory cell. |
| US08605521B2 |
Sense amplifiers, memories, and apparatuses and methods for sensing a data state of a memory cell
Sense amplifiers, memories, and apparatuses and methods for sensing a data state of a memory cell are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a differential amplifier configured to amplify a voltage difference between voltages applied to first and second amplifier input nodes to provide an output. The example apparatus further includes first and second capacitances coupled to the first and second amplifier input nodes. A switch block coupled to the first and second capacitances is configured to couple during a first phase a reference input node to the first and second capacitances and to the first amplifier input node. The switch block is further configured to couple during the first phase an output of the amplifier to the second amplifier input node to establish a compensation condition. During a second phase, the switch block couples its input nodes to the first and second capacitances. |
| US08605519B2 |
Pump circuit and semiconductor memory device including the same
A pump circuit includes a plurality of clock control circuits configured to transfer a clock to respective output terminals in response to respective pump-off signals or block the clock from being transferred to the respective output terminals, a plurality of charge pumps configured to generate respective high voltages by performing respective pumping operations in response to respective clock signals of the output terminals, and a plurality of switching circuits configured to transfer the respective high voltages to a final output terminal in response to respective control signals. |
| US08605515B2 |
Memory devices and their operation with different sets of logical erase blocks
Methods of operating memory devices include storing data of a first type in a first set of logical erase blocks and storing data of a second type in a second set of logical erase blocks. The logical erase blocks of the first set of logical erase blocks each have a first size the logical erase blocks of the second set of logical erase blocks each have a second size different than the first size. |
| US08605510B2 |
Flash memory device and method of verifying the same including a compensated erase verify voltage
Provided are a flash memory device and a method of verifying the same. The flash memory device includes: a memory cell for storing data; a sense amplifier for reading information of the memory cell; a load current input device for providing a load current to the sense amplifier; and a control circuit for controlling the load current input device to provide a load current during a memory cell reading operation, verifying the memory cell by using a program verify voltage if the memory cell is a programmed memory cell, and verifying the memory cell by using a compensated erase verify voltage if the memory cell is an erased memory cell. |
| US08605504B2 |
Memory system
According to the embodiments, a memory system includes a nonvolatile semiconductor memory and a writing-loop-count monitoring unit that monitors a loop count of an applied voltage to the nonvolatile semiconductor memory required for data writing of the nonvolatile semiconductor memory as a writing loop count. Moreover, the memory system includes a management table for managing the writing loop count in block unit that is a unit of data erasing and a life managing unit that determines a degraded state of the nonvolatile semiconductor memory based on the management table. |
| US08605503B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprises a cell unit including a first and a second selection gate transistor and a memory string provided between the first and second selection gate transistors and composed of a plurality of serially connected electrically erasable programmable memory cells operative to store effective data; and a data write circuit operative to write data into the memory cell, wherein the number of program stages for at least one of memory cells on both ends of the memory string is lower than the number of program stages for other memory cells, and the data write circuit executes the first stage program to the memory cell having the number of program stages lower than the number of program stages for the other memory cells after the first stage program to the other memory cells. |
| US08605498B2 |
Reliable set operation for phase-change memory cell
A Phase-Change Memory (PCM) device and a method of writing data to the PCM device are described. The PCM device includes a multi-phase data storage cell having at least a Set state and a Reset state that may be established using a heater configured to heat the data storage cell. A memory interface may be coupled with the heater configured to write data to the data storage cell, the data being represented by the Set or the Reset states. A write Reset pulse is used to place the data storage cell in the Reset state corresponding to a read value that is less than a read threshold. A write Set pulse that is a predetermined function of the write Reset pulse is used to place the data storage cell in the Set state. The PCM device may include additional intermediate states that enable each data storage cell to store two or more bits of information. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. |
| US08605497B2 |
Parallel programming scheme in multi-bit phase change memory
A system, a method for parallel programming multiple bits of a phase change memory array for high bandwidth. The system and method includes parallel programming scheme wherein a common wordline (WL) is driven with a first pulse of one of: gradually increasing (RESET) or decreasing (SET) amplitudes which control current flow through one or more phase change memory cells associated with the WL. Simultaneously therewith, one or more bitlines (BLs) are driven with one or more second pulses, each second pulse more narrow than that of the first pulse applied to the WL. The starting time of the one or more second pulses may vary with each bitline driven at a time later than, but within the window of the wordline pulse to achieve a programming current suitable for achieving the corresponding memory cell state. |
| US08605493B2 |
Phase change memory
A phase change memory with an operating current that can be gradually increased or gradually decreased. The phase change memory has a phase change storage element, a transistor, and a control circuit. The transistor is operable to adjust the operating current flowing through the phase change storage element. The transistor has a first terminal coupled to a voltage source, a second terminal coupled to the phase change storage element, and a control terminal receiving a control signal from the control circuit. The control circuit is specially designed to limit the transistor in a linear region. |
| US08605492B2 |
Memory device, recording method, and recording and reproducing method
A memory device, includes a recording medium; a probe to write a plurality of the signals; a first driving portion to vibratory drive the recording medium; a detecting unit which, when the first driving portion changes a frequency to vibratory drive the recording medium, detects a change in an amplitude of the resonance drive, detects the frequency at which the amplitude becomes maximum as a resonance frequency; and a calculating unit which calculates a timing when the probe writes a plurality of the signals using the resonance frequency; wherein, the first driving portion vibratory drives the recording medium and the probe writes a plurality of the signals. |
| US08605490B2 |
Non-volatile SRAM cell that incorporates phase-change memory into a CMOS process
A SRAM cell having two cross-coupled inverters formed by CMOS technology and first and second chalcogenic elements integrated with the SRAM cell to add nonvolatile properties to the storage cell. The PCM resistors are programmed to the SET state and the RESET state, and upon power-up the SRAM cell takes on the data contained in the PCM cells. |
| US08605489B2 |
Enhanced data retention mode for dynamic memories
A memory device includes memory cells, each of the memory cells having corresponding bit and word lines connected thereto for accessing the memory cells, a word line circuit coupled with at least one word line, and a bit line circuit coupled with at least one bit line. The memory device further includes at least one control circuit coupled with the bit and word line circuits. The control circuit is operative to cause state information to be stored in the memory cells. At least one switching element selectively connects the memory cells, the bit and word line circuits, and the control circuit to at least one power supply as a function of at least one control signal. The control circuit generates the control signal for disconnecting at least portions of the word line and bit line circuits from the power supply while state information is retained in the memory cells. |
| US08605481B2 |
Crossbar array memory elements and related read methods
Apparatus and related fabrication and read methods are provided for crossbar memory elements. An exemplary crossbar memory element includes a crossbar array structure including a set of access lines, unswitched resistance elements coupled electrically in series between the set of access lines and a reference voltage node, and switched resistance elements coupled electrically in series between the first set of access lines and the reference voltage node. To read from a selected access line, the switched resistance element associated with that access line is enabled while the remaining switched resistance elements are disabled. |
| US08605478B2 |
Semiconductor device
In a sense circuit for DRAM memory cell a switch is provided between the bit line BL and local bit line LBL connected to the memory cells for isolation and coupling of these bit lines. The bit line BL is precharged to the voltage of VDL/2, while the local bit line LBL is precharged to the voltage of VDL. VDL is the maximum amplitude voltage of the bit line BL. A sense amplifier SA comprises a first circuit including a differential MOS pair having the gate connected to the bit line BL and a second circuit connected to the local bit line LBL for full amplitude amplification and for holding the data. When the bit line BL and local bit line LBL are capacitance-coupled via a capacitor, it is recommended to use a latch type sense amplifier SA connected to the local bit line LBL. |
| US08605477B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
To provide a semiconductor memory device storing data, in which a transistor whose leakage current between a source/drain in off state is small is used as a writing transistor. In a matrix of a memory unit formed of two memory cells, in each of which a drain of a writing transistor is connected to a gate of a reading transistor and one electrode of a capacitor, a gate of the writing transistor, and the other electrode of the capacitor in a first memory cell are connected to a first word line, and a second word line, respectively. In a second memory cell, a gate of the writing transistor, and the other electrode of the capacitor are connected to the second word line, and the first word line, respectively. Further, to increase the degree of integration, gates of the reading transistors of memory cells are disposed in a staggered configuration. |
| US08605476B2 |
Semiconductor device having hierarchical structured bit line
A sense operation with respect to simultaneously-accessed two memory cells is performed by time division by using two sense amplifiers, and thereafter restore operations are performed simultaneously. With this arrangement, it is not necessary to provide switches in the middle of global bit lines, and no problem occurs when performing the restore operation by time division. Further, because a parasitic CR model of a first sense amplifier and that of a second sense amplifier become mutually the same, high sensitivity can be maintained. |
| US08605475B2 |
Semiconductor memory device, method of controlling read preamble signal thereof, and data transmission system
A system, includes a controller including a plurality of first external terminals configured to supply a command, a clock signal and an address, and communicate a data, and communicate a strobe signal related to the data, and a semiconductor memory device including a plurality of second external terminals corresponding to the plurality of first external terminals, one of the plurality of first external terminals and one of the plurality of second external terminals transferring an information specifying a length of a preamble of the strobe signal before the semiconductor memory device communicates the data. |
| US08605474B2 |
Semiconductor memory device, method of controlling read preamble signal thereof, and data transmission system
A semiconductor memory device, includes a clock terminal provided to receive a clock signal, a data terminal provided to transfer a data therethrough in synchronization with the clock signal, a strobe terminal provided to be related in the data terminal and to transfer a strobe signal therethrough, a command terminal provided to receive a command that communicates the data with an outside thereof, and an address terminal provided to be supplied an information specifying a length of a preamble of the strobe signal from an outside of the semiconductor memory device, prior to communicating the data. |
| US08605473B2 |
Semiconductor memory device, method of controlling read preamble signal thereof, and data transmission system
A system, includes a controller comprising a plurality of first external terminals configured to supply a command and an address, and communicate a data, and communicate a strobe signal related to the data; and a semiconductor memory device including a plurality of second external terminals corresponding to the plurality of first external terminals, at least one of the plurality of first external terminals and at least one of the plurality of second external terminals each being capable of supplying an information specifying a length of a preamble of the strobe signal before the semiconductor memory device communicates the data between the controller and the semiconductor memory device, the semiconductor memory device further including a preamble register configured to be capable of storing the information. |
| US08605472B2 |
Buck-boost rectifier, refrigeration system including a buck-boost rectifier, and method of providing power to a refrigeration unit via a buck-boost rectifier
A buck/boost rectifier. The rectifier is connectable to an alternating current power source and includes an upper bus, a lower bus, an upper rectifier, a lower rectifier, a pulse-width-modulation (PWM) controller, a phase-angle (PA) controller, and a capacitor. The upper rectifier is coupled to the upper bus, and the lower rectifier is coupled in a series-type relationship with the upper rectifier and to the lower bus. The PWM controller is coupled to the lower rectifier and is configured to boost a direct current (DC) voltage output by the rectifier. The PA controller is coupled to the lower rectifier and is configured to buck the DC voltage output by the rectifier. The capacitor is coupled between the upper bus and the lower bus. |
| US08605468B2 |
Switching power supply and image forming apparatus with EMF reduction of the current sense circuit
In a switching power supply, a current detection resistor is connected to a switching unit to detect a current flowing through the switching unit. A diode is connected in parallel to the current detection resistor to reduce heat generated in the switching unit by back electromotive force generated by an inductance component of the current detection resistor. |
| US08605465B2 |
Methods of controlling a synchronous rectifier
Consistent with an example embodiment, there is a method of controlling a synchronous rectifier having an input signal having oscillations therein and a switch which is switchable between an open state and a closed state. The method comprises filtering the input signal to produce a filtered signal, comparing the filtered signal with a reference value, and opening the switch in response to the comparison, in which the filtering is active filtering.The active filtering may be based on determination of the peaks (positive and/or negative) of the signal, either directly, including a quarter period offset, or including decay—or a combination of the above; alternatively, the active filtering may be based on the a smoothing functions such as a switched low-pass filter or a short time integrator. |
| US08605462B2 |
Switching circuit for primary-side regulated resonant power converters
The present invention provides a switching circuit to regulate an output voltage and a maximum output current at the primary side of a resonant power converter. The switching circuit includes a pair of switching devices and a controller. The controller is coupled to a transformer to sample a voltage signal thereof and generates switching signals to control the switching devices. The switching frequency of the switching signals is increased in response to the decrease of the output voltage. The increase of the switching frequency of the switching signals decreases the power delivered to the output of the resonant power converter. The output current is therefore regulated. |
| US08605461B2 |
Phase current detection device and power conversion device using the same
A control section which repeats inverter control in units of an inverter control period having a predetermined length is provided. In the control section, a phase current detection period in which a phase current is detected is provided between predetermined two inverter control periods, each of switching states of switching elements of a inverter circuit is controlled so that a voltage pulse having a larger width than a width of a voltage pulse in the inverter control period is output from a shunt resistor in the phase current detection period. |
| US08605460B2 |
Method for starting up DC-DC converter
Aspects of the invention provide a method for starting up a DC-DC converter by which an output voltage can be prevented from overshooting and body diodes of switching devices can be prevented from reverse recovery. In the start-up method, the phases of gate signals of third and fourth switching devices are gradually shifted relative to the phases of gate signals of first and second switching devices. With increase of the phase shift, a voltage on a primary side of a transformer is also increased, and an output voltage is also increased. |
| US08605459B2 |
Stackable cable tray
A cable tray is provided comprising a housing defining an interior portion, the housing having at least one positioned opening formed therein and also having plural, open ends in communication with the interior portion and the at least one positioned opening for passage of at least one cable therethrough. The housing is adapted to be coupled to at least one external surface, such that at least one of the plural, open ends substantially aligns with at least one open end of a housing of at least one further cable tray. |
| US08605457B2 |
Antenna for wireless utility meters
An integrated antenna and electromagnetic (EM) noise shield apparatus for use with a radio frequency communicating device and EM noise generating electronic equipment housed within a generally cylindrical outer glass enclosure or bezel of wireless utility meter. A flexible printed circuit (PC) board has an upper region and a lower ground plane region. A radiating element is defined on the PC board in the upper region. A metal ground plane component has a first portion having the shape of a circle segment and a second orthogonal portion. The ground plane component is mechanically fixed and electrically connected to the ground plane region of the PC board, with the orthogonal second portion being proximate to and shielding the radiating element. The ground plane component and the ground plane portion of the PC board define an electromagnetic shield for electromagnetic emissions between EM noise generating electronic equipment housed within said outer bezel and the radiating element. |
| US08605452B2 |
Chip card holding mechanism and portable electronic device
A chip card holding mechanism includes a bracket, an unlock member and a tray. The bracket defines a receiving chamber. The unlock member is assembled adjacent to the opening of the bracket. The movable tray is assembled to and received within the receiving chamber of the bracket by the unlock member. The tray includes a supporting portion for receiving a chip card, a draw-off portion formed on a first end of the supporting portion, and a resisting block formed on the draw-off portion. The unlock member includes a main portion and an ejecting portion formed on the main portion, the ejecting portion slidably resists against the corresponding resisting block of the tray, for providing an ejecting force to eject the tray away from the bracket. An electronic device using the chip card holding mechanism is also provided. |
| US08605450B2 |
In-vehicle electric storage device
An in-vehicle electric storage device includes: a battery block including a metal casing and battery cells; a control unit including a metal cabinet and a circuit board on which an electronic component is mounted, the control unit being on a top side of the battery block and monitoring a physical state of the battery cells; wherein the cabinet includes a case having a bottom plate and an open top surface and a cover closing the open top surface, the case has an internal boss protrudes toward inside of the case from a top side of the bottom plate and an external boss protrudes toward outside the case from a bottom side of the bottom plate, the circuit board is on a top side of the internal boss, and a top side of the casing is provided with a depressed portion in which the external boss is accommodated. |
| US08605448B2 |
Printed wiring board
A printed wiring board includes a bridge located in a surface layer, a noise absorber located on the bridge, a plurality of grounds directly connected or high-frequency-connected to the bridge, a first device using one of the plurality of grounds as a reference potential, a second device using one of the plurality of grounds other than the ground for the first device as a reference potential, and a high-speed signal line that connects the first device and the second device. The high-speed signal line is routed through a layer adjacent to the bridge in a layer direction of the printed wiring board to form a transmission line structure. |
| US08605447B2 |
Printed circuit board assembly
A mounting apparatus for a printed circuit board includes an enclosure and a tray. The enclosure includes a bottom wall and a side wall extending from the bottom wall. The side wall is substantially perpendicular to the bottom wall. The tray includes a bottom panel substantially parallel to the bottom wall and a side panel substantially perpendicular to the bottom panel. The bottom panel is configured to secure the printed circuit board, and the side panel contacts and is mounted to the side wall. |
| US08605446B2 |
Electronic apparatus
According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a housing, a board in the housing, a pad on the board, and a component. The pad includes a first portion and a second portion. The second portion includes a protrusion toward the first portion. The component includes a first electrode connected to the first portion and a second electrode connected to the second portion. |
| US08605436B2 |
Outdoor display apparatus
The outdoor display apparatus has a display unit, a blowing unit which generates air along the display unit, and a channel part which emits the air passed the display unit, wherein the channel part is extended to the lower part of the displaying unit from its side part, and at least a portion of the channel part is laid underground. |
| US08605435B1 |
Data frame hot/cold isle baffle system
A data room air circulation system has adjacent racks located. The racks have a front, a rear, and a first and second side. A computer system component is mounted in at least one of the racks. A cold aisle, containing cold air, is located at the front of the racks. As the cold air passes through the component, hot air is formed and discharged to a hot aisle located at the rear of the racks. A baffle, having a front end, a rear end, and a hot air side is located between the racks. The front baffle end is attached to the front of one of the racks, and the rear end is attached to the rear of the other of the racks. The baffle separates the cold aisle from the hot aisle for at least the height of the baffle. |
| US08605431B2 |
Support and electronic device employing same
A support is provided for supporting an electronic device on a supporting surface. The support includes a shell configured to receive the electronic device, a frame rotatably connected to the shell, and two adjusting arms. Top ends of the two adjusting arms and two opposite sides of the shell are configured such that the top ends of the two adjusting arms are slidable along longitudinal directions of the two opposite sides of the shell when a user applies force to the support, and further configured for holding the top ends of the two adjusting arms in stationary positions relative to the two opposite sides of the shell when the user does not apply force to the support. Opposite ends of the two adjusting arms are rotatably connected to the frame. |
| US08605428B2 |
Apparatus, system and method for concealed venting thermal solution
Some embodiments of an apparatus, system and method are described for a concealed venting thermal solution. An apparatus may comprise an enclosure arranged around one or more heat generating components, a duct arranged around an internal perimeter of the enclosure and a seam inlet arranged around an external perimeter of the enclosure to allow an airflow to enter the duct. Other embodiments are described. |
| US08605427B2 |
Heat dissipation device utilizing fan duct
A heat dissipation device includes a heat sink and a fan duct. The fan duct includes a cover and a baffle. The cover includes a top plate, a first sidewall and a second sidewall respectively extending from opposite sides of the top plate. The baffle is located between the first sidewall and the second sidewall of the cover and pivotally contacts the first and second sidewalls. The baffle forms an angle with the top plate and is rotatable relative to the first and second sidewalls to adjust the angle between the baffle and the top plate. |
| US08605424B2 |
Media drive unseating mechanism
An assembly configured for attachment to a media drive can include a base with a hinge end and a hinge axis and a handle with a hinge end, a locking tab and a swing end where the handle is configured for a locked orientation with respect to the base with the hinge end of the base extending outwardly beyond the hinge end of the handle and configured for an unlocked orientation with respect to the base with the hinge end of the base extending outwardly beyond the hinge end of the handle. Various other apparatuses, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed. |
| US08605423B2 |
Computing device with disk drive module
A computing device includes a chassis, a motherboard, a mounting plate, and a disk drive module attached to the mounting plate. The chassis includes a base panel and a pair of side panels connected to opposite sides of the base panel. The motherboard is mounted on the base panel. The mounting plate is secured to the pair of side panels and is inclined at an angle relative to the base panel. The disk drive module is inclined at the same angle as the mounting plate. At least one expansion card is attached substantially perpendicular to the motherboard. The disk drive module includes a first end and a second end opposite to the first end. The first end is located higher than a top edge of the at least one expansion card. The second end is located lower than the at least one the expansion card. |
| US08605420B2 |
Hinge module and portable electronic device using the same
A hinge module and a portable electronic device using the same are provided. The hinge module includes a hinge body, a protruding portion, a column and a sleeve. The protruding portion is coupled to and protrudes from the hinge body. The column is coupled to and protrudes from the protruding portion. The sleeve has a connecting portion and a threaded stud portion which are connected together. The connecting portion has a receiving tank and a helix groove which are connected together. The protruding portion is disposed in the receiving tank. The column is disposed in and slides in the helix groove. When the column slides along the helix groove, the sleeve is rotated with respect to the protruding portion. |
| US08605416B2 |
Bag computer two part display panel
Disclosed is an improvement to the bag computer of application Ser. No. 11/796,920. The bag computer has a pivoting display panel near its top front which can store against the bag front or pivot into the line of sight of the bag computer wearer/operator. The display panel may have controls on the side opposite the display. To gain advantage through multiple components, the display panel may be divided into a front portion with display and back portion with controls. Ways to divide and assemble these display panel components are described and include: 1) direct attachment between the two portions with one portion connecting to the bag; 2) a fastening frame attaching the two portions with one portion connecting to the bag; 3) an attachment frame which connects to the bag and accepts the two portions. |
| US08605415B2 |
Bag computer display panel support assembly
Disclosed is a pivoting computer equipment mount (PCEM) designed to pivotally hold a display panel to the outside of the bag. In particular, the PCEM is able to temporarily hold various angular positions relative to the bag front without the operator using his hands. The PCEM includes a free section which suspends the display panel while an extension of the display panel toward the bag front acts as a lever to hold the display panel in a desired angular position. The free section may be made of flexible fabric or may be rigid with hinged connections to the bag and to the display panel. There may be one sheet-like free section or there may be column-like free sections to the right and left of the display panel connection to the bag. In this latter case, the extension of the display panel may be eliminated. |
| US08605413B2 |
Electronic device housing and manufacturing method thereof
An electronic device housing includes a bottom housing, a support plate, a display panel, and a side frame. The support frame is welded in the bottom housing. The display panel is positioned on the support plate. The side frame is connected to a top edge of the bottom housing, such that the display panel is sandwiched between the support plate and the side frame. A manufacturing method for an electronic device housing is also provided. |
| US08605412B2 |
Gas insulated switchgear
A gas insulated switchgear is configured including phase-A, phase-B, and phase-C breaker units. For example, the phase-A breaker unit includes breakers connected in series in a horizontal first direction, disconnectors annexed on the breaker, disconnectors annexed on a breaker, and disconnectors annexed on a breaker. The disconnector is connected to a main bus that extends in the first direction, and the disconnector is connected to a main bus that extends in the first direction. Each of the disconnectors on the breakers is arranged while a longitudinal direction thereof is set to a second direction orthogonal to the first direction so that a switching direction of the disconnector is equal to the second direction. Thereby, the length of the main buses can be shortened, and an interphase distance and a breaker-to-breaker distance can be reduced. |
| US08605410B2 |
Thin-film capacitor and manufacturing method thereof
To provide a thin-film capacitor capable of improving the stability of electric connection between an internal electrode layer and a connection electrode. The thin-film capacitor comprises: two or more dielectric layers deposited above a base electrode; an internal electrode layer being deposited between the dielectric layers and having a projecting portion which projects from the dielectric layer when seen from a laminating direction; and a connection electrode electrically connected to the internal electrode layer via at least a part of a surface and an end face of the internal electrode layer included in the projecting portion, wherein a ratio L/t between a projection amount L of the projecting portion of the internal electrode layer with respect to the dielectric layer and a thickness t of the internal electrode layer is 0.5 to 120. |
| US08605408B2 |
Power semiconductor device for igniter
A power semiconductor device for an igniter comprises: a first semiconductor switching device; and an integrated circuit, wherein the integrated circuit includes: a second semiconductor switching device connected in parallel with the first semiconductor switching device and having a smaller current capacity than a current capacity of the first semiconductor switching device; a delay circuit delaying a control input signal so that the second semiconductor switching device is energized prior to the first semiconductor switching device; a third semiconductor switching device including a thyristor structure connected to a high voltage side main terminal of the second semiconductor switching device and being made conductive by a part of a main current flowing through the energized second semiconductor switching device; and a first excess voltage detection circuit stopping the first semiconductor switching device when voltage on the high voltage side main terminal is equal to or more than a predetermined voltage. |
| US08605404B2 |
Cascade electromagnetic pulse protection circuit for high frequency application
The present invention discloses a cascade EMP protection circuit, which comprises an LEMP protection circuit and a fast-response protection circuit, wherein a symmetric capacitive varactor element is cascaded to the path of signal transmission. Thereby, the present invention can protect electronic devices against LEMP or EMP released by an electronic weapon (NEMP, HEMP, or PEMP). |
| US08605403B2 |
Thermal protection circuit and electronic device using the same
A thermal protection circuit to protect an electronic device from over-heat comprises a temperature sensor, a hysteresis comparator and a switch circuit. The temperature sensor senses internal temperature of the electronic device and output an internal temperature signal with voltage. The hysteresis comparator outputs a power-off signal when the voltage of the internal temperature signal is lower than a low voltage threshold representing an a determined temperature, or outputs a power-on signal when the voltage of the internal temperature signal is higher than a high voltage threshold representing a restarting temperature. The switch circuit stops transmitting power signals to the electronic device in response to the power-off signal, or continues to transmit the power signals to the electronic device in response to the power-on signal. |
| US08605400B2 |
Device for diverting surge currents or transient overvoltages
The subject matter of the invention is a device for diverting surge currents or transient overvoltages (1), with a switching stage (2) and a switching element (3). The switching stage (2) is so designed as to switch on the switching element (3) upon identification of an overvoltage or a surge current. The switching element (3) is a reversible semiconductor switching element, while the switch-on event is achieved by operating of the switching element (3) outside of the specified parameters. |
| US08605398B2 |
Electronic device with protection circuit
An electronic device comprises an application circuit; a first supply rail having a first electric potential; a second supply rail having a second electric potential different from the first electric potential; at least one terminal having a third electric potential, connected to the application circuit; and a protection circuit for protecting the application circuit from an injected current. The protection circuit comprises a first conductive line connected between the at least one terminal and the first supply rail, the first conductive line comprising a first switch having a first control input; and a first voltage amplifier circuit having a first input connected to the at least one terminal, a second input connected to the second supply rail and a first output connected to the first control input. |
| US08605395B1 |
Dual plug adapter and household high current apparatus
The adapter is a circuit that allows the combination of two plugs on a standard duplex receptacle to be connected to a single electrical load. Each plug's hot and neutral outputs are controlled by a single throw electrical switch that is actuated by it's control input being transversely wired in parallel to the other plug. This arrangement doubles the connection's surface contact area since four prongs are used instead of two, thereby lowering the electrical resistance and increasing the current capacity. It has circuit protective devices wired in series between the hot output of each plug and the input of it's corresponding electrical switch. The circuit will not power up if a short, open or miss wired condition is encountered. |
| US08605387B2 |
Thermally-assisted magnetic recording head including a magnetic pole and a heating element
A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head includes a magnetic pole and a heating element. The magnetic pole has a front end face located in a medium facing surface. The magnetic pole forms on a track a distribution of write magnetic field strength that peaks at a first position on the track. The heating element forms on the track a distribution of temperature that peaks at a second position on the track. The first position is located on the trailing side relative to the second position. The front end face of the magnetic pole has a main portion and first and second extended portions. The first and second extended portions are extended in the track width direction from the main portion at positions on the leading side relative to the center of the main portion in the direction of travel of a magnetic recording medium. |
| US08605385B1 |
Spindle motor and hard disc drive including the same
A spindle motor and a hard disc drive including the same are provided. The spindle motor including: a rotary member; and a fixed member rotatably supporting the rotary member by fluid dynamic pressure, wherein upper radial dynamic pressure generating grooves and lower radial dynamic pressure generating grooves are formed in at least one of surfaces of the rotary member and the fixed member facing each other in a radial direction, and thrust dynamic pressure generating grooves are formed in at least one of surfaces of the rotary member and the fixed member facing each other in an axial direction. In the thin spindle motor, a burden of slope rigidity may be transferred from the radial bearing to the thrust bearing so that the rotary member can have slope rigidity enough to be returned to its original position, when the rotary member is sloped to one side. |
| US08605383B1 |
Methods, devices and systems for characterizing polarities of piezoelectric (PZT) elements of a two PZT element microactuator
A method for characterizing polarities of piezoelectric (PZT) elements of a two-element PZT microactuator mechanically coupled to a structure may include calculating an impedance of the two PZT element microactuator over a predetermined frequency range; summing the calculated impedance over the predetermined frequency range; and characterizing the polarities of the PZT elements of the two PZT element microactuator as being different if the summed impedance is greater than a threshold value and as being the same if the summed impedance is less than or equal to the threshold value. |
| US08605382B1 |
Disk drive to load a head to a load/unload (LUL) zone of a disk
A disk drive to load a head to a load/unload (LUL) zone of a disk is disclosed. The disk drive comprises an actuator including a head; a disk having a plurality of tracks; and a processor to control the movement of the actuator and the head relative to the disk. The processor may further: measure a back electromagnetic force (BEMF) of a spindle stator of a spindle motor after turning off the spindle motor; identify a modulation feature of the BEMF that indicates an identifiable circumferential position; command the storage the modulation feature of the BEMF; and control loading the head onto the LUL zone of the disk when the modulation feature is matched. |
| US08605376B2 |
Motor having pulse mode and brushless mode, and control method and apparatus of the motor
A motor includes a rotor having a magnet, a stator having two coils, and a controller configured to control excitations of the two coils. The stator includes first and second yokes excited by the coils, and first and second rotor detectors configured to detect a magnetic flux. The first yoke is arranged for each electric angle of 360°, and the second yoke shifts from the first yoke by an electric angle of 90°. The first rotor position detector is arranged at the same position as the first yoke. The controller generates an excitation switching signal for each coil based on detection signals from the first and second rotor position detectors, and excites a corresponding coil, and obtains first and second delay angles. |
| US08605375B2 |
Mounting flexure contacts
A device may comprise a flexure formed of a first semiconductor material. A first trench may be formed in the flexure. The first trench may separate the first semiconductor material into a first portion and a second portion thereof. An oxide layer may be formed in the first trench. The oxide layer may extend over a top portion of the first semiconductor material. A second semiconductor material may be formed on the oxide layer. The first trench and the oxide layer may cooperate to electrically isolate the first portion and the second portion from one another. |
| US08605374B2 |
High speed piezoelectric optical system with tunable focal length
A varifocal optical system includes a substantially circular membrane deposited on a substrate, and a ring-shaped PZT thin film deposited on the outer portion of the circular membrane. The membrane may be a MEMS-micromachined membrane, made of thermal oxide, polysilicon, ZrO2 and SiO2. The membrane is initially in a buckled state, and may function as a mirror or a lens. Application of an electric voltage between an inner and outer electrode on the piezoelectric thin film induces a lateral strain on the PZT thin film, thereby altering the curvature of the membrane, and thus its focal length. Focal length tuning speeds as high as 1 MHz have been demonstrated. Tuning ranges of several hundred microns have been attained. The varifocal optical system can be used in many applications that require rapid focal length tuning, such as optical switching, scanning confocal microscopy, and vibration compensation in optical storage disks. |
| US08605372B2 |
Voice coil motor and lens module including same
A voice coil motor includes a case, a moving barrel, magnetic elements, a lower plate, an elastic plate, a first and a second coil assemblies. The case includes an upper plate and a sidewall extending downward from peripheral edges of the upper plate. The upper plate and the sidewall cooperatively define a receiving room. The moving barrel is received in the receiving room. The magnetic elements are received in the receiving room and surround the moving barrel. The lower plate is positioned on one end of the sidewall The elastic plate is connected between the upper plate and the moving barrel or between the lower plate and the moving barrel. The first coil assembly includes pairs of coils. Each pair of the coils is opposite to each other and attached on the moving barrel. The second coil assembly is annular shaped and sleeved over the moving barrel. |
| US08605371B2 |
Miniature zoom lens
A Miniature zoom lens, in particular for use in mobile telephones, in which the zoom lens, as viewed from the object plane, has the following in the stated sequence: at least one negative first optical lens group, at least one negative second optical lens group, at least one positive third optical lens group, and at least one positive fourth optical lens group. The second, third, and fourth optical lens groups are configured in such a way that focusing is achieved solely by displacement of the fourth optical lens group, and during the focusing the positions of the second and third lens groups remain unchanged. |
| US08605370B2 |
Imaging lens, optical apparatus equipped therewith, and method for manufacturing imaging lens
An imaging lens, an optical apparatus equipped therewith, and a method for manufacturing the imaging lens are disclosed. An imaging lens consists of, in order from an object, a front group having negative power, and a rear group including a sub-lens group having negative power. At least a portion of the sub-lens group is movable in a direction including a component substantially perpendicular to an optical axis. The sub-lens group includes, in order from the object, a first negative component having negative power, a second negative component having negative power and a positive component having positive power. The shape of an air lens formed by the first negative component and the second negative component is a double convex shape. An antireflection coating is applied on at least one optical surface of the front group, and the antireflection coating including at least one layer formed by use of a wet process. |
| US08605368B2 |
Image capturing optical system
An image capturing optical system includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element and a fifth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface. The second lens element with negative refractive power has a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface. The third lens element has refractive power, wherein the surfaces of the third lens element are aspheric. The fourth lens element has positive refractive power, wherein the surfaces of the fourth lens element are aspheric. The fifth lens element with refractive power is made of plastic material, and has a concave image-side surface, wherein the surfaces of the fifth lens element are aspheric, and the fifth lens element has inflection points formed on at least one of the surfaces thereof. |
| US08605367B2 |
Optical lens assembly for imaging pickup
An optical lens assembly for imaging pickup, sequentially arranged from an object side to an image side, comprising: a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element and a fifth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface. The second lens element has negative refractive power. The third lens element with refractive power has bi-aspheric surfaces. The fourth lens element with positive refractive power has a concave object-side surface and a convex image-side surface and both being aspheric. The fifth lens element with negative refractive power has a concave image-side surface, bi-aspheric surfaces and at least one inflection point. Therefore, the optical lens assembly for imaging pickup satisfies conditions related to shorten the total length and to reduce the sensitivity for use in compact cameras and mobile phones with camera functionalities. |
| US08605366B2 |
Driver
A driver includes: a first member that holds a lens; a second member to which the first member is fixed; and drive means for driving the second member, wherein a portion in which at least part of the drive means is accommodated is provided in the side surface of the second member. |
| US08605364B2 |
Miniature zoom lens
A zoom lens of the present invention includes a first lens group, a second lens group, an aperture, a third lens group, a fourth lens group, and an image surface in sequence along an optical axis from an object side to an image side. The first lens group has positive refractive power, and includes at least two lenses. The second lens group has negative refractive power, and includes three lenses. The third lens group has positive refractive power, and includes at least two lenses. The fourth lens group has positive refractive power. The zoom lens is switched to a telephoto mode from a wide-angle mode by moving the first lens group toward the object side, moving the second lens group toward the image side, and moving the third lens group toward the object side. |
| US08605362B2 |
Zoom lens system, optical apparatus and method for manufacturing zoom lens system
A zoom lens system includes, in order from an object side: a first lens group having positive refractive power; a second lens group having negative refractive power; a third lens group having positive refractive power; a fourth lens group having negative refractive power; and a fifth lens group having positive refractive power. Upon zooming from a wide-angle end state to a telephoto end state, a position of the first lens group is fixed. At least a portion of any one of the lens groups is moved in a direction including a component perpendicular to an optical axis, and a given conditional expression is satisfied, thereby providing a zoom lens system capable of excellently suppressing variation in aberrations upon zooming and upon correcting an image blur, an optical apparatus including the zoom lens system, and a method for manufacturing the zoom lens system. |
| US08605358B2 |
Diffractive optical element, optical system, and optical apparatus
A diffractive optical element includes a first diffractive grating including a first grating surface and a first grating wall surface, a light shielding member disposed on the first grating wall surface, and a second diffractive grating including a second grating surface and a second grating wall surface, disposed so that the second grating surface contacts the first grating surface and the second grating wall surface contacts the light shielding member. An extinction coefficient k of a material that constitutes the light shielding member meets the expression of 0.001 |
| US08605357B2 |
Wavelength selective switch and optical transfer device
A wavelength selective switch includes a polarization controller to control a polarization controller configured to control a polarization plane of a first optical signal as wavelength-multiplexed light input through a first input port, and control a polarization plane of a second optical signal as wavelength-multiplexed light input through a second input port such that the polarization plane of the second optical signal is aligned in a direction perpendicular to the polarization plane of the first optical signal, a demultiplexer to demultiplex optical signals multiplexed in the first and the second optical signals, a polarization separator to separate, an optical collector to collect the optical signals separated by the polarization separator, an optical signal reflector to reflect each of the optical signals collected by the optical collector; and a reflection controller to control the optical signal reflector in accordance with an incident position of the optical signal. |
| US08605356B2 |
Window for year-round solar energy conservation
A window for energy conservation in all seasons and a method of energy conservation using the window are described. The window operates as solar energy collector in winter and solar energy reflector in summer without using energy consuming devices such as pumps or fans. The window includes an optically transparent first component and a partially reflecting partially absorbing second component that is disposed close and parallel to the first component. The lateral separation between the first and second component can be changed from a smaller separation between the parallel first and second components to cool the room to a greater separation between the parallel first and second components to heat the room. |
| US08605349B2 |
Large area surveillance scanning optical system
An optical scanning system includes a frame having a central axis along which is mounted a first elevation mirror for receiving an incident light and reflecting the incident light along a first optical path, a telescope for receiving the reflected incident light and outputting an output light, a visible linear array imager for receiving the output light from the telescope, and a folding mirror positioned to receive part of the output light from the telescope and directing it to a linear array infrared imager. The optical scanning system scans large areas of sky using multiple linear sensors in order to detect, identify and track low and slow flying manned and unmanned aircraft as well as to surveil large areas of terrain. |
| US08605347B2 |
Image reading apparatus with shading correction
An image reading apparatus which performs shading correction using black reference data, wherein in the process of obtaining the black reference data, the image reading apparatus includes a reading control section that outputs a shift pulse which is the start timing of charge accumulation corresponding to each RGB color and controls the process of lighting of the light source of a predetermined color for a predetermined period after a predetermined period having elapsed since the output of each shift pulse, and a data processing section that does not obtain the data output from the image sensor as the black reference data according to the shift pulse and obtains the data output from the image sensor as the black reference data during a period that at least overlaps with the lighting period. |
| US08605345B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method and computer program product
A color determination unit divides an original image input from an image scanning unit into blocks, and determines whether or not each block is a color image area. The color determination unit determines whether the original is in color or monochrome in each of a plurality of set areas on the basis of the result of determination on the blocks included in that area. |
| US08605343B2 |
Automatic document feeder, method of transporting document, and image reading apparatus
According to the embodiment, an automatic document feeder includes a first transport unit which transports a document fed from a document tray to a reading portion in a first direction after turning over the document, and a second transport unit which transports the document fed from the document tray to the reading portion in a second direction and transports the document passed through the reading portion to the reading portion in the first direction after turning over the document. When an image on one side of the document is read, the document is sorted to be transported to the first transport unit, and when images on both sides of the document are read, the document is sorted to be transported to the second transport unit. |
| US08605342B2 |
Image reading apparatus
An image reading apparatus may include a main unit, a cover unit, an openable unit, and a conductive member. The cover unit is pivotable relative to the main unit, and includes a metal frame and a reading device configured to read an image of a document conveyed through an upper path of a U-shaped conveying path. The openable unit is pivotable relative to the cover unit, and includes a document pressing member configured to face the reading device when the openable unit is closed relative to the cover unit. The conductive member is configured to electrically connect the metal frame and the document pressing member. |
| US08605340B2 |
Scanner
A scanner for an electronic device having image display functionality includes lower and upper housings, a scan unit, and an adaptor. The lower housing is formed on opposite sides with a paper inlet and a paper outlet. The upper housing is mounted on the lower housing, and includes a main body provided with a terminal hole, and a support member disposed proximate to the terminal hole and to abut against the electronic device when the electronic device is connected to the scanner. The scan unit includes a scan module disposed between the lower and upper housings, a control module coupled to the scan module, and a connecting terminal coupled to the control module and accessible via the terminal hole. The adaptor is removably mounted to the connecting terminal so as to permit direct electrical connection between the scanner and the electronic device. |
| US08605339B2 |
Optical reading device, control method for an optical reading device, and storage medium
An optical reading device, a control method for an optical reading device, and a program for directing execution of the method each enables efficient and quick transmission of digital image data obtained from reading a document to a host computer or other control device. A dot impact printer having an optical reading device that optically reads documents and stores the resulting digitized image data, sets target reading areas, and transmits digital image data stored in a scan buffer rendered in a RAM to the host computer. When multiple target areas are set, the transmission order of the target areas is determined according to specific conditions, and the target areas are transmitted according to this transmission sequence. |
| US08605338B2 |
User feedback via see through platen overlay
A printing system and apparatus assembly that incorporates a transparent platen for supporting and scanning a first image therethrough. The transparent platen includes a translucent display layer having an array of light devices that comprise organic light emitting diodes. A user interface of the system is coupled to the transparent platen with a processor. Based on input and/or data provided at the user interface, an image is displayed through the platen with the display layer. |
| US08605337B2 |
Image scanning device
An image scanning device has first and second image scanning units to scan an image on the front and rear surfaces of a document to sequentially output image data on a line-by-line basis. A determining unit determines whether or not the number of lines of the front image is greater than or equal to a predetermined number, and whether or not the number of lines of the rear image is greater than or equal to the predetermined number. A processing unit reads out the front and rear image data on a line-by-line basis for the predetermined number of lines and performs image-processing on the readout data if the number of lines of the front image data is greater than or equal to the predetermined number and performs image-processing on the readout data if the number of lines of the rear image data is greater than or equal to the predetermined number. |
| US08605335B2 |
Image processing device having scanned-document distributed-transmission capability
An image processing device, such as multifunction peripheral, includes a reading section, a judging section and a transmission section. The reading section reads an image on each of a plurality of objects and outputs a plurality of pieces of image data. Each piece of image data represents the image on each of the plurality of objects. The judging section judges whether each piece of image data meets a predetermined criterion. The transmission section transmits one or more pieces of image data that are judged by the judging section to meet the predetermined criterion to a predetermined destination set in relation with the criterion. |
| US08605333B2 |
Depositing texture on receiver
Apparatus for depositing a texture on a receiver includes a data source that provides multilevel input tint data values. A lossy compressor produces compressed multilevel tint data values from the multilevel input tint data values. A decompressor produces multilevel decompressed tint data values from the compressed multilevel tint data values. A texture memory receives those values from the decompressor and provides corresponding multilevel texture pixel data values. A print engine deposits at each of a plurality of pixel sites on the receiver an amount of texture-forming material corresponding to the respective multilevel texture pixel data value. A loader loads into the texture memory a texture set including multilevel texture pixel data values for each of a plurality of textures, and each texture in the texture set corresponds to a respective selected range of multilevel decompressed tint data value. |
| US08605332B2 |
Image processing method and apparatus
An image processing method (300) for converting an original image (601) into a final, pixelated image (610) suitable for printing on a printer arranged to print two-tone images and capable of printing partial area exposed pixels, comprises antialiasing (301) the original image (601) into an intermediate pixelated image (605) comprising greyscale pixels having assigned greyscale values. The method comprises the further-step, of translating (302) the intermediate image (605) into the final, pixelated image (610) by translating the assigned greyscale values into partial exposure values indicative of the amount of desired pixel area for a corresponding pixel or pixels in the final image. |
| US08605330B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method for converting multivalue image data into multivalue image data corresponding to relative movements
An image processing apparatus and an image processing method are provided which, when forming an image using a plurality of different sizes of dots, can produce a satisfactory image free from problematical levels of density unevenness, graininess and insufficient density with any of these dot sizes. To this end, when printing on pixel areas of a print medium by a plurality of relative movements between the printing unit and the print medium, the dot overlap rate of a dot size that tends to show density unevenness is set higher than that of a dot size that tends to show other image impairments more conspicuously than the density unevenness. This results in a satisfactory image that eliminates such image impairments as density unevenness, graininess and density insufficiency in the entire grayscale range. |
| US08605329B2 |
CMYK color conversion using iterative coordinate revision
Systems and methods for color conversion from one CMYK color space to another CMYK color space. The system receives a color defined by a first coordinate in the first CMYK color space. The system converts the color to a second coordinate for the second CMYK color space, and determines a location in a perceptual color space for each of the first coordinate and the second coordinate. The system further identifies a distance between the locations in the perceptual color space, and reduces the distance in the perceptual color space between the two locations by iteratively revising the second coordinate in the second CMYK color space while holding the black level of the second coordinate constant. |
| US08605325B2 |
Device, method, and computer readable medium for inserting a user selected thumbnail into an image file
There is provided an image processing device, comprising: an input unit configured to accept a user instruction to designate first image data; and an image addition unit configured to add the first image data corresponding to the user instruction to second image data, as a thumbnail for the second image data. |
| US08605320B2 |
Method for setting storage time for print jobs and memory management in printing apparatus
A printing apparatus includes: a receiving section which receives a print data from the external apparatus; a storage section in which the print data received by the receiving section is stored; an input section which receives from a user a print instruction for printing based on the print data stored in the storage section; a print section which performs the printing of the image on the recording medium based on the print data stored in the storage section in a case that the input section receives the print instruction from the user; and a controller which controls the storage section and which calculates and sets for the print data stored in the storage section a storage time-period within which the print data is storable in the storage section. |
| US08605318B2 |
Print system, relay apparatus, print server, and print method
A relay apparatus in a print system in which a print server, the relay apparatus, and a plurality of print apparatuses are connected to a network, and which performs print processing, comprises: a search unit configured to search for a print apparatus with which the relay apparatus can communicate; a sending unit configured to send, to the print server, pieces of information of the relay apparatus and the print apparatus found by the search unit; and a relay unit configured to receive a print instruction that is issued by the print server and includes location information of document data to be printed and information of a print apparatus used to perform print processing, to download the document data based on the location information included in the print instruction, and to send both the print instruction and the downloaded document data to the print apparatus designated by the print instruction. |
| US08605317B2 |
Information distributing apparatus, information processing apparatus, and computer program
An information distributing apparatus obtains a serial number input from the image forming apparatus and information regarding an apparatus connected to the image forming apparatus. The information distributing apparatus determines permission or inhibition of distribution with respect to each program specified by the serial number. |
| US08605313B2 |
Communication system, communication device, and computer readable storage media for information displaying device and for the communication device
A communication system including a communication device, and a plurality of information displaying devices capable of receiving status information of a communication device is provided. Each information displaying device includes a first judging unit to judge whether the received status information includes error settling information, a first display unit to display the error information and an operable image when the judgment is made that the received status information lacks the error settling information, a first transmitter to transmit error settling information to the communication device in response to an operation to the operable image, and a display restrictor to restrict the error information from being displayed when judgment is made that the received status information includes the error settling information. The communication device includes a second transmitter to transmit at least the error information, and additionally with the error setting information. |
| US08605311B2 |
Methods and systems for providing device specific print options to remote printing services
Systems and methods are disclosed for enabling remote printing services to consistently obtain and utilize print capabilities of printing devices across a wide variety of connection topologies. A client device retrieves the print capabilities from one or more printing devices selected for printing a document. The document and the print capabilities are transmitted to a web print service for rending the document. The web print service generates a print job based on the document and the print capabilities of the printing device selected for printing the document. The web print service provides the print job to the selected printing device for subsequent printing. |
| US08605301B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing system, and computer program product
An image processing apparatus includes a reading unit, an acquiring unit, a transmission control unit, and a printing control unit. The reading unit reads images of multiple pages of originals. The acquiring unit acquires device information from connected child devices. The transmission control unit determines a child device which takes charge of part of a printing process of the read images and images to be transmitted to the child device based on the acquired device information, and transmits the determined images to the determined child device. The printing control unit determines printing order according to the acquired device information, and transmits an instruction to print the images in the determined printing order to the child device. |
| US08605295B2 |
Optical reflector having semi-reflective blades for a position detection device for a helmet, and helmet comprising such a device
The general field of the invention is that of optical position/orientation devices for a helmet and more particularly those whose helmet comprises neither emitters, nor receivers but solely passive optical components, detection of which is ensured by fixed opto-electronic means outside the helmet. The optical component for the optical device for detecting position/orientation of a helmet according to the invention comprises a particular “optical cube corner”. It comprises a prism in the form of a trirectangular trihedron, each of the three plane surfaces of the trihedron comprising a blade with plane and mutually parallel faces, the first face being coincident with the plane surface on which it rests, the interface between this first face and said surface comprising a semi-reflecting treatment. |
| US08605293B2 |
Position sensor
A position sensor for detecting a position of a movably arranged component with respect to its original position including a channel which is implemented to guide electromagnetic radiation and direct the same to the component, a detector, at least two back channels which are implemented to receive the electromagnetic radiation reflected by the device and direct the same to the detector, wherein the channel and the at least two back channels are arranged with respect to each other such that the at least two back channels each receive a predefined portion of the electromagnetic radiation reflected by the component. |
| US08605292B2 |
Method and device for cleaning an optical position measurement system for substrates in a coating installation
A method and device are provided for cleaning of an optical position measurement system in a coating installation. The optical position measurement system includes a cantilever, and a sensor head having a radiation inlet and/or outlet for the reception and/or emission of an optical signal, at a free end of the cantilever. For tempering of the sensor head, a local thermoregulation is applied using a heater and/or cooling device for heating and/or cooling of the sensor head depending on thermal conductivity of material of at least the sensor head and depending on secondary heat in the coating installation. |
| US08605291B2 |
Image correlation displacement sensor
An image correlation displacement sensor is provided for measuring yaw rotation relative to a target surface using a simple configuration compatible with a fast measurement sample rate. The image correlation displacement sensor may include: an illumination portion (130) which emits illumination light to the target surface to produce a speckle field; an imaging portion (240) which captures a plurality of images including the speckle fields produced on the target surface; and a processing portion (200) which measures a displacement including a rotation about a yaw axis of the target surface in accordance with first and second region translational displacements determined based on the plurality of images captured along the first optical path and the second optical path, and a known separation between the first and second regions. |
| US08605290B2 |
Precision measuring system
A non-invasive imaging and analysis method and system/apparatus suitable for non-invasive imaging and analysis of a target is disclosed. Targets include biological tissue structures or components; optical structures or components; electronic structures or components; or structures in general. A preferred embodiment of the invention provides a precision optical measuring module that modifies the spatial separation of multiple reference interference signals by adjusting the separation between a partial reflective element and a full mirror mounted on a piezo device and determining the distance between surfaces or structures within the target by simultaneously monitoring the magnitude of the separation between the partial reflective element and the full mirror and processing generated interference signals. Techniques for simultaneously monitoring the magnitude of the separation between the partial reflective element and the full mirror include conventional measurement techniques, such as, capacitive, optical, or strain techniques or alternatively the use of one or more etalons. Another embodiment of the invention provides a system and method of precisely measuring the position of a surface of interest. |
| US08605287B2 |
Extended range imaging
An imager that can provide separated images corresponding to differing depths in a sample is presented. In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, an imager can include a light source; a sample arm that receives light from the light source, directs the light to a sample, and captures light returning from the sample; a modulation source that provides different modulations corresponding to differing imaging depths in the sample; a detector system to receive the captured light from the sample with the different modulations; and a processor that receives signals from the detector system and separates a plurality of images corresponding with the differing image depths in the sample. |
| US08605286B2 |
Biaxial optical gyroscope
A biaxial optical gyroscope is provided, which realizes mode separation using the waveguide devices with different material, and the biaxial optical gyroscope includes: a surface Plasmon Polariton Y-type mode splitter (1), a Y waveguide integrated optical device (2), a Y waveguide integrated optical chip (3), a first polarization-maintaining fiber coil (41), a second polarization-maintaining fiber coil (42), directional couplers (51, 52) and detectors (61, 62), wherein the two output ends of the surface Plasmon Polariton Y-type mode splitter (1) are respectively connected to the Y waveguide integrated optical device (2) and the Y waveguide integrated optical chip (3), and the output ends of the Y waveguide integrated optical device (2) and the Y waveguide integrated optical chip (3) are respectively connected to the first polarization-maintaining fiber coil (41) and the second polarization-maintaining fiber coil (42). |
| US08605283B2 |
Apparatus and method for increasing collection efficiency in capillary based flowcytometry
In a particle analyzing apparatus including a capillary for passing through a fluid containing particles to be analyzed, an optical system is employed to collect fluorescent light emitted from particles or substances labeled to the particles with improved collection efficiency preserving resolution of the instrument. The optical system may include a first collection lens attached to the capillary and a first reflection element arranged adjacent to the first collection lens configured to reflect fluorescent light of one or more wavelengths. The optical system may include a second collection lens attached to the capillary and a second reflection element arranged adjacent to the second collection lens configured to reflect fluorescent light of one or more wavelengths. |
| US08605281B2 |
Probe having nano-fingers
A probe for use in a sensing application includes an elongate body having a first end and a free end, wherein the first end is to be attached to a support. The probe also includes a plurality of nano-fingers having respective bases and tips, wherein each of the plurality of nano-fingers is attached to the free end and is composed of a flexible material, and wherein the plurality of nano-fingers are collapsed toward each other such that the tips of the plurality of nano-fingers are substantially in contact with each other. |
| US08605280B2 |
Multimetallic nanoshells for monitoring chemical reactions
The invention relates to a multimetallic nanoshell sensor which comprises a core that is less conductive that a first metallic layer and having a catalytically active second metallic layer partially or completely surrounding the first metallic layer. The sensor can be used in any surface enhanced spectroscopic applications. |
| US08605279B2 |
Micro cuvette assembly and method for examining biological samples
Relates to a micro cuvette assembly (1), comprising a first partial plate (2) with one or more first cuvette surfaces (3) and a second partial plate (4) which is arrangeable relative to the first partial plate and has at least one or more second cuvette surfaces (5) which, in an active position of the micro cuvette assembly (1), are arranged in register plane-parallel to the first cuvette surfaces (3) and spaced apart by a distance (6), thus forming, in the active position of the micro cuvette assembly (1), one or more micro cuvettes (7) in which a liquid volume (8) applied previously to one of the cuvette surfaces (3,5) is held between these two cuvette surfaces (3,5). The micro cuvette assembly (1) according to the present invention is characterized in that each of the first cuvette surfaces (3) of the first partial plate (2) is formed individually and completely in each case by a surface of a transparent body (10) which is accomplished as a free beam optical element and arranged in each case in an opening (9) penetrating the first partial plate (2). Also disclosed is the use of this micro cuvette assembly (1) in the carrying-out of a method for examining biological samples. |
| US08605276B2 |
Enhanced defect scanning
One of the broader forms of the present disclosure involves a method of enhanced defect inspection. The method includes providing a substrate having defect particles and providing a fluid over the substrate and the defect particles, the fluid having a refractive index greater than air. The method further includes exposing the substrate and the defect particles to incident radiation through the fluid, and detecting, through the fluid, radiation reflected or scattered by the defect particles. |
| US08605274B2 |
Laser reference system
A method of operating a laser reference system orients a reference plane of laser light generated by a transmitter so compensation is made for rake angles between the first and second axes of the transmitter and first and second non-orthogonal alignment axes. The transmitter includes an optical system arranged to generate a laser beam, the optical system projecting said laser beam radially along a rotational arc defined about a central rotational axis, thereby substantially defining a reference plane of laser light, and a positioning arrangement, coupled to said optical system, for adjusting the angular orientation of the optical system with respect to a first transmitter axis and with respect to a second transmitter axis. Detectors are arranged to detect reception of the laser beam. |
| US08605267B2 |
Sensor for checking valuable documents
A value-document processing apparatus for documents of value, such as, e.g. bank notes, checks, etc. having a transport system and one or more sensors. The sensors have a sensor surface past which the bank notes are transported, where the sensor surface is provided with a plurality of elevations or depressions. Through the structured surface, the friction is decreased between the sensor surface and the transported document of value, so that the transport of the document of value is stabilized and the proneness to jamming is reduced. |
| US08605265B2 |
Optical detection process for detecting micron-sized objects in solution
An optical detection process relates to detecting micron- or submicron-sized particles or organisms by means of a contact imaging device, the particles or organisms being immersed in a liquid droplet and the detection being carried out by means of a matrix of photosensitive cells or photosites. The process includes one detection step or a succession of detection steps carried out while the liquid droplet is evaporating. The process may also include a detection step carried out after the liquid droplet has evaporated. The process allows a three-dimensional distribution of the particles or organisms in the initial unevaporated droplet to be reconstructed. |
| US08605261B2 |
Device and method for the determination of distance by means of light pulses
Methods and devices for the determination of distance by means of light pulses are disclosed. A light source emits light pulses with specified frequency. A detector receives reflected light pulses. A controller controls the light source and detector by means of signals. At least two timers are connected to the controller and the detector. When a light pulse is emitted by the light source, the controller generates a start signal triggering a time measurement by each of the at least two timers, in order, and beginning again from the start. Upon receiving a reflected light pulse, the detector generates a stop signal which stops the time measurement by the timer of the at least two timers, to which at that instant a measuring window is assigned by the controller. The device can be designed as a fiber-optic scanner. |
| US08605260B2 |
Range finder
A range finder includes a device for transmitting a laser beam and a device for receiving the laser echoes backscattered by a target, comprising a frontal optical system focusing the echoes on a detection zone which comprises at least one elementary detection zone associated with an individual detector with a large bandwidth, referred to as a temporal detector, and means for transporting the detection zone to the individual detector. An elementary zone is furthermore associated with a low-noise individual detector, referred to as a spatial detector, and the receive device furthermore comprises, connected to the transporting means, a switch suitable for associating said elementary detection zone with the temporal detector and with the spatial detector, alternately or in a static manner. |
| US08605255B2 |
Imaging optical system and projection exposure system including the same
An imaging optical system has a plurality of mirrors. These image an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. In the imaging optical system, the ratio of a maximum angle of incidence of imaging light) on reflection surfaces of the mirrors and an image-side numerical aperture of the imaging optical system is less than 33.8°. This can result in an imaging optical system which offers good conditions for a reflective coating of the mirror, with which a low reflection loss can be achieved for imaging light when passing through the imaging optical system, in particular even at wavelengths in the EUV range of less than 10 nm. |
| US08605254B2 |
Constrained optimization of lithographic source intensities under contingent requirements
A method for illuminating a mask to project a desired image pattern into a photoactive material is described. The method includes receiving an image pattern. Determining a relationship between source pixels in a set of source pixels to desired intensities at one or more points in the image pattern is performed. Linear constraints are imposed on a set of intensity values based on one or more contingent intensity condition. The contingent intensity conditions include integer variables specifying contingent constraints. The method includes determining values of the set of intensity values in accordance with the linear constraints, using a constrained optimization algorithm. The set of intensity values represents intensities of a set of source pixels. The set of intensity values are output. Apparatus and computer readable storage media are also described. |
| US08605250B2 |
Method and system for detecting particle contamination in an immersion lithography tool
In an immersion lithography tool, the status of the immersion hood surface may be estimated on the basis of an inline detection system that generates optical measurement data. For example, a digital imaging system may be implemented in order to obtain optical measurement data without requiring exposure of the interior of the lithography tool to ambient air. In other cases, other optical measurement techniques, such as FTIR and the like, may be applied. |
| US08605246B2 |
Liquid crystal display device wherein a first auxiliary spacer is in direct contact with a driver and a signal line and comprises a plurality of pattern structures spaced apart from each other
A liquid crystal display device includes first and second substrates spaced apart from each other, on which a display area and a non-display area are defined, a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and second substrates, a seal pattern in the non-display area between the first and second substrates, a driver in the non-display area on the first substrate, column spacers in the display area between the first and second substrates, and a first auxiliary spacer between the driver and the second substrate. |
| US08605245B2 |
Liquid crystal display panel and method of manufacturing the same
A liquid crystal display (LCD) panel and a method of manufacturing the same are provided, and the LCD panel comprises: a first substrate and a second substrate, which are assembled together to form a cell, in which liquid crystal; and spacers formed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The spacers comprise, at least, first-type spacers and second-type spacers, which are formed of different kinds of materials, the material for the first-type spacers has a thermal expansion coefficient lower than that of liquid crystal, the material for the second-type spacers has a thermal expansion coefficient higher than that of liquid crystal, and the first-type spacers and the second-type spacers are disposed in alternation. |
| US08605243B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device includes a pixel area surrounded and defined by a first drain line, a second drain line and a first gate line and a second drain line. The pixel area includes: a first pixel part having a plurality of line-like linear electrodes and extend in a first direction; a second pixel part having a plurality of line-like linear electrodes extend in a second direction; a boundary electrode that is formed in an area sandwiched between the first pixel part and the second pixel part, and has a side edge portion inclined in the first direction and a side edge portion inclined in the second direction; and a light-blocking film that is formed in superimposition on the boundary electrode, and has sides formed to extend along the side edge portions of the boundary electrode inclined in the first and second directions. |
| US08605241B2 |
Biaxial birefringent component, liquid crystal projector, and method for manufacturing biaxial birefringent component
A phase compensator having a biaxial birefringent component (40) is fabricated by oblique deposition of an inorganic material on a base plate (69). A polar angle of an evaporation path of the inorganic material is controlled in a predetermined angular range to a surface normal of the base plate (69). In the oblique deposition process, the base plate (69) is oscillated in a horizontal direction. The phase compensator is arranged such that its slow axis (L4) is perpendicular to a slow axis (L3) of tilt components (24a, 24b) in a liquid crystal panel (20), and that an index ellipsoid (41) is tilted in an opposite direction to a tilt direction of the tilt components (24a, 24b). |
| US08605236B2 |
Liquid crystal display apparatus having color filter with color connection on black matrix and method of manufacturing the same
An LCD apparatus and method of manufacturing the same is disclosed. The LCD apparatus includes a backlight; a first electrode and a second electrode disposed over the backlight; a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode; and a color filter unit including a first color filter, a second color filter, and a third color filter, disposed over the second electrode, where the first color filter includes a plurality of first regions and a plurality of first connection portions, each first connection portion connecting two adjacent first regions to each other, and the second color filter includes a plurality of second regions and a plurality of second connection portions, each second connection portion connecting two adjacent second regions to each other. |
| US08605234B2 |
Light guide, patterned light emitting diode device, illumination system and method of generating the light guide or patterned light emitting diode device
The invention relates to a light guide (10), a patterned light emitting diode device, to an illumination system (100) and to a method of generating a light guide and/or patterned light emitting diode device. The light guide comprising a light-emitting window (20), a rear wall (22) situated opposite said light-emitting window, edge walls (24) extending between the light-emitting window and the rear wall. The light guide further comprises a deformable substantially transparent layer (30) arranged between a light-reflective layer (40) and the rear wall of the light guide. The light-reflective layer comprises a pattern (42) constituted of local deformations (42A, 42B) of the light-reflective layer for scattering impinging light. |
| US08605233B2 |
Light guide panel for LCD back light unit and LCD back light unit thereby
A light guide plate for an LCD back light unit has a rear surface formed with a main prism portion including a plurality of prisms, and a front surface formed with a front-lens part including a plurality of optical members such as lenticular lenses or microlenses so as to improve visibility of a predetermined pattern of the main prism part, and a liquid crystal display device using the light guide plate. |
| US08605226B2 |
Projector
A projector is disclosed. The present invention relates to a projector that is able to radiate heat generated in a display device converting a video signal into a projected image. |
| US08605221B2 |
Determining key video snippets using selection criteria to form a video summary
A method for forming a video summary for a digital video having a time sequence of video frames, comprising using a processor to perform the steps of: determining a set of key video frames for the digital video; ranking the key video frames responsive to a predefined criterion; forming key video snippets corresponding to one or more highest-ranked key video frames according to a predefined set of criteria, including a criterion which specifies the total time duration for the video summary and a criterion which specifies the minimum time duration for each of the key video snippets; assembling the key video snippets to form a video summary; and storing a representation of the video summary in a processor-accessible memory. |
| US08605220B2 |
Generation of video transitions on an auxiliary bus using a video switcher
A mix-effects bank architecture of a video switcher having a plurality of video processing units; and an internal switcher routing matrix. The internal switcher routing matrix routing, a video source currently providing a video feed to an auxiliary output and a desired new source for the auxiliary output to a video processing unit that is not contributing towards video processing and routing an output of said video processing unit to said auxiliary output. The video processing unit that is not contributing towards video processing performs a transitional effect for the auxiliary output. |
| US08605218B2 |
Home audio video display device (AVDD) as sensor monitor
An audio video display device (AVDD) system includes a display, a processor controlling the display, and a computer readable storage medium accessible to the processor and programmed with instructions. The instructions cause the processor to establish communication with at least one sensor. The instructions then cause the processor to receive information from the sensor conforming to an application programming interface (API) provided by a manufacturer of the AVDD to an entity affiliated with the sensor, or sent from the AVDD to the sensor. Thereafter, the instructions cause the processor to present the information from the sensor on the display in accordance with the API. |
| US08605216B2 |
Digital broadcast receiver and method for processing caption thereof
A digital cable broadcast receiver and a method for automatically processing caption data of various standards and types, is disclosed. The digital broadcast receiver includes: a demultiplexer for dividing a received broadcast stream into video data, audio data, supplementary information; a controller for determining whether caption data included in the video data is digital caption data or analog caption data on the basis of caption information included in the supplementary information, and outputting a control signal according to a result of the determining; a digital caption decoder for extracting and decoding digital caption data from the video data according to the control signal; and an analog caption decoder for extracting and decoding analog caption data from the video data according to the control signal. |
| US08605215B2 |
Methods and apparatus for providing portable photographic images
Methods and apparatus for providing portable photographic images are described. The present invention includes a small, portable electronic display unit that may be placed within a wallet or purse. The display unit may include an input port for downloading digital images from a computer or digital camera. The display unit may also include one or more buttons to provide a user with the ability to select an image for display from a given set of digital images that have been stored in memory. The display unit may be preloaded with one or more digital images, or it may be configured to be loaded by a user. The digital images may, for example, include still digital photographs or short video clips that have been captured from a digital camera. |
| US08605208B2 |
Small form factor modules using wafer level optics with bottom cavity and flip-chip assembly
A disclosed method of manufacturing a camera module includes providing a stack of optical elements, providing an integrated circuit image capture device (ICD) having a top surface with an array of sensors, rigidly attaching the stack of optical elements to top surface of the image capture device, providing a substrate having an opening therethrough and a recess around said opening, and attaching the image capture device to the substrate such that edges of the image capture device are disposed in the recess and the stack of optical elements extends through the opening. The method further includes providing a second substrate (e.g., host PCB) and mounting the substrate on the second substrate to attach the camera module to the host device. Optionally, the substrate is mounted to the second substrate via a reflow solder process. |
| US08605207B2 |
Small industrial electronic imaging camera provided with external interface cable
A box-type camera housing having a four-piece structure which allows an external interface connector to be provided in an arbitrary face among five faces except a front face is configured by a lens mount, a board mount frame, a tri-face cover, and a connector metal bracket attached with an external interface connector. In addition, the camera functions are integrated by containing, in an imaging chamber in the camera housing, a control board for controlling a sensor substrate and a power supply board for controlling supply of an operation power for the sensor board and control board, in addition to a sensor board. |
| US08605206B2 |
Control apparatus, control method, imaging apparatus, program and imaging system
The present invention relates to a control apparatus, a control method, an imaging apparatus, a program, and an imaging system able to prevent cable wrapping, etc. which has a risk of occurring when rotating an imaging apparatus while a cable is connected in an imaging system which conducts automatic imaging operations by automatic composing and which is provided with an imaging apparatus and a motorized platform apparatus that rotatably drives the imaging apparatus, for example.It is determined whether or not a cable is connected to a cable port, and on the basis of the determination results, it is controlled such that the rotational angle range for a rotational driving unit is restricted. Thus, the above problem can be solved. |
| US08605205B2 |
Display as lighting for photos or video
A system and method are disclosed for using one or more displays as a lighting source to illuminate a field of view captured by an image capture device. An image capture engine may be provided for ensuring synchronization of the one or more displays with the image capture device so that the one or more displays may be illuminated concurrently with capturing the image by the image capture device. In one example, the image capture engine flashes the display to white light for capture of a single frame of image data. |
| US08605204B2 |
Image-pickup apparatus and method for adjusting tracking curves
The method includes a first adjusting step of adjusting a first tracking curve which has been set so as to keep an in-focus state between a position of a magnification-varying lens and a position of an image sensor, and a second adjusting step of adjusting a second tracking curve which has been set so as to keep the in-focus state between the position of the magnification-varying lens and a position of the focus lens for an object distance. The magnification-varying lens is moved in an optical axis direction during a variation of magnification. The image sensor generates an image signal by photoelectrically converting an optical image formed by an image-pickup optical system. The image-pickup optical system including the magnification-varying lens and a focus lens moved in the optical axis direction during focusing. |
| US08605199B2 |
Adjustment of imaging properties for an imaging assembly having light-field optics
Image capture using an image capture device which includes an imaging assembly having a spectral sensitivity tunable in accordance with a spectral capture mask and light-field optics for projecting a light-field of a scene onto the imaging assembly. A first spectral capture mask is applied to the imaging assembly and preview image data of a scene is captured under the first capture mask. A designation of a region of interest, and a designation of a capture preference in the region of interest are received. A second spectral capture mask is calculated by calculations which use the preview image data and the capture preference for the region of interest. The second spectral capture mask is applied to the imaging assembly, and light-field image data of the scene is captured under the second spectral capture mask. |
| US08605198B2 |
Imaging device
An imaging device for an imaging apparatus adapted to image an object through an image formation lens includes: a light receiving section having a plurality of light receiving elements; a microlens section having a plurality of microlenses respectively provided corresponding to a plurality of the light receiving elements to make the corresponding light receiving elements receive an object light beam that passed through the image formation lens; a control section adapted to control shapes of the plurality of the microlenses so as to control pupil regions in an exit pupil of the image formation lens that pass a light beam that should be received by each of the plurality of the light receiving elements; and an image signal generation section adapted to generate an image signal of an image of the object based on imaging signals of the plurality of the light receiving elements. |
| US08605193B2 |
Portable electronic device with camera module
A portable electronic device includes a housing defining a through hole, a barrel positioned in the housing, a lens fixed at an end of the barrel and a light detection unit fixed at the other end of the barrel away from the lens. The lens includes an imaging portion facing the light detection unit and an incidence portion facing the through hole. The incidence portion forms a reflecting surface angled relative to an optical axis of the imaging portion, such that light entering from the through hole through the incidence portion is then reflected by the reflecting surface and refracted by the imaging portion, and is then received by the light detection unit. |
| US08605187B2 |
CCD image sensors having multiple lateral overflow drain regions for a horizontal shift register
A charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor includes a layer of a semiconductor material having a first conductivity type. A horizontal CCD channel region of a second conductivity type is disposed in the layer of the semiconductor material. The horizontal CCD channel region includes multiple phases that are used to shift photo-generated charge through the horizontal CCD channel region. Distinct overflow drain regions are disposed in the layer of semiconducting material, with an overflow drain region electrically connected to only one particular phase of the horizontal CCD channel region. A buffer region of the second conductivity type can be used to electrically connect each overflow drain to the one particular phase of the horizontal CCD channel. Multiple barrier regions are disposed in the layer of semiconductor material, with each barrier region disposed between each overflow drain and the one particular phase electrically connected to the drain. |
| US08605186B2 |
Video format conversion without a flicker for the solid imaging apparatus
In an imaging apparatus which subjects signal electric charges of photodiodes of IT-CCD for interlaced scanning of 1080 effective scanning lines to vertical pixel addition to be read out as image signals, at least one of vertical transfer at the last horizontal period and horizontal transfer at half period in reading of pixels is stopped while fixing pairs of vertical pixels to be subjected to vertical pixel addition to be read out as image signals of progressive scanning of 540 effective scanning lines from the CCD and the read-out image signals of 540 effective scanning lines are subjected to scanning line conversion of 3 to 4 to be converted into image signals of progressive scanning of 720 effective scanning lines, the image signals of progressive scanning of 720 effective scanning lines being outputted. |
| US08605185B2 |
Capture of video with motion-speed determination and variable capture rate
A method of capturing a video of a scene depending on the speed of motion in the scene, includes capturing a video of the scene; determining the relative speed of motion within a first region of the video of the scene with respect to the speed of motion within a second region of the video of the scene; and causing a capture rate of the first region of the video of the scene to be greater than a capture rate of the second region of the video of the scene, or causing an exposure time of the first region to be less than exposure time of the second region. |
| US08605181B2 |
Pixel for correlated double sampling with global shutter
A method of scanning pixels, each pixel including a photodiode and a sense node formed in the substrate, including a transfer gate coupled between the photodiode and the sense node, and including a memory gate coupled between the photodiode and the transfer gate. The method switches a control signal, connected to a memory gate electrode of all pixels, alternately between a first voltage and a second voltage that is intermediate between the first voltage and a substrate voltage. The first voltage transfers all photo charge in each photodiode into the respective memory gate. The second voltage both (1) holds all photo charge already transferred into the memory gate and (2) blocks further transfer of photo charges into each memory gate. The method further includes reading out photo charge from the memory gate on a row-by-row basis while the control signal is at the second voltage. |
| US08605179B2 |
Image pickup apparatus
An image pickup apparatus in which, a taking lens is installable or fixed, includes an image pickup element in which, pixels having a photoelectric conversion portion are arranged two dimensionally. The pixels include focal-point detection pixels which are arranged to restrict a direction of incidence of a light beam which is incident, and image-pickup pixels which are arranged such that, the direction of incidence of the light beam which is incident is not restricted more than the direction of incidence restricted by the focal-point detection pixel.The focal-point detection pixel outputs at least a signal for ranging, and the image-pickup pixel outputs at least a signal for an image.The image pickup apparatus includes an overflow judging section which judges whether or not the photoelectric conversion portion has overflowed, and a calculating section which calculates an amount of defocus based on a judgment result of the overflow judging section and the signal for ranging. |
| US08605178B2 |
Solid-state imaging apparatus and method for driving the same
An object of the present invention is to provide a solid-state imaging apparatus capable of providing a high S/N ratio in a plurality of operation modes, and a method for driving the same. Provided is a solid-state imaging apparatus including: a plurality of pixels (1), each of the pixels including a photoelectric conversion unit for generating a charge by photoelectric conversion and accumulating the charge; and an amplifier 2 connected to a plurality of the pixels, to amplify the charge generated by the pixels, wherein the amplifier 2 includes an offset voltage setting unit (SW1) for setting at least two offset voltages. |
| US08605167B2 |
Flexible color space selection for auto-white balance processing
Various techniques are disclosed for processing statistics data in an image signal processor (ISP). In one embodiment, a statistics collection engine may be configured to acquire statistics relating to auto white-balance. The statistics collection engine may receive raw Bayer RGB data acquired by an image sensor and may be configured to perform one or more color space conversions to obtain pixel data in other color spaces. A set of pixel filters may be configured to accumulate sums of the pixel data conditionally based upon YC1C2 characteristics, as defined by a pixel condition per pixel filter. Depending on a selected color space, the pixel filters may generate color sums, which may be used to match a current illuminant against a set of reference illuminants with which the image sensor has been previously calibrated. |
| US08605166B2 |
Photographing apparatus, photographing method and recording medium
The photographing apparatus includes an image pickup unit that generates a raw image; a feature extractor that extracts a feature image containing at least one feature part from the raw image; an image processor that performs image processing of the raw image according to a first scene information and that performs image processing of the feature image according to a second scene information; a quantizer that performs discrete cosine transform and quantization of a raw-processed image obtained by performing image processing of the raw image and a feature-processed image obtained by performing image processing of the feature image; a difference data generator that generates difference data indicating a difference between image data obtained by processing the raw-processed image in the quantizer and feature image data obtained by processing the feature-processed image in the quantizer on a feature image data basis; and an image compressor. |